®te Irtnmw i’ti’hlijto'Wtt ~-- - . , : John \Weir 16- Series, Vol. tV\, ISTo. 39. $3 00 By Mail. $3 50 By Carrier. 1 50cts Additional after three Months, i gramtatt IjwAtjtemit. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1867. SPIRITUAL RECOVERY. But let none deceivo their own souls; wherever there is ft saving principle of grace, it will "be thriv ina and growing unto the end. And if it fall under obstructions, and thereby into decays for a season, it will give no rest or quietness unto the soul, wherein it is, but will labor continually for a .recovery. Dr. John Owen. ' . It is a great pity there are' so few robust Christians, who maintain their spiritual health at pretty much the same point, re gardless of the varying circumstances and unfavorable aspects around them. Multi tudes that hour the Christian name are ever swaying between decline and convalescence, the former generally very rapid, the latter very slow. Some indeed are only poor, con firmed invalids, near-relations to Mr. Bun yan’s Ready-to-Halt,and Feeble-Mind, who cannot get on without the. help of all the Great-Hearts and Valiants in the Church at their elbows. Wise and abundant provision must be made in the pulpit and tho church generally for spiritual recovery. We cannot afford to neglect so large a ; class as the wan dering, the cold, and the backslidden. Es pecially at this season of the year, we are constrained to pay attention to the wants of this class, whose recreations often have benefited their bodies at the expense of their souls. While their outward man has beon renewed, their inward man has per ished day by day. They come back to the sanctuary much as the man in the Gospels went into the synagogue, with a withered right hand, and the first work of mercy to be done for them, is to restore it whole as the other. 1. It is inconceivable that there should bo any true Christians content with this low spiritual state., In every spul touched by Divine grace, there; are yearnings after a higher, healthier condition, even at the best state reached on earth. No true Christian, save when blinded with fanaticism, dares sit down contented with his own attain ments. This is indeed a hopeful feature of the diagnosis. There is room for cure. But we want more. There must be cure. The Christian must feel the necessity of recovery. He must come back to God and that prompt ly. He dare not trifle over the matter. Without a prompt and positive recovery, the decline must go on. Imperceptibly per haps, the world the flesh and the devil will, continue to gain on him. Covetousness will extend and deepen its dreadful kingdom in his heart. Temporal interests will assume grander proportions in his judgment. His religion will dwindle away to hollow forms. Like the foolish virgin, the oil will be near ly if not quite gone from his lamps, and he slumbering and unconscious at the great hour when the bridegroom comes. He must recover, or be doomed to perpetual doubt of the grounds of his hope and of salvation at last. He must recover, or bear his profes sion of religion as an onerous vow, a round of duties barren of enjoyment. The interests of Christ’s kingdom call loudly for the immediate convalescence of the invalids belonging to its armies. It is necessary that the hospitals at the earliest possible time should return their inmates to tho front where the battle is raging. Every Christian is wanted there and wanted now, in full vigor, in complete armor, strong in faith, earnest in prayer, clear in vision, warm in sympathies, bold, enterprising and patient in plan and execution and endurance. There are heavy tasks to be done, there is hardness to be endured, there are shrewd brushes with the enemy to be met; there is fatigue, there is cross-bearing, there is temporary defeat —we want no pining in valids for this. Our arch-enemy, the devil, seems never much out of health himself, or rather the very ail ments of himself and followers are of the nature of a madness and a rage against all good, so that the sicker they are, the more tierce and violent are they in their cause. Behold, O Christian, a perishing world. Lift up your eyes and see even in Christian countries, the field white to the harvest! See multitudes of your fellow-citizens even, unprovided with accommodations for wor- B hip; see multitudes of young and old, car ing naught for themselves, who make no a Ppeal to you save to let them alone, who lull in with yburhuindr of'inaction; bul whose very indifference on th‘9 brink of per PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1867 dition is the strongest of all appeals for your prompt and earnest and prayerful in terference ; for whom the divine. most freely gave himself in a life of shame and a cruel death. There is work for which, only wide awake, well recovered Christians are needed here and now. There are in this city and State of ours, —and in_not a few other States of our Union, good laws to besustained.pgainst tho assaults of tile licentious and the irre ligious in our community. There is our ex cellent Sunday liquor law', —wnich fell upon our city last spring like a blessed miracle of manna out of heaven. There arethe grand • old Sunday laws of our Commonwealth, so nobly vindicated by Judge after Judge upon that seat of honor, tho Supremo bench of Pennsylvania, and by none more effectively than Judge Strong in this city a year ago; For the support of such laws and for guard ing the traditions on which they are found ed, we need a wideawake and vigorous piety; we need Christian 'constitutions with sound knee-joints and'with the spinal column clear of all nervous debility. There is worlf 1 to' bo done in which half-hearted Christians are of no service, but are likely to be a hin drance. 1 • ' • 2. The conviction must rest in every mind that such recovery is practicable. - There is ground indeed for penitence and self-re proach, but for despondency there - is posi tively noneafc -all; It does indeed seem that when nations and ’entire church organiza tions fall away, the way'of return is hedged up. The Jews are Btill wanderers from the truth which they rejected in Christ. The Eomish church, from present appearan ces, will be crushed by the force of. outward vicissitudes, ere it gives any sign of a re turn to the simplicity of the Gospel.. The Protestant churches on the continent are recovering but slowly from the- rationalism Of the 17th century. Yet they are recover- ing}. And even upon the lustreless’candle sticks ,oUthe- -Severn.Churches of Asiay the tapers are being re-kindled,■ and a glimmer of the old starlight is beginning to appear. And there are difficulties in the way of every individual Christian’s recovery; there is a hardness of heart, a worldly chill upon the affections, a perversion of the taste from spiritual to carnal objects, a deadness in prayer, a sluggishness, a palsy, a vis inertias which seem like mountain weights-upon the soul. Sometimes unbelief, arising from com munion with unbelieving persons and litera ture and from neglect of-the Bible and good books and prayer, seems to be cutting one by one the very nerves and sinews of his spiritual being. But there is no need to lose courage. Only perfect beings are with out such fluctuations. The Bible is full of calls tb the backsliding to return. No other class is addressed with such tenderness; is pursued with such importunate entreaty. Afflictions are sent to recal you ; and the very' arrangements of Providence are de signed for your recovery. Though you have fallen like Peter, like him you'maybe re stored to comfort and to great usefulness. But the final comprehensive ground of confidence is the freeness and power of the: Holy Spirit. While we forgot Him there is nothing so natural as despondency. With out Him we can do nothing. Remaining corruption will be too hard for us. We shall lie helpless, motionless, with only a name to live.. AH our plans for recovery will be nugatory. When we dogood weshall find evil present with us. There is an imperious law in our members, warring against the law of our minds and blunging us into captivity t from which only the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus can set us free. Let us rejoice that this indispensable spiritual agency for recovery, is ours. Despond only-in yourself, and that you may be the more thoroughly turned to dependence on the Spirit. Believe in His love and his wil lingness, only equalled by His almighty pow er. It is He, who speaks through the gra cious promises of the word: “I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely.” Perhaps the clearest recognition in all the Old Testament,of the existence of the Third Person in the Trinity, is in the heart-broken utterances of the penitent David, when lie is returning to God: V Take not thy Holy Spirit from me—uphold me with thy free Spirit.” And down to our day the Holy Spirit is the great refuge and hope of the backslidden Christian. . Hope in Him, believe in Him. Know that all your seeking after Hun is vain, unless He is with you already in . the search. Be lieve in Him; and if He still seems absent, then with a deeper conviction of, your hard ness of heart and helpless condition with out Him, only the more earnestly and un reservedly renew -your dependence on Him. And how glorious and,how blessed is HiS coming once more into the longing waiting soul! How like water poured on the thirsty ground! How like spring-tide with its burst ing fullness of liife. and of beauty to the frozen, earth 1 How like the flush of youth, •thrilling through aged and. palsied limbs!. What fresh, aspirations for holiness, ,what new endurance under tile cross,,what en hanced vigor for .work, ,wßat new triumphs o’ver,self and the world, what.nearer views of. Cjhrist, and simpler trust in His grace and deeper gratitude for his work J It is, heav enly wind blowing upon, the garden,'that the spices.thereof may flow out. “I .will be as the dew unto Israel, he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth bis remits, as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive’ tree, and his smell, as Lebanon. They that d well under his shadow shall return,'they shall revive as the corn,, and grow r as the’ vinethe scent thereof shall be. as the wine of Lebanon.” . May the condition of the. Church speedily correspond to this inspiring description ! NEW MODES OF EFFORT' AND A BLESS ING UPON THEM. In a spirit ot enlarged hope and confidence in the Holy Spirit, the Young Men’s Chris tian Association, of this have taken a now and bold step forwara in the work of reaching the masses outside of Church in fluences in our city. The chief place of worldly amusement in Philadelphia, the Chestnut Street Theatre, stands directly op posite their rooms, and for six nights in the wqek plies a vigorous the youth, of the city in opposition i*r their- excellent Christian enterprise. But for the seventh night, they, at least for a season, have se cured that great building as a positive and a powerful adjunct to their work. We give in another column, a full report of last Sun day evening’s services in this Theatre, which, it would seem, were a marvellous success in, every point of view. There, where night after night, great audiences' have been en tertained with representations, which, from time immemorial have been regarded as de structive of virtue, a still greater audience was held in breathless and solemn attention by an earnest Evangelical discourse on the Judgment Day. There, where placards are needed upon the walls, warning - the unruly gatherings in the week against disorderly conduct, not an indecorous whisper or move ment could have been heard. There, where the music and motions of, the voluptuous dance have called out the applause of the sen sual crowd, rolled lip great volume of praise to-the power of Jesus’ name, and thence, whence so many go'forth to haunts of vice and dens of perdition,-went scores of hum ble penitents to mingle with God’s people in social worship, and to ask their prayers and guidance in setting out on a life of obedience, faith and piety. Every friend of the work of city-evan gelization must rejoice in this new agency, and in the blessed results with which the very first service was attended, especially since, the very class of persons aimed at appears to be reached. And while the presence of the usual worshippers at churches is not sought or desired, the earnest prayers of all God’s people, in behalf of this new and bold inroad into Satan’s Kingdom, is devoutly wished. On next Sabbath evening, Rev. J. Walker Jackson, of the M.-E. Church, will preach, and on the following Sabbath, Rev. Dr. Newton, of this city. It is expected that Rev. Newman Hall, of London, will on some early occasion occupy the place. We noticed, too, that another famous place of amusement, in Eleventh St., near Market, was open for a Temperance meet ing on the same evening, when stirring ad dresses were made by Thomas M. Coleman, Esq., and others, in behalf of our Sunday Liquor Law. Such indications of the ac tivity of the friends of Law and of .Reform, in the very centres of-gaiety and dissipa tion, are most encouraging. Let us raise high our expectations and. remember the. gracious promise: “According to your faith be it unto you.” SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS? INSTITUTE. Last week witnessed the- first gathering, of teachers, children, and friends of Sabbath schools-in. this city, for the specific purpose of imparting and gaining information, on improved methods’of giving Sunday-school instruction:' Former conferences have been more for discussion and comparison of views; this was rather to, learn from experienced men and’acknowledged .1 eaderß, the methods by which they had attained..success. .It is impossible for ns (to say more of the meet ings than that they were fully attended, and the, interest sustained throughout; that; Ralph Wells’ Infant Class exercise on Wed nesday evening, was ther centre ofiqtorest for the whole occasion; thatßey.-Alfr.ed Taylor’s black-board exercises were veryrsuccessjful il lustrations of the value oEauchan adjunct in Sunday-school teaching; ‘that.Prof. Osborn interested and instraictedhls bearers gpeatly upon Sacred Geography;, and'that Rev. Mr. Peltz’s views qn'AduLt tCJassjes, were of the highest practical value. Of coufse Mr.. Phi llips; the sweet singer, was as delightful as ever, and the two thousand children who filled the vast edifice on Wednesday afternoon had a most happy and profitable, occasion, singing under Mr. Phillips’, direction, and bearing admirable addresses. The Question Box seems to have been entirely omitted. We should not omit to mention the address of Mr. .Wickersham, the excellent Superin tendent of our State Common School; Sys tem, who endeavored to impress the teach ers with the necessity of bringing, up the Btandard of Sunday school instruction to an equality with that given in common-schools. Without doubt, there is great need of thorough instruction from some quarter, upon the Books and principles of Chris tianity for those who do not expect to make theology a profession, and the Sunday school is, just now, almost the only place where an attempt to attain this end is made. SOMETHING REALLY TO BE DONE AT LAST! Our Evangelical friends in the Protestant Episcopal Church, comprising some of the best men living, or that ever lived, are, we believe, at last growing tired of the imputa tion of a want of courage to which their anomalous position exposes them, and which is strengthened by contrast with the in creasing boldness and arrogance of the rit ualists. Wo are to understand that their past inaction, like that of Garibaldi in re gard to Rome, has been apparent rather than real, and that they have all the time been waiting for the right moment; for the hour of action to strike. Our excellent co temporary, The Protestant Churchman, in a late issue says : « The time has come when truly Evangelical men must stand shoulder to shoulder, and bravely and fearlessly meet the issues, which High Church In tolerance, Ceremonialism, and Semi-Popery have forced upon us. ' J .The aid of the cowardly and time-serving and place-seeking, we neither look for nor desire, but we do expect and ask the generous andhearty sup port of all who believe that The Protestant Churchman truly represents the aims and senti ments of the Evangelical party in our Church. But it is not simply to the approval of thiß paper that we call our Evangelical friends. They must stand together, ready for the opportune moment, when the yoke of bondage to High Church interpre tations of Canons, and to Ecclesiastical despots, shall, without violating a single organic law of this Church, be cast oft - forever, ready to assert tbeir spiritual freedom, to proclaim the Gospel every where and under all circumstances, to do Christ’s work in Christ’s way, and to acknowledge the min isterial commission of all who, in every branch of the Christian Church, have been called to preach Christ crucified. Let petty differences be buried,-and let us all have, one soul and'one mind, and then—if there be no other remedy—there will be power and numbers sufficient to re-assert, at the right moment, the prin ciples of the Reformers in a truly Reformed Church, which shall be Episcopal, and yet unmistakably Protestant.” We trust that in these strong ,words our cotemporary is Dot simply talking to the air. Thousands of Evangelical Christians, in other denominations, are, for the sake of truth and righteousness, anxious to know what power the Evangelical party really possesses as against the High Churchmen. They have long ago grown wearyfof. won dering why, if they possessed any power, the party have shown so much, reserve in wielding it;.and on the whole, they strongly incline to the opinion, that nothing is really left the Evangelicals but an exodus from the pale of . the Church, like that of Dr. Chal mers and' iiih’ associates in' the memorable and. fruitful movement of 1843. Only thus,, as it seems'to them-, can “ a truly Reformed Grenesee Evangelist. 6. il 14. ( Ministers 1250 H. Miss. $2OO. t Addressl334 Chestnut Street. and a "truly Episcopal Church ” be looked for.’ But if it can be reached by'any other ineanb, in 1 fcod’s name; let it be done. If tsf high tfihe our brethren, from their dimly 1 lighted chancels, saw hbw late in the ddy they are With their promises to do some thing Vhen “the OppOirtd'he'moinent” cornes 1 . ; Since writing the above, we find in thb laSf numheEofthe Pifotiestant Churchman ,'tbe following pisgßaihme of the objects to be attained : by this grand mov&iiieht: ' ' 1 . t The right of preaching wherever there are' to hear the message of the sigiht .«£ ;Tecognierng the minister rial chflkyactpriv.ef thpsewbq exercise the office of the Evangelical ministry outside of. 'aqd " to '.do it'ih'the,' usual fifrihs'bf BhehTreebgintion; urirestram ed by r Cbn©m«fal'reBtfictionB. ' - 111.- Thsxigibtof. hsibgJsome. expression alternatiye of, 2 regeneration ” in theßap-, tismal office, .which will not be misunder stood, and which will express what was meant by the'Wbrd “regeneration ’’ when the Prayefßdok was compiled* Thessit&re gbod' objects’bifid ’♦ofrthy of a coup d'egtfcfiW- quite’ afibififelij perhaps, as we have'a right to expect’? bht it does Bdem a little ktrahge that the restraint of ritual ist extriJrsigSnce, nOw SO 1 glaring and'So rap idly bn'thbHribrease,'is hot even hinted at in the progiHituhrer , . ‘ Prop. Charles Hodge as a New School Theologian.— We had the opportunity, last, spring, of pointing .out-the affinity of Dr. Hodge’s views with those of our own Theo logians, particularly his dissent from the realistic sonse of Question J 6, Shorter Cate chism, and his opposition to the realistic theology generally. We have now the plea sure of chronicling a ne\v and very impor tant indication of the same fact, found in his famous article oil the Cincinnati Assembly, in the last number of the Princeton Review. In this article he distinctly Repudiates the ijgpEouf ...of the jCqnfession . against which -New School men, from the beginning,- have set up. their protest; he leaves rporn, by fair implication, for dissent from particular expressions and aspects of doctrine, in the Confession, and declares openly that;the -acceptance of “the system of doctrine” contained in .the Standards is all that is really required in adopting them at ordination. He has his own views of what that system is, and has a perfect right to them. He goes further and demands that tie system which Charles Hodge finds in the Standards should be authoritative and final;, or at least that the limits within which lie thinks that Bystem alone is found, should be accepted as impassable by all the orthodox elect of the Reformed Churches of Christendom. Nevertheless the case re mains the same. He 1 puts the New School principle at the very basis of his argument. He makes a broad concession and then un dertakes to guard it. We take the conces sion ; let him look to the consequences. As to the third sort of subscription, which, he says, makes the Confession to signify noth ing .more than the essential doctrines of Christianity, so that those who adopt it could just as easily and consistently belong to any other evangelical denomination, it is a mere man of straw. We don’t believe that the Cumberland Presbyterians would regard themselves so loose as that sort of subscrip tian would imply.. The charge is one of the grossest that haß ever been made against a respectable body of Christians, and we think the odium of it is likely to stick to its au thorise long as he lives. Even the Presby terian of this city does not venture to sus tain it. Our Chicago- Copeespondent under date: Chicago, Sept. 20, .186?, says:— ■“ The reli gious event of the past week with us, has been the visit of Rev. Newman. Hall, D. D. His pfeachieg andilectures in several of our eburches, and occasional addresses at other places, have been listened to by large and deeply interested audiences, and the general impression left upon the religious communi ty is: of the happiest kind. The will of the late C. W. Starkweather, of this city, just published, makes large be quests to the Bible Society, the A. B. C. F. ouroWn-Com. of Home Missions, and to our Publication Com., for the benefit of Sun day Shbools It' will; however, be some seven years before these legacies will be como available.” j ' ;
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