711 E AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN GENESEE EVANGELIST. Religionsand Family Newspaper, M THS INTEREST OF TEM Constitutional Presbyterian Church PIIBLISEED EVERY THURSDAY, AT THE PRESBYTERIAN HOUSE, 1394 Chestnut Street, (2d story,) Philadelphia , lissr. SOUR W. Mears, Editor and PabMiser. Rev. B. IL Iliotehitin, Editor of Ntairit and • Family Departments. Rev. C. P. Bush, Corresponding Editor; Rochester, N. Y. gutttitait Vvtoirghtialt. IiMIURSDAY, MAY 4; 1865. . CONTENTS OF INSIDE PAGES. SECOND PAGE—THE FAMILY IiI,GOLE A Poem recited by Mr. Lincoln—The Covenanter's Marriage Day7A Natural Conellthion- , -WO Two—`, Buying Religton"—Railroad Piety. For the Little Folks: Familiar Talks. with the Children. Taint, PAGE—MISCIELLANEOUG The Death of Abraham Lincoln. Rural Economy: A Huge and True Grape Story. SIXTH PAGE—CORRESPONDENCE: From our London Correspondent—Presbytery of Montrose—Church Erection and General Assembly, —The Infatuation of Crime—The Assassination and the Assassins—Home Missions—Music and Martin Luther—Woman. ! SWEETS PAGE--MISCELLANEOUS : The Power of the Resurrection—Dwarfed Christian Character—Our Civil War—Why Not?-.--Two Causes of the Numerous Railroad Disasters—Ministerial Record, Menthly—li. B. Christian Commission, Re ceipts. PREACHING CHRISTI - Somehow, directly or indirectly, Christ should les the central object, in all our preaching. Whatever be the ostensible theme, the real one in the preacher's pur pose should be Christ. All, he lines of our preaching, near and remote, should converge in Christ. If the living J esus is in the heart of the preacher, Christ will be unavoidably in his kreaching. • The very assaults of infidelity, now-a-days, compel believers to draw closer. to. His person. 'What think ye of Christ ? is the great in quiry within .and-witheend it seems.tn that the closer, simpler, and clearer the connection of - our preaching with Christ, the better., A grand ciri cumlocution which first traverses - heaven and earth, which affords room - for great learning and great display of . imaginative power, which shows us pretty decisively where Christ is not, before it comes to where Christ is, to say the least is needless. Not but that there.is room ,and .a great de mand for learning and culture of_the high est sort, as a preparation for the duties•of the pulpit. But let all the stores of learn ing and login and imagination and genius be brought, like the gold, and frankincense and myrrh of the wise men from the East, nand-io;a4oVol.l4tl y reverently--at-the,.. feet oChrist. Let all be used in explain ing, illustrating, and commending his glo rious character, his pure precepts and his finished work of redemption to perishing men. All doctrine and all•duty can be best explained and enforcedin their relations to the cross. All true mrsonal religion, in in; beginning, progresand completion, is described in the words of Hebrews 12. 2 " Looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith." The constraining motive to pious activity, the relief to the wounded conscience, the way of access to the impeni tent sinner's heart, the best ground of ap peal to old and to young, are found in the uplifted Redeemer, the God in human flesh, bearing in his wounded,-dying body, and overwhelmed spirit, the penalty of the sins' of the world. We do not mean to urge that other themes of evangelical preaching should be dropped, but rather that all should see how other themes, when properly handled, are not other, but still linked with and snbordi nated to the cross. We would have all feel how rich, fruitful, comprehensive, is the one central truth of the world's Redemption by faith in a divine sacrifice. We would not cease to predch the Law,— as if it were something antagonistic to the Gospel. We would rather cast upon the Law the new light and the more awful sanctions it derives from the Gospel. We would go to Calvary as the best pulpit in all the world from which to preach the Law. Here, better than in any philosophical er moral disquisitions, better than by the ac cumulation of bareraandates or the piling up of threatened penalties, the description of God's judgment upon offenders in flp,,;pas t or the fearful apprehension of judgment to come, can we learn the inexorable...charac ter of God's law and the 'supreme purpose of God to magnify it and 'make it honora ble/ Here is suspended no hurnan, no angelic sufferer, no guilty, no innocent subject of.the law, but a divine victim, an infinite sacrifice, GOD turdsiLF bearing the penalty of_his own law, in the place. of pardoned sinners. Neither Sinai nor the bottomless pit itself is so great a suppor t of the Law as Calvary. Neither of them so conclusively vindicates God's character as a righteous law-giver. Would we expatiate upon the nature and enormity of sin ? De finition and analysis can avail but little. Philosophical treatises on the " Doctrine of Sin," are not indeed _without importance and value in the history of thought ; and their teachings may slowly percolate from the more cultivated to the great mass of minds ; but after all, the great dependence of the preacher, Ander God, in the work of bringing both the c ultivated and the rude sinner in his-congregation to conviction of b , i. ..,,i • ~k mgricall 7,9,;rt; )1 etl4ll. New Series, Vol. 11 , No. 18. sin; is in the fact that hethas 'a . self:accising conscience, - and in`placing before him those broad c and concrete views of the nature of sin Which are ,Presented in the sufferings of the tideemer. Such a sacrifice, osinner, was required for the, pardon of thy guilt 1 .So deep, so, dreadful was the .stain of thy ,sins, that nothing less than the blood of a i vietita suffices to, wash them out. Look at-that illustrious Sufferer, that Lord of life and glory I Thy sins helped-to nail him there ! It was even such a spirit as thine, raging in the breasts of JeWs and Gentiles,. that demanded the degradation and murder, the shame and ignominy and torture of infinite Blessedness, condescend ing to the relief and salvation of our perish ing - race. • There all human wickedness concentred and dulminated, and thou, 0 unrepenting sinner, wart not .unfairly re presented in the hideous, ungrateful, mad cry, Crucify Him I Crucify Him ! Not this man, "but Barabbas Nor do we know any appeal to the con science so powerful as that which seems to come right from this cross to every delay ing heart ; ‘ the appeal to every one's natural sense of gratitude based upon these suf ferings and, this shame, voluntarily endured ' in the sinner's place. It seems to us.that no amount of labor - can be better or- more economically expended by the ministry than in elaborating, illustrating, and`en forcing, out of full hearts this point. To lumma_tc every man's conscience, in the most effective m personal align ion to Christ as , the, safer ing and. dying itedeemer, would seem in our view, the best possible means ef. awa. kening hira to a - sense.of his guilt, and afford the surest -and speediest means of leading himto surrender his heart to one whose claims upon his service and his'grati tude were so inconceivably broad, deep, and -40 tender. Says Mr. Barnes, in his sermon; " How can the Sinner be made to'feel his Guilt?" published in 1833 : The only scheme is to place before the sinner the innocent lamb of God bleeding for his sins. Thus it was said of him, " lie _shall be.set for the fall and rising again of ,many_ Israel, and for a,sign-to be spoken'against, that therebythe thoughts of many 'hearts may be revealed:" And thus also it was prophesied, " They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and.shall mourn." Hence the apostles met with such success, whose preaching was little more than a simple statement of the truth that• .Jesus died, and rose. And, however it is to be accounted for, it is this which in all ages has been attended with the convictions of guilt among men. Gos suer, the Bavarian Catholic priest, at present a Protestant clergyman 'in who has probably been the means of . the immediate conversion of more souls than 'any man living, is said seldom to vary in his manner of preaching. The love of Christ is almost his constant theme, and his preaching is almost a constant pouring out of the warm effusions of the heart on the lov&of God, the preciousness of the Saviour, and the desirableness of heaven. The affecting experience of the Moravian missionaries in Greenland is well known. . . . Here was, illustrated anew the principle of , the gospel adapted to all ages and people, that the account of a suffering Redeemer is to be the grand means of teaching sinners everywhere their guilt; and of drawing forth tears of repentance from eyes that; but for this, would never weep. Our ciwn .experience in the minis try has been short. But we may, perhaps, be allowed to say, that the only revival of religion in which we, as a pastor, have been permitted to engage, began in the progress of a series of sermons on the work of Christ; and that the effect or that truth was visible through the series, till almost the entire congregation' bowed at once before the cross, and a deep and awful solemnity prevaded _all ranks of the com munity. Nor do we doubt that this is the theirn which men must be taught to feel guilt, as the gospel spreads over the world. In the month of. April, 1865, the Ame rican people' have lived an age. They have written some of the broadest and most en during lines in all history. The muse will keep the records of this short month among her most precious treasures. The gigantic rebellion, whose agents at the beginning of the month frowned defiance at the armies of the nation, behind the formidable earth works of Richmond a nd Petersburg, the, James River and the Appomatox, who had just resolved on the enlistment of the slaves in their service, and who were' laying all their plans for a stout, and stubborn resis tance which even the most sanguine of the loyal people feared might lead to another summer campaign—where, in this brief month, is this thing of terror, this hydra of slavery and secession, this fierce relentlessl enemy of the national life, this vampire sucking at its resources, this Plntonian jailor of our soldiers infinitely more unfor tunate in capture than in death on the field, where is this hideous apparition that rose pHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, MAY •4, 'MO. like a cloud from the., bottomless pit and shrouded, a continent mourning . and in • dismal apprehension, aim blcitting the sun the heaveni? ' little more than three weeks, we have .be * , - Od it dis solve like a troubled dream. l eu la rs, are yagabondSoi'surrendered prison- .• "President" is a hunted, disguiselifugiye,l the next candidate for the halter ; its 1: great army has surrendered, and not an end for which the whole damnablk conspiracy was undertaken, but is buried as deep as if: the weight of ten centuries of he world' T reprobation lay upon it.. Never was the American Union greater stronger, more, immovably consolidate! than -in the overthrow of'this rebel which sought its disintegration. .-.• Nov) was the tide of national life fuller, more roie than at this hour. Never did the Ci stitution wear a sterner or serener majej than since its bloody and triur \t vir cation. Never -was slavery or more widely execrated, nevo nearer the great goal of a mut versal-recognition of the inhel THE END: equality and political rights of al., the-successful cloSe of this grand fou, struggle in maintenance of these ends\ what can cane from the awful exhib) of malignity with which the rebellioi vulsively yields up the ghost, but a kt and wider, detesta.tion of its' principle,s) a moulding, into sharper, forms of ani of the torrent of fiery indignatioi ly outraged people are fused"? The lion only , destroys itself more thOr by these last displays of an impof i The work is substantially dOn.: is included in those WordS, the hisi man will be generatiOns in unfolding. month of April 1865, will be_writtei by the side of-those great eraaof time it will be part Of the eduCation of tl lions to know. -HOPEFUL - INDICATIONS. The opinion of the "Attorney Gerit the United States, as to the conatr to lie put upon . the terms of, General,, surrender, relieves them of all thaA oaleufaterd to excite -the >fears of boys ple. No right of return to homes loyal or reconquered territory is gi the surrendered army. They ha , f' homes" outside of the contracting j of the rebellion. They chose the federacy" as their country, they hi COLORED PEOPLE'S RIGHTS part or, lot any where else. This is4 VINDICITED. righteous and moat overwhelming , 10,:*9tianks to an upright and God-fearing we last week had a decision in favor It saves Maryland and the CapitalOn,e, : z .'ai,e conveniences of our, public mode of deluge of whipped and unrepentant 'Tie right of deaent colored people to share .1 over the thoroughfares of the city. who would corrupt the whole so:0 cringing passenger railroad corn political atmosphere. What is toliiin - es, whose unmanly deference to the of these lately defiant, but now or+ wretches, whose "country" is at `t 7 adices of rebel sympathizers and negro . ..,4firs at the North, has done more to IC' '' far off as Texas, and likely ere lo :f : . I r, these prejudices alive than anything still farther, we do not know. 00 P I has occurred for the past four years, made their bed, so they must 10 now he made to feel that there is country which they struggled so stronger even than their dogged murderously to, destroy, naturallteru in an unrighteous policy. They ejects them from her territory. '. , 0.f • tt, thinz deserve to live at all, it is only aittiti , nacy ~,:i : probably, by the aid of Judge Allison's and vagabonds on the earth. "<: 1 11 Pion, learn that the rebellion is over, We also note that proceedings gress in the Franklin