New Series, IV, ISTo. 7. framtatt Jwslnjtnm THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14,1867. ETERNITY. f The child and the old man are more open |p the thought of eternity than the youth jtnd the middle aged. The mind of the child Las not become absorbed in the pleasures fend cares of thepresent, or habituated to their Spay; the old man has gone through with Sjem all, and stands close upon the borders ■ the unknown world, of which he must non become an occupant. I But so vast is the thought, so immense are Bie possibilities, and so near to every one &e the realities of the future, that'nothing ■ so amazing as the ability and the practice pT men to exclude it from their minds. The ijsproportion between time and eternity, jetween mortal and immortal existence is n great, that the devotion of men to the for ■er and their neglect of the latter is the jfemding miracle of human life. We are a Sender to ourselves—we who reprove and jlbnder at others. We catch ourselves in ■limes of mind, and even in prolonged courses B action, into which the idea of eternity and If our immortal destiny does not seem to titer. And yet there is a time coming, and lot far distant, either, when the longest larthly life will show but as a span, when me highest earthly interest will seem almost te the more earnest plays of children, when pillions of money will dwindle to a mill, and Sfhen nothing —absolutely nothing—will Seem important, except as it was spiritual, JLnmortal, divine in its bearings and rela :«jpns. y The immeasurable folly of man appears in ;bis eagerness to sacrifice the interests of this Ufastcraof his existence for themerest chance ij|f enjoyment in tho 'narrow limits of the present; in his aversion to any act.of self jSUnial, whicb may be needful in securingTils' Sternal good; in his unwillingness to dwell" Inpon the exceedingly simple and solemn problem: “What shall it profit a man if he Sain the whole world and lose his own soul?” tWt appears in the frivolity and levity and | >ricf indulgence —the mere mess of potage j| —for which thousands and millions sell their | mmortal birth-right; in the .mad perverse- I less with which they thrust the whole sub ect away from them, as the most unwel come that could enter into the mind. 8, But another form taken by this unwilling mess to know £pd to act rationally upon our Iftestiny, is to disbelieve it. Men who are ' jjccustonicd to give a reason to themselves for their conduct on all other matters of im-, IK>rtanec, —intelligent men, who will not r icld to the claims of religion, unable to rest inder the inconsistency of their conduct in his supreme instance, are driven to deny heir own immortality, and to commit a sort f moral suicide to got rid of the duties and esponaibilities of life. Nor is it only the ile and the consciously guilty —to whom an ndless future is but another word for end ass torment —nor. the devotee of sensual Measure and fashionable folly, to whom the bought is a most unwelcome interruption Lit is not these classes alone that would ar itae themselves out of the belief in an eter |d future state. There have been, and there |||re to-day, grave teachers of philosophic who come to the aid of the sen- Ijjualist and who justify the sinner's neglect |®f the Gospel, by systematic and logical pro cesses, by well-braced theories of life and of istory, and even by preaching a sort of re gion from which all reference to the future fe is shut out as irrelevant and injurious! .11 human energy of soul and of body is to a developed with reference to the present, pd is to be concentrated during tbe whole T life upon life’s aflf&irs. All thought of an lernal future is to be banished as a disturb lce and an interruption: as unfitting man sr a proper degree of regard to his real isiness which is of this life, as thwarting is true destiny which is found in the pre set. >oubtless it is well that modern material and secularism shored assume such a nite shape. After all, they only body ;h the secret practical unbelief of multi es. The rejecter of the Gospel may see, ,hesetheories,to what conclusion his con t, logically carried out, would lead him. >s he, indeed, believe in an eternity he ld the grave; does he believe himself an p to 1 that boundless spiritual existence; PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14,1867. does that to-morrow, that in an other hour, the boundary between the two worlds may be irretraceable passed ? He will answer, if you ask him, that he does believe it; he shrinks from reckoning himself among the adherents, of material, godless systems; he refuses to them his cpuntenarice and sup port; he is a thorough practical, friend of the outward ordinances of the Gospel. Yet he lives an inward, and, for the, most part, out ward, life, consistent only with the sweep ing and daring theories which he repudiates. The men. who are so zealous for temporal affairs that they ignore the -eternal, must not flatter themselves as if at least their temporal interests were thereby more effectually se cured; as if they really drew greater enjoy ment and satisfaction out. of the present, by shutting out the future; as if, in a word* they had any thing in exchange for their souls which they might not have had with out that eostly sacrifice. To live for eter nity, is to live most wisely for; time. Time’s great object and significance 'is to “introduce us, to fit us for eternity. There can be no real interest of this life which crosses the interest of the next. ■ That greatness of soul, that elevation above narrow selfishness, that reverence for the eternal principles of recti tude, that steadiness and calmness of temper arising from a sense of , eternal security and blessedness, that moderation which the be liever shows in using and not abusing the things of this world; that greatest of all, moral restraints which arises from the be lief that the consequences of our acts in this life will never end—are each and all indis pensable to the best, highest, happiest, most successful temporal life. They best dev elope our energies, best fit us for enjoying the pleasures,for meeting the responsibilities and for avoiding the evils of time. Eternity in time is : the only thing which will secure time from littleness, life from worthlessness, passion from bestiality, politics from -mere , society fronLjiissqlujaqiMn; crime >aislT Anarchy, and-the human soul 'from lnad ness and despair.. The ,moral suicide will be followed by that of the body, by that of so ciety 1 and civilization itself. The real source of hope for this life, is hope of a future life. DENOMINATtONALISM IN SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. Without doubt , the first religious lesson to be imparted to man, woman or child, ds to give the heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. The church or Sunday-school which fails to convey an impression of the supreme impor tance of this act, whatever other good it may do, fails utterly as a Christian institu tion. It is salt which has lost its savour. But if Christ is the head, the church is his body, and if the whole management and policy of the Sunday-school does not coincide with the interests of the church and promote its welfare it is false to its own high object. If Sunday-school training communicates only a vague sort of catholicity, and .leaves the children’s minds devoid of all clear doc trinal views and denominational attachments then it fails in a duty, second only to that of pointing the scholar to the Saviour of sinners. If nothing is done to strengthen the hold of his own church upon him, nothing certainly is ; done to attach the scholar to any other branch, and so that entire part of the spir itual nature which finds its appropriate field in Christian brotherhood and church relation ships is neglected. We are speaking now especially, of Sun day-schools in old fields and in connection with established churches. Whatever may be said of others, these latter schools have no plainer duty than to aid pastor and parents in training up the children to an in telligent attachment to the doctrine, polity, history and organization of that branch of the church with which they are connected. To this end the catechism should form part of the regular instruction of the school, year in and year out. Our own Shorter Catechism is one of the best summaries of Scripture doctrine devised by man; systematic, com prehensive, brief, strong. It will do any mind good to memorize its compact state ments, to pass over its well-arranged course of theology—doctrinal and practical,—to get its rich and exhaustive definitions im bedded in the '“mind as a protection against vague thinking and error on the most im portant subjects. Those who avoid it on the ground of “ denominationalism,” miss the best human instrumentality they could employ in training the youthful mind in the accurate knowledge of scripture truth. No more important duty, and we may add, no niOre delightful nor encouraging employ ment belongs to the church session, than the direct supervision of the Sabbath-school. They should feel it their own affair, no more to be left to chance management than the supply Of the pulpit. They, should see to it .that it be truly part and parcel of the church life; not ail independent something, whose contributions to the Welfare of the church are but incidental; whose influence upon the families and the future hope of the .church through its teachers, mode of. government, festivals, anniversaries and library books,, is unknown to-*the authpritics, or 'n6t at all under their eontroU ' A '. . 1 “ V Much is doing to cul&vAte,a spiri t of lib erality in the childrenof our Sunday scboOlB; at a very low estimate; the aggregate gifts of the Sunday-schoois“of our coiintry in a year must reach a miflioh of dollars. It is a noble work. But we fear an investi gation would show thalt an incredibly small degree'of attention is given in the schools ■of oUr branch, to the ijhportant matter of directing this liber|fity towards our own denominational So far as the great number of opr Sabbath-schools ai‘o concerned, the mass of,the children of Our churches are, growing up in perfect .ig norance of the benevolent in schemes of dpr body, or are under the lihpression that only outside general objects benevolence are any concern of theirs. and lis tened, or have read in perfect amazement, when the' schedule of Sabbath-school appro priations for a year has now and then come* under our notice, from large Ojr from smqll schools alike, and have* observed no'place whatever,’ or, th e very smallest place allotted to some one; of purchurdjhesptruggling enter prises, while'the children!’ contributions have been lavishly poured ou&ppn. som;e general object, or upon some cbrfrch or school of an entirely different denomination, as if we alone had a sufficiency iif the coffers of our committees, or were leal- deserving of the sympathy and gifts Ofbpur own chfidren than the others. Hot »• few of. our large Sunday-schools give hundreds of dollars, or even the entire support, year by year of missionaries under a general charity, and no one has the thought to remind them that missionaries of our own church are starving or abandoning hopeful fields for lack of the very support they are bestowing upon others. It cannot he denied that the tendency of things in our schools is to bring'forward a generation of givers, trained to the idea that their own denominational enterprises are least important of all, and whose education must be gone over again if the denomination is ever to reckon them among her liberal supporters. Whatour church wants nowis an apostle of denominationalism to our Sunday-schools; one who, by voice or pen, shall kindle in the scholars’minds a glow* 1 of interest in our own church and in its Own work, who shall awaken a concern in their breasts for the Struggling home missionary, who is planting, amid untold toils and denials, a church like their own and their fathers’; a Sabbath school with their own lessons and library books;.and who is striving to put up a church edifice in some infant colony in the west, or in some neglected neighborhood nearer home. Why should not the ambition of the school be awakened to sustain, wholly or in part, some such-agent ,of our own body, one known to our Committee, who will do a work within the limits, and under the supervision and for the strengthening of our own body, as well as the cause in general. All general work must assume a denomina tional form in time, if it is not utterly lost; can it be a positive objection that it should be New School Presbyterian from the start and all the way through ? We commend this whole subject to our permanent committee or Sabbath schools, lately organized. We hope they will grasp it with a bold hand and stir the church with a vigorous appeal. We fear the denomina tional revival we grown up people experi enced, fifteen years ago, will produce no permanent efforts if it is not carried into our Sabbath schools and that speedily. “ In the Lowest Deep, a Lower Deep.”— Since the 22nd of last February, the Ameri can people have had so many occasions for shame and indignation at the conduct of their rulers, that they are rather surprised at any thing creditable in their doings and say ings. They have almost sunk into indifference as to the whole But their apathy was broken, last week, upon the publication of a letter on ,! which Secretary Seward based his action in advising the removal of Mr. Mot tey, our minister to Austria. That letter is a specimen of diplomatic eaYes-dropping which tvould disgrace the court of any mod ern despot, and which only such a monarch as' Philip of Spain, -the great enemy of liber ty in United Netherlands, would have al lowed to.influence his policy. Nothing in all Mr. Sewards’ melancholy and surprising subserviency to the' Johnson policy is so be littlingitO'his character as a statesman, and we may add as a gientleman, as this scandal ous' paanoeuvre. A man of true, honor And self-respect, would have quietly put such a .doetiment as the Me Cracken letter in the wasteba'sket,' and this Mr. Seward should have advised’Mr. Johnson to do. It was, we confess deal worse, than any thing we ourselves to believe Mr: Seward : capable of. We trust Congress aetkm’io relieve the nation of the’ disgrace of any complicity in this at tempted degradation of one of America’s brightest ornaments, through the contempti ble impertinencies of a substantially anony mous letter-writer. THE POPE’S LAST MOVE. . As the great waves of modern opinion and national revolution roll nearer the foot' of the Papal chair, its occupant shows still less ability to comprehend their force, and still greater determination never to yield to their demands. IfCanute the Great had been in earnest in commanding the tide 1 td retire from his royal seat on the sands, he would have been a type of Pope Pius in his obstinate, senseless struggle with the advanc ing light, liberty and true Christianity of the ■ presen t age. Abandoned by his French'allies, whom he insulted in the going, his remnant of power depending on the sufferance of his misgoverned And,; exasperated subjects, and the . treaty jmgagements of Napol4>n . and the, hatOq; Victor »Emmariuei; in • a 'tiritloai moment when he could not’*have doner'a wiser thing to disarm his foes than to make some graceful concession, what does the foolish old man, ripe-mad for destruction, but bring out the rusty old arms of the inqui sition and threaten the-representatives of two Protestant powers with its pains and pe nalties, if they do not remove - their places of worship outside the walls of the sacred city I These humble chapels have been for years in quiet occupation, and have been used for no purpose, hut the edification of Protestant strangers in the city. But'the Pope, almost as soon As the French soldiers have turned their backs, as if released from the constraint of enemies, instead of abandoned by suppor ters and allies immediately proceeds to show how bent he is upon the ruin which only their presence prevented. He gives the world new and quite unexpected proof how little he has learned of events, how deter mined he is rather to go back upon his track, how unfit, he is for alliance with the free Kingdom of Italy, how, in short, he is Pope of Rome and nothing else, the unalterable foe of the smallest measure of religious liber ty, the incarnation of bigotry and intoler ance. “ Though thofi should’st bray fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will his foolishness not depart from him.” The chapels are indeed removed, hut the reaction of such a measure must be felt in all the subsequent transactions of the Ro man Pontiff with the enlightened powers of the world. The prompt action of the House of Representatives in abolishing the minis try at Rome, and thus withdrawing a'na tional recognition of the Papal government, is worthy of all praise. If it becomes a law it will not.be without effect upon the gene ral sentiment of Christendom; and the Pope will be likely even to be more severely left alone with bis own subjects than before. Such madness is only a preparation for the sort of overthrow which prophecy seems to indicate for the Roman power. Brooklyn, L. I.—A correspondent of- the Presbyterian (O. S.) says of Lafayette Ave nue Church (Dr. T. L. Cuyler’s), that it was fully organized, and installed its first pastor six and a half years ago and now numbers 1020 communicants, and has 1800 children in its Sabbath-schools; it also two seperate free chapels, in which the Gospel is preached and Sabbath-schools maintained every Lord’s day, the -main edifice and its auxiliary chapels affording accommodation for three thousand hearers. In connection with the church is a temperance society of Genesee Evangelist, ISTo. 1082; over ope thousand members, which, during, the winter and spring, hold a series „of, monthly meetings, which are addressed' eminent speakers and attended by vast-au diences. i OUR WASHINGTON LETTER. Nebraska comes into the Union, and ranges herself by the side of the loyal States. No thanks to the President, however.... He; is carrying out his threat St.,Lon,iB, that he would veto every measure of . the. Radical Congress.,; But 1 Congress gives. Him a Boland for his. Oliver. The bill was passed without debate, and his arguments allowed to go for what they are worth. - ~ * , Reconstruction is now the .all-engrossing; subject. Since Mr. Stevens’ bill was sent to the “tomb’of the Capulets,” two new plans have been brought forward, —one by, the President and the other by Congress., The Executive, alive to the opportunities.of, the hour, sprung his plan upon the country when no other proposition was before it. If. by conceding any minor points, he bujk posed the people would, surrender their con v victions and gulp down whatever hejmighjt, offer, he was greatly mistaken. They have, stated their ultimatum. The rebels have rejected it. Now let Congress step up high-, er and require all that ,the interests of liber ty and justice will justify. , ~ Former bills, have proposed civil govern ments over Southern. the present bill before the House of Representatives proposes to establish.military rule over, the same territory. It is time that some plan was, adopted, either civil or military. Any Flan, which does not. surrender what was gained by the war, will be a relief. . True, the Sub ject is hedged about by many difficulties,' and Congress has no precedent,-—the grqat help of legistators to guide them. Besides the President's Own “policy” has. been a' great bar to the passage of any efficient .nreaaui’e.. But two years have beep cen ; sunned in learnih'g thb oftlm South, : and the se|itimcnt of the North. There is now no room for doubt on eftXer"p3ltttT The loyalist of the former need, and demand -protection", while those of the latter section are willing to sustain Congress in giving them the most ample. Neither life, liberty, nor property are secure at the South. "A gentleman of extended observation in that part of our country declares that the .rebel rule is as oppressive now in many portions as during the.rebellion. Union men in New Orleans are only tected by the presence of Union bayonets, from the assassin’s dagger. Withdraw these, and Union men and Freed men would be at the mercy of such men as Dick Taylor and. Mayor Monroe. It is no better in Arkansas.' Every day some loyalist suffers death for his faith. A secession judge, "and a secession jury of Savannah, find guilty, and sentence to imprisonment, a union editor. The courts offer no protection to loyalty, nor are the laws of the United States respected- Tfio spirit of secession is as strong and defiant as ever. But a few days of the present session re main. The country will be disappointed-if some plan is, not agreed, upon before ad journment. There is an ambition among some congressmen, to have their names go down in history, connected with some origi nal bill or amendment for the reconstruction of our divided country. This is no doubt, the foundation of many ,of the captious.,ob jections that have been made to al ready proposed. The recent debate in, Congress, on the subject of reconstruction, has .been one of the most interesting of-the session. The speeches were; generally short and to the point, and developed a clearer understand ing of the situation- and necessities of the case than any previous- debate. One mem ber did not go over the- ground of another, as, is often the case, but each presented hie own point. “To one was : given the attack, and to another -the onslaught.” The dis cussion will do the country good. It will show the South that none of the fruits of the war are to be given up; that protection must he given to loyalty, and equal- rights to all. The subject must be grappled with soon, and if the Thirty-ninth Congress does not ex r hibit a genuine radicalism, and go to the root of the difficulty, we must transfer our hope to the Fortieth. The time has arrived now, when delay helps the President alone. Indecision on the part of Congress, is his best, and almost only friend. . J '4
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