LETTER FROM INDIA,
My Dear Brother Meabs: —We have
just had a little specimen of British Hin
doo Royalty. Since the people in this
kingdom rebelled, and were re-subjugated
by the British in 1844, our young king,
“"'SSt'uan'j'has beeh kept under a kind of
'kutelagei : dnd allowed to exercise no power.
You will remember, ibet in the.great
Sepoy Rebellioiv.of 1851, this was the one;
place, biTthe{limitS; of the; Bombay Presb
dency, notorious for a violent.; qutbreak
cUSirnot: jofiiin } the
s i^bfelfion;. and as a> kjnd ofeevvardi for
his ; ..fidelrty,.they .promished to rpstqrghim
to power. ~r . .
The fulfilment, of this promise has been-
long,delayed. Last yeardt was.given out
that • the Go vernor Sahib was coming
frpm Bombay,to -honor the occasion:; the
delay was for his convenience, At length,
however, the day was fixed—the 18th of
this month. ...
A day or . two .before the- event, a Go
vqmment. order, was issued to: the 44,000
people ofKolapoor to glean iup their
, s houses, . As ,we;pass.ed along : the streets
, th.eieyening of theilTthi-it wasmot a little
amusing to see all the old women and sortie
of the young ones, engaged in house
cleaning V operation; It consisted in wash
ing the mild nwalls.i.next, to? the narrow
1 Btree ts,; with tf, fresh mixture of mud add
coW-.’jduhg*; landiitheh i iomamenting'them ‘
withi littlp-dots and Stripes :of white, red,
apd; yqUott’.. The white,-paint was simply 1
lime . whitewash, and rthe’samfi, with the
addition iof a. little coloring powder, served
for the more gaudy decorations.< The
Work was done iin theundfit indifferent and 1
■slovenly; manner, merely sufficient to. obey
the; order ;l airidyet-I iwas assured* by one
high; iH authority, that the amounts of lime
MseduraSsed itst price to four times its or
dinaryvalue. i v-t " :i:
' The day. was not wanting in military'
dißplayybut no;Govemor Sahib ’ came ;
evens.the political 1 agent wasabßent; and
represe'itOd' by Major Anderson, his as
- <J :■ ' ft
Having been 1 duly invited by an Eng- 1
list note, from this gentleman; seut br
tbe bahd of a His Highness’ most faithful
old “Nailc Dufiedar,” my good wife un :
hesitatinglydecidedtbattmustgo. Reach-,
ing th'e paiace with the little band Of Eu
ito'peaa officers cbniuected with the regi
ments stationedher6,we fQundthat'both
regiments bad preceeded us; and pafiang
through. long .filpg of these soldiers, we
came to the- entrqnce/bf the palace where
the young . Major. A. stood to
receive ua;; and having d°ne so, they im
mediately led .the, way, through dark pas
sages and up a very narrow dark stair
way, to the Durbar Hall on the second
f10,0r,., already crowded brim-full of natives
decked-, .out r in. holiday .finery. Near the
centre of this Hali, we were seated in two
rows of chairs.facing ; each other, the Rajah
occupying the. post, of honor at one extre
mity, with Majqr A. on his right, and
Col. P. on his . left. Both these officers
were large, portly men, and with the little
Rajah between them, glittering with jew
els and diamonds, they set, off the supe
riority of the Anglo-Saxon to these puny
Asiatics, a, la Punch. , , ... .
I expected some performance worthy of
the occasion—at least, some statement in
English or Marathi, announcing the resto
ration of the kingdom to the young Rajah.
Not One word, of the kind. There was
music, and the, disgusting performance of
three dancing girls. After ah hour of this
stupid entertainment, we were sprinkled
with, rose-water, perfumed with oil of the
precious sandal wood, wreathed with gar-
landß of flowers, and then the Rajah and
Major A. rose and led the way hack down
.the dark stairs, and to the palace entrance,
whence, all hastened away in the utmost
confusion.
What an opportunity for mating the
moral and elevating power of Great Brit
ain felt bythese grovelling Asiatics, and
yet wholly thrctwn away. Not one word
said td impress the young king with a fit-,
ting seiise of his new responsibilities, not
one enhobling sentiment uttered, and the
Bfijsdiancf hiS subjects left to infer that,
Abe most acceptable entertainment they
can. propose for their Anglo-Saxon con
querors is a nautch of lascivious dancing
girls I
.British, poljox.in India absurd and un-
’ ' ' CHRISTIAN.
