Morning journal and courier., 1886-05-17
CHURCH NOTES.

CHURCH NOTES. J Jottings from the City PulPtts Nesser
 day-Church and State-Frayer auo
 the Divine Fatherh Ood-God's Eter-
 nal Kingdom-The Lugubrious anu
 Austere. Believer.
 A correspondent, "D,. ;" says: cone ot our prominent city lawyers said few days ago that "a form of government involving com plete and total separation of church ana State had never existed.' We hope the ex- pertinent will soon be tried. It would be most hazardous if not impossible to main tain There would be no security for life or property The laws we reverence are our most precious legacy, and our faith teaches us to live in charity with all mankind and die with hope of bliss beyond the grave"
 Yesterday morning Dr. Munger preached from Acts gil: ssBehold he prayeth. !" Prayer is recognized in all forms of religion Pantheists and heather prayed, and even some infidels had form of prayer. It is not pleasant to criticise those who pray, but some people seemed to know just
 what the Almighty ought to do, when they ought rather pray for direction and guidance and submission to the divine will. Prayer in this age of the world is evidence Of high moral qualities because it implies a recogni- tion of personal God. This brings us into fellowship and communion with him. A very pleasing illustration was here intro duced, that of conversing through the tele- | phone "Our Father" in the public assem- ply | is of immeasurable value, but My Father 1 in the closet is still better and more precious l to the Christian.
 Dr. Munger has a pleasing delivery, an unaasuming manner and is very 1nstruc- | tive.
 DWIGHT PLACE CHURCH.
 The pastor preached in the morning on l ssThe Kingdom of God i" taking his text | from Daniels prophecy that kingdoms should rise and fall, but God would establish g | kingdom which should be eternal. He l showed the fulfllment of that prophecy il ] the nations and governments which have | crossed the page of history and vanished | while the kingdom of God has gone steadily | marching on toward it's glorious fulhllment ! Factions even in the church itself have | fallen, but these, well as governments O
 a temporal character, have only contributed | by their fall to the up-building of the uni | versal kingdom of God.
 The evening discourse was the last upor | the "Johns' of religious history, the subjec of the lecture being "John Eliot, the apos | tie to the American Indians" The mal \ ouartette of the church was re-enforeed b, | Mr. O. Strong, of the Law school, and som | choice quintette music was rendered.
 | CHEERFUL PETTY.
 | At Calvary Baptist church last evening tht | pastor, Rev. MT. Samson, delivered dis | course based on the story of Jeptha and hl' 1 rash VOW. The very large audience presel | listened with close attention to the beautlfu
 and thrilling picture drawn of the victorious l captain of Israel's armies, and the suose | quent tragic, romantic and sad events or hl | career. In closing the pastor, in condemna ' ,f &1a ior,c ] derous fulfllment of it, said the lesson to bt
 drawn from this was the error which some | Christians make in Interpreting religious lift to mean gloom, asceticism and despair ane Q miserable existence in general l Thus church deacons there have been N said the pastor, like Jeptha in hardness, ane n perhaps the type is still not altogether rar l who take such forlorn view. Such an on ! combs his hair rigidly plain. His wife is ut | terly innocent of the varieties of millinery
 He never jokes, because a joke, however ln l nocent. is deemed a sin. He wears his Sun l i5arofas,~ofll the week. He never minglss II
 He brings his children up to hate Sunday be
 cause of his gloomy interpretation of tn l day. Indeed his children come to regart
 it a personal misfortune that their father wa
 a deacon. His wife is pitied by other womel
 because her husband is a deacon. Nobod,
 tells story when he is around, or they GU l it off short if they see his dismal face ap
 preaching. Nobody enthusiastically grasps
 his hand and tells him he is good fellow
 He is dry, tough and hard piece-lik | jerked beef in softness and juiciness Hi l character lacks tenderness and the winnins l quality. He interprets religion to mean aus 1 terity, penance and e. eerlessness. Msn like Jeptha in religious character scare other me1 l from Christianity. True religion promotes | the growth of loveliness of character, gentle l ness, the esthetic in taste and all that consti
 tutes a lovely and attractive character
 "Give me, oh, give me-" says Carlisle, t'Ghe
 man who sings at his work k" why, the veEy ! stars in the Armament iII all their ahpleXlty | to the finite gaHe are moving In rhythmic harmoules in their respective spheres. Look
 ss these noble giant armed elms on our streets; their very leaves dance in wavering and changeable harmony as touched by the gentle breeza, and we learn
 from them that grace and beauty and music may be associated with strength and power and usefulness. I do not mean that we should be lacking in seriousness, but I see nothing admirable in whining, cant or awful aspect for all that is lovely and beautiful. believe the Christian man or woman ought to be, in all that constitutes or makes up man, attractive to man of the world. I believe where one attains to full rounded, loveable Christian char acter, whether of manhood wou1anhood, men of the world admire it, and in the degree that they admire it are attract ed toward it. A religion that is austere minds of Agamemnon and Iphigenia and of Idomeneus and his son. I disbelieve in the interpretation of Christianity that results in austerity and starvation of the body; for is dead?