Tlie American Presbyterian anb GENESEE EVANGELIST. religious ahd family newspaper, II? Tax INTEREST OP THB Constitutional Presbyterian Churcb. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY, AT THE PRESBYTERIAN HOUSE, Chestnut Street, (2d Story,) Philadelphia. Rov* JOHN W. HEARS, Editor and Publisher. CONTENTS OF INSIDE PAGES. , London Letter 234 My Only Son 238 Letter from Memphis 234 Glass Decanter 238 Patterns of Thing5.........284 Robin and Jamie... .238 Thos. Chalmers, 111........234 Sin .....238 Use of Prayer. 234 Preaching to Children...23B Swearing Cars ..234 Dr. Malan 239 Hindoo Youth. ..235 Your own Execut0r.. ...!!239 Public Life ...235 Rout of Dahomeans 239 Rebel Barbarities 235 Christian Commission. 239 Metric System 235 DEATH OF INFANTS. Vain and transitory is human life. The psalmist, meditating npon the suts ject, feels the need of divine assistance in gaining a view at all suited to the extreme and humiliating nature of the facts : “ Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.” And then, as if the light of the* divine eternity had been flashed upon the sub ject, in which a thousand years are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night, he says: “ Behold thou hast made my days as an hand breadth, and mine age is as nothing before thee 1 verily, every man at his best state, is altogether vanity.” If this be true of man in his maturity and his pride, how vain and insignificant is the dying infant! How tiny the wreck of its frail existence! How transient and imperceptible the impression it has left on human things! How uncon cerned the remorseless ages roll on, while myriads of these creatures sink beneath the surface! It is one of the commonest, most characteristic marks of heathenism to despise and neglect frail and perishing infancy, and, in manifold instances, to hasten its exit from the world. Espe cially are the feeble in hody and the weaker in sex regarded as things of no consequence, or as objects of positive aversion and contempt. What multi tudes have been buried alive, exposed to perish by starvation, flung to wild bedsts, or roasted in the brazen arms of Moloch! The coral isles of the Pacific, the jungles of Africa, the waves of the Mile and of the Ganges, the burial towers of China, have heard their feeble dying wail, and have testified to the con temptuous estimate placed by heathen men upon their lives. The treatment of infants by the heathen would, by itself, fully justify the apostle’s accusa tion that they are “ without natural affection.” May, even compared with many orders of the brute creation, the heathen ‘are at a disadvantage in this matter of the treatment of their young. The bird grieves over its plundered nest, and the unwieldy mother whale hugs her calf and sacrifices her own life in trying to shield her young from the harpoon of the whaler—showing that when man lets go his hold on the God for whom he was made, he sinks below the creation which he,was made to go- But how contrary to all this is the estimate in which the little ones are held wherever the humanizing influences of Christianity are felt. Eyen in Chris tian countries, it is true, all traces of inhumanity have not been eradicated from the practices of neglectful, degraded or'covetous parents and masters, There are hardened wretches in the very capitals of Christendom, as the recent revelations of master sweeps in London prove, who even at this day hesitate not to inflict the most barbarous tortures upon their helpless little victims, in fitting them to be instruments of their avarice But the indignation universally excited by such revelations proves how changed and elevated is the feoling of the community towards the feeble and the infantile portion of its members. As a rule, they are the object of the Stl-Ghgoot affection and the tenderest care. The household rejoices in their presence and joins to protect and to solace them. They are called by pet names. Their humors and annoyances are patiently borne with. Their helplessness is a constant appeal to tbe strength and sympathy of the rest. Their progress in powers of speech and-locomotion is a constant wonder and joy. By smiles, by encouraging tones, by outstretched hands, by toys and contrivances, but above, all, by unspeakable maternal Jove, how wondrously is baby helped alorgr™ the early part of life’s journey! Artists catch his chubby lineaments; great poets see clouds of glory trailing after him as he comes into the world; medicine has a distinct department and a distinct literature upon his physiology and his diseases; the law takes care of his interests and pi’otects him in liiß New Series, Vol. I, No. 30. feebleness from injustice, and. sanitary reformers are tearfully indignant at the ignorance and mismanagement which send so many of these frail specimens of humanity to early graves. , And of the multitudes that ■ die in infancy, few there are that do not leave some breaking hearts behind them. Few there are whose last-sickness does not draw forth all the stores of tender ness and agitate the soul with all the deep anxieties of hope and fear of which mother, father, brothers and sisters are capable. The deep paternal tenderness of the heart of David was brought out by the sickness of his child. “David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth.” He refused the entreaties of the elders of his house to rise and eat bread; and so deep was his affliction that they feared the conse quences of announcing to him the child’s death. But even David, far removed as he was from- the direct light of the Christian dispensation, proved that the very influence which so humanizes the heart and strengthens and brightens the ties between man and the feeblest of his fellow-creatures, also brings consolation in the severance of those ties. When l>.e learned that the child was actually dead, he resumed his place and his customary bearing; he came to the house of God and worshipped—many bereaved parents now-a-days less wisely stay away—and from the depths of a soul refined and spiritualized by afflic tion, said: “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” Deep, tender, overwhelming is the grief with which the final farewell is uttered to the darling of the flock, as his bright eyes are dimmed forever, as the prattle of his tongue is hushed, his dimpled arms folded upon his motionless bosom and his baby feet cease from their endless patterings. Gone from the house is its wealth, its light, its charm, its joy. A great Bobber ,Ims. entered it and taken away what other thieves cared not for, and what bolts and doors could not secure. He has swept away a treasure of affection; lie has made a wound which is almost too deep for memory to efface. He has left the cold form, the image, of baby, behind; upon this, for a few brief hours, our regard may he lavished; and then, amid the sorrowful looks and sympathies of as sembled friends, and with the solemn services of the minister of religion, with tears we lay the dear relies in the dust. And what a deep peculiar interest gathers at once around every obiect with which the little one was or can be associated! The lock of hair, the photo graph, the toys, the dresses, the favour ite seat or picture are carefully treasured up; yet a stolen glance at them now and then is all we dare take, they wring our hearts so with a sense of what we have lost. This higher estimate even of the frailest and shortest-lived of our kind is one of the prominent distinguishing marks of a Christian civilization; It grows directly out of the teachings of the Bible, and especially of the New Testamen t. The divine Saviour exalted infancy by his own voluntary assump tion of its feeble estate. Young children were favourite topics-of his’ teaching and illustration. His disciples, not without a relie of the old world con tempt for the outwardly feeble aud insignificant, so mistook the new spirit of the Master, that they would have ordered away all the little ones from his presence as an annoyance and inter ruption. But Jesus welcomed them to his presence, took them from the mo thers’ arms into his own, and blessed them, and spoke of them in such a close connection with his own spiritual flock that we dare-not distinguish so far as to say which is fact tond which is illus tration in his discourses of them, hut must believe he meant also to include these tender objects among the fruits of his Redemption, and to promise them, if dying in infancy, a place in the pre sence of his Father forever more. Yes, that is our comfort in laying the precious relics away in the dust! It is that Jesus’ arms now take the place of the mother’s warm embrace. That is the reason why we feel it appropriate to celebrate with such tender respect these funeral rites; because an immortal lately dwelt in them; because the freed soul soars away to the Being from whom J t lately came; because, as we move PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1864. bereaved and sorrowful to the grave, the late tenant of the clay we bear, ignorant and feeble as it was, in the few hours that have passed since its depar ture,hasprohably become ■wiser,stronger, more glorious, more blessed, than the greatest of the living. -And sublime and spiritualizing is the hope with which the Christian parent follows him in his thoughts: I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. NOTES FROM UPPER DELAWARE. Under the Maples, July 22, 1864. Three years ago yesterday was fought the sad, disgraceful battle of Bull Bun; the battle which woke the nation to the desperation and energy of the rebellion -in its inception; just as the hot and bloody conflicts of the Wilderness last May convinced ns of the fearful energy of its purpose even in its decline. Had the rebellion been grasped at the outset with the vigour and decision which bold, brave men,-well acquainted with the Southern spirit, like Gen. Butler, wished and, urged, Manassas Junction would have been seized and fortified by our three months’ volunteers in May ; the Rappahannock instead of the Poto mac % would in all probability have been the rebel line of operations, and the battle of Bull Bun perhaps have never been fought. But Gen. Scott’s great age ajffl Fabian policy, followed by that of McClellan, who, but little over thirty, pursued a still more Fabian policy than the sexagenarian general; with incom petence, mismanagement and jealousy in rapid succession after his removal; men high in office still disbelieving the stern character and great issues, of the conflict—Tinder such auspices the Army of the Potomac lapsed into the third year of its history, before the leader needed in May, 1861, with heart of fire and with will of iron, was found. God had not given us the Grant of to-day at that time; >but it is a fact that-men in the military service who, at that' time, exhibited the