XcamepVay from the palace oppressed
■with a feeling of extreme sadness. I
passed idol shrines which have been re
paired and ornamented at. Government ex
pense,. the special sanction of British
officers. Herein this dark land, for 250
years, the representatives of the most
Christian nation! on the globe, have pan
dered to .'the grovelling superstitions of
these idolaters, building and repairing
their temples, directing and supporting
their idol ceremonies, and virtually be
coming ministering priests at their idol
shrines. 0 what a price has been
placed in their hands 1 What a vantage
ground for elevating and blessing these
idolatrous nations! And yet how sadly
neglected and perverted! Under the
wretched plea of religious neutrality, they
have put a ban upon their own.faith, and
entered into league with idolaters to pro
tect and support their rebellion against
the living God.
I would not overlook the benefits of a
mere secular education, from which the
Bible and all Christianity has been expur
gated;: but even l this was neglected for
- some two hundred and fifty years Of Briti :
Ish rnle in India, arid ik stili most ihfiagre,
reaching: Only afewofthe ; higher arid'
mote* Wealthy ■ and - leaving ; the
masses In the inost debasing ignorance-I
riot three. i& : a hundred able to fOad 'theTr
own language. : 1 1
I Would’ not overlook' the benefits of
railroads find-telegraphs, rapidly,
intersecting all paftsofthislfind; but
even these Are shorn of their iriofal power
by unworthy concessioris to the idolfitfous
superstitions of the native workmen^—car- ;
tying sheep 1 on the first' train that blimbs
the Ghats, to sacrifice tosome idol god in
honor Of the event. What WOnder that,
multitudes of these idolaters cling to their
idols with more intense devotion, feeling
that their past remissness has given a
chance to their British conquerors to out
do them in'Costly offerings, and thus win
from them the favor of . these same idol
gods 1 ;
But we must not include all English-'
men in the condemnation here implied.
Let us never forget that there are noble,
earnest, Christian men, bo,th in England
arid here among these British officers, who
depreefite the wrong position of the go
vernment, and the great iniquity thus per
petrated, as sincerely as any missionary.
Arid let us riot fail to thank God that the 5
number of such men, in positions to influ
ence the India (xd vernirient, is .constantly
mcreasmg.
RAJAH AND MISSIONRi .
' Does the question arise in your" mind,
HbW'will this restoration of the young
Rajah to; power affect' the missionaries ■?:
We do riot ■anticipate 'firiy’charige. The
riative Durbar and the Rajah himself have
always seemed friendly.
Tie forcible seizure df ear houte in our
absence by Geri. Jacob for military uses,
together with his foolish’oath, declaring
no missionary should be allowed to live here
again, undoubtedly had an unhappy effect
upon the native government and, people'’
and their wrong impression was in a rqea-
Sute confirmed bythesale of'our Cha’pel
shortly, before our, return, effected as .it
,was by the Political Agent, the highest
British ; authority in the kingdom., How
could they help inferring that, the British
Government was opposed to the mission ?
The fact that the Political Agent had the
property , sold at the order of the Board,
they probably never knew. And if we
should tell them so, how could they un
derstand the possibility of such an order
to sell a Chapel, which we still need every
day as much as when we built it ? The
natives were evidently posed by these un
toward events; and the wonder is, that
they received us as cordially as they did.,
But time rectifies much that is wrong, and
corrects many wrong impressions. - The
native government and people have seen
us recover our housethey have seen the
limits of :the military camp, which were
enlarged to bring the house more abso
lutely under Gen. Jacob’s control, con
tract again * arid leave us in our former po
sition. They, have seen us resume our
preaching and schools in different parts of
the city; and while noticing our forbear-,
ance in regard to our former chapel, they
have' seen us purchase another site imme
diately adjoining it; and when the Jifus
sulmans remonstrated and petitioried the
government' and the Political Agent; to
interdict our, building upon .it, they hfive
observed that such petitions have' been
unavailing. If we are enabled to go on
without work and complete our chapel,
we trust the wrong impressions that had
obtained will soon be erased and for
gotten.
