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New Series, Vol. - VI Nn C3l ' .
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THIIRS'D AN",' 'JULY 8, 1869
—The corrier.Stone of the new edifice of the
Central church (N. L.), corner of Franklin and
Thompson streets, Rev. J. Y. Mitchell, pastor,
will be laid to , day i at 6 o'clock, P. M.
—The Managers of the Midnight Mission have,
in the past eighteen tnonths,_had over 700 indi
vidutils under their ohatge. They are asking for
aid:
Princeton has conferred some of its highest
honors upon, men of our. body : LL.D. upon Rev.
Wm. Adams, D. D., and Henry B. Smith, D. D.,
and D. D. upon. Rev. John Crowell of Odessa,
Delaware. The University of New York con
ferred a D. D. upon Rev, Wm. Aikman, and Wil
liams' College a similar degree upon Rev, John
W. Bailey of Illinois.'
—The Directors of the Philadelphia Library
Co., are inclined to
• pause
.before accepting the
Ridgway bequest. At.a recent; meeting, Judge
Hare expressed his belief that it it would be
mainly consumed in erecting the library build
ing, which, with taxes and increased cost of
keeping it up, might, make.it not so desirable a
legacy after Ll.
~Judge Cadwalader spoke earn
estly in favor of accepting it. A joint commit
tee of six directors and pix stockholders was
raised to take the matter.into consideration, and
report to a meeting of the stoekholders to be
held in October.
—The diminution of our public debt since
the incoming of the new administration, to the
amount of thirty-six millions and more, is grati
fying indeed, in a merely financial and economi
cal point of view ; but the Christian citizen re
joices at the proof it, gives of the fidelity of our
Government to the simple principlei,of morality
which it professed, and the consequent healthful
influence certain to be diffused through the
business life of our country. National repudTia=
tion, open or implied, would have unhinged all
the business relations of society and have thrown
a veil 'thicker than Jewish prejudice over not
only the Eighth Commandment, but the whole
moral law. We beg the prayers of our readers
that the Government may=be sustained in its de
termination honestly to administer the affairs of
the country ; a purpose which will require all
the courage and the wisdom of great generals
and accomplished statesmen.
WHY RE-UNITE.
Among the many causes which are bringing
the two branches of the ,church together, none
is more potent than a deepening sense of the
great work laid upon the evangelical churches of
America at this time. Right or wrong, the in
terest in theological questions which once pro : .
foundly agitated the church, and consequently,
the interest in, liberty of theological opinion, are
passing away. Christ's people are asking, now,
not so much what they shall think and believe
of Him, as what they shall do for, Him. The great,
universal, massive truths of Redemption, on
which we ate all agreed, are now in such need of
earnest advocacy and extension, that, Christian
people, especially in America, feel called upon to
forget their differences, and to rally for great
practical achievements in their behalf.
The old familiar work of Home Missions and
of City Evangelization and. Church Erection is
pressing upon us as heavily as,ever before. Some
of the problems it presents are as far from solu
tion as e'er. We are but scratching; on ,the
outer shell of the home heathenism'of our cities.
Worldly enterprise, with its transcontinental
railroads, its inter-oceanic canals and its Atlantic
cables is enthroning Mammon higher than ever
upon the hearts of men. Teutonic, Scandinavi
an, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon immigration is rol
ling upon us at the rate of six to ten thousand a
week. One seventh part of our population are
Rornanists, and the commercial metropolis of the
nation is virtually a part of the Pope's domin
ions, and the. Empire State is laid under contri
bution, and . taxes are wrung from unwilling Pro
testants to the amount of millions, for the sup
port of Papal, schools and Papal charities, and
for the building' of costly Romish cathedrals.
The flood of intemperance must, a second time, be
arrested. The•day of sacred rest must be guar.
ded from universal license. The four millions
of freedmen, victims of. Me enforced ignorance
of divine and human knoitledge, and of ;the 'bru
talizing influences, of slavery must)be raised,an4
fitted for citizenship in tbe , ,heaseer4 and', the
earthly country. Infidelity mist be , rnet in its
new and attractive form of scientific materialism.
The battle rages around the pram, the,miracles,
s'uly69
the cross and the sepulchre of Jegus. Why do
we linger over the nicer distinctions within' the
Calvinistic system ? ' The battle -ground of to
day is not here; :the"wave of att.& has swept
towards the citadel, and yet some arein ecstacies
of blind terror about the smaller'outposts l :Do
not play the martyr for your th'edries;
while the foundations are in danger of being de
stroyed.
