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THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1868.
BREADTH OF CHARACTER,
Latitudinarianism is so fniuch dreaded by a
certain class of theologians, that they are afraid
of genuine breadth and comprehensiveness of
character. Their fears prejudice them against
everything generous, genial, many-sided, humane.
They believe safety consists in narrowness. They
glory in exclusivism. They cleave to the ipsis
sima verba of doctrinal standards, and shrink in
dread from the admission of a variety of views as
consistent with orthodoxy. They are the repre
sentatives of the Judaizing party in the primitive
Church, who hung their faith upon jots .and tit
tles, who multiplied specific rules and dogmatic
expressions, who made salvation depend on fulfil
ling the Mosaic ritual. There are various de
grees of this character, but the depths of bigotry,
of bitterness, of persecuting intolerance, to which
it will go for insignificant points of doctrine, for
hair-splitting philosophical distinctions, for minor
peculiarities in ordinances and -worship, the oft
scandalized Christian community of our day
well knows, or well remembers.
Yet it is a great pity that the attractive and
inspiring instances of comprehensive character,
and the impulses and attempts at realizing Evan
gelical breadth in doctrine and discipline, have
run to a perilous latitude so often, as, in part, to
explain, if not to justify this reactionary and un
worthy attitude of many, otherwise excellent peo
ple. Take the truly great, pious and honored C.
C. J. BUNSEN as an example. His life, lately
published in London, and commented on in the
last number of the North British Review, shows
that on one side of his character, it is, perhaps,
the most commanding, captivating and inspiring
of modern times. A thorough German in specu
lative depth and capacity, he was almost as much
an Englishman in his love and capacity for the
practical side of things. He is one of the most
splendid examples extant of this unusual combi
nation of qualities. Devoted to truth for the
sake of truth, filled with lofty enthusiasm for the
highest ideas ; with a wide reach of sweeping
speculation, and author of some of the profound
est works in theology, he discharged, for the
greater part of his active life, the duties of a
diplomatist in the highest courts of Europe. It
was one of his great maxims to do nothing by
halves. He had a " divine rage" for going to the
root of things. And yet he overflowed, to his
last days, with chivalrous impulses and emotions;
his sympathies seemed universal; he never was
absorbed by one passion to such a degree as to be
unsusceptible to everything else. His joy at the
success of Garibaldi, blended upon his dying bed
with his meditations upon John's Gospel. Noth
ing in the name of pure, natural humanity ., ever
suffered repulse from him. He carried an at
mosphere and a radiant force of love about with
him, which it was difficult to resist. He was one
of the moat shining examples on record of the
happy combination of great learning with' unaf
fected piety. Pious impulses, welling up from
the deepest fountains of his being, seemed to be
the soul of his varied activity. Anything like
lightness or frivolity, in speaking of sacred things
he could not tolerate. It is related of him that
when some coarse rationalist Professor, at Got
tingen, was contemptuously criticising the Scrip
tures, the devout youth turned his back on the
scoffer, aid walked out of the Lecture Room.
His character seems to run through the whole
diapason of human excellencies. And yet the
theological opinions of this broad-minded man,
are far outside the pale of Evangelical recogsi
tion. He differed from rationalists, not so much
in the essentials of his method in dealing with
the facts of the Sacred Record, as in the happy
inconsistency that he was able to retain his reve
rence for what he thus conceived to be subject to
his criticism. His doctrine of human nature
cannot be made to agree with the Scriptural posi
tion of human depravity. He made light of rnir-'
acles and rejected prophecy as the foretelling of
future events, as decidedly as the most bitter ra
tionalist. He denies the inspiration of the Record,
but holds to the divinity of the dispensation,
which it imperfectly, and with admixture of er
ror, contains. In regard to the doctrine of the
Trinity, he speaks of " Factors" instead of per
sons; he deities the pre-existence of Christ and
the fact of a peculiar personal Incarnation; de
nies a vicarious atonement, a personal devil and
an eternity of future punishment !
Such was the truly large, many.sided • Butwen,
the depth and pervading power of 'whose iiety
seems to have far exceeded that Of many who
would criticise his doctrines ; the general jolly:-
cue of whose character and intercourse Was
J ohn AN eir
healthful, inspiring and, in many respects, profit
able, as contrasted with the small rivalries and
petty contentions which occupy and belittle so
many minds for all their life career. And yet,
his great and learned speculations are so com
promised with grave errors, that they will, proba
bly, become obsolete long before the direct in
fluence of his character ceases to be felt.
So, the melancholy lapse of the "Broad
Church Movement," in the Church of England,
which, in its inception, was one of the most hope
ful and animating of its day, into sheer humani
tarianism, religious indifference, and insincere ad
herence to an orthodox- Church, on the part of
thinly disguised rationalists, has frightened men
away from the terms " Broad " and " liberal."
And yet there can be scarcely any greater ca
lamity than for the Church to lose her Scriptu
ral and orthodox leaven of liberality. The many
sidednesss of Scripture itself is a divine remon
strance against a vain attempt at narrow uni
formity. Peter, Paul, and John had each his
separate type of piety and his method of viewing,
stating, explaining, and illustrating the truth.
Paul's breadth of character led him to take the
liberal side in the controversy with Judaism, and
yet the same trait led him to circumcise Timothy,
whose father was a Greek, and to assume cere
monial obligations for himself, and with others.
And through all time, the Evangelical Church
has had illustrious examples of this genuine ten
dency of the Gospel of Christ to broaden the sym
pathies and expand the natures of men. On
thrones of kings, at the head of armies, in great
epochs of reform;upon Professors' chairs, and in
the pulpit, in literature and in daily life, among
the laity and the clergy, she has had characters
that command our admiration, without ] exciting
•
our suspicions. Men like Chalmers and.Gahrie
in Scotland
-; like, Baxter, Isaac Taylor, ,AinOld;
Alford, and Ellicot in England; Carl Ritter, Tho
luck, Lange and his coadjutors in' Germany; the
Monods and D'Aubignes of France. In this
country, the better part of the Methodist and
Congregational Churches, the LowiChurch Epis
copalians, .the American Lutherans,. -the New
'Sabel Prestjiterians, and, we are glad to believe,
a very large propertion of the Old School are il
lustrating the breadth, geniality and Charity of
true. Christianity, 'which may be described as
liberal orthodoxy, and proving that exclusivism
is not necessary td safety or to soundness in the
faith
I NEW ALLY OF THE TEMPEVANCY,
CAUSE.
' Amid muCh that is uncertain and confli'ct'ing in
the present aspects of the temperance cause, we
notice with peculiar pleasure the emphatic avow
al.anii,defence of teetotal principles recently in a
very unexpected_quarter. We _refer to the article
by. James Parton, in the current, number. of, the
Ittantic jironthly, entitled: °Mir 'the - Corning
Man Drink Wine ?" Appearing in a Magazine
which holds, perhaps, the very highest place in
this Class of literature in our country, Whose con
tributors and readers are doubtlesS inosly of those
classes that are accustomed to regard i'llioderate
degree of indulgence as necessary to refined, ele
gant and enjoyable living, and coming from the pen
of one of the most assiduous and successful caterers
to the popular literary taste, the article must cre-.
ate as mach surprise as gratification nailing the
friends of total abstinence. They ha:ve not` been
without demonstrations of warm 'Sympathy' from
scientific and professional men; 'but the liteiary
class generally has regarded their 'cause with no
small theaSure of contempt and diepSt. Prom
classic times down to the present,ithe' Wide cup
has been 'td a large extent the inspiration' 'Of the
muse and hi's' received its homage in return.
Temperance and total abstinence men have had
to struggle against the influence of popular wri
ters in prose and verse, and-it is an event worth
noticing when one of the class of writers whose
very profession is to tickle the ear with sensa
tional paragraphs, or to aid in entertaining the
readers, of a leading literary monthly, chooses the
defence of total abstinence as the theme on
which to exercise talents almost exclusively em
ploYed in a contrary direction.
Mr. Parton, in the commencement of his article,
shows that he is aware of his anomalous and
somewhat critical position with the circle of
readers he is addressing. He guards them against
the, disgust they might feel at findiag themselves
in company with a dry and dreary set of pleasure
hindering teetotallers, by disparaging and sneer
ing at their efforts in the line of investigation on
which` he' is about entering. Teetotallers never ,
knew how to do it, with all their zeal. IVIr. Par
t ton, ia a few pages, will show yli u What they
have vainly been seeking after,for ; more than a
generation. The public, we'think, fdllyander
stands Mr. Parton's foibles, and Willged&-hrtmor
edly.auffer these little exhibitions of 'Nratiity to
I I ' I I ' DAY,. AUGUST 6, 1868.
pass. Temperance men, especially, will be con
tent to see their own favorite facts and positions
handled with the peculiar effectiveness and Pop
ular swing of Mr. Parton's style, notwithstanding
his absurd attempts to treat them as " poor rela
tions." Notwithstanding, every way, the truth
is preached, and therein they do rejoice and will
rejoice.
Mr. Parton first turns , to chemistry, , . and
in the light of its teachings pronounces wverdict
in favor of the teetotal position, that is
. A: .
the distinctive principle of all intoxpating drinks.
Turning to the medical profession, he again finds
himself on the teetotal ground, as to the Affects
of' alcohol on the human system. It •does not fur
nish nourishment, nor aid digestion, nor produce
heat, nor give strength. On this latter pouit he
furnishes, interesting details, which onr,.readers
will be glad to read :
"Every man that ever trained for a supreme exeri
tion of strength knows that Torn Sayers sPok s e the
truth when, he said: I'm no-teetotaller; but When
I've any business to.do, there's nothing.,like, water
and the dumb-bells.' Richard Cobden, whopl l3 o 7 -
ers were subjected to a far severer trial than, A. pu
gilist ever dreamed of; whose labors by and
day, during 'the corn-law struggle, were excgdieitre
and continuous beyond those of any other ni - ember
of the House of Commons, bears similar testimony:
'The more work I have had to do, the More IlltaYe
resorted to the pump and the teapot.' On this branch
of the subject, all the testimony is against:, alcoholic
drinks. Whenever the point has been tested-41nd
it has often been tested—the truth ha's - been'`Von
firmed, that he who would do his very pest andridost,
whether in rowing, lifting, running, watching,litio*-
ing, climbing, lighting, speaking,. or writing, must
not admit into his system one drop of alcohol,
Trainers used to allow their men a pint of beeper
day, and severe trainers half a pint; but ,now
knowing ones have cut off even that' moderate 4
lowance, and brought their men down to'Cold water,
arid not too much of that, the sound'est digestchTre;
quiring little liquid of any kind. Bigeloaf;`. by
hist haPPy publication lately of the eorrect -,version
of Franklin's Autobiography, has erill4,lo.,,minci
the famous beer passage in that immortal work,
'I drank only water • the other workmen near fifty
in number were great guzzlers: of` beer. On one oc
casion I carried up and down stairs' lafgefo'rm
of types in each' hand, when others carried but 6he
in both hands.' I have a long list.of references on .
this point; but, in these , cricketing,.'bo.at4racitig,
prize-fighting !lays, the fact has become too flPlir
to require,Kopt The other morning, :Horace e
ley, teetotaler, oink to'his office after an ahseilicer
of several days, and 'found letters'imd 'arrears '
of
work that would haVe been appalling to `any man
but him. Helshnt himself in at ten'A.M., and wrote
steadily, without leaving his room, till eleven P.M.
; thirteen hours.,, When he had ..finished, he had
some difficulty in getting . down stairs, owing to the
stiffness of his joints, caused by the long inaction ;
but he was as fresh and smiling the "next
,rnorning
as though he had done nothing extraordinary.' Are
any -ot us drinkers of beer and wine capable' of such
sleet? Then, during the iwar, when If was Writ
ing his history, he performed every day, • for two
years, , two days' work,—one.from nine .four, on
his book: the other, from seven to, eleven, upon
Tax TRIBUNE ; and, in' addition, he did more than
would tire an ordinary man in the ,
Aga& of corres
'pOndence and public speaking. :I - may - also remind
'the reader, that the' clergyman • Who; of all others
in etlie.„United States,•expends most • vitality, both
with tongue and pen, and mho does his work with
least fatigue,, and most gayety of heart, is another
of Franklin's 'water . Americans.' ",
Alcohol, he continues, acts promptly, chiefly
and disistrously upon the brain. "If 'is among
the' wine-drinking classeS of our felkiiv-beings that
absurd„incomplete and reactionary ideas prevail,"
says Mr. Parton; and he quotes the erroneous
ideas of the beer-drinking British upon our late
war in'illustration. He might have come nearer
fin' rue and'quoted a late political Convention in
NeW . .Yozk City, and the " absurd, incomplete and
reactionary ideas" of at least one of its candi
dates in proof of his position. , The highly inter
esting and conclusive experiments of the British
Dr. Percy, upon dogs dosed with alcohol, and .of
Dr:Beaumont upon the stomach of Alexis St.
Martin, throngh a wound which was never closed,
though healed, are quoted as proving the direct
and pernicious effect of alcohol upon the, _brain_
and= the stomach. The experiments of the French
physicians, Lallemand, Perrin and Duroy, which
were made the basis of a teetotal article in the
Westminster Review, in 1861, noticed at the time
in our columns, are cited as proving the antagon
iam bet Ween the human system and• alcohol, and
the struggle to expel the latter as an intruder,
.froni the moment it enters, until by some means
the last particle is driven from the system. These
French experimenters, Mr. Parton tells us,
"are fully' persuaded (and so will you be, reader,
if you read their book) that, if you take into your
system an ounce of alcohol, the whole ounce leaves
the system within 48 hours just as good alcohol as
it , went in."
And the conclusions reached by our Essayist,
stated in his own words, are as follows :
, .
"The Coming Man, theni so long as he enjoys
good health,=which he , usgallywill from infancy
to hoary age,—will not drink wi.nevnor, of course,
any of the coarser alcoholic dilutions. . . . A
single certainty in a matter of so much importance
is not to be despised. I can now say to young fel
lows who order a bottle of-wine, and flatter them
islves that; in so doing. they approve themselves '
'-jolly 'doe! No, my lads, it is because you are
dull dogs, that you want the wine. You are forced
to ,borrow excitement because you'havi'squandered
your` natural gayety. The ordering of the wine is,
a confession of insolvency. , Whet), we feel it neces--
sary to take `something'at certain times Auring:
the day, we are in a condition similar to that of :„
merchant who every day, about the anxious hour of
half-past two, has to run around among his neigh
bors borrowing credit. It is something disgraceful
or suspicious. Nature does not supply enough of
inward force. We are in arrears. Our condition
is absurd, and, if we ought not to be alarmed, we
ought at least to be ashamed. Nor does the bor
rowed credit increase our store; it leaves nothing
behind to,enrich us, but takes something from our
already insufficient stock; and the more pressing
our need the more it posts us to borrow."
. :Pressing•the inquiry, What real service alco
holic 'drinks' ever do ? the writer concludes that
the most that can be now said, is that they enable
us to violate the laws of nature withoutimmedi
ate suffering and speedy destruction. The na
tural and necessary waste of the tissues is retarded
by alcoholic drinks, and so life may be sustained,
and' fatigue borne; and hunger appeased for a
time, under severe pressure, kit nature, doubt
less, is even with the drinker after, the,emergency
is passed. For an example, he. chooses ano less
prominent literary event, thin the great dinner
`given by the Press to Mr. 'Chas . . Dickens; in
`April last at " . Delmonico's " in Nei Yor'k' City,.
He avers, with every appearance of truth, ,that
Mr. Dickens and his associates . could not have
"eaten -their way thrill - lei' the elegantly bound
WA 'substituted by Mr.lielmonico for"the usual
bill orfare," without the aid of the inta gicatin
•
drinks which,always figure conspicuously on•such
occasions: "It is the wine which enables, people
to - keep on eating for three hours,-and to cram
themselves with highly concentrated food, With
out rolling on the,floor in agony." For such an
unnatural service, even the patronge of Mr.
Dickens, backed by the entire Press of America
cannot give it an honorable reputation.
On the question of the use of alcohol as a med
icine, Mr. Parton expresses no' decided Opinion.
110 does say, however, very decidWly
"With regard to this daily - drinking of wine:and
whisky, by ladies and others, for tnere itis
a delusion., In such cases wine is, in the most lit
eral sense or the word, a mocker. It seems to'nciurish,
tilt - does not; it seems to.warm, but does not ;' it
`seems to,strengthen„but does not. •It is an,arrant
tilaeat, and , perpetuates the evils it is supposed
FinalfY, our new ally is with'us on the state
Of the question in what are called the " wine
, ,
countries!' These, he' says, cannot bp, " played
off", against the, teetotallers..,, The same is the
-cede with the " beer countries," such as Saxony
and Bavaria. Close, observers, he says, speak of
the pure and excellent beer of those countries
as "the chief enemy of the nobler faculties and
tastes of human nature. The surplus Wealth, the
surplus time, the surplus force of those nations
'are chiefly expended in fuddling the brain with
beer."' When we reflect how rapidly large por
tions of our territory are being annexed to the
"wine-growing and beer countries," we may the
better appreciate the . value of this testimony
from one who classes himself with drinkers hith
erto. •
We commend the whole of Mr. Parton's article
to the notice of those New School Presbyterian
clergymen, especially, who have lately created
such a deep and painful sensation by their oppo
sition to the principles of teetotalism. If with
„Mr. Parton they cannot find these principles in
the Bible, we trust they may be led with him to
recognize their existence as part of that great
system of natural ' laws to which the teachings of
Scripture at least are not contrary.
DANCING AGAIN.
A correspondent on the second page of this
paper, in a very courteous way, takes exception
to remarks of ours in the issue for May 21st, on
the subject - of dancing, we having, in that article,
made a distinction between quadrilles and 'waltzes,
and having remarked, in passing, that we saw, no
objection to the former: We freely admit the
difficulty of this whole question, and yet we can
not but think theri is a difference so radical be
tween these two sorts of dancing as almost to
constitute them two different amusements. What
does the observer, on his first entrance among a
dancing party, see ? In the quadrilles, a suc
cession of graceful bows, taking hold and 'letting
go the tips of the fingers, and skipping around in
a circle, very much after the manner of a com
pany of children on the' sidewalk, on a summer
evening. But in the waltz, he is introduced to
an entirely different sort of movements. - It is
impossible that to a pure-minded person, they
should have the same innocent character with
those which just preceded. These may have,
grown out of the sports of children, the' Others
may rather have been imported from some rude but'
demoralized people, probably „flioni the,Fejee Is
lands or the banks of Nile. Who does mot know
the sort of inspiration which Byron drew. from
the Waltz, and . that such a, mind could - have
found no such un'ivholesome pabulum iti alb sim
ple movements of i the quadrille,? To cur tnin:ds,.
thereis as much difference between the tw,o, as
Attekee _Evangelist, N O . 1159
Ministers 02.50 IL Miss. 02.00
Address:—.l334 Chestnut Street
and Prize fighting;
l Arin' ' al l iii
between
able kV' ' ''' , `"t
euchre. ,
amusemen 4 . _
that .
. 1 . - ,, the more objection
would cease,' , t.
whole
°. were ' 1.• •
such end in vieNti. eßn it abited, th e
_ the ~ .. ted Rat and Stu ''d
gested distinct. ~,, , ~,, up' , and
but • '
see the experiment or , ~, J.. Was with no
would Welcome light on ',. 8 0 9 Ty. way, sug
ary 4 . be WI
querter. ~ g to
The earnest, kindly, and pro/tried, and
letter of a pastor,on the duty of Ce: from
in this regard, will also be read: with ,
STATISTICS OF OUR CHURCH.
1867. 1868,
23 23
109 x.lll
1870 1800
115 121
273 290
1560 ,1590
Synods, ~
Presbyteries,
Ministers,
Licentiates,
Candidates,
Churches
• COmmunicants.
Added.:on::Exam.
"'Certificate,
Whole Nuiiiber, • •
Unknowni
= Bapiisimz
Adulte;
Infunts,
S. S. Membetihiii,
Funds.
General AsEfernbly,
Home MissiOns,;',
Foreign ;
Education,
Publication, ,
Min., Relief,
Congregational,
Miscellaneous.
'N. B. It will be seen that no place is afforded
ft • * •
to the .phurch Erection
. Cause which received
about ,45,50,0,00 last year,
THE FEDPAL. HEADSHIP OP ADAM.—The
Western Presbyterian quotes from A communica
tion in our paper of April 30, in which our' cor
respondent alleged that the Federal Headship
theory is not true and is not. Calvinistic. The
paper in ,question was written by a member of
one of the stricter Presbyterian denominations,
but; that is immaterial. It is quoted to prove
"thal New School men do not hold the doctrine as
stated in the WeStminster Confession, while [Dr.
Shedd's] " Answer" to the " Protest" alleges
that they do hold that opinion. We confess that
we had not noticed and do not now understand
Prof. Shedd'g statement that the New School
Church does hold that doctrine. We saw recent
ly an article in the Baptist Quarterly, in which
the younger Skinner attacks Dr. Shedd for ' not
holding the doctrine himself. Prof. Fisher, in
the New Englander, shows that the Augustinian
school of theology—to which Prof. Shedd be
longst'--do not hold it ; and that, , so far from be
being Calvinistic, it was first brought forward by
the looser,.setni-Pelagian doctors in the 'Council
of Trent, and there opposed , and defeated l;:y the
champion of Augnatinian t orthodoxy—Dominic
Soto. It was adopted—we may add, though
Prof. Fisher does not,—hy Arminius, in a work
ptibliihed in 1604, and was never heard of in the
CalvinistiC Church, unless as an error to be, op
posed, until adduced by the lax theologian Coe
ceius, about the:middle of the seventeenth cen
tury. So much for its Calvinism.
Those Presbyterians, however, who do not 1)e
-neve that " God made a Covenant with, Adam"
do not, therefore, hold what,the Protest seems to
think a corollary of that statement—that Adam's
" posterity did not fall with him, and every 'wan
stands 'or falls for hirriself." They hold, with
the Auburn Declaration, that "by a divine con
stitution [not bargain or " Covenant 1 Adam
was so the head of the race, that, as a conse
quence of his tran,gressions, all mankind became
morally corrupt 'and liable to death, temporal and
eternal."
war We have reprinted the "Auburn Decla
ration" on an inside page. The Old School As
sembly, at Albany, has formally recognized the
New School type of Theology embodied in this
document as "embracing all the fundamentals of
the Calvinistic system!' It has been for a long
time on the, list of our Publication Committees'
Tracts, and may be had at their Store, in this
city.
• War , The National Temperance Convention has
been in se'ssion at Cleveland, 0., Hon. Wm. E.
Dodge presiding. The proceedings are said to
evince some want of preconcerted harmony in the
body.
10891
''8787
168932
8054
13263
7636
161539
7970
4788
4387
163242
49'67
184q7
t • $9723
132,848
108,196
33,678
$9403
120,760
110,349
43,681
15,996 13,986
9;517 10,516
2,342,760. 1,441,086
454,714 350,811
$3,105,180 $3,100,844