ISTew Series, 'V’ol.
11.
■ John A Weir in-
Strictly in Advance $2.50, Otherwise $3. I 10 m1v69
Postage 20cts, to be paid where delivered, j
ffamcira Jwijbiiau.
THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1869.
THINGS MISCALLED AMUSEMENTS.
The popular amusements of the day are griev
ously misnamed. They should be called excite
ments. The Anglo-Saxons and the Celts, the
races that give character to our American civili
zation and religion, know little of amusement in
its proper sense. It does not content them. The
dance, the evening party, the card table, the the
atre and opera, the race course, the billiard sa
loon and the ten pin-alley are either in their very
nature, or by their almost invariable associations,
excitements of the most unwholesome, inordinate
and pernicious sort. Such a party as that given
by a prominent New England Representative in
Washington some six weeks ago, when, after the
usual gayeties and feasting and drinking had ex
tended to one o’clock in the morning, we are told
“ the German ” was commenced and kept up till
near daybreak and the whole was finished by a
champagne breakfast—could this be rightly call
ed amusement ? By no means. It was a piece
of real business, of the hardest and most trying
nature, cruel to body and to soul, as severe a draft
upon the nerve-force as a forced march, or a total
route and pell-mell retreat of an army. Nay, we
believe the downright butchery of a battle-field
is less barbarous and more truly amusing than
the orgies of such a first-class all-night party at
the Metropolis. The theatre is also the scene of
wearying, demoralizing, embrutiDg excitement,
more enfeebling and corrupting tlian a miasm.
The fierce passions, the gorgeous lewdness, the
unmitigated sensuality of spectacle and costume
and situation and plot of the staple performances
of the drama, —what refreshment is there in all
this ? What refreshment indeed on the very
crater of hell, inhaling the sulphurous fumes of
the pit ? Men do not go to those places for the
innocent and wholesome thing properly called
amusement, they go for excitement. They go not
to be entertained, but to be inflamed.
So in games, which of themselves are innocent
and pure, as billiards and nine pins, (we cannot
include cards, as the element of chance enters too
largely into the game;) Americans are not con
tent until, by connecting the excitements of bet
ting, loss and gain of money, and above all, drinks,
with the play, they have fairly shut it out of the
list of amusemonts and made it a snare to char
acter and possessions, a swift path to dissipation
and ruin.
Amusement, relaxation, innocent gayety, hi
larity, Bportivcness, is a Gospel duty. There is
a time to laugh. But it is one of the gravest mis
takes of our age and country, that it knows so
little of amusements, and has gone almost exclu
sively into dissipation in their stead. With that,
the true Christian plainly has nothing to do, hut
to discountenance, and if the way is hedged up
against reformation, to withdraw from it utterly.
Dissipation is not among things indifferent. Gay
parties lasting till past midnight, in which every
body is over-dressed or under-dressed, in which
dances handed down from those of the children
of Israel aTound the Golden Calf, are the main
attraction ; theatres, operas and races, these are
not things indifferent, these are not amusements,
but gross abuses, by which, in the false guise of
amusement, body and soul are damaged, spirit
uality rendered impossible and our eternal well
being put in jeopardy. Towards all these, a Chris
tian has but one simple duty. Touch not, taste
not, handle not. Come out from among them
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing.
TREES. 11.
By Rev. I. E. Adams, D.D.
Trees grow in Paradise. There were “ the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 1 ' and
“ the tree of life.” The notion that these trees
were one and the same is confuted by the sacred
record. 11 Out of the ground made the Lord
God to grow every tree that was pleasant to the
sight and good for food—the tree of life also,
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”
That is to say, both these trees were in the
midst of the garden, standing side by side, fit
types of the world’s history, in which good and
evil are not widely separated, however distinct
in their natures.
The latter tree was to be the test of character
in our first parents. Their knowledge of good
and evil became experimental when they par
took of “ the forbidden fruit”
Paradise was the garden of delights. The
stately forms, the varied fruits, and rich foliage
of trees were sources of pleasure. “.Every tree
that was pleasant’’ grew there, and all sweet in
fluences pervaded the happy abode. ’
“ The landscape glowed with holy joy,
Zephyrs, with wing dipped in the well of life,
Sporting through Eden, scattered living dews.
The flowers, the spicy shrubs, the lawns, refreshed,
Breathed their selectest balm, breathed odors, such
As angels love ; and all the loftiest trees,
Cedar and Pine, and everlasting Oak,
Rejoicing on the mountains, clapped their hands.”
