LETTERS PROM CHATTANOOGA AND KNOXVILLE. Chattanooga, Tenn., Jan. 20,1864. Bko. Mears, —At last, after six weeks or more, the task has been performed. “Lookout Mountain” has been sealed, and I have at least looked toward , if not into, six States. It is said, with a good glass we can see portions of Georgia, Alabamp, North and South Carolina, and a Eidge in Virginia, besides Ten nessee. Prom our rooms it is about five miles; you walk two plain, and you think you have only a mile farther to the summit of the mountain; but you trudge onward and upward, and you look up a<lmo9t perpendicularly, take a long'sigh, and rest a few minutes, at the White House. The word is again given, and over and around the rocks, by a tortuous road, climbing a mile up, and we have planted our feet on the great rock —the nose of “ Lookout." And, oh! what an awfully grand scene of nature and,art combined lies deep dowti before you J The Tennessee washes its North ern base, and majestically curves around Chattanooga, and form? a perfect S. 'The town is entirely exposed, while for merly it was well nigh hid and hemmed in by mountain and forest. Instead of these surroundings, a city of tents, Phoenix-like, has risen up in their pla ces, “Round-top” is “Lookout” in miniature-. Sixteen hundred feet above the Tennessee, it seems to touch the clouds, and stands in the midst of sur rOunding: summits, as a great giant among pigmies. And how our troops, even under the brave “fighting Joe Hooker,” ever scaled its heights, in face of the fortifications and fire of the ene my, can only be explained by the fact that “ the God of Battles” was with our troops. Hooker, with his force, climbed along and up the side of the mountain, under a very thick cloud of fog, conceal ing them from the sight of the enemy. It certainly was one of the most splen did triumphs of the war. In like man ner was the good providence of God marked in the battle on Missionary Eidge. The enemy occupied it with strong lines of works ; they were driven out of both, and held what Bragg him- , self called Btill'the very strongest posi tion with the force they had.- But in . . * . , .v- Stead of contesting fiercely <3ur advance,, against them, they seemed to be para lyzed. Gen. Thomas remarked that it j was only to be accounted for by tbQ s_q. terposition of higher power: that God l was in it. They were not expecting the bold attempt of our army to take, the' Eidge then. They seemed entirely un prepared; for so daring a movement. And with every opportunity to fall back or retreat in good order, in some way they were chained right to; one spot-r-r were held spell-bound there until entire, ly routed and scattered. “ The Lord of Hosts is with us.” Of course, whatever, we have said of God’s reigning in these affairs, is not meant to detract from great and comprehensive generalship. By the wayj “ Lookout Mountain” iffltC: noted summer resort. The boarding houses and cottages form quite a villa, called “Summerville.” Here we met Col. Blakely, 78th Pennsylvania, guard ing the property and the Mountain. l&en.Grant designs using the buildings for Summer Hospitals. It will be a de lightful place for our sick and wounded soldiers. News are very scarce here; the best thing has occurred since the late battles,,and withal tho most exciting, is the completion of repairs to the railroad, re-building of its bridges, and coming in of the cars. There was the wildest ex citement and joy'at the approach of the first train—generals, commissioned and non-commissioned officers and privates, infantry and cavalry rushed down through every street to give a grateful welcome to the “ old iron horse.” The patients in hospitals heard his whistling, and you should have seen the cheerful gleam over $ll their countenances. To them it was a significant period. Not only was the long suspense in waiting for supplies broken, but “the good time coming” had come, when, according to promise, hundreds of them were to re ceive transportation home. Supplies are now rapidly coming in, and this point necessarily becomes the base of supplies for the Army of the Ohio; they are for warding largely to Knoxville by river. The' weather is now very mild and Spring-like,—winter is over. There is, X trust, an end to all the sufferings of our’, wounded and sick, in consequence of the cold. There have been sufferings in the Army of the West, of which you know nothing, endured with even more patience than those of our fathers of the Revolution. - At last the'Christian Commission and Chaplains have secured a church for holding religious services. You may ask why we could not have had one IODg ago, and perhaps anticipate as an answer that all had been occupied by our