GENESEE, EVANGELIST.—WhoIe No. 778.
otivg.
AN ODE TO SPRING.
BY WALTER C. CLARENCE) VBQ.
The dormouse bath waked from his winter Bleep,
The squirrel is springing from bough 411 bough;
And the mole is at work in his cavern deep,
• Unhurt by the share of the shelving plough.
The song of a bird
Is now and then heard
As the sunshine falls on the leaflees woods,
And the boughs, though bare,
Give here and there,
A glorious promise of crimson buds.
One by one, in the meadow green,
The silver snowdrops their eyes unclose.
From its icy bonds set free, between
The sprouting alders, the streamlet flows.
Singing a song
The'whole day long, •
To spread die glad tidings on every hand,
That. Winter is gone,
And Spring oometh on,
And the song of the turtle is heard in the I 41:14.
Every day and every hour
New shapes or auty the eye beholds;
As the sun shines forth with greater power,
As the green blade springs, and the bndlunfolds,
Down,—far down,
'Neath the soil so brawn.
What a busy stir of life is lhere;
Seed and root
Expand and shoot,
Making their way to the light and the air.
No more slumber and no more rest,
There's a work to do, and a race to run;
Sluggards may sleep, if they like it best,
But we must away to meet.the , 8111/.
To dealt the hills,
To shade the rifle,
And to cover the vales with waviog groin;
With leaves to shield,
Ripe fruits to yield,
To please the palate, and life,sustain. •
No more slumber, and no more rest,—
Such is the song all nature sings,
2111 the last autumn sun sinks down in.the West,
And the birds sit mate with folded wings.
For ever forth,
To the icy North,
A voice bath spoken, which saith "Arise
Deok earth anew,
With every hue,
That she wore in her eastern• paradise!"
Suable the sontall nature singe;
Shall man be idle, shall man be mute
'When all flying, and swimming, . and creeping
things,—
.The coldest clod and the dullest ! brute
Now straight.begin
To delve and spin,
To work the work that they have to .do,
. And obey the gall
Which commandeth• all,
The pre-appointed path to. pursue?
Thayer'a Honte:Atouilily.
fotomettbonot.
.' For the Arnertcan,Preebyterien.
STItIAN TRVAPBTS.
140.. IV.
Countrymen? we have certainly multiplied the'
mention of 'Home in our letters; andovhat is,
that, only because it is a.most lovely thing
,to
the .ear of him who loves his country, and ! the-
Most 'ornamental aativa Word,uport the,Aeck ;of
the' Arabic. Now celebratel as the
iland of Sherri," and "Arabistan," is our home,
in the variety of its plains, and, precipices, and.
valleys, and .mountains; and the inhabitants ; of
Syria t in the variety of their , religious seetkand
looks, and nationalities, and denominations, are
our countrymen.
And home resembles a :continuous chain of
many links; of 'which the first end is. our- reed
deuce or birth-place, with those who, are in. it;'
and the other end is- our 'country, with- its popu-
Wien. And the centre of both its ends, and
their attraction, is our heart;, or, ,rather,,they
are the centres of attraction for our hearts. It
is the nature of -the powerful attraction which
every country has for its citizens, to hold •them
with 'a firm grasp within its circle, however bad
it maybe, and to seize upon the chords of their
beads, and.draw-them towards it with a. power
ful attraction to return them to it when they
are 'absent from it, although the land of their
pilgrimage may be better than, it. It is a pre=
veiling proverb, If borne was not a mighty at
traction, bad countries: ere a•desolation.
How true is the saying, "The seeret is in the
dwellers, not in-the dwellings." And whoever
goes abroad in the world, and exatines the
countries and their inhabitants,
,it wilt appear
to• him, as the sun at the fourth hour of the day,
than , whatever beauties a country posseens,
the wickedness of its inhabitants will destroy;
and whatever deformities or evils are in it,,the
virtues of its inhabitants will make it up.
Countrymen, the inhabitants,of a country have
elaims upon their country, as the country has
duties for its inhabitants. In proportion as these
rights are duly rendered, attachment to ..the
country, as well as; zeal and pleasure in the per
formance -of these duties;: will increase andthis
is plainer than demonstration cattmake it. Now, ,
of the unties which a countryowes to its citi
zens, is security in their most valuable and :im
portant rights, natraarc, life, virtneAnd property;
and also liberty le theireivil, moral, and reit-,
gious interests, especially liberty of conscience
in the pursuit of religion. And how many coun
tries have given martyrs for' this last liberty?
Now, of the things which increase in its citizens
the love of their conntry, is . -%;. that they have
tome :band in its administration,-and concern in
its interests. And in proportion'as the respon
sibility imposed upon them is greater, will,these
feelings•bemore intense and powerful.
Alld'ef the ditties which the citizens of a Wan
try owe to their country, is love. , This is:ad
duced in the Mohammedan tradition, "The. dove
of country Is of the faith." How-many. have
devoted their Ayes,' and all their possessitts, in
love for their 'Country But those who barter
the love of 'country for religious'prejudice, and
sacrifice the good of their country for personal
considerations, are notworthyto be regarded
as countrymen, but as enemies to it; and,so , are
those who will not.give their, diligence to pre
vent the occurrence of reasonsmhich, in their
nature, tend to injtire the country, or to,alle;
viate them when they have occurred.
•.; And how
few of the inhabitants of this country manifested
in these . painful days their love towards their
country! Now, he who discharged the first gun,
or removed the first stone from the month of the
terrible volcano which was opened, and de
stroyed the people, and desolated the, laud, and
daikened the pages of history with the fero
cious atrocities which• wilt remain as metatt
choly record In the of Syria, as long as'
Beiruti Oetaberl6, AB6O
heaven continues heaven, and earth continues
earth; and, in like manner, those who did not
endeavor to shut up the,mouth of that gun, and
the crater of that volcano, are all grotty., towards
their country, and surely failed in performing
their duty towards it. And now we seize upon
this occasion, to declare the feelings of: thank
fulness and gratitude towards our hrethren
are upon the other side of our sea, and boyond
the Atlantic, and towards their citizens who aie
guests of par country, for what; they have mani
fested, and do not cease tp manifest, ' of axd ex
tended to our countrymen = IP FPI?* t0,13,-
For 'the American Presbyterian. '
TWO ERRORS. •
"With the heart, man ,believethunto righteous
ness." - It does •not make Us Christiatutto hold the
truth olChrist in our memories, nor to 4 have a clear
'understanding, and a - good. arrangement of it. To
gain• the assent 4* onrminds 'to it, is "not enough;
nor that it awaken in us great intellectual interest.
