1 REV. DAVID M'KINNEY,
Editor and Proprietor.
BEV• T. N. 1 1 .1' KINNEY, ASSOCIATZ EDITOR.
IrEf2llll,S IN ADVANCE.
" Be strong, beloved, fear thou not,
Stand fast in thine appointed lot, ,
And thou shalt victor be l
When in temptation's evil day,
Our feet aro wandering from the way,
O lead ne to the Rook I
Speak, Lord, and bid our hearts be strong,
Say when the hosts of Satan throng,
" Fear not, my little Book I"
" Fear not," it is the Master's word, .
His mighty arm with strength shall gird,
The weakest of his flock;
Believer! rest in this sedate,
The Lord's foundation stsndeth sure,
Though earth's foundations rook
Tor the Presbyterian Banner.
"God is Surely 'with us."
Thus exclaims the zealous delegate of the
Ihristian Commission, as he goes forth
ply to his work, marking the result of his
tr B . For he often gathers 'immediate
`, to cheer his heart and urge him on
d. All soldiers love sympathy. This
know they will readily find in those
;gates, fresh from social life. An indi
tal dressed in the garb of a citizen, be
's at once an object of marked atten
in the army. To behold such, awakens
,cr thoughts of home in the heart of
a rugged son of Mars. Thus, whether
preach in camps, forts, hospitals, prism
or barracks, we have an audience with
.ts responsive to the most powerful
emotions—sympathy. The very sight
our costume and the sound of our voice
ill the joys of bygone years, when, with
int, wife, child or friend, they repaired
,he house of God, taking sweet counsel
cher. They are in sympathy, too, with
work. They know we come to do good
to their bodies and their souls. We
with clothing And medicine for the
and truth and salvation for the other;
,g all gratuitously, without money and
lout price. These and other oircum
;es give him who preaches the Gospel
ie army a most potent hold upon the
and conscience of his audience. This
fallow-ground broken up and made
for the heavenly seed. Nay, often do
iee the fountains of the great deep
in up also, as is manifest in the tears
sighs and humble looks visible in the
3 of these veterans as they stand massed
.round us, listening to the tender love
isus for sinful men,
.ch an assembly at night presents quite
Jdd and rather a grotesque appearance
;he eye unfamiliar with such scenes. It
Autumnal or Winter eve—calm,but
and cool. Recently, the spot where
are met was a dense forest. A thousand
.men have—clipped it • clear or mire* ,
'b, bush and tree l High stumps stand
all over the vast area as the only memo
of a vaniphed wilderness I Hundreds
Igo fires shoot flames to heaven,
ilium
he almost limitless expanse of canvas
. with a dim, lurid light. Drums
beating, bugles tooting, bands are play
and soldiers talking and singing ! The
le camp, for miles around, thunders
seeming confusion. But come on—
mind ; nine out of ten of the soldiers
io accustomed to all this, that they seem
ler to see nor to hear it. • Take your
l by this big log fire. Now lift up
voice like a trumpet. Say, 4 g Come,
,rs, let me tell you of Jesus. Can't
ig,
'Rook of ages cleft for me'?"
commence ; others join in; soon oth
-ke and lend their voices; then more,
pro, and more, Got a fine audience
'iree, four, five hundred. How they
. all around 1 What a sea of faces, all
with the glare of the central flame
of the men are tall, others short ;
are fat, others spare; some are offi
others privates; some saints, all sin-
What a John Rogers-family-appear
they do make, standing thus densely
; this burning pile I But, no; these
tot the fires of Smithfield; nor are we
;yrs to be burned, but ministers—
,hers. Go on, then, with the sermon.
it a regiment is "present before God,
Kir all things that are commanded thee
id" to speak. It is the blessed Goo
of Jesus Christ these bronzed defenders
our liberties wish to hear; not philoso
nor politics, nor theories of human
mnment; nor fancy flights of visions
; nor anecdotes ; nor essays of fustian;
doctrinal abstractions; nor denomina
. peculiarities. No; nothing of this
or character. But preach unto them
the remission of sins; Jesus ) and
Resurrection; Jesus, the wisdom of
and the power of God to every one
believeth. Preach just such a sermon
Rev. W. J. Hambleton, of Greenfield,
s., did, a few evenings since, and it
it fail to do good. Let not the novel
the Beene excite or confuse you. Re
dr, there are many wise and highly
ired minds in your audience. Be ami
d; be eloquent; be original and inter
ig "SS possible; speak up, and out, so
san hear; and by all means strive to in
nin interest as you proceed. If you
not, some who come to hear you at first
ugh curiosity, will go away grumbling,
is dry—dry I" This will prevent
srs from coming, and decrease the at
mice " the next round." It is much
difficult to "hold an audience" in
than in the church. Some, there
who would be effective in the latter;
al make miserable failures in the for=
. It is of no manner of use to commis
ministers slow of speech, or feeble in
e, as preaching delegates to the camp.
is of the front. I have seen such fail
.1 in the crowded tent. How can they
heard amid the incessant roar all around
etimaters swearing, mules braying, axe
. chopping, drums rattling, rolls calling,
.h a commingling of other noises that are
- melee* hettude unlnttwn
VOL. XII. NO. 19.