It is our purpose in these papers on trees, to
give our ideas of the “ tree ,of life” about which
so many views inadequate and conflicting have
been entertained. And in order the better to
discuss the subject, it is important to ascertain
whether we are' dealing with allegory , or with
fact.
If the first chapters of Gefiesis are only figura
tive, our inquiries may as well be suspended- at
once. But we regard them as historical. Their
language is not that of fiction, nor of poetry,
but of sober prose. Its structure, its style is
historical. It gives the impression to every un
biased reader, of being a record of facts. We
have equal ground for rejecting any other por
tion of Biblical history, as for this. We can
be sure of no historical facts in the Sacred
word, if there be none in these chapters. More
over, taken as history, they present a consistent,
rational account, the only one, of the earliest
facts —such as the creation of the earth; the
origin of man; the institution of the Sabbath
and of marriage; the division of time; the in
troduction of sin and misery; the natural sterility
of the earth and necessity of labor; the subjec
tion of woman to her husband; and the natural
antipathy of man to the serpent. It has been
well said, that if we reject the historical char
acter of these chapters, we have only a series
of allegories :—the man, the woman, the crea
tion, the temptation, the rail, the trees, and
Paradise itself, are all myths; or each is allego
rical, and therefore we have no reliable account
of the origin of things—no Eafe record of what
we now knofo to be facts. The historical char
acter of these chapters is proved by allusions to
them in other portions of the Bible. Qur Lord
quotes from one of them in His address to the
Pharisees, on the subject of divorce:—“Have
ye not read thqt He, which made them at the
beginning, made them male and female? for :
this cause shall 'a man leave his father and
mother, and cleave unto his'' wife, and they
twain shall be one flesh.”
Paul refers to facts first recorded in these
chapters, when speaking of the serpent beguiling
Eve, and of Adam being first formed and then
Eve. If these allusions are correct and the in
ferences from the facts just, they actually took
place, and are recorded historically in the first
chapters of Genesis. We may therefore be
satisfied, that the “tree of life” was areal tree
in Eden. What then was its use? What did it
signify ? What religious lesson does it offer us ?
Did it serve an actual purpose in regard to the
dwellers of Eden ? Had it any relation to their
temporal or spiritual life ? any significance for
us in this Christian age ? any typical import re
garding our Lord, or the future of His Church ?
These questions will be considered in our next
paper.
METHODIST AFFINITIES AGAIN.
The Methodist Protestant of Baltimore, copies
at length our article of a month ago upon “ Me
thodist Affinities for Presbyterianism,” and com
ments upon it in that fraternal and generous spirit
which we should have anticipated from that
branch of the Methodist Church. In all our in
tercourse with them, personal and professional,
we have yet to come upon a trace of bigotry. Be
ing without bishops, and always, if we mistake
not, having had lay representation, their form of
government may be called Presbyterian with
scarcely any, accommodation of language. Their
method of work, however, involves them in the
same difficulty about probationers with the other
sections of the Methodist body, and their stand
ards of doctrine are the same.
The opening paragraph of the Methodist Pro
testant’s article is as follows :
“The foregoing, from the American Presbyte
rian, published in Philadelphia, is written in such
excellent spirit, and is so well adapted to promote
the fraternal feeling which ought to prevail among
the various denominations of evangelical Chris
tians, that we transfer it to our columns, both as
an expression of our pleasure, and as a means of
bringing into more intimate relations of mutual
respect and Christian co-operation, those mem
bers of the Presbyterian and Methodist families
who are seeking to maintain ‘ the unity of the
Spirit in the bonds of peace;’”
In reference to the disappearance of probation
ers, it says, with no little justice :
“And, considering that Methodism from the
beginning, has sent its missionaries into the
‘highways and hedges,’ is it more remarkable that
delinquencies have characterised Methodist pro
bationers, than that.they have been discovered
among the accepted members ,of Calvinistio
Churches, who, in the main, have been more
highly favored in their edrly training and in the
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1869.
surroundings of their maturer years ? While both
Methodist and Presbyterian Churohes include
in their membership persons from every class of
society, the Presbyterians have a greater propor
tional number from the well-to-do middle classes,
Methodists more from the poor and illiterate.”
The closing parts of the article are as follows:
“ ‘As to doctrine,’ we may remark that ‘di
vine supremacy’ has never been debied, to our
knowledge, by intelligent Methodists, nor need
the Calvinist ‘to loosen his grasp on the iron
pillars of the Divine decrees in order to become
a good Methodist.’ We believe in the ‘divine
decrees’ as firmly as our CalvinistiC' brethren —
with this reservation: we believe that God has
no secret decrees or purpose at variance with
His declaration that he ‘hath no-pleasure in
the death of the wicked, but that the wicked
turn from his way and live;’ that Jesus Christ
‘ gave himself a ransom for all,’ and that He
‘ will have all men to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truth.’ Election, Predestina
tion and the Perseverance of Saints are compo
nent parts of our theology, as well as theirs,
with this difference—we explain . the terms
differently. Our philosophy is not their philoso
phy ; but the texts that are precious to them
are precious to us also. Calvinists can adopt
our articles of religion ; we cannot adopt theirs.
If Presbyterians have considered ‘ the Armini
anism of Methodism’ as ‘ its weak point, leading
to evanescence of results,’ and ‘ disastrous reac
tions’, Methodists have considered the Calvin
istio view of election and predestination as
the weak point of Calvinism, leading to pre
sumption, blasphemy, or despair, according to
the different temperaments of men—-yet in de
fiance of all our philosophizing, on both sides,
both Calvinists and Methodists have been
humble, earnest, loving disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ; abounding in good works, yet re
ceiving salvation as the gift of free giace;
‘ working out their own salvation with fear and
trembling,’ yet acknowledging and rejoicing that
it is God who ‘ worketh in us both to will and
(o do of His good pleasure.’
“What then is the ‘conclusion of the whole mat
ter ?’ It is this: ‘We be brethren.’'* Then let
us ‘ love one another, with a pure heart fervently.’
It is grateful to us to find Methodist ■ endeavors
and Methodist achievements recognized by Pres
byterians. We believe that Methodists aqd Pres
byterians will appreciate each other,morn highly
when they understand each other better. Both
are ‘set for the defence of the truth.’ Each is
doing- a-great iyork. LetuS try to uiWerstand
each other, and so remove occasion for contention.
Methodists cannot subscribe to the Westminster
Confession. Presbyterians cannot accept our
views of disputed doctrines; but both Methodists
and Presbyterians can labor, in their separate
Providential allotments, for the extension of the
Redeemer’s kingdom, each respecting the other,
and both saying from the heart, ‘ Grace be to all
them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sin
cerity.’ ”
As our cotemporary does not stop to say what
are the differences in explaining the terms:
Election, Perseverance and Predestination, we
shall not spend time in conjectures on the sub
ject. We no more believe that God has a secret
decree contrary to the plain declarations of His
word, and especially to the passages quoted, than
do the Editor of the Methodist Protestant and his
associates. But we do believe that, in some way
utterly inscrutable to human reason, and consis
tent with the infinite purity of the divine nature,
sin and holiness, the glory of the redeemed and
the misery of the lost, the free will of men, of
angels and of devils are included under the infi
nite supremacy and sovereignty of God. We ad
mit that this is a deep, a fathomless mystery, one
under which the human spirit well nigh sinks.
But if the free will of man and the fate of the
sinner are put outside of this sovereignty, we
have the far worse and more intolerable alterna
tive of dualism, or indeed of an endless number
of indepepdent existences, as many as there ace
free wills. Our Methodist brethren may have
Atlanteau shoulders broad enough to bear the
ponderous burden, but since the times of the
Manichead heresy, it has generally been regarded
as too heavy for orthodoxy te carry.
Does not\every difficulty, after all, arise from
the unwillingness of men in both schools of
thought to submit their intellects to the mystery
of unavoidable facts ? For our part, we believe
in the sovereignty of God and the free will of man,
both taken in the broadest sense, without sophis
tical qualifications or vain efforts at logical recon
ciliation, which never signify anything at all in
solving the problem, but merely mar it by rob
bing from one of the terms some part of its essen
tial qualities. ;
Meanwhile, we cbrdially reciprocate the friendly
sentiments of our eotemporary, hoping for even
more than is embraced in its aspirations, that we
may yet be able nbt only to'cherish sympathy in
spirit', but so to apprehend each other’s doctrines
as to see their contradictions swallowed up in the
greater truths and sublimer mysteries of the
Gospel.
fi©* It appears now that none of the Profes
sors in Al'egheny Seminary participated in the
meeting in Pittsburg Which issued thef “-Prater-,
nal Address;”
FIRST CHURCH OF AUBURN.
