The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1878-03-02
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.

pedestrians of Broadway, is rich
and costly Gothic pile known as the
church of Grace. None but the
saints who go clothed In purple and
linen ever dare to cross its sacred
for in it there is no place
for the poor. The Hebrew, who of
old wandered honseless through the
streets of Jerusalem calling sinners
to repentance, md telling the glories
OF the new dispensauon, would have
turned away from its gates, for if he
did not, the burly sexton whose
ponderous form usually blockades
the door, would have given him in
charge of the police. The inside
is glorious, mellowed with golden
light, reflected through windows OF
rare beauty, gorgeous with miracles
Of art. The saints who suffered for
the cause of Christ are here rejoic-
ing in their new canonization, stir
ring to emulation the sluggish hearts
of the worshipers. The evidences
of wealth are everywhere, from the
organ, whose grand diapason swells
its thunder Of Heavenly harmony,
to the rich velvet Innings of the
pews, where the wife and the
daughters of Dives sit, bedecked
from the looms of India ,and the
mines of Golconda, outshining in
their costly trappings even Solomon
in all his glory. Everything is in
keeping. The very air you breathe
is laden with the odor of spices and
rare perfumes, calling up visions OF
Sam arcand aud the distant islands
of the sea- The priests who min.
lister at the altar are not OF com
mon clay. The odor of sanctity en-
circles them like cloud; religion 20
them is an abstract sacred classic,
only to be expounded by the char
tered apostles of the schools. The
singers were trained in far-of lands
and the homely strains
''That once did sweet in Zion glide"
never shock the ears OF the saints,
whose musical culture is enriched
by gems from ola File de Madame
Argot," or the beauties of the Opera
Bouffe. This is the temple where
Crpsus asks forgiveness Tor his sins,
if he have anywhere the rich ard
tho good (for all the rich are always
good)eome to see and to be seen.
Grand equipages line the highway
adjacent to the church, and John
and William and Thomas sit and
freeze IN the wintry air, while their
masters and mistresses, with abecom-
ing humility, listen to the teachings
of Him who said, "Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for they shall see
God " said in a former letter
that city is full of sharp contrasts.
At little engine-house on Barrow
street another Apostle is at labor.
The guide of his faith is the same
that they use III the church of Grace.
Tho master In whose cause he la
bors is that same outcast man Of
Galilee, and the final reward he
looks for is the same as that whose
expectancy crowns these gilded
saints. The church in which he
tolls is old and crumbling to ruin
\ ears ago registering sinners made
It's old ratters ring with songs of
wine and wassail. No words of
benediction ever consecrated> it to
heavenly uses, for it was the abode
of sinners then, and it is the abode
of sinners still Yes, sinners, all
stained and foul and loathsome,
come here night after night to hear
expounded, by rude, untutored lips,
the story of suffering and salvation
of Him who died for just such
wicked ones as they. This is Peter
DIVERS mission-a mission for the
refuse of the slums. The repentant
thief can here find one who, like
has worn the convict's garb
aud chain; and the harlot, spotted
with moral leprosy and sin, and
almost loathsome to the touch, can
here find one like herself, clinging
to the foot Of the cross, expecting
to receive, like the Magdalene of old,
the mercy which the world denies.
L suppose we may call these high
and low ehurches-the one SO high
and the other so low that it seems
they can never come together. |
have often asked myself if there are
not two heavens. 1t cannot be