Do not misunderstand this remark. It
is not hinted that such men should not be
commissioned at all. No; preaching is
only one feature of the delegate's work.
Good social talkers are much needed. Be
sides, the distribution of books, tracts,
papers, Testaments, medicines, clothing,
&0., .requires a strong arm rather than a
ready tongue; and most men who have the
first, can very often speak sword in season to
the thankful donee, that may be as an apple
of gold in a picture of silver. Thus laymen
often make most valuable delegates—high
ly useful to and respected by the soldiers.
The good such do, I know to be great.
And in this connexion, justice demands
that honorable mention be made by me of
the valued services rendered the Commis
sion by such excellent, energetic, cheerful,
Christian gentlemen as Mr. James Mc-
Laughlin, of Florence, Pa.; Mr. James M.
Howe, of Lowell, Mass.; Mr. Daniel Keely,
of Chester Co., Pa.; and Mr. J. H. Smiley,
of N. Y. These and other good laymen did
more, in my humble opinion, for carrying
out the grand object for which they were
commissioned, .than some ,of us ministers.
Valued indeed were their suggestions, and
unwearied and efficient their exertions.
Many, many things, far better than cups of
cold water, did they give to the needy sol
dier during their six weeks' labor. How
opportune such strong arms as theirs, when
tents are to be struck or pitched, or the
wounded to be borne on stretchers to am
bulances, oars, or hospitals. The writer
himself was snatched up by the giant grip
of one of- these good men, when -ready to
fall down with fatigue, and pitched into a
huge mule wagon, where he had the luxury
of a fifteen miles' ride, over many rods of
" corduroy," perched on the end of a whis
key barrel I His benefactor was on another
by his side, cheerful as ".Patience on a
monument "—encouraging him not to com
plain, hut bear all like a man ! And, now,
it he ever reads this he will- remember
these things—that dust, that hard tack,
and those " plants," barrels and mules ; and
it is hoped, also, his fellow-sufferer,
The Close Communion question,
I have read with interest and profit the
able articles by " Cyprian," in review of
Dr. Pressly on close communion. lam not
seeking a share in the controversy; for
" Cyprian" will be able to take care of him
.l self. It may not, however, be amiss to
furnish your readers an example of the
, simple means by which the truth sometimes
reaches the minds of good and great men,
4 and effects an entire revolution in their
•
views and praotices.
The celebrated Dr. John M. Mason, at
one time, was a close communionist. On
one occasion, at the close of a service pre
paratory to the 'celebration of the Lord's
Supper, he had been distributing tokens of
admission to the Lord's table. After the
congregation had retired, he perceived a
young woman at the lower end of an aisle,
reclining on a pew in a pensive attitude.
As he approached her, she said, "Sir, I am
afraid I have done wroth;." " Why, what
have you done ?" " I went up with the
communicants, and received a token, but
am not a member of your church; and I
could not be at, rest till I spoke to you
about it." "To what Church to you be.
: long ?" "To the Dutch Church ; and if
you wish it, I can satisfy: you of my char
!
actor• and- -standing .there." " But what
made you come for a token _without men-
I tioning the matter before 7" ".1 had not
an opportunity, as I did not know in time
that communion was to be next Lord's day.
I am very sorry if I have done wrong; but
I expect to leave the pity on Tuesday, and
to be absent I cannot tell how long, in a
i part of the country where I shall have no
opportunity of communing, and I wished
once more, before I went away, to join with
Christians in showing forth my Saviour's
; death." Dr. Mason consulted a moment
with the church officers who were still
Ipresent, and it was thought most expedient
not to grant the request. He communica
ted this answer as-gently as possible to the
; modest petitioner. She said not another
word.; but with one band giving back the
token, and with the other putting up her
kerchief to her eyes, she turned away,
struggling with her anguish, and the tears
streaming down her cheeks. How did his
heart smite him! = He went home exclaim
ing to himself, "Can this-be right? Is it
possible that such is the law of the Re
deemer's house ?" It quickened his in
quires; his inquiries strengthened' hie
doubts, and terminated in the conviction
that, it was altogether wrong.
For the Presbyterian Banner.
A Grievous Sin,
" As I sat this evening reflecting on my
perfect health, and the enjoyment of every
blessing, my base ingratitude for not• loving
and praising God, struck me very much.
Thousands starving, thousands sick and for
saken, thousands groaning under the devil's
bondage, and I here unthankful !" Thus
spake one. who was more than ordinarily
faithful in.his Master's cause, and yet, his
ingratitude was great. Ours is much great
er. We do' not reflect upon it as we ought.
Many have perfect health all their , days I
flow seldom do they really thank God for
the blessing ! They may say they are
thankful for health, but how seldom do they
feel truly thankful l Is not the want of
gratitude for health a great sin ? Ask the
suffering-invalid, who seldom has a moment
of relief from pain, or one who has just re
covered from severe illness. Let us remem
ber that health is a gift from God. We
may think our health is the result of a
strong constitution. Who gave us that
constitution ? Perhaps we inherted it from
our parents. Who caused us to be the off
spring of healthy parents? Let us not for
get that health, as well as every other good
gift, cometh down from the Father of
lights. Let us love and praise God for
health and other temporal blessings.
Let us compare our condition with that
of others less favored—with those 'from
whom God has in his sovereign mercy, seen
fit, to, make us to differ. We are not to com
pare ourselves with those who are less
happy than we l in order that we--may be
content -with our lot in consequence of our
superiority—far from it: we are to com
pare our lot with theirs that we may be
thankful for our mercies, and may sympa
thize with those -to whom similar mercies
I have been denied. " Thousands starving,
t thousands sick and forsaken, thousands
grading wider the devil% Waage, and I
citi '''' I • +.... ft . ''''''''..altitt,tr
Hitts:ti./.4ti - ..ertii.,,. ...• - ..-::44- • ..:. : t
- :- - - ' ' • . '
Z D
Tor the Presbyterian Banner
W. G. M.
PITTSBURGH, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1864,
here unthankful 1" Among all our sins of
omisaion, there is probably no greater sin
that that of ingratitude. MEMORY.
EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE,
Retrospects of 1868—The Death-Roll—Peers, Bar
onets and Commoners—Eminent Persons Deceased
—Death and Burial of Thackeray—His Writings
and Style—The Political Sky—Forebodings—
Taxation—Watch-Night Services—Care for Lon
don Poor—Protestant Deaconesses—Their Au
thority and Work—Fresh Discussions as to .Bur
ial Service—Supplemental Notices of Lincoln
shire—Phrases—Proverbs and Omens.
January 2d, 1864.
RETROSPECTS of 1863, occupying many
columns and marked by great literary abil
ity, have been specially the character of the
last days of the dying year. To England
it has been one of internal quiet and re
markable prosperity. The revenue returns
indicate greater amounts than evon did the
year 1861, which had exceeded any former
period. A good harvest has powerfully
stimulated trade, and , while money has been
at a high rate of interest within the last
month, speoie has again flowed back to the
Bank of England, and the -former facilities
for trade are fast returning. When money
is very cheap, "bubble" companies start
up, and sanguine speculations which are
sure to come to grief, are indulged in. In
such cases a rise in the rate of discount
checks these schemes, and frequently ex
tinguishes them. Thus real good is done,
because much evil is prevented.
The death•roll of the pant year comprises
a long and melancholy catalogue. The
"upper.ten thousand" have been thinned
to an unusual extent. Thirty peers have
died, including the well-known Marquis
of Landsorne (" a fine old English gentle
man, all of the olden time"); Lord Lynd
hurst, the Ex-Chancellor and orator, who
died an humble. Christian, owing his con
version to a Bible woman; the Archbishop
of Dublin (Whately) ; Lord Seaton, one
of tbe Waterloo remnants; Lord Clyde, the
General, son of a Glasgow carpenter; the
Duke of Hamilton, who married the Prin
cess of Baden, a Papist, and spent most of
his time in Paris, and died suddenly from
the effects of a fall; the Marquis of Nor
manby, a Liberal in his youth, but in his
closing days the confidante and advocate of
the dethroned. Italian princes; the Earl of
Charlernont, eighty-nine years old, son of
the famous leader of the Irish Volunteers
in 1782 ; and the Earl of Elgin, the la
mented Governor-General of India.
Among the thirty-five deceased baronets,
two names are memorable : Sir Culling
Eardley, so long the Chairman of the Brit
igh organization of the Evangelical Al
liance; and Sir James Outrun, the unsel
fish and noble soldier, the "Bayard of
India." Of members of the. House of
Commons, the late Sir Cornwall Lewis,
Minister at War; the Right Hon. E. El
lice, a man of great talent and sagacity;
and William Cabett, for two years Lord
Mayor of London, and full of goodness,
rising from an bumble station—deserve
special record.
Besides the Archbishop of Dublin, the
Bishops of Gibraltar and Quebec have died
during the year. Among artists, Augus
tus Egg, of the .Royal Academy, as also
Professor Cockerell and J. D. Harding, to
gether with Mr. Gilbert, the founder of
the Joint Stock Banking system'a large
portion of _his, fortune left to his niece, the
wife of the well-known Evangelist; the
Rev. Denham Smith, of Dublin. Other
names present themselves : Dr. MeCaul, a
London Rector and a Hebrew scholar; Dr.
Raffles, of Liverpool ; Dr. A. Reed, the
founder of many Orphan and Idiot Asy
lums; the Rev. F. W. Faber, son of the
well-known clergyman who wrote on
prophetic subjects—the son, one of the ad
vanced Tractarians, going over to Rome,
and dying at the head of the ‘i Brompton
Oratory," London.
