gramOT IJmfttjtmait THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1867. We still await the completion of our arrange ments for mailing, which we hoped to have had in operation last week. A part only of our subscri bers will find their names and the state of their Accounts on the printed slips pasted on the edge of their papers. The whole list will be concluded and arranged as rapidly as possible. Summary. —Williamsport 2nd church was ded icated January 20. Value of property $70,000, clear of all incumbrance. $35,000 .were subscri bed at the dedication. The Joint Committee on Union are called to meet in New York, Feb. 20. The Church at Neoga, 111., received an acces sion of forty-six a few Sabbaths ago. The whole town is aroused. Mr. Barnes’ Lectures are held in Mercer street Church, and not in the Lecture Boom, as an nounced. The attendance is large. Dr. Aiken, ex-Pastor of the First .church, Cleveland, who receives an annual stipend of 'sl,ooo for life, from the people, was presented with $B7O by old friends and parishioners, Janu ary 16. Dr. E. E. Adams’ first sermon, since his tem porary withdrawal from active duty, will be found on our second page. He preaches again next Sabbath evening.—Mr. Hammond continues his deeply interesting letters from Palestine. He expects to be in Scotland about February 10. Our contributor “M. Em.,” sends an admirable story: “ Can a child comprehend ?” See sixth page. — Valuable literary intelligence —on the seventh page. —;Our “Religious world abroad,” on the opposite page, is a carefully prepared and condensed summary of intelligence from all parts of the world. It is in time for the monthly con cert. •There is no abatement in the ritualistic devel opments in England. Our London correspon dent, in his very able letter, presents a gloomy view of the movement; with incidents of the most telling character derived from personal observa tion. His own position, however, —that of the most rigorous simplicity in worship—is likely to intensify his views of ritualism and to throw the deepest possible shadows upon his discussions of the subject. Pasteur Fish of Paris, in a letter to Dr. Sun derland, on our first page, pleads for the contri butions of certain churches in the United States, to be designated by the A. & F. Christian Union, for the benefit of the Evangelical Society of France, (Free church.) The Union movement in Scotland presents a less hopeful aspect. The Church Erection Committee have received from 121 churches $8,173.26; one fourth from a single church. It has all been appropriated, and $40,000 more is needed at once. Churches Uniting. —The Old and New school churches in Rockville, Indiana, have uni ted after the following.manner: The basis of the union is in substance as fol lows: —We agree to worship in the Second Pres byterian church, New-School, unitedly as a church, but retainingour separate organizations as church es, reporting to the Crawf’ordsvillc and Green castle Presbyteries respectively, until twenty days after the meeting of the General Assemblies in 1868, when, in case the Assemblies fail to unite as one body, we are to decide by a vote of two thirds of the united congregations, to which branch of the Church, Old or New-school, we are to be attached, and that vote is to be final. Each church is to retain its own officers, and the united churches have invited the Rev- J. Mitchell, of the Old school, to become their stated supply for the present.” The New-school church has 120 members;’the Old school 85. The Olivet church has held a series of meet ings every night for three weeks past. The Pas tor, Rev. W. W. Taylor, has been faithfully as sisted by preachers of four different denomina tions, and with good success. Every sermon was full of light and love, refreshing to the Church and awakening to the unconverted. About fifty persons, young and old, have been seriously im pressed and a few hopefully converted. Although the extra meetings are closed for the present, the work of the Lord, we trust, is not over; and the prayer of the Church is, “ Abide with vs -“ Why shouldst thou be as a way faring man, that turn eth aside to tarry for a night ?” Lyndonville, N. Y.—The church at Lyndon ville has bought a parsonage and paid off its debt. Ministerial. — Rev. H. V. Warren has re moved from Decatur, 0., to Granville, Put nam Co., 111., where he is to supply the pulpit. He has been preaching half of his time to the church at Red Oak, but this church haying united with the O. S. church in the same place, the remainder of his field will not afford him a support. Rev. S. Calhoun has received a call from the church in Troy, O.