THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN GENESEE EVANGELIST. Religions and Family Newspaper IN THE INTEREST OF THE Constitutional Presbyterian Church PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY, AT THE PRESBYTERIAN HOUSE 1334 Chestnut Street, (2d story,) Philadelphia. Bev. John W. Mears, Editor Mid Publisher. Bev. B. B. notchhin, Editor of News and Family Departments. Bev. C. P. Bush, corresponding Editor, Rochester, N. Y. , ; smtritait ttollyttriait THURSDAY,: NOVEMBER. 23, 186. e: LIBERAL PREMIUMS Willcox & Gibbs' Sewing 'Machine for Twenty Subscribers. By special arrangement, we are able to offer, until tlle Ist of January, 1866, the WILLOOIX & GIBBSii sapid, Noiseless; Easily-managed, 'Mara ble,Eirs6elass Sewing Machine, sold at fifty-five dollars, for twenty subscribers and sixty dollars, the machinery being iden tical with that of their HIGHEST PRICED M4.CII7IVES, the difference consisting in ornament and cabinet work alone. This machine has rapidly taken a foremost place among the well-known machines of the day. Its mechanical superiority is attested by eminent Engineers; Machinists, and Sci entifio men of our city, among which are such names as M. W. Baldwin, M. Baird, the .Messrs. Sellers—John,.William, and Coleman —Colonel J. Ross, Snowden, J. C. Booth, (U. S. Mint):; its other advantages by such eminent physicians as Drs. Pancoast, Meigs, Ellerslie Wallace, Goddard, Kirk- bride, Cresson, Gilbert; Norris, Pepper, Wilson, also by Hon. Wm. D. Kelly, Mor ton McMichael, William M. Meredith, Eli K. Price, Richard Vans, A. S. Allibone; Abram R. Perkins, Thomas 11. Wood, 0 H. Willard, H. B. 'Ashmead, Rev. Dr. Exauth, Rev. James Crowell, Messrs. Orne, Franklin Peale, William D. Lewis, and others. Higher priced machines can be had by sending the additional amount in cash. Price lists will be sent to, any address. OUR COMMITTEIS PUBLICATIONS AS PRENIIITMS Desirous of enlarging the circulation both of the AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN and of the publications of our Committee, we make the following extremely liberal offers, to hold good until the first of Jan uary, 1866 : SOCIAL HYMN AND TUNE BOOK. For EVERY new subscriber paying full rates in advance, we will give two copies of the Hymn and Tuneßook, bound in cloth, postage or express prepaid. For a new club of ten paying $25 in advance, we will send fifteen copies, freight extra. We make this offer to any extent. SABBATH-SCHOOL BOOKS For EIGHTEEN new, subscribers, paying, as above, or for twenty-seven in club, we will send the entire list of the eighty-one Sabbath- School Library Books issued by the Commit tee, including the two just gibing through the press—Five Years in China, and Bessie Lane's Mistake. Freight extra. For TwaLvE new subscribers paying as above, or for a club of eighteea, we will give the following valuable miscellaneous works of the Committee :—THE NEW DIGEST, GIL LETT'S HISTORY OF PRESBYTERIANISM, two VOlB. ; LIFE OF JOHN BRAINERD, ZULU LAND, Socr HymN.`.arn) Tom) Boou, Morocco; COLEMAN'S ATLAS, MINUTES OF THE GENE RAL ASSEMBLY, Sunset Thoughts, Morning and Ni ht Watches, The Still Hour, The Closer Walk, The Closet Companion, Strong Tower, God's Way of- Peace, Why Delay? Manly' Piety, Life at Three Score, Ten Ame rican Presbyterian Almanacs, Confession of Faith, Barnes on Justification, Presbyterian Manual, Apostolic Church, Hall's Law of Baptism, Hall's and Boyd's Catechisms. :Freight extra. FOR ONE NEW SIIBSCRIBER. Zulu Land, or Coleman's Text Book and Atlas. Postage ten cents. FOB TWO NEW SUBSCRIBERS. • Life of John Brainerd and Zulu Laud Postage 56 cents extra. FOR THREE NEW NVBSCRIBERS. The Digest and Life of Brainerd, (pos tage 60 cents extra,) or Gillett's History of Presbyterianism two vols., and Social Hymn and Tune Book:morocco. 'Postage 60 cents extra. FOR FOIIR NEW SEBSCRIBERS. Gillett's History, Life of Brainerd, Hymn and Tune Book, morocco. Postage $1 extra. Or The Digest and Gillett's History. post age $1 extra. FOB FIVE NEW SUBSCRIBERS. Zulu Land, History of Presbyterianism, Life of Brainerd, Hymn and Tune Book,' morocco. Postage 81 12 extra. " Any book of equal value on the Commit tee's list may be substituted in the above •offers. A list will be sent if desired. MSS AND His TIKES We also renew our offer to send, postage ee, to any address for Forainew subscribers, e above standard work. , g/r - - All orders must be accompanied with cash. if possible buy a draft, op a post e order, as in ,case ,of loss of money we of send the premiums, though we shall ere to our rule of sending the papers. ly bona fide new subscribers will be accept in making up lists fox premiums. ,No ; ,Ixtoney is made in such a transaction; the simple object is to give wider circulation to the paper and the Committee's Publications. hence pastors and others may the more ely engage in the work. T y ) s m L res „on N e w Series, Vol. 11, No. 47. THE JOY OF GIVING. In the midst of the long genealogies, and .foirnal eatilognei tif t `Proper names, which give the books of Chronicles such an unin viting look to the general reader, there occur passages of uncommon beauty, like springs in the desert, like eyes of living -light upon the otherwise inanimate coun tenance. Sometimes we meet with an ex pression turned with all the lightness and grace of modern rhetoric ; sometimes, in the midst of seeming legality, we are surprised with a sweet anticipation of the very spirit of the Gospel. We know not how any Christian reader can rise from the perusal of the last chapter of the first book, with out a raised religious consciousness, almost like that produced by the sweetest strains of David's harp, or the most glowing antici pations of the prophets. That which gives such.an exalted tone to this passage, and which makes it shine like a Gospel gem upon the •rough background of Judaism, is the Joy OF GIVING, which it celebrates. The King himself sets the ex ample right royally. The venerable 'monarch has recovered from the depressing effects of the rebellions, the family troubles, and • the grievous personal failures of his later manhood. Restored by sincere re pentance and Divine favor, he now grate fully devotes his later years to zealous and magnificent preparations for the House of the Lord, which he may not build. In this inspiring occupation, his youth is renewed like the eagle's. " The sun of piety rises the warmer, as the sun of life declines." So we have seen the storms of the after noon break away, in time to allow the set ting sun to shed his splendor upon the de parting clouds, and to span the whole heavens with the bow of promise. David's piety as a believer, and his glory as a monarch, culminate in this solemn public act of giving. He announces to the congregation the sum of the treasures which ,he has amassed for "the palace of the Lord God." He 'tells them of the vast stores of gold and silver, of brass and iron, of wood and precious stones and marble, which heliad prepared out of the revenues of the kingdom. And after a catalogue of bewildering magnificence, he adds, that because he had set his affection to the house of his God, he had given of his own proper good, thousands of talents of gold of Ophir, and of 'refined silver, over and above . all he had given as king, out of the natibnal_reve hues. • Whatever warrant his royal position and the acknowledged sacredness of the object might have furnished, for an imperative demand upon the liberality of the people, it is not until he has presented them this example of personal consecration of property to the Lord, that he introduces that part of the subject. And then it is not with com mands as a monarch, but with appeals as a fellow-believer, and as a preacher of right eousness, that headdresses them : "And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord ?" Could there be a more effective sermon on liberality than this royal example, those rich treasures of gold and silver from the private fortune of the king—probably the bulk of all. he had ever owned,—followed by such an appeal to their own freely exercised and generous . dispositions ! It was effective. It not only brolighi a sum exceeding the amount of David's private munificence into the treasury ; but it brought willing offerings, it touched some of the deepest sources of their religious life. Their liberality was no formal, no vainglorious act, it was an act of sincere self-consecration, and it filled theria with holy and exalted joy. They had caught the blessed contagion of David's example, and they sympathized with him in his hap piness. " Then' the people rejoiced that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered to the Lord, and David the King also rejoiced with great joy." Then David blessed the Lord before all the people, and poured out his soul to God in strains of humble joy, of pions thanksgiv ing, and of filial nearness;that are not sur passed n all the range of inspired addres ses to the Deity. It is first in this prayer of consecration that the tender and endear ing -title, Our Father" is given to God in the Scripture. It was the joy of holy giving, which first - led pious men to recog nize their sonship to Him who giveth lib erally and upbraideth not, who afterwards witheld not his only-begotten Son, but gave him up for us all. It is observable in this petition, how free from all pride. is this exultant joy of David and his people. The vast treasures, which they had just collected and consecrated to the Lord, might well have bewildered their minds and destroyed the pions simplicity of their offering. But no I Standing amid dazzling heaps of gold and silver and PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1865. sparkling jewels, the enumeration of which sounds like an Arabian tale, the monarch leads the people in an act of 'self-renuncia tion, which may have been 'harder to the flesh than all the surrenders of property just made. All these costly offerings were. the Lord's before; from His munificent hand they came, to him with humble joy they return them. And so their hearts throb with a divine happiness, and king and people spend' such a festal day together as had not been known since Israel became a nation. Reader, if you are sometimes tempted to complain of the frequency of the appeals made to your liberality, if you are inclined to • magnify your past services in this particular, if you have put yourself on the defensive in regard to your property, and if you feel every donation to be a perversion, sit down.and read this last chapter of First Chronicles. Try to breathe. its rapturous atmosphere, and learn the joy of willing, humble giving. Learn a new sense in which to call the bountiful Jehovah, "Our Father 1" FRANCE AND MEXICO. Public attention has been considerably aroused in Europe by the disclosure of some diplomatic correspondence between our Government and that of France, on the proposal of the latter power to send a reinforcement of African mercenaries to the hard-pressed Maximilian. These Afri cans were to be kidnapped, or something very•much like it, in Egypt, on the princi ple, doubtless, that two wrongs, however enormous, will make a right. Our Gov ernment agent in Egypt became aware of the facts, and made them known to Secre tary Seward, who remonstrated with the government of Napoleon. We are glad to see such evidence of vigilance on the i part of our Government. The result has ibeen that the project is abandoned by Free, on the ground of an insurrection in Soudan, which, it is said, requires all the fores to I be kept in the country. We have , ittle i l doubt that an energetic remonstrance addressed to France immediately after the surrender'of Lee, while all our greatap tains were in the field, with an army nd ()k t navy of nearly a million of men flushed with victory, would,have been followed by still more decisive results, and that an' ' equally valid pretext forr yielding to our, desires would, have been found by France.; The London Times, the steady Champion of French interference from the beginning, commenting upon this piece of news, justi fies the position taken by our'Government, so far as relates to the particular mode.of reinforcement contemplated, but in regard to the general question of the French occu pation of Mexico, it says : "Every conceivable evil of anarchy ex isted in Mexico prior to the French expe dition, and though we do not approve the principle of such enterprises, we must admit that ..the circumstances of Mexico were so exceptional, as to excuse all that Napoleon has done!" Napoleores invasion of Mexico was a gross infraction of the first principles of national right, • and the attempt of the Times to defend it, is one of those sad perversions of journalistic talent, of IsrhiCh' the course of that journal is full. ENien with the best of motives; such extensive and radical interference by force.of arms with the affairs of a foreign nation, is nothing but high-handed oppression of the weak by the strong. All international law is set at defiance by it, and so far as the practice is sanctioned and defended, society is given over to robber-kings, whose violent deeds are deseribed in finer phrases, and cloaked in diplomatib formalities, without being, in one essential point, different from those of Alexander in Asia, or Caesar in Gaul and Britain, of the Huns and Gothri in Rome, and of Cortez and Pizarro in the very re gions of the world which we see again sub jected to foreign , violence and wrong. France simply invaded and subjugated b y ' force an independent State, all the while protesting that she had no intention to inter vene in its internal affairs. And as to any purpose of good to the Mexican nation, even if that could have justified such an outrage, the French instantly sided with the priestly party, which has always been the great incubus of the. Mexican people, and against which,the nation under Juarez, was at that juncture hopefully struggling, and appeared at once as the restorers of Romanism, and the dictators of an empire, with a foreign potentate upon the throne of a crushed and prostrate people. The conduct of. Napoleon in the war for Italy against Austria was indeed remark able; . yet if it seemed to show a regard for . the interests of the Italian people, we cannot forget his abrupt termination of the-strug , gle e when it seemed on the point of really freeing the. whole Italian peninsula; nor his abortive attempt to stay'the progress of the movement by the proposed presidency of t 4 Po' % aim. I, united Italyi`nor,' worst 'of all, 111's lippOrt by force of arms froth that day'to this, of the most cordially-hated of fall the, governments of the peninsula,— that of the Pope in Rome. There, inter vention was avowedly for the purpose of sustaining a notorious imbecile and tyrant, whom his subjects would not have tolera ted,,in his temporal dominion, for an 'hour after the power which forced him upon their reluctant necks was withdrawn. So anxious is the French Emperor for the maintenance of this odious despotism, that he will not do more than go through a mere form of withdrawal, taking care to leave behind 'him a large force of Papal troops, and holding himself in readiness to succour the Pope at „any moment from his own territories, which, by the annexation of a portion of Italy, are now but a short day's sail frorn , Rorge It is idle to attempt to excuse this flagrant usurpation by the figment of con cern for the Mexican people. Americans in the, agony of a doubtful struggle against rebellion. knew better. They knew, from the time Chosen, that the presence of the' \French ih Mexico was a new and serious menace against republican institutions on this continent. They knew that 'it origi nated in ,a brain of insatiable ambitions, deep-versed in all the old-world spider-craft, which watches its opportunities, and seizes upon moments of national tribulation to 'secure new influence, and prepare fields for future aggrandizement. France in Mexico is felt to-be but an appendix to the rebel lion;'a 'idemonstration thwarted, yet not overthro6, robbed of its intended, far reachini international significance, yet no less a crma e against Mexico and humanity, no less an affront to ourselves. We have no wish for warlike movements; , we care Clot to indicate a specific course, or to create 'a pressure in any direction upon this subjtct. We dare not refuse to be lieve thatl good may grow out even of such rank a f -crying injustice. Yet let 'us never fo , iet thatis wrong forever more. 0 . wrong Let us never abate one jot of our judgment of, the perfidy, the wickedness, the bold effrontery, of the whole conduct of France in and towards Mexico, in the face of the clearest and most established sen timents of the, civilized world as to justice .between nation - Ind nation., It is in this ;flew that we express --our hearty concur iericein the language littered at the recent reception of General Grant by the New York Union League " Maximilian, by stranger arms, has been forced upon her brave and unwilling people. Fouler wrong never outraged .human annals than the present occupation tpf Mexico by the French. We sympathise with our' sister Republic in her day of adversity, and firmly believe in her coming peliverance. A Mexican Grant will yet restore his country, as you have saved your own." Coming from one so remarkably reticent, the reply of General .Grant is significant : "I hope," said the creneral, " you will ex cuse me from thanking you at any great length. But there is one sentiment uttered in your address, which is mitre also. It is the, one touching the future of Mexico" [Cheers.] • IIDIEDIATE NECESSITIES OF THE FREEDMEN. The great soda' and moral revolution, by which four millions of slaves have been made free at a blow, lays solemn and ex alted duties upon the American people. We are charged by Providence and by the voice of humanity, with the great enter prise of befriending and piloting the freed men Through the inevitable perils of the early , stages of their new condition, ,to the secure enjoyment of its advantages. We are placed in the attitude of guardian and guide to a whole emancipated race. It is a concern of such high moral signifi cance, that we may well fear lest politicians, such as generally get into, power, prove wholly unfit and incapable of meeting it. Meanwhile, there is one simple duty which stares us in the face to-day, and that is, to see that the race does not perish,in the transition. They.are entering upon the first winter of their freedom. It is to be expected that the novelty of their con dition would at first make them improvi dent. They were unused to shifting for themselves. Many, most of their old mas ters, hate and despise them. They were the only Union population of large parts of the South, and impenitent rebels wreak upon them such petty revenges as they dare, for their own disastrous failure to de stroy the Government. They have always insisted that the normal condition of the race is that of slavery, and they would do their best to make their assertion' good, by keeping down the negro and by denying Genesee Evangelist, No. 1018. him a helping hand. Rev. Mr. French, at a recent meeting in New York, said that those disgusted with emancipation at the South will Stir- up an insurrection of the blacks, if possible. And even where there is a disposition• to do justice, the fearful impoverishment of the South, the pros tration of its interests, •dip engulphing of its wealth in an unsuccessful rebellion, must greatly embarrass the first movements of the freediten to realindependenee. The negro is not hardy, but delicate. Where one in forty-five of the white popu lation die annually, one in twenty-four of the free colored people of the North of the country die in the same time. A great so cial change must be trying to the negro. Multitudes have perished in the transfer from freedom to slary; many must per ish, without timely aid;in passing bank to a condition of freedom. In view of all these'drawbacki, the suc cess of the great experimentsthus far is all that the most sanguine could have ant'ci pated. The negro has proved himself less dependent, more thrifty, altogether more of a. Man, whenever brought into the com parison, than the poor whites of the South. But the condition of the Freedmen is, on hole, one of wide-spread and alarming ne cessity. In many places a frightful mor tality already prevails. Great masses of blacks are still congregated in parts of the South, whither they were carried to aviod the march of Sher Man, and there is no sup ply of food for them. So great is the need in Georgia, that unless speedy relief is given, fifty thousand of the freedmen must perish this winter in that State alone. General Swayne, of Alabama, says that forty thousand mine will die in that State, while General Saxton writes from South Carolina, thit thirty-five thousand blankets alone are needed for that State. In Ken tucky, there are the families of the 'many thousand Union soldiers who enlisted in that State from the Colored people; little sympathy will they get from the Ken tuckians who, General Fiske says, hate the freed people and steal and re-enslave them whenever they can. IMMEDIATE RtmEv,—that is the duty of the hour to these loyal suffering people ; RELIEF upon a large scale, resembling the stupendous charities to the suffering sol diers in the war ; RELIEF by. united effort, by Christian people without distinction of sect, by all classes in the community. And we are happy that the outlines and frame iroili of the effort , -are -at hand - - in the " American Freedmen's Aid Qonzrnission," a recently formed and comprehensive organ ization, embracing nearly all former organ izations for this object, and recognized by the Freedmen's Bureau of the G-oyernment as its coadjutor among the people. This Commission was recommended by the Synod of Pennsylvania, at the late meeting, and the ladies of our churches are already forming auxiliaries and co-operating with it. One of the noblest and best known laymen in this part of our Church, J. Mar shall Paul, M. D., has espoused the cause with a zeal that almoit reminds us of an earlier Paul, and goes among the churches, a living example of how well a layman, with the love of Christ and of Christ's poor in his heart, can fill the place usually reser4d for, the ministry. We heartily commend him and the Commission to the immediate and earnest regards of our Churches. Orreat as the necessity is, we may, we must, we can meet it, by a general and united effort. We are satisfied the heart of the people is prepared for large measures and generous gifts to the cause. Information as to the kind of clothing most needed (almost anything in that line can be used) and as to the mode of operating, may be had at the Branch Office, 418 Walnut Street. The members of the Philadelphia branch for our denomination, are Mrs. Judge Strong, and Mrs. John C. Farr Our readers are aware that a form of oath has been prescribed in Missouri, de signed to exclude from the exercise of ministerial functions in the State all minis- Ors of the Gospel who have in any way aided the rebellion. The only injustice about this test oath is, that it strikes at ministers of the Gospel especially; a dis tinction which would seem to come from hostility to the Gospel as well as to rebel lion. Had the rule of exclusion been corn prehensive of all classes of rebels in promi nent positions or professional walks of life, one could hardly regard it as too severe a punishment for the mischief and misery brought upon the State by men whose cir •cumstances left them without excuse. We need not say,' at least our readers would not need to be told, that every min ister of our denomination in the State is THE MISSOURI TEST OATH. E H al . ' Per annum, in advance: By Mail. 83. By Carrier,- 83 50 Fifty cents additional, after three months. Clubs.—Ten or more papem, sent to one address, Payable strictly in advance and in one remittance By 2.1 ail, $2 50 per annum. By Carriers, 63 per annum: Ministers and Ministers' Widows, $2 in ad vance. Home Missionaries, $l5O inadvance. Fifty cents additional after three months. Remittances by mail are at our risk.' Postage.—Five cents mutrterly, tp advance, paid by subscribers at the office of deliverA Advertisement S.-1234 cents per line for the first. and 10 cents for the second insertion. One square (one month) $3 0 0 two Months 550 SI three " 7 6 six 00 one year 12 00 The following discount on long ad — vertisements. in serted for three months and upwards. is allowed:— Over 20 lines, 10 per cent off; over 51) lines. 