®te Iwmcati ftoMrowi IsTew Series, Vol. JohnAtWeir Strictly in Advance $2.50, Otherwise $3. \ Postage 20cts, to he paid where delivered, j gmmtait Ifeslnjtmaii. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1869. THE CHURCH’S STANDING MIRACLE. “All the variations of fortune in her wildest cat prices, lilting peasants to a throne, and depressing kingßto a dt(ngfc6ii; : are idle as the changeful shad owings of an evening cloud, when compared with that solitary hour when He who stands at the' door and knocks iS first consciously admitted by the loving heart of a repentant believer.” There is taking place in the Church, everyday and every hour/a miraole of a character so open and unquestioned, so beneficent in its effects and often so impressive, that • it. is convincing proof of a'Supernatural presence and power. It is not in the form of supremacy over the ioutward world, over diseased bodies, or defective Bodily senses, over the fruits of the earth or the storms of the sea. He who wrought these mighty i works, forewarned us that His followers should see greater things than these. Nor has it any thing to do with that daring device of priestly ambition, so akin to heathen jugglery,' by which morsels of bread and drops of wine are lyingLy declared to be changed into the veritable-body and blood of the Lord. One mu9t already believe blind ly in the divinity of those calling themsclvei the Church, before one can believe in a miracle, Which bears in itself no evidence whatever’ of being such. ' Nor do we refer to the continued existence bf the Church in the midst of a sinful world, full of opposition, often raging against the Church, often seeming to bring the gates of hell into the battle, yet always finding it founded' Un a rook 1 and unable, to prevail against it, ! leaving it strong er and fresher, and leaving its Scriptures more authoritative and better understood,'as the result of every attack. These things, indeed, recur ring from age to age, constitute the Church itSclf a standing and sublime miracle. Ter this we do not now refer, but to those' daily occurrences Of a supernatural character which mdrk and' glorify thr ' ncr history of the Church itself. "- ’ 1 je in. -ory We mean the marvel -'of 3 ' mean the miracle .wroughtin the moral natore of man; the healing of the palsy, the leprosy, the lameness, the blindness dumbness and deafness, the fever and the lunacy of Bin. We mean the stilling of the inward tempest of remorse, of the struggles of selfishness and duty, of procrasti nation with conscience, of the love of the world i with the pleadings of the Holy Ghost, of the terrors of the law with the dawning hope of par don through a Saviour’s blood. We mean the ! summoning of souls from the tomb.-of carnality,, of self-righteousness, of unconcern, from dead- in trespasses, and in sins to a resurrection more marvellous and more needful than the resur rection of the body. Although man’s part in this work of conver sion is definite, simple, and of the highest impor tance and necessity,, it is none the less a miracle. The owner of the withered hand was" ordered to stretch it forth, but a miracle was wrought as, with the whole force of his inward will, he obeyed the command. And the converted sinner, best of all, knows that the change in which all the active: powers of his soul were engaged, is a miracle of grace. To he born again; to be born of the Spirit, after being born of the flesh ; to be raised from that total catastrophe of our moral nature, the fall, to the beginnings of a life of perfect’ purity' and holiness; to have the power of selfishness broken up, and that of love put in its place; .to have the tyranny of the world and the idolatry of covetousness replaced by spiritual-mindedness and breathings after heaven ; to see the churl be come bountiful, the miser become liberal, the drunkard become temperate, the profane become a man of prayer; to see whole licentious, cruel, eannibal, savage communities become orderly;' civilized, gentle, Christian people; to see the raging blood-thirsty chief of such a people changed into a lamb, and filled with zeal to make amends for the. ruin ho had wrought; to see whole districts of the vilest and most sunken. neighbor hoods of our great modern cities raised to clean liness, order, thrift, virtue, and hopefulness for this life and ,ther next, by the power of the simplest Christian appliances—-these are the miracles which the Church has brought with her down from apostolic times, and they are the everywhere visible proofs of hA divine origin and authority. To remove your doubts ofi the truth of Chris tianity, and of the claims of its institutions, you need not study dry volumes Cjf .evidences. You need but attend to living facta-in the history of the Ohurch and its missions at home and abroad; you need but look around you and behold the living epistles of the Church kbowri and read of all men; you need but experience in your own heart that blessed change, which carries with it 15ju1y69 v V/* a power of conviction more irresistible than the most faultless logic of the schools. It is‘these miracles, which never cease, that give the world such a settled conviction, after all, of the truth of Christianity, and that rhnder the persistent ef forts of infidelity to undermine its foundations so nugatory. , Christian worker ! take courage. The Jaws of God’s world of grace are so arranged that the re sult of faithful praying laborers'shall evefbe mir acles. Continue to plant and to water, and- God will give the increase. Thank God IHe is doing it to-day. ( t ' . "" ’’ ' 1 THE FREEDMENs—OIfR NEW GENERAL ■;aHenj. ,'■ ; - !■;: .The appointment of an. excellent and, experi enced Christian gentleman,, a member of the. So ciety of Friends, as General Agent of ,our .Com mittee’s work among the Freedmen, is worthy, qf notice’ It ..certainly shows the purpose,, of the, Committee to employ whatever, agency, in their judgment, is most likely, to,promote the great end in view, irrespective of. the. quartet: from, which it:is obtained. . In.a denomination as.largcs, intel ligent and zealous in the cause as our ’oyn has. been, it does seem a little singular that a suitable and efficient Secretary could pot he ,foun,d. ' jßpt. that we now have spch a Secretary, and one pos sessing qualifications in the line, of, a ,wide and happy, experience in the work, perhaps (not to he ; found in any denomination in the country, is cer tain, and a matter for congratulation^. Mr. Mitchell addressed the -Pastors!, Associa tion on Monday of last wepk,. in a manner that quite .won their, hearts. He alluded to, the Buy ing of George. Fpx: “We are nothing}'.,Christ is all,”, as illustrating the spirit.in whichj, the posi tion had boon offered to him Jby, our Committee. He referred to the honorable record of our de-. nomination on the qubj ect of slavery, qn.d qmpha r sized especially,.the, call of . our .C.omipittee, in, their November circular, for cplpred teachers. So. far as he knew, ours, , the first chureh organi zation which had shown this,genefoua.confidencq,' ■in the otdoreff: raeo. , He spoke of the extraordi nary iatoroot felt ia the elevation ofthaFrood ■men by the. philanthropists and people of Great Britain. He had, been asked,, when visiting them, in behalf of, this cause: 3>a, the Christian .people of America know.that they have the-grandest,pp-j portunity for doing -good of .modern times, ;in, elevating these four millions of freedmen ? _He said there ;were persons, in England riding in, third class cars that they might have the,means of giv ing to this ; . ” , . ,■5 ; ’ Mr. Mitchell’s plans of labor among the freedr men seem to be the result of great deliberation and sagacity,. What they want, he says, is guid-, ance. They need to be instructed in all depart ments of thought and life. He considered their eagerness and aptitude for learning as worthy a' place among the remarkable phenomena of our day. Their religious character needs to be mould ed rather , than overturned. Hence the 'work, to be- done, among them, is emphatically, such as the right sort of school teachers [were pecu liarly qualified to perform. Some fifty teachers are already at work in the employ of our,. Com mittee and the, call is for more., ....... Already Mr. Mitchell has commenced visiting the churches and has made a favorable impres sion. We belicye he will find our people every where ready with a warm and practical welcome for his cause. The tipe is highly favorable for a recommencement of the work. Under thein cominsr administration, the immense difficulties in the way of every kind pf effort for the freed men resulting, from a half-suppressed rebellion, and a lurking remnant pf slavery, will nearly if not quite disappear. The .protection of our gpv* eminent will be a reality in Texas and in,Georgia, as it long has been in Austria, and in post parts, of the Union itself And while the opportunity which we hoped for four years ago has now first fully come, the withdrawal pf the Freedmen’s Bureau- gives to the opportunity the form of ne cessity. Every voluntary and religious organi zation must be worked to its full capacity to sup ply the great deficiency caused by the cessation of that great National Bounty. The time has come for action, as never before. And at length our denomination is harnessed for* the work! Providence has really seemed to wait for ns. liet us reverently accept the hand he holds out for us and go heartily and zealously to the work. —That Christian people, and. especially youth, should mingle to a certain-/extent with the social festivities of the season, and [share personally, in their amusements,-is; of course, to ,be. expected. We would no more attempt, to hinder, it than tp prevent their laughing. It is the dangerous and) unreasonable excess in these,; amusements,, that alarms us. It is the devotion of. Christian, peo PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1869. pie to worldly gayety that we cannot see with in difference. . It is the rage for party-goijig and party-giving; it is the plunging into a Scarcely interrupted round of entertainments, costly, pro longed far. into the hours for | healthful plumber, made dizzy with the whirl of immoral dances, if not also with intoxicating drinks, and sometimes varied with a motley masquerade; it is ex travagant indulgences, allowed, to interfile with times of serious of, spiritual refteshiDg, and of special efforts, and,successes in thht ( ,anxietieg for Christiansqjid the. Church itself A. masquerade, forsopth l^.j^hris- : tian people, hoping that they are clothed jp the white robes of a Saviour’s righteousness,, fo . ;1 \ .■; V.’ *r.v jj.r lower to t fche f follies 3 and to themselves to the perils of a masquerade ball! 'lt ,is often said, .the line must be drawn .some where, fn distinguishing (Christian from' the world. If .there are just doubtp piy some. ' amusements, masquerading certainlyeannobhave the benefit of. .any such doubly emit. belongs Clearly to jthe other, side,, was ’long ago anticipated by in f his “Faradise s Lost,” olafHwJnntstyp* ' Mixed dance, and wan ton ball.” :j . - ‘ THE_ i Agaip our news’ cojuiniis.‘heginffo be crowd ed with statements therefore brief, of the wprkings -in the churches.. Deferred fo a Ijitej-.perhaps than last year,' the gracious visitation, which has pot been wanting a single'year since the close of the war, Jeefmß- not tibout-to' be ‘denied’ for the’ year just begun. Whether it will prove as last ing and as fruitful as' those that havepreceded, none-eattritow say'; 'Rttt its-pto]foftidfis,';w : ith : B(&he suddenness have become, or have suddenly her come known as wide-spready embracing churches in alLpartstof thq North 1 and W ( 6Bt; f > : atid ,J inclu ding all the evangelical denominations ih the reaCh of its blessings. vOhr ’i reddhii'»Eallffihd/il lustrationsfof.tliesh remarks in ; cur'd wn'deniEiSfii-• natiohah’newsvfour ’oiiyicoluiinhy ‘and-ihihe re ligious intelligence xm ~tke qmfonth ssgd \<sj' the paper. '■ id:: t sew "4 sr- y: ■ v. b \ ‘ Two things'in'the way of - admonition "suggest themselves at such a time. (1.) How small a proportion of‘the mieinhership/'even of revived'' Church, are revived .with the 1 Church! Often,the ’ praying and the working, are done. by. a,• mere h'andful; and they not at all,'the . most influential in the church." .Cod chooses . the weak things of the world, children, women,'- to confound the .things that are mighty. And yet hoW;depldrar ble, how amazing the sight of, p, large! body of the members of a chuich failing to put a right estimate upon shch : ah occasion ; shewing, buti wardly languid interest ; ‘Allowing trivial and wofl'diy engagements to hinder their partici pation in; the w.ork,. in a word, refusing tp take, up their cross and follow their-,Master, andiden tify themselves with Him and his people in labor ing, for the salvation, r of souls! How whole neighhoMbods 1 would"’be‘ reached and shaken,, and whpt (immeasurable results wouldr follow, if every revived Ghupch were revived in every one, of its members; if it were throbbing with'soul/ and .energy, and faith, and wrestling prayeV ih' every part! A whole godless city was once! made to tremble ,at;tlie earnest,preaching of a single prophet; what city in Christendom would not be shaken to its centre,' and turned upside down, if every one of its churches were .once vitalized in every,member? Can , this be done ? It sure ly must be; if tie gospel- is to triumph by the instrumentality of-God’s people.- 2. Alas! ho' majority, we fei [Revival season, experience, of i. f' many churches;' how great a pr,.of the bliurches at ahy given j, know not anything of the glad L Reviypl! ; The reyived churches are often isolated. The breath of the Spirit bears them jojously on, while dead calm rests on all the region ground. The outwardly unrevived Church, may. Indeed, by no means always be, in a dead, cold pr unfruitful state'., But it seems to us, Ho churih maintaining as a rule a really healthful condition, can be witbou.t its seasons of special intereit. Indeed, such' a , church, with its well prepared soil and adjusted instrumen talities, is theivery one most likely to make good use of a tithe of special refreshing', and will spring with the greatest .promptness to respond to the favorable indications of the Spirit.' It is not to this/class that the,unrevived churches be long. , Tbpy are the eoldj the worldly, the formal; the divided and disorganized; those vacant church es who ape looking outfor ah. eloquent Apolloß, rather tian a faithful and pungent Paul ; those who are giving out of their abundance' only a .starving price for their minister, or who are. suffering God’s house, by neglect, to become an ; offense and a scandal, instead-of-an attraction to theVommupity; who'are pstrapgjng- pr neglecting the young and hopeful material, and suffering them to stray away into other folds; churches where needful discipline has been sadly neglected, and the garden of the Lord is overgrown with vile weeds j where Sabbath-breaking trades and occupations have been tolerated, and where drinking customs have dribbled in like a subtle poison, from the wine presses of native vineyards j churches whose gay members run through ail the dizzy round of the pjgasures uncheck ed and unwarned from the half-sympathizing pulpit; churches shrivelled^Up 1 into a- conserva tive dread of such a thing as a revival, and who are Dying'S pulpit and pews, of the; proprieties 1 . r r .Id.tb® B , e a pd ip almost all. unrevived churches, thereia yet some salt j there are, it is to, be hoped, a praying, mourning .few, who,.take .pleasure: in the fallen; stones, of JZion..Let them not be disheartened. ri Let pastor, and people, who. have, long b ee .n praying and waiting, think whether they areindeed ready, humbly anpl selfidenyingly, to go. : tQ,jWork .foSi Jes,us and fori sjmls. Let. them be sure that faith,. prayer and labor, are never in vain, in . the- ; kingdom . of; grace;, and nowy espe- let them expect to. sec them .crowned with.rich je.ward.: TOE UNCHRISTIAN ABOMINATION 1 OF EX CLUsmsM, ■ ■ ■ • Extraordinary demonstrations of narrow-mind ed tenacity about the.minutife of forms, the jots and tittles of ■thd:J , a ; # ; ' , fc6htinue to' be‘, ! made by iGhrjktiah'''jpyople', ' calEhg theinscWek,'' and'' on manjr;‘other ! accotfnts propferljr, 'Eyarigelioal.' ' ‘ 4t‘!^P^nf : 'otireSJp(>nilhht;'wid&s: * . “ The 'close’ communion' .question is.hardly _ pushed 1 by the' more liberal ‘Baptist!;' and’ -the ‘ loyal *to priricipie and ‘tradition 1 ’’ okily try'Eo ’carry ithein point, with'thetmore vigori GaseS of disci plineare gyen-talked,pf,foif communing .uijawfullyi ;witb.‘..the.^unjbaptize.df* a ~, . ...., j Thq-JSscapiinerand lOfirojpicle (New -F ork) says: ' ‘‘ We iareinformed that the Fifth Ayenue-Bap- > itistj qburehjOf,thiS;eity,.pn ,Friday ..evening '.last, ■ , ‘ unanimously,resolved to withdraw itsfellowship .from Crammohd Kennedy, for .holding and prp mulgating doctrines not J field'brahhfc f church,, Or the. church at Jerusalem, as described’in the Acts’ ’of the Apostles;'. .This isprompt and’ definite.” Mr: Kcndedy was known some years ago, as ’the “ Boy preacher ” among our-Baptist breth ren. Reoently he has declared ' for communion with Evangelical Christians; and for' this grave’ offence against the’'sect-spirit of his denomina tion, one after 'another of the churches'' are oast ing hiia out. An act which brings him. nearer to JeSusp makes him- a’heretic in 'the ’ eyes ! of ! onr modern Pharisees.’ Where’ according to such a judgment \fould be John Bunyatf, Wilv liams, B.ob4rf l Hall,‘aad Mr; Spurgbon? - f " n ’ A writer in the same paper urgge that baptized (*. je. dipped)' persons, who are members of- other than Immersibnist churches-cannot be ’admitted to communion: '• i ' “ They have not the Church-membership—they do not belong to aT. loyal-constituency:, i No one’ who believes, ,as eyery , Baptist .-.does, that- ‘ a Church is a congregation of baptized believers,’ :oan Pedobaptist organization a Church.” ■■. ::l r • 5) •! W;i i: .'■ r! Talk of. Pusey or Pope Pius after this ! MINOR TOPICS. —What the Roman patholics'would like to'do in the.way of proselytizing the ffeedmen of the South, we learned long ago. What they, actually are doing, is certainly much below their wishes and plans;— in Tact, if we "are to. believe 1 the tea-, timoriy of their own priests, amounts very nearly to nothing at al,l. Two of, these priests belonging to New ( York'city, are now making a tour, of the Southland one of them, Father Malone, is writing the results of his observations among the Freed men’s schools. He speaks in most., hopeful and generous terms of. the schools under Presbyterian and National control ini Charleston, but gently reproves .the ,National Protestant Association for. the* spirit in whieh;' in his judgment, it carries on a school in Savannah. His language, just at this point, bears directly, upon the question with which we Started. We quCte from the letter as given by the N. Y.Tribune: “ Yet,, we Catholics have no reason, to be cen sorious, as we have scarcely made an effort any where in tlris great wdrk of justice "and mercy. I must mention, in this connection; that the Bi shop of Savannah has brought from France, Sis ters of the Order' of St. Joseph, to teach the Blacks, hut they are foreigners; they speak our language very imperfectly, and must, therefore, failito accomplish much for them.' In fact, the Blacks are like;; other people; they prefer- send ing their children to be educated by those , who speak English well, and where, the school ac commodation is complete.” —The Morning Post declares that it would he. “ downright religiousperseoution” of the Mormons to pass,Senator Cragin’s bill,forbidding Polygamy, aqd-making it unlawful for. the officers of the Genesee Evangelist, 3STo. 1186. j Home & Foreign Miss. $2 00. I Address:—l334 Chestnut Street Church of the Latter Day Saints to grant divor ces and solemnize marriages. Suppose we had, itt one of onr remote territo ries, a so-called religions community, one of whose articles of belief justified horse-stealing, and made the religious leaders ofthe" community judges of the right of property in horses ; would a National Enactment against- hoise* thieving he regarded by the Post as “ ddwnright religious persecution”? The churches of the South had agreed, several years before the war, more or less distinctly, to recognize the rightfulness of slavery as an article of their creeds; does' the Post regard the procla -matiohs, and the national legislation, which did ftway with the dreadful wrohg of American sla very Ss ‘‘ dovVnrightTeligiOuspersecution”? And mpst we. be involved in open war with polygamists . before we> can See it ! to be right to assail their ‘‘ peculiar institution ”? We trust the matter will receive inahly add decisive treatment at the hands of ottr legislators; in spite *f the prurient •sympathy'of the 7 -American Burtons and Dixons et id omne genus with the gross iniquity, which skulks behind'thfe perverted name of religion and , cries “ persecution ” when the plain principles of Justice are broiight tb bear against'it. charm of Whisky ring seems about to he bibk'enV In New York city, two weeks ago, two convictions tverC procured and sentences of im prisonment 1 prOttouheed for illicit distilling, after a yeir'of delay, 1 during wfiich the defendants had put in' operation all the usual methods of un scrupulous men to eseape with their dishonest gains. .They-had ptbcnred false Witnesses against the faithful reveniiie officer,'who interrupted their business, in brddr to disgrace and remove him from office 1 . Two of these witnesses have been convicted of perjury! 1 They had black-mailed anothbr rOVemie' officer and sent him but of the country. While' their case was pending, they renewed the business of illicit whisky-distilling, and they were regarded, by the Secretary of the Treasury,AmOng tie worst demuiclprisuf the rev ienue in New York oity. They Vrere each sen tenced to three years' imprisonment, on the first count of tfie, indictment. ' If 'only‘President not pardon them! —Vineland, N J-, now a settlement of 10,000 inhabitants, has a prohibitory Liquor Law. Du ring six months, the Overseer of the Poor says, no citizen or settler has required relief. , During i the year, there has been but a solitary indictment, and that for a trifling ease of assault and battery. Only .one.house has been burned down, and two other slight fires have occurred in the year. The : Police expenses are but $75 a year. The Over seer, after making bis report and declaring his opinion that this state of things is largely due to the absence, of alcohol, adds an instructive com parison with the town from : which heTcame in New England. “The population of the town' was 9,500 —a little less than that of Vineland It maintained forty licjuor shops. These kept busy a police judge, city marshal, assistant marshal, four night watchmen,; six policembn. Fires were almost cbntinual. That small, place maintained a paid fire department <jf four companies, of forty men reach, at an expense of $3,000 per annum. I be longed to this department for six years, and the fires 1 averaged about one every two weeks, and mostly incendiary. The support of the poor cost $2,500 per annum. The debt of the township was $12Q,000. The condition of things. in this New England town is as favorable in' that coun try as that of many other places where' liquor is sold.” ■■ - -7-.; —At a recent'meeting of the Fruit Club in New York, the introduction of several bottles of American wine, for examination, aroused a brief, but spirited discussion, all apparently on one side.' The Chairman was of opinion that our fruits could be put to a better use than by distilling them into wine or brandy. A Mrs. Dr. Hallock spoke up, and moved, for the sake of the'women who were admitted to the Club bn equal terms, (and not for a few hours only' as at the Burns ‘celebration) and who were opposed to whisky; tobacco, and : other abomina tions, thafali alcoholic liquors, in whatever shape, he, tabdoed‘henceforth‘and forever from the Club. The motion was carried with applause. , —The assaults of a paper as able and powerful bb the Independent, sxe far from agreeable, but id is beginning to be felt that its praise is far .more to be dreaded than its blame. What is to be thought of the defence of a Christian minis ter’s orthodoxy, the climax of which is that he is “ as good a Christian as John Stuart Mill”? If that is the very best proof the Independent can give of friendship to an assailed minister, be-. longing to an Evangelical denomination,, well, may He exclaim : “ Save me from my friends !”" Following the example of their brethren ia ; New York, the Methodists of Newark,, N. J., have ,commenced raising a church building Fund for that citjr.' $lOO,OOO is the sum proposed by ( . one of the speakers.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers