National Republican., 1875-06-21
FROM THE WALLS OF ZION.
tcUnitausS from Firt PaQs.)


Where one man had died for his native land
or false, sublime or ridiculous, man must have
religion. Everywhere men Frustrated themselves
81 some altar. This was strfkingly demonstrated
among the ancients, who had dfvinitles Of war,
Of peace, Of the mountains and Of the ocean
These gods were but the apotneoses Of human
when he told them that he was the only God.
tended to amend the debasement Of religion. But
these awfui truths they had set up q golden calf.
and exclaimed. This Is thy god, D Israel p'
Men had made broad their phylacteries and In
stituted ceremonies. 1t had been amidst such
that our Lord had walked, and said, 'God is q
spirit Of truth. and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and truth"
Under the Christian system, Christ's simplicity
had been perverted. Man had tried to bring the
gospel to bis own level. Philip II had been said
to have been the most religious man in Europe.
Queen Isabella had been considered very devout
because she had been washed and purified twice
week. ostentation had taken the place Of Wor-
ship.
THIS CHURCH OF eAUDY sPLENDoR
was the work Of the human heart. From the
Church of Corinth 1t had started over eighteen
he feared the serpent had beRuiled their hearts
and corrupted them from the simplicity that was
in Christ. The growth Of nineteen Centuries
hoRry with age, formidable in numbers, stipend
ous IN power, . Colossus Of error, supported by
every sentiment Of q deprsved heart, what was
the Church to-day? Superstition was It's name; .
that abstained from meat, that gave its lenten
lunches at Delmonicos; religion OF sensual cero-
aSapted to human pature-a coupterfeit. ~
great success was owing to the fact that IL was q
religion that suited the human heart. It spoke
mentaIism. A sensuous temperament was over
come by superstition, awed by sublime architec-
ture, rapt to the third heaven BY music
This was not religion, It was sentimentalism.
What was accepted as worship asked the bishop.
Ifanything was offered to them as divine worship
that was not truth, they could reject 1t. He went
inf nhu nj "a of
heather affairs. decked with brazen images, with
vested priests boWinR before It, and turned from
and Christ An altar was abhorent in the sight
Of God, and not until every altar was cleansed
from the Christian church would It be reformed.
the church It was in the music. He declared
music better fitted for the concert room profana-
tiOn to the church. If the Lord could walk their
temples again, he thought the first thing he
would cleanse would be the choirs. Was such
worship in spirit and in TRUTH The crucial test
What Kind Of lives did this ritual Worship make; /;
What kind Of people came out OF the great
templesP The nohlest souls that this country, had
ever known, came out Of the old plain
MEETING-HoUsEs OF THEIR FATHERS,
New Ensland's simple churches and Virginia's
plain houses Of worship. 1t was simple worship
that made great souls.
He related a legend Of the Middle Ages where
in a monk. while engaged in worship in his cell,
suddenly looked up and beheld the form Of Jesus
with bis beauteor ?, angelic face, robes of light
and aureOle. "Who art thou?" exclaimed the
monk. II an thy master; an Jesus. Worship
me-" The old monk was about to PROSTATE him.
self before bis visitor, when his keen eye that
his hands had not been pierced, and be exclaimed,
"I II thou art my master, If thou art Je7us, where
are the prints in thy bsnd?" The form vanished
1t was Satan clothed in the Rsrbs of light. So
with worship, said the bishop, had It the marks
of JesuS2 This was the foundation upon which
the Reformed Church rested. Jesus only, and
not the church; Jesus, and not ordinances and
the priests and the sscraments. Jesus was the
only priest, the only altar, the only sacrifice, the
only balm to beal q wounded heart.
In the Reformed Prayer Book there was not
the word altar coming between Jesus and the
soul. They had rejected the sprinkling Of water.
The bishop was in 1t,
But NOT AS PRIEST.
They had made him simply an officer to perform
certain duties. This blessed reformation was
taking root throughout the earth. Within the
last month tidinRs had come from the distant
island of Tobago Of an established Reformed
church with i've hundred communicates and three
thousand attendants. 1t had extended all over
British Ameriee from Labrador to Alaska, and q
bishop was soon to be consecrated there. It was
catholic in the right sense, standing alongside Of
other Churches to meet the struggle with that
Church which had sent out officials In scarlet to
robe an archbishop and to plant itself in this
great country. The Reformed Church had taken
It's place among the Churches Of the land. He
commended II to his hearers, and in conclusion
invoked the divine blessing upon It.