JohnAWeir
N e w Series, Vol. VI, No. 46.
Strictly in Advance $2.50, Otherwise $3.
postage 20
A dvance
to be paid where delivered. f
The two Pastors' Associations, of the for
mer Old and New School branches, will hold a
joint meeting, neat Monday morning at 11
o'clock, in the Lecture Room of West Spruce
Street &Ouch, Rev. Dr. Breed's. Rev. Albert
Barnes will preside.
The Pennsylvania State Sabbath School
Association will hold an Institute every evening
except Saturday, of the week commencing next
Sabbath, the 21st, in the Spring Garden M. E.
Church (corner of 20th Street). The services
will commence at a quarter before eight o'clock,
except Saturday when there will be a service for
children, at three o'clock in the, afternoon.
THE ACCOMPLISHED FACT.
It is written in history. The divided 'branches
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States
have indeed become one. Fresh from the
strange, the thrilling, the unprecedented scenes
which marked the event, we scarcely dare trust
ourselves to speak of them. They are beyond
the writer's or the photographer's art. But
memory will treasure them among the grandest,
brightest and most imperishable scenes in her
galleries. There was grandeur in the simple,
unostentatious announcement of the result of
the vote, and the declaration that the Basis of
Union was of binding force, made in •both As
semblies, at the same moment. There was gran
deur and happy omen in the fact that ONLY
THREE, Out of TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX
Presbyteries, in both bodies, had voted in the
negative. There was grandeur in the hearty, al
most instantaneous, melting of the two lines of
the procession into one, and in the march of a
thousand ministers and elders of the Presbyteri
an Church, through 'the crowded streets and
amid the pressure of. jubilant throngs of specta
tors. There was grandeur in the rush, of the
great wave of humanity,that almost leaped into i
every vacant space, and every nook and corner
of the great edifice•of the Third Church, after
the representatives of the church .had entered.
Twenty.fkve hundred persons sat and stood with
in, .a tAvelitry4iVe littlldred-reifrtlOCNY-WOUld 11114 e"
done the same, if they could have gained en
trance. Such an exultant, eager, inly-touched
devoutly-grateful crowd, ready equally , to ap
plaud, to sing, to pray, to laugh, to weep, was
never gathered among Presbyterians before.
Such a rush of uncontrollable emotions never
went through a staid religious assembly. So
many happy tears, with such an abandonment of
effort to stay them, were scarcely ever wept be
fore. For nearly four hours, from eleven until
half past two, we lingered in those new and
blessed associations, taking no note of time. One
almost expected to hear the sound, as Of a rush-
ing mighty wind, and to see the hovering cloud
and the cloven tongues of fire descend upon the
disciples, so thoroughly of one accord in one
place.
All through these and the preliminary pro
ceedings, we confess we felt thoroughly at home.
The very air was•balm to us. The whole pop
ulation sympathized in the movement. Even a
shoe-black paused in his application of the
brushes to a delegate's foot, and asked earnestly :
" Well; are they goin' to fine 7" The cars from
all the surrounding country, which is densely.
Presbyterian, came loaded, train after train, with
eager visitors. Clerks deserted their desks to
catch a glimpse of the proceedings. The daily
papers loaded down their columns with phono
graphic reports, scrupulously gathering up every
scrap of business, and even reporting prayer
meeting talks and prayers, and blazoning their
bulletin boards, as in war times, with the an
nouncements. We suppose Old School men felt
themselves in an Old School current ;—of that we
can not speak positively,—but we are sure that
New School men felt themselves in a New
School current; every thing seemed happily
drifting in their direction. It seemed as if all
Pittsburgh had become New School. There
seemed to be a sudden and general waking up to
the excellencies of this branch of the Church.
The vigor and success of its missionary enter
prises, the freedom and elasticity of its spirit and
methods, its adaptedness to the character and
wants of the times, were illustrated in the great
missionary meeting in the First church, Thurs
day night, which seemed to have been generously
arranged to bring out these facts; and signifi
cant comments and congratulation were ex
changed among Old School men' on the great
value of these elements of vigor, elasticity and
progress in the united body. -
The presence of the venerable Dr. David El
liott, Moderator in the'storn3y times of 183'7 and
'3B, in a prominent place on the platform, his
rising in response to Moderator,Jaeobus' appeal,
whether he knew of any lawful hindrance to the
union of these two bodies, and his graceful and
clear reply : " I KNOW OF NONE, Sin," were pe.
culiarly pleasing to New School men. When Dr.
Musgrave spoke so emphatically of the marvellous
change that had come over his own branch as
preliminary to reunion, and when he reckoned the
division as rather permitted, and the reunion, on
the contrary, as decreed by God, he touched a
deep chord lir the New School heart. And when
Dr. Adams endorsed Dr. Musgrave's Calvinistic
view of the history of our Church, and 'of the
Reunion, but added that it would not be amiss to
speak of the New School view, and to rejoice to.
gether that we had been able, to do so much to
make our calling and election sure, the magnifir- ,
cent outburst of applattie,'whieh was taken 'np
again and again-by the crowd, thrilled the men
especially, who have alwayi kept in view that
part of the inspired telt. The appointment of
this jubilee meeting in the Aird:Church, and
the unanimous choice of the First Church in this,
city; as the first place of meeting of the joint
Assembly, were also among the many intimations
of the utter absence of small jealousies, and of
the dominance everywhere of a broad and gene
rous spirit in which the two bodies had truly be
come one. We do not know that we carried with
unto Pittsburgh a-spark of any other feeling; if
we did, •it has utterly vanished. If any doubts,
or ghosts of dOubts, which we cherished, of the
expediency or future sUccess„on a large scale, of
the movement, still lingered, they shrank with
an unheard of velocity, when we beheld the
mighty accord of that representative body; its ac
cord in feeling, in humility, in respect for 'mutual
peculiarities, in new consecration, in conscious
ness of high calling, in resolve upon great enter
prises for Christ and humanity.. An accord which
so manifestly honors Christ, and cherishes Chris
tian liberty, it will be our highest joy to pro
mote aud'prolong to 'the best' of our ability.
TIINHSGIYING•; 1869. .
With justice we may, reokon it a great cause of
thanksgiving to day, that the practice has be
come national. It is no lon r " a_good ctld ens
tom'" of tile,levr'Englariii States merely; it has,
in the course of a dozen years spread from State
to State, until the Chief Executives of the na
tion have felt authorized, by the force of public
sentiment, to give it the sanction of their official
recommendation, which is almost universally fol
lowed by the people. This would seem to be a
sign of growing religious feeling among us,
worthy of notice amid so much of an opposite
and ominous character. A free nation, with
none but free ehurehes, volunteering a service
of thanksgiving to Almighty God, upon a set
day throughout its borders, is a fact worth pon
dering. The services of the, Jewish Theocracy
were sacred because divinely appointed; and
everytincere worshipper honored Jehovah in
observing them ; but we doubt whether they were
as pleasing to God as the unanimous, informal,
free-will offering of a day of thanksgiving, by a
whole Christian people, who, so far forth, show
the law written in their hearts, of the spirit and
not of the letter.
And the topics which suggest themselveS at
this time are of a broad, inspiring, and national
character. No Christian. teacher meed go./back
to threadbare subjects in these days of high ac
tivity and hopeful achievement. The gracious
hand of God is seen plainly amid the !novel
events of our time. If " to-day is a king in dis
guise," it must be admitted that some glimpses
of royal lustre shine through the folds of his
dress, as he passes by. May we not discern his
royalty in the recent completion of the Pacific
Railroad, whose termini touch the waters of the
two great oceans of the globe, and whose tracks
make a highway across the whole breadth of a
continent? We give thanks, to-dhy, for that
proud achievement of modern enterprise; thanks
for the marvellous energy that so far anticipated
the promised and, to many, doubtful era of com
pletion, as to bring it into the earlier half of our
year.
Thanks have also been going up ever since the
fourth of March, for the healthful, purifying,
honorable change which then took place in the
management of our national affairs. Thanks for
the arrest then laid upon the swift downward
progress of our policy towards the repudiation of
just debts, and the toleration and even exaltation
of dishonesty and crime. Thanks for the re
versal of the last official act of Andrew Johnson,
—pocketing the bill which pledged the faith of
the nation to the payment, in full value , of every
dollar of the public debt,—bythe re-enacting of
the same bill, the very first to receive tnel signat7tire
of President Grant. Thanks for,the 'clear, pbr
sistent purpose of the administration to do jus
tice,. to surround itself with honorable and /up
right officers, and to prove to the world ( the
1 jan7o
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, NOFEDIBER 18, 1869.
ability and the readiness of the American people
to discharge their enormous obligations. Thanks
for the sixty-two millions paid off in the first
eight months of the Presidential year, and for the
saiinc , in the national finances' at the rate of over
one hundred millions a 'year. Thanks for the
disposition shown by the'people at the recent
elections, to stand by the administration in this
righteous policy ; the Deniocratic victory in New
E .
York State 'not being capable of a different inter
pretation.
Bat the year of PresbYterian Re•union has
come. And it is one of-the happy proVidences
of the time that the 11e-union is one of the
events .or tDamksg,iving' i week. Thanksgiving
day stands bathed in" the 'fresh glow and radi
ance of that auspicious and wonderful event.
The year is crowned 'with , the divine goodness.
.A whole day is -'needed 'to speak adequately or
this fact alone. Thankp for the healing of a
whole, generation of deep, alienations between
sincere Christian men - ; thanks for the falling off
of mantles of prejudice so-thick as to shut in
throbbing hearts and generous hands that would
have been responsive in loves and labors for
Christi thanks for the extirpation of old roots
of bitterness ; thanks for the high and command
ing attitude before the World hereafter, of those
whose. strifes and jealousies .upon the minor de
tails of their creed heretofore have brought into
Contempt the, grand names of Presbyterian and
Protestant which they. bore; thanks .for that
river which springs from the throne of God it
self, whose clear, broad and sweet waters of
charity are bathing our souls, and with a fresh
baptism consecrating these two churches to deep
er holiness, to larger services and to grander use
fulness than ever.
A united Church in a united country ; no hap
pier occasion for thanksgiving need be asked than
that !
"LET US_DO SOME GREAT WORK."
On all sides do we hear this as the motto of
the United Presbyterian Church. Happily, and
in a 'host marvellous manner, have the two great
diviAions of !_the..Preskytezlitittiity - -:-Waff,
one. All the feuds and alienations of the past
have been dissolved in the chemistry of Christian
affection and brotherhood. In the first gushes of
feeling'at this long-desired and prayed-for result,
it is not strange that there should be some mani
festations of great and almost rapturous enthusi
asm. Warm and. hopeful natures indulge in gor
geous visions of future enlargement and great
ness. They feel , with the ardent disciple on the
Mount of Transfiguration, like building taberna
cles, and making permanent homes on this bright
spot of vision. We may not be surprised to hear
it spoken, that the reunited church, so grand in
its historic reuirion, so linked with the spirit of
liberty and progress through the ages, is to be
THE CHURCH of the Future. And if there are ex
pressions akin to boasting, we must pass them to
the credit of high-wrought zeal and glowing
hope.
But will this. great Church do some
." grand
work" to commemorate the union and the begin
ning of its new life 7 Will it go forth into the
wide-waving harvest field, girded about with new
strength, and informed with fresh life and power,?
This remains for the " great cloud of witnesses"
to see. The waiting, eager, watching millions,
expect to see some proofs of the benefit of union
in the works of the Church—its charities, its
intelligent zeal, and expenditure of spiritual
power. And if we fail of this, it were better per
haps, that no word of union had been spoken.
Will the Church rise to the height of her great
privilege, and.meet this reasonable expectation?
If so, there will be a new song among the angels
in heaven, over the triumph of Jesus in this fallen
world.
But how will this be done? In rapturous
moments of hope, we may say " now for some
great, grand, glorious•enterprise." But is it to
be some one splendid enterprise, which will stir
all the enthusiasth of the people for a single year,
and like some resplendent meteor, leave all in
darkness thereafter Is it to be a single master
piece, or shall it not rather be a succession of
great undertakings, projecting themselves far into
the future, and losing themselves in the light of
Millenial day ? Great as may be the eclat of re
union, after long and bitter division, there will
be no great increase of power, unless, we keep
consistently in mind:
1. That the true source of strength in the
Church is in the "type of individual piety,
and the local church communion. Just
as is the personal and social Christian life of
the church at home, will be the strength and
aggressive power,ef the combined life of the whole
body, The individual church member may lose
his personal responsibility in talking about what
the Church is doing, and will do, and.so the local
Church may lose her individuality, : and greatly
diminish her personal power, while rejoicing in
the greatness and might of the inllittude.
2. We must not allow our attention to,b e diverted
from. Christ's work, by anxieties about petty. here
sies and .diversities of persona/ opinion in the
body,at large.
3. We must simplify our machinery •and cnt
ecclesiastical tape. In this way,'we :Anil get
, . .
one,
directly at .the work to be d lo l ling neither
,
time, nor strength. .
-
. ,
4. We must be a consecrated Church, keeping
,the high, healthful table ground we haye hitherto
held, in reference to the conformitY,Of Phristians
to the principles, tastes and habits of the world,
and all, the great questions which. affect society,
laws and governments.
5. Every,man and woman telottgin' g to this
honored and highly favored communion of saints,
Must be up and doing, intent upon i i he greatest
good - to the greatest number, the highest glory
ot - our divine. Lord and Master. this raising of
millions of .money for the cause of' die Church,
during the ensuing year, will be a gl:eat thing,
but, by far the greatest thing will be,,, a united,
holy, consecrated Church, of near half a million of
souls, quickened into a higher life, going forward
with hearts all aflame with quenchiesi3 zeal and
untiring spirit, to the last great battle of the
world, remembering the thrilling words of the
great apostle, " So, then, every one, of„ us shall
aive an account of himself to God." G. F. W.
OUR ROCHESTER_ CORRESPONDENT.
HELP THOSE WOMEN.
We have recently been favored with a visit
from Rev. 0. P. Allen, Missionary of the Amer‘. ;
can Board from Haricot, Turkey. He and his
wife addressed the Ladies of our Women's
Board of Missions, auxiliary to th,e Women's
Board in Boston, and gave a very touching ac
count of the degradation and igporance of the
poor women of Turkey.
One story told by Mrs. Allen, beautifully
illustrates the, power of the gyp al in,,setting
• • • workr - to give to—eftle -r ,'blessiiig
they have found in it themselves., A poor
Armenian woman, after being at first a cruel
opposer, came at length to love the, gospel, and
to see how degraded and wretched she and
others had been without it. She came to Har•
poot,l earned to read a little just a little. Her
heart was touched for the women of her native
village who could not read at all. She went back
and got up a school. She gathered forty,wol:cren,
and began to teach them the little she knew
herself.
But this was not enough. Some of the women
could not attend her 'day school; so she gathered
some twenty more into an 'evening class. She
did well as far as she could go. She gained the
confidence; the affections of her scholars, and
excited their liveliest gratitude. The missiona
ries were more than gratified with her success;
it excited admiration and surprise. They thought,
if she only had a little more education herself,
she could go on teaching and do much good. They
therefore went to her, and proposed that she
should return to Harpoot, and study more and
qualify herself ,for greater usefulness.
But to this proposition her 'scholars objected.
They said, we cannot spare her ; and some began
to shed tears at the mere thought of losing their
beloved teacher.
But, the Missionaries said, we do not mean to
take her away altogether. We only want her -to
go back to school for a while, and learn more; so
she can be a better teacher.
But they said, she knowi enough now to •teach
us; and we can't spare her, even' for a season.
This was told to illustrate the eagerness of
some, 'at least, of the • poor degraded women of
Turkey, to learn , to read. It shows also how
much goeda woman may do there even with .a
very limited education. Many of those" who,
:but a few years ago, ebuld not read -a word, and
never expected to read, are now the true Bible
Readers, going, with Out, •pay, from house to
house among their own sex, reeding portions of
God's holy word, and offering prayer in the
hovels of the lowly, where the Missionary could
not so readily find access. "Let him that heareth,
say. Corse."
We see that Mrs. Rhea, who was nine years a
missionary among the Nestorians of Persia, has
been in like manner talking to some of the ladies
of„, Buffalo, in regard to mission work in that
more distant - country. One or two ladies' Mis
sionary SocietieS, auxiliary to the Women's' Board
of Boston;have also been formed in Buffalo, and
promise much usefulness; Mrs. Rhea's visit
must give a new impulse to the good work
which they have taken in hand. Several other
female , 'Missionaries' have done much to interest,
our ladies' more deeply in the. cause of Foreign
Genesee Evangelist, No. 1226
f Home & Foreign Miss. $2OO.
1 Address :-1334 Cheptnu. Sheet
Missions, especially in the work of the Board
for degraded, heathen wo:nau.
President Brown, of Hamilton College, in his
centennial affaress at Dartmouth College, brings
out some interesting coincidences in the founding
and chariaer of the two institutions. , They were
both planted originally in the fo'idst, on the out
skirts of civilization. Both were started with
special reference to the education of the Indians:
They were intended, in part, as mission schools:
A few of the natives of the forest have been edu
cated at Dartmouth , but none at Hamilton. ELEA
zErt WHEELOCK, the foUnder of the Dartmouth'
school, and SAMUEL KIRKLAND. of Hamilton,
were also intimate friends and correspondents,
and both did their work with special reference to
the spread of Christ's Kingdom. They aimed
at mithing less than making their institutions
Christian colleges. In this respect Hamilton, at
least,'remains true to the pious intent of the no
ble designer.
Rev. Dwight W. Marsh, formerly Missionary'
of the American Board, and author of that
beautiful missionary volume, "The Tennesseean'
in Persia," has received and accepted a call to the
Congregational church of Whitney's Point, and
is to enter at once upon his new field of labor.
The charming chapel made out of the materials
of the Old First Presbyterian church of Auburn,
is now completed and ready for use. The ap
pearance of •the old church is retained as nearly
as possible; it is only made smaller, and the gall
leries omitted, except at one ; end. The old pul l
pit , is reproduced, with its antique device of arch
and descending dove, and: the oil lamps which
lighted it before gas was introduced. The house
is now 60 by 40 feet, with 20 feet ceiling, ancl
will seat 350 persons: It is in the eastern part
of the' city,: high Is rapidly growing - , and where
such an edifice is much needed. It was a happy
thought, thus to preserie the old building. How
much better than, to have sold it to the Catholics t
or-cotverted-it into a livery-stable—things which
have been done.
ONE PROCLAMATION ENOUGH
Our President issues his proclamation for a
national Thanksgiving; alipointing a day and
asking the people to unite in its proper obser
vance. All right. What need now for a procla
mation from the Governor of each State? Are
we not yet a nation?'And•suppose some Gover
nor chooses to appoint some other day than that
named by the President; which day is to be ob
served in such a state Will the people be com
pelled to eat two dinners, and the ministers to
preach two sermons? The Proclamation of the
President is'ehough. Then the festival is natu
ral, and there is no conflict or discord. Let the
Governors keep silence. Enough said, when the
President has spoken.
Rochester, Nov. 13, 1869
—Rev. Chas. Wadsworth, D.D., has sent his
resignation to ,Calvary church, San Francisco, so
that his , acceptance of the call from the Third
Reformed church of this city may be counted on.
Calvary, church arc divided on the question of
his successor. Some . want to recall their former
pastor, Rev. Dr. Scott,'
,of New York, who left
them at the opening of the war on account of
the want of harmony with his people on political
issues. He recently re-visited them. Others
want to secure Rev. Mr. HeMphillo, young Irish
Presbyterian, now travelling in this country col
lecting money for a congregation who are " well
enough off" to do without it.
—The movement ~to close the Retail Dry Goods
stores of Paris on the Sabbath, ended in a colli
sion of employers and their clerks, the former
refusing to stop work on that day. The clerks
largely withdrew from the old stores, and started
new establishments on a grand scale, and - on the
principle of Co operation. These have secured
a large share of the public patronage, and are
decided successes.
—The Philadelphia Baptist Association de
clining to pronounce Baptism "the, necessary pre
requisite" to the Lord's Supper, prefer•declaring
it ," a natural and scriptural precedent "of that
sacrament. They also wisely and temperately de
cline asserting that their views on Baptism agree
with the ".convictions of universal. Christendom."
. —Bethany iltission on Wednesday_ evening
last, unanimously•called• to its pastorate-Rev. J.
R. Miller; late of , the II: :P. Churelynovit of the
unitetl.PresbYterian , Chttreh. PehTe no doubt
of his acceptance:-
HAMILTON COLLEGE.
MEM
THE AUBURN CHAPEL
GENESEE