THE DEATH OF THAOKERAY, probably,
with the exception of Dickens, the ablest
literateur of the age, has added to the dark
catalogue of the ravages of death. He
was a wit and a satirist. He was the ene
my of "snobs " and "shams." He spared
no rank, and in his " Four Georges," he
revealed the sins and weaknesses of sover
eigns with a terrible fidelity, and sneered
in his own -fashion ' and with a healthy
vigor struck at the alleged " Divinity that
doth hedge a King." Under the exterior
of sternness and satire, he had, .however, a
sensitive and tender heart. He .was great
ly beloved by an inner circle that knew him
best. He was taken away suddenly. He
was a few years ago at death's door, but was
restored. He was liable to occasional at
tacks of nausea and sickness. One of
these came upon him last week. His ser
vant wished to sit up with him. He de
clined this; was heard moving about his
room during the night, but in the morning
he was discovered with placid countenance
lying dead in his bed. Apoplexy—" effu
sion on the brain "—seemed to have been
the cause. He was only fifty-two years old.
He is greatly mourned. His funeral, three
days ago at Kensal Green, was attended by
many hundreds, and his grave was sur
rounded by-the most eminent literary men
of the day, including Dickens, Russell,
Mahew, as well as by the foremost artists,
such as Millais, Frith, Teniel, and Leech.
Thackeray did homage to Christianity
in a way that was not done by the popular
authors of the last century, and his works
are free from that taint—caught from a
corrupt age—of impiety, which as a leprosy
had infected literature from the days of the
Second Charles. His English was-so ad
mirable that to him it has been observed,
the language of Dr. Johnson in reference to
Addison and the Spectator is emphatically
applicable, that whoevermould gain a mas
tery of the English tongue, "let him, give
his days and nights" to Thackeray. The
tributes paid by the press to Thackeray l / 4
memory are themselves noble specimens of
eloquent and earnest writing.
THE STATE OF THE CONTINENT gives
rise to dark forebodings for 1864. The
following, from , the correspondent of the
Daily Telegraph at Paris, is sufficiently
suggestive :
"That the address . of Kossuth is really
issued by the ex-Governor of Hungary is,
I think, not to be doubted, as it first ap
peared in a paper established or at least
carried on by the Hungarian emigrants in
Milan, with whom Kossuth is in constant
communication. It is asserted, too, by
Hungarian residents in Paris, who know
the feeling of the country, that, in spite of
his exile, Kossuth still preserves that won
derful ascendancy over his countrymen
which produced the revolution of 1848 ;
andtui we may well credit the reports that
'retiCh ifs to` effifot fliet the algrm Vi-
enna is very great, and is increased by
warlike attitude of the "natural allies"
' of
Hungary on the banks of the Mincio. The
French papers to-day speak of great agita
tion in Styria, and the whole of the South
ern possessions of Austria. I can only add
a fact, not known I think to any one out of
those provinces, and that is that large
quantities of ex-Claribaldians are, and have
been for the last few weeks wandering, ev
idently with a purpose, through Bosnia,
Servia, Transylvania,
and WallaChia, in
which last State the alarm was so great that
a proprietor who employs spine 1,800 per
sons in working a speculation , at the foot
of the Carpathians, was summoned before
the authorities of Bucharest, and accused
of plotting against the State becatise he had
put his laborars into a kind of uniform.
Judging from the present state of Europe,
from Schleswig to Silistria, the corning
Spring should bring one great carnival of
nationality.
"'The Constitutionel, in the meantinie,
improves the occasion. ggali,
there is but one salvation now—that is, is
Congress—and Louis Napoleon is its proph
et. Let the nations assemble and be thank
ful. 4 We may say that, since the speech
of the 6th of November, not a day, not an
hour, has passed without- proving, with
ever-increasing clearness, the urgent neces
sity of a :European Congress.'"
The Daily Hews says that Napoleon's
present policy is to keep up the hopes of
two great parties in France, viz.: the party
of peace and economy, and the party for
adjourning all such peaceful terms. It
adds:
"Every one feels that if Napoleon 111., at
his years, allows the present questions
which agitate Europe, especially the Polish
one, to sink into the previous settlement,
he can never afterwards with any consist
ency - take up the war-policy for which he
has let pass the critical hour and the golden
opportunity. With him it is now, or never.
And if it be so with hitn it must be so with
France, whose military power and passion
he may be said to represent, to concentrate
and to command, in a manner which no
future ruler can hope to do. The Emperor
is in his grand climacteric, political as well
as physical. If he passes - it in peace, Eu
rope may breathe, and the Bourse mount
up, like a barometer in the month , of July.
But it remains to be seen whether the men
who seized France by the throat twelve
years ago can relax their hold, and let her
take a long, full breath of peace. Force,
unrestrained by liberty or law, has its re
sponsibilities as inexorable as fate. And
all history teaches that violent beginnings
are apt to have violent ends."
The French Emperor's .New. Years , reply
to the address of the diplomatic) corps is
pacific in its character, but who shall pre
dict the issues even of this year ?
TAXATION being now a great fact in the
United States, it may interest your readers
to read the following enumeration of luxu
rious objects taxed, and of the pecuniary
results : •
" T.„,
AXES UPON ENJOYMENTS.L—IIi the
financial year ending with March, 1863,
tax was paid upon 843,285 of the dogs
of Great. Britain; the'arnount paid was
205,7851: More than this number of
dogs travelled by railway in the course
of the year— that is, counting as one
every journey of a dog. Tax was paid in
the year upon 571,189 horses, the amount
Teaching 381,6411.; of this sum 179,2951.
was for 170,757 horses used for riding and
for drawing taxable carriages, 71,4211: for
136,041 horses used by farmers, clergymen
and surgeons; 100,5971. for 191,613 horses
used in trade:; and 33,3281.• for horses of
all these classes not exceeding 13 hands.
