StfTOpniljmt
PUBLIC OPINION in THE SOUTHERN
CHURCHES.
Knoxville, Tenn., Jan. 7, 1867
In my letter from New Orleans of the 3d, so
much space Was occupied in stating the political
situation as it appeared to me on my first visit to
this city, as to compel the omission of many other
incidents and observations of. much interest to me.
And in respect to the political future, I may add,
that during my two weeks’ stay in that city, I did
not meet a single person of rebel proclivities who
did not speak of the establishment of a territorial
of provisional government for Louisiana, by the
present Congress, as a fixed fact and a condition
to he submitted to by them ; the inquiries on their
part being generally directed to probable details
in' the arrangement.
Of the churches existing in New Orleans before
the war, all, without a single exception, are rebel
in their feeling and action—generally even more
so than the politicians. In one of the most pro
minent Episcopal churches, for two or three Sab
baths, prayers for Congress had been omitted in
their service. Singularly enough, the only min
ister who gives any indications of “accepting the
situation,” is the one who, perhaps, more than all
the, others combined, contributed to hurry the
State-into secession; and who, when it was an
accomplished fact, himself entered, as a private,
the rebel army—the Rev. Dr. Palmer, of the First
Presbyterian Church. And in regard to him,
the indications are strong that any further ex
pressions of loyalty on his part will not be tole
rated by his congregation.
The First Congregational Church of New Or
leans,, now ab.out a year old, is an exceedingly
liv,e?,institution. The ordination of. its first pastoi;,,
R,ev, Mr. Van Orden, of New York, took place
durjag my visit. Rev. Dr. Kirk, of Boston,
Eustis, of New Haven, and Palmer, of New Qr
-1 cans,.Conducted the services of the occasion. The
chprch has now a membership of thirty-four,
about one-half being young men; it is self-sustain
ing, and in every respect,"bears evidence of en
ergy and vitality. Its edifice, a neat wooden
building, well fitted up, capable of seating four or
fiye..hundred persons, is well .located, and its
trustees having, with the wisdom of a serpent,
insured it in a thoroughly “ Secesh” company, it
escaped conflagration on the night of the July
riot. The building and site were purchased by
the. American Congregational Union.
The only other loyal religious organization in
the city is that under the care of the Rev. Dr. New
man, of the M. E. Church. Two churches were
started under his care during the war, buildings
from which rebel ministers had fled, being turned
over ; to him by the general then in command of
that department. These buildings, some time
since, by order of the present Executive, were
restored to their former rebel owners, and the
congregations, having no place of worship of their
ow.n, have perceptibly diminished. But it was no
part, of the arrangement of that Church, now in
its centennial year, to allow, so field
to. be given up or go into decline. Steps were
immediately taken to build new churches, and
Bishop Simpson was sent here to look after the
interests of this branch of their Zion. I heard
him r preach, two Sabbaths since, to one of these
congregations in the hall of the Mechanics’ In
stitute, the hall in which the convention was as
sembled when the riot of the 30 th of July occur
red. The surroundings of the place seemed to
me exceedingly fit for such an assembly on such
an occasion. It was the place where Horton 'fell,
a martyr to his devotion to the cause of liberty,
when the echoes of his voice in supplication for
the blessing of the Great Ruler of nations upon
the deliberations, of the convention had scarcely
died away, The walls of the room were scarred
with the marks of a hundred bullets, the windows
were still in the shattered condition in which the
infuriated mob, five months before, had left them.
An audience of a thousand persons was present,
and the sermon of the Bishop was one worthy of
tl;e place and the occasion.
Another item of the discouraging effects of the
President’s “benignant” reconstruction policy is
in the discontinuance of Freedmen’s schools. At
one time, under the vigorous military regime of
Butler and Banks, the education of Freedmen
was carried on with more energy and success
than at any other point in the country, with the
single exception of Washington. But the tax
levied for their support, by the direction of the
President has been discontinued: under the same
authority, the funds of the Freedmen’s Bureau
are no longer permitted to be used for that pur
pose; No source of support remains, except the
small amount appropriated by the various benev
olent associations of/the North, and nearly all the
schools 1 have of . necessity . been discontinued.
