3:puritan ErolOttian. THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1809 REV. JOHN W. MEARS, D. D., Editor. No. 1334 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. THE EDITORIAL COMMITTEE. Rev. Z. M. Humphrey, D.D., Pastor of Calvary Church. Rev. Herrick Johnson, D.D., Pastor of the First Church. Rev. Danl. Starch. D.D., Pastor of Clinton St. Church. Rev. Peter Stryker, D.D., Pastor of N. Broad St. Church. Rev. George F. Wissvell, D.D., Pastor Of Green Hill Church. Rev. E. E. Adams, D. D., Prof.] in Lincoln En'. versity. .Rev. Samuel IV. Duffield, Special Cor respondent. Mr. Robert E. Thompson will continue to act as Editor of the News Department. Correspondents in every Presbytery and Sy nod will promptly furnish us with fresh items of news from their respective fields. 161 - China from a Christian Standpoint, Concluded, by Rev. V. D. Collins, Florida and the Floridians, 11, Letter from Harrisburg, Missionary Strategy, by Mr. Wilder, TeMper ance Items, Page 2d.; Editor's Table, Literary _ltems, American and Foreign, Page 3d. Sunset at Eighty-Six, (Poetry), by S. B. J., Sympa thy, Playing Temperance -Meeting, Nervous Babies, Lessons on Paul, Xll., Good Old Hymns, Protection from Lightning, Keraunog graphy, Page 6th. Religious Intelligence, Re formed Churches, Episcopalian, Congregational, Baptist, Church of the Brethren, Methodist, Page 7th. REV. A. M. STEWART, our popular correspon dent, has been permitted by a kind Providence to revisit Philadelphia and vicinity, and to receive the warm congratulations-of his friends after his long absence. During . his stay in more Western cities, he has given to the public a resume of his varied and interesting experience, in the form of a lecture, in his own - fresh and graphic style. Mrs. Swisshelm, who heard the lecture, says to the Pittsburg Commercial : It is a long time since I knew that the Ameri can people know very little about this continent, and last evening I discovered that I myself knew nothing about it. Fol., listening to the lecture of Chaplain Stewart, delivered in Ex celsior Hall, Allegheny, I was profoundly im pressed by my superior claims to the title of know-nothing ; and, from the intense interest manifested by the audience, conclude that I was not alone in the conviction that there is a good deal to be discovered about the discoveries of Columbus, and that the civilized world has just entered upon the work. The lecture will be deliiered in West Ches ter on Monday next. —While other denominations are content with our public school system, and sustain it heartily as a means of harmonizing and Americanizing while universally educating our youth, the rest less and exclusive Roman Catholics are working to break it up, and to get a grant of the school fund for their own use. A bill, which it is said was drawn up by the priests, is before the New York legislature, making it obligatory upon the authorities in any city in which a free school containing not less than two hundred children has been established, to make provision from year to year for the expenses of such schools. Such:a measure would, virtually, redistribute the whole school fund and break up the system; for it is not to be supposed, that Protestant denomina tions would consent to the exclusive :enjoyment of public moneys by Romanists, and if each de nomination claimed a share, little or nothing would remain for general purposes. We presume the bill is too bare-faced to pass. —To-day, as we have every reason to believe, the murderer, Twitchell, will meet his deserved doom. With all that sympathy, which it is but natural to give to a fellow-creature meeting such a miserable end, we cannot but express our satis faction at the fidelity of Governor Geary and of the Courts, inferior and superior, to their plain and solemn duty, in spite of the most persever ing efforts to defeat the ends of justice. . The feeling of personal safety in the community is weak enough as it is; this no time for failure or hesitancy in enforcing the full penalty of the law upon such as are plainly guilty of the most atro cious crimes. It was Bentham who uttered a sen timent which some Christian editors seem fond of quoting : " The worst use you can put a man to, is to hang him." Let us rather say the worst use you can put society to, is to create a public senti ment of leniency to great crimes. Andrew Johnson is speaking without much re serve among his old friends and showing how scanty must have been his loyalty at a time when his professions were lofty and the public confi dence unquestioning. Speaking of the debt con tracted during the war, he said : " I would to God that the Government had not [had] the credit to borrow a dollar to carry on war. Thank God, my honors have not been gained through blood." Dar Rev. M. B. Smith, late Associate Editor, to The Protestant Chierchman, has written a letter to Bishop Potter announcing his withdraw al from the P. E. Church, because he can no longer, with a good conscience, subscribe to her formularies. • THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1869. NOW AND THEN; OR, THEN AND NOW. ED. PRESBYTERIAN :—A few days since, a friend called my attention to a letter written by one Rev. J. Leighton Wilson, Secretary of the Southern Presbyterian Freedmen's Board, to the Rev. S. A. Logan, Secretary of the 0. S. Pres byterian Freedmen's Board, in which a para graph, one fourth of a column long, is-especially devoted to a comparison of the moral and reli gious development of the black race South be fore the Emancipation, with that claimed for them now. The Rev. gentleman commences by saying that they have " sadly deteriorated ;" that they will not go to church ; that the" " ma rital relation" is frequently violated; that they are not so " orderly or respectful" (to whites) its when in slavery; and, in a style which would do credit to the moral and virtuous Mr. Peck sniff, winds up by declaring his confident belief that if the (now) freed-people had remained (in slaiery) 'with their former " friends and spiri tual guides," (1. e., their former masters,) they " would, at this present moment, have been in the enjoyment of richer privileges than they can reasonably hope to enjoy anywhere else." Now, I do not remember. having seen the Rev J. Leighton Wilson in :the flesh, nor do I remember ever having seen him "in print" more than two or three times;_ but, from `the tone of his letter, and from his (tome) perfect ly familiar use of the SOuthern cant phrases, "separation from us ;" "their'extravagant ex pectations in regard to freedom ;" the' evil counsels of unprincipled white men;" "'their idleness," and " their improvidence," I can tell just as well who the Rev. Wilson is, and what his principles are, as Sam Guzzle's wife can identify the aforesaid Samuel, even in thick est darkness, by his drutricen footsteps and the smell of liquor. The paragraph froti.t which I have quoted would adorn any chapter in ,the quondam slaveholder's prophecy of the ; evils of freedom for the black race ; even beats Parson Brownlow before the, devil of slavery was exor cised from him, and he became a convert to Christian liberty. The "pious view" of the "patriarchal institution," which. Bro. Wilson presents with such emotional fullness, is one with which even sensible Southern men never had any patience, and which, by the less devout champions of the system, Was, perhaps irrever ently, styled " stuff." There was a notable manliness in John Randolph's cutting reply to the Northern dough-face, that he " envied nei ther the head nor the heart of the man who tried to justify slavery from principle.", 'lt was not only disgusting, but, as Tom Loker, in Uncle Tom's Cabin, says, " it's sheer, dog. meanness ; wanting to cheat the devil and save your own skin." Now, let us notice the main points in the Rev. gentleman's letter, seriatim. He says that they have " sadly deteriorated." In the name of common sense, let me ask, in , what 1' Does he mean in point, of property ? Who does not know that the alive could own neither house nor land, nor ox, nor ass, nor a single article in the whole range of things, real or personal. Not even his wife and children, or his own - flesh and blood and bones and brains, belonged to him, and his master would have laid claim to his soul, had it been of any pecuniary value. Has he deteriorated in education and knowl edge ? Who is so ignorant that he does not know that,. in every slave State, - the !pos i t :rigid laws were enacted to prevent "slaves from learning even the alphabet, and to punish, by heavy fines and imprisonment, any person who might be found guilty of imparting to them any knowledge of letters ? Let the prison walls, of the South answer whether these laws were rigidly enforced. No Southern man was regarded as orthodox on the slavery question, who, dared to countenance teaching slaves even the simplest rudiments, of science. Brute ignorance was considered .the slave's normal condition. Does the Rev. J. Leighton Wilson know 'these facts, or has be just awakened from a Rip Van Winkle sleep ? Will he not please rub his eyes, and take a good look around, before he takes up the quill ? But, the Rev. gentleman complains that " Sam and Andy" will not go to ehurchincor rigible fellows. Let me ask why they will not go ? In the first place, " old marse" has come out of. the war with no carriage to drive, and possibly the aforesaid S. and A.., who never could exactly understand the story of " Onesi mus," and who always did get " fairly riled " over that most popular of Southern sermons, "Cursed be Canaan," now that they are not obliged to carry the " old boss " and family to meeting, prefer to go and hear ",old pap Caesar," or Uncle Bob, with his glowing image'ry, preach about the "glorious'day of jubilee" which has already come, is well as about the still more glo rious day which is yet to come. No- wonder that there has been a slim attendance of sable worshippers in the galleries of Southern churches since freedom came. But the cool impudence, to say nothing of the unblushing falsehood, which the Rev. Nilson brings to the consideration of the " marital rela tions" of the former slaves; is decidedly refresh ing. Brigham Young on polygamy, and " Andy Johnson on the Constitution," are both thrown completely in the shade. " Marital relations," indeed. When, during the entire existence of that most villainous, withering, blighting, God defying, and, I had almost said, hell-deserving curse of American slavery, was there ever sol- emnized a legal marriage between two of its vic tims, or one which, before any law of the State or of the United States, was regarded as worth a rye straw ? Perhaps throughout the entire cata logue of villainies connected with slavery, there was none more accursed, in the sight of God and man, than the total disregard (by the master) of the sacredness of the marriage -tie. The law vir tually compelled every slave woman to be a con cubine, to say nothing of the master's unlimited power to force her to become a partner to his lice n ti ousness . What though, notwithstanding the loose mockery called marriage, the poor and outraged couple had vowed between themselves to be true and constant'? Was it not in the power of the master.and was it not the general practice, to separate them, with as little regard for their marriage vows as though they ha&been literally beasts of burden ? To those unques tionable and undeniable facts touching theslave's " marital relations," add the other equally well- knovin fact that nearly every Southern planter's house was a harem, whose victims failed tore= ceive the humane treatment common' even among the Oriental voluptuaries, and there need twilling further be said about regard for the sanctity, of marriage during the , days of slavery. That the freed:people are more moral and re ligious than when in slavery; that they are more virtuous in every sense of the word) . that, there are comparatively- few cases of ;inconstancy be tween married couples ; that .they , are, as a geb eral thing,'sober andfindustrious ; that theilitee ally hunger and thirst after education,. that they have a full sense of the obligation M . they owe to their former " friends and spiritualiguides;" and thitt theit growing intelligence has taught them to regaid the Southern " sanctuary" as a cess-pool of iniquity; no one with tithe of that " common honesty" of, which the Rey. Wilson prates so loudly, an'd of which he claims so..niuch for him Self„ no one can possibly deny. The " unprincipled white men" to whom he alludes, are those who have gathered the freedmen togeth er in schools and church es,and ,are en deavoringto point the to the , way to :a higher and better life. In conclusion I haVe to thank the Rev. J. Leighton Wilson for writing, and the Any. S.. C. Logan for giving to the press, this .letter, inas much as it fairly shows to what straits ,. even• a learded.Southein divine is driven' for argument for further oppression Of the negie. , • - . O. M. WARING WINCHEST }t, ' VA., Mareit,24, 1809. IjELIGIOUS PRESS, The Christian Herald comments on, the re cent action oflithe Pastors' Association: of this city, on reunion, which, as our readers remember, was based a good , deal upon the views of our Co , temporary, The. Presbyterian.. Thq . lierald says: " The journal' referred to represents the views and feelings of only a portion of its' own Church, and to propose that we discard• the advice of our own Committee, because one dyspeptic Old School Editor is not quite satisfied with it,•seems to us not very wise and`' dignified in itself, and not very courteous to our fifteen brethren." • The Independent comments on the announce ment of various elaborate courses ,of study to be pursued in the Methodist Seminary at:Boston, this year;'they aro: atriennial.course, a quadren nial course, a missionary course, and two addl. tial courses, besides various special branches. Students are to be accommodated who ; wish, to pursue Arabic and Syrian,' and even Talmudic Hebrew and Samaritan. The Independent says : When tint' readers learn I . . that leo .. tures on Christian Halieutics" and "Keryktics " are delivered to the missionary' classes, he will believe that the Methodist world moves, and is bonnd to fill lip that which was behind in the education of its earlier preach'ers. We owe our readers an explanation of these two'W.brds " Hali eutics " and 1 " Kerykticsl" . They 'puzzled our Greek ; but we have, we humbly trust, mastered them. The latter would be spelled Cerycties by ordinary logo' lasts, or 'Keryktiks by Greek pu rists, and is derived from ,a Greek word meaning preaching. The word Hatieutics is translated in the report as.lhe "theory of missionary . labor," and is, as we .have discovered, derived from a Greek word meaning "salt-water fishing." Please remember - that Christ's disoiples were to be " fishers of men," and we have the Itey to this trope thus reduced to a scientific term. " Hall elides " is " salt-Water fishing." Rev. R. M. Hatfield of Chicago,, in last week's independent, writes strongly and wholesomely on Women's Rights. He considers the statements in regard to the present sphere of woman and her compensation, as having some truth, with a good deal of exaggeration. He " Inclines to the belief that about one-h,alf of all the work needed in the world lies within the limits of domestic and feminine avocations." - He adds I have made observations on my own ac count, and consulted gentlemen who are in the best positions for understanding this question, and am led to the conclusion that the men in Chicago wbo are to-day seeking opportunities to earn a comfortable living, without being able to find them,.outnumber the women who are in the same condition by two or three to one. And a hat is true of Chicago is probably true, of most of the cities of our country. After a view of the Scripture argument as to woman's position, he says: The experience of the world has confirmed the truth that woman finds not only safety, but honor and usefulness, in the discharge of the domestic and maternal duties. Other things being equal, that is the beststate of society in which there are the most .inarriages and the largest number of children. It is sometimes sneeringly said that daughters are educated for matrimony, and with a view to their settlement in life. If they are, they are trained as they should be—for the hon orable position for which they are designed in the providence of God. It is not to the discredit of any mother that she desires to see her daugh ters suitably married. Nor is any young woman disparaged by the fact that she hopes one day to be the loved and trusted wife of a noble, large hearted man. The Christian lntelligencer, on the woman ques tion, justly condemns the False discrimination which regards an aimless, purposeless, idle character as proper in a woman, whilst it withholds its approval from similar de velopments in the other sex, so 'that • practical wrong is done in denying opportimities of .use fulness to woman. This vicious 'public opinion justifies a-life of vanity in fashionable ladies, And, to be consistent, it must condemn any effort to lead an gamest, active life as disreputable. To have it said, 'that a young lady earns her living, is to: utter a sentence of banishment from the Flo eial circles to-which she would otherwise ; he ad mitted. This ig, wrong,,and a grievous one. Gran'te - d, there are social distinctions .Which are 'based'upon variety 'of occupation's, and although all honest callings are honorable, they are not all on a footing of social equality. • •It may be pre sumed that a,,lady ; will,.select employment that befits her sex and her associations; but,, why should it be less reipeetablefor her - to 'teach` than for her brothOr 'tit be leficher ? 'Wherein-does she justly forfeit the regard of her by • putting'her, superior accomplishments to a prac -deal use . •• -• • , - ••• • The same paper is responsible for the follow ing statement : • There is a, very significant fact, confirmed by statistics Which - are within reach, that in cases requiring college discipline (and such "instances are to be expected in the student's curriculum), more. encouragement is given to the insubordina tion of which complaint is, made, and less hearty support is accorded to measures adopted to cor rect the evil on the part' of ministers of the gos pel; than any other' class. In other words," law. yers, phySicians, merchants, farmers, etc., are usually more disposed ,to acquiesce cheerfully than those whose office invests them with the ,highest anthoritY alloted to man on earth. Strange as thiS may 'seem, it is a fact, neverthe less; and We•think - it can be accounted for on the grotnid-that ininisters are more sensitive to any disgraceful imputation than any other class ; and it is right that they should be ; but the fact proves the tendency to overlook the paramount obligation of law, and the necessity of always in sisting on prompt obedience. The New York Tablet sees in the Methodist Episcopal Church the most formidable- antago nist. of American - Romanism, but prophesies the ruin of that Church. It says The real enemies to us among Protestant sects in this country, are the Methodists, admirably organized for:aggression, and who, in their ap peals. to the Animal nature and sensible devotion, acquire-no little . power over the, sensitive, the ig norant, and the superstitious. They, however, are laying the foundation of their own ruin. They are becoming wealthy, are building fine churches, founding colleges and theological seminaries, and are taking their place among the respectable sects of the country. A strong party among theM, almost a majority, are struggling to • introduce lay representation in their Conferences, and they are not unlikely to succeed. These things will gradually work their ruin. They are - ruined the moment they lose sight of the pobr, the igno rant, and the neglected, and-pride themselves on having large, wealthy, and fashionable congrega tions. The poor are Worth more than the rich. FROM OUR ROCHESTER CORRESPONDENT. THE HARVEST Last Sabbath was communion .in the Central church of this, city. Fifty-two were added'to its membership by profession, and eleVen by letter —sixty-three in all. It will be remembered that only one year ago, this church dismissed eighty . , • two members. at one time r to form the 'Westmin ster church: But the additions since made have restored its :numbers to what' they-were, seven hundred strong. - • • To-morrow the communion Service occurs in Dr. Shaw's church, when about one hundred and sixty, in all, are to be received to its fellowship, when its entire!membership will be about twelve hundred and fifty. We continue to receive good accounts of the blessed work now in progress in BuffSlo. The union services of our three churches, in the cen tral part of the city, still continue, with marked encouragement. The meetings are carried''on 'without foreign aid, the preaehing being done by the pastors. The work seems also to be moving on in Lock port. Churches and pabtors are generally united in it. Quite a number have been down from this city, to bear witness to God's goodness so wonderfully manifested here, and also to lend a helping hand in the prayer and inquiry meetings. The Lord has been also doing.great things for them in Attica. It is estimated that some sixty or seventy conversions have occurred. Rev. Mr. Wicks; of the Presbyterian church is almost worn out with hard work. Like reports come to us from Fredonia, Fay etteville, and New York Mills, some thirty or forty indulging hope in each place. In Fredonia the work is mostly among the children and youth, though some adults are included. In Fayette ville aboys' prayer-meeting seems to be doing much good. Older persons, and some whose walk has not alWays been exemplary, have been attracted to it. One man was broken completely down by hearing the voice of his own son in the meeting. It was the means of bringing to Christ. . MEXICO We recently had the pleasure of spending a Sabbath in Mexico—not Juarez's 31exico, but Trio: Weed's Mexico, which is a pretty iillage in Oswego countY. Two Years ago it 'was an out-bf:- the-way place, but now it is just as near the, earth's'centre as any other,' for .it has, a rail Way right along one side of it, that which leads from Syracuse to Rome. And here, about ten miles from the Lake, in a beautiful farming country, is this village of two thousand inhabitants, the centre of considerable domestic trade and some home manufactures. The Presbyterian church numbers two hundred and thirty members. They have a very pleasant house of worship ; at least it was made so by extensive repairs, repainting, frescoing, carpeting and the like, in the last year; and on the Sab bath it contains a large and intelligent congrega tion, pleasant to look upon, ankpatient to hear. Rev. Thomas A. Weed has been their pastor for twenty-one years. Though his record and his wisdom may put him quite among the patri archs; yet he gives no other sign of advancing years. He has one of those natures that never grow old; genial, hopeful, happy whether or no; just as any devoted servant of Christ should be. - .His church has prospered under his ministry, and he has grown up with it ; a beautiful illus tration of the blessedness of the permanent pas torate. • We saw quite a suggestive device in their Pleasant Sabbath.schoolroom; the likenesses of several .children hung together in frames upon the wall, with the words, "Over the River," wrought in evergreen above the group. Surely, it, should suggest to every scholar who looks upon it, that it were worth while so to live as to get over the river: AT, WORK -The yoUng ladies of the Presbyterian church in Corning, Rev. Dr. Niles', recently held a festival at as h' in ton Hall, for the purpose of raising money to complete paying for the organ. We understand it was quite a success.- A New England supper, of the olden time, was served by._ ,waiters clothed in antique fashions, and speaking in the regular Yankee twang. Tableaux and music added to the - enjoyment and success of the' occasion. They are always doing some thing in Corning. y ' • The Auburn Journal (a first-rate, sensible, re liable paper, by the way), has begun publishing brief reports of the Sabbath sermons of "the various clergymen of that city. One. from the Rev, • Dr. Hawley of the First church, on the Power of Faith ; another' from Rev. Henry Fow ler of the Central, church, on the Deity. of Christ, are published. this "week.: We are glad to know what our brethren are about down there; and glad the Jaurnaiis adding so much valu able reading to its lexcellent columnso Perhaps it may suggest to those esteemed ministers,, that they must now do their best• every Sabbath, as their congregations are so much enlarged. PERSONAL. The Presbyterian church of New York. Mills has,called Rev. V. Leroy Lockwood, of Durham, and hope to, get him for their pastor. Rev. D. W. Marsh of this city is supplying the church for the present. Rev. Dr. Campbell, of the Central church of this city, is to sail this day for Florida. He takes his vacation now, instead of waiting for the summer, and embraces the oportunity to visit his invalid . daughter, at St. Augustine, where she has spent the winter. He hopes to bring her back with him about the first of May. Rev. Dr. Condit of Auburn is still most ac ceptably supplying the First Presbyterian church of this city. And this reminds us that the types made us express a most'cruel wish for this church last Week; to wit, that they might be disappointed-in getting Dr. Mcllvaine . We wrote , or intended to write, ,that "we hoped that they were not to be disappointed." But that cruel slippery "not" drokied out somewhere. G - ENESEE. Rochester, April 3, 1869. ENLARGEMENT OF OUR FREEDMEN'S What is our Church doing for the Freedmen ? has been asked for years. " As a Church, noth ing,"—was the uniform answer. The fact was Mortifying ; and, in view of the vastness of the , work 'to be done, and th 'energetic efforts of others, mournful. What is our Church doing for them now ? God be praised l—we have begun to work, and to do what we can. Last November, our Home Mission' Committee issued an Appeal for preach ers and teachers, places and contributions. In response to this Appeal, six excellent bretlirenn= ministers of our Church, offered their . services, and have been sent as Ne'ssionaries to the Freed men of South Carolina. They have found more work than they can do, are doing what they can, and will soon be organized, with one or two more brethren previously in the field, as a .Presbyter:y. Another preacher has been sent into Tennessee. Two large colored churches with their 'pastors, in Tennessee and South Carolina,Were previous ly under the care of the Committee. The gather ing of several churches 'will immediately follow the organization of the Presbytery. Not less than seventy Teachers, mostly of a high order, and thoroughly devoted to their work, have been commissioned in response to numerous applicationi for teachers and places. At two 'of our mission stations, valuable proper ties have been purchased, at reasonable rates, greatly to the advantage of the work. Many more missionaries and teachers are now called for, and could be profitably employed. The growth of the" . work has been entirely providential. The hand of `God has been so distinctly seen in its progress, that the Commit tee could not hesitate to go forward. They' were "fully authorized and urgently desired," by the last; Assembly, "to go forward in this Wert( boldly and swiftly;" and, as the servants Of the Church, they have endeavored to fulfill the 'ex pectations of the Church and do their bidding. But they can go no further, without large and liberal contributions Appeals hav,e 'been sent to individual pastors' and elinicties tbroughout our bounds. As yet the returns are sMall. In a few instances, the. support' of a teacher ($350) WORK.