AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN ANT) EsESEE EVANGELIST. 00 , 0 0..... d Family Newspaper, IN THE INTEREST OF THE Onstitutfonal Presbyterian Church, PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY. . THE PRESBYTERIAN HOUSE, 4 Chestnut Street. (2d story.) Plead°lpida vr , John W. Nears. Editor and Publisher. 3lnfriran Urs,sitgisriam THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1866. VIE MATERIAL O.F OUR THOUGHTS: Besides the specific attempt to direct our ;L -lits for a limited period ''into 'Sacred Duels of reflection, it is worth while to .ice the staple of which they are com .,i when left to themselves. As a man : I ; , n ;;eth in his heart, BO is he. Character vealed in those spontaneously moving more than in what is guarded and gyred. And yet so great and so severe -h e pressure of business and worldly care, they necessarily give a color to one's thoughts. In the case, especially, of' engaged in some one of the absorbing -,;;nits of life, there actually seems no J ra: for serious thought. Woman, with indeed, to annoy and try her, in the ::.)re tranquil occupations of home, finds [ ,v, for those wholesome thoughts which lunch more frequently result in leading ter to the Saviour. Yet even the busiest man has his mo- Dents of comparative leisure, So far as the rind is concerned; he has his street-walks a l rides, his lunch at the eating-house, xrhaps his wakeful moments in the night, which need not, surely, be wholly consumed will: cares, and in which the leading topic goi interest of his soul may and will come !'or thought. is the ease of the true Christian there :,:ht to be no difficulty in settling what t'..l• topic is. He surely has enough of the :Lot elevating, refreshing, comforting mat to flow easily through his mind, and to L. up those leisure moments. Even should tires multiply and troubles disturb, these r asing thoughts may maintain their place b an otherwise troubled brain. such, indeed, should be the case. But what is the fact ? Do our thoughts, when liberty, tend naturally to the great and ,)usoling verities of religion ? Are we aid repeating to ourselves some precious -:rtions of Divine truth ? Does some im ' :rant aspect of doctrine command our at• •mion ? Does some difficult paseage of scripture demand solution, and weave itself different aspects with the changeful =Tot of our thoughts ? Does a personal ,47iour seem near at hand, and do we some seem to hear his tender tones, repeat to us the commands and counsels, the I,tions and the sweet consolations of the ~ , p el ? Does grateful love for his mar `sous work on our behalf sometimes fill eery avenue of our spirits and melt all ught into affection ? De we sometimes ourselves even wishing to depart and with Christ, which is far better ? How days has any one of us lived upon of the promises ? Upon how many of leisure moments has the thought of •.1 en thrown its lustre ? When have we ;•ied the streets of the crowded city as as of a city which hath foundations, ,se builder and maker is God ? o r , as the momentary pause in our -,,idly affairs allowed, has the thought of •ze scheme for the salvation of souls and t.. extension of Christ's kingdom slipped :aturally in ? Has some case of interest =long family or fiends involuntarily `taught an exclamation to our lips for Di zite aid ? Has the spiritual condition of . .r neighborhood or our Church, or of some 'lrtinular class of persons, in the Sabbath ' Lodi, or in the needful world without, amianded our vacant sympathies on the - -)ment ? !here are brief, meteor-like gleams of . .a.:ht that play through the mind, rays % iously introduced by associations of like '-'s) of contrast, of locality, and of cause effect, which equally betray its moral The handling of money may but ‘.4r Pea some men's acquisitiveness and :togthen their earthward tendencies. The hriitian is easily led to think of the only ,: eurruptible riches, and of how, in the wise 1 -* of the mammon of unrighteousness, he make friends who shall receive him t 4) everlasting habitations. The life of 4 e tillers of the soil is linked in ten thou tld natural associations with the various 4r 2eCtS of Divine truth. Every stone laid the builder, every contribution to the and stateliness of the structure is kqestive of spirituakanalogies to the work . 4 4. In fact, there is scarcely any pursuit 4 13 y act of man, but under the guidance • Scripture, may be shown to be symbolical higher spiritual truth, and may guide the liest whose temper is not all earthly, to .t most profitable thoughts. raven our dreams are a key tour characters and passions. When , b lay down at Bethel with stones be ..th his head and with the towering `'yes of Judah and of Ephraim as the last 'ieets of his fading vision, it was not only s n titan Anig litqa New Series, Vol. 111, No. 50. supernatural influences, we may be sure, which brought such - a'holy, heavenly vision before his sltimbering soul. There was a mind prepared by penitent and devout worship; there was a calm sense of a pre sent and forgiving God, as he sank to slum ber :amid that mountain• ampitheatre, and beneath that pure, nocturnal sky of Pales tine. Angels would scarcely have passed and repassed each other, 'up and down the mountain stairway in' the dreams of . a worldly-minded Esau. Doubtless there was a supernatural interposition here, but in proportion as God and divine things occu py our waking thoughts, we, too, may ex pect to find a Bethel even in our dreams. SPIRITUAL- ANTAGONISMS OF DAR WINIANISM. There is no doubt that Darwinianism must be classed with those speculative efforts which aim to exclude everything supernatural from our world. Following out a natural and necessary, but by no means supreme, tendency of the mind, to reduce all known facts to a system of natural causes and relationships, it has been the vice of speculation to endeavor to find in natural laws and forces a sufficient account of the fact and manner of the exist ence of all things. The effort has been to build up from the widely diverse facts of human knowledge and experience a com plete, beautiful, self-sufficient Cosmos, in which eierything either is or may be un derstood and reduced to logical system, or if not, may properly be dismissed from human consideration, as of no practical or scientific value. Darwinianism thrusts far out of sight, and indeed practically ignores the idea of the creation. It will not hear of any super natural interposition in forming any of the existing orders' of living things. It is wrong for a Darwinian to speak of the creation.of man or of beast. Possibly there was a single creative act, which, in ages far more remote than geological eras, even, would adequately represent, called into ex istence the formless germs which have, by inconceivably slow and gradual steps, and under purely natural:influences, metamor phosed themselves into man. But man, as such, was never " created;" no more than the ripe autumn fruit is created, which has gradually developed from the blossom of early spring. A personal divine interposition at every great geological revolution, requiring a re newal of all the forms of animal life on the earth; a separate creative act for every distinct species, and a special act for the creation of a being of, man's dignity and worth—these are among the priinary de ments of a spiritual belief. The attempt to remit to the province of mere law and force events so manifestly requiring Divine in terposition, is unavoidably irreligious. So far from being natural, the supposition that nature is alone sufficient tor these things is the most unnatural possible. Before the impassable chasms which yawn between different geological eras, and the wide dif ferences prevailing between species, and especially before a being of such extraordi nary attributes as man, mere natural law stands powerless. Only a hopelessly un spiritual mind, only a victim of grievous prejudice against religion, would insist on construing or perverting nature's lessons so as to cover the origin of species and of man himself. It may indeed be said, Darwinianism no more shuts out God from the universe than does the nebular hypothesis. It requires Divine intervention at the remote corn menzement of that obscure germ of all subsequent life; and God may be regarded as the author of that and all that grew out of it; just as he is the author of the star mist, out of which, without any further in tervention, came suns and solar systems, in the view of many astronomers. It may be claimed that the nebular hypothesis and the theory of Darwin are not atheistical - or irreverent, but far more profound in their views of the relations of God to the world than those commonly held by believers in supernatural interposition. But whatever may be said of the once famous nebular hypothesis, the ready an swer to all this is, that in Darwinianism the leitst possible part is given to the Creator in the existing order of things, while far the greater is given to nature and to folices viewed apart from Him. He makes a few characterless germs, and certain forces under certain circumstances, give us the vast variety of forms and of species which fill the : world. "Development" and "Na tural Selection" are the catch-words which shut out'God from our sight. Nature is not only.charged with the-greatest part of the work., bift with work which she is not doin g now; which there is no' evidence in human history' or in geological rtcords'that PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1866. she ever did do, and for which she is clearly incompetent. Is not that a flying from God .. a flouting of supernaturalism, which kes itself to nature as sufficient to bri. • ver the chasm from species to species, from mollusks to fishes, from fishes to reptiles, from reptiles to birds and beasts, and from the brute creatures to the moral, accountable being, man ? What but a positive aversion to retaining God in their knowledge, what but a reprobate mind, could lead men to try to prove themselves brothers 'and descendents of the brute, rather than subjects of the direct special intervention of infinite power and infinite condescension,? Amazing spectacle ! Man breaking the golden links that bind his nature to God, and forging in the baleful fires of a false philosophy, the fetters of a black materialism to bind him to the brute ! Even the utterances of a Shakespeare may shame such an ignoininious attempt. " What a piece of work is man ! How noble in reason ! how infinite in faculties ! in form and moving, how express and admirable ! in action, how like an angel! in apprehen sion, how like a god !" How any one with a spark of godliness in his soul, or of theism in his philosophy, could travel so far from the simple and reasonable solution given by a supernatural ~ creative act to these phenomena of our world; we cannot conceive. Only an atheistic bent of mind could possibly lead to such extraordinary and repulsive theories. We have said nothing of the irreconcile- ' able antagonism of these theories to Scrip ture ; we have simply wished to show how hostile they are to the very groundwork of all religion. Yet we must advance upon Scriptural ground, at least in a general way. We ask, what - place is there in the Darwini an scheme for such an event as the Incar nation ? Is there not something shocking, almost blaspiemous in the position which it ascribes to the Son of Man ? Is such an exalted, sinless, divine-human personage a mere development ; a growth from the mollusc, through the ape, through ordinary humanity to the position of Teacher, Guide and Redeemer of the race ? Or what room is there in_a awe, in- no-.essontial—specifiii character distinguished from the brute, for supernatural, divine occupancy, any more than there is in the brute himself ? If Darwinians allow of the incarnation of the Son of God in human flesh, must they not admit the possibility of a brute incarnation of Deity also ? In a word, is not their philosophy just what is needed to justify and recommend the base and absurd mythologies of the Egyptians, the Hindoos and others, which actually represent the Deity as assuming the shape, or dwelling in the forms, of the lower animals ? The Bible, indeed, teaches that the devil took up his abode in a serpent, and that only temporarily ; while it reserves the glory and mystery of a true incarnation of GOd to man —man made a little lower than the angels. It is with this hypothesis of Darwin, as with all mere science. It generalizes and generalizes, in its cold, callous way, until all sense of individual worth is in danger of being lost. Man is an almost indistin guishable item in an infinite series of beings. The product of all past efforts and tenden cie,s of nature, he may be but a mere con necting link to higher forms of life, which shall stretch on and on, into a future as unfathomable and interminable as the past. What is there in the race, or in individuals of the race, to give them any special ad vantages in destiny or in relations with God, above the orders of being below them, but substantially identical with them? Well may the believer in this theory fear to be overlooked. Well may Nature, with her inexorable blind onward move ment, fill him with dread and despair. So careful of the type she seems, So careless of the single life. "So careful of the type?" But no, From scarped cliff and quarried stone She cries, "A thousand types are gone; I care for nothing—all shall ge. "Thou makest thine appeal to me ; I bring to life, I bring to death. The spirit does but mean the breath I know no more." 0 life, as futile then as frail ! What hope of answer or redress? Behind the veil, behind the veil. Christianity individualizes the race; it dignifies and distinguishes it beyond com parison by its doctrine of the God-man. It brings every believer into the most intimate relations to God, and makes his care, trials, discipline and destiny an object of the most specific acts of DiNine Providence. The omnipotent God who sways the whOle universe, is yet the man Christ Jesus who was crucified, died, and was bilried for our sins, and who is risen agaiu'and sits on the, right hand of God to make intercession for The theory of development and natn- ral selection could never allow so much to be made of a single- race, or of the indi viduals of a race. One remorseless law must comprehend them all. Darwinittnism, if it does not absolutely shut out both God and Christ from the world, makes it next thing to impossible to find place for either of ,them here. It is essentially ma terial, grovelling, anti-Christian and anti hriptural in character and tendency. REACHING THE POINT AT LAST, The true: and just idea of reconstruction, we think, hasjust been suggested by Mr. „Broomall ) of this State, and adopted by the Bowe of „Ttntresentatives, in the following form:— , ' • t ts Resolve , That the Committee on Territo ries be ins acted to inquire into the expedi ency of re orting a bill providing territorial governme for the several districts of conn -1 try withi . the jurisdiction of the United States for erly occupied by the once existing States of irginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, eorgia, Florida, Mississippi, Ala bama, Lo 'Etna, Arkansas and Texas ' and giving to adult male inhabitants born within the llinits of the United States, or duly naturaliied and not participants in the 1s late rebellio 2 full, equal political rights in such territo ial governments. Adopted— yeas 107, na 37. Precisely he form which the initiatory movement for reconstruction should have taken eighteen months ago. We trust it is not too late to correct errors so serious, so dogmatically announced arid so obstinately maintained, by substituting, at this late day, a plan so consonant to every demand of justice as this. There are some , points of policy too plain to need that caution and delay, which the dignitaries of the Senate seem inclined to insist upon. Promptness is never so safe or so binding upon all, as in repairing glaring, grievous and danger ous wrongs. Delay to pass some such mea sure as Mr. Broomall's will be destructive rather than conservative of right. i _ . • " INFINITE PAlNe't This is a very singular and inappropri ate expression to use of any earthly condi tion, or of 'the regult of any temporal loss or calamity. Only some utterly over whelariatAisaStel, a aksh - -as - nonfoacd — Melo thoughts and disturbed the, faculty of ex pression, could justify it, in a hasty writ ing. Yet we ,find it used in the leading editorial of a New York City religious journal of last week. It is there applied not to the perishing of multitudes of guilty sinners; not to the sad condition of the heathen world ; not to the abandoned and miserable condition of myriads of the neglected and vicious poor of that city ; not to its dreadful misgovernment, nor to the election of a pugilist and criminal to Congress and the rejection of Horace Greeley for the same office ; not to the great =repented, unpunished crime of a four years' rebellion, with its gratuitous horrors of Andersonville, Salisbury and Libby; not to the late horrors - of • Memphis and New Orleans; not to the immeasurable disgrace put upon the highest, office in the gift of the American Republic by the vices and the treachery of its incumbent,—the "infinite pain" given to this journal .arose from not one or all of these causes, but from the attitude of the loyal, freedom loving, justice-seeking Congress, whose course has just been enthusiastically en dorsed by 400,000 majority of the best, most pious, most patriotic citizens of the country. The positive and earnest demon strations of that body of men, the purest that perhaps ever sat in Washington, has given the Evangelist "infinite pain!" The Evangelist holds the leading place among the journals of our body, and in many respects deservedly so, but we are quite sure the bulk of our ministers and members are grievously misrepresented by such extraordinary utterances as this. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,N. L. REV. T. 'J. SHEPHERD, D.D., PASTOR. The services of reopening the improved and very beautiful audience-room of this congregation were attended, last Sabbath, by thronged congregations and were of ex ceedingly interesting character. The pas; for preached in the morning form Mark xiv. 6, She hath wrought a good work on me. He was assisted by Rev. Charles D. Shaw, of Paterson, New Jersey, lately a member of the Church. The sermon in the ev4- ing, by Rev. Daniel March, D.D., of Clin ton Street Church, was based on the Mas ter's words, 4‘l am not alone because the Father is with me," and was one of great beauty and impressiveness. He was assisted by the Rev. James Y. Mitchell, pastor of Coates 'Street Presbyterian Church, and by the Rev. Robert Adair, Secretary for Home Missions, both of whom were fi*nerly of the church. An interesting incident tO e occasion was the securing of pledges to meet an expenditure of $6OOO bdmd Genesee F4vangelist, No. 1073 the first estimates and subscriptions. The pastor spoke in strong terms of commenda tion of the large and generous gifts to the enterprise by all the congregation. The accomplishment of such a work, with such hearty unanimity, is a beatitiful thing done and we rejoice in it. It is but another evidence of the growing strength and in fluence of our denomination in this city. One week of the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress has passed. The first week of a session usually accomplishes little beyond the greetings of Senators and members who have been separated for several months, the canvassing of hotels and boarding-houses, in the delusive hope of finding comfortable living, the reading of the President's message, the organization of the standing , committees of the session, and the adjournment over until the next Monday. This is a memorable 'exception. The great measures of the session had been inaugurated in the House of Representa tives on the very first day, before even the necessary, time in communicating with the Executive and receiving in reply his an nual message, had elapsed. These are the same men who, in July last, left the Capi tol weary with the labors of a long and arduous session, disheartened at the division in the ranks of Union , men, which seemed to have been accomplished, fearful lest in their carefully guarded and conciliatory measures, looking toward reconstruction on the basis of justice and right, they had gone further than the people would sustain them ; and yet, they are not the same men. Any one who, , to-day, looks from the gal leries of our National halls of •legislation, looks upon a body of men firm and nnffinch ing, strong and self-reliant, in the proud consciousness that the nation has already given its approval of the work they are to accomplish. They are strong, too, in the unity of sentiment through which, on the Union side of the House at least, an unbro ken...fug:43s presented., It is ~certainly a most remarkable fact, in these days of re markable occurrences, that in the popular branch of the American Congress, the President has not a single representative, unless two of the recently elected Tennessee delegation may be counted as such. Every disaffected Union man has returned to his allegiance, and the Democrats have repudi ated him as he has them. In the Senate, Doolittle, Dixon and Cowan remain 'unre pentant, and the Senate has very properly recognized their apoatacy by transferring them from the head to the feot of the im portant committees on which they were placed. The message of the President has excited no feeling here, and very little comment on the part of any one. It was known, in ad vance, that it would be merely a repetition of the old story, and there was not curiosity enough to hear it read to retain a respecta ble audience in the galleries. All those rumors, two or three weeks ago, that An drew Johnson had made up his mind to bow to the will of the people, that he had recommended the Governors of the South ern States to , : adopt the Constitutional amendments, and that he had determined to recommend to Congress still more radical amendments, were circulated by those who did not know Andrew Johnson. Let any one who doubts call at the White House some day, when he receives visitors and keep ... his eyes and ears open for five minutes and he may save himself any further specu lation on the'subject. I made such a call myself, a couple of days ago, having a mat ter of business to attend rto, and was par ticularly impressed with the stolid lines of dogged determination that marked his ex pression of countenance, so exactly tie re verse of the genial, sympathizing, unselfish man, to whom Mr. Johnson refers with such gusto as his " predecesor." The man whose " turn" for an interview' pre ceded mine, closed his conversation with a good-natured wish that our national difficul ties might all be adjusted harmoniously. " Yes," replied Mr. Johnson, the aforesaid lines perceptibly deepening, "I hope so. . If they are not it will not be my fault. ,I- am satisfied that the course I have adopted is the only one that can accomplish that , result, and I shall adhere to it at all haz ards." . There is much comfort in the reflection that our present national Executive is not an exception to those who are in the hands of an overruling Novidenee. And it is not difficult to see the evils that might have followed a disposition on his part to effect some sort of compromise with Con greas. The hands of the. latter ~are now free, and they will go onwithout embarrass ment with the work of the Session, and LETTER FROM WASHINGTON. WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 10, 1866 TERMS, Per annum, in advance: Ey Man. 63. By Carrier, 63 50. Clubs additional, after three months. .—Ten or more Papers sent to one address, payable strictly in advance and in oneremittance, By Mail, $2 50 per annum: By Carrier. $3 per =MM. Ministers and Ministers , Widows, $2 50 in advance. Home Missionaries, $2 00 in advance. Remittances by mail are at our risk. Postage.—Five cents quarterly, in advance, paid by subscribers at the office of delivery. Ati vertisements.-1234 (rents per line for the first, and 10 cents for the second insertion. ! One sqttare (ten lines) one month $3 00 two months- 5 three months 75 0 Mx months 12 0 S on e year 18 00 The following discount on long advertisements, in serted for three months and ;inwards, is allowed:— Over 20 lines, 10 per cent, off; over 50 lines, 20 per cent.; over 100 lines, 334 per cent. which, so far as now indicated, will be about as follows;: 1. To =guard the nation at this critical juncture, against the corrupt use of the immense power of the Executive, during a nine months' vacation of Congress following the 4th of March next. To meet this dan ger, the House to-day passed a bill by a majority of four to one, convening the new Congress immediately on the , expiration of the old. 2. To ascertain and lay before the country all the facts in connection with the terrible riot of the 31st of July at New Orleans, and especially the truth of the allegations of complicity in it 'by officeraltif the State and General Government. A Committee or Investigation for this purpose has already been appointed, of which Mr. Elliot or Mass., is chairman, who expect to leave the city in the course of the present week for New Orleans. 3. To ascertain the facts under which the railroads of the South, captured in war, having rendered incalculable aid in sustain ing the rebellion, were without compensa tion or condition, restored to their rebel owners. A committee, of which Horace Maynard, of Tenn., is chairman, has bees constituted to make the inquiry, and will visit such points in the South as are neces f nary to a full accomplishment of their pur pose. 4. To place on record, with - the sanction of official authority, the. disastrous conse quences to the rebellions States of the policy of reconstruction adopted by the President, and to devise . such legislation as may be required to meet the refusal of the rebel States to adopt the Constitutional amend ment. To accomplish this end the joint Committee on Reconstruction has been revived. 5. To inaugurate the actual consumma tion of the work of emancipation, by strik ing from the franchise laws of this District, over which Congress has exclusive control, the word "white." A bill for that pur pose has already passed the House, and ig expected to pass the Senate during the present week. 6. To take from the President the en larged power of granting amnesty to rebels, conferred upon him during the rebellion. This was accomplished, so far as the action of tile House was concerned, the first day of the Session, and will undoubtedly re ceive the sanction of the Senate. CARTER'S, SCRIBNER'S, AND TICK- NOR'S GIFT-BOOKS. Those searching for suitable gifts in this line will find in 'the lists of these publish ers variety and richness, in connection with more substantial qualities, quite sufficient for the most diverse wants and tastes. We have before us a copy of Scribner & Co.'s "Cotter's Saturday Night," elaborately and profusely illustrated, printed on the heaviest and finest paper, and richly bound' in Turkey morocco. It is a noble poem and worthy of the richest decorations .of the engraver's and binder's art. Scribner & Co. deServe the meed of a large success for bringing it before the public with such captivating accessions. It is for sale, in `various styles, by Smith, English & Co. Carter & Brothers have an elegant edi tion of Boner's " Hymns of Faith and. Hope," with arabesque borderti of the most artistic and beautiful designs. The typo graphy and binding are in a high degree rich and tasteful. They also offer a small quarto volume, " The Prodigal Son," being a series of sketches upon the prominent points in that touching story, by the elo quent preacher, James Hamilton, D.D., of- London, each point illustrated with an original fullpage engraving, which is a study and a lesson in the design, and a pleasure in the execution. For sale at the Presbyterian House. We have already noticed Messrs. Tick nor & Fields' " Flower de Luce" and "Maud Muller," smaller yet exquisite books, which, with several others front their house, may be found at Lippincott S L Co.'s. The list of M. W. Dodd, 'in our adver tising columns, is of great interest and va riety, embracing a new story by the au =thor of the Schonberg-Cotta series, and many others. • PRESBYTERIAL PELLOWSHIP. , --the two Presbyteries of Port Wayne (New .and Old School,) have appointed it joint meetibg to be held •in Wabash, Ind., on the 17th, 18th and 19th of the present month. They meet for prayer and- - other devotional exercises, with a special view to the out-pouring of' the Holy . Spirit upon the members,' their churches„: . .and the-families of their congregations: This is another of tbe late signs Which` betoken an approaching shoiwer orsalva tion upon the • country. F. H.
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