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