National Republican., 1883-04-30
GOSPEL TRUTHS
Which We're Taught by Some Of the Wash
ingtOn Cergymen Yesterday.
Rev. WIIford Downs's Replyto Col. lnger-
soll'slate Funeral Grafton.
Eloquent Sermon Of Rev. Dr.. Rankin at the OOngre-
gational Church.
Abstracts OF the Discourses OF Rev. w. g.
Edwards and Rev. DIR. Hartsock.
GOSPEL TRUTHS
NECESSITY OF A REVELATION.

NECESSITY OF A REVELATION.
Bv. wILFoRD DowNs's SERMONS IN REPLY
TO THE FUNERAL GRAFTON, OF COL. IN
GERsoLL.
The Rev. Wilford Downs, pastor of the
Waugh NJ. L. church, on capitol hill, con-
cluded his sermon yesterday morning on the
above subject. He spoke from the following
text the two last Sunday mornings, in sub
stance, as follows Psalms cxix, 1O5-"Thy
word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto
my path"
Standing some days ago on K street north
west over the coffin Of deceased friend, who
had been an Independent thinker" as re-
gard 8 religion, the great" missionary infdel"
of this age, ian eloquent man, strong, self
reliant, and doubtless warm in his friend
ships aud affections" brought his views of re-
l ligion and philosophy to the test The funeral
was a singularly sad one, and revived the
memories of tho funeral Of Mr.. IngersolPs
brother q few years ago. There tho Bible
was closed ; there was no voice of prayer
heard in the house. There was profusion Of
flowers, but no recognition of the Being that
made them. The consultations of religion we
are accustomed to seek when death invades
our dwellings we're carefully excluded. Not
the vast outer void of darkness" 1t seemed
TO be all darkness, both without and within.
Nothing really supported, nothing cheered
him with the promise Of something sweet and
restful to come. How hollow pretty talk"
how unsatisfactory the " flowers Of rhetoric" "
on such an occasion And yet that was all
that Col. 1ngersoll had to offer. Hear him.
Again we are face to face with the great mys.
terry that shrouds this world. We question, but
there Is no reply out onthe widewaste sea there
drifts no spar. Over the desert of death the
sphinx gazes forever but never speaks. In the
very May Of life another heart has ceased to beat
He was not Christian. In
and for himself he solved the problems of the
world. He accepted the philosophy of Auguste
Comte. Humanity was his god; the human race
rested The mystery Of death and hope
we cannot comprehend. /" Fate is speech
future has never yet been told. What
can we say Of death2 What can we say of the
dead2 Where they have gone reason cannot 60,
and from thence revelation has not come
Now, could any one we'll imagine anything
moro "icy" for funeral oration? 1t was tho
funeral of an infdel, at which q free-thinker
of the most pronounced type was the only
officiating "priest." At this funeral the
God of consolation and salvation was ig-
nored, humanity was deifed," and made
the only religion" reason was lauded as
"the only TORCH" while revelation was not
recognized as within the scope of possibility.
But what Of Auguste Comte's philosophy,
which Col. iIngersoll's friend, John Mills, ac-
cepted, and which the colonel said, "enriches
poverty" and enables us to bear the sorrows
of the saddest life" 1t is but revival, under
the name of "Positivism," of the old dogma
of Protagoras, Greek philosopher, nearly
500 years b. c., that imam is the measure of
the universe" 1t excludes all recognition of
divinity from the universe, and was in
augurated to ''renovate human society" Af-
ter Comte's love affair with Mad. de Vaux in
1S45, his project assumed more the form of
an attempt to institute new religion, which
Prof Huxley has described as Catholicism
minus Christianity" and in which Comte, in
stead of the pope, was to be the sovereign
pontih. And as Comte himself was not able
to imagine religion without some sort of
god, 1t became necessary to furnish some
kind of deity as the source of tho new reli-
gious impulse. Hence this new kind of deity
called humanity" which we are to "serve"
and deserve we'll of" The "ethical" side
of this conception of religion is well enough,
but the speculative" side is too absurd to
be seriously entertained. That "the units
of the living race are separately united by
death to this new divinity, and become
atomic constituents of the immortal essence"
as one expresses it, is too far in the past.
Such complete deification of man, or COM
plete resolution of divinity into humanity,
is too ridiculous to command respect.
This brings me now directly to my subject
as announced-"The Necessity of a Revela-
ton"
1t is unquestioned that there are certain
great and important problems" to be
"solved" by us-problems inseparably con-
nected with our we'll being, and for the solu-
tion of which we will seek in many
languages in vain the thoughts of men,"
Unassisted reason is wholly inadequate to the
task, and hence tho necessity of a direct
revelation from God to man. / am not here
to detract from reason, but / do say, unaided
by revelation, reason cannot discover moral
and religious truth. When made known to
us reason may apprehend and recognize the
truth and canvass its evidences and "elabor-
ate it into tho formulas of scientific thought I"
but to discover it-never! Reason is not our
"only torch" "Thy word is lamp unto my
feet and u light unto my path"
The reverend gentleman then considered
the following problems l. Whether there be
n God, and what is His true character 2. A
true code of morals. 3. A correct religious
knowledge. a. If there be God, should He
be worshiped by us and how. 8. The con-
dition Of modern pagan nations 9. That un-
assisted reason tells us nothing about resur-
rection, but that revelation does. lie
treated each at length, and closing as follows:
Man, both soul and body, is destined of God
to be immortal. This is exclusively a doc
trine of revelation. 1t is found only in the
Bible, and is inefably precious to all who
take the Christian view of DEATH and cling to
the hope of another and better life beyond
the grave. Most wondrous book What q
dark, dark world this would be without it
May its truths soon echo round our globe,
and its light invest the whole earth, guiding
all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples to
God, to happiness, and to Heaven. Amen.
RECONCILIATION WITH GOD.
ELOQUENT SERMON BY REV. DIR. RANKIN AT
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
The Congregational church was we'll filed