LETTER FROM CHATTANOOGA Chattanooga, December 3Lst, 1863. Rev. J. W. Mears:— Dear Brother On the 23d ult. I left Philadelphia as Delegate of the United States. Christian. Commission, en route for the Western army, and in less than three days I sat down and mingled with the genial, earnest brethren of the West, in Nashville, Tenn. As before I left I had many jjrgpnt requests made to me by friends to write, and finding it absolutely impossible to respond, but ip this way,, to be read in common, I hope. I shall be jus- turning “correspondent.” At Nashville I found about 11,000 sick and wounded in hospitals and convales cent camps, together with large numbers of prisoners, and but five or six of the' “ Commihsibn ” to labor there. Sixteen of the ntimber altogether, were there and farther ’South, in the army of the Cumber land. A few more cajpe in, in a few days, and we‘ Were permitted to push to the 'front. The distance is but 190 miles, but it took us a day longer to travel it, than the thousand iniles from your pity to the capi tal of this State. We had a variety of (Conveyances in our transit, alternating in passenger and open, cars, rounding up the pip on Vehicles that nature provided for US. We tarried at Murfreesboro the first night— twenty-three miles south of Nash ville—and here we found more desolation than we had yet been prepared to see. It had been a place of perhaps 3,500 inhabi tants, arid one of the-most beautiful towns of “the sunny South.” It had many na tural advantages of beauty and comfort, In the fine groves, gentle .knolls and swift, beautiful stream—the Stone river. It was the seat of afine college and seminary, and many splendid suburban residences. But the ruthless hand of war has made sad havoc with the town and its. grand surroundings. Houses biy the scores de molished, and often without a trace of their fouiidatipri remaining. Groves have been mercilessly laid tvaste. The present population are certaipjy, yery catholic in their practical, notions, for they have broken down all ‘‘partition walls,” all lines and fences have been liberally oblite rated. Here ye’ met two excellent brethren, Kev. Messrs. Orr and Davis from Western Pennsylvania, of the Presbyterian Church, greatly ip need of laborers and stores. About 1209 sick and .wounded are there, «nd more constantly being;brought on from from the front. A latge body of troops Were stationed here, in command of Gen. Van Cleve, a most excellent and Chris- Wan officer, and deeply interested in the Work of “the Christian Commission” As t& instance: the General wished to be represented, .in this good work, and not being able to devote tune personally, he Bald he wanted them to take his boy, a son Of thirteen- or fourteen years, with them Into the hospitals, to become- interested and work with them. He was soon very, much pleased with his hew labors, and the Soldiers have become quite attached to him. Major Johnson, of his staff, is an Cider of tho-Presbyterian Church, and also (lids and encourages our cause very much by his warm interest and active effort in Its behalf. Next morning -we passed on, and dined St Tullahoma, two or three days too late to receive the compliments of (he great raider Gen; Wheeler with 5,000 cavalry; and by night reached Bridgeport, Ala. Here we found several thousand of our troops, and the 15th Corps just coming in to winter-quarters. This became a ne cessity on account of the starving rations for man and beast issued below this point. No one knows how soon an army can be Starved out in a territory foraged and fed upon by the enemy, after the railroad com munication is so effectually broken up. ■ GHATTANOOOA, ■ —WANT OS SUPPLIES, AND SUFFERING IN THE ARMY AND HOSPITALS.— FIDELITY OP THE COMMISSIONS AGENTS. We reached Chattanooga, once the stronghold of the. rebellion in the West, Dec. 6th, and found .5,000 soldiers in the hospitals, 2,000 of whom still remain. 'These of course are mostly of the severest - eases—such as cannot be removed. There has been great suffering here'and much mortality. There have been as many as 'Seventy interments in one day, a short time after the battle. This is now very greatly diminished, but think of the sad tidings that gp from here.day by day, to carry sorrow , and gloom into many households of the land. The suffering of these wounded and sick, of course, have been greatly increased by the want, not only of proper diet, but of scarcely any diet at all. The army has not had more than half rations, and some part of the time not that, since the battle of Chickamaugai The hospital supplies were nearly.as meagre, , and only sufficient for ordinary; wants. Audit is astonishing that destitute as the