ite American Jhrratotcrian
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New Series, Vol. IV, INTo. 27.
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gmmcait Jkwlrtjtmait.
THURSDAY, JULY 4,1867.
THE VICTORY OVER SIN.
Sensible men have long been convinced of
the insolubility of the problem of the origin
of evil. Somewhere among the mysteries of
the free will it lies, and yet somehow, also,
under the entire control of the infinitely
holy and supreme God. All true freedom
must involve the possibility of sin; all real
moral character implies the power to do
wrong. It is hard for ns to conceive of the
existence of morality where nothing of sin
is known.
But confining our speculations to condi
tions with which we are familiar, we may
say, confidently, that the highest moral
qualities are those which arise from conflict
with their opposites. The presence of sin in
our world, without doubt, has developed a
higher style of virtue than would have been
possiblo without it. The spark of holiness
which finds itself in danger of being quenched,
the consciousness of good which wakens to
life amid powerful hostile influences, the re
generate nature emerging from the waste of
corruption, all gain in distinctness by the
power of contrast and gather an extraordi
nary sense of their preciousness by the perils
which surround and threaten them. That
which costs us nothing, however valuable,
is too apt to be lightly esteemed; that upon
which we bestow great toil and sacrifice, we
cherish as more valuable. The. liberty and
nationality we enjoy, seemed a common-place
affair to us, until they were threatened with
destruction. This generation of Americans
never felt the preciousness of the Flag and
of the Union until that hour of magnificent
uprising that followed the assault upon Fort
Sumter. Nothing else—no amount of ar
gument or of laudation, no long series of
brilliant historic illustrations, no cj'des of
peaceful acquiescence in the authority of
the Eepublic could have wrought such an
intensity of patriotic devotion, or sent such
indescribable thrills of loyal fervor through
tho millions of our population, as that one
Oxford Presbyterian Church,
E. cor. Broad and Oxford Street, Philadelphia : Front Elevation on Broad Street
The corner-stone of the church edifice "will be laid, with appropriate ceremonies, o n
Monday, the Bth day of July, 1867, at four o’clock in the afternoon. The friends of th e
enterprise", and the public generally, are invited to attend. The following persons will take
Pwt in the services:—Revs. Albert Barnes, R. H. Allen, John W. Mears, A. Reed, P. S. Henson,
bdvrard Hawes and others.
c 29aug67
REV. PRANK L. ROBBINS, Pastor.
hostile demonstration. The presence of ty
ranny and oppression in the yorld; from the
days of Pisistratns, Leonidas and Demosthe
nes in Greece, of the Maccabees in Judea, of
Tell in Switzerland, William of Orange in
Holland, Cromwell in England, Kossuth in
Hungary, Schamyl in Circassia, Garibaldi
in Italy, and Washington and Lincoln in
America, has given to liberty an unap
proachable ideal loveliness which would
have been utterly wanting in undisturbed
possession. Liberty has become the subject
of profound study, and the theme of the
loftiest song. How to guard it from abuse
and to maintain it as a beneficent and per
manent power among men, are thegreatest
concerns of enlightened statesmen. The
masses of the modern world move toward it
with the steadiness and sweep of the ocean
tides.
Our race has paid dear, terribly dear, for
eating of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. But we do know good and evil, though
we have died for it. The tempter in the
Garden spoke truly, and from his own bitter
experience, when he said: “In the day ye
eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened; 1 and
ye shall be as gods [fallen gods] knowing
good and evil.” And now, since the true
God has stooped to rescue us, our ill-gotten
knowledge, by his gracious interposition,
becomes a means of our progress in holiness
and closer likeness to himself. The spark
of holiness he gives us, makes vis aware of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin; the sin to
which we find ourselves still in bondage,
makes us burn with eager desire for holi
ness. What an intensity of longing is ex
pressed in the outcry of Paul: “ O wretched
man that I am! who shall deliver me from
the body Of this death ?” Did ever Binless
angel above, so fully realize the blessedness
of a holy condition and so ardently cherish
the elem'ents of a holy character as did this
Paul, and many another imperfect saint on
earth, whose inward life was one continuous
and often doubtful conflict with evil? Thanks
be to God who giveth us the victory! ex
claims Paul. Yes, it is this element of vic
tory, which will enhance the bliss of heaven
and give robustness and vividness to the
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, JULY 4, 1867.
holy principles of the Redeemed, above what
unfallen angels themselves can hope to
know.