Duty amounting to 6,4221. was paid also
upon 1,668 racehorses. The tax upon car
riages (other than hackney and stage car
riages) produced 350,0831.; it was paid
upon 269,443 carriages. The sum of 209,-
8961. was ,paid as tax for keeping servant:4;
the taxable servants were 245,380 in num
ber; 939 persons paid tax tor using hair
powder, the duty amounting to 1,103/. ;
and 48,995 persons paid 60,0861. for using
armorial bearings. All these taxes are
confined to Great Britain, and unknown . in
Ireland. The produce of all is , increasing,
except in the instance of hair powder.
The produce of the duty on gold and silver
plate is declining; last year it brought
only 67,354/. The tax paid on cards and
dice fell to 9,2691., but may recover under
the new mode of taxation. Gime certifi
cates and licenses produced but 128,4451."
WATCH-NIGHT SERVICES have been held
both in London and in the country. For
merly these services were chiefly confined
to the Wesleyan body; latterly they have
extended even so far as to embrace some
Episcopalians. A popular clergyman, Mr.
Bellett—who however is considered more of
an elocutionist or an actor than distin.
guished by that eloqiience which has its mo
tive power in a heart filled with earnestness
—had a Watch-night service on. Thursday
night last.
THE Pooß of London are receiving spe
cial attention now, and a new. order of
Protestant female laborers is making itself
useful. I refer to the. Deaconesses' Institu
tion, whose Second A.nniversary was recent
ly held. The Bishop of London, who pre
sided, said he was glad to find that the
work of women was henceforth to be carried
on in an organized, form; it was so in the
Primitive Church, and our Lord himself
was "ministered
.to" by women. It hid
been objected that the idea of a Deaconess
es' Institution originated from Germany and
Lutheranism, but this circumstance was in
its favor, for was not Germany the cradle
of the Reformation, and was not Luther the
Apostle of the Reformed faith ? Suppose
the idea had been taken from Rome, it was
not therefore to be rejected if it were
good; for the Sisters of Charity had done
a great work, and taught a lesson by which
the Church of England had received benefit.
The work was not entirely new in the Dio
cese, for the direction of the nursing de
partment of two. London Hospitals had been
for some time past under the care of Sister
hoods. He was therefore glad to hear that
in addition to these two institutions, the
nursing at the Great Northern Hospital
was under the charge of this Institution,
and hoped that the day was past, •when our
hospital nurses were a by-word in conse
quence of their inefficiency.
There are now thirty Deaconesses and
six candidatee, all working earnestly in
three parishes, visiting the poor, nursing
the • sick, and taking charge of the Girls'
and Infants' School.
Tan BURIAL SERVICE , question is still
1- flitdid. A vibdr at "'nifty riffraff ib
read the service over the body of a drunken
man who was killed in a fight. The Arch
bishop virtually condemns the clergyman.
He remarks: "The language of the burial
service is that of hope, and not of assur
ance, and the refusal to use that service im
plies to common minds that there is no
hope for the person so marked out. A
clergyman is not justified even in the case
of a man who dies in a state of intoxica
tion in passing a judgment so terrible, nor
upon any view of church. discipline ought
its functions commence after death ; and if
,a pastor has not admonished, rebuked, and
exhorted the parishioner during his life for
.his soul's health on the subject of his be
setting sin, he would seem to be precluded
froin using the terms of excommunication
against him after his death, when they can
no longer serve as a warning." Surely
such languaae as this is little better than
casuistry, and is alike calculated to outrage
the conscientious convictions of godly cler
gyinen, as well as to rebuke him whom God
approves as faithful to truth, duty, and
morality. What an awful effect has such
an indiscriminate use of the service on the
wicked survivors of wicked men I Some
how they think it is "all right" with him.
It weighs with them very much as do
prayers for the dead amonc , Romanists.
In . the same number of the Times ap
pears' a letter from the Dean of Drom
ore, suggesting alterations and defining
them; accompanied with great force of ar
gument; and an appeal to that elass ot per
sons
. (one class of three) who hold that the
Service has no definite or specific reference
to the salvation of the departed. Instead
or thanking God for having "taken unto
himself the soul of this our dear brother,"
Dean Bagot would have it " Forasmuch as
it hath pleased God to take out ot this sin
ful world the soul of our brother here de
parted ;" and, again, instead of thanking
God for his deliverance from the burden of
the flesh, it would be, " We give thee hear
ty thanks for all thy servants departed this
life in thy faith and fear."
The revival of discipline is called for by
an Ultra-Church Party, is e., the use of "ex
communication" on pain of non-repentance
of gross sins. But in a State Church this
is ridiculous and impracticable. Dr. Cot
ton, Bishop of Calcutta, suggests that the
presebt Burial Service should be read only
over communicants, and that a different
form should be used for others.
SUPPLEMENTAL GLEANINGS in my re
cent tour in Lincolnshire, and of a Philo
logical character, are as follows :
The following are peculiar words among
the Peasantry, and their interpretation :
Randy—For rendezvous.
Rannish—Giddy, wild.
R,auming—Shouting, speaking loud in
the ear of another.
Richling—The smallest in a brood or lit
er of animals.
Sad—Applied to bread, heavy and not
properly leavened.
Sap-sk.ull—A weak, foolish person.
Scrat—To live hardily . ; "we just floret
on."
Sorouge, (to) : —To crowd, to squeeze.
Sheriged--An appearance in the sky de
actjiig. rain.
Shout (a) —A boat, scout Gonna,
sehuyt.
Slack-tracely—Slovenly, loose, idle.
Slape-faced A smooth-faced, oily
tongued man.
Sneak—The latch of a door, (the same
as in Scotland.)
Sowle—To seize by the. ears.
Tew (to)----To fatigue, "Do n't tew your
self."
Tod-28 pounds of wool by statute of
12 Charles c.. 82 (1686). `
Here I may add, that the Lincolnshire
sheep produce the longest wool of any in
the world, and that selling now at two shil
lings per pound, the profit is very great.
On an average, three sheep produce
" "of wool. Sometimes one fleece will
weigh 14 pounds.
Proverbs and proverbial sayings, phrases,
comparisons,. superstitions, omens, customs,
&c., all receive illustration in the " His
tory of Boston." Some are peculiar to the
district of the fens, as for example :
" A Penman's dary "—three score geese
and a pelt (a sheep.skin formerly used as an
outward garment).
" It thickens in tie clear"—alluding to
the sky or atmosphere.
Others run, thus
"It's worth a Jew's eye."
"It caps old Oliver, and he capped Long
Crown—it beats Oliver Cromwell, and he
beat the Cavaliers, called Long—Crown be
cause of the shape of their hats."
Spoken of magpies:
" One for sorrow, two for mirth, three
for a wedding, and our for a death."
There is an unusual freedom from super
stition in the neighborhood of Boston.
Puritanism' largely helped to sweep it away.
Romanism has disappeared almost entirely.
There are some traces of it as to omens.
Thus it is a bad omen to put on the left
ehoe : first; the wicks of candles denote
sometimes the coming of strangers, and
there are also seen imaginary ' winding
sheets " in the candles.
A sudden shivering is said to denote that
some one is walking over your future grave.
It is lueky to see the first lamb of the
season with his head toward you.
It is, unlucky to hurt a robin-redbreast
or a wren. - And so an old rhyme makes
them sacred birds.
Then there are omens respecting the
weather :
"Evening red, and morning grey,
Are sure signs of a fme day."
A mackerel sky foretells rain.
If a oat wash over her ear, it is a sign
of fine weather.
There are superstitions, such as that the
belief that Satan goes a mitting on ,Holy-
Rood day; that the failure of the crop of
ash-kidneys portends a death in the Royal
family; that a ; person cannot die in a bed
which contains pigeon feathers ; the belief
in the existence of a person called the
Wandering Jew; and that one person has
power over another with an evil eye to
" overlook" or blight and afflict with ea
lamities. There has been a tradition at
Barton or Humber, that the devil appeared
to persons there in the shape of a ragged
colt, called " tatter boal"—probably de
rived from the Danish mythology.
These are specimens of the folk-lore of
which traces also are to be found in &tot
land and the North of Ireland. J.W.
Hold Up' Jens.
A painter once, on finishing a magnifi
cent picture, called his artist-friends around
him to regard it, and express their judg
raelit Otioairning The one in w'h4ii
WHOLE NO. 691
taste the author most confided, came last to
view the work. " Tell me truly, brother,"
said the painter, " what do you think is the
best point in my picture?' "0, brother,
it is all beautiful, but that chancel! That
is a perfect master-piece—a gem I" With
a sorrowful heart the artist took his brush
and dashed it over the toil of many a weary
day, and turning to his friends, said, "0,
brothers, if there is anything in my piece
more beautiful than the Master's face, that
I. have sought to put there, let it be gone I"
Thus, brethren in Christ, dear teachers in
the Sabbath School, if, in your instruc
tions, anything seems to stand out more
prominent and more beautiful than the
glory of Jesus—forget it all, dash it out.
If in your labors as a teacher anything
seems to reflect more loveliness, or excite
more admiration or desire, than Jesus,
however beautiful the work may seem, blot
it out. Let Jesus be all and in all. Hold
him up to your own soul. Hold him up, to
your scholars, and your work shall be judged
perfect in its beauty, and you shall not fail
of your reward.-- 7 /ecaph Wells.
Far the Presbyterian Banner
Letters to Bible-Men and Patriots.
The Rise and Progress of Slavery—The
Opinions of Eminent men before and
after the Revolutionary War—The Ac
tion of States—The Action of the Pres
byteridn Church against Slavery.
GENTLEMEN :—The rise and progress of
the slavery of Africans is nOta a matter of
interest to us all, whether we think it right
or wrong. That it has been different in
its origin, in its character, and in the au
thority that instituted it, from any slavery
sanctioned by the sacred Scriptures, I shall
endeavor to show in the future.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans
that commenced the African slave trade.
By ediztA from five of the Popes of Rome
it was authorized : Ist by Martin V. in
1430; 2d, by Eugene IV., in 1438; 3d,
by Nicholas V., in 1454; 4th, by Calixtus
111., in 1458; and sth, by Sextus IV., in
1484. " The spirit of cupidity and lust
of power led the Vicars of Anti-Christ,
each in their turn, to fulminate their edicts
wherein, in the true spirit 'of their prede
cessor Hildebrand, (Gregory V 11.,) they
claimed dominion over the earth. They
blasphemously asserted the right of lord
ship over the persons of the newly-discov
ered Africans, and granted to the sovereigns
of Portugal permission to reduce them to
slavery. Under the insidious pretence that
they sought the welfare of those wretched
and barbarous tribes, and desired the con
version of their souls, they accorded plen
ary permission to plunder and destroy them
ad libitum." The following are extracts
from some of those bulls or edicts: " To
take any of the Guineans, or other negroes,
by force or by barter ;" "to reduce their
persona to perpetual slavery, or to destroy
them from the earth ;" " to appropriate the
kingdoms, goods and possessions of all in
fidels or heathen in Africa, or wherever
foUnd." These fragments of history are
derived from "Bower's History of the
Popes," "Hallam's Middle Ages," " Gib
bon's Decline and Fall," " Bishop En
gland's Letters," &c.
According to the liberty given' - by the
pretended lords of the earth, Antonio Gon
zales, a Portuguese captain, landed on the
coast of Africa and carried away negro
boys, whom he sold in the South of Spain.
Atter that, it-soon became customary for
captains of vessels of the same nation to
bring away cargoes of negroes, which they
obtained chiefly by traffic. The Spaniards
were the next people to become parties
with the Portuguese in this infamous traffic.
After the discovery of America, in 1492,
the Spaniards introduced negroes from
Africa into some of the'West India Islands.
Other nations afterwards founding colonies
in America, began to join in the same ne
farious business. The first recognition of
the slave trade by the English Government
was in 1562, in the reign of Queen Eliza
beth. --A Dutch ship brought the first ne
groes into Virginia in 1620. Afterwards,
English, French, as well as those of all
other nations, engaged in the horrid busi
ness and, carrying glittering, tempting ar
ticles to the African coast, the tribes en
gaged in bloody wars to capture each other,
for the slave marts established on the
coast. Of the cruelties of this traffic, and
the horrors of the middle passage on the
high 'seas, it is not now my intention to
write. Before the rising of the Colonies
for independence, good men in this and
the mother country rose up against the
traf f ic, uttering solemn protests, and pre
senting the astounding facts in the face of
the British Government. Richard Baxter,
Bishop Warburton, John Wesley, Dr,
Adam Smith, and many distinguished
statesmen, opposed it as a great sin against
humanity. The Quakers in America and
in England petitioned for the arrest. of the
slave trade. In 1772 the House of Bur
gesses of. Virginia presented a petition to
the King, beseeching him to permit the
check of that "inhuman and impolitic com
merce, the slave trade."
As will appear from " Jefferson's Cor
respondence, in the first draught that be
made of the " Declaration of Indepen
dence," he uses the following language
in refrence to the King of England " He
has waged civil war against human nature
itself, violating its most sacred rights of
life and liberty, in the persona of a distant
people, who never offended him; capti
vating and carrying them into slavery in
another hemisphere, or to incur a miserable
death in their transportation thither. This
piratical warfare, the opprobium of infidel
powers, is the warfare of the Christian
King f Great Britain; determined to keep
open a market where MEN should be
bought and sold, he prostituted his nega
tive for suppressing every legislative at
tempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable
commerce." ' Though these words, and
more of the same tendency, were stricken
out of the adopted Deolaration, it is mani
fest that there must have been others be
sides Mr. Jefferson who held the same
views, or he would not have incorporated
them in the first draught.
The number of slaves at the Declaration
of Independence has been computed to be
half a million, chiefly in the Southern
States; and-that you may know the state of
public sentiment, and the action of the
• different States during the confederation of
the United States and afterwards, I briefly
recite facts. Delaware, by her State Con
stitution, declared against any more slaves
being brought in "from any part of the
world." The Massachusetts Bill of Rights,
which included, the phrase "all men are
born free aria egad,' " was held by the
,Supreme Mart of that tats,_ id mote
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queues, to prohibit slavery." A similar
clause led to a similar decision in New-
Hampshire. The Pennsylvania Assembly
in 1780 " forbade the further introduction
of slaves, and gave freedom to all persons
thereafter born in that State." In 1784
laws similar to those of Pennsylvania were
enacted in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
The Virginia Assembly in 1778 prohibited
the further introduction of slaves, and re
pealed for ten years the statute prohibiting
emancipation, " during which period pri
vate emanoipations were numerous." Mary
land followed the footsteps of Virginia in
both these particulars. New-York and
New-Jersey prohibited the further intro
duction of slaves into these States; but did
not declare general emancipation until
many years afterwards. North Carolina
in 1786 declared " the introduction of
slaves into the State to be of evil conse
quence and highly impolitic." South
Carolina and Georgia did not follow these
examples.
On the 73th of July, 1787, an ordinance
was unanimously adopted, part of which
was, " There shall be neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude in the said territory,
otherwise than in the punishment of
crimes, whertof the parties shall be duly
convicted." This was by the last Conti
nental Congress, in regard to the territory
North-west of the Ohio, and all the States
concurred.
During this period, Patrick Henry, the
great Virginia orator, said in regard to
slavery, " I will not, I cannot justify it
I believe a time will come when an oppor
tunity will be offered to abolish this
lamentable evil." George Washington
avowed to all his correspondents, " that it
was among his first wishes to see some plan
adopted by which slavery maybe abolished."
❑ 1785 he complained in a letter to Lafay
tte, that some petitions for the abolition of
lavery, presented to the Virginia Legisla
.ure, could scarcely obtain a hearing."
fhomas Jefferson denounced the system as
,‘ a perpetual exercise of the most unre
nitting despotism on the one part,. and
legrading submission on the other."
In the Convention at Philadelelia in
1787, that formed the Constitution of the
United States, Mr. Mason, of Virginia,
, aid, "Every master of slaves is born a
Jetty tyrant. They bring the judgment of
ipaven on a country." 4
In 1796, Mr. St. George Tucker, Law
Professor in William and Mary College,
Virginia, published a treatise entitled
" Proposal for the General Abolition of
Slavery," dedicated "to the General As
sembly of the people of Virginia." In
1797, Mr. Pinckney, in the Legislature of
Maryland, maintained, "by the eternal
irinciples of justice, no man in the State
kas a right to hold. his slave a single hour."
• n 1803, Mr. John Randolph, from a com
eittee ou the subject, reported, that "the
irohibition of slavery by the ordinance of
1.787 was wisely calculated to promote the
"sappiness and prosperity of the North
weatern States, and to give strength and
enmity to that extensive frontier." All
he preceding gentlemen were. from the
southern States, and to their opinions
•gitinst slavery might be added those of
,ther distinguished Southern intbn, such as
Wythe, Pendleton, Chief Justice Marshall,
I.,owndes, Poinsett and Clay. President
,donroe and Mr. Crawford, and Calhoun,
were fpr the Missouri Compromise.
It is now proclaimed by the chiefs of the
'lonfederate States, that the idea; preva
,ent when the Constitution of the United
.states was adopted are fundamentally
vrong, and that their government "RESTS
: IPON EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE IDEAS."
`elle injustice and abomination of their
peculiar institution " has made them de
;enerate sons of noble forefathers.
But during the period when statesmen in
he South were speaking against slavery,
:southern men in the Church were not si
'eat. I shall give extracts from the Pres
',)yterian branch of it. The General As
vembly of 1795 assured "all the churches
under their care, that they view with the
deepest concern, any vestiges of slavery
which may exist in our country. At the
meeting of the Assembly in 1815, com
posed in part of Southern men, as the pre
vious one was, we find the following state
ment in their action : " The General
Assembly have repeatedly declared their
cordial approbation of those principles of
civil liberty which appear to be recognized
by the Federal and State governments of
these United States. They have expressed
their regret that the slavery of the Afri
cans, and of their descendants, still con
tinues in so many places, and even among
those within the pale of the Church." At
the meeting of the General Assembly in
1818, a still longer deelaration was unani
mously adopted, including the Southern
delegates. The first sentence reads thus :
We consider, the voluntary enslaving of
one portion of the human race by another,
as a' gross violation of the most precious
and sacred rights of human nature • as ut
terly inconsistent with the law of God,
which requires us to love our neighbor as
ourselves, and as totally irreconcilable with
the spirit and principles of the Gospel of
Christ, which enjoin that all things what
soever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them'"
The Synod of Kentucky, as late as 1835,
published an address to their " brethren,"
full of argument against the sin of slavery,
drawn from the Bible and the nature of the
system, and making a powerful appeal for
emancipation. From this I may quote, if
permitted to address you on duty, as taught
in the Scriptures.
It will be my purpose,.in my next, to
give a short historical view of the particu
tar causes of our national troubles, as pro
duced by the North and South. I am, as
before, your COUNTRYMAN.
Eternity has no gray hairs. The flowers
fade, the heart withers, man grows old and
dies; the world lies down in the sepulchre
of ages; but time writes no wrinkles on
eternity. Eternity ! Stupendous thought!
The ever-present, unborn, undecaying and
undying—the endless chain composing the
life of God—the golden thread, entwining
the destinies of the universe. Earth has
its beauties, but time shrouds them for the
grave; its honors are but the sunshine of
an hour • its palaces, they are but the gild
ed sepulchre; its pleasures, they are but as
bursting bubbles. Not so in the untried
bonnie. In the dwelling of the Almighty
oan come no footsteps of decay. Its way
will know no darkening—eternal splendor
forbids the approach of night.
Trouble is often the lever in God's haa4
to 'tilde IA up tai briar3ll.