THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN AND GENESEE EVANGELIST. KLIOIOT79 AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER IS THIS INTEREST OP THB Constitutional Presbyterian Church. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT THE PRESBYTERIAN HOUSE, 1334 Chestnut Street, (2d story,) Philadelphia. Rev, John W. Hears. Editor and Pufolisher. NEW PREMIUMS. We have already offered a cash premium of One Dollar on every new subscriber, to any one procuring us three t or more, at full rates, with pay in advance. We now offer to any one not yet a subscriber to the Review, who will send ns one new name, and $8.50, a copy of the paper, and of the American Presbyterian and Theolo gical Review for one year; for $4.50 we will send two copies of the paper and one copy of the Review for one year; for $5.50 we will send two copies of the Review and one of the paper, to new subscribers. Old subscribers to the Review will add 50 cents each to their remittances and we will send them receipts for the Review and the paper as above. lIUSS AND HIS TIMES FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS. We offer this valuable work, in two vo lumes, octavo, now in its second edition, the price of which,is $6, for four new sub scribers paying full rates; in advance; or to any one getting up a club of ten new names and sending ns $l5. The work will be sent free of charge to the nearest ex press station. SEWING MACHINE MR THIRTY NEW NAMES. We also offer a new Fifty Dollar Gro ver & Baker Sewing Machine, for thirty new subscribers, paying full rates in ad vance, or for a club of forty, or for four clubs of ten, paying in advance at club rates. This is a" very liberal offer. The machine is universally admitted to be one of the best in the market. There are few energetic ladies in any of our large con gregations that could not, by a little exer tion, secure one of these Valuable instru ments. THE STIMULUS OP WAR. Amid all the horrors and sacrifices of war, we need not close our eyes to the palpable benefits which flow from a just conflict, waged with a good de gree of success. Such .commur nic-atos a great impulse to the ideas and active principles of men. It ex pands, invigorates, accelerates, gives momentum. Some lives it takes away, but it Quickens and enlarges many more. The entire national character undergoes a change. A new stadium, a new epoch in history is reached. When a nation has been crowned with victory in a struggle involving the principles of its existence, it frequently breaks out into an era of unparalleled splendor and glory. The victories of David over the heathen tribes in and around Palestine were followed by the golden age of Solomon. The victories of Marathon, of Salamis, and of Platea, were followed by the golden age of Pericles. The victories of Cesar, by the Augustan ago of Rome. After the. revolution of 1688, in England, came . the golden age of Queen Anne. Whether we shall be crowned with victory, and in the glorious peace that follows, shall •V w See golden days fruitful of golden deeds." it is not for short-sighted men to say But we are now, without doubt, expe riencing the stimulus of a great and, in the main, successful war—a war of ideas. There is a marvellous quicken ing and brightening of the nation’s ideas and convictions; an unwonted impulse is given to business enterprise, to benevolence, to Christian zeal and effort, to ingenuity in devising ways and moans for meeting the great emer gencies which are upon us. Never were right opinions so rapidly developed, never were wrong ones so effectually silenced or so extensively and rapidly transformed into right, as have been those entertained by this people on the subject of slavery, under the stimulus of war. Before the war, correct opinions on this subject ad vanced but gradually; high ground against American Slavery could not be taken anywhere without exciting ill feeling. “Abolition” was a word spoken with hated breath. The friends of the slave were denounced and dreaded as agitators. And at the South, the slave masters were growing more and more arrogant, and the prospects of emanci pation were more remote than ever. In three years, the change is well nigh miraculous. The thunders of war have -roused the national conscience. Our duty to the slave has become a military necessity. The rebellion has unmask ed all the hidden .and incurable wick edness of slaveiy. Its essential and New Series. VoL I, No. 8. implacable antagonism to republican ism has melted into one fiery stream of indignation all the patriotic and loyal feelings of the people. The dan gerous power and the obstinate resist ance manifested by the pro-slavery I rebellion has, in less than three years, J educated the nation to such a .measure of decided anti-slavery conviction, as would scarcely have been reached in a century of peaceful development. The former slavemasters of the Border States are'among the foremost and most radical emancipationists of to-day. West Virginia and Missouri have passed Emancipation acts. -In Maryland and Louisiana the only question waiting to be settled, is between immediate and gradual emancipation. In Arkansas there seems to be a unanimous feeling among loyal people, now re-organizing the government, in favor of an.imme diately free State. Conservative men, like Postmaster Blair, now strongly advise emancipation. The army is one grand Abolition Society; no general would now