Year: 1873

The sStr0ng Consolation" OF the Chris


tian-Sermon by the Rev. DIR. Bellows.


The Rev. DR.. Bellows preached the sermon at the
Church OF All Souls yesterday morning. He chose
as his text portion OF the eighteenth verse; sixth
chapter Of the Epistle the Hebrews The ''strong
consolation he said. OF which mention was made
in the Epistle was of kind so marked that all
good men could not fail to appreciate Its full mean
ing II implied trust in assured hope. What that
hope was he who looked forward in his daily strug
giles through life to that day when he would be
freed from all the troubles OF earth, to begin life
in another world of bliss and happiness, knew full
well. The reverend preacher then went on
at great length to show what faith was
to good man, and how 1t sustained
him in his tolls and troubles, and
how it made him strong in the assurance that lie
here below was not all that man created for.
Real happiness did not he said, consist in the
mere enjoyment Of the things OF this world. There
was beyond Its threshold a something that the
Christian looked forward 10 as he podded his
weary way along, and which was indeed a ''strong
consolation.n The idea that one was in the enjoy
ment of real happiness in the possession OF worldly
goods and pleasures, and that beyond them there
could be nothing to make happiness more COM
pete, was fallacy made evident every day by ex-
traordinary examples. What was money and
wealth to him who had not health, or the beautiful


sunshine to him who was poverty stricken at
heart? What protection were soldiers and guards
to the soul racked with the pangs or
a stricken conscience Some people wondered


why 1t TINT so many strange things
happen in the world that seem to them irreconcil-
able with the idea or the justice OF an al-wise
Providence. They consider IL unaccountable how
death and disease are often allowed TO make havoc
among the beautiful, the amiabe and The dutlful
and the pure, while the Negligent and the useless
are spared. Yet all these things are part and


Because the good are often blighted and humbled
and made miserable. their affections rent asunder
by domestic calamities, and are stricken In various
ways that is no reason why lie In this world
should be considered less beautiful, less thing to
be made bright and pure by self denial and have


that beiell humanity in its struggIings only
gave here below a strength and an energy to the
living that made men look forward to an assured
hope beyond the grave-to a life that would he
free rom pam and misery. The reverend gentle
man then argued 10 show what he considered 10 be
an error on the part OF some people who looked
upon God as a visible being. God was spirit, he
said. He was everywhere, and he did not believe
that He was anywhere In particular-that lie was
confined to any particular space. On the contrary


faith as He would be when the soul OF a man would
be freed from the body Faith did not, IN
the next world make the vision OF
God as spiritual being any clearer
than 1t does in this world Those who in praying
to and addressing God prayed to and addressed
Clrst, lost sight OF the Father in the contempla-
ton OF the form OF the son. God should be wor-
shipped as spirit, and IL would be idoatrous 10
do otherwise. The reverend gentleman concluded
by asserting that for the good Christian the assured
hope to eternal life in heaven was indeed strong
troubles OF life in this world became light and easy
to bear Tor the sake OF the happiness to cOlne.