GENESEE EVANGELIST.—WhoIe No. 802. §o*t*g. SONG OF THE AUTUMN LEAVES. BV KRS« VfRSUfIA QUABLBS- Speak softly, Iterate death, The beautiful, blue summer «■ no more, Her eyes forget their light, her lipa to pour Their bird-songs on each breath, And from her forehead, as the wild winds pass, Sadly the faded flowers fall, alas! Over the aueenly bead. Over the faded tresses sighs the gale, A requiem, ns she both still and pale— And beautiful—and dead. A requiem sigh our voices, sad and low, The summer is no more, ah woe, ah woel Woe for the glowing skies 1 Woe for the gushing streams that love her light; Fettered and chilled thro’ winter's dreary night— Yet when the Spring’s sweet eyes Smile on them, they will wake again—but we More faithful, die, 0 beautiful, with thee! In regal revelries Hava we been with thee, in thy triumph hours, Amid thy vassals,—golden skies and flowers, And thrilling harmonies. And oft, with love-waked eyelids hast thou wept Above us, as within thine arms we slept. Thy kisses have been pressed On us, and ever were our murmurings Of wind, or shower, or wild bird’B careless wings ■Whispered upon thy breast. Queen, Mother, Lover, 0 how oan we see Thee perish, and live on—we die with thee I Silent we pass away.. For us no requiem shall gloom the air; Haply some poet-heart may breathe the prayer— “Requiesoat in pace.” Others forsake, we fade exultingly, With thee, 0 beautiful, we die—we die 1 RELIGIOUS WORLD ABROAD. ENGLAND. The late Bishop Villiers had been bat re cently elevated to the See of Durham, and his death occurred, according to the News of the Churches, at an early age for a bishop, and leaves a great vacancy In the ranks of the evan gelical clergy, of which he was one of the most esteemed and devoted members. He was an object of the persevering attacks both of the High Church and the rationalist parties in the Church of England. From a sermon on bis life and charcter, the eorrespondentof the Pres byterian Banner makes the following extract: “The Rev. Emllius Bailey, rector of St. George’s, Bloomsbury, in a sermon occasioned by his decease, made the following statement: ’’When the late Bishop entered the ministry, be did not regard himself—looking back to that period—as in the faith. At Kenilworth be was called upon to preach a special sermon. A bro ther clergyman beard him, and in the afternoon, with great plainness and affection, pointed out to him the deficiencies of the sermon. Mr. Yilliers listened with openness and candor, and the result was, that his mind was enlightened to see wherein he had been in error, and to regard Christ in a way he bad not done before. One of his first actions after this change was to stand up among his own people and declare that hitherto he had been teaching error, but henceforth he was determined to know nothing among them, save Jesus Christ and him cru cified.’” The prospects of the English “Essayists ’’ are far from bright. Within the Church of Eng land their cause has long ago been hopeless, and more recently, one of their most decided opponents, Dr. Thompson, has been appointed to the vacant bishopric of Durham. A fund is now collecting for enabling one of the Essayists, Dr. Williams, to carry on the suit brought against him by the Bishop of Salisbury; but even an influential Unitarian organ warns the members of that denomination not to contribute to it, as Unitarians, it thinks, must regard them selves as the honest, and the Essayists as dis honest advocates of a liberal aild rationalistic theology,— Methodist. SCOTLAND. The Cardroas Case.—The Court of Sessions taring decided that it has jurisdiction in the ease of M'Millan, it was expected that an ap peal would at once be carried by the Free 'lurch‘to the House of Lords. It has been decided, however, by advice of councils to defer the appeal. “The Committee are informed by their legal advisers that it will be competent for them to appeal against the whole decision, when the case has been finally disposed of by the Court of Session. They are further advised, both by their Scotch counsel and by English counsel of eminence, that the great question of the Church's independent jurisdiction in matters spiritual, which the recent decision of the Court of Ses sion appears to subvert, could not be advan tageously raised or argued in the House of Lords at the present stage of the ease, in conse quence of the obscurity in which its real meaning has been involved by the explanatory opinions of the Judges, delivered when prononncing it. The Free Church will, therefore, when the Court of Session sits again in November, bring forward their next and subordinate preliminary plea, to the effect that Mr. M'Millan, by voluntarily submitting himself to the constitution of the Free Church, (which binds its office-bearers not to appeal to the- civil courts against spiritual sentences,) has disqualified himself from main taining this action.” Open air Religious Meetings have been con tinued in Scotland during the whole of August, and not a single county—hardly even a single town, with the exception of, Glasgow, has been without such a gathering. IRELAND. Evidences of Improvement. —Notwithstand- ing attacks are still made upon Scripture readers, and great violence is in some cases used by Pa pists stirred up by their priests, the condition ol the country, and even of the Papists themselves, is believed to be decidedly improved. “In my judgment,” Lord Carlisle is recently reported to have said, “ and I say it with all the experience of my twelfth year of direct con nexion with the government of Ireland, Ireland has never exhibited such as exemption from ge neral crime, from political agitation, or from Physical distress and privation/ as that which ahe now enjoys.” FRANCE, The im parties in the National Protestant ( 'hnrch are receding from each other. The E-perance gives as the motto of the Rational 15t party, Individual conscience, liberalism , and progress; and as that of the orthodox, Uiri&tian conscience, faith, national ortho . Spiritual Traffic A curious trial occurred 1,1 Paris recently, which has proved a sad ex pire of the spiritual traffic which is carried 0,1 in the Church of Rome. A French priest, named Vidal, was prosecuted for non-perform ance of contract, in having failed to say the number of masses for the deliverance of souls fom purgatory, which ho had engaged to say, nt * been paid for. He belongs to a church in Wls that had advertised the sale of masses of what tradesmen call, in cases of actual or ap proaching bankruptcy, a dreadful sacrifice /' Not less than 30,000 masses for the relief of souls out of purgatory were contracted for, at the rate of one franc each, so that no one need hesitate to lay out his money on ttrtns so un usually advantageons. It could no ’longer' be said in the scornful language of the unbelieving poet: “It costs three francs, for every mass that’s said.” Here was a redaction of two thirds on the former tariff! Who would not purchase that had cash and sense, if he suspected that he had relatives or friends in purgatory ? But alas 1 the cheapest things prove dear when fraud and duplicity are parties to the bargain! The debtor and creditor account produced in court on the occasion, showed that this had been the case; for thirty-five masses actually per formed, three hundred and fifty were set down to the credit of the performing priest, and so on in proportion.