irterirall rrc,lblitcriaut New Series, Vol. VI, No. 31. Strictly in Advance $2.50, Otherwise $3. 1 Postage 20cts, to be paid where delivered. I EXPERIMENTAL PIETY &ND CULTURE. "Christ the wisdom of God." , 4 Here the eternal thoughts of God and the thoughts of men which spring up responsive to these out of the inmost truth of the human heart., through the .opera tion of the all-enlightening Logos, encounter each other."—Sling. Comment. The finished man, teres atque rotundus, must be a truly pious man. Culture in its highest broadest sense, is sadly incomplete withbut ex perimental piety. Vast arrangements for ft-lin ing the mind, universities lavishly endowed for every branch of what is termed liberal culture, are chargeable with partiality, with grave defect, if they would make the impression that they are covering all that is important and cultivable in humanity by their curriculum. There is too much called culture that Is caricature. There is a vast deal of " fiish,"• what is only the thin nest sort of petty veneering. There is a great deal of genuine scholarship and literary ability— good enough so far as it goes—but without a spark of real manhood or earnest moral purpose behind it. Some Of the most distinguished scholars, philosophers and writers of modern and. recent times, have been unbelievers, or half believers—men quite out of sympathy with evan gelical truth, and destitute of, if not contemning, any and every such thing as experimental piety. The idea of the finished man among intellectual worldlings is Goethe—called many-sided, but lacking the most important side of human cul ture—the training of the heart in the love and fear of Jesus Christ. . A complete system of culture must embrace, the skilful training of every power and capacity of the man. The omission of any leading ca pacity is a capital defect in the system. If the moral and spiritual natures of men are realities; if they are not to be ruled out as mere rude fan cies of an uncultivated age, now becoming ob solete, they are no less than the chief parts, the crowning excellencies of man's nature. They who believe in them - at all, must believe .all this of them. And if the. intrinsic worthiness of these faculties is admitted, zeal in their behalf is the more necessary, because .by the' fall. they have received the most.dienct , andi4kiver4 and need not only training bit nursing. They' require all the sanitary and reviving and invig orating influences that a life of communion with God can impart. They are most in danger of being neglected though the most important of all. Such perversity has sin introduced into the very arrangements by which men undertake to elevate and finish themselves, that the result of their culture often is a deeper injury and degradation to these royal but dethroned facul ties, and we have even the framing of a. whole elaborate system of philosophy, liy which they are practically annihilated, in the interests of the highest culture ! So imperative is, the demand upon us, to save our generation from a grievously one-sided education, by insisting upon 'the need of experimental piety. if culture largely depends on and consists of acquaintance with truth, experimental piety may, on this ground, claim a high place among its agencies. The highest class of truths i pene trating to the inmost nature of ,things, and em bracing the fundamental lawa and ultimate de sign of the universe, are its materials. There is a divine philosophy, a grand jurisprudence, a pdlicy of universal government in the evangelical doctrine of the atonement, not to know which is to be shamefully ignorant. •ilsio familiarity with libraries of human learning can balance this ignorance of divine relations, so . vast and fro near us. The 'wisdom of the world without it is lolly, conceit and shame. Liberal outtnre deals with language, with natural phenomena, with the number, the order, and the logical relations of things. It debates whether it .can -reach, , and whether it knows anything of, the things them selves. How shallow a thing is scholarship awl culture, if that is all. Dignity, depth; signifi. oance are added to it, by admitting the grand realities, the living objects, the truth of truths, and Cause of causes recognized by experimental piety. Here is your true ontology. Here the human spirit has intercourse with reality. Here, in the Christian's closet, is the audience chamber of truth. For experimental piety is a personal, spiritual knowing; it is not perception of a fact entirely external, or the action of the under standing on abstract truth, but it is , spirit com muning with spirit; it is apprehending and being apprehended; it is that best, sort of knowledge that comes from faith and love. It-is believing, in order that we may ninderatand. He who counts his education finished without, this sort of knowledge of the highest and most interior and fundamental of' all truths, know nothing yet as he ought to know. • Experimental piety