wounded and sick. But this was not the ease. One church, and the most comfortable of all, was not thus used, though men were actually dying for want of shelter. AH the buildings used, churches included, were miserable structures, affording no adequate pro tection. There was this one church ad mirably situated on the brow of the hill left unappropriated, simply because it was a Eoman Catholic Church. Our Eoman Catholie General Eosecrans de tailed a safeguard for ; the building and posted a special order upon the doo?, to the effect that any injury, whatever done to the building, would be punished by death. And to this day, his order is still respected and there is still a guard pacing up and down in front of it. AH along the lines Bomanism must be rev erenced thus,- to the humiliation of Protestantism, and of nine-tenths: of our soldiers, who must witness it with scorn and contempt. Certainly what ever may be said in favor of this; man’s generalship, such partiality detracts from his character as a man. If I shall feel disposed to write again, my next will be from Knoxville. LETTER FROM KNOXVILLE Knoxville, Tenn., February —. Bev. J. W. Mears—Lear Bro.:— Instead of turning my face homeward, as I. expected three weeks ago to do, I find;myself farther away than ever. A tedious trip of four days from Chatta nooga brought me to this place, We left by boat on the 20th lilt., with no clear prospect ahead -. as to where we should finally emerge—at KnoxviUe or Bichmond. General Foster, at Knox ville, ad telegraphed to the boat on its downward trip, that true information had been captured to the effect that General John Morgan,with 3000 cavalry,' was prowling along the river, and might at any point make a descent upon the boat. And with General Judah and many other officers, large quantities of commissary, quartermasters’ and sani tary stores, we were on the return trip —a most promising party for capture. So the probabilities.and vulnerable points of his attack were seriously discussed, meals were eaten, things in genera l ' and done, both grave and f*berfu(with moi;e or less; regard to the liabilities of sojourn in latter; city. But the famous Raider did not make his appear jttftte, and- so. after grounding on; the shoals 14 hours, running off the railroad track, beyond London, “ perils'by Jlah-d -and by water,” We reached this Once happy and- beautiful,, but now njuch abused city. It has now quite lost its magnificence. The alternate occiipation by both armies, and the siege; have given it a sad and desolate appearance. .Its location is fine, lying as it does on a high bank of the Holston, in the midst of very picturesque scenery. It gradu ally ascends from the river and forms a ; beautiful knoll, falling abruptly down the remaining sides. It contained about 6000 inhabitants before the' war. Loyalty was in the asbendant, though not so decidedly here as in the country around. There were more wealth and aristocracy and politi cal training here. I am sorvy to say that the ministry and -churches werg not with the majority. There are five churches : two Presbyterian., Baptist, Methodist and Episcopal. The Episco pal has-been the only church building regularly held and used by tho congre gation. Dr. Humes, the faithful rector, is a loyal and able minister, and universally -beloved. Moreover, he is an emancipationist. Rev.- Mr. Hydon, pastor of the Methodist Church,, now a post chaplain here, occupies the anoma lous position of opposition to the Presi dent’s Proclamation arid fealty to the .Government, and represents three fourths of the loyal citizens. It may seem strange to you how loyalty, to Government and opposition to 'its Administration consist, and how they ean make a good Union people. But nevertheless they have suffered ex tremely, and it would be cruel in view of all the sacrifices they have made to suspect their professions. This is also the sentiment of Parson Bfownlow, which indeed he helped to mould, who says he would again as gladly as ever maintain against Pryne the divinity of the institution of slavery. Yet ho would be willing to sacrifice slavery for the sake of country. That is, destroy slavery, which is divine, to save the Government which is human. Parson though he be, he h.as not enough wis dom and piety to keep him from what would be, according to his logic, the blun der and sin of “ doing evil that good may come.” If he will insist that .govern ment as well as Slavery bo divine, why do they not harmonize ? - - 1 Brownlow has undoubtedly done much for our cause in East Tennessee, by his' paper and his speeches. “ The PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25 , 18 64. Knoxville Whig,” is now regularly pub lished and has very considerable influ ence among the masses. The two Pres byterian pastors were sent off with twenty-two of the citizens, through the lines on last Saturday. Kev. Mr. Harri son (O. 5.,) was the man who made himself notorious by saying in the pul pit, that he would “ rather preach from a Bible printed in heH,than fromeneprint in Massaohnstts.” Eev. Mr. Martin, the minister of the church belonging to the Southern Synod, demonstrated bis trea son by takiDg up arms against us. His church was large and wealthy and they have the finest building here'. The ma. jority, were loyal and wished him to resign; if he had done so it would have spared the building, from military,occu pation and held it open for worship. Since the seige, there is much trepi dation among the citizens, When our troops fell back on this side pf the Hol ston, two weeks ago, there was much terror and excitement, people fled hither and thither, eager to sell their effects, and to go North. Since, that time, little dashing movements, have been made at Sevierville and Landridgeville, twenty or thirty mile's distant, and in-, deed, there has been, a slight picket skirmish on the east, only, six miles from this place. All these manifesta tions of danger together.with,occasional movements of regiments and divisions, through the streets by night, Save so un manned the people that thcy .fire. liable at any moment to be throw!} into the wildest commotion, nor is it apy wonder after aU they had previously Undergone. The large -body of troops under Long street are still at Strawberry Plains, fifteen nules distant, and it Is thought by the’wise ones, that we shall have stormy times here before many days. Generals Schofield and Stoneman are, we learn, on their way to this department. I hope the general that takes chief com mand, here will be «the right man in the right place.”' /' J. L. L, There are about 2500 sick and wound ed, about 120 deaths/ have occuri-ed during the last month/ They have suf fered as at Chattanooga, very much for want of a .proper .diet and clothing. Hospital, as well as .other supplies, have been very scarce. jL s yet, the army de pends upon a couple of boats, and if we should have low water, there would be still greater suffering here;-' But the enterprising Col. McCallutfi ’’from the Army of the Potomacj sand workmen- will have the railroad between Chattanooga and- Loudon in in good running order, by the middle of the month. Then, with river and-rail road communication, our soldiers will soon live as patriots should. There are but three -delegates of the “ Cbnstian Commission” and two or, three faithful chaplains to’Tabpr here. Wc cannot get sanitary stores through as yet. Of reading matter we have but a meagre supply. There are a very few chaplains in this department, and we should have at least ten more delegates to labor among the well and active, as well as among the sick and wounded. We have many more requests for preach ing to regiments than we can supply. /Who of the faithful and zealous will come over and help us ? J, L. L. THE GEEAT WORK OP &0D INj'aSKE _AEIOL^-V-_: Gamp Convalesceat, Va., 9th of Feb., 1864. Lear Bro. Mears i— What a®, amaz ing influence do mothers how potent for good! I have been struck with the almost universal remark of the soldier, when asking for the way of life, or when re lating his experience of the work of God in his soul, “J’had a praying mother.” In the very crisis of danger and of battle, when the wild storm sweeps, over amd around;'him, and his feelings and passions are on fire with the "fierce and intense excitement, then -flashes through his mind the soene -of other days; and tenderly his heart murmurs the word — Mother!! It is mingled in .all his prayers and is the last -word of Affection, which next to the dear word “ Savior,” falls from the white lips of the soldier, dying on tho battle-field or in the hospital. ■ “OSir!” said a man whom I found yesterday in one of the wards of the hospital, ealmly awaiting the issue of a sickness probably unto death, “I could die happy, trusting in Jesus, but for the remembrance of the years during which I have neglected my good old mother. Many years sinee, T ; left my home in England, I know not iff my friends and my motheirbo alive. Bless ed be God, I found the Savior six weeks ago, down at .the chapel. He is now unspeakably precious to me. He is my only hope and joy. My only regret is that I did not earlier find him ] and that I have not been a better son to my mother. I have written to her and Jehtenclose'd inthe'lettermycertificate of baptism and my pledge of total ab stinence. That will make her happy, if she is still alive, for I am sure she has not ceased to care for me. Bat O sir! I wish I had been a better son and a better man. Tell them to pray for me at the chapel.” For days past, we have been permit ted to stand and look upon the salva tion of our God in this camp. A few evenings since, I remat ked to our breth ren, as we were about entering the chapel for our usual evening services, /that I hardly expected that evening to witness such visible results of the Spirit’s presence and power, as we had seen during previous evenings. Greatly was my weak faith rebuked. Luring the progress of the services there was a solemn stillness in the house, betoken ing deep and earnest feeling. We all felt that there was-going on in the breast of many a strong man, a tre mendous struggle, and: that God was making men willing in the day of his power, to elect for the soul’s everlasting advantage. . We all seemed to feel that the issues of that hour were fraught; with vast consequences and would take hold upon eternity. The invitation- hymn was given out and as we rose to sing, from all parts of the house came forward noble look men and knelt and said Sirs “ we would see Jesus.” We have heard that “ this man receiveth sinners," and; we have Pray for us—pray for us! And wo did pray for them as the Spirit gave us power and utterance. And sure I am, the petitioning of earn est and effectual prayer took hold on the Throne and that there was rejoicin g among the angels in the presence of God that night. “ Never," said a gentleman present from Boston, “ never was-1 so near heaven." And my heart thanks God that I am permitted to behold almost every even ing a repetition of that scene. I rejoice to see such grand demonstrations of the power of the gospel over the pas sions and the depravity of the human heart. My confidence in the Gospel is strengthened. I do believe that the of C&d can do all things. 11l One company Wafl a Utaa 90 pas sionate and so -wicked that his officers Were obliged to take away his liberty to do injury, at times, and bury him in the sand, with only his head above ground. . This man wenti;o a soldiers’ prayer meeting'for the avowed; purpose of cre ating a disturbance. He heard his comrades pray. They prayed fQr him. He was affected by their earnestness. The spirit of God smote him down. He fell upon his knees and cried, <v God be merciful to me a sinner.” He en tered that meeting a tiger, he left it a lamb. He went back to his tent. On a shelf stood bottles and packs of cards. Into the fire forthwith went the card's and the bottles were flung far away. That man has since given satisfactory evidence, that he is a genuine convert to Christianity. Behold the power of Divine Grace ! —Another Saul changed into a Paul. Religious influences are so fer potent in this camp of near ten thousand men as to suppress open depravity. I have mingled much with the Officers and men, and I take extreme satisfaction in saying that I have seen no quarrelling, no passionate altercations, not a man under the inflenee of liqhor, and but seldom have ! heard an-oath. Here, as elsewhere throughout the army, the Christian Commission 'has been and is doing a noble work. 'V It has maintained 'uninterruptedly tfor more than a year,'religious and under‘ God has gathered more than •one thousand shepherdless sheep into the field. Often will you hear tho rejoicing con wort and others say,“ God bless the 'Christian Commission.” Sure I am it is worthy of the 'Confidence and the sympathy and co-operation of the -churches. My letter is funning on tft a greater length than I intended, and yet I would like to .>give a brief account of the meeting held last evening in the chapel, to me the most .precious of all, and pro bably productive of the largest results of good. I shall never forget it. During the day a thousand men were sent away, and with them a large, part of our regular congregation. I hardly expected to see any coming forward. I was permitted to-speak, following in line of remark, Rev. Mr. Hawes, of Waterviile, Maine; who had. preached an impressive sermon, (and than whom I know of no man better fitted' effectu ally to present the great truths of the Gospel to the heart and conscience of the soldier,) upon the coming judge ment and jtpon the book of . memory which will then be opened , reminding them that nothing is permanently ef faced though forgotten, from the mem ory—that men will carry the record of their Jives, the evidence, the judgment, and the sentence for or against them selves, in their own characters, inscrib ed, as with a pen of fire, on the memory, when they go into the eternal world. I showed them, as I was able, that it is the natural tendency of sin to per petuate and punish itself ; that it con tains an inborn principle of growth and retribution; and that the sinner, pass ing hence to God, and left to reap what soever he has sown in the flesh, forsaken by God and without restraining influ ences, cannot but gravitate downward under the influence of evil; that there is nothing arbitrary, nothing unjust or unkind in God’s treatment of the finally - lost; that men carry with them their destiny of glory or shame when they go into eternity ; that God could not if he would, save the wicked from that withering sense of contempt which they will feel when in the Great Day of Revelation, they shall stand and testify against themselves, and be confronted and confounded by the burning remem brance of their multiform and manifold depravities,, and when they shall cry to the rocks to fall on them and hide them and their guilt from the face of the Lamb—that God could not if he would annihilate from their minds the remem brance of their guilt in despising and neglecting the Saviour. “ Soldiers,” it was said “ come now to Jesus and he will deliver you from con demnation; with his blood, God will wash away the stains of guilt from your souls, which otherwise will wit* ness against you in the Hay of Judg ment and curse and burn you in hell forever.” It was a solemn hour. - All were deeply in earnest as if the vision of the coming judgment opened and glowed upon us. All felt that immortal desti nies were being fixed. God’s wooing Spirit brooded over the scene and went from heart to heart, and more glorious results that night than on any previous evening we beheld, to the praise of Re deeming Grace. Many souls I doubt were borne into the life of God. P. L. R. UNION OP PRESBYTERIANS. There is a general, expectation of the union of the various Presbyterian churches of the United. States, among the more intelligent laymen, and young er ministers of these churches. The union of the twelve or thirteen existing organizations : into one powerful body, might he of great advantage to the cause of.Chidst, if these bodieß really united to promote the interests of humanity and religion. .But if they set up their de nominational glory as the great object of church; organization, the shameful history of one of the most. powerful of these 1 bodies during the. last thirty years, shows us to what ignominious si lence God’s witnesses may be reduced, or to what jesuitical apologetics for; sin they may seduced, by a supreme regard to the honor and glory of their ■denomination. We have yet to show whether God can. safely trust us with the vast'power of ecclesiastical union. The Lord has done much to prepare the way for this union ; so much that’ w© must all -feel guilty unless we meet his advances by corresponding exer tions. He has shown us the Messed re sults of the unien of the Syndd of Ulster And Associate ."Synods in Ireland, result ing in a new evangelistic activity in ■Connaught, and the South of Ireland, to the Jews, and in India, and-in the great Irish Revival of 1858. The union of the ! vai'ious Associate bodies now constitu ting the United Presbyterian Gburch of Great Britain, was the cause of such a breaking out on the right .hand and the left, as promises to place that body fore most among the evangelizing churches in all the groat- cities of Britain. The: union of the Eree and United Presby terians in Canada, and the provinces, works equally well: and that in Aus tralia has been signalized' by energetic ■efforts in behalf of temperance, the Sab- : bath, and missions to the Bush and to Polynesia. We live in an age of union, and know that the period draws nigh •when one Communion shall embrace all Christ’s children on earth. The Lord has been showing us the terrible .character .of sectarianism in our political life, f or sectarianism is nei ther more or less than secession from the one Catholic Church of-Christ, on ac count ofsome imaginary grievance: In the distracted, weakened, despised, di vided church, we see what our gloriousx Republic would be, did we grant the right of secession. There is no end to its operation. "We know families. of which the members will not hold com munion, with each other in family wor ship, because of some unintelligible ad herence to documents they have never seen, and approval of ac'ts of parliament which nobody now living ever saw; all . the oopies having been burnt during a conflagration a hundred years ago. God allows this redudia ah aicMrrfKni, as he al lows also tho terrible calamities of politi cal sectarianism, to awaken Christians to a sense of the sin, folly and danger of their present distractions, and sects. The Lord has taken a great many stumbling-blocks out of the way of the union of the Presbyterian churches. The great