From our Rochester Correspondent.
Last Sabbath was a day of solemn and tender
interest in the First church of the beautiful city
of Auburn ; a day of farewell to the old church
edifice, which is now being pulled down to give
place to the new stone building already in pro
cess of erection. The old building was erected
in 1817, enlarged in 1829 ; was a wooden struc
ture, in that earlier day, but was the home of
very sacred associations, not only to that congrega
tion, but to many others in various parts of the
land.
It was in this edifice that Rev. Dr. Lansing
preached with his silvery eloquence for twelve
years; Dr. Josiah Hopkins was pastor for six
teen years; Dr. Nelson ten years; and now Dr.
Hawley has served them twelve years. But the
edifice was even more memorable and more
sacred, perhaps we may say without offence, from
the fact that the sessions of the famous Auburn
Convention of 1837 were held within its walls.
It was here that such men as Drs. Richards, Cox,
Beecher, Patton, McAuley, Hillyer and one
hundred and fifty other leading ministers and
laymen, assembled to consider what should
be done in those times of trial and per
plexity. It was here that the course was re
solved upon which resulted in organizing the
New School General Assembly, in 1838;
here that famous declaration of doctrine was
made which the New' School body has always
held, and which the Old School Assembly, at
Albany last spring, so handsomely endorsed; a
paper drawn up by Rev. Dr. Luther Halsey,
digested and adopted by the whole body, and
sacredly cherished by all our ministers and
churches. It was indeed a venerable edifice,
but it has done its work, done it well, and must
now give place to another and better.
In the morning, the pastor, Rev. Dr. Hawley,
preached an admirable historical discourse, cov
ering the period of nearly fifty-eight years since
the organization of the church. The sketch
embraced notices of no less than sixteen general
revivals of religion, commencing with that of
1817. The whole number who have belonged to
the church from the beginning is 2,596, of
whom 1,419 were received on profession. The
church' has been served by thirty-nine elders
and thirty-three deacons, among whom some of
the ablest and best men of western New York
are to be reckoned. In no case of discipline
has an appeal ever been taken from the de
cisions of that session, and in none has a de
cision been reached by a divided vote. IVe
doubt if many churches can be found of whom
this can be affirmed.
In the afternoon, the church held its commu
nion service, in which the Second and Central
churches, its children, united with them; and nine
persons were received to its fellowship, just the
number which constituted the ; church at its
original organization, in July, 1811. An aged
man, in his 79th year, who' has been an attend
ant at this sanctuary ever since it was dedicated
in 1817, and a lad nine years of age, were among
those received at the time.
In the evening, another union meeting was
also held, with prayers by the older members of
the First and Second churches, and addresses
by Profs. Hall and Hopkins, of the Theological
Seminary, and by Rev. S.W. Boardman, pastor of
the Second church.
It was hoped that Dr. Nelson would be pres
ent to participate in the day's services. His
duties in Cincinnati, however, forbade that, and
so he wrote a letter of tender and touching
reminiscence, which was read at the meeting in
the evening. And so they bade a respectful and
affectionate farewell to the old building of the
past.
The new chapel is nearly finished, and after a
Sabbath or two more, the congregation are ex
pecting to occupy it for their Sabbath assem
blies until the new church edifice is completed.
Rochester, Mar. 13, 1869.
—-It is a common objection of those who are
urged to commence the Christian life, that they
are afraid they will not hold out. Grant that
the fear is well-founded ; grant that a man who
sets out in earnest upon a journey may never,
reach the end; that may or may not he the ease.
But it is absolutely certain he will not reach it
if he never sets out at all. Heaven and salvation
come to none, who.do not earnestly set ahout ob
taining them. And for what infinitely lower
prizes do men struggle and agonize when they
have but the faintest chance of success 1 It is
said there are twenty applicants for every impor
tant mission in the gift ofthe government. Tut! all
that men really mean, when they make such shal
low .objections to entering on the. Christian race
is, that they have not the* remotest conception, of
the value of the prize.
Genesee Evangelist, DSTo. 1191.
( Home & Foreign Miss. $2 00.
I Addressl334 Chestnut Street.
—A friend writes us from Chicago: “ The
Northwestern Presbyterian is for sale. Would
you like to buy ?”
