, 1874-04-25
OBJ Gbmann 0fibu11e.
Sunday Morning, April 26.H1674.

SOCRATES, PENELOPE, AMI tAldEd1NE IL.
It is one OF the curiosities Of modern ciyiliza-
tion that special Ecclesiastical Court has been
convened in the City OF Chicago, in the United
States of America, in the year 1874, to try and
determine the question, among others, whether,
under the economy Of God, either Penelope,
Socrates, OF Catherine II. has been admitted to
Heaven, and whether tho man who suggeststhat
Penelope and Socrates have possibly Jared
equally well with the Russian Empress ought
not to be regarded and treated as hereto. Let
us first inquire who were the persons whose pos"
nible doom is now to DO passed upon.
Waving all doubts, We will consider Penelope
as an historical person. As such she is known
as the wife Of tho wise and warlike Ulysses.
Though not intellectually as gifted as her huR-
band, she possessed virtues that have rendered
her name ilustrious as the chaste wife, the care
ful, prudent mother, the skillful Regent Of her
husbands kingdom, and as the unquestioning
believer in predcstination. To her the gods
seemed always just, and she accepted without
murmur the DEGREES Of fate,-which even the
gods could not reverse nor eyade. Her husband
Was absent 20 years; she was young and
comely; Queen, and possessed Of wealth
she hnd innumerable suffers, and, though
for ten years it was uncertain whether her
husband WAS living dead, she neither
sought divorce, had lover, nor consented to
marry any Of her importunate suitors. Sur
rounded by crime and corruption, and with the
vicious examples OF all her contemporaries be-
fore her, ste remained to the last the pure and
devoted wife, the ulustrious Queen, and e1-
emplary mother,
The next in the Lat Of those whose eternal fate
Is to be discussed BY tho Chicago Presbytery is
Socrates, the philosopher who wrote nothing.
but whose fame has mantlod sll the ages that
have coma after him. Socrates Was not
christlan,-co not have been, having lived
nearly 500 years before Christ. He WAS not
Jew, and knew nothing Of the Hebrew scrip
lures. He Was Greek, and has been described
thus: "With naturally impetuous appetitee,
pf irascible temper, he has yet been called the
nost illustrious example in history OF the moral
conscience, and the creator of moral SCIENCE" He
laught all the virtues. and practiced them He
married, and cheerfully endured his wife's vio-
lent temper az course Of eelf-discipline. He
Kas patriot, soldier and scholar, and ap-
Piled Ills lore Of country and his wisdom to bene-
ht mankind. Finally, after long life OF useful
ness, he was accused Of heresy, was convicted,
md Was put to death for refusing to recant.
When hia last hour arrived he seemed to have
h.d ~, ~ hi ,1,a4,o
in diRmissing the friends around him. he said
It is now time that We depart, to die, you to
live; but which has the better destiny is un-
known to all except the gods" His last conver-
sation with his friends was full Of faith in the
Deity and in tho immortality Of the soul.
The Chicago hereto now on trial, in one Of
his sermons, in illustrating certain point, thus
spoke:
There u no doubt the notorious Catherine II. held
nore truth 4nd better truth than waa known to Ill
casss4c Greece, held to beef in Savior Of whose
glory that gifted soul knew naught yet such is the
grandeur Of soul above mind, that doubt not that
Queen Penelope, Ut the dnrk lAnd and the doubling
Socrates have received ut Heavens gate sweeer well
como than greeted ths ear Of Kussiss brilliant but
-fAlse-uved Queen.
Now, who WAS Catherine She was the daugh-
ter OF German Prince, and Was at an early day
oet1cthed to son Of branch OF the House OF
Ho1stein. In the revolutions aud changes in the
:htone OF Russia the unmarried Empress Eliza
beth selected this boy as her heir. Catherine, at
the age Of Il, accompanied her intended husband
70 kussia- They bad both been Lutherans. but
readily renowned that faith and accented the
aoctrines Of tho Greek Church As ri1l
md subsequently as wife, she lived in
court where the external forms Of religion
y Hese strictly Observed but whore neither private
religion, virtue, nor common deconcy WAS p.ao-
tced- Religion was thin veil too thin to hlde
the hideous social depravities behind Catherine.
first spectator, became participant IN this,
and for forty yesrs, as wife and widow, shs lived
life Of crime aud debauche1y which far trans-
cended that Of any Of her predecessors She
~as false to her husband, and then deposed and
murdered him For forty years she was the re-
proach OF Christianity and Of civilizAtion,-A
moral monster beyond comparison.
Ths EocleaiAstcAl Court which Il now COZ