THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN
AND •
GENESEE EVANGELIST.
A /Religion a and Family AliTawapaper,
nc Tam
',/,
Constitutionalbypiripa pi oh. •
AT THE
MBntig'. 4 1 9 1 7041 i
1334. Chesnut ktreet sibry.) PhiladelAtiai
Hey. /win W. Wears, Editor and Pnlidliiiaß'
atztritan Viiolsgttriatt.
THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1866
STATISTICS OF 'OCR DENOMINATION:
The publication of the Minutes . of 'the
General Assembly enables us to give in full
the statistics of the last year, as ,they are
luni as compared with the year immedi
ately preceding. Numerically the account
stands :
Presbyteries,
Ministers,
Licentiates,
Candidates,
Churches, 1,588, " 59
Add. on Examination, 10,289, " • 3,604
" Certificate, 6,949, " 1,624
Communicants, 160,401, " 6,756
B. S. Scholars, 143,639, " 30,858
It will be seen that the change in the
ministerial force, actual and prospective, is
exceedingly small, exhibiting in the three
items of Ministers, Licentiates and Candi
dates, an aggregate increase of sixty-one,
only a fraction over the demand arising
from the new ohurches, and providing
almost nothing for the previously existing
wants. At the same time there is hope
from the 'fact that so much . of this small
increase •is found under the head of Candi
dates, thus affording, a Sign that the con
science of our Christian young men is
waking up under the loud Macedonian cry
which God has been sounding through the
churches. Taken in connection with what
may be expected from the late revivals, we
look for a new era in the work of our Edu
cation Committee and Theological Semina
ries. The discrepancy between the re
ported addidons to the churches and the
increase of the number of communicants,
is probably to be accounted for by a larger
number of reporting churches. If, for ex
ample, a church of one hundred members,
failing to report the previous year, now
reports an addition of two and a total mem
bership of one hundred, it would produce
in the table just the seeming discrepancy
which appears above.
The fiscal account of the year stands as
follows—gratifying in the main, and more
so from the fact, that it is in keeping with
the reports of the few past years, each one
evincing, on the whole, a sensible gain over
the last.
Assembly Fund, $8,396, increase, $1,387
Home Missions, 100,812, " 16,305
Foreign Missions, 112,322, " 26
Education, 29,107, decrease, 7,845
Publication, 19,794, " 26,511
Ministerial Relief, 6,194, increase, 1,936
Congregational, 1,788,466, " 523,799
Miscellaneous, 420,706, decrease, 80,435
Concerning the Foreign Missionary con
tributions, it is to be remarked that our
system of working through the non,ecele-.
siastical Board, seems inveterately to tend
toward a looseness of reports. Thousands
of dollars go from individuals, and some
times congregational collections, direct to
the Treasury of the American Board,
which, with all our diligence, escape any
notice in our Presbyterial reports. Hence
the above figures are but an approximation,
and hardly that, to the true amount which
should be credited to our Church, and
the comparison , between any two years is
very uncertain. .
The items above, where decrease is
marked, require a word. For the first, we
know of no explanation but what is re
proachful to us. Let any one disposed to
depreciate the importance of our educa
tional work, look at the numerical statistics
above. We may be dumb while they
Speak. In the case of the second, the re
ported decrease is only apparent. The
previous year was devoted to a special
effort for completing the proposed working
capital of $50,000. It was successful, and
it rolled up the figures of the report to
$16,305. The last year brought in a few
driblets of that effort, but the collections
were chiefly for the general purposes . of the
Committee, enabling it to donate books and
tracts, and otherwise place itself in position
for increased us'fulness. The last head,
being a gathering up of acts of pecuniary
beneficence, not belonging 'to .any of the
others, sometimes by congregational •. col
lection, and sometimes by. individual muni
ficence, defies anything like an accuracy of
•report or correctness of comparison. The
decrease mentioned may be real, or it may
, be at the furthest remove from the truth.
This uncertainty is inherent in the term
Miscellaneous, and will continue to exist.
The additions,
,by profession, to the
hurohes, exhibit in the , aggregate a glori
us in gathering, and a year of more than
sal spiritual prosperity. At the same
e they reveal the state of things which
e .have all along feared, that, notwith
tanding the great prevalence of revivals,
which our readers must have noticed with
so much joy, still the passing showers
have fallen neon a comparatively small
proportion of the churches. The total of
109, increase, 1
1,739, " 45
110, decrease, 12
215 increase 28
. . ,
' --- 77-.. s . ' Itr• , . .
•.- Co'' i- .H . ' '' - ' '-- - ' -- .
,
Ai • . ' • .: 1 , " ' t
' • Illoi 13 ''
-• i . ,7 7 - `‘ r : .\ '
Ll: '- ' I
''''
' '
.:*
II fill .• - • :=,
~ !_ :'
.''. ' ,:; t‘ .. , .L.
...... y . .• ,:. IN. '.
i • . = 4 = 4 = - '- ' *
- . . . , - -.4: -7—_4: , !.; • ...' '.., ;. i -.1--i ::! i
-..; • ~ •.•' .7.....: :;..--)'. :<',l - ; l' =if '
. - • • e....... . , . . . • i . ,
,1144461*,:''5:0ti0t'.0.:;,..:V015::;111; Os • "Dittro 7 - .
L " ‘ 7". '' 72 .
' , ,
T 4
'ten, the.,tusACana froW4i,e`
world giveioafter all, an , averdge=of less than
levett; .eseh - chunk t , ) With the known
fact before us, that many of the churches
have been.permitted to welcome these fresh:
recruits for the army of 'our King by adores,
and some by hundreds, the figures demon
strate that the reports from very many must
have been mournfully lean:
It must not, however, be forgotten that.
these reports were made out on the , first of
April, when only the smallest part of the
fruits of the late revivals had been gathered
in, and that a much larger number will
belong to the returns of the current year. .
They will unquestionably form a brilliant
record of the wonders of Divine grace, but
the average account will still reveal the sad
fact that many fleeces have remained dry,
for each one that has been wet with the
Heavenly dew.
What we have. enjoyed is enough to
incite prayer and hope, but enough also to
give vividness to . the needs which have not
'been satisfied.
PREACHING .ONESELF OUT.
This lameatable issue tof a preachees
life is brought about by ; various causes',
some of which are curable, some, perhaps,
not. Without intending an exhaustive
catalogue, we may name among these
causes; Laziness; Want of. Preparation by
Reading, Observation, and Study ; Reli
ance on Superficial Impromptu Qualities;
Lack of Education and Discipline of Powers
of Concentration and Analysis ; Overwork
and. Exhaustion of Body and Mind ; The
Taxing unfairly of one set of Faculties or
Qualities; Getting on a Hobby—as Pre
millenarianism, Moral Reform, and the
like ; Want of Adaptation to one's Calling;
Absence of Heart Religion.
We do not wonder that lazy men soon
find themselves exhausted in a profession
so taxing to every conscientious man, as the
ministry. We do not believe any amount
of natural brilliancy or genius will make
amends for laziness in any profession.
Indeed, one of the accepted definitions of
genius is :_ a capacity_for hard work. The
preacher who will not aim to enrich his
mind by the study of God's Word or of the
literature belonging and related to his pro
fession, can never receive the eulogium of
the scribe instructed unto the kingdon,
who, like an householder, bringeth, forth
out of his treasure things new and old.
His treasure will be exhausted—his stream
will run dry.
The study of the Bible exegetically, with
the rioh helps of modern scholarship, will
open an ever fresh, inexhaustible fountain
of homiletical resources. It is, indeed, one
of the marks of the age we live in, that
scholarship is now gathering up the nopious
and splendid fruits of, a generation of un
exampledeffort, and placing them in the
hands of the preacher in a practical form.
Witness the great . Homiletical Commentary
of Lange. What. Van Oosterzee, in the
volume on Luke, says of a single point of
Christian faith, as a topic of preaching,
may be extended to the entire Word of
God,under the analytical investigations of
the skilled and pious exegete: "All this
offers to the Christian homilete, a so infi
nite wealth of points of view and considera
tion, that we can scarcely. conceive how any
one, who has experienced in himself, at
least incipiently, the truth of the Apostle's
word, Gal. ii. 20 (I am crucified with
Christ, &c.) could ever be able to complain
that he had entirely preached himself out."
The study of theology and the explana
tion of the great doctrines of the, Gospel
system, with the cross of Christ in the
centre, should open to the preacher an in
exhaustible store of the richest topics. • He
who neglects doctrine for what, he calls
practical preaching, is in constant peril of
running ashore or lingering in profitless
flats and shallows. The grand truths of
theology are as wide and deep and majestic
as the ocean. Never give up the study of
this Pivine science if you wish to avoid the
uncomfortable feeling of a limit to Your
work; if you wish room• and verge on every
hand; if yow wish to have ever the stimu
lus of an undiscovered world of truth looni
ing-Up on the. horizon before you.
Exhaustion by overwork is not uncom
mon. 'There are times when wearied brain
and heint and arm demand recreatitin. The
preacher lias, no Sabbath of rest. He must,
have its equivalent in some way or other, or
premature exhaustion will overtake him by
,a sure law of nature. Ent . some preachers
contribute to this process of, exhaustion by
eXtorting from one set of faculties an over
proportion of work due, from the whole.
Especially this the case with those who
make
large drafts upon the imaginative
faculties;
who ply thebrain and heart with
combustibles, as the fireman of a Western
steamer plies his boiler fires, when racing
- ,
~0 0
rn k: ADE - 11qm f rxtriats. , Hp-Ly 9
" • 1-1::717::11S1r4t
t f• , 1" 5%11.!
1 1??4 . There are ,thoae t too,
Av s licioaderiihß great stimulus of o ,a, city, or;
Of = a cultivated d i captious, audience, keep,
l everything , at ti-wilite heat ; ,NVho, - arei aglow
I with an unhealthYandlaniinsfaritual-ambi-.
tion; who regardtheirseptation as at stake
in every sermon, and who give more thought
to self 'than to ' God, the truth, • and the
sinner. , :Such preachers, especially if: striv
ing for a positio'n - aboSe' their powers, are
very spt to break down and sometimes to ,
collapse into -a melancholy wreck. But
often, alas, these cases of exhaustion are
among the very choicest and noblest occu
pants of our pulpits, men whose very zeal
for God and for the interest of the Church .
have made _them indifferent, ,not to say
reckless—of self and doomed them to long,
periods of inaction and unproductiveness. '
They had rather wear out than rust out,
'brit unfortunately they do neither, but go
down with a crash; and the shattered ma
chinery is a distressingly long time in re
pairing, if it ever regains its efficiency.
,Leaving physical causes out of view,
there is no- doubt that the best, security
for perennial,freshiaess ioour sermons, is a
heartlin lively sympathy with the divinely
`,appointed objects of preaching. He who
'has , not this :sympathy has mistaken his
calling. Such an one may be inexhaustible
'as an essayist, like Sidney Smith, he may
write on topics of a general or merely moral
interest, like the Country Parson in our
day,- but as a preacher of the Gospel he
must speedily be at the end-of his resources.
The heart warm with a personal experience
and appreciation of Christ's atoning work,
and burning with desires for the conversion
of dying men to the Saviour, and the mind
kept clear by frequent and earnest com
munings with Jesus at the throne of grace,
is in no danger of feeling that the great
subject of God's infinite, redeeming love is
limited in its capacity of exhibition to dying
men. With the great primitive preacher
of Christianity to the heathen world, one
may with safety declare, that he will know
nothing as a preacher save Jesus Christ
and him crucified.
Without doubt, a settled pastorate- v far
more trying to_the_prag.obei r— ,s powers than
an itinerancy. - Nothing can be a greater
relief to the lazy, the shallow, the flippant,
and the imperfectly trained preacher, than
an entire change of his field of labor every
two years. Such a system must encourage
the most unthrifty habits in the preacher,
and must tend to raise a class of ministers
accustomed only to surface plowing in the
fields of truth. We' cannot wonder, when
we, find a movement for lengthening the
pastorate in such churches, going parallel
with a movement for the better education
of the ministry. From present indications,
the Methodist preachers of an era of longer
pastorates will not be likely to complain of
preaching themselves out.
A WORD MORE ON CHURCH EXTEN
SION 1N 'PHILADELPHIA.
It maybe conceded that Philadelphia is
growing' at the rate of twenty-five thousand
per annum. Granting that one-fourth of
this increase is made up of Catholic Irish,
Catholic and infidel Germane; and other
elements practically intractible, we have a
growth of between eighteen and nineteen
thousand, which may fairly be considered ae
coming ; within the scope of Church Exten
sion operations. Allowing one-half of this
number as the average of unavoidable de
tentions from sicknesi ,, . old age infancy
'
etc., we have remaining over nine thousand
persons to be provided with opportunities
for hearing the Word of God, per annum,
at the assumed rate of,'myth of our city.
the actual demand is, probably, nearer
eleven thousand. Put it at ten thousand.
Now, it appears, by our calculations of last
week, that the entire Evangelical Church
of this city has furnished in new churches,
enlargements of old ones-and chapels, only
ten thousand additional sittings during the
two years ending May 3lst,'or but one-half
ifr the amount reqitired by, the increase of
population. Hence, instead of progrese in
overcoming ,existing deficiencies, weihave a
still, wider discrepancy i?etween the neces :
shy,
_and :the, supply . ; ': ;And:the -serious
question arises : Shall the population cow
tinne-to multiply twice 48 rapidly as the
Church accommodations? How long, at
this rate, will it be'liefore the Evangelical
Churches are so vastly outnumbered and
outstripped, that they will be . isolated amid
•
a great deluge of godlessness and worldli
ness ?
It is true, our denomination has recently
shown an unwonted degree of vigor in
Church building.. We have gone on at .a
rate, Which ; if, shared in by other denonn
dons, would soon put the Gospel within
reach of every one of our population.
Grant that in numbers, wealth, influ
ence) and enterprise, our own 'denomina_
. . .
. . ,
,
4, 1 ,
' -11 , ' - I"Fi. • -, e 'o442its' ,wige, . ,
vlir -.; 4 Sri birili.4 . t 515 W Sari - ' 1 - s
,•,* .x L. u.
ion may . Ije , reckonedias '464 shah. partnoff
'the Evangelical forte ofli-lib , eitv then' if+
the other deitomii;titiOni
us in their /am in .- thin : 11.,e'Paribitt, We l
result would `' haVe been' fox times as mane
additionalehuich'apconimodattoia as "fere.
provided by ourselves, ;say, fifteen theu- .
sand sittings each . of the two years, under
consideration. • This would be one :and ai
half times as many as AT:tired, according,
to-our calculation. In the- course of ltwo
years, there would be three ne . wsittinga for
every two new-comers ; consepiently, if the
whole Evangelical force of the city wiltdo
every year at the rate of two-thirds of the
average work of our Church for the, last
two yens, the : wanta, of the - inoreased ,popu
lation will be fally. an*, • •
The problem • may thtis be stated in
brief: The New School, the Old School,
the Baptilt, the Methodist and the Episco
pal Churches in this city'should each pro
vide sixteen kindred additional sittings a
year; and the remaining smaller denornina
,
dons, together, should do the same. The
result would be an annual addition of near
ly ten thousand sittings. This would be
,nothing more than keeping pace with the
.growth of the city; 'or rather with the
growth of the available elements of• our
population. There would still remain the
denizens of the highways and hedges, -; for
whom outside missionary efforts would have
to be continued. This is the least amount
of work which these churches can safely
undertake. , There should everyf year be an
accession of twelve to fifteen churches, with
averageecoornmodations for six hundred to
eight hundredpersons each, before the wants
of the city could be considered as fairly met.
The average cost need not be over twenty
five dollars a sitting, although it will gen
erally much exceed it when expensive en
terprises are undertaken. The work of the
last two years has averaged fifty dollars.
In one case it was as high as one hundred
and ten dollars, exclusive of the ground.
Brethren of other denominations I it
seems scarcely possible that one church
should continue for any long period to mul
tiply chinch buildings, as_ours, for the last
two years h 4 been gning. Far from us
be bchtitini 'in this matter; brit .0 should
count ourselves modest to a fault if we
failed to use , our work in stirring you up to
love and good works in the same sphere.
And as friends of Christ's cause and of re
ligion in our city, we rejoice at indications
of increased activity on your part in the
erection of n w places of worship. But it
by no means romises to meet`the demands
of this vast nd growing porilation as we
have endeav ed to exhibit ttem.. " The
work is grea . And , who, then is 'willing
to consecrate l his service ;this day unto the
Lord ?"
A STRIfIikLE FOR LOST POWER.
Eneotiraged by the melancholy and fla
grant examples of recreancy to principle in
high place 4, the beaten rebels of the South
and their traitorous allies in the. North are
about commending a vigorous effort to re
gain the political predominance which they
enjoyed before the war. As the war itself
could not have been inaugurated without
secret treason and connivance at treason in
high places in 1860, so this new campaign
would not have been' ventured upon with
out those new and astounding demonstra
tions of sympathy with the defeated cause,
which, ever , since the 22d of last February,
have been coming thicker and thicker from
the White House and the Department'of
State in Waihington. It is not wonderful
that men hav'e shrunk from the conclusion to
ivhich these demonstrations ever pointed.
It has heawakagst as hard to believe that the
•Union oause would be deserted by Andrew
Johnson and William H. Seward, as it was
to believe that the South was in . earnest
in 'its purpose of war. But, in spite of
what seemed most rational and most politic,
as well as Most honorable, , righteous;
otie, safe and just, we find ourselves driven '
to the conclusion that. the- President and
his Premier:have cut thernselvenoose from
the party of freedom, and have • given
themselvea , as a nucleus to rdlly the rem
pants of that odious _faction, composed of
the very dregs of-all the political parties of
the North who resisted the , war by all the
means in 'their power, and. to affiliate with
them-the unrepentant rebels of the
,South.
in a grand struggle for power. In other
words, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Seward, as
sisted by §enatbr Doolittle and Representa
tive Raymond, are actually Wing the
way,AeT forin,,a. new political putty out of
substantially the same elements as those
which were in overt rebellion in the South,
and in constructive rebellion in the North.
It is the galvanizing of dead rebellion. It
j e arming rebels, ton weak to fight, With
we apons of political power.
The elements gathering to the proposed
0" 01..
convention in this, city prove it The.
Ist,ainuply . Pßion men of t.:iie l Sottli. Will have,
Inothirtg,to do'svith, this .eotivenPion.
minrepentint ;rebels are. everywhere 'electing
•delegatse;;ind are expecting great results.
is deliberations. No friend Wf the
:Civil Rights Bill, or of the Freedmen's Bu
.
reatt, or of Impartial Suffrage, will be
'there. But rebel soldiers and o ffi cers,
•
rebel office-holders bitter and obstinate ad
,
`vocates of State's Rights, repudiators of
National indebtedness, waiters on some
chance or change to give them back the
right of coffiing, and flogging, and selling
off to the highest bidder, once more, the
human flesh and blood they once dared to
call their own, will be there. Fernando
W4:iod will be there, and George H. Pen
dleton will be there, and George F. Train
and .the Blairs. Unscrnpulous men will
be there, ready for desperate measures, for
riot and .
,revolution.; ready to repeat the
bloody drama of armed rebellion, and to ,
try once more, if their plots fail,•to win by
the bullet what they cannot gain by the
ballot. It is the old rattlesnake of secee
sion, taken up when nigh: ead, and warmed
into life again by pardons and caresses, and
now flickering his forked, tongue and whet
ting his poisoncus fangs for a new attack at
the National life.
But what is the animus of all thismove,
went ? Or what is its secret source? With;
sortie, it is, doubtless, nothing more than
the low grudge against those now in pow
er, and the hope of political preferment for
themselves. With some, it is the magic of
a onoe powerful party name. Rut with
Thurlow Weed, with AndreW Johnson and
the South, it is the -might of the old pro
slavery leaven; and with Seward, it is prob
ably the analogous feeling of conservatism,
the senile horror of a too rapid progress,
which may easily strike hands with tyran
ny itself; unless, indeed, we suppose Mr.
Seward to be a consummate hypocrite, the
guiltiest man in public life in the country;
a mere ambitious, unscrupulous contriver
for power, which he is casting out long
lines to gain, with-the aid, of the South.
But whate'ver be the motives and views of
the individuals ooncerned, the movement,
as a part'Of the history of our politios,is
a convulsive effort of reaction, and is suf
fered by Providence to test the strength of
the principles at stake in our late struggle
of arms. Slavery, indeed, is abolished,
and secession is defeated by the force of
anus, but the legislation and the political
arrangements necessary to make these re
sults permanent are incomplete. • Nothing
whatever has been done •to make treason
odious, but rather to leave 'to coming 'gene
rations a most confused and Contradictory
impression of the way in whibit we regard
that crime. And the position of the freed
people is an anomaly, which it is the object
of this reaction to perpetuate, if they cannot
.hope to bring back , slavery again. Before
the reaction bad shown any strength, the
country was moving rapidly in the direction
of the real enfranchisement of that people
by putting the ballot in their reach. That,
it is the object of the reaction absolutely to
prevent. The animus of the movement is
-to summon up all the lowest prejudices of
party and of race ; - all the degrading tra
ditions of subserviency to the slave power;
all the sympathy of bad men with guilt; all
the vis inertia of a blind conservatism, to
petrify the Nation in its present cendition
of partial - security and reform, and, per
chance, to rob the ages of some of the dear
bought results of the war. •
Will the reaction succeed? We have
met and thwarted it several times already
at the ballot box. But now that it is
strengthened by the accession of per
sons so elevated and so influential as
the President ,and •, Secretary of State,
we ask again, Will it succeed ? We
cannot believe it. We are in good hope
that the most surprising of all the defeats
experienced by the galvanized pro-slavery
Party of the country is 'about to be wit
nessed, and that the show of strength they
are now making will-only make the victory
of the right more ,illnstrious,and memora
ble. But we believe it is incumbent upon
us all tii'be 'More than ever vigilant'and
setive, to'allow no specious assumptions of
Unionism to blind us, for a moment, to the
broad qnestions of just*, humanity and
National life, which are in peril of sacrifice
or compromise • and to' remember that it is
from the grand principles of the Bible and
from communion with the Saviour of men
that we shall most surely obtain grace for
endurance and hope of success in such a
strife as this.
- lOWA.--Thirty'seven members of the
Free Presbyterian Church united with
our' , Churoh of Yellow Spring, Kossuth,
lowa,- on the first day of this month,
July; 1866. '` This Church continues to
prosper tinder thepastorallabors of Rev.
Mr. Kephart.
. Et m
Per annuni t in advance: . ....._ . 4 „ .
Bylnail, Be, Per
By Carrier, vi ~.
IVfiv cents additional, after three months.
Clubs.—Ten or more papers, sent to one addretn,
payable strictly in advance and in one remittance
By Mail, tl 50 per annals. By Carriers. $3 per annum.
Mindstera and Bliminters' Widows, $2 5 0 in
advances.
Moine Iffigaionariea, $2OO in advance. ,
Fifty cents additional after three months.
Remittances by mail are at our risk.
Posliapt6-4iVIS COMB quarterly, in advance, Paid
by subscribers at theollim,
.of delivery.
Advertisementis.— cents per line for the
first, and 10 cents fortke secmd insertion.
One square (one month) $3 00
i two mor4tht:-.-- • . 5 50
1 ..
_ , 17 50
, six "_ 12 00
•• , .
Otte year le 00
1 The following disco u nt
allowedWlSlontsavertP," ura,, "' in
[sorted for three months Mid ts.Pwarsib+.` —
lOver 20 lines. 10 per cent `off ; iswisi lines. 20 per
.
cent.- •iiiiiiloo lines. 33% per cent.
' FROM OUR LETTER-BAG.
The tic) following letters arrived on
the same day. The first, is from a Penn
sylvania office-holder.
GENTS :—Please stop the paper. We
don't like it. We think this Jacobin, red-
Republican religion not much better than
the old slave-driving, soul-selling religion
that brought on rebellion.
I believe in the mild, heaven-born, doc
trine of forgiveness and reconciliation, as
taught by Lincoln, Johnson, and Beecher.
But not in the monstrous, hell•born policy
of Stevens, Sumner, and Wade, alias,
Danton, Robespierre, and Marat.
The neat is from a subs3riber in Illinois
, July 9, 1866.
RRY. MR. MEA.RS :—Your most valua
ble paper came to us yesterday, reminding
us that it was time to send for another year.
We would not be satisfied without it ; we
prize it above all others. My husband
says: " Where is the AMERICAN PRESBY
TERIAN; let us see what it says, for we
can rely upon that. as the.•troth." I hope
it will be the means of doing good outside
of our family; it is pretty much worn when
it returns. The piece upon Temperance,
last week, was excellent-
z - . The following id from a prominent-min
ister in our Church :
BEAR Bao. MEARS :—I enclose you five
dollars subscription for the P.B.ESBYTERIAN
foi July 18, 1865 to July 11, 1867. I
send the money with - great . pleasure. I
make ncr, better investment. God bless you
for your noble, emphatic, ringing utterances
on the state of the country, reconstruction,
the Sabbath, and ecclesiastical reunion.
Your paper cannot fail to be a blessing to
our Church and country. You are dealing
effective blows, and they are all on the
right side. I like you more and more.
CONGREGATIONALISM IN PIELLADEIr
PHIA.-It is a little singular that we get
about all our knowledge of Congrega
tional movements in this city from the
Boston papers. We are indebted to the
Recorder for the following account of
matters of which we have as little per
sonal knowledge, as though they occur
red in the metropolis of New England:—
" The Fourth Congregational Church has
been mentioned in the columns of the Recor
der. This appellation was given to it through
courtesy, at the first meeting of the Philada.
Conference ; but, as it has turned out, rather
prematurely. This Mission Enterprise was
started last winter, in the extreme northern
part of the city, by the Second and Central
churches. A noble-hearted brother, whose
praise is in all our churches, agreed to pay
for the rent and furnishing of a place of wor
ship. The district was canvassed; a congre
gation collected, and a Sabbath-school organ
ized. The Home Missionary Society took
charge of the enterprise, and, at the request
and recommendation of the Central. Church,
appointed Rev. J. R. Caldwell—recently of
Oalifornia—as the missionary in charge. The
work highly prospered; God's Spirit has
been poured ouLand sinners have been con
verted. As soon as it was evident that the
work would be a permanent one, Mr. Cald
well was requested to take measures for the
organization of a Congregational Church.
But he declined so doing. The request was
repeated both by members of the congrega
tion,and also by committees of the Second
and'Central churChes. He still declined, giv
ing no satisfactory reason therefor. The
Central • Church, after a thorough inves
tigatisq, then voted unanimously, to with
draw 'fiord the Home Missionary Society
their recommendation of Mr. Caldwell, and
to request that Society not to relinquish the
enterprise, but to send another man in his
place. Thereupon Mr. Caldwell sent in his
resignation, and, as we are informed, proposed
indirectly, to the Presbyterian Board 10. S.)
to occupy the field. But under the circum
stances, thatßoard would of course not inter
fere. The affair has been a sad one, and very
injurious in its effects upon our denomina
tional interests in this city."
A DISTINCTION WITH A DIFFERENCE.—
Cortain Roman Catholics have objected
to the throwing of the Pontifical Loan
upon the market, in this way :—" Why
not appeal to the Catholic world for vol
untary contributions, and not seek debt
in the financial market?" To this the
Catholic Standard replies:—
"It is a loan for the benefit of the Pope's
temporal government: and as a temporal
governor he need not and does not appeal to
his universal flock. As well might we fi nd
fault with the financial policy of b
ngland, of
France, or of our own country, as with that
of the Pope. He does not ask a loan from
his own people, he .does precisely as other
nations have done—as we have done with oar
almost fabulous resources. France and Eng
land have borrowed again and again ontAde
'their limits, and to-day Lombard Jews are
among the principal creditors of both:"
A waggish 111: D. friend of ours, who
implicitly observed the custom of prac
ticing gratuitously in the families of
clergymen, was somewhat puzzled about
the case of a local preacher in the Metho
dist 'church, who followed a prosperous
secular' business, but was known to be
tenacious of tbeprivileges of the clerical
profession. • The doctor finally sent in
bill with the usual rate of charges, bat
apologized for omitting the prefix Bev.
to the name, by saying that the charge
was not made against Mr. the
minister, but against Mr. the shoe
merchant. So the Standard seems to
think that while - money should only be
given to the Bishop of Rome, it may be
lent at smart = interest to the Prince of
Rome.
, July 9, 1866
, July 18, 1866