New-York tribune., 1875-12-24

them. We arc quite sure as we read the
story, that this poor laborer on the dreary
Newfoundland coast is q brother to us all ;
and we believe that the Master, "looking on
"t the mal, loved him."
Now too that the birthday of Christ ap-
prOaches, we venture to say that to secular
observers there is a strange lack in the usual
routine Of sermons and religious teaching Of
the presentation Of Him as human being;
as teacher of this self-sacrlfice; as an Elder
Brother. Mankind, cropping in the dark across
life from one unknown sea to the other, want.
not a theory, not doctrines, but Man, to hold
by the hand not map of the way, but a
guide who has already trod it. 1t would seem
as if with the increase of culture and the rec
ogntion of the necessity of education in
the ministry has come the habit of preaching
dogmas and doctrines, of enforcing them with
logic and fact and emotional appeal, rather than
simply Jesus and Him cruci6ed. Our scien-
tifc clergyman meets Tyndall on his own
ground; and that is all very proper if he
knows the ground. Our scholarly teacher is
wise in church history or the roots of Hebrew
verbs, which are no doubt of use in their way. The
library of every aspiring young minister Is full
of tones of doctrinal theology and doctrine and
dogma are the theory of the Christian reli-
gion, as Of every other. But the common mis-
take, we suggest, lies in thinking that 1t is
theory or even doctrine or dogma that the
mass of men crave for their souls good. There
is a human element, weakness if yOu choose,
which is latent in the most phiosOphic
mind, and which stretches out its hands of
faith across eighteen centuries to that actual,
divine Man who walked by the Sea Of Galilee,
who healed the sick and raised the dead Our
clergymen do not credit us enough with this.
They preach admirable discourses, full OF re-
search, sound in argument, and pure in style,
on predestinatOn, on the errors of this sect or
that, or on the mystery of the Trinity. and
they wonder why White the lawyer or Johns
the doctor do not come to listen, or coming,
pass out of church every Sunday as if they
had heard a sleepy song. The truth is that, in
downright fact, either Johns or White, II
honest, would confess that he finds predcstina-
ton or church differences, or even divine mys-
teres, subjects which do not touch him very
nearly. They are matters of opinion-of IN
tellcctua efIort-that he does not feel called upon
to settle definitely. But that there was once
on the earth Man, Christ Jesus, who held
and still holds some awful kinship with Him
who died for him on Calvary, to whom he can
go as to living human helper when his little
child lies i'll, or the wife of his bosom is laid
out of sight forever or his own failing body
refuses to serve him longer, and who can
make another life sure and actual for them
and for him-this is Il real matter, the most
real of all things to him or to all men.
1t is this universal craving for an actual
live Christ which drives the thousands of eager
listeners to hear Moody-thc very people who
weary Of the most carefully prepared sermon.
This man, they say, may be mistaken in some
of his opinions; his grammar may be bad;
but Jesus is as real to him as though he had
put his finger in His side and in the wounds
of His hands; he tells us of Him and
and Him only; he tries to drag us to His feet,
and knows that pure doctrine and upright
living will certainly come afterward. 1t is this
sense of want of an actual Leader which
brings such stories of heroism and self-sacri-
flee as that which we have just told home to
all of u.s. We may know or care nothing
about the Apostolic succession or Papal claims
to infallibility; but in deed like this we do
see Christ's spirit; we are touched by sudden
sense of brotherhood with Him and the ship
wrecked men and the poor fisherman: noble
deed is an imposition of hands" laid upon
us-hands human and divine.
1t is this universal craving, too, which makes
the festival of Christmas dear and significant
TO SO many people who are not churchgoe
nor professedly religious. The formula, the
set order of the church repels them; it seems
unmeaning perhaps mechanical. But they
know the significance Of the Babe in the
stable and the poor shepherds and the wait
ing Kings They feel this story in their
hearts core, and they seek to make it real at
their own hearth-stones to themselves and
their children.