Morning journal and courier., 1881-10-17
Interesting Services.

t6eVs OEs AAepVOEIn O1 NeW OEk at Cens ter Chureh-Able and Eloquent Dis- eOurses-Large Congregations.
 Large congregations listened to very inn pressive and scholarly discourses at the Gen. ter church yesterday, morning and after noon, by Rev. Dr. Hepworth of New York. The audiences were prepared to hear elo- quent and impressive words from MT. Hep worth, from knowledge of his high reputa- ton as pulpit orator, and many in the au- diences had enjoyed the privilege of hearing him from the same pulpit not many Sabbaths ago. His morning discourse was from Johns Gospel 18-36, 'My Kingdom is Not of This World.' The speaker pictured the despair of the disciples at learning from echo that these words had been uttered They turned the current of their thoughts and hopes. Instead of worldly advancement, profit and power, they saw ahead suffering and persecution. Their disappointment was poignant. His followers naturally had thought of military victory and political sway. They had hoped to be, as it were, members of his cabinet to go with him through peril, and share in the rewards of victory hardly won. Therefore when they heard that his kingdom was not of this world they could see nothing beyond to expect but suffering and failure. But brethren, you and I, standing on the vantage ground of the 18th century, see through the clear air of the past that the kingdom of Jesus is a kingdom in which neither sword nor spear has had place,-a kingdom founded upon peace. Time has taught us that it has accomplished what Ro- man cohorts would have failed to do. Jesus kingdom ignored arms and was built solely upon mans love for truth, and upon the in- herent power of the truth to protect and vindicate men. Dr. Hepworth, proceeding, said in the first place that Jesus formed an autocracy Carlyle said, with his force and vigor of expression, that s'the only true gov ernment is 8 despotism, and observing dis satisfaction and surprise in the faces of his listeners, looked grimly at them and added, 'sbut it must be perfect one." So Gods government is 8 despotism. Gods word is the last word uttered. It IS supreme court and there is no demurrer to be uttered. The speaker, in words which were heard with deep attention, pictured the perfection of the ar
 
 nicety of adjustment and operation, and these all obeyed the Creators behests, none daring to stir an inch from their prescribed track, all moving in exact accord as the Creator had ordered; with no con- ciousness of right and wrong an immense and perfect machine. The speaker illustrated the answering laws of nature, the thistle ever kha &IicH1a. kha roarIa duces an oak the egg of hawk never brings forth jay God has stamped upon each thing in nature it's inevitable destiny.
 What God is in the physical world Christ is in the moral world. The universe obeys. It has no choice. Man, wonderful being that he is, has been vouchsafed free moral agency. He can ascend or he can descend. The in evitable law of retribution follows his wrong doing God has endowed him with that mys- terious power, free agency. We can follow our own caprices, but we cannot escape the consequences of our acts. Christ has given ia the law. Obedience leads to heaven, dis obedience to eternal ruin Each can decide whether the future will be bright with glory or dark with misery. Christ hath not power to keep us from rebellion. If he cannot per suade us he cannot enforce. The thistle brings forth the thistle. The evil deed brings its punishment You can dn as you please in spite of earth or sky, but not in spite of hell
 In Chriat's kingdom there is no such word as progress. The speaker illustrated this thought, explaining that Christ's kingdom was perfect law; the imperfection was with man in not being accustomed to the light which shines from heaven. The earnest seeker would have an ever increasing appre- citation of it's divine beauty and loveliness. There was the speaker beautifully set forth, no phase of human life which this kingdom could not satisfy. Christ's words sounded like clarion notes from Judea's hills centuries ago. and were heard across the centuries by every believing soul to-day. There was something beautiful, sacred, to think that these words which lift up the soul to-day come to us as they did to the martyred saints in all the ages. The centuries of worship are pearls in the necklace of God.
 Christ's kingdom was for all races as well as for all time. The next thought was the peacefulness of the victories of Christ, which was beautifully illustrated by comparison with the tread of armies with banners and by passage of particular beauty, Illustrating the thought by the chasing away of the darkness of night by the peaceful advance of the morning sun.
 Last of all and best of all he rests upon an eternal throne and admits to his kingdom peo- pie of all climes. Citizens of earthly king doms die; citizens of Christ's never die The speaker in beautifully pathetic words spoke of the sorrowing at the newmade graves of loved ones, the rain of tears from sob ping soul as the earth closes from sight some one dearer than life, perhaps. The stricken soul turns in its anguish to the intellectual athletes, to the philosophy of the ancients, to the greatest of them all, and admires a dying Socrates, but he''perhaps not" fingers in his soul Life was a show, hollow mock cry, a prolonged misery; an exquisite torture if death ends all But in thrilling words of exultation the speaker pointed to the light shining clear from Calvary, Illuminating the mystery, chasing away the shadows to the believing soul, and closed in very eloquent words.
 In the afternoon Rev. Dr. Hepworth's text was from Johns gospel, 7th chapter, 46th verse: ssThe officers answered, never man spoke like this man.
 Church Notes.
 A correspondent says of yesterdays ser vice at North church: The summer warmth and the clear, calm serenity of the day made it seem truly ''holy unto the Lord" Seldom in October is the weather so much like that of June The funeral drapery in token of our national grief still A on the walls, the galleries and the pulpit of the North church.