And while
. ws alevbl3Ely with ; -questions which
have become more, or, les? familiar, in which there
are, fewnew elements save of size and relative
position, we need nu i ly turn to our pacific , coast
to ,witness the rise of, entirelynewva
ten,tonS Plienomsno s 'u, 1 1?atd . irg the foresight:of
the most Fagacious philanthropists. The stream
of Chinese and Japanese immigration seems to
have fairly set in, and if we have been bewildered
with difficulties arisinc , from the rapid influx of
a,sominally Christian population, what is to be
done when the greatest of heathen, nations
crowded with one third of the whole human
race, is threatening to pour out its people upon
our Western shores I
These,are some. of the amazipg ponsiderations
which ought to draw and which are drawing
America,n,ChTistians fi;ftether, and which have had
their, weight { in breakino• down the separating
•
walls of , distrust between, the two branches of
our church.
At least one of the'Presbyteries which has
taken action, on the subject, Shows its estimate of
the praetical meaning of ,the Re-union, in the
followinc , Resolution
• "Reso4ved, That we have heard, with pro
fmind satisfaction audLgreat joy of the Conteth
plated moVerdent to raise'a fund ofSeVeral
lions of dollars, for cdimational and denomina
tion ) pArposes il aSan appcopriate,,celebrao.oll,ofthe
Re-union of the Presbyterian Church,, and we
hereby express our earnest deaire'iliat the Gene:
raf kge6richly at its aajoUrned•Meeting 'at:Pitts
bnightlike stick 'Measures to favor the , effort as
shall enlist all the. members of: our congregations
to makp it pupcessfuli so that our ~branch of the
Church fail not to do its full share in this grand
work of Christian benevolence, in which the
Presbytery Ontariois hereby pledged not to
be delimvent." J.
: LIMITS.
By, inspiration we tneau 7 a mysterious, miracu
lous influence exerte,d,upo,n the.miuds of a speci
fic and limited class of men, and preducing three
kinds of effects : (1) a kno'wle ; dge , of truth which
they, could not obtain by : , the regular, operations
of the faculties, and
,(2) a power of selection
among.truths or, facts already known, or accessi
ble by ordinary means, according to the purposes
of the inspiring Agent:, (3) With, both of these
gifts, a third is associated, before, our idea of in
spiration is complete., namely that of makin , an
infallibly correct record of the truths thusgained
or selected. Any and all •attempts at a psyCho
logical explanation of the mode of this influence
must be given up, just as unhesitatinaly ,as au
attempt to explain the miracle of the muiltiplica
don of the loaves' and fishes. All classifyin. of
this influence with other natural and more or
less known operations of the mind, must, we
think, be eschewed, as (pit& overlooking its
purely miraculous quality, and its place, as a
speciffc element, in the economy of ,RedeMptieti.
. .
Only by accommodation and i analogy .can it, be
compared with what men, outside of theological
circles, call inspiration." , That power of in:
sight and grasp of truth and gift of
; utterance
which are the mysterious prerogatives of genius,
are; indeed, often spoken of in connection with
the writers of the Bible; by some, as if they Were
all that could ,be claimed for them; by others, as
if they furnished, at least a satisfactory, illustra
tion of the mode of the divine ; influence; by oth
ers still, as one class of divine influences, not so
elevated, but still essentially the same as those
enjoyed by the sacred writers. We dismiss each
and all of these theories of men solicitous to put
a wholly supernatural fact in a natural . and ra
tional garb,. The inspiration of these writers is
a fact utterly sui, geiteris, no more to be accounted
for, on rational grounds, than were the forty
years' wanderings of the children of Israel in the
wilderness, or than any one of the divine faces
through which the plan of salvation was brought
into human history and attested to men.
We dismiss, too, the question, to what extent
these writers were merely machines; what
amount of volition they exercised in forming
definite verbal,conceptions of what,they knew. in
general by inspiration ; and how , far they were
permitted to follow their naturaihent in the mat
ter of-style and logical form. If we giant that,
as a icsulCof the my i sterious co working of the
divine, and human in the Scripitires, an infallibly
•; •
true book has been secured, we need not contend
about the relative proportion of thesis , two ele
ments,in,the problem. If we deny a dictation Of
every, separate word and. argument, but at -the
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1869.
same time.' hold that words and arguments convey
the exact truth, just as lunch as if they had been
dictated, we are on' orthodox ground, without be
ing bound to any 'mechanical theory. We'do not
intend 'repudiate What is.'called `plenary in
spirationT but'we'd`eny that it is beeded in its
tnebbailial form 'to Mike Out the case. Indeed;
t,he plenary,' or ineehanical-theory•cannotgo - with
us whole; a step beyoul the" Original text of the
record: If it' wa's the Teri' *ords thativere 'clic
taited, the eharni whenevee you transL
kle 'there ; wherek on 'the other view, - S: faithful
translation is, to all intents and purposes, the iii
epire'd' ' '
No* we hold eXPlicitly that 'all Scriitureig
given' by inspiration; thiit• the Inspiring:Agent
is'evei'kaihere, in every page and itibi)Osition, in
every sehttirice and word. That which is given
as matter-of record-cis an infallibly true record.