More virtuous and more valuable by far,
is the virtue that is formod in the face of
temptations to "evil. It Vis ascertained and
tested, it is invigorated knd endeared, it is
illustrated by contrast, is glorified by vic
tory. But the victory ;is not man’s, it is
God's. Awakened man 1 flies 1 to God, the
compassionate God stoopsitO man. Great as
are the gains to human Virtue from a suc
cessful encounter with "'fice, still greater is
the glory reflected in thdDivine holiness by
its victorious attitude jfcwards'sin. More
conclusively, more definitely, more"resolute
ly in the eyes of all liiS l creatures, is
nature of God committed to holiness. It is
the possibility of sin, only, 1 which has given
us a sight of the majesty/ pf law. A world
in which 1 there is an eternal hell for offend
ers, testifies more strongly to the immaculate
purity and holy jealousy of God, than a
world without a hell and without the possi
bility of sin. I ’■
And so God, by his and by the pen
alty of law, has triumphed over sin; has
made the wrath of man jto praise him. And
here there might well liave been a pause in
the evolution of his chaVaeter before his
creatures. But it is of marvels,
in the history of Divind thought, that sin,
which seems only calculated to wake the
justice of God or man,|his been made the
means, in the infinite ordjirjng of Providence,
of the most glorious manifestations of the
love and grace of God! ipsomuch that the
jormer manifestitation-Uas no glory, by rea
son of the glory that excelleth. Without
sin, there would have been no ministration
of law, no judgment seat, no remorseful con
science, no. hellp but it|ivaB sin which drew
forth the unutterable -ctmpassion of Deity,
which revealed the capacity 6f the Infinite
One for humiliation s|id sacrifice, which
gave to the'divh HoVs'&snr.jlyasit problem of:
upholding Movements,pardoned the
guilt^e.V°' V jYrheso raaifci l( j e( j | grace did
much \l un PaB sin hath reigned
unto dea. p/mjght grace reign,
through rigiJ- { ess, unto eternal life, by
Jesus Christ our x\ord.
Never in this life; perhaps never ta finite
beings, m the future life, will the mystery of
the origin of sin be solved; but great as is
the mystery of sin, greater, infinitely, is the
glory of the mystery of godliness which it
has evoked from the divine bosom. With
that we shall be ravished away from the
dark problem of sin. Sin, indeed, is not of
God. It rages against him, and would over
throw his government. It is diametrically
opposed to his infinite holiness. And yet it
is in the control,'punishment, pardon, and
victory over sin, that the infinite resources
and capacities, the boundless glory and
goodness of God are chiefly revealed to the
universe.
Thankfully we hail the return of another
Anniversary of the Nation’s birth. Too near
are we to those dreadful struggles, which,
for years, imperilled the national existence,
to divest ourselves of a quickened sense of
its joyful meaning. The mjemories of the
uprising of 1861, of the narrow escape of
McClellan in 1862, of Gettysburg and Vicks
burg in ’63; of the siege of Petersburg in '64,
are yet too vivid to allow the thrill of relief,
the rapture of victory and the burst of grat
itude to be missing from the celebration of
to-day. Too many brave soldiers’ graves
are yet green in Virginia and Tennessee, at
Gettysburg, and at Andersonville, to allow
us to lose the keen sense of the preciousness
of the political liberties we this day cele
brate.
We have wondered at the patient endu
rance, by the people, of the vast burdens of
actual war. We have admired and celebra
ted their cheerful promptness in shoulder
ing the enormous load of the national debt
in the less Btirring times of peace. It is to
the firm principle, the unyielding loyalty,
the undying attachment of, our people to
their free and beneficent institutions, and
their innate reverence for law and govern
ment, that we owe the privilege of celebra
ting the beginning of the ninety-first year
of our Independence, and our National Life.
But the summoning of the Fortieth Con
gress for yesterday, reminds us of still other
perils to our. Freedom and Nationality than
those of armed rebellion, and of still added
INDEPENDENCE DAT.
proofs of firmness, endurance and courage,
on the part of the loyal people, in the face
of their new, and perhaps even more trying,
difficulties.
In truth, histoi-y might be searched in
vain, for an instance of just such a trial as
the loyal people of this country, emerging
victorious from a struggle with armed re
bellion, were called to bear. Scarcely bad
the smoke of the conflict fully lifted, when
the battle-worn people found that, by an
unparalleled combination of assassination
and treachery, the conquered rebellion was
actually in the chief seat of power in the
nation, and that too, in the person of one
in every way inferior to the rebel leader
himself. Decently disguised, and surround
ed by counsellors whom the nation had once
trusted, and who now knew how to veil
their baseness in the choicest phrases; dis
pensing bribes in the 6hape of an enormous
patronage; there it sat, rebellion rehabita
ted, by whatever courtly phrases it might
be styled; scattering pardons by the thou
sand ; punishing no one; encouraging the
bitterest and bloodiest rebels to resume their
places of power, and to trample underfoot
white and black loyalists, as in the palmiest
days of their unquestioned ascendency, and
reaching the culminating point of. baseness
and malignity in the cool indifference with
which it tolerated, and even palliated the
massacres of Memphis and New Orleans,
and beheld without interference, the mon
strous injustice of the perpetrators indict
ing the innocent sufferers for the offence.'
The American people sighed for peace;
they had won peace most honorably; they
are intensely devoted to trade and money get
ting; they are too often the plastic material of
the demagogue, especially if he has his band
on the plethoric treasury and the vast pa
tronage of the government; their politi
cians, especially, have belonged so long to
the expediency school of Weed, Raymond,
and 'the' present Secretary Seward, as to
make that policy almost traditional. Hence
it is with uncommon joy, even in these
times of great national deliverance^that-we
celebrate our Fourth of July, since the peo
ple, calm and undismayed, have accepted
the new wager of battle flung at their feet;
have come off scathless from these terri
bly demoralizing influences, and through
that grand embodiment of national principle
and of inflexible tenacity in the right, The
Fortieth Congress, have appeared to com
plete the conquest of treason, only less te
nacious of purpose than itself. We rejoice
that this ninety-first anniversary of Inde
pendence sees a people, like Hercules, ready
to smite every head of the hydra of treason
as fast as a new one appears; a people not
to be wheedled out of the fairest and most
dearly purchased gains for nationality and
and for equal right ever made, by the cun
ningest of political jugglers, accidentally in
power.
Accidentally, did we say? Nay, but pro
videntially, in the most palpable manner,
has all this new and more ingenious stroke
of rebellion for supremacy been allowed to
follow upon the heels of the war. It has
driven the republican party to its advanced
policy of suffrage to the loyal freedmen, and
of disfranchisement to large classes of active
rebels. It has led to a complete defeat and
humiliation of the leading rebel classes. It
has opened our eyes to the wide spread of
the virus of secession, and to the necessity
of placing only such men as are above sus
picion and above question, in places of
power. And it is not improbable that this
last, grossest, most treacherous interference
on the part of Mr. Johnson and his cabinet,
with the will of the loyal people on recon
struction, will be followed by the utter abo
lition of the various State governments,
through which the rebellion has sought to
perpetuate itself, and which Mr. Stanberry
holds to be now paramount to the will of
the people, who three years ago overthrew
them in battle. The result may be to de
tach Mr. Johnson, practically from all con
trol of the reconstruction movement, and to
put the finishing stroke to the dilatory work
of his own impeachment. And the Presi
dent and his cabinet need only to push their
interference with the Butler-like policy of
General Sheridan, to the bounds of persecu
tion, to insure that gallant officer’s succeed
ing to their own seats of power, at the very
next change of occupants.
This is a result for which we are not anx
ious, though far worse might happen. But
we celebrate his victories in New Orleans,
G-exiesee Evangelist. ISTo. 1102.
and the victory of the loyal people every
where to-day over the dangerous, disgrace
ful, and grievous policy of the authorities at
Washington, as not less important than any
of those which gave heart and hope to the
people during the four years of actual war
fare.
NOMIMTIOU OF JUDGE WILLIAMS.
The Republican party of this State hat*
done itself credit, and commended itself to
the regard and the support of every good
citizen, by the nomination of our friend
Henry W. Williams, LL. D., of Pittsburg,
to the vacant seat on the Supreme Bench.
Of the legal and judicial abilities of Judge
Williams, there seems to be but one
opinion. Of his high moral and religious
character, his broad views, his decided loy
alty, and radical opposition to every lin
gering remnant of secession, slavery, and
color-prejudice in. the policy of the State or
nation, we think we can testify, if testimony
is needed. Every important private, social,
moral and public interest might be safely
trusted to his hands.. Judge Williams, if.
elected, will prove one of the brightest or
naments of our already justly distinguished
Pennsylvania judiciary.
The Evangelist of last week takes um
bage at our comment on Dr. Field’s speech,
and scolds us, much in the patronizing style
in which the Tribune rebukes the city of
Philadelphia for again declining to invite
President Johnson to her hospitalities. The
Evangelist is quite welcome to its priyate
opinion of Dr. Field’s speech, which as pub
lished in full in that paper, must be admit
ted, with the single exception noted, to be
an admirable performance. We trust that
the Evangelist speaks by the book, in dis
claiming for him the political universalism
which we charged upon him. But in cen
suring us, it would have been quite as well
to have quoted us, and candidly to have
let its readers know what we actually did
say in the matter.
What we have written, we have written.
We have no retractions to make. Dr. Field’s
remarks seem to us to justify our charge of
holding to that abominable political univer
salism, which the Tribune so openly preaches,
and which would teach.the civil magistrate
to abandon half his G-od-given functions
“ to be a terror to evil doers."
We see nothing to rejoice at or boast of in
the escape of traitorous leaders, and \ irtual
murderers, if the Evangelist does; we see
much in it to make us tremble for the future
of the republic. We see in it the triumph
of the theory that Government is a mere
thing of convenience, over the truth, that it
is the most sacred of human interests. We
regret that Dr. Field has most unwarranta
bly thrown his own name, and, in so far as
he was competent for that, the name of our
Church, into the scales in behalf of a most
dangerous delusion and untruth. We be
lieve that we have done best for the good
name of our Church in entering protest
against his doing so.
The Evangelist uses one word which should
be recalled—“ insinuations,” —we have in
sinuated nothing; what we have said, was
said openly and squarely, as is our wont.
A Shaker. —The Independent, in its re
markable non-sectarian defence of the nar
rowest of our sects, rakes the past and the
present for examples of Episcopal pulpits
which are not imbecile, and succeeds, by this
process, in raising six names. Among
others:—
“ Does the Rev. Philips Brooks shake
Philadelphia from ‘an imbecile pulpit ?’ ”
Now “Holy Trinity,” as the world knows,
has no imbecile in the pulpit, but the Inde
pendent's way of putting things is certainly
startling. We are not aware that Mr.
Brooks “ shakes” Philadelphia.. Indeed wo
believe that the Very prestige for pulpit inef
ficiency and sectarianism, under which his
denomination so largely suffers,has operated
to his disadvantage in this city, in shutting
him out from the sympathies of the masses.
We are sure that no man will more sincere
ly regret such a use of Mr. Brooks’ name
than its owner.
We DO NOT think many tears will be shed
in the United States over the fate of Maxi
milian. His usurpation was of the grossest
kind and his policy towards the liberal lead
ers was as murderous as that just meted out
to him.
Address | Hev: Jolm W Mear8 *
11334 Chestnut Street.