,11 E MAHAN PRESBYTERIAN m 4Cr)
AHD
GENESEE EVANGELIST. lalgritiln
t i ts fr oan
A R g iota* and Family NewspaPer,
•
IN TIE INTEREST OF THE
".°••• ,
ftlIP %On
IT
Constitutional Presbyterian Church.
Pi: :p• :• • : • Y 1,
AT THE PRESBYTERIAN HOUSE,
1334 Chestnut Street. (2d story,) Philadelphia.
Roy. John W. Hears, Editor and Publisher.
liev. B. B. llotehkin, Editor of News and
ramify Departments.
Elev. C. D. Bush, Corresponding Editor.
Rochester, N:Y.
Puritan Urt*gttrialt.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1866
COIfrENTS OF INSIDI.PAGES,
SECOND PAGE—THE FAMILY CIRCLE :
The Star Enamoured—The Young , Bavarian—A
Painting from Life—Grinding the Diamond—A He
roine-r Sensible Maxima--"Not Grudgingly, or of
Necessity"—Scripture land Hygiene—The North
Polo.
THIRD PAGE—EDITOR' S TABLE :
Ellicott's "Critical and Grammatical CommentarY en
the Pastoral Epistles"—Butler's "St. Paulin Rome"
Beecher's "Autobiography, Correspondence, etc., of
Lyman Beecher, D.D."—Magaziries and Pamphlets
—Thanksgiving Berrtions. ,
Atlantic Cable—Obituary, Extraordinary . Neigh
borly Feeling—A Mightyklistake—Christ is Suffi
cient—A New Fire Extinguisher.
SIXTH PAGE—CORRESPONDENCE:
Open Air Preachers—" The Enlightenment" of the
Modern Hindoos—Agrioultural Colleges—Mr. Ham
mond among the Children.
Literary Items; New Religious Monthly—German
—Miscellaneous—French items.
SETENTE PAGE—FOREIGN SUMMARY:
Holland — Saxony—Raly—Germany—France-Rrazil
ingular Coincidence.
Miscellaneous: The Great Transition—Come Away
—The Vicarious Atonement.
A.gricultural: Window Gardening—Annual Fruit—
How to Catch Curoulios—Eggs in Winter.
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN EXPERI-
EWE.
The highest of all arts is character
building. The true beauty is the beauty
of holiness. Higher than poet, or` paint
er, or sculptor, or architect is the faith
ful Christian, dealing with his own heart,
and disciplining his character upon the
principles and patterns of the Gospel.
A genuine Christian experience is a pro
cess as interesting, as truely aesthetic,
as worthy, and as wide a field for the ex
ercise of the artistic faculty, as the 'paint
ing of a fine picture, the shaping of a
noble statue, or the rearing of a goodly
structure. All other forms of art are
but symbols, copies, faint reflections of
this art of self-culture, in which the soul
is both the artist and the plastic sub
stance, Divinity incarnate the model and
teacher, Providence the guide, the Holy
Spirit the source of inspiration and eter
nity the scene of full development.
Some there are who regard the experi
ence of the practical Christian as mere
superstition; as a weak surrender of the
intellect to the. vagaries of an unhinged
imagination, or to the authority of an
antiquated unlovely volume, or to obso
lete prejudices. Some regard it as step
ping quite out of - the Tine of tainfarpro - - -
gress, as narrow, bigoted, unmanly ; as
the growth of fear excited by priestcraft ;
as an interference with the free develop
ment of the intellectual powers and the
enterprising dmpulses of the soul. Some
view it as glooiny and monastic, as
dyspeptic and hypochondriac.
But a true Christian experience is a
progress in the noblest elements of
human character, an artist's daily ad
vance towards the-realizing of his loftiest
ideal. True, in many Christians the
marks of this advance are .few, and only
a very faint resemblance to the great
ideal may be traced, but this is because
so much had to be done. The material
being a fallen soul, was too ruinous; was
too far removed from the glory and beau
of the divine image, to warrant an
early approximation, to that standard.