Sometimes-it is, a record of, things g 004141 1 .4 true,
sometimes of things evil ,and false, but as a;re
pord, ,it is, in each, ease,, equally, true..., Sometimes
it is a- prophecy, ,a _disclosure, a 99mMand l a
warning;, in eiaoh• and all• these it is supreine—
divine. Whatever, wading to all fair, corn ;
mon sense rules 'cif 'interpretation, the inspired
writers felt themselves charged to Convey, that
the Holy Spirit •spealtS,,to,•us. ErrizT in the pas
sage of the truth from the Spirit, ttrongh 'their
minds and pens to-us, cannot be adtutteekl i i any
shaie, form or 'degree, without vitiating the very
idea of inspiration as the sole, infallible source of
truth and; authOrity, and thus• destreying, the
value Of the Seiititures. , ••Nothing:is) gain'ed-tci
the wOrld'by Revelation, if meremaygo through
the , )3ible, , eaeh One ehObsing what ac oldswith
his• own' 'judgment ; • and iiejecting , all the'.rei4t. -A
ReVelition eouldi•be made•available by such a firo
dess; onlynn•ihestiipositidn that man as already
in' full ' 1 sympathy withs , God;• and, in• >that ease,
there would be virtually no need of 'a revelation
at all. i , •
• However, it is' wbusinbss of.prime iiiipOrtance,
which ever theory.' of inspiration wechoose, to
learn in what degree we ha;ve secured a TPerfect
copy of the 'original. We.raay , not h el d.-the .in.
g
siirinAgent-tickicruitibieltor erierstluit
crept into manuscripts:. ~TherhWasno pledge:en
the' Part-of Deity in giving:na- Hifi word; to. pre
serve an absolutely 'perfect copy 'of the original
record through. all,time. This have re
quiredu a econstantLsuccesSion of , miracles, an in
spiration of 'copyists,' as well as original 'writers;
it suspension 'of the Jaws:of deba.y, as to the 'ma
terial of the , Manuscripts. and: the 4ike. .While
Divine Providence, in a wonderful manner,,has
guarded the)subitantal purity, theie precious
docrtments;'their dondition !shows that He: has
wrought- no such tniracles .as .- these. 'The oorigi-i
nal work :of the authors,' thoJe .copies =of the
Epistles Which. Paul authenticated, with a 'con
cluding sentence in his own handwriting, have
not.been handed down,to.'us:• The versions:and
copies , ofs these Writings which we possess, dating
from the second century and onward, although
sufficiently. ancient,. accurate and well attested ;
areinot; by any mean's, free from errors, as their
various ' , readings show. And while not one in, a
hundra of these variens'readings of any prac-
tical importande, not one doctrine of religion be
ing changed;' nor one .precept taken away, nor
one 'important fact altered by, the whole of them
takentogether, yet itis well to take , ground
tinctly; that 'only as ! we approximate exactly to
the original text, can we hold' the Inspiring Agent
responsible rfor the, work.. If, for instanceoound
Criticism rejects the passage in 1 John v. 7, as
we believe•it does, we, may remove it from the
text without tonching.the question of inspiration
at all. was not in themanuscript as it came
from the Apostle's hand, and we do not want it
in our copies. It is no part of the Holy Spirit's
work. The judging, critical faculties of man are
designed, in providence, to, be used in tracing the
exact verbal form, and in maintaining the verbal
pirity, of the divine communicatioq,,as well as
in unfolding their, meaning.
Nor was inspiration such an endowment that
it preserved the Writers, at all othertimes, from
error or 'infirmity: Bala= and even Balsam's
ass might be under such influence as to utter in
fallible truth, and immediately afterwards-relapse
into ''a condition with which the word, .of God
has no concern. Peter was blamed to the face
by Para, yet'he was inspired 'to write part of the
New Testament. So mach of the activity of
these , men as was actually employed =in forming
the inspired reCord=--eo ranch, and.' no more,—is
covered by the specific influence of the Inspiring
Agent; the argument is' not affected by their
'onduct-as fallible men, at other times.
to be said of the •characters intro
duCed;ind. of the language Auoted, in the histori
partsl'of. the Bible:, The wrong- and criminal
of -these nharactere are' put: upon record sim
indttet of hiStory and for admpnition.; the
Inspiring Agent is responsible for none of these
acts, hilt solely for the correetness with which
they have been recorded. Wicked speeches,
fain' statements, and niiconsciotta errors, are
merely'put on record as facts, not as examples to
be imitated: Di() one thinks of ascribing to the
Inspiring Agent such`a declaration as,." There
.instruction it was written
diiwn iSin-mtittei reciird, as the utterance of
" the fool." We have frequently, in studying
the 'higorical , :difficulties of. Stephen's speech,
(Acts vii.) asked ourselves, whether inspiration
shoUld'be held 'acceintable for them? The ques
tion:may be put thus`: We's Stephen inspired to
ifiake the.:speech; or was it only Luke who maS
inspired to''put the speech on record, exactly as
it WIN tieliVernd ? Whatever be the4:nswer, the
true theOry of inspiration will be fully satisfied
°tithe falter suppoaitfon; and why should we re
quire more ? Inlialey's Evidences there is quite
an' , argum'erit upon the histoiical difficulties in the
sienchof Gamaliel, Acts v. 34-37: The author
iwanxions`to remove these difficulties;and'speaks
ofthe.discrepaney between Gamaliel and Josephus
as if it was actually between Josephus and LUke.
The: fact is all Ive ,Can rightfully
,demand of
Luk'e, 'inspired ,penman, is the' faithful re
portingeof- ;whit Ganialiel said. He is ono more
responsible-for _the correctness of the 'statements
than the reporter of the courts is for the 'truth
fulness of the Witnesses' testimony; 'which he
takes down.
The inspiring agent again; must not be'beld
responsible for the literal trutl of current forms
of speech, in which the appearanCe of things is
described; as "the.sun: i r ises"- , or "sets." 'lf
language scientifically correct bad: been used in
place of these current yhrues, it would have con
fused readers, whose ideas were so totally differ_
ent. Poetical expressions, such as the pillars of
heaven,pillars of the earth, &c., must be judged
exactly as we would judge similar expressions in
our own literature. Still more important is it to
obsre, in the ea#of:suichhooks as Job and the
.
Ecclesiastes, that there is an. argument with a
),t .
r4o.t and a wrong. side i carried through the en
tfre.b:6ll;:and that passage's - cannot be cited in
discriminately from either Job or Ecclesiastes, as
haying a divide Warrant. Job's friends insisted
that GO dealt out tempor4l good and evil ac,-
cording to the present deserts,of men; a doctrine
which !ob rightly cpmbated. We are, of course,
not authorized tp cite the language of Job's
friendq as inspired. The discission was put,up
on record by, direction of the inspirino. Agent, but
what part, of the discussion
,five • are to f regard as
inspired, is, one of 'those questions which divine
wisdom has left for- the trarnium of the judgment
of Hispeople.'l l .he- 8 ad i ,despondipg, unbelieving
c2Tressions. 7cclesiast i es require to he esti
mated not
,by.themselves; for ,then .they would
necessarily ,be rejected as ; uutrne but they must
be weighed in Connection ,with ; the book as a
whole; as.bringing out more foreibly,the leading
truth;
." the, conelusion of the whole matter."
Mr. Barnes, in his Introduction to the Psalms,
makes similar remarks' i ; rl reference to some of
the ;most- difficult of ,these very difficult portions
of ,Scripture----f-be Imprecatory Psalms
says (Intro& $‘ Some of the ex
pressions referred, to ; , are a mere record of the
feelings of others;
,of the gratification which
theY would feel, in seeing vengeance inflicted, on
Os guilty, even when.revenge ; should, be taken
int the most, barbarous and, savage manner. In .
such a case, all that the inspired writer, or the
Spirit of inspiratiOnV is`responsible for, is the
fairness of the record; or that'He has given' an
exact statement of the feelings which would be .
cherished and expressed by - those - who would in
flict the veiageance, or -wbo shoUld experience
gratification' in 'seeing Referring to Psalm
137': S, 9, he says: "In this there- is nothing
which necessarily implies that the author of the
Psalms would' approve of ;it or that he would
have done it' himself. If the ease is 'supposed
even to indicate the common feelings:of the He
brew people. . . . still it may be a mere record
of that feeling' as a matter of fact, and the Spirit
of inspiration is -responsible , only for a 'fair ac
count of the feelings which*ould actually exist"
Th e N. W. Presbyterian charges xis with,sneer
ing at and deriding the other branch of the church
in our article: of two weeks ago on Re-,union. In
that 'article, we.speke ,of both branches of the
church as, figuratively, dying to rise and form a
new church in,the Union. We proved the death,
of the Old School, by the fent perfectly patent
through all the negotiations„that she had utterly'
abandoned her former ,haughty, uncompromising
and persecuting attitude toward? our body and our
men, and bad joined, with us in a mutual recog
nition of ,orthodoxy, ns : the basis of the plan of
union senk down„to the IP ; resbyteries. . All that
Genesee Evangelist, No. I:207.