You will also bear in mind, that though
the government of the kingdom is now
conducted in the name of : “ His Highness,
the Rajah,” yet the change is more in
name than in. reality. The young Rajah
has no business habits, and. I fear will
give no attention whatever to the govern-,
ment and interests ofjhis kingdom. j[|His
minister is the choice of British officers,
j A British- Political Agent still holds .su
pervision. The Rajah has no power of
life and death j all weighty matters must
still he referred to the' Governor in Coun
cil at Bombay; and this native govern:
ment, like' all protected States; must heed
the wish, and adopt the general policy of
the protecting power. ;
I confess I feel a strong sympathy, for
the young Rajah. - he; possessed of
suitable force" of character and governing
qualities, and disposed to apply himself to
business, I should sincerely rejoice in this
restoration of power. As matters are, I
confess to some misgivings. Faithful as
the Rajah and his minister zuay be to the
PHI LADE LPH I A-,-. lII V USD AY, JAGUAR Y 21,1864.
English, his: subjects are restilve, and this
kingdom has been the hot-bed of intrigue
from time immemorial. It will not sur
prise me to find their intrigues breaking
out in overt acts, which may, ere long,
give occasion for the English to resume
the government, and more absolutely than
before.
TROUBLE ON THE FRONTIER.
Several tribes on our Northern frontier
have long been troublesome ; and two
.months since/;Gen. ChamlSerlain, • with a
force of some 6000, was sent tp‘ chastise
them. A correspondent the
-' M:The combined
ledonbYtheJßind|stoeAjfoi£tics. hayjh
heenquiet since aita'cfe
at ofthe 30th ; dctober; ' |'our!times (
hate 1 they 1 furiously ®hd foblflljfi assailed:
Sirs’Na#l© Chamberlain’s position;* and,
four times, have they recoiled from the des- :
perate shock. The orders are 'don’t dis
courage their advance, let Them ’come oh
to yohr ba^oniets .bdfofe^yo^ ’and-
often: they have bravely l com'e ! bit' and
closed- with offr • troops;'but > dlwaysto be
discomfited' : 'They have shrunk;from the
Enfields of the pale faces, and,, have, .been
met .hand to hand by .our "Ist, 6th,
20tbPunjab Infantry’and 1 4th Gloorkhas,
by all of which corps the ehemy'has' been
overthrown.' And each Regiment boasts
one'or more 1 standards taken in fair, and
desperate, hgbt. . But ,our Gfflpral is.only
anxious for them to comeon msm£" Never:
has hS caught hill nien So
vious expeditions, and now they mll found
him like'>autumn leaves. - The:#egimerit
most distinguished in camp> is beyond all
doubt.the. fit Punjab Infan try-prider Ma
jor Keyes, .unfortunately, wounded, ,ancl.
the Punjab
low. Two better officers are’iffilf to be
found. Our casualties amotuft to ►SIS, in
cluding-three European offieer&Jdllfed and 1
five wounded, lost’
at least 500 killed and ljsoo„Whined.”
Of the Pandiqs t slain in. the conflict ; he
a,dds).* “Neither. English nor,Tutsan will
bury them, so their bodies area thrown
down the khuds to rot!” *
Another correspondent says:j “Their
country will probablybe annexed; : but
whettbdrderttibes'acfe as thesei-Brans-lit-’
dus Itapparees haye been actingjatthbre is
no other course but tobring-tEfeih imder'
the watch and police conttol of Gurowri'
officers. The punishment of-aiibexa'tioii
has; in this case, become necessary.' If
such a course be followed, it wilj’have a
mobt excellent effect on the -otKjlr hill
tribes.”
Query:—Were these tribes Strdhgfenbugh
to invade British India with sbo.OOO men,
anddemand the half, of it as theit/inheri
taace, would these British ofjfcgrgcry out
“ peace on any terms, ,f and the
demand to prevent the horrors ofwar and
bloodshed ? ' *
ANOTHER- PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Ground was broken, on the first of. this
month for laying the foundation 'dfr a new
church' in this city Of Kolapobr. ’ We
have 252 costly idol’ temples hbre but no
Christian Church or chapel; and having
labored under this difficulty tWo full
years, we feel that’ we must havb'one place
in which to worship the true God. We
have not half the means necessary for
building it, and may have to stop midway
in the work, but we have begun it, tvusj>
ing in Him for whose service We build it.
We would apply for a loan to the Com
mittee of your $lOO,OOO “ Church Erection
Fund,” but fear we could not famish satis
factory'securities. But if you hitve any
committees or individuals who* mu-willing
to “ lend to the Lord,” and repay
it, we will thank God bn ■'their'behalf.
And let us share your prayers, that we
may be enabled to build uphere a spiritual
church, with polished, living’stones re
flecting the image and glory of Him who
redeemed them. In the service of the Gos
pel. Yours sincerely,
’■ R. G. Wilder.
P. S. Our Viceroy, Lsrd Elgin, is
dangerously 1 ill, not expected to recover.
Kolapoor, India, November 25(h, 1863.
. BT KEY. DANIEJj MARCH.
; - iv: Thee Paim Tree.
Ps; 32 :12. The righteous shall ■ flourish :like
the Palm: Tree.
• The Palm, as seen by travelers in the
lands of the Bible, arrests attention in the;
distance by its tall, straight, column-like
trunk, and its surmounting crown of
luxuriant and. graceful lts dean
feathery branches, beautiful* as'the. plumes
of the bird of Paradise, never'frail in thd
dust, never interlace with the. branches of I
other trees,- never become; entangled with |
creeping, vines, are never defaced with
moss or mildew, never: mingle with the
.rank- and noxious vegetation of the marsh
or stagnant pool,, though it bagks in the
same, sunshine, and derives support from
the fame soil. , Apart from all the trees
of the wood, the Palm stands , alone, tall,
pure, ever stretching, heaven-ward with
its yearly growth, ever welcoming the
sun, yet not weeping like the willow in
darkness; flexible and bending before the
storm, yet again when the storm is past,
rearing aloft its graceful form as bright
and beautiful as ever in the blaze of the
broad Boon, and the fading light of the
SACRED SYMBOLS.
golden eve. So stands thuPalm as seen
by the pilgrim who follows the track of the
wandering tribes, or surveys the land
where they found their promised rest.
And the righteous man, the servant of
God, lives apart in a pure and- divine
separation from the world. Faithful
found? -among the faithless, he keeps his
loyalty and his love, while the passions
the'ifiiiltitdde sweir
and roar around him, : outrageous as a sea.
Ifhehends before the Btorm, it is ohly to
;risei ; With mew strength and ‘ beauty.; to his
wanted stature .when.vthe btempest |has
lexpended its fury,; and the 'darkness'ofj the;
iBSe istands -as ; a td 'mariners onva
;*ockyjc<Mt,ii;tfountain to; pilgrim&hi ftHfe
desbrtyra shontrofvietoty;amidlthe"<rdar of
battle. oHis presence is othe'iprbmi&i of
Jhis
death the greatest-triumph! f Let/sceptics;
scoff at the-’ power, of faith and the purity
•of " 'religion;; - let sophists with perverse
ingenuity, set reason'' at variance with !
revelation*; • let- the' selfish 'and 1 the ■gain-*
seeking barter-their souls forgbld;'still so* 1
long as there is ! a good man in■ ■ the world
to live for Godj the trufh of the ■ divine
: word shall be demonstrated with power,
’and unbelief shall'be put to shame. By
his silent separation from the *evil of the
world he shall testify-against it,’ and; by
the’ serene and'susthined ' superiority of
1 his"faith he shall*overcome ’its'power:*
Animated by the spirit of his "Master, he
can mingle with men in all the" walks of
life," and go through*'all' the’ haunts Of
wickedness upon errands "of mercy and
love, and yet‘keep hip 1 garments clfean.