'No truth is seats/ in deed, to fill the soul-with
the enthusiasm both of 'admiration and of hope. •
Rut it , has -not made us Christians until it his
-formed in ourminds a• rightgeverning prineiplit of
Action; ,It 'must 'sink from . the- head inter the
heart; from :this intellect into the ruling affections;
changing mere Assent into a vitalising faith.
very good creed and 'a very bad- life some
-timeego together. There is a holding of thetruth
-in unrighteousness. And another thing un
*questienahlei namely; that a Very defective creed
and, a verygood life are sometimes tound .united.
How can •sve account for this except by saying
;that only what the heart adopts, and adopts
heartily, makes the character, and so the life?
Look at these two fined. The first is drawn as
aniteeitritte `description' of one wliom we' knew,
and.is giVen with no tench or: coloring Ofinvention.
A yoringlady of refinernent, highly-edicated, with
personal-grace and . attraCtions which. make her
welcome among the most ottltivated; leaves a home
,WhielLoffers.her. every social enjoyment; and against
Jibe remonstrances.of her friends, gives herself up
- to ..a:life,with the .degraded _poet. of New York.
Day after day, through months not only but years,.
She, visits :them' in their crowded,' Miserable rooms,
~and filthyeellairs;. meeting in these_places, and in
.111 e-habits. andlanguageof these who live.ln.thent,
all,that ean,disguat, end wound her sensitive na
-Aare. : She gathers ,their squalid and ignorant
children_ieto schools, washes them, clothed.them,
.and patiently teaches them, day, and evening,
.. (net,* (4,y ;for laber and the ,evening for re
creation ;) slowly_ wins their heart, and lifts them
, tewards her own refinement, and gentleness,
and pitrityp netsonorsylay thninstruction, she gives'
purpesely, than by ,the shining of , her •own charac
ter, a.nd. life, into their, long darkened souls. And
this: christ-like werk is idone ;_under no romantic
impulse,_ nor, from mere compassion and philan
thropy. we knpw beyond
,all right to
doubt she was, moved to it orieinally, and ; has
been kept
,to it Mainly,
,by, her belief in .God.
Drawn into it,reverent sympathy, with -Him, and
I ,llsrairing.te,de the . york which be would ; have her to
do in ; e yorld,,:ahe litte,given herself to . this self
denying, uncongenial and,almost unobser.ved life.
All, who know her well say.this —notes the mere
, "jtulgtnent . „of charity," but as their irresistilde
conviction; the judgment we all form pf A sincere,
simple, consistent life, observed by :es for years.
'When a school has been fairly put under way,
and ..has, .gr. Own, interesting," and the scholars
have benome attached to her, and the pains taken
begin to be .nouriterhalaneed , by, spine pleasures,
then she ives hap, leaving it to, those who can..
now eon - duct iqmid she goea eat Unto•new quarters
of : the city, and gathers- in Again the, neglected,
brntalized,' and utterly ignorant children, to. go
through with, them : also the distasteful dratigery ,
of making nti their stupid Minds, yeformieg their ,
habits,'reaching their hearts, revealing the God
whom she loves, to.thena, and teachina them how
to, pray to him, and praise him. Who can deny
that this is a Christ-like life ? Yet the creed of this '
patient, self-forgetting, worker- Avery defective..
She has many doubts and questionings in regard
to „truths, which we readily, admit, and count es
sential to a
_perfect • belief.
• Take now another - case:: One of many whom
all, know, a man of correct theology; belonging to
e.ehnrch whose creed' is as nearly perfect as we
can find; fluentinprayer ; reedy and strong in argu
ment; and regular . ..in the performance of. the ordi
nary devotional duties. But the - energy of his life
is, given to his own affairs. He is living mainly
for ;his own :personal interests; a character not of
unusual selfishness, but .of 'the ordinary self-cett-,
tering; doing for others .what is pleasant and con
venient to do; giving where the gift does not in
valve much. seltdenial; pleasing himself, his fa
. ,
mily, and his personal friends, in most things,—
in short, leading the life of at least a large minority
of • professing Christians.
Now which of these two is most pleasing to
Christ? Both are defective we say;'Whose defects
are the more serioni, the more essential? do
not ask in regard to the tendency to good or ; ,evil ;
. of their several •creeds Here we might, all be of one
min/ But judging them by their fruits, as Christ
tells us to judge, we ask Which of these - two indi
vidual characters is probably most God?
We deaire to, have ofcourse, both the right creed:
and the right life., But we have some hope for.
him whose creed is correct, living as we have de
scribed him to live.„ Should our hope be weaker,_'
.
pr, stronger, for that.; unsellish, i patient,unwearying
worker among the poor, and the sinful? ,
Now we are,justly anxious .about our creed: it
is right we should be , jealous of error here, and I
seek to have our`opinioneparetinth: But should
we not guard with especial solicitude the truths
which form the inward. life, the character, the,
ruling disposition, the" heart?" The truths:which
feed that flame which we are to let shine before
men, that they may see our good worka
, and glo
ri-..1 .61 our Father who is in Heaven?
