Obt..:4_\',gtrrii4i:
New Series, Vol. IV, No. 49.
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3otttiran trtollyttrian.
TIIURSDAY, DECEMBER'6, 1867
HEAVEN WARR, tIIOATEWAILD.. TT
Biessed are they itNtitLiere liotiAetek,lfor'-ihey
: hall come at last to the Father's House." —H. Still-
We too, are parted from our native shore,
And in our heart's a sorrow- evertriore,i - -
A mourning for that far and boUndiess sea,
Which chanteth to our spirits ceaselessly ; -
And this is why wew,ill,notere be blest,
our distant home eitlth'ici itd-dbef4r.itit.
The great test of error on religions subfacts
; of Atheism, Materialism, dilletante
trifling with philosophic . dOttbt; and '
of the essential faatures of the,'ScriptUre syS
teal, is death. Any or'all-of,them.may car.-
ry a man with some degree of ease, or pride
even, through life, but at death they, one
and all leave man to take mere, ",leap-in
the dark." They 'Void th e
terra incognita, with guesses ,at the best;
they cannot pacify one twinge of the .con-,
science, whioh in that hour is
,so
leave the spiritual nature pf,.man, with its
vast yearnings all aroused, a blatikvacuity..
They rob man of immortality i• in that honr,
when heart-strings break, and every ear )ply
tie dissolves, they shut out es'Pery ray of porr(
tort, and add their own hOrrOts tp, the seen*.
Black should be ,the pall,andsombre the
hearse plumes, that wave over the cold
form once throbbing with all the irrepressi
ble aspirations of a man, but now goitt,t to the
burial of a brute.' •
The Christian is taught to regard Oath' as
the translation to HO r abOde SO much
happier, and more blessed than'..thep,raseTit,:
that he waits for' it With joyful
The choicest word among those which are .
peculiar to the English .language, is appliCd
so it, and it. is called " going yoxiio,"!
. ..Au the
indescribably rich and tender associationacon
fleeted with that word home, are brought to
brighten the dying hour. As if even the
hallowed experiences of domestic life on
earth, were but the passing entertainments
cf the pilgrim, now, indeed, going to his
true horno. That magnetism, whiCh to the
minds of all English-speaking people, is pos
sessed by homo, belongs also to the eternal
world in the feeling of the Christian. A
secret tie of relationship, a secret sense of
longing, as if for a once familiar and delight
-1111 spot, a sense •of belonging there, rather
than to the most intimate earthly locality,
c.mtinually draw the true Christian heaven
ward, Death is almost like a return of the
exile from foreign uncongenial scenes, to
the dear home anitcountry in which he had
been horn and reared, and with which are
all his strongest and tenderest ties. This
sense of greater familiarity, of truer and
doer belonging, of nativity in the heaven
ly world, is truly , marvellous. his the wit
ness in itself of the soul's spiritual and im
mortal nature. For indeed, the regenerate
'mil is " born from above.". It is a native of
the heavenly world, more truly than of the
earthly. There . .is our Father, there our
Brother in the fullest sense of the words.
There is company the most congenial to the
soul's nature, free from all taint of sin, and
burning with zeal for the glory of God.
There dwells the greatest of all benefactors,
the most self-denying of all friends, the most
marvellous embodiment of all love.
Whatever can hallow, beautify and sweet
en home below, is but asymbol of the glory,
and the joy, and the unspeakable attrac
tions of the home above. It is the Father's
house in which there are many mansions,
and a place prepared ,for . every one of his
Poirple. 'no outward. adorning and the
sumptuousness, the c.o inforts and, attractions
which we would throw around our earthly
!wiles; the tender ties, the life, the love
with which we would fill them; the sweet
of music which should float through
Falls and chambers; that electric chain of
sympathy which binds all together, and
that subtle, all-pervading atmosphere which
really makes it HOME,—all, all burdened
here by imperfection, find their ideal in the
heaven of the4Thristian.
And as time passes, and one after another
of the dear home circle below is translated
to the better home above ;as the one bellow
grows pooror, and the one obcm, richer, it
dully becomes easier and more natural for
the believer to transfer the.strength of his
home, feeling to another world. There the
Lemo circle which at best was a moot un-
J own viV eit
I eartain,dhangefal'thincr on'earth is reassem
bling._, There the loved and mourned and
longed-for securely dwell. Yes ! They are,
gathering, the true hoine , circle there, around
the heavenly Pntber's door, and we—when
shalt be witkihem too ? raise our
dimin4d, eyes i to 'heav' en , and try to Pierce
the veil that shuts us out. We,are,honae n ,
sick..., ',Our souls-break .for 4onging,
that'bfthe for the dear•• fairiillar
of 'ftii father!' Or the'lcing`
, •
ager approaching ilia .natlve shore agffust ij
waiting, for tha:Oirilling cry of Laudl, ready
with impassioned ardor
- to ly to the arms of
the friends from, whorn has beep so long
'•
separated. '
,' Alas for the poor desolate homeless wa i n-
derers who. pais into eternity and 4 have no
father's,houeo,to go;to therel„, Wha orphan
and disinherit thernscives-forever. by unbe
lief( . • JAI'
LUMEN IN THE FIELD.
We netice, aocennti; qf the " Chris
tian Convention," held an New Ypik'l4o;
month„ that .muoll is . Said, et' the
,ete'el-,
lenee and power of the. speecheS :of several
.
lay members, and the high tone of 'feeling ,
Wrought up, by them. notice, L. -
C., 'in the Evangelist,) says_ " The most stri-
king featare pf,the,Pon,vention to . , me, was
the admirable speaking "'power of the lay
members. Thermade thelbest•epeeehes of
the meeting. This feet Is but Another evi dente of the great, part yfr,kkich laymen are
to perform ,in: - 1 proclaiming' there gosj3eVi
Further on, ,after' 'referring to the.: With:4
drawal . Of pastors' from ordinary preaching'
work at;inOrtant points, to other derViee'
edr.tike Phul.'o.o2e 'adds: "In the - MeantiMe
the laity are coming forward to stand in
the; gap: Judge SMith and Mr.‘Darant are:
preachin . g in MasSachusetts. .Mr. Moody—
ones. .I*, phpfL 4eo6y—preaches to a, hlge
crowd every-jb-aiopub'lr=e-t-en'ing--iir . :-.
Hall, Chicago." Similar cases have come
under our own notice quite recently. An
Elder—to be sure, an ordained man—who
had been a member of the late Union Con
vention in this city, gave to the. Church in
which he rules well, an admirable written
address designed to promote the object of
the Convention, in place of the regular Sab
bath evening services.' Another Elder, not
now acting as such, plead the cause of Min
isterial Relief very appropriately and ef
fectively in place of the pastor in one of the
country charges of our Synod, a few Sob:.
baths ago. T. L. C. asks: " What is the
L moral of all this?"
Well; there is a moral to it, and one which
we opine is not hard tube read. There is a
class of men who have not been trained to
the ministry as a profession, or consecrated
to it as a sole life - work, under the usual ec
clesiastical forms, upon whom God has nev
theless laid the responsibility of preaching
the gospel as occasions offer, and whom he
wilt have to do it. The slowness of ecclesi
astical bodies to follow the loadings of his
providence and Spirit in this matter, has for
some time been to us surprising; and, so
far as our own Church, is concerned, this
surprise is fast becoming an alarm, lest the
favorable moment for action be lost. While
we are hesitating about giving place and
system to lay preaching, and making it a
feature of our polity, lest it should lower
the public respect for the ministerial office,
the thing itself is breaking forth on the
right hand and, the left, and is becoming
deeply felt as a power in the Church, owned
as such by God. While we are putting forth
our doubts whether the right men can be
found to accept our call to the work, the call
from the perishing is bringing forth the men,
and in many cases those who seem to be
just the men for the work. We talk of the
dangers of disorder from opening the pul
pit to so many men of irresponsible minis
terial standing, and whose methods are of
just the kind which naturally tend toward
excessive demonstrations. We admit this
danger to be real, but it is one which, as is
now becoming evident, the Church mast
meet; and, this being so, we rather aggra
vate than avoid it by withholding an eccle
siastical status from lay preachers of any
and every sort. The natural remedy for an
irresponsible lay preaching, is to give to
those approved for it an official responsibil
ity. The rational course fur preventing the
disorders to be feared from the rushing in
of incompetent and unsafe men, is to place
the whole matter under ecclesiastical super-
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1867.
vision. lii this way the reflecting portion
of the 'public' would soon fearn,whoin to, en
courage and .of whom tb,heWare.. Just now
tho world is , full of .events , v,ith a moral •
and not the leas:Vet' these morals. is that,
until Mind and tastesiamk modes of , -aecessi
flirdT/a tie4eli track, it is usoluss
tempt to` confine
of , .nv r auggliaation,:,gtvidance avrll T oy. 9,
undAtrhy.Slioald-ntot w4z4. 1 L• n.--;
- •
..tßead:but Proce.edirwilL.
;GETTER FROlit Dl=l* THE' CMON
- : • :.s tohl y - ;
Taß.GzAiNfix„ElialluFg4„2B4,lo,c!,..lP67,l
MY VERY DEAR FRlNEfl)::—Aftei an ab
sence of three month's itkithe'Spattcr'hiie
just returned,-to:tdinl346; anfi..`ainOng;a
pile of letters and . deetinontsll'ound yours
of the 7th. For. sCrao.ti,me ;CORLE weary:
monient, will be'filllY'Oettpied, and I indeed]
may say occupied'bey dliA 'lily 'strength is[
ray'state of health retnatas.m.ach as it was .
Onithis aq'connp I api gficycd . to, thiak that.
I!:citntiot prohablywiteAocyou , such a letter
as:l'wenld on ihe.subjeetiof your NatiOnal
Convention of 'the T'regleteritin Chitral on ,
trICP` Blibiee,i; (it
I do ,rejo . leA that
,sitel l 4 .: '!ikeeting is to be
held,' if. at be.. only. Apr; ipgayer—prayer for
the effusion of the Holy Spirit..
whatYrwhatl'krioivorhilhian nature with
its liereAitarypiejadfeed,.l. have long been
satisfied that it is . not 45.argurnents:howev
`er clear, 'or, ..litan'an:.,oloquence` however
'electrical' 'the time; that real Christian
Union will sprinxt Whekber among -intlivida
aAOr.tcharches. -
Beal i tiknion.raust,springTrom souls under
the mighty inffuence of divine grace; just
is'natdrally as water flows from a perennial
fountain. IbOk at the result of the Pente-
Costal effusion: ! So keg as the', aiscipleS
tbougir,conskieg , of mitt frcta, distant and
prejudices clingingto them, continued ander
the full influence of that out-pouring, they
continued of one heart and one mind—and
for a time even of one purse.
But I cannot dwell on the subject farther
than to say, Look for union, not so much to
the force of logic as to the power of prayer,
with its resulting influences, of grace. If
men be full of faith and of the Holy Ghost
they can no longer keep asunder from each
other, but will be drawn instinctively and
resistlessly towards each other as surely as
particles of matter are drawn together by
the attraction of affinity, or suns and plan
ets by the attraction of gravitation. • I re
gret extremely that I cannot go into the
subject at all at present. Though not with
you in person, I shall be with you in spirit
and in prayer. Do, if possible, by God's bless
ing, set an example which may raise the
churches in this land to follow it.
Yours very affectionately,
(Signed) ALEXANDERDUFF.
To Geo. H. Stuart, Phila.
OUR LQNDON . LETTER..
LoNn9N, Nov. I,6th, 1867
Since I last wrote, the Italian drama has pass
ed through 'some quick, short, exciting scenes.
We were all expecting war, and wonder now, as
we look back, how it was avoided. The Divine
hand is as clearly ;AL this tangled skein as it ever
was on any warp and woof of human alfairs—to
fashion and restrain as He will The time has
not yet come. Napoleon seems to be moved
against his will by an irresistible power. Italy,
whose temper was thought to be .unalterable,
turned round as a feather before a storm, and
Rome sits trembling, but still unmoved—a per
manent, dogmatic, non possumus. You will ob
serve that no public writer ventures to anticipate
the coming events—we cannot do so; we look
out upon a dismal duskiness, and through a glass,
darkly. Every one feels that the best thing for
the Emperor would be to abolish the September
Convention—already practically abolished—and
enter into a new one with Italy, which shall give
her all she desires. But the Eldest son of the
Church cannot break down the non possumus.
He must be prepared to face the Ultramontaoes
at home, and the Church everywhere, before he
permits vile hands to be laid upon her tempora
lities. Is he likely to do so'—with a powerful
party to work against him in the Empire—and
the anathemas of the Pope shaking in his face ?
Many think not—and those
,_who .hope, do it
against hope. -
In England, for'a short time„ we are taking
breath on eCclesiastical ni'ajters, after the excess-
ive dosing of the Pan Anglican Synod, and the
Wolverhampton Congress. A great meeting has
been held at Hillsborough, near Belfast, in,the
North of Ireland, under the auspices of the Mar
quis 'of 'Downshire and ,. other great; Tory and
Oiiite 'noblemen And "geniry," at which, I' am`
ForrY to say; Da CoOKE, who has been a great
.man in his day,.declared himself for an alliance
of Presbyterians with the Established Church peo
trying to save itand the'Regium Donum.•
O the arguments. df thePspeakeis . went
to!4:m4ll4lfthe, ph aTeh wars. to uChe d ,
,Rcitnap
iCutbslicism,rwoulii triumpb and.win
,t,flopastery.
I tknow7of .no .greater 'error.. Englishmen only
aiikeLOoiicesSionaltb Catholics bebattse they think
it just to do so, but supremacy, the biter can
ney,o; pt.,. Nothing could be More proper, sure
, Iy-, than.that,,aslin America, the ROM= Catho
lics shOuld =have all 'griei•ances removed; and then'
let Cathblic falithand Protestant faith, fight their'
, battte` fairly. 'Who can, doubt the issue after
'the great , Reformation struggle, And believe God to. ,he on the side of •truth, dnd, especially so,
whenever her 'partisans are sincere, and• , fair ?
Very little, attention is given in
this HilliborOuol dembastration whiCh' shook
Ulster t 9 its very centre, , indeed we are getting
to look upon' the diseptablishment of the .Irish
Church as a foregone comiltiti4E; and to regard With
little interest the protests - Often reiterated "of
its indignant defenders. The injustice is too pal
. .
pable to be glossed over by words—to be hidden
in .clouds of rhetoric. Years `ago, in letters to
your paper, I foreiaw the approaching doom, ar.d
eieitday only don& us the aCcurat'y of the fore
-
The:Roman question has naturally aroused a
good deal of Protestant feeling, some of which
has expressed itself, as, for instance; in lFaeter-in
riots. Another tended to those riots, and
to others at Oxford and elsewhere, namely : the
high price of bread. This di;aster which
presses most heavily on the working-man, and
which he can least of all enduie.- His objections
take:a 4 /40idal''atll - rerdcioni tarn, and' he
sniff& Vie' natural t aitnatiOnec:;• nib* 'to Hab . -
bes-1. e., a state of war. I think in my last let
ter I indicated the probabilities of trouble of this
kind.
You will I)e . sorry to hear that there is still but
little hope of Dr. Hamilton's recovery. I learn
that be is gradually growing more weak. None
who have ever come into communication with
that large and kindly na•ure, that heart so ten
der, appreciative, and sympathizing, that mind
filled with grand, if sometimes quaint, curious,
and ingenious thoughts, that ready intelligence
and overflowing hum that soul so bright with
heavenly irradincy, will easily hear of his ap
proaching end, To lose so mach from the world
at once, seems weir than sad--'tis almost un
bearable.
Turrti,ng to secularities,, public opinion, in spite
of the Conservatives, has ea ceeded in abolishing
the middle age monstrosities of the Lord Mayor's
day._The'
old civic vessel on wheels, the men in
armor, the waterman, all disappeared on the
Ninth, forever; and we, bad a moderate proces
sion in modern state carriages —still somewhat
ridiculous—instead. We are hoping ; also, to get
rid of the stupid old' organization of the Mayor,
Aldermen and Council of the City of London as
well,,and to do away With vast civic feasts., and
silly shows, at immense expense. That will take
longer. " Vested interests" stop the way; but,
eventually, even vested interests yield before
sense- and public conviction. The barriers of
antiquity, however strongly constructed, gener
a ally have. some: rotten.. place, which, once dis
covered:, gives a free opening to reformative de
struction. Many such, now existing in Eneland,
shall soon fall before young, strong, hands, and
sturdy principles:
FROM OUR CHICAGO CORRESPONDENT.
DEAR AMERICAN :—A grateful change has
come over the weather, and we are to-day enjoy
ing our first fall of snow this season. Up to the
present week we have had but very few days that
could be called even cool, and none of the signs of
winter'usually apparent at an earlier period. But
for the extreme dryness and sultriness of the
month, November would deserve to be placed this
year among its very pleasantest months. But
there has been wide-spread loss and suffering
from the want of rain. Btreams and marshes
usually full at this season, are dry, beyond mid
summer drouth, entailing much misery upoU the
animal creation; while in Southern Illinois, in
Missouri and Kansas, especially, the autumnal
burnings of the prairies have swept away in their
resistless course a very large amount, in the ag
gregate, of Wealth. Never have I seen these vast
seas of flame so awfully 'beautiful and impres.ive,
as when sometimes this autumn witnessing them
Genesee 'Evangelist. No. 1124.
f Ministers $2.50 H. l Miss. $2.00.
Address t-1.834 Chestnut Street.
by night from the windows of the rail ears, at a
distance, or even rushing .through their very
midst at a speed'-hardly excelling their own. But
copious showers have afforded some relief, though
by no means meeting the measure of our wants.
Can scarcely be said to have been rekliousiyobserv
ed by any very larae pcirtion of our citizens. But
few of.the churc i Qf our. own denomination were
opened, and those few, ,se, far as my information
goes, were Slenderly attended{ although the day
was . bland and pleasant , atial . every thing • Ow- .
spired to invite the whole population tuthe plBa4-
ing
,dnty,of publid Traise and thanliigivi4o,
Almighty. God for his. manifold goodness
Illf - e!event of the .day which attracted.most:atteio ,,
tion' . arid drew toether erthydS-Orpeeple'slifficient
to have filled to oveilltiariii eVerY Clititch 411 SC
-1 )' •
city,was the arrivajA
from' Portland f in 'twenty-slimwalking , days, and
minctually on tiiire:' l TI A-1163. bf the hOur.march
ed down -Wabash Avenue at about the time of
morning service, surrounded by a cordon of
~pol
ice and attended by &dense crowd of people on
foot, on 2 horseback, and'-'-in'vehicles of every de
scription, and gazed at and
, apPlauded by the
thonsands who had taken pOsseasion of, every
available point,of observation,- The
,pedestrian
exhibited no traces of_ ;exhaustion from his un
paralleled feat, as he trod'iwith elastic .step the
last mile of his marvellous walk, his small lint
lithe and sinewy figure, handsomely but soine
,
what foppishly dressed, and his face exhibiting
his satisfadtion at the ovation he was receiving,
and as we may suppose, his natural• satisfaction
with, the successful issue of his' great undertaking.
Still, the occasion for all this enthusiasm is, of
course, ridiculously small, and only shows how
ready the populace is to manufacture for itself a
hero out of the scantiest material. Weston prom
ises to walk his one hundred miles in twenty four
hours over the' 'city race course; for the benefit of
the widows and orphans 'of soldiers. No one
doubts that he can accomplish it and it is'a com
mon belief here that-he "sold " the race as to
-that feature of it . '
Your readers will learn with regret and sym
pathy of the severe domestic affliction of your late
Chicago correspondent, " Wabash," (Rev. Dr.
Humphrey), in the recent death of his youngest
child, a sweet little daughter of seven summers.
All three of his children were stricken down at
once Ivith diphtheria, and for a time it was feared
that the afflicted parents were to be bereaved of
all their household treasures. But they were
mercifully spared so terrible a blow.
Rev. Dr. Patterson has been recently heard
from at Beyrout, Syria. He was in good health,
and was exp. sting to return home by February
next.
Several new Mission Schools have been recent
ly organized in our city, with excellent prospects
of success. Most of them will probably prove
the nucl. i f future churches.
The Y. M. C. A. are holdinr , nightly meetings
in their new building, of a miscellaneous charac
ter, designed to draW in and, improve especially
the young men of the city, . A course of free
lectures of a high order on scientific subjects has
been commenced. Mr. Moody preaches on each
Sabbath evening to good audiences, made up from
the streets and saloons in large a degree.
The recent Fair for the benefit of soldiers' or
phans and widows, Yielded about $25,000, nett.
A mass meeting of Presbyterians bf all branch
es, has been called for next Wednesday evening,
to ratify the- doings of the recent Convention at
Philadelphia.
Nine tons of tracts have been sent by Henry
Buley, Esq., of London, to the Y. M. C. A. It
is said• that this gift. is the result of a vow made
by Mr. Buley when the 'success of the Atlantic
Telegraph Cable—of which he is a large stock
holder—seemed doubtful; that he would devote
all his dividends from. it to' religious uses. Mr.
Braley is a man, of great wealth and great Chris
tian benevolence, and holds not only this, but
the rest of his-income,. to be used as the Master
shall direct.. These tracts are in process of dis
tribution, and a. great demand for them has al
ready arisen.
.&DELPHOS
Rev. Wm. Campbell, of Adel, has been ap
pointed, District Secretary. of Home Missions, for
the Synod. of lowa, with the exception of the
Presbytery of Dubuque ; which still remains in
connection with the Synod of. Peoria. No better
appointment could have been made
Rev. H. H. Kellogg, of Marshalltown, resigns
the pulpit of the Presbyterian church in that
place, thus vacating oneof our most important
and attractive churches in the State.
A church of six members ; of our order, was
organized at La Purte City, Blackhawk county,
on Sabbath last, and at the same time a house of
worship was dedicated to the , use of the infant
church in the service; of God., , It is not often
that the procuring of the edifice goes before the
formation of the church. It is due to the devo
ted and efficient pastor, Rev. C. S. Marvin, to
say that to his great personal sacrifices this in
domitable resolution and purpose, struggling
onward, when his brethren of the Presbytery
agreed that he should abandon the enterprise as
impracticable is this most hopeful undertaking
to be credited. NORT 14rEF3T.
Chicago, Nov. 29, 1861.
TiIANKSdIVING 'DAY
THE ~ClitEIT wt.wroN,