— The Methodist. , Another instance. —The Bishop of Laval, wanting to raise money to finish and decorate a church in the department of Mayence, offers to have sixty masses said in five years, for each person who will give him five sous, (2|d.) “ Supposing, then,” says the: SiecZe, “that the bishop requires only 50,000 frs., (£2,000.) The prospectus engages to have as many .times sixty masses said as there are five sous in 50,000 frs„ that is to say, 12,000,000 masses. In five years there are 1826 days, so that to keep the promise of the prospectus, 1000 masses would require to be performed every day! Suppose each mass only requires one quarter of an hour, it would take 256 altars and 256 priests saying twenty-eight masses constantly for five years, from five in the morning, till noon i It is true that the number of masses .* may be supplied by intention, but the subscribers do not understand matters in this fashion— News of the Churches. GERMANY. Dr. Wichem, and the brethren of the “ Ranhes Haus,” which latter are scattered all over the world, some being preachers in German bodies in this co'untry, correspond with each other in cipher, the brethren receiving directions from Dr. Wichern as the head., The object of the institution is the training of young people to the service of practical charity in penitentiaries, prisons, city-missions, &c. Recently Dr. W. has been charged with designing to found a monas tic order in the Protestant church.' But as the “order’’ is under no unconditionally binding vows, and remains a stranger to all ideas of the meritoriousness in their works, and as nothing of an objectionable character is found in the correspondence, the attack is groundless and the institution wiil undoubtedly maintain its hold upon the Christian people of Germany. Dr. Frederick Julius Stahl, the able and distinguished partisan leader df the High Church confessionalist wing of the Lutherans of Ger many, died suddenly August 10th. He was known as Law-Professor of the University of Berlin, formerly a member of the upper eccle siastical council, privy councillor, and member of the House of Peers, in the capacity of crown attorney. This is the talented leader of the conservative feudal party—those Tories of the Prussian State—the admired orator in all the great public assemblies df the State and the, Church, the quondam President ofthe-Kirchen tags, and the constant President of the Berlin Pastoral Conference, which allows this post of honor to a lawyer instead of a theologian. He was decidedly the greatest orator in Ger many. With the motto, “ Authority, and not majority,” he struggled his whole life against popular privileges, and for the divine right of kings. No courtier of Charles 11. had higher notions on this subject than he. His opinion of the Prussian Constitution was, that the crime of demanding on the part of the people, and of yielding on the part of the sovereign, was suffi cient to call down the direct vengeance of the Most High on the whole kingdoms In Church matters his principles were quite the same; His opposition to the United Prussian Church, however, was limited by the fact that the King had consummated the union, and therefore, ac cording to his principles, a thing in itself abso lutely wrong, had become relatively right News of the Churches, SCANDINAVIA. In the Scandinavian kingdoms, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, many numistakeable signs of spiritual growth and progress are visible. In the latter part of July, the third biennial conference of the Scandinavian churches took place in Christiania, the most successful and gra tifying, in point of numbers and harmony of ac tion, of the three. Preliminary steps were taken for the formation of a Scandinavian Missionary Society in place of the organizations existing in the separate kingdoms. Rationalism has disappeared from the Norwegian pulpit.— Crowded congregations have taken the place of empty seats. There are no less than 400 mis sionary societies scattered through the country. Sabbath-observance, however, in Norway is but little known, and intemperance, in the use of beer and ale, is rife. In Copenhagen a sort of baptismal regeneration heresy has sprung up, and created considerable agitation in the Church. SWITZERLAND. Evangelical “Essays and Reviews Dr. Ull man, the learned editor of the Studien und Kriti ken, highly recommends in the last number of that quarterly, a volume published conjointly by some of the most distinguished theologians of Switzerland. The occasion for its publication was the spread of the hew species of infidelity, above described, in the city of Basel, so celebrated as the seat of some of the greatest Christian socie ties of continental Europe. Some of the pro fessors of the University, and of the clergymen of the city, united in giving popular and elabo rate lectures on the principal doctrines of the Apostles’ Creed, and the great applause with which their lectures were received induced them to publish them in book form under the title. Contributions to an Apology for the Christian Faith. (Znr. Verantioorfung des CJiristlichen Olaubens, Basel, 1861.) The first volume—the only one which has yet appeared—eODtuins the following essayss “ What is Faith?” by Professor Riggenbach, of Basel; “Nature or God,” by Pro fessor Gess; “ Sin, its Essence and Consequences,” by Rev. Mr. Stahelin; “The Old Testament and the Pagan World,” by Professor Auberlen.