tomssptttecf. RE-UNION, AND ALL THAT, AMONG PRESBYTERIANS, At tho late meetings of the two As semblies, respectively at Dayton, Ohio, and at Newark, N. J., the demonstra tions were mainly all of one character : —all these much more like heaven than they once were! Every lover of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and every real friend to our common and our beloved Presbyterianism, as relat ed to his grealcause and kingdom, must gratefully rejoice in it. Thd spirit of both Assemblies, as seen especially, not at all exclusively, in the manners, the ad dresses, the rejoinders, of the delegates and the moderators, was just admirable; and one old maD, at least, that I know, was so moved, so dissolved, so variously and fraternally affected—almost afflict «d, with intense sympathetic apprecia tions of their moral sceneries, so rare, so rich, so good—by the grace of God, that, witnessing or reading them, they cap tured—almost fatigued him, with some thinglike ineffable delight! By the ways the old men have some advantages of their own sort, against all the generation of neophytes in comparison; now making their demonstrations, official and perso nal, on the tapis of this waning nine teenth century : only mark it! nearly two-thirds of this century are already gone ! The writer’s memory, with no effort, supplies him with facts and regis trations, identifying and strange, touch ing the history of our church ; almost from tho beginning of this century; as to its men, its ministers, its measures, its means, its memories; in connection especially with the pastorate, for exam ple, of old Ashbel Green, D. D. LL. D., of the Second Presbyterian Church, cor ner N. W. of Third and Arch Streets, Philadelphia. In that church my hon ored and beloved mother was baptized, by its thrice excellent former pastor, Eev. James Sproat, D. D. Of whom— lot me record some memories, that I hoard and read and loved: since we ought to receive him in the Lord ivith all glad ness, and hold such in reputation. We are commanded to remember them that have the rule over us ; who have spoken to us the word of God ; whose faith follow, considering the end — ekbasis,of their conver sation : i. e. its glorious terminus, its exit, its coronation; 2 Pet. 1: 11-15, tho glory in which is its certain consum mation 1 Dr. Sproat was thou the successor of Eev. William Tennent, brother of Eev. Gilbert TenDODt; both the sons of the first Eev. William Tennent, who emi grated from Ireland in 1718 : amboftlii illustres, patrc quoque illustri. Dr. Sproat was there inaugurated in 1768; a native of Hew England, from Scituate, Mass.; a sound scholar and alumnus of honored old Yale. That church was the second of our denomination then, in that city of inward light; and its origin, I think, was a derivation from the labors of Whitfield, of blessed memory, who, from 1788 to his death, 1770, visited this country seven times; crossed the Atlantic therefore tkirteon times, and left living and characteristic fruit; God giving him the increase wherever he went, in many children, whom, as Paul says, he begat through the Gospel. 1 Cor. 4:15. So it seems that the first nucleus of old Arch Street Church was consti tuted of the followers of that great man of God; so gathered into the church of Christ. Thus the names of Whitfield, . Tennent, Sproat, Green, Janeway, Skinner, and others, are stars of glory, aconstellation of happy memories there! My mother’s parents worshipped there. When Dr. Sproat was settled over them, my mother* was only about three months old. Her baptism, how ever, occurred not till at least eight or nine years after it. All I know is—that she remembered the solemnity, and of ten rehearsed it to her children; not without impression on my own young heart—then in Quaker regimentals! During the war, she lived in the coun try; and society and scenery there were so changed about her—that, in short, she joined the Friends almost by necessity. Her sense, however, of the excellency of Presbyterian worship, was never effaced—far from it! and her revorenee, for the excellent Dr. Sproat — I feel, as I write here his name! The .fever (yellow) was then a visiter there, almost every summer: and as the idea became prevalent among many religious circles, I think—mainly at the first with the Friends,! that, as God sent it, so it was cowardly, if not impious, to go into the country; as it seemed like an effort to fly from the Almighty. This idea somehow, with the importunities of his people, affected him; in the summer of ninety-three, he remained, “ harnessed ♦Died 04 veara old, nearly; as August 28, 1765, to August 10,1»62. fThis silly Rnd spurious piety was also in many other places. In New York our great Dr. J. Itl Mason scat tered it, with his slashing thunder rim the bright light ning of his rare eloquence. “Comes from Heaven, does it? So does the rain-storm. How dare you— impious! to shut down youx windows?” Goodl It did rtha business. in order serviceable/' took the malady and died —0 what a loss ! Oet. 18,1793, I was myself then with my parents in Jersey, not two months old ! yet I re collect, years after it, to have heard of the lamentations of all parties at his death. His funeral was one of the lar gest that had ever occurred in Philadel phia. The city was poorer, and seemed to feel endamaged indeed, by his re moval. Let his memory remain there, a rich and lasting treasure! Sacerrimum sit nomen! Possibly my own genial etymology may thus be proved somewhat Presby terian, d stirpe. However that is, it is connected with all my historic memories of our incomparable church , and my love for it, from the beginning of this cen tury, developed, growing, deepening,— especially in contrast with all rival denominations; since it is, and so I must regard some of them, especially the exclusionists all; Komanists, Pre latists, Baptists, and in various forms and degrees, several others. It is their fault. If I have rambled and digressed, perhaps in my next I may recover, and be more conservative, tenax rex, in what is to follow; favente Domino benignissimo. Fraternally yours, in one that died for us and rose again, Samuel Hanson Cox, Lerot, N. Y., Juno 27, 1804. P. S. Wo have boon here, and widely in Western New York, troubled and chastened for three weeks—by the weather. The heat intense, tho drought tremendous, powder and dust darkening the air, and making all the clouds that were to be seen. Vegetation seemed smitten, all nature drooping, gardens blasted, harvests in prospect—melan choly! The people, some of them, wero reminded of— prayer; and they tried it, in personal and voluntary concert. God sent the blessing, copious, rich, grand, last evening. Can any of the vanities of the heathen, the fabulous deities of their puerile mythology, give rain ? No! God alone can so refresh and en rich the land, of our guilty, too often our godless nation. 0 may his mercy regenerate and bless and preserve our country —our whole country, —and stop this parricidal,treasonous rebellion soon! In thine own great mercy, 0 our God, grant it, and send ns peace, union, freedom, law, and tho wider jurisdiction over us, and in us, of thine own glorious Christianity ! Acts 14 :17. S. H. 0. “WHY ART THOH OAST DOWN?” When we consider who God is, what he is, what provisions he has made, what promises he has given and what oaths, what covenants he has establish ed again and again, and wlicit examples he has given us in his word, it is a mat ter of astonishment, that any soul should bo cast down and discouraged. It would seem as if this was the very last world for discouragement. Wo know little about other worlds, but we know there is no cause for fear and dis couragement in this. You may take any lost, ruined and helpless son or daughter of Adam, and he has Jesus to rest on—Jesus to rely upon, and with Jesus, as well might an angel be cast down, fear and be discouraged. Indeed hope ought to light up all our world, and the heart pf every son and daugh ter of Adam in our world. It is uo wonder that Jesus so often said, “ Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith 1” “ Wherefore didst thou doubt ?” And well might it be said to each one of us. Turn over the Book of books—medi tate upon its precious promises, and were your guilt a thousand times darker than it is, there is no cause why you who receive it should be fearful, faint hearted, doubting, discouraged, cast down. You may say to your soul, how ever dark, it is, “ Hope thou in I once overheard an individual singing those lines, “Had I a thousand hearts to give, Lord, they should all he thine;” and he altered it, and sung it, “ Had I ten thousand hearts to give, Lord, they should all he thine." It seems to me, if we had—that is, if any one of us had ten thousand hearts, and all covered over with guilt and pollution as dark and fearful as that of Manasseb or Saul of Tarsus, we might east all that guilt on Jesus, and rest on him without one fear —without the least shadow of a doubt—nothing need disquiet us. Perhaps some one may say, Oh, I know what God, what Jesus is, what he has done for me, and what he has pro mised to me, but it is myself I doubt. Well doubt yourself just as much as you please, hut do not doubt God—do not doubt his love, nor his power to save to the uttermost. It makes no difference what you are, or have been —what guilt you have—how much unbelief; the question that concerns you, is not your self, but what Jesus is—what he will do for you, without any reference to your past character; is his word true —can his promises be relied on—may you rely on him ? If so, then why are you cast PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, JULY 7, 1864. down—why fear—why? Unless you are determined to hold on to sin, and reject Jesus, there is no possible reason why you should even fear. If there should be any one who had cause to fear and to he cast down, it would be sueh sinners as David, but with all his deep dark guilt, he felt that he had no room for discouragement, and hence he says to his soul, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why art thou disquiet ed in me ? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” 1 If he looked at himself, he had cause for sorrow, fear and heaviness; and so it is with every poor sinner. While the eyo is turned inward, and we are look ing at ourselves, .we can seenothinglhut darkness and discouragement. Tlfere is no light within tis. But when we look away from ourselves to Jesus, be see nothing but light. Looking it ourselves, we are disquieted witnin i* We become like the man who is on the restless, disturbed, lashed, angry oceanl rather than one on the solid immovable rock. Such a state of unrest canlneven be felt by one who believes thl* promises are true, and that the ev| ing arms are round about, and u neath him. When a man looks ti God, he is astonished.that he coulc place to God-dishonoring fear. I been very beautifully remarked, lieving confidence in God is a sove: antidote against prevailing des deney and disquiet of spirit. II: fore when we chide ourselves our dejections, we must charge oursq to hope in God; when our soul embrl itself, it sinks; if it catch hold on V power and promise of God, it'keeps' head above water.” LETTER FEOM BRIDGEPORT, ALA;- Bro. Hears :—Possibly your readers would like to hear from a delegate of the Christian Commission, who has been sent to Bridgeport, Ala., where Gen. Mitchell terminated his southwestern campaign. This is merely a military Station, the few houses that once stood here having been destroyed; and it is at present a position of importance, merely because the railroad, which is the great artery of communication with and supply for, Sherman's army, crosses the Tennessee river at this point, and the bridge must be strongly guarded. Forts and stockades are now beinsr ■ erected to protect this bridge in the most thorough manner. The Indiana “Hundred days” men are said to be guarding this great military /Railroad route, all the way from Louisville, KTy., to this place, that portion passing through the very loyal State of Ken tucky requiring protection equally with that portion lying in Tennessee and Alabama. There are numbers of refugee fami lies here, some of whom are really friends of obr country ; but I strongly suspect that a largo majority of them would really rejoice to have the rebel lion to succeed; though numbers ojf them have fled here to get rid of thej Eebel conscription. And they seem to; have, many of them, still the deepest prejudices against the freedomand education qf the black race. I have preached for them several times, and tried to get at their feelings, and to show them that it ih the lordly slave-holder who has crushed' and and degraded the poor white man/as well as tho black; and that it is th,e slave system which has enabled him to do ■ which has prevented, and must and will prevent, wherever it prevails, any system of free schools, and which has ab sorbed the land into huge plantations; and left the poor without the means oq independent support, and thus made' them dependent on, and tools of, the slave holder and the slave power. And I have suggested to them that the in evitable result of the success of our Go- vernmenl| and destruction of slavery, will be the gradual breaking up of the “ plantations/' into “ farms/' the general diffusion of education and intelligence, and the elevation of the crushed masses of the white population, which are now suffering and fighting for the slave-hold ers. But “It will never do to set the slj .he’ v “ free among us,” is their cry, -thejf AIR-TIG# teid that wise and able princes become our equals; and all of I’ifbout kplmld cultivate the ground, equally and And they do not like to be told v|th their people, and eat the the enormous extent to which amalga?| fruit ofttheir labor; that “to have mation has already progressed under granaries! arsenals and treasuries was slavery; nor that God made the black an oppressing of the people.” Mencius man as well as the white man, and that exposed tltese errors very happily, show he has a soul, and has rights just as well ing the necessity to society of a division as the white man. But the “logic of of labor, Ld that the conduct of a events,” is compelling many of them government should be in the hands of to look'at many of these truths which a lettered ekss. “I suppose,” said he come so completely athwart all their for- one day to the follower of the strange mer habits of thought and feeling. And doctrines, “ tlat Heu Hing sows grain here lies a wide field for Christian be- and eats tbeWoduee. Is it not so?” nevolence, just opening, to reach these “It j a so,” wal the reply. “ I suppose white victims of the slave power, start that he also wives cloth and wears his i schools among them, and right ideas, own manufacture. Isitncffso?” “Mo and teach them a pure Christianity. Heu wears olotheß of hair-cloth.” And there is another field for Christian “Does he wearh cap ?” “He wears a benevolence, which the Freedman’s Aid cap.” << What land of a cap ?” “ A Society have commenced, and only com- plain cap ” “I s it woven by himself?” mencod, occupying. It is to educate and enlighten, and Christianize these millions of blacks and • <> are quick: to learn, and very many of them exceedingly desirous. And they are entirely accessible to us, just as soon as our jnilitary lines pass beyond them. At Murfreesboro/ Tenn., I visited two of these contraband schools, in the col ored Methodist and Baptist congrega tions; in both of which the Pastors wero in attendance; and one of them, a man of about 56 years, was then learning to read! This work is exceedingly ag gravating to the whites but it is exceed ingly important, and I know of no be nevolent labor that will “pay” better in the long run. For, say what we may, they are bound to become one of the rising powers of the sunny South. I will only add that I am trying to get a Sabbath-school started among them in this place, to be taught by the pious soldiers stationed here. OPINIONS OF MENCIUS.—ON UNWORTHY RULERS. It the Irlast imder- ip his Only a very few of the sayings and sentiments of Mencius can he referred to in these letters. Those who desjre to learn more are referred to the trans lation Of his works, mentioned in a former letter. give has fc be- JEencius declared that “ the people are the most impo'rlani element in a nation, and the Sovereign is the lightest." He, as well as Confucius, allowed no “ divine right” to a sovereign, independent of his exer cising a benevolent rule. With Mencius this was a favorite theme. Mencius was not afraid of following his princi ples to this conclusion, that the sove reign who was exercising an injurious rule should be dethroned. His exist ence is not to he allowed to interfere with the general good. Killing, in such a case, is no murder.* On one occasion, Mencius, while conversing with a certain king, advanced the sentiment that an unworthy ruler might .be dethroned by his .relatives. Said he, “If the prince have great faults the chief ministers who are noble, and his relatives, ought to remonstrate with him, and if he do not listen to them after they have done so again and again, they ought to de throne him.” The king, on this, looked moved and changed countenance. Men cius said, “Let not your Majesty be offended. You asked mo and I dare not answer but according to the truth.” Mencius in like man n er. ..tui*~«-i3ow~-ctro "Senfiment that “ Virtuous ministers, who are not relatives of a wicked ruler, may, if actuated by righteous motives, take summary measures with him.” It is not strange that Mencius, putting forth the above views so boldly and so broadly, should not be a favorite with tho rulers of China. His sentiments, professed by the literati, and known and read by all the people, have operated powerfully to compel tho good beha viour of the “ powers that be” in China, in past ages. Mencius insists, in numerous passages, yces the fits James Ke: on the influence of personal character in a ruler over his people. He lauds the influence of what he calls a “ benevo lent government.” Said he, “Let a prince seek, by his excellence, to nourish men, and he will be able to subdue the whole empiro.” On the effects of a benevolent rule ho says, “ There is a way to get the empire get the people and the empiro is got. There is a way to get the people j—get their hearts and the people are got. There is a way to get their hearts; —it is simply to collect for them what they like, and not to lay on them what they dislike. The people turn to a benevolent ruler, as water kows downwards, and as wild beasts fly \o the wilderness.” There are two principal elements in a benevolent rule ■'fhich Mencius made prominent. They are Vthat the people be made well off, apdlthat they be educated, and the former is necessary in order to the efficiency of the latter. Jon natural inequalities. In the time of Mencius, there was a class Sf enthusiasts who advocated a «to the primitive state of society. a Truly yours, CORRESPONDENCE IN OHTNA, “ No, he gets it in exchange for grain.” “ Why does Heu not weave it himself?” 'That would injure his husbandry.” “ Does Heu cook his food in boilers and earthenware pans, and does he plow with an iron share ?” “ Yes.” “ Does he make those articles himself?” “ Ho, he gets them in exchange for grain.” On these admissions Mencius proceeds : “ The getting theße various articles in exchange for grain is not oppressive to the potter and the founder; and the potter and the founder in their turn, in exchanging their various articles for grain are not oppressive to the hus bandman. But why does not Heu, on his principles, act the potter and founder, supplying himself with the articles which he uses solely from his own es tablishment ?” His opponent attempted a reply. “ The business of the handi craftsman can by no means be carried on along with the business of husbandry.” Mencius resumed: “ Then is it the government of the empire which alone can be carried on along with the prac tice of husbandry ? Great men have their proper business, and little men have their proper business. There is the saying ‘Some men labor with their minds and some with their strength.’ Those who labor with their minds govern others; those who labor with their strength are governed by others. Those who are governed by others support them; those who govern others are supported by them. This is a prin ciple universally recognized.” His Op ponent makes a feeble attempt at the end to say a word in favor of the new doctrines he had embraced: “If Heu’s doctrines were followed, there would not be two prices in the market, nor any deceit in the kingdom. If a boy were sent to the market, no one would im pose upon him; linen and silk of the same length would be of the same price. So would it be with bundles of hemp and silk, being of the same weight; with the different kinds of grain, being the same in quantity; and with shoes which were the same in size.” Mencius meets this with a decided reply : “It is the nature of things to be of unequal quality. Some are twice, some five times,- some ten times, some a hundred times, some a thousand times, some ten thousand times as valuable as others, If you reduce them all to the same standard, that must throw the empire into confusion. If large>n o es were of the same prico with small w ho would make them? For people t 0 follow the doctrines of Heu would ho Tor them to lead one another on to practice deceit. How can they avail for the government of a state ?" OPPOSITION TO POPULAR ERRORISTS. In the time of Mencius thero were two other classes of errorists which were becoming more and more popular. Mencius set himself earnestly to eradi cate these heretical opinions: “ universal selfishness” and universal love." “ The words of Tang Choo and Mih Teih,” said Mencius, fill the empire. If you listen to people’s discourses through out it, you will find that they have adopted the views of the one or of the other. Now Yang’s principle is ‘Each one for himself’ which does not acknow ledge the claims of the Sovereign. Mih’s principle is ‘ To love all equally,’ which does not acknowledge the pecu liar' affection duefto a father. To acknowledge neither king nor father is to be in the state of a beast. If their principles are not stopped and the prin ciples of Confuoius set forth, their per verse speakings will delude the people, and stop up the path of benevolence and righteousness. I am alarmed at these things, and address myself to tho defence of the doctrines of the former sages, and to oppose Yang and Mih. I drive away their licentious expressions, so that such perverse speakers may not be able to show themselves. When sages shall rise up again, they will not change my words.” His opposition to Yang and Mih was thus one of the great labors of Mencius’ life, and what he deemed the success of it one of his great achievements, and his countrymen generally accede to the justness of his claim. A particular account of the opinions he combatted, and his discussions relating to them would doubtless be very interesting and valuable to the reader, but altogether too long for the present letter. MENCIUS AS A TEACHER OP RULERS. Let us now advert for a moment to the position which Mencius occupied with reference to the princes of his time. He calls it that of “ Teacher,” but that term, in our language, very inadequately represents it. He wished to meet with some ruler who would look to him as “ guide, philosopher and friend, regulating himself by his coun sels and thereafter committing to him the entire administration of his govern- Such men, he insisted, had been in China from the earliest ages. The wandering scholars of his own day who went from court to court, sometimes with good intentions and sometimes with bad, pretended to this character of teacher, but Mencius held them in abhorrence. They disgraced the charac ter and prostituted it, and he stood forth as its vindicator and trne exem plifier. Never did Christian priest lift up his mitred front or show his shaven crown, or wear his Genevan gown, more loftily in courts and places than Mencius, the teacher, dpmeaned himself. “ Those,” said he, “ who give counsel to the great should despise them, and not look at their pomp and display. Walls, several fathoms high, with beams -projecting several cubits: these, if my wishes were to be realized, I would not have. Food spread before me over ten cubits square, and attendant girls to the amount of hundreds: these, though my wishes were realized, I would not have.. Plea sure and wine, and the dash of hunting, with thousands of chariots following after me : these, though my wishes were realized, I would not have. What'they esteem arc what I would have nothing to do with; what I esteem are the rules of the ancients.” / FAULTS OF MENCIUS. The faults of Mencius as a pqftical teacher are substantially the s<me as those of Confucius. The of both have reference to th/condition and needs of ancient tiny<s> more than for the present. They were for the time then being and/dot for all time. Mencius knew as lit#® as Confucius of any other great independent nation besides his and he has left ono maxim whici is deeply treasured by the rulers and the people ot China at the present day, and feeds the super cilious idea which they are so unwilling to give up, of their own superiority to foreigners. “ I have heard,” said he “of men using the doctrines of our great land to change barbarians, but I have never yet heard of any: being changed by barbarians. I have heard of birds leaving dark valleys to remove to lofty trees, hut I have not heard of their descending from lofty trees to enter into dark valleys " Mongol and Tartar sway havenot broken the charm of this dangerous flattery, because only in warlike energy were the Mongols and tho Tartars superiors to the Chinese, and when they conquered the country they did homage to its sages. During the last five and twenty years, Christian powers havo come to ask admission into Chiiia, J aucl To~claim lo be re'coived as her equals. They do not wish to con quer her territory, though they have battered and broken her defences. With fear and trembling their advances are contemplated. The feeling of dis like to them arises from the dread of their powor and suspicion of their faith. It is feared that they come to subdue; it is known that they come to change. The idol of Chinese superiority is about to be broken, broken it must be before long, and a new generation of thinkers will arise, to whom Mencius will be a study, not a guide. THE HOSPITAL OF THE H. S. CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. There are nearly fifteen thousand wounded soldiers in the hospitals of W ashington; each hospital having from three hundred to two thousand. The chaplains have much clerical duty to perform, such as the registry of deaths, writing to friends of tho deceased, and the care of the mails, and they are there fore able to minister only to tho extreme eases. They cannot visit from cot to cot, especially in the larger hospitals. The Christian Commission seeks to supplement their work. They visit every man and speak a word of cheer, and, where circumstances allow, speak to them oftheir spiritual interests. They find many Christians to encourage, many anxious souls to direct to tho Lamb of God, some of whom go and are healed. They find but very few who do not lend a ready ear. In most eases, there is an eagerness to listen that is surprising. They carry the Word of God, and the printed page, and give to all who wish to receive. T hey also give such comforts as the government or friends do not pro vide, but always with tho consent of the surgeon. They seek to assist the chap lains, not to supersede them, working under their direction, and in all instan ces do they have their hearty assent and welcome. These devotedmen rejoice in the aid the Commission renders them in their work. The same welcome is also received from the surgeons. The sol diers recognize the badge as one they saw when first wounded, and often do they exclaim, *• God bless the Christian Commission; . they saved my life." Many refer to its ministry as instrumen tal in their conversion. This work has been organized since the present compaign commenced, and needs fifty men, that it may be done thoroughly and systematically as is de sired. A similar work is done at Alex andria, where there are from six to ten thousand wounded men. Will not the churches of the North pray that the Lord will continue to bless these labors, as he is now doing ? Let them pray as well as send all-supplies needed for the sick and the suffering. This is but a small return for what they have suffered, and must still suffer for us, and that cheerfully.
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