forbid the singing of anti slavery songs in the camps. Negroes, slave and free, arc mustered into our army with the eager assent, of the nation, and the colored regiments are accepted and respected as inferior to no branch of the service. The counter demonstration of last summer in New York city, was only the despairing throe of the . exorcised and departing demon; and has been followed by such a reaction, that negro soldiers move unmolested through the streets of that city, and the grand organ of that entire phase of debased and cruel public senti ment, the New York Herald, has actually abandoned the pro-slavery cause as past the power of its Mephistophelean arts, longer to sustain or manage. In little more than two years, the war has made us an anti-slavery nation, a truly free people. The minds of men are so quickened under the excitement of the time3,..that a score of topics involving the most important truths, are seen in a light, and grasped with a conviction never before experienced. How dear is nationality now, since so many, many, precious lives have been given for it; how sacrediand majestic is law since it has beon so bitterly assailed; how foul and damnable is unjustifiable rebellion since it has spilt blood of pur country, brought Oufc name and the name of republicanism into disrepute all over the world, and shaken to its foundations the free and wise govern ment under, which we live, and threat ened to plunge into a bottomless gulf of anarchy the millions of happy homes, of America, scornfully tossing, off the only seeuritv for nermanence which, <uhder God. a republic:can enjoy, acqui escence in the legally expressed will of the majority. -How glorious, how mournfully hallowed, that flag whose folds have floated over so many new battle-fields; have received so many rents- and gashes from rebel weapons; have been upheld by so many brave martyrs; have shone in the dying gaze of so many fallen heroes ; have wrapped the bloody or wasted corses of a Lyon, a Baker, an Ellet, a Kearney, a Key nolds and a Mitchell! How necessary is a strong and firm government, how absurd is law without a penalty, how invigorating to the nation is an exam ple of devoted and uncompromising loyalty in high places, —did this genera tion ever sec the reality of these things as in the contrasts presented between the preceding and the existing admin istrations? The transition from such thoughts to the' higher sphere of the divine government is natural and easy. We will not pursue it; but we are much mistaken if ministers of the gospel have not found their own minds clearer, and those of their people more suscep tible than ever upon the great truths involved in that system of theology which regards God as a moral govern or, the moral universe as his empire in which our earth is a revolted pro vince, 1 under a dispensation of grace. The strongest views of doctrine have been sustained and” justified in the light of this struggle to preserve the authority of a human government.- tye might speak of the stimulus which the war has given to trade and business; not merely in its military branches, but in every legitimate direc tion; of our cities thronged with an PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, PE BHU ARY B's,- 186 4. active tod increasing population; our suburbs extending; of workshops and factories in operation day and night; of busy streets; of thronged, arteries of trade and travel; of high prices easily reached by the well-paid laborer, mechanic, and sewing-woman; of emigration from foreign lands un checked, and of general prosperity among high and low. We might speak in this connectjnn of the stimulus of the war upon the business capacity of our public men, and of the wise, <3om prehensive, and beneficent scheme of finance which it is giving to the coun try; of the cheerful promptness with which the, unassisted people of the country came forward and loaned the government, on its well-devised plan, five hundred millions of money, at par, in less than : a year; of the vast resources in men, in means, in .skill, and in patriotism which the stimulus of war has brought to the surface. But we are interrupted with the inquiry: Has not the war likewise proved a great stimulus to the evil propensities of the people ? Are not our camps schools of vice and pi’ofanity and recklessness, and will they not send back their irresistible tide of cor ruption and godlessness among the people? Arc not Sabbath-breaking ; and intemperance, are not profuseness and extravagance and vulgar amuse ments vastly on the increase among us ? Does not a horrible and unwonted degree of corruption prevail in official circles, and is there not an inflated and restless spirit of speculation abroad, utterly destructive of the principles of legitimate traffic? We cannot blind ourselves to the tlftth that the present war is no exception to wars generally, in the horde of baser characters which it summons into publicity or the in creased activity of Satan and his agents' which it encourages. Wheresoever thq carcass is, there will the eagles be gatli-, crcd. .together,,. A rhA Yet who can overlook the equally palpable fact that the friends of God and of the spiritual interests of their countrymen have been aroused by these very emergencies ‘ to an unparalleled degree of activity, of liberality, and of Home Missionary zeal ? War, with its dangerous tendencies, has stimulated the good to exceed themselves