HISTORICAL sketch of the kola
poor MISSION CHAPEL,
CHAPEL NO. I, NOW A MTJSSELMAN
MOSQUE.
The KolapoorMission was commenced
by direction of Rev. R. Anderson, For
eign Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M., in
December, 1852. Obliged to hold all
<jar preaching services in low, hot school
rooms, the temple courts, or open streets,
greatly needing a chapel, and failing to
obtain permission to build at the expense
of the Board, we purchased a site and
built Chapel No. 1, wholly at our P er "
sonal expense, with the exception of Rs.
100 given Joy three friends for this spe
cial purpose. Its dimensions on the
ground were 65 feet by 36 feet. It was
built economicoliy, much labor being
done upou it with our own hands. . Its
Compli"i.in whs a matter of great joy'
and thankfulness. The deputation of
the A. B. C. F. M, visiting India in
1854_5, learning how economically this
chapel bad been built, authorized its ex
pense to to be charged to the Board.
Thereupon, the mere expense of building
it, viz: Rs. 798, and also Rs. 144 ex
pended in building a school-honse, at
the same time, by the side of it—in all
Rs. 942, were charged in account with
the Board.
In 1557, failure of health constrained
us, very reluctantly, to leave the mission
for a time, and visit America. While
there, ttfe Prudential Committee of the
A. B. C. F. M. abandoned the Kolapoor
Mission, and severed our own connection
with the Board.
In January, 1861, the political agent at
Kolapoor was led to propose to Rev. W.
Wood, of Satara, in whose care Dr. An
derson had placed the Board’s property
at Kolapoor, to sell the chapel and
school-honse as decayed buildings. After
correspondence, the entire property—
chapel, school-house, sites, and chapel
furniture—was sold for the paltry sum
of two hundred and seventy-four and a
half rupees.-
When we reached Kolapoor, some six
months after the sale, we found our
beautiful chapel, where we used to
preach Christ and him crucified, trans
formed into a Mohammedan Mosque for
the worship of the false prophet. Our
lamentations were inexpressible, bat
what could we do ?
At Satara, on our way to Kolapoor,
we had appealed to Brother Wood.
<* How could you let such a beautiful
chapel—such valuable mission property
—be sold, and for such a trifle ?”
In Kolapoor, we appealed to the poli
tical agent and his assistant, the latter
of whom had been most active in effect
ing the sale. Both professed profound
regret. Would have kept the building
for us had they only known we were
coming back.
Mr. W.—“ But did not our old teach
ers, native friends, and all here, assure
you we were coming back? Did not
even Mr. Wood tell you we were coming
back ?”
Politicals.—“ 0, yes, he did in his
first official letter; but he afterwards
wrote that you were not coming, and the
property must be sold.”
Mr. W.—“ But did you not propose
to sell them as decoded buildings ?”
Politicals.—“Yes', we did. Butwhen
Mr. Wood wrote that you were coming
back we deferred the sale.”
Mr. W.—" And yet, to say nothing
■of the very slight injury to the chapel—
■only two rafters loose at the ridge—
there is the school-house, as sound now
as the day we built it. How could you
sell that as a decayed building ? And
the sites—do sites ever decay ?”
Politicals.—(Biting their lips.) “ Aye.
but Mr. Wood said the whole proporty
must be sold, sites and all.”
But all interviews end with little sat
isfaction Major Grey, the magistrate
and a disinterested person, says: “ Mr.
Wilder, you ought to bring a civil suit.
The case is a clear one.. You can re
cover the sites and full damages.” A
sense of justice says the same. Pru
dence whispers, The influence of the
political agent is all-powerful over king
and chiefs, native durbar, and all subor
dinate officials. If he is worsted in a
jcivil suit, may he not bring still more
serious trouble on the mission ?
Forbearance says, Had you not better
suffer the wrong, cruel as it is, and try
to overcome evil with good ?
The political agent offers to give a
..new site, and directs his assistant to
ascertain what place we can have. The
civil suit is held in abeyance.
After long delay the assistant politi
cal sends us a list of half a dozen sites
from which to chose. We visit them
in detail. All are outside of the city.
One, a half mile out in one direction—
another in the opposite direction —all in
the midst of nuisances—no one of them
an acceptable gift, even with a chapel
ready built upon it. The words and
bearing of the assistant political agent
soon convince us that the mission itself
is to be treated as a nuisance. I ven
ture to suggest that if he and the politi
cal agent really wish to help the mission,
there is an eligible site adjoining our
former one, and owned by a native ■who
is quite willing to sell it. The assistant
political peremptorally declares it can
not be had—that the King himself has
appropriated it for a special purpose. 1
know tbis is false, but fear a hint from
him to the native official will make it
true. , ,
We cease all inquiries—wait ana
pray. Ia the course of a year, the assis
tant political agent is removed from
Kolapoor—promoted to a higher office,
with much joy to him, and not less to
us. We find an opportunity to make
the acquaintance of the native who owns
the desired site, said by the political
assistant to have been appropriated by
the King fiud the statement false, as
we had supposed—quietly negotiate—
the contract is duly signed, sealed, and
delivered, and the purchase money paid
on the spot. And here beginneth
CHAPEL NO. 11.
Our purchase of this new site soon
becomes known, and our Moslem neigh
bors in possession of chapel No. 1, now
a mosque, manifest their indignation
with no little energy. They besiege the
native Government with petitions, pray
ing for an interdict against the mission
ary’s building a Christian temple so
near them. The King wisely declines
any interference. They appeal to the
British Government through the politi
cal agent who sold them chapel No. 1.
His reference comes to ns. We meet it
by simply urging equal toleration to
Hindus, Christians, and Moslem, claim
ing truest friendship for them anti for all,
and suggesting, if they do not recipro
cate our friendly feelings, let them re
store us the site which we still own, and
seek another site more remote from us.
Whether this correspondence was ever
handed up to higher authorities we know
not, but venture to doubt it.
THE NEW CHAPEL COMMENCED.
In Nov. 1863, two years from the re
establishment . of our mission, we com
menced our new chapel. Only a few
donations are in hand for this special
purpose, but believing God will incline
Christian hearts to help us, we take
down the old native shops, and begin
the work. We have to dig down six
teen feet for rock foundation. Wages
and materials are two and three times
as costly as when we built before—our
Moslem neighbors renew their opposi
tion, get our work stopped again and
again by Government order, and show a
measure of anger which makes dear wife
fear for my life. Subordinate native of
ficials are in sympathy with them—
forcibly take- away our carts and work
men, and when remonstrated with ven
ture to hint that the supreme Govern
ment sold our former chapel, and is un
friendly to our mission.
But the Lord is with us. A few
workmen stand by us, and we put our
own hands to the work some hours
every day. The stone walls rise slowly
and are near completion, when the de
structive monsoon rains begin to threat
en. All efforts to obtain the heavy
timbers necessary for tie-beams, prove
unavailing. We write letters and search
the country for eighty miles around—in
vain. No suitable timber can be found.
HELP PROM THE HEATHEN KING.
In this emergency, the King lets us
have the timber from his own private
scores —a kindness in a heathen prince
worthy of our warmest thanks and of
this permanent record. We insisted on
paying for it, but he took only about
one-third of its market value.
The rains were beginning to fall, but
the work went on. Nearly every nail
in the roof was driven with our own
hand, and the walls were covered in and
saved.
To this point, special donations for
building this chapel came just as needed.
The heavy expense for roofing materials
exhausted all our funds, and for a few
months the work was nearly suspended.
But donations soon came, the building
was finished, and in August, 1865, we
dedicated it to the worship of the true
God.
THE MAHOMEDAN PUGILIST —GROWING AU-
dience,
At our dedicatory service, we were
gratified to find that the opposition and
bitterness of our Moslem neighbors had
so far yielded to a firm and conciliatory
course, that they came in and formed
part of our audience. The .chief owner
of the mosque is a famous pugilist.—the
tallest, largest, and strongest man I have
seen in India. At this first service he
walked in and took a prominent seat near
my right hand, and has been present at
every service but one, from that 'time to
this. Our audience has increased from
100 to 250. Our chapel stands in a
densely-populated part of this heathen
city, the only Christian temple amidst
these 252 idol sbrmes—the only build
ing consecrated to the worship of the
true God within seventy miles of us.
Its comely form is a standing invitation
to all to come and worship the living
God. Its very presence preaches daily
and hourly to these thousands of idola
ters, and its theme is ever Christ and
the Resurrection.
“ Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”
To Him be all the glory. May He ac
cept this house and make it a Bethel —
the birth-place of many precious souls.
In the service of the Gospel,
R. G. Wilder
11 WANT ANY HELP?”
A man trudging along the street, car
rying a heavy basket, was thus saluted
by a comrade who came up behind him
and grasped the handle of the basket.
The cheery words caught my ear as I
passed, and * thought how much hap
pier this world would be if every man,
woman, and child in it had words like
these on the tongue and in the heart.
The poorest, the feeblest, tne most hard
ened in their own souls, could offer
help, or express a desire to help, to some
body. If for one day we shduld by
word and action heartily say to those
around us, as far as we have opportu
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, MARCH 15. 1866.
nity, “ want any help from me ?” that
day would be long remembered as one
of happiness and comfort to ourßelves.
Let t*e sorrowful, heavy-laden heart,
weary of its own burden and of the
world, take home to itself this thought.
Let it arise and look around to see if
there is not some one to whom the
strengthening, cheering word can go
forth, “want any help?” Then let it
give what help and comfort it can to
that one, and its own burden will surely
weigh less heavily, and its sorrow seem
less keen. Fellow-Christians, let this
question go from heart to heart, and
from life to life, and our religion will be
more fruitful and more blessed to our
selves, and to those around us. Then
shall we “bear one another’s burdens,
and so fulfil the law of Christ.” X.
ESTABLISHED CHRISTIANS NEED RE
CONSTRUCTION,”
BY BEY. EDWARD PAYSON HAMMOND,
I recently beard in Elmira, N. Y., of
a young man not far from there, wbo
was present at meetings where the Holy
Spirit was leading many to feel their
lost condition, and to accept of Christ.
He yielded to the gentle influences of
the Spirit,’believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ and was saved, and could ex
claim with Isaiah, “ Behold Gt>d is my
salvation, I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord, Jehovah, is my strength
and my song.”
Returning to his home some miles
from the place where he learned to
“rejoice in the Lord,” he cbuld but
speak of the things which he had seen
and heard. His whole time was spent
in telling others of his new found joys,
urging them to “ come to Jesus just
now,” or in BingiDg the hymns which
he learned to love.
His father, who was a professor of
religion, though I fear but a boarder in
Christ’s family, began to think him
“ righteous over-much,” and so told him
he must not get so much excited abodt
“solemn and serious matters“ we must
not make so much noise, causing sacred
things to appear so common.” The son
ventured to ask, “ Father, why don’t
older Christians always feel just as I
do, and talk to every body about what
Jeans has done for them, and urge them
to love and trust him ; I don’t see how
they can help being happy and singing
hymns of praise.” The laconic answer
he received was “ Because we are estab
lished.”
A few weeks after, they both went
into the -wood to get a load of wood
with the horse and wagon. After the
wood was cut and placed upon the
wagon, the horse was bidden to go, but
not an inch would he move; he obsti
nately resisted all progressive move
ments. Their “ moral suasion” had no
influence; the whip was vigorously ap
plied, but still he would not stir from
his tracks. They put their shoulders to
the wheel, and could almost have pushed
the loaded wagon home, if the obstinate
horse had been out of the way, but there
he stood. He made “no noise,” he did
not kick, only he would not go. It was
past noon. At length hungry, and tired,
and out of all manner of patience, the
father exclaimed, “What shall we' do
with this horse ? What shall we do With
him?” The only answer he received
was, “ Bather I think he is established.”
I wonder if any of the readers of the
American Presbyterian are “estab-
lished Christians ?” Now it is well to
be “ established,” but it is impor
tant as to the manner in whicn we are
“ established.” Are not earnest pastors
often held back fronwsigorous efforts for
the conversion of sinners by some obsti
nate established Christians who say,
" There is not sufficient interest to war
rant an effort;” instead of asking, as I
once neard a minister ask, 11 is there not
sufficient deadness to warrant more de
termined effort?” The readers of such
an excellent paper ought to be “estab-
lished in the faith” that God answers
prayers, and blesses humble, earnest, per
sistent effort for the salvation of the
perishing.
Churches thus established it will be
said of them, “ and they increased in
number daily.” (A;ets xvi.*s.)
Do not many of our churches need
“reconstruction ?” I have just received
from Towanda, Pa., a most interesting
letter from one who seems to think he
hao been most decidedly “ reconstructed”
by a power more than human. I ven
ture to insert it in full. This gentleman
is one of high standing, a graduate of
Gettysburg College, Pa. Should he
chance to find his letter in print be will
be surprised, but I doubt not it will do
good. A fervent prayer goes'with it
that God' may use it‘to lead many to
heed the apostolic admonition, “ Stir up
the gift of God which is in thee.'" (2
Timothy i. 6.)
EXPERIENCE OF A ■•EECOSSTBIICIED'
Towanda, Pa., Peb. 23, 1866.
My Dear Mu. Hammond :—I heard
you requesting letters from youngcon verts,
relating to their experience.
I volunteer to give you the experience of,
a reconstructed Christian, to use an expres
sion of the day. I believe it is just tijfenty
nine years since I embarked on the river
of Salvation* and I am now forty-six years
old. I fear my religion has been a selfish
one, for I have not the comfort of being
able to recall to my mind a single instance,
until lately, when I ever said to any one,
“ Come with me to Jesus.” I have been
paddling my own canoe up the stream, the
current has been very strong, and,jt was
often hard work, especially because I de
pended too much on myself, instead of cal -
ing for help on Him who was stronger than
I. Sometimes I have fallen asleep for ong
CHRISTIAN’
intervals, and, of course, floated down
stream. Sometimes I have spent precious
days and years in fishing for “ the meat
that perisheth," and did little or no rowing.
I caught very few fish and those very small
ones, and meantime lost ground terribly.
Still I thank God, my boat.has, I think, all
this time been kept with its bow pointing
up the stream. No thanks to myself for
that. It was evident there was an unseen
hand at the helm.
But there is one thiDg I especially re
proach myself with, namely : that I never
considered it my duty to take any passen
gers on board with me. I thought it was
enough for me to do my own paddliDg, and
that the carrying of passengers belong to
(clergymen) the captains of the steamboats
commonly called churches. I saw any
number of poor sinners standing on the
banks on both sides of the river of Salva
tion, who had not even got afloat; but I be
lieve inever made a single landing to in
vite any of them to get aboard. This has
been a fatal neglect on my part. I need
not tell you there was no danger of over
loading or swamping the craft, for it was a
life-boat , and, strange to say, the more pas
sengers there are on board, the lighter is
the draft of water, the greater is the speed,
and the easier is the labor of rowing.
1 shall never forget that evening in the
first children’s meeting at Towanda, when
you, a stranger to me, took hold of both of
my shoulders and gave me a good shaking,
(like I have seen a big mastiff do with a
sleepy little terrier), and you said to me,
“ My dear sir, you are a professing Chris
tian, why don’t you go to work and talk to
some of these children who are seeking
Jesus.” My friend, I thank you heartily
for thjt shaking you gave me. I trust that
in this respect I have been “reconstructed”
so far as the desire and willingness to help
others is concerned, and God has enabled
me to go ashore several times since for this
purpose. lam now on my way to Canton,
and last night I tied up my little boat at
Le Roy, and with our friends and
,’ invited • passengers on board, and
thank God, some of them got up and took
the first step t.oioard the life-boat. I hope
some of them got in, and that all may row
on up to the Head Waters where stands
the city of the New Jerusalem.
God give us all true Christian humility
to bear in mind that the work is his not
ours.
Row on, my dear brother, row on, for it
is not you but God that worketh in you.
Yours in the faith that saves.
OUR'FELLOW-SUFFERERS - .
BY BEV. E. E. ADAMS, D.D.
Nothing, to my own mind, is more
humiliating than the fact that the myriads
of innocent creatures below us, suffer
for our sin, the innocent for the guilty.
This, too, is a law in the world’s fallen
state) beginning with the creatures that
labor and die for us; opening up, and
culminating in the suffering of Jesus for
the sin of the world. And in this view
the creatures are associated with tbe
Son of God; both die for man’s redemp
tion, —they as types, he as the true
atonement.
And this leads us upward still farther
in the scale of the great law, and we
find that God submits to it. We meet
a difficulty, indeed, when we touch on
a theme like this. We are not to be
lieve that any thing, can disturb the
eternal blessedness of God; and yet we
are taught that God feels. He that
formed the eye, shall no£ he see ? He
that planted the ear, shall not he hear?
He that teacheth man knowledge, shall he
not know ? and may we not add, he that
giveth man sensibility, shall not he feel ?
He so represents himself. , When about
to destroy mankind with a flood he said,
it grieved him to his heart that he had
made man. This language may be a
vivid figure, but it is not without mean
ing. It cannot signify less than this:
that there is in God that kind of emo
tion which answers to grief and sorrow
in us. We may grieve the Holy Spirit
of God. We may do that which shall
injure hia tenderness, his compassion
towards us. God has the feelings of a
Father, and must have felt what we
cannot know, nor describe, in the giving
of his Son to death. He is, has, and
must entertain feelings of disapproba
tion towards sin, and an infinite desire
to put an end to sin, and to save sinners
from the evil of it. In giving his Son
therefore to a sacrifice of pain and igno
miny for the satisfaction of justice, there
must have been a trial of parental love
—“ a struggle and a soreness,” as the
great Chalmers has expressed it—'Which,
though not interfering with his eternal
blessedness, was deep, pervading, and
unutterable.
It is then an interesting view of this
law, that the Almighty himself has con
descended to submit to it; and so it
sweeps on in its fearful, yet in a moral
view, glorious course, from the throne
of the Godhead to the most distant and
feeble of earth’s little children. And
this is the law of perfection in the moral
universe. Christ, the captain of salva
tion, is “made perfect through suffer
ings not made better, not made holier,
but fitted to be our Saviour. In him
this perfection is not an ascent to nobler
life, but a descent of the infinite to man ;
an acquaintance by sympathy, and by ex
periment, with man’s nature, ruin, and
wants. And not only is he made per
fect by sufferings, but the goverment
and economy of God, which sin had
invaded, are made perfect also; for jus
tice is satisfied; God is vindicated; an
obedience is rendered to law equal to its
utmost claim, and mercy is made to flow
abroad freely and forever. Then this suf
fering of the Redeemer, and of the Father
himself, by sympathy and relationship,
makes a powerful appeal to the human
heart. Once felt and understood, it'sub
dues the soul’s obduracy, melts it into
penitence and love.
Christ has consecrated the path of
suffering for his church. It is enough
that the disciple be as his master. We
are to grow up into Mm who is the head
in all things, and we grow by suffering.
The vine, the tree grows better if it be
pruned. As members of his body, we
fill up in ourselves the measure of his
sufferings. It is the law of Christianity.
We must suffer with Christ, and having
suffered, we shall be glorified together
with him. Then it will be enough that we
are as our master.
The martyr called to die for his reli
gion suffers with Christ; the man who
loses his property, his reputation, his
office on account of his faith, suffers
with Christ; the child persecuted by
his parents for his fidelity to conscience
suffers with Christ; Christain parents
from whose arms the little cherub is re
moved by the great Father to win them
from the world and save them from idola
try, bowing to the band that smites and
patiently accepting the trial, suffer with
Christ; the minister of God laboring in
poverty/in weakness and affliction, to
save souls and help believers on their
way to heaven, suffers with Christ; the
tempted soul, resisting evil, girding itself
against sin, and hurling the tempter be
hind him, maintaining a long and fiery
warfare with unlawful affections, fighting
on his knees against the law of the flesh,
suffers with Christ; the young man who
breaks from the fascinations of the
theatre, and the ball-room, who resists
the sparkling cup, turns aside from the
pomp and pageantry of life, to walk
humbly with God, to go about doing
good, in lowly, dark, and forbidding
haunts, exposed to dangers and disease,
suffers with Christ.
And this suffering sanctifies, it termi
nates in victory. It makes your heart
great, your life sublime. You shall be
“ knighted on the field,” as one of God’s
heroes.
LETTER FROM A TRAVELLING COR
RESPONDENT IN THE SOUTH.
“If you wish to worship with a loyal
people where prayer is offered for the
Government, you will," said my friend,
“have to attend the colored church.”
“ That is where I wish to go,” I replied,
“ for so long as the soul is not stained
with treason, I do not mind the color.”
I went and was profited by the simple
fervent utterances of the preacher. A
year ago he was a slave. “ When my
mistress got married,” said he, “ she
told me, ‘ God has given you to me to be
my slavebut, we never thought that
God was the author of oppression. We
believed that God would set us free and
He has done it; to Him be all the
praise!”
It was my good fortune to meet here
Col. Whittlesey, chief of the Freedmen’s
Bureau for this State, who is the right
man in the right place, being both cler
gymen and soldier. He is thus quali
fied to administer military law and
preach the Gospel of peace. Col. Whit
tlesey informs me, there are now ten
thousand children in the Freedmen’s
schools of the State, and the number
steadily increasing.
But one school in the State is sustain
ed by Southern people. It is astonish
ing that a civilized people should dis
approve the education of the Freedmen.
Yet such is the fact.
It is painful to witness the opposition
to the Freedmen’s Bureau on - the part
of the South. Its agents are ostracised.
The teachers in the Freedmen’s schools
are excluded from society, and would
be driven out of the country and the
schools closed, were it not for the protec
tion of the military.
Last December, two young ladies
came-into this State under the direction
of the Pennsylvania Freedmen’s Aid
Society 10 teach the Freedmen. Pro
tected by the Bureau, they were en
abled to establish a large and flourishing
school. Not long ago a scurrilous arti
cle appeared in one of the papers pub
lished in this State, concerning these
ladies—denominating them the scum of
the earth, and disreputable characters.
The officer in command, seeing the arti
cle, demanded an apology, which was
refused. The author was then arrested
andoffered hand-cuffs and a felon’s prison,
or liberty, by making an unqualified re
cantation. He chose the latter, and is
now at large and quiescent, having a
wholesome regard for military laws.
It is folly to talk of pacifying these
malcontents; they respect might, but
not right, and until this class are brought
to a better mind, there will be peace
without the protection of the military.
That there are loyal men in this State
I do not ‘doubt, but so weak are they in
influence and number, that to stem pub
lic opinion unaided by the United States
authorities would be impossible.
The success of the Freedmen’s schools
is surprising. Children learn to read iu
one month. In many of the Sabbath
schools there are already libraries, and
to witness their delight on receiving a
book, would convince the most skeptical
that they hunger and thirst after know
ledge. The good which the Christian
teachers of the North are doing for the
Freedmen cannot be estimated. God’s
holy word, heretofore a sealed book to;
this despised race, is befing unsealed and
light is already breaking over these
Southern lands. Will the North take
one step backwards? Withdraw,'the
military and Freedmen’s Bureau, apd the
heritage of liberty that the Freedmen
now enjoy, will sink into darkness and
destruction. E./fl. H.
Down Among the Pines, N. C.„Feb., 1866*
A six o’clock morning prayer-meeting is
held in Cohooksink Church, in this city. V
THOUGHTS ON HUMILITY.
When we speak of a person as becom
ing humble, or as humbling himself be
fore God, we mean, not that he views
himself as worse than all others around
him, or as bad as be himself can be, but
that before God he is guilty, is deserving
of punishment, and, therefore, is bound
to humble himself.
There is a humility which every crea
ture ought to cherish before his Maker,
which is a proper expression of his obli
gations to his Creator, for his existence
and all the blessings connected with it,
and of his unceasing dependence upon God
for the continuance of life and all things.
Our natural ignorance, too, will make
us humble, just as we advance in all
kinds of knowledge. The more we find
out and add to our knowledge, the more
humble we will become. The more we
know, the more we see of what remains
unknown.
“ Let that circle,” said Dr. Chalmers —
having drawn a circle on a board, as an
illustration—“ represent the extent or
compass of a man’s knowledge—the
region of light which he has conquered
and made his own out of the surrounding
darkness. Each point in this circuihfer
ence represents a • question about that
which is beyond and without, to which
the man finds he can give no answer.
Enlarge the circle, and you multiply the
number of such points. The more,
therefore, the man enlarges his circle of
light, he sees but the more of the dark
ness that lies all around. The wider the
diameter of light, the larger the circum
ference of darkness.”
Those who are humble, then, are strip
ped of ail inordinate self esteem, and take
their proper places as creatures in the
presence of God.
But there is a deeper humility, if I
may so express it, which is needful for
a sinful' being in the presence of his of
fended Sovereign and Judge. We are sin
ners, and, therefore, as sinners, we must
humble ourselves before Him against
whom we have sinned. The depth of
this humility will be in proportion to the
clearness of the views which we have of the
infinite-and immaculate holiness of-God.
It should never be forgotten, that
those who are humble before God, will
not be proud before man. Instead of
pride and haughtiness, they will be
meek and courteous, and manifest re
spect and kindness to all. J. R.
THE WAY THE UNION WAS SAVED.
We doubt whether it is possible to settle
the difference between the President and
Congress by a coup de main. The problem
cannot be solved by gun-firing and mass-meet
ings. And we feel bound to say that we think
the attempts which have been made, and in
which we were sorry to see Mr. Seward par
ticipating, to snap a judgment on the Presi
dent’s action by getting up “imposing de
monstrations,” before the veto message had
been fairly read by the public, and to denounce
and belittle the majority in Congress before
they had time to make .themselves heard, is
not only not creditable, but is so very trans
parent that it is sure to miss its mark. Pub
lic opinion cannot be carried in this way by
assault. The people have heard of the Freed
men’s Bureau bill before now, are tolerably
familiar with all that can be said both for anil
against it, and are hardly likely to be beguiled
in one night into believing that Congress is
mostly composed of reckless fanatics bent on
destroying the Union or nullifying the Con
stitution. We cannot help considering,
therefore, the way in which the President
and his. organs have permitted themselves to
f3ak of them, as at least highly unbecoming.
e have great respect for Mr. Johnson’s
hoDesty and ability, if not for his temper and
taste, but we have yet to learn that he has
absorbed so much of the wisdom and patriot
ism of the country that there is little or none
left in the other branches of the Government.
Thaddeus Stevens, and Charles Sumngr, and
Wendell Phillips may be very unsafe guides,
but if they were traitors of the deepest dye.
they are only three. It will be something
new to the country to learn that the Union
has no friends left in Washington except Mr.
Johnson and his- friends and the small band
of Copperheads in both the House and Senate
who have passed the last five years in pleasant
little efforts to have the Confederacy recogniz
ed. And we must say that, with the fullest
appreciation of the faults and shortcomings
of both Messrs. Sumner and Stevens, it
causes in us a novel sensation to hear them
denounced as traitors by a gentleman who is
holding out his hands to Wade Hampton and
waiting to clasp him to his political bosom.
If it be indeed true that the majority of
both Houses of Congress are at this moment
bent on destroying the Union, as the Presi
dent and his orators would have the cojxntry
believe, we advise him not to give himself
much trouble about the Government, for
nothing that he oan do will save it; and. in
fact, it would be a pity to have it saved, for
the whole concern must be very rotten and
worthless. When Congress sinks so low as
this, even Andrew Johnson may well give up
tbe task of mending the state as hopeless.
Mr, Seward s despatch, announcing that
“ the President's speech is triumphant, and
the country happy, and the Union safe," will
always remain amongst the curiosities of tele
graphic literature. Mr. Seward was, we be
lieve, in New York on the day when he made
this pleasing discovery, and we presume the
basement ot the Cooper Institute was the
scene ot this great salvation. When we con
sider, too, that the process must have con
sisted simply in the appearance of two or
three gentlemen of high character apd great
talent like himself, and the delivery by each
of them of a speech of ordinary-dimensions
and ability to a promiscuous assembly of excit
ed citizens, it is clear that the nation need
never again despair, no matter how bad a
scrape it gets into. The reconstruction
problem has always hitherto been spoken of
as one of extraordinary difficulty, but it is a
great pity we should have racked our brains
.over it so. much, when its solution is, after
all, so simple; and then, too, the facility with
Which the country has not only been “ saved,''
but made ‘ happy,” must furnish abundant
matter tor cheering reflections to every lover
of his kind. The only drawback on this ex
miaratmg state of things is that it shows tbai
the days of statesmanship are over. When
the means have been discovered of settling
the most tremendous questions bv which any
country was ever agitated, and making a
ereat people happy,” in two hours’ talking
to a large crowd in a large hall, it is clear
that we have seen the last of the great craft.
If “y people sits down in misery hereafter,
which has an orator at hand, and'the means
of hiring a room, it will certainly meet with
little pity, and will deserve less.— The Nation.