Year: 1873

Local Preachers.


The grandest array of pulpit talent that has
ever gathered together in this city is now
here, and our people have had and will still
have ample opportunities to compare the the
ologians and the theology of the Old World
with those of the new. Very much of our
religious reading to-day is the product of the
Alliance delegates, and their utterances show
maturity of thought and simplicity Of presen-
tation, coupled with an apparent earnestness
Of faith in the truths set forth. But we have
among our own divines men able and learned
also, whose lips drop fatness and whose words
are like apples of gold in pictures Of silver.


Perhaps the most eminent ecclesiastic ut
present here as a delegate is the Dean Of
Canterbury, who preached yesterday in the
Church of the Ascension on the "Unity Of
the Spirit and of the Church of Christ" He
deprecated the religious controversies which
have produced SO much misery and discord
among Christians. The unity of the spirit or
spiritual unity exists among all lovers of God,
and His influence strengthens the bond in the
unity Of peace. The strongest evidence that
has ever been given to the world that this
gathering from the four quarters of the earth
Of the Evangelical Alliance.


Among the eminent Methodists now here
none stand higher as preacher or orator than
Rev. DR.. Rigg, Of London, who addressed St.
Paurs Methodist Episcopal church on Chris
tan charity-that charity that never faileth.
The discourse was running commentary on
I. Corinthians, xiii, and there was little or no
opportunity for the display of depth or origin
alty of thought in it. Faith, he remarked, be-
longed to spirits dependent upon an independ-
ent God, and as long as there is mission to
be performed hope must remain. Charity or
love, which is q reflection of the divine nature,
must also remain; SO that these three, faith,
hope and charity, as the Apostle declares, do
'tabide'' and will abide forever among men.


A vision Of heaven and of the glory Of the
better land ought, indeed, to nerve any man
to bear, to suffer or to endure anything for the
Lord Jesus Christ, even to the laying down
of his life But it should, above all things,
SO inspire mans soul that he could, like
Stephen, pray for his murderers. Under
the influence Of such vision of the ineffable
glory he, the first Christian martyr, was
enabled to spend his latest breath in prayer
for his enemies. This was manifestation of
love for humanity second only to the love Of
Christ This was the vision and the theme
presented yesterday in the Scotch Presby
for;op nhu hv tho Rav profocc0r Cu,vfh
of Londonderry.


The evidences Of Christianity, what are
they? Are they sufficient to answer and to
satisfy the sceptieal inquiries of the present
age? Rev. DR.. Coullin, of Geneva, thinks
they are, and.that the manifestations of Gods
presence are numerous enough for those
who wish to be saved without adding
any more Were God to verify His truth
now by miracles or ghostly apparitions
they would have no more effect upon us
than they had upon the Jews eighteen cen
turies ago. The frequency of supernatural
but indifference, and it is doubtful if real
manifestations would be of any service
to reclaim men from sin. The indifference
Of the world is its worst sin. That is it, ex-
actly. Not the absolute rejection Of Christ
and His salvation, for no man wishes to die
unsaved; not the absence Of desire heaven
ward or the lack Of interest in the future, but
the putting of it off to q more convenient sea-
son, which to too many persons never comes;
that is the greatest and most terrible crime of
humanity. And Dr. Coullin made but rea-
sonable and proper request when he asked his
French Evangelical congregation yesterday,
and all others who may read his discourse in
the HERALD to-day, to despise the riches of
divine grace no longer, but to seek the Lord
at once.


The Rev. Narayan Sheshadri, one of India s
converts preached in University place church,
and, while expounding a portion Of Pauls
experience, set forth something of his own in
illustration of the truth that unconverted
souls are dead in trespasses and sins, but that
when quickened by the spirit of Christ they
become new creatures in Him. Hence, as he
declared, the very beau ideal of humanity is a
truly converted man.


Among our local orators and preachers
Rev. 0. B. Frothingham takes no inferior
rank. His discourse cannot be called SER
mon, though it had text as a fgurehead
1t was not an exposition of Scripture truths,
but it was an exposition of the designs Of the
Catholic pilgrimages from this preacher s
standpoint. He is evidently not favorably
impressed with them. They are not UNDER
taken alone by the ignorant and the super
stitious. The noble and the learned of Eng
land as well as the poor and illiterate of
France engage in them. There must be q
reason for this What is it? Mr.. Froth-
ingham thinks he has discovered it. At
the bottom it is politcal-it means the
restoration Of monarchy in France and