HE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN
AND
GENESEE EVANGELIST.
A Religions and Family Newspaper,
IN THE INTEREST OP THE
Constitutional Presbyterian Church.
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY,
.AT THE PRESBYTERIAN HOUSE,
1384 Chestnut Street, (2d story,) Philadelphia.
Rev. John W. Nears, Editor and Publisher.
Rev. B. llotchlkin, Editor of News and
Family Department.
ev. O. P. Bush, Corresponding Editor,
Rochester, N. Y.
amnitan Virtslmttrialt.
providence in these
will aim to be a
tp great truths and
and urging them
mscience and heart.
,ak words of hearty
)tic and the loyal, at
if the battle. It will
„rebellion and slavery,
open defenders at the
lir more covert allies at ,
will advocate uncompro
m to these great wrongs,
lo uncertain sound upon
and relations into which
if the day may be drawn.
Ite with every instrumen
to raise the standard of
life and legislation, and
gain those great national
morals, in politics, and in
which the fearful judgment
our land is most manifestly
lead us.
T is one great aim which,
journalists, we feel bound to
ininently in view—we mean
.al welfare and advancement 'of
Christians and the Church of
If there has been in our expe-
urgent feeling of the need of
msecration to Christ in our pecu
of activity, we trust the fruits
ay henceforth be seen in the
1 spiritual tone of the paper,
the devotion of all its depart
.hiefly and directly to, the promo
spiritual aims. We ask the
of our readers for this result.
be your earnest petition that this
more than ever, the AMERICAN
'TERIAN may be an efficient pro
of revivals, and a powerful ad
in elevating the spiritual life of
.als and of the church.
family department, with the aid
well-known authors of the " Wide,
World," " Dollars and Cents,"
yurne House," &c.,—the Misses
be found well adapted to
lons wants of the houshold. Few,
papers devote an entire page, as
to this department. We are con
that it is space well employed.
now a word as to the degree of
ity enjoyed by the paper. We
lure to inform our readers that
X nwric)ll3 - _
there has been a gain above losses, to
the subscription list, of one thousand
names during the past year. We have
also supplied the army through the
Christian Commission and . otherwise,
with over one thousand copies a week
during the year. This is a much greater
circulation, and a much greater increase
in a given time, than has ever before
been enjoyed by the paper: And yet, as
many subscriptions were taken in the
early part of the year at very low rates,
and as paper and wages rose constantly
upon us until the 'expenses of publication
are double what they formerly were, we
have published the AMERICAN PRESBY
TERIAN at a very considerable loss; and
we do not now know whether we shall
not again lose in the year just commenc
ing. Relying upon the Divine favor,
and looking to our subscribers for co
operation in prayers and efforts for the
increased circulation of the - paper, we
have determined to go forward. We
want fifteen hundred new names added
to our list, to make our paper at present
rates self-supporting; we hope our friends
will secure them for us—as doubtless
they can—by prompt and vigorous
efforts. Meanwhile, we have made new
arrangements for the publication of our
sheet, which is dressed hi new type, and
have secured a more regular issue and
mailing of the paper than, through the
first year, was always attainable. We
have been for some time aided in the
preparation of the news and the selec
tions for our columns, as well as, to some
extent, in our editorial work, by our valued
friend and brother, REV. B. B. HOTCHKIN ;
and it seems meet that this assistance
should at this time be acknowledged.
Mr. Hotchkin does not give up his pas
toral relations with the neighboring
Church of Marple, which are very happy,
but he will continue to bestow a conside
rable portion of his time upon the depart
ments of the paper afiove named, and
his skilful use of the pen,. known by
recent very marked successes in that
line, his sound views, his ripe judgment,
his wide acquaintance with our church,
and his genial and spiritual tone have
already made themselves felt, we doubt
not, in the improved character of the
paper.
tger
IS—
ig—
ig—
en—
.efle;ted
Maga-
nce—Ge
-India—
xanism.
ermitted
upon the
y it be a
y the life
e received
11' the past,
nd submis.
it be pro
shall live to
lull outlast
conclusion
each be able
summary of
matchless epi
tolation: "To
ND TO DIE IS
readers upon
RICAN PRESBY-
appearance on
amities, among
d through the
iers, will materi-
ear a happy one.