The error in belief doubtless we are to expose,
if we can. We will Condemn it, and with-stand
it; and, if it be Possible, will drive it - out of every
NICHOLAS URRAY.
strenghold' it has, seized. The world belengs, of
M
; right, to the truth. There is no place •of refuge
Between thirty and forty years ago, an Irish tad for error. There is no sanctuary whereit may be
was pursuing his studies at Williams college as- . .
sisted by the 4 ' Brick Church" in this city. While sacred from attack; not in, the most venerable sys
thfie engaged, he suddenly received a letter from terns and customs; not the heart of our best
the officers of the church, stating that, in view of friend. The tendencies of error are evil, and only
certain reports prejudicial to his character, the as- evil, and believing the teachings of Christ to be of
sistance of the church was thenceforth withdrawn...,
Divine authority, we do especially feel ourselves'
The poor fellow went to Professor Dewey, (now of
formed to contendagainst at would
the error that Rochester,) to say that he was compelled to leave
college, but protesting that he wasignorant of any supplant Any truth Which he has 'made known,
wrong be had done. The Professor, who had eon- or sanctioned. His mission to the earth was of
ftdence in hitn, told him not to trouble:'hitteielf; such eternal and infinite, moment, that the truths
and assumed the responsibility of his bills. essential to secure the objects of that mission are
youth, studied on, and at the end of a Year reeeived
a second letter from the church, stating that, the unspeakably sacred in our eyes. And in regard to
charges were found to be false, and renewing their all things connected with . that great plan of re
support. That youth was Dr. Nicholas Murray, demption, we do earnestly desire to ascertain the
who has but just ceased from his labors. Now the exact truth; all error here we can. Lot oppose as
.ehurch meant no 'lanai, but came near contmitting '
soon as we meetit; not rudely indeed, but deei
an irreparable error. They were saved from the
natural consequences of their rashness hy the ge- sively and earnestly.
neroas interference of the Professor, an act'which BUt shall we not earnestly oppose the wrong
could not have heen calculatad upon„, And cases lifer .We may not be able to'deteet, and hold out
'occur often, itis.to,be feared, where mslitesa, has for condemnation, the source of the selfish and un
its
nwsl way, with Mi one .to stop it. ' , ik
N. Y. Ex arn iA r. _ e e. But should we not say demstselY,
Oonntrymen, our country, distinguished As
one of the most beautiful lands in climate,and
water, and fertility, and sittuttiop, and oue of
the most delightful to mention, OA flies greatest
to honor, has indeed seen m.any, generations pass
over it. It haa been'aubjeet to ruin from its.un
civilised inhabitants; and'therefore you see it
behind other,cpuntriee• and indeed it has be
coMe more 4ePeleite Py tAit late insurrection..
But in the providence of, the Xost Uigh .OE9,
tor—may Re be praised !—=and the card of our
Supreme Government and the great
,Govern
ments" in alliance with it, we hope that the pre
sent calamity, of which the sound has reaehed
to the ends:of the world, will be the beginning
of great good, and the introduction of
,a new
era for Syria. And therein is sufficient for the
wise to contemplate. As .a poet said,—
"gay Al those who sustain tare, that care will not stay;
plesoure mill pew, so cares ,will pass lawsy."
, Countrymen; we caution , you against four
things, namely, discontentment exorbitance,, fa
naticism, and falsehcod,-hecause they , have no
thing good in - them. And we exhort you to the
golden rule : "As ye would that men shall do .to
you, do ye also to , them likewise." And we
remind you of one thing, namely ; that man has
no true conntry.in. thinworld. But his true,
native country.is in the, world of spirits beyond
the .grave, where he .will remain until the last
Trumpet 'hall sound,: ,d ,be will be sigtmoned
to the . Judgment. How many of our Country
' men, in this year, have gone to that changeless
country!. The c.anses are Tarions, but. death is
; , the same. Wherefore, crir duty is. to make-Pre
parations.for that'death, day,, and country.
For the Aierioah,Preebyterian:
IlarTß FROM[ *°o ll 9./C
*94nt:Leban9n, jtilam.„4;m49, b.. 28th,. 1861.
EDITOR.-AfOr the return of I.E.
Fuad Pasha 'from the mountain to. Beirut the
Druse. Sheikhs were more closely confined...No
reasons for this course, ,of policy or punishment
are published. ! .Put from Constantinople, it, is
annoenced, that the T ur f tribunal have found
althese; Sheikhs guilty of death; and the- Tnrk
islr Pashas of 'perpetual banishment from Syria.
Atid'the . European commissioners all aaree that
no, greater punishment ought
to
be inflicted upon
the Druse 5.1104. s tea, nPeOtte , T 4 144 111 Ri!sholit,.
in -whosnhands,, and. by. whose .official responsibi
lity., the recent insurxection was' allowed' to sre
iail. <And to this view of the opiataissidneis ~all
the Christians arid, foreignresidents in *lda say
• • • I •
• •• •
amen. .
It is: said 'hero that a convention .of. the Great
Powers was to assemble in Paris from the 15th of
February, for the determination of the Syrian ques
tion. The commissioners at
in
lave recOm
paeruled a Gavernor-general m the, name and. at
the appointment of the. Sultan, assisted by a coun
eil.of one political representative of each of the
five Great Powers, with a native army raised from
the different commUnities.under a proper Turkish
commander-in-chief, for, the future, government of
Syria. It is possible that I may'ave a more dis
tinct result to communicate in the coming month.
It is remarkable that no Drum has yet been exe
entecl for that fearful massacre at.Deir el Korar,. or
at, Basbelya, so far as we. have, heard; and the
.Drimes are recovering from the' panic of the past
winter,. and resuming their ordinary employment
as well as the Christians. Of the former I have
.received almost ,10,000 names of those .asking for
relief. But very little relief has been, as yet, al
lowed for them, as the Christians all feel and say
that they still havenine-tenths, of allthe plunder'
taken from the Christians in 1860.
;This, application of the Drum for relief , has a
parallel, in.that- of good Christians of our village.