Under his cultivation” the morkltvaste j hr
•the city and the wilderness, brings forth
immortar fruit, homes of the
vile add wretched are’cheered with the'
joys of paradise-restored. However the 5
wicked may rail ; qn him ip the day of their
prosperity, the, worsjk,,of men welcome his
conoqng in the dark hour of,, affliction, and
eyes dimmed with the shadows of death
look'on his face as if it Were the face of an
angeL ' Life is prepious ib him, and the
selif-denying work of behefigehce is full of
joy, because .love attracts him to every
duty, and faith gives him the foretaste of
heaven. The world ,is Beautiful to him,
because itisthe work of his Father’s
, hand; and his emancipated spirit walks
abroad through all the pleasant things
brought forth by. the sun,. and delights
amid the beauties and glories of creation
as if they were all his own.. -
w
The new* deposit of woody matter, which
is to enlarge its. dimensions and increase
dtsistrength, comes directly from the vital
process,; whieh is gping on at the heart.
Thpugh jthe surface, may seem hard ; and
rigid, yet the central portion of the trunk
is soft and .pliant, and,at the same time
full Vof ithat-mysterious and ever-acting
vitality, which is the source of strength
and growth to the whole tree. With the
other and larger class,bf trees, the process
of growth is the opposite of this. In them
the heart may be hard as Atone, and utter
ly dead, while the outside appears green
and flourishing. The,whole vitality of the
tree inlay be employed in: giving the
surface the appearance of life, while the
heart is utterly gone, and the trunk is
is nothing ; 'but a shell.
Tlie spiritual life of the righteous man
has its seat in the heart, and displays its
power from within' outward. He is not
indeed asyet “ vital in ■ every part,” sanc
tified in his whole body and soul and
spirit ; but the warmth with which his
system glows is fire from heaven, and it
has been kindled upon ah altar where the
flame shall never go out:; and that altar
is his renewed and consecrated: heart.
Howevet his 1 external aspect may at times
seem 'rigid and cold, there os always
warmth and tender sensibility within.
The outside of the cultivated and .decorous
worldling, is the best of him. While his
branches are green, and he Spreads his
foliage in. glorious beauty to the sun, he is
so jjitterly dead in thevery soul and centre
of his spiritual being as not. to possess the
slightest symptom of vitality, where the
new life of love to God should have its
pure fountain; and perpetual spring—in the
'heart.." ;■ ,
And the universal church of Christ in
the world, lives: and grows by the- same
•law which governs the spiritual life of the
individual -believer; The: elements of its
power cdme- from within itself, - and not
from the world. -And the church must be
made strong, for the'entire conquest of the
world, by liVing’’ expansion from its own
centre of life/and "that is Christ himself,
it is not the World that ’is to enrich and.
strengthen and Save the church; ' but it is
the church' Which is td enrich and-save the
world, or both will be lost together. The
streams of salvation must flow from the
church outward, to water the desert and
make the waste blossom as the rose. .The
church forgets’ and its glory,
when it seeks to propitiate the powers of
this world by a recreant distrust of its own
• truth, or a feeble hesitancy in asserting
its high claims, in the name of Christ, to
| the loftiest endowments of intellect, and
the -utmost. resources of- nations. Prom
the heart of the church of Christ alone can
go forth the vitalizing influences which can
save the world from utter corruption,
decay and death. And the world can
securCs’ to itselfx-|»ridaßexii growth and
prosperity, only by taking to its own
heart that divine principle of life by which
the church and all the children of God
live. :
EXPOSITOR?
. In dmy first- artide rpGn Hfearing i the
;
fing J ?i;l(ia^«h»pted;«^t&ereii^?nroj:oper [
Idnd'of ipEeaohmgj: bafe-thisof / jE^poswS^h,
: tilL the :iAtrdiieentury. after -Chrisfe;?’ land
added, «this may beAvorthi considering by
'those -whoapreaGh One
•bfvyour correspondents since, in a well
written . has taken i :ex?
•ception tjtoi xthisi brief ‘.remark, and com
mences. /by -saying; ‘i One:story isgood till
other is. told.” This oldadage is ge
nerally true; add/il" have'no: doubt but
that mine will begood after his is told.
II .will/ for convenience, divide this writer’s
objections into distinct heads.
•1 1. He'fchiaks expository preaching is
not the best kind of preaching, because “it
fails utterly ’of Coining’ into'general 1 use in
the labored= Sabbath-’ performances of pas
tors^—it is almost entirely repudiated in
the chief assemblies of the church,” &c.
This : may be : very true. Btat what does
it’pfove ? Has this able writer yet to
learn that nuuiiiensAre no proof of being
in the right?" Because ’ Pagans and -Ro
manists 'Outnumber all'Others,'is itMejvjk
dence that theyare in’ ; the right 1 .? 'And
suppose nine-tbnths- Of the pastorS of the
present day pratidh'ivritten sermons, (for,
it ' Soems r tSfs J! ivas the “dash,” or dart
which" took 'effect;) IS thikprodfthat they
are 'ih the right ? B'eSides, as He has’ ex
pressed a' doubt as to some of my states,
meets, I must be allowed to doubt his
view' Tdo s hbt admit'that the “ great
fafets respecting the' piilpit j : the known re
sults ” are" dii Ais side;' ; By no manner of
means. On the contrary, I maintain that
in proportion to the number of thbse who
have preached' expository and even un
writted sermons, the' teWfufir effect of the
pulpit has been in favor of my position.
Take the whole body of the “Reformed* ansi
“ TJniied of our city. They
■ almost never preach-a written sermon, one
not- expository,’yet?,'where will you find
more’ numerous hearers or more stable
churches than . Bey; Drs, -Wylie, Dales
and Steele’s ? ■ Of, I'&ay come still nearer,
even intb the very fold of the good bro
ther,(fbrhe has given me his name) and
ask; where is ffie-church or people fed
with more intelligence? Where, “the
lips of the priest” who “keeps” more
“knowledge,” or deals out more, than
R,ev. Albert Barnes? But, how many
written sermons does Mr. Barnes preach
in a year ? How many ; Sabbaths pass
without an expository sermon ?
A correspondent of the Congregation
alist in the issue of Jan. Ist, 1868, says,
“Rev. Albert Barnes remarked at a meet
ing of the ministerial association, when
the question of science to the pulpit was
under discussion, that were he td live his
life over again, he would devote half of
the Sabbath day ministrations to expository
preaching.” 1 “He regards it the most
Scriptural and effective method of present
ing the. gospel to the public.” ! 1 ;
Mr. Barnes is surely a wise man on
this, as on other subjects; and, I might
well let the matter rest here. But as, my
brother, this kind of preaching teas, the
way in which Christ and his : Apostles
preached, I must say a word more. The
passage which he has himself quoted‘of
Paul’s “reasoning gut of the Scriptures,
opening and alleging,” &c., shows conclu-:
sively how he preached. Ido not wonder
thaP he ’should have said, “in m'uch-.of
the preaching Of this day, there is not:
enough expounding of the Scriptures.”
Amen. ; ■
Now.how did Christ preach ? Look, at
Luke iv :' 16-22. Did- hot this great
preacher expound this Scripture from
Isaiah ? Look at Mark xii. See how he
confounded the Sadducees. Moreover, who
would have expounded that Scripture cor-;
rectly, if Christ had not said, “ God is not
the God of the dead, but the God of the
living.” They erred, “not knowing the
Scriptures;” If the Scriptures were more
expounded, fewer would err.
When the Bible was even falsely ex
pounded by the devil, Christ discomfited
him by quoting Scripture in itS iegitimate
meaning. If Christ’s preaching was not
in the main, expository, then I do not
know the meaning of the term. ;:-;i.
, We ‘have seen how Paul preached.'
.Now let US look at Pater's preaching,
oh the day of Pentecost I do this the
more readily, as this is one of the long
serihphs to which my brother critic-has
' ! 6alied attention: ‘ “ These are not drunken. ”
How does Peter prove this ? “It is that
which was spoken by the prophet. ” Then
he quotes Joel. Then, he tells his hearers
what kind of a man Christ was; what the
Jews had done to him, how God had
raised him from the dead, <fcc. Then,*he
quotes what David said, and expounds and
applies it to their case.
This is What I call expository preach
ing. Id aim ost allreligious discussions and
controversies, the difficulty has arisen from
not properly understanding terms. Those
who have discussed points, have meant
di&Mht things by 1 Gfe' sefirtie name. If
a very
different'thing from , what I mean by it,
anal am,led to believe sue Awes
because he says expository preachjs&jonde
tb' themintL?’' I
if if* means igdorant preaching,- or preach'
ing’mtAbut study. .