Arive to -promote
to inform them
tng of importance
and the various
L'ch of Christ, and
nted with the de-
New Series, Vol. 11, No. 1.
Our Rochester Correspondent, whose
letters have presented our readers with
the fullest and most varied intelligence
from Central and Western New York,
and have added greatly to the interest of
the paper, deserves an introduCtion to
our readers, and a place on our editorial
staff. He will be known hereafter as
REv. CHARLES P. BUSH, Corresponding
Editor in Rochester.
These are grave periods. The influ
ence of the newspaper press never was
greater for good or for evil, than now.
Hundreds and thousands of people look
to the newspaper' for almost all their
mental food, and receive from it their
guiding light and watchwords of opinion.
The religious press has no small share
in these responsibilities. It is absolutely
indispensable to the life, the sympathy,
the intelligence and enlargement of
view of the people, and to the pros
perity of the church. No better work
for the church or society can be done,
than to maintain and circulate the organs
of loyal, wholesome, outspoken, religious
sentiment, and the representatives of
such great principles in morals and in
doctrine, as are cheriShed by our own
denomination. We shall at least aim to
deserve recognition as fulfilling the con
ditions of usefulness of the religious
newspaper in these days, and in our own
branch of the church.
. DITTO TO THAT.—The San Francisco
Pacific says :—"Rev. J. B. Lowe has ad
vertised to preach on the Canianche ground.
Last Sabbath he published his subject.
The first head was Caveat against Jump-
Jim-Crow preaching !' followed by several
other caveats. We put in our caveat
against any such notices. They are not in
the style of the great Preacher, and they
are not Presbyterian either."
A GOOD APPOINTMENT.—Rev. C. S.
Armstrong, of Lansing, Mich., has accepted
the appointment of chaplain of the Fourth
Michigan Cavalry, and is now on duty with
the regiment in Kentucky. He is a bro
ther highly esteemed in Michigan, and
wherever else known, and well adapted to
the work which he has assumed. We have
the pleasure of promising to our readers an
excellent letter from his pen next week.
_ .
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, JANUARY -5, 1865.
HINDRANCES TO REVIVALS.
A spiritual life has begun its course
upon earth. • A fire from above has been
kindled upon earthly altars. A power
has been given to the Church adequate
to the vast spiritual needs of the fallen
race of man. With manifestations suited
to its might and its glory, the Holy Spirit
signalized its entrance -upon the career
for which the ascension of our Lord pre
pared the way. The heavenly messenger
came and opened the new dispensation
in a series of revivals, of such power and
fruitfulness, that a. prosperous and pow
erful church rose immediately in the
midst of Jewish and heathen opposition.
And He who thus announced His nature
and His peculiar funetions, whosa r very
name declares Him to be the Vivifier,
whose continual tendency is to press on
the Church to a higher—a revived—
spiritual state, is He not with her still?
Is not the Church still possessed of this
principle of the new lite, and is it not
communicable to the perishing world as
truly, as energetically, and in as abundant
supply as ever? The very pith Hof the
Saviour's consolations to the disciples, as
they contemplated in amazement and
sorrow his approaching death, was the
permanence of the indyelling of the Holy
Spirit which He shoild send in place of
Himself. Christ, as man, must die; as
God, He abides forever in His Church,
and reveals all the riches of His grace
and wonders of His power by the con
verting and sanctifying energy of the
Holy Spirit..
While all the sin in the world is
leagued against the kingdom of Christ,
and while wicked men resist, and grieve,
and quench the Holy Spirit, yet . it is in
the Church, and among good but imper
fect men, that we must look for peculiar
hindrances to the ,reviving work of the
Spirit. Such there were, in the view of
the Apostle, in the Church of the Ephe
sians, whom he charges: Grieve not
the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are
sealed, &c.; such, too, he beheld in the
almost blameless Church of the Thessa
lonians, whom he is inspired to admonish
is similar language: Quench not the
Spirit;—texts both of which are, with an
exclusiveness altogether unwarranted,
applied to the case of the unrepentant'
sinner. How many of our clerical read
ers have.used them in preaching to the
Church? How many of them cherish
the conviction, and act upon it, that their
first, truest, most important application
is to the household of faith? How many
of them keenly feel that the absence, the
fewness, the transiency, the ineffective
nes& of revivals is due to the quenching,
by the Church itself, of those influences
which were committed to her in sufficient
measure and degree for the conversion of
the world to Christ?
1. The Church hinders revivals by the
apathy and worldliness of her members.
We speak not merely of personal cold
ness, which may more truly be defined
as the lack of revival; we refer rather to
that sluggish acquiescence in a languish
ing, lukewarm, inefficient condition of the
Church, of which the vast majority of
church members' are, for so long a period,
guilty. We refer to that conformity to
the world which involves the affections
of God's people, which consumes their,
time, their energies, their zeal; which
allows them to give but the remnant . of
their life to the service of. the Master;
which makes them formal in their religion,
and robs them of every distinctive fea
ture before the world, and of all will or
capacity to exert a positive influence as
Christians upon the unconverted. Nay,
further; the Church hinders revivals by
failing to discern the great religious exi
gency of the race; by falling into utterly
inadequate views of the worth and peril
of an immortal soul; by a contented
blindness to the dark, and terrible facts
in the condition and destiny of men, and
its own failure to cope, in any appreciable
degree, with the problem. It is motion
less to use the means placed in its hands,
because it is insensible to the indescriba
ble urgency of the demand, and the infi
nitesimal degree in which the demand
has been met. The Church is too self
complacent, too fond of recounting its
conquests, too much inclined to repose as
substantially, victorious ; it will not look
steadily at the roaring lion going about
and seeking whom he may devour, or
listen to the tumult of that "man of sin,"
that embodiment of lawlessness, that
mystery of iniquity, that already worketh,
raging to be loosed from the bonds which
social order and government throw around
him, and which, if they be taken away,
will reveal in full measure the Antichrist
of anarchy, the masterpiece of Satan,
which, with his great power, his signs
and wonders, and deceivableness of un
righteousness, must be met and van
quished by the revived Church. The
world, the nominally Christian world, is
yet to be converted; in its bosom rankle
all the elements of Antichrist, and the
Church which grovels in stupid insensi
bility to this fact, hinders the work of
revivals by which the evil is to be con
fronted and overcome.
2. The Church is unbelieving. Some,
perhaps many, are awake to the startling
facts of the situation, and revolve them
gloomily in their minds. TheT see
wickedness -rampant and the Church in
different. Over wide districts Zion mourns,
and languishes, and withers, from lack of
spiritual supplies. Great and rapid ad-
vances are few are singular, are the noted
exceptions instead of the rule. The work
of. God, oni the whole, advanceS ; but so
slowly, it is like, the advance of the sea
upon our Atlantic coast, or like the rise
of the coast of Norway from the ,sea; it
needs the lapse ,of ,a generation to mark
its progress. The living portion of the
Church begins to ,regard a teiival . as
exceptional state, a tee re% o oo _ort
o
pray for it, save in that aspect. A revi
val is something wonderful, coal of the
ordinary course ofnature or of grace; a
large ingathering is not to be looked for
every year. A certain gradual growth
comes to 'be considered the normal,
healthy condition of the church, and if a
handful appear 'at every communion sea
son, it is not only matter of gratulation,
which is proper enough, but it is con
sidered perfe - ctly 'satisfactory, and the
Church is of course reported as in a
flourishing condition.
This, them, is the view taken by many
of the true friends of Zion. The Holy
Spirit is not actually expected to manifest
His true nature and operations save in a
limited, inCidental way. There is little
or no - large expectancy or holy confidence
in Him as the authoor of revivals. The
greatness and the urgency of the work to
be done is'indeed beheld, and dying souls
are watched with yearning for their
• - .
deliverance, but the conviction, which
would seem inseparable from these ex
periences, that the compassionate, long
suffering Holy Spirit, the author of all
our desires for the glory of God, and the
.
'oint intercessor with. us. and helper of
our infirmities, with groanings - which
cannot be uttered, Himself desires the
salvation, speedily and, by multitudes, of
these objects of our _solicitude, and is
ready to repeat the scenes of Pentecost
in an equally united, praying, and believ
ing Church; this conviction is not fixed,
clear, controlling in'the Minds of the true
people of
,Gro . d.
T ; hiS nOielief , we_re'c,kon as a hindrance
to revivals. It paralyzeS effort, it pro
duces acquiescence in the, existing state
of things, it cools the ardor of prayer, it
dishonors God, and it paves the way for
another and a still greater hindrance,
which we now name:
3. The ill-timed conservatism of many
of the ministry and laity in regard to all
special movements, measures, agencies,
and states of the Church. Revivals are
not merely despaired of, nor yet viewed
with indifference only; they are' suspected,
feared, disliked, repelled. The ordinary
means of grace, the regular ordinances of
the Church, the gradual and steady work
ing of the truth in ; methods not interfering
with the usual arrangements of business
and society, notwithstanding their inade
quate results, are insisted upon as all
sufficient for the purposes of the Church
and the world, as in fact alone of divine
appointment, and in the way to receive
the divine blessing. The evil often mixed
with revivals is represented as overbal
ancing the good. Fear is felt lest the
regular services of the sanctuary fall into
disrepute, and lest the divine be for
saken for human appointments. There
arises an utter incapacity for appreciating
the phenomena and the necessities of a
wide-spread religious excitement. Be
cause at such a time special and some
what
novel arrangements must be made
to answer the numerous inquiries, "What
shall I do to be saved?" because peculi
arities of human nature are necessarily
developed under great and general ex-•
citements, because Satan will naturally
be stimulated to new devices where he is
assailed in any unusual Manner, these
conservatives brand the whole procedure
as a delusion, and set their faces against
all such. developments.: Like the Thessa
lonians, they 'quench the Spirit and de
spise prophesyings, because they have
seen some mixtures of disorder with the
manifestations, and because they have
more sensitiveness than zeal for the truth.
It is, alas, too true, that not a few
zealous workers for Christ in the great
harvest field of revivals, have themselves
proved hindrances and given cause for
stumbling. Some have shown such a
want of discretion in their measures, have
proven so little capable of guiding or in
structing an excited multitude, have lived
such eccentric lives, and indulged such
extravagant notions; some have so un
sparingly denounced the people and the
ministry of God, and have sowed such
discords between pastor and people, that
they must bear no small share of the
blame for prevailing prejudices against
revivals and revival agencies. We do
not wonder that some are driven into a
remote and chill conservatism on the
whole subject; but let us beware of re
ceiving such an unfortunate impression;
instead of quenching the Spirit and de
spising prophesyings, let us try the spirits,
prove all things, and hold fast that which
is good. Let us not hinder a revival by
Genesee Evangelist, No. 97 1.
despising, decrying, or discouraging a
revival agency because we have at times
foUnd it producing evil results. Pene
trated with our need of all the agency
which can be brought into operation for
the rescue of the perishing millions of our
fellow-men, let us eagerly, gladly welcoine
every instrumentality which the Holy
Spirit has used in quickening the impeni
tent masses, and in revealing His true
nature as a giver of spiritual life mi . &
great scale, and as ready now to bless
the Church and the world with more than.
Pentecostal effusions of his grace.
THE . GREATNESS OF ROMANISM IN
THE EYES OF POLITIOIANS.
Any act of deference to the Romish
Church from the politicians who govern
New York city, is not to be wondered
at They seek power, and thery - have
no scruples as to whence it can be
obtained. Once they found it in alliance
with the men who now figure as the
secession leaders of the , South ; and -at
the last PreSidential election they made
a desperate attempt, to open communica
tion with them again. But failing that,
they naturally turn to that body of men
in the North Who 'are even more com
pactly organized than the pro-slavery
Democracy of the South ever was, and
who have shown themselves just as
ready to play into.the hands of politicians
for a consideration We mean our Irish
Catholic population. No doubt the
"peace" proclivities of this class of
voters gave them additional favor, and
were a new proof of availability in the
eyes of the secession sympathizers who
rule New York . city. Especially the
demonstration of the great mass of the
Romanists and their leaders in the late
election, against the government, drew
the regar - ds of the York Councilmen
towards them, and they have
. recently
shown their appreciation of the - poSition
of the church on public affairs, by Voting•
several large sums to Romish institu
tiOns—as $5,000 to the College of St.
Francis Xavier, $30,000 to St. Joseph's
Asylum, $15,000 to the Society for Des
titute Catholic - Children, and $3,000 tol
St. Theresa's Industrial School. It is
superfluous to say that no such appro
,,priation would have beeli made' had the,
Catholic vote been given substantially
for Mr. Lincoln. These appropriations,
made in - almost the same breath with a
refusal to vote a moderate sum to the
unsectarian useful Children's Aid Society,
do not surprise us. But our readers
will find in the Congressional proceedings
published in our last paper, an illustra
tion of the influence still, possessed by
the scarlet Woman, even over our most
loyal public men, which does seem to us
surprising. It appears that one of the
superstitious practices connected with
the order of the Sisters of Charity—in
many respects an eminently useful and
charitable institution—consists in wear
ing certain goods, the material of which
cannot be produced in this country, and
must therefore be imported, under all the
prevailing disadvantages, from a foreign
market. Whereupon, the Mother Super
intendent of the order Sends a petition to
Congress stating the facts, complaining
that the order cannot pay the high
charges required, and asking for a remis
sion of the duties on the article. The
petition was presented by Hon. John P.
Hale, and with a promptness frequently
not shown in matters of the gravest
importance, was referred to the Finance
Committee. As if this was not a suffi
cient proof of deference on the part of
the dignitaries of the American Senate,
to the head of a Popish order, on the
next day, without waiting as decency
would require, for a report from the
Finance Committee, a bill was submitted
lby Mr. Hale, covering the request of the
lady Superintendent, and referred to the
committee.
Now if this very prompt and deferen
tial action was designed to relieve " the
Sisters" from suffering, or to facilitate
their charitable labors, it might not be
worth while to remark upon the distinc
tion thus drawn in favor of a sectarian
organization ; but as the legislation pro
posed would make the government the
ally of an absurd superstition, the special
protector of traffic in Popish rags and
mummery, we think it is demanded of
evangelical and liberal people of all or
of no denomination, to lift up their pro
test against it. We protest against this
special favor shown to Popery in its
most Popish aspects. We protest against
this extraordinary deference on the part
of the highest deliberative body of the
nation; to the requests of a sectarian
official for sectarian purposes. We pro
test against this accommodating the
United States revenue arrangements to
the request of a sect, that has made the
most palpable demonstrations of luke
warmness .and factiousness during our
struggle. We look with amazement at
the course of loyal statesmen who seem
utterly oblivious to the lessons of recent
events, and who act still as if something
was to be gained to the nation or to
their party, by conciliating these blind
followers of a spiritual despot, who can-
T 30 it NC
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not but dread and hate a republic as a
most serious obstacle to his scheme- of
universal supremacy. . The spectacle is
unbecoming a free people who are making
new and costly acquaintance with the
value of liberty, and who are more than
ever reminded of the sin and danger of
guiding their policy by the low views of
party expediency. •
We may be sure that in those new
combinations for political power which
will follow our restored jnion, the emis
saries of the Pope calculate on playing
an impbrtant part. If the pitiful frag
ments of the pro-slavery Democracy,
which like remnants of corruptly" in, the
regenerate man, will still infest the reno
vated Republic, choose to daily with
them and dream of regaining lost power
by their aid, let it be. The conjunction
will be appropriate. Both will fall into
the ditch. But let us hold our political -~
leaders who have shaken off their slavish
deference to the South, responsible for
any demonstration of ser4iliW:, : , a
_a class
of religionists equally hos , l4e• !-;-'• • .om,
and whose power to cajolgjoterriamass
and to injure the cause Of freedom, is
testified by every page of modern history.
hat does it avail to break by violence
and bloodshed, one yoke of servitude
only to take up and bear another, which
'in like manner must be broken too ?
Xtin of ttt etitutto.
TESTIMONIALS TO PASTORS.—We have
another instalment of those comforting in
cidents in pastoral experience. The friends
of Rev. Nelson Millard, of Montclair, N. J.,
came to his residence on the 21st ult., and
after a pleasant Social interview departed,
leaving behind five hundred dollars as a
practical testimonial of their affection. The
Church in Erie, Mich., have complimented
their deserving pastor, Rev. S. Fleming,
with a present of one hundred and fifty dol
lars. Rev. J. L. French, of Batavia, 0.,
makes grateful acknowledgment of a visit
from his parishioners, "pleasant and gene
rous." Rev. P. S. Cleland, of Greenwood,
Ind., the twenty-fifth anniversary of whose
pastorate was recently made the occasion
of an interesting celebration, acknowledges
the receipt of money and other valuable
articles, contributed at that time as tokens
of the regard of an affectionate people.
Rev. E. S. Weaver speaks gratefully of a
like remembrance from the people of Mason
and Dick's Creek in the same State. We
notice, in another c.lamn, another of those
pleasant episodes in pastoral life in our
own city.
Rev.' Geo. F. Wiswell, of Wilmington,
received five hundred dollars from his af
fectionate people; his wife having previs
ously received a silver tea service.
REV. JOHN 11.1.CLEOD AND THE SOUTH
WESTERN CHURCH.—When the South-
Western Church in this city secured the
pastoral services of Mr. McLeod, they
obtained a man whose efficiency was exactly
adapted to their emergency. When he
took the post, he obtained a field finely
adapted to his untiring love of gathering
in and building up. We learn that he is—
abroad among our generous people, endea
. voring to secure aid for the completion of
the newly erected edifice for his church.
Let it be remembered that the whole debt
on that church (lately $5,300) is paid,
ground included; that they are now wor
shipping in a basement, and are in real
need of better accommodation; that $6,000
will now finish their house, and in fair
probability render them a self-supporting
church, and we believe their present appeal
for help will secure a substantial response.
Not the least important in this connection,
is the fact that, at their last communion,
twelve persons were added to their number,
all but two on profesion.
STILL THEY Conu.—At the close of the
prayer meeting at Olivet Presbyterian
Church last Friday night, the people were
requested by one of the elders, to keep
their seats for a little while. H. R. Raiguel,
Esq., another elder, then came forward and
surprised the pastor, Rev. W. W. Taylor,
addressing him and presenting an envelope,
in the name of the congregation, containing
$353. The surprise and pleasure of the
occasion seemed to be shared by both the
parties concerned, and was accepted as an
auspicious preparation for another year's
work, during which, the congregation
expect to enter into their new house of
worship, and are making appropriate efforts
to that end.
INTERESTING COMMIINION.-Dr. Marche.'
Church (Clinton street) enjoyed an unusu
ally precious communion season last Sab
bath. We, hear the influences of the hoax
spoken of as delightful. Ten new members
were received—nine of them on profession,