lip American Jwstotefewi
ISTew Series, Vol. VI, No. 9.
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gmratau
THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1869.
THE MINISTRY FOR THE CHURCH.
The true ministry for the Church of the fu
ture must come of the Churqh. The living
ministry must be horn of the living Church.
Wc hear in this day much said about “ live
men,” “live ministers,” etc. The truth is, there
can be no such “ live ministers” without a live
church produce them. The ministry of any par
ticular period will be very much what the
Church, through the grace of God, has made
them. When the Church is informed with
divine life, and the fires of piety glow upon her
altars, there are always more or less of her sons
being brought forward to the high service of the
Master in the gospel ministry. When Zion lan
guishes and all her ways do mourn, she sends
no “ laborers into the harvest.”
An earnest, vigorous ministry must come out
of an earnest, active Church. When the conse
crated children are brought to the table of the
Lord, they must feel the glow and warmth of
Christian fellowship, and have constantly be
fore them in their early Christian life, the ex
ample of a church that holds religion to be a
service, and not a simple state of passive enjoy
ment. No implements of toil must lie unused ;
no drones and idlers must be seen; “ work for
the Master! Work!” must be the motto of the
Church that successfully trains an earnest min
istry. Of such a church must be born the men
who shall proclaim Christ to the coming mil
lions, if we would see the millenial day.
All the real force the Church has, is in the
spirit of her consecration to Christ and His
work. And this force she must transfuse into
the men sent forth of her, to preach the word.
If there are men in the office of the ministry,
quite useless, because unqualified for it, the
Church is to a great extent responsible for this.
They were such as she had. Had the Church
been better, they had been more efficient.
The local Church is truly rich, that has
young men in the course of training for the
Christian ministry. They are close to the heart,
->nd under tho watch and care of those whom,
in some high sense, they are to represent in the
pulpit. They are cherished and brought up in
the families of the Church; they catch her spirit
and breathe her life. And at length, when God
calls them into His service, they go forth as living
witnesses of the fidelity, earnestness and success
of the Church of which they were born. The
piety, life and activity of each church should im
pel her sons to ask “ Lord, what wilt Thou have
me to do ?” As “ not many wise, not many mighty,
not many noble, are called,” the Church should
not only give her sons, but stand by them,
amidst the trials and labors of preparation for
their high and holy mission. Let every church
pray the Lord of the harvest, that some of her
tnon, children may go forth into the harvest; and
the Lord, hearing these petitions, shall return
four-fold blessings into her own bosom,
Let this highest wealth of the Church— her
sons —be oonseorated, and the same spirit, which
so consecrates, will lead these people of God to
pour out thoir money without reserve. It is a
very cheap thing to give a few paltry dollars to
educate the sons of other people, but it costs
something to give ottr own. But let no church,
nor Christian, strive to bring themselves out
from the solemn responsibility of yielding the
finest and ohoicest of the flock to the service of
(he Master. And let Christians everywhere
settle this in their hearts, that if the ministry of
the future are to go forth as the flaming messen
gers of mercy, love and power, they must go
from a church baptized with that same spirit
from on high. God is graciously visiting many
of His churches, and calling scores and hundreds
into His spiritual kingdom. Are there not many
of the young men —the hoys —whose hearts are
touched by the love of Christ, who by the pray
erful oonseoration of the people of God, will
yet stand in the high places of power, and
preach Jesus to a perishing world ? Alas 1 how
tho land mourns and the harvest suffers, for the
lack of consecrated men to preach Christ and
His Cross! The Church has the men and the
means to furnish them for the work. Will she
rise to her high privilege, and so enrich the
world, and honor Him who is Head over all
things? G - F '
Rev. W. F. Findley, P D., was received from
the Presbytery of Miami, by the Presbytery ®
Newark, Peb. 22, and arrangements were made
for his installation as pastor of the Central
church of Newark, March 10th.
Rev. Clarence Eddy was also received from
the Presbytery of North River, and arrange
ments were made for his installation as pastor of
the new church at Woodside, on Weclnesday
evening, March 3d.
15ju1y69 L T 0 THE CHIEF.
