lEumspflitteuiE.
HAVE WE A BIBLE RUBRIC? IV.
AITHORITY OR F.niFIC.VTIOV
My Dear Brother:— My “ startling
conclusions” have been practised for
centuries, and nobody seems much
alarmed. Have you really been reading
your Bible for years under the belief
that the worship of your Chiirch is ex
actly what you found described there ?
If the variation is a fact, is the denial of
a fact orthodox ? Is there any advan
tage in ignoring its existence ? I refuse,
just now, to entertain the question, whe
ther the Church ought to confine her
worship to the Bible; and confine my
self strictly to another question, whether
she does so or not. I am just now in
vestigating facts of Church history, not
discussing a question of theology. And
I assert the fact, that in this nineteenth
century, no Christian Church accepts
the Bible as the sole directory of its
worship.
And as to the severity of my remarks
upon Church Festivals; >b applicatory
only to Universalists and such like, I
am sorry to be* compelled to refuse the
disclaimer.' The most religious as well
as the most lax sects, disclaim £Le Bible
in Church Festivals. There is a Church,
for instauce, which cannot tolerate the
Long Metre Doxology, because it is not
in the Bible, and which would suspend
any of its ministers who would give out,
“ All hail the power of Jesus’ name,” at
one of its Church meetings, which has
just concluded a series of theatrical per
formances, witnessed by thousands of
Church members in this city, with actors
and actresses, stage costumes, scene
shifting, music, posters and playbills, -
prologue and epilogue, and printed com
edy in the regular style. This was done,
too, during the week, of Dr. Hatfield’s
noble assault on. the theatres, and the
vindication of stage plays as a branch of
the fine arts, by Mr. Collyer, the Uni
versalist, from 'his pulpit, and while
thousands of young men and women
were flocking to the theatres in conse
quence. ,
Lest my statement should appear in
credible, I inclose a few pages from the
printed play, and request the editor to
make room for this extraordinary speci
men of Church-meeting exercises:—
SCOTCH FIRESIDE SCENES
At the. Festival and Fair by the Ladies of the
First United Presbyterian Church, in Bry
an Hall , on the Evenings of Thursday and
Friday, Nov. 23 and 24, 1865.
AN ADDRESS.
(To be spoken before the commencement of
the Scenes. 1
My Friends: —It is customary to say a
few words as a matter of introduction; but a
poorer “ stick" could not be chosen to make
a speech than the one before you, for he
never acted as spokesman except at the time
when the benedietine knot was tied, and then
he cried out —“Yes!”
However you. may feel in the premises, it
is no joke standing before your betters, either
as a client or a euTprit.
To make a long story short, the tenants of
this house have been called upon, at your
expense, to aid in the laudable undertaking
of “raising the wind.” .r,
If anything ,i- to-mgEt by us
or trait of character that
were familiar to you in years that are gone,
will you not say that you are repaid, and say
also that it is the least we could do in help
ing the lasses ? (Ladies, you will remember,
is not in our dictionary.) The word used
conveys all the attributes of gentleness, no
bleness, and loveliness that endear to the
Scottish heart. May you never need another
to*express your ideas of woman.
Notjieingof those who “ tread the boards,”
criticism does not reach us so as to be of any
benefit.
We make no pledges, but will try to please
ourselves; and if successful in doing that,
.you will be inclined to be satisfied with your
-selves and your neighbors, and go home be
lieving that, although a widely-scattered
•race, we are all “John Tamson’sßairns !"
PERSONS REPRESENTED.
Ibugald Stuart, . .. . Gudeman.
Margaret “ . . . . Gudewife.
John “ , . • Eldest Son, a Soldier.
James “ . . Eldest Son at home.
Duncan “ , . . Son, 12 years.
Robert “ . . . “ 6 “
Mary “ . . . Daughter, 18 “
Jane “ . . i‘ 10 “
Catherine Grant . , Mother of Gudewife.
Bailie “ x . Brother of “
Christina “ . . Wife of Bailie Grant.
Simple Sandy, . . A Traveling Tailor.
Arcny Gordon, . . A Neighboring Lad.
Donald McKay, . . A \ Highland Ftper.
First Scene. —Outside View of Cottage—
.(Gudeman and Duncan making a Straw Rope
—Mary coming from the Well with two
Stoups of Water.
Gudeman. Did you see James coming
hame frae the field? He’s aye ahint. •
Mary. He canna' be far awa’, for I heard
his dog barking as I cam’ frae the well. I
maun hurry to get the supper ready.
[Mary enters the Cottage, and James ‘ap
' proaches' with a plaid over his shoulder
-and a Rake in his hand.]
i Gudeman. Weel, Jamie, did they come
good speed wi’ the wark? •
James. Deed did they, father: the seed is
all in, and the day ended in grand sport on
the other sidfe o’ the hill wi’ the dog amongst
the rabbits and hares.
Gudeman. Did he catch any ?
James. (Bringing a hare from under his
plaid.) Tpu’ll get a bowl o’ the soap ye like
noo, faither, if ye’ll agree no to tell the Game
keeper.
Gudeman. The Game Laws are. unjust,
but ye ken, Janies, “We must obey every
ordinance of man,” &c., &c.
Third Scene.— lnside View of Cottage—Fam
ily, Friends and others spending the evening,
with songs, etc. Christina Grant, sitting at
the piano, and accompanied by the violin,
plays “The Girl I left behind Me,” and
“ The British Grenadiers.”
' Gudeman. Come, gi’e’s a sang, Bailie, ye
ance had a tunefu’ voice.
Bailie. Begin yonrsel’, Dugal’. My voice
is no sae tunefu’as when ye used to come
and see her ladyship there.
Gudeman. Weel, Bailie, ye were aye first
to gie a verse, and to-night ye maun be yer
sel
[The Baiiie sings “ Kate Dalrymple. ” ]
Gudeman. Command the company, Bailie,
! for the next sang. .
Bailie. Arohy, my lad, some other time ye
can mak it a’ richt wi‘ Mary. Noo, we maun
ia’e a sang frae ane or baith o’ ye.
THE AM ERIC AN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY. JANUARY 18. 18(56.
[Areliy and Mary sing “Himtingtower."']
Archy. What’ll Sandy say to something
funny?
[Sandy, the Tailor, sings “ The Merry Grey,
Little Fat Man.’’]
Sandy. Noo, James, let’s hear something
aboot auld Scotland or her bonny dochters.
[James sings “The Toclier for Me.”]
James. John, what do the Cameron Men
sing?
[John sings the “March o’ the Cameron
Men.”
John. It’s mony a lang year, mither, since
I heard ye sing; aften have I wished to hear
your voice again.
[The Gndewife sings “ Castles in the Air.”]
Cudewife. Deed, Dugald, it’s about time
ye gave us a bit verse yersel’.
Gudeman. If Aunty Kirsty would try her
fingers at the piano, in some o’ her fav’rite
selections, I will try and gi’e ye a sang.
[Christina plays on the piano, “This is no
my Ain Lassie,” “ Lord Lovat,” and “The
Flowers o’ Edinburgh.” The Gudeman
. sings “Bob o’ the Bent.”]
Gudeman. The Piper maun do his duty
noo.
[The Piper eidently plays his pipes.]
Gudeman. As the best o’ friends maun
part,.we’ll a’ rise and sing that time-honored
favorite —“ Auld Lang Syne. ”
(Compilers of Church history of the
nineteenth century, and others interest
ed in the progress of the human mind,
can inspect the original printed pages
containing the above, at the office of the
paper, 1334 Chestnut St.)
Praise has always been a prominent
part of Worship. Psalmody appears
early in the history of the Church, and
we have a large collection of sacred
songs, both in, the Old ..Testament. and
the New, many'of which are still used
in the worship of the Oriental and Latin
Churches, and a few in the Episcopal
Hturgy. But the Puritan Churches,
with one consent, refuse them in their
scriptural form, and have manufactured
improved sets of sacred ballads, in rhyme
and metre, out of the scriptural mate
rials. Some of them are now busy
manufacturing “ a literal metrical version
of the Psalms,” a phrase as absurd as
“ a literal doggerel version of the Presi
dent’s message.” But literal or illite
rate, there is not the shadow of precept
or example of a¥y such thing as metri
cal psalm books or hymn books in the
Bible. They have no more scripture
warrant or authority than the tune books
with which they are now frequently
bound.
I have never read or heard of any
Church, save that of the Irvingites, which
adopts exclusively the Bible liturgy of
praise. All the others have improved,
as they suppose, upon the Bible model.
Now this ordinance of praise is observed
far more frequently than the sacraments,
is the most popular part of- public wor
ship, and produces a deeper impression
than any other ordinance. But the very
fact of the Church putting her collection
of songs into the hands of her members,
is conclusive proof of her conviction of
the deficiency of the Bible liturgy. It
is one of the insoluble mysteries of
human nature, that thinking men can
plead for the exclusive authority of the
Bible as a ritual of worship, and imme
diately after begin-
V uymTis; and tunes of modern
manufacture.
The other sort of praise—music—seems
to- be of equally ancient institution.
We hear Miriam’s timbrels on the shores
of the Red Sea; David consecrates the
harp; Solomon, by Divine directions,
establishes the popular orchestra, with
its drums and fifes, its cymbals and tim
brels, its trumpets and bag-pipes, adapt
ted to simple performance and soul
stirring strains. The prophets unin
spired by music, and the people, went up
to the house of the Lord with harps and
tabrets. The Gospel shows us the harps
of God in the hands of those who have
washed their robes in the blood of the
Lamb. The very nlme of the Scripture
song.—psalm—expresses its marriage to
an instrumental accompaniment, and the
commands which we daily sing to praise
God, with harp and psaltery, and with
the wedded psalm, are far more numer
ous than those which prescribe the
widowed hymn. If there be" any such
thing as a divinely instituted, and com
manded, and unrepealed ordinances of
worship, here it is, with the combined
sanctions of patriarchal, levitieal, pro
phetic, and apostolic authority? 1
Yet all this array of scriptural authori
ty \has not secured for the orchestra any
more respect from the churches than
other Scripture ordinances. The .mil
lions of the Greek Church utterly refuse
it. The Scotch Covenanters thought it
savored of Popery, and their descend
ants are terrified at music in church to
this day. Ido not know whether your
young Baptist brother has ventured on a
melodeon, but I have now before me an
earnest argument, on Baptist principles,
against all instrumental music, by Ful
ler, one of their English worthies. Quite
consistently therewith, many of the
Baptist churches in England before his
day condemned the singing of psalms,
which they said were manifestly Jewish.
Even those churches which use some
kind of music, pay no attention to the
Scripture precepts or examples in this
matter; but have substituted for the
popular orchestra of Divine appointment,
a complicated soulless machine, on which
artists perform elaborate musical com
positions for the delight of connoisseurs.
But any one who has ever hoard a
division ot ten thousand soldiers sing
the long metre doxology, while the
brigade bands played Old Hundred,
needs no other vindication of the superior
wisdom of the Divine appointment.
The other natural expression of joy—
dancing—was likewise consecrated by
the patriarchs to the worship of God.
The damsels of Israel danced and played
on timbrels to the song of Mdses, on the
shore of the Red Sea, as a common act
of worship. The psalms which we sing
command us to praise God with timbrels
and dances. David worshipped God in
the dance, and divorced his queen for her
disrespectful notions about it. The
prophets predict it as one of the sancti
fied expressions of thankfulness in the
millennial church. Our Lord exhibits
our Heavenly Father as commanding
the welcome of the converted sinner
with music and dancing, and one of the
first miracles of the pentecostal revival
is accompanied with dancing and prais
ing God. But all this Scripture usage
and authority prevails nothing with our
western habits of thought; and we re
ply to David’s exportations, to “ praise
God with timbrels and dances,” that
‘however natural and/suitable that might
have been in Syria, three thousand years
ago, our modern ideas of propriety; which
so readily admit other theatrical per
formances, would be scandalized by it,
and the edification of the Church hinder
ed. It thus again appears that our
practical rule of worship is not oßedience
to authority, but regard to edification.
Chicago. R. P.
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PRESS OF
. GERMANY. !
In two articles, published some time
ago, we reviewed' the Protestant organs
of the German religious periodical press.
At present, we propose to notice those
which are published in the interest of
the Roman Catholic Church.
The number of such of these as have
a strictly scientific , character is very
small. There are, in fact, but two; the
Tuebinger theologische Quartalschrift,
and Yon Moy’s Archiv fur Kirchen
recht. A third, the Athenaeum, pub
lished in Munich, by Prof. Frohscham
mer, with Fr. Hoffman, Lutterbeck, and
others of Baader’s school, was discon
tinued about a year ago. The Archiv
fur KirchenrecM was formerly publish
ed at Innsbruck, but since 1862 at
Mainz; and corresponds in aim, and in
respect of sterling merit, to the Protes
tant Zeitschrift fur Kirchenrecht, ed
ited by R. Dove. The Tuebinger theo
logische Quartalschrift represents, on
Catholic ground, what the Studien u.
Eritiken or the Jahrbucher fur Deutsche
Theologie, are for evangelical theology.
Among its editors are Kuhn, the chief
representative of the dogmatic branch,
and Hefele, the Church historian. The
contributions of Aberle, Himpel, Zuk
rigl, and Kober, as well as those of Dr.
Schapff, of Rottenburgh, are distinguish
ed by thorough erudition and literary
character.
Connected with the foregoing are sev
eral monthlies and quarterlies which
cannot be regarded as strictly scientific,
because the learned industry of* their
editors is controlled by obsolete ideas
and ultramontane tendencies. The re
presentative organ of this types - is the
Kathqlik, which has been published.
AaonTang 2 under the super
intendence of Bishop Yon Keffeler.
Other journals of the same class are the
Ghilianeum, by Pastor Stamminger, at
Wurzburg; the Katholischen Schweiz
erblatter fur Kunst u. Wissenschaft, by
Estermaun, in Luzerne; the Oester
reichische VierteljahrschHft fur Katho
lische Theologie, and others. Promi
nent in this group is the Historische
Poliiischen Blatter. Established iu 1838,
at Munich, it has been edited for the’
p'ast ten years by Edmund Georg, and
has exercised a most important influence
upon Church and theology in an ultra
montane direction.
The ecclesiastical journals of German
Catholicism are far inferior, in point of
merit, to the strictly scientific; and even
to several political papers which defend
the interests of the Church. Among
them we reckon the Sion, published at
Augsburg; the Literdturblaetter and
Sendbote fur Fiusvereine ; the latter
being an organ of the Home and Foreign
Mission. More interesting and able
than the above, is the Wiener Kirchen
zeitung, established in 1848, and now
published by the talented Sebastian
Brunner, under the editorial supervision
of Albert Wiesinger. It is distinguished
by a polemical character, principally
controverting a modern Judaism in the
social and literary circumstances of
Yienua. We have also, in this group,
the Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung, pub
lished by an association of Swiss clergy
men, under the lead of Count Theodor
von Scherer. Since 1868, it has been
associated with the Kirchenblatt der
Katholischen Schweiz, formerly publish
ed at Luaerne.
The number of local journals is very
great. Prominent among them are the
Katholische Kirchenblatt fur die diocese
Bottenburg, the Freiburg, Salzburg,
Sachsische, Kirchenblaetter, the Markis
che Kirchenblatt, noted for its missionary
spirit as against Protestantism, the Kir
chenblatt fur die Diocesen Kulm u.
Ermeland, and others. There are also
many pastoral journals in the different
dioceses, of a more learned theological
character than the foregoing. The most
eminent of these is the Munchener Pas
toralblatt, published since 1860, by com
mand of the Ordinary of the Archbishop
of Munich.
Of homiletic journals, i. e., collections
of sermons appearing periodically with
other homiletic matter, there is naturally
no lack. The most eminent are the
Wurzburg Philothea the HedwigsblaM,
edited by Brunn in Breslau, and the
Ghrysologus, by Nagelschmitt in Parder
born. The latter has a list of three
thousand subscribers.
The oTgans for Christian art are the
Freiburger Christliche Kunstblatter, the
Kirchenschmuck, published at Stutt
gart ; the Organ fur Christliche Kunst,
by Baudri, in Cologne ; the Organ des
Vereins fur Christliche Kunst, in Lux
emburg ; the Austrian Jahrbuch fur
Christliche Kunst, by Gustav Heyder;
the Mittheilungen der K. K. Central-
Commission zur Erforschung und
Erhaltung der Baudenkmale Oester
reichs, and the Coscilia, by Prof. Ober
hoffer in Luxemburg. Thus there are
no fewer than seven organs of the his
tory and theory of architecture and the
pastic art
Quite without analogy in evangelical
■circles, there are two Roman Catholic
periodicals devoted to reconciling the
facts and discoveries of natural science
with Christian doctrine. These are the
Hygea and Natur und Offenbarung.
The latter, now in its eleventh year, is
edited by Dr. Frederick Michelis, with
great ability. The former is principally
busied with explanations of modern mys
teries, such as animal magnetism, spirit
rappings, etc.
There are also several educational
journals, which, without being decidedly
ecclesiastical, defend the interests of the
Romish Church. Such are the Trier
sche Schulfreund; the Suddeutsche
Schulwochenblatt, edited by Pfister and
Bolfus; Hang’s Magazinfur Paedagogik
and other similar publications; all zeal
ous in defense of the Church, and at the
same time of eminent attainments, pedo
gogically speaking. . '
But greater still than the influence of
the last mentioned class jipon the teach
ers, is the influence upon citizens and
country-folk of the so-called Sonntags
blaetter and Yolksblaetter. The Mainzer
Volksblatt is said to have twenty-five to
thirty thousand subscribers. Next to it
in circulation is the Eucharius published
at Treves; • then the Westphaelische
Volksblatt published at Paderborn;
Wick’s Breslau Hansblaetter fur das
Volk, and the Katholischen Blaetter aus
Tyrol ; the two last being distinguished
by rigid ultramontane tendencies.
Of the journals of the inner mission,
the most extensively read is the St.
Joseph’sblatt, established a year ago, and
edited by Dr. Lang, in Munich. Next
to it in influence and importance are the
Rheinische Volksblaetter, by Holping, at
Elberfeld, and the Sociale Revue, by
Nich. Schuren, Secretary of the Boya!
Gewerbrath at Aachen. To this class
belong also the Jahrbucher des Vincenz
vereins, (for the care of the poor and the
sick); the Blatter des Borromceus Ver
eins, (for the distribution of good woiks);
and the Bonifaciusblatt, published at
Paderborn.
The organ for foreign missions is the
Annalen der Verbreitung des Glaubens,
published at Maria Einsiedelu in Switz
erland. It is a translation of the Annales
de la Propagationets, issued at Lyons.
In all the different languages iu which it
is circulated, the paper numbers,-per
haps (wo hundred and fifty thonsancL
StiGscnbers. Several illustrated Unter
haltungsblatter belong to the Catholic mis
sionary organs in a wider sense. The
more important are the Munchener Sonn
tagsblatt, hy Lang; the Sonntagsfreude,
by Pfanz, at Freiburg; the Heimgarten,
by Pus'tet, at Begensburg ; the Daheine;
the. Christliche Abendruhe fur das.
Katholische Volk ; and Isabella Braun’s
Stuttgarter Jugendblatter. Of these the
Sonntagsfreude is devoted to the inter
ests of the Catholic youth of Germany,
and numbers at least twenty thousand
-subscribers.
The last periodical which it occurs to
mention is the Literarische Handweiser
zunachst fur das Katholische Deutsch
land, edited by Franz Hnlskamp and
Hermann Rump, at Munster. It is con
ducted with consummate ability, and
numbers over six thousand subscribers.
• The names given above are a mere
gleaning from the broad field of Catholic
periodical literature. The entire num
ber of journals of all kinds published in
this interest in the German language,
exceeds, perhaps, one thousand. In
ferior in scientific ability to the Protest
ant organs of the same land, they consti
tute no mean power, which is wielded
with no slight dexterity. , M.
THE FREEDMEN.
No class of the people of the United
States is, perhaps, just now, more a sub
ject of interest than the late emancipated
slaves.
They are interesting from their loyalty
when all around them was rebellion and
treachery, from their having fought
bravely for us in the field, from their
former sad history, and from their new
relation, as proteges of the Government.
We trust that not one of these consider
ations in their favor will for one moment
be ignored by Congress, or forgotten by
our 'people.
There' are some who assert that the
Freedmen are unprepared for the rights
and privileges of freedom, and as a gene
ral thing, the men who utter this are
for leaving them still within the grip
and under the control of their former
oppressors. How long, in such hands,
will it take to fit them for their new
rights and privileges ?
The time was, and that is not very
long since, that the institution of slavery
was alleged, by its advocates, to be
operating upon the poor blacks as the
most salutary of missionary enterprises!
This doctrine was received with distrust
in some quarters, but many seemed
piously to believe it. All now, however,
discover, to their amazement, that, after
many generations of this missionary
exercise, the poor subjects of it are left
destitute of even the first simple elements
of moral and intellectual culture. While,
strange to say, it is from the very mis
sionaries, or, in other words, masters,
and their upholders, that now come the
complaints of the unfitness of these, their
pupils, to be free!
Sad, indeed, is it for both parties, if
this be true. But could a stronger
argument than this be brought in favor
of an entire change of guardianship for
these unfortunates, who have nothing
left, of their'own and their ancestral toil
and; suffering, but squalid poverty and
mental and moral night ?
Alas! much is doubtless needed, truly,
to qualify these wretched people for
anything that is much above the terrible
servitude, in which they have so long
been held.
Hence pur duties. The people of the
loyal ‘States must see~to' it, that the
Government be. supported in resisting
alike the insolent demands, the impor
tunity, and the cajolery, which are being
continually employed by the South, for
the purpose of once more obtaining entire
control of these their late slaves.
It would be to our eternal infamy to
break faith with those who have been
encouraged by us to hope for better days.
And it would be ruin to them to fall
again into the hands of their merciless
oppressors, boiling over as they are with
mortified pride and vindictive malice.
By permitting consequences like these,
by thus suffering the edict of emancipa
tion to sink into a sham, we should earn
and incite, as we should receive, the
scorn and the imprecations of mankind.
M.
MORRIS’S READING-HOUSE.
The following, from Gillett’s History of
Presbyterianism, is an instance of the pro
vidential indications which accompanied
the early stages of the history of our Church
in this country :
The rise of Presbyterianism in Hanover,
Ya., is inseparably connected with what is
known by tradition as Morris’s Reading-
House. This was the first of several buildings
in thatregion, erected to accommodate those
who were dissatisfied with the preaching of
the parish incumbents, and anxious to en
joy the privilege of listening on the Sab
bath to the reading of instructive and de
votional works on religion. The origin of
this movement was somewhat singular.
The people had, for the most part, never
heard or seen a Presbyterian minister. But
reports had reached them of revivals in
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New Eng
land. A few leaves of Boston’s Fourfold
State, in the possession, of a Scotchwoman,
fell into the hands of a gentleman, who was
so affected by their perusal that he sent to
England by the next ship to procure the
entire Work. The result of its perusal was
his conversion. Another obtained posses
sion of Luther on Galatians ; he, in like
manner, was deeply affected, and ceased not
to Tead and pray till he found peace •in
Christ. <
These persons, with two or three others
—all heads of families—withnni own
absented them
selves at the same time from the worship
of the parish church. They'were convinced
that the Gospel w,as not preached by the
parish minister, and they deemed it incon
sistent with their duty to attend upon his
ministrations. Four of them. were sum
moned on the same day, and at the same
place, to answer to the proper officers for
their delinquency. For the first time they
here learned their common views. Con
firmed in them by this unexpected coinci
dence, they thenceforth chose to subject
themselves to the payment of the fines im
posed by law rather than attend church
where they felt that they could not be pro
fited.
They agreed at first to meet every Sab
bath alternately at each other’s houses, to
read and pray. Soon their numbers in
creased. Curiosity attracted some, and
religious anxiety other. The Scriptures,
and Luther on Galatians, were first read.
Afterward a volume of Whitefield’s ser
mons fell into their hands (1743). “My
dwelling-ho.use,” says Mr. Morris, “ was
at length too small to contain the people.
We determined to build a meeting-house
merely for reading.” The result was, that
several were awakened and gave proof of
genuine conversion. Mr. Morris was - in
vited to several places, some of them at a
considerable; distance, to read the sermons
which had been so effective in his own
neighborhood. Thus the interest that had
been awakened spread abroad.
The dignitaries of the Established Church
saw the parish churches deserted, and took
the alarm. They urged that indulgence
encouraged the evil, and hence invoked the
strong arm of the law to restrain it. The
leaders in the movement were no longer
fegarded' as individual delinquents, but a
malignant cabal, and, instead of being ar
raigned merely before the magistrates, they
were cited to appear before the Governor
and Council.
Startled by the criminal accusation which
was now directed against them, and of the
nature, extent, and penalties of which they
had indistinct conceptions, they had not
even the name of a religious, denomination
under which to shelter their' dissent. At
lenth, recollecting that Luther, whose work
occupied so much space in their public re
ligious readings, was a nqted reformer, they
declared themselves Lutherans.
But it so happened that, on the way to
Williamsburg to appear before the Gover
nor, one of the company, detained by a
violent storm at a house on the road, fell in
with an old volume on a dust-covered shelf,
which he read to while away the time.
Amazed to find in it the expression of his
own religious sentiments, so far as they had
been definitely formed, he offered to pur
chase the book; but the owner gave it to
mm. At m illianQsburg }ia _ l , it i *
•friends, more carefully efamLld the wolk
And wets 3,11 QQPfgAd fk Q i ••
own views. £ 14 jessed their
fh« ,en they appeard before
this old ' therefore, they presented
ernor a vo ? m ®. as their creed. The Gov
adn ’ .^ ooc h, himself of Sootch origin and
at tlie and found
14 *0 be the Confession of Faith of the
Presbyterian Church of Scotland. He
consequently denominated the men ar
raigned before him Presbyterians, and dis
missed them with the gentle caution not to
excite disturbance. One of the party
firmly believed that this leniency on the
part of the Governor and the Council was
due, iu part, to the impression made by a
violent thunder-storm then shaking the
house in which they were assembled, and
wrapping everything around them alter
nately in darkness and in sheeted flame.
Subsequently*this field, so remarkably
opened, became the first charge of the dis
tinguished Samuel Davies.
It is related of him that, finding in many
places, obstacles were placed in the way of
dissenting worship by the civil authorities,
Davies argued for freedom with character
istic boldness and vigor. He claimed, in
controversy with Peyton Randolph, the
king’s attorney-general, that the English
Act of Toleration for the relief of Protes
tant Dissenters extended to Virginia. On
one occasion he appeared in person before
the General Court, and replied to Ran
dolph in a strain of eloquence that is re
ported to have won the admiration of the
most earnest of his opponents, who said
that in him “a good lawyer had been
spoiled.” He persevered, in his efforts in
the cause of toleration, till, crossing the
ocean, he had the opportunity to bring the
matter before the king in council, and re
ceived a declaration, under, authority, that
the Act of Toleration did extend to the
colony of Virginia.
PETER BAYNE’S POSITION.
We trust that the case of this brilliant
and hitherto earnest and able champion of
revealed supernatural religion, most favora
bly known for his “ Christian life, social
and individual," and his “ Testimony of
Christ to Christianity,” but lately obliged
to withdraw from the editorship of the
London Weekly Review for alleged leanings
to Rationalism, will turn out better than
good men in EnglaAd feared. We find
the following notice of his article on “Neo-
Evangelism” in a high-orthodox cotempo
rary:— .
Disparaging very much the fathers of
the great Evangelical school—those true
successors of the Reformers—he takes his
stand with a new class styled “ Neo-Evan
gelicals.” to whom “ Christianity is . . . .
expansive, eclectic, a synthesis of all that
is good in humanity, in history, in the
world." “ The opinion that Scripture is
plenarily, verbally, infallibly inspired, is,"
he holds, “ untenable,” “ the inspiration of
the Almighty," in the conscience being
“as heedfully to be attended to.” The re
presentative names which are associated
with this “ Catholic Christianity” are “Ne
ander, Arnold, Dr. Donaldson!’’
Although, as we have said, Mr. Bayne
holds very Cheaply the faith ot the old
Evangelical leaders, and declares their
school to be of a kind which could not.last,
he does allow them some credit, as may be
seen from the following melancholy ex
tract :
“ Nay, I must, for my part, own that
tllDSfi W-tn-Cr io Wit
as Cromwell used to say, the root of the
matter in them; to have known that secret
might of Christianity, that mystic Word
and Name,-by which it has moVed the
world. It has been often and correctly
observed, that the most grandly eloquent
passages in the writings of Macaulay, par
ticularly bis early writings, had their source
in the Evangelical inspirations of his boy
hood ; and the profound spiritual enthusi
asm and glow of religious feeling which
have been the glory and originality of the
works of Carlyle, arose in that Evangelical
atmosphere which he breathed in his fath
er’s house. Mr. Carlyle is understood to
have referred, in conversation, to his
father as perhaps g wiser, certainly a god
lier, man than himself; and that father,
as is well known in the district in the south
of Scotland where he lived, was a patriarch
of the old Evangelical type. William
Sums, father of the poet, described by
Carlyle as a ( man with a keen insight and
a devout heart, reverent towards God,
friendly, therefore, at once, and fearless to
wards all that God made,’ was of the same
school. I may be permitted to say for my
self, that I should not have known the
power that lies in Christianity to substitute
for the pleasures of se'nsfe and of earth a
perpetual, never-sated rapture, in the wor
ship of God and the contemplation of Di-
things—a rapture and a contemplation
not inconsistent with vigilant discharge of
common duty and tenderest exercise of do
mestic affection—if I had not ample and
infallible opportunity of observing how a
religion no loftier than that of Romaine
and Toplady enabled one I knew to ( live
as seeing that which is invisible.’ If we
are to start from the religion of the Evan
gelicals of the end of the last century and
the commencement of the present, we shall
find it quite easy to decline from, as to
rise above, their standard.”
OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH.
“£ n the whole course of our recollec
tion, says an eminent divine, tl we never
met with a Christian who bore upon -his
character every other evidence of the
a °P era tion, who did not remember
the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Rest as
thaf .the Christian, having the love
Qi (rod in: his heart, and denying the Sab
bath a place in his affections, is an anomaly
nowhere to be found. Every Sabbath
image and every Sabbath circumstance is
fi! a fv°i, hiln ; He loves the quietness of
that hallowed morn. He loves to join the
chorus of devotion, and sit and listen to the
voice of persuasion, which is lifted in the
hearing of an assembled multitude. He
loves the retirement of this day; from the
lI1 T4i WOr business, and the inroads of
worldly men. He loves the leisure it brings
with it; and sweet to his soul is the exer
cise of that hallowed hour, when there is
no eye to witness him but the eye of Heaven,
ana when, m solemn audience with the
gather, who seeth him in secret, he can,
on the wings of celestial contemplation,
leave all the cares, and all the venations,
V^ CUlarities of a “ alienated
world’behind him. Reader, is this your