J Home & Foreign Miss. $2.00.
I. Address:-1334 Chestnut Street
New School men had felt and seen, in former
times, of contempt and suspicion in the attitude
of this branch towards themselves, was surren
dered and disowned in this action. Perhaps we
should have said--not the. Old School Church,
but the Old Schoolism of the Old School Church
is . dead,—a distinction from which the N. W.
Presbyterian is welcome to draw all the comfort
it can. Certainly, we intended no offence to the
immense governing mass of the other branch, who
for six years have been steadily working for re
union upon an honorable basis, and have trans
formed so completely the character of their branch,
that even the most positive New School men can
welcome the prospect of union with them.
THE THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF
WILLIAMSPORT.
This church was organized by a Committee of
the Presbytery of Harrisburg on the 31st of
May last.• It is a colony from the 2d Church,
Rev. Mr. l Sterling's ; and goes out with none but
the kindest feelings, and with the full approba
tion and consent of both the pastor and people
of the 2d Church, who have done all that they
could to forward the enterprise. The beautiful
chapel, for the accommodation of the 3d Church,
has just been completed,,•- and it was dedicated
to the worship of Almighty God on Sabbath,
July ath. • Rev. Wm. Sterling preached the
sermon, closing his own church for the occasion.
The house was well filled; and before the congregl-
Lion retired, they wiped out the bebt amounting to
over nine thousand dollars. Thus, through the
liberality of Mr. Sterling's church, has this house
been erected, arid put into the hands of the new
organization entirely unembarrassed with debt.
The chapel is a very neat brick building, in
Gothic style, with slate roof. It has two graceful
towers, in one of which hangs' the old bell of
the 2d church, presented by the Trustees of
that church. The audience chamber will seat
about 350 persons. It is carpeted and cush
ioned throughout, and has stained glasspindows,
and is lighted on the, same plan as the 23
church, making the house at night as brilliant as
the day. It has also a small gallery for the
choir; and under' the gallery, an infant school
rooth, which 'can be thrown into the audience
chainber during the time a public worship. The
entire cost, idcluding 'the lot, is .$16,221 '3o.'
Two excellent men, Mr. Hiram Mudge and
Mr. Percy' W. Bentley' have been ordained hs
Elders ; and -their . ydung pastor, Rev. William
A. Dunning' from , Montrose Presbytery, enters
upon hiS• field df labor with most encouraging
prospects of success.
The location' of this new church is an excel
lent one. It is in the most beautiful part of the
city, and' in , the' midst of a rapidly increasing
population. The chapel is erected on the rear
end of the lot, on Maynard street;—leaving the
Main blinding, wheUthe congregation grow large
enough' to require it, to front on West Third
Street.
Thus; by the blessing of God, has this cher
ished enterprise been accomplished. We trust
that before many years it will be one of our most
vigorous, and active, and influential churches.
A CHANCE ' FOR. THE ARITHMETIC bIAN.
The Christian Instructor of this city can't, make
up, its mind about the statistics of its own (U.
P.) Church. In a recent item it steps across the
IXth Commandment to charge us with " falsify
ing the records " in " stating that [the U. P.]
Church has lost-5,000 during the year. The
records show a gain of over 3,000.",
The _lnstructor itself is our authority for our
statement. We quote its very words in its re
port of its Assembly :—" number of members
65,64 ; increase by profession, 4,121; by cer
tificate 3,998; decrease 5,059." We find that
the statistical report makes this mean " deaths
and removals 5,059;" but we had no reason at
the time to know that this was the meaning.
The Instructor itself is falsifying the records.
It claims an inerease of 3,066, ascribing the ap
parent discrepancy to " the carelessness of ses
sions in making up the -record." The facts
'stand, however, and are text enough for any ser
mon we have preached on them,—that the net
gain, of the U. P. Church in a membership of
over 65,000 is just twelve.
We suggest that if the instructor continue its
transpositions:of matter and its substitution of
obscure won:U*lr plain ones, that it change its
name to The Weekly Rebus.
—Rev. R.ll. Allen of Pine St. church re
ceived the degree of D.D. from Hanover, Ind.
College, at its recent commencement.