N e w Series, Vol. VI, No. 40. Strictly in Advance $2.50, Otherwise $3. 1 Postage 20cts, to be paid where delivered. j —ln 1800 the Methodists of our city num bered one to every 4.42 of, our population;'in 1810 one in 59 ;. in 1.829 one in 43 ; in 1830 one in 33; in 1840 one in 25; in 1850 one in 38; and in 1860 one in 45. SincelB4o they had (and perhaps have) been losing ground ye latively, while actually gaining in numbers. —ln St. Mary's street, Philadelphia, there was' a Mission Sabbath school, in the midsvof a very poor population, and the children were very ir-! regular in their attendance, came late„and. often came hungry. So a refreshment. room was open ed' in the rear of the chapel, and the 'Children were invited to come there half tin hour before the Sabbath school. The first Sabbath, more than one hundred boys and girls mune .together,' and were first of all provided. with breakfast.- The Congregationalist (Boston.) [This sohool is carried• on by members of the First IL P. chnrch in the place where their ,con gregation once worshipped. Its ordinary expenses are paid by Mr. Geo. H. Stuart, whose eldest son—the late William D. Stuart—Was once the superintendent. * Mr. Jas. Grant, of • the James B. Rodgers , FAting Co., is now superintendent. The design is:: to gather a colored church as a memorial to the first superintendent. The ex- . pense of the plan above described is very trifling,, and is defrayed by the friends of the sohool iu the congregation.] --We have always insisted that the clear im plications, if not the open declarations, of the basis of Reunion made it a truly and safely libe ral document. Proofs of the correctness of this opinion are numerous to the discerning eye. The, only opposition to the Basis comes from the more. rigid party. Dr. (lodge's position of antagonise . as maintained in the last number of the Prince ton Review ; the want of unanimity in the rotes of the Old School Presbyteries, approving the Basis, as contrasted with the invariably unani-, mous votes of those of the New School ;,the nega- . tive vote of three Old School Presbyteries, reveal to us, with the certainty of an instinct; the funda , mental character of the document. The Nort hwestern Presbyteriiin, the leading opponent of every liberal movement towards Reunion, is dead,, and its list , was merged in that of The Preso-' terian of this city, a few weeks after the adjourn ment of the Assembly. Its late editor, Dr. Ers kine, we are please'd to say,ls Still livhig. Two weeks ago, in company wi k th a couple of others, like-minded with himself, fie voted in his (Chica go) Presbytery against the Basis of Reunion. Thus the late editor of the late Northwestern is a useful man still. His light is no longer on a candlestick, but it shines to the best of its ability, and aids still in illuminating the liberal senti ment of the Basis. Every such vote from the exclusive side, increases' the sense of safety of liberal men in the united body. Every editor of the AMERICAN PRESEYTERIAN has voted or will vote, AYE, in his Presbytery, on the adoption of the Basis. THE AMERICAN BOARD AND THE RE- UNION. During the present week the American Board is holding its annuarmeetipg in the city of Pitts burg. It will be followed, in a few weeks, by the sessions of the two General Assemblies in the same city. The coincidence is worthy of note. Thirtytbree years previously, the one General Assembly, about to be divided into two, met in the same city. Among the exciting topics which occupied that body during its ses sion of three weells and onq,day, was the re'y- . tion of the Presbyterian Church to this same American Board. A long reportien the transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society to the General Assembly was introduced early in the session. It was put in the hands of a com mittee, who, in due time, reported to the effect, that the General Assembly was bound by pre vious action to take charge of this society, and proposed that the Assembly should immediately appoint a Foreign Board to be located in New York city. From this report Dr. Skinner, a member of the committee, dissented and made a counter report.. It is brief and, we think, wor thy of quotation at this point.. WHEREAS, The American Board of Commis sioners for Foreign Missions has been connected with the Presbyterian' Church from the year of its incorporation, by the very elements, of its ex istence; and whereas, at, the present time, the majority of the whole• of the Board are Presby terians; and whereas, as it is undesirable, in conducting the work of Foreign Missions, that there shotild be any collision at home or abroad; therefore, Resolved, That it is inexpedient that the As sembly should organise a 'separate Foreign Mis sionary Institution. An effort was made to throw the whole sub ject out of the Assembly by , a - motion to poet- pone, which was defel;ted by one Majority in 267 votes. At this stage, the case of Mr. Barnes Joan Weir came up, and was continued, almost to, the en tire exclusion of other forms of business, until his appeal was sustained. The subject of For eign Missions was then resumed; finally the proposal to accept the Western Society was voted down by four majority in a vote of 216: In this transaction we have one of the most influential causes of the disruption which followed inthe next year. The spirit of division which was then near its height has passed away. Pittsburg, 'which, thirty-three years ago, beheld the preliminaries of' a disruption almost ripe, will soon'behOld the pre liminaries of a Ile-union equally ripe. And just at this point, the American' Board appears again upon the scene. It reminds 'us both how great and how little have been thechangcs since that time. The dedided changes are obvious and need not be dwelt upon here. The,feelings of the New School Church towards the American Board 'are 'anong' the things whialt, have' under- 3 !gone the least change. The report offered by Dr. Skinner, in the Assembly of 180, 1 with the exception of the , claas.e describing the- denominational character of the Board, r'epr ' esents'' the feelings of thegreat mass of the New Sdhool ;Church of to-day. We say this, in the recol lection of the complaints which we have heard, ler' which have been uttered in our, colunms,' in !regard to the ecclesiaStical Policy- of the ,Boald. ,rn "spite of all dissatisfaCtion, the affection of the' !. Nei School people for this institutiOn;continues to'be so 'strong, that they contemplate lliepossi lble sundering of the ties uniting them'` the Board, with almost rqualified regret.: In every other of laboi.- 7 -11OmeMisiions, ,Edtecation, Publication, etc.--thq School Church, have !learned to: work dentkainationally, and' to that' extent halie surrendered the principle of-coopers=' tion for which 'they eontendeethirty-ttree years' ago'; in regard to the Atherican Board 'and its' !work, they ,seem to have . made no progress worth mentioning in that direction. In' the en tire &hike 'field, they have' fotind' that they can !do more and betteirwork for; the Master by the separate 1.4 e "of their ecclesiastical machinery, than in connection with other denominations. They Will go heartily and with little need of re adjuitthent into joint' labors with' their' Old School brethren, in every department of 'home' wor 4Orltr, the j6int experience of the twbi !bodies is harmonious and conclusive. But in regard to the Foreign field, where the 'Old School Church alone has tried the experi rnent of separate denominational action,,the re sults are by no means so decisive. After thirty three years of this sort of effort,' what have the Old School Church to Oro*? Their 're ceipts have not been meagre. 'From a Member ship of about 258,000, they last year acknowl edged receipts of $338,360, an increase of $50,000 on the year before. During the past eight years they have received within a fraption ortwo millions of dollars. Their financial management has been among the Most rigorously economical known to our great benevolent societies. They have over 170 American, and over 200 native laborers employed. Their Missions are organ ized into'Presbyteries and Synods in conjunc tion with the General Assembly; and their native churches have elders and Church,sessions. The system is beautifully coniplete. But if the number of' converts is any test of success—and who shall say it is not a' leading test ?—the thirty-three years' experiment of the Old School Church cannot be called successful in any ilskt tering degree. The 'report of last May showed but 1750 members in connection with churches on heathen ground'under the care of their Board. The additions to the churches of the American Board last year, were 1600, and the entire mein bership, after purging the .rolls of the HaWaiian churches of 5000 names, was nearly 21,000. We do not pretend "to understand the carries of this comparatively poor showing. But . the fact is, that in leaving the American Board and, taking hold of the Presbyterian Board, the New School Churches abandon an institution which has' won• an honorable place among the great and. successful agencies of the Church, for the con version of the heathen world, and .take hold of one which has its reputation yet to make. They leave one which has all the elasticity of world wide success, whose missions have had Pen tecostal recognition from above, and tarn to one which is still toiling among the foundations and waiting for a blessing." Should Shonld tlien the Old School Church confess its experiment a failure ? Should the two bran ches about to re-unite, put their experienees of the past thirty-three years into a 'common stock, and conclude, with equal force, in favor of de nominational action on the Home field, and in favor of cooperation with kindred denominations on the Foreign field.? Should the Re-union of the two branches be followed by a movement for PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1869. 