— — Rev. J. B. Hubbard, of Whitesboro’, N. Y., has received a unani mous call to the pastorate of the First Cal yinistic church and congregation of Joliet, 111. Rev. J). R. Palmer, of Victor, has ac cepted the call of the Presbyterian Church of Prattsburg. Western Reserve Synod, O. —Rev. P. C. Baldwin, the Synodical missionary, reports that of fifteen churches reported as vacant, with an aggregate membership of four hun dred and fifty-one, be has supplied eight which have the bulk of the members, and has collected $219 within the bounds of the Synod; that railroads have done'much to change the location of tho villages and of the churches in that region, and that many have been lost to our denomination through want of supplies. Ministerial. —Rev, Frederick Graves has changed his place of residence from Nelson, Fa., to Tioga, Pa. THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, JANUARY SI, 1867. OUB ROCHESTER CORRESPONDENT. PRESBYTERY OF WATERTOWN. This Presbytery held its annual meeting in con nection with the State Street Church (Rev. Geo. D. Baker's) in Watertown, commencing on Tues day evening the 22d instant; opening sermon by Bev. Enos Wood, of Dexter. Bev. J. A. Pres ton, of Cape Vincent, was elected Moderator. Beside the ordinary routine of business, Bev. S. M. Merrill, of Theresa, and Elder —. Botsford, of Martinsburg, were elected Commissioners to the General Assembly; Rev. J. B. Preston and Elder A. P. Brayton, Alternates. Rev. J. B. Preston and Elder Jason Clark, the latter of Plessis, were appointed Commissioners to the Au burn Seminary. Rev. Henry Hiekock, formerly of Vernon, Oneida "county, was received into this body by letter from the Presbytery of Utica. He is preaching to the church at Sackett’s Harbor, within the bounds of this body. PRESBYTERY OF ST. LAWRENCE. This body met at North Potsdam on the 22d. Rev. N. J. Conklin, of Gouverneur, was made Moderator, and Rev. S. W. Pratt, of Brasher Falls, Clerk. Rev. E. W. Plumb, D.D., and Hon. H. T. Knowles, both of Potsdam, were ap pointed Commissioners, to the General Assembly; and Rev. B. B. Beckwith and Elder Geo. Rogers, both of Gouverneur, Alternates. One noticeable feature of this meeting was the visit of Rev. L. M. Miller, D.D., of the Presby tery of Ogdensburgh, the other branch, to bring the fraternal salutations of that body, and to pro pose something further in regard to the reunion of the two principal branches of the Presbyterian Church. It will be remembered that these two Presbyteries are very earnest in this matter. They held a joint meeting, in the most fraternal manner, three years ago, and adopted overtures to their respective General Assemblies, earnestly asking them to take action toward reunion. They propose to hold another joint meeting next sum mer. They are ready for a candid, organic union. They are one in spirit, one in theology, and want to be one in organization. They may be one before long, whether the General Assemblies are or not. It now looks like it. And why not ? They would be much stronger for good in their own region. ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY" ANNIVERSARIES We cannot speak of these in detail. They were held at North Potsdam, commencing on Tuesday, the 22d instant, and closing on Thurs day, the 24th. Seven- meetings were held, the first on Tuesday evening, three on Wednesday, and three on Thursday, representing all the lead ing causes of benevolence. Home Missions were represented by Rev. A. M. Stowe, with 'his big map; Foreign Missions by Rev. C. P. Bush; the Bible Society, by Rev. Col. J. M. Fuller, a good man for it; the American and Foreign Christian Union, by Rev. W. B. Stewart, who did admira bly for his cause; the Tract Society, by Rev. H. B. Gardiner, a new : man, but excellent in this position. The meetings were well attended; were full of interest and profit; the singing was very good; the hospitality of the place all that could be de sired. North Potsdam is one of the smaller vil lages, and we were afraid the meetings could not be so well accommodated here, but there was nothing wanting; and the attendance from day to day was even larger, perhaps, than it would have been in one of the more populous villages where public gatherings are more frequent. Next year the anniversaries are to be held in Lawrence ville. A CHANGE, Rev. H. B. Gardiner, who has served the church in Bergen, in all faithfulness, for the last three years, has received and accepted an invita tion to act for the American Tract Society of New York, in the capacity of District Secretary, to re side at Utica. His field is Central and Northern New York. We shall regret to lose him from the Rochester Presbytery, as he is a brother be loved, but the best wishes of his brethren will follow him wherever he may go. S. S. ANNIVERSARY. The Sunday-school of the Presbyterian church of Geneva, (Reiv. Dr. Wood’s,) celebrated -their anniversary on Sunday evening, the 20th instant It was a very pleasant occasion —the church full of the children and their friends, the singing very spirited and cheering, the report of the superin tendent, Mr. Edward A. Wood, very encouraging and satisfactory. Forty-three have been added to the church from the Sabbath-school in the past year; and $352 were raised by the school for various benevolent objects. IMPROVEMENTS. The church of Gouverneur, (Rev. N. J. Conk lin, pastor,) has recently been handsomely re modeled and a parsonage obtained; and the church has expended some $4OOO in these sub stantial improvements. We have no doubt they will find it money well laid out. THE CORNELL LIBRARY. Two years ago we noticed the founding of a public library in Ithaca by that prince of givers, Senator Cornell. The building which ,he has erected for this purpose is finished, and was formally dedicated to its purposes on the 29th ult. The structure cost over $60,000, and con tains rooms for the village post-office, the national bank,, and other offices, the rent of which goes to help the library and pay expenses. Beside this, Mr. Cornell has already given four thousand dollars worth of books, and pledged himself to give one thousand dollars a year for the same purpose for eleven years longer. In his address, in response to the thanks of the citizens, at the dedication, Mr. Cornell uttered words which we should be glad to commend to the serious attention of other rich men, — “ Years ago he became convinced that it was folly to hoard up treasures on earth to bequeath in one’s last will and testament, and to be dis posed of, probably by unwilling heirs, or injudi cious executors; and he decided that he would act the better part, and give while he lived, and reap in his life-time at least the satisfaction and pleasure of seeing his benefactions do good to those for whom they were designed.” Let others go and do likewise. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. If the unfortunate doctor who attempted to build a State Inebriate Asylum at an expense of $500,- 000, and never got through with it, had rented some building and begun ten years ago, the ex periment of saving drunkards, instead of waiting all this time to pile up stone and mortar, it would seem as though he might have accomplished some thing. He would at least have tested his cure, and, if successful, could have commanded the public confidence. But hundreds of those who sought admission at an early d ;y to his projected institution, have been going down to drunkards’ graves while he has been building, and public confidence, at least in the management, has at the same time been going down, until the present col lapse came. To what purpose that splendid, un finished building may yet be appropriated, remains to be seen. We have confidence that the able and upright President of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Willard Parker, will try to turn all to some good account. FOLLOWING ON. We have joyfully chronicled two or three cases of recent advance of ministers’ salaries. We have now the pleasure of reporting that the First Pres byterian Church of Syracuse have added one thousand dollars to the salary of their esteemed pastor, Rev. Dr. Canfield; a man whose position and influence well deserves the reward. We are happy to add, that the Doctor is in better health than at any time for the past six years, and he is preaching constantly. REMEMBERED. Rev. B. B. Gray, who has served the church of Seneca Castle in all faithfulness for the last seventeen years, was kindly remembered by his people about two weeks since, in a donation visit, amounting to one hundred and seventy-five dol lars. Although his parish is a little off the’lines of public travel, he has an intelligent and inter esting congregation Rev. A. H. Parmelee, of Livonia, is also kindly remembercdi by hiS.pieop]e, by a donation of one hundred dollars, and another hundred added to his salary. Genesee. N. Potsdam, Jan. 25, 1867 FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT. SABBATH PUNISHMENT FOR PROPOSED SABBATH DESECRATION. On Sabbath, the 30th of December, 186-6, the tropical department of the Crystal Palace was turned into a ruin by the all-devouring fire. The flames were seen far and wide, and the palace continued in a glow all night through. Had the wind been in any other quarter than it was, the whole structure would have been a complete ruin. The damage is estimated-at £150,000; and it is only insured to the extent of £20,000. I fear the beautiful courts can never be replaced. The undertaking does not pay. And unless the pub lic subscribe largely- to aid them, the sharehold ers, it is likely, will content themselves with simply the necessary repairs. If so, the unity and harmony and wonderful proportions of the build ing are gone; and that forever. Upwards of 120 feet of the lineal length of the erection are totally destroyed; nothing remains but grotesquely twisted fragments of iron. Christian men are making no heavy moan over the loss. The attempts of the directors have been latterly persistent to have the Palace opened to the public on the Sabbath day. At every suc cessive meeting of the share holders, this has been pressed with frantic eagerness, with total disre gard to the feelings of the better disposed, both of the share-holders and of the Christian public. It is just possible that to retrieve their enormous loss, the directors may finally put their resolve into practice, and throw open the doors of this wonderful building to the public on the Sabbath: if they do, its fate will be sealed; and no good man will regret to hear that the other half has followed the fate of that, whose glory and goodli ness have just departed for ever. COMMERCIAL PANIC. The year closes on us in gloom. The panic in the money market of last May has left permanent effects behind it. All stocks and shares with very few exceptions, are from ten to twenty per cent, below their real value. It is “all sellers no buyers.” Confidence seems completely to have departed from the men of money. No man trusts his brother; and the stories one could tell of hu«e cheats; of bubbles that swelled and glittered, and then collapsed, would fill many a goodly volume. Still it is asserted, and believed, that the trade of the country was never in a healthier position than at present; and the quarterly return of the revenue just issued, fully justifies both the assertion and the belief. YACHT RACE. The next topic of public interest is the arrival of three American yachts off the Isle of Wight; London, January, 1867. the termination of a long and, let me Bay, fool hardy race— ocean-race, iu mid-winter, across the Atlantic; who but Americans would have thought of it; who but Americans would have brought it to pass? The excitement is general, and per vades society, from the Queen down to the meanest of her racing subjects. Her majesty had the yachts sailed near to Osborne, that she might have a look at them ; and then invited the yachtmen to come and have a look at her. There has been no end of dining and speechifying, too, at South ampton and elsewhere; and this peaceful invasion will do more good than a hundred protocols and diplomatic notes. RITUALISM. But the one subject of paramount interest now is Ritualism. At last men’s eyes seem to be fairly opened to this monstrous innovation. I fervently hope it may not be too late. But all thoughtful men are now seeing that here is the rising problem of the day, that must soon be grappled with, if it is to be grappled at all. They now see this; they feel that here is something, contemptible and mean in itself, but which is yet of more real importance than all political ques tions, than national politics, than money panics, even. It confronts you everywhere. It has spread out and on, and has its seat in country towns; in quiet and retired villages; in the heart of great, of the greatest city. It is in the school and in the college; it is in the high dignitaries of the Church; in the heart of deans and bishop 3, and canons, major and minor. It has a hold of the young, of the poor, of the enthusiastic, the poetic, the aristocrat, the very judge on the bench. It is in Parliament; in the House of Lords and Commons. It is a power every where. It is not only a power, but it is a united power; it has its recognized heads and leaders; it has its societies secret and open, ramifying all over the country, the strong supporting the weak, the weak leaning triumphantly on the strong. The very atmosphere one breathes is ritualistic. Even the extremest of the dissenters feel it. It is among us Presbyterians. Our young people are carried away with the feeling and spirit of the times. Every where among us discussion turns on “improving our modes of worship”—‘our music is bad, our hymnology is bad, our whole form is bad; it is repulsive; we must have it re newed, reformed, brought more into conformity with the spirit of the times.” And hence, all over our Presbyterian Church, the only questions that are debated with a real hearty earnestness are questions touching ritualism is some shape or form—hymnology, music, chants, chorales, an thems, three or four shorter prayers, shorter ser mons. more music and the like. So does ritualism shape itself as yet amongst ns. But the thing is the same. The feeling among our youth is, as nearly as possible, identi cal with the feeling of the Episcopal youth, making allowance simply for the different ecclesi astical up.bringings of the two sets of families. I feel convinced, from all I see around me, see and hear and observe, that the movement is spreading rapidly among us in all directions. I may give you a fact that came under my notice only yester day. A gentleman comes up from Scotland. Jle arrives here a very Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Presbyterian out and out in all directions, the son of a noble and right notable Presbyterian ances try, of whom he is justly pr.iud. From conveni ence he soon gets to worship in the Episcopal Church of England. His family grow up, with few leanings toward Presbyterianism. The only son is a genuine Scot and sticks to the good old way-—loves it, and were it easily possible would follow it. He is sent to school. On his return from it I happen to be travelling on the Continent, and the lad and I “ fore-gathered,” and travelled two or three weeks together. A sounder lad, one clearer, or faster or firmer settled in the roots and grounds of faith and practice, I have seldom known. We discussed, and very nearly agreed on, most of the points of any importance now being argued among us. This lad grows up al most a son of my own, so dearly do I love him; he goes to Cambridge —mot to Oxford for the world—he gets a curacy —he marries the'only daughter of a clergyman of the Calviuistic school, and the out-and-out evangelical type, and all is well. But what did I hear yesterday ? Why, the vestments, the altar lights, the incense and all the rest of it, are his sole hobby, by night and by day, and I, your humble servant, am handed over to the unconsecrated mercies of God! What next? Another fact. The Bishop of Norwich is a Pelham. He is out-and-out evangelical. During this past summer I met him at a private prayer meeting, held at the Dowager Lady Buxton’s. He expounded one of the parables; and I must say a more clear, thorough, scriptural exposition I never heard. It was all that could be desired. And then he knelt down and prayed—prayed without book, in an unconsecrated place, and among dissenters, Presbyterians and the miscella neous gathering that may be grouped in summer at a fashionable watering place —prayed with the earnestness of a saint, the simplicity of a little child, and the unction of an apostle. Now this man, this Bishop of Norwich is, I understand, all that he seems. And yet, mark the strange times in which we live I happened to be stayiug at a farm-house in a small country parish within his diocese. The parish church had been burnt down, and was rebuilt in the most ultra style. I happened to be in the parish the day before ‘-the consecration;” and went to see the church. I defy any living man to say wherein it differed from a popish temple. There was one thing, and only one thing: the “altar” was of wood; a pop sh one would have been either of stone or some more costly material. A piscina was there, sedilia, and all the rest of it; saints’ heads carved all round and statues in niches. The Evangelical Bishop of Norwich “ consecrated” that church, the day after I saw it, without a single word of rernon, strance, as I was told by the leading church war den, who opposed the whole thing, step by step and was finally baffled and beaten, and bad to betake him to a little dissenting chapel newly erected. 1 J THE CONTROVERSY IN “ THE TIMES.” At last, l say, men’s eyes are slowly opening. The Times can keep silent no longer A few months ago it broke silence in two or three lead ers of crushing power; worthy of the old thun derer m his best days. These articles were fol lowed up by the devoting, from day to day of two or even three columns of its space, to ritual istic controversy in the shape of letters from cor respondents, lay and cleric, of all ranks The controversy had not gone on long, till S. U. 0. came on the field with a series of most character istic and graphic and pungent letters, b. G. 0. is the signature of a well-known correspondent of The Times. For years he has had the entree to their columns, as often and as long as he wished. Hitherto, his subjects have been either political or social, or rather have occupied the debatable land that lies between; perhaps politico-social would indicate what their subjects have been. Some years ago, he came out with a scries of tbunderers on the management, or rather mis management, of oar great religious societies, which created a great furor of anger at the time. amon°- committees and secretaries, but which did a world of good. S. G. O. is the Rev. Lord Sydney Godolphin Osborne. He is the vicar, or something, of a parish in Wilkshire, and is in the diocese of the Bishop of Salisbury. After a letter or two of S. G. O. s had appeared, the Bishop evidently lost his temper, and came out with a grave ecclesiastical censure, but at the same time virtually affirming the truth of all his criticisms, and laying claim for himself and his clerg/, to all the powers ever claimed for her priests, by the Eastern or \ V esteru Church, plain, simple, undisguised, undiluted popery in fact, only called Anglicanism. S. G- 0. did not want his reply. After he had silenced the Bishop, he held on his way for a letter or two, and brought out that cunning old fox, Dr. Pusey: Dr. Pussy on Confession and the Confessional. The Titties had to put a letter of Dr. Posey’s in the Paper Basket, as Unfit for public perusal. But the con troversy still proceeds —S. G. 0. finishing off, I see, in The Times of this morning, in an admira ble letter. FUTILITY OF THE WHOLE COUNTER-MOVEMENT. The question in all men’s mouths is, W hat is to be done ? Protests are zealously written, and zealously signed, and are worth the paper on which they are written; protests for which no body cares, and which nobody minds. “ Wha* will the Bench of Bishops do?” I answer, jnst as much as the bench they sit upon, nothing at all; encourage the movement in secret when they cannot encourage it openly, and openly whenever they think it possible. “ What will Parliament do ?” Nothing. It will talk and talk and talk; and no more. “ What will Government do t Nothing. It will only act when it can no longer help it. “ What will the Evangelicals do?” Pro test, and talk, and sit still, so long as the house is habitable, sit still till they are burnt out, till the walls, roof, flooring rot away from beneath and around them. “What will the. people do?” Nothing—talk, run over in angry ebullitions and then settle down again. And mean while the leaven is spreading, spreading fast and far and rapidly, leavening the whole lump. The mighty evil is, that the evangelical party is like a rope of sand. It has no coherence, no unity, no head. An Evangelical Bishop dares hardly peep or mutter; and many of the Bishops we thought evangelical are, one hardly knows what. Think of Bishop Ellieott. One of Lord Shaftesbury's Bishops. First, he came out with a sermon in his own Cathedral Church against Evangelicalism, and in favor of Ritualism, so far. And then the public was astonished, if any thing astonishes the public now-a-days —by Bishop Elli cott,the Evangelical commentator, withdrawing his name and subscription first from “ the Bible So ciety,” then from “ the Church Pastoral Society!” But I must stop. I will have to return to this subject before long. The report is, that the Rev. Dr. Roxburgh of Free St. John’s, Glasgow, is to be the Moderator of the Free Church‘General Assembly this year. Dr. Roxburgh well deserves the honor; he is an earnest, hard worker. We have had strange weather this winter. Up to the close of last year, the weather was so open and mild that new potatoes were sold in the market from out of doors, and at a penny apiece. We had no frost, hardly, worth speaking of, till the close of the year. To-day there is a fall of snow which I do not remember to have seen the like of in London for many years. I fear the telegraph wires will all go. The snow is more than a foot deep. We have had some very foggy days. One day, at the close of the year, we had a genuine London fog and no mistake. I had to hum my lamp all day. At 12 o’clock noon, the whole of London was lighted solely by gas, and you only saw men as trees walking. And now, as my paper is done, let me wish both jou and your readers a hearty “ gude new year”—so we say it in Scotland. Yours ever, Death of Eev. Elias C. Sharpe.— This excellent and most highly esteemed brother in the ministry, departed this life for the life that is higher, on Saturday, the sth inst., aged 53 v He contracted his disease when in the service of the Christian Commission, within the army lines, throe years ago, and though he so far recovered as to resume his pastoral duties with tolerable comfort for awhile, yet he finally succumbed to its deadly power. His funeral was attended at At water, bis home and bis parish, on Wednes day, the 9th inst., in the presence of an im mense congregation, gathered not only from the community in the bosom of which he so ong lived, hilt also from the surrounding towns. Ten of his ministerial brethren walked before his bier to the house of God, and thenee to the grave. The sermon was preached by Eev. Pres. Hitchcock, of West ern Eeserve College. Atwater was Mr. Sharpe’s only settlement, and he filled the pulpit there for 26 years with marked suc cess as a pastor; the people loved him with a ove which is pleasing and rare to see, in ese ays of change and uneasiness; they buried him with heavy hearts; but glad Srhr h - 1S Se P“ lC^ e : must go into it SO — Cor. Herald. ’ Wltil tn^ C t ESSlONS ;—Seventeen have been added -fa Philadelthos,
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