New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-12-14
~ ANn OFT OF CHrRCn.

sunday, ~ il seems TO us. If II Is anything,
SHOULD be. like the tabled Palace of Truth, a
snace i'm the world in which the meanest man
missing through, would be ashamed TO tell Il
lie. Suppose the readers of THE TRIBUNE
took il In that way this morning: what DIFF
ference would il make in their dOings1 Most
of them. no doubt. are going to church.
Why? Because it is the c0nventiOnaly proper
thing 10 dol Because IT looks III TO have
their pcws vacant 2 Because the brethren are
among Their hest customers When Cam lied
in that very first sacrifice made in the world,
and brought his Offering TO the altar without
hi, heart. what was the end of it9 Has Gods
eve crown blind since then Or if our reader
poes merely out of habit; leaves his body
vell-dressed and rcverent in his pew and
sends his soul wandering of here aud there
TO its every day Eaunts-the Office, tue shop,
the exchango-What stupcndOus lie his body
is. with its murmurs and genufiections and
bows If his mind is graphing with qGcs-
ton OF stocks, what good can GregOrian
chants do to the drum on ms ears, or even the
PRAYER which Jesus wOrdcd for Inn 10 his
senscless lips BIT if he goes TO church a.
ihe man Cying Of thirst goes TO a spring bub-
bling up in the hot sand, or as the sailor
drifting on a raft upon a b0undless sea turns
to lis chart, or strains his eye to catch the
distant sail ON the horizon, Lex him be sure
that, no matter how liieless the sermon, how
discordant the music, God viii through them
make his way clear and give him living
water.
Perhaps our reader does not 90 to church
he has no mind to be dcvOut. He rather
likes 10 see his wife and the children 90. and
feels as if his soul were somehow vigorously
safe if they are religious. So he gives HIM
self up to lis accounts in the library, or dozes
ov,I a review and cigar. AT least ne has shut
out sermons and the troublesome idea of his
Maker from his day OF rest. But has he
The everyday things about him are not mere
matter, but words, and If he is not the most
paltry of triflers. he must. III this quiet NOM
ing, see their meaning. He reads the news
in The TRIBUNE. There are the same hi,to-
ries going on which have been redupiicattd a
tnousand times since time began. This Ma
tion growing strong as 1t energies out OF its
youth of brutality, as it gives up its animal
appetites of gorging and fighting for industry.
prudence. skill and knowledge. That. struck
down and dccaying in the height OF power.
luxury and riosous passions have sapped away
its life Ii may be Rome, or Greece or Japau.
or France, or America, but the course upward
or downward is the same, ruled by the same
implncable, just laws. Who dictated those
laws2 Is it Beshazzar only among kings for
whom Gods hand writes sentence Or our
reader busies himself with smaller matters:
read, how this fellow (whom he knows to be
a scoundlel) rules his times i'll London or
New-York OF San Francisco; how this woman
is sued for divorce and that murderer is
hanged The thief and defauter has his
glittering hour of triumph in Broadway rs in
Jerusalem in David's day. But lie stands in
the same slippery place. Live long enough
and you will see it is only honesty, sobriety,
decency and trust in God which win in the
end. Is there no sermon in these things
Our reader who will have none of pulpits
or parsons aud their teachings sits down to
dinner. He cannot escape from the knowl-
edge that the people about the table in their
secret souls value him, not by his money or
birth, but by what he is; the very waiter be-
hind his chair knows whether he is miser-
able sham and snob, or a true and gentle gen.
tleman. The verdict on him is written in
every mans eye if he choose to read it. His
old mother sits beside him. on her wrinkled