does-not discOurage intel lectual culture, but perfects and stitnulates As a means of usefulness, and as the improve —Paul meat of the talents committed to us, experimental piety furnishes to culture the most commanding of all motives, as: a sense of responsibility to God, grateful love for the benefits of redemption, zeal to be thoroughly furnished for the blessed work of saving our fellow men from error, sin and death. and of re-e.stablishing the kingdom of God on earth. All other motives, however great, are of the earth, earthy; are bounded by time, and by, merely human interests, are corrupted with, sel fishness, stamped with mortality and'deeity, °rip pled by disappointment and . ' a 'frequent over powering sense of the utter impotence and worth lessness of all 'man's undertakings and achieve-. meats. In the iheight of :they: noblest. merely earthly endeavor, it is impoSSible :to avoid the thought: What shadOws we are, and what shadows we pursue ! If we are working only for present ends, we are writing on the sand.. But the Christian labors under the ever fresh and inspiring impulse of immortal' hope. His mo tives are drawn from the grand and unfailing sources of eternity. The nature that he seeks to polish and adorn is more imperishable than. diamonds, and it shall' shine in the diadein of the exalted Redeemer and Judo? Vof the world. His cull ure may gain him the honor and praise of this world;; but its value 'to him is because it is in woven, crowned ' and consummated in- the manifestation' Of the sons 'of- God, for which all creation waits, with unutterable lon'ging4.' Such incentives do not lose their, power while life lasts. They save many a' youth from unworthy and -irreparable neglect of his best opportunities for culture, and they lift the whole businnss of Cul ture into, the lofty regions of duty, obedienee and. Christian stewardsh;p. , . , DISESTABLiSHMENT IN IRELAND. The " Protestant Supremady," aa far as legis lation is concerned ? comes to an end on New Year's, day in 1871. The Bill for this purpose, has received the royal assent, after 'running the, gauntlet of the House of Lords:' "'Of the amehd ments which they proposed, the most inipOrtant ,havebeen-thrown wetboard, as Stttbonsieten't with' 'the' principle to which Mr. Gladstone had com mitted himself when "lefore the people" at the last election. Some of minor importance were accepted by the Con:mons, and will secure the Church a larger share Of 'die' ddlifisaated . funds The great motion, that' to dispose of 'the great mass, if not all of the - Old Church property in' the concurrent endowment of Episeepallans,'Presby terians and Romanists.was lost.' 'lts 'rejection (lees not formally settle the question, as the claus'es of the Bill which declared that the funds should not be disposed of for that purpose, have been post Tamed. But the warily politic course of Mr. Disraeli shows that he has no hope of carrying any such proposal through the Commons. The Irish Church, however, does not go out bare and stripped. The salary of every rector, vicar, dean, deacon, archdeacon and bishop will be paid to him as long as he lives. If he chooses to " commute," hie parish or dioceSe *ill be paid a sum equal td' what he would get if his life were prolonged till 1885. The Regiunt Donut»: giv'en to Presbyterian ministers '(orthodox and Arian), And thd annual grant'. to the Roman Catholic university at Maynooth, are to be corn; muted at the same rate. All the Private endow ments given to the Church ln general Or to' individual perishes, before 1660, are to be retained by the Chittch, while in compensatimilfol 'simi lar endowments given prior to that'date, :t500,- 000 * ire to be' added fro& the surplus to the dowry of the' Chuech. endoivmenis pro posed by the Lords, but -rejected by' the Com mons, would have given the Church nearly all the property that she possessed'while established. The attitude of the Irish Church` 'during the discussion of the Bill has not-been: of the linost dignified character. ' Seldom have reverend deans and rectors stooped so row' in bandying epithets and dealing out threats. The measure was branded as "spoliation, sacrileg,d, legalized robbery." Its authors were diacussed in a Style compared with which a Romish " excommunica tion, with bell, book and candle," Were a' trifle The laith that`" takes: joyfully the spoiling of . . goods," they of , the Irish Church make no claim to. =They had the weakness to proclaim that to disendow the Church was to overthrow it, and to publish, far and wide the list of weak parishes with abundant endowment and a hand ful of people, as an argument against the Bill. The Liberals pronounced such 'evidence of the failure, of the Church to do the work of the Church, to be a very good reason for stripping it of the wealth that belonged to .the nation. We believe.with Mr. Gladstone, and' agOnst these:croakers; that Irish Episcopalianehave never had euch a chance as they will bate after 1871. They'start with‘ a good " working-tapital;" With PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 5., 186 g. immense social prestige, with bands untram melled by State policy, with a free: chance to carry out their own ideas of discipline,, and with a wealthy 'and powerful constituency behind them. If they fail they will deserve to fail. No thing is against them, but their record as having existed for centuries 'on the means of a hostile people, and as having rOught se if for their very life, to retain the wealth' which was theirs in law but not'iti justice. REV. A. 111. STEWART'S LETTERS! XXXIX. One needs to travel.over our seemingly bound• less continent, 'with almost , the ease of 'home stay ing, and on tinie that =a few years since.- would have appeared miraculous, ,in •order to;:get any. adequate :conception of this woaderfuL human achieverrient , --this grandest• enterprise in,' many of its elements in the world's history--tbe. com pletion and successful "'tinning of the Overland- Railroad-;—uniting by iron bands the "Atlantic and the Pacific4—a: highway opened for the na: tions—a quicker passage than ever before between Europe and Asia---a =Chine .to ereate , speedy, important and lasting revolution in the Commerce of the world—a magic power, to make:and' un make cities—to create States teeming with peo pies out of territories now waste—to, move the, forces, by a single impulse,, for the world's .his, tory more degrees forward,than went 'backward the shadow otuthe dial of Ahaz:l ; 'Did the, struggling nations'of. Europe know but half itesignificanee they would clap < hands and sing. Did the ingenious Japanese, the plodding Chinaman, the 'Mystic' Hindoo, the imbecile Per sian and the'elfeminate , Turk realise what great 'things this union of iron is to accomplish for them,,they would throw their idols to, the bate, :their Shasta and. their Koran into the ditch andy. all together bless the: God of . heaven. - Did our own philanthropisti and Christians.; but foresee, so, as to take. advantage thereof, all, the moral revolutions to which this completed effort of hn .;man skill and energy: is,to become.a ready hand : Maid,---they- - tow' wlatld : sing a -newMg to the - Lord. A- mighty engine, and destined to in crease in power by` multiplication, for the , ele , vation , of our race to a' high condition of moral; intellectual and spiritual 'dignity. As David, after the death of Absalom and dis• persitim of the rebels, sent ,this, chiding .message to his brethren of the tribe ofJudah . : Why are ye the ,last to bring the king, back ?" so may Christians now be fitly upbraided with : " Why. are ye the last,to take advantage of this highway of the people in order to hasten the return of our Emmanuel ?". . . God's people, who desire Him to possess the earth, seem slow to take advzintage,,i,.f such prof fered earthly helps for spreading the Gospel of the kingdom.. Quietly the devil is •permitted:to have the earliest message along each new tele graph,*,as well as the first messenger along every completed railroad. Unmolested the powers of evil are allowed to establish, all their depots and agencies along each new channel of, human in fluence, before Christ's •agents think of bestirring themselves. , Trading, speculating, sight-seeing and pleasure htinting individuals,aud companies have, from the first opening of,t4iepad, been traversing the con tinentin both directions, pager in their respec tive vocations. put a- comp Any of Christians as such, and intention the Master's 11.*tkess, h not been seen or heard of, as speeded on by this iron ev.angelist.- A straggling min:tste! of Chris! is occasionally heard of among these, parties, but merely as the tail of a Ifite, following, in the wake of worldly business eating at their feasts and clapping hands at their toasts. • , No one capable of reflection pn such matters will :conclude that all the grand results fore shadowed by the successful completion of this one are to be accomplished by it alone. It is but the beginning of, the end. Ere_long one will not be able to d i o a tithe of the business in travel and trade demanded. Of these, a: dozen will be re quired, running on various parallels for the Pa cific, from New Orleans on the South to Lake Superior on the North. A. M. STEWART. * The very first message sent across the ocean, by eiible, as our correspondent seems.to have forgotten; was Glory to God in the highe,S, on earth peace. good-will to man !" And the driving of the hat spike on the U. Railroad, as he has' likewise foriotren, was accompanied with prayer by Rev. John .Todd, D: D„, of Pittsfield, Mass.—En. The Privy. Council, as the highest •Ecclesias tical court of appeal, decides that Bishop Colenso is entitled to the possession of the diocesan Cathe dral fromivhieh the: Dean had tried to shut him out- , . PAbIFIO .RzAILROAD CHAISTIA'NS BEHIND ,ONE ROAD NOT ENOUGH. THE PORTLAND CONVENTION. The recent meeting of the International Con vention of Young Men's Christian Associations, held in the city of Portland, collected a large number.ofdelegates , from all parts of our own country as well as from the adjacent British Province& hit all, 830 persons were enrolled as members, and - many of them were accompanied by ladies who attended the meeting with great regu larity. Among ,those present were many who occupy high position in. the political, military and ecclesiastical World, such as Ex Gov. Poi: lock, :Gen. Howard ; Gen. Fisk, Rev. Drs Crosby, Wilson, of Toronto, Crammond, Baum, Hawes, and others, along with such 'earnest workers as Thane Miller , of Cincinnati Moody of Chicago Rowland, or Boston, Frew, of Pittsburgh, Wana- Mal Fer, of Fhiladelphiii, Glass, of Baltimore, bodge ail lireinerd, of New York. Mr. M. H. Redder,' of tile toedon Association, appeared'as s:ivortbfrepiesentitive of that Institution. Mr. P. B. Simons, the President of the Philadelphia Association, had set out' to attend the meeting, but a' telegradi received 'while in Boston, an-' flouncing' the death of one of his children, com , piled' hie return, although after his melancholy task at home had been performed , he came back to. Portland, arrriVing on Saturday afterboon, , and 'participatini , in - the remaining ` exercises of the meeting. Mr. Geo. H. Stuart,'who had'also made arrangements to be present was prevented by a' severe attack of asthma. Appropriate, teso- Intiens c were adopted and fervent 'prayers were of fered in behalf of each of these dear brothers. Mr.W:E:Dodge , ,Jr., of New York, son of Hon. W. E. Dodge, wis elected Piresident, and filled his position admirably. While eminently courteous, he was p rom p t , distinet and firm in his,dicisions, find . inaintainetl excellent oider:' He showed himself fulliequil CO any duty he ivasrequireil to per form and seemed never to dodge anything: Col. S. 11. Shiher, of Philadelphia, Wits . the principal secretary, and certainlyprored quite'a significant figure; discharging his fOnctions with great ability. The Whiett i perVailed the entire sessiene'Tte ~em.; It inently Climistian; there nearness, nor clamor;. nor -evil speaking, but all seemed filled 'with love to the Saviour, and to each other, ;And to all G;nd's people; with the -most earnest s flosire to .devise and sustain' measures to promote the divirio- glOry and the welfare of a perishing world. Devotional exercises occupied a every largei pOrtion -of ' the time, not only in 'prayer bid-during- the business sessions, and the hymns of praise'appropriately introduced by the President and others tended to- prevent weariness and' sustain attention, and arrest lin: profitable remarks. Mr. Miller,' of Cincinnati, frequently led in singing,. and his voice of re markable swe etness and strength ' gave such ear nest - exp•ession the words he uttered; that the vast audienoes listened in almost breathless silence,- until-all' joined in a choius which seemed as if every heart was`faihed to heaven. The regular business meeting` Was held in the State St. Congregationa' church,' a handsome' building, which would accommodate about 800 persons, and which was nearly always filled -to overflowing. Prayer meetings were held in dif ferent churches of various denomination& Sev, eral times *hen the State St:church, was insuffi cient to contain those who sought admission, an Episcopal church in the iinmediate neighborhood was opened and fullyobcdpied. Several meetings were also held in the , !City Hall, where at least three thousand persons attended, large numbers being unable • to obtain`-'admission. Numerous ,open air. meetings were held every , evening in various parts of the city, and on - the Sabbath in the suburbs and adjoining villages. The solemn' and yet joyous sounds of 'praise were heard at the corners and :along the side Walks, and aug gested a' delightful Centrist to the ri6,ld songs of political conventions. Among the most important of the proceedings of the Convention was the action taken in regard t o the qualification for membership. It.had been d ec id e d, at a previous meeting, that all persons connected with any associations represented in the Convention should' be members of evangelical churches, but there was a difficulty in regard to the term evangelical, some Unitarians and Uni versaliste claiming that they were . not excluded. The subject was referred to a Committee of which Dr. Crosby was Chairman, which brought l. in a report affirming the divinity,uf iTEsus, and stating in scriptural terms the grata doctrines of a vi carions'atonement, and 'a future state of rewards and punishments, the belief of which was to be req?iired for membership.. The report is as fol lows Resolved, That as these organizations bear the name of Christian and profess to - be engaged di rectly in the Saviour's service, so it'is clearly their duty to maintain the control and management of all their affairs in the hands of those who profess' to love and publicly avow their faith in Jesus, Genesee Evangelist, No. 111.. Home & Foreign Miss. $2.00. I Address :-1334 Chestnut Street. the Redeemer, as Divine, and who testify their faith by becoming members of churches held to be evangelical, and we would add the following further affirmation : . , And we hold those churches to be evangelical which, maintaining the Holy Scripture to be the only infallible ru'e of faith and practice, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father,,King of kings and Lord of lords (in whom dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and who was made sin for us, though knowing no'sin, bearing our sins in his own body on the tree) is the only name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved from ever lasting punishment. This report was adopted unanimously and the noble, "Coronation" hymn was sung with a fer vor which showed how intense was the feeling which animated every heart. The temperance movement also received at tention and a r re'solution was adopted, pledging the support of the AssociatiOn to this great cause. Some of the members were also urgent for a reit°. lution to condemn the use of tobacco, but the Convention reaffirmed the action adopted at De troit, leaving it to the conscience of each individ ual to decide " after much prayer." The connection of females with the Associa tions was the subject of some interesting discus sion. The view taken was , that in larger places it was better to form separate organizations, but in smaller places it would be profitable to com bine. The propriety of employing lecturers, often a losing concern, Was also considered. Also the change of the publication issued by the Conven ,from a Quarterly to a Monthly, and the adoption. of various agencies to reach the outlying masses, to promote the religious interests of the Freedmen, to operate along the line of the Pacific Railroad, to evangelise the Chinese and Japanese. For all these various objects liberal subscriptions were received. On ,one occasion, Mr. Hodder of London having offered a sovereign, it was put up at auction and brought one hundred and fifty dollars. He then gave ..another which brought „fittyjnllars, .Pifferent persons presented some rare coins; which' realised sums far beyond their intrinsre value. In all, probably, above, ten thousind dollars were obtained. There was a manifestation of a strong desire to do all that could be done to extend the influence of divine truth throughout our land. , And there / was an evident consciousness of power, and desire to use it, whichltself indicated that our Young Men's Christia,n,Associations may form one of the most important agencies for the evangelization of the world. Thestatit,tics which were presented ex hibited remarkable increase in numbers and efficiency. "In 1866 the number of delegates at the annual meetino. was 259, representing that number of. Associations, having 16,000 members. In 1867 the number of delegates was 594, repre senting,lo7 Associations, and there were reports from 141, with a membership of 32,000. Last year there were 613 Associations, reporting 70,- 090 members, This year 759 Associations, and a membership of 90,000." Property, to the value of .83.250,000, is held by the Associations, and nearly 3500 conversions are attributable to their efforts. There :4.0,000,000 of young men in our land, and only, 250,000 profess to be Chris tians.% What would, be the power at work if all were earnest, active,. consistent 'workers in the service of our LORD and SAV.TOUR. We are aware that there _pave been some who h,ave opposed these associations as antagonistic to ,the Church. It should berernembered that there was.not one word uttered during the Convention which would indicaie that this was the case. The ministry was spoken of most respectfully, and the 4esire was most earnestly expressed for the co-operation of every pastor and office bearer. Loyalty to each one's congregation and denomi nation was regarded as perfectly consistent with fidelity to the obligations of membership in the Association, and there was an evident wish to do nothing which would interfere with religious ser vices regularly held.ky any congregation. Indeed the most efficient members of these Associations are generally the most valuable members of the congregations to which they belong, and in fact these organizations are the 'development and out growth of the true spiritual life of the Church, and no more detract from its strength or useful ness, than the luxurious branches weaken the parenktree. T. W. J. W. Father'llyieinthe's cause has been taken up by Cesar Cantu, the Italian historian, who, adopting all his sentiments, has sent a flaming article on the subject to the Osservatore Cat .talico of Milan, the paper which attacked Father llyacinthe. It is believed the Carmelite preacher will be required by the General of his order to retract his speech at the Peace Congress.
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