302
A VISIT TO THE OIL REGION.
LETTER FROM REV. DR. MARKS.
Washington, September 10, 1864.
Dear Brother :—I have just returned
to Washington from a visit to Northern
Pennsylvania and Western New York.
I went forth on a canvassing tour for
the benefit of the American Tract So
ciety.
After leaving Pittsburgh the signß of
improvement were everywhere mani
fest. I found a new railroad from New
Brighton, Beaver county, to Newcastle,
and thence to Greenville, in Mercer
county, Pa., connecting with the great
Atlantic Bailroad running from New
York to St. Louis.
I was glad to see so manifestly the
evidences of prosperity in Newcastle,
Lawrence county. It is surrounded
with one of the finest coal and iron
regions of the west, and now glows by
night with the fire of many furnaces.
The population of this place is about
six thousand* and no, place more loyal
and patriotic can be found in the land.
The town and vicinity has more
than one regimont to the army, 1 and no
men have shown more bravery and
heroism in many fields. The citizens
are now taxing themselves to the utmost
to sustain and replenish the legions in
the field.
Prom Newcastle,the railroad runs up
the valley of the Mahoning to West
Greenville. This; I found one of the
most flourishing towns in Northwest.
Pennsylvania. It contains a population
of fivo thousand. The great Atlantic
B. B. passes through it, and it has a rail
road and canal Connecting it with Lake
Erie and the Ohio. The country around
it is one of the finest in the west, rich
in coal, iron and timber, and being on
the margin of the great oil fields; There
are many who have become rich by
operations in connection with that won
derful discovery.
The country from Greenville to Mead
ville is very level, now and then diver
sified by a gentle swell, but many miles
are passed over without any rise or fall'
from station to station.
Here and there are seen in gloomy
forests of the heaviest timber, a lake of
water, and often a sluggish stream. It
is plain that all this country was once
the bed of a lake, and not very remotely
was a vast morass. The valley of
French Creek to Franklin is-a fertile
and beautiful country, and near Mead
ville highly improved.
THE OIL REGION.
Within six or eight miles of the
month of French creek, we see the first
signs of operations for oil. The dericks
become numerous, and clusters of men
are seen every few rods gathered around
oneofthe prospective fountains. French
creek is not yet a very productive
field, but the entire valley for miles
above Franklin is dotted and scarred
with innumerable holes and heaps.
The oil here is much more valuable
ban that of Oil creek, being used for
machinery. Its comparative value and
recent discoveries have greatly increased
the number of explorers and prospecters.
FRANKLIN
Is one of the oldest towns in Western
Pennsylvania. Settlements commenced
here,and in the neighborhood as early
as 1784. It was once the oentre of a
great lumber trade, but as the timber
was exhausted the prosperity of the
place declined; but th e recent oil discove
ries have trebled its population, and its
Btreets are now full of anxious, bustling,
eager multitudes.
Prom this place the distance to Oil
creek is about six miles. A railroad is
nearly completed. .Now the scene at
the depot beggars description. There
is daily, when the cars arrive from
Meadville, the wildest rush amongst the
passengers for coaches, wagons, stages
and carts. In most : places the commo
tion -when the passongers alight is
amongst the cab drivers, omnibus men
and carriage drivers, lor possession oh
the unfortunate travelers. But ‘here
the elbowing out of the way, the uncere
monious trampling on corns, without
one look of regret or word of apology,
the dashing you out of the way and
springing into your seat is all on the
other side. The pursuit of wealth makes
kin, and the gentleman under
ther;influence of tjhis frenzy loses alike
his dignity and magnanimity.
Unfortunately for me, as often in the
past, I found baggage was impedimenta,
for,, detained at the baggage car, I
found no place for me but the top of an
old broken stage, Here perched away
up so that I could look into the second
stories of the houses, without the least
protection, with not one thing to grasp,
I was doomed to & most perilous jour
ney. Inside the stage was more than
full. I enjoyed the crazy, stormyheight
alone. The evening had a grey-,- heavy
look, and now and then a few drops of
rain told us what we might expect.
With a miserable driver, swearing and
whipping, we commenced with a pair of
wind-broken, spavined and blind horses
a riever-to-be-forgotten journey. The
mud was fabulous, and into many great
chuck holes we. descended with a vio
lence that threatened to dislocate iny
arms, as in the spasm of desperation I
grasped the sides of the creaking con
cern. Then we would all have to alight
in order to pull out.
Before we had gone more than half
the way to Oil City the darkness of
night had come on. The road led along
the banks of the Allegheny river, and
in the growing dimness of the twilight
it lay before ns like a dark chasm; but
in the impenetrable gloom which fol
lowed we could see nothing, and had
finally to dismount and feel our way
into town. Covered with mud, weary,
almost angry, we reached the long,
stringy town of
“oil city.”
How shall I describe the place l
Imagine a long, meandering river of
mud, and. on the. left hand,b anging over,
suspended on the side of an almost
precipitous mountain, aline of disjoin ted
houses.; fancy from this mountain many
streams constantly descending and keep
ing the mud in a charming fluidity;
imagine all smells lost in ‘one, and the
entire atmosphere saturated with oil;
imagine here and there amid these
scattered houses an. oil well; with its
puffing engine and flowing stream;
imagine the houses on the opposite side
a little lower than the street; and hang
ing over the broken banks of tho river
in the rear ; the weather-boarding and
windows in the second story covered
with mud, and every few feet oozing
streams of mud lazily creeping up and
sleeping on the plank walk.
The houses are small, hastily built;
not for comfort but for shelter and busi
ness. And certainly I have seen no
place, not even in the far West, where
housekeeping is attended with such
unpleasant publicity and vexatious em
barrassments. The street is crowded
'from the earliest dawn to tho latest
night with traders, speculators, swind
lers, oil purchasers and sellers. The
boatmen and teamsters are a large class
who in great numbers block up at
various points the sidewalks. Hundreds
of wagons and vehicles of all names
crowd and jam the streets,, some loaded
with barrels of oil, others with lumber;
others with marketing, and others with
gentlemen travelers and explorers.
These last are often seen returning from,
a travel through the flopds of Oil creek,
and the ever recurring mud, in such a
bespattered condition that they might
meet and pass their most intimate
friends without being known.
One idea possessed all this mass of
heaving and intensely active humanity:
“ We may become fabulously rich in an
hour.” At the stores, hotels, livery
stables, &e., there is but one subject of
conversation—oil! oil! oil ! As one
passes along he hears ever recurring
expressions of this kind: “ Splendid
show;” “ Poor as a donkey yesterday,
worth a million to-day;” “ Bought a
thousand acies on speculation;” “ Five
thousand : dcfllars and half l theoil;”
“Flowing well—three hundred and
fifty barrels a day—worth $BOO,OOO
“Gas and oil come rushing up like
thunder," &c. &c.; 1 No one talks of J the
state of the country; no one cheers ait
the tidihgs of victory ; no one defends
the administration, nor eloquently
pleads the merits of General McClellan.
Even from church, and from singing
“ A charge to keep I have,”
men go out to talk-of wells, to make
contracts and lay plans for boring to-
morrow.
But this is not all of Oil City. On
its heights there are enchanting spots,
and now homes and charming scenes
and a wide prospect of beauty. This
town contains six thousand
has churches, banks, school, houses'and
newspapers. And there .are a great
number satisfied with daily broad,
j The Presbyterian churches, under the
pare of the Rev. Messrs. Moore and
Pinkerton, are, both prosperous and
putting up houses of worship-. Mr,
Moore is th o pastor of the Old School,
and Mr. Pinkerton of the United Pres-,
byterian church. Both are valuable
and faithful men. The. zeal demanded
in such a community must bo apostolic.
' I preached in the hall of the United
Presbyterian church on Sabbath even
ing, and on Monday evening delivered
a lecture on the state of‘ the army, in
the Methodist Episcopal church, whiob
was most kindly opened for me by the
pastor, the Rev. - Mr. Whitely,and the
trustees. Barely have I seen congrega
tions of greater intelligence, and nearly
all evidently intensey hopeful in regard
to their own future.
Por a full description of the oil coun
try, the wells and population, from Oil
City to Titusville, I must ask you to
*wait for another letter. J. J. M.
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22,1864.
FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.
London, August 26, 1864.
This place is now in its most desolate
and vapid season. Little to see, less to
hear, and no one to tell. Yet the weath
er for the last few days has not been
such as to encourage country rambles,
except for the strong and active. It has
been quite cold, windy, and at times in
clement; very much like a Philadelphia
March, .
Political matters, both here and at
Paris, appear to be at a stand-still. Na
poleon is watched by bis own subjects,
and by ns, with great curiosity. He
has not spoken, and we cannot tell what
will be the Autumn development of Ms
policy. The rumor that the young
Prince of Sardinia, Umbert or Humbert,
was about to visit Paris, with the inten
tion of arranging a match with the
Princess Murat, created some sensation
'amongst ‘our vivacious allies, who; gave
to the suggestion very gravel con
jectures ; but now- we have it from the.
government organ at Turin, that there
is no truth in the report It was be
lieved that such a union would lead to
closer political convention * between
France - and Italy, and to some (im
portant action at Borne. j 1
, Borne is the pulse of Europe just ijo.w-
Whatever agitates that quivers through
the whole frame. Who can fathom thd in
jury ; who can measure the wrongs;
who can conjecture the evil done to lib
erty and truth, in Europe,and through
the whole world, from that nest iof
iniquity? , With what indignant mem
ory do wo survey the past, and view the
black, dead, devastating line of Boman
progress; along which it has rolled
through the history of mankind, like\a
i'yast Juggernaut, wherever it went leav
ing the ineffaceable impress of its pon
derous destruction; every where.‘crush-’
ing down the life and health and
of religion and life ! ‘ How 1 , difficult it i!
to forbear rising to the inspired passion
of the ancient prophets, as they rejoiced
in pre-vision of the punishment of God's
enemies. “How art thou fallen O Lucifer!
Son of the morning;! How art thou cut
down to the ground, which didst weaken
the nations! For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God; I will sit also
'Upon the mount of the congregation in,
the sides of the North; I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds; I;will
be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt
bo brought down to hell, to the sides bt
the pit 1” Such was the .energy of the
ancient religion. - It is unfashionable
now; But we know that the long
delayed stroke shall dome, and Babylon
become the abomination of the whole
earth., Let hs not stay our hand against
it; let us not withhold our efforts for
its weakening and destruction; for it is
cursed of God, and blessed is he that
iifteth up his hand against it. I am
sometimes shocked at the apathy, and
frightened at the complacency with
which many Christian men look upoD
the signs of Papal progress in England
and America. No brute force; no
brawling mobs ; no desecration of sanc
tuaries; but' by all meads let the
preachers thunder, and tho laymen work
and press'against the lying faith, lest
by,'winking at its follies we ourselves
become partakers in its guilt.
, Belfast has been the scene of atrocious
riots between people who pretend to be
fighting for religion, but doubtless care
very little about it. The Orangemen
were foolish enough to get up a demon
stration in ridicule of the O’Conn el
demonstration in Dublin. Ido not see
why one was not as permissible as the
Other, The difference was, that in Dub
lin the Protestants made ho objection ;
but in Belfast, when the Orangemen
proceeded to burn the Liberator in
effigy, and to bury his ashes, the Roman
Catholic ire could not be suppressed,
and both parties went to work, at first
hesitatingly,' but gathering Courage and"
fervor as they went, at last came,to,
most tragic-and disgraceful battles. A
large number of military and, police
have succeeded in parting the combat
ants, but so tharoughly has five or six
days’, riot and fighting, aroused, their,
passions, that the most sCrious appre
hensions are yet' sustained. In the
general hospital at .Belfast. alono were
fifty’Serious certain f to die,-
others' maimed for life. Schools at-’
tacked, • churches “ wrecked,” factory
girls maltreated, navvies and ship car
penters challenging each other to mortal
combat ; these .are the scenes which
“ religious”'faction is,able to evoke in
tbe streets of toyq.
PEABODY GIFT —-TENEMENT HOUSES,
Turn from this sad sight to a more
pleasing subject. -The Peabody gift is,
not being diced and drunk away; but
is helping materially.in a great social
revolution. The supply of good houses
for the poor is now an object moßt ener
getically pushed by our chief philan
thropist. ,
, “The Corporation of the City of London
I has recently set apart a valuable plot of
THE RIOTS IN BELFAST.
ground near Farringdon-road, Clerkenwell,
and voted £120,000 towards the erection of
houses'expressly for working-men and their
families; Miss Burdett Coutts has lately ex
pended about £50,000 for a similar purpose,
in the district of Bethnal-green; Lord
Stanley and his co-trußtees have devoted
upwards of £20,000 of the munificent gift of
Mr. George Peabody to the erection of a sub
stantial and commodious block of houses in
the heart of Spitalfields, and are building
others on a much larger scale in Lower-road,
Islington; and the company in the city, es
tablished Vy Mr. Alderman Waterlow, and
of. which Lord Stanley is chairman, has
raised upwards of £30,000 for a like object.
The Alderman, from his own resources,
some time since built several blocks of im
proved dwellings in a crowded part of Fins
bury, which were opened about 18-months
ago. Others are being erected at his expense
in the same quarter, where they are much
needed. The company with which he is
connected have recently purchased sites.on
which to construct more; on one of which
five blocks of buildings are in coarse of
ereotion, each of which provides suitable
accommodations for 20 families. These
buildings will probably be ready for occupa
tion by Christmas. The company’ propose
to expend £3,200 in improved dwellings in
Redcross streeet, Southwark, for 16 families,
with two Bbops and basements, at a gross
rental of £440; £7,200 in Brewhouse lane,
Wapping, for 60 families; at a rental of
£850; £14,200 in Old St. Pancras road, for
100 families, at a rental of £1,602; and
£3,230 in King’s-cross-road, Bagnigge-wells,
fof 20 families, at a rental of £382. All the
spots selected up to,this time are at easy
distances from the parts of the town .where
labor of aU kinds is in most demand. Those
erected at the cost of. Miss; Burdett Coutts at
Columbia. .Square, Bethnal-green, afford by
far the largest amount of accommodation, as
they are the most imposing, in appearance
of any in London. They consist of four
blocks, each five !: stories high, and form a
square, with a large and commodious, play
ground in the centre. There are in alilB9
separate tenements, accessible by common
entrances and stairs, and inhabited at pres
ent by a community of 705 persons, of whom
487 are adults and 288 are.children. They
ate fitted up with every domestic conveni
ence, and with a. proper, regard to ventila
tion and . drainage. The whole square is
said to have cost about £50,000 in the
erection. The Tents vary, according to the
number of rooms, from ss. fid. to 2s. a-week,
and produce, a gross annual Bum of about
£l,BOO. Of the pfesSht occupants 49 are
porters and 46 laborers. The rest, in small
er numbers are for the most part woodcar
vers and turners, cabinetmakers, carpenters,
corkcutters, clerks, weavers, stonemasons,
harnessmakers, compositors and bookbind
ers. In the centre of the playground'is a
v,ery handsome clock-tower with tapering
spire, and surrounded' by flowering 1 plants
well-tended. . Flowers and oreeping plants
adorn most of the windows of the occupants,
and the whole place has an air of cheerful
ness and comfort, in marked contrast with
the squalor and poverty of some parts of the
surrounding neighborhood. The Peabody
block is situated in Commercial street,
Spitalfields, and is built on precisely the same
plan as those of Miss Coutts. It was opened
in February of the present year, and haß
from the first been ! fully : occupied. - There;
as ,ih Columbia square, some hundreds: of
Applications have been made for apartments;
whenever they may happen to become
vacant. The block in Commercial street
gives house' accommodation' to 231 persons
in. all, including 53. men, 56 women, and 122
ohildren ; ‘the number of rooms being 126.
The site selected .for ; the ‘next. series, of
which the: trustees of Mr. Peabody
4re about to:erect, and which will be: three
times as large as that in; Spitalfields, is:in
Greenman'slane, Lower road, Islington. .
, This 1 great movement has not been
commenced before it was absolutely
necessary. . The immense, works now.
being carried on in the heart of the city
by the different railway companies,
who have destroyed miles of poof dwel
lings, have driven tho ousted population
to tho utmost extremities; and a lady
connected with the Bible-women's As
sociation told me some time ago that the
crowding which has been occasioned, is
almost beyond belief. The increase of
mortality, especially in the typhoid
forms of disease, is proof of the effect of
over-crowding. I know of no city in
the world-—though I have seen many— -’
whose mechanics are so well off as the
Philadelphia artisans. The facilities of
communication, the building societies,
(much abused and oft abusing though
they were,) the wider spaces and sepa
rate houses are a boon that thp.laboring
Classes of other cities may well envy.
It is rather surprising, but a Canon
of York—Canon Dixon—has given vent
to an opinion not much shared in,
certainly not pubielly declared, by his
coadjutors. In a speech at York, re
cently, he said ho believed it was the
opinion of many that the time was not
far distant when the Church of England
would cease to be national, and the
connection which had so long existed
between Church and State would be
dissolved. Such were the signs of the
times and the tendency, of legislation.'
A churchman must be very bold who
would say that ; but very blind who did
not see that the tendency is at all
events that way.
j The AecoreZ states;.that the, Eucharist
is administered daily in eight churches
(established)’in London, to people who
b‘elievo‘they handle the very body, soul,
and Godhead of Christ. "Am I too ear
nest or; severe about maintaining, our
Protestant faith' openly, rigidly, loudly
ancl constantly ? Adeephos.
A ROYAL EXAMPLE;
, And a right royal one it is. Her Majesty,
tho Queen of England, has accepted the
jPresideriey of the Berkshire County Female
Bible Society— the county in which Windsor
Castle is situated. As a cotemporary truly
says, “There are hundreds and thousands
of women in our several counties who ought
to embark with zeal in such a work as this,
and they would advance their own useful
ness and happiness by so doing. The Queen
of a model woman. So far as we
know her life and works, she adorns every
office, domestic and public, which she under
takes ; and every wife, mother and woman
may take lessons in active virtues from the
example o. this distinguished sovereign.
INDIVIDUALISM IN THE OHUBOH.
BY SET. E. H. GILLBTT, D. D.
It is the privilege not only, but the
duty of each local churcn, to seek fel
lowship and co-operation with others.
To stand aloof, to take an isolated posi
tion, to assume even the attitude of
indifference, is a violation of the spirit
of the. Gospel. It is inconsistent not
only with the unity of the Christian
body, hut with the principles on which
every local church is established. So
thought the fathers of New England,
although their substitution of State
control for Presbyterial supervision dis
placed the legitimate organization by
which the fellowship of the churches
might be expressed, and left them,
when the former was withdrawn, to
a: state of isolation or independency
expressly disapproved and disavowed
by the New England synods.
There is not dhly municipal and civil
law, but there is also the law of nations.
A people may be independent in its
own sphere, and there may bp no supe
rior visible tribunal by which it may
be called to account. But its relations
to other people- imply, mutual duties,
aha some of the ablest thinkers have
elaborately considered these, and given
ub the result of their investigations in
volumes that are quoted as authority in
courts of law. Even against their pre.
sent manifest interest, nations, with
fleets and armies to: enforce their will,
have been constrainedito pay respect to
thb mutual obligations of different go
vernments.
' And so it is, only in a more emphatic
manner, in respect to local churches.
But, in their, case, the analogous diffi
culty which the nations of the world
have to meet, but for which they are
unable, to provide, may be overcome.
They may have tribunals of reference
and appeal, and they may have a com
mon law to which they are voluntarily
subject, and these tribunals and this
law, disclaiming all resort to force, may
be armed with all the moral power
which the case requires.
: In such circumstances, the organiza
tion and mutual relations of the churches
should be well understood and defined.
Cumbrous methods and mechanism are
sire-unnecessary. The utmost simplicity
consistent with the ends to be gained,
should be,studied. Organization for its
own sake isah impertinence and super
fluity. ! The churches need mutual pro
tection 1 from' unwarranted teachers,
arbiters to whom they oan appeal in
case of internal divisions; and Channels
for benevolent operations* Over which,
by a common representation, they can'
exercise control, and thus secure and
maintain the 'confidence necessary to
invite charitable contributions.
To these ends the Presbyterian sys
tem is wisely; arid; well adapted. It
runs into neither extreme of individual
ism or of consolidation. Itrespects the
rights of the local, churches and exer
cises only the control necessary to
secure order and, soundness in the faith.
ISfo despotic pressure is allowed, and if
it were attempted, the remedy in aland
where state-churchism is repudiated is
not far to seek. It bindß the churches
together, not by authority or power,
but by .moral forces to which they
voluntarily submit. . It provides against
local injustice, or defection from the
faith on the. part of its; ministers, by a
system which harmonizes with itself,
and the excellence of which has been
testified to by experience. It gives
each church the privilege of representa
tion, and in its methods of common
benevolent effort,: it gives the supervi
sion and cOntrol into the hands to which
it properly belongs.
It is true its > rules are drawn up and
published in printed form. They ought
to be. And yet objections are some
times made, the/ staple of which is
prejudice against “ the book.” It seems
tosome as if a printed rule were tyrannic,
when one that has grown up unwritten;
.out of traditional /usage is regarded,
while just as imperative; in a very
different light. But a candid examina
tion will lead to, another conclusion.
Barbarous nations'havo no written law.
•A- ro they then more, justly governed
and controlled / By moral influences ?
Is there less of hard’stern coercion, or
less rigidity of penalty ,? , -Written laws
imply civilization, progress. They sho w
that the mutual relations of individual
States have been considered and defined.
They provide against difficulties which,
unwritten law finds insoluble except by
appeal to force. But.wiU it be said the
church is a voluntary organization based
on the principles of mutual charity and
forbearance? This is true, but even
the church must have order and system
and most exercise discipline; and some
times its judgments will carry a force
and excite a terror which are not pos
sessed by civil tribunals. Neither
should it bo forgotten that it is com
posed of weak and fallible
who sometimes unconsciously will be
disposed to question the wisdom of
rules applicable to themselves, which
the judgment of others approves, or to
push the authority of which they are
possessed—unless previously defined—
beyond due limits. Indeed, Montes
quieu, in his great work Esprit des I/ois T
remarks that it is “ invariable experi
ence that every one who has power ia
tempted to abuse it, pressing it to ita
very limits. Who would say it ? Vir
tue itself has need of limits.” In such
a case “ the book” is simply the printed
collection of commonly recognized prin
ciples. It fixes “ limits” which it is no
disrespect to virtue to say that it needs.
The appeal to it is, as far as possible,:
the end of strife.
Nor is this all. To the ends of peace
and order, it is important, if not essen
tial, that these principles should be
accessible to all, a,s well as clearly do-,
fined. Every man then can study them
and judge of them for himself,. He
recognizes the fact that they are not .of
private interpretation, that they ar&
not partial or designed for any special
case, or any particular party. At all
junctures, they are also ever at hand,
and their direct tendency, as in the
case of the well-known laws of any
social or civil organization, is to antici
pate and prevent strifes. Principles,
that will not bear definition, might;as 1 ;,
well at once be discarded as objects of r
appeal, and when defined they are not ’’
less authoritative and sacred. The con-"
stant tendency of the most chaotic
condition, whether of.church or state,,
will ever be to organization, and that
can only be wisely conducted on fixed
principles that must necessarily assume
the aspect of laws, and which certainly
cannot suffer by being defined.
SENSIBLE SUGGESTIONS PEOM THE
EIGHT QUAETEB.
Those who have witnessed the char-.
acter of the proceedings usually attend
ant upon camp meetings in the vicini
ty of our cities, will appreciate the fol
lowing calm and judicious views which
we take from the Christian Recorder of
this city, the organ of the African M.
E. church. They are more worthy of.
note from the fact that the camp meet
ings held for.the colored churches have';
eminently suffered from the presence of,
a crowd of white visitants whose only
object, in general, is frolic and rowdy
ism. The Recorder says:
! Wo have never seen the necessity of
holding camp meetings within a radius
of ten miles of such large'cities as Phil
adelphia, especialiy when it is consid
ered that ■ churches, preachers, and J
preaching abound within such circuit.,'
Carnp meetings within the space named, ;
become a resort for the low, vulgar,
ahd vicious of society. But even this
might, and ought to be tolerated, when
we consider that “ It’s sinners Jesiiß
came to call,” if professing Christians
did not still pander to tbe depraved
appetites of these sinful corners, to
gratify their greed of gain, and thus
destroy all the good that might other
wise be effected. How far the moral
influence of the Church is compromised
in the minds of those who riot in wick 7
edness, I leave it to those judges who
Btudy the effect of influences upon the •
human- mind;. We have seen enough to/
con vice us, that the camp meetings _of_
these times are not conducted with, tho,
strictest regard to morals. Whatever 1
may h'e the -desire of these who lead-in ‘
them, the inducements toehold camps!/
are not always of the highest order.
Sometimes the circuit may be in
debted to the preacher, and the mem!-'
here desire to have a camp in order to
raise the means for paying him. Some
times the preacher comes money-hunt? ;
mg, in preference to every thing else j.
he never preaches nor prays without
the ring of money in every utterance; he
must have camp, if there is any pros
pect of money. When these things are
uppermost, the means resorted to
induce people to attend, ai d the privi
leges given to venders of commodities,
are not the most commendable. The
selling of tent privileges to unscrupu
lous persons; to cover camp expenses,
ought never to be allowed in any Chris
tian community; and yet it is done at
our modern camps. I have known per
sons who owned woods and taverns coni/
tiguotts; to-offer woods gratis, and one''
or two hundred dollars, to
on condition that they should hold camp
meetings;! and we know ' that 'these
offers have not unfrequently been -ac
cepted—the preacher lending himself to
demoralize the Church and community,
and-to.make the worst possible, rise off
camp meetings. This is" especially so
near largo cities, where the ’spirit
money-getting possesses in a large 'mha- :
sure the, souls of both preacher .and
people The spirit,to pay debts, is.com
mendabio—especially so in Christians, i
but to sell out to the devil to pay debts,
18 good may
come. When we consider that there
are,vast demoralizing influences s to be
counteracted and held in check, it be
comes the Christian Church to tighten
aown and interlace the flood-gates of
vice,, especially where aggregatibk of ;
Dumbers increases the facilities for-1
crime..
We remember many i h i nge we should,!
forget* (as injuries,
&c.),but forget what, we should remem
be*, viz: Grod and our souls. i iiy
They that presume most in prosperi