The distribution of these generous charities of
England, and AMerica, and the difficulty of:giving'
satisfaction to all parties reminds us of that sacred
record in the Acts, when the Apostles discovered,
Ica murmuring of the ,Grecians against the He
brews, and called the multitude of the disciples
and said : It is not' reason that we should leave
,
the. Wind- of 4,0 d,, and, serve tables." My opi
nion is, that our Christian and Prase neighbors, :
, who have neither been plundered, nor burned nut
of their homes, ought not to ask or npply for this
relief. The A. A. Relief Committee , hive
,more
than 20,000, names, npow their :rblls, who are in
need of all things; and, Dr. Thomson -informed
me, that in Beirut alone, Is is distributing some.
good garments every week during the' present
month, to suffering Syrians
Commending the Syrian trumpets to the care
ful considerition of my `beloved. countrymen, and
the ".perpetual
,union" of the, United States, to
thu,providenee and guardianship of „Heaven, I
remain, Yours in, Christian love,
A PATRIOT.
WILLIAM A. BENTON
PHILADELT'ITIA, T
=IUtMM
something 'is vita4ittong: t ere is some essen
tial defect " The tii:Liiiiitible," Chtiatikti 'eha
'factet is Mit'fiittned irt.that Mali.' Hid' belief-is
- rieit; tui 'Ms Wievin4ls'?o3;o4ilt is not the right
kind of belie iini:' Whit4irMi iniy hailtelyaen wrought
in that sourbY iastinedinn, `Aid - bcniletion; clearly
that work of the lila not beer done which
sets the beard 'illaule, , ina. - :inakeilit a source
of illutninatiOnt atnidst the dariness ofl,his :Odra
Welnow there is blit onelSaviour,landbut one
plan of salvation, and We,lieve,inaly been •inquiring
about those who are to: ke'saved by, these; whether
the felloWship with. Go tli anclOe filth: in < Christ
that iaorki by love, which' haire germinated • and
',been nourished under the influence of afe.w truths
Cordially received,---the heart , sineerely won by
them,and the-life governed bythein,do not •fotm
'a :better- gronnd'of hoie, than a perfectureed; so
hold, as..to permit' one Id leada , selfisli , life. How
many there are of differ ',detierninitions, to whose
creed we could notenbas e, whose_ -,- , , "o.o'.
V
4 ,-
cept without hesitation. re ' ar evidences thetthey
are follawern of Ohrist; , ll (Inlay there not be some,
in whosenvowed rbeliec there ;are, grave defects,
upon - nhose minds the ;ilia' truths of Chrislianity
1 fining," in. Childhbod, iiMyriad drops, and quietly
distilling upon them itillours . Of greater silence
. Mid' thoughtfulness fronfunnoticedinfluenceS, have
percolated down into; the heart, and made a foun
-tain of livit4 waters, that well up, and flow, out
into this 'self-denying, christ , like life?
Are not they, who thus subscribe to the essen
tial irticles of otir faith, hal more hopeful 'State
than those, who, 'haviriTbeen edneated Missend to
them, profess to believevtkem, and to be governed
by them; but . do viitnalbr ever lel& them, as stag-
Mint surfice-water on their minds? , . .
CHURCH MUSIC IN THE HANDS OF
.THE REFORMERS.. ' •
Exclusive choir-singing was one of the abuses
which crept into the.,ll,9wsh church, in connexion
with; its gradually decligto . g piety, in the centuries
succeeding the third. ' The change from the pri
mitive method Was irallual. It commenced in
the fourth century,• at.which - time -the ,choir-was
not expected ti, monopolize the singing, but only
to lead it. This, .however, •gave them the.oppor
tunity of, introducing a:style of music, not only
unfit for the church' on account of its theatrical as-
Sockations, bit unfit for the use of the Congregation
on 'account of its'intricacy. , The "introduction of
tunes too difficult for any but, trained- singers to
execute, was the firsts,tip towards debarring the
people, from their , ancient, privilege of praise.—
They might Still unite - iii skittle simple `chorus or
response, but this wa.erlither by privilege than by
right. Even this privilege was at length denied
them, and they were i tacght that the singing of.
God's praise MS too.paged 'a.duty for, the r 'lips of
the laity, and belonged,to the clergy alone. And
the'elergy, - to 'makotheir'ninnopoly of the singing
still more exclusive, santorily in Latin. By the
'sixth or seventh eenturAthe voices of the people
were effectually silenced ,and for nearly a thou
sand years God was in) onger praised as at the
first. But, this long .ii" fof darkness and ``-si
lenceAc "slowly 11511eraiis' „ lid-ilirfight,‘ of 'j•etnin
ing day in Germany was ushered in with song. Its
approach had been _heralded by song, a century
before this, in Boheicia,,in the time of John... Huss
and Jeromei and even in the`fourteenth century,
while " ' The 11 , 1Orning :Star 'of the Reformation"
was still visible; praise broke the silence 'of the
waning watches in Englaod. As in the mornings
of the long days in summer, a few woodland notes
may be heard here, and . there in, the groves in ad
vance of the general chorus which hails the day,
so there Were voices before Luther . both in Eng,
land and on the continent; which anticipated the
melodies of his time.' ',But when the empire of the
night was fairly, broken, and thia?great chorister
ot the Reformation arose, he awoke the whole fo
rest
tinto harmony. '
One of the first efforts of Luther in fulfilment
of the ,great mission of his life, was to publish a
psalm-book. Both hymns and tunes were com
posed mainly by, himself. About sixty hymns
were written by him, at a time when the history I
of fifteen 'centuries could,, not furnish more than
two hundred hymns that had been used in Chris- I
tiara congregations.• In,t i bisTreat undertaking he I
had a two-fold object: fet, to restore to the peo- '
ple, their ancient and long-lost. New. Testament
right to, the use of psalms in public worship in
their. own tongue; and secondly, by the graces of
verse, and the charms' of melody, to lodge the
word of God effectually in their menaory. Retook
- care to embody in his verse the great, foundation i
truths of the Bible s that, being sung over and
over by the, people, they might never be forgot- I
ten. This object he announced in 'a letter to Spa
latiri, written iri 1524, in`which he says': "It is ,
my purpose, after the example of the ancient Fa.:
there of the church r to make psalms or spiritual
songs ; for ,the COll2OlOll people, that the word of,
God may .'dwell among them in psalms, if not I
otherwise: 'We are reeking 'around' every Where
for poets. I- entreat you. -to help ;us. would'l
that new and,courtly woords , might be avoided, and
that' the language ,be all suited to, the• capacity of
the people, as simple as. possible." So successful
was Luther in this `endeavor, that , prieStlY in
fluence might in vain have atteMpted to' check the
progress of the Reformation 'by destroying, - the
Bible. Its doeltines *ere the soul' of his songs,
and the songs were.embalmed in the people'e
,me
. ,
They were sung everywhete.:, The singing ha
bits of the early dayi-cifAhrislianity werelairly
revived. , "The :hymns -spree& among_all classes
of people, and were sung cot:orilyin:'the-churches
and schools, but alio in the houses and in the
work-sheps,, in the streets and in 'the market
places', in the barns and in 'the fields!' Wherever
the principles of -the Reforniation were"rebeived,
whether in Germany:France, or Britain, psalmL.