County Cr ghat the inhuman and unchristian dis- State, with a view to, summon ` l ions between the white and black destroyers of Chambersburg, kin , which it was waged to maintain, to trial for their crime. The I, li i 1 gone overboard with it. What' busi outragt, McCausland and 'II; ly) have loyal people with the cast-off 4 of the ruined Confederacy 7 How belonged to Lee's army, and a, somewhere in Virginia. As tl' ( shall the miserable remnants of its vern ea . or Pierrepoint has been r, lurk like a pestilence in the holes the national authorities, and 'e t a :corners of the North ? Away with exercising his functions in -Biel $-c. ' nexcusable acts of-"injustice, for the time, he will render every ‘e which God has been chastising the bringing these high criminals our years long. Do we provoke We do not feel satisfied thf n yet to jealousy 7 Are we not yet Lions should be made in del his judgments? leading rebels in this crust rust the turning point has at last All share in the guilt of e, cached in the history of prejudice transaction which has-mark, color and race in our_ city. Phila-. unless they had distinctly has never been disgraced by such Neither General Lee, nor J 4:,utbreaks of murderous violence rebel Cabinet or Congress, ithe blacks as have been witnessed cers, can escape the guilt of 't the 'otter places, but considering the low massacre, the murder i Io sky of her people throughout the eight loyal North Carolinian, cr oleration of the absurd prejudices the starvation of our prison me passenger railway companies ciless treatment of Union r markable. The honor of our city South, whites and Indians ; •(is hat it shou'd cease. We thank land or the piracies on the kiLisou• for the fearless performance seas. And the single stall 'laty in the premises, in rendering persisting for four years in eta, on Wednesday of last week, lion, is enough to dig for collars, in favor of a colored woman, convict's grave that was ' been forcibly ejected from a Nevertheless, in the difficUlty Street car, for no other reason justice to so many, and in olor. It is not the first time that that some will escape, it migl t as of Judge . Allison have vin make examples first of those , li principles in the face of vulgar conspieuous in crime, whose ',id disloyal opposition. He has boldness in villainy has caller of strength to the righteous orations of the good. We ; some of the darkest hours of indicate the framers and voi We trust that in thOtghte 'ordinances, who first draw ...4.)f Wednesday, he has -given _ .electrified the )nntry, and done a greatsvice in steady , 10. public sentiment, north a d south. The &on patiently, yet steadf ly, waits for irke movement of. the Executive e nthre de 3ive than it has-yet seen---more deciiive to seated offer or terms of surrender tyipcbri r .ered rebel armies and fragments of :nr ies, or than reqUirinc , an oath of allegiance nn men who Are dyed, through and 'rough with four years of perjury which ' 7 will justify, in the same breath with e new oath itself' General -Lee himself ,i 5 ')latecl his -honor(?i and threw away the )tection of his parole by his parting ad.: %;s . to the soldiers/whom he had just sur idered, an address which breathed the 1.3 , *mese of th ? spirit of' unyielding re lion to national law. We ask from Pre ient Johnson some, bold, unmistakable in 'don of a practical purpose fully to yin-. ate the dishonored:icily - of the land in his 7 to the conquered leidetseif the rebel: Let Lee and Davis be hang,ed; and , he unconquered rebellious elementsat South be exterminated, and that aptly. It is our only hope. Geziesee Fivan.gelist, No. 989. • tb the tftini e If7doristitutpd vigi &ler authOrities, %lad mitirdered -the the signal for theeritire overthrriw„of the scandalaus practice against . ,vidaich it is directed. We verily •believe that, in . six weeks' time from the inauguration of a dif ferent policy, the peopli . and the Railroad , Companies will wonder hoW they' -could have been snblind 'and obstinate in refis ing a common right to so peaceable, so de cent, so worthy a - class of our. aoraicanits,. the authors of the .used Soldiers ip the 'ravine, Salistinry . , des these, the ro -:aders, who gave Ilion, prolonged burdened the Led hundreds of Ives, should be. Idol crime, and as willpreva )itioiigo long is FROM OUR CORRESPONDING EDITOR. The annual meeting of this body was held in Byron, commencing on Tuesday evening, 25th _ultimo. The opening ser on was ' =preachedby Rev. AlfreeNorth, after which, Rev. Charles F. Massey, of Batavia, was elected Moderator, and E. H. Stiatton, of Johnsonburgh, Clerk. • Among the items of business, Rev. C. .R. Burdick was, granted a letter of dismis sion, to join the Presbytery of Niagara, as he is now preaching at Youngstown, within their bounds. cered for the de inals' to justice, ms and former .n reach of ,the 'or to evil-doers, ied of its great Lnson signalized office by a pro leading traitors Lrd for their ap- Rev. 3. M. Ballou, of Byron, and Elder Stephen Ives, of Batavia, were appointed Commissioners to Auburn Seminary. Rev. E. H. Stratton, of Johnsonbuigh, and Elder Eli Harroun, of Corfu, were appointed Commisiopers to the General- AsseruPly,, and, Rev. Alfred North and Elder Alonzo Dunham, Alternate. The various lenses of benevolence were under - consideration and the usual Presb G. S. Cbrwin of Elba for H'iline Missions • Rev ;Alfred North, of Le Roy, for Foreign kissltials; Rev. Charles F. )Ylussey,. of Batavia, for Education; Rev. john Wickes, of Attica, for. Publication; and Rev. J. M. Ballou, of Byron, for Ministerial Relief Fund. The advantage of appointing such com mittees in each Presbytery, was very manifest by the action at this time. The subject of benevolence was under discus sion ; the importance of the subjects pre sented, was considered.; the action or de-, linquency of the churches inquired WO; 'and exhortations to faithfulness came not , from outside influences , but from the Pres bytery itself • The Sytem of- statistical reports, also is manifestly exerting a powerful influence, in' stimulating the benevolence of the church. When the pastors and elders are expected to come into. Presbytery with,the the figures to show how much -they have given to each great cause of benevolence, to show much they have also, done for themselves, as in our later reports, it makes them anxious to have something to say, and if they have failed, and have to show their leanness, they will _ try to' do better next time. Some of the churches of Gene see Presbytery are doing nobly; some have room for improvement. In the afternoon of . Wednesday, Presby tery attended to,the administration, of the Lord's 'Supper. Sermon by Rev. M. B. Gregg, of Orangeville; breaking of the bread by Rev. Charles A. Keeler, Lewiston and Avon; giving the cup by Rev. C. C. Kimball, of Le Roy. In presence of the afternoon congregation, Rev. C. P. Bush, was alsoheard in behalf of Foreign Missions, urging the importance of a prompt and thorough support of the American Board, in this, its time of need. Some of our missions must suffer fearfully, and some of our missionaries will doubtless be broken down, unless the churches come up speedily to' the help of this great institution. Befer ence was especially made _to Diarbekir and Mardin, in 'Turkey, two stations that must soon be reinforced,' or be aban doned, as illustrations of the need of con stant and prompt contributions to the cause. A liberal collection is needed from every church. In the same connection, Stephen Ives, an elder in the church in Batavia, who has labored in the Army of the Potomac a good part of the past year, in the service of the Christian Commission, gave a statement of his labors and observations in behalf of that noble institution. Among the changes transpiring within the bounds of this Presbytery, Rev. John Wickes, who is acting pastor of the church at Attica, was received by letter from the Ontario Association. - Rev. Allen Traver, recently of Ptilmont, has been engaged as Stated supply of the church in Corfu, where Mr. Burdick was before going to Youngstown. Two of the ministers of this Presbytery were taken away by death in the past year; Rev. Isaac Chichester, of Bennington, who finished his earthly course on the 27th of last August, aged seveyty-seven years, and Rev. John Dodd, who died in Arcade, some four or five months ago, aged, we believe, about fifty years. As the latter had passed away since the last meeting of PRESBYTERY OP .OENEStE. TER 11 , 1 e .. Per annum, in advance: By Mail, $3. By Carrier, $3 00. Fifty coats additional, after three months. Clubs.—Ten or 'more papers, sent to one address. payable strictly in advance and in one remittance: By Mail. $2 50 per annum. By Carriers, $3 per annum. Ministers and Ministers' Widows, $2 in ad vance. Home Missionaries, $l5O inadvance. Fifty cents additional afterthree months. 0 Remittances by mail are at our risk. ' Postage.---Five cents quarterly, in advance, paid q 7 Subscifbers at the office of delivery. . Advertisements.—l 234 cents per line for the first, and 10 cents for the second insertion; One square (one month) .$3 00 • .. . two months ' 5 50 - " three " 750 MI 0 MX . - ............12 0 one year .18 00 The following discount on long advertisements, in serted for three months and upwards, is allowed:- Over 20 lines. 10 pee , - cent off; over 50 lines. 20 per cent:; over 100 lines, 333 per cent. off. Presbytery, suitable notice was taken of the event. - Resolutions highly commendatory of the man, and expressing sense of the loss felt by the Presbytery in' his death, ;and;-tender sympathy for his, bereaved widow, were unanimously passed. Mr. Dodd had formerly'served as pastor to the e church in Byron, where Presbytery were in session, and was so affectionately remem bered by them, that their liberality has abounded toward the widow left in needy circumstances. Byron,—we know not how this place got its name, but it is a place around which some very pleasant Missionary associations cluster. One of the elders of the church, a matf+advanced in years and venerable in appearance, as well as esteemed and excel lent in life, is a brother of the lamented Pliny Fiske, and uncle of the late gifted and saintly Fidelia Fiske. It was pleasant to be entertained, as we were, at the house of one so nearly connected with those worthies of the missionary cause. And this place, too, was the early home of Rev. George W. Coan, now missionary among the Nestorians of Persia. A church so represented in the glorious missionary work, and so allied to faithful and illustri ous laborers who have gone to their rest, would be expected to take a deep interest in the missionary cause. In the reports from the churches, we noticed that a revival has been in progress rece. I , .=in , -Pavilion: The church of Le nine having been added in,the last year on profession, and eighteen by letter. Sonic churches have been 'a little disturbed, and yet, perhaps, have suffered no real loss by the withdrawal' of some from the congrega tions, who have not liked the outspoken, earnest loyalty— of our ministers. They prefer to go where they can have dead quiet on the subject of the country, even though the country - were on the brink of destruction. In one church, Veacon has been disciplined and suspended for intem perate and abusive language on subjects . connected with the war. Perhaps when we get peace and liberty, he will regret some of the words of useless sympathy he has " expended upon the South and her favorite instititions* FUNERAL OF THE PRESIDENT The mortal remains of our late beloved President, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, passed through this city between three and four o'clock, on Thursday morning ; but even at that early hour, and though-the cortege was to stop but fifteen minutes, thousands of people were assembled at the depot to see it. Militarcompanies were also out, and minute guns were fired as the train approached the city. Many of our citizens also went down to Buffalo, where the corpse was taken from the cars and exposed to view in St. James' Hall, to get a last look at the face of the venerated dead. What an illustration of avenging justice, that before the remains of our Chief Magistrate had accomplished much more than half their journey to their last resting place, the dead body of the infamous assassin who struck him down, was buried in disgrace, by order of the War Department. The triumph of the wicked is short. PERSONAL Louisa N. Bates, widow of the late Rev. Chandler Bates, of Parma Centre, died on Monday, 17th instant, aged sixty one. She had suffered much for many years, and yet had borne all with exem plary patience and Christian fortitude. In spite of much feebleness and suffering, she was constant in her attendance upon the ordinances of the gospel; 'and when she died, it was found that she had made ar rangement to continue her subscription for twenty years after her death, for: the sup port of the minister of the place. - ‘ Plainly she loved the sanctuary. . Rev. S. T. Richards has resigned the charge of the Congregational Church, in Spencerport. The health of his wife is such as to make necessary a change of climate; and he is talking of going West. Rev. W. A. Fox.; who has been fourteen years pastor of the„Presbyterian Church in Ogden, has received a unanimous and earnest, call to the Presbyterian Church in Dunkirk. RogirzsrErt, April 1865 THE UNITY Or CHRISTIANS.—This pro blem was discussed in the Arch St. Pres byterian church, on Monday evening, May Ist. The question was, The Necessity of Harmony of Action or Organization among Christians, in order to convert the world, and how to promote such a union." John xvii. 21-23. Rev. Drs. Brainerd,. J. Wheaton Smith, Howe_, Wylie,-Bom berger, Knuth, Bishop Simpson, and. others were expected to speak. C. P. B