National Republican., 1876-12-04
CHRISTIAN AT WORSHIP
uNIrARIAN CHURCH.

UNITARIAN CHURCH.
The announcement that the distinguished
Robert Laird Collier would NIL the ulpit at the
Unitarian church. corner Of Sixth and ID streets
northwest served to bring out large and intel
lectual congregation yesterday morning. DR..
Collier took for his text Rom, viiil4-l5: "For as
many as are led by the spirit Of God, they are
the sons of God. For ye have not received the
spirit Of bondage again TO fear; but ye have re-
ceived the spirit of adoption, whereby We cry
Abba, Father" He said Il is impossible at this
what Christ really uttered, or exactly what he
meant by all that he said Strauss, Renan and
other recent Investigators have done much to
and tradition hadinrolved the life Of Christ, and
there is much to thank them for. The old school
v %olney Nere the eIponents. @ and which was I su
perfciai and insincere, has passed aN. y, and can
never be revived. Christianity Goes not stand
passage p OF Scripture, but upon its adequacy to
meet the wants of the human heart The whole
cargo Of rites and superstitions might pc thrown
of the Gospel ship.
At one time Copernicus, with his discoveries
and aeSries in was tns grsan
sntiJ and to consider that vague and unde-
daSus dasS fh because CONNECTS with the
ceived belief that man has existed on the earth,
precisely in bis present les: 1nan
have proved beyond question that man has been
here for untold ages, in connection with other
that theoiogicaI is in the same position as nat
ural science, both being incomplete and progress
sive. .r.
distinctive features of Christianity, as follows:
]. Christianity changes the object of our wor-
ship from sovereign 70 ,d iatnef 10 Mo"here Ic 10
writings is God revealed as loving father until
Christ came to declare it. Where, outside Of
Theologians in the past have failed to compre-
hend its character, and have nbeled its divine
author. How can the idea OF being OF nnnite
mercy, love and benevolence exist in connection
will that Of hell in which his creatures are to
be kept in everlasting burnings2
,,fs fIdm bandaype to ifbertV T aFor We have rot
received the spirit Of bondage again to fear:
Although superstition and priestcraft have, in
of men, they have burst these shackles, and lib
erty to think is now recognized as the watchWord
OF true Christianity. ~
from natural and sensual to spiritual and invisi-
BILE. In nothing is its power shown more than In
IN PIGrng Tord but hat il is in ali Things
Superior to this.
/. It changes the essence of morality from in
terest to love. In this its superiority to all other
systems of religion, the substitution Of love to
God and to our fellow-men, as ruling motive,
for selfish regard for our own welfare, Is the
most distinctive and elevating feature Of Chris
tianity.
Finally, we remark that it is the literary spirit
Of our age which mas openea the way lSs SIs Ssnc. re
has spoken. Christianity has spoken more boldly.
The clearing away Of the monstrous dogmas
made belief % init in il possible to thinking men. The
grand principles to which we have referred were
In Christianity at the first and VIII remain In 1t
forever, and no science either desires TO or can
overthrow them. -
CONGREGATIONAL Church.
,,.r,e u,rppD Nv rrcur-Tzr Pasrop,s VIEWS
ON THE SITUATION.
At the Congregational church yesterday morn
ing DR.. Rankin preached from the text: John,
fiji 20, the theme being, "Man's hatred of the
light" The preacher developed the subject
wonderfully. He made many references to pass
ing events by way Of illustration. He said that
it was not the awful brutality but the Overwhelm-
ing truthfulness of the story Of the poor woman
before the Louisiana Returning Board the other
day that carried CONSERVATION with it. His long
and eloquent sermon was concluded as follows:
The people that held human beingsin bondage
did not think of themselves as engaged in O
wholesale crime or In sin against God. You can
hear men in these streets to-day who regard the
the common veal in the pulpit as o desecration;
who have studied the Bible to so little purpose
that they dare to defend this sum Of all vfllaines
from the inspired word of God; who see nothing
in Gods dealings with this nation the last sixteen
years but the expression Of hiswrath against po.
litical preaching, and coyetousness and fashion
as though slaveholding was not theft and cove
tousness and perjury and murder and all crime.
They are so preoccupied in interpreting Moses
record Of the manner in which God treated the
Shareholders Of the Nile that they have not yet
attained to the least suspicion that he has had
equally terrible dealings with the slaveholders
of the Potomac, the Mississippi and the South
Atlantic. Why, the recent struggle at arms and
the present chaos of affairs in the South, and the
cloud of uncertainty which hangs over this nation
to-day. are only indications that God is still
upon his throne, and that he does not intend to
let this nation alone until she purges herself Of
all contempt of him, as shown in the treatment Of
his creatu0es-the humblest of her citizens.
slave go free. When victory came we made him
q citizen. And now the God to whom the poor,
enfranchised, bewildered black man has been
praying at midnight speaks again to us-the
nation. Shall we hear his voice?
If partisans Of which ever great party think
they can patch up peace and have quiet and
prosperity In the South before justice is done and
mercy is shown to his humblest creatures we
shall find out our mistake If the election of this
man or that man signifies that we propose to try
it, that we propose to let the question of equal
rights alone, and attend to commerce and manu-
features, the God of our fathers will keep the
preamble of the Declaration of Independence
ringing in our ears; will let loose new judgments
away and say: Am my brothers. keeper" and
yet know all that he suffers, God has the same
answer for us: 1.-The voice of thy brothers blood
cometh up 10 me from the ground" y. and until
that voice shall cease to cry from the ground
God will make the chariot wheels Of State drag
heavily,
E-Sf,aas Ranffsf Nt,urat,