singing was an' almost universal practice. - This
was the blossom which-the root, of the new doe
trineß
invariably 'produced. , So contagious was
'this practice, and so Wonderful the power ofLu
ther's psalms in propagating his doctrines, 'that
his enemies were obliged , to adopt the same prac
tice in self-defence. "The Papists, finding that
the people wottld sing them, and were almost run
ning wild with. delight in so doing; published
hymn-books of their own, in which, with slight
alterations, they incOrporated almost all of the Re
former's pieces..' The .hymns found their way
even into the French court;, but, they contained
seeds of, truth',which it was not for the interest of
the Romish church to have planted, and about the
Middle of the sixteentYtentury all Papists were
prohibited from Singing them. Fro m "that time,
the' name " psalmodist," or - , " psalm-singer " was
.applied to the Protestantale derision. , It became
sysoeymous with Reformer Iluguenet I Calvinist
Heretic.
"Next to theology," said Luther, " it is. to mu
sic that I give the highest place and the greatest .
honor." He had reason to say- this, for it . was
music next to theology, and sometimes more than
theology, that gaVe success to his Cause. "In the
City of flanover, the Reformation was introduced,
not by preachers, nor by religious tracts; but by
the hymns of Dither, which the people sang:with
delight." A. Protestant contemporary of Luther
says:—"l doubt not that the one little hymn,
'Now rejoice, dear Christians, fill,' (the first one
that Luther riblishecl,) has
,brought many bun
died Christiana to the faith. '. lrhti noble, sweet
, \,s, My,
, '.....-r -:-..,7„, , -7-- . __ _
iv. ...,f, , ,rcr.... , ..1..w.,...; , . t .--,:trn--;
G. A. H.
' - ' l, APRlL : ,:itilsof , ,.•
„ .
language' of that one little song has won 'their
bases ; that - they could not resist the truth; and,
in my opinion, the spirituel songs hsve,contribtxted
not a little to the, spread , of the gospel.”
But all the ,refarmerS,, German, Swiss, English,
and `Sedtoli, were ' equally 'zealous that - the Teeple
should consider praise; Is' appropriately an&pecu
liarly.their part :in the services , of the sanctuary.
, With great•offort, did they,achie.ve for tho people
this f , freedOw to worship God.',' And now, the
advbcates of exclusive choir-singing in Amerlea
are surrendering Aain, to PoPeryr, thw very tern
'tory wakacquired in the battlesz of, the Re
formation.' They. willingly relinquish: to. the Man
of Sin a stronghold captured by the sturdy, valor
of such men aslutherand-Calvin,andjOhn
and are content . that the praise of, God should be
sung in Protestant churchis'in te' - , Popish man
ner., • • . •
A GARDEN OF SPICES.
_
BY:REV: THEODORE la - 01111-11 ER.
`ZicitteiAtVeTtiSecitlitiiihnoie in
. .
SOU' front' the *decks' of the Cithard /steamers as
'they Pass into Liverpool—lies "the parish , of An-
Worth. ~Ine this ancient parish there was standing
not many years since—and perhaps is standing to
thi& ancient, and rustic church: The
'swallows, during Many a built their eieats
in the crannies of its roof.: The crumbling 'walls
were garnitured with 'moss, and festooned with
ereepingyines. - In the new College ef Edinburgh,
its rusty-key still hangs as a precious relic of the
Ma of the "Solemn League and Covenant." The
old.tialten pulpit is still preserved.' -And well ;it
may be. ' For in 'that pulpironee stood a man of
whom it used to lie said that he was always pray
ing, always, preaching, always visiting the sick, al
ways catechising, and always studying the Word
of God. He it *as who uttered that memorable
saying to his beloved people, " My witness is above,
'that your heaven would be two heavens to me,
and the salvation of you all as twp salvations unto
me." That was the, pulpit of Samuel Rutherford
--glory of all devout Scotchmen. ,
The savory 'Bible-saturated discourses once
preached in that hallowed place to weeping and
`melted auditers have; for the most part, perished
long ago. . 'l3ut still that pastor is remembered,
and will be while there are loving Christian hearts
on earth. His world-known " Letters" will be
Rutherford's enduring memorial. More than two
Centuries ago they were written-L-in the dark
troublous days of obstinate Kin°. Charles the Ist
--yet the smell of the myrrh and the cassia has
never departed from this GARDEN OF SPICES.
The delicious aroma of devotion breathes from
every'line. Without any special interest as de-
Scriptive or historical letters--devoid of all literary
ambitions and all theological dissertations, they
live, and:will ever live, from the perennial Christ
liness that pervades them; they are 'the artless
love-letters of a holy heart on fire with the love of
Jesus. The sainted MoCheyne was wont to make
his Rutherford a companion for the closet. Cecil
styled it . "one of my-classics." Richard Baxter
said; "Hold off the Bible, and such a book the
world 'lever saw." ..This sounds extravagant to
`thee° who have never gone' into this g•grden of
spices for themselves, and plucked the purple
clusters from laden trellises, and inhaled the hea
venly perfumes that linger on the air. •
Thee copy of Rutherford's Letters which stands
in our beekcage—att excellent reprint by the Car
terl—is too thoraughly pencil-marked for anyone
elves' ownership. It is hard to keepyour pencil
from making note of such a passage as.this: "Wel
come, welcome, Jesus, in what wayseever thou
earnest, if we can but get a sight of thee. And
sure I am that it is better to be sick, providing
that Christ come to the bedside, and draw aside
the curtains and say, Courage, lam thy salvation,
than to enjoy lusty health, and never to be visited
of God?' Or such a terse, epigrammatic sentence
as the following: "His loved ones are most tried;
the lintel-stone& and pillars of his new Jerusalem
suffer more knocks Of . God's hatiamer than the
common side-wall stones." Sometimes his soul
is rapt into a sort of delirium of heavenly love, as
when in writing to Lady Kenmore, he eays:
"Honorable Lady, keep your first love. Hold
the first match With that soul-delighting Bride-
I groom, our sweet, sweet Jesus, the Rose of Sharon,
and the sweetest-smelled• rose in all his Father's
I I garden. I would not exchange one smile of his
lovely face: for kingdoms. Let others take their
silly feckless heaven in this life. Put up' your
I heart. ...Shout for joy. Your - King is coming to
fetch you to his Father's 'house?' In writing of
the indestructibility of the church, he says: "That
bush has been burning these four thousand years,
but no man has yet seen the ashes of that fire."
For that church he underwent sore and harass
.
mg persecution& He was confined for twoyears
'at Aberdeen, but "found Jesus sweet to him in
that, place.". He :used to date his letters "from
Christ's palace in Aherdeen;" and the very stones
in the walls of his dreary apartment "glittered
in his eyes like rubies." On his way from home
thither, he spent a night with Dickson, the author
of -the:incomparable hytnn i "Oh! mother dear,
Jerusalem." They had a night like that which
Great Heart and Old Bonest spent with the hos
pitable Gains in Bunyan's allegory; for they were
both pilgrims halting for a few hours on their
marcleto the Celestial City. As soon 'as' the' Con
finement at . Aberdeen ended, Rutherford hastened
back to his •hungry took oPshepherds and fisher
men in the parish of Anworth.
From thence be was' called to a Professor's
chair at St. Andrew's', but 'was soon' deposed by
Governtnent,•and-his workis were burned in Edin
burgh by the hands of the common hangman.' He
was also summoned before. Parliament on a false
charge of treason. 'But the summons came too late.
He was on his dying bed, and calinly remarked
that beliktigot another Sultimons' before a superior
'Judge, and sent - this message, "I. behoove to an
swer my first sutnmons; , and ere your day,. I will
be where :;too few kings and great folks 'ever.
come." , .
On his dying bed` he cried out—Oh I for arms,
to embrace Min! eh for'a weil-tuned harp! Like
sortie other departing Saints, he seemed. to brie a
• preinonitionnf the very tjme when he should pass
over the unbridged river; and on the last after
noon of his. life he said, "This night will close
the door, and 'fasten my anchor within the Vail,
and 'I shall go'away in a sleep by tie o'cloCk in
the morning. `=There is nothing now between me
and thetresurrection, but 'this day thou shalt be
with me in Paradise!" As the enrapturing vi
sions of the open gate broke upon his failing eyes,
he exciainied—"Glory, glory dwelleth Imma
nuel's land." With this chant of triumph on his
lips, he passed through the gate into the city.
When the , news reached Parliament that he was
dying, it was voted that he should, not, die in the
college as a Professor. Lord l3urleigh arose and
said, "You cannot vote him out of heaven." Nor
•could they vote him out of the hearts of tens of
thousands who have found in that orchard of spi
ritual delights which- his fervid .piety, planted for
them, soma of the sweetest satisfactions their souls
shall feed on this side of the New Jerusalem. The
nearer we come to our home, the nearer some books
grow to us: And upon that shelf of our inner
'sanctum, on which we lay. our Pilgrim's Progress•
the. Saint's , Rest, and Thomas alcempie, ,we should•
have a place, too, for Samuel Rutherford's _Leg
ters.
Dr. George Moore of the Royal College of phy.
sicians, London, has lately published a Work on the
Lost Tribes of ririel, sustaining the theory that j they
aro identified with the Affghans of Asia.'
Hymns and Choirs-
Independent.
GOD'S WORK AMONG CHILDRRN.
An exceedingly interesting-feature of:.the work
-of God's -grace as it is in progress et,the,,present
time, in this and ot,her lands, is its influence upon
the' hearts of children. We are well aware that
in the case of persons of tender years, it,is much
mere difficult to distinguish between true religious
emotion;ind mere - natural arnypathy.than in other
persons, and that children are far more likely to
be influenced by imitation; but with all the
,evi
dence that we have 'befOre us, we. cannot 'doubt
that God is carrying on - a - great work .among this
dais of persons, and that He who said "Suffer
little Children to come unto me, and forbid them
not, for such is the kingdom of heaven,'.' ,is now
gathering many of thesc.lambs into his fold.
We.bave published but a small part of the in
telligence that hai •reacheit us in regard to the
spirit of inquiry and the lopeful conversions' that
have,occured in churches and Sabbath schools and
other institutions. We, have refrained,irom their
publication, because we preferred to understate
rather than to overrate the extent and importance
of *the work., Bat we cannot ferbear to express
- -oak conViction , that this religious movement among
ehildren.is one of the striking features' of God's
work at the present day, and one, which should
arrest and engage the attention of the. Church, and
especially of patents and pastors. It is a feature
of Gini's work which calls for careful study, wise
counsel and judicions action, as well as warm sym
, The,genuineriess of this movement as the result
of the iefluence of the divine Spirit, is proved from
its characteristics and from its great extent, with
out 'any concert in regard to means for its com
mencement and promotion.. We have intelligence
from various parts ,of the country, that a spirit of
deep religions anxiety prevails in Sabbath schools,
and in other places where children are under re
ligious instruction. We also publish a letter
fro'in Germany, giving a most remarkable account
of what has transpired in the Orphan Asylum
at Elberfeld. While there , may be much in
the:state of things described that is not genuine
re&ious influence there is still much that shows
that the Spirit of God is there working with
mighty power upon the hearts of the young, lead
ing them by sincere .conviction to repentance and
to Christ. . •
We are constrained to ask in this connection,
whether God is not in this thing turning the
hearts of the parents to the children, calling them
to feel a deeper interest in and a stronger expec
tation of the 'conversion of their children, while
they are children and while they are alive. We
were deeply impressed by a remark made by a
speaker at a lath Sabbath school meeting in this
city, to the effect that parents who expect 'their
children to be Christians if they die, as all appear
to, ought to expect them to be: Christians if they
live, and to labor to this end. Many mothers who
will think their children little saints if they die,
will not think of looking for their conversion
during their tenderyears. There is too much un
• belief in regard to the willingness of Christ to re
ceive little children; to much unbelief in regard
to the possibility of their becoming Christians un
til they grow up. God is rebuking our unbelief
by showing mercy to children'.