—Me thodist. A three days’ prayer to the Sautissima Annunzt ata of Florence, for rain, has recently been ob served by crowds in that city, showing that the masses of the people are still deluded, and in com plete subjection to the old popish superstitions. Schools have, however, been established by the Waldenses, and by the Kaiserswerth deaconesses in Florence, which are in a flourishing condition, and will contribute largely to open the eyes of the rising generation to the emptiness of these delu sions. About 31,000 Bibles were sold in Italy last year. ITALY. PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3,1861. and 18,000 during the first six months of the pre sent year. MISSIONARY FIELDS At a single station in South Africa, TJmvoti— more than forty Zulus have professed and de sired to become disciples of Christ, in regard to most of whom the missionaries think they have good ground to hope. The mission has better prospered than at any; previous era of its history. A native preacher has been set to work, and it is expected’he will be supported without foreign aid. The missionaries on the Sandwich Islands are much encouraged in their work. In reporting the year’s labours, they say: Never, within the last twenty years, has there been so much evidence of the Spirit’s presence in our churches, as during the year just closed. Prom nearly all our stations, the voice of rejoicing has come up for spiritual mercies. Most of the re ports of pastors have been cheering. The churches have been revived, backsliders reclaimed,the fallen raised, the weak, strengthened, the timid made brave for truth, and hardened sinners converted to God. About 1500 converts have been gathered into the churches during the year, and there are still many candidates who may be received hereafter. Injsupporting the preaching of the gospel; in erecting and repairing churches; ip sending the word of life to the heathen; and in many other acts of Christian enterprise, our churches have done well. All the reported contributions amount to more than twenty thousand dollars, besides much that has been done in a more private and quiet way. The treaties with China. In regard to these, Rev. Mr. Blodget, missionary of the American Board in Tientsin, seventy-five miles from Pekin, While the French have an explicit agreement that the Roman Catholic religion shall be every where tolerated; that property formerly owned by Roman Catholics, but taken from them in times of persecution, shall be restored; and that'Freueh missionaries may buy land in all the provinces, erect churches, and hold public worship; there is an indefiniteness in the English and American treaties, which makes it a debatable question whe ther their missionaries have any legal right to re side in any other places than the open ports. If they have, it is a right derived'from the French treaty, in virtue of the “ favored nation " clause. Rev, Mr. Tracy of the Madura mission in India, reports; that a season of awakening, attended with pungent convictions of sin, great distress of mind, and great excitement was experienced in Pasuma lie Seminary, embracing nearly every pupil. A number found peace, and joy in believing, and it is believed that “a truly divine work has been enjoyed in the hearts of many.” The Bulgarians. Rev. Mr. Byington, of Eski Agra, writes: A residence of only a few months sufficed to convince me that a very different state of mind existed among the Bulgarians from what, by many, had been supposed; and now, after a re sidence of three years, during the last two of which I have enjoyed favorable opportunities for becoming acquainted with the character of the people, I am convinced that our work among them will be difficult to prosecute and slow to develop. EXTRACTS FROM A SERMON DELIVERED ON THE NATIONAL FAST DAY, IN THE WALNUT STHEET CHURCH, WEST PHILADELPHIA. BY BENJAMIN J. WALLACE, [Tate Sermon was delivered extempore, and parts ofit are Written ont by rectnest of persons who heard it ] . Josh, 10: 14. “ And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.” Israel had crossed the Jordan dry shod, but were still encamped near it at Gilgal. A message Budden and urgent as language could make it came to Joshua from the Gibeonites, his allies. “Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us; for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the moun tains are gathered together against us.” Joshua was a great general and a noble man. He "did not allow a small force allied to Israel to be overpowered by superior numbers; nor did he permit- the fact that the treaty with the Gibeonites was obtained by them with guile, to prevent him from faithfully executing it. If he swore to his own hurt, he changed not; he never repudiated. It was a great occasion. The strength of the Amorites was confederate. ; The kings of two of the main cities of Canaan were there. They were determined to crush the strangers out of the land and they, therefore, attacked the only tribe that had formed an alliance with them. Though, on another occasion, three days had been consumed in the journey from the Jordan to Gibeon, and though this was probably the ordinary caravan time, yet in a single, day, or perhaps a part of a day —from whatever time he received the message —and at night, he arrived with his army, the Lord giving him assurance that the Amorites should be defeated. The man who stands upon the beautiful plain of Sharon, sees the broad valley of Ajalon, the “stags” or “gazelles,” sweeping upwards with a gradual ascent to the foot of the passes of Ben jamin.* Up the mountain ascend the gorges of the Nether and the Upper Bethhoron, and above them still is the height, of Gibeon. The host of Israel falling suddenly upon the Amorites, the Lord discomfited them, and they were driven down the passes of the upper and the nether Beth horon. Suddenly a storm came up from the valley, accompanied with great hailstones, and burst upon their heads. When t}ie sun waa in the midst of heaven, Joshua feared that the vic tory might be imperfect—that the Amorites might escape, iq the darkness of the coming night. Standing in sight of the discomfited hosts, in front of him the passes that make their way to the Me diterranean, whose waves were in his view; beyond him the steep gorges which bear down suddenly to the Jordan, and immediately beside him the peak from which, long after, the Crusaders pros trated themselves as they beheld the Holy City; he raised to heaven that heroic spear which had led the van of Israel through the weary desert, and Bpake such words.as never mortal man had spoken; “Sun, stand thou Btill upon Gibeon; and thou Moon, in the valley of Ajalon! And the son stood still and the moon stayed, until the peo ple had avenged them upon their enemies.” To the man who raises an astronomical objection to this sublime narrative, we have only to say that the God who made the sun and moon, and gave them the impulse which has kept them moving ever since with incalculable velocity in their orbits, could stop them if He chose, and that He did stop them, He himself tells us. If the seieneeling would inquire further, let him rash against the thick bosses of Jehovah’s buckler and ask Him how he did it. It was a great occasion. The chosen people for the first time met the main host of the aliens,, and Revelation itself says that there was no day like that before it or after it. Let ns invigorate ourselves with the principles involved in this narrative before we proceed to consider the state of our own country. [Only the heads of this part of the discourse are given.] 1. The Lord’s purposes will be accomplished * See Stanley—a most beautiful and picturesque book on theifloly Land. eveii though the laws of 'nature be suspended. So jt was in the Deluge;' &) Hie destruction of the t/ities of the Plain; wfen' Sennacherib’s army perished; in a long line off Miracles.. The physical is always subordinate to t|e moral in His kingdom. The earth is a mere thektre upon which to enact divine principles. ' i: _2. See what one hero bad do when God is with him! ' ■" ' • 3, Energy and effort a're ihdispensahly heces sary to obtain God’s blessing. •. ; ' While Joshua stood frith outstretched spear, the Israelites drove the Ainoritesdown Beth-horon. Perhaps they knew not, that the stars, that after wards in their courses foaght against Sisera were how suspended in mid heaven to light them on their way. _4. Faith is as essential as energy. And what faith it was! Scarce any other mortal man could have - risen to its height. Conceive the heroism that believed that the sui; and the moon would stand still at-his voice, th it the Lord would thus hearken to the voiee of a nan ! ; A national fast is a time for examining national sins,; ' When great dang sra press upon ns, we! need God’s help. : If all idwer is nltimately in. the Almighty’s bands, thetwhai’bffends 1 him must be taken out of the way, of , This is a plain, simple, direct troth that there‘is' hb gainsaying. ■• ■ " ’f-d' ’ ’ We have endeavored to'trace the Bins of our nation to their sources, that' physician is not considered skilful who raistakes for disease. The task of thisihalysie is not ah easy one. ■■ '' i Wh: 'i ha’' >ed ’ ’hr jat we have aimt - to tdo, is to ascertain what ar e the vices that grow especially out of our na tional institutions and character, our character istic, or American sins. | All students of history know that there are sins which are characteristic of) nations—the Phoeni cians, Hebrews, Greeks, Remans, French, Eng lish. After some reflection'and some care toavoid too much generalization and too much subdivision, we have supposed that the (characteristic Ameri can sins may b,e reduced tdj three: : ’ I. The first of these viceg springs from the na ture of our political institutions. Let us examine tlfe governing potoer in Aiheriea. Its extent is vast as that of the greatest empires that have ever existed, -It is said that the ex penditures of our Government for the presentyear may reach five hundred million dollars, and that five hundred thousand men may be brought into the field. There will : be, perhaps, of all kinds, this year, fifty thousand officials to control this money, to command these men, and to take care of the immense interests of a nation of upwards of thirty millions of people, linked in thirty-four ■sovereign States, and covering half a hemisphere; . What is the 1 soured' of!'all this power? The people," and those.who'ean gain it from the people. Suffrage is here universal. It is not our business to say whether this is wise or unwise. We are treating it as a fact,, The,man that can persuade the masses of the people, just as they are, to give him power, gets it, ; What has followed from this ? To a great ex tent politics have become, T a trade. In foreign lands men flatter kings ,an,4 courts. In America they flatter the people. ■ .Hence arises the power and danger of the demagogue, Hence the ma chinery of nominations. The little knots of men that gather in certain grog-shops in each ward or village, make your Delegates to nomi nating conventions are br|bed. Voters are made drunk and bribed. Legislation is bought almost as openly as Rome was set up for sale by the Prsetorian guards. Legislatures are bribed; Sena tors are bribed ; Quartermasters are bribed. Po litical corruption is a characteristic and deadly American sin. When you ask the patriot what can be done, he leans his head upon his hand and, with melancholy tone, says he knows not. One of the ablest statesmen of this or any other land, one of the ornaments of this city, a man whose utterances are like those flashes of lightning which, in a dark night, lay bare the bosom of a broad valley, has just said that this nation is safer now than it has been for ten years. He saw how corruption has been feeding upon our land “like slow fire upon a consuming brand." Two classes of men are thus raised to office. The first are bold, bad, brazen, but able. They wade through unimaginable filth to power. Such men are leading this Southern rebellion. The other class are utterly incompetent, intellectually, to govern. They are empty as sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Morally corrupt, they de scend to every falsehood, and are capable of every low art to deceive. It follows that, with such men in office, the worst example is set to the people, and the nation is badly governed. While there are noble exceptions, these are too generally the character of our officials. Besides then, all that we can do by the diffusion of religious and moral principle, one grand, solemn duty rises to view, and should be urged on an oc casion like this: Respectable men, and, above all, Christian men, must become politicians. For consider what is involved. Suppose we were at sea in some Great Eastern, and that the navigation were committed to the worst and most incompetent men on board, would it not be suffi cient for honest and capable men that our all was embarked on board together? You do not hesi tate to say that good men should fight for the na tion in this extreme peril. You and I give onr sons to the battle-field, and we offer all we hold dear upon the altar of otir country. But what then excuses the ablest and best men in the land from guiding the State in those times which our great statesman said were more perilous than these of war? If the most corrupt men in the community make our rulers, make our laws and then adminis ter them, what must become of the country ? The dry-rot eats into the vessel in time of peace, not amidst the activities of war. 11. The second of our characteristic American vices is, ike love of money. Very high authority informs, us, that this vice is the root of all! evil. ■ It is a-melancholy acknow ledgment, therefore, that it-is our second great characteristic vice. It grows out of our institutions and national character thus: In the old world, for example, in England, there are many rewards of successful ambition. One of the most striking and influen tial is that of rank. The aristocracy are recruited continually from the people. Successful* profes sional and scientific men, and those who have ac quired great wealth, are thus rewarded. There are also very rich endowments of various kinds, lucrative governmental institutions, which are the reward of. literary eminence. All this tells upon society. The distinctions that reward aspirants are thus of varied character. . ® ut ln this country the grand worldly distinc tion-office alone excepted—is money. But this is a very mean form of aristocraoy. For 1. It is a distinction, in multitudes of cases, not founded upon intellect. 2. It is not founded upon culture, but only upon a kind of practicality which is often coarse. d. It is often mot based upon moral grounds. 4. It fastens upon its victim with a most strange, absorbing; power., - It is the perversion of the pro pensity of possession. - 5. It ultimatcly.ruins themind. • 6. It indurates the heart. Extremes show ten dencies. The miser is the lover of money in his ultimate outcome. . The possessor of money without the taste, cul ture, or virtue to enjoy it, desires some visible manifestation of his eminence. This is the source of that barbaric luxury for which we are becoming remarkable, mere show and pride of wealth with° out an idea to dignify it. Hence arises, too, that power of fashion which leads to extreme- follies, and which does not stop short-of*licentiousness. The checks Jo the love of money are the spi rituality whjch sets the affections upon heaven; the culture and taste that elevate the mind about it; the domestic virtues that make home de lightful. ; i , . 111, The grand element of the third class of vices is, wil/ulness. It is an unwillingness to submit to lawful authority; a tendency to indi vidual despotism; a want of self-restraint. The illustrations are legion. We.abuse our liberty, or make it a cloak for licentiousness. It breaks forth on the right hand and the left. ’ Our prevalent ungodliness is the refusal to sub mit to the authority of God, the great Supreme.- Hence rightfully, during the great revival of re ligion which,; a number of years ago, gathered in large numbers of persons to the church, the pri mary element of religion was set forth as submis sion to God. It is so with Americans especially. They need to recognise some Being as wiser, bet ter, purer, more powerful than themselves. 1 Sab bath-breaking is a striking form of this disregard of divine authority. Disregard of rightful sovereignty leads to des potism. The man that will not obey the law is sure to be a tyrant, if he can. The abuse of liberty,leads to anarchy. The converse is true, also;. : ' Despotism leads to disunion. , Injustice to the rights, of others leads to the refusal to recog nise , lawful authority. The slaveholder on prin ciple, the man who deliberately oppresses his fel low-men, will be 1 naturally- a rebellious citizen. Hence, this wicked: and rebellious treason grows out of slavery, and is logically connected with the doctrine that slavery is right and ought to be per petuated. Another form of this vice is arrogance, vain self-confidence, national conceit and vanity. We have felt as though we were the greatest of na tions, and invincible by all mankind. It manifests itself in the want of parental go vernment., in the wilfulness of children, and the absence of suitable training in families. It appears in the want of self-restraint, result ing in intemperance,, licentiousness, animalism, brutality and violence. Notwithstanding all that we have said, we do not despair of the Republic. W T e do not believe that the wondrous beginning" of this nation is to fail of its maturity We heard an aged divine say, beautifully, that God ,is gracious to youth, and that this is but. a r young natiou with the faults of immaturity. The discipline through which we are passing is wholesome and most necessary. Tbe course which the Almighty pursues with in dividuals, he pursues with nations also. Whom the Lord loveth he chastenetb,, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Besides those in scrutable designs which may be hid from us, there, are sdme palpable advantages of the war, upon which it may be well to touch in closing our dis course. They are calculated, and this is most encouraging, to be in part remedies for our worst vices. 1. It has already developed the patriotism of the country iu an unwonted manner. The self ishness of the nation was strikingly mani|pst in, the deflections from the spirit of our fathers in the early days of the Republic, The patriotism of 1776 seemed to be yielding to increasing selfish ness, manifest in an indisposition on the one hand to exertion for the country, and on the other by corruption, in using it for. base purposes. Mean while patriotism was occult, if it had not died away. But now we are moved by the noise of war and the smoke of battle. Until our starry banner was assailed we did not know how much we loved it. Until our fatherland was rent, we did not knot? how deep was our passionate attachment to it. We had become isolated, each from the other. We needed to feel the beatings of each others’ hearts, and to see the tears springing to a brother’s eye, as battalion after battalion of our countrymen filed onward against the foe. The spell that lies in the words American, fellow-country men, needed to be freshened and revived. Whence derived we the impression that so great a boon as the freest institutions and the best government on earth could be passively enjoyed forever, with no price paid for it? When did a great blessing ever come on earth without its corresponding peril and exertion? Tbe seclusion of the Hebrew institute, the glorious Greek freedom, the dominion of Rome, the institutions of England, all cost iu proportion to their wondrous value. Our freedom Cost tbe best blood of America in a seven years’ war, and the living glow of patriotism must be kept alive by common prayers, common duties, and common sacrifices. _ 2. The courage and manliness that are tradi tional in America must be living. They, like all else, will die out if unpractised. Americans were beginning to degenerate in physical vigor. The exereise of war will develop the muscles and si new's of a free people; the discipline of regular troops will tend to order and obedience. 3. The disasters with which we have met, fall in with the design of this day, and no doubt with the divine purpose. We are to be' humbled. It is a sublime spectacle—twenty millions of people lying on their faces before God. We verily be lieve' that this people are learning the lesson that the battle is not always to the strong, that the God whose angel breathed death into the one hun dred and eighty-five thousand of the host of Sen nacherib, can br,eathe panic into the bravest men that ever drew sword. The conviction is deep this day that the sovereignty of God must be re spected, and his Sabbath must be honored, and his high authority recognised if we would be vie-, torious in our armies. God bless our- beloved country, 'and may He fight for us as he fought for Israeli THE POWER OF FEEBLE CHRISTIANS All the graces of God, splendid or obscure,' have benefited the church; but God having mul tiplied feeble Christians, and distributed more sparingly those that are strong, has by this suffi ciently indicated the importance he attaches to the former. If, in the primitive church, lie granted extraordinary gifts to believers generally, it was only in a certain measure, and for a time. In general, he has appeared disposed to humble power, reserving triumphs for weakness. “He has chosen the foolish things of the world to con found the wise, and feeble things to confound the strong, things vile and despised, yea, things that are not to bring to naught things that are." He has brought into competition riches and poverty, wisdom and ignorance, philosophy and rusticity; but poverty, rusticity and ignorance have con- From time to time he has called to his aid genius and powej*, and permitted them to co operate in his work; but when he has so willed it, the sling of the young son of Jesse has sufficed to overthrow Goliath. Thesmallness of the means has only served to enhance the power of him who employed them. In all time, the church has been sufficient to the church, truth has been sufficient to truth. Eloquence and enthusiasm have not done so much for this sacred cause as the modest virtues, the uniform “activity, and the patient prayers of thousands of believers whose names are unknown. The consideration of the great movements which have been accomplished in the bosom of the church, have led some persons to a different judgment. A Paul; an Augustine, and a Luther, were certainly not feeble members of the church. Such men, or rather such powers, have 1 been or dained of God, in the course of time, to prepare the soil of the church for a glorious harvest, to open to the Christian life a favorable and more extensive sphere: And God forbid that wo should fail to recognise the importance of these grand manifestations! But the reign of God on earth is nothing else than his reign in each of the souls which compose the church. And if the prosperity of the church has for its measure the number and reality of individual .eon if God is more honored in the profound emotions of souls subdued by grace, than by the' public and solemn procla mation of the doctrines of revealed religion, let us acknowledge as a truth,, that the feeble members of the church contribute much more, proportion ally, to the reign of God, than the'powerful mem bers of whom-we have spoken. As to the latter, it seems to us that admiration very generally excuses us; from, imitation. Ap pearing at intervals, such men do. not eome into contact with us all. In this respect, their writings and their memory but imperfectly'replace their life ; for it is by feeble things, by ordinary and fa miliar'details, that they could make upon; us. a deep impression. Life; alone ; could have acted upon life. But isolated from us by circumstances, by their very greatness, by their tame, they can exert upon us only an indirect and general'in fluence, doubtless favorable and salutary, but going no further than simply disposing us to observe and study the feeble members of that flock, of wlneli we must form a part in order to be the children of God. These latter models appear more within our reach; although their gifts may not be in reality either less precious.or less divine; tbgni those of, the firgt,glass; of Christians. - ; We feel thgk nothing can . supply their place ; that while we may be neither wise, nor eloquent, nor rapt by religious ecstacy, to the third heavens, we must be holy; and that is the natural vocation of every soul, and the holy; and the design of God respecting us all. This holiness, proportioned tp our measure, and.adapted ,to a sphere of activity which does not transcend our own,- attracts us by its simplicity, while it strikes us by its beauty. Mysterious-in its Origin,’ wonderful’ in : its nature, nay, miraculous, ifewe consider the changes it pro duces, but not the ; less human,, attainable and practicable, it is the,prose of the kingdom of hea ven, which each is bound to speak. Yes, these lives; habitually imbued with the spirit of Chris tianity,'of a single and even tenor, of a strict con sistency, of a solemn unity, of a sweet serenity, of an indefatigable and tranquil activity, of a zeal which, does much, and says little, —lives, whose Christian character appears as much more incon testable as enthusiasm takes a place inferior to that of charity, are what accomplish the most for the cause of Christ. These constitute the salutary contagion whieh is perpetually acting in the church, which has kept, through the most disas trous times, so many hearts for the Lord, and, in more favored epochs,’ multiplied them abun dantly. • It is such, that, the Lord lias cast as seed into the world, a grain of which will produce, in some twenty, in others thirty, and in others a hundred fold. These are the'first fruits of that great har vest, whieh is ripening in the field of the world, and which, we' have the assurance, will one day coyer with its-fruits the entire face of the earth. That day is not yet come; and the circumstances which are to bring it develop themselves slowly. Every thing in the World moves more rapidly than the progress of that kingdom of love and peace. • What improvements are to be made, be fore man will deign to care for the. improvement of his soul!. Is it not strange, to see him making himself sure of every thing excepting his salvation; restoring every tiling except his conscience; specu lating on every thing except eternity? Admirable age, to which nothing is, wanting, hut the one thing needful! Political society is settling it self on new foundations, .the .rights of- man are secured, and therein’l rejoice; but in the midst of this development of arts and opulence, I seek for the Holy Spirit,.that spirit of moderation,-of. disinterestedness and ,of purity,-h-where is it? Science, literature, public instruction extend'tlieir domain ; culture diffuses itself into all the places, and amid all the conditions from which it was banished; intelligence is everywhere honored; and therein I certainly rejoice; but amid these tri-. iimphs of human thought, I seek for the Holy Spirit, the spirit of humility, of piety and ,of charity;—where is it? Ah, my brethren, it is stil necessary that this divine Consoler should con sole all, that this power should subdud’all, that this life should, animate all.. Strive by prayer for, the advent of that glorious day: contend for Jesus Christ, who has contended for you; supplicate With fervour, that his kingdom may come; pray that “at his name every knee may bow, and every tongue confess, that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Ask not for the extraordinary gifts which he shed upon the apostles in their day, but pray that the Holy Spirit of God may multi ply among you the number of those feeble mem bers, that is, of those humble and faithful Chris tians, who are the power and hope of the church. Let all of us together ask it from the Father of lights; and beseech him to add to. the church, eyen on this day, some souls that may he saved. Vinet. THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA. In this gay arid pleasure-loving city a Church of Jesus Christ'was planted, probably by the Apostle Paul, between thirty and forty years ago. In an early -period of its history the members were wont to meet, -for worship and Christian inter course, in the house of a brother, whose name was Nymphas. Epaphras, from the neighboring city of Colosse, a friend Of the Apostle Paul, and a ‘servant of Christ,’ to whom we have before re ferred, frequently, ministered -to them in holy things. The Apostle himself, addressed an im portant letter to them, which he also wished to be read to the Christians at Colosse; that letter, there is reason to believe, is identical with that addressed, or supposed to be addressed to the Ephesians. The, influence of that wealth, how ever, of which we see such abundant indications, and of those splendid theatres, which we noticed, and of those gorgeous temples, whose stately co lumns meet our eye on every side, has been too strong for the. piety of these Laodiceana. Their love to God and goodness has cooled ; they have not the relish they once had for spiritual things; they are become conformed to the world; they are proud of their wealth and respectability; they are not likely to make any inroads upon the gross heathenism around them. Whilst, they, and the rest of the citizens, are intent upon their business and their pleasures, and whilst we are gazing upon the public buildings which attract our attention, a messenger quietly arrives in the city, bringing from the exileof Patinos, the last surviving Apos tle, the following startling letter (see Kev. iii. 14-22.) How pregnant with meaning is every expression in that message! To notice one— * So then, be cause thou: art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.’ This re fers, to the well-known fact that tepid water tends to produce sickness at, the stomach, and an incli nation to vomit. Now, call to mind the fact that this region abounds in'springs of tepid 'water, which bubbles up on the mountain, in the plain, and in the mud of the rivers. There are . also pestilential grottos, from which issues the most noisome effluvia. These the mass of the inhabi tants regard as; apertures of hell, openings- for deadly fumes to rise up from the realms of Pluto. Warm water,- mud, fire, pumniiee stone, have been vomited up from the bowels of the earth, and form, as we see, in many places the very crust of ground on which these people live, and. move and have their being. With what meaning and emphasis, then, must come to such a people, in such a place, the plain language of our Lord, ‘Be cause thou art lukewarm, I will spue thee out of my mouth!’ What is the result of this message? As to its J immediate result we have ho knowledge; but, to ! ascertain its ultimate result, let eighteen centuries roll, away; and let us pay a second visit to Lao dicea. ... , .- Ah, bow changed! On that hill, whose sum- VOL. Yl.—lo. s.—Whole No. 274. mit we saw crowned with an Acropolis, and whose sloping sides were ‘covered with stately edifices, no trace of. houses or ofe churches can we see. You lookin'vain for a single inhabitant. Nay, there is one. Do you see his. ears peeping over that brow on your left? It is a fox, whom our visit has disturbed, and who is evidently surprised and 'indignant at ohr intrusion. The ruins Of theatresT-those theatres, which; witnessed the di versions, and echoed, the applause of congregated thousand^—- abound: those theatres, the attrac tions of which were such a snare to the professing Christians, abd for the sake of which they heart lessly left Christ standing at the door, and knock ing in vain for admission. The whole of the dis trict, once most fertile and populous; fabled, on .account of its richness and beauty, as the abode ‘of classic deities; contended for by the armies of East and of West,—is now a region of ruins, a ‘ vast necropolis.' Y estiges of ruined walls, arches, inscribed flags of stone, fallen columns, and sar cophagi, are strewed on every hand. Ah! those sarcophagi, those stone coffins, how numerous they are, and what reflections they suggest! Look at them. They contain the dust of those lukewarm professors, but where are their’ souls ? ' By-and by that dust, or such of it as is essential to person al identity, shall rise‘to shame and everlasting contempt.' Gaze around, and learn that verily ‘there is a God that judsieth in the earth.' The prophetic denunciations of Ames have been awfully fulfilled. The Laodiceaos have been blotted out from the face Of the earth; and from the’ family of God. No. wretched outcast dwells amidst the ruins of their city; and those ruins have long since been abandoned to the owl and the fox. Earthquakes and subterranean commotions have conspired to aid the ravages of man ; and centuries appear to .have elapsed since its final overthrow. Eski-hissar, the old eastle, a miserable village.which has sprung from its ruins, and is- at a little distance from its site, contains about fifty inhabitants, of whom two only, who possess a small mill, are Christian, even in name, and they are so ignorant as to be unable to read. It is a melancholy and repulsive scene. Our only anxiety is now to get away. We thought Ephesus a dreary spot, but Laodieea is even more so. . The former has'a distant prospect of the rolling sea, or a whitening sail, to enliven its soli tude; but Laodieea sits in widowed loneliness; its walls are grass-grown, its temples desolate, its very name has perished. Every wind that sweeps through the valley sounds like the fiendish laugh of Time, exulting above the overthrow of man and bis proudest monuments. Laziness seems to have been a very prevalent vice in this country from days of old, giving rise to a multitude of popular proydFbs, which the Wise Man has preserved in his collection. Indeed, there is scarcely any other subject so often mentioned, or so richly and scornfully il lustrated by Solomon as this. His rebuke of the sluggard, drawn from the habits of the ant, is very appropriate and suggestive. (Prov. vi. 6-11.) We need not now “consider her ways” in. general; for all the world is or may be fami liar with them. There are some circumstances, however,, mentioned in this passage, which must have been suggested by actual life in this coun try. Thus the fact that the ant will faithfully and perseveriogly work withoutguide, or over seer, or ruler, .is very striking. When I began to employ!workmen in this country, nothing an noyed me'more than the necessity to hire also an overseer, or to fulfil, this office myself. But I soon found that this was universal and strictly necessary. Without an overseer very little work would .be, done, and nothing as it should be. The workman, every way’unlike the ant, will not work at all unless kept to it and directed in it by an overseer; who is himself a perfect speci men of laziness. He does absolutely nothing bnt smoke his pipe, order this, scold that one, and discuss the hour and the,why with the men themselves, or with, idle passers-by, who are strangely prone to enter earnestly into every body’s business but their, own. This overseeing often costs more than the work overseen. It is carious to notice how intensely Solomon hated this vice, and in bow many ways he gave expression to his abhorrence and contempt of the sluggard. Thus' The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting. (Prov. xii. 27.) The most good-for-nothing fellow may be roused by the excitement of the chase to en dure the fatigue of hunting, but, when this vio lent stimulus is past, he is too indolent even to roast the game he lias taken with so much toil. Again, The son! of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing. ; (Prov: xiii. 4 ) Thris, too, he is brother to him who is a great waster, (Prov. xviii. 9,), and he coveteth greedily all daylong, and hath nothing, for his hands refuse to labor. (Prov. xxi. 25, 26.) The way of the slothful is as a hedge of thorns: (Prov. xv. 19,) it pribks, lacerates, and entangles the miserable wretch. Slothfulriess produces a sickly timidity, and is ever fruitful and expert in raising idle objections and imaginary dangers. There is a lion without; I shall be slain in the streets. (Prov. xxii. 13.) He will hot plough by rea son of the cold; (Prov. xx. 4.) and as plough ing and sowing cannot be carried on until the winter rains commence, be neglects altogether to; sow his fields, therefore shall he beg In har vest and have nothing. I have often pitied the farmer when ploughing in the cold rains and pitiless winds, arid it requires triore decision of character than belongs to a sluggard to bear np against them; he therefore retreats into his hat, kindles a little fire, and dozes away his time by the side of it, enveloped in pungent smoke. Nor will be be roused: A little more sleep, a little more folding-of the hands. As the door on his hinges, so the sluggard on his bed rolls back and forth with many a creak and weary groan. He will -put forth more arguments for his base conduct than seven men that can render a rea son. There is a lion in the streets; it is too cold or too hot, too wet or too dry, too early or top late, time plenty or the time is past, the (opportunity lost, and so on ad infinitum- The sluggard hideth his hand in his bosom, and it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. Prov. xxvi. 13-16. Our Arab anecdotes go far beyond Solomon. A favorite illustration of extreme laziness is the case of a man that would not turn bis head over on his pillow, though the muddy water leaking through the roof fell plump into his eye. But that description in the 24th chapter of Proverbs is the one Which strikes me as most appropriate to my poor fellaheen: I went by: the field of the slothful, and by the vjneyard of the man void of understanding, and 10, it was all grown over with thorns, arid nettles had Covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Yes, that is true to nature, and to aetnal life in all its details. The stone terraces and garden walls soon tumble down when neglected, and this, beyond any country I have seen, is prolific in thorns and thistles. All your vineyards in this region are covered with them, and so thou sands of your valuable olive-trees are completely choked up with briers,and thorns, and their own ers are too shiftless and indolent to clear them away. The Patriots of the Revolution never uttered a more noble sentiment than Gov. Sprague of Rhode Island expressed when he said, “ Wealth is useless unless it promote the public welfare, and'life itself but a bubble; unless it ministers to the honor and glory of our country.” Christian Treasurj- ORIENTAL SLUGGARDS. W. Thomson, D.D.
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