’ ‘ me give an illusjrationof uifuit jkind
of expository preaching my .brother seems
to me. to have in his nrnid. In early life,
I had a neighbor, (and tie the only
expository preacher. ,1 ever jknew to fail)
who used to write his. sermons, But, if
h'e. had written one during, the .week, and
it was a rainy Sabbath,, or there were but
few present, he would say, I have written
a sermon, bat, as there .are few present, I
will, expound the Scriptures.. He would
then take a. whole chapter and talk away
at random. When expounded, his
service .was always half an hour longer,
than at other times. The result was, that
those who staid at home used.to say, they
could , always tell whether the minister
had, a sermon or not. If none, he kept
.them the half hoar longer. These long
exppsfto.ry sermons came bo often, that
the people could not endure them, mid he
had to go. ~r
.fujly admit< that such expository
preaching “belittles the mind,” and starves
the soul, and oupAt to ,send any minister
out.,Eke the itinerating “Levite, seeking
a place to sojourn.”, But, I fully.bebeve
that.the best way, the most Scriptural
way, tiie most useful way of preaching is
to expound and apply . Scripture; it will
take more cogent argoments.tban my bro
ther bas yet adduced ;to, .make me believe
that such preaching is .caculated either to
“belittle the mind, or make feeble churches. ”
ERINOES IN CHRIST’S TRAIN.
; Our; minister gives us; at Monthly'Con
cert, an abstract of the progress of the
gospel during the month in Christendom
and heathendom. This is alwayß inter
estingto'thefriendsef Christ; and indeed,
from the freshness and variety of the
news' to every intelligent-person. Ihave
noticed that the subject of interest is
never the same for two successive months.
Christ’s; chariot of revolution rolls on
wajd. : , .
This month the power of individuals for
good seemed to be prominent. He men
tioned; the gift of the site of a chnreh in
Philadelphia by one gentleman, tire dona
tion of a lecture-room and school-room all
complete by another, the donation of a
Mechanics’' Institute Sheriff Baillie,
and the appropriation of £20,000 by the
city of London to build houses for the
poor. All this is the news which has
reached the parson’s study-table in a single
month.- Doubtless it is not half what
might be; told. 1
The’recital of the personal influence de
veloped : on the side; of knowledge and re
ligion was 6till more remarkable. The
Minister of Education in France has sound
ly castigated the Popish journals which
desired a bigoted education. The mer
chants -and gentlemen •of Calcutta,:Hindoo
and European, have resolved on the erec
tion of 'a -Duff testimonial, and consulting
Sir Charles Trevelyan, Dr. Duff’s steady
friend and ally in the cause of English
education in India, he recommended a
splendid hall bearing; his name as one of
the sides of the quadrangle of the new
university in Calcutta. Then we heard
of the Emperor of Russia decreeing an
effective system of national education for
Russia. - Next Of the Adjutant-General
of the United States preaehing the gospel
as follows to the freedmen, white and
black:
“AbbVe : all, trust' in God, whose power
has'led; you-: out of the dark valley of
slavery ;into the sunlight of freedom, and
whose boundless love is ready to do so
much more for you and for us all,- that no
heart caneonceiveandno mind can meas
ure His beneficent care. Carry your sor
rows . and your sins to the foot of the
cross,, and in yogr hour of need and
angUmh Call on the blessed SaViour for
comfort and protection; for’ He will never
fail tp answer the prayer of a contrite and
•humble- heart. Your religious instincts
are., strong and controlling. Give them
full rein. Do your whole dirty tb each
live in the *fear aAd lbve of that
Godwhb feigns oyer all, and who at the
last day will judge you and me, and all of
us, .and. give every one his just and exact
reward.”
. . Jts. a . new ‘and blessed style of
ffilit&fjf ofdefk. concluded the list of
’BriqeSs’iiii Christ’s-traiTi by the announce
imeift? ofj.fche? appointment to the govern
ment. of, and the sway of the desia
nies, of. heathens, of the
faithful ithd intelligent friend of missions,
'Bif-"joiilP Luwreheef' ! 'and:Byc.bhBeeching
prayer for him and for each of the others
named. r
Is the millenium actually dawning?
Are the kingdoms of this world becoming
the kingdom of our Lord and of his
Christ ? Watchman.