We know that this whole matter is one which
calls for great wisdom on the part of Christian
parents and children. There is nothing in which
more prudence, is necessary. We would write with
caution, and we would urge caution upon all who.
have - the charge of ehildren, but not that caution.
.Whielfpracticallyr treats them as.if they could not
be saved while young. The Saviour seems now'
to he saying, "Suffer little children to come unto
-me." Let us not forbid them lest we incur his,
displeasure, as did the disciples of old.
PRAY FOR YOUR PASTOR.
Ministers are but men;'subject to infirmities;
liable to error; in• danger of faltering in their
Christian course by reason of temptations. There
fore, pray for your pastor.
Pray to-day. Pray that the Spirit of the Lord
may descend upon him as he sits , in his study pre
parinir. that portion '
of truth which he is to deliv
er to his people on the coming Sabbath. Per
haps as he ponders on the sacred words, some
weakness of body, or despondency of spirit, causes
him to grow weary, and faint in his work. Could
you look in upon - him, you might see how heavily
the wheels drag. Pray for him. The Holy
Spirit can bestow on him such a baptism that his
soul shall be all aglow with zeal, and courage, and
love, and that glow shall , reach even. the tired
frame, and lend vigor to the' nervelesi arm; and
the result shall be an earnest and living appeal
that shall reach to save some immortal spirit.
Perhaps as he studies the theme before him,
some unholy and selfish ambition is taking pos
session of him. He is fired with a desire to be
eloquent; to have his name taken up and sounded
abroad on the breath of fame, and he is writing
that sermon, not to advance the cause of Christ—
not' with a single eye to his Master's glory, but to
exalt himself. Pray for him. •Pray fervently.
The Holy Spirit, in answer to your petition, can
strike instant conviction to his heart, and bring
him to his knees before God, and cast out the
demon, and he shall .enter the house of God, on
the holy day, humble and penitent; an instrument
which the. Lord -can use, and will not reject, on
account of pride or self , seeking.
Perhaps, ere he his aviare, some subtle error is
creeping into your pastor's mind. Perhaps some
prejudice or partiality is likely tb destroy the en
tireness and completeness• of truth in his hands.
Pray for, him. The. Holy Spirit can dissipate the
mists; can cause the scales to fall from his eyes;
can give him large, and liberal, and noble views,
and' he shall be growing in knowledge of the wide
scope and far-reaching , relations of the Gospel
which is committed to him.
Pray for your pastor on your•• own account, as
well as his. Perhaps you have fallen, into indiffer
once and inattention to the truth as it comes
weekly from his lips, and therefore are not reap
ing in your soul, the full benefit of his instructions.
Pray daily that the, word which he shall deliver
on the coining Sabbath may be made effectual to
you.; as the dew to the herb; as water to the
parched ground; as the fire and the hammer, if
need' be; to flint; your leart being stony; or as,
the mirror wherein you can, see your .deficiencies
and mark your urowth. •
Pray for your pastor on account of your children.
Only second to your own salvation, do . you hold
theirs. You are constantly watching, and hoping,
and Waiting, for 'sante evidences of thoughtfulness
and seeking the Lord in them. You instruct
them; you strive to set them a holy example; and
pray for them often with an aching heart. Yon
cannot rest until they are numbered 'among the
redeemed. Feeling this, every Sabbath is to you
a precious day--a day of hope. The preaching
of that day may be God's appointed means of
answer to your prayers. Some message from Him
may reach and awaken your child sent by his
ministering servant. Piay that it may be so.
Pray constantly for your pastor, that he may be
a faithful guide to, your children.
Perhaps—auch things have been—you may,
for various reasons, have Come to set • lightly by
your pastor. Perhaps in your family, and among
'your neighbors, disaffeotion toward him may have
crept in. Perhaps a spirit of fault-finding, ; and
unkind criticism ; may have gradually and alinost
insensibly taken the place of, praise, and satisfac
.
tion and cordial love. If this be:so, by all means
betake yourself to prayer for him whom you do not
wholly approve. Earnest , persevering prayer will
exorcise the evil - spirit. Praying on bonded
knees, (in humility And penitence • for your, own
sins and short comings), for your deficient guide`
and teacher; you will soon learn look on his
..-:y{}.L.::'"V,---NO,-. 33:=L1V1i416'..:1176:-'250.
N; Y. Observer.
short-cotnings more leniently than before. Taught
by the Holy Spirit in your. hours of communion
with heaven, you will learn that He can make the,
feeblest instrumentality effectual for your spiritual
good, if you are only.yourself in a.proper state to
receive' that good, and you will shortly blame only
yourself if you .are 'not fed and nourished in the
sanctuary; and love and kindness towards hint
who is spending his life in ministering to your
soul's wants, .will soon make all his efforts sacred
in your eyes' and, beyond and above all severity of
remark or criticism. God' give you grace to pray
for your pastor, and the due reward for such
prayer. ' '
, Pray for your pastor. Not fitfully and at long
intervals; not, as ft matter of duty; not with half
a heart. Pray daily., Esteem it a great privi
lege that you can, thus aid one who has' arduous
labors to perform and crushing responsibilities to
bear,,and so be a co-Worker with 'him. Pray with
oil your .heart. It shall not be in: vain.