in the vastness of their enterprises to coun teract the evils. For keeping up the •morale of the army, for supplying the soldiers with healthful and profitable food for the mind, for meeting the spiritual wants and keeping alivo the spiritual natures of the men, away from home and from church, they have poured out money in unsolicited gifts like water, they have commissioned able and earnest men to aid or supply the want of chaplains, and to preach the gospel to the soldiers. All denomi nations have joined heartily In the work. War has stimulated their catho lic feelings far more than peace can do. And the minds of the soldiers them selves have in many, very many in stances, been quickened by their critical and uncertain position, by wounds and sickness, to receive with joy and to grasp with unusual simplicity and energy, the consoling, purifying truths of the gospel. The intensity of appre hension, the fervour of feeling, the spiritual exaltation of revivals now going on in the army are such as belong to the peculiar position of the soldier, when he is brought under the power of the Holy Spirit. Men familiar with revivals speak of these scenes as nearer to heaven than anything in their experience. These revivals are connected with the aroused and prayerful attitude of the church at home. The war has greatly quickened the spirit of prayer among our Christian people. Never! was there so much prayer for the coun try or for its rulers. Night and morn ing, from millions of closets and family altars, and Sabbath after Sabbath, from J scores of thousands of pulpits and eon-j senting congregations, the waves of earnest entreaty swell up, like a vast tide, to the throne, for our national interests, for our rulers and for our army and navy. And oh! what anxious longing and ardent desires of pious parents and wives and children and brothers and sisters, flow in incessant supplication for the safety and salva tion of relatives in the field. The • people of God and the nation at large are led'-'to see the necessity of trusting in God. They are learning how con trary often to their views, and yet how wise, are the workings of his Provi dence ; how completely the affairs of I nations are in his hands, and how well it is that they arc. They are learning to recognize Him as the Supreme Euler [ and absolute Disposer of Events. I | The whole nation is breathing in a I li stimulating medium. We live fast. I lOiir mental processes are almost intui itions. Wc are undergoing a revolu tion. The pulpit and the religious Hpress have a high duty to perform in j Such a time. They must guide these lately liberated elements of opinion to ha sound and settled issue. They must jwarn Christian people not to be insen sible to the extraordinary responsi bilities of our times. They must see that the nation in its palingenesis does 1 hot’ stop at humanitarian or temporal hfesUlts; .’Our golden age must not bo 6n‘e of more luxury or'even of literary, Scholastic, or artistic perfection; but bhO of political honor and purity, one ■ of. deeper reverence for law and devo tion. 1 to country, one of active home evangelization among white and black, I One of tearful and sincere gratitude for the’sacrifices made by the martyrs of this struggle, one of overwhelming joy I at thc gratitude and loyalty of four mil lions of fellow creatures for the act that changed them from chattels into free men; a golden age of. acknowledged inflhenco among the’ nations for the rights of the oppressed, for the honor of republican government, and for the advancement of mankind according to” tiie principles of the Gospel. PLAN OF PEESBYTEEIAL ACTION. Editor Am. Presbyterian : — ln con nection with the subjoined report pre pared by the Eev. Messrs. Hotchfcin and Ip&flmga&a committee of Philada., 'fhijrd. permit me to call the atten tion of secretaries, stated clerks, and others interested in ascertaining the most effective methods of Presbyterial working, to the plan outlined in the report, toge ther with the suggestions for its improve ment. The adoption and faithful execution of such a plan with the amendments pro posed, cannot fail largely to augment the Piofd and efficiency of Presbyterial action, as well as to deepen the interest and aug ment the contributions of our churches in behalf of the four great charities now in corporated, as leading elements in the organic working of our noble church. J. G. B. The Committee on the Minutes of the General Assembly, report the following items as demanding the special notice of Presbytery: Ist. On page 235, it is recommended Wthe, Committee on Foreign Missions, tip .the'Wmount contributed -by each cbwch *to that object, be anrinalljr re- the Presbytery and to the GflHethl Assembly’s Permanent Commit tee on Foreign Missions. .In this Presbytery, as will be directly noticed, provision already exists, and is regularly carried out, for fulfilling the first •part-of this recommendation. Inasmuch, as under the peculiar structure of our Fo reign Missionary work, the second part constitutes the only existing plan for making up a report Of the benefactions of 6uT church to this cause, it is recom mended that the Presbyteiy direct its Presbyterial Standing Committee on Fo reign Missions to report annually to the Assembly’s Permanent Committee, as above mentioned. 2d. On page 249, the recommendation of the Committee on Education, that the question, “Has -the Education Collection been taken up in your church within the past year?” be placed on the docket for each meeting of Presbytery next preced ing a meeting Of the General Assembly, to be asked of the pastor or representative of eaphichurch. - 'Your Committee recommend the adop tion of this proposal. £Ud. On page 253, the recommendation Of the Committee on Publication, that Presbytery appoint a Presbyterial . e§qjit to promote within its bounds, the circulation of the issues of the Assembly’s Publication Committee, and to procure contributions to its funds. Your Committee recommend that the Presbyterial Standing Committee on this subject, be directed to take this matter into consideration, and make whatever ar rangements will, in their judgment, best carry out the intent of the above action of the Assembly. Most especially do they recommend that the said Presbyterial Standing Committee take upon itself the responsibility of obtaining from this Pres bytery its full share toward the present jeffiprt for procuring for the Publication, a Genesee Evangelist, No. 927. REPORT. permanent working capital of Fifty Thou- sand Dollars. 4th. On page 260, the recommendation of the Committee of Home Missions, ex- horting Synods, Presbyteries, Pastors and Churches to co-operate with the Assem- bly’s Permanent Committee on Home Missions, “With zeal, purpose and libe rality equal to the exigencies of our posi tion, and to our high calling in the king- dom of God.” ' Your Committee recommend that Pres bytery solemnly charge its Presbyterial Standing Committee on this subject, to use all available efforts, by securing the spread of knowledge respecting the ope rations, the field, and the loud crying needs of the Assembly’s Committee, by personal appeals, and by correspondence, i to bring this cause as near home as possi ble, to each conscience and heart in our ; congregations. Concerning all the above, mentioned matters, your Committee respectfully re fer Presbytery to its already existing plan of effort; to the satisfaction which has at tended the. working of that plan; and to the much.greater good which may yet be accomplished through a,n enlargement of the zeal of the Committee. For some years past, there has been in existence a Presbyterial Standing Com- mittee on each of the four great Christian enterprises to which the Assembly calls our attention. The present members of these Committees are as follows: On Foreign Missions.—-Rev. B. B. Hotchkin, Rev. J. W. Dulles and Mr. Alexander Whildin. On Home Missions.—Rev. E. E. Adams, Rev. Daniel March and Mr. M. W. Bald- On Education.—Rev. John Patton, D. P., Rev. Frank L. Robbins and Mr. J. W. Boyd.. On Publication.—Rev. Win. E. Moore, Rev. Henry A. Smith and Mr. Isaac Ashmead.. It has been customary for each Commh tee to report at each meeting of Presby tery, the amount contributed dnring the year by each individual church, toward the cause which it has in charge, some times also stating the average of the con tributions for each member of said church, j and particularly naming the churches] from which nothing has been received. For reasons easily understood, the effect of this has been salutary, and particularly observed in a steady decrease ‘of the hat earned class. It fe"trtfc"tift£6 hot a perfect exhibit of the comparative li berality of the churches, because of the vast disproportion between the wealth of one and another of them. But within the bounds of the Presbytery, all the facts in the case are sufficiently understood to furnish data through which our people. I can form a tolerable of the comparative faithfulness of each church to its responsibility of occupying our Lord’s money until he come. Your Committee believe however, that the good which such annual statements are adapted to accomplish, has been li mited by the obscurity into which they have immediately- fallen. ’ Hitherto they have simply been read in Presbytery, re ceived, and put on file. They are not placed upon the minutes, nor in any way brought to the notice of absent members, or the people of our congregations. The facts which they contain are brought into contact with only a very small; fraction of the great number of hearts on which they should lie with burning force. It is a gospel rule that we should pro voke one another to love and good works. Hence your-Committee believe that higher efficiency should be given to these annual statements, by giving them wider, publica tion and more enduring form. And they recommend'that Presbytery should take some order to this effect. Your Committee further recommend that Presbytery give a more definite ex pression of the duties of these Presbyte rial Committees, as consisting not only in gathering the material for making out sta tistical tables, but in becoming the agents of Presbytery to stir up pastors, sessions and congregations and promote general activity in the enterprises which they have respectively in charge. They believe that, for a proper fulfilling of the intent of their Appointment, these Committees should each hold frequent meetings for consulta tion, carefully device plans of effort, and as far aB possible, superintend the execu tion of such plans. In laying outthese en terprises, the Assembly has only been just to the church which it represents, and our Presbytery could not, without injustice to itself, fall behind any other, in doing its full share in these labors of love toward Christ.” Published by order of Presbytery, JVG-. Butler, Stated Clerk. Green Castle, Ind —The new edifice ofthe-Firgit Presbyterian Church in this place, was dedicated on the 24th ult. Sermon by Bev. Dr. Tuttle, President of Wabash College. The pastor says: “Last year, by a united and most vig orous effort we paid off a flo'ating debt of eight years’ standing. This year, (now just expired,) by using our own. best endeavors, together with some do nations from friends in Cincinnati and Marietta, 0., we have expended about $2,200 in finishing and furnishing our church.” — Evangelist. TERMS. By mail $2.00 per annum in advance. “ “ 2.50 “ “ after 3 months. By carrier 60 cents additional for delivery CLUBS. Ten or more papers sent by mail to church or locality, or in the city to one address By mail $1.60 per annum. By carriers 2.00 “ “ To save trouble, club subscriptions must commence at the same date, be paid strictly in advance, in a single remittance, for which one receipt will be returned. Ministers and ministers' widows supplied at club rates. Home missionaries at $l.OO per annum. Postage. Five cents quarterly in advance, to be paid by subscribers at the office of delivery. |jM ff« California. —The Pacific of January 14th says:—“The Howard. Street Pres byterian Church having been repaired, will he open on next Sabbath, should their pastor elect, Eev. Abbott E. Kit tredgje, arrive by Saturday. He will be here on the next steamer, which, will be'due by that time.” This im portant church was formerly under the charge of Eev. S. H. Willey, now Vice- President of Oakland College. Mr. Kittredge was dismissed from Win throp Church, Charlestown, Mass., Dec. 2d, to take charge of the Howard St. church as above. A social gathering, at which 700 children were present, was held. give him a farewell, and he carries with him to California the warm affection of his. people. The Pacific also say?:. .... “ The Presbyterian Church in Sonora have uuanimously called Eev. W. W- Martin, their present acting pastor, and increased his salary. ■ During the five .months of Mr. Martin’s residence at So nora the congregation has grown rapid ly, and that which is especially grati fying, it has been augmented largely from those who have not been in the habit of attending any Church service. The Sabbath school has trebled.” “ Our Eastern brethren are pretty much amazed when they read that the Hew School. Presbyterian Church in Virgi nia City ‘proposes to raise $5OO a month to pay. expenses,’ especially when they think that those dollars are all in gold. We would caution our brethren of Ne vada against sending home these large gold figures, lest our Home Missionary Secretaries should fail to send us any funds.” Donations. —Rev Jas. D. Wilson, of Spring St. Church, N. Y-, has received a liberal donation in cash; Rev. &. W- Gleaveland, of Moorheadville, Pa., has received $200; Rev: Josidh Leonard, of the Home Missionaay Church at Pulton, 111- has received $100; ,JBev. S- M. Ked "er, of Guilford Centre, has received $9O. The 2d Church, Lafayette, Ind., have added $BOO to the salary of their pastor, Bev. Daniel Bice. His people abound also in generous tokens of per sonal friendship and esteem. His Li brary has received a complete set of Irving’s Life' and Works, in 25 vols.; Appleton’s New American Encyclope dia, and the Annual Encyclopedia, so far as published; Dr. Draper’s Intellec tual Development of Europe; Stanley’s History of the Eastern Church; West cott’s Introduction to the study of the Gospel, and several other valuable ditions. His home has received indi vidual donations of equal value. The Herald says: “The rent of slips from this church for the coming-year amounts to about $2,400. 'The contributions of the church to objects of benevolence during the past year have exceeded those of any previous year by more than fifty per cent:’’ -Presbytery of Cayoola.- —The lata meeting was Held in Central Church,. Auburn, Bight candidates for the ministry were taken under the care of Presbyte ry; and Mr. Charles A. Conant, a re cent graduate of the Auburn Seminary, was licensed to preach the gospel. Bev. Thos. B. Hudson, who. has accept ed a call from the Church of Penn., was dismissed to the Presbyte ry of Erie; and Bev. Eobert Procter, who has recently entered upon his la bors as Stated Supply of the Church at Jordan, was received from the Central Presbytery of Philadelphia. It was voted that licentiates have no ecclesi astical authority to perform the mar riage ceremony. Commissioners to General Assembly: — Bev. S. W. Boardman, and Tertius S. Clark, D. B.; Elders—Henry Willard, and James Henderson. Vacancies in the Korth-west.— “Ambrose” in a recent letter to the Evangelist , says; ■Waukegan, Bockford, and Blooming ton are au without pastors. They are all points of importance; all have good edifices; are all so far free of debt as to fear no inconvenience account of it; and all pay living Salaries. Bloom ington is an educational and agricultu ral centre for a considerable region; has a good deal of capital centered in it, and is a point of importance. The Church is a leading one of the place; which is a city of eight to ten thousand people. _ Bockford is also a city, and a city of churches. It is perhaps the most beautiful town in Illinois; a place of intelligence and enterprise, and has a first-class Female Seminary, and su perior public schools. Waukegan is a fine Lake Shore town?, forty miles from Chicago.
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