trinitg
FOR A BELIEVER IN WORLDLY BUSI
NESS.
"Lo, I come with joy to do
The Master's blessed will!
Him in outward works pursue,
And serve His.pleastre still.
Faithful to my Lord's eominands, so
I still would choose the better part;
Serve with careful Martha's hands,
And humble Mary's heart.
"Careful, without care I um,
Nor feel my happy
Kept in peace by Jesus'. name,
Supported by His smile.
Joyful thus my faith to show,
I find His service my rearartEr.
Every work I do below,
I do it to the Lord.
" Thou, 0 Lord, in Matter love,
best all my burdeurs bear,.
Lift my heart to things above,
And fia it ever there.
Calm ort tumbles wheel 1 sit,
'Midst busy sailtitades alone,
Swe9tly waiting at Thy feet,.
Tin all Thy will be clone..
"To the desert or the weft
1,0 others hliadity Ny
In this erd world 11.
Unhurt, unspotted 1.
Here I fmd n hause of prayer,
To whir& linstardly retire,
Walking nnoomerned iugure,
And uneonsunted in &re.
"Thou, 0 Lori, my portion art,
Before I hence remove:
Now my treasure and my heart
Is all laid up above:
Far above these earthly things,
While yet my hands are here employed,
Sees my soul the King of kings,
And freely talks with God.
"0 that all the nrt night know
Of living thus to Thee
Find their heaven begun below,
And here Thy goodness see;
IValk - in adi the works prepared
By Thee to exercise their grace,
Till they gain their fell reward,
And see Thy glorious face.
ADULT SABBATH SCHOOL CLASSES.
Rev. G. A. Pelt; Pastor of Tabernacle
.Baptist Church made an interesting address
at the late Sunday School Institute in this
city, which is reported in the Sunday School
Times.
His theme was " Adult Classes in the Sun
day-school,"—not the two or three classes
found in most of our sehoools and called by
that name, but something broader, grander
than that. Not dames restricted to the
school-room, but if need be, meeting in the
main audience-room of the church ; and if
need be, forming a separate department,
with a superintendent, and embracing all
the members of the church, and of the com
munity, who can be induced to come to
gether, to be instructed out . of God's Word.
Among the reasons which may be urged
in favor of such a plan in every church., the
speaker mentioned the following .
1. In the first .place it would greatly en
large at once the field for Christian labor.
Every pastor .of experience has found
that he must have something for all his
members to do. God has made activity the
great means of development, in religious as
in other life; and it is better for Christians
to be at work, even if they accomplish no-.
thing, than to have nothing to do. Here,.
then, in an adult school, you open at once a
door for labor. There must be another su
perintendent, and other officers and teach
ors, and all the pupils will be taught that
they have a work to do, and thus a large
company will be occupied in receiving and
imparting good that would not have been
engaged in any such systematic service for
Christ. The speaker felt that pastors and
warmhearted Christians would be amazed,
if they would make an effort in the direction
of adult classes, to find how much work
there was to be clone within their own con
gregations, and bow many people could be
found among them to do it.
2. Then look at the amount of instruction
that would thus. be imparted, that would
not be imparted if it wore not for this form
of effort. We are all conscious that the
Christian community needs to be instructed.
With all the instruction that they receive
from the pulpit and the religious press,
there is a kind to be got in the class that
can be got in no other way The study re
quired on the part - of teacher and scholar
brings a discipline of mind and an informine ,
of the mind with facts and principles and
arguments, that it Could not or would not
otherwise take the pains to secure. Then,
too, a vast amount of instruction could •be
scattered by means of a circulating library,
adapted for adult readers. In the speaker's
own church they had tried the-experiment,
and it was working wonderful results for
aood.• in some of the classes their compe
tent teachers allowed the pupils to suggest
topics for conversation and discassionon
points of church history, doctrine, and prac
tice, that might profitably be introduced ;
the practical 'operations of the church, and
of plans for doing good in the world, benevo
lent, philanthropic, and Christian ; and thus,
by the requisite study on the teacher's part,
a vast fund of useful knowlenge can be col
lected, and a practical interest created that
the whole church will feel. Thus can be
realized the idea of the first speaker, that
our Sabbath--schools should become veritable
theological ,seminaries. As it is we lope
many of our precious youth- just at an age
when therought to be received into some
such adult class, and to be kept moving on,
in graded steps, from the infant-class till
they reach the age of old men and wo
men in the Sabbath-school, studying the
blessed theology in the Book of God.
3.. Aside from this expansion of the field
of labor,.and the vast amount of instruction
that: may.ba imparted, there is a third -rea
eon why the formation, of adult. classes
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1867.
should be secured in every Sabbath-school :
it gives such a perfect supervision of one's
whole church and congregation. Every
pastor has longed for some plan which
would enable him to grasp all the material
that God has placed around him, and that
will keep him informed of the fidelity of his
people, and .put him in direct communica
tion with them. A well regulated and ad
ministered adult school will show the pastor
and the superintendent, by its claes , books,
notes of - attendance, , lessons, &c., much that
be needs to know and cannot obtain well by
any other means. If the pastor discovers
any member that is delinquent, he can ad
(frees him Self at once to that case; and the
power of association, in the class, the class
tie, the hold the teacher may have, or the
superintendent, on such a one can be used
as a means and motive for reform. This
plan of adult classes will also tend to relieve
several chronic difficulties iii the Sabbath
schoolsystem—prominent among them, the
questions of interesting the,parents, and of
retaining the Order scholars.. . ~ '
The
,practical
. poltit was now reached, how
shall ego about to getup-an adult school.
First, consider tha'field. . Select yoer super
intendent... If you design organizing a
school in a separate room from the Sabbath- 1
school already, in operation, you will need
another superintendent. • - Have the room
readit mayin most cases be the-audiehee
chamber of your church. Then let the au- i
perintendentgo. and sit down by the pastor
who will be glad to welcome' him on such an
errand,
.and look over the members of the
elinrch, with this - question, 04n live: - find;,
teachers here? Take this list of those whom
you think willrnake•suitable teachers, and go
to each one of them talk and pray over the
subject with them al ,
- ,-till their hearts are in
terested and -fired with the subject. Then
when you have gained 'their assent, go over',
your list again and assign to each the post- 1
for which ' he seems to 'be 6st qualified :
here is one for,the,yoang men'sßlble,-clas , ,
there one for the young ladies, and here one
for the fathers and motherS' class Every
pastor and superintendent will be astonished
tit; find, if this work is faithfully done, how
much good material they have which had
before been hidden-away in obscurity. In
going over his own congregation he had
found a young Ulan who bad never been in
the Sabbath-school. They 'fixed upon him
as a suitable teacher for a young men's class.
On going to him to secure his assent, he
gave it with promptness, saying it was what
he had desired.. Two or three young men
were found and introduced to him, and the
class now numbers twenty to twenty-five
pupils, young men who had before been
banging on the outskirts of the congrega
tion on whom none ,seemed to have any
hold. These were thus brought in. Some
may object to;this, that "they have none in
their church that can or - Will act ae teachers,
—all are now engaged in the Sabbath-school
who have .any heart in the work or any
qualifications -for it." It is really doubtful
whether any church is thus exhausted If
the matter is fully canvassed, teachers will
be found where it-,.was little tlreamed there
were . any. an, his own : church; a_wortliy
widow, of peculiar characteristics, was
called upon for this work, and on being
asked what kind of a class she felt she could
undertake, replied that if there were any
who wanted counsel nr - advice, any who
were. in sorrow and , needed a friendishe I
would like to-become acquainted with them.
And there are many mothers in Israel who
are • eminently fitted for this kind of work,
and their talents should be employed for the
Master 'in this wary. ' Seek out these Cases.
'Work &l your material. And ifit really be the
case that you have not enough teachers, then
the blessedness of this plan nti - ggested is, that
you can get along without a full corps of teach
, qrs. ," Lel,,twd - or three earnest men and wo-
Men /take Mid d the matter, and begin, se
lent - aportion.of Seripture which they shall
think and study and pray over during the
week, and expound and explain it as they
may be able on the Sabbath. With the help
of the pastor and these earnest'spirits the
plan can be adoptedin almost-any and eve
ry place, and the idea of teaching the Scrip
-titres be carried out.
OBEY PROMPTLY AND FULLY
On one of the islands in New York har
bor was a rendezvous fer soldiers during
the late war. Ilere they lived in barracks
while the regiments were forming out of
newly enlisted soldiers, and were constantly
drilled by Officers sent down to them for
this purpose. When they came they were
raw recruits entirely unacquainted with the
duties of a soldier. Every day they were
paraded,.marched, and made familiar with
the burdens they would have to carry when
on a campaign, and with the use of their
arms. This drilling, until the men had be
come used to it, was very severe labor, but
it was of great service to the young soldier,
preparing him to endure greater hardships
when' on the field.
Sometimes the movements of the new'men
were very awkward and. amusing.
A - German sergeant had a squad of men
in charge, which he was putting through
the manual of arms, and accustoming to the
various orders of the field. At. length he
brought them down upon 'the shore, and
having got them into line, he gave the word
of command in his broken English, " For
warts ! March !" - On they moved regularly
enough until they came to the brink of the
water, expecting every instant to hear the
word, halt ! But not a word spake the ser
geant. The line hesitated, brnke, halted.
"Who said, halt?" shouted the 'Ger
man, " Forwarts ! March !" he thundered at
the top of his voice. ",When I wishes you
to sthop, I shall say, halt !" He wished to
teach them to obey the word of Com'mand,
'without hesitation, Whatever was before
them. .Soon, streams would be-considered
no obstacles, and they would be obliged. to
rush from boats' to make a landing with the
water breast high.
It is the great thing of life to learn, al
ways, without hesitation, to obey the word
of command, whether rom friends, from
conscience, or the Bible, whatever may be
the consequences. Sometimes our life de
pends upon obedience.
A brakesman whose business it was to at
tend to the turn-outs near the station, on an
important railroad line, once heard the
shriek of an express train as it came thun
dering along. He hurried to the brakes;
when, whom should he see upon the track
running towards him? It was his little
boy, about four years of age, exactly be
tween the rails over which the terrible train
was coming He had only a moment for
consideration. The train could not be stop
ped soon enough by the engineer, even if he
saw the child: If he rushed to save his
child the whole train would run -off the
track, and : God only knew how many liVes
Might be lost. It was his duty to alter the
brakes. There was, but on c e thing to• be
done: , . •
"Lay'right down, my son !" he shouted
at the top ''of his voice. He unlocked his
bar; he changed the track for the train, and
felt upon the earth almost unconscious, as
with an awful roar ihe immense engine with
its long train swept by.
What if that little boy bad hesitated to
obey! What if he had continued to run to
wards his father! What if he had first ask
ed the question, why be should do so
But it was not so 'bown went the "lit
tle fellow, at the word of command, flat up ;
on his face. .Down upon his face remained
the little, boy, until ; when the train was
passed, the father hurried to him as rapidly
as his'fa,inting limbs'would 'permit, and rais
ed him up. un I:tanned. •
Row beautiful and !fable• is obedience to
duty, in the hour of, danger.! ; We never
weary of reading Mrs. Hemans' touching
poem upon"Cassabian," ,or 'of admiring
the noble boy,y standing' at his post upon the
hurtling Ship,Where his father had stationed
him, waiting for the.• order to retire, from
the lips that were then, silent in death, al
though he knew it not.
There was a,` cry of fire near a large
school-house in :the city. The children in
the school were very much affrighted; and,
in spite of the efforts of their teachers, be
gan to rush to the doors and stairs, thus
periling their limbs and lives.
But there. was one little girl who remain
ed quietly in her seat. She looked very
pale and trembled, and the tears stood in
her eyes. Very much struck by her ap
pearance, and by her remaining at her desk,
her teacher asked her why she did not do
as the other girls did. "My father-is a fire
man," she said,
,"and he told me whenever
there was a cry 'of fire, while I was in
school, to remain quiet in my Seat; for that
was the safest way. I was dreadfully
frightened, but I knew that my father had
told me what was best, so I sat still, when
they ran to the doors."
Certainly it is always best to obey those
that are older and wiser than ourselves; and
especially to-obey, promptly, cheerfully and
faithfully wy co
,mmand that God has writ
ten in his d. ,"Thy, word is a lamp unto
my feet; and , a light unto infpath."-L Zion's
Herald.
[From the Watchman and Reflector.]
TIPPLING WOMEN IN NEW YORK.
It is never an agreeable task to expose to
public gaze vices that affect the morality of
any class of persons, and especially of wo
men ; but if' exposure is necessary to secure
reform, it becomes the duty of some one to
bring to light the hidden evil. Is it true,
tnen, that in New York women are in the
habit of tippling? In answer to this ques
tion I will present some facts which have
come to my knowledge, and the reader may
then draw_his own conclusions. I propose
neither to moralize nor to generalize, but to
particularize.
There is,—or there was very recently,—
a daughter
~of one of the most prominent
and wealthy business men of New York, an
inmate of an asylum for cure of habitual in
ebriates. She is, aside from this sad vice, a
young lady who, it is said, has adorned the cir
cles of New York society in which she moved.
She bad becpme so wedded to the habit of
getting intoxicated, that it was deemed im
peratively necessary to remove her from the
reach oftemptatk,n, and subject her to a
course of medical treatment that might
break up the fatal practice.
Near Fifth Avenue, in a fashionable up
town street, there is a genteel hotel—or,
more strictly speaking, a boarding-house for
fashionable families, though it calls itself a
hotel, and Wars a sign over the door to that
effect. There is no public bar in this house,
and it is not open for the accommodation • of
travellers. Its inmates are composed ex
clusively of well-to-do families, and indi
viduals of both sexes, who all dress, converse
and behave as fashionable New. Yoikers
commonly dress, converse and behave. A
lady of my acquaintance who boarded in
thig house last winter relates that the use
of liquor was common with several of the
women who lived there. There was es
pecially one lady—a charming person in
other respects—who was almost habitually
tipsy, and visited the rooms of other ladies
while in that condition. One night, at the
hour of two o'clock, this lady came to the
room of my-acquaintance and rapped loudly.
When the door was opened the visitor en
tered in a state of beastly intoxication. With
a thick and stumbling utterance, she de
clared that she was sick, and wanted brandy.
"I have no brandy," was the reply. "Go
back to bed."
The woman refused to go. without being
furnished with brandy. She made such a
disturbance that the occupants of other
rooms were roused, and it was finally found
necessary to put her out of the room by main
force.
The next morning the nocturnal visitor
called upon the lady she had disturbed, and
made an abject apology. , She said that her
husband had taken her brandy bottle from
her, and that the deprivation drove her
nearly wild.
So much annoyance was occasioned by the
conduct of this victim of a debasing appetite
that it was resolved to complain of her to
the landlady, and secure her ejection from
the house. The resolution was taken at a
late hour of the night, when she was creating
a disturbance. When the complainers reach
ed the door of the landlady's room—which
was on the first floor, a considerable distance
from the scene of disturbance—they paused,
hearing a high voice speaking within. What
was their consternation at finding that the
landlady herself was drunk, and that her
husband was at that moment taking her to
task for it ! Of course all purpose of com
plaining Was at 'once abandoned. I know
another instance of a -lady who was found
staggering about the halls of a large hotel,
late at night, in a state of profound intoxi
cation.
One night, when I was returning home,
between two and three o'clock, from my
usual labors in the office of one of the New
York niorning papers,'my attention was at
tracted by a group of four persons, fault
lesAy attired and of genteel aspeet—save
that they were all more or less . drunk. There
wore two ladies and two gentlemen. One
of the ladies was nearly helpless from in
toxication ; the other was only drunk enough
to be. silly, and, in short, unladylike. u,
bad was her behavior that I believed her to
be, a . woman of ill-repute; Init subsequently
learned that she was the young and idolized
daughter of one of our. most respectable
fan'
The above are "after dark " examples.
The sun shines on others quite as painful:
ltily sister, a widow lady front . the interior
of the State, now visiting in the city, called
on me to-day at my 'office. She informs me
that there . .was a welt-dressed woman, well .
appearing in other respects, in the street car
that'Sho had justleft, Who - Was so deeply in
toxicated that she was incapable of entering
or feiving the car without assistance. She
also tells Me that on"the Hudson River
steamboat which brottilit her.to town, a few
weeks since., a New. 'York lady of elegant
manners and dresa; and 'whose conversation -
had' charmed her during the evening, con
fidentially offered her a " swig" from. her
brandy bottle, as they were retiring to their
state-roams for the night.
"Thank you, I never taste liquor," said
niy sister.:
"No ? So much the better for you.
.As
for me, I cannot exist witheut.it."
One of , the fashionable " institutions" of
New York is what is termed a " lady's
lunch." It is in reality an elaborate dinner,
for Which invitations are extended to ladies
only, and is given at an hour of the day
when the gentlemen are down town at busi
ness, iu Wall Street and elsewhere. These
"lunches" are common in Fifth Avenue,
and on all the fashionable " squares " and
"places."' There are generally given with
the " lunch," or dinner, the following courses
of beverages : With the oysters, Chablis or
Sauterne; with the soup and fish, sherry;
with the meats„champagne and Ilurgundy;
and' after ciiffee, — euracoa, anisette, and other
"liquors," and frequently brandy. As a
natural result, the ladies get hilarious, some
of them deeply intoxicated, and scenes and
dances follow, that, to say the least, would
not be indulged in elsewhere. This orgy
is kept up "till exhaustion supervenes, and
about five o'clock, P. M., the feminine de
banchees enter their carriages and are driven
to their " aristocratic" homes.
The foregoing facts I can verify. Such
other facts, as the merriment of fashionable
ladies over their champagne at dinners;
their driCking beer in oyster saloons; their
calling for whisky slings and gin 'cocktails
in popular Broadway restaurants; and the
like, I deem too common, too well known,
too obvious to everyday observers, to call
for mention.
WHAT A LITTLE BOY CAN DO.
"I wish, I wish, I - wish," said a little boy,
who awoke early one morning, and lay in
bed thinking. "I wish I was grown up, so
as to do some good. If was Governor, I
would make some good laws, or I would be
a missionary; or I would get rich, and give
away so much to poor people; but I am only
a little boy, and it will take .me plenty of
year: to grow up." And so, was he going
to put off doing good till then? "Well," he
said to himself while he was dressing, "I
know what I can do. I can be good ; that
is left to little boys." Therefore, when he
was dressed, he knelt and asked od to help
him to be good, and try to serve Him all
day with all his heart, and not forget. Then
he went down stairs to finish his sums.
No sooner .was he seated with his clean
slate before him, than his mother called him
to run into the wood-house and find his lit
tle brother. He did not want to leave his
lessons, yet he cheerfully said "I'll go, moth
er; " and away he ran. And how do you
think be found his brother? With a sharp
axe in his hand. "I chop," he said; and
quite likely the next moment he would have
chopped off his little toes. The little boy
only thought of minding his mother; but
who can tell if his ready obedienee did not
save his baby brother from being a cripple
for life?
As he was going on an errand for his,
mother, he saw a poor woman, whose foot
had slipped on the newly made ice, and she
fell; and in falling she had spilled her bag
of beans, and basket of apples, and some
little boys were snatching up her apples and
running off with them. The little. boy stop
ped and said, "Let me help you to pick up
your beans and apples;" and his nimble fin
gers quickly helped her out of her mishap. He
only thought of being kind ; he did not
know bow his kind act'comforted the poor
woman long after she got home, and how she
prayed to ,God to bleris him.
At dialler, as• his father and mother were
talking; his father said, roughly , "I shall not
do anything for that man's son: the old man
always did his best to injure me." "But,
father," said the boy, looking into his fath
er's face, "does not the Bible say we must
return good for evil ?" The little boy did
not know that his father thought of what
his son had said all the afternoon, and said
within himself "My boy is more of a Chris
tian than I am: I must be a better man."
When he came home from school at night,
he went to the cage and found his dear ea
nary-bird dead. "0 mother! and I tended
birdie so, and I loved him so, and ho sang
so sweetly;" and the little boy burst into
tears over his poor favorite. "Who gave
birdie's life, and who took it again ?" asked
his mother, stroking his bead. "God," he
answered through his tears,
"and He knows
best;" and he tried to hush himself.
A lady sat in a dark corner in the room.
She bad lost her two children; and though
she hoped they had gone to the heavenly
land, she would rather have had her little
sons back again. But when she beheld the
little boy's patience and submission to his
Father in heaven, she said, "I too will trust
Him, like this little Child." Iler heart was
touched, and she went home with a little
spring, of healing gushing up there, and she
became heaceforth a better mother to the
children yet left to her.
When the little boy laid his head on his
: pillow that night, he thought, "I am too
small to do any good; but 0, I do want to
be good, and to love the Saviour, who came
down from heaven to die for -me. I do want
to becOme one of the heavenly Father's dear
children."
The heavenly FatheFe children are some
times called children of light; and does it
not . seem as if beams of light shone from
this little child,
.warming, blessing every
body that came in :hi s ivayl Who will s a y
he did not doigood
A NORWEGIAN HYMN.
Mercifiti Father, take in Thy care•
The child, as he plays by the shore;
Send Him Thy Holy Spirit there,
And leave him alone no more.
Slippery's the way, and high is the tide;
Still, if Thou keepest him close to Thy side,
He never wilt drown, but live for Ttme,
And then at last Thy heaven will see.
Wondering where her child is astray,
The mother stands at the cottage door,
Calls him a hundred times a day,
And fears he will never came more;
But' then she thinks, whatever betide,
The Spirit of God will be his Guide,
And Christ the blessed, his little Brother
Will carry him back to his longing mother.
---Bfocrnstertie Bjacrnson
MATING EXPLANATIONS TO ST. PETER.
E. D. Mansfield, ii an article published in
the Central Herald on the Religion of Public
Men, tells this anecdote respecting the late
Gov. Corwin:
"Corwin, I should like to know, if you
have no objections, what are your religious
views ?" "Certainly," . said he, "I believe
in the doctrines of what are called the or
thodox Churches. I have no objection to
them. I was brought up a Baptist, and, su
far as they have peculiar views; I am a Bap
tist. But, S-----, there is.one thing in which
your churches are wrong. You say too
much and do too little. Some of your mem
bers when they go .to the gates of heaven,
and ask St. Peter to let them in, will have
to make a good many explanations. Now,
there, are two members of your Church
that will illustrate what I mean. There is
old L—. Ile is in good standing, and
orthodox ; but L— lends money at twelve
per cent. interest. Now, when L— goes
to the gate of heaven, and St. Peter asks
who he is, and he says, L—; you may
depend, he will have to make a good many
explanations.' I 'don't say he won't be let
in; but be will have to explain. Now there
is another man in your church—you know
him, Judge C---. The other day I saw his
team in town with a good load of wood.
Several persotis came round to buy it. 'No,'
said the driver, 'it is engaged.' A little
while after,
I was walking down street, by
the widow W.'s house, and I saw the same
team unloading the wood at Mrs. W.'s.
thought it strange; for Mrs. W. was poor,
i
and wood was high. So I stepped n and
said Mrs. W. ho* much do you pay /0 1
wood?' 'O, Mr. Corwin, I don't pay an) .-
thing for wood. I can't afford to buy wood.
Judge C— sent this wood; and whenever
I am out of wood, somehow he sends the 3
load, and sometimes he sends me a sack of
flour.' Now, S---, when C— goes up t 0
the gate of heaven i it will fly wide open.
St. Peter wants no explanations !"
"FAITHFUL TO THE'END."
When Sir Thomas More lay in prison lot
conscience' sake he was visited by his ti ife.
who was a somewhat worldly wise woman
"•What, the goodyear, Mr. More," said she
in the dialect of those days. " I marvel that
you, who have been hitherto always taken
for a wise . man, will so play the fool as to lie
here in this close filthy prison, and be con
tent to be shut sp•thus with mice and rat''
when you might be abroad at your liberty.
with the favor and good will both of
tln
King 1321 1 hiu council, if you will but do as thc
bishops and the best learned- men of
realm have done; and, seeing that you ha``
at Chelsea a right fair house, your library.
your bciplo, your gallery, and all other`e
cessaries so handsome about you, that :"
might, in. company with me, your wife, you: 4
:
children, and household, be merry-1 111.
(wonder) what in God'S name you ine"' L
here thus fondly to tarry?"
He heard her out and then said,— ,
" I pray thee, good Mrs. Alice, tell m e on
thing.
"What is it ?" saith she.
"Is not this house as near heaven as I 'l
own ?"
Sir Thomas More had his eye on a beavo:
ly home; but his wife looked only to tb
"right fair house" at Chelsea.
He was atfaithfull- to the end." Are You'