National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-02-07
The Influence of Christianity.


Rev. /. l.. Townsend preached an elo-
quentsermon at the Church of the Incarnation yes
terday morning In the course of his remarks he said
that some men would ask :" if there are wheat and
tares in the field, what is the advantage of being
in the field at all?" The advantage, in the first
place, is obedience If you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ TO be the God of the whole world, you must
believe that it is your business and your duty to
obey and ask no questions. A child can ask ques-
tons that no man solve. But what is the wis
dom of man acting his own way, in opposition to
what he must know to be right, because he cannot
understand all about it? Why not take facts in
our spiritual conduct and act upon them just as
we do in every other portion of life? Is it fair,
said the speaker to judge of any system except by
its best production? Take the artist. He depicts
upon the canvas picture which seems TO breathe
and have life. He does it once and never equals
it again. But does he not rightly have the credit
of his masterpiece?
Milton never wrote anything equal to his Para
disc Lost. He thought better of his Paradise Re-
gained, but who else ever did? 1fyou are to Judge
of any system, do it fairly. Take by its grand re-
suits Who does not know what difference there
is in the page Of history since the Son of Man came
upon the earth, from what there was before? Who
can question for one moment that the Christian
nations of Europe are superior in every respect to
the heather nations of Asia and Africa?
Intellectually, the ASiatics are as sharp as we
are. We can see that as we are brought in con-
tact with them. Read their works and you will
find they are written bymen of mind and thought.
Why then, have they not produced the same re-
suits that we witness in the continent of Europe
and America? Their thinking men tell you at
once Christianity makes the difference and tits so.
Rev. Mr.. Reynolds, of Concord, Mass,
to a very full congregation. About half the mem
bers of his own church were present, there
being excursion party in this city from Concord
and vicinity. Mr.. Reynolds, who is a TALL stout
man, has fine voice and is pleasing talker. His
text was from the second chapter of Genesis and
seventh verse: And God breathed into his nostris
the breath of life and man became a living soul.'
The theme was, 1.-The Higher Nature of Man.
Although the literal words of the text might not
be proved, yet man was conscious of having an
immortal soul within him. This consciousness
was susceptible of as rigid demonstration as was
any mathematical problem, albeit through differ
ent process. Man was put here for the develop
ment of his higher nature, and the cultivation of
his lower or animal nature to be strictly sub
ordinatcd TO the advancement of the higher.
The body was of the earth. Having an
earthly organ, il must of necessity have earthly
destiny. But the soul differed not merely in de-
gree, but also in kind from the body. Its origin
was with God, and to God it would return.
sensual life was not pleasing. Notwithstanding its
occasional fevers of passion, its whirls of ex-
element, its lurid brilliancy of splendor,
the reaction was bound to come, and the sensualist
often was compelled to say with Solomon, "All is
vanity" while life devoted to the development
of the higher nature was absolutely without pang
or regret. No reaction of overStrained nerve dark
ened the vision and tortured the heart of the man
whose life was an upward advance in the moral
or spiritual.
Mr.. Reynold's sermon was philosophical through
out and was illustrated by references to actual
eases, proving the position he took.