abr. Jo'nuA.Weir 15ju1y69 "tin New Series, Vol. V, N'o. 35. $3 00 By Mail. $3 50 By Carrier. 1 50ets Additional after three Months. .1 gmtritan grobgttrin. THURSDAY, AUGUST 270868. THE PRINCETON REHM ON REUNION.* We regard the very large majority given in the Assembly at Albany in favor of the Joint Committee's Basis as a triumphant , testimonial to the Calvinistic orthodoxy of our Branch of the Church, and to the entire safety and expediency of a union with us on that Basis. By that vote, in the face of a minority composed of accomp lished and hitherto unquestioned leaders of that Branch, the Assembly gave honorable proof of its own advance in a safe and orthodox liberality. Supplemented and explained by the Answer to the Protest, in which the Auburn Declaration, or doctrinal Protest of the New School minority of 1837, was recognized in the fullest Tanner as "embracing all the fundamentals of the Calvinis tic 'System," it marks a turning point in the his tory of that body, which has hitherto been under stood all over di& Christian world, to , assume an attitude of superior orthodoxy, especially towards the so-called New School Church. We regard the "Old School" Branch as having by their ac tion at Albany committed themselves in doctrine to all that is essential to the New School position. They have not become TuYlonites, nor have they accepted the moistieud,heresies charged on the New School in Dr. Humphrey's Rif) Tan Winkle Protest, nor have they, consented to allow those heresies in others; (the New School never did ;) but they have solemnly accepted as orthodox the doctrinal statement of the minority 61'1.837, who were cast out of the Church as unsound, with in dignity and violence; and they have, put the ex elusive and revolutionary majority of that era of persecution, in a minority far more decisi've than that, occupied by the New School men of that' day. . But the, majority of the Old School ; Assembly had no idea of heating the minority of 1868 "deb. LA lL vinlenrst nority 0Y1887.. Qn f,heiMMY, they did every thing possible to duciliate them, consistent with the adoption of the Joint Committee's Plan of Reunion; indeed, they . operted .themselves to grave charges of inconsiateficy, for the sake lif showing reverence to the ' fathers, whose wisbei they weye so decidedly OPposing. They adopted that Committee's plan in iota, and • then joined with the minority in a unanimous resolution to seek a radical alteration in the doctrinal article, . . provided our Assernhliw''ould airee to the alter , ation. And when that ,could not heeffeCted they adopted, with-equal unanimity, and 'telegraphed) to our Assetbly, a declaratory •resolution , which only the Answer to'.thd'Pretest could 'save` fibril' the most damaging significance. It is therefore. not ; remarkable that The Prince ton Review, which represehts = the, "defeated; but complimented minority,-*: by .tuirns,' 'diaplettsed• and hopeful at the'action of the Albany ASsem bly. , t With . the Bass,:likself, The. Rcvicw is no I , etter, pleased than was its Editor, Dr. Bodge, in 'he Assembly which adopted it. The .great eV ectiop urged, is'the ambighity'of the doctrinal' rack'. In the judgment df the Reviewer, 'Dr. , 'our'Assembly I all's resolution, telegraphed to . our 'Assembly on Monday night at 10, o'clock, to the effect that no doctrines condemned by . either Assembly should be tolerated in the united Church,- gave the first article a pettie:'Satisfactoryto the basis School; while ottr,,Assemhly adopted the 13asis ~ a allowing-all doctrines,, in, the united; Church, hich had been allowed in the 'New 'School hurch. The Reliifivi6 says, ,Pp. 117, 118: , ~ W e wish explioitlY to guard against the conelu- ,lon hastily adopted - by Many that the doctithal basis a the fii , st article babe liropoSed plan' of union binds he Old School to tolerateany doctrmeethat:tna'yjiave itherto been allowed in ! eitherbady, in ease it. should e adopted. This we have shown to be the New. Sobeol ustruetiou of it. . . . But it is equally capable a construction which permits the Old School to de-: jrtine for themselves, and in accordance with'their 'st history, what is essential to the integrity of the . lvinistio system, .and what doctrines at any time llowed in either church are inconsistent with .it. • e are therefore not bOurtil'to the looser construction fit., when it Is iiiiiallY capable of the strioter:" l: ' it a" • We agree with Dr..: o..ge as to the ambiguity .f the language of this:finsterticle, and, as our peaders 'are aware, 46...corr&ponded with the au. 