The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-12-22
FOREFATHER DAY SPIRIT
PREVAILED AT HOWIRD AVENUE
 CONC GREG CHURCH.

trlOGiC MUSIC henuereu Oy tne CnOlrs
 The services at the Howard avenue Congregational church last Sunday morning and evening were in harmony with Forefathers' day spirit and partic- u,arly Interesting.
 Several appropriate anthems Wave rendered by the choir. The music was all ot a patriotic and inspiring nature, Large audiences were present at both services.
 In the morning the pastor, Rev. J. w. Mutch, preached a strong sermon, talk ing "Conscience" for his subject.
 A new printed service was used in the evening, when Rev. MT, Mutch gave a short talk on Regulated Life" The morning text was from Job, 27 chapter, 4, 5 and 6 verses. It reads:
 Surely my lips shall not speak un- righteousness.
 Neither shall my tongue utter deceit. God forbid that I should justify you. Till I die I will not put away mine Integrity from me.
 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go.
 My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.-Job 27:4-6.
 He spoke as follows:
 "The one thing which is able to hum ble a person more than any other is a good conscience. And yet the race is proud in the possession of such pow CT. In it's possession we feel distinc- tion above other forms of the worlds life. We can hardly help seeing life as that ancient seer and philosopher of the book of Job saw it when he said in sub stance, The more am vexed and tor mented by that inner voice, the more l know that the breath of God is in me- It is his moral sense that veXes him, and yet it is the possession of a moral sense that can be VeXed that disttn- guishes him.
 Job is conscious of an integrity within himself which he esteems above every other possession. He cannot bear the thought of having that integrity or wholeness broken. If he should speak unrighteousness or deceit, or if he should justify the false teachings and counsels of those who were laboring with him in his affiiction, he would DTedh uOWn HIS integrity dS c lletil, anu he will die before he will do that.
 This brings to view a good and healthful conscience, or moral sense, which both estimates conduct as right or wrong, and feels to the full the obli- gation of an ought binding him person. ally to the right and restraining him from the wrong The effect of looking at such characters and feeling the in of ic n the heart and educating to the mind and sanctifying to the conscience. It is good for us to be in good company.
 If Job is an idealized character the effect is none the worse, but rather bet ter, for the only notion we could have of him now must be an ideal one at any rate, and if it is made as an ideal it will be made more perfect. RaphaePs Madonnas are none the less uplifting to those who look at them because they are not portraits but idealzed figures Probably the idealized conscience of Sir William Wallace as portrayed i'll the Scottish Chiefs is a more healthful moral force in the world to-day than the unvarnished original would be if it were possible to reproduce it.
 But if there is a preference for models from real life to illustrate the subject of Conscience, there are none better any where In the records of men that were tried and true, than those in whose honor this Frorefathers' day is observed
 The founders of our order in England three hundred years ago were very hu- man,-very plain and common people, in whom we may suppose the ordinary clements of human nature were com bined about as we see them now. It is likely that we get from the various sources of information, about as accu- rate picture of them as we do of any of the peoples of history. We choose them as, in sense, models for the life of to-day. Models are not for invita- tion, but for suggestion.
 Human nature is stamped in a mint of its own choosing to a very large ex- tent; for among the many contacts it is only the few affinities which mold char acter strongly. Through the medium of history we come in contact with many sects and classes, many political parties and many religious orders but for the English Separatists or Inde- pendents we American Congregational ists have peculiar affinity and affec- tion. By reason of that affinity we have been stamped with their charac- teristics in the generations past, and for the same reason we choose that mint for farther service.
 If the conscience of the Pilgrim Fore fathers can be wrought into the die which stamps American character in our day, we believe the effect will be highly beneficial for all concerned; for a corrected and clear cut conscience is one of the things most needed in the re- constructed life of our communities
 The two Congregationalist martyrs, Henry Barrowe and John Greenwood, may serve us as well as any for con- crete illustration of the conscience of the forefathers.
 The Puritan reaction against every thing which savored of Romanism grew very strong in the time of Queen Elizabeth. It did not object to bishops and priests, but it opposed an arbitrary government by them whether that gov ernment had it's seat at home or abroad; and it demanded a more con- scientious, diligent and better educated clergy who would minister to spiritual need and not merely hold livings These Puritans, however conformed as a rule to the forms of worship and the practices of the Anglican church. But t IL