The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-01-30
TABERNACLE SERVICES.
Rev. Samuel Scoville Of
Stamford. Connecticut
on Destiny.

There was an excellent audience at the
Tabernacle last eve~ning-almost equal to
that of its old and popular days, when
seating capacity was insufficient. At pres
ent the Tabernacle is running a line Of
candidates, with the idea of calling a pas
tor. Last evening the speaker was the
Rev. Samuel S~coville, of Stamford, Conn,
son-in-iaw to the late Henry Ward
Beecher. He is an effective preacher and
spoke with great earnestness. His text
was, John, xiv, 1928. Il WISH said he,
that we might lay aside professional
opinion, shut our ears to its formal voice
and listen to those old familiar voices
that sooner or later speak in every mans
SOUL" He made a strong appeal for re-
ligious knowledge from the standpoint of
humanity, saying:-"We want to know
about these things, not because we are
Christians, but because we are human
What is Immortality? What is destiny?
We ask ourselves these questions. They
mike themselves heard in trouble and in
wrongs"
Mr.. Scoville divided his subject into
five heads: First, immortality; second,
destiny; third, responsibility; fourth,
conscience, and fifth, the spirit, the cry
after God. you can feed the body,
continued the speaker, with material
love, the min with knowledge, but the
spirit cries for God. There are answers
to these voices. Materialism, in the
rush and roar of business, answers and
say We have no time" Science ana
agnosticism were also mentioned as ar
guments against religious duties. OF the
latter the speaker said:-"It is a strange
coincidence that people who take pride in
their knowledge of other things are also
rather proud to call themselves agnos-
tics. They don't know o these
things. They don't want to know. Ag-
nostics means know-nothings."
Now these voices were heard centuries
ago, when one Jesus of Nazareth called
men to himself Mr.. Scoville then spoke
of Christ's teachings to the little group
of fishermen showing how questions
were asked by the disciples regarding
their future destiny, and making the point
that they did not for a moment doubt
their immortality. IF you doubt your
destiny you cannot be a Christian, be-
cause Christianity and destiny go to-
gether. They cannot be separated. In
my Fathers house are many mansions.
Christ brought life and immortality.
He lifted up before us a destiny. He
threw back upon US the responsibility OF
| choice. He came to save us. Thy sins
are forgiven thee and now he says,
Come unto me- He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father What are we to
do? First, love; second, obey, and third,
receive the Spirit of the Holy Ghost
The sermon closed with a second strong
| appeal, this time for Christianity, request
ing tina in case his talk of the evening
should cause anyone to do one little thing
for .'Christ's sake they write Mr..
scoville at Stamford, letting him know
the result.
The sermon of last night was not the
only attraction of the Tabernacle. The
music was unusually good. One piece
| especially, ave Maria" was exceptional
ly well executed, with piano violin and
organ accompaniment. Miss Curry was
~soloist; Professor George Stell, of New
York. violinist; Mr.. Cramner, pianist,
and Miss A. Frost, organist.
Next Sunday, February 5, the congre-
| CATION will again have the pleasure of
hearing Rev. McGregor, of Brooklyn, an
other favorite candidate.