* 268
\ *
FROM OWE LONDON CORRESPONDENT.
/ i
] London, August 6, 1864.
Tho Loi don season has spent itself;
the Court and courtiers and the gay
thousands; who depend upon its brilliant
amusemenl s for half their life’s engage
ments, or i oaitate at a distance its luxu
rious follic); the Legislators and Peers
and Comn oners, wearied with official
cares or pi il anthropic spasms of labour;
and all wlv > have money without occupa
tion, have vanished from.the hot, dusty,
dreary streets, to cool watering places
or green country homes. There is
Something’ portentous in the rapidity
with which London empties at the close
of a session, and the bright, showy life
dies out Of the streets, leaving them so
. ghostly with the great deadened win
dows staring down white-sheeted or
shuttered, casting back the hot sun out
of the dark, untenated houses! Per
haps it is the same everywhere, but in
this dusty place,' yvhere fashion has an
enormous city to herself, the simultane
ous depopulation, the grim desertion of
that splendid place is a powerful em
blem of the Divine aphorism, “ The
fashion of this world passeth away!”
Everything comes to a halt .and takes
a. rest at this time. The schemes of
politics, the conferences, of science, the
designs and labours of ‘ philanthropy,
and the strifes of ecclesiastical rivalry,
are stayed for awhile. There’ is a Bhort
breathing-space, and two months hence,
it will all commence to rollon again—
the.greatviLondon Juggernaut with its
mimes and dangers and ecclesiastics,
juggling and dancipg and praying, and
the vast Wheels passing unconsciously
Over wretched: worshippers, crushing
&nd leaving them to the worms and
vultures. i / ;
The great ecclesiastical eVc nt of the
moment is the Wepleyan-Conferonce at
Eyadford in Yorkshire. The influence
and power-of this vast body are.extract
ing admiration oven from their enemies.
A meeting which but a few years ago
would have past unnoticed by the daily
papers, is now considered of sufficient
importance to demand a large para
graph in the Times. , The Wesleyans
have numbers, and numbers now imply
political influence; and though the
cynics of the 2\mes have no sympathy
with; Methodism, it is expedient for the
sake of party to give the good people a
sop now and then. The Rev. W. L.
Thornton, who has jußt returned from
a visit as delegate to the Methodists of
the United States, was chosen Presi
dent of the Conference, in the stead of
the Rev. Dr. Osborn, who has filled the
post during the past year with remar
kable ability. Indeed, he is probably
by far, the ablest man now in the con
nection. An’idea' may be formed of the .
spirit and liberality of this body from
the statistics of new chapels. Since the!
Conference of 1863, 273 oases have
passed the committee; 124 chapels cost
ing £26,662 ; 36 organs, (horror of
Scotch Presbytery!) £5,992; other
oases £8,418, making a total of £205, T
900 ($1,029,500,) an increase of 34
chapels and £72,741. The entire cost
of all the erections and enlargements
completed during the year was £133,-
771. The Bishop of London has suc
ceeded in obtaining about £75,000, for
his great Metropolitan fund, from all the
wealth of the establishment. Beside
this the efforts of Wesleyanism for a
single year appear monstrous. During
the last ton years, debts of chapels
amounting to more than half a million
sterling have been paid off I Add to
this, the jubilee fund which is far on to
: two hundred thousand pounds (£189,285)
collected this year. Yerily these men
are showing us the powor of concen
trated and disciplined energies, of ear
nest piety and fervid zeal. If our Pres
byterianism were half so animated or so
concerted, what a force it would be t
Weenvy not our Wesleyan brethren
their •wonderful success, but they read
us a lesson that should make us hang
downpour heads in shame, and lift them,
up - again biidd’enly ahd eagerly to a no
ble rivalry. ’ *
Dr. Livingstone, after perils and hair-s
breadth escapes innumerable is permit
ted once more to see his own green
England and to enjoy the pleasures of
an English homo. He avrivod on Satur
day last, having come overland from
Bombay through Prance. He was at
the Mansion House with her Majesty’s
ministers the other night, and on Friday
evening dined with Lord Palmerston.
Bow ho is in Scotland in the quieter
and doubtless happier company of his
children and aged mpthcr. Inveterate
in philanthropic adventure and Chris
tian zeal, he ' proposes to return to Af
rica, with the design of initiating mea
sures to put an end to the inland slave
trade so disgracefully • maintained and
encouraged by the Portuguese. -It is
. difficult to give a character to this Im
golhr man whcsa. inomolOßf laboHrs
have been so rich in result, and still no
bler in the promise of fruit.
While Lord Palmerston entertains a
Nonconformist minister because he is a
great Geographer, the Bishop of Oxford,
with prelatic zest and sternness, is en
deavoring to revive the antiquated
Canons against preaching in private
‘room#;’and unlicensed houses.” The
Record' says, “It had hoped that such
fEpiscopal pretensions, would not again
he heard of, but the Bishop of Oxford
has notions of the Divinely-commis
sioned right of bishops 'which grate
harshly on the ears of those accustom
ed to the Divinely-inspired writings of
the Apostles of our Lord.”
There is an article by Dean Stanley
in the current number of the Edinburgh
Review upon recent ecclesiastical move
ments. Re is of course jubilant: Over
the Privy Council ./decision, which with
drew from the church all the authority
it ever had as a Church of Christ, and
attacks with considerable vigor, and
acerbity several great names, not spar
ing the archbishops. The weakness of
that unfortunatedeclaration of course
does not escape him.
“ The Declaration was intended to' fee
a precise test against heterodox opin
ions ; yet, beihg composed by two con
tending parties, each of whom had, a
few years-ago, feelievedeach other tb be
fundamentally heterodox, it had to be
so framed as to conceal the differences
which smouldered under this apparent
agreornent. The high-Church framers
were obliged; to keep out,! of view their
belief in the Divine authority of tradi
tion, and of the inspiration of "the
Apocrypha. The Low-Church framers
were' obliged to surrender altogether
their doctrine of imputed righteousness
and transfep of merit. .The only point
on which they were really at one' with
each other was that of endless future
punishihent, arid eVen on this the tfi|;h-
Church'party were obliged' to suppress
their own solution of the matter, as fur-,
rushed ib’the Purgatorial views s'abc
tioned by. Tract Ninety and its adhe
rents, Bo wonder that, amidst such a
complication of difficulties, the ambigui
ty 6f this new fortieth Article fat ex
ceeded the ambiguity ’even of the cele
brated Thirty-nine, to which it was-‘to
be an adjunct.”
And to the proceedings regarding
Essays and Reviews, in Convocation he
gives short attention , and considers that
“ With’the close of these proceedings
in Convocation, in all probability this
long controversy will have reached its
conclusion, and the thrice-slain and
thrice-revived hook, which has cost
such oceans of gall, will be allowed to
sleep in quiet, and the protests and de
clarations, and Synodical judgments,
will pass with it into the same grave as
that to which, during the last two hnn-*
died years, have descended so many
other protests against 1 imaginary dan
gers which have themselves passed
away in like manner. But what happily
will not pass Away will be the perma
nent blessings bestowed on the Church
and country by this timely decision of
the highest Court of Appeal."
Opinions differ! This man, if .he is
conscientious, ■* is wrong-headed and
wrong-hearted. K/ shows up. in this,
very article the critical point of feeble
ness in the ’whole established soheme.
“ The very essence” says he, “of the
Establishment is, that the leading tenets
of the Church, and the rights of all its
membejs are defined by law, and not
otherwise." By Law! Administered
mayhap by unbelievers, .by Roman
Catholics, or Calvinists ! Which Will
he take ? Will they all agree ? Shall
the very principles of religion fee sub
jected to the criticism and decision of
unbelievers, when early Christians were
forbidden’ so much as to submit their
own private dissensions to the arbitra
tion of heathen courts ? This is sheer
treason to Christianity! This is world
liness selling the Church of Christ to
a monarch and the Devil.
TOWN AND COUNTRY
BY REV. DANIEL MARCH, D. D.
My last communication from the
country was cut short by the modern
'shears of fate or scythe of time—the
coming of the cars. I was going to the
seaside';' and as neither tide nor’ train
.! j i
wait for any man, the blast of the whis
tle, five miles up the valley, - blew the
last half of- my; letter into the middle of
next week. And now again, treading
the hot pavements, stealing along the
shady side of the street, writing at my
own deskj with the mercury at ninety;
inside of the room, I repeat, that nobody
in the world has a better right to praise
the country than he whose life, for
eleven months of the year, is shut in by
the same round of streets and squares.
And yet I am very far from believing
that We must go to the country to be
hold the highest manifestations of the
divine.goodness and power, or to. learn
the most instructive lessons of human
faith, purity and love. Many unauthor
ized and unchristian conclusions: have
been drawn from Cowper’s familiar
line:—
“God made the country and man made the
•> - j town." • ,
j ’ To contemplate the highest display of
divine power within the reach of our
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY. AUGUST 25, 1864.
observation, we need not listen to the
thunder of the cataract, or climb the
lofty mountain, or behold the deep in
stdrms. [Cod’s greatest work in this
world is man himself; and we see most
of the goodness and the power of God
in the city, because there we see the
most of man. The morbid asceticism
which shuns the face of man, and sighs
for a “ lodge in some vast wilderness,”
under the pretense of seeking higher
commnnings with Cod, is akin to the
heathen superstition which; made, caves
and cataracts, forests and mountains the
haunt of deities, and knew not the great
lesson of the Gospel, that the Most High
dwells, with man. Yisions of angels,
and the. light of inspiration have been
given to faithful men in the homes and
Workshops of the city; while the devout
hermit .has listened in vain fox - the di
vine voice in the desert, , and the sell
torturing solitary has) been left to wres
tle with imaginary demons in his cell.
IThe Son of God himself, while maintain
ing his pure and lofty separation
the world, sought the society of men
where they could be found in the great
est numbers—in the 'mansions of the
rich and the hovels ‘of the poor; ‘in
'cities and by the seasideand he never,
except for; brief intervals, withdrew (to
the solitude of the .deserfcFtho wilder
ness, or the mountain. ' ' *
Yile and abominable as were t|e
cities of-the Roman empire inthe apos
tolic age, it was in them, almost’ exclu
sively, that the first churches were
gathered. The name pagan,’ originally
signifying a dweller in the Bamlc'ts
or villages of the country, and still
later, the name heathen, applied to
dwellers on the wild/ieatA, cametosignify
aliens from the faith of Christ, because
Christians were found almost' wholiy|in
the .cities. In our day the great city is
oftener named as the crater.where fall
the moral miasma of the pit breaks
forth. Wc hear much of “heathen)’’ liv
ing by thousands, where.churches, and
charitable# institutions adorn every
street. We are told of “Arabs” and
“ Corsairs,” living in outlawry, with
their hand against every man, beneath
the sanctuaries of justice, anjl in the
full splendor of the highest civilization.
And this tale of the “ city and its sins ”
has been told so eloquently from the
pulpit, on the rostrum, in the harrowing
romance, in the grave treatise, and
the daily newspaper, that some good
people in. the city Seem .to think that
they have only to go forth into the open
country to find themselves surrounded
with the’simplicity of patriarchal life,
and' the innocence of paradise restored ;
and some equally good people, secure
and self-complacent in their rural homes,
think it would be a blessing to the
world if all great cities could share the
doom of those on which the Lord rained
. fire out of heaven in ancient time.
But great as are the evils consequent
upon crowding the homes of a million
human beings into the compass of a few
square miles, the ignorance and barbar
ism consequent upon excessive disper
sion of the population, are still more to
be deplored. The*virtue, intelligence
and refinement of a rural population
are due, in great part, to influences
sent out from the great centres of com
mercial, social and intellectual activity
in the city. Wherever we see (the rural
landscape adorned with a more than usu
ally elegant cottage, school house, or
church, or more tasteful grounds, gar
dens, or farms, there we may be sure
that influences from the city have gone
forth and created the attractions which
make the country so desirable as a resi
dence to the passing traveller. Obvious
aud familiar as is this fact, it is apt to
be forgotten by the hard-working busi
ness man in the city who is in haste to
get rich and go out into the country to
enjoy his wealth. He must carry with'
him at great cost, lie must create at
great disadvantage, in the country, the
comforts and elegance, the variety and
the social attractions of his former
course of life; and -When he has
done all that to the utmost of his
power, he discovers that he wants a
\country seat only so far as it resem
bles a city house, and ,that Only for* a
vacation of a few weeks iii the summer
iandheis never so glad as when his
tiresome and costly dream of rural en.
tjoyment vanishes and he finds, himself
back again in the -same busy streets,
with something left to live upon and
something rational to do..
Adelplios
• It was only the other day I visited as
, beautiful a country residence as can be
found in all New England. To the
owner, a retired merchant, it was the
realization of a fond dream cherished
from his youth. And yet ho and all
his family would be so glad, if the boau
ful and costly bauble was off their hands
and they were all back again in dusty
noisy Ifew York! In the same town a
a retired clergyman had built ,a house,
all to suit himself, and with |the sole
hope that there he might end the peaces
.iul remnant ofhbi6 days. Apd if bp
can preach asas he can praise the
work of his hands, he surely ought to
be in the pulpit still. And yet he would
he very much obliged to me if I would
send him a purchaser of his convenient
and charming country house so that he
might leave it forever and go back to
the city.
After all in this matter, as in many
others, human desires are playing at
cross-purposes. The city is full of peo
ple longing to become rich and to with
draw to .some quiet retreat in the, coun
try. And the country is full of people
still more infatuated to get into the-city.
And if the desire of both were granted,
it would he followed in most cases by
one equally strong to go back to their
former condition. At the close of va
cation,, with the memory of green fields
and the- music of bubbling brooks still
fresh in our mmd, and with the pros
pect before us of a long winter of hard
study and earnest work, encompassed by
the awful realities of life and death, we
may be excused if we purposely give
advantage to the city, in the comparison
of its attractions anddemands with those
of the country. Bowhere can time,
talents, possessions, Opportunities be
Worth more to one than here, because
here the whole , force of personal influ
ence-tells most directly upon the char
acter and destiny of immortal men.
It ceases to bo a question of mere taste
where we shall live, or ,what society we
can enjoy most, when every hour of
life affords us opportunities for doing
good, the reward of which shall be
reaped in heaven and the fruit of which
shall give] joy forever. ,
fUttgimts §ttteHigme.
Presbyterian. <
The Presbyterian.—Our -excellent co
tempdrkry has contracted its dimensions to
a single sheet. The reasons are, the ad
vanced, prices of paper, ink &c., in connec
tion with the fact, that subscribers so far as
their,,wishes,.are known, prefer this ito an
increase in the terms of subscription. .
A Noble Offering. —A new church, called
the heetsdale Church, has just been organized
at Sewickleyville, Pennsylvania, near Pitts
burgh. When the members came together
to determine where they should build a
house of worship, and how they should
raise the means necessary, it was announced
that Mrs. Eliza Shields, a venerable lady in
the church, had rosolved to give: a lot, and
build a house of worship for the congrega
tion, at her own expense. This is a noble
liberality and one which will bear fruit of
good for many years to come. At the same
time, she does not impair the Benevolent
feelings of the rest of the,congregation, but
suggests that the contributions which they
intend to make to - the church, they should
devote to the purchase of a lot, and the
erection of a manse, that thus the new
church may start fully equipped for its
work.— Presbyterian.
A Disloyal Minister.—The trial of the
Rev. S. J. Anderson, D. Di, of St. Louis, for
disloyalty a year ago, which resulted! m ; his
conviction and expulsion.to rebel territory,
although he returned and officiated in that
city, has been recently published The
specifications were, expressions of hostility
to the Government, justification of rebel
attacks and outrages, and “ that on and af
ter a meeting of the church Extension
Board of the so-called Old School Presby
terian Church in the city of St. Louis) in
conversation,, argued and spoke in favor of
the rebel 'cause, and against the efforts of
the Government, of the United States to put
down the rebellion, averring that the South
was in the right, and could not, and ought
not to be conquered,"
Presbyterianism in Connecticut. The
Presbytery of Connecticut on the 26th inst.,
met in the Congregational Church, Stam
ford, to ordain to the work of the ministry.
Rev. A. L. Lindsley, a supply; at the invi
tation of the people. Mr. L. was under the
care of the Presbytery.
An Old Bell.—The old’ bell in the First
Presbyterian Church of Morristown, New Jersey,
was cracked a few days since, and has been
thrown into the furnace to be re-cast. It
cape from England some time during the
reign of Queen Anne, and must therefore be
a century and a half old, as the Queen died
in. 1714. The first organization in Morris
town took place in 1714.
In this venerable church, it will be recol
lected, General Washington, during the
Revolution; while his head-quarters were
near, communed on a saoramental Sabbath,
accordingtohis request, modestly .expressed.
He was not “High Church.’? A
, Degree Conferred.— Rev. Wm, Cornell of
this city, received the degree of D. D., from
Jefferson College at its late commencement.
Dutch Reformed.
Centennial at Hopewell.—- On Wednesday,
the 3d inst., the church of Hopewell cele
brated the one hundreth anniversary of the
building of itß first edifice. The old Dutch
barn yet; stands, about a half a mile north
east of the church, in which the congrega
tion originally worshiped, under, the pastor
ate of Dominie Rysdyck. The occasion was
one, of course, to revive the recollections of
-the past, and to review the transitions
which-the century has witnessed from that
ancient barn to a beautiful temple of wor
ship, from a wild wilderness to a farming
country .whose native richness has been
developed by the best style of modern cul
ture, from a sparse backwoods congregation
to one that is now one of the most delight
ful and flourishing within our denomina
tional limits. The occasion ■ called out a
large congregation from the neighboring
communities ,#nd churches as well as from
those directly interested. . There was also
( an unusually large representation of the
clergy.
The exercises commenced with prayer by
Rev. Dr. C. Van Oleef. The Rev. Dr. De
Witt read the 48th psalm—first in Dutch
from the old Bible that was once in use
here, and afterwards in English—remarking
previously upon the common origin of the
Anglo-Saxon and the Holland Dutch, and
the consequent fact of a greater similarity
existing between these languages than even
between the Holland Dutch and German. —
Intelligencer.
Congregational.
The Congregationalists in Union. —The two
items which follow present two phases of a.
tendency to union.
The Congregational Churches qf Neu> Hamp
shire have passed a resolution recommend
ing the union of different denominations
in the support of a minister where neither
is able to do it alone, and commending the
plan to the attention ot. other denomina
tions. The New Hampshire yearly.meeting
of Freewill Baptists, at its late session took
up the matter, and postponed the conside
ration of it to next year.
Rev. W. W. Patton of Chicago has published
a letter advising the old friends of free mis
sions now to divide their donations between
the 'American Missionary Association and
the American Board, as his church has just
voted to do by a < unanimous voice. Both
he and his church had co-operated for
many years only with the Association. As
reasons for this advice he mentions, 1, the
Board is on anti-slavery gbound; 2, the
most of the missionaries are under, the
Board; 3, the A. M. A. has withdrawn from
nearly all missions outside of the African
race; 4, Presbyterians seemed, inclined to
leaye the Board to be supported by Congre
gationalists alone; 5, desire to seek reunion;
6, the Am. Board is now under a pressure.
The Association itself, says the Chicago cor
respondent of The independent, wisely dis
cerning the signs of the times, reeognizes
this drift of Providence and falls in with it.
A Veteran and Excellent Raster. — JDr. Sweet
ser, pastor of the Central Congregational
church, Worcester, Mass., preached his
twenty-fith anniversary sermon on the last
Sabbath of .July. Only one of the original
members of the church remains, the senior
deacon; and only eleven of the male mem
bers who acted in the church at his settle
ment are now living.
A Singular Observance of East-Ray. — Rev.B.
R.-Allen, pastor of the first Congregational
Church at Marblehead, told his people, who
were convened in the church on the day of
the national fast, that he had often preached
to them of the troubles that , were coming
upon the country, and they Had now come
as he had predicted ; he would, therefore,
let God preach to them ; and instead of a
sermon, he read to them the whole book of
Lamentations, without a word of comment.
He also read a part of the first , chapter of
Jeremiah and the whole of the second chap
ter. ‘ :
If we are correctly informed this pastor
knows how to avoid expressions of. loyalty.
Advance and Charge. —The,Congregation-,
alistsays: , ,
The Congregational Society of Westville, Ct.,
at a late meeting raised the salary of their
pastor. Ren. J. L. Willard, to $1,300. Dur
ing the eight years of his ministry in
Westville, the congregation has greatly in
creased in numbers, and' the recent exten
sion of the'horse railroad to this beautiful
suburb of New Haven, promised still fur
ther to add to the strength and importance
of the Congregational churoh there. The
Oak Place Church in this city, which had
for several years, worshiped in the edifice
formerly occupied by Rev. H. M. Dexter's
congregation, have disbanded their organi
zation, and united with the Presbyterian
Churcb, Harrison Avenue; and their pas
tor, Rev. J. P. Bixby, is to become the pas
tor of the Harrison Avenue churoh. He
stated in his sermon to the united congre
gation last Sabbath, that two thirds of his
theological instruction had been Presbyte
rian and one-third Congregrtional.
Baptist
Minister’s Institute. —-The' Illinois Baptist l
Pastoral Union has established an annual
“ Ministers’ Institute." It is intended tp
secure to ministers and students for the
ministry an annual course of Theological
Lectures from the best men in the denomi
nation. The first session opened at Chica
go, July Ist, was attended by about eighty
ministers, and continued for two weeks.
Lectures were delivered by Drs. Bailey of
Indiana, Colver and Evarts, of Chicago, and
Reed, of Shurtleff College, Upper Alton,
Mr. Spurgeon’s Attacks. —Some time ago' a
statement appeared in the papers to the
effect that on paying a visit to St Marys,’
Bury St. Edmund’s, Mr. Spurgeon called
the baptismal font “ a spittoon." A weekly
cotemporary states that Mr. R. D. Robjent,
of Bristol, having seen this statement, wrote
to Mr. Spurgeon for a confirmation or con
tradiction of the report. Mr. Spurgeon has
not replied to the letter, but has sent Mr.
Robjent the'offensive sermon on “Baptis
mal Regeneration.” A Scripture-reader,
who was stated to have heard the .conver
sation, was also written to by Mr. Robjent,
andjias replied to the communication, 'as
serting that Mr. Spurgeon did designate the
font “ a spittooD." Mr. Robjent wrote a
second letter to Mr. Spurgeon, but had
received no reply.— Record.
Mr. Spurgeon has been pronounced a
boor because he once, as it is alleged, slid
dovyji his pulpit railings to establish claims
to singularity. If the above extract be
truthful, one may not be charged with in
temperance 6f language in calling him a
blackguard, and a very,impious one at that.
— N. W. Christian Advocate.
Methodist.
The Set). Samuel S. Thorp , Professor of
Mathematics and Natural Sciences in XXam~
line University, died on Tuesday, July 19.
His end was a triumph.
The Sev. Dr. Wise has been seriously sick
iwith spasmodic cholera. He is now conva
lescent!
The Sev. Bernice D. Ames, formerly of
Providence Conference Seminary, has ac
cepted a call to the Principalship of Ame-
Seminary, formerly a mixed, hereafter
to be only a Female Seminary. l
The Sev. G. B. Jocely, B. 8., has been
unanimously elected President of Albion
College, ®ics,Dr. Sinex, who has been trans
ferred to California Conference.
Episcopal.
St, Paul’s Church, Yonkers. —The rector,
Sev. . Dr. B. Brewer, having tendered his
resignation, on account of the failure of his
.health, it was unanimously voted' that he be
•requested to withdraw the resignation, that
a vacation of five months be offered to him,
and that hiS" salary be continued during his
absence. A puree of 12,025 dollars was also
presented to him by the congregation.— Gh
Times.
The Trustees of Trinity College, Hartford,
hive elected Sev. J. C. Kerfoot, D. B now
rector of James College, Md., to the Presi
dency of the college. $lOO,OOO have lately
been contributed tp the funds of the col
lege, $53,000 being subscribed in Hartford.
Bevivals.
Seventeen persons were added to the church
S t £. ib !? u ' y Corner > New Jersey, on the last
Sabbath, on profession of their faith in
Christ. These, with six others received at
the previous communion, are the fruits of a
quiet and most precious work of grace which
has been in progress here for several months.
During this season of.interest, two praver
meetings and one preaching service were
added to the regular weekly meetings Be
sides these there were no extra services
The pastor did all the preaching, and at
tended all the prayer-meetings, entering
with his whole heart into the work, and ha
quently conversing and praying with those
who sought counsel off him. in his study.
Besides those received into the church, a
number more have been very seriously im
pressed—some of whom, it is believed, have
been born again, and will yet join them
selves unto the Lord in a perpetual cove
nant that shall not be forgotten.—Presbyte
rian.
The Boston Recorder says that the “reli
gions interest in the Presbyterian parish,
Rev. Mr. Haskell’s, East .Boston, seemß
unabated. Last Sabbath nine members
were received into the church, and several
others give evidence of real piety, and hope
to be soon admitted to the public profession
of faith in the Saviour.”
The Christian Advocate oontains-the follow
ing : —Revival m Newark, Del. The. following
has come to hand since the editorial note
on. “Dearth of Religious Intelligence” was
written. As now the spiritual drought is
broken at one point, we trust that we may
have to report frequent showers of grace
among the ohnrches. Brothers Day. and
Spring, of Newark Circuit, Del., wrife-:
“On August 4 we commenced a woods*
meeting near Cherry Hill Church, intend
ing to hold it three days, but the good Lord
so abundantly poured his Holy Spirit upon
us in the grove that we opntinued it seven,
daring which several were converted, and
God’s own people graciously quickened.
From the grove we have gone to the church,
and the Lord is still with us. From eigh
teen to twenty nightly are seeking.him, and
many are happy in God, having, found peace
in believing.”
Miscellaneous
Unitarianism.—The Whtchman and Refit a tor,
forcibly says of the facts brought out in Dr.
Gody’s discourse before the Historical So
ciety, of the denomination at the anniver
sary llast spring in this city:
“ The address brings into prominence
several points in reference to our Unitarian
friends, which ought not to be forgotten. It
shows them to be in possession of property to
which they have no honest claim.' Harvard
College and the orthodox houses of worship
retained by them are. usurped possessions,
got snd kept unworthily: They were estab
lished by evangelical men, for evangelical
purposes, and, are now perverted .to ends
which their founders would have looked on
with horror. A nice sense of honor one
would think, must sometimes make Unita
rians a little uncomfortable in their ill-got
ten inheritance. But the fact seems to be
quite otherwise, for they resist to the last
extreme all attempts to liberalize the go
vernment of Harvard, and stigmatize any
effort to introduce evangelical men into its
faculty, as evincing excessive bigotry. In
the famous controversy between the Hick
site and Orthodox Quakers in New Jersey
courts, the bench decided, and was sustained
in an appeal, that the Hioksite party, hav
ing rejected the Divinity, of Christ, and the
atonement, and the inspiration of the Scrip
tures, has lost claim to the property of the
society, by departing from its principles.
The decision commends itself to every one’s
sense of equity; and if this holds good in
the canse of a society without any written
creed, how much more so in the case of
churches with a blear and authoritative creed,
which the Unitarians renounced. If the
bench of Massaohußets had not' been strong
ly prejudiced in favor -of Unitarian views,
its decisions, one cannot doubt, would have
been in harmony with thoße of New Jersey.
“ Nor is one more favorable impressed
with the liberality of feeling claimed for
the early Unitarians, than with their nice
sense of honesty. They aimed to absorb
the social and political power of the State,
and a prominent man of the orthodox faith
was proscribed by a self-constituted ostra
cism. A strong writer, in one of the lead
ing journals of the day, quoted by Dr. Eddy,
scarcely overstates the matter: ‘ Any person
to attain to any of the honors of this State
(Massachusetts,) must be a thorough Fede
ralist and Unitarian. If they have a blotch
of Democracy or Calvinism about them,
they muet bid adieu to public honors or to
Massachusetts. The Catholics are not more
exclusive in Spun than are Mr. Otis and his
associates in Boston.’ It was the purpose
of Unitarian leaders to keep orthodox men
hot only out of the government at Harvard
College, but out of posts of honor in the
Commonwealth. For a time they succeeded
by adroit management, and while they
never constituted one-fourth of the voters
of the State, they monopolized four-fifths of
the public offices. That day, bbwever, has
gone by, never to return.
“ Another thought suggested by the ad
dress, is the utter failure of the Unitarians
to grow in numbers and influence as they
anticipated. They felt confident of becom
ing the largest and most powerful religious
body in the land. They looked forward to
the complete triumph of their views in New
England, and their rapid spread everywhere.
The'rose-colored predietions of some of their
leaders, at that early day, have a strong
Falstaffian coloring, as read in our time.
Their growth was attained under the ban
ners of orthodoxy, and since they gathered
under their, own colors the progress has
been scarcely perceptible. The Baptists of
Massachusetts alone outnumber the Uni
tarians 6f the whole Union, by the statistics
of the American Almanac for 1864.”
The Grave of Thomas Starr Sing. —A sarco
phagus of marble, after the old English
style and cruciform in shape, is to be placed
over the grave of the late Rev., Thomas
Starr King, by the Unitarian parish in San
Francisco. In carrying out this! purpose,
the remains are to be rembyed from the
church to the chapel-yard connected with
it, to repose “where the birds.sing, the
flowers grow, and nature rejoices The
transfer and the erection of, the (monument
will taxe place during the stay of Rev. Dr.
Bellows in California, and the services on
the occasion will be conducted by him.'
Beeline of an Infidel Society.—Theodore Par-
W P ret * y mucK P%6d out. A
few faithful souls, who appear to think more
of his empty pantaloons, than of any living
preacher, still hug the delusion, that there
is something left for them to stickiogether
by. It is a mistake. There is no remaining
element of coherence. They have had a
scattering succession of clerical' and lay
lecturers, most of whom would' wearily, and
with manifest irksomeness go through with
certain exercises not exactly devotions'
prior to the commencement of the address,
while many of the audience were reading
newspapers and French novels, and listless
women would sometimes 'protrude their
feet and parasols through the lattice work
of the balcony. Hut this is mostly over.
They have moved from the Muaio Hall to
theMeiodeon, and even in the hitter place
heard tt them.-
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