The excitement through which the country
passed in securing as its next President, a man
in whom it could put confidence, having subsi
ded three months ago, it now views Bis inaugur
ation with calm satisfaction. Nay, there is a pe
culiar element of quiet and rest in the national
mind to-day, which might seem almost unbe
coming, certainly unlike us as a demonstrative
people, at the elevation of our most distinguished
military man to the Executive chair. And yet
it is a state of mind of the happiest significance
and propriety. It is because the people regard
President Grant as the embodiment of their vic
torious purpose to have a righteous peace and a
solid restoration of order on the principles of
justice. ' It is because Grant in the Presidency
is the coup de grace of the .rebellion, to which
the assassination of Mr. Lincoln gave a four
years longer existence, and indefinite hopes for the'
four years beyond it. It is because the common
sense, and self-respect and self-preservative in
stincts of the nation have, in the hands of Gen
eral Grant, gathered up the reins of power
which hung so loosely in the hands of his reck
less un-American predecessor. It is because in
place of an obscure civilian, who was forever
contending with the people and their represen
tatives, and arrogating to himself dangerous and
dictatorial powers, we have a' military officer of
unsurpassed reputation, who has Over borne his
honors meekly, and has shown a most punctilious
regard for the lines which bound his own and
other departments of public duty, and whoso
convictions and principles are in substantial ac
cord with those of the co-ordinate branch of
the Government.
There is a very active and famous class of
persons in the country; however, who' do. not
share in the general content and quiet, albeit
they belong to the party which comes into power
with President Grant. They are-the class of
professional politicians; some of them good men,
but a vast body of them men without principle
or patriotism ; men who have no other real inter
est in the country or the Government but to make
it a means of their own aggrandizement; men
whose object in aiding in the election of this or
that man, is nothing but a share of the spoils of
office, a chance at ttie I: ptibK<r trefwuvy j nien
whose whole philosophy of the management of
the various departments of the Government is
bounded by its relations to the success of their
party ; the sort of men who have exercised the
highest degree of influence in the White House
during the past four years. ; These men and the'
Southern rebels are distressed and chop-fallen, it
is hard to tell which the most so, at the elevation
of General Grant to the Presidency. He listens
respectfully to their advice, but he shuts them
out of his counsels. He did not buy his election
by any mortgage of his manhood or indepen
dence to these chafferers in the life and weal of
a great nation, and they can make nothing of
him now. But this is only another reason for
the deep contentment of the people with their
new President. They believe they have a man in
office and not a mere tool. A man with patriotic
instincts and large purposes of good to the whole
country, and not the mere puppet of party in
triguers ; a man of firm will, of unflinching eour
age, of purity of aim; not blindly obstinate, hut
utterly unmanageable for private ends ; a man
who, by bringing to a close a rebellion which had
baffled all the skill and resources of the nation,
revealed his great administrative ability, and
above all, his unsurpassed wisdom andgood sense
in the selection of his own coadjutors and aids
in the work.
Welcome then, 0 most fortunate of Ameri
cans 1 whose sword has saved your country in its
direst peril, to the sect of civil power. You
have passed from the one station to the other
with the dignity of Washington. You have
shown in one position, that you esteemed the
highest honors and greatest powers as but so
many opportunities to render your country the
oreatest and most disinterested services. We
have the best reason to hope that you will com
plete the likeness to the Father of his Country,
by making a like disinterested use of the exal
ted civil position to which you have risen. Put
your trust in God and not in party or party man
agers. Set your face with all its lines of in
flexible rigor against the corruption which has
thriven rank and poisonous in every corner of
the previous administration. Let every one
know that an administration has come into power
resolved on honest dealing with all our creditors,
and determined on meting out judgment -to the
full upon all fraudulent and dishonest debtors.
God give you the strength of Hercules to clean
out the Augean stables, and to create-through all
the branches of government such a wholesome
atmosphere, that fraud, and villainy, and''unscru
pulous ambition may miss their vital elements
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1869.
lo ; yion
and disappear or die. We do not count on per
fection, but our prayer is that the glory of your
victory at Appomattox Court House, by which
four years of war was closed, may be eclipsed by
peaceful victories of the coming four years of
your administration.
If the Emperor of the French, as reported in
sensation telegrams, is preparing rooms in the
Tuilleries for the reception of Andrew John
son, it must be designed as a skilful and venom-,
ous insult to the American people. If those
apartments are to be adjacent to those of the
ex-Queen Isabella, there will be so mnch fitness
in the association that either the Emperor or the
telegrapher is perpetrating upon Mr. Johnson,
a vast, historical joke. For the two rulers
of the present day among civilized people, who
have been most discreditable to their positions,
from their own private characters, their despotic
instincts, their blind adherence.to the effete preju
dices and institutions of the past., their lack of
sympathy with the living will and high moral
purpose of the people, their complacency with
corruption and leniency towards crime, were
exactly the late President of the United States
and the-late Queen of Spain. The one was
suddenly driven from her place after long
endurance, by a peaceful but sweeping popular
revolution; the other could scarcely be tolerated
by the indignant free people of the Republic,
whom he had betrayed, until the brief period
came round, when, by the regular methods of
the ballot-box, he could at last be got rid of.
Nothing saved him from being deposed, in the
regular methods of impeachment, a year ago, hut
the brevity of his alotted term of office. : *
The American people cannot he too, thankful
that they are peacefully rid of by. far the worst
and the unworthiest person that has. ever occu
pied the Executive chair. The sympathy of a
French potentate, who openly dared, to trample
upon the will of the people, and overturn their
free institutions, is no obscure intimation of
what may have been concealed in the heart, in
the unripened but real purpose, of the magistrate
whose characteristic oSocial acts were vetoes of
good laws, and pardons of bad men. But if re
volution was never seriously meditated by the
man, who described the lawful body of the na
tion’s representatives as hanging'ou the- verge of
a government, we are most glad and thankful to
be rid of the man who, alone, of all Americans
so honored, entered tipsy upon his high office,
and for whose frequent offensive acts the best
excuse that could be rendered by his friends was
intoxication; who by his open and scandalous
sympathy with the rebellion, galvanized it into a
life and activity, brief, but fruitful in cruelty,
and crime, and bloodshed, and nearly broke
down the national sentiment of loyalty and jus
tice which had grown out of the struggle; whose
administration lias made a mockery of courts of
law, by issuing pardons, and proclaiming amnesty
before trials commenced; who has let loose
ninety-seven of the one hundred counterfeiters
convicted during his term, and has made nuga
tory all attempts at purifying the public service
and strengthening the national credit by similar
official manifestations of sympathy with revenue
defrauders, mail-robbers, whisky-rings, and every
class of public offenders; who, finally, is de
scribed by those who know him, as a vulgar,
coarse-minded infidel, of the Tom Paine school.
We don’t wonder at all at General Grant’s re
luctance to he seen in his company to-day. Na
poleon 111 and Ex-Queen Isabella, may have un
disturbed enjoyment of it if they wish, for the Amer
ican people, never indeed having chosen such a
ruler, feel that they have been severely and
wholesomely taught to guard diligently against
the chance of any of his sort ever entering upon
a high office again. Thus, to borrow the senti
ment of a popular. magazine-writer, Mr. John
son’s term of office will be one of the best illus
trations of the Moral Uses of Dark Things.
The Evangelist, which, in all the discussion
on Re-union, has visibly shrunk from the open
and hearty advocacy of New School liberty of
opinion in the re-united Church, and which, as
the representative paper in our Church is, in no
small measure, responsible for the want of;tone
in our body on the subject, seems, in these latter
days of the discussion, to have: discovered that
there is a point beyond which concession to-the
rigid spirit of the other body cannot go. We
quote from its issue of February 11th, with. its
own’italics s
“ But. the Tenth Article and-the explanatory
clauses in the First, rest both on a foundation, of
their own, and must, we think, staud or fall to
gether. Were there no other reason for this
conclusion,. mutual conciliation and fraternal fair
ness'mahife'stly demand it. There is a minority
in both bodies, who rhave ! never -been entirely
satisfied with the -basis recommended-by the two
Assemblies. In the Old School body the dissent
centres on the explanatory causes in the First
Article—-in the New upon the agreement on the
Tenth. If the former are to be removed to meet
the wishes of the one party;" the latter should be
in deference to the opinions of the other. Or
are the dissentient brethren of the Old School
determined to demand every concession to be
made to them, and to make none to their breth
ren of the other body ? If that be. the case, and
the friends of Re-union in that body are disposed
to yield to the demand, the sooner we understand
it the better; We want no Re-union on such
terms. Neither our peace, nor our usefulness,
nor our Christian improvement, could be promo
ted by it. Re-union must be given over to an
other and better generation. It is of no use to
pursue it further in ours. But we believe other
wise. And in that belief we have been and are
disposed to make every proper concession in our
power. The First Article in the basis, as pro
posed in 1867, satisfied us, and our Assembly
unanimously adopted it. It was altered in 1868
by the insertion of the two amendments to meet
the wishes of our Old- School brethren. We are
willing, if they will show .the same spirit, to meet
them again by throwing out what.was then in
serted, and take the doctrinal and ecclesiastical
Standards “pure and simple.” But there is a
limit to this soft of thing. We believe there is
among the great majority in both branches of
the Church a strong yearning for Union. Let
us settle upon something soon, aud go about the
great work of our Master—united if we can, as
separate Churches if we must.”
Late as they are, these declarations are not
without their value and significance. The
N. IF. Presbyterian (0. S) says:
“Nothing has perhaps occurred more calculat
ed to excite a feeling of distrust in the minds of
our church, than some of the statements of this
article.”
Neither The Evangelist nor ourselves wish to
excite distrust in the minds of our fair-thinking
brethren, but we rejoice that our cotemporary in
New York is aiding in this important work of
opening the eyes of the more rigid to the true
sentiment and principles of our own people.
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.
Last week we said a word about Dorcas socie
ties, anil the work they have attempted to do for
the relief of the poor. Let not anything we
have said be construed as inveighing against
the worthy Christian ladies who conduct these
societies, oftentimes with great energy. .Their
motives are excellent, and sometimes .the results
are gobd. "We only say, we doubt the wisdom
in this age of the,world, and in our large cities,
where the poor congregate, of giving them clo
thing and food. In .extreme eases this may be
necessary. But, ordinarily, would it not be bet
ter to provide them with work, and counsel and
:encourage them, and now and then, if needs be,
lend them adittle money ? This would increase
their self-respeot, and stimulate them to healthy
effort.
Let me now illustrate this by introducing you
to an Industrial School, which was substituted,
early in the winter, in one of our churches for
the old Dorcas : Society. The very same ladies
who conducted the one, organized the other.
Instead of meeting on Wednesday afternoon, to
make garments to give to the poor, they chose
Satnrday afternoon. The Sabbath school room
was opened. The girls were invited to come at
2 o’clock, and stay until 4 o’clock. At first
only a few came, for it was a new, thing, and
they were shy. But each week the number in
creased, until it was evident the school was be
coming popular. The First Directress presides,
and the meeting is opened with -a brief prayer,
and: singing a lively, familiar hymn. The Sec
ond .Directress superintends the preparation of
work for sewing. In this she is assisted by the
managers. The Secretary and Treasurer calls
the roll, and receives any monies brought in.
Each class has a teacher, who, at a given Bignal,
opens her box. Oat fly thread, needles, thimbles,
and soon thegbusy little hands are nimbly at
work.
Here is little Maggie, who wants an apron to
wear. Teacher tells the Managers. They cut
it out, and, with the assistance of teacher, Mag
gie, although she vis a wee thing, of only seven
years, makes it. There, it is done, and put on I
The little girl had earned ten cents by doing, an
errand, and had given this to the Treasurer.
The bit of calico, from which the apron is made,
cost only six cents. So Maggie has four, cents
still to her credit, and- walks away the proud
possessor of a garment which she feels she has
purchased with her own money, and made with
her own hands! Was not this better than to
give it to her ? Undoubtedly. This is a great
event in Maggie’s life. She now begins to rise.
She will not be a pauper, depending upon others,
and disrespectfully calling them trotters.
Xn another class sits Alice Jones. She is a
spry girl, abont twelve years old.- Her father is'
a miserable drunkard. 5 Her mother is a steady,
but broken-down Their home is wreteh-
n-rici hr,.;
G-enesee Evangelist, 3STo. 1189.
j Home & Foreign Miss. $2.00.
1 Address: 1334 Chestnut Street.
ed enough. Two older Bisters, sixteen and
eighteen years old, '.used to attend Sabbath
school and church, but the mother says they
will net now go to either, because they have
been helped so often by the Dorcas ladies, they
are afraid they will be recognized. Thus we see,
in this case, the Dorcas Society has defeated it
self. Poor Mrs. Jones, the washer-woman, has
a good mind. She sees the principle involved.
And when Mrs. Smith invites her to send Alice
to the-Industrial School, she is more than wil
ling. She is much pleased. She is in hopes
Alice will do better than the older sisters have.
Alice, too, is pleased. Before Saturday comes,
she has earned twenty cents by washing steps.
Her ambition is aroused. Every week she
brings some money which she has earned, or her
mother has saved for her. She is quick and in
dustrious, and in the course of the winter she
has made and paid for four garments, and will
soon have the fifth. She is neatly and veil clad.
She has a warm body and a cheerful heart. Alice
is looking up. She will soon be able to help
herself. She will be a thrifty woman, and, if
she gets married, will be able to carry a small
fortune in her hands to her husband, and by her
neatness and industry may keep him from the
grog-shop. Who can predict the future of Alice
Jones? She may yet be mistress of the White
House, a result which could hardly happen if
she was a pensioner of the Dorcas Society, in
stead of a pupil in the Industrial School.
This school is only in its infancy, but we be
lieve it is on the right basis, and the prospect is
that the ladies who conduct it will accomplish
more fccording to this system in one year, than
they could in the old way in a generation.
If you don’t think we are imposiug on you,
dear Mr. Editor, and your readers, perhaps we
will next week continue the subject. There is a
religious, as well as social and domestic side to
this question, “ How to benefit the poor.”
[A “live” subject, and practically treated.
Yes I we can well afford to hear more about it.
■ —Editob-in-Chief.]
The Eoangelist has at last attained an un
qualified position among the religious newspapers
of the country. The M. W. Presbyterian says
of a recent editorial in our cotemporary: “ Had
it appeared in the American Pkesbytebian
no one would have been surprised.” We con
gratulate the Eoangelist on its' reception of this
first-class card, and hope it will wear its unex
pected honors meekly.
• A story has got afloat in regard to the ex
cellent President of Princeton College, Dr. Me-
Cosh, which attributes to him a habit far more
common among respectable clergymen of Great
Britain and Ireland than with us, that of using
intoxicating drink as a 1 beverage. We did not
like the story told of one holding such a position
of influence towards the young men of America,
and we confess we dislike Dr. Prime’s defence
almost as much. He writes to the Evening Post
that Dr. MeCosh never drinks “ except on those
rare occasions when good sense or medical advice
dictate its propriety.” This is anything but a
frank and satisfactory denial. “ Good sense,” at
this day, in this country, dictates not the proprie
ty of occasional drinking, but of total absti
nence.
The young ladies of Dover, Wayne county,
Ind., have formed a society for the redemption
of young men from bad habits. Each of the
members has pledged herself not to receive the
attentions of any young man who uses liquor,
tobacco, or profane language. This is Woman’s
Eights in a most wholesome and practical direc
tion.
Mr. Beecher’s Lecture on Amusements was,
like most of his efforts, unsound and unspiritual
in its philosophy, perilous in some few of its ad
missions, depreciating the Church, and cheering
on —very mildly—its detractors, yet in its world
ly, and highest temporal bearings, sound and
healthful. Amusement he takes in the broadest
sense as that which gives Wholesome recreation j the
oiit-door and the muscular, are his decided prefer
ence; the fashionable amusements, the in-door gay
eties, the late hours, the excesses of fashionable
society, he denounces as unworthy the name of ra
tional amusements, and as positively injurious,
as condemned by common sense, before we get
to the bar of conscience. The theatre he pro
nounces an anachronism, and says, coarsely but
pointedly, that a hen trying to make something,
out of addled eggs is wise in comparison with
those who are trying to reform the theatre and
the race-course. He approves of ten, pins
and billiards when dissociated from-, vice, and
thinks the Y. M. C. A. should take. them.under
their ; patronage. , , ' ;
CURRENT TOPICS.