And, alas one of the discouraging fea
tures of its fallen condition, is its' utterly
false notions of beauty and perfection,
which blind it to the true, 'and which
lead it to pursue and applaud perverse
methods of culture. Even: where these
evidences are present, therefore, the un
regenerate man is incapable of recog
nizing or appreciating them. And. the
Christian himself, only partially rescued
from his blindness and apathy, discerns
but little of the glory and dignity of the
object he has chosen, is often dazzled
and drawn aside by false schemes of
living, and rarely labors after his, ideal
with the zeal 'and the enthusiasm worthy
of its greatness. He is often entangled
in the common cares of life and can
see but a handbreadth beyond the im
mediate pressing concerns of the hour.
That he is engaged in any thing more
than an ordinary effort to discharge the
duties and meet the cares and burdens
which Providence assigns him, seldom
enters his busy thoughts. For all that,
he may be an artist in the school of
-spiritual self-culture, unconsciously work
ing away at the material of character
placed under his hand, and bringing out
a result which shall shine in the last day
with heavenly lustre and symmetry, and
shall receive the prize of the high calling
of God in Jesus. Yet, it would relieve
the tedium of his cares and new-kindle
his zeal, were the nature"! and dig-
N•ew Series, Vol. 11, No. 8.
pity of the work he, in that humble way
is doing, made known to him. Over the
common-place, every-day cares of life, in
the household, in the workshop, in the
counting-room and in the more public
walks of life, as encountered by the true
Christian, this conviction would flash a
new light and significance, a worth which
he newer saw before. He is in God's
school of art. Providence shapes his
circumstances into a system of training
for his soul. And he is every day put
ting touches on a piece of work, which it
is but half trifling to say, will outlast all
the obelisks and sphinxes and pyramids
and domes, the Apollo Belvideres, the
Venus de Medicis, the Dying Gladiators,
the mosaics, and frescoes, and glowing
canvasses of ancient or modern art.
What are the elements of a genuine
Christian experience, which justify our
high estimate of its aesthetic value ?
What constitutes it the ennobling pro
gress we have described ?
We answer : it is a work in the
affections, and moral nature of the man—
a field greatly neglected in the world's
processes of training, yet the most im
portant and most worthy part of man's
complex nature. It is the purification
and enlargement of the affections to com
prehend the riches of Divine love. It is
the awakening of conscience to the great
problem of man's guilt and God's
remedy_ It cultivates the moral sense
by showing the difficulties of man's posi
tion by nature, by pressing home upon
him his sin, and by exhibiting to him
the perfect, glorious, unparalleled triumph
of the Gospel overthe difficulties.
A still higher sphere of the inner life
is _opened, a loftier capacity than the
moral sense is called into play in a
genuine Christian experience. It is
FAITH. Not only is a whole exalted
class of objects, unknown to any other
faculty, brought within our range by faith,
but our own relation to them becomes pert
sonal, practical, endearing. Faith is an ap
propriating knowledge of spiritual things.
It . is a trust which links us to God
and gives us treasures in heaven. It puts
us-in: right, relations_to thie-world---attd
the next, saves us from the delusions of,
sense, raises us above the fear
. of man,
puts large, elevating, purifying hope as
a bright and boundless atmosphere
around the soli? It shows us an Advo
cate and Intercessor at the right hand
of God, and teaches us to PRAY. Prayer
is the chief act and glory of the genuine
Christian experience. Believing prayer
is almost: another name for the Christian
life. In communion with God, and in
submission to God, the Christian aims
to live and to act. He learns how to
offer true prayer. He accounts it to be,
and it is, the supreme accomplishment of
man to pray aright. To, wrestle in
prayer and to prevail, is to be a Prince
of God. To have power with God in
prayer, as a settled element of character,
is to have a more than princely endovi
ments.
The excellence of the Christian life
.con
sists not only in having the , perfect
Jesus for a model, but in being united to
him by faith. The Christian's life opens
up into the persOnal life of Christ The
strength, the beauty, the purity, the di
vine merit of that perfect -character be
comes ours by the appropriating act of
faith, and by the in-dwelling of Christ's
Spirit._ The divine ideal, after which
we strive, is not a mere ideal. Nor is it
merely an embodied and glorious reality.
It is the Author and Finisher of our
faith. It is He in whose vicarious death
we die, and in whose resurrection we
rise to newness of life. He has exper
ienced our conflicts, we triumph in his
victories. Faith in Him is the living,
formative principle of the true Christian
experience. It is the root, the germ from
which must be evolved• all the possible
developments of the Christian life. By
this we are made, partakers of the
Divine nature." To faith we add manly
virtue ; to virtue, knowledge ; to know
ledge, temperance ; to temperance, pa
tience ; to patience, or noble endurance,
godliness ; to godliness, brotherly kind
ness ; and to brotherly kindness, charity.
A. beautiful sisterhood, a harmonious
choir of graces spring from the fruitful
source of a living faith in Christ. And
faith still walks hand in hand with these
graces ; gives them their superhuman
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY - , FEBRUARY 23, 1865.
CENTRAL CHURCH, ROCHFATRIVIfEW -YORK.
character ; takes from them their pride
and their selfishness; makes them living,
growing elements of a living, advancing
character ; saves them from wreck amid
temptation and preserves their unity and
their repose without the sacrifice of
energy and the sinking into formality.
" Looking unto Jesus" is its watch-.
word.
Christian artist apply thyself cour
ageously to thy daily - work ! It is
.no com
mon place, no dill undertaking. Steadily,
as the long patient painter or sculptor,
unfold trait after trait, in increasing
distinctness and beauty, of the glorious
spiritual image in which thy perfected soul
at last shall shine. Christ, the Archetype
and the Master Workman is with thee.
His Spirit is thine to inspire thee with
zeal, with enthusiasm, with Christian
ambition. Thou art encompassed about
with a great cloud of witnesses. Press
toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
" When I consider," says Dr. Gillett,_
"the several doctrines the reception and
of which- aro implied in a
Christian profession, I feel that Id who
would build upon them in justice to their
true proportions, will rear such a struc
ture of religious doing and enduring, of
heavenly-minded beneficence and ' of
saintly purity and love, as can find
nothing but the merest and feeblest sym
bol of it all in the shapes of beauty and
of grandeur into which the marble has
been piled, and I feel that no architect,
of however exalted a name, can be com
pared for a single moment with him,
who, in the humbleness of the obscurest
lot, cuts the years of his probation into
living stones, that will but shine in a
brighter and more lasting beauty, when
the fires of the last conflagration sh'all
have helped time to do his work of de
struction on the crumbling palaces of
the kings, and the nobles of the earth.*
Life Lessons, p. 205
WHAT OP THE LATE FIRE IN THIS
CITY-7—Perhaps more than has yet been
.developed. Next to no doubt remains
that 'it had an incendiary, origin. We
are not alarmists, but we regard it worth
the while, in this connection, for . our
people to take review of the devilish
threat uttered by the Richmond Exami
ner, a little previous to the late attempt
to burn New York.
" A million of dollars would lay the
proudest city of the enemy in ashes.
The men to execute the work are already
there.. There would be no difficulty in
finding there, here, or in Canada, suit
able persons to take charge of the enter
prise and arrange the details. Twenty
men, with plans preconcerted, and means
provided, selecting some dry, windy
night, might fire New York, Philadel
phia, or Boston, in a hundred places,
and wrap it in flames from centre to
suburb."
So it appeared in the Examiner, word
for word. It would be well for Phila
delphia and all our Northern cities, to
reflect that men who are capable of de
liberately starving Union prisoners, have
in them enough of the demon to follow
up such a threat, watching their oppor
tunity from month to month, and, if
necessary, from year to year, until their
fell purpose is accomplished: - _
THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN
SOLDIER.—The Army and Navy Journal
of Feb. 11th, contains a fine and well
considered article on this subject, which
we have marked for insertion next week.
CENTRAL CHURCH, ROCHESTER, N.Y.
The Central Presbyterian Church, of
Rochester, was organized in 1836 ; first
called the Bethel Free Church, and es
tablished as a missionary enterprise.
Its first house of worship, a substantial
stone edifice, was erected on Washington
street, adjacent to the Erie Canal, during
the autumn and winter following, at an
expense of $15,000.
The first elders were Geo. A. Avery,
since gone to heaven ; Walter S. Grif
fith, since an honored and useful elder in
the South Church, Brooklyn ; and Pres
ton Smith, who is still, here, and still an
elder in the present organization.
The church embraced thirty-nine mem
bers at its beginning ; all having re
ceived letters of - dismission from the
First Presbyterian Church, of Rochester,
to enter upon this enterprise. Of those
thirty-nine, who entered into this organi
zation twenty-nine years ago, only five
still remain members, and only seventeen
are still supposed to be living.
Rev; Qeo. `S. Boardman,. since Dr.
Boardman; pastor of the 'Presbyterian
Church-in 'actzenovia, was its first minis
ter. 4e Was.installed in October, 1837 ;
and: , continued to hold the office until
jtay;
In 1841 the name of the organization
was changed, and it was called Wash
ington Street Church, according - to its
location.
The church had no settled pastor
from July, 1842, to February, 1845;
during which time the pulpit was sup
plied by Rev. John T. Avery, now of
Cleveland ; Rev: Mr. Bassett ; Rev. G.
R. A. Shumway, now of Newark, in this
State ; Rev.l F: W. Graves, recently
deceased ; and Rev. P. C. Hastings, now
a prosperous business man in New York.
..In- February, 1845; Rev. Milo J.
,Hfciok(now Dr. Hickok, of Scranton,
.
Pennsylvania,) became its pastor, and
continued in that relation until April,
1854.
Rev. F. F. Ellinwood o succeeded him,
in that relation, in November of the
same . year ; and it has been under his
prosperous and happy administration,
that the church edifice, of which we give
the outline above, was erected, in a more
central and desirable location. It was
commenced in July, 1856 ; completed
and dedicated_ in April, 1858 ; built of
brick at a cost of about $45,000. The
whole length of the building is one hun
dred and forty-six feet ; width of front,
outside of tower, sixty-eight feet ; height
of principal tower one hundred and
forty-four feet ; smaller tower one hun
dred and fifteen feet. The audience enter
through,the right tower, and by the big
doors in front.
The pastor's study is at the left of
the main entrance, in the base of the
tower. The infant class-room, also on
the left, and - the prayer-room, or smaller
lecture-room, on the right of the great
hall, (which is fifty feet by twelve) lead
ing into the audience-room ; and the
larger lecture-room, or Sabbath-school
room, which is forty-five by fifty-eight
feet, is in the second story, over these
smaller rooms, and the great hall.
It will thus be seen that about fifty
feet of the front portion of the building
are devoted to the Sabbath-school and
lecture rooms, and to smaller rooms for in
fant and Bible classes, and pastor's. study.
The main audience room, in the rear of
these, and approached by a broad pas
sage-way under the lecture room, is
eighty-two by fifty-eight feet, with gal
leries upon three sides. The pulpit is
in the back end of the building. The
choir gallery is so situated, in the oppo
site end of the audience room, that, the
great organ, having two faces, can be
played in the church proper or in the
lecture room, directly in front`of the au
dience room, and over the main entrance.
It will thus be seen, that the edifice is
Genesee Evangelist, No. 979.
quite unique in its structure, not wanting
in some , peculiar advantages. But the
best part of the church is the people
The building furnishes for the Sabbath
congregation about a thousand sittings,
and they are ordinarily well filled -from
Sabbath to Sabbath, with an earnest,
united, happy, useful people. It is one
of the strongest and best church organi
zations anywhere to be found. It has
been blessed with powerful revivals of
religion. It has often received large ac
cessions to its numbers ; as many as
one hundred and fifty-six at one time,
only two years ago. It is a church
peculiarly well satisfied and happy in its
minister: And certainly Mr. Ellinwood
has been greatly blessed in his labors
among them ; and now while he is far
away, in quest of health, he is constantly
remembered in their conversation, and
their prayers, with an interest and affec
tion, suchrras the, greatest and best in
this holy calling might earnestly covet.
PRAYER FOR COLLEGES AND INSTI
TUTIONS OF LEARNING. _
To-day is eminently the day of pious
parents and their children, of the Church
and her sons and daughters. The eyes
and heart of God's - people are 10-day
upowtheir choicest treasures; those who,
under God, are their hope for the per
petuation and prosperity of the Church ;
those who are to be the ornament and
delight of their old age ; those to whom
the highest interests of man are, for
this life and .the next, to be entrusted.
To-day culminates the feeling of con
stant regard in the church, for her youth
under tutors and professors, in a public
and solemn demonstration. She commits
them to God in an especial manner ; she
humbly, fervently, unitedly pleads for
their conversion and consecration to his
service. She asks that in them the line
of chosen witnesses for the truth may be
perpetuated, and that a sufficient supply
for the ever enlarging wants of the
world may arise from their number; that
a spirit of devotion and self-denial-may
be poured upon them such as shall dis
pose many of them, in answer to the call
for the increase of the ministry, to devote
themselves - to the work. She asks for
those already happily devoted to the
ministry, ardent, prayerful piety ; en
larged views of their work; thorough
preparation of mind and heart to meet
ita great responsibilities ; an inward ar
mor of faith to, meet the grave assaults
of scientific unbelief for which our day is,
.o—hatl.l7eminent. She asks that they
may be fitted to fill the place of the min
istry in this land of ours; by patriotism,
by sympathy with the great movements
of the age proceeding so triumphantly
under the manifest leadings of Provi
dence ; that they may be men above
mean prejudices of race or color, prepared
to advocate justice and to apply the gos
pel fearlessly to every remaining iniquity
public, social, or private ; fit guides to a
people whose destiny is so manifestly
onward, to be a blessing, an example and
a stimulus to the nations of mankind.
God grant that as in past days, so to
day- in answer to our united supplica
tions, great and precious revivals may
appear amid our youth in colleges,
schools and seminaries ; that they may
be led by the Spirit to turn their noble
enthusiasm and their high and elastic
purposes into the alone worthy channel
of devotion to Christ ; that they may re
ceive into their expanding souls the sub
lime principles of the gospel, and that
we may yet live to see them worthily
filling the high places of power in the
land, an earnest, humble; thoroughly - -
trained, manly ministry; or, in whatever
other sphere of labour or influence, acting
as
_a powerful leaven of godliness, a sup
port to the church, and a restraint to
wickedness throughout the community.
CHARLESTON EVACUATED : A BLOOD-
It is of God, we must all exclaim, that
the fall of this pre-eminently rebellious
and inexpressibly guilty city, has at last
been achieved by strategy and without a
blow being struck or a drop of blood
shed in its final defence. It is not
merely the weakness of the rebellion
now, even fordefensive operations, that
is revealed by this silent and un
resisting surrender. It not only shows
that their entire strength is in the single
army of Virginia ; it is not only a shame
ful and humiliating sacrifice; but it
proves that the spirit of desperate re
resistance which can put on the very
guise of heroism and of martyrdom, and
of which the South have always been
claiming to be largely possessed, has
oozed away. Charleston was the very
city in which this spirit of defiance
should have made the most determined
and deadly manifestations. Here, where
the spirit of foul revolt has been nursed
for half a century ; here, where the nul
lification movement culminated thirty
years ago; here, Where the first gun of
the present war was fired at our flag,
with wicked and delibdrate design to
precipitate the hesitating South into open
LESS VICTORY.
TER Ms.
Per annum, in 'Avenue:
By Mail, SS. By Carrier, $3 be.
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Clubs.—Ten or more papers, sent to one address.
payable strictly in advance and in one remittan ce:
By Mail, $250 per annum. BY Carriers, $3 per annum.
Ministers and Ministers , Widows, $2 in ad-
Tame.
Koine Missionaries, $l5O in advance.
Fifty cents additional after three months.
Remittances by mail are at oar risk.
Postage.—Five cents quarterly, in advance, paid
by cubsoribers at the office of delivery.
advertisements.-1234 cents per line for the
first. and 10 cents for the second insertion.
One square (one month) ta 00
two months . 5 50
three ' 750
sia 12 00
one year 18 00
The following discount on long advertisements, in
serted for three months and upwards, is allowed:—
Over 20 lines. 10 per cent. off; over 50 lines, 20 per
cent.; over 100 lines. 33% per cent. off.
rebellion and the North into open resist
ance ; here, where proud fleets and
armies have for nearly four years been
successfully held at bay,—we should
have expected the most signal exhibi
tion of that spirit which' made every
block of houses in Saragossa and in
Puebla a citadel, and which gave the
Spanish and Mexican people a name for
vehement obstinacy that will live in all
history. It was even given out that the
elegant ladies of the Southern cities
would join in the desperate defence of
their homes.
And Charleston is ours without a
battle! To-day, doubtless, the insulted
• stars and stripes wave over the battle
fringed shores of its harbor, and float
above the shattered walls of Fort Sump
ter. Would that the brave and pious An
derson and his chaplain had been there to
consecrate that new act of national tri
umph with preyer. Would that Crawford
and Doubleday, and the survivors of that
gallant band, had witnessed the unfolding
of that banner, which they raised in trem
bling faith, but which now waves with a
lustre and an authorityand a majesty that
a long career of triumph, inaugurated at
that solemn and critical moment, has
poured upon it. Then , dark were the
omens of the future, while the ship of
State swept, like, an unmoored helmless
bark, into the angry sea of civil strife ;
imbecility and party divisions on the one
hand, and defiant well-organized and
vastly ramified 'rebellion on the other.
Now rising, as if new created amid the
blinding war of the elements, the Great
Republic throbs with new strength,
glows with new beauty, and looks grand
ly down at the triumphs of her sons, as
city after city, fort after fort, and State
after State are laid at her feet, in token
of her resistless might, and in vindica
tion of her affronted dignity and violated
laws. Charleston is ours, God and the
right are vindicated.
MINIStIERIAL RELIEF FUND.
Principles and Rules to govern the dis
tribution of the Ministerial Relief
Fund, adopted by the Executive Com
mittee of the Fund, Dec. 29, 1864,
and approved by the Trustees of the
Presbyterian House, Jan. 9, 1865.
The Ministerial Relief Fund, established
by the General Assembly, meeting in
Dayton, Ohio, May, 1864, is intended
"for the relief of disabled ministers in
good and regular •standing in connection
with said Assembly, and the families of
ministers who. have deceased while in
this connection."
While the fund is to be sacredly
guarded against every species of imposi
tion, the Assembly would hereby invite
those whose circumstances bring them
within the rules, to avail themselves of
its benefits, as an aid most justly
bestowed, and that can most honorably
be received.
In order to give effect to the benevo
lent intentions of the Assembly, the
Executive Committee of the Ministerial
Relief Fund Agency have adopted, and
the Trustees of the Presbyterian House
have approved, the following principles
and rules of distribution :
1. Every applicant for relief must be
recommended by the Presbytery to
which the claimant belongs. To facili
tate applications, Presbyteries are ear
nestly requested to appoint standing
committees with authority to act.
2. Every application for aid must, in
the case of a minister, state his age and
circumstances ; in the case of a deceased
minister's family, the circumstances of
the widow and the number, sex, and
ages of the orphaned children.
3. Every Presbytery c er Presbyterial
Committee, endorsing an application, will
be expected to inquire into the circum
stances of the applicant, to assume the
responsibility of recommending the case
to the Executive Committee, and to state
specifically what amount of relief should,
in their judgment, be given. It is,
however, clearly understood that while
the recommendation of Presbyteries will .
be always regarded with great respect
and confidence, yet the Executive Com
mittee reserves to itself, in each case, a
final decision, to be regulated by the
urgency of the applicant's necessities, the
term of active service in the ministry on
which the application is based, and the
State of the treasury.
4. No appropriation will be made for
a period exceeding one year, and should
the renewal of an appropriation be de
sired, the application must be again en
dorsed by the Presbytery or Presbyte
rial Committee.
5. As-the Executive Committee meet
quarterly, on the third Tuesday of June,
September, December, and March, appli
cations should be sent in full time to be
presented at one of these meetings ;
otherwise action thereon may be delayed
for more than two months.
6. All applications and letters per
taining to the. general businesi of the
Fund, should be addressed to the Rev_
Charles Brown, Secretary, 1334Chesngt
street, Philadelphia, Pa.