—An esteemed correspondent writing on the
subject of reunion and contemplating the efforts
of the 0. S. brethren to get at “ a pure and sim
ple’' basis, suggests as a solution of the whole case,
that we unite without any terms at all, saying no
thing about “the standards ” or anything else.
Would it not, he asks, be “more simple” and
“expressive of mutual confidence” to unite without
any terms at all, and let “ the Standards ” as well
as all other matters run the chances in the united
body ? At all events, we would then be done
with what begins to be wearisome and trying to
all manly persons, the multiplication of schemes
on the part of some of our 0. 8. brethren, de
signed to accomplish anything and everything
but a frank recognition of the true status of the
New School body in the Reunion.
The Presbyterian 0. S. of this city in re
plying to the Evangelist, denies that it would tie
us to one set of words and phrases in the state
ment and exposition of doctrines, and says:
“ May we not hope, then, that as they will find
us much more lenient than they seem now to ex
pect in the matter of subscription, we will also
find them much more ready than is at present
confessed, to yield the exercise of a right which
was often acknowledged to exist in the Presby
teries in times preceding the division, and which,
by the adoption of the Basis containing the Tenth
Article, by the Assembly at Harrisburg, and its
subsequent adoption by nearly all the Presbyte
ries of the New School Church, has been again
acknowledged as a right inhering in all Presby
teries?” •
If The Presbyterian means anything at all by
this, it must be at least as willing to have the
disputed clauses of the Ist Article stand, as the
whole of the Xth.
—A granite drinking fountain for man and
beast, has been pouring forth its crystal supplies,
like the water from the smitten rock, at the cor
ner of our two great thoroughfares, Broad and
Market Sts,, for some mouths past. The thirsty
horse? need'ho little urgency to induce them to
thrust their heated muzzles into the basin, that
we were surprised a few mornings ago to see the
reluctance of one of these noblest of brutes to
partake of the refreshment. He backed off,. he
snorted, he balked in a surprising way; when a
look at the wagon solved the mystery. It was
inscribed -’s Malt House! It flashed
upon us as a revelation. The noble creature had
been degraded, humanized, by his business, and
he didn't like drinking fountains.
—The signal appropriateness of President
Grant’s appointments is nowhere more manifest
than in restoring Gen. Sheridan to the Depart
ment of the Gulf, with Headquarters at New Or
leans. We all know that he was removed from
that position by our accidental President, solely
because he.would not be the tool ofthe rebel re
action, which wished to crush by every sort of
injustice and violence, not excepting assassination,
the white and black loyalists of the State. His
wholesale and unhesitating removals of that class
of officers, from Governor Wells down to a parish
justice for admitting to five hundred dollars bail
the white murderer of a negro, were the offences
which led to his removal in August, 1867. That
was one of the few occasions of a political char
acter when General Grant found his tongue, and
when, perhaps, if all were told, it would appear
that he was getting one of his lessons in Radical
ism. It was enough to'make the dumb speak.
And now he; wishes to make good the confidence
he then declared in the intelligence; and fidelity
of General Sheridan and in the conformity of hia
course to the laws of the land.
—“The Recreative Religionists” is the name
by which the Sunday League of London have
been licensed, and under which they now seek
to evade the laws which hitherto have prevented
their projected Sunday Scientific Lectures and
Concerts of Music. Very recently the opening
lecture was delivered - by Mr. Slack, a London
Editor and scientific, man. A correspondent of
The London Christian Times, Feb. 26th, says: 1
“ The subject was the Relation of Physical
Science to National Progress. The great charm
of the lecture was its brevity ;, clearly on such a
subject he might have discoursed many hours. In
reality he was not mnoh more than half an hour,
and as it was, more than one of his audience was
fast asleep long before he got to the end. Mr.
Slack comforts the people much the same way as
Dame Quickly when Falstaff was dying. The
passage is worth transcribing. 444 How now, Sir
John !” quoth I; “ what, man, he of good cheer.”
So 'a cried out—“ God, God, God,” three or four
times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him'a should
not think of, God,’ Next Sunday night Dr.
Charles Maojkay lectures .on, Science and Religion
as Exemplified, in the Philosophy of George
Combe. I had thought George Combe had been
exploded long ago. We fill knowCombe was of
DameQuickly’a way of thinking. After the leo
ture..there were selections from the oratorios.”
CURRENT TOPICS.