I.thr, -I\ tocripo . 71'..'-'cr.;...c,lr..:l.l,ipirri-mi T eW Series, Vol. IV, No. 46. 00 By Mail. 113 50 By Carrier. ols Additional after three Months: 1 nirtitan , lartibijttrian. T I U RSDA Y, NOVElttltii.:l4;"ls67.l NIESEITERIAN ENION VONVENTIONi Iligh-water Hark of'. I.,he anion Sen 7 Nit hi the Presbyterian 011tiebes — t.hus reached in the Convention ateld in city last week. Every fristernai fe'el , every magnanimous purpose; ail zeal the common interests: l of the' Presbyte,' el,arch and solicitude tittid• hope, fur'tini• ntry as affected by the condition' of :out' reb seemed ut their Itoo'd:: At divine ath seemed to blow , upori, thebitheito 11.e111:indlcd affections of tilii - peOPre'; 4:o= light seemed to shine .stitatlings; a voice of Preparittien:ifbr the .11.. r, or t 11',3 )rd scomOd. to' of an` T \ witatively, that in2tintaiti3 bogo to sink 1 v li:cs to be filled up anid 'the` Way strai,;hton for what'll:id tieehiea bith: almost impracticable 'utitliti.tnking,'." th e Union Convention was. a success .11 magnitude and ellayaoter as over- dined its most sangaine4r9ods ... iiti,4 sur ,:e ; opecially since : itch by its Preeb3terfes - 116,d"taVen sue i attitude on "re-union With ,onr. tacli. In numbers, it far exceedektheir wetations, therci being about 1 and twenty delegates in all:. 'And - the aid ability of theSe delOgitOSWCre .11 11 at it was (luelai:e4l:).);,good judggsihp est hods of Presbyterians :that . hadlOci iv ea ati in our country. ridge, Musgrave, Davidson, and Sioitfoit the Ohl School • Prottil.' her, St:•ar lig, "'afield,, ootlt, Duifteld,,Tr.; ;,f our own ch'iirch ; Dre: David, 1 owl Harper of the .Tjnited: 4 oo'shite..' I) Church, Dr. Wylie, of the Reformed nn , ..11, with such laymen as Senator Dyulie 3liouri and RobCrt'Oartei, of New York, (leorgc I.l.Mtnart, of our city, were 1:-Ldent to give 'high tone and character to c h o ,ly. - In unwonted sprit of prayer was poured t. Fully ono third . of the time ivas ont In devotional exercises of the most ii litful eliaraeter: At e*ery- turn in the at every pointHdei3med' critical, or aay happy conclusion to the deliberatiOns rine aid wits asked, or thanks retnrnnd in most, spiri ted, brief utterances. The time spent was plainly not lost; It brought hearty of the members so Mitch nearer gether that they Were more thoroughly 'opareil for this peculiar work of 'Union. contributed to the Aeepening of the inner aliment of unity, so essential to any real ganie unity. It blew the - flame and heat ' O w materials more nearly to the welding And, in fact, the groat momentous work ' l !ie lady was consummated with a facility ;,(I a dispatch which was not the least sur rising rotative in its history. The good rise and the strong, practical spirit F chairman and Convention quickly over 're any attempts to magnify points of or or or to skirmish about mere business, de- Vs. The great matter for which the Con .ntion assembled was quickly put in hand, "'l ilk.. rapidity with which the committee I,turvd a platform, which, in the main, just what the Convention wanted, v as °lily to be explained as an answer to and as indicating the maturity and or sentiment in the body itself. It seem3,l a most happy arrangement of l ''''vidence that the convention of Eva.ngeli ul EPiscopalians, comprising the very best 1 " 1 in that Church and some of the: no blest and most devoted Christian - Men of the 1 ".! 1- 1 should be in session at: Epiphany t 'arch almost within call of our body: The al auuncement made Wednesday evening, t!iat We had a place in their prayers, sent linwonted thrill through all hearts The , :datation s that were exchanged, and eve- Ow deputation of Bishops illeilvaine 3111 Lee, Rev. S. E. Tyng, And Hon. Conyngham and Felix Brunot to the l itlivention on Friday set us all to thinking zt still higher and wider . nnity of the I: eangelical forces of Christendom, as per a little nearer than ever before. And 1 101 V, as to results, we can say : First, "e have a definite platform, an embodiment °F the aspirations of tho advanced - anion 1 1/N1 of all branches• of the Presbyterian Oliarch in this country. What has been m'`h thought and talked: and written of, John AWeir 16j uly 68 has at last peen organized • as, an inchoate fact, : There is a centre, of crystallization, a rallying point, ,a test of the strength rand practical qqalities of the Union sentiment in eao pftbeS,e•chprches. §econd, all the san, tilnerits, impulse,s•and'conviepens.necessary to union i lul t ye been deiejoped, 1404 ettrengtbened ina rern4,l•4n,blo degree. . , . - Neter were so many , members of so - Many 4iff fl r„ 9 l 3 t, branches the Presbyterian ch,ura)f brought so plosely to , etber. and ma e to feel so powertully thou.:_ essential un)ty in spirit as on this occasion. gaud i ; „'rraspel hand, and eye looked into eye, and heart flowed' to he'ari, and stubborn - • Preaui dice and, uneasy suspicion • vanished dike h'' " oT creams the,ig t mornlng,as qa.c ,one elt that every other w antmated, byzoal for the Conine - On intreStS of every nob '.r .f ourgi'on; N va '' s a season Warm- witit disco Very pryery near relationship y.tifigtli natelifdistwedited and . igpored .. .beyetofore, In ibis feature - of thenceting, encouraged a ei 6 " abundantand yell. an eve ope yt i evo sustained'lona exercises, there WaS the TTIOStp etive . eparatkon posaiblp forTrixinn;-- 'J. - • ut, thdAy'ir a bet, te rapderVanding, eppe t elallybotween ilia two greater branches Was reached: There were several of the pi actibable of the Old. &heel men in the body: In fact, the deleaited from that branch were considerably more than one-half of the whole nudber preSent (180 out of 320) and, more than twice is numerous .those from tour branch.. But it was made' manifest, at the very outset, that the illiberal element of the Old'ScheOlbodY, Whatever Power it might see txt ;to have in'the .P resby teri es . ,* had, .absc itcteli ?tone al' all in the 'Convention. The in: sole.nt attempt of 16bert J. 'Breek t irtridge to' browbeat the'chair and . hinder the bnsi ',less of the' body, was put, down in the most sum'mar'y Manner, and by none .more heartily than' the Old School men them selves. When that celebrated Kentucky cbarnprenof persecuting orthodoxy clam . • etfittel*tt from tlie, itage so aWkWardly, on I,Vednesday afternoon, it,.was felt , that he had probably made his very last appear arxdo in that odious character. Be began his - career as a persecutor in our city, and • iii .our city it was meet thaf, his Nast . futile efforts to perpetuate schism, and so to justify the deeds of his earlier life, should also be made. On the heels of, this melancho- ly exhibition came the remarkable, and_Cor dial adhesion - of Dr. - Musgrave of this: city, to the scheme of Re-union. The position of Dr. M , as 'an Old School Man, of the Most , . decided - type, is quite notoriOus. These two incidenti SufflEied in a general 'way to indi cate an improved sentiment in the Old School. On our side, where union sentiments were always at heme,—niitive born—and where wounded dignity aid self-resPeCt might have counselled an attitude of merely quiet readiness towards the Old School, theru was an exhibition of Magnanimity that disarmed Whatever opposition might still haVe remained. We refer to Prot ry B. Smith's proposal to define the sense . . in which the Co - nfession was received : in its histo4c;' - "that is Reforined or `Calvinistic sense." This proposal was designed to meet, the unworthy suspicions - raised by the late article in the Princeton Review, and was re sisted by not a few of the Old School men themselves, who are equally disglited. With that article, and equally unwilling, even to seem to restrict the interpretation Of the Confession within any limits of theologi- . Or philosophical exerusivism. ° Was it not a novel and instructive spectacle; 'When staunch Ohl School men were heard protest ing against a proposition coming from the New School side, as needleSsly rigorous in its orthodoxy? We could scarcely belieVe our senses When we 'saw and heard it. On the &St vote upon the amendinent, the - Old School was divided, and the New School was unanimously in its faver Well might an' Old School brother . who 'had done his ' pavan the division of 'i_37 exclaim, as the vote was `announced: The NeW . School is more 'orthodox than the Old! In like manner, on the question of embodying the Catechism in' the Basis, the New School . Vo -ted in favor_ and the Old School against it ! How then could it be otherwise than that as New School orthodoxy Vindicated itself, Old School suspicions declined ? How could the Old School refuse°twadrait the propriety of tolerating a variety of interpretations,of - ;the. Standards,. when, after all, the B,dy,,vi4i,ch had over most_ strenuously contended for pm,b4,D - ITIA,,,:,TH'Cr - R,SPAy ;; NQvmum....l4i .: .'w7:,, soul' liberty; has staered noreal:damuge, but ratbet tbe.eobtrary from ,the;pernxiseiotki),, • • It, was hence not An wonderful as kwould have been' ajew, weel4 or days ..preViousiy-, to.see DA t llononon the platform 'ofa,,,Con•- ITantion. likethis, virtually, 11:n4:Ain express tar ms, : ; recognizing , ) the „Roundness of., the body when' 'h ei had Bo : Violently ancleauselesa hY assailed itc his Rgniew.4'Suly., br.•Jilodo, itiaitrnO, -rnadelveryiscatity adrnissi wasp he was fa,r,„enongh from the , +tagnanimity, of a,ri opett,:eolifesSien,lof wrong done. to.iinaogOnt gfen_.!),y_ lila olrtraaepus , art , iclo no tioun yvoH intlieativß Of.,sorrow, fell, l from his lips tb ggh. 11 1 '.03ably, nothing t bAt, , ,ac paned in -the.,ConVention.-would haVe lgone so, far,t o h b rp0, : ct0.,04,4, nr,w all , of paro:tigri al 3 I , adYniasiClA.:T9l%o.ls! hied froln-410 Pr„inceton pro4Reor. ,8. - ut if he did- not!con fess „his _o wn. faults, he.,seeinecl!grievedfor. thnse ,P t reekintlidge i - a.nd : he, repudi ateddistinetly,--rairabi/e.,,flich4-043 neeesai, ty, or. obligationof,any particular philosoph, ical view of the doetrinesofnur C,onfessio,n, in order to an-ight•subscription.„ i Call or YbAvir.4 the more hope lefa.real ; work of f the Spirit, of God, Princeton does move—a little- = after , Fourthly, - It. Was a remark of Dr. "lodge, and: was true,, that the overpowering drift, of feeling,was towalds .nothing shOrt of organic 'unity. All propositions look ing towards a confederation , of -independent bodieß were .received .with indifference Were at once, rejec,-tal..; All the prayers were burdened ,withdesire for organic unity ; now. ' Scepticiarn 1 . 1.13A0 its early, feasibility could , not,tive in such an earnest atmosphere. And when the brethren of the Episcopal Church exchanged with us ..such cordial congratulations, •it seemed indeed as .if the organic unity Of.,Presbyteria,ns !alone. ,was little .eriongh to undertaken Anything. less would have been felt, under • such circum stances, to be unworthyy not. only of our zeal'and:oar hopes, -but of Ole manifest in lid cations of Providence. As 'to" Vat ntlierkiraielict - nricoarla - 13-4.. Presbyterians saw that on the platform: of the Westminster ConfesSion, there was no standing place for them, and they accepted the sitnation with.a, grace; that won golden opinions. Everything - possible. was yielded to the United Presbyterians and Refornaed Presbyterians on the subject of Psalm-sing ing, while the- exclm3ivism of the commu nion table was dropped, as for the present an unmanageable subject. So that the out look in these directions is quite obscure. But without doubt the hands of the Union men in both theic bodies were greatly strengthened and a vigorous impulse com municated to their already growingly pow erful cause. It will take an unusual amount of boldness and bigotry in those churches to protract resistance to a movement so near ly universal. - • .As for ourselves, though seeing in the condition and prospects of out-town-compact and vigorous Church, no necessity whatever for organized union with any other body, and though utterly unconscious of guilt as connected with denominational lines, or with the separate existence of our own body from the beginning to the.present time,• we• can not• withhold our warm sympathies from a movement so promotive of thatspirit of union which, with or without organized unity, is necessary to the honor and highest useful ness of the' Church and too many- illustra tions of which especially cannot be given in the Presbyterian - body. Surely, there is not. 'a fibre of any regenerate soul but must beat, in unison with such a purely, thoroughly Christian movement as this. In fact, the tolerant principles more or lesS distinctly. announced on the more rigid side in. the Convention, and towards which the tide is moving with steadier and stronger sweep, are just those for which oar branch of the Church has struggled, which have been the watchword.s.of our editorial career, and which are every way suitable, sate and conservative of the genius of the American, Presbyterian Church. TABOR CRIJRCH received, at its communion last Sabbath, 20 on .profession and 5 by letter, total, 25; making the entire additiaas .+for the past year, 107. This is the fruit of constant pastoral effort, sowing beside all waters, laboring in season - and out of season, and.psing every meancfor the ; up= .building of the kin , tiour of Christ talie bedside of the sick and - the, himse of, mourning, where' :hearts - are, made .soft : by bereammant, by r ji,t that diciotte admingterinc , of the "balmis in - difead;:itie!eOnsolations of the gosiel of . , Christ, aie are 'Ooci-OTen"oppeitiiaiiTes to win hearts tbiia sOfteried,fo the Sloie, of •JeSris. is by sgch a popper that Tabor ehtireb grOws, 7,1 .r ereilaing lo all the invitation dhriet, " Come Unto me ' ' all jre'thae labor and' are heavy bldeck,, TT° and I will Om you rest. . LILT) LETT*Ri-TROM ROME. . ltdikiz; Obt.V i plBfir. ,1 Thesituatifoh;gicreOir this dat6,' is' intei: k t Ara; qiefore'thiti *eittiCr zelictids'-bf ihiriiniurgentA, or Victor Emanuel. Fighting is around Antirvllkirder are floiking. from - ) eVerytlintrt-°oalt Atnone.'othbrd,. thirty-six i'Stu'dents prolessor—frein : QT fivers y o 7avin; Caine frtinti'ef „ tlYeltafile train which bionght , kentlorddn re: portEreiiht.httndi:cdoinSint,ents as 'arriving, this morning—feW alern 'armed. IndSed, arms - are ;very diffictilt fOr the'"Garibaldin” as tho RoinairtkaPerW calr thrn,:to Of' one'- hundred' . 'and' "s - ev6iitY . who were niarch'ed the" city; prisdnerg, days-'ag:o, 'a - cd - nSiderable ntfrn bet. had' nb arins'i~t ail When' dick Were' captured. MEM ‘• +II& 'the , bay gretitqlniet -Absoltite silence seems-to• be the- No Roinie banlbeinduced to express an' opinion or even to tell thd-ne*s! 'The priests and monks in large numbers slOwly walk abcitit the Eitreets and nothing but the anxious looka 'of the 861- (Hers an d 'anoccasional precesSion Of monkis or nuns'suggests - thO actual condition of things. Allifeelinsia'sVpresSedi There are soMe, hoWever; who exe . ready to 'die for the Pope; but perhaps 6,"' considerable preportion• Of the people of Rome' prefer Victor Emanuel. This state of 'affairs his giVeri an addi tional interest to my visit' to this 'city. 'Whether I loCkad 'down from the heights nf the.Colisetrin upon'-a monk preaehing,, bare fOrtrad ift , O4 gitiupSoftfeeple in the p.TOlg°di whether -- r -L- wandereql. catircerii b . a among the bones of the early' Christians and note& where the' martyrs. *were laid in the mocks'-pious care and ever-enduring inscriptions. I could • never for a moment forget that-bloOd *as still fallink upon 'the thousand-times blood-drenched soil'of 'ltaly. I thought at, the same time of =bloody scenes in the Coliseum long ago, and of blood which just now drips in the "corso" from the car riage loads, of wounded soldiers which:froin time to time are brought into .thecity. And when, I looked down from the. dome of St. Peter's, upon the city and . the : Vatican!, 'and all the 'mighty past of the popedom passed in review before ,my, mind, it was with lively emotions that reflected that around the base of the classical. Soracte and of all the snow-clad, mountains on the other side of the Can - ipagna their; were swarming thousands. wh.o •wers ready to die, to strip from the "Pontifex Maximus" every vestige .of his temporal authority. The very few. Englishmen ,and, Americans who happen to be in the city are somewhat anxious for the future., A .lady from, Alabama; that I ,saw, -was hopeless. She . deeired to see every Garibal dian hung and quartered, but "since. the ef fort of, the. South.hadfaile,d,. it was useless to hope for unygood cause.", .A wagon-load of wounded. prisoners which ; . she : had seen . had : revived all . the unpleasant associations of the American, war. Religiously .very -unusual and hopeful condition • prevails cousiderabely. among Jtalia,ns:, at the present time which, may perhaps be _under stoodirom atexatnPle,better, than in any other way: I was riding:in a night, train near, Rome a day or two . since, and found myself alone in the compartment, of an Italian railway carriage, with a rough Rob Roy sort of man. I could not help thinking that, he might be the chief of a band of robbers in the moun fa.ins, and I felt just a trifle uneasy as I "thought - Of spendincr the night with him. I observed, however, that he seemed to be studying from .time, a little book, by the dim light of the lamp. =He could speak no language but Italian and Was evidently a man of no great erudition. Presently he asked me rather abruptly if I was a Clitholii ? I replied in the negative. ' 4 A:re you a Protestant ?" " I am." Phxistian :and ; Evangelical?" "Yes a•christian and Evangelical." - 410 ,Genesee Evangelist. No. 1121. My cariosity was ,excited_ and I began a series of questions. "Are you, E t ignore, a Cath,olte ?" no,", with:: expressions of disgust. "Aro you a Protestant ?" "Ng, a, ClAristian„a,C4ristian !" , j_ 4ethen showed ma his little book. It wai.the gospel ,otAtatthewi . neatly bound by Y itaelf • baUcTbt .he Raid "in Paris, at ,the Ex ..f _Alnd.wlienl told bim. that I was a - Pro teq,allt minister, his delight was , unbounded and, we were close ;travelling companions as long as WO ent in the sane direction. Ought pot 41 the ,people of our co,un try to ,pray, for this .nation_ with great fervor and unity, that what app,ears torbe breath of the Rely ,Spirit, may become a mighty work in, the very seat andeapital of error and superstition : - C. , C. K. [prCIAT., COP.Y.3 _ 4 , . TN ,LEA. s oF- UNION. As arnended;and tidopted .in the Union Con*entionNovember••B ? 1867. - The -Committee atipointed ft) prepare and report a:Basis - of Unionrto beisubmitted for consideration 'by 'the. variOna .branches of the Presbyterian church represented in. this Converitienr•submkt the.fallowing : I. An-acknowledgment of'. the Old and New. Testathent to : be tbe'inspire&Word of God;land the onlyinfallible rale of Saith and practice.. 11. That in thetuited Church., the West, minter gonfession. of Falai shall be re ceived and adopted, as, containing the Sys tem of Doctrine, taught in the Holy Scrip tureS; it being understood that, this Confes sion is received in its proper 'historical, that is; the CiaVinistie' or Reformed- se n se. Whilst .the_ Committee recommend' the foregoing basis of . doctrine, they wish to be understood, as recognizing the orthodoxy of the Larger and Shorter Catechisins,; of the Heidelberk Catechism ; and of the canons of 'the'Synod ofDorti That the United-Ohnrch shall receive anctOtifttrthe Presbyterian. orm •ofi Church IV: The. Book of Psalms Which .isof Di 'Vine inspiratioryis well a' dapted to the state of the Church in all ages and. circumstan ces, and should be -used in the Worship of God. Therefore, we recommend that a new and faithful version of the Psalms be provi ded as soon as - practicable. But — inasmuch as various' collections of Psalmody are used in:the-different Churches, a- change in this respect shall,not,be required. The Committee also recommend the adop tion of the following resolutions, viz 1. That we unite• in requesting, our respec tive Churches in their Supreme Judicatories, to: Appoint a Committee of five- each, which shall constitute a •Joint Committee, whose duty it , shall be to meet, at a time and place to be . agreed upon, and proceed, with all convenient dispatch, in'an attempt to form a, Basis of Union, according to the princi ples of this Report; 'which BfiBll3, they shall submit to the Churches for their con sideration, and adoption it, being under stood that this is not designed, to interfere with therperidinir negotiations for union be t Ween two 'of the larger bodies represented in this Convention. , ,2. That in case the, above Basis of Union should be adopted, a Committee bo appoint . ed to lay it'before the highest Judicatories of the various branches of. the Chuich, here represented'. 3. That the inbers ,of :thei Convention, who may - vote for the foregoing Basis of Uni9si, to be laid before the Churches, shall notth'ereby be regarded as being committed to advocate its adoption - when laid before the. branches of the Church, to which they respectively belong; but shall be free to act according to the indications of Provi dence at the time. 4. As there is so mttch agreement among the Churches here represented in all essin tial matters of- faith, discipline, and order,it is recommended. that friendly and fraternal in tercourse' be cultivated by interchange of pulpits:, by fellowship with one another in social meetings, and in every other practi cable way. By order of the Committee. Jon.N , EAGLESON, 'Chairman. • The .Convention voted by Churches, and on the adoptio.n.of the Basis as a whole, the final vote stood: Old-School, unanimous, New. School, unanimous. .- .: United. Presbyterian, - ten for - and one against. Reformed Presbyterian, five for and four against. Reformed-Dutch . , unanimous. Cumberland Presbyterian, declined voting. The report was declared adopted by the Churches voting, unanimously.. • n • • • ArrksT: IN M. T. EVA, SeChy. Stir CORRESPONDENTS must bear with us under , the temporary exclusion of valuable contiibmtionsfrOM our columns. Ministers $2.50 11. Miss. $2.00 Addresv-1334 Chestnut Street
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