hospital commissary and our “ Commission ” have been, that the wants of. patriots have been; so generally reached though very scantily satisfied. I do feel that the Christian Commission, with as little ma terial and as few faithful workers, (not half-a-dozen on an average since battle,) did as much effective service for the suffering heroes, as it ever could possibly have done elsewhere under like straitened circum stances. And let it be remarked also, to the credit of “ tfie Christian Commission,” that I believe no'station to have practised mrire rigid self-denial than that of Chatta nooga. Nor have they made it a virtue .out of necessity, but purely for the sake of our dying soldiers. We have had delica cies and luxuries all along, though in small quantities, but there has been the most studied care using any ar ticle of food that would benefit our dying and wounded men. Such things as beef, butter,, bread, milk, potatoes, Ac., no dele gate until a very recent date has had set before him. Hard tack, bacon arid coffee, twice a day, and for a time, I am told, but coffee and crackers alone, were the scanty articles of fare. We have thus far paid very much attention to the temporal as Well; as spiritual comfort of tho sufferers. We would have been delighted, could we only have done more. The great difficulty is, that until a week or ten days ago, al most no goods scarcely could be obtained, although there is great abundance of. some kinds, at Bridgeport, Ala., twenty-eight miles back by fail, arid sixty by navigation. The only facilities for transportation open the public, is one boat, (flat,) on an ave rage daily, and yon will know what amount of forage, crackers and hospital stores could, by that means, be furnished for the army camping here and in the vi cinity. And then, after there was some little improvement in the means of trans portation afforded for sanitary, stores, the phrtiality of tlic medical director gave the benefit of it exclusively to the U. S. Sani tary. Commission ; that we got .anything at all was owThg to the charity of that Com mission. I cannot help saying, it was a somewhat humiliating condition for our Commission. But we have now a special order from Major General Grant, allowing us every facilty consistent with the interests of the army, to cany on our work. So. here after, we expect stores amply sufficient for our use, and enough to send on to Knox ville. Mr. Miller, agent of Christian Commis sion at Knoxville, has just arrived, and states that (here is considerable suffering there in our army. Our hospital has suf ficient sanitary supplies on band for the present, but no reading matter, nor any. delegate of Christian Commission except himself, and a loyal. Pastor, is at hand to attend to the spiritual interests. -There are about 1,800 sick and wounded there, who are being in part removed slowly this way. We are now sending delegates from this place to Knoxville. To give you an idea of our work, allow me mention that : Mr. Young, of Cincin nati, 0., and myself, endeavor to attend-to General Hospital No. 4, in which there have been as many as 300 patients lying: In the mOming, we pass up and down the W“rds, minister .spiritual -Comfort, distri bute reading matter, write letters, seek out their various special wants, and then, re turning to our rooms, we prepare and carry back such little delicacies as we have to give them. In the evening, we hold short services, sometimes four or five in one evening. The great happy feature in this work is the growing religious interest which is manifest. Men are naturally serious in suffering;, they become sensible of their weakness and frailty—higher feelings are awakened, and they, long for higher strength and blessings. Hence, men are inquiring what they “must do to be saved?” Many have been anxious and successful seekers of salvation, and have died in perfect peace in Hospital No. 4, and a number yet live to serve their Lord. Daily do we meet new cases of interest and anxiety. We trust the good work will deepen and spread until all be come savingly interested. We hold as many as six services on the Sabbath in the different wards. O, what a delightful task too, is it to preach to these minds who esteem a sermon as a favor! Many had not heard a sermon for months, and one man said to me the other day, “I have not heard a sermon for three years.” “How is that,” inquired I, “had you ho chaplain?” . “No, I belonged to a bat tery.” Three-fourthß of the regiments are without chaplains, and they are sending in for us, and begging us to come out and , preach for them. Entire brigades I know to be without a chaplain. I would be glad to give you instances in my experience, but