enaspoOtutt.
LETTER FROM EAST TENNESSEE.
A Clarion Ring from the Mountains of North
Carolina—A Manly Letter to a Rebel Pres
bytery—The Writer, Rev. J. C. Carson,
deposed from the Ministry for being Loyal
to the Union—His Defence-He has no
Apology to offer for not being a Traitor,
and therefore must leave the Synagogue—
Re will have no Part or Lot with Rebels— His
Course approved by Union Men—A Better
Reconstruction Heeded—Fourth of July—
Constitutional Amendment, Etc.
MARYVILLE, E. TENN., July, 1866.
Mn. EDITOR :—There is some light
dawning on the mountains of Western
North Carolina. As evidence of it, I
send the following, clipped from the
Henderson Pioneer, a straight-out Union
paper, published at Hendersonville, N. C.
"REV. J. RUMPLE—Dear Brother:—
This is to inform you that I disclaim
the authority and jurisdiction of Con
cord Presbytery, in its present ecclesias
tical relations:—
" Ist. Because I think the Presbytery
has been guilty of a great and unwar
ranted schism in the. Church, which is
the body of Christ.
" 2d. Because, when I was ordained
to the work of the holy ministry, I
solemnly vowed to God .to study the
peace, purity, and prosperity of the
Church, neither of which, in my opinion,
can be promoted by the present position
of tho , Presbytery.
" 3d. I am not and never have been
a rebel. I understand this division to
be a rebel measure, sustained and driven
through the Church by rebels, and none
others. If not, lam simply mistaken.
" I cannot operate with you. I pre
fer the Much as organized by our
fathers ' Your views are not my views;
your policy is not my policy ; we are
not agreed ; we had better separate.
With these views, I bid you, and
through you the Presbytery, adieu.
" Respectfully, JOHN C. CARBON."
Rev. Mr. Carson was a minister be
fore the war, belonging to Union Pres
bytery, Synod of Tennessee. lifej has
been loyal to the core through the whole
struggle. The above communication
was referred to a committee of Presby
tery, declared to be " disrespectful and
offensive, contrary to the constitution of
the Church, and in violation of ordi
nation vows.'•' Mr. Carson was, by
their recommendation, suspended from
the functions of the ministry, and re
quired to answer for the above offence
at the stated fall sessions of the Presby
tery. In commenting on this action,
Rev. Mr. Carson ' says to the public :
" These men have left the Church of
our fathers—'the Presbyterian Church
of the United States of America,' and
have organized what they are pleased
to term The Presbyterian Church in
the United States.' To this organiza
tion I have never consented to belong,
and never intend to. I have preferred
to remain at home in the old fold—in
the Church in which our fathers have
worshipped more than one hundred
years. I have never for one . Moment
consented to live in their new Church.
entered, with others, my most solemn
and earnest protest, at the' fall sessions
of Presbytery, against its reorganization,
intending, if the defunct Confederate
Assembly was resurrected,' never to
meet with the body again. We had
hoped that, with the death of the Con
federacy, the division of the Church
would come to an end ; and doubtless
it would, only for rebel influence and
intrigue. And now, is it in violation of
the constitution and my ordination vows,
to carry out that resolve? These dis
organizers and revolutionists say it is.
Is it a violation of the constitution of
the Church and my ordination vows, to
disclaim the authority and jurisdiction of
this schismatical body ? They say so.
A body that has gone oat from' the
Church to which they recently belonged
—a body unknown to the discipline and
constitution of our Church.
"Talk about me violating the consti
tution of the . Chnrch and my ordination
vows ! What has every rebel in the
Church done ? Where do they find
authority in the book of discipline, to
sustain the sacrilegious act they have
committed ? Most of them are traitors
to their country ; and being disappointed
in their purpose to overthrow the civil
government of the land, they have
turned with the fury of demons on the
Church of God, and rent it asunder.
What right have they to enter the pale
of our Churches and dielpline her mem
bers ? I might, with fil3lllllCil propriety,
be suspended by the Conference 'of the
Methodist Church., I am admonished:
to mark those, who create divisions
and offences,' and ,to avoid them.' I
have conscientiously and in the fear of
God, endeavored to c o so. I have had
no fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness,' perpetrated by these am
bitious and malicious men. God alone
is Lord of the conscience, and has left it
free from the doctrines and command
ments of men, which are in anything
contrary to his word in matters of faith
and worship.' Conf. of Faith, Chap.
sx. Sec. 2.
" These ecclesiastical despots, then,
even if I were a member of their new
Church, would have no right to lord it
over my conscience as they are attempt
ing to do. The spirit that dictates their
late action in my case, and in that of
others, would kindle again the fires of
Smithfield, and enact the horrors of the
Romish Inquisition. It is in keeping
with the reign o' terror inflicted by.them
and their party, for four long yell's, on
oar sunny land. •
" I wish the public to understand that
lam not one of them. They have left
our Church. I have preferred to re
main in the bosom of the Presbyterian
Church of the United States. I shall
Pay no more attention to, their late
action than I would to the bull of Pope
Pius IX. He has just as much right to
excommunicate me as these outsiders
have. Is it modest in them to call any
man to an account for a violation of the
discipline, when they are guilty of the
same offences charged, and of trampling
that sacred instrument under their un
hallowed feet ? I have opposed them,
and expect to oppose their tyranny and
revolutionary conduct, while my tongue
can speak or my hand is able to wield
a pen. I have nothing to retract, noth
ing to qualify, no apology to offer. All
I have said is true, and they know it.
" I have been a member of the Church
for more than thirty years, and in the
ministry for over a quarter of a cen
tury, without a stain attaching to my
moral or Christian charaCter. I have
endeavored to do my duty, and to keep
rdy conscience void of offence' toward
God and man. I have never learned to
cringe at the feet of power. They have,
in substance, denied me the right to re
main in, the Church of our fathers.
Have I not that right?` ls it not a con
stitutional right ? Hive they 'not all
violated the Constitution of the ChUrch
and their oidinatiiin vows ? Have they
not ? Are they not subject to their
brethren 'the Lord ? Are they ?
Where do they find in the constitution
of the Church the'right to rend it in
twain ? Have, they not resisted the
lawfully constituted authority of the
Church ? Are ,they, not now in open
rebellion•against that authority? Have
they not, instead of • peace, produced
divisions They know they have. I
have had no participation in their un
godly deed of division, and never intend
to have. I wash my hands and con
science of the foul transaction.
" Will these men deny that they have
seceded from the Church ? Is it not 11,
matter of history ? Then, .have they
any right to make me ',secede, and to
punish me with suspension from the
ministry because I disclaim their art
thority and jurisdiction in their present
unlawful relations ? The whole thing
is intended to: blacken my character, to
cripple and destroy my influence, as far
as they pessibly can, in the great work
which God has called me to do among
an oppressed and down-trodden race—
the freedmen in these mountains. I
am, my countrymen, a persecuted and
deeply injured man, and I have no
doubt but that the verdict of every fair
minded man in Church and State will
sustain me. JOHN C. CARSON.
" BOYLSTON, HENDIRRSON CO., N. C., June
14th, 1866."
The editor of the Pioneer, from which
I have taken the above, in directing the
attention of his readers to the commu
nication, says Rev. Mr. Carson is
well known in •this section as a pious
Christian gentleman—,generous to a
fault, and to whose skirts dissimulation
is not attached. That she has been
grossly misrepresented and persecuited
for opinion's sake, there cannot be a
doubt: But a careful perusal of his •de
fence by an impartial, unprejudiced
public, will set JAM all right before those
by whom he hopes to be judged."
Rev. Mr. Carson went out from
Maryville College, an East, Tennessee
anti-slavery man-, and, of course, he stood
square up against the United Synod- and
the rebellion. He is a New School man,
though at preaent he may be .employed
by the Old School Board as missionary
to-the Freedmen in;•-the maintains of
Western North Carolina. He will be
honored when the rebel schismatics who
deposed him from the ministry, on ,ac
coant of his loyalty, - shall lie 'forgotten.
Let him be remembered in the prayers
of God's ,people. N May, thiz i .l,:iord send
him co-laborers list he . may soon be
able to rejoice in' the formation of
,a
Preabytery that will{ not; eiyend all its
zeal in denouncing and persecuting men
for patriotism,, and'in defending and re
warding the champions of treason. A
reconstruction that gives a preference to
loyal ministers, - loyal churches, loyal
papal* and loyal officers, would be a
great blessing,tci North , Carolina and all
the other revolted States.
The Fourth of July was duly cele
brated in many places in East Tennes
see. This day is ; ,to, have a greater
prominence hereafter all through the
South. The pro-slavery influence for
merly monopolized the day for Sabbath
school anniversaries, or Odd Fellow, or
Masonic displays, so as •to keep the
Declaration of Independence and allu
sions to liberty away , from the people.
But hereafter the Star-Spangled Banner
will be
,sung, and the Stars and Stripes
shall wave, and honors to the noble
dead and-the heroic livini,.Who offered
their lives that the, nation , might live,
will be lavishly paid in all this region
as well as in the Northern belt of our
glorious Union. At Maryville, the large
assembly •of people voted to instruct
our delegate in the Legislature to vote
in favor of the Constitutional Amend
ment. The masses • , here are nnques,
tionably for it. Thus, little by little,
we draw nearer the triumph of humani
ty, justice, liberty and truth.
Yours, very truly,
SAMUEL SA*YER.
COME BOLDLY.—The same texts which
afford the sinner any ground for hoping at
all, are fitted to give him'the full assurance
of faith ; and if he has no business to be
sure, he has no business and no right to hope
at all. The same message that throws open
the gate, bids him enter boldly and at once.
THE AMERICAN PRESIWTERIAN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1866
PRESBYTERY OF GRAND RIVER
VALLEY. MICHIGAN.
Enrroa:—Can you not interest
the people in the wants of this great and
important missionary field ? There is a
tract of country embraced within the
bounds of this, Presbytery that is larger
than the three States of Massachusetts,
Connecticut • and Rhode Island. And
it is not all a forest. Large portions of
it are covered with well-cultivated farms.
And the whole country is, dotted with
'hamlets and villages, and is rapidly fill
ing np with an industrious and intelli
gent population. A large portion of the
emigrants to this region are from Ohio,
New York and New England.
Our Presbytery consists of eleven
ministers and ten chtirches. Three of
our ministers are not engaged in the
active duties of the profession, and one
is preaching to a Congregational church.
In Gratiot county, Brother Denton is
laboring with self-sacrificing zeal and
devotion, having the whole county for
his field. • Another man should be sent
to his assistance at once. Brother Ransom
has the care of the two churches of Muir
and Pervanio. Preihytery held a very,
interesting meeting, 'at Muir on the,
second day of: May last, for the installs, -
don of a pastor. Th*Cchurch has doti
bled its nurraiers during the two years
of Brother Ransom's Ministry. They are
now talking.-about building a house of
worship, but will need help. The Per-.
vanio people also expect soon to move
from the school : house to a hall which is
now in progress of erection. Our vete
ran missionary, Rev. Louis Mills, is
supplying the' two feeble churches of Ada
and Sebena, which are more than thirty
miles apart. These churches are both
building houses of worship. The church
of Greenwood in Onance County, was
organized during the past year, by, the
missionary labors of Rev. J. P. Willett.
This brother came among us morelhan a
year ago, as our exploring missionary,
and has labored under peculiar trials
with rare fidelity and promise of success.
He is now without a support, while the
field is suffering for want,of his labors.
We need more ineff'.'We need more
money. There are only two self-sus
taining churches in our. Presbytery. We
cannot do our Home Missionary work
without help from abroad. Who will
help us ? There are many important
points, which, if not occupied at once,
will be lost to our Church, and lost also
for a long time to the cause of Christ.
A. M.
`PLAIN COUNSELS FOR FREEDMEN."
ST. LOMB, July 18, 1866.
This is the title of a little book of 'l9
pages, in paper covers, published by the
Boston American Tract Society. It
consists of sixteen short, lectures by
" Clinton B. Fisk, BrevetMajor-General
U. S. Volunteers, and Assistant Com
missioner in the Freedmen's Bureau:"
These lectures are on practical subjects;
of great importance to the-class of per
sons to whom they are addressed, and
are fall of good ' thoughts expressed in
admirably clear and simple words and
phrases. The titles are as follows:
On Freedom ; About Your Old Master;
About White Folks; About Yourself;
To Young Men ; To Young Women;
To Married Folks ; The Little Folks;
Work ; Free Labor ; Contracts; Dils
honesty ; Receipts and. Expenditures
Homes ; .Crime ; Religion.
The. General Wks to the freed people
as one who understands these.impoitalA
subjects, and understands and sympa-,
thizes with .he people whom he is ad
dressing. He does,not flatter them. dle
gives them faithful warning, sound ad
vice, and kitid encouragement.
He shows the dignity , of " work" by
the example of " Abraham Lincoln, the
man who wrote the Proclamation of i
Emancipation," and of " the blessed
Saviour himself," who " worked at the
bench, at. the, carpenter's trade." He
says : " A free laborer should rise early,
shake off sloth, step lively, and apply
himself to his - task betimes." "'To
Young Men" he'says : " Get good, steady
work as soon as yon can. Do not at
tempt, to live on the little jobs you may
pick up about hotels and places of busi
ness. . . . Be a man. Earn money, and
save it. Do not spend it at suppers,
parties, and dances. You have no time
to spend in kiCking `your heats."
"To Young WOmen" he says : "'Do
not think of getting married until you
know how to knit and sow, to mend
clothes and bake good bread, to keep a
nice, clean honse and to cultivate a gar
den, and to read and write." "Allow
no white man to speak mean words to
you, for he will lSave you when he gets
you into trouble, and would as soon see
you die of hanger and cold as to live.".
These may be taken as specimens of
the General's skill in.expressingthoughts
in language lidapted to the capacities 'of
his hearers, and fitted to improve those
capacities. What could be more perfect
in delicacy, and at the same time in
its effective significance, than that cau
tion to young black women, not to let
any white man "speak mean words" to
them?
We knew Clinton B. Fisk here before
the war, when he wore no trkilitary title
—when he was an agent - of insurance
and secretary of the Merchants' Ex
change. We knew him as a genial,
cheerful, earnest Christian—one of our
best Sunday-school workers; and a man
who could alwaXs speak fluently, sensi
bly,, and acmptitigt in behalf of what
ever is good. His military life com
menced iu the. col; elcy of his Mer
chant's 'Regiment,-" the 33d Missouri.
PORTLAND, Mica., July 13th, 1866
He prayed with them, and " stood up
for Jesus" before them, and let them
see that a. colonel who could neither
swear, titir gamble, nor drink whisky,
could take the very best care of a regi
ment, and could be a right good fellow.
His diligence and fidelity won him pro
motion, but promotion did, not make
him forget his religion nor lose, his tact
in commending it. He could refuse to
drink with his superior officer with
such gentlemanly grace as to give no
offence, but to bring tears to that supe
rior's eyes, and call from him the hearty
" God bless you—tong may you wave."
He could commend to a fellow-officer the
daily study of " these Tactics" (viz ; the
New Testament) so adroitly as to lead
him to adopt the practice With his staff;
and what must have been Gen. Fisk's
satisfaction long afterwards, when that
officer, wounded and on his way home
to die, assured him that he was at peace
with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, and that the turning-point of his
.life had been that pleasant recommen4a
tion of the daily study of the " TACTICS."
Truly, " a word fitly spoken is like
apples of gold in pictures of silver."
It is a happy thing for the freedmen,
'and equally for their white neighbors
, and,employers, that so kind-hearted and:
sagacious and' just a man as Clinton B.
.Fisk holds hi gh,effice in that important
Bureau. is a happy thing for
,the
country that its; army has such examples
.of cheerful, common-sense, scriptural
piety as Fisk and - his noble chief, How
ward. The - Tract Society and other
friends of the freednaen cannot do abetter,
thing for them than to circulate General
Fisk's " Plain Counsels" among them,
and encourage them to read them or
hear them read. H. A. N.
filitkat'o 6ahlt.
FAIBBAIRN. Philosophy viewed in Respect
to its Distinctive Nature, Special Function,
and Proper Interpretation. By Patrick
Fairbairn, D.D., Principal of Free Church
College, Glasgow. New York : Carlton &
Porter. Svo., pp. 524. Phila. : For sale
by Perkenpine & Higgins.
The educated religious public, and
the ministry especially, are greatly in
debted to our kethodist brethren for
issuing this work of the . Scotch Presby
terian.professor. It is an act as honor
able to their liberality - as it is to the
soundness of their judgment 'The works
of Professor Fairbairn on Prophecy are
recognized as standards. Combining
the staunch ortyddoxy and invincible
good sense of the Scotchman with the
penetrative critical analysis of modern
scholarship, he maintains the old sacred
ness and supernatural character of his
materials while placing them in the clear
light of scientific principles. Fixed
principles and laws of interpretation he
finds, and so removes the subject from
the region of arbitrary guess-work, of
happy (or unhappy) conjecture in which
it has floated. Thus, while prophecy
ceases to be a, matter of private inter
pretation, it shines the more clear and
star-like, and vindicates itself as that
" more sure word whereunto we do well
that we take heed." When we consider
what manifest marks of divinity shine
in the prophetic word, „and what wide
spread disaster has followed an ignorant
and presumptuous use of it in all ages;
we cannot but, feel that no higher set.,
vice can be' done .to they Chur6l3o3an
that so successfully undertaken in this
volume. It is divided into two parts:
InVestigation of Principles. and Appli
cations or Principles to. Past and Pros
pective Fulfillments of Prophecy. It
is made complete by a full Table of
Contents and an Index, and 'is printed
on good paper and with fair type.•
WEEDON. Commentary on the Gospels in
tended for Popular Use. By D. D. Wile
don, D.D. Luke—John. New York:
Carlton & Porter. 12m0., pp. 422.
We have here the continuation of
what is to be understood as the Method
ist Commentary on the New Testament,
which, we an informed, will be extend
ed to embrace the whole New Testament,
and, in time, also the Old. It is brief,
clear, well lip to the times in scholar
ship, reference to • modern objections,
modern travel, discovery, Ste. Some-
I times, _indeed, the question arises whe
ther, for popular use and for a brief com
mentary, there is not rather too much of
this.. Space, it would seem, is wasted
in allusions to false views• which might
better be employed in setting forth posi
tively the mind of the Spirit Neverthe
less, the leaven of unbelief is wide
spread and it may be a dictate of wis
dom to waive edification for refutation
in these cases. The Arminian inter
pretation of texts, , like John x. 28, is
given without disguise, but without
sectarian parade or rancour. The spirit
of Christian scholarship is paramount in
the volume.: We have no hesitation in
pronouncing it worthy of the success
which has attended the first volume of
the series.
MAUDE GRENNILLE LIBRARY. Five vol
umes in a box, viz.:—
Maude Grenville, pp. 235, 3 illustrations.
•Heroism of Boyhood, pp. 289, 6 illustra
tions.
Enoch Roden's Training, pp.' 233, .5 illus
trations.
Children of the Great King, pp. 224, 4 il
lustrations.
Victor and Hildaria, pp. 160, 3 illustra
tions.
Some admirable books are contained
in this series. " The Heroism of Boy
hood" is probably the best, as it is the
only original one, with the publishers.
It is designed to show how boys may
be heroes without being warriors, and
may well, offset the class of books which
have swarmed from the press•since the
war, and which, while commending tl'e
noble
.finalities of patrioiism and fidelity
to duty, are likely to turn the heads of
the juvenile readers with military asso
ciations. The list begins with David
Livingstone and John Kitto, and con
tains twenty-four names, of whom sepa
rate, brief sketches are given. Some of
them are drawn from qpite rare sources.
One, " Turenne, the Boy Soldier," is
quite as martial—not to say bloody—as
any of the military biographies above
referred to, but the mass of them are
fully in accordance with the design of
the writer, "to show how boys may be
heroes without
. being warriors."
The books are alLhandsomely printed
and bound, •and form, in their case, an
elegant little cabinet.
PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE REBEL•
LION.
HARPER'S PICTORIAL HISTORY of the Re
bellion. Part I. to the End of the Penin
sula Campaign in 1862. Fol., pp. 270.
This leading pictorial history of the
war has gone through sufficient separate
numbers to furnish matter for a volume.
Its ample proportions, its broadside
illustrations, mostly drawn and executed
with •skill, taste, and impressiveness, its
handsome typography, and its clear and
full narrative, will 'give it wide popalari-
It will make a volume, over whose
,leaves children and children's children,
with men and women of generations to
'come, will turn with wonder and, grati
fieation, ad _tressed as they are so largely
and immediately to the sense of sight.
Messrs. Harpers have made a boldap
peal.tO the potifilar . taste in this expen
sive undertaking,; and they deserve to
succeed. .
LITTELL'S LIVING AGE. Conducted by E.
Littell. Fourth Series, Vol. L From the
B eginning, • Vol.- L3C7OCTX April-June,
1866. Boston : Littell, Son & Co. Bvo.,
pp. 888:
Tempted by the fall in paper, Messrs.
Littel, a few months ago, promised an
enlargement of their invaluable " Living
Age." Prices rose again, but, like the
character in Scripture "who sweareth
to his own hurt and changeth not," they
kept their word, and since April have
been giving us every week a greatly en
larged budget of the most varied, wisely
selected, entertaining and instructive
foreign articles that can be found the
country over. In the face of much new
competition, their circulation has in
creased, and this, portly volume compri
see the results for the past three months.
It may be had at W. B. Zieber's in this
city.
LITERARY INTELLIGENCE
AMERIOAN.—The first part of Elliot's
Birds of North America is now ready for
delivery. Each part will contain five plates,
colored by hand, representing the species
of the natural size, accompanied with sce
nery corresponding with'its habits and pe
culiarities. The edition is limited to 200
copies, after the preparation of which the
drawings on the stone will be destroyed.
Subscriptions are received, at the residence
of the. author, No. 27 West Thirty-third
street, New York, where a specimen copy
of the first part may be seen.--Blelock
& Co., New York, announce In Vincnlis,
or The Diary of a Rebel Prisoner of War
in Northern Prisons, By A. M. Keily ; Our
Refugee Household, By Mrs. Louise Clack.
C. Scribner & Co., New York: Doc
tor Johns, A Novel; By Donald G. Mit
chell.--anies Miller , New York: Mrs.
Browning's Poems of Cildhood, Illustrat
ed.--Leypoldt, New York, has . issued
" Heine's Pictures of Travel," translated;
12m0., pp. 471, fine edition, 82.25.
Napoleon's Cce.sar.—LThe /V. - Y Tribune
thus closes a pretty fall and careful criti
cism of the, second volume, just issued :--
His Majesty pretends to the character of a
historian, and as such he must be judged
severely.. He is neither eloquent nor philo
sophical. His narratives are' dry, his' de
scriptions are labored, his characters stalk
before us, not as living men, but as dead
figures tricked out in .ancient drapery, and
going through the motions Which school
boys and pedagogues have caused them to
perform'Since remote:ages. His arguments
in support of his opinions are sometimes
ingenious, but they 'bear too., often the
stamp of disingenuousness; and we venture
to. believe that even those who cannot
refute will be slow to accept them. What
ever grace the style may have had in the
original .has been destroyed in the process
of turning the book into 'English. The
translation is, abominably bad.
Recent Publications.—Traveling in Spain
in the Present Day. Bvo., pp. 239. New
York: , Scribner & :Welford. The Glory
and Shame of England. By C. Edwards
Lester. 2 vols., BVo., pp. 601. New
York Bertram and Lester. Our Crisis;
or, An Impartial Examination of the Is
sues .now before the American People. By
B. •T. Munn. Bvo., pp. 48. Cambridge.
Medical Recollections of the Army of the
Potomac. By J. 'Letterman, M. D., late
Surgeon . U. S. A. Bvo., pp. 194 D. Ap
pleton & Co. Epidemic Cholera : its Phe
nomena, Causes, and Mode of Communica,
tion ; together with its Prevention and
Proper Treatment. By J. G:.-Webster,
M. D. 12moi pp. 48. Miller, Wood & Co.
FOREIGN .—Recent German. Theological
Works.—We owe to the Bibliotheca Sacra,
for July, the following list: Beyschlag's
Christologie des Neuen Testaments, with a
preface defending himself against the sus
picions justly raised by previous doubtful
expressions uttered "by' him upon essential
points -of doctrine. Beyschlag rejects the
accepted formula-of orthodoxy : " Two na
tures in one person." Steininkeyer's Wun
derthalen der Henn, in Ball auf die new
ester Kritik betretchlet—" a thoroughly val
uable contribution to the apologetics of
Christianity." Sell stzeugnisse Jesse, (Testi
mony, of Jesus to Himself.) Prof. Held,
Breslau. "A good present fora really en
quiring doubter:" Die; Wissenschaft der Re
ligion, (The Science 91 flAigiop.) "Aim
lofty, execution unworthy." Ewald's A 1 e
'wines über die Hbrtz' isc he Dicletung and
weber dos F'salmenbuch. ~ S econdsenlarged
edition of thelitithbr's great work on " The
Poetical Books of the Old.TeStamont." Price
1 thaler 10 sgr. Characteristik der Philoso-
phie Franz von Baader' s, by Prof. Fischer,
Erlangen. 71 pp. Duesterdieck has issued
a Commentary on Revelation, laying stress
on the word "shortly," Rev. i. 1. Dr. F.
C. Baur's Vorlesungen weber die Christ
liche Dogmenge,schichte, (Lectures on the
History of Christian Doctrine,) have begun
to appear at Leipzig. The possible extent
of the work may be learned from the fact
that the first section, of the first part, of
the first volume, reaches only from the
apostolic age 'to the Council of Nice, and
covers 738 pages. It is from the late
famous Tnebingen doctor.
Newspapers in Modern Italy.—At the
beginning of this year, 372 newspapers were
published ,in the kingdoM. of Italy. Of
these 41 were published in Genoa, 42 in
Florence, 44 in Milan, 44 in Naples, and
in Turin; the rest in smaller towns.
iordiatteguo.
THE PAPACY.
There it stands, an anachronism in the
world's history; with all its errors stereo.
typed ; stationary amidst progress and im
mutable amidst change ; showing, in the
late Encyclical, that it does nbt in the
slightest degree recede frOm aspirations
and pretentions to which it is impossible to
give .effect.; regarding all that passes around
it with a,fitnile of senile madness; the pat
ron still, so far as it can or dare act upon
them, of the very principlei which led it
to persecute Huss and. Luther; the lion
still, but a very old lion, with, teeth broken
and claws pared; .with the worst possible
government of its own, and acting as a
universal obstructive (wheresoever -it has
influence) to the formation of others 'that
are better; giving the world infinite'plagne,
and a source of perpetual difficulty and
worry to Europe; with its subject nations
more and more divided as to the extent of
their allegiance, and as to the measure • of
the faith to be reposed in its decrees ;
while, on the other hand, we see it about to
be deserted by the secular supports which
have so long upheld it, and challenged to
try whether it can keep itself from tum
bling down. If the French Emperor had
studied, for ten years together, how to in
volve it in difficulties, and perhaps Europe
with it, he could not have thought of any
thing better than his somewhat enigmati
cal" Convention." Whether fairly carried
out with all its appendant conditions, or
not, it-offers almost equally perilous alter
natives to Rome. It is impossible for any
man not to presage—as 'Huss and Luther
could in their day—that a time of startling
change is at hand.
If we could put faith in what most of us
must
• always be very distrustful of—the
interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy—it
would be difficult not to be startled by the
singular coincidence that the time fixed by
many interpreters (and some of them lived
long ago) for the denouement of the great
papal driina synchronises with that fixed
for carrying out the imperial Convention,
namely, the year 1866; for surely it is not
easy to imagine the Emperor Napoleon de
termining his policy by conjectural inter
pretations of the Apocalypse ! It is very
certain, not only that some recent interpre
ters have fixed on that year as being a sig
nificant epoch for the Papacy, but that
Fleming, more than a hundred and fifty
years ago, predicted that either 1848 or
1866, according as we read the prophetic
year by the Julian calendar, or otherwise,
would be thus significant. In point of fact,
both periods have been very significant,—
the first as heralding the European Revo
lutions (and among them, that at Rome)
which led to the occupation of Rome by
the French ; and the second as signalized
by the imperial Convention which is to ter
minate it. But, as already said, it is im
possible not to distrust interpretations of
unfulfilled prophecy. While we hold with
Bishop Butler, that it is impossible for any
man who compares the history-of the world
with the prophetic pages-of the Bible, not
to be struck with the general conformity
between them; and, while we may well be
lieve that, as the scroll of the future is read
by the light of events, that view will be
strongly corroborated, it is difficult to imag
ine, from the very nature of prophecy, (ad
dressed as it is to a world governed by
moral laws, and yet predicting events
which are to admit of no possibility of be
ing either accelerated or frustrated,) that
it can be otherwise than conjecturally in
terpreted. He who would pry too closely
into unfulfilled prophecy, is like the too
curious Athenian, who wished to know
"what it was that the philosopher was
carrying concealed under his cloak ?" " I
carry it there," was the reply, " for the
very purpose of concealing it.' It is much
the same with the enigmas of unfulfilled
prophecy till the event makes them plain.
And if we too importunately inquire as to
the future, that may be said to us, which
was said •to those who asked the Saviour,
"Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the
kingdom to Israel ?" "It is not for you to
know the times and - seasons which the
Father hath put in his own power."
Meantime, it does not require any great
sagacity to believe that startling changes
are coming upon that wonderful fabric
which it took so many centuries to compact,
and has already taken so many to disinteg
rate; that, lc after• the Convention," chaos;
and that none need particularly covet to be
in Rome in the month of December,lB66.
Author of " The Eclipse of Faith."
SANCTIFIED BY PRAYER.
A beloved Mend of ours assures us his
soul is wonderfully blest in asking a blessing
on all the communications he receives. He
never reads a letter till he looks to the
Lord for a blessing on the contents. When
he receives a communication from a dis
tance,-the first thing is to bow the knee at
the mercy seat tor a s hlening to accompany
it, and that wisdom may be given to return
a suitable reply; and not unfrequently in
this way his heart is made to " rejoice with
joy unspeakable, and full of glory." He
never distributes a tract without first be
seeching the God of all grace to seal the
instruction up n the reade:'s heart. fie
never enters the door of a dwelling without
stopping at the threshold, and asking tor
the right ordering of his speech, that his
month may be kept.iis with a bridle, and a
watch set at the door of his lips.—Chrts
tian Treasury.