stumbling-block of slavery has been removed. The leading controversialists in one of the principal divisions have either been removed fyom the church be low, or permitted to make such exhibi tions of their sympathies as effectually to neutralize their influence with the pre sent generation, or led to penitence and expression of a desire to heal the breaches they have made. The temper of men’s minds is no longer metaphysical and theological, it is humanitarian and practi cal j and under its influence the Old and New School Theologies are being recog nized as complementary parts of one grand system. ■ The union of Christians ■of different churches in the army prayer meetings, and camp communion, is working a practical demonstration of the possibility of Christian com munion as something higher and ho lier than our denominational boards and tables. ' Our Christian soldiers and chaplains will never again sink into sec tarians. We have had a revolution in the; Church, as well as in the State; and the sooner our church courts recognize it the better for them. The laity of the churches are rising into an unwonted activity, and the ministry, who would have scorned the idea of receiving in structions from their clerical brethren of another sect, come forward by hun dreds in response to the appeal of lay men speaking not as sectarians, but -as Christians. To a great extent the un ion is actually accomplished already in spirit and in fact—and little remains but for the church courts to recognize it— yet the little that remains is not there fore unimportant. A small isthmus may divide great oceans. Next week, I propose to consider what God will have us to do that we may reap the benefit of what he has done for the un ion <>f the Presbyterian churches. THE CURRENT OF OPINION. The pro-slavery veterans of the North, like their brethren in the South, are about abandoning the contest. Two of the'leading organs of this obsolete type of opinion in New York city arc giving unmistakable signs of exhaus tion, and of disgust with a cause in the advocacy of which they have de voted so much energy and ability, and have not hesitated to sacrifice every principle that true patriots and friends of humanity and religion bold in es teem. The New York Herald, in its leading editorial of February 6tb, says: “We would therefore earnestly call the attention of Congress to the fact that there is only one, way in which this Slavery question may be decisively and permanently settled by universal eman cipation, and that how is the opportunity for this achievement. This way is point ed out in the Federal Constitution, and is simply an amendment of that instru ment, declaring Slavery abolished through out the United States. . . “Hero, then, the amendment sug gested, passed by a two-third vote in each house of Congress, and ratified by the legislature, or by conventions of three-fourths of the States of the Union, will abolish Slavery at once and forever throughout the length and breadth of the land. And why not? The institu tion, so long as it exists, can never be anything hereafter except a source of mischief to all concerned. Its usefulness to the South is destroyed; its evils, as a fountain of bitter waters, are all that is lefi of it. Let Congress pass the amend ment indicated, with a reasonable com pensation to loyal slaveholders, and ratification of the States will soon fol low, ■ . . . . “Let Congress, then apply the rem edy suggested, and, before the end of the year, this vexing and perplexing ques tion -of Slavery may be settled constitu tionally, decisively, and forever. And this is the only way to settle it. Nox can there be a shadow of a doubt that the man who puts this ball in motion in Congress will be the commanding spiri'- of the Union restored.*’ The New York World says: , ‘‘ We have no desire to shield Slavery. We shall be glad to know that it is crip pled—that it is extinct.” We cannot say that our respect i’o these organs of opinion is at all elevated in view of these most extraordinary ex pressions. But we rejoice in them evidences, that a sense of the hopeless ness of their cause has reached the pro- .abysses of .Northern pro slaveryism; the light of liberty 15 driving the impure birds of night fro® their darkest recesses and the most blind and selfish partizans are convinc ed that no more capital is to be mad® out of the onee mighty institution. The assis kicking the poor old perishing lion! ; O what a light of beauty will tbat be, when we shall see- Him as He is, those tears be passed away, which bare been our meat day and night, whih j they daily Bay unto ns, Where is now ycur God ? — Augustine.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers