fftipal ®ammiraicatw.
THE FEEEDMEN—FRIEND MITCHELL.
Rev. J. W. Mears, D. D .-.—Dear Brother:
I was rejoiced to see your genial leader last week,
in reference to Mr. W. F. Mitchell’s appoint
ment as agent for our New School Freedmen’s
Committee. Most sincerely do I congratulate the
Committee on having secured his services. I
know him well. For over four years we have la
bored together in this Freedmen’s work. Let
ters innumerable almost have passed between us.
I have seen him on the platform, addressing a
house crowded to its utmost capacity, with our
best citizens. I have seen him among the
colored people. I have seen him in the colored 7
hospital—in the asylum for colored orphans in
Nashville—in the meeting for prayer—at his
very plain and homely board, in a still plainer
house, little better than a “ shanty,” surrounded
by refined, cultivated, lady-like teachers, sus
taining them—comforting them, amid trials that
all of us would shrink from, unwilling to allow
me to go outside the door after night-fall, lest a
stray bullet might suddenly finish my work
among the Freedmen. Would that many of the
brethren could have been with me in Tennessee,
in June, 1865, as we went from point to point,
under a withering sun. They would not be sur
prised to hear me say, I love the man, and beg
of them'to take him by the hand in this work.
How gladly, then, would they invite him to
their lecture-rooms and their pulpits, to tell
their people of some of the scenes through which
he has passed—-of the colored side of the awful
siege of Nashville, where noble old General
Thomas won his imperishable laurels, and where,
as General Steadman told me himself, that, of a
single regiment (or posssibly brigade) of colored
troops, four hundred went down at the first fire,
and where, when ordered to retreat, as they sul
lenly and slowly fell back, one dark color-bearer,
sticking his flag staff into the ground, unslung
his rifle, and deliberately fired at the enemy un
til a cannon ball took off both his legs. Do we
owe nothing to the men who went through such
things ? and who, by their heroic bravery, kept
Hood's army from destroying Nashville, and
then sweeping up into Kentucky and Ohio ?
Would that the brethren could get Friend
Mitchell to tell their young people of the tens of
thousands of wretched beings, who were driven
up through Tennessee into Nashville, by this
proud army of Hood, houseless, homeless, shiver
ing, shoeless, helpless, starving and almost naked,
—of the blankets and shoes, and socks and food
which came, in answer to his burning telegrams,
from your own noble, large-hearted, sympathizing
Philadelphia, and from Pittsburg and elsewhere;
aye, in answer to the agonizing prayers of that
little band of teachers at the house of the “ Penn
sylvania Relief Association,” in Nashville, out
near the big fort. Would that they could hear
him tell how those tender, feeble, half-sick
teachers waded about in the mud, literally more
than ankle-deep, at the risk of their lives, as they
went from shanty to shanty, trying to save the
lives of the poor women, the aged, and the little
children, actually perishing with cold and hun
ger.
Under*that smooth face and plain Quaker garb
they will find a fiery, sympathetic soul, which,
if roused, will wake up in his audience deep feel
ing.
All this may seem exaggerated. Let the
brethren try him and see.
Is the Committee at New York to be com
pelled to withdraw ingloriously from this new
field of labor, on which they have so vigorously
entered, relying on thechurches to sustain them ?
Now, when many others are drawing off, is the
time to show that we appreciate this work for
the Freedpien, If Philadelphia, if even the
New School ministers and churches of Philadel
phia take hold of the work in thorough earnest,
at this crisis, the question is settled as to what
our New School body, throughout the country,
will do. Already four years of such opportunity
as can never return have passed away. Onr
only chance to redeem our character on this sub
ject, as a denomination, is now presented to us.
In many parts of the country it needs but an
earnest start somewhere to make this thing go—
as no cause ever did go in our churches. No
time could be more propitious. The Bureau
still lives for educational purposes. Noble, good
Gen. Howard is perfectly willing to co-operate in
the very best spirit, with us, as, indeed, any
other workers who are in earnest. The Peabody
fund is‘ pouring out $150,000 or more every
year in the same direction; Gen. Grant, with his
silent tongue, his firm will and iron hand, will
soon be at the helm; the colored people are still
almost insanely anxious for schools and books;
Northern capital and enterprise is once more
turning to the South. Already two States, Ala
bama and Tennessee, have adopted a most ad
vanced system of free schools. All that is needed
is money to build school-houses, and send accom
plished, godly, earnest men and women as teach
ers, to guide matters for a few years, till the
people can get fairly started.
Notwithstanding all the talk of Ku Klux out
rages, fearfully true in many eases, there is a
most manifest improvement in different sections,
and more kindly feeling betvreen the races. In'
a very few years if we are faithful now, the
South will take entire charge of this work, —a
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1869.
work second to none, absolutely none, on earth,
both as to its effect on the return of true and
lasting peace and prosperity to our own land,
North and South, and on the conversion of the
world. Where are our missionaries to Africa to
come from, if not from these Freedmen’s Schools ?
Most earnestly, then, do I bespeak a cordial
greeting for this noble-hearted Friend Mitchell.
Not a few out here in the murky city regard it
as an indication of Progress indeed, that a
rigid [?] Presbyterian body should cordially and
earnestly invite into their churches an orthodox
Quaker. To many it will be news, that many,
very many of these orthodox Friends love Bible
and Tract distribution and Sunday Schools as
much as any denomination in the land. The
more New School men know of them, the more
they will love them. J. S. T.
Pittsburgh, Feb. 13,1869.
LETTER FROM MR. HAMMOND.
Dear Bro. Mears :—I love to work in places
where the people have known something by ex
perience about revival effort; for the phenomena
attending the work of the Holy Spirit, have been
the same in all countries, and in all ages, since
the day of Pentecost, when multitudes cried out,
“ These men are full of new wine.”
I remember, when leaving Brooklyn, in 1863,
to commence a series of meetings in Utica and
Rochester, the remark was made to me that all
that region was ground burnt over, and that it
was useless attempting any such effort in those
places. But I found that the men who had been
converted in the revival years before, were most
earnest and wise in seeking to win souls to Christ.
This I found to be true of both laymen and min
isters. Nettleton used often to remark that
those converted in revivals were most likely to
become practical, earnest Christians, ever ready
to assist in making inroads on the kingdom of
Satan. The reason of that is evident. A man’s
Christian course is most likely to be shaped by
the attitude which he assumes the first two
months after conversion. Prof. Albert Hopkins
used often, in substance, to make this remark to
his students. He, therefore, was accustomed to
urge young converts to commence at once to
open their lips in audible prayer, and to begin
immediately to seek in every way to lead others
to Christ. At a time when many Christians in
a given place are alive to the realities of eternity,
and especially when many are setting out on the
way to Zion, it is, 'of course, much easier to com
mence boldly to work for the Master. The Rev.
Dr. Wilson, in Newark, N. J., once made this re
mark to me: t( The history of the progress of the
Church is co-incident with the history of revi
vals.” One reason of this may be, that those led
to Christ in the “ times of refreshing from the
presence of the Lord,” are more likely, in the
very nature of the case, to be working Chris
tians, that will not rest while the word of the
Master is ringing in their cars, “ Go ye into the
highways and hedges and compel them to come
in.”
At the first tea-meeting held in Willow Park,
near Dublin, last year, I found a number who
promised to speak with those who might linger
for conversation and prayer, at the first children's
meeting in the Metropolitan Hall. They even
promised that if there were none apparently
anxious about their souls, they would, neverthe
less, each speak to one. They kept their prom
’:ise, and a few days after one of these aggressive
Christians said to me, “ It was rather difficult to
do as I promised, but the Lord helped me and
blessed my feeble words, and answered my
prayers. I spoke to a woman near me, who, I
found, bad been impressed in the meeting, and
was anxious about her soul. I pointed to Christ,
told her of His finished work; how He was
wounded for our transgressions; how He was
mocked and scourged in Pilate’s judgment Hall;
andat last nailed to the cruel tree. I prayed with
her and asked her to pray, which she did; and
now she, and all her family, are gjving good evi
dence of a change of heart. That was three
months ago, and they are still following on to
know the Lord, whom to know aright is life eter
nal.”
I am more and more convinced that what is
needed is personal dealing with souls, and that
many sermons are, in a measure, lost, for the
want of immediate conversation and prayer with
those partially awakened, and also with those un
der deep conviction. I have thought much of
late of that verse : “ But when they have heard,
Satan cometh IMMEDIATELY, and taketh away
the word that was sown in their hearts,” (Mark
4: 15.) Not a few of the ministers and Chris
tians in Dublin, learned this important fact
years ago, and this is one secret of the blessing.
They have found that earnest labor in the Lord’s
work was the best way to cause a healthful and
spiritual growth of grace. A man may read or
hear lectures about the nature of heat, yet if be
is, at the same time, where the thermometer is
down to zero, he will not be any warmer for his
clear perception of the .nature of calorie. So
there are many people in the world, who but
read and speak about the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, but who, when it comes, instead of gladly
coming near where hearts are made to glow with
life and heat., they go away to the house-top, or
into the gallery of some church, and look down
the chimney, and just find their hearts are as
cold as ever, and their eyes filed with smoke be
side.
It does seem to me, if Christians every
where would but pray in earnest for the presence
and power of the Holy Spirit, and give them
selves up to the one thing, of seeking to glorify God
m the con version of sinners, that their prayers and
efforts will not be in vain. “ Call upon me,”
saith the Lord, “ and I will answer thee, and
show thee great and mighty things, which thou
knowest not," (Jer. 33 : 3.)
Yours in Him, E. P. Hammond,
COLLEGE REVIVALS.
The following information in regard to revi
vals of religion in Colleges is mainly gathered
from the forth-coming twenty-fifth Report of the
Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and The
ological Education at the West. During the
Quarter Century Anniversary of the Society at
Marietta, Ohio, a meeting was held on Sabbath
afternoon in the Congregational church, at which
statements and addresses were made by several
Western College officers present.
President Sturtevant of Illinois College re
marked that he regarded the common impression
—that the condition of a student in college is
one of peculiar temptation, and danger of ship
wreck of virtue —as being the result of a par
tial and inadequate view of the subject. Judg
ing from his own experience as a student and in
structor, : it was his deliberate conviction, that in
no circumstances is there more reason to hope
that a youth will be soundly converted, than in a
college in which proper religious influences are
exerted. This opinion was justified by the his
tory of Illinois College, where revivals had been
of such frequent occurrence and of. such preva
lence and power.
President Chapin of Beloit College spoko of
the effect of a single revival to produce a marked
and lasting change in the religious life of
a college. For two or three years previous to
the revival with which that College was favored
in 1857, there had apparently been but little
spiritual life among the Christian students, and
scarcely any conversions. Meantime tendencies
to evil increased, the spirit of mischief and dis
order gave occasion for trying cases of discipline,
and the whole working of College was marred by
grating friction. A few souls were moved with
grief at this condition of things, and resorted to
prayer. The answer soon camo in general and
powerful revival. There was hardly a member
of the Institution who remained unaffected.
Large numbers were hopefully converted. But
the most blessed result appeared in view of
springft-of religious life opened in the College
community, whose healthful streams have con
tinued to flow steadily, and with slight fluctua
tions down to the present time.
President Sprecher of Wittenberg College re
marked that the reformation itself was a revival
of experimental religion; first, in the heart of
Luther: and the Reformation was affected by
those utterances of truth which were suggested
and formed by experimental religion. Luther
introduced this spirit into the University of
Wittenberg—that Institution in which was kin
dled, not only the fire of religious liberty that
continued to animate and agitate the nations, but
also the fire of religious revival, which burst
forth on all sides, and produced such spiritual
life and reformation that Seckendorf in compar
ing this first period of Luther’s work with later
periods—periods of controversy, &c., is con
strained to call it “ the blessed first seven years of
the Reformation.”
The University of Halle originated in efforts
to promote spiritual religion, and a religious re
vival went forth from this Institution which
spread over every part of Germany, and accor
ding to the testimony of Dr. Tholuck, produced
in the first forty years of the Eighteenth Centu
ry, more pious ministers and laymen than the
Church had in all its previous history. Mission
aries were sent not only to the heathen as a con
sequence, but to our own country, and were re
vivalists in the strictest sense, and intimately as
sociated with Whitefield and Tennant, and
founded the German Lutheran churches. The
establishment of the College and Seminary at
Gettysburg was the result of an attempt on the
part of Dr. Schmucker to answer the question,
“ How shall religion be revived in the church 1”
and from these Institutions sprang the great re
vival of religion which distinguishes the
churches of the General Synod from others.
Wittenberg College is a child of Gettysburg,
and has ever been eminently a revival college.
Prof. H. Q. Butterfield, of Washburn Col
lege, Kansas, remarked that he represented the
youngest daughter in this blessed Mother’s fam
ily,—yet the family likeness appeared in the fact
that the Institution was a revival College. Last
Winter the power of the Highest had over
shadowed them, and nearly every student pro
fessed to feel it. But they were not taken by
surprise, for they had longed, hoped, and prayed
for this, and when it came, their feeling was
“ Now He that hath wrought us for the.self-same
thing is God.”
The Rev. Lewis Bodwell, Secretary of the
Board of Trustees, in his report to the College
Society, Bays that out of forty students, twelve
were hopefully pious, and that of the remaining
twenty-eight, not less than eighteen or nineteen
have proved their enjoyment of a well-grounded
hope and intelligent faith in Christ, four of
whom were the children of Home Missionaries.
More than one-third of the alumni of Wes
tern Reserve College have entered the ministry.
“ The revival in Wabash College two years since,”
says President Tuttle, “was a most astonishing
display of the Divine grace and power.” Of
the 134 graduates of Beloit College, fifty-two
have become ministers of the Gospel. Out of
444 graduates of Oberlin College, 186 have en
tered the ministry.
The Rev. Dr. Atkinson, of Oregon, in his re
port on the Pacific University, said: “At one
time, as we seemed ready [at a meeting of the
Trustees] to fall apart and give up the enter
prise, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Clark, and Mrs. T. A.
Smith, who overheard our remarks through the
almost open ceiling of the log-house where we
met, came to the door and begged us to hold on
andgoforward, while they also joined in prayer by
themselves on our behalf and on behalf of the
cause. Through all these scenes and seasons
the good Lord led us by a way we knew not.”
Prof. Hewitt of Olivet College, Mich., in his
report, said: “He who has so' greatly enlarged
our material resources, has not withheld the
sanctifying and saving influence of His Holy
Spirit. The observance of the Week of Prayer with
deep humiliation was almost immediately followed
by the beginning of the revival; Scarce any year
in the history of the Institution has been more
blessed or more productive of good in this' re
spect than has been the last. Beginning in the
College, the revival received a new impulse from
the observance of the College Fast Day, and soon
extended to the village and neighborhood around;
a deep solemnity pervaded the hearts of all.
The work, which was characterized by earnest
prayer, a readiness to do God’s will, and freedom
from excitement, advanced with no interruption
of study. Scarcely a student who was not deep
ly moved, and about sixty responded to the Sa
viour’s call, and for the first time yielded their
hearts to Him.” :
Andrews of Marietta College, who
conducted the services of the anniversary Pray
er-meeting above described, writes under the
date of Feb. 13, “ More than half of our un
converted 1 students have now, we hope, given
themselves tb God. Among them are' the son
and grandson of Col. John Mills (one of the Trus
tees, and most liberal benefactors of the College),
Rev. Dr. Wickes’ boo, Prof. Rossiter’s, and my
own. There has been a great work in town and
college. Our senior class—l3—are all Christian
young men now, and most of the next two classes.
Of the four classes only about one-sixth are not
rejoicing in Christ.” T. Baldwin.
MISSIONARY TOURING IN INDIA.
Dear Brother Mears:— When I wrote
the touring sketch which appeared in your issue
of Sept. 24th, 1868, I fully purposed to follow
it up with some further account of my extended
tours of last year. But, once back in the ever
pressing duties of our station work, I found it
impossible. Being out again now on. one of my
annual tours in the villages, I am reminded of
that unfulfilled purpose; and, if you have still
before you that skeleton map of our kingdom
and parish, and will run your eye over the
southern portion of it, it will give you a bird’s
eye view of the portion of that field visited since
I wrote that sketch'.
As soon as our week of prayer closed, I re
turned to the mountains near Phonda Ghat,
and crossing their ranges, or following between
them in a southern direction, visited every vil
lage and hamlet down to the old fort of Rangna,
and the extreme boundary of the kingdom. In
all this mountain region, the only roads are
foot-paths from village to village, the houses are
small, generally mud walls or " wattle,” thatch
ed with grass, and the population of a village
seldom exceeds 300 to 500. The largest village
west of Bhudergurh has only 1200. But in na
tural scenery, many of these valleys among the
mountains are gems of beauty. There is a score
of villages oh the upper waters of the Doodgunga
(river of milk) each of which is embedded in
the richest perennial foliage, with springs of
water gushing from the mountains, and flowing
with gentle murmurs along the shaded meadows
and hamlets —the whole presenting to the eye a
scene enchanting enough to remind one of the
classic vale of Tempe, or some such ear thly par
adise. And though the people are intensely ig
norant and superstitious, with no eye for nature’s
charms, and no heart to adore Him who has-la
vished upon them such profusion and munifi
cence of natural beauty, yet there is this to be
said in their favor, that they are utterly unprac
tised in the subtle casuistry which the Brahmins
resort to in trying to defend their superstitions;
and as I spoke kindly to them of man’s guilt
and God’s love, and the utter futility of their
idol worship, their spontaneous convictions and
earnest feelings were often manifest, and deeply
affecting. There was a prompt' response from
their unsophisticated minds and Consciences to
the teachings of God’s truth—a response striking
enough to convince the most hardened skeptic
of its-divine adaptation to human hearts. The
recollection of the impressions roused, and the
scenes witnessed in my preaching interviews
with those simple-minded people, still awakens
irrejnressible longings to bear God’s message to
them agam, and enforce it with a stability
and permanence of effort and appliances which
should sustain their impressions 'and Convictions,
and furnish the countenance and support needed
to enable them to break away from their super
stitious beliefs and practices, and become freemen
in Christ Jesus. Measurably free from the ex
cess of vice and sin abounding in the larger
towns and cities, and, though held firmly in the
most degrading bondage of superstition, yet pos
sessing moral natures which respond so quickly
to the teachings of divine truth, they rise before
me now iu memory as the most worthy and hope
ful objects of Christian sympathy and effort to
be found in any land. For them to act on the
convictious aroused by a single Christian dis
course, and permanently abandon their religions
teachers, and the customs and practices of a life
time, would be a miracle of grace we are not au
thorized to expect. What they need is a few
earnest Christian laborers living among them,
constantly teaching and preaching the things of
the Kingdom, and constituting a nucleus around
which they may gather as they break away from
their snperstititions and heathen friends, and
thus openly embrace the truth. O for the men
and means needful for accomplishing this work!
From the upper waters of the JDoodgunga, I
crossed the mountains to the sources of the Ved
gunga, and, visiting the villages along its various
'streams and vallies, crossed the high range just
south of Kapsee, into the extensive valley of the
Humkasee —a most fertile region, abounding in
large villages, the largest; of which is Gur Jnglus,
the shire town, with a population of about 4,000,
though several of the surrounding villages have
from 2,0,00 to 3,000 each, and Azrah, the shire
town of the Talook next west of it, has about
9,000. In these larger towns I found some
Brahmins disposed to controversy, but every
where large and attentive audiences gathered to
hear my message. Nesri, on the southern bor
der of the kingdom, has a population of 3,000.
Thence, in a northeast direction, the rich valley
of the Mulprubha abounds in thriving villages.
In one of them, belonging to a native chief, I
found he had employed a teacher in his family,
and so much light had reached him that he was
allowing his two little daughters to learn with
their brothers. I visited him, at his own request,
gave him a Bible, and Christian books to his
children.
Sunkeshiour,. a; little east of Gur Ingluz, has a
population of some 20,000, and is the residence
of the great Swami , who is regarded as a, kind
of Hindu Pope by . multitudes of disciples in all
this region. He .supports his priestly dignity
with the revenues of numerous villages scattered
about the country in all .directions—the “ pious
gifts ” of present and former rulers. On my
preaching tours, I have found some 16 villages
belonging to him in the limits of this Kolapoor
Kingdom. How many more he owns, in the
surrounding British territory, I have not ascer
tained. And this Swami is only one of our Hindu
Bishops, Archbishops, and Popes thus drawing
immense revenues, from state endowments, and
showing that Rome, in pushing her present aims
and practices in our own land, can plead the
precedents, sanction, and authority of all corrupt
religions of every age, whether past or present.
From Sunkeshiour , I traversed British terri
tory some fifty miles, crossing a little north of
Belgaum to Torgul and Kuthol —outlying pro
vinces of our Kolapoor kingdom. After visiting
all their villages, I returned via Gokak, a town
of some 25,00,0 inhabitants, near our famous
India waterfalls. Were I more of a naturalist, I
should give you a chapter on these falls, and
other objects of interest on my route. As it is,
I will only say, there is some unique beauty
about Gokalc Falk, but those who have seen
Niagara would hardly deem the former worthy
of mention.
A few miles north of Goleak we strike Kola
poor territory again, the whole region around
Ryebctg being full of thriving villages belonging
to our kingdom, though enough villages to yield
an annual revenue of some 400,000 Rs. were
made over to the dominant power, in the “ ad
justment of claims ” some years ago.
Tomb-stones do not blossom. If they did
what strange fruit would grow thereon—sprung
from the? substance of them who all their life
long labored for self and gain. What Dead-Sea
apples, hollow and ashen at the core 1 What
grapes of Gomorrah acrid and unpalatable 1
What shrunken branches and sickly leaves!
What blighted buds 1 What bitter fruit! Evil
perpetuates itself, but thank God! evil in
these shapes is hot immortal.
The servant of Christ need not be ashamed of
any outburst of indignation that springs from
hearty love, and the biting salt of derision,
which spices his language, does not detract from
his amiability.
Missionary Convention in the South Seas. —lt
is a m ark of the progresss which has been made
the Mission work, within fifty years, that the
Hawaiian Evangelical Board of the Sandwich Isl
ands have issued a call for a general convention
to be held at Honolulu, in June, 1870, to which
delegates are to be invited from all the missions
m the Pacific. The time will be the Hawaiian
Jubilee, or semi-centennial anniversary of the es
tablishmenfc of tne American mission in the Sand
wich Islands. Both native delegates and foreign
missionaries laboring in the islands, are to attend
and take part in the conferenpe; and the several
missionary packets which have been established
for the accommodation of different missions are to
be employed as means of passage.
R. G. Wilder.