UnmpMietm.
SHALL WE BE A CHRISTIAN NATION ?
The papers have rooontly contained
the proceedings of a meeting bf “ The
National Association for the Amend
ment of the Constitution of the United
States.” The amendment proposed is
a recognition of Christianity; in the
preamble, in terms substantially as fol
lows:“IIurably acknowledging Almighty
God as the source of all authority and
power in civil government; the Lord
Josus Christ as the governor among the
nations; and his Revealed Will as of
supreme authority,” &c.
This movement comes none t-oo soon.
Those are blind to tho course of events
who fail to see that our nation must
bind itself fast to the throne of Heaven,
. or it must share the fate of all those
past whioh forgot the Hock whence
they were hewn. This is true, let
present disturbances turn out as they
will. The crushing of the, rebellion,
with the subjugation of the revolting
States, will leave upon our hands new
and untried questions in government,
which will give to political corruption
and madness such scope as it
' never had before. It will be hut the
w beginning of the end,” either forbad
Sr good.
Any of the other conceivable alterna
tives—the return of the revolted States
to their allegiance, compromise with or
without separation, or forced separation
without compromise—will leave to us
the same legacy of conflict and peril.
The conflict of arms we hope will soon
be over. But then comes the great
political conflict which is almost in
evitable when the American people
ooine face to face with that one word,
■ so easily spoken, but so fearful in the
jgrapple— Reconstruction.
We. have fully reached the point
where only God can save us. Ther
man who does not believe this, is more
. than an unbeliever in a Divine Provi
dence over nations: he is the enemy of
the peace and the existence of this
nation. Let the bearing of the religious
sentiment of the people upon the no
distant destiny of this republic bo taken
into the account, and there will be found
no blacker traitor than the man who,
in this hour of turbulence and peril,
would leave us loose from God.
Are we now a Christian nation ? We
are fast settling” now.
The records, incidents and acts which
in the aggregate will determine it, do
not cbme along slow, quiet and. with
■little observation, as they used to do.
They follow oaoh other like peals of
thunder from tho cloud; they roll down
upon us like mountain avalanches. On
‘ the one hand are congressional recom
mendations ofpiiblio humiliation before
Heavon, and solemn supplications for
the help of God, presidential proclama
tions for national thanksgivings or fasts,
as the case may require, and also the
fact that the nation never before mani
fested such a sense of tho services of its
Christian people,ministers andchurches,
and never before turned so distinctly to
them for help. On the other hand, our
. highest legislature sets .its fodt oh the
■ Sabbath, and our capital reeks with
immorality. Like our great’ martial
struggle, this strife has its tides, and
the result is in abeyance.
To become merely a God-confessing
nation will not meet the requisitions of
the hour. We expect God to accept no
homage, not even a whole nation’s
homage, in which all recognition of his
Son Jesus, the Divine Redeemer for a
lost world, is studiously left out. We
Shall be answered only in wrath, if the
1 same service' which prays to God pur
posely ignores Christ, our only approach
to the throne of Heaven. There was a
. painful omission in those late congres-
aipnal resolutions which requested the
President to appoint a day of national
'• humiliation. In all other respects they
r met the oaao. They were a model—
all which the Christian heart could
' desire—except that there was no Christ
|h'. them. They forget that God''can
never be ours, except as Christ is ours.
It will be just as gross a blunder to
pass over the Holy Scriptures as God's
only written rtile’for human conduct,
the only divine guide of Rulers at the
hplm of state, as well as people in their
. common conduct.
■ i )isii!an interesting fact, and one
- deeply.significant for our wisdom now,
. that Christianity—not alone divine wor
!■ship, but, .as revealed in the
[’ ~"ißible) aPd..With.tho Biblein company
's haft-been the life of all civilization and
re every, improvement in, national govern-,
f-o itheijdaya of Christ down.
■if p has- attached itself to th.e. rnost bril
cu/liaht rSces pf; mankind, has gone with
them to their, eonquests, and breathed
Its spirit into every empire which they
have founded. Atheism scorning God,
Deism and Judaism casting off Christ,
infidelity trampling on the Bible,-aro
without a national record in the whole
Christian era. There is not one step
of human liberty up which they have
lifted the world; not one Dation which
they have brought into life, and not an
impending peril to civilization, to po
litical rights, or to national existence,
which they have averted. In all these
achievements the servieesof Christianity
have been alert, continuous and distin
guished.
It is another interesting fact that this
continent, on the instant of its discovery,
was solemnly given to Christ. We
have not tho history at this moment
before us, but if we are not mistaken it
will be found that Columbus, when his
foot first touched the shore of this new
world, took possession of it in the name
of tho sovereigns of Spain, and for the
spread of the Christian religion. Cer
tain it is, the Cross was planted side by
side with the standard of sovereignty.
The leading settlements in what is now
our republic were eminently Christian
in their origin.
Why Christianity has - been -so long
left out from our national instruments
and symbols, has been the problem of
the civilized world, friendb and enemies
alike. Its omission from the Constitu
tion in the beginning has sometimes
been attributed to oversight. We know
not' how far this apology should be
modified by the transient popularity of
French infidelity among portions of our
people, one or more eminent statesmen
included, just at that moment.
The difficulties Which will meet us in
odr attempt to givo it place in our
organic law at this late day, are easily
apprehended. They will not consist in
the want of conviction on the part of
the majority of our people, tbatit ought
to be there. We believe the great heart
of the nation is sound, if it can be
brought into action. We are persuaded
that the bulk of our population would,
at this moment, be horrified by a direct
proposal to eliminate Christianity from
our government. tThy then should
they bo slow to let it in, and to give it
the formal'distinct recognition which it
has not here, but which it enjoys in
every other enlightened government
under Heaven ?
Tho whole trouble will be; with a
small, turbulent, clamorous and God
hating minority, who will frighten poli
ticians by talking of the of
power, and carry points, as they have
lang-httMi.ttemistomed to do, by playing
upon the riecessities'of political parties."
While legislators are plied with- the
fallacy that a national confession of
Christ will infringe the rights of the
Israelites, or that a public recognition
of the Holy Scriptures as the law for
rulers, will bo a mortal offence to in
fidels, or that any recognition of re
ligion by the nation will be an entering
wodge fora “ Church and State” project,
there -is much to fear so long as our
present habits respecting the choice of
rulers prevails.
We have heard this senselesß clamor
about “ Church and State" before. It
is an old stager—a .fogy of tho fogiest
kind. We remember when the nation
gave up her Sabbath, in awe of its
terrors. Men wanted principle—-not so
much principle of mind as of conduct.
Good men wanted nerve: that was all.
If they have it now, we can become a
Christian nation, and God will be with
us in all our troubles present and to
come. If, in this crisis hour, we fail
here, we must expect—God spare ns
the thought of what! B. B. H.
THOMAS OHALMERS.
THE APOSTLE OP CITY MISSIONS—IV.
A NEW .PARISH IN GIS.SGOW.
After four years of effort in the Tron
Church, a new field was opened to the
great reformer in th.e same city of
Glasgow. Many projudicos and invete
rate customs hindered the freedom of
his movements .for the evangelization;
of the people in the old parish. A new
church was erected and a now parish
constituted by the magistrates, and
council of Glasgow; the edifice was
larger anclthe population in a far more
degraded 1 condition than in the parish
of Tron Churchj hut these were .only
.additional attractions to one with the
aims and the energy of Chalmers, when
it j^as : understopd that, the pirdering of
all.tho , instrumentalities for the eleva
tion of the people from the beginning
would be committed exclusively to him
self. He especially wished the -cus-,
tomary official methods of relieving the
poor, which were calculated.to perpetu
ate thejr dependence and- "destroy their
*to be'" abolished, .and , the
whole work of dealing with the. pauper
ismpf the parish to be put upon an
evangelical and left td the phnrSh
without interference from the civil au
thorities. • .• ■; !
While these negotiations were in
progress, he was urged to allow his
name to bo used as a candidate for the
chair of natural philosophy in the. Un
iversity of Edinburgh, made vacant by
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1864.
the death of the distinguished Professor
Playfair. This invitation must have
appealed to the literary ambition of
Dr. Chalmers in its most susceptible
spot. He had been an enthusiastic
student of tho higher mathematics. At
the same time, the dream of his youth
ful ambition was one day to occupy the
very position now offered him in his
mature years. It was for these objects
that he slighted so lamentably his
parochial duties during the first part of
his pastorate at Kijmany; for this ho
gave to the work of the ministry but
two days of the week, reserving the
rest for the studies alid aims that occu
pied his mind.
In a speech on the
Assembly in 1825, hi
pamphlet which he
fence of his course,
repented of as a seri<
As far back as tv
was ambitious enouj
successor to Professc
mathematical chair o
Edinburgh. Durim
that then took place,
no person could be ft
discharge the duties
cal chair, among the
church of Scotland.
sir, more devoted to
to the literature of r
feeling grieved and
I conceived an undui
abilities and education of our clergy, I
came forward with I that pamphlet to
rescue them from jphat I deemed an
unmerited re pro achy by maintaining
that a devoted and: exclusive attention
to .the* study of the I mathematics was
not dissonant to the proper habits of a
clergyman.
But how marvellous the change!
The opportunity fdr scientific and
worldly distinction and for gratifying
his intense scientific tastes, which had
been the day dream of his youth, arri red;
Professor Playfair’s chair was in his
reach. But it was no longer the re
luctant, unawakened pastor of Kilmany
that was approached; it was a Christian
man whose soul had been directed .to
two magnitudes, which, as he saiid in
the same speech, ho had hitherto for
gotten—the littleness of time; the great
ness of eternity. It was a soul eakin
dled by a nobler ambition than that of
scientific distinction;'inspired with great
schemes for the elevation of tho de
graded .and lost; grasping with strong,
and clear conviction the divine and
admirable fitness of the gospel as a
reformatory power for the masses, and
confident of the broadest and best re
sults in the energetic usd of the great
evangelical instrumentality. Like his
divine Master, beholding the multitude,. 1
ho was' moved with compassion on
them, because they fainted and were
scattered abroad as sheep having no
shepherd.
Thus, the difficulties in tho way of
his plaus of reformation, having been
disposed, this candidate for the high
honors of Professor Playfair’s chun
accepted the charge of the Free Parish
of St. John’s—the very .poorest parish
of Glasgow. "Weavers, laborers, factory
workers, and other operatives made up
the bulk of the ten thousand souls com
prising the population. Into this dense
mass of ignorance, vice and degrada
tion, this fine scholar and unrivalled
pulpit orator plunged, confidently bear
ing the sole provision of the gospel for
its renovation and redemption. This
was in the year 1819. Hot to dwell
upon his large and wise educational
measures, which were eminently neces
sary and successful, we turn to his
elaborate scheme for reaching all the
families of the parish with religious
instruction. It will bo seen that Dr.
Chalmers’ active nature communicated
itself tp others. He had a most happy
faculty of setting others to work in
execution of his plans. Says Dr. Way
land in his memoirs:
The entire parish was divided into
twenty-five districts, called proportions,
each'embracing from sixty to one' hun
dred families. . Reviving, the ancient
ocd.epof deacons, which, in the Scottish
Presbyterian practice, had long fallen
into . disitsQ,. Dr. Chalmers. appointed
over each of these districts an elder and
a deacon; the spiritual interests of his
proportion being committed to tho elder,
and its temporal interests,to the deacon.
In. each district one or more Sabbath
'schools wore established, male and fe
male teacherß to the number of between
forty and fifty bejng engaged in this
work, while a fe w classes wpre opened,
for the adult population.', There were
the ordihary meetings of the Kirk
session, the monthly meetings of. the
deacons and of tho Sabbath school
teachers, monthly meetings in the church
for. missionary purposes, and frequent
, mo.etirigs of tho Educational Association,
alt of which Dr. Chalmers regularly
and punctually attended. He was him
self thesoul,and spirit of almost every
movement, but .there was’ no desire on
his, part to .’dictate and no assumption of
superiority. .“ Cur meetings,” says one
of his elders, looking back over thirty
years, “were very delightful- I never
saw any set of men who were so ani
mated by one spirit, and whose zeal
was so uniformly sustained. The Doc
tor was the very life of the- whole, and
every one felt himself led on by him,
committed to uso his whole strength in
tho cause of that God who had in his
loor of the G eneral
thus referred, to a
had issued in de
nt which now he
us crime:
enty years ago, I
;h to aspire to be
r Playfair, in the
? the University of
: the discussions
it was stated that
und competent to
if the matheinati
clergymen of the
[was at that time,
mathematics than
y profession, and,
ndignant at what
reflection on the
It was in thiß manner that, he labored
to preach the gospel in the parish of
St. Johns. It did not satisfy him that
thousands attended his church on the
.listening in rapt admira-
mei-ey sent us such a loader.” He was
continually receiving reports from every
quarter, and answering by notes tending
to quicken and animate the soul of
every laborer. But this was not enough.
Every Monday morning at his house
there was an agency breakfast, to which
a general invitation was issued, at which
from six to eight of his elders, deacons,
or Sabbath school teachers were pre
sent. He gave also special invitations
to tea; so that most of his agents visited
at his house once in six weeks.
Dr. C. completed his round of visita
tion among the families of the parish in
two years. His manner of visiting was
the same as before. After a short visit
to the family, his companion invited
them all to attend preaching in some
school house or private house or other
convenient room in tho vicinity. Much
greater pains, however, wore now taken,
I by himself and his parochial agents, to
secure a large attendance at the evening
addresses, by which these forenoon
visitations were followed up. The suc
cess j listifie dth e effort. M u ltit u des wh o
btheirwise would never have had the
offer of divine moßpy addressed to them;
were brought within the sound of the
preacher’s voice. These local, week
day, undress congregations, assembled
in a cotton mill or the workshop of a
mechanic, or the kitchen of some kind
and accommod atin g neigh bor, with their
.picturesque exhibition of greasy jackets
■find unwashed countenances and hands
all soiled and fresh from labor, turning
up the pages of unused Bibles, had a
special charm for Dr. Chalmerß, and, all
aliveto the peculiar interesband urgency
of such opportunities, ho stirred up
every gift that was in him, while he
urged upon the consciences of his hearers
the high claims of the Christian salva
tion. Many ministers, if they were
willing at all to address such audiences,
would satisfy themselves with giving
them an unpremeditated exhortation,
which they tod properly would speak
of as merely a talk. Dr. Chalmers did
not so look upon the matter. He knew
that these were immortal soulsfor whom
Christ died. His chosen and beloved
friend, Mr. Collins, who often accompa
nied him to these evening meetings,
gave his reiterated and emphatic testi
mony, that no bursts of; that oratory
which rolled over admiring thousands
in the Tron Church or St. John’s, ever
equalled, in all the highest qualities of
eloquence, many of these premeditated
but unwritten addresses, in which, free
from all restraint, and intent upon the
one object of winning souls to the Sa
viour, that heart, which glowed with
such intense desires for the present and
eternal welfare of the working classes,
unbosomed in the midst of them all the
fullness of its Christian sympathies.
was heard in Christendom. These were
but a small portion of the parish of St.
Johns. By far'tho greater part were
ignorant of the gospel, and had never
heard of the way of salvation. He
turned to these with his whple heart,
he entered all their dwellings, he ga
thered thein in school houses, factories,
kitchens, wherever he could find an
audience room, he engaged Christians
to aid him in his work, many of whom
were his own children in the faith, and
he was not satisfied until the darkest
places in St. Johns parish were illumi
nated with the knowledge of salvation.
REV, SAMUEL WHITE.
Eev. Samuel White was born October
12th, 1791, at Randolph, Mass. He
entered college (Dartmouth, N. H.) at
the age of 17, and graduated at 21. His
mind at first inclined to the study of
medicine, for the practice of which he
at once, commenced to prepar.e. himself,
but after pursuing the requisite studies
for the space of two years, his attention
was turned by the hand of Divine
Providence in the direction, of the gos
pel ministry. In his preparation for
this he enjoyed the advantages of the
Theological Seminary at Andover,MaßS.,
being favored with the personal instruc
tions of Professor Stuart, Dr. Wood,
and others associated with them. After
finishing a regular course at this insti
tution, he spent several years in the
exercise of his ministry in. the immediate
neighborhood of his birth place, and in,
other parts of the New-England States,
thence ;: remOVi‘ng to Central New York,
where he engaged in academical in
structions for a term of years, spending
his Sabbaths in supplying feeble,.and
vacant; churches in the; immediate.yi
ciriifcy. In the summer. of, 1824 ,he
removed to thbtown of Starkey, Yates
county, where he. engaged in supplying
the feeble: churches of that and the
adjoining towns, and in 182,6 jyas mar-,
.ried to Henrietta Taylor, pfStap-key. ~ !
His, experience, in respect to-support
in the. discharge of hisministerial duties,,
was that of many [others who are the
pipneers of (pur country j, he, .was. obliged
to- eke out ia-drizzling and precarious
income, by. cultivating ~ a. farm. *His
labors at Pultney, t,o -, which plaoe he
removed in 1831, were signally owned
by the Great Head of the church, in a
most-precious revival, a work which
added to the church more than seventy
•souls'in a short period. ; -He afterwards
labored successively in the church of
Havanna and in that of Tyrone; after
which heremoved to Ovid, taking charge
of the flourishing academy in that place
for the space of two years, returning to
Pnltney, where he had previously been
so highly favored, and where he labored
nine years. His health now failing
him, he returned to his farm, and served
for a few years a feeble church at Rock
Stream, in the neighborhood of his
residence. At the age of 63 his increas
ing infirmities forbade his attempting
the further discharge of those duties to
which he had devoted so largo a portion
of his life, and he accordingly left the
pulpit to return not thither again. The
disease with which he had struggled for
years was of a chrpnic as well as organic
nature, and it continued to increase as
he advanced in years, till on the 9th
of June, 1864, he passed from earth and
friends below to heaven' and friends
above.
His self-denying and arduous labors
among those feeble churches, together
with the necessity ho found for the
practice of the most rigid economy in
matters of living, cultivated his other
wise natural endowments in this direc
tion, till, in the language of a surviving
friend, “ he seemed to understand almost
everything that pertained to the science
of living.” He made it an invariable
rule of life never to dispute, never to
contend. The writer was conversing
with him, a few days previous to his
death, on the subject of his religious
exercises, in view of his approaching
end. While he exhibited the clearest
evidence of his conscious unworthiness,
and' seemed-pehetrated with a sense of
his unprofitableness in the vineyard of
onr common Lord and Master, he made
no attempt to represent either, in that
extravagant manner which we often
hear. He spoke of his family with great
calmness, as if satisfied they would be
taken care of by Him who had said,
“Leave thy fatherless children with
me." “ The world," he said, “ years ago
had ceased to .engage his attention."
He was anxious to look once more upon
a beloved son, a missionary in India,
“ but, if God designed that he should
not, he could acquiesce.”
Ho was eminently social in his habits,
kind in his feelings, both in his family
and toward all mankind. Though he
had spent much of his life in labors and
watchings with men who were little
accustomed to the discussions of sub
jects which lie remote from the centres
of common experience, yet he always
succeeded in directing conversation into
a most profitable*channel, made it easy
’foE-AJlj- end -seldom failed to benefit
those with whom he conversed—
He expressed,: On One or two occa
sions, a strong desire to remain till this
fearful national smuggle should be ter
minated, since, in his estimation, it was
to be a most important event in the line
of this world’s progress and true pros
perity—a kind of earnest of the universal
triumph of civil and religious liberty
everywhere.
THE RELIGIOUS PEESS OH THE HEW
LEVY.
The public have come to regard the
religious sentiment of the country as
generally so true and sustaining to the
government in its time of trial; and the
religious influence as such an element of
strength, that it becomes a matter of
interest f° watch the spirit of the reli
gipus press on the recent call for half a
million additional troops. Our'readers
will be pleased to see a few extracts in
point. The Evangelist says :
The call for half. a mi llion addition al
volunteers does not take the country by
surprise, for it has been evident for
some time that our armies.already in the
field were about matched by the rebels
in point of numbers, and it was gene
rally felt that onr forces must bo greatly
augmented to prosecute further an ag
gressive warfare, such as we are obliged
to wage in order to recover our terri
tory. Much remains to be done not
withstanding the good progress already
made, and the 'pcoplo now more than
ever feel that the work ought to he
made “ short and sharp/’ in a word, war
in earnest, snob as. will necessarily tax
the resources of the entire loyal portion
of the republic* in men and meauß.
Short of this-great prige we are not
again to enter into the. ppsseesion.of our
glorious , country,. with peace . smiling,
.throughout all our borders/ ■ The test
of our worthinesa to hold and transmit
suoh a boon to our children, is lipoii us.
The 'Christian' Intelligencer meets the
-demand in the same spirit. It says:
The President Ofthe United States
haß issued a, proclamation, calling for
500,000 more i , This call has been
expected and ought to he answered
promptly and patriotically. All the
men needed for the suppression of the
rebollioh should be, .and must be. fur
nished. Let .every? effort he .used to
promote volunteeringin town and coun
try, and. the ultimate draft will.be light.
The New York Observer of. the 21st
does hot, like others of the same'date*
contain the announcement of the Pro
clamation. But in evident anticipatioji
of it, the following out-spoken terms are
used: ~ : -' —■
We speak with earnest love for the
country and the cause, and in the
strongest hope that we may be able to
say a word that shall help in saving the
country in the hour of its peril.
And that word is this : we have never
yet risen up to the greatness of the
which was forced upon us by the rebclhonM
Prom the first call for 75,000 men and*
the promise that the rebellion would
put down in ninety days, up to tteH
present moment, we have underestimvl
ted the ability, resources, endnrancß
and spirit of the rebellion, and equalyl
overrated our own. In consequence cfl
these fatal misconceptions, we bar*
been' constantly flattering ourselves thsß
this campaign would close the war, fhr Ip
this measure or that measure would l |
a death-blow to the rebellion, and tba|
the country would soon be restored t;f
union and peace. We have miscaicvl
lated the difficulties to be overcome?
and now it is the dictate ofpatriot.sr!
and humanity to-summon'the Govern
ment to rise up to thetgreatness of th
occasion and act as becomes a peopl.;,
mighty in its resources and engaged if
a struggle on which depends the qnes.
tion of free government in all the earth
Before us there are two and only twe
roads; one leads to victory and tk
other to national disruption and ruin
If the road to victory is still open, thor
by all means let it he taken speedily
for the longer it is delayed the nearer *
we come to the aby3B into which tht ]
other will plunge us. Our firm persua j
sion is that it is in the power of th-: i
American people to bring this war to; j
close before next winter on terms ths -
will secure union, and honor, and pro :
•parity. But the first step to that restc I
ration is the overthrow of the militar, {
power of the rebellion. To do thug!
work we would instantly call into ser. S
vice every officer now idle, every soldier J|
now absent from his post, we would fii
up the depleted regiments and form ne?3
ones by draft, and by sen difig a ucafl
army of a hundred thousand men unde.'®
a tried and trusted general to the relitw.
of Grant, we would scatter the forces oj§
Lee, and then through Eastern Tennesf;
see, we would operate upon the South
ern States still holding out in rebellion.
We must conquer or perish. But we :
shall not conquer unless we come up t
the magnitude of the work before uj ■$
and meet, as men, the emergency of ih- f
hour.
The Independent, while loading ;y
government with reproaches for suffer
ing the last invasion, publishes the eai
without a word of approbation, or cote
ment of any kind.
The U. Y. Christian Times, (Episcci
pal) has the following: !
And now this week brings us ihe ntti
sic of another act, “ done at Washing?'
ton," whereby 500,000 men are sumJ
moned to arms, within fifty days. Herai
we have something earnest. Had the
figure five been a two or even a three
it would not have been so real a “ call *:
arms." Thelaßt struggles of the woumlo.
panther, they say, requires the greater;
care and strenth of the hunter; and th:
Southern panther, growling and 6tr.ii;
gding so fifriou&ly, require .special car.
and extra strength from ns. And tin
people mean that might shall not K
wanting. Will you think for one in
ment, what even one hundred thousanc
additional men could do for Gran L ant.
Sherman ? And if not one but rk|j
hundred thousand men could raareijl
forth to Grant ; Sherman,Mobile, Charier),
ton, Where would the “armies of thf
Confederacy” find themselves if |
The President comes in at a turning
point in this war, and makes a eal
which is terribly in earnest, and if yo
respond in like earnestness, the rebiw
will soon find us too earnest for them
and the war is over. I am happy v
record that, so far as personal observe]
tion goes, our streets and the beat cj
the drum bespeak attention to the pwj
clamation, and we, as a city, are daily
visibly diminishing our quota.
A HEW PRESBYTEBIAH CHURCH II
WESTMIHSTER.
The friends of Presbyterianism ia
England will be glad to learn tha'.j
arrangements are in progress for tfcl
erection in Westminister of a Presbytj
rian Church. We may state,briefly thfcj
an admirable freehold site has been se
cured for this purpose in Yietoria street j
aboutfive minutes' walkfrom the Abfceyj
and embracing within the radius of 4
mile Piccadilly, Charing Cross, and \Vc»tj
"minister proper, besides eonsiderablfj
portions of Belgravia and Cambreth. 14
will impart additional interest to tlii4
announcement to state that it is the pa-i
pose of the promoters to make thtf*
church a memorial of the Westminister
Assembly of Divines—a worthy monu
ment of the Westminster standards ot
doctrine and Church order, which, under
God, have so largely contributed to the
stability, soundness, and extension of tire
Presbyterian system. A friend of the
English Presbyterian Church m West
minster has subscribed £I,QOO to the
building fund. —Weekly Review.
GROWTH OF PRESRYTERIAHISM
ABROAD, o;
Never before did Presbyterianism ex
ercise .so wide-sprea<|Jran influence or
manifest so much life as - at,the present
moment. In Canada, in Australia, h
New Zealand, in all the British Colonies
the-Presbyterian Churches are energeti
cally at-work, consolidating, uniting, ex
•toodpg,- Ip the United S tates the saint
fact is observable. A reunion of the Ob
and New Schools is projected and wit
probably' be : accomplished. Congregs
tiotis and mission stations’ now extent
from:the Atlantic to the Pacific. Jps
seventy-five yearsago the Presbyterian
General Assembly met .in Philadelphia
The Church then numbered 18S m> B '
-isters and 419 churches. The minister
now number 45Q0 and the churches 500 t!
EquaUy hopeful is the.progress of Pi‘ ev
byterianism in the British Isleß.
We cannot estimate danger by ex
ternal circumstances, bull fey the obs'-s-'*
ter of thoso from whom If is tbreateoce