The American Presbyterian. (Philadelphia) 1856-1869, June 27, 1867, Image 1

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    :AAncritau
461 AVVeir
•
New Series, Vol. 1V ,
$3 00 By Nail. In Advance
$3 50 By Carrier.
gtnuritan Ludigttrialt.
THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1867
A SUCCESSFUL CHRISTIAN.
Success in worldly affairs invariably draws
admiration and respect. It is an object of
almost universal ambition and effort. Some
measure of success seems absolutely neces
sary to maintain the tone of our spirits.
Continual and universal failure overwhelms,
darkens and embitters the mind, crushes
the energies, and makes the etherial spirit
of man oblivious of its immortality, a poor
(lull, moping, plodding thing of the dust.
On the contrary, a measure of success,
though small, gives fuel to hope, stimulates
energy, and becomes the stepping stone to
still higher and higher achievements. Suc
cess is the best guarantee Of. succcss.
And yet successful men, in the world's es
timate, are few. Of most men it may be
said, they have been only not so utterly un
successful as to lose all hope and energy.
The masses of the population of the old world
cannot be said to have even this scanty but
invaluable stimulus. They grovel like the
lately emancipated slaves of the South were
wont to do, without so much as an expebta
tion or a hope beyond the present.
There is a smaller class of men, who do
not seem to share in the common need of
success as a stimulus to exertion. These are
the men who anticipate the wants and
ideas of a future age—born, as it is said, be,
fore their time. They are men of strong
faith, planting trees whose fruit they never
expect to gather, who find their inspiration
and their comfort in the firm confidence
that it is the true and the right for which
they are laboring, which have God on their
side, and which sooner or later, must pre
vail. The absence of success does not un
nerve than; the violent opposition and the
persecutions of their contemporaries do not
drive them from their philanthropic pur
poses. Man like Watt and
Whitney and Goodyear and Cyrus M. Field
toil on for years, without the least spark of
what the world calls success, buoyed up al
most entirely by the consciousness of the
merits of the object which they seek. War
riors for liberty die in the ditch or on the
battle-field, content solely with a sense of
the justice of their cause, the fitte of which
is never revealed to their eyes.
Something like this, indeed, is the life of
the true Christian. Not success, but the
inherent rightfulness, the blessedness, and
the glory of his cause it is, which secure his
devotion and keep alive his courage and his
hope. It is God's command which he is
content to follow,- and God's promise on
which he builds. These are sufficient to sus
tain him in the darkest hour. Nay, it is when
the hours become darkest that these sup
ports appear the greatest.. The sublimest
moments of Christian experience are those
in which the soul triumphs over discourage
ment, disaster, persecution, torture and
death, and when it says or sings : "Though
He slay me yet will I trust in Him. Though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, yet will I fear no evil. Therefore
will not we fear, though the earth be re
moved and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea."
The worshippers of worldly success make
the grand mistake of supposing that that is
the only kind there is. Whereas this very
Christian, who amidst the most grievous
and crushing disappointment sings of trust
in God, is to be ranked among the most
successful of men. Ile is gaining in the
most precious elements of character. To be
resigned in adversity, to be "calm amid the
raging waves," to have a steady believing
hold upon God, amid the whirl and change
of time, is perhaps the highest moral attain
ment of man. It more becomes the monarch
than his crown. It confers grandeur not
only upon the mighty like William Prince
of Orange, but upon the lowliest sufferer on
a bed of pain.
And such an inward, invisible kind of
success, is nearly always the spring of that
outward success, which is alone honored
by the world. The greatest of victories is
born of courage and endurance under de
feat. It was in the brave endurance of
such shocks as Bull Run, Fredericksburg
and Chancellorsville, that the Army of the
Potomac really won the victory of Gettys
burg. The deliverance of
by
could
only have been achieved by men who bad
18july67
borne up under Jemmingen and - Harlem. It
was the man who sung glorious psalms
of praise and trust, while hiding from his
persecutors like a hunted partridge among
the mountains of Judea, that afterwards, by
a rapid succession of victorieb, enlarged the
borders of the kingdom of Israel to its great
est extent. Victory had alreidy perched
upon the_ . harp of the singer in the lime-stone
caves of Judea.
The 'successful Christian, therefore, is
one who wins victories in the sphere of
character, the foundation and introduction
to outward successes. He that ruleth his
own spirit is better than he that taketh a
city; the city-taking, power is already in
volved in his character. There is nothing
in the world so powerful as this inward accu
mulation of spiritual forces; strong faith, ef
fectual fervent prayer, singleness of aim, and
whole-souled devotion to the cause of God,
and a nature touched in all its springs by a
motive so exalted and constraining as the
love of a redeemed soul for its Saviour. It
will blossom out into achievement of some
kind, which men will be fain to recognize as
success. It will beautify and adorn domestic
life in the humblest sphere. It will convince
gainsayers of the reality and value of its
source. It will preach eloquent and power
ful discourses, though with mute lips, from
the bed of suffering and of death.
The successful Christian is one who feels
inwardly impelled, not only to be, but to do
whatever he can for his Saviour's cause. Ac
cording.to his opportunities, as furnished by
station, wealth or talents, he feels bound to
set his mark. He burns to achieve as a
Christian, just as much as in his worldly re
lations he seeks to achieve for his business
or his professipn, and the results of his efforts
to win souls, and to establish and spread the
Gospel, to rescue and raise up the degraded,
will be somewhat proportionate to the ef
forts of worldly men to build up fortunes, to
win fame and honor, and to bring to pass
the grand scientific triumphs of the time.
The successful Christian will not be con
tent to reach the standards of usefulness,
which may have suited another age and
sphere. To be successful in business now-a
days, involves much greater results than it
did ten or twenty years ago. And there are
peculiar difficulties and forms of evil in the
world to-day which modify somewhat the
question of success in the extension of the
divine kingdom. The accumulation of popu
lation in our great cities, the pervasive char
acter and scientific form of unbelief, the
rapid issues of the press, the great activity
and enterprize of man in his worldly relations,
the liberation and civil enfranchisement of
millions of our fellow beings, the dispensa
tions of the Spirit in the form of revivals of
increasing number, extent and permanence,
including persons of all ages, f'rom the ten
derest; all these, and - like peculiarities of
our age and especially of our country, de
mand of the American Christian of the nine
teenth century, that he set his mark higher
for personal piety, and for outward success
in the kingdom of Christ,. than ever before.
REV. E. P. HAMMOND IN LONDON.
The American Evangelist, Mr. Hammond,
after laboring in Wales, at the orphan houses
in Bristol and in other places in England,
commenced on the last Sunday evening of
May, a series of efforts for the conversion of
children and youth, in the chapel of the
Hon. aid Rev. BaptiSt W. Noel, Bedford
Row, Lendon. A London religious journal
gives the following account of the opening
services:
"Mr. Hammond's well-knowrr success in address
ing children attracted an overflowing juvenile audi
ence; in short, Mr. Noel's spacious chapel could con
tain no more. The service of the evening was fixed
to commence at half-past six, but a preliminary
half-hour was spent in singing. The evening ser
vice was commenced by Mr. Noel offering prayer, in
words so simple and childlike that any child of aver
age intelligence could not fail to understand. Mr.
Itaminond then ascended the pulpit, and said that
they were assembled for one object, that all present
might be brought to love the Lord Jesus, and in or
der to this he would try to make known to them
how tenderly Jesus loved them all. In reading and
expounding the 19th chapter of St. John, Mr. Ham
mond quite riveted the attention of his young friends
by his references to the Holy Land, in which he had
been travelling. For instance, when speaking of
the garden of tiethsemane, he said it was only about
two months ago since he and his wife sat together
in that garden, and there they prayed and wept as
they remembered Him who, in that spot, had sweat
great drops of blood. Be told the children also
how he had addressed a company of 100 children
in Jerusalem, and how he had brought something
to show them, which would carry their thoughts.
vividly back to the sufferings which Christ had en
dured. Mr. Hammond then exhibited a crown of
thorns, which had been made of the thorns still
growing in the hedges around Jerusalem. It is
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1867.
•
needless to say that by such references and such
illustrations the attention of the children was se
cured from first to last. After a brief prayer and
another hymn the preacher commenced his address,
taking as his text, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto me! He commenced
by telling a story of a little boy Whom he had seen
at Brooklyn, New York, playing with a magnetic
hammer, and drawing up with it a number of nails,
great and small. The little nails came fast enough,
one after another, but the great ones more slowly.
It made him think, the speaker said, of sinners and
the Lord Jesus. Little children came: quickest, but
the older they grew the more difficult it was to come.
This truth Mr. Hammond illustrated himself by
means of a hammer and a few nails of different
sizes. It was evident, however, than this mode of
instruction, which created some amusement, was
merely to attract the attention of ,the young people
present, to inculcate truths that would, by the Di
vine blessing, prove as nails fastened by the Master
of assemblies in a sure place. Mr. Hammond has
a pleasant voice and face, and a very - liappy manner
with children, and there is little doubt that his ser
vices in London will prove as attractive, and it may
be hoped as useful, as in Scotland and other parts
of Europe."
The Revival of June 6th says:
"Surely the Lord's hand is not shortened that He
cannot save, nor His ear heavy that He cannot hear.
A cloud of blessing hangs over London, and some
droppings have begun to fall. The meetings at Mr.
Noel's chapel, .where every evening last week Mr.
Hammond was speaking to the children, were evi
dently owned of God. On Monday little impression
seemed to be made during the address, but In the
after-meeting many warm-hearted Christians spoke
to the children, and later in the week many of them
dated their change of heart to that evening; On
Tuesday over 20children went into the vestry, on
Mr. Noel's invitation to those only who loved the
Saviour, or who felt it was a great sin not to love
Him. In what was said to them they were severe
ly tested, but in spite of exhortations not to deceive
themselves, or to say what they did not feel, many
of them .persisted that they did hitye Jesus.
On Wednesday the hallowed and subduing influ
ence. of. the: Holy Spirit was more evidently felt,
from the opening of the meeting to its close. After
the singing, Dr. - Hogartli, of Michigan, in a ten min
utes' address,
rebuked sharply yet kindly, the unbe
lief of older Christians as to the salvation of chil
dren. Said he, the condition of simple, trustful
faith is the easiest and most naturalin - which it is
possible for the human soul to be. Anittle child of
two years' old, who looks, as Coleridge says, into
the'blue heaven - of his mother's eyes, believes all
she says without a doubtful,lthought. He has to
learn to doubt by being deceived, and by contact
with the sophisticated life around him as he grows.
.Mr. Hammond was peculiarly happy this evening
in his illustrations, and explained the great truths of
the gospel with such 'simplicity that very young
ones :could well `comprehend them. At the close
230 children came into the vestry, and a few Chris
tians, at Mr. Hammond's requat, stood at the door
to see that only those entered who seemed anxious,
or who professed to have believed on Jesus. Mr.
Noel said to his congregation on Sunday, that, so
far as man could judge, lie believed that 300 chil
dren had been truly converted during the week. Mr.
Hammond continues his meetings at the same
chapel every evening this week (except Saturday)
at 7.30, for young men and young women. On Sat
urday, a meeting for children at 5.30.
Mr. Hammond has since opened a series
of meetings at Rev. Newman Hall's chapel.
Dr. Kendall sends us from New York,
June 20th, the following exceedingly painful
intelligence.
" Our dear brother Mills fell dead on. the
ferry boat on his way home yesterday.
He had just left his enmmittee's annual
meeting. Everything I .have reason to
believe had passed off to •his satisfaction.
Tie had been authorized to call to his aid
an assistant such as he liked, and has not
seemed to leave the office any time for
months with more cheerfulness or elasticity
than yesterday, yet in 30 minutes he was a
corpse. His work is done. The Problem the
Standing Committee labored at in the As
sembly is solved. Men die—but the cause
lives."
This is the first instance of the death of
one of our permanent Secretaries at his
post. Though not altogether unexpected, it
will produce painful surprise and universal
regret through our Church. Pity that the
kind thought of giving Dr. Mills a year's
leave of absence had not come into our
minds at the very moment of his first omi
nous attack; we might have had a valuable
life with us now.
Certainly Dr. Mills deserved to be classed
among the leaders of our Church, if she has
any at all. It was his influence which large
ly aided to give our work, as a Church, a
denominational tone. His earnestness in
this movement secured it the sympathy of
the more radical elements in our body
among whom he was prominent. His record
as an anti-slavery man was of the very ear
liest. Born in Kentucky and of Virginia
parents, it was remarkable with what
promptness, earnestness and persistence he
advocated doctrines, which, at that time,
drew odium everywhere but especially in
the States to which lie owed his being.
The first scene of his labors was in Ken
tucky; he next had charge of one of our
Churches in Cincinnati; then he wa3 called
to succeed Henry yard Beecher in the Sec
ond Church Indianapolis, whence he was
called to fill the position of first Secretary
SUDDEN DEATH OF DR. MILLS.
of the Permanent Committee of Education.
In this latter capacity, he has magnified his
office. Approaching it always from its spir
itual and scriptural side, his addresses
almost always left a deep spiritual impres
sion. He ever held up, as of prime impor
tance for the supply of the ministry, a spirit
of prayer and of. earnest self consecration
among the families of the Church. He ever
invested his department with peculiar so
lemnity, as being the foundation of all the
other work of the Church, and he leaves it
surrounded with hallowed associations and
occupying a sacred eminence in the hearts
of the brethren.
Brainerd, Baldwin and Mills are an un
common trio of losses to a Church within
ten months. One the type of Christian
breadth, sagacity and magnetism, the other
of Christian liberality and the last of or
ganizing force and executive ability. May
their mantles fall on those who still remain,
charged with carrying forward the works
in which they were so effectively engaged.
On Thursday last, about five hundred
invited' guests joined with 11r. Geo. W.
Childs, the editor of the Public Ledger of
this city, in celebrating the opening of the
building at the corner of Sixth and Chest
nut Sts., recently completed for the uses of
that enterprising and important journal. The
ruling principle in the construction having
been the highest degree of fitness possible for
the ends proposed, and not a narrow econo
my, the result is something really unique in
newspaper printing and publishing offices.
Amplitude, airiness, comfort and salubrity
reign every where. The press room and en
gine room in the cellar, with floors twenty feet
below the pavement, have their lofty ceilings,
twenty-four feet above their dry and solid
floors, and are as light and cheerful as any
apartments above ground can be. The com
positors' rooms at the top of the building,
also enjoy similar luxuries of light, air and
space, their ceiling being twenty odd feet
high, and all crowding being avoided of
stands or of men. The liberality exercised
in these arrangements appears from the
fact that 9,183 square feet of space are given
to the press and engine rooms and 2,921 square
feet to the compositors. Every expedient
that. humanity could suggest, for the health
and comfort of the employes, would seem
to have been provided. Even the newsboys
will be amply protected from the weather,
while waiting for their supplies. The Pub
lication Office is truly magnificent, not from'
any show of blazing ornamentation, but
from the carved, panelled, and inlaid wood
work, which covers every inch of the lofty
walls and the ceiling, and which distin
guishes the apartment from all others in ex
istence, ex pt a few old baronials halls,
and one or two trans-atlantic libraries.
A pamphlet of 33 pages, published by Mr.
Childs, is devoted' to an account of the pe
culiarities of the building, from which we
extract a few of the closing sentences. The
reader will be prepared to believe, what has
been asserted by competent persons, that
for thorough adaptation to its purposes and
for the truly splendid liberality, which has
governed all the arrangements, there is not
its equal to be found among newspaper
buildings in the old world or the new. Phil
adelphia may well be proud of the distinc
tion thus conferred upon it by the enterprise,
taste, and genuine humanity of Mr. Childs
and his associates, the principal of whom is
the eminent banker, Mr. A. J. Drexel.
" Combinining stability and graceful ar
chitectural lines, thebuildincr, as a whole,
may be termed a. huge crystal c palace, uni
ting with the solidity of a pile of granite all
the light and delicate tracery of an edifice
of glass. It contains 64,812 square feet of
space, and is lighted by 354 windows, with
a total of 2824 panes of glass, independent
of the sheet glass in the first-story fronts on
Sixth and Chestnut streets. About 500,000
pounds of iron, wrought and cast, have been
used in and., about the construction of the
building. 6500 feet of pipe have been used
to distribute gas to the various rooms in the
building. - 15,339 feet of tube was used in
the heating pipes and coils required to dis
tribute warmth throughout the building.
Some idea of the size of the building may be
gathered, when it is•understood that to pass
around the several apartments above the
pavement will involve a journey of 1798
yards, or a trifle over a mile.",
A sumptuous banquet was given to the
invited guests at 5 o'clock, in the Continen
tal. None of the appointments of such an
occasion were wanting; and we are sorry
Genesee Evangelist, No. 1101.
to say that, although we were told at the
after-dinner
,ppeaking, that Mr. Childs, him
self, drinks no wine, there was a truly ex
travagant and ostentatious display of li
quors'upon the tables, and during the whole
entertainment. And from the avidity with
which they were disposed of, one is com
pelled to believe that Mr. Childs is a nota
ble exception among newspaper men. There
were, however, not a few examples of ab
stinence in the company. His honor, tile-
Mayorpresided ; Bishop Simpson said grace,
and admirable addresses were made by
Hon. Joseph R. Chandler, Mayor Hoffman,
of New York, Major Gen. Meade, Hon. Eras
tus Brooks, Du Chaffin, the African Explo
rer, Judge Kelley, Dr. Hall of Dublin, and
others. The Germania Band and the Maen
nerchor, were among the additional attrac
tions of this truly remarkable occasion. The
immense hall was grandly festooned with
the National colors: The effect of the whole
must be, to give a great impulse to the
Le4ger, which thirty years ago, began as a
feeble penny-enterprise, without capital or
reputation, but which has long been recog
nized as one of the most influential institu
tions of the city.
DEMONSTRATION IN SUPPORT OF THE
SUNDAY LIQUOR LAW.
On Friday evening last, the new • Horti
cultural Hall was filled with an audience of
perhaps over two thousand persons,—many
others having been unable to procure tickets,
—to give public expression to their purpose
to stand by the new and excellent law, pro
viding further restraints upon the traffic in
intoxicating drinks and especially requiring
dealers to close on the. Sabbath. All-parties
joined in the good work. Hon. Wm. A. Por
ter who occupied the chair, unreservedly com
mitted himself to this position. The resolu
tions offered by Mr. Potter, with a brief and
sensible speech, were enthusiastically ap
plauded by the people, and were seconded
in a bold and stirring speech by William
Welsh Esq.,.who declared that the time had
come' for us to decide whether we would
submit to be governed any longer, as we
long had been, by the rum interest. Gen.
Cary's speech was one of extraordinary
power and popularity. Rousing appeals,
cogent and unimpeachable argument, brief
and telling , i!lustrations, and scathing sar
casm and invective flowed from his lips like
a fiery torrent for nearly an hour. The au
dience could have listened twice or thrice as
long with pleasure.. Dr. Hall of Dublin fol
lowed in a brief speech, in which he cited
the happy results of similar acts in Great
Britain in thd diminution of crime. Though
the hour was late, his address was received
with the utmost satisfitction ; the audience
was especially delighted when he told them
they had a good law and encouraged them
to fight it out on that line. Geo. H. Stuart
Esq., proposed that a similar meeting should
be held at Independence Hall, on the 4th of
July next, which was heartily approved by
the audience. Dr. Willits added afew words,
and the meeting was dismissed with the be
nediction by Dr. March.
So Jar as Sunday closing is concerned, the
law is believed to be very generally observed,
and such a demonstration as this, will un
doubtedly be a great encouragement to our
officers to do their whole duty.
THE TENACITY OF BIGOTRY.
Cannot so important an order as that .of
the Sons of Temperance, supposed to be in
the vanguard of wholesome reforms, learn
the most striking teachings of the times,
and "accept the situation "? We read with
shame in the statement of Gen. 0. 0. How
ard to the officers of the Freedmen's Bu
reau, under date of May 15, in relation to
the increase of intemperance among the
freedmen, the following:
" I find that 'the Sons of Temperance' in
their grand divisions retain their old bigotry
and dacline to extend their order to save
men of the dark skin from drunkenness,
except it be done upon condition that there
shall be complete and enforced separation."
Gen. Howard adds :—" I, therefore, hope
that officers and agents of this Bureau, and
the agents of the different benevolent asso
ciations working for the elevation of the
colored people, will take immediate meas
ures to organize associations of colored
people, never excluding the whites, under
the name of The Lincoln Temperance 6o
ciety: There is great appropriateness in
the name from the well-known character of
Mr. Lincoln and the love the freedmen bear
him."
. The circular closes with the follow
ing significant hint to those whom it may
concern : " Please to see to it that officers
or agents of this Bureau who may be in
temperate men be immediately reported to
this office."
Address f Rev. John W. Mears,
(1334 Chestnut Street.