OVA SITHDAY LAWS.
The followin,gis the report of the eloquent speech
of Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, at the recent German de
monetration in behalf of the Sabbath, in• New
York city:
He said that Dr. Tholuck, of Halle, once in
quired: "Canyon tell me why God made so many
Chinese, and so few Prussians?" If Dr. Tholuck
were here to-night, be would see that that God
has made a good:many Germans. As such I sa
lute you. Some of you are Saxons. We are
Anglo-Saxons. We are of the same stock, only
we. came here a little before you. You came
straight over, and we came by the way of England;
and we think we gained something by it. The
Saxon loves freedom as the eagle loves the cliff.
But it is poor matter for a man to have learned
his rights, unless he has learned also his duties.
With liberty there must be restraining law. There
is the centrifugal force of law; and when these
bear upon us, then we move in a bright and be
neficent circle. These men who clamor for liberty,
without having learned respect for law, have not
learned Anglo-Saxon freedom, which is freedom
regulated, by law. [Great, applause.] We under
take to impose no such ideas on the men who come
to this land. We use with them only moral sua
sion. We say, the liberty to do evil, is no liberty;
it is slavery. This is our American idea of free
dom: freedom to do right, not freedom to do Wrong.
But we do not impose these ideas upon any man;
we only recommend it. We are here as republi
cans; we have entrusted to us this land and these
free institutions, and we are determined that our
freedom shall be maintained. History tells us,
that of all, governments, republics have been short
est lived; tyrannies are long-lived; despotisms are
ancient and hoary, but free institutions are hard
to get ai.d easy to lose, and we are detertuined,
God, helping us, that our rights shall not be
stripped.from us. We do not say that this holy day
-=God's Sabbath—decently kept, will preserve to
us our freedom; but we do say, that this Sabbath,
trampled on, will strip us of our freedom. A good
God gives us .a holy day; the devil would be glad
,to give us holidays in abundance, if we would only
abuse them by riot, vulgar pleasures, lust, and re
velry. We say that this holy day, drenched with
lager-bier, and ringing with theatrical music, will
bring down our liberties into their grave. We
remember right well ,who they are that give peo
ple their holidays,-who gave them the amusement
,of the, ring; they are the.Neros, and would surfeit
their slaves - with pleasures, that they may keep
them slaves: 'Such tyrants as Nero and Caligula
cannot bear right, true, pure men; they want be
' sotted men, that they may make them slaves, and
so, they drug them with holidays. People sneer
at our pious republicans, sneer at Puritans. So
sneered the Cavaliers at the Puritans in England,
two hundred years ago; but when these Cavaliers
met those. praying Puritans on Marston Moor,
they bit the dust before them. [Applause.] Only
a few days, ago, when our modern hero moved his
little handful of troops from Moultrie to Sumter,
and run up the stars and stripes, he kneeled with
bis whole command and prayed to God. It thrilled
the continent, it thrilled the world. Men said,
here is a man to be afraid of. These terrible. Pu
ritans that pray first, will fight tigers. [Applause.]
We have run up our flag above our heads—we
have done it in prayer to God; we have taken pos
session of this continent as God-fearing men; we
will not lay our hands heavily upon any other men,
to push them down upon their knees. They pray
or not, as they please; but for ourselves, we demand
the right to pray; and for ourselves, we demand,
moreover, that our right shall not he interfered with
by rioters on God's holy day. Our Sabbath shall
be ~a decent, orderly Sabbath. We will have our
sanctuaries undisturbed, our streets shall be peace
ful. You may pray or not, as you will, though we
advise you to pray; but the question is simply this:
Shall we who wish to pray, be permitted to pray
.undisturbed, as we will ever pray, God save the
commonwealth l—[Applause.]
USES OF TROUBLE.
There is'a little plant,' small and stunted, grow
ing under the shade df a broad-spreading oak;
and this little plant values the.shada which covers
it, and greatly does it esteem the quiet rest which
its nable, friend affords . But a blessing is de
signed for this little plant.
'Once upon a time there comes along the wood
man, and with his sharp -axe he fells the oak.
The plant weeps, and cries--" My shelter is de
parted; every rough wind will blow upon me, and
every storm will seek , to uproot me l"
"No, no," saith the angelof that 'flower; "now
- will the sun get at thee; now will the shower fall
ontbee niora copious eabyridance than before;
now thy, stunted form shall spring up into loveli
ness, and.thy flower, which could never have ex
panded itself to perfection, shall now laugh in the
sunshine, and men shall say, How greatly bath
that •plant increased! how glorious bath become
its beauty, through the removal of that which was
its shade and its delight!'"
See you not, then, that God may take away
your comforts and your privileges, to make yon
the, better Christians Why, the Lord always
trains his soldiers, not by letting them lie on fea
ther beds, but by turning them out, and using
them to forced marches and bard service. He
makes them ford through streams, and swim
through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk
many, a long march with heavy knapsacks of .sor
,row on their backs. This is the way in which he
makes them soldiers; not by dressing them up in
fine uniforms, to swagger at the barrack-gates, and
to be Vale gentlemen in the eyes , of the loungers
in the park. God knows that soldiers are only to
be made in battle; they are not to he grown in
peaceful times. We may grow the stuff of which
soldiers are made, but warriors are really educated
by the smell of powder, in the midst of whizzing
bullets and roaring cannonades—not hr soft and
peaceful times. Well, Christian, may not this ac
count for it all? Is not thy Lord bringing out
thy graces and making them grow? This is the
reason why he is contending with you.—Spur
geon..
LITERATURE AMONG THE TRIBES OF INDIA..
The first tract ever printed in the language of the
Red Karens has been issued by the American
missionaries. The Red Karens are the most sa
vage of the tribes, and have not yet allowed the
establishment of schools among them. Christianity
has won its triumphs chiefly among the Bghai,
Sgau, and Pgho tribes. These three tribes alone,
savages who ten years ago had no written eharac
ters,have used 12,000 separate printed tracts or
books, issued by the Maulmain mission press,
during the past twelve months.
Congregationalist.