must defer until “ a moro convenient season. ” Tours truly, Skepticism about Christ is' also scepti cism about history itself; unbelief in him is unbelief in the controlling ideas by which men have been inspired, and in the chief objects for which men have hitherto lived. PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 7 1864 ON HEARING THE WORD BY W. M. CORNELL, LL. D. The gospel should be heard without par tiality. Partial hearers are pridteipally of two classes; those who are partial to particular subjects, and those who are partial to partic ular preachers. Some have a partiality for doctrinal preaching. They are so attached to this kind of preaching, that unless.it is on every occasion; they are offended. Let the minister dwell on the doctrines vC'ithe Bible, and they are in raptures. On- such occasions they feel very much as Peter, did “on the mount of transfiguration.”: . They , wish to hear them forever; and, at the same time, they are often as neglectful of their practical application, as Peter was of the world below, when he wished to build tabernacles upon the mount. Let the mi nister, as the prophets, Christ, and his apos tles did, when they had inculcated spine of the great doctrines of the Bible, propped .to, draw the inferences that flow from, and show their practical hearings, and they hang down their heads and exclaim: this is not preaching, it is mere exhorting; :supli talk will never indoctrinate the church.” They expect one sermon to contain the whole Bible; and, would be pleased, doubtless,, with such a young man as Dr. Emmons asked, after hearing his first sermon, if he ever expected to preach again ? and assig% ed as a reason for the question, that he thought the young man had preached about every thing in that first sermon. Now, heaven forbid we should say a word against doctrinal preaching in its proper. place; and it is not often as much as it should be; but when Jflß;&ding idea of every sermon is the doctrine of election, as was said to be the case with the goo.d old- Rev. Dr. Woods, of Boscawen, N. H., and people crave such preaching, they have need to learn the first sentiments of the gospel. Others are all for practical preaching. They never wantTo hear the doctrines . dis cussed in the pulpit. It is a vexation to them to hear doctrines. They grow rest less at the very mention of a text which seems to involve any of the doctrines of grace. Give us practical discourses-—some thing that will stir us up. Doctrinal ser mons only put us to sleep. The faotr is, both these classes of hearers are diseased. It is a mark of a diseased appetite, when a person relishes but, ,one! kind of foid, and is ever hankering After that.. To feel an habitual disrelish for' in struction, unless it is confined to a few par ticular topics, is a sure indication, of a dis eased mind, or a bad heart, or both. ■ ■ It is difficult to conceive how such hear ers caii love the word of God as his word, arid yet wish to hear a part only of the sa cred truth. As “every thing is beautiful in its season,” so all the Bible is necessary, as a great whole, to the full development of the Christian character. As “ the church of Christ is built upon' the fouridatiOriof the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ'himself being the chief corner-stone, in whom all the building 'fitly framed together groweth into an holy temple of the Lord,” so the Christian graces are nourished and sustain ed, not by a part, but by all' the truths of the Bible. If we examine the preaching of Christ and his apostles, we find a due proportion of the doctrines of the Bible in terspersed with practical remarks, and such reflections as naturally flow from them. Ip their preaching, there was nothing superflu ous, nothing disproportioned; nothing de fective. Where the minister declares “ the whole counsel of God,” there we find Christian character moulded into exquisite, beauty, ■arid symmetry,■ and “published after the ■simlitiide of a palace." It is generally' the case- that, if there be any particular doctrine which men do not like to hear, it is precisely the part which they most need. A partiality for a partic lar kind of preaching generally arises from ignorance. Others have a • partiality for particular speakers, and are prejudiced against others.'* To Bay the least, such hearers ought to cul tivate- a candid, spirit, when the-preachers are equally qualified as to character and piety. This Class of hearers set too much by the minister to whom,they are partial; especially is this apt to be the case upon the selection and settlement of a new pas tor; They are so enthusiastically carried away 4 by him, that they think he. has no equal on the face of the earth. Every thing he" says is exquisitely beautiful.. The very form of the man, the gracefulness of his gestures, the turn of his eye, the nod of his head, the shaking of his beard, all surpass any thing they ever witnessed; and, if he seems to imitate a favorite minister Who, has been removed from them by death, or by some richer parish, they are in ecstacies. There never was his equal; and all their neighbors soon know what they .think of him. J. L. l; This is fraught with two evils to him; first, unless he is eminently pious he is “exalted above measure, and puffed up with pride to fall into the, condemnation; of the devil;” and secondly, to them, that in NO. IV, the shadow, they lose the substance ; in the messenger, the message is forgotten. No greater curse can befall a people than this : And yet, oh! how often do they say, “so would we have it.” If such a congre gation realized their true state, they would cry out as Job did, “ Pity us, oh ye, our friends, for the hand of God hath touched us." They famish Tor the bread of life. Who that has lived long has not been re minded, by such cases, of our Lord when he rode into Jerusalem. Oh! how ready they were r to' welcome the Messiah! The trees were»Btripped of their branches, the multi tudes, before and behind, shouted hosanna. And the same multitude cried, “away with him ' crucify him!" ;N°* better motive often actuates such .hirers than did the Jews on that occasion ; that was their pride. It tehoves those hearers who are proud of their minister as the Jews were of Christ, when they thought he had come to set them on high above other nations to “take heed how they hear.” . -Others are SO : prejudiced against particu lar preachers, that they can never bear to hqar them; and this, often, without any .peal;fiause. They have taken some dislike to them; or, they have heard Something about them; “ some tale-bearer who scatters fire-brands, arrows, aud death," has said something of them which, in nine cases out tennis false. But this matters not. They b§l|eye it, and t&at's enough for them. Often, the reason; they do not like him is besf known to themselves, for they can none. Such hearers are guilty of de spi|ing the gospel, and the great day willjj reveal to them their lost opportunities of profiting by a preached gospel. Would not Christ say to all these hearers, “take heed Jiotp. ye hear ?” Oh ! what a responsibility rests upon. him who hears: the gospel and does not.profit by it. The heathen- in the da|r of judgment will condemn him. SHIRTS A SERMONS. ■ The connection between benevolence : and devotion is not at first sight apparent to an unconverted man; nor in all cases even to Christians. The power however of benevolence to excite a favorable opinion of the benefactor is, well-known. Hence, it has often been used as a proselyting agency. The argument is, tha( an opi nion which leads a man to do good must be true, that the religion which impels a attanstorglie ye suffering must be divine. strengthJby no- parLbepeyolMpO j is the fruit of true religion, and that He? who commands us to love God with all our hearts, places next in importance the command) to love our neighbor as our selves. The Jewish poor law was as much a part of that religion as the sacri fices ; and (he first great out-pouring of the Holy Spirit on. the Christian Church, not only blossomed in do-xologies and sermons, but ripened into a, general distribution of goods to the .needy; whence to this day, membership in the church receives the name of fellowship. -. Following- this pre cedent, in the Nearly ages of Christianity, every church employed the active services of a number of deacons earing for the poor, and had its hospital for the sick; and every monastery, in later times, distributed alms to the poor, and various brotherhoods and sisterhoods devoted themselves to teaching the ignorant, nursing the sick, 'burying tho dead, and feeding the hungry. Urie bishop sold the golden the church to redeem slaves, rnd another to relieve the, victims of famine. The gene ral and furidemental idea of all this was, that no worship could be more acceptable to our Father in heaven than relieving the wants of His children on earth. The Ro mish C hurch taught that such offerings were so acceptable as to make atonement for the sins of the offerer; quoting in support of that opinion, Daniels’advice to Nebuchad nezzar “Break off thy sins by righteous ness and thy iniquitieaby shewing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility.” In the revulsion of the Reformation against the. merit of good; works as atone ment for sin, Protestants acquired a habit of thought which permitted them to view benevolence as distinct from religion. Faith and works were regarded as distinct and even separate things. A nominal faith prevailed, in Protestant C hristendom Which Was very willing to be orthodox at the expense of some angry words, but ‘cared not fQy B the expenditure of deeds of charity. in state churches did not necessitate fellowship with the needy and suffering. A few living Chris tians ever shewed their faith by their works, but the great mass considered religion as a thing of confessions and creeds and pray ers, and sermons, and Sundays; and be nevolence as a wholly different affair, de manding a society, and committee, and week-day work. I have known the elders of a church scandalized at the proposal to take up a charity collection on the Sab bath, and astonished when I should them, from the Confession, that it was a part of the public worship • of God. Scores of churches, have never dream’t that they. had any need for deacons, or any work for them to do. Taking advantage of this apostacy from true religion, ungodly men now-a-days, with considerable success, plead for a di vorce between religion and relief. The usual from of the proposal is, that as we are all agreed in the propriety of relieving our ..poor, suffering - fellowmen,, but. are greatly at variance In' our respective arti cles of belief regarding God, we shall all unite in ignoring our theology for the sake of benefiting humanity. The practical de sign feowever is, to get Christians to put their alms into the hands of infidels, ajid pay them for distributing them, with com mendations, direct or implied, of the irre ligion of the donors. “ Here, soldier, is a comfortable shirt for you. We have no sulphuric literature to give you along with it. This is our religion.” The object then plainly is, to combat Christianity with its own weapons, and oppose Chris tian faith with deeds of benevolence. It would be safer to employ TJuiversa lists to administer the Sacraments, than the charities of the church. R. P. THE WOEK OF GOD IS HEW ALBANY, [The following is the letter with good tidings from the 3d Church in New Albany, referred to in our last. J We have been visited -with a gracious outpouring of the blessed Spirit of God, and many dear friends for whose conver sion to Christ we have long labored and prayed, are rejoicing in a good hope that [they have submitted to Him. About sixty persons, I think it safe to say, give evidence of having “passed,” during the last,three months, “from death unto life.” .Encouraged by various indications which I will not stop to note particularly, we . commenced daily meetings for prayer and the preaching of the “Word, at a point in the country, 3 miles from the city, the latter part of September ; and con tinued there over two weeks. The Holy Spirit was present in marked power from the first. Twenty then came out on the Lord's side, making public profession of their faith; leaving others in that neigh borhood who propose following their example on the first opportunity. The 15th of November, we began like meetings at our Church, in town. Ardent prayer had; gone up from many a closet that the Master would deign to bless the means employed, for the ; quickening of all His people, and to the salvation of sinners. vTJhe i9ofe. SEVENTH SOBAP—UNBELIEF THAT IS NOT UNBELIEF. During the Yirginia Peninsula cam paign of the Army of Potomac, under McClellan, a soldier with an anxions countenance, aeeosted a gentleman with the inquiry, “Do you belong to the Chris tian Commission, sir?” “ Yes, my friend, can I do anything for you ?” was the reply. “ I have a Comrade very sick in- the re gimental hospital yonder. I wish you would go Hiad see him, for I don’t think he has long to stay, and I am afraid he is not'prepared to die.” “ Certainly I will go. You have talked with him concerning his preparation for death, have you not?” “ No sir, I have not,” “ Perhaps then you have- p-rayed with him.” “No sir, I am not a praying man.” “My good fellow, I am sorry to hear this of you—very sorry indeed. You came out to look for some Christian friend to visit your poor comrade, because you are afraid that he is not prepared to die. Did it not occur to you that you have yourself quite as much need that some friend of Christ should pray with you, and strive to lead you to the Saviour ?” “ No sir, it did not. It is a longtime since I have: had any thought of religion on my, own account. I would- not be dis respectful sir, especially whefeyou are doing me the favor to go and see poor Clem; but, to be honest, I don’t believe in reli gion, and don’t think I shall ever have much to do with it.” “ You surprise and grieve me. Still I am glad you are frank ; and I wish you would go frirther, and, in your candor, tell me exactly what yon do think of reli- gion.” “Well sir, if you will know, I think it is part superstition, and the rest clap trap.” “And.yet you are alarmed for -poor Clem; you are afraid that he is not pre pared to die, and you want some Chris tian man to go and see him. My good fellow, what am I to make of all this? Do you wish him to die on superstition and clap-trap, or do you really think he needs religion in the hour of death ?” - "Talking about him, sir, I don’t quite knew how to take it. If I choose to risk mySelf oh my notions about religion, it’s nobody’s business but my own”— “ My dear friend”— “Never mind, sir: I know what you would say, but I shan’t ask anybody else to stand in my shoes. But when it comes to Clem’s care, you see sir, he he-, longs to my mess, and I have often told him what I think, pretty much as I have told you mow. He was a good deal qualmy at first, but of late he fell in with me. If it should tarn ont that there is anything in religion, then I don’t think he is prepared to die,;andT shouldn’t quite like to have Aim die so, and I the means of it!” . The above is bat the commencement of a conversation carried on daring the walk to the hospital where Clem was lying, and at subsequent times during the delegate’s continuance on the field. I am not now able to tell what reply was given to those last frank state ments from the lips of the soldier, bat it is easy to tell what might have been saidj and what, in substance, probably Was said While, for himself, he claimed to have no wish for religion, and no belief in it, he was sincerely desirous that it should be brought to the relief of his dying com rade. Why was this ? First.—■ Though he had been bad enough to make that comrade as nearly an infidel as possible, yet when he came to see him face to face with death, he had not enough of the devil in him to help him to “die game.” Second.—He had an involuntary coni- . prehension of this striking distinction be sfcould in the end 4he found a delusion, no disaster will attend the breaking up of that delusion ; but if the last then proves a lie, the mistake will be awful and irre parable. Third.—As long as a possibility re mained tbat religion might be true, he felt that Clem, not being a Christian, was not prepared to die. Religion was the thing needed to prepare him for death. As just stated, in no conceivable event, coaid it he any injury; and even he, the would-be unbeliever, eonld think, of possibilities of the future, which would make it' the all in-all. Even he bad the good sense to judge that one who is not well guarded against all those possibilities, is not pre pared to die. Fourth.—Conscience upbraided him with his own guilty part in Clem’s pre sent unpreparedness for death. He had successfully striven to harden a heart whieb he had found-—to use his own term —qualmy on the subject of religion. In truer phrase, Clem first came into his company tender in conscience, and sus ceptible of religious emotions. He bad diligently worked this out from him not by any manly reasoning, but by the use of scorn and epithets, such as superstition and clap-trap. Now that he saw his too yielding pupil seemed about to test the awful experiment of what it is to die with out religion, he stood aghast before his own work. He sought Christian help to undo that work, before the opportunity should be gone forever. Fifth.—His own 'heart stood self-con victed of dishonesty in professing to re gard religion as of no account. God often crowds men to a point where they are compelled to face their own systems; and learn their exact work. His friend was dying without religion; and for him he was alarmed. Bat everything awful in the thought of that friend’s dying out of Christ, was just as awful in the thought of himself dying thus: It was in vain that he, trimmed las speech so as seerh ingly to evade this; most rational deduc tion. His bravado. about not fearing for himself, but only for his friend, did not disguise the real apprehension now awaken ed in his soul, that religion is the only preparation for death. ■ Whether there was enough moral sen sibility left within him, to secure his ac ceptance of these solemn convictions; and whether,? with a soldierly manliness, he made retraetionofhis: past awful Wrong towards .bis dyipg comrade; and whether, as the issue of this strange adventure' that Christian worker, and those patriot soldiers, will by-and-by stand together on the mountains of everlasting peace, and look back from thence to those dark war days on the Chickahominy— .these are things of which we know not now but we shad know hereafter. f ; B. B. H.