'hor 'of the pbrastiorp l ',,,, li, , T .i # 1 t i tin, 'Di. Gurley, i that very.poi l ot . j ot.',/e:il , ag'ard all this am, / 4 i0111:ty as removed,agol,s,Xply Sehool sense as 'loritatively to' diCw‘rdiiii in ; the Old is well as th'e'Neir POdol Ainleinbly; in .-;,.,. f ., , ~ ,t : .; 'by' the' 'Arreiher!to -h the,. Protetst, *inch the for .thi text of illtelcillesiinit disaliaskin' lonoluding artieletiitr the' J'airiningber of the Review: .iThe General Nesemblyi"laud "The ad Answer.;'We have egoista p,,f sheen.ap lot of one mind,, but the . nconsititency, - of their. 'is notieiti ia'the ' Oonaitidiiii part' id" dor ti& - tggests ' a, dual authorship - i& it n queitidit Prinoeton ie -agreed• in itself ;on thewix&. lemsnts in the /maim 'intlaimat,:,,,, 1. ,..,-: 1, corresponds to Dr. ,Hickok's• report in the New School body. Dr. Hickok says, "If the man is not out of the pale of his former Church's ortho doxy, he cannot be in danger from any ecclesias tical court's rigidity or bigotry." Now the New School views of orthodox doctrine, if embodied in any document outside the Confession and the' Bible, are found in the Auburn Declaration. But the Albany Angwer to the Protest describes this very document as an authoritative statement; of the New School type of Cslvinism, and as em= bracing "all the fundamentals of " the Calvinistic faith." If then, the only published declaration of the measure of our orthodoxy is recognized by the otheriparty to the union as embracing all that is essential to orthodoxy, we have beforehand.per fectly harmonious explanations 'of the meaning of the doctrinal article. Dr. Hickok's Special Report and the, Albany Answei have taken from, the doctrinal article all the ambiguity which Dr. Hodge and ourselves equally Ivbserved. .But this interpretation is subversive of the position of the Review as, above quoted., It takei from .the Old School, in the event of Re-union, the right " to determine for themselves, what is es.sentialto the integrity of the Cavinistic system, and what doc trines at any time allowed in either 'Church are inconsistent with it," The doctrines, of the Au burn Declaration are already declared by the Old. School Assembly to be consistent with it, at the same time that they are described as representing the New School type of theology. The elements of confusion and contlict . groiving out of a contra dictoky interpretation of the Basis„ which we our selves once feared, and which,tileißeviewer con tinues to anticipate, as a.consequeece of Re-union on the,Basis, are removed, unless the able .minctri ty of the Old School ,Should - Undertake to make trouble; in which calm we predict that' they will hiVe! a hard road to 'travel. But the. B,eviewer casts in his lot with the Pio testers.i,. The Auburn declaration, equally, with the *0 School subscription of the Confession, failsi hiS :view, to establish the Orthodoxy of our i bb4 ;l4. 6 lt is'a' fact ? " nays this Obstinitp se co..o.ref- e the errors specified. in the*.protest ,are taught, Without let or hindrance, in the New .School body !" " Thede , doctrines," he , continues,•" are taught with the greatest 'cleareess in books pub lished by. the ,New School •CoMmittee, and over the names of some of the,ir most . distinguished men,"—a pure fabrication of a mind panic-struck with absurd fear - of it-union with the 'objects of its groundless, but, inveterate prejudices, and a libel upon a respectable business agepcy, whose, character for orthodoxy is an essential element of its success. . But had the Reviewer been prepared to allow that ate Auburn Declaration truly represented, the•Neir School type of theology, it nowhere ap pears . that Matters would have been much Mended in his esteem. "'We demur; he says, "to the statement, [in the Answer to :thn Protest] as to the satisfactory : character of that Declaration.", And this is all he does say on.that very important matter.. He "demurs," and then. is silent. 'To not a few, thi4 silence is equiiraiint to a reluctant admission of the, orthodoxy of the ,Auburn Decla ration; but we :are not, in this generation proba bly, going to enjoy the spectacle of 'a frank con cession, in the Prine 'Reidete, of a position which . dearly inVerveS' the' orthodox of the New, School Cliurch. ,Yet the Review is sagacious . .1 to ;venture to assail the orthodoxy of, that peel* ? ration. , • , , But the 'inconsistent conduct of the majority at Albany gives a certain tone of hope to the Re viewer. He, takes great courage from the Hall= Humphrey, amendment which he regards as set tling the Old School interpretation otthe• Basis. Much does he also expect from the'`movement to proctire an alteration in the doctrinal article, unanimously recommended by . their ,Assembly to ours, And which, with a certain absence of a fine, sense of propriety, is still pushed in the others body, and favored by some 'of the majority, in spite of its failure to pass our body, and. in 'spite of theinnderstanding that, in case of failure, the &Pint doMinittee's Basis, whole and entire, was to be the sole objective point of their efforts. We • are not,llPw concerned with the seeming incon-• sigteneieti' and weakngsses of our friends in the ma jority Of the other . ; A:seritbly ; but we wish to know_ what coMfort the Reviewer, on 'his own ground in these artiples, can, possibly take in ,the prospect of the unqualified adoptiou of the Con fession of Faith as the :`doctrinal Basis of -Re union? He says; "When both bodien Confide inl each other sufficiently to ratify union on this granitic, stratum, then may we hope it will abide on this deep and broad foundation." But how is such confidence possible towards a.Church *hich,' in spite its present subscription to" the' Confession, uotortotmlY, and freely .allows 'both in. be pulpit and byltiie l prenl, the teaching, of 4e PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, / AUGUST 27, 1868. errors specified in the Protest ?---a Church which, in the Reviewer's opinion, no more proves the sincerity of its adherence to Calvinism', by its sub scription to the Westminster Standards, than the rationalistic Lutherans of Germany, the, Socinian clergy of Geneva, the Deistie:Reformed Church of ; ; Holland, and the Arminian Episcopalians prove their orthodoxy by suberihing to the va rious orthodox Confessions of their churches and countries. "It matters not,",ays the Reviewer, " how orthodox that [the . Auburn] Declaration l i may be. There ,is no more difficulty in recon , cilingthe adoption of that bclaration,and the toleration of the specified erro , than the adop tionEL of the Westminster Confe sion with such tok eration." In other words , th New School men have no sense of , the moral obli don of subscrip tion to any doctrinal basis.Ai i nd it cannot possi blyie mend matters to persuade to, sign the Con fession pure and simple. Eve the truly ortho dox• among us, says the Review r ) insist, on, tole rating the errors which the Pro st denounces. On any such, opinion of the New Scliool body, the Princeton Review is bound,in all consistency, and upon all fair and honorable principles, to discountenance utterly the attempt at. Re-union it • • on • on any Basis. Advocacy of e-union Confession is but an enticement to, our branch , to involve ourselves more deeplylin gross sin, and peril tosour souls. The RevieWer cannot believe that the mere acceptance of the Confession as a, basis of Re-union would at onh . e:purge off tli'd heresies domPlained of in the Protest, from those who'haVe already iiiibscribd le Confession in' other relations: lie must intend, either (1) to create disgust in the minds ofe School with. the Restiiiion moVement, LA break off the intended match,'4 . (2) to get us under the liar ; Err row (A' that great Old School' majority, _wh i ch expected tii.rictaii§iii the ITniter and to pit oceed'at once to chscip!ine, as was intimated by speatere during the debate in thl'Aibaby Assem -17 !, bly.. The `utterances of the Princet , 'Reibw, as the, representative of 'the ,badly` ted" minority, tratriaria — tto - VilhoWeva%Ati - ' , .._ our eiffuinns:., l But we cannot overlook the position shown by theinajority of the Old School body to conciliate, and, in part 4 sUll to follow the well-remembered tones 4:4* their oldidaders; The complete eniatiapation of tha.bld Sella:a Church from the shackles of exclusivism is Yet so far a prOblem, that the declarationS of" the Princeton contintie, tor, the :present to have some TEMPERANCE 'IN 'MASSACHUSETTS.' By a Sie'cial Cor'reapondlent. "The Prohibitory Law •has been prostrated in Massachusetts: The reverie is greater in see Ming ing than in.reality. Whole columns of The Ainfri can Presbyterian 'Might 'be Iprofitably 'given to a full hi'st4y of 6'4 case ; but to spare 'Your space I will ccmdense to the utmost - "That I have' to say.' BOstott" is j'ealtsia of its waning, trade. Men Who 'conic) Oh here to bAy a' few hundredyards of prints, bbister''againat "Puritanic` laws." That against smoking in the htreets was repealed to.please them. Many good' 'men think that an entire closhre .offlbarii, theaters, gamblers'' dens, 'and brothels would' drive , to New York valuable ens tomers'wholove miscere utile cum dulci.' Hence a strong bias agaitist Prohibition in Boston Boston manufactured over $1 1 ,000,000 of liquor in 1860 in eleven establishments, averaging over $lOO,OOO , each. It iniports liquors also for nearly all New• Englan d; and= its retail trade ; connived at by tb'e citypolice, has been enormous. • • The-influence of Harvard University is against total. abstinence. Some half-dozen 'of its profes sors testified againstinthibition before - the Leg islature. The amiable Agaisiz, an authority in the geological world, even ventilates his opinions in the Agricultural Report for 1868, and. before the Legislature boldly said , " intemperance is un known in the vine-groWing Countries !" The Roinish priests were unanimous against Prohibition. This is suicidal in them, for alcohol is all that has saved ,us from, the sway of their disciples. r A kill s , a, larger.portion,of them than ratsbane: does of our rats,, or " cobalt 'or arsenic, of our flies. But it is a costly paddy-bane, as it also crams our jails and. pooi-houses with Irish. I saw two wash-tnbS,rif codfish a i rak, for the: breakfast of the Catholic : ,inmates of Tewksbury almshouse on a Friday-morning. It is fanny to seethe priests sawing 4;ff the limb on which they aro porolied. But a teetotal Papist'' is very ' apt to leaVe his Ohtirch. For an,exterminatoigiie me the press rather than the still. Bishop Eantburn, of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts,- also: testified 4&11' that side. LSb did!four of the most' emineht"Ceigrigitional Ministers' of tfiii ii State; Dr. Blagden, of the Old,Sout4; Dr kdims the; dietingiiished„author;- Dr. Todd, oppp, of delphia, and his son in Boston. They are pastors' of four churches, equal perhaps to any other four in the denomination, unless we call H. W. Beecher a Congregationalist. Dr. Adams even dared to say that he thought " that the strong sober com mon sense of the clergy of - our denomination is that way."' As' the General Association voted unanimously the other way, not four months af ter, "sober common sense" must have staid away. tip to this time the cry had been " Repeal, the law because it cannot be executed." Gov. Andrew interposed his veto repeatedly to prevent the or ganization of a State Constabulary demanded by the friends of the law; and the second year they accepted the best ,he would let them have. He afterwards be:came - the 'paid lawyer ,of the liquOr : dealers to overthrow the Prohibitory Law, sharing that labor and its emolumentwith Linus Child, the "venerable Boston merchant" who advocated the cause of ,the American Board at Harrisburg, being also 'its legal adviser and a member of its Prudential Committee. It had now become clear that the law - Would be enforced unless "repealed., The unsentenced convicts who could escape 'jail: only by a victory at the polls were numbered by the thousand: They had ex hausted the last - legal qiiibble, and now resorted to " a 'secret organization, the P. L. L., which ex tended over the State with the pristine, power Of the Know-Nothings. It sent to Boston the meanest Legislature (so its very friends confess) that ever met there., They say that Gov. Bul ldek only secured his re : election by a pledge not td veto its license-bill. Its majorities were ample, but obtained by working inside of the two parties, not in a fai r !. They were months in making their bill. The Governor denonneed 'A l in am i es aage, and Jet it pass unsigned 'But, he vetoed the abolition of the State Con- . stabulary, and it still remains a most 'efficient in stitution; forthidable to gailiblers, and both able and willing' to prkforee the Probibitory LaW,slOuld it be re-enacted'in,the' Very words in which. it stood when tke qgiremp Court overruled e.v.ery ioillsfelCriraVtiTtitdagaf aautneen could pick in it: The experiment of t c.Proluliitory Law is as perfect a success` as the magnetie tele graph : the queStiOn now for the people of Massa ehUSetts is, will they have it or no ? This ques tion cannot' be evaded or long .postponed., The Republicans will be obliged' to nominate Lieut. Goy: claflin n for Governor thisfall, in response to the demands of ' the . 'ProhibitiOnist's., The Men, who disciraced' our legislative halls last winter can' never go agairi l but . the power that 'his sue eessfrilfY defied the - national arm and compelled Congress to 'remit its 'severe whisky-4x, may yet thwart the will of the people again and again in wayti'we cannot see. The'Congregationaliits i aye somewhat sore on the present aspect of the question. There can not be over a half dozen of its ministers who ire ~~ %' ~ openly opposed to the 'Prohibitory .T.,aw, arid. the lay minority is equally insignificant in numbers. But ihis'ininority have wealth and. position.. To them it was quite natural to wish to see the action of the General Association of 1867 re versed, or at least superseded by,something • niore palatable. Itls whispered that the details of. the meeting of 1868" Were arranged in Boston. For. intrigues of this kinfi,free-jointed Congregation- ismaffords more Opportunity than stiff Presbyte rian rules of proceedure. ' A Boston lawyer was Moderator. Mr. Childs was .on the Bigness Committee and on that on Temperance. Dr. Adams led the devotional ex ercises of the last morning. A speaker at that Meeting who iiitiOduce,ff the topic of temperane was stopped. The resolittions on , temperance were acceptable to ,the anti-prohibitionist and were reported too late for debate. Dr. Todd preached the sacramental sermori. : Dr. Adams broke the bread. The former preaches total ab stinence, but the latter does "not believe in that doctrine." Aside l from their'agency in the de , , feat of prohibition, there, was no reasonable ob, jection to' this assignment of parts ; Int it seems to have'been made as a . demonstration that 'the church was, willing to sustain them in the course which they' bad taken; whereas it was but their position and their talents that prevented'their ac tion fr . = ruining thein:' Bat the plOtters if such there were,' received one .check.. , A resolution commending prohibition; introduced . with diffi , cuity,lwas passed nem. con. ' , the iconnection of Dr. Adaies and Linda Child with the American Beard is an unPleasaut mat ter..: How much it , hasite dcpwith its deficit no Dian ;can know. But. bodyi transacting its bus ineas in twenty natibns Leannot. easily. change -its lawyer.' :No conceivable legal. lore i eouldisuppli the lossi iof many , years? experiencefliCthis t pecu liar fieid ,r And when` either force of- pitblici sen timent.Or death shall:sever' Mr:: Child's 'eonnee. tion with the, Board, his, logs will be . ~ l ong and -t, Evangelist, No. 1162 46-I.misters $2.50 H. Miss. A.ditiess:-1334 $2.00. Chestnu ; ination is 39 nearly gifted a the d r erj , on) of total abstinence of one of '` • 414.e5ti44',8 quarter of a eit,nijn 'afford to mi both. Still botiN --er ate a I hope I have sai,.. t ,; t e th s ) :: fo ' t , /113 hea d r fro n m ea ft lY o: present temporary defe only possible remti4ling P° V.6 444 se t s z n. the greatesttriumphs of rightc rat th humanity, and justice over the sd e combination of self-interest, wealth Sie Rum in•MnSsachusetts,,butfor this vici t 6 have been .where Rebellion in the South have been, 'bid Booth's bullet missed its ma. Both have bnePOstP'oned their inevitable fate. Not anothei experiment is needed and our next complete vidory in the legislature can not fail to suppress 'all open retail traffic in alcoholic liquors as a beverage. lIYLEIL air, At the recent Yearly Meeting of the So ciety of [Orthodox] Friends in this city, Daniel M'Pherson,- a Western .minister, : was present on "a religious - visitr but, as is common in the West, not 'in " Friendly " garb. Twenty prominent Friends thereupon signed and sent him a paper expressnag their "settled conviction" that it would not be proper for him " to visit in the capacity of a minister, any of, the meetings comprised in this:Yearly; Meeting, or to occupy a seat in front of any meeting," basing this re sult on the fact, that lid did;'! not value the tes timony of religiously concerned Friends, who are consoientiottsly.bo,und to uphold with faithfulness the Christian testimony to plainness of dress, speech and'helmionr.", As all Quaker business is despatched in, this ; informal way, according to the feelings of " concerned Friends," Daniel had only, to, submit, or there would have been a quiet and impressive, row over his recusancy. • •• • Da' Bishop Colenses heresies axe bearing fruit In strange quarters. Quite a number of the younger meinlirs 'th'e. Society of Friends in Lancashire, and , especially in Manchester, have avowed their , agreement With the results of his Biblical driticism. As 'might be supposed the " weightier " frienda'are greatly concerned at this state of things. • Some of 'them are inclined to trace sceptical tendency to the Quakerish exalta tion of " the inward Light" • above the written Word, and a 'hook has recenti t y'appeared, in which a . niernber of the Society charlgkis a Deistical and sceptical tendeucy.Upo'n'Barcl'ay's Apology itself, —the very Cilvin's of -Quhiensm. Or onae philanthropic people have been fill , jug papers,and ,magazines with not very edifying details,about the, wickedest man in New York, the keeper of a low dance-house, rnd his condi tional conversion— It appears that he has been using, he temporary netoriety secured for him by these foolish puffy to , gain, custom. It would heivery / hard to fix on " the wickedest man", le such, a ,city' as .New ,York, but old an alogious,would lead into look . for him inside as well as outside,,the,churches.,, I The , project. to ' divide this .Episcopal diocese into two, having failed to secure the votes of the two-thirdS"mdjority of churches and com municants in the proposed new diocese of Lehigh —RS required by the late diocesian Convention— . . on the first bellot, another " ' grand rally" is to .1i 4 be made to secure 'this result. Bishop Stevens urges it as reqUired by, the feeble state of his health, and assisted , at a meeting recently held at Reading with this view.' Irthis new movement should result in changing the vote of those with whom the matter 'rests, the new diocese will be geographically much larger, but numerically much 'weaker` than the digcbse' of Philadelphia. the strength - of the denomination. lies in the city itself, Where the Episcopal' Church, mainly,' through accessions fran'the old Quaker element,, is more powerful and influential, and, as a eonse qUenee . ;,less ingotted and intolerant than in any, other city ofthe continent. - But there is room. for improvement even here. a Romanist -Tapers, ,of .Xurope, annonnoe,„ for about the .twentieth timei and with as much truth as in, the °Aker nineteen instances, that Dr. Pusey, has," made ; his peace with, .the Church," and joined;tle,ll,,ornish communion. , That cry of, " Wolf:" has heep puede so , often, that no one wi11... believe it, when! it does come, if it ever does.. i Prussia is !to'' 'add another' ite the list of Interdaticinal 4;xhibitiods! le l' to . be ' locate& ueartiterlin, aridepsued in 11111.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers