, 1881-02-06

ll1s apostles has for many ,ast generations.
H. ~ W., VIII Tor generations to come, exercise
n,e datsest possible moral and religious ntlu-
tat;e enge npon the world. Many Of the interpre-
ttaatlols, tal and priestcrafts, and witclcrafts
that rave boon developed out Of this body Of
~. uiustllle arg danlninc i'll their nature, but
s1a .las generally the effect of all the various
Gt;ei:5ot!!lhatlons t;e5 working in their separate
broad enough and deep enough not to need
any religion, or who think they need more,
should pc permitted to become a religion
VIE WIG themselves; 10 be sure this is some
Nhat broad. and, many would think, dam
Whieh the General holds 1t it is not so. Did
A1ohamlned, Buddha, or Christ have any
need Of the older religions which they found
upon tic earth at their coming? So it may
De stid OF Luther, and, i'll still narrower
to preach w
NIl the sense in which preaching is gen.
orally spoken Of he never preached at all.
lle used to talk OF, lecture on moral and
cstlpg and acceptablet to the people who heard
them, lie. talked OIL geology and on the
beauties Of expression found in the Psalms.
and from the vast revenues Of his mind he
brought forth many things that were grand
well remember having al: old Deacon who
had for many years listened to the stock in
trade OF the average Disciple preacher re-
mark, as he left the church after one Of Gar
fields talks: That was pretty good kind Of
talk, but don't think there was much Cos
pei about it, The fayorit theme With the
preachers of the denomination Of that early
Time, aud TO q large extent in the West and iii
the rural districts to-day, is what is called
first principles These first principles
longer, and sometimes Shorter, which set
forth the peculiar tcnets Of the Church in the
cleareSt, concisest language the speaker is
capable Of employing, and in reality
iorn! tho unwritten but, always un~
sermons. great stress is laid upon the
commissions OF Jesus to His Apostles, us
they are found i'll tte last chapters Of the
Gospels; and Invariably graphic pictures are
drawn OF the first collyersiolls,to the Church,
such as the day Of Pentacost, recorded in the
second chapter of Acts, and the conversion
Of the Ethiopian eunucll by Philip, and the
philippian jailer By Paul and Silas. The he
cesslty of these illustrations is that the fact
Of immersion may be established and that the
immediate succession Of tile events Of conver-
sion and baptism may be understood. There
was time when the old sticklers about Hiram
made some complaint of the 'iccturlng' Of
the Garfield school Of preachers, and q de
clded longing was entertained for the eN-
p' pel.'' ~ 'N' ''''' p''''''p''' " 'A'' N''
"Weu. whether Gen. Garfield is exactly Or
thodox or not the Disciple brethren claim
him just rs strong, don't tAey?'
Certainly they. DO. They, are Willing: to
know Of them do. But the majority believe
that he is perfectly unwaycrlns in che faith"
Wl'at VIII be til the i; effect of Ills belief upon
Il don't believe it will be much; but that
will not he because lhe denomination are not
disposed to make the most Of it. They are
already hard 1T work dunning up funds to
bullu 4 big church i'll the Capital City, and
intend, evidently, to take hold strong. L is
following little scrap which picked up
somewhere sets it forth pretty we'll:
1850 long as Garfield was modest Congress-
man no one cared where ne worshiped. The
boys" the statesmen the - bOOule- hunters,
and 'hOnc-taEers' y never 60 to Church tint
docs not pay. and it has happened that the paying
church fti Washington since .1ohnsons lime .a has
been the Methodist. Netnodsm Hourished with
surprising yigor under Grant and Hnyes- There
were court chaplaius and favored clergymen.
AN, when these worthy diyiues were NOT ex-
pounding the faith rs delivered to tho Saints,
they were Siding about tue departments on the
lockout for vacancies for sons or cousins or
pointed to Office by Grant and Hayes would
make II Presbyterian affirm the esse ntial articles
OF bis faith. The Church is 50 large thai these
appointments made no impression, and beyond
a complaint now aud then from one brother
abo,at anofher having Il slice or twa extra from
Uncle Sans pantry, the matter never excited
~ Now it IS different The fact that the Dis
ciples haye the Government has produced a
great sensation. The boys want to he on the IN
side. hut the church Is not large snoush Tue
inquiry ut tho Congressional liorarr from vest
ern Congressman for books about the Disciples
faith SO thar they can be- well up on tne . theme I'M
come so great that Mr.. Spotrord, the Librarian,
suffers from nervous prostratlon indian agents
over the life Of Campbell They knew NIL about
John Wesley and Moody and SANKEY'S hymns;
but this knnw3rlge does not count Mr. SchuEz
captured tho White House by his exQuisit re1-
dering Of tho '' Sweet BY and By; but Garfield
dies not believe In such things, and our musical
Secretary is said to be at work Oh Campbellite
'.'lt is not often that political event has such
important theologica1 results # some worthy
between now and tue 4th at March, the conrre-
CARTONS world surpass those OF Moody and San
key days. After the Inauguration anu the an
nouncement of the Important federal appoint
meuts we are afraid tho lessons OF the new faith
would have 4 diminished interest
~"Do you think there is anything. in this ?''
"Ol, the extract is i'll 4 sarcastic Vein, OF
course, but at the same time there is pretty
crops out when it is Intended to hide it. As
vide the following from the editorial III this
weeks Standard in regard to building the
church in Washington:
u.Therc has been. and there will be. no appeal to
the thousands OF office e-scekers in c1pectancy.
The appeal is made to oar own brethren, IT
others voluntarily offer assistance. it will be
thankfully accepted. hut it is NOT intended
TINT u1ly political obligations shall ue incurred
In raising money for this purpose. Our own
brethren are abundantiy able to build the house:
and. ii for no other reason. that they may guard
agaicst ali such imputatiuns Of political burgnln
aud SALE they ought to do it, and do it promptly,
chcerfuliy, and with whoie-i,cartcdness that
will command the respect Of the people Of the
United States
1.-The idea conveyed in the above nndoub
edIy- is that the Disciples should build the
church for the coming President themselves,
anL then they can reap all benefits that
accrue therefronl and not have to divide
with the of1ice-seeliers. But to give the good
people their due it is only fair to make Il
further extract from the article in question:
.'Thc project of building new house Of
worship ut Washington is not new one. The
brethren at Washington were in correspondence
with us Tor several yeurs on this matter. when
there was no thought of the elevation of james
a. Garfield to the. Presidency, and, sooner. or
later the enterprise would have been Under
taken. The election Of Gen. Garfield may have
hustened it somewhat,-that; is afl. There has
been no change OIL the part OF those who lre
managing this enterprise as to the style OF house
to be built- They have intended from the first
~ modest uectiug-house, commodious. con-
ycnieut, comfortable, neat, but in no sense cx-
trayayaut. And II money comes in beyond
what is needed for this, tho managers are
pledged to hold it sacred as q missionary fund.
There has bceu no change in the plan. "