determination and the uncompromising hostility to rebellion now so acceptable in Grant and every one else, wore not readily discerned, nor their services made the most of by the Government. All too slowly did the Go vernment grow into sympathy with such men as the lamented G,en. O M Mitchell, and the more fortunate Gen. Butler, who has been spared to see our rulers gradually rise to a position level with his own. Unwavering steadiness of purpose, uncompromising hostility to rebellion in every shape; disgust and abhorrence of it as the highestof crimes; straightforward policy towards all Northern friends and abettors of rebel lion in any practical shape, beginning at Washington; a course so plain lumi nous that the craftiest scoundrel would feel it useless for him to calculate upon any hidden weakness to Kelp him out in his plots,—reader, from my calm seat under the maples, on this day after the third anniversary of the shamefullest event in our national history, I ask you if these are not the qualities we have palpably needed through the whole of this struggle; and if our good President does not do well to appoint a day of fasting and humiliation, if only for the purpose of confessing our great national sin of tardiness in reaching, only in this fourth year of the war, the moral posi tion we now hold ? Yes ! we had to he beaten into every bold step forward which we have taken; beaten into emancipation; beaten into the employment of negroes—our bravest pllies—as soldiers j beaten into enlist ment of a fbree respectably large for the work on our bands; nay, beaten over and over again into the admission that the rebellion is desperately in earnest; beaten by formidable invasions out of our learned ease and peaceable pursuits, until the very recondite idea of an organized militia tor defence at home" begins to dawn upon vis, and the con viction that we indeed have a formidable war on our hands, rendering the future existence of the nation problematical, and demanding a universal proof and exhibition of the sincerity of our patriot ism, foreeß itself upon us. Even yet we sometimes catch ourselves sighing for a single year of Hen. Butler at Washing ton ! But we confess we do now see something of this spirit in the capital, probably stimulated by tbe breeze that swept in from the Seventh street road one fine Monday evening early this month. We hear it in the call for 500,000 more. There is the ring of the true metal in that call. At least we shall not fast and humble ourselves next Thursday for that! Some inklings of this revived energy are manifest not very remote, O reader, from the shade of this maple grove. We areSvithin the sound of the guns of Fort Delaware, where one-fifth of the sixty odd thousand rebel prisoners now in the hands of that generous and hos pitable warden, Uncle Sam, are domi ciled. No gaiint witnesses of stinted rations; no miserable starving' rat hunters, and dog meat epicures; no stomachs per force hardened to vermin and corruption; no sad prodigals, fain to fill their bellios with worse swines’ food than carob-pods;’no candidates for curiosity-seeking photographers, whose pictures are so true that they almost defeat their own end by the horror they excite; none "of these will be found by close seeking among the ten or twelve thousand disarmed foes of ours,'under the fro wning bastions of Fort Delaware. -Hardships there are there doubtless; pining for freedom and home; the chafing of hot spirits at a twelve-month restraint from guerilla sportg, from b ushwhacking, from hanging Union men, or from open and murderous contention with the armed representatives of the Govern ment. But many a Union army in the field would count itself flippy with the ample accommodations and bountiful and regular rations, the water and the bathing of the rebel prisoners at Fort Delaware. Of these things we are proud. We are glad that history which must write Libby Prison on one page, will have Fort Delaware to set over against it on the other. This is gospel revenge. If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap.coals of fire on his head. We the inhuman rebels -in>-spitef'a'nd;.personal revenge. True, up to the moment that the foe is disarmed and disabled, we seek nothing less than his death, and we. ask for the' shortest, completest mode eff accomplishing it. But the captive and the wounded are rightful objects of at least the-same attention as we bestow npon the inmates of our prisons. We rejoice when we hear of the Christian Commission, or the ambu lance corps of our army, succouring the wounded of the enemy and reaching their hitherto hard and malignant hearts by unexpected tenders of kind service. Our aim in all this war is too broad, too noble, too humane, to allow us to follow in the wake of our brutal enemies, who cannot lay aside the spirit of the slave-driver from their policy. But we have wandered from our pur pose of illustrating the energy of the Government, and can only promise to come hack to.the point of 'departure in the next letter. REV. WILLIAM FITHIAN.' Editor of the American Presbyte rian— 'Rev. and Dear Bro.: In reference to a “Letter from. Bev. William Fithian” which appeared in your paper of June 30th, I would submit the following facts in order to set the matter referred to as -it is. He says, “By the grace of G-od I am guiltless of offence, and am not a member, nor ever was, of Chariton Presbytery.” Now this seems very strange. In looking oyer the minutes of Chariton Presbytery, I find the following minute, viz: “Eev. William Fithian presented a letter of dismission from the Presby tery of lowa City and recommendation to this Presbytery, and was received a member pf this body.” The above ac tion was. had September 7th, 1861. Then at a meeting of Presbytery held Ahgust 27tb,' |sj32,l find the following, viz: “The Biv. William Fithian pre sented a request for dismission,” which request, for reasons set forth in the minutes, was not granted. Without giving the whole history of the ease, I deem the above sufficient to settle the question of jurisdiction. As to whether the writer of the article referred to is the man, he verily knows, and others may j udge. Tr uly yours, A. Martin, Stated Clerk of Chariton Pres. July 26th, 1864." But few. of out city churches are closed the entire Sabbath. Genesee Evangelist, No.. 949. THE PBINOIPLE OP EEPBESENTATION IN ECCLESIASTICAL MATTEES. -Lhe Congregationalists in various places are agitating the question of a General Convention to consider the in terests of that body throughout the country. The very suggestion savors of Presbyterianism. Itloolrsto the forma tion of a National Congregational Church, and at least shows how unsatisfactory a condition 'of comparative isolation, such as prevails among local Congregational bodies, is felt to be. The difficulties in the way of the proposed anomalous Convention appear to have been appre ciated by the General Association of Connecticut, which at its late meeting passed the following resolutions : Resolved, That while we are thus willing to co-operate in this movement, yet a conven tion of pastors and other delegates from three thousand churches on so universal a call, prohibiting any scrutiny of certificates, seems to us unfit for the purpose of a thor ough discussion and deliberation upon tlxe subject proposed; also, that the time men tioned for .the Convention is inappropriate Resolved, That in the view of this assoeik tion, a representative bodt, selected either by the committees of the general Congrega tional Associations and Conferences in the different. States, or called as an ecclesiastical by the Churches at Chicago, where this proposition originated, to consult and advise not only in regard to extending our ecclesiastical polity, but also in respect to the general interests, duties, and privileges of- American Congregationalism, would be far more efficient and influential than the mass meeting proposed; while their conclusions might be submitted to a national convention, which could be summoned, if deemed advi sable, during the next year.” The idea of the last resolution, given so conspicuously by the printer whose work we-copy, that a Representative Body would be far more efficient and influential than a mass meeting of churches, is fundamental to Rreshyterian polity ; and we are glad to see our Con necticut neighbors sensible of the supe riority of the principle, and candid enough to recommend it. This is no time to exalt the loose methods of a puro Democracy in church or state. We need better cement in' both, than Congrega tionalism can furnish. THE AMERICAN BOARD. The news from the Missions, as con tained in the Herald for August, is gene rally encouraging—in some instances more cheering than usual. Mr. Perkins, of the Nestorian Mission, reports unu sual interest in - many places on the plains of Oroomaih. The gospel, He says, is more widely proclaimed there than at any former period. He en closes a, note from Mr. Labaree who, with Mr. Shedd, was holding a series of protracted meetings in a distant part of the plains, which says: Over a hun dred persons were present last night, at Karajlee, who gave the most fixed and solemn attention. We have had per sonal conversation with forty-five per sons.” From Micronesia, Messrs. Stur ges and Bingham each report advance in all the elements of Christian im provment. The receipts for June arc $35,053.17; for the expired ten months of the finan cial year, #323,499.82. These figures would "have no gloomy shade, but for .the circumstance that the expenditures of the Board are on foreign fields, where the loss in exchange carries its fullest severity. As it is, an immediate and earnest effort for replenishing the Trea sury must be made, or we shall hear of great suffering at the missions and great embarrassment in the Board. Will not the churches remember that this condi tion of things is real , and that, under God, they are the resource for help? ' ANOTHER SUEPEISE. A few days since, Mr. Samuel T. Bo dine, and Mr. T. Wallace called on the Rev. Dr. Helffenstein,Pastor of the Mar ket Square Church of Germantown, and presented to him the sum of $254.00 as a generous offering from the Congrega tion. We trust that this expression 6f regard will cement still more closely the bond uniting pastor and people, between whom, we are happy to say, there ex ists the most delightful harmony of sen timent and feeling. , - HAMILTON COLLEGE. A full account of the Anniversary ex ercises of this prosperous institution, in which Philadelphia has now so large an investment, will be found in the letter of our .Rochester correspondent. It will be seen that our city is complimented" in the distribution of Doctorates, ans the plume has fallen on one who will wear it gracefully and worthily. TIE jR, IMIfS By mail, $2.00 pCJ annum, “ “ 2.50 “ “ By carrier, 50 cents addii:°mtl delivery. CL-OTBS. Ten or more papers wnt by re ,'ii to one church or locality, or in the city to un-yAtkltesje By mail, £1.50 per an- By carriers, iOC “ To save trouble, cluo subscriptions must commence at the same date, be paid -.trictlv ir advance, in a single remittance, for - Mch'ow receipt will be returned. Ministers and Ministers’ Widows s--op! led at elubrates. Home missionaries at $i • annum. Postage. —Five cents quarterly v. advance, to be paid by subscribers attbo otfi - i of de livery. Minutes of the Absembut.— The Minutes of the General Assembly for 1864, have just been placer) on our ta ble. We have not had any opportunity as yet for extended examination, but can say that the fir3t glance gives evi dence of unusual prosperity in the church during the previous year. The number of communicants is 138,074 against 165,894 last year; an increase of 2,180, greater than has been enjoyed for a number of years. The additions by examination were 5980 against 4744, an increase of 1286. Adult baptisms, 2093 against 1556; infant baptisms, 3692 against 3191. The increase in contributions is still more marked, ex tending to every item; as, General As sembly $6614, against $6263, Home Mis sions $174,177, against $122,407; Foreign Missions $98,529. against $80,528; Edu cation $88,353, against $49,362; Publi cation $76,443, against $40,569; making a total for all but Congregational pur poses (which are not reported, but will be next year) $444,116, against $299,* 129 last year. THE HEW FTJHD. Me. Editor: —The/favorable notice taken of the “Ministerial Relief Fund,” by the American Presbyterian of last week, and subsequently by the daily papers of this city, inspires the hope that ere long this new institution of benevolence will secure all the atten tion and assistance necessary to its com plete success. The present season, however, is unfavorable to congrega tional action, especially in city churches, some of which are closed, and many of whose pastors and members have left home for their places of summer resort. We need funds and cannot wait the return of our friends before making an effort to obtain them. There are per sons seeking relief at our hands for whom no provision has yet been made. The object of this brief article, there fore, is to secure from our friends indi vidually any donations they may send to meet the immediate wants of those who are suffering in the families of dis abled and deceased ministers. In one particular case we have an urgent call for assistance, and hope that this ap peal for help will not be in vain. Charles Brown, Secretary. 1334 Chestnut St., July 26th, 1864 WELL DONE. Among the contributions to the Pub lication Fund of $50,000, few better deserve mention than that recently given by St. George’s Church, which amounted to over $602. One individual contributed $5OO of this sum, thus con secrating to noble uses a portion of the wealth which has been flowing into his coffers, under Providence, through the war. We trust that St. George’s Church is about talcing the place fully warrant ed by the wealth and intelligence of its members, among our liberal congrega tions. A MINISTEB OE THE GOSPEL SOLD INTO SLAVEEY. Onkof the most shameless outrages which has been recorded for years, was committed recently in the State of Delaware, upon one of the members of the late General Confer ence of the African M. E. church, held at Philadephia. The following acconnt of the affair is from the New York Tribune.: “The Rev. Thomas W. Kinnard, of the British Methodist Episcopal church of Can ada, and a delegate from Canada to the Gen eral Conference of the' African Methodist Episcopal church, which this year held its quadrennial session in Philadelphia, visited his birth-place in Delaware recently. While at Camden, he was arrested early in the mor ning, under one of the laws which still dis grace the statute books of Delaware, prohib iting colored persons from entering it. He was fined $5O dollars and costs. Not having the money to pay, he was sold, and purchased by a brother of the man that emancipated him some years ago. This man took Mr. Kin nard’s due-bill for the amount he paid, and gave $5O security that Mr. Kinnard would leave the State in five days. Mr. Kinnard immediately went to Wash ington to seek redress, bringing with him a transcript from the record of legal proceed ing, duly certified, and copies of the due-bills, &c., also letters to th%f epresentatiye of Del aw&rfc m the ilouse. Being a British subject and having provin cial papers to show that he was under the Queen’s protection, he naturally made the facts in the case known to Lord Lyons, the British minister at Washington, who assured him that satisfaction should be sought.”. Thus a minister of Jesus Christ, born in the United States of America, in honorable standing among the people of God, and a member of the General Conference of a large body of Christians, cannot re-visit the place of his birth without being arrested and sold into slavery. And yet. there are thousands still in the land who call themselves by the name of Christains, who say that the inhu man system under which suoh deeds are com mitted shall be perpetuated. Delaware has covered herself with reproach. Maryland, her sister beside her, has “ washed her gar ments and made them white.” Delaware shill robes herself in the mantle of her shame. —Rd. Tel
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers