amEt* toblttrin.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1865
CONTENTS OF INSIDE PAGES,
SECOND PAGE—THE FAMILY CIRCLE:
Come Home Father—Sailor Sam—The Neighbor's
Children.
Fos THE LITTLE POLES: Familiar Talks Wllit the.
Children. ti
RURAL ECONOMY: A Successful Farmer's Maxims
—Pumps—Soap-suds and Leached Ashes—Does
Your Co;v Rick.
THIRD PAGE—EDITOR'S TABLiI
M. W. Dodd's Books: " Winfred Bertram and the
World She Lived In:" "The Song without Words"
—.J. B. Lippincott Sr, Co.'s Books; :Butler's "Inner
Rome: Political. Religious. and Social:" Ram
mond'S' "On Wakefulness"—Ticknor & Fields'
Books: Eingsle) "11er ew rd, the Last of the Eng
lish;" Coffin's "Winning His Way"—Gift Books:
Olin's "The Perfect Light, or Seven Rues of Chris
tian Charity:" "The Cup Bearer"—Periodicals and
Pamphlets—New Music—Literary Items.
ihrra•PAGE—CORRESPONDENCE:
From Our East Tennessee Correspondent—Let us
Pray More—The Work of the Holy Spirit in Elmira
—Native Religions in China—The Beginning of a
College Revival.
SEVENTH PAGE—RELIGIOUS WORLD ABROAD :
Great Britain—France—Germany—ltaly — Belgium
Missionary.
NEW AGENTS.
Subscribers in arrears in the following
places, will please make payment to the
agents named :
Williamsport, Pa.—Robert H. Faries.
York, Pa.—John M. Brown.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
From the Rev. Warren Taylor, Wilkes
vine, 0., for the Freedmen's Aid Commis
017
sion, 827. This
.so" 'bution is accompan
ied by the followin' Ote :
" Enclosed please find $27, an im
promptu collection taken up in my congr,-
gation on Thanksgiving day for the Fre‘d
men's Aid Commission. . . . The whole is
a result of your own editorial appeal, and if
Mr. had not sent me the paper for
two years, I should never have seen your
article."
FIRST MONDAY OF JANUARY.
By appointment of the General As
sembly the day will be observed in our
churches as a spe9ial season of prayer
for the spread of the Gospel through the
whole world.
In harmony with this, a union meet
ing will be held at the Clinton Street
Church (Dr. March's), Monday morning,
at 102 o'clock.
Oar several congregations are invited
to attend.
UNION MEETINGS,
By ft resolution of the Pastoral Asso
ciation, united pra7yer-meetings will be
held the first week in January, at four
o'clock P. M., as follows :
Monday—At the First Church Rev.
Mr. Barnes', Washington Square. •
Tuesday—At North Broad Street
Church, Rev. Dr Adams', Broad' and
Green Street.
Wednesday—At Western Church, Rev
Mr Sutton's, 17th and Filbert Street.
Thursday—At First Church, N. L.
Rev. Dr. Shepherd's, Buttonwood streei
below 6th. •
Friday—At Calvary Church, Rev
Mr. Catkin's, Locust above 15th Street
" A Purer, or GLIALMERS."—A second
effort to lure away from Philadelphia
Rev. Robert Irvine, D.D., of the West
minster church, known to our readers
by the above signature, has been suc
cessful. He has accepted a call to Knox
Church, in Montreal, Canada, and re
moved his residence to the latter city.
This is the oldek Pfesbyterian organiza
tion in the province:
Dr. Irvine's address is Box 139 P. 0.
Montreal, C. E.
_
REV. DL Piskrza, President of Ham
ilton College, preached in North Broad
Street Church last Sabbath morning, a
discourse appropriate to the season, on
John i, 14: And the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us, etc. It was
a masterly argument for the reasonable
ness of the Incarnation, from the worthi
ness of the object to be gained, the
divine excellence of the doctrine, and its
adaptedness to the best reason and deep- .
est necessities of man. Vigor of thought,
evangelical fervor, and earnestness of
manner, commended the diScourse to
the judgment and conscience ot the
hearers.
A JUST AND TIMELY REBUKE.—A
few weeks since, we penned an article
on the Christian Conscience, and spoke
'of the almost hopelessness of the attempt,
to carry on the strife against great moral
evils, unless that conscience was found
sensitive and reliable. We find a good
though painful illustration of the point
then urged in the following paragraph,
which we take from "T. L. C." in the
Evangelist. It tells the kind of load
which the friends of temperance and
good morals have to carry. The author
is the well-known pastor of the Lafayette
Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brook
lyn, the city first referred to.'
"A few evenings since a new Club House
gorgeously decorated, and with a new 'supply
room, for strong potations, was opened in
our ' City of Churches.' Two eminent
clergymen took part in the opening perform
ances. In New York several of these clubs
have already degenerated into rendezvous for
champagne, cards, and convivalities—the
sworn enemies of fireside pleasures and do
mestic peace. No little scandal too has been
created over the fact that two or three dis
tinguished ministers took part in the mid
night wine-supper to Gen. Grant at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel. There is hardly a public din
ner given in honor of those dubious saints
(St. Nicholas, St. Patrick, etc.,) at which
there is not a clerical orator on hand to re
spond to ' the toasts' which are ' drunk with
all the honors.' Is it not about time that
the clergy (and private Christians too) ceased
to figure at these hotel convivialities? Good
men mourn : and worldlings laugh."
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1865.
CHRISTMAS,
. The reader will find on our first page
a Christmas article. We have no ob
jections that it should be taken as a vir
tual consent to the spreading custom of
observing this Christian festival.
The word mass, denotes more partic
ularly the Romish services and ceremo
nials connected with the celebration of
the holy encharist,-known to ns by the
better name ,15f the Lord's Supper. The
Christ-mass, (contacted by usage into
Christmas,) is a festival which celebrates
the birth of our Lord Jesus in the flesh,
and was so called because the eucharist
was made an important part of the bele
bration. Thus the term, is of Popish
origin, and is besiits intrinsically infeli
citous. Long cum, however, by re
ducing it to a mere name, has smoothed
it down to comparative harmlessness.
We believe no one outside of the
Romish Church, claims that Christmas
is a divinely appointed holy day. There
is no order for it in the New Testament,
no apostolical example, and no fair rec
ord of its observance in the first two or
three hundred years of the bistorypf the
Church.
The attempt to claim the 25th of De
cember as the true anniversary of the
Nativity, is simply absurd. All attempts
to mike out the case from New 'Testa
ment data, have come to nothingness.
The argument against it, from the in
congruousness of the time with the fact
that shepherds were then abroad with
their flocks, though not decisive, has
nevertheless 'all the probabilities in its
favor. Besides, it was well down in the
fourth century, before this became the
settled day for the anniversary, and
then it was adopted only by the West
ern Church, of which Rome was the
centre. The Eastern Church named and
observed the ' , 6th of January.
It would be highly unsuitable, and,*
fact, an ignorant, supposition, to obsery
azay day as the true anniversary of ou
Lord's first appearance in humanitY.
But if the consent of the Christian world
sets apart one day in the year, as a re
ligious festival in joyous celebration of
that event, not prescribing it as a di
vinely commanded service, but placing
it on the ground of suitableness, we see
no serious reason for disapproval. On
the contrary, the custom has merits
which we appreciate, and, as above said,
we are satisfied to see it gaining ground.
MOVEMENT IN BEHALF OF NEWS
BOYS AND BOOT-BLACKS.
We cannot commend too highly the
movement recently made in this city for
the moral and intellectual improvement of
the Newsboys, Boot-Polishers, and other
street boys. Meet . ' s aie being held
every Sunday afte J.•`C l in the County
Court House, and :well attended,
and the good conduct , of the boys is of
such a character as to give great en
couragement to' those having the work
in charge.
It is contemplated, if sufficient funds
are raised, to obtain an eligible room,
where they can assemble daily to, read
such papers and books as may be fur
nished them. And also to hold evening
entertainments for their amusement and
instruction, by which they may be res
cued, from the path of the destroyer. It
is very well known that as a class of
boys they are much exposed to tempta
tion, and having money at their dis
posal, are liable to be thrown into the
worst society.
Mr. E. H. Toland, having charge of
the enterprise, would be glad to receive
any personal or pecuniary aid to enable
him to carry out fully the objects set
forth in the above statement.
REV:IIR. HAAIMOND IN ELMIItA.
A letter from Elmira, dated December
23d, says Mr. Hammond is still in
Elmira. The work is going on with
great and increasing power. Over three
hundred rise in some meetings for prayer,
and the number of conversions among
young men is truly wonderful, looking
at it from the side of human faith and
expectation. The minsters and Chris
tians are very much engaged in the
work, and the Lord is doing great things.
The young men held a separate meeting
at the close of the sermon, and when
those who had found Christ and those
who would Hie to find Him, were asked
to rise, not one, of a full vestry-room,
remained on their seats. The soldiers
here, come out to the meeting, and every
night some of them come to Jesus."
THANKSGIVING SERVICES IN BIIEBALO.
—We see it stated that the Old and New.
School Presbyterian Churches, Central,
First, Church of the Pilgrims, North,
Lafayette, Westminster, and Calvary,
united in one service at the First Pres
byterian Church, where a sermon was
preached by the pastor, Rev. Dr. Clarke.
Such a service must have been peculiar
ly pleasant. The thought, however, sug
gests itself that, unless these churches
hold separate services during another
part of the. day, so many and so large
congregations ought, upon such an occa
sion, to have rallied a-greater number of
people than could have been packed in
any church of that city.
"THE SOLDIER OF THE CUMBERLAND,"
the admirable story of a young hero-sol
dier, who went from the Ist Presbyte
rian Church and Sabbath-school at Mani
towoc, Wis., to die for his country, is
having a fresh sale as a book for the
holidays. We are glad to know it, as
it is one of the best books brought out
by the war. It is published by the
American Tract Society, Boston.
FROM OUR CORRESPONDING EDITOR.
PRESBYTERY OF BUFFALO
This body convened in annual meeting, in
the Lafayette Street Church, in Buffalo, on
Tuesday evening, the 12th instant. Rev. Dr.
Wright, of Fredonia, was elected Moderator,
and Rev. S. Cowles, of Randolph, Clerk.
Among the matters of interest to be no
ticed, we may mention that Rev. Dr. Clarke,
of Buffalo, Rev. R. M. Sanford of Griffin's
Mills, and Elders J. H. Plumb, of Gowanda,
and S. M. Clements, of Fredonia, were
elected Commissioners to the next General
Assembly.
Rev. Robert Proctor, formerly of Freeport,
111., has taken charge of the Mission Chapel
of the North Church in Buffalo, and is doing
well.
Lafayette Street Church, Dr. Heacock's, has
recently expended $l2OO in reseating and im
proving the galleries of their new house of
worship. Every seat is now rented, and
more are wanted. Pity they did not build
larger.
The church at Griffin's Mills, to which Rev.
R. M. Sanford ministers, have expended
some $7OO in improving their house of wor
ship.
The call of the North Church, of Buffalo,
to Rev. A. H. Plumb, of Chelsea, Mass., was
given with great unanimity and interest.
They hope to obtain his services.
Rev. Courtney Smith was received from
the Presbytery of Michigan ; and Rev. J. C.
Taylor, from the Presbytery of Rochester.
The latter is laboring in Corry, a new place
on the Atlantic and Great Western Railway.
The Church at Westfield has recently raised
$3OO, for Sabbath-school purposes. This
Church is still without a pastor. Rev. Dr.
Chester, beside attending to his arduous and
responsible duties through the week, as
Principal of the'Buffalo Female Academy, is
supplying the pulpit of this Church on the
1 !":'014th ; and we are afraid the people are
well content with his services—they seem
no haste to get a pastor.
And in this connection,. we are glad, on
some accounts, that Dr. Chester declines the
flattering invitation given him by the First
Church in Norwalk, Conn., to be its pastor. i
Buffalo still needs him. He is an accom
plished and successful teacher. And yet, we
chance to kno "althe - proper work Itf-1
ministry is hi' a love, and his highest prei
Terence. 14.:..!r:vit opening should occur,
we should not at and time be surprised to see
him resuming the pastoral office.
Rev. J. M. Fuller, recently the presiding
elder in the Buffalo District, but newly ap
pointed agent of the American Bible Society
for Western New York, appeared in Presby
tery and made a good speech for his cause.,
He seems to be a man well qualified for his
work. Rev. C. P. Bush was heard in behalf
of the American Board, and Rev. W. B.
Stewart for the American and Foreign Chris
tian Union. Rev. J. G. Cochran, Mission
ary to the Nestorians of Persia, a member of
this Presbytery, was appointed to preach the
opening sermon, which came off in the silap:
of a missionary talk on Wednesday evening
at the close of the meeting ; a good story of
a great work among an interesting people.
HAMILTON COLLEGE
The Catalogue of this highly-favored In
stitution has come to hand. It contains the
names of 193 students ; a larger number than
ever before. Its course is onward.
A GLANCE AT CORTLAND
This is one of the older villages of Central
New Yort.4-is well built, rich and flourish
ing. It was probably never growing faster
than now; and many of its citizens have been
amassing fortunes very rapidly within the last
few years. The Presbyterian Church has
also felt the impulse, and has been making
great improvements. Their house of worship .
was old fashioned, with straight, high-bad
seats, about as uncomfortable as they could
well be. The pulpit was between the doors,
high and awkward. The orchestra and organ
in the rear of the pulpit, and almost on the
same level, iponveniently near -the minister
as he stood to preach.
All is now changed. The pulpit occupies
a commodious recess at the other end of the
Church. The pews, low, neat and well
cushioned, face the other way. The interior,
in fact, is made over, at an expense of four or
five thousand dollars, and is as pleasant, in
viting and comfortable as a Church needs to
be. And what is more, it is all owned now
by the Society; and the pews are rented
annually to support the preaching of the Gos
pel, in place—of the wretched subscription
paper plan which used to prevail. This is a
real improvement; and better stil. the seats
are all rented, and everything indicates great
prosperity. The change has been brought
about under the faithful, earnest labors of
their young pastor, Rev. I. L. Beman, who
has now been with them only about three
years, and is much beloved by his flock. His
ministry promises to be one of great success.
SICK MINISTERS
We are sorry to learn, as we do by a letter
from a dear friend, that Rev. Dr. Miller, of
Ogdensburgh, has been quite unwell and un
able to preach for six or eight weeks ; though
he is now improving. His kind people pro
pose to give him all the chance possible to
get well, and so they supply the pulpit and
relieve him of all care.
In like manner we learn that Rev. J. R.
Herrick, of Malone, has been prostrated for
a long time With fever. His friends were not
without some solicitude in his behalf at one
time, but we believe he is nofiv regarded as
out of danger.
Rev. E. N. Manly, of :Booneville, has also
been a great sufferer for some months, by
nervous prostration, compelling him for the
time to relinquish his pastoral labors. He
has been trying to regain health at the Clif
ton Water Cure. The Presbytery of Utica,
to which his church belongs, have, for a part
of the time, at least, been supplying his pul
pit. These are all valuable men, in responsi
ble positions; we trust they may soon regain
health for their accustomed labors.
C. P. B.
ROCHESTER, December 23, 1865.
OUR LONDON LETTER.
LoNnoN, December, 1865
MY DEAR SIR :-I begin my chronicle
of remarkable events by a rather strange
announcement—Tom Sayers is dead. I
chronicle this first for various reasons.
First, because " the manly art of self
defence," as it is called, has only of late
years grown to be " classic" again under
the auspices of this " worthy." It was
on the occasion of his " fight" with your
Heenan that The Times newspaper, for
the first time during many years; took
notice of this most disgusting " sport."
On the occasion of that contest there
appeared a full report of the whole trans
action, from first to last, by a most
graphic pen. It is quite likely that with
the death of Sayers it may a long time
before there be another such report.
Second, I chronicle the fact as an indi
cation of the state of feeling in regard to
prize-fighting in this metropolis in the
following connection friend of mine
happened to be in that part of London
—Camden Town—where Sayers lately
lived and died, on the day of his fune
ral. My friend had seen the funeral of
Lord Paltherston just a few days before.
And he told me that certainly the one
seemed to him to be just as national
looking an affair as the other. At the
funeral of the great pugilist, all ranks and
conditions of society were fully repre
sented—the peer and the peasant, the
count and the costermonger ; especially
the latter, I dare say. But I chronicle
the fact, thirdly, because it shows what
l a cursed thing prize-fighting is. Here
a man who, but a few short years
ago, was in the very perfection and full
lest bloom and vigor of manhood—a
'health and a strength so firm that a cut,
bruise, or wound, healed almost a ‘ s
quickly as it was made—the very day
after he had received five or six hours'
hard hitting, each blow driving him to
the ground as an arrow is shot from the
bow, he appeared almost as if nothing
had happened to him. And yet by
drunkenness and dissipation of all sorts,
the wretched man so reduces and wrecks
and wastes his iron frame, that he dies
;f consumption—actually wastes and
pines away, and in the very mid-time of
his days. Verily, the way of the trans
gressor is hard. And be sure your sin
will find you out. And behold the
!vanity of earthly glory; the greatstates
;man who has toiled for his country's
good for more than half a century, re
ceives little more of an ovation than a
wretched fellow who never did any good
in the world, so far as one hears or
knows, but to stand up to be pommelled
for a few hours by as big a rogue as
himself.
The second fact of importance is, that
since I last wrote you the cholera and
all fears concerning it, have all but dis
appeared from this country. I chronicle
this fact all the more willingly, that it
may tend to ease your minds on the
other side. The weather in the south
part of our island has been all but au
tumnal; we have had no cold to speak
of—hardly any frost at all, if any ; al
together the weather has been most un
kindly unusual and unnatural, just the
very thing that would feed and foster
cholera, and yet .cholera is nowhere
beard of. It is otherwise with the cat
tle plague. Its ravages are extending.
The losses now are toward 4000 a week.
When I first wrote concerning it they
were about 700. All our efforts to stay
the plague or to discover a remedy have
been utterly vain. At present, we are as
ignorant of all concerning it, as . we were
when first it broke out among us. God
grant that you, in America, may be pre
served from both these evils.
I have a faint recollection thatin my last
letter I threatened to say no more about
Fenianism. So I shall be short about
it. Stephens, " the Head Centre," has
escaped, through treachery, from his
prison ; but the man next to him in guilt,
the editor and author of The Irish Peo
ple, has been convicted by the natural
outgo of law, and sentenced to twenty
years' penal servitude. The sentence is
heavy : but the guilt, in the intent, at
least, was very great.
Earlaßussell has not yet completed
his Cabinet. Reports go to and fro of
all sorts—this man out, that man in.
One thing is clear: Sir Robert Peel is
out. He was chief secretary for Ireland.
As such he was obnoxious to the priestly
party, and he has been sacrificed. This
bodes ill for the future. Old Palmers
ton stuck with a deadly grip to all his
friends, in all times of trouble ; the
more trouble they got - themselves
and him into, the more he stuck by
them. This is not Lord Russell's way.
He is easily frightened. One of Punch's
very best caricatures was a bringing out
of this weakness of his. Just after the
Papal aggression on this country in 1852,
Lord John wrote a flaming and most
powder-and-shot letter to the Bishop of
Durham, which was pablighed by per
mission and circulated far and wide, and
produced a great sensation on the part
of all tree men. They felt that here
was a manifesto under which it was well
to stand, to aggregate, to fight, to go
forth at once to battle. But Lord John
embraced the first public occasion to ex
plain it all away, when he saw the effect
it had produced; whereupon Punch ap
peared with a cartoon representing
Golden Square, where Carding: Wise
man then dwelt. The Cardinal's door
fills the foreground, the time is dusk of
evening ; a man in one corner is lighting
the first lamp. On the Cardinal's door is
chalked, clear and distinct, the words "No
Popery ;" at the extreme corner is a little
boy:with a lump of chalk in his hand,
taking to his heels at fullest speed, all
steam up boy in livery, but with the
unmistakable face and form of Lord
John; and at the bottom is thialegend:
" The idle boy who chalked up No Po
pery,' and then ran away." lam describ
ing from memory, but you have the
main facts here. parliament will meet
soon, and then We shall hear all about
it ; meanwhile, politically, all is quiet.
I may as well add, however, speaking of
the Parliament, that it has been an
nounced, semi-officially, that the Queen
is to open it in person, the first public
duty - of any notable sort she has per
formed since her husband died, and that
the appointed day is the first of Pehr e _
ary. The announcement of the Queen' s
return to public life has been received
with the utmost satisfaction by all classes
of her subjects.
Let us now come to other matters of
more importance than these. I dare say
your readers have heard of Peter Bayne.
He is comparatively a young man. At the
death of Hugh Miller he was thought fit
to conduct the Edinburgh Witness news
paper, and did conduct it, not remarka
bly wisely, nor remarkably well, yet in
a wondrous satisfactory way, and for
some years. Some hotheads in this me
tropolis thought they could break up the
monopoly of the Times newspaper, and
neutralize the remarkable influence it
has always held. I could go, into the
whole history of that business, and tell
you all about it, if it were of importance
to you, for I myself was dunned and im
portuned at the early stage of the move
ment to be one of the editors of the new
paper— The Dial. I am very thankful
to, say that I had common sense enough
to decline the whole procedure, and to
wash my hands and keep clear of the
business. But it was prosecuted with
a wonderful perseverance, shares were
sold, and money raised, the celebrated
Peter Bayne was brought up from Edin
burgh, and The Dial was fairly started,
as a weekly at first, with the intention of
coming out strong as " the mighty thun
derer," daily in less than no time. The
Dial did not work the wonders it was
expected to do ; and before very long
Peter Bayne was "open to an engage
ment." After an interregnum of a short
spaCe, the Weekly Review, a paper advo
cating Presbyterianism out and out, was
started by a few friends with Peter
Bayne for editor. With various success,
The Weekly has struggled on, down and
up, oftener down than up, for a few
years. Meanwhile its Editor has been
"advancing" in a good many ways. He
first took to the advocacy of hymns, and
then of organs, and then of other aesthetic
changes in our old-fashioned modes of
worship. And as his thought progressed,
he got into other depths, that looked sus
picious, doctrinally. About a month
ago, he published a paper in a new jour
nal, called The Fortnightly Review, an
omnium gatherum, a sort of omnibus,
driven by G. H. Lewes, and in which
every man signs his own article and is
held responsible for that alone. Our
friend Peter wrote and published an ar
ticle there and signed it—on Neo-Evan
gelism—which a waggish friend of mine,
who used to spell the Weekly Review
always, the Weakly—interpreted to
mean no evangelism at all. This, his
own article, Mr. Bayne reviewed, with
copious extracts, in The Weekly, and
added .a few explanations, which ex
plained nothing. What thereupon took
place I know not; but I and the public
were told in the paper of the following
week that the editor's views were rather
too " advanced" for this paper, and that
accordingly he had ceased all editorial
connection therewith. The view spe
cially that Peter advances is, that while
holding fast by John Calvin in all his
integrity,* yet cannot see his way to
holding the plenary inspiration of Holy
Scripture, in any true sense of these
words. I confess I was infinitely tick
led to read this announcement. The
idea of a man thinkingite can hold any
thing like John Calvin, and yet let go
inspiration, is about as amusing a thing
as one may meet with in this queer
world. Let Peter Bayne's defection be
be noted by your readers as one straw
more whirling to and fro on the surface
of the agitated waters, and marking only
how the current flows.
Your readers are well acquainted with
a periodical published in this country
called Good Words. It is edited by Dr.
Norman McLeod. Some two or three
years ago, a considerable sensation was
caused by a very elaborate review of
the theology of Good Words, of its
editor, and of some of its contributors.
That review appeared in several Emcees,
sive numbers of the Record newspaper,
the organ of the Evangelist party of the
Church of England. The notices were
gathered into a small pamphlet, and cir
culated by thousands in all parts of the
land. The subject was taken up in
several of the Presbyteries of the Free
Church, and soon in the General Assem
bly, and Punch among others had his
fling again and again, while the denomi
national organs took one side or the
other, as their theology veered towards
"advancement" or orthodoxy. The arti
cles in question, it leaked out in the course
of the controversy, were -written by the
Rev. Mr. Alexander, a Presbyterian
minister at Chelsea, and this discovery
rather heightened than weakened the
zest of the controversy. By some he was
blamed as having utterly misrepresented
the men, as having a keen nose for
heresy, and as having found heterodoxy
where charity would have seen nothing
but the truth. Dr. Norman McLeod was
exhibited in the Reviews, as pretty des
tittle of any very definite positive theolo
gy; Principal Tullocli, of St. Andrews,
as very much on a par with his Glasgow
brother, and Dr. Robert Lee, of Edin
burgh, as a worthy compeer to the par
nobile fratrum. Since then each of
the individuals named has come out in
strong lights and shades, as if to justify
the caustic strictures of their hard-bead
ed, cold-hearted reviewer at Chelsea.
Dr. Robert Lee, in addition to the intro
duction of a liturgy—an organ—candles
—an altar, and sundry other mummeries
into his congregation, has got so bare
and bald in his " theology" that on a re
cent occasion, a reporter described his
sermon as a virulent attack on " effect
tual calling." Principal Tulloch, princi
pal of St. Mary's College, St. Andrews,
in an address to his students, recently
delivered, has come out fully against
creeds and all subscription to creeds as a
barbarous relic of the barbarous part.
But the editor of Good Words has sur
passed his two reverend brothers. He
has produced a profound sensation all
over the land,
series of speeches. The occasion of the
leading utterance was in his own Pres
bytery of Glasgow, i n a debate which he
raised in reference t
letter of the General profound pastoral
Assembly in regard
to Sabbath breaking.
Dr. McLeod in
his place in the Presbyter- made a very
long speech full of wit, lul l , rac y anec
dote, and humor, the whol e
' l4 in
OM and
substance of which was, however, the
direction of a continental Sund ay - , as
opposed to a Scottish Sabbath. This
was his " argument." The decalog u e
qua decalogue is an integral and esse a ..
tial part of Judaism. The decalogue
was never promulgated to me. " I was
never brought out of Egypt ;" it is a
thing, as a whole, essentially and solely
Jewish. But Judaism is abolished—
" abrogated" was his word, and so there
fore is the decalogue qua decalogue, I
acknowledge that there is a Sunday—
one of Apostolic origin, but no how to
be regarded ago in any way Sabbatical.
I acknowledge morality, too, but it is
higher, better, than the decalogue ; it is
love, love, love : love everything good
and . bad : indiscriminately and specially,
one may suppose, love unsound doctrine,
and those who teach it.
The ominous thing about all this is
that Dr. McLeod is a man exceedingly
wise in his generation, disposed to make
the best of both worlds, and specially
of this, he knows what he is saying
and doing, and is just about the very
last man who would make a martyr
of himself for any principle whatso
ever. And yet he utters these things
fearlessly without a cause; and knows
they are contrary expressly both to
the letter and the spirit of the Confes
sion of faith ; for at the close he gave
warning that his co-presbyters had bet
ter not ask bow these principles were
reconcilable with the Confession of faith.
He dared them to do that. He knew
well they would not; aLd that so feeble
and worthless a thing has the establish
ment of Scotland become, that discipline
is practically at an end, except in cases of
drunkenness or still grosser immorality,
and in the case of the weaker brethren
who have, few friends to defend them.
Meanwhile the battle rages hot every
where. The infidel press hails their new
clerical ally with a shout. They are not
slow to parade the position of the editor
of the largest circulated magazine in the
kingdom, minister of one of the most
important parish churches of Glasgow,
Chaplain to the Queen, the personal
friend and comforter of royalty—accom
plished, learned, etc., etc. "He is with
us," cry they, " who can be against ns?"
And I reply, " the Lord of Hosts, He is
for us ; who can be against us ?"
I fear I will have more to say of this
in future communications, and so I pro
ceed to one or two concluding jottings.
I was at the laying of the foundation
stone of another Presbyterian Church at
Tottenham, a large and important suburb
in the east of London, the other day:
An elegant structure free of debt may be
speedily expected there, they have a
minister already. It is reported that
the Rev. W. Wilson, of Dundee, is to be
Moderator of the Free Assembly next
year. Mr. Wilson is an able man, a
sound divine, has wrought bard and
long in the service of the Church, and
well deserves this honor at her hands.
It is a scandalous shame that, while
scores of clerical clodhoppers have had
the degree of D.D. conferred on .them,
Mr. Wilson should have passed unno
ticed. Let some of your colleges do
themselves an honor, and redeem our
colleges from the disgrace that thus lies
upon them, before the Assembly meets.
Finally, though a cloudy day, with no
glimpse of sun vi§ible, the thermometer
Out of doors, at one o'clock, marks 54
degrees, we have had no frost as yet at
all. PHILADELPHOS.
COLPORTEUR WonK.—We often won
der why this form of labor, so extensive
ly and successfully carried forward by
the non-ecclesiastical religious publica
tion societies, is not more thoroughly
engrafted upon our church work. This,
together with a well-applied pastoral in
fluence, seems tons about all that is now
needed to develop the power for good of
our church publication enterprise, for
both denominational and general useful
ness. With notice with pleasure the re
cent employment by the Synod of
Wabash, of Mr. George W. Rhodes, as
a Synodical Colporteur. His time is to
be given to the circulation of the issues
of the publication committee, by sales
and gift, throughout the bounds of the
Synod, using, at the same time, such
other religious effort as it may come in
his way to do. The Christian. Herald
contains a letter from the Synodical Com
mittee, commending him and his work.