The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1875-05-01
| Our Olio.
f,sm ia Mp York World Of Apra 10.
raE oATHEDRALs OF EUROPE

IHE CATHEDRALs OF EUROPE.
SEHxdN BY REV. W. II. ALGER AT THE
ciIuRCH OF THE MESSIAH.
kef Vim. r. Alger preached sermon
astlay morning at the Church Of the
Etsaia0 which he called I" An American
. I1a Lathedrals Of Europe" drawing the
|.&6o 81 the great religious piles Of the
|I|5|1 ages in contradistinction to the
Hfss'AH hustle of to-day. Taking as
ii z6kG the words, "This is the house Of
|1l. AZ. Alger said
s. ! soul appreciative Of the most SOL
he 116 enduring interests Of human ma
|<9 4Ieccptiblc to the grandeur and opu-
|||ee of the world and of our fate in it,
|1z6 <=e no other buildings on earth so
|.1|'ot as those religious structures in
knmanity has embodied its aspira-
t6 4aa worship, its spiritual glory and
||a| And at the head among these
11I tte old cathedrals of Europe, over
<r|2s shrines of the awe aud love of
|*&E dsys, the faith, sacrifice, pain and
|s1e of departed generations. Soaring
rs I1e sky, rich and wondrous MS the in
||.<|on that built them, they seem to
Iaer almost as lovely, reverend, and
4 Is the realities they typify. When
4lnerican, escaping from the storm
s&1es and riyalries that make the at
a11ere of life in this land so corrosive,
I'D behind him the newness and irrev-
I engerness that prevail here, strays to
hores where solemn antiquity broods,
entes these old fabrics, tender and
erious as the emotions out Of which
sprang; as he contemplates the stains
races so many ages Of his race have
here; as his awc-struck eyes follow
ong aisles and springing arches, the
endous vaults, the cloud-rifting and
i spires as he gazes around on the
81 monuments Of the dead, whose occu-
- lie figured on them in marble or
IL, while over their slumber shower
PICTURES and sculptures image the
ssements and shadow forth the secrets
10 Christian faith, he becomes the sub
of indescribable emotions, holy and
even TO awfulness. The hallowcd
pervading the place falls on his ex-
ated and jaded spirit like some d.
dew out Of the covering heavens
ed to heal his hurts and wash away
<pilt, and when in addition to these
Grated environments the strains Of
loaded with all that is most touch
@nd most sublime in human experience
over altar aud tomb, wailing through
1rypts and dying of in the dome, not
conjuring up the most powerful asso-
pns of human grandeur and grief, but
bringing down the world Of supersen-
realities, his brain throbs with won
|og excitement, his heart aches with
hl pain.
@he very essence Of all organized relig-
T. pthers around the altar-a word which
stably suggests the idea Of sacrifice,
thing lower offered to something high
The annihilation Of man before God.
no sooner do we cross tho threshold
one Of the old Gothic cathedrals than
eonceit, ambition, sensuality, ostenta-
doubt, fear, worry and discoutent are
~ dumb, and, as itwere, extinguishcd,
+ the qualities Of humility, trust, de-
encs, meekness, reverence, disinteres-
sympathy, expressive ofself.surrender,
powerfully appealed to aud called out,
ondcrfally do the ideas aud sentiments
solidated in the very stones of these
|fed buildings breed in the spectator
|otions of penitence and alteration. Es.
eially powerful is this appeal upon an
perican who is so unused to anything
the kind, who comes from a country
pre- evcrything-except the hills. fields,
PANS, forests and stars--is new, where
Prosaic and garish procession of duties
. struggles is ever drifting in the way,
'ere the prizes, impartially flung open to
engender conflict, a morbid ambition
Z self-assertion, haggard worldliness.
such an one how surprisingly benign
q redcmptial are the subduing emotions
Tenderness, wonder and awe poured
er the spirit as he opens the medieval
pr, and for the first time finds himself
veloped in the enigmaticaI dimuess Of
man life and death. A food of plain
g wonder and delicious sorrow falls on |
soul, like the contents of baptisnal
2 dashed on its burning fever, and the
sPiny worshipper, hardly knowing wheth-
ne is on earth or in heaven, yields to
! spirit Of the place in blended feeling
and divine desire,
The first religious impression made on
: visitor TO the churches is the profound
Use Of his own no,hingness. Their pro-