When impartial suffrage, based on being able to
read and; write, goes into operation, the benefi
cence of our present Executive policy of recon
struction, in introducing as small a portion as
possible of the colored element into the demoral
izing arena of politics, will become apparent.
So far as-I am aware, the only, field which the
Home, Missionary Committee of our Church has
attempted, to occupy with any.degree of thorough
ness in-the South, is that section of Tennessee,
the centre of which is the point from which this
letter is dated; and stopping over the Sabbath
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1867.
here on my return Northward, I have had much
interest in learning the condition of the work. I
have been glad to find many facts most encour
aging in their character, but I have also been
much surprised’ at the magnitude and imminent
necessity of the work that must be done at once,
or disastrous consequences will follow. It is
hardly overstating the fact to say, that two thirds
of the churches in connection with our General
Assembly in East Tennessee are at this moment
without pastors and without ministerial supply;
and there are no loyal ministers in Tennessee from
whom the supply can be drawn. It is also true,
that unless, provision is speedily made for these
churches, they will be occupied by the Southern
Church; not because there is a surplus of minis
ters in the South, for many important churches
of the denomination, and a largp portion of those
of less importance, are vacant; nor because the
prospective supply is unusually encouraging; for
I believe the aggregate number of students in the
seminaries of both branches of the Presbyterian
Church in the South is less than thirty; but be
cause East Tennessee is the only locality in the
South in which any number of churches have re
mained loyal to our organization, and it is deemed
of the-utmqst consequence, at whatever hazard,
that; this field shall be occupied' to the exclusion
of loyal ministers, if possible.'
The church building in this village is, perhaps,
the finest of any belonging to any Presbyterian
congregation in. the State, : and its eongregat'on,
under the. care of Rev. Mr. Bachman, is rapidly
recovering its ante-war condition of prosperity. In
the county of Blount there are seven or eight
churches without present or prospective; supply
from; this quarter. The important church of
Cleveland on The railroad from this point to; Chat
tanooga is vacant; that at Jonesboro is about to
become so, and, indeed, looking over this whole
field,- “ the harvest is.plenteous, but the laborers
are few:” F. H.
MARGARETTA.
She is dead, and yet she speaketh. She will
always speak, to a wide circle of relatives and
friends in her native place. She will speak to
her fellow students and teachers in Ingham Uni
versity. Perhaps she ought to be permitted to
speak to yet others by the eloquent voice of. her
blended suffering and working in the cause of
Christ, for we are assured that Jesus has said to
her, “He that heareth you, heareth me.”
The admonition of the Master: “Work while
the day lasts,” seems to echo hack from our every
memory of her. Converted at an early age,
throughout her school days she is acknowledged,
by teachers, pastqrs, and prominent friends, as a
faithful Christian worker. The smile of earth’
and heaven rested on her as she strove to prepare
her mind and heart for future usefulness. The
happy hours pass rapidly on. One year more,
and she will graduate, and be ready for what
ever life-work Providence shall assign her. But
God’s ways are not as our ways. He sends to
her sanguine, resolute spirit, the slow, sure angel,
consumption. He paints her pale cheek with a
hectic flush, and heaves her lungs with an omi
nous and painful convulsion. The message can
not he mistaken. It says: “Your days are
numbered. You cannot on with your studies.
To stay at home and die, and to do so cheerfully,
is the study God assigns you,” It is the sever
est lesson she ever tried to learn. The struggle
it cost her is fully known only to herself and
her God; but she succeeded, she learned her hard
lesson by heart. Henceforth to suffer, rather
than to do, is her accepted duty. , She is ready
to take up her daily, hourly cross, and follow
where Jesus leads.
But by means of home-nursing, and her own
happy, resolute heart, she rallies by the return of
spring, and calling to. mind her favorite
“Better wear out than rust out,” and believing
that she could be doing as well as suffering for her
God and her fellow creatures, despite the fears
and remonstrances of friends, she takes a position
as teacher in a primary school of a neighboring
village.
Here she toiled as she loved so well to toil,
making even her hoarse cough seem musical to the
children, by the loving words and smiles with
which she muffled it. She is warned that she is
hastening her end, that she will not live to see
the end of the term. But she has sought the
guidance and blessing of God, and she will not be
fearfulbut believing, and God grants her according
to her faith. Her days seem to be prolonged
miraculously, like those of Hezekiah. Amid the
careful, happy exercises of her school-room, she
gains a little strength instead of losing. She
gains yet more in the ensuing vacation, and
with the opening of the fall term, she is strong
enough to go again to the University. And here
by the grace of God, she is strong enough to
graduate at the head of her class. Her valedic
tory, on “The Unseen Battle Field,” presented
an exquisitely beautiful picture of those soul-con
flicts in which she herself had so often been a vic-
She was now honored by God and her affection
tionate instructors with a situation as fellow
teacher. Faithfully and well did she fulfil her
trusts. Her vigorous intellect, her animated face,
and the cheerful, earnest, affectionate tones of
her voice, breathed the enthusiasm of life through
her classes, even while her hollow, oft recurring
cough, sounded a memento mori to the gayest
heart.
But her labors iii that fondly cherished sphere
of action were closed in less than a year, and
closed forever.
The struggle to give up the luxury of noble
toil is easier now. It was but a review of an old
familial- lesson. ' SereDe and beautiful was that
dear face as it again took its place in the home
circle. It had not the passive physical beauty of
some faces, but it did posses?, in a rare degree,
the beauty of a glowing intelligence, and the
grace of a trustful,: Christ-like spirit.
It is true that the purple tinge of consumption
was deepening on that patient countenance, but
like the autumnal hues of inanimate nature, it
only gave her spiritual nature an added glory.
“Yornare not afraid, Retta,” said her pastor,
“to look, upon your, position just as it is ?” “ Oh,
no;” said “I accustom myself to do this.”
For two long, weary years, she looked death in
the face with The triumphant courage of a mar
tyr. Now the pale messenger would approach
within a step, and seem just about to snatch her,
;away; and then he would; stand aside, waiting
;the command of God, until her great fear was,
that she should not be patient under her protract
ed sufferings;
When too weakTo have full , control;of her;
thoughts; it; was, her delight to follow some
Christian friend in addressing the ' throne of
grace. When some: one was speaking of the ap-,
preaching- thanksgiving, she exclaimed joyfully,
“I shall spend.thanksgiving in heaven.” God
took her at her word, and when her flesh and
spirit seemed already parting’she broke forth
with, rapturous assurance. “I; am taking one.
more step in knowledge.V Sh'e felt as ! if she
were slipping out of time into eternity; But she
lingered on the threshold of heaven, lingered to fee
even there, like her divine Master, the power of
the Prince of Darkness in the hidings of her
Heavenly. Eather’s countenance. In her utter
weakness ;of mind and body, sinking in the ruin
;of;death;, she lost sight for a moment of her Sa
viour; but she rallied quickly with the joyful cry,
“Jesus will:bear me through,” Her heart and
her flesh; were ■ failing her, but God was the
strength. of her heart-and her portion forever.
The pearly gates, so long ajar, closed behind her,
and we saw her no more.
At her funeral; “The voice said- cry, and I
said, what shall I; cry ? All flesh is grass, and all
the goodliness thereof is as the flowers of' the
field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth,
but the word of our God endureth forever.”
D. S.
LETTER FROM A COUNTRY PARSONAGE-
TWENT.Y—ONE JJfINDUCTORS DISMISSED,
So I overheard one passenger say to another
as we were borne along on a late occasion to
wards your, goodly city.
“Twenty-one of them dismissed!” Why, what
has occasioned such a wholesale delivery ? ”
“Oh, the old story, actual or suspected em
bezzlement of the company’s funds.”
THE OLD STORY.
This casual answer seemed very pregnant with
meaning, and gave rise to these musings: Are
railroad conductors, as a class, sinners above all
other men, so as to warrant such a wholesale im
putation? With them my acquaintance has
generally been limited to the mere collection of
fare and tickets, or the answering the various
queries of passengers. Nothing, certainly, in
their general appearance and demeanor, as they
pass through the ears, which instinctively impels
you to clap one hand upon your watch, and the
other upon your pocket-book: There is per
chance something in the employment itself pecu
liarly trying to the under-layers of man’s moral
constitution. The duties to which railroad com
panies subject their conductors, may be such as
to keep ia abeyance the honest tendencies—if
such there be —of feeble human nature, and
bring into active exercise all its original rascali
ties.
It must, no doubt, be admitted that the facili
ties afforded by this business for appropriating
the funds of others to personal use, are greater
than in almost any other earthly employment.
To fill honestly such a position, men of proper
intellectual, moral, and spiritual balance are re
quired. Men of tender conscience, sound princi
ple, and from under whom no moral prop has
been ruthlessly knocked away. Many such men
we have in our community, notwithstanding the
snarling assurance of infidelity; “that every
man has his price.” Men sufficient are there in
our Christian community, whose price is at least
too high for the money of all the railroads to se
duce into peculation and swindling.
Unfortunately for railroad companies, their
own wicked arrangements debar them from ob
taining the services of such men: Stockholders
persist in running their trains, and, in various
other ways, breaking the Holy Sabbath. Truly
honest, thoroughly trustworthy men cannot be
induced for hire, to engage in such a business.
Let stock owners understand, once'for all, and
distinctly, that the man who can be induced to
engage in a business, which by it§ known terms
requires him to violate any one of God’s com
mandments, that man will with equal facility,
when occasion offers, violate any of his obliga
tions to man, “Remember the Sabßath day to
keep it holy,” is enjoined with equal emphasis
and solemnity,:as “Thou shalt not steal ” He
who lends himself for hire, knowingly, to violate
the Fourth Commandment, will not hesitate to
invade the eighth, in order to increase his gains.
If those moneyed corporations are not, as
charged, soulless, and will listen, the country par
son will preach them a short sermon :
YOUR POLICY, GENTLEMEN, IS BAD,
In dismissing those twenty-one conductors, you
have acted unwisely with respect to your own
moneyed interests. Those discharged are no
more dishonest than will be the twenty one with
whom you expect to fill -the J vacant positions.
Have you forgotten the fable of the fox and the
flies. Reynard, by some mischance, got stuck in
the mire. He was soon covered by a swarm of
hungry flies, who were fast filling themselves with
his life blood. A jackdow, seeing the -pitiable
condition of his bushy-tailed friend, kindly pro
posed to drive away the blood suckers. By no
means, responded the fox; for, were these away,
a new and hungry swarm would 1 immediately
cover me, and in that case I am a dead fox.
YOU ARE TEMPTERS TO EVIL.
By running your trains upon the Sabbath, and
inducing men for hire to conduct them, a direct
and cruel temptation is thus placed before them
to sin against Hod, by engaging to break His ex
press command. You tempt men needing, em
ployment, by almost a bribe to violate the divine
law, and thus also furnish direct encouragement
for them to violate the laws of your company.
You swindle the Lord and all men and women,
having a conscience, out of the Sabbath;, and, as
a just retribution, men swindle you out of your
money.
YOU, HAVE NO FAITH IN MEN.
Yourselves violating, without seeming com
punction, the law of God for gain, you no doubt
imagine that every one else is ready to do the
same. In full sympathy, no doubt, are you with
the old Scotch Divine; who, when commenting
upon the, passage where the Psalmist exclaims,
“I said in my haste that all men are liars,”
merely remarked, “ Och, David, mon, did you
but live here now, ye might say it at your leisure.”
Gentlemen of the railroads, we preach to you
a better gospel. Truth and honesty have yet a
habitation among men, but you are, not in the
way to, find them. Learn to act honestly towards
God and men, and you will speedily have honesty
meted to yourselves. Just dealing is profitable
for this life, leaving the next out of account.
JOHN W. FORNEY,
In the almost frenzied efforts to break down,
the sanctity of the Sabbath by the Editor of 'the
Press, a perusal of the above short sermon is re
quested. Does he forget; or has he yet to learn,
that should the sanctity of the Fourth Com-,
mandment'be destroyed, the eighth, yea; all the
others, go down with it? : The greatest enemy of:
his. race could .not act more to the injury bfthe
community in which he lives, than one working
for such a result..
Frazer, Pa,
DESTRUCTION OR REFORMATION.
One might expect that a Christian Church
would be ever a power in defence of the people,
an uplifter of the weak, an educator of the broad
masses of humanity. But a Christian Church
which has become corrupt, whose officials are
self-indulgent, ambitious and covetous, allies itself
with the oppressor, and handles ignorance and
superstition as tools, whereby, Out of the people;
to . make gain. Pharisees, of whatever age, lay
burdens upon others, grievous to he borne, which
they will not touch, and devour widows’ houses,
as a profitable recreation from the pretentious
sanctimony of long prayers.
The Romish Church, now for these twelve cen
turies, has had its Pharisaic element. Doubtless
it has had priests of eminent self-denying toil in
behalf of true holiness. It has had multitudes
of lay-members who adorned the doctrine of God
our Saviour; but as an organized body, (to speak
with mild charity) its influence has been against
the truth and against the progress of the people.
Hence the lessening of its power has been sought
by the lovers of Christ and humanity, and even
its destruction has been prayed for and prophe
sied.
The year 1866 records a decisive blow at the
temporal power of the Papacy. The Roman
States will soon cease to be governed by the
Pope. The head of dissolute priests, clothed
with the powers of the State, loading the people
with taxation and shutting out knowledge, im
provement and spiritual light, will soon find the
earthly sceptre falling from their frail hands, and
the city of art, and of temples, the city of history
and prophecy, will become part of United Italy,
the capital of a constitutional monarchy.
When the temporal power of the Pope ceases
we may look for a moral improvement in the
Romish Church. When the sphere of influence
and activity is moral, then only by moral im
provement can there be moral power; only by
spiritual vitality can there be spiritual sway.
The Romish Church must cease to be an in
fluential Church, or it must cease to.be a secu
lar, a corrupt and worldly Church. We may
pray with faith that the work of reform shall
commence within the Church. As in the days
of John Huss, so in these days, leading priests
shall pronounce against abuses, shall plant their
arguments on the'word of God, shall preaeh the
Gospel for the people. As in the days of Mar
tin Luther, so now they shall proclaim, justifies,
tion by faith, declare against celibacy, against
A. M. Stewart.
Lidia—Eighty Years' Progress;— The earliest
170 n °‘ the Unneveliy Church, bearing date A I).
r ,oA IV .f nu T ber Pf Christiana as thirty-nine.
in-1863 the Church numbered- 32,341 baptized per
sons, and about 10,000 or 12,000-CatechunVens: ami
s< ;J‘ ools . th fre were no fewer than
Ufffi chiMren! The missionaries (Church of Ei
g and) live in tents and move about from place to
place throughout.the district of 1,200 miles square
preaching to more than 300,000 souls.—-The
Bishopric, of Calcutta has been -dtdined by
th eeEnghsh ciergymen.—-The London Mission
m Boeiety has t>v° native candidates for the min
stry in India, who have been examined and their
written answers sent forward to London for ex
amination and approval. The Chumba Mission
lSfi? 4 w w° St remarkable of our day. In
1863, Rev. W. Ferguson, in obedienc'e ; to a call of
Gody resigned the chaplaincy of a Highland regi
ment and started with two .interpreters for this
WhiT, nC > , Here he was kindly received
by the. Rajah; and has spent three veam in nro-
T d °- life ia the streets a,itl
suburbs, at first through an interpreter, living among
Jie people, entering into their feeing fvS
b ‘ mBc ' f of . every means to draw tlil ’people to
called
6 ' a - 3 f resbyteriaQ * but refuses m
put .Himself under society control. He has mi,!,-
ssyssr •■"**•** «**« «*• “41
b“S”
sion in Esvct with , ave had a mis
printer, three female two' 3 f '° n ? ries ’ a
tive helners ai T 1 ai l a twenty-nine 11a
preaching is maintained Stati ®, ns A . rat f'
and boardinff-schools “ leven day-schoois
dance of 65°0 chfi about VmT- dai]y atteG '
Moslems. The succeas oftlm - being Jews 01
Copts (who number nearly.halfTmilr TTu thc
so great that the missio'nmfiesAre hlefil T JW '
before long, a aeneral ref™-™ J m?peful of seeing
Eastern Chmch Hundredl oA thia la ! jSCIi
religious books are ffisposed of ” P a " d otber
the Moslems and Jews P ll utl, i^„ year
Weslyans have threl Africa the
cuits, and in South A-friw fifteen c:r '
sixty-five circuks The wU fi i dlStMctB containl, 'f
aries employed £ "T 1 "* °I “f" 0 '"
gregate of members amount J ’ ‘ ,e “ S ‘
thousand. c A De . arly twemv
blessed with a gi- e at - A So u ,tll Africa has been
of a i er u^ e preacbin «
have been received in 400 accessions
dross Case'X T F l Veral pl %- A Car '
Colony,, havih? (£»;' F ’ of Hanover, Cape
the Dutch Reformed fn° nV w te e L y a commission
personality 0 f the deviUmTH of - h ? reSy ’ denyin " tl ‘ e
human nature Uni, ad tbe Sln lessness ol Christ 6
derator of the’svno| h u Ctl ? n a S ainst the Uo ~-
before the SuDreme rif”? ? btal,led a locus standi
mulgation of?hia i 9° urt * b T alleging that the pro
and then pleaded thaUhe"^ 0 ff rdiz . ed his position,
(we do not aathlA nil, •-w\ &ynod or t le Commission
tuted accordfngto the kws ofl " 0t prop ? rly 80Iimi ;
that the evidence onwhilh ?Lq S ch " rch ’ anu
true. The finun J . s y“od acted was not
the Moderator ann^l% J llr nieht " in bis f avor i and
donron the grS tb ? P Uvy Council in W
for a epintuliAffeiL 4 , ! ?AV ltual sentence passed
the worship of the Virgin Mary, against the
abuses of the confessional; that in these United
States, where the Romish Church holds so wide
and strong a communion, it shall possess itself of
the spirit of American institutions; that the
country of free discussion and an open Bible, the
country of Sabbath-schools and public schools
shall become, through the reconstruction of this
great church, not its hunting ground, but its
home.
The Romanists hare now in the United States
2,550 church edifices, which on an average of
300 members to each church, gives 765,000 com-
a joopulationof 5,000,000.
They have 15 Archbishops, 34 Bishops, 2,502
priests. They have 30 Golleges, 26 Theological
Seminaries, 177 male andfemale Academies, 621
parochial schools, 171 convents, 139 hospitals and
asylums. We may pray with faith that these
Romish edifices,' these *iMtipHed- cathedrals,
temples, colleges, asylums, shall be the dispensers
of a.pure Gospel, the dwelling place of Christ
the instruments of the' Holy Spirit for the Re
generation of mankind.
THE. THIRTY-TWO DOLLARS,
The following is not a story, but a plain narra
tive of facts. A benevolent-Christian'gentleman
was applied to for help, by a poor 'man who was
in want of work. He was informed where he
could get employment in a r distent place, fur
nished with money for his journey; a letter of
recommendation, and provision was made for his
family in his absence: l The pooFraatt' was full
of gratitude to his 1 bettefacto'r, when the gentle
man said to him“l do ilot'kttoW what your re
ligious views may be; ■ bub are you able to see any
connection between the deathidf*'the Lord Jesus
Christ and* my giving you this thirty-two dollars."
“No,” said -th’e l man; “ I : fe§l-verty much obliged
to you, but l l cannot 1 say that*-!-' fvflly understand
what you mean. l ” “ Why;” said 'the gentleman,
“if Jesus Christ ba'd'ndt d&d-ott the cross, I
would: not be a Christian 1 ' matt, IS'F hope I am. I
would have had no feeling of kindness towards
you, there would have been 1 h<F charity in this
community, and 1 you and your l fairiily might have
starved tO 1 death-. Never mind thanking me, but
promise me that you will think of these things.
Give-your love and' youf’thanks tb Him who has
taught us thou shalt love thy-neighbor*as thyself,
and whose blood clennsetli us 1 from 1 all *sin.”
The lesson is obvious: Let us all think of
these things, for •there ‘is ttothidgYeally good in
the world which cannoi be’ traced directly to the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. '
To wanda, Pa.
Swsiamtj girtfUiptif.