1 jan7o the cooperation of the whole body with the American Board 7 We shall not, undertake to answer these ques tions. But we will say; if if the two bodies desire to strongly convince the Christian world at home and abroad, that the Re-union is a movement ol i broad and I genuine Christian char ity, and not the mere upbUilding of a sect, no better way could ,be recommended than to join forces with the Oongregatierialists represented in the American Board, in their great and success ful r ode upon the Foreign field. Such a move pent would be a pledg;e lb thentelves and to the BOP, 'that;;:. While: sineelely.;attached , te.their: ewn denomination t :they had RI entered, in this :Re union, upon a career of rigi and forbidding eiclusiVisni. On the' oche`Y and, to run the plonglishaieAlifro`nghiliele'nriShing fields.of the Anierican Board, and to 'sepaci e brethren who had 164 - been associated in ''the work, would ,giVe 'the lieath nand 'a 4eri'litiguare ?.nd linsat iSfactor'Y impression of 'the: bate and 'results' of Cliristiati Re union et home.` ' 44. ' We submit these paragraphS'as suggestions, Merely adding' 'that tlie`y~wilr te found to some extent men of laith Selobld, Our hope and prayer that the re united Ohiireh , lake rank'mong the fore. most in missionary zeal and ,enterprise. And whatever plan b agree,d it upon, we shall deem iqrvirge r ' labor with all our heart fo`r ids success: - •.• I • • 'VOTE Or PRES- Dr. Hatfield -writes. to one. of the Editors of this, paper ,have reenived more than fifty repOnses frffm,gle,Prdsbperies ,already, and ev l eiy one, unanimOuslY affirmative,-,--not a single negative,v9.tl.7 , ., - . :PEN; igethEL NO. a. CRITICAL. HEARER Having looked ati the a - porOrait of . one , who never attends divine service ; auji t or another who visits the, sarketuary ,oulytonee '4 4he Sabbath, 4 let us now glance. at tbe T pictufe• one who, may be ,denominated T the, Critical fAattr,. . This .individual, of course, liintelligent, but, mot .very-learned.; Hither, by realing. or oonver-, sing , with• thosefw.ho read, he has acquired a smattering of thecllogica • l. lore. He is moreover naturally smart. He has a, glib tongue, and' he associates with those of less calibre than himself, who, by their deference to , him, lead him to infer that he is quite a Socrates. He has ; also had the advantage or disgdpantage of frequently ,listenL ing to some very distinguished and eloquent men, who now constitute: beau. ideal of ex cellence. • With these feelings and qualifications the critical hearer wends his way to, the house : o,£ God. There is one thing in his favor—he never goes to sleep in • church. His active mind, on the alert to pick a:flaw in the sermon, prohibits repeats a discourse, may be caught,—a very uncer any approachsto . drowsiness. He always marks the text in the Bible, so that the pastor, if he tain rule, however, as, the pastor, may pFeach a new sermon from an s old text. And now, snugly ensconced in his seat, • he fastens his keen eye upon the preacher, and has both, ears wide open to catch every utterance. So far good. But the trouble is not with his eyes or ears, but with his heart. He is not o ne of thosewho was in early life trained to rever ence the minister or his message; or, if he was thus educated, his natural di . sposition repelled the lesson, and, contact with the. world has en tirely removed any respect he may in his,child hoodhave acquired. Perhaps he is a professing Christian,, but his heart is not• very warm with love for Jesus and his cause. If he is interested in the church, it is chiefly in its temporal pros perity. His minister, therefore, to suit him,, must be a very popular preacher. By his power of thought, his gift, of eloquence, or some great peculiarity he must impress the masses. The critic is a very benevolent man. He is ,all the while calculating for others. As for himself, Mr. Jones is sure he could .bear with, a great many imperfections,; but then h,ow will, ; it ,be with Mr. Smith, who has,just taken, a peyfhesirle him, or Mr. Brown who has, been; a few,,times to meeting, and, if .he, likes the pastor; may locate ?.. " Why doesn't our minister preach , historical sermons ? Why isn't, he more practical? Why, does he not have more fire in his delivery I, wish he would put a little, poetry in his discourses as Dr. Flash, did when • he priached. Do you re member Rev. Mr. Bonyfinger, how he discoursed about Demas forsaking_us ? Why you could al most have seen poor Demas running off the end. : of his finger, and, flying out the door! What ,a splendid discourse Dr. Bigman: gave about the, rolling, up . of the scroll! Howimpt'essivc, mannei as he took a sheet of paper and rolled it up, thus giving us a practical illustration of his subject! Would it not be desirable that a Com mittee be appointed by our Session to inform our minister that he would do well to imitate these ministerial brethren in their impressive ways ? He is not too old to learn, and a hint or two would do him good. And if he is too set in his way to change, why then he should know he is not the man for a Fifth Avenue church, and he had better look out fora call elsewhere." " Ah me !what is to be done with these critics ?" cries put Mr. Faithful, when at length some inju dicions. friend comes and iwhispers in his eai these queries and suggestions of the wide awake "Do with them? Why tell them to shut up," says Dick, an iMpalsiie boy who is enjoying his first vacation. '°-Do with theni ? Why, I'd preach them one ; plain ierthdri," says 'an Indignant' friend, and tell' them they'll soon have a vacant pulpit to supply "Do with them ?" A. serious question is this, injured and disheartened pastor. Don't be too luick'tpanswer it in your mind. Go with your ;buraen to the Lord. The fact is, these critics are useful. They are like intisquitoes and flies in summer time. They make ti roan wi,,teliful, keep him humhle, tax his ,ingehuity,,develop his patience, increase his clili ,gence." They are nuisances, it is true,hut who' will Say thej , are not, permitted' by a wise and. gracious" Providence; to hover around the sane teary, and sing their monotonous song, and cc.' casionally thrust their Sharp bills = into the minis ter for a good purpOse ? ' '"' Keep good-natured' and - hepoful, &ear Mr. ' Pray, Work, be earnest, preaCh the gospei, as pointedly as you can ; and , if . you do not, reach the heart of Mr. Jones, thd critic, you will, by'the help of God, lead some others to` the crods;and with them, at the last 'great day; be crowned with 'immortality. " They that sow in tears shallreap in joy."' P. S. BESP J 9 Al LE GAMBLING: :The eyes of the public have been fixed, for nearly two Weeks, upon . the, gold, gamblers of, !Nev . v York. A.earer understanding.of their• ne faiious operations has been reached than ever before: The excitement, of Friday, September 24th, was neither more nor less than that of the gambling ,saloon. •For a time previously, the movement may have been,what- is called mate speculation; but soon the bids became mere bets. ; , Every offer to buy meant, " I bet that the price will go to such a figure;" every response. meant, " I bet that it will not:" Not only did no coin change ,hands,. but it was not possessed even by, multitudes of the excited . bidders. Whet' the nearly crazy Albert Speyers shouted out : "I will take five millions, at sixty 1" he' meant, only to bet that, gold would go higher, and that he could sell his five Mil lions• if he chose to take it at an advance. The party who accepted the offer- meant, simply to bet that it would, not exceed that figure, and just this was the meaning of the whole shameful transaction. We are glad that the people have, had such a full opportunity for understanding these operations.: It is, one of the,.moral uses of dark things. We do not now intend to declaim against gam bling. But we do ask those who are content to make their living and to carry on , their business in a' legitimate way, to frown this kind of busi ness quite down and out of the circles of fair dealing and respectable traffics`. We ask them to turn. their backs upon gamblers of every kind and in every commodity, If they, will gamble, let them understand that no thin disguises and respectable names will shield them from the dis grace which properly attaches, to their occupa7 tion. There are places for gamblers avoided by men of character. Young men are, enticed ,into them and mined. They are not allowed a great amount of publicity. . Their business transa.e 7 tions are not,quoted in the meneyiarticlekof our daily journals,. There are laws against thir very existence. But what avail all these , limitations, if, gambling itself, in some of its worst forms, drawing the young into its vortex, and pursued, upon a scale so vast as - to involve the entire financial interests cf the country, is treated as fair and honest employment, in.which men may grow-rich without damage.to character and posi tion.? Every honest man must be alarmed at the distinction which is thus drawn, where all are alike immoral, and .where the, borrowed re spectability only covers the, greater danger and snare. Let all honest business men combine with the press ,and the pulpit of the land, to con sign gold gambling and all modes:of business' which consist of bets as, to future prices, to de •served infamy. Genesee Evangelist, No. 1`,22C. .1. Home & Foreign Miss. $2.00. Address :-1334 Chestnuu Street Probably very few of our readers were not mystified by the OBITUARY which was published on our second page last week. Many, no doubt, had their orthodox sensibilities shocked by it, and wondered how a paper, so unimpeachably sound as our own, could give publicity to such Pelagian and Soeinian sentiments. A closer reading, we hope, solved the kiddie for most, and showed that the deceased Polly who , suffered and died while free both from original sin and actual transgression, was a parrot. .1 The: question. thus raised is worth answering in earnest. It is: "What is the connection be tween physical death and sin.?" This question has been a mooted one among theologians for centuries, some: of :the most; conservative taking the view hinted at by the author of the °mu- ARY S viz.: that , the death of the body is not a consequence of.the fall of man; while in• general it is conceded that premature death, disease and suffering are among' among its consequences. On the other hand, some even who ' are not much concerned• about " traditions 'inherited from the Vathers,'' incline to the view that all species of 'death are ; included in the threat:, ; " In the day that thou eatest:thereof.thoa shalt surely die." We may have a word to say on this subject here after. TWo weeks ago we called attention to the re markable. and we believe unprecedented reform movement in, the Democratic party in this city, and contrasted, it with the indifference of the Republicans to, the bad quality, of their own ticket. The object of our remarks has been mis understood. One of the Republican city journ als accuses us of seeking to injure the Republican party and to promote the success of its opponents. We . are not surprised at ihe accusation. When bad men get control of party machinery and , make nominations which disgust and estrange the honest masses of the party, it is of course the honest masses who injure the party by ex pressing, their indignation, and not the bad leaders who have compelled them. Is this the view of the matter Which the _Morning Post takes?' it' kriew'-ndtliing of' the• Pain and the shame which an honest Republican feels, when he sees the great and noble principles of his party made use of by the vilest men to get into power ? • But we have a distillation to draw, which, perhaps, we too much overlooked in our first article. The late reform of the Democracy is creditable only as an attempt in a right direction. It fails utterly as. a- practical measure in two important'respects. It only includes the. "-Row" offices half a dozen in number, and even in this limifed'aphere, it rendered worse than useless by the conditions with which the new candidates are fonfid to the old ones. The Republican candidates for these Offices, for the most part, are acceptable men. It was not in this part of the ticket thaf reform was specially called fur. And although the Democrats have placed some ex cellent names upon their ticket, the correspond ing names on the RepUblican side will com pare favorably with thein personally, besides being'entirely free from the taint of a bargain which mars the well' meaning attempt of the Democracy at reforin. But we did hope that even such an imperfect and partial attempt in the iiht direction,- in such a quarter, would have 'thoroughly roused the moral sentiment of the RePublican party t 6 the fearful badaess of other parts'of their ticket. Especially we 'hoped that it would start the inquiry; Witether our Citi and State should again`be disgraced, 'as it; was last year, by the character and doings of :nearly every one of our representatives "at llairiaburg. And we press the question, and hope it is not even yet too late for a favorable • answer, is there no escape from a repetition 'of this disgrace ? Is the party helplessly bound by the ruling of those corrupt Managers' ? who renominated the same class of men, and, insome instances; the very individuals to the seats' which. they dis'graced by the transac tions of lest winter?. How long shall such auda cious misiepresentation• of the spirit and princi ples` of the Party lie tolerated, and who is re sponsible if such proceeditigs disorganize it, and put iMeneinies•into power? The- Post is quite as able to answer this question rightly as anybody.' •• —An Engligh rector recently refused to pre gent a young, lady to the bishop for confirmation; unless she Would give up dancitig. He add his family since 'theri went off on El. tour to the con tinent and.let the vicarage-- close to the church— to a family of J:ews who spend the hours of divineservice in, noisy' cr o ariaes of ercquet. THAT OBITUARY. THE CITY TICKET.
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