New-York tribune., 1874-11-09
RELIGIOUS CONTRASTS.
WIDE RANGE OF TOPICS.

metropolitan pupits are as varied as the architec-
ture of the churches, the form OF the ritual, or the
stye of the preachers The contrasts were strongly
marked yesterday. At the Broadway Tabernacle o
native African was ordained; at Grace Church a
Havtien bishop was consecrated; at De GarmO Hall
tba religions customs of Indian tribes were
described: and at the Swedenborgian Church the
scheme of redemption was defined by the Rev. Mr..
Giles. The Rev. b. B. Leacock at the First Reformed
Episcopal Church summed up the action of the
Protestant Episcopal General Convention in rela-
ton to Ritualsm, andi claimed that 1t was wholly
inadequate. The sermons of the Rev. DR.. Chaplin,
the Rev. DR.. Chapman. the Rev. Dr. Bellows, the
Rev. DIR. TAYLOR. the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and
the Rev. Father Kane related to special topics and
had little in common.
RITUALISM AND THE REFORMED EPISCO-
PAL CHURCH.
IN. Rev. Dr. B. Leaooek at the Reformed Epts,opI,
The Rev. DIR, B. B. LeacOck preached yes
terday morning In the First Reformed Episcopal Church
at Madson-ave. and Forty-seyenth ST.. from these
words: "Buy the truth and sell 1t not" proverbs.
chapter kill, verse 23) This Is mans privilege and
mans responsibility. 1t is his privilege He stands
prominently among Gods creatures as thinker In
stinct is the law of the lower orders The fash Of
thought seen here and there among them is the excep
law OF his being. 1t crowns him with lord
ship 1t links him with the past the present and the
future. Endowed with reason, memory and imagina-
on he stands In Gods creation as Gods representative
or everything in the great universe he makes tho de-
mand Of Plate to be heard, "What is TRUTH" And
nature responds, "Seek for it, God has endowed man
with love truth. and has given him facilities for it's
ACQUISITION II Is his privilege 10 seek for It, and IL Will
be his reward But the acquisition Of truth demands
sacrifice. 1t must be "bought cqui galen must 70
given and truth is the most costly OF all purchases.
Nature gives up her secrets with seeming reluctance.
and he must pay we'll who is privileged to enter any OF
her guarded chambers and himself OF her treas
ures.
Truth must be bought-be bought by secuson from
the world and Its pleasures by tosome days and nights
by WEAKNESS of brain and muscle, by pinching want
frequent failures heart-rendng discouragements
neglect rilcule persecution, life itself. These the
prices that men have paid for the truth. Tho grand
truths In reference to God Himself are no exception
What truth but the discovery Of things In their rela
ton to God and to ourselves God is the central truth
in His Wherever VIC discover truth, we dis
cover God and He has not only told us TO buy the truth
but He has opened for His great Of truth
Nature and Revelaion-and bids investigate Search
prove all things Entirely free Is your access TO Gods
source of information concerning Himself-iiis written
make great mystery OF IT. To put it in the hands Of
privileged class that they Garbe it TO suit their
IL
No. lie wrote it to make Himself more aud moro
surely known 10 man. ana He e, las las eft IL as
is the Divine command and To IL free to avail himself
Of this invitation is the inaenable right OF every child
done to humanity ana high treason to the God OF the
Bible Every man stands upon his own responsibility
The word of God comes 10 tue Individual man. and the
Gospel singles each person. addresses Its warnings,
cOunsels and promises TO him as II there were not
another living son about him. He must struggle alone
pray alone-1e reGenerated alOne-De tempted aOnc-
stand or fall alone-dle alone, and on his individual
responsibility be judged not by what priest says, or
church teaches. or council mas decrced Dnt Dy te
word that Christ has spoken 1t is then mans di-
meaning OF the word which is TO decide his
future state, whether OF salvation or contemplation
study it, meitate upon it, pray 1t. that The word
of Christ may dwell in him richly in all wisdom TO
take the truth from another at second hand Is not Duy
Ing it, IL Is no truth you till you have tested for
yourself Do you claim to have the Divine truth when
nnS6cr those VINO it to been as
iguorant youlsef or they may have been wolves IN
sheeps clothing. Tlis Is borrowing the truth receiv
ing heirloom not following the or The
Holy Spirit. Though socalled church or the unanimous
voice OK the Fathers assert that doctrine is the TRUTH
do not rest till you 20 10 the Scriptures concerning IT,
till you to Jesus. Some in the church we have leit
the teachings and interpreaols or the nrst thrce
centuries Let there be no stopping short OF Christ AS
Bishop Hooper says Christ and HIS apostles DC grant.
fathers in age the doctors and masters In learning
disciples In the days OF Christ the believers IN the
the word Of Jesus-that word which We have, and by
which be saved too lt needs no addition from
preached doctrine taught, bring IL TO the standard
Of faithful study OF Cnrlst's words ard II It agree
thereto then have the TRUTH the truth that Is able
to make us wise unto salvation.
/ Privileges brng responsibilities. Tit Is your priv
spensiSility to preserve and maintain it, "Bny the
truth and sell 10 not" All exposed to the danger OF
parting with the truth Tue price Is being liked aud the
brbe offered unconsciousy the temptation being
TO sell the truth Now Is our PRIDE now
ieshly appettes-these with their encing voices
aud bargain from not indeed our whole treasure at
once, but little here aud little there aud 80 1t slips
away. We must be alive TO our danger from whatever
quarter IL comes and 1t Is in obedience To the Divine
cupy our present position before the world. We have
the truth have continued In the Scripture but Sl
%Sd @ emR noa as tho o se the pe he ays
leadership Of its priests and teachers had sold the
TRUTH making the Word of God OF effect through
the traditions OF SO when the Reformation came In
the sixteenth century the Church was without the D
the place or the commandments Of God The
priesthood OF man was substituted for the priest
hood of Christ, the human sacrifice for the DIVINE;
Christ The Church had sold the truth. With what sac
Reformaton bay the truth to-day the ruling maiori,
ties In Church OF England and Protestant Episcopal
INFLAMMATION as "mstake," ami there Is a strong de
termined purpose TO undo the results OF that mistake"
For 40 years. by slow cautious, nsiOus, almost mper-
ceptbe processes of education the work has going
on Already the priest the altar the sacrifce ana tho
confessional have been brought back From many pull
Lord" but thus the Church teaches" and the Word
OF God must no more be commented upon by indlvid-
ua but must interpreted by the fathers the first
three centuries. All! they selling the TRUTH these
children of fathers OF Cranmer, ,and Latimer, and
Ridley, and Hooper, aud Jewel Need We any apology
for our separation
For 40 Years the struggle has been going on but slow
sure has the advance Of false doctrine and
practice IN the Church Point after point has ganed
The ctidel has been won The last faint cry OF tho
DgeIical party In the T. L. Church has been Stand
and fight 1t out In the Church. But there left us
What an answer to this cry has been
given by the results OF the great Council that Just
sessOns Aroused by the fact of the exIstence
OF TINS Church. this Reformed Episcopal Church. the
Evangelical and conservative elements OF that body
nave been forced to admit, what every one outside OF
their ranks long known, that there strong and
decided RomsnizIng tendencies among them, and old