20 per cent.; over 100 lines, 3314 per Cent. off. competent to take this oath. Some of them, however, while taking it, have ex pressed their disapproval of its partial cha racter. The views of Dr. Nelson, and of Hon. B. Gratz Brown,- , --the latter a thorough-going Missouri Radical—both of them in opposition to the oath, have ap peared in our columns. (See AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, October sth.) It is due, however, to many, perhaps a majority, of our brethren in Missouri, to say that they regard the oath with decided favor, and con sider the objections made to it altogether insufficient; indeed, that they rather regret the opposition which good men have made to a measure which is calculated to rid the State of i some of the most dangerous men within its -borders. We should be glad to present more fully the views of these brethren, some of whom have suffered in person and property for their loyalty, and who may well claim to be heard on such a topic. "THE PRESS" EVERY HM I It is with profound regret that we have seen in The Press, of this city, the follow- ing paragraph : " ' THE PRESS' EVERY DAY.—From and after Sunday next, the 19th instant, The Press will be issued every day in the year. Our Sunday paper will, we think, be wor thy of the encouragement and confidence of the public." Our regret is- that 'a journal wielding so large an influence, and in so many respects an influence for good, should thus challenge the Christian sentiment of the community in which it circulates, and upon which it is dependent for its prosperity. The step has doubtless been well weighed by the propri etors of the paper. They know that.-they are. doing violence to the opinion of all who hold to the sanctity of the Christain Sab bath, and they expect to meet the opposi tion of those who believe that the mainte nance of that sanctity is vital to true reli gion, and so to the morals and the happi ness of the community. It remains to be seen whether they have estimated rightly in calculating upon an increase of prosperity in thus going contrary to the sentiments (prejudices let them be called, if it is pre ferred) of the Christian Church. - It may be that the step will prove to have been, in a worldly sense, a wise one. Yet we doubt it. At all events, no Christian can consis tently sustain a journal that gives its influ ence to obliterate the distinction between the Lord's Day and the other days of the week, either by subscribingto it, or lending it the support of advertisements. We greatly regret that it should be so, but we expect to see The Press, since it is to be "issued every day in the year," discarded by Christian men. THE REVIVAL OF LAST SPRING. GRALTIVELNG RETROSPECT. The Narrative of the Synod of Pennsyl vania, which appeared in our columns week before last, is a very cheering and interest ing document. Many of the facts mention ed have been referred to already in our columns. Those relating to the material or external progress of the body in new church organizations- and houses of wor ship have. been presented at large in a re cent -article. -. The spiritual features of the year have also been carefully chronicled as they occurred; the most remarkable of which, as our readers will remember, were exhibited in connection with the labors of Mr. Hammond, in a number of the churches of the Fourth Presbytery, last spring. The Synod's committee quote from the Narra tive of the Fourth Presbytery several sen tences, which, we think worth repeating here. "Teachers of Sabbath schools and Bible classes have been praying and laboring for immediate results, whole classes in some instances having been converted. The dis position to visit from house to house and converse personally with the ungodly, has been more general than in previous yearL The interest in many of the churches has called for special services during the spring months, which have been blessed with many conversions, and the stimulating of the faith of Christians. The Lord has added to our churches at nearly every communion .during the year. About six hundred'mam bers in all, two-thirds of them at least on confession of faith, an average among the churches reporting, to, the committee of forty-three to,pg,ek ~church. The majority of these are yotig.,persons, many of them children of tender age, every one, of whom, So far as known, has proved faithful!" The Synod's Committee "add "A remarkable record surely for' these days of dearth and deadness. One full of light, and of encouragement for hope and effort on the part of all our churches in all our Presbyteries." A NENv . PROFESSORSHIP:-Charles R. Treat, Esq., has been appointed Proles sor of Gymnastics and Physical Train ing in Williams College.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers