I TIIECLCGICAL SEMlKAliY.f
I) FrincetCD, N. J.
19
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T H E
AMERICAN AND FOREIGN
CHRISTIAN UNION.
Vol. IX. SEPTEMBER, 1858. No. 9.
SUNDAY IN ROMAN CATHOLIC COUNTRIES.
Sunday is a sad day to the Christian, in those countries where the Roman Catholic religion is dominant. It is, in fact, only a day of pleasure and dissipa- tion— a day for the review of troops, for horse-races, and bull-fights ; a day for extraordinary processions, for pageants of all sorts, which serve as diversions for the multitude. It is the policy of the Roman Catholics to amuse rather than instruct the people ; it is an avowed principle of ultramontanism., that the State should provide such amusements, and at the same time prohibit the publication of all books except those which teach the elementary principles of the Ro- man Catholic faith and worship. In those countries where the church has the most power, there the people have the least instruction ; they have no books which the priesthood does not approve, and no means of educa- tion which are not provided by the same order ; and in making books, and giving instruction, they never lose sight of the fact that a hierarchy flourishes best amongst an ignorant population.
In those Papal countries or cities where Protestant worship is toler- ated, the priests are constrained to have some service in their churches 19
on Sunday, besides the celebration of mass. But in the Papal States, and wherever Protestantism is proclaimed heresy by the Government, the peo- ple receive no instruction on the Sab- bath. They go to the churches for a short time in the morning, to wit- ness the performances of the priests in the service of the mass, or to confess their sins to a man more sinful than themselves, or to hear some music more secular than sa- cred in its character. It is for them a day of pleasure, which is occu- pied in riding or walking, attending the theatre, and such places and kinds of amusement as the State may provide or tolerate.
In Rome all lotteries are drawn on Sunday ; and as lotteries are a Gov- ernment monopoly, (it is a govern- ment of priests,) great preparations are made at the public expense for the drawing, sometimes in a public square in the city, and sometimes in the grounds of a villa outside the walls. These scenes are witnessed by tens of thousands of the people, amongst whom are cardinals and priests of all orders.
It is the wish and purpose of Ro- man Catholics to destroy the sanctity of the Lord's day ; they complain of
200
the efforts of the Protestants in Pied- mont, that they are trying to Sabba- tize Italy. They fear the influence of a quiet, thoughtful, relig-ious ob- servance of Sunday. Thought, intel- ligence, and real piety are not found, and are not wanted, in the Roman Cathilic populations.
Now, what the Roman church is in Italy, such it will strive to be in all places, — advancing toward its Ital- ian model just as rapidly as possible, without exciting the opposition of Protestants. Once established, it never becomes better, but waxes worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. In our own coun- try, in the midst of influences such as are known only where the Bible is generally read, and the Sabbath observed as a day of sacred rest, the Roman Catholics may not at once and in ail places show their senti- ments. But, as they increase in numbers and strength, they will manifest themselves as Sabbath- breakers from principle. Whenever
(Sept.
they can use the Lord's day for pro- cessions and pageants, under the disguise of religious festivals, thoy will do so. Little by little they will encroach on the sanctity of that day, presuming on the indifference or for- bearance of Protestants, till, if pos- sible, its complete dosecration is accomplished.
Our foreign Roman Catholic popu- lation is uneasy under the legal re- straints by which the rights of others are guarded in the enjoyment of a day of rest. The priests know how to use all this vicious material to the best advantage, and they will lose no good occasion to employ it to diminish or destroy the influence of the Christ- ian Sabbath. Many of the Popish clergy are thoroughly instructed, and possess a great degree of world- ly wisdom. They are cunning, and plausible, and patient, and persever- ing,— a race of whose devices we ought not to be ignorant. They know how to wait and when to act.
DR. M'dOJ?:\LD'3 sermon,
DR. MCDONALD'S SERMON.
The Diffusion of Pure Christianity.
In the June number of the Maga- zine, we expressed the hope that the Rev. J. M. McDonald, D.D., of Prince- ton, New-Jersey, in compliance with the request of the Board of Directors, would furnish for our readers a copy of his most excellent sermon deliv- ered at the annual meeting of the American and Foreign Christian Union in this city, in May last. Through the courtesy of the author we have now a copy of the sermon, and are happy to lay it before our patrons and friends, who, like our- selves, we think, will read it with profit as well as pleasure.
The obviously true and common sense view of the importance of a pure Christianity to the work of man's salvation, and of the means and spirit with which its diffusion should be sought, which the sermon renders clear and impressive, will commend themselves to all who will read it. The positions of the writer are scrip- turally taken and well sustained ; and over all who consider them care- fully they will throw a flood of light upon the vast importance and great usefulness of our Institution, which has for its object to promote and dif- fuse a pure and evangelical Christ-
1858.)
THE DIFFUSION OF PUUE CrmiSTIANITV.
2m
ianity wherever a corrupted Chriet- ianity exists.
In reading the sermon, we beg the reader to bear in mind that at least
TIIREE-FOUKTIIS OF ALL CHRISTENDOM arC
well nigh strangers to " a pure and an evangelical Christianity." Those parts of the nominally Christian world are involved in idolatries, su- perstitions, and religious errors, little less gross than those which distin- e-uish the world outside of the limits of Christendom, and not less fatal, if we apprehend the teachings of the Bi- ble aright on the subject of human salvation. To rescue these many millions from their wretched condi- tion, by their conversion to Christ, through a pure Gospel — to add their resources to the power of the evan- gelical part of the church for the sub- jugation of the world to the Redeemer, is an object well worthy the purest, strongest, and best alfections of the Christian's heart, and of his vigorous and undying etfort.
Let it also be borne in mind, that the diffusion of a "pure and evan- gelical Christianity," through the agency of our Society, in places where formerly only a corrupted form of Christianity had obtained, has been signally blessed of God in the conver- sion of multitudes of souls, and in the great advancement of all their inter- ests. Encouragement, therefore, to la- bor in this work, and in the united form in which all evangelical denomina- tions are associated in the American AND Foreign Christian Union, is very strong. Single-handed, or by itself alone, no denomination can be ex- pected to effect a great deal. WJiat is wanted, in so great a coniiict with so strong a foe, is a union of forces. Lot all, then, rally tp one standard, animated by one heart and pur-
pose, and great expansion can be "•iven to the truth that saves. But
o
we submit the
SERMON.
" T am ready to proacli tho gospel to you tliat are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospcd of Christ ; for it is tlie power of God unto salvation to every one that believetli, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." — Rom. 1 : 15, 16.
These were the words of a man who, from his education and linowledge of tho world, was fully qualified to take a calm, intelligent view of the religions of man- kind, and the prevailing systems of phi- losophy. He had traveled extensively, and observed minutely. He had studied Grecian literature, both at the feet of his accomplished Jewish master and in the celebrated schools of his native city. For years he had made religion, especially the- comparative claims of its different sys- tems, a particular subject of inquiry ; he- had been constantly engaged in discuss- ing it, both with Jews and pagans, the- learned and the unlearned.
But Paul was not merely an enlight-; ened philosopher, he was an inspired Apostle of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The words of such a man are worthy of being carefully weighed. He was looking towards Home, the civil me- tropolis of the world, the seat of politicaL power ; the self-same Rome which subse- quently became, and to this day continues to be, a great ecclesiastical capital, — a city which had adorned itself with all the graces and refinements of ancient learn- ing and art ; and he exclaims :
"I am ready to preach the gospel to- you that are at Rome also ; for 1 am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ."
He was willing to have the gospel he preached subjected to the critical exami- nation of its most learned men. He had already preached it in a city more re- nowned even than Rome for its literary culture. He had such an unfaltering con- fidence in it, that he was ready to seize upon every opportunity to hold it up ia. the most polished capitals, in contrast
292
PR. m'honald's sermon,
(Sept.
witli tlic Platouisui, niid tlio Stoicism, and the niisovable s^vstcnis of idolatry and morals of his aj^o. Tlioat? views which he had of his work, whilst actually engafjcd in it, or lookinj^ forward to future labors, the motives which inspired him, and especially his confidence in the power of the gospel, must he profitable to those who ])rofess to be laboring for the same great end — the salvation of the world. It is one and the same work, whether prose- cuted in the first or the nineteenth cen- tury : the command which authorizes it is the same ; the message to be borne the same; the agencies to be employed are the same ; the miseries and wants of the M'orld the same ; and we have the same promise of final success.
SUn.IECT.
Puke Christianity, and the pros- pect AND MEANS OF ITS DIFFUSION, Is the subject to which your attention is in- vited.
The text, I say, was a most noble ut- terance ; and the whole band of Christ's disciples, wherever called to live and la- bor, may well put forward its inspired author, and say, " Let him speak for us in this ; we are not ashamed of the gos- pel, of uncorrupted Christianity, when compared with any other religion, or any philosophical system known among men ; nor to propose it as the remedy, and only remedy, for the miseries of a world lying in wickedness."
We are not ashamed of the answer it gives — it is the very pith of its entire mes- sage— to the question, " How shall man be just with God?" It is what a dying man needs to know, as his spirit is hover- ing on the confines of an invisible state. It is what a heathen, whose first oppor- tunity of hearing the gospel may prove to be his last, needs to be told. It is what must be taught the child who is just learn- ing the meaning and use of languages. That answer is, " ik'lieve in Christ, the Savior whom God himself hatli provided, the eternal Son of the Father, who hon- ored the la^^• by obeying it and enduring
its penalty on the cross, and his right- (M)usuess shall become yours, and you sliall have peace with God."
EXPIATION.
AVhen we open the Bible, almost the first words which arrest the eye are those addressed by the Lord God to the tempter of our race : the seed of the woman
" SHALL BRUISE THY HEAD, AND THOU
SHALT BRUISE HIS HEEL."* As we glance onward, we see the smoke of sacrifice as- cimd from the altar of Abel, a sweet savor unto the Lord. We see the same smoke going up from the altars of Enoch, of Noah, of Abraham, and of Aaron. An expiation by the death of some spotless Victim was thus shadowed forth. The divine plan of saving men as the ages roll on, becomes continually more plain, until the light shines forth, as with the splendor of the noonday sun, in the New Testament ; and we see that these ancient sacrifices were typical, and the priests who offered them were also typical. It tells us that "without shedding of blood is no remission ;" but that it is impossible for "the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." We are made clearly to see what was meant by the Lovitical types. " We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the gi'ace of God, should taste death for every man."f We see him, "who was the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his per- son, taking not the nature of angels, but becoming a partaker of flesh and blood, that, through death, he might destroy him who had the power of death, and miglit be a merciful and faithful High Priest, in things pertaining to God, to make recon- ciliation for the sins of the people." t
And the gi-eat burden of the entire Scriptures is to set forth Him who was in the form of God, and thought it no rob- bery to be equal with God, as the propi- tiation for sin, through faith in his blood,
* Gen 3:15. + Heb. 2:9. J See Kiiitilii lo the IIebrew.s, passim.
1858.)
TIIK DIFFUSION OK PURE CIIUI>?TTANITV.
293
that. God might he just, and the justifior of him that boliovoth.
TIlK OFFERKIl PURE.
As it was necessary that an expiation should be lUiide for sin b}- the sacrifice of a huub witliout blcuusli and without spot, it was equally necessary that tin; offerer of this sacrifice should be without sin. The Jewish high priest, in bearing the names of the children of Israel in the breastpl.ate and upon his shoulders, when lie offered sacrifice and ent(>red into the holj' place, to sprinlde blood before the mercy-seat, typified Christ in the offering he made, and in entering once for all the holy place not made with hands, The Anti-tj'pe notonly fulfilled, but infinitely, in his person and the perfection of his works, excels the type. Christ was not preceded nor is he succeeded by any other in oflSee; but "continuing ever, he hath an unchangeable priesthood," being made a priest, "not after the order of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." He was priest long before Aaron was called to assume the ephod, when Abel and Abraham officiated at the altar. He was priest, when Caia- phas, before whom he was arraigned, . and by whom he was condemned, wore the sacerdotal vestments; he is priest now, and will continue to be, until the last redeemed sinner is brought to glory and for evei-more. Human reason utterly fails to suggest any mode by which a sin- ner can escape punishment. We cast about in vain for any way of deliverance. Whichever way we turn, we see nothing but darkness and the shadow of death. We discover no light till that of divine revelation rises on the mind, and we see the Son of God consenting to become our Mediator. In his sacrifice we find that dignity and merit which meet all the de- mands of the case; he offered himself — his sinless human nature on the altar of his divine. His fearful passion on the cross was the fire which consumed the offering. The altar sanctified it by im- parting to it infinite value and efficacy. He was the offerer as well as the offering ;
he was the Altar as well as the Sacrifice ; he was the Priest as well as the Victim. He was tiu; Substance of that shadow seen in the ceremonial law. The blood of lambs and goats no longer flows, the altar no longer smokes. And witli ani- mal sacrifices the priesthood dej)arted which offered them. Aaron, and Annas, and Caiaphas have no successors. There is now no more place for them, than for the altar of burnt-offering, and the blood of lambs, to be daily shed and ministered.
CHKIST ALONE OUR PRIEST.
Hence it follows that the men who now claim to perform the proper work of a priest are guilty of assuming preroga- tives which belong to Christ alone. It is difficult to speak with becoming calm- ness of the presumption of those who teach that, in the Lord's Supper, the bread and the wine are transmuted into the literal body and blood of Christ ; and that it belongs to their office to offer it as a sacrifice, for the dead and the living. There is but one sacrifice for sins for ever, but one offering by which they tliat are sanctified are perfected for ever. This pretended repetition of the one great sac- rifice tends to bring it down to the level and value of the sacrifices of the Jews. It exalts those who pretend to be the of- ferers of it above Aaron, or any of his sons and successors, for the Jewish priests offered typical sacrifices, and were but types themselves ; but these men claim that they offer the very body and blood of Christ, that they fill that office of which the ancient office of priest was but a type. It detracts fi-om the perfection of the work of Christ ; it makes the intervention of a human mediator necessary to our sal- vation, one who can offer a true propitia- tory sacrifice for sins. It dispenses with justification by faith alone, because it is represented that the materials offered in the mass have an intrinsic virtue for the salvation of those who receive them, in- dependent of their disposition or moral state, provided their efficacy is not ob- structed by what is called a mortal sin ; or, at best, it makes the justification of
294
DR. m'dONALD's SEKMON,
(Sept.
the sinner dejiend on an infused, personal riglitiHiusnegs and a satisfaction offered to the justice of God, by acts of mortifica- tion and purgatorial pains. Tlio satis- faction of Christ might as well be entirely excluded, as to make the righteousness and pains of the sinner share with the righteousness and sufferings of Christ ; or to make the righteousness of Christ the remote cause, but the personal righteous- ness of the sinner the immediate cause, of his acceptance with God. These pre- posterous twin-errors — that the same pro- pitiatory sacrifice which was offered by Christ on the cross needs still to be often offered, and that by mere men ; and that it is necessary for the sinner himself to add a personal atonement for sin to the one offering b)' which Christ hath perfect- ed for ever them that are sanctified — sap the very foundations of the Gospel. Yea, verily, Christ is the only Priest who can liring us near to God. No ser- vices or sufferings of sinful creatures can supplement his work. He has no suc- cessors in ofiice ; nor has he now any types, for types have all been fulfilled.
INTEHCESSION.
The other part of his expiatory work is his intercession. The former part was performed on earth ; this is performed in heaven.
" We have a great high priest, that is passed into tlie heavens, Jesus, the Son of God."*
In the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the eld- ers, he stands a lamb as it had been slain. In the body which was crucified he appears before God, and there pleads his atoning sufferings as the ground on which the blessings of salvation shall be bestowed on men, the sole and all-suflS- cient ground of their everlasting security in heaven. Away, then. Oh for ever away with the notion that men need, or may ever, without dishonor to Christ, ap- ply to human or angelic intercessors. They have no merit to plead. At the
* Hebrews, 4: M.
best, they can have an imperfect know- ledge of our wants ; they cannot even be touched with the feeling of our infirmities," like Him who was tempted "in all points as we are, yet ivil.hout sin.'^ Away with every doctrine and practice which dero- gate from the value and sufficiency of the atoning and intercessory work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We may rest assttred that no mere nuin on earth or creature in heaven is invested with an oflice au- thorizing him to step in between a sinner and his Savior, or which will justify the sinner in admitting any such pretended claims. We cannot hand over to a fel- low-creature, whatever the title he may assume or the function he may profess to exercise, the keeping of our priceless souls, or that w ork of personal faith and repentance by which we renounce our sins and carnal hopes, and receive Christ as our Eedeemer.
Such is the Christianity which WE wish to diffuse wherever it
NOW HAS THE NAME AND SEMBLANCE OF HAVING SPREAD — AND TO EARTH'S RE- MOTEST BOUNDS. Itis comprised (blessed be God for the simplicity of saving truth !) in the answer to that question w hich so man}' in these times, under the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit, have been led to ask. What must 1 do to be saved ? The ambassadors of Christ and the church universal have but one answer to give — You must have faith in Christ, that faith which includes not only the full assent of the mind to the truth of the Christian doctrines, but a cordial trust of the heart in him as he is offered in the Gospel. If you touch but the hem of his garment you shall be healed. You must acknow- ledge the sacrifice which he offered as tliat in which you trust. You must by faith lay your hand on the victim's head, in token that you lay all your sins on him for atonement, and lean your weak, perishing soul on him, hidden as in his very breastplate and to be borne from the field of conflict, after the battle is over, as one of the trophies of his victory
1858.) TillO DIFFUSION OF 1
over tlio powers of darkness. Just say — say from tlu; heart —
"My nuili would liiy lior limid
t)n that (lonr hc.id nf tliinu — Wliild like a punitcnt I sUind,
Ami tliori) confess iny sin ;"
aud tlui peaces tliat passcth all uuder- staiuliui;^ shall be yours, aud a hope that niaketh not ashamed. Come without money and without price.
"Tlie lamb that was slaiu Now lives again ;"
and could we pierce the vail that hides eternitj', we should see him in the midst of the throne pk^ading the full merits of his blood. Just lay your hand on this Victim's liead ; trust in the intercession of this great High Priest. That is all you are required to do ; that is faith.
PllOTESTANTISM NOT A NEGATION.
This is the gospel of which we are not ashamed. It is the rock in the midst o£ an unstable aud oftcu tempestuous sea, on which the siukiug voyager to eteruity nuiy plaut his feet aud stretch out his hands with hope towards heaven. Of this theology we may confidently say that it is a science of positive truth. This was the Protestantism of the great apostles of the Reformation. It is not a mere protest against errors, but a profession of all the fundamental doctrines taught by Chi'ist. We must protest against all errors which teach that sinners can be saved by their own works or merits, or which tend to undervalue the atonement and interces- sory work of Jesus Christ; but, at the same time, we profess the opposite or de- nied truths. Who dares say, then, that the faith of the lleformed Churches is a mere negation ? What ! that a mere ne- gation which has beeu as life from the dead to the nations — their letters, their science, aud all the arts and appliances of civilization ! that a mere negation which makes the cruel kind, the idle dili- gent, the inebriate temperate, the dissolute pure, the dishonest just, which lifts the neg- lected and besotted out of the dunghill ! that a negation which fires the once dead and selfish heart with love to God and all mankind, and sends heralds forth, as on
I'UUl'; ClIIilHTlANlTV.
the wings of angels, to jjublish the glad tidings of salvation to the ends of the earth! Who, looking into the beaming countenance and listening to the words of the sinner who is rejoicing in his new- found Savior — rejoicing in hope of the glory of God — would dare tell him that there is nothing of positive truth in that doctrine of Christ which he has embraced ? Was there uotiiiug real, lying at the foundation of the Christian life of such men as Howard and Martyn, of Vicais aud Havelock ? The power of godliness is distinct from the form ; it is found only in that which is spiritual aud internal — in faith and afi'ection ; it is the heart flaming up towards God, as fire ascends towards the sun, without altar, temple, or priest. Thus, we areuot mere Protestants against error, but confessors of soul-quickening, soul-saving truth ; aud so far the term Protestant has a significance of which no man need to be ashamed. But if we resolve the matter into one of mere termi- nology or verbal criticism, then, it must be confessed, it is of too narrow and re- strictive an import, for it fails to indicate that, while protesting against error, we profess the truth as it is in Jesus — the faith once delivered to the saints.
Or, again, if we judge of it by its actual application, as a term of designation, it is too extensive or all-embracing, iu other words, not sufficiently distinctive, as it is applied to and claimed by denominations aud sects who have separated themselves from and deny the evangelical doctrines of the Eeformed Churches. As Protest- ants of the reformation, confessors of the great doctrines of Luther aud Calvin, which were those of Paul and of Christ, we are reaJy to preach the gospel ; we are not ashamed of it, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that be- lieveth.
AMERICAN AND FOREIGN CHRISTIAN UNION.
It is the object of this Society — the American and Foreign Christiaa Union — as expressed in its constitution, to " dif-
1
296
m. m'donai.d's sermon.
(Sept.
fuse pmo Christianity Avliorover a cor- rujitotl (Miristiajiity exists."
It is, therefore, sinipl)- a MISSIONARY Society for tliis, its chosen, prescribed field. When the ai)ostles were sent to preach the gospel to those who were already in possession of a divinely re- vealed religion, to whom " pertained the adoption, and the glorv, and the cove- nants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises,"* they were told by our Lord to be " wise as serpents and hannless as doves. "f That their wisdom might not degenerate into mere subtlet}" or guile, it was necessary it should be united with the utmost purity of conduct and intention ; and that their innocence might not prove to be weak- ness or pusillanimity it needed to be tem- pered with the keenest sagacity.
And for one class of Christians to go to ■ others who profess to derive their religion from the same source, and to l)e worsliip- ing the same God and Redeeuu'r, to con- vince them that they have fallen into error on the most vital points, I'equires not only the deepest conviction, from a prayerful study of the Bible, that they are thus wrong, but the profoundest wisdom, di- rected by undissenibled love. They are to go forth, not to a work of denimciation and reproach, or of " lutterness, and wrath, and auger, and clamor, and evil- speaking," but to (me of divine compas eiou and love, to tell sinners how they may become like Ilim, who when he was reviled reviled not again, and may be saved through the merits of his precious j blood. I
CHRISTIANITY CORKUPTED— HOW.
A corrupted Christianity ! This, it must be confessed, is a painful theme. The mixture of deleterious ingredients in tlu^ fountains of a city could be contem- plated as an incomparably less evil. It were better for the atmosphere to be tainted with poisonous fumes, or the ma- larious exhalations of swamps and fens. But let no one aflfect to wonder that a
Rom. 9: 4.
t Matt. 10 : 16.
j religion which claims that heaven, where God resides, as its birth-place, should bo subject to corrujition. The best things in tlu! haiuls of men have been perverted, ' and the greater their excellence the greater j woidd seem to bo their peril. Neverthe- ' less, there has always, notwithstimding overshadowing corruptions, been found I somew here the leaven of a pure doctrine ' and practice. Churches may become , corru])t in their forms and teachings, but pure Christianity can no more be essen-- tially impaired than the light of the sun can be polluted by the mc'dium through which, or the objects on which it shines. The religion of the Bible is not to be held ac- countable for the distortions with which men have loaded it, and the abominations with which they have caused it to be asso- ciated.
After the Christian faith had silenced the oracles and overthrown the altars of polytheism throughout the Roman empire, there still remained not a few of the ad- herents of the old pagan worship. It was the attempt to convert, or rather recon- cile these, by a sort of compromise be- tween the old worship and tlie new, which was the fruitful source of corruption to the Church. By the perversion of great Christian docti-ines, and the eftbrt to make pagan superstitions harmonize with the simple rites of Christian worship, pure Christianit}^ was supplanted, except as by the grace of God it survived in the hearts of a few individuals, or kindled its unextinguishable fires on the altars of small isolated bodies of believers, in un- frequented vallies and remote comers of the earth.
And men there were, doubtless, all over the churches, who, in spite of all the in- fluences which were operating to give to superstition and formality the place of de- votion, and to exterminate true faith and love, were spiritually-minded, — were able to learn enough of their true necessities and of Christ to obtain salvation ; but the mass, it is to be feared, were effect- ually blinded as to the way of life, as if they had never heard of Christ. These
1858.)
THE DIFFUSION OF PUIIE Cldtl^TIANITY.
corruptions, however sad it is to helievr it, still exist over much the larfrer part of the Christian world. Nay, (also and dan- gerous tenets which, previous to tlio Re- formation, were held only as opinions, have since that epoch been enjoined and received as defined and determinate arti- cles of faith. A few hert; and there may still struggle up through the perversions and counterfeits of the truth and tlic superincunibeut mass of forms and rites, and catch a glimpse of that true " Light which lighteneth every man that comcth into the world;" but the great multitude are turning away from the one only SACraFicE, are mistaking baptism for re- generation, are trusting to human medi- ators to make their peace with God, — are tithing " mint, anise, and cummin," as a substitute for the practice and a plea for the omission of the weightier matters of the law.
Nor is this all. Would to heaven it were ! If we look to the lands where Luther and Calvin preached, and were successful in striking off the chains of j bigotry and superstition, we see rational- | ism sitting enthroned in the holy place. [ " A popular philosophic inundation of the most shallow kind, which bears nothing of true Christianity but the assumed name, : covers up, to this day, an immeasurable ! extent of the ground" of the Continental Reformed Churches. And as men are too j ready to judge of religion, not as they i may learn what it is from the infallible oracles, but from its living exhibitions in j those who bear the Christian name, a wide-spread infidelity and indifference in religion have sprung up among the masses of the people from these corruptions of the Romish and Reformed Churches.
THE society's WORK VAST.
Truly a great work is to be done. Can it be accomplished? When we confer with flesh and blood, or judge of this 1 question by the ordinaiy rules which gov- j ern the formation of human opinion, on a i subject of this nature, our answer would | be promptly in the negative. But when i we recur to the word of God, to its pre- I
dictions of the prevalence of a pure reli- gion, and its promises of Divine aid to those who engage in the work of the Lord, we fi-el assured of fihal success.
It remains to notice, in conclusion, some of the means to be emjdoyed for the diffusion of a pure Christianity.
THE MEANS.
First, It must be faitlifully preached.
We must seek to have somewhat of the same confidence in its power unto sal- vation which the Apostle had, when he said, " I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." It hath "pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe."*
In an age of rapid progress in specula- tive knowledge, and of singular enter- prise and activity, ministers, disregarding the demand made for other themes, must * persistently adhere to the peculiar doc- trines of the Gospel — Depravity, Atone- ment, Faith, Repentance, Regeneration, Sanctification. There is power in these, an adaptation to the wants of the soul, which we look for in vain in all other topics. Neological and transcendental speculations have no place in the pulpit, for they have no place in the Gospel ; and when introduced into it they abstract from its power, as they do not come home to the popular heart.
"There stands tlie messenger of truth; there stands
The lefiate of the skies! — His theme divine,
His office sacred, his credentials clear.
By him the violated law speaks out
Its thunders; and hy him, in strains as sweet
As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace."
The great mass of men go to church to learn how they may be saved from their sins and from hell, and not to be enter- tained with ingenious disquisitions or mere literary orations, or to be excited with inflammatory appeals on the political is- sues of the moment. They will despise the trifler, resent the wrong attempted to be done to their souls, or turn away dis- gusted from the shameful proposition. Let nothing but the Gospel, in all its sim- plicity and in its own natural tone of love
* 1 Cor. 1 : 21.
298
uu. m'donald's sermon,
(Sept.
and honest dealing, be heard from the pulpit, with that earnestness which be- longs to men who sincerel}' believe the momentous truths they deliver, and let the Lord be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for tlieni, and he will in- crease them with men like a flock ; places of worship will be filled with flocks of men, as the holy flock, as the flock of Je- rusalem, in her holy feasts.* Let preach- ing- continue to occupy that jdace in our worship to which it is entitled, by the ap- pointment of the great Head of the church, and not to be overshadowed bj' a pompous ritnal and gorgeous hosts of cer- emonies. Drapery and pantomine may appeal more powerfully to the imagina- tion— works and sounds of art may im- press and bedizen the senses, but they bring no message of peace to the weary and heavy-laden sinner ; rather do they interpose a barrier between him and the onl}" Being wiio can remove his burden, whilst they tend to waste a portion of the soul's thought and devotion, in approach- ing the " eternal beauty, the God of pity and of pardon." It is that power of God unto salvation with which an unadulter- ated Gospel preached to the poor, the rich, the ignorant, the learned, the low and the high, is invested, which must not be thoughtlessly sacrificed, but wielded for the spread of saving truth.
Preachers, men of piety and prudence, must be sent forth to occuj)y every field opened in the providence of God where Christianity has no foothold.
Here there is work for this Society. And its missionaries should not be sent forth so much to attack ecclesiastical or- ganizations and usages, except as these stand connected with false teaching and formalism, as to preach Christ and him crucified, and thus to draw men ofl" from their vain speculations, wrestings of the word of God, and their dependence on ritual observances, and the absolutions of a human j^Jijsthood. If it be our object to spread pure Cliristianity wherever a corrupted Christianity exists, let us not
j forget that there is a conceited, cynical j rationalism in the bosom of the Reformed churches, as well as formality and Christ- i dishonoring tenets in the Romish, j It is true that in this country we are perhaps more exposed to the latter than the lormer. Both these trees, however, are planted in our soil, have taken root, and begun to bring forth fruit. And is it not a wasting of strength, to be striking at some of the lowest limbs and outer branches, when the " axe should be laid at the root of the tree?" to assault fonns ; and organizations, whatever may be their I weak and vulnerable points, rather than errors directed against the plenary inspi- ration of the Scriptures — their sufliciency as the rule of faith and practice — the per- fection of Christ's atoning work, and the necessity of the Holy Spirit in renewing and fitting men for heaven ? Let church- es, whatever be their name or form of worship, become witnesses for the truth, especially that doctrine which must be confessed and cherished in every true church, to wit : justification by faith alone in the righteousness of Ch rist, and a spirit of life will enter into them which will lead them to modifj', or, as far as need be, cast ofl" those stifle and cumbrous costumes which interfere with free and healthful movement and development. It is easy to employ harsh epithets and sarcastic ar- guments, and to find unflattering and ominous symbols in the wild beasts of the prophets, but a,XQ these the persuasions with which to approach men whose souls we wish to save 1 Do we put them into a hopeful frame of mind by exciting their anger ? "I speak as to wise men : judge ye what I say."* " Be ye wise as ser- pents, and harmless as doves. "t
Secondly, in the diffusion of pure Christianity, there must be a judicious employment of the press.
In addition to the word of God, more use should be made practical than con- troversial works on religion. The po- lemical argument has been often tried, but when was it known that it brought
« Ezokiel, 36 : 33.
* 1 Cor. 10 : 15. t Matt. 10 : 16 .
1858.)
THE DIFFUSION OK PUUK CHRISTIANITY.
299
one einuer to Christ? I know not that it can he farther eniphiyeil with much hope, except in clearly setting forth tlie true idea of the church, to wit : tliat wliich is the churcii, by way of eminence calk'tl in the sacred Scriptures "thebody of Christ," consists exclusively of those who have been renewcHl by the Spirit, and in whom the Si)irit dwells; and that it is visible only in the sense in which true believers arc visible. All the arguments which sus- tain the true doctrine, concerning the plan of salvation, are conclusive in favor of this as the true theorj^ of the church. And here is the real strength of the Pro- testant cause. If we would turn men away from that ritual doctrine, concern- ing the church to which multitudes eg fondly and blindly cling, we must seek to lead them to Christ, that they may be made new creatures in him, and have the indwelling of his Spirit. Men of scholar- ship and piety have a duty to perform to the world, the importance of which it is difficult to overstate. It is, to reason so clearly, calmly, and fairly on the high themes of religion, as with the blessing of God to draw men oflf from the sensuous and external to an experimental know- ledge of the things of God, and that wor- ship of him which is " in spirit and in truth."
The periodical press must also be laid under contribution to this sacred cause. I mean not the so-called religious press merely, but the secular and even daily press. Here is a powerful agency, which ought not to be left to the exclusive pos- session of those who are seeking to build up their private fortunes, or are in the service of the parties of the State ; but which should be seized upon for the dif- fusion of sound principles in morals and virtue, and intelligence respecting the progress of civilization, presented in as- pects of which onlj' pure, honest, and deep- thinking minds are capable, and by which the moral as well as the intellect- ual life of the age may be quickened. The evangelical church has resources at her command, in her individual members.
which need only to Ix; employed, in lay- ing hold of this mighty <;ngin(!, in order to cont(;nd efl'eetually with tiie many false or loose and unsettled principles which are now sown broadcast over the civilized world.
Thirdly, it would doubtless produce the most happy <!fl'ect, if the benevolence of the gospel were more fully exhibited in deeds of charity.
True charity seeks to improve the tem- poral condition of mcu, as well as to pro- mote their eternal interests. Vast and abiding are the interests of man on earth, though every man's life; be as the morn- ing cloud and the early dew. And our Christianity should prompt us to have re- gard to the temporal comfort and happi- ness of the untold generations who are to live and jostle one another upon the surface of the earth.
Besides, a work of preparation, which only charity can perform, is required be- fore the abject classes, large numbers of whom are the slaves of priestcraft and superstition, can be brought, with much hope, under the direct appeals of re- ligion. Their minds are stupified by ig- norance, uncleanncss, and privation, to such an extent as to produce in them an almost total moral recklessness. The pressing necessities of their bodies ex- clude any care of their souls. The prob- lem, AVhat shall we eat, what shall we drink, and wherewithal be clothed ? which has to be solved for every wasting day, thrusts aside even the temporal provisions for the morrow, and much more the ques- tion, What shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? To give bread to the hun- gry, education to the ignorant, and em- ployment to the idle, will not only prepare them to be brought under the direct ap- peals of religion, but will be such an exemplification of the charity of the gos- pel as wiU commend it, as by an irresisti- ble argument, to a gainsaying world.
Fourthly, the great doctrine of Christ- ian unity, or oneness of the true nhurck, must be clearty understood and warmly cherished.
3»
300 DR. M'DONAI.n
By lliis ii* not meant more uniformity, or a onont'ss of oxtornal oviranization and ccrcMiionial, hy whicli men of all oi)ini()ns and of no opinions are iTicluded in one body ; but that oneness of heart and soul among all, by whatever name they are known, who are trusting in the same Savior and have been renewed by the same Spirit; manifested b)' a cordial fraternal recognition of one another as brethren, and in unconflicting concurrent efforts for the salvation of men. The Spirit performs, and is carrj'ing on, one and tlie same work in the heart of every rencw(;d man"; it matters not whether it be in the heart of a dark-browed African or a fair Saxon, all have the same faith, the same hope, the same joj's, the same fears, the same Christian experience, in all its chief outlines. Their common ex- perience as penitent and pardoned sin- ners, as believing and ol)edi('nt children, and rejoicing expectants of everlasting glory, makes them one in a nobler and more blissful sense than they could be made one by being iinited in the same ex- ternal communion, or being members of the same visible society. It was for this oneness of his followers that our blessed Lord prayed. In answer thereto, they profess fi-om the heart to be in subjection to him, and to rest alone on his atoning merits for salvation ; they profess to take the whole revealed will of God as their only rule, and to receive the application of water, in the name of the Trinity, as a sign and seal of inward baptism by the Holy Ghost. This common profession of fundamental truth, in connection with their common experience of the life of God in the soul, constitutes the unity of the spiritual, invisible church. And in whatever communion this profession can be outwardly and credibly made, and this experience freely realized, there is found a branch of the true visible church. And just as^the preservation of the spiritual church, or a constant succession of man's generations on earth, ensures the per- petuity of the external church, so the existence and diffusion of true Christians
I's SERMON, (Sept.
in diflFerent and dissimilar communions is the bond which binds them together, and constitutes the essential unity of the visi- ble church. This is the suhstance, whilst an external uniformity, in respect to organization and ceremonies, is the merest shadow. It is the exhibition of this that will tell, with mighty power, on the world. Our Lord prayed that his disciples might be one in him, that they might be made perfect in one, that the world might know that the Father sent the Son, and hath loved us as he loved him.* The New Testament, it should never be forgotten, contains no book of Leviticus ; it places forms tand ceremo- nies in complete subordination to grace in the heart, and by the utter absence of minute ritual regulations, has shown that Christians should treat one another with gi'eat lenity in respect to these. ^
Fifthly, The sending of the gospel to the heathen is among the means which are to be employed in giving ascendancy to pure Christianity wherever Christi- anity has the name of having spread.
The heathen, at the present hour, con- stitute more than two-thirds of the popu- lation of the earth. And when we look upon these vast territories of desolation, surely we have no time or strength to waste in contending about the size and fashion of the curtains, and loops, and tassels of the tabernacle, — mere non- essentials. Wide doors are opening for the spread of Christianity, and m these unoccupied regions the zeal of Christians, by the blessing of God, may raise up many efEcient helpers to go up with them on the breadth of the earth, and compass the foes of God and his church wherever found. It may be among the plans of Providence that the foreign missionary work is to re-act with powerful saving effect on those portions of the world which have long been nominally in possession of the church, but where "a corrupted Christianity" exists. Prophecy declares that the heathen arc all to be converted to Christ. And as we are taught that
* See John, chap. IT.
1858.)
THE DIFKUSION OF rUIlK UIIKISTIANITV.
801
" blindness in part is liapiM'ncd to Isnicl, until the fulhiL'tis of the Gentiles be come in,"* may it not, l)y anulop^y or ))arity of reason, be held possible that the conversion of the lieathen is to precede the revival of piety on those altars where its fires have grown dim, and boas "life from the dead," where there is now but tin; forni of godlin(^ss witiiout the power?
Go, then, and preach the gospel to every creature, beginning at Jerusalem, to the Jew first, and those who are in possession of an effete Christianity, but also to the Gentile. Go and lift up the voice, even lift it up along the streams and sunny glades of Ah-ica, on India's coral strand, and the frozen shores of the North. Let the angel, standing in the sun, cry with a loud voice, " Saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven. Come and gather yourselves together unto the Sup- per of the great God.f Oh let him who is called Faitliful and True, on whose head arc many crowns, who is clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God, ride forth from conquering to conquer.
Finally. We must pray for the prom- ised influence! of the Holy Spirit.
We must pray tliat the zeal and cour- age of the few earnest and spiritual men, to be found within the pale of corrupt communions, may be strengthened ; that they may keep themselves pure from idols; that they may either come out, and be separate, or that their number may be so increased as to purify .and re- form the ecclesiastical bodies to which they belong. We ought to pray for all mere nominal Christians and Christian ministers especially, many of whom pos- sess the accomplishments of learning and the gifts of eloquence, and need but the converting grace of God to qualify them at once to go into the vineyard of the Lord. We ought to pray for all ministers and missionaries, who are going forth iu the spirit of Paul, saying. We are ready to preach the Gospel, in cottages or in universities, at Rome or at Cawupore,
* Rom. 11 : 25. t Ke v. 1 9 : IT.
that the dry bones over which they pro- phesy may hear the word of 1 he Lord, and brciath may enter into them, that tluiy may live. Let the promise, " I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh," receive its full accomplishment, and we sliall see such wonders, onl)' on a grander scale, in proportion as the theatre is more vast, as wer(i seen on the day of Pentecost.
Such gracious awakenings, as have re- cently blessed this land, are not only a pre-assurance of the conversion of the en- tire world — Jew and Pagan, Mohammed- an and Papal — to Christ, but illustrate to us how easily and speedily it can be accomplished, when the time, the set time, to favor Zion is come. God is more read)' to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him, than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children. In an- ' swer to the prayers of the church He Ib sent forth.
He may come, "as a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind," before which the trees of the forest bow, and the dwell- ings of men are shaken, or as the soft summer breeze, welcome to the infant sleeper in the cradle or the sick m.an's fevered brow. He may come as the fire which sweeps over the prairie, or levels to the pavement great blocks of store- houses and the lordliest mansions of the city, or as the gentle April rain on the fields which winter has long frozen into hardness ; or even as the dew which dis- tils noiselessljs at evening, to restore the verdure of the uew-mo^Ti field. And it is just as *effectual and mighty a work, when he operates silentl}- and imisibly, as when he cometli with more of " observ- ation," to startle and astound the child- ren of men. Let us take heed and not jiresume to dictate, nor set bounds to him in his working ; whilst we all take up the prayer which the Lord God himself put into the lips of the captive-prophet in the valley of dry bones, and send it up, as with ten thousand voices, to the throne of the universe, " Come from the four winds, 0 Breath, and breathe upon the slain, that they may live."*
* Ezekiel, 37 : 9.
302
FOREIGN FIELD
(Sept.
FOREIGN FIELD.
SWITZERLAND.
France retrogrades in regard to liberty of conscience — more dijjieult to hold re- ligious u'orshij) there than in China — has France a conscience / — low state of feeling upon the subject of religion — tendency to forms and to military domi- nation— an age of incredulity has Tvrought its evils — the peoi^le must now keep quiet — the alliance of the jiriests with the Government is not an idle affair — Veuillot — his influence over the jiress — Government lends itself to small persecutions — but Christians do not de- spair, for the Savior lives and reigns — America much blessed — ^oill not Ameri- cans pray for Europeans ?
The following letter from Geneva, in Switzerland, is from the pen of an officer of the Evange'ical Society of that city, who well understands the subject and the country concerning which ho writes. A large portion of the labor pcrl'urmed by the Geneva Society is bestowed on soutlicrn France ; hence the writer says :
"What shall wc say to j-ou of France that you do not already know ? It is written, ' Unto evor}^ one that hath shall bo given, and ho shall have abmulance ; l)ut from hi :i that hath not shall he taken away even that which he hath.' It is to you, Amoricaus, that the Lord gives <at this moment, making you an object of envy to the faithful and of astonishment to the unbeliever. But as to the nation that has nothing, this poor France, it seems that she retrogrades — at least in the domain of liberty of conscience. This point is as a derision to the Government authorities. Yes, they do allow the assenj- bling of multitudes, but under function- aries responsible to the State which ap- points them : in a word, they do allow official worship ; but as to the preaching of the Gospel in meetings not ofBcial — as to missions in the interior, the erection of new chapels, the organization of evangeli- cal flocks formed from converted Catholics,
all that is more difficult of accomj)lishmcnt in France than in China. The French people have always made so little use of their religious conscience, that the Gov- ernment now seriously contests whetlier they have any, aiul it practically treats them as if they had none ; .and in cases where men are found convinced of the truth, and anxious to meet together to hear the Bible read and explained, were it in the woods, they are gravely told :
" ' You are mistaken ; it is politics that you are meddling with, without suspect- ing it. Disband iunncdiately, or go to prison.'
" The members and employees of the French Government are men themselves too much given up to that skin-deep reli- gion which is named Catholicism — a mere matter of forms and ceremonies, signs of the cross, or of bon ton towards the Papal institutions of Rome ; they cannot, there- fore, be suspected of not acting in good faith in the underhanded persecutions with which they follow all evangelical opera- tions.
" They have no idea of a religion truly spiritual, of the necessity of Christian fra- ternity, of Biblical instruction, of true edification. They can only see in these necessary manifestations of Christianity an agitation which disturbs them : to watch it with care would annoy them ; to suppress it is a shorter work, and is also more agreeable to the priests. This ten- dency to transform into automata thirty - five millions of men, (which is the actual policy,) counterbalauces very sadly the material advantages which the Imperial Government has bestowed upon the coun- try, and all that which for forty years has occupied and interested the minds of the French has almost entirely disappeared. Literature is gasping. The tribune no longer exists. We are now-a-days per- mitted to hear nothing but the voice of military chiefs and Jesuitical orators, who an'ogate to themselves the right of con-
M
1858.)
troling tlio education of the massoa. Thoro is 110 (lonl)t but, all tliat will carry tlii^ minds back into tlu* way of routine, and that the moral, religious, political, and intellectual capacity of the people will become less and less. Frenchmen «re fast losing their jlptitiule for liberty of every kind. We well know their deplora- ble wants in this respect, before the pre- sent system of peace and silence.
" This state of things is in particular applicable to our ag(! and to this country. Should averitabhi Koman fanaticism ani- mate the Government and the mass of the people, the lovers of the Gospel would excite against themselves furious troubles, analogous to those which provided victims for the circus and amphitheatres of ancient Home, or the tortures and prisons of the Inquisition. Eut the case is (piite differ- ent; an age of incredulity has passed over the French nation, and in our days the enlightened men of that country, even the great majority, believe really in nothing — or rather they have empirically reasoned that the absence of all religion tended to political and social commotions, and they have said :
" ' Let US make a religion, but let it be a utilitarian one.'
" Catholicism was there. The corpora- tions demanded their return and a reform. The Imperial Government, entirely com- posed of military men and of skeptical financiers, has taken those corporations ; and while they have fared admirably well, they have been made to understand that the people must keep quiet. Of coui'se, whenever the people threaten, here and there, not to keep quiet and not to submit tamely, the Government is made to see the falsity of its system, and the impotence of old superstitions to take root again in skeptical minds. But Roman corpora- tions, by dint of sophisms, and being alone authorized to speak aloud through the press, confound the men of the Gov- ernment by their noise, and persuade them that they are never WTong ; that with time they are all-powerful to lull the minds
303
to sleep, and to mould the nation to un- reserved obedience.
" Let it not, then, be imagined that the alliance of the Government of Napoleon 111. with the clergy and the monks is a vain, empty word. It is a profound reality, only it is without fanaticism on the part of the Government ; it is a politic- al utilitarianism, carried on with as much, and perhajjs more, of cold and practical calculation, tlian railroads, industry, or diplomacy. Mr. Veuillot is the adven- turer of the pen, the Condottiere followed by the clergy, who is commissioned to persuade the Government that his band answers for the obedience of the people. Everything bad emanates from the Pro- testants, everything good from the eccle- siastical corporation ; thus Mr. Veuillot is the only journalist in France, because alone he has the right and the audacity to say all he chooses, and it is to him, in a great measure, that the Imperial Gov- ernment is indebted for his almost Spanish policy in matters of religion.
" You know, my dear brother, that we cannot justly be charged with making fre- quent allusions to politics, and that in fact we are absolutely strangers in that do- main. But at distant intervals allow us these excursions, necessary to make our brothers removed far from us understand these apparent contradictions constantly renewed in reference to the position of Christians in France. The Government seems to be too enlightened and too humane to desire, through fanaticism, to fall upon them, to raise deep agitations, and to be the means of procuring for godly men the crown of martyrdom — and there are few of those godly "inen whom our flock numbers, and who are the salt of the earth. But on the other hand, while tolerating them per force, instead of blot- ting them out by a decree a la Louis XIV., the Government does not cease to lend itself to small persecutions. It al- ways receives the minute reports made by priests, officers of justice, and gens d'arme.
foret(;n FTEi.n.
304
FOREIGN FIEI.n.
(Sept.
" In circunis*tanc('s so painful and try- ing we arc not, liowevor, allowed to lose eourago. There was no real good upon the earth when the God-nian, Christ Jenus, appeared, and it is to a single individual that we must trace the diffusion of light by which, since his day, sixty generations have been enlightened. In Jesus alone your thousand American churches, and the millions of faithful Christians, more or less op}>ressed, scattered over the ancient world, find their foundation, their strength, and their God. If there were neither Savior nor Holy Spirit, there would be no hope for any nation : but as both do exist, no one ought to despair to see the most ' drj^ bones ' revive.
" The priests of Mary have without doubt been authorized by the providence of God, as foi"nierly were tl^ose of Baal on Carmel, to show in France what they can do, and behiml them was Elijah ready to confound them. Now, in this day of Gos- pel influence and light, we have more than the Elijah of old, for the disciple of Jesus Christ is greater than any prophet. We hope, therefore, that there will be in France, after those displays of supersti- tion and arrogance, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and that a jealous God will show what difference there is between light and darkness.
" W e are then led to believe, from the abundant spiritual harvest with which God has blessed your United States, and after so many prayers offered up by you in be- half of our nation, that God will look with pit}' upon us ; and we believe, also, that in the numerous meetings in your country, it would not be inconsistent with Christian [ faithfulness to ask of God to cause a reli- 1 gious awakening in Europe, and particu- larly in France, whose wants you so well know. If God's ear is open to your sup- plications, will he not reprove you for hav- ing asked too little ? is he not rich enough j for all ? and is it not those who have drank of the water of life who ought to know its value, and be willing to extend it to those who are dying of thirst 1 Thus, when your cup shall overflow with heavenly bless- i
I ings, pray for France, Switzerland, and Italy.
" Your nioutldy sheet, which is cspe- I cially devoted to the revie^v of Catholic countries, is a fit organ for that appeal. We invite you, then, to a general session of prayer in the United States for Catholic countries, or countries most threatened with that curse ; and if God, as we have reason to hope, does hear your prayers, you will with us have abundant cause of rejoicing.
" In the name of our brethren of the Committee, I beg you to receive the assur- ance of good- will and gratitude."
SWEDEN.
Why writing to the Secretary had been delayed — the writer'' s duties — now preaches in the house where fourteen years ago he exercised his ministry — has to retire to prepare the matter for his monthly publication — a wonderful itnpulse to evangelical matters — in the last Diet no progress made in re- gard to religious liberty, yet dissent from the Established Church is increas- ing— seven women who have become Papists are in danger of banishment — Paj)ists are resolute in piressing them- selves into Sweden- — 07i the other hand, the Gospel is making progress by Bible and Tract Societies — Sunday and day-schools are encouraged — ^Jrwon- visitation useful — Rev. Mr. AhnfelVs long journey of 2,800 miles — preach- ings— goodresults, etc. etc.
" Stockholm, 17th June, 1858. "Rev. Dr. Fairchild, New-York.
" Dear Sir : — It has been my intention for some time to write to j'ou, but I have been expecting my friend, brother Ahn- 1 felt, who had announced his intention of 1 visiting Stockholm. I hoped to be able at the same time to give you some news re- specting his travels, which afford more va- riety of detail than my work. The latter, as you are aware, consists in expounding j the Bible, and proclaiming the Gospel message to all those who will enter the Bethlehem Chapel, where I no^v once more have the permission of making it known, after an interval of fourteen years, i during which time we have been confined
1858.)
FOREIGN
FIELD.
305
first to tijc lowly liabitatioiia of tlio poor, then to tlu! kiiuiU liiroil room, then to a larg-or and a larger, till it gnswinto so nu- iniirous a congregatiou that, only tlic chapel in wliicli formerly Mr. Scott, the Wesk'3 !Ui minister, used to preach, could hold it, and there \ve now have our meet- ings. JiesidcB these, I have my periodical to publish every mouth, and to be able to get some quiet for writiug the leading ar- ticles in it, I am generally obliged to leave town for a few days each month, so great is the number of anxious in(|uirers, and those who wish to consult me on subjects connected with salvation or sanctifica- tion. Some days I have not a moment to myself from morning till night.
" From the foregoing you can gather some idea of our position here, and that God is doing a mighty work among us also, though we have no such wonderful news to tell as those we hear from America. We are exceediugly interested in what wo have read in regard to the revivals in your country. May God in his grace give such a powerful effusion of his Spirit over the old world too !
" Before I proceed to tell yon what brother A luifelt's experience lias been dur- ing the last months, I should like to give a sketch, however imperfect, of the progress that is making here in Stockholm, as well as some of the troubles we have to encounter. You know that at the last Diet no pro- gress was made in regard to religious liberty. The kind wishes of the king in this respect were completely frustrated. This is a difficulty which meets us at every step. Dissent is on the increase, yet no jjruvision is made for the manner in which Dissenters' are to be .treated, or any law ensuring to them a safejiosition in society. Every one is still liable to ban- ishment. But public opinion has taken strides during the last two years, and the enormity of their old laws is more demon- strated by their remaining in force, than by any other argument whate^•er. A case is now pending which concerns seven old women who hacebecome Roman Catholics, and the sword of banishment is suspended 19
over their heads. It is foreseen wliat a connnotion will be raised by the lloman Catholics, if the sentence is pronounced and put into' execution. In the mcan- tinus they are not inactive. It is clear that Kome has intentions on Sweden. A sisterhood is going to be foruKul here. A large house has been bought in the south- ern suburb, and it is rejjorted that a largo establishment of Sisters of Mercy is intended, of course paving the way for P.apacy. These signs are of course rather alanning, but we must place all our con- fidence in the Lord, who can presei'vc us from all evil and also from such fatal error.
"The progress of the Gospel is great. Bibles are spreading, so also tracts in large nnndjers. Colporteurs are going over the whole country — at least a few, I think, in every province except the east- ern ones, where the prejudice against all lay agency is so powerful that it shuts it out almost completely. The bishopric of Gothenburgh is a fortress with insur- mountable bulwarks in tins respect.
" Sunday-si;h()ol3 are increasing, so also day-schools, on tuo voluntary principle, with really Christian teachers. These arc trained either at the deacon's house of Stockholm, or at a small institution, which is conducted by an excellent Christian lady of noble family. Baroness Passe. She gives them lessons herself, and in- spects their work, both during the time they are under training, aud after they have come to their respective schools.
" One remarkable feature of Christian work, which at its commencement here met with much opposition and the most violent attacks from the press, ^s as that of ladies visiting female prisoners. During the four years that it has been going on it has, however, had its usefulness nobly vindicated by experience. At the pre- sent moment the governors of the prisons hail the visits of thejadics with gratitude. They have seen a change effected in the prisoners which they never expected to see, and much has been done towards procuring them employment, and getting them into service after leaving prison.
306
FOREIGN FIELD.
(Sept.
The Lord has given the desire of serving these poor women into man}' hearts. In- stead of the lirst three, who weathered the storm at the coniniencemeut of the work, there arc now some sixteen or twenty wlio visit regularly, and there is not a fe- male prisoner in Stockholm who is not visited once a week, or may be present at the Sunday-school at the prison for penal servitude, which the ladies carry on regu- larly with all who like to attend, and who arc not in separate confinement. Books may also be distributed there, and these are signs of progress, wonderful to us, though to you they may appear in- significant.
" When we think of Sweden as it was fifteen years ago, it seems incredible that such a change has been effected already, and the change whicli is constantly going on seems to be at a rate that increases every day. Feelings of intense gratitude must overwhelm those who have tlie op- portunity of comparison, and happiness as regards the future. May the Lord help us to be faithful fellow-laborers with him !
" Mr. Ahufelt has just arrived in Stock- holm after an extensive tour of 400 Swed- ish miles, (2,800 English miles.) He has preached in churches and barns, in gar- rets, in the open air, and once in a law- court, or rather the room where the court is generally held. It was opened by a Christian judge. In such rooms Mr. Ahnfelt had appeared many times before, but standing before the judge accused of doing the very thing which now he was called upon to do.
" If we look to the fruits of his preach- ing, one has sprung up in a part of Smal- and, nearest to the eastern boundaries of that province. An Antinomian move- ment has talcen place, against whicli Mr. A. preached with much power and bless- ing, 80 that a great number of souls were freed from the trammels of that error. In many, we may say, in innu- merable cases, blessings have followed upon his preacliiug.
" I wish I could give you a better ac-
count of what he has experienced during this last tour, but he only gave me a few short notes, saying thai otherwise he could not relate anything. The accompanying circumstances are generally the same. The time and place vary, but tlie subject is one, and the liearers as invariably worldly people, anxious incjuirers, or child- ren of God already trusting in his grace through Jesus Christ.
" And now, dear sir, I must finish this, hoping that y(m will pardon its not con- taining more of interest. I remain, mth feelings of respect and gratitude, yours in I the Lord. C. 0. Rosenius."
FRANCE.
IDOLATUOUS DEVOTION TO MARY, AND DEEP HOSTILITY TO THE BIBLE.
The following extract from the correspondence of the London Christ- ian Times of the 5th of July of the j current year, gives a dark and dis- tressing view of tlie religious con- 1 dition of a large part of France. The i Ultramontane party in that empire, I seem determined to stop at no absurd- ity, however great — at no blasphe- my, however horrible. This is the legitimate effect of the Romish sys- tem, and how degrading is it to hu- man intellect' — how offensive must it be to God !
No wonder that the advocates of such a religion hate, and consequent- ly seek to destroy, the Bible. And no wonder that the Pagans and Jews refuse to receive the Gospel when of- fered to them, because of what they regard as its tcacliiDgs and influence, as" gathered from the usages of Pa- pal nations. But read the extract, and learn to guard against Roman- ism.
"Really, your readers will be tired of allusions to Mary Immaculate, but the ' awful delusion is being spread far and
1858.)
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FllCI.r).
301
wide with such bohl hhisphciny hy the Ultramontaiui clergy, that I am obliged to recur to it again.
" 'The angel of the Church of Quini- pcr,' having asked permission of the Pope, ' the king of kings, tlio Supreme Pontift',' had received the Bolenni charge to orna- ment and enrich with a crown, in his name, the statue of Our Lady of Kum- engal. 'Arise, illustrious and holy pon- tiff,' exclaimed the apostolic missionary to the Bishop, ' the dearer to the clergy find faithful of this diocese, inasmuch as you have refused no sacrifice to obtain for our Queen and mistress this honor un- speakable, the lustre of which beams upon each of us. Arise, and take in your ven- erable hands this crown upon which you called blessings from on high, mysterious emblem of the love we bear to Mary ; and we all arise with you, with the king of kings, the Supreme Pontiff, to place the royal diadem on the forehead of her who is Jerusalem's glory, Israel's joy, the country's honor, the patroness of Brittany, the Virgin of Rumengal.' So much for the West.
" If we turn to the East, we shall fijid the Bishop of Nancy laying the founda- tion-stone of a monument to ' the most glorious prerogative of Mary — her Im- maculate Conception.'
"At Rheims, the clergy pronounce, with a taper in their hand, their self-dedication to their goddess. 'We are happy,' say they, ' to renew on this day our consecra- tion, by solemnly professing the privilege which has made you holy, more holy than holiness itself, from the first moment of your conception. We devote to you our persons, our families, our goods, our joys, our sorrows, our fears, our hopes.'
"This ascription of praise is entitled ' Consecration of the whole diocese of Eheims to the Immaculate Conception.'
" In Paris, elegant little devices come into every one's possession, in the shape of lace-edged cards and painted silk, dis- tilling, \vith more or less taste and art, the 'immaculate' poison. One of these re- presents the Virgin, with the Divine Son
in lier arms ; with one hand he points to the forbidden fruit, and with the other he unites with Mary Innnaculate in crushing the H(;rj)eiit with his cross.
" 'Mary crushes the enemy with the glo- rious serenity iniierent to the Mother of (Jod,' says the Unicers.
"In the South, the Prefect of Tarbes has prohibited tiie sale of the immaculate bottled water from the Virgin's spring at Lourdes, until its mineral properties shall have been examined. But does he think thus to stop the superstition ? Adminis-' trative measures will no more stop it, than the trial .and decision of the Lyonese Court stopped the sale of Salette water. No, there is only one instrument that can ef- ficaciously put an end to superstition.
Give abundantly God's written Word to our population, and immaculate Virgins and miraculous springs would soon fail to amuse. This the priests well know, and where they find a copy of the Bible they destroy it if they can. I know of two or three instances, within the last mouth, in which, in Paris, the Holy Scriptures have been destroyed, either in fact or in inten- tion, by the agents of Rome ; in two cases persons found reading the Bible were ad- vised to bum it, one on penalty of losing his situation as door-keeper to a private house; in another, the nuns, dispensing the public charity to an aged woman, snatched up a Testament she had pos- sessed for ten j'ears, tore out its precious leaves, and carried the fragments away. But the majority of the prefects care not to touch the superstitions of the popula- tion, and those who would save their peo- ple from such folly and its manifold evU consequences know not the antidote."
SANDWICH ISLANDS.
LETTER OF REV. T. COAN.
Letter received — misapprehension correct- ed— letters and contributions froya Hilo duly acknoiolcd ged hy the American AND Foreign Christian Union — how the oversight may have occurred — deep sympathy in the work of the So-
308
FOllEIGN FIELD.
(Sept.
cieh/ — coiilnhiit.io7)s of the. ■natives to btiild cinirclns vi ry liberal — Pojiery, its charaetcristies — its doings at the Saiid- wich and Society Islands, etc.
•'HiLO, Hawaii, May H, 1858. " Rkv. E. R. Faircuii.1), D. D.
"My Dear 1>uotuku: — Your most welcome letter of Jaiuiniy Ki, 1858, was duly received.
" Allow me to say that I am truly happy to stand corrected on a inisappreliended point, and very lliankt'ul to you for your pronii)t and satisfactory explanation . The apparentlj' incidental note of j'our col- league, Dr. McClure, which called forth mine of October 27, ]857, was the first line 1 had ever received from any oflicer of the Union. I had correspondence with very many of the philanthropic and evan- gelical associations of America, and had received prompt and excellent letters from their Secretaries — letters which m- gpired my people with love, and joy, and enthusiasm ; and why we got noiliing of the kind from yon or Dr. Bnird, to both of whom I had Avritten, was mysterious. But your expos relieves the difhculty.
" I now beg pardon for an unusual oversight on my part. I had seen no- thing from Hilo published in your Maga- ' zine. On reading your kind letter, I turned to the number referred to, viz : July, 1853, and found my letter to Dr. Baird. How I had overlooked that num- ber I know not, as I usually examine your journal carefull}-.
" Probably I was absent when the Magazine came, as I am from home much of the time ; or I might have been, to UAQ a sailor's term, ' swamped,' as is sometimes the case, with a forty pounds' mail, and when so pressed with labor that I can read little or nothing. However that may be, we are now in connnunica- tiou, and so long as this mortal heart heats it will feel a deep and true sympa- thy in your work. We shall pray for you, and we intend also to contribute our mite from time to time to your funds.
" But, as I said to Bro. McClure, j'ou will not expect anything from our poor
people for a year or two to come, as we are raising $12,000 or 3^14,000 to build a church edifice at llilo, and several thou- sand more to build and improve meeting- houses at out-slations, of which 1 have twenty-live.
" For our principal nieeting-housc we have collected $8,000, and the building is up and enclosed ; all the inside remains to be provided for. Our people are poor in cash, but they are more ready and cheerful in giving than any people I have seen. Many of them give to the extent of their power, yea, and beyond their power. More than one ' poor widow,' in giving her rial, gives all she has. We have scores of such cases at every month- ly contribution, and they do it joyfully.
" The amount of contributions in this church, for various objects, during the last twelve months is about ($5,000) five thousand dollars."
POPERY ITS CHARACTERISTICS.
" I feel what you say on the 'revival' and 'spread' of Papacy. It is a painful tnith that that dreadful system still pos- sesses all the vitality of ' the beast,' which lives in spite of its deadly wound. No false system on earth can compare with it in tenacity of life, or in dogged persistency of purpose. It is a hydra. It is ubiqui- tous. Strike it down and it rises — kill it and it lives — drive it out .and it returns — go from it and it follows you. Its Argus eyes stare at you every- where. In the Senate-chamber, in the civic-hall, in the lyceum, in the shop, in the field. In the office, in the church, in the city, in the hamlet, in the palace, in the cottage, in the domestic circle, and in the sacred nursery — everywhere, at all times and under all circumstances, it meets you. And it meets you with an intrusive, a hypocritical, an audacious, or a defiant gaze.
It is my decided belief that it is now the most formidable obstacle to thejnogress of truth and the spread of vital godliness in our world. It is an extinguisher of light.
1858.)
FORRTGN FIELD.
a (listiirbor of pcaco, and a dostroycr of Boula.
" U liiis liad a'painfiil liistory !it these iHhuids a deadly oik; at tlie Society group. It is now opposiiic; our niissiou at llui Marquesas, and, like a jackal, it will follow the Redeemer's army into all dimes. In the field where I labor it would seem to have spent its force. Its converts are few, and mostly ignorant and vicious. Its meeting-houses arc grass hovels, i),nd mostly neglected. Its schools are all suspended, and decay and extinc- tion secerns marked on its altars. And still it lives, and its priests, with a stub- bornness worthy of a better cause, hold on to the last ray of hope and grasp at the last floating straw.
" Our only hope is in God, and the only weapons we use against this ' enemy of all righteousness' are truth and love. The reign of truth and of love in the hearts of God's people always checks and paralyses the power of the Papacy. The Lord consumes this and all other errors with the ' breath of his mouth,' (the Holy Spirit,) and destroys it with the 'bright- ness of his coming.' Oh, if the Protestant world were awake to righteousness, and living under the clear rays of God's coun- tenance, their salvation would go forth everywhere like a burning lamp !
" In great respect and true love I am yours in the gospel,
" Titus Coan."
BOHEMIA.
Bohemia is still a land of deep in- terest to the Protestant world. The bitter persecutions which have been inflicted upen the confessors of the truth there have not wholly extin- guished the race of the disciples of Christ, although they have been com- paratively hidden for a long time. Since the publication of the " Toler- anz Edict," by Joseph II. on the 13th of October, 1181, they have been gradually emerging into the light.
In a po])ulation of 4,400,000 there were 96,589 Protestants, according to statistics published in Prague, in 1854, or one Protestant to about fire Roman (Jatholics. Tiiis may soein'a small proportion of Protest- ants ; but when the circumstances are considered — the persecutions which they have endured, and the civil disabilities to which they have been subjected — it will seem a remarkably large proportion.
Tlie Bohemian Protestants are gen- erally poor in this world's goods, but rich in faith and other gifts and graces of the Spirit. Tiiey are emi- nently an upright and moral people in their lives, contrasting, in this re- spect, so strikingly with the Papal population as to attract the attention and command the respect Oi tne ch- eers of the Government. They are strict observers of family worship, and almost invariably combine, in their exercises, reading of the Scrip- tures, singing some devotional hymns, and offering prayer to the only living, the triune God. And thus the yovmger ♦ members of the families are well instructed, and guarded against im- moral practices.
Tiiey are gradually gaining privi- leges from the Government. They now have liberty of public worship — secession from Rome to Protestant- ism is much easier than formerly ; and lately they have obtained some rights, in regard to burying-grounds and the burial-service, which they had not before enjoyed.
But every effort is still put forth by Rome to maintain her hold upon the country, and suppress the growth of Protestantism. She even offers for sale, at fairs and public places, her "letters of indulgence," as in the days of Tetzel. But the Protestants
310
HOME FIELD.
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seem to understaiul her wiles, and st;\nd firm. The cause of evangelical truth, wc trust, will continue to ad- vance in the land of . IIuss and Jerome, till all shall enjoy its benefits. Let us rcjt)ic\i in tlio light that God is
causing to spread in that dark region, where Rome has so long exercised her most fearful tyranny, and extend to our sufi'ering yet faithful brethren there our warmest sympathies and cordial support.
II O M E
Few works of philanthx'opy and Christian benevolence arc more deli- cate and difficult of performance than that which seeks to difluse the Gos- pel, in its purity, among the Papal population of our country. From their youth, the Papists are taught to believe themselves the only pos- sessors of the '■ true religion," and that Protestants are heretics, and in the way to everlasting death. Thus they are fortified agaiijst the truth, and are prepared to i-esist the ap- proaches of those who, in the spirit of the Savior, would bring to them the " Word of life," and pray them to be " reconciled to God."
But it will be gratifying to the friends and patrons of the Society to be assured that our Missionaries in the Home, not less than in the Foreign Field, are successful in their labors. Sometimes they meet with great discouragement. The Romish priesthood, of course, do all in their power to render their labors difficult and abortive, yet God is with them to protect and comfort them ; and sometimes their success exceeds their highest expectations ; while gener- ally, we may say, the fruit of their labors is equal to that which is given to any missionaries.
The following report from a mis- sionary in one of our cities in the interior is certainly full of encourage-
FIELD.
ment. Few can read it, we think, and withhold their admiration of the grace of God, or their thankfulness for the existence of an institution that so cares for the Papists of the land, and does so much as the Ameri- can AND Foreign Christian Union to bring to them (of every tongue among us) the glorious Gospel of Christ, and to instruct them in its princi- ples.
The Papists now among us, though born in other lands, are to remain here, and they and their children will, sooner or later, greatly affect all our interests. To do them good, to seek to train them aright, is our privilege as well as our duty ; and we rejoice that, as a Society, the American and Foreign Christian Union is beginning to have so happy a history in this re- gard. Though comparatively noise- less, yet her works along our tho- roughfares, in our great cities, and in the interior, and even in rural dis- tricts, proclaim her usefulness and importance to the cause of evan- gelical religion and the interests of humanity.
What valuable results, in the city referred to in the following "Re- port," are seen as growing out of the labors of merely one of our mission- aries ! Friends of tVie cause, take courage. These results here record- ed by this missionary alone are worth
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to our land more than the Society lias cost from the date of its org-anizatioii to the present luoiiieiit. These move- ments to educate the neglected girls and boys in the nation — to a large extent the children of foreigners and of Papists— is what we need. G athcr and teach them properly, throw over them the influences of the Gospel, and tliey may become not merely good citizens, but they eventually may be saved. Tor such results we earnest- ly strive, and cert.vinly we have la- bored NOT WHOLLY IN VAIN.
A SUCCESSFUL LABORER'S REPORT.
Labors prospered — meetings held in a room over a liquor store — drunkards and others disturb them — a kind magis- trate— -Sabbath-school broken up but gathered again — the Methodists take the station — city movement about an in- dustrial school — the missionary and a few ladies begin the work — almshouse labors — meetings icell attended — people afraid of the priests — children love the missionary — summary of the month's labors.
" Another month is past, with its cares, anxieties, and labors. I hope, even in this dark corner of ' the vineyard of tlie Lord,' good results will be found not many days hence. God has graciously conde- scended to bless the labors of the past be- yond m}' most sanguine expectations.
" I mentioned in a former report some- thing concerning a place, close to the south side of this city, where I labored for some time, preaching to a few persons in a room over a liquor store, which was hired for the purpose of keeping day and Sabbath-school in.
" The liberty of preaching in it was granted to me by the trustees of the school. For a while I kept the stand firmly, amidst all kinds of oppoodtion and noise of drunkards, until a gentleman, a justice of the peace, heaving of the an- noyance, kindly proffered me the use of his office ; this I accepted thankfully, and preached in it for a time.
" Our Sabbath-school over the 'grog-
shop' was broken up, but the children were again gathered in by our Methodist brethren, and the school was kept in the justice's oflice. The good work thus be- gun has been carried on by tlu^m, and is now in a prosperous condition. They have built a neat little meeting-house, where they have a good Sabbath-scliool and occasional preaching; and, best of all, a number of i»reeious souls have been con- verted to the Lord iu that little village.
" Our industrial school movemont, (which was the origin of the great industrial enterprise now being car- ried forward towards completion by our city fathers, the buildings for which will cost $25,000,) had a very small and feeble begiuuiug. Your missionary, with a few pious ladies, for a considerable time met once a month to talk over the mat- ter, and to lay it before the Lord of Hosts, who blessed tliose efforts, and has now made the Institution an instrumentality of much good to many of the rising generation. The corporation Industrial School building will soon be finished and ready for use. It will, no doubt, be the means of reclaiming manj' of the idle and vicious youth of our city. It is a great work tliat is contemplated, and that has riseu from such humble beginnings.
" The fruits of all my labor at the alms- house cannot be fully known, as the peo- ple are all the time coming and going. But hundreds have heard the Gospel preached there, and many children have been instructed in the first principles of evangelical religion, -with care and ten- derness. I give Tracts, Bibles, and Testa- ments to all who will receive and prom- ise to read them ; and many have received tliem luith thankfulness and gratitude. My meetings at the present time are well attended, both at the alms-house, and at R street station.
" My temperance society is doing well; many of the voung are flocking to the standard, and taking an active part in its management, and in gathering in others.
" My visits are received as usual, by some kindly, by others with diffidence,
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not Avitli prcjiiilicos ni^ainst jre, nor what / sai/ to them ; l)iit for fear their prie.it.i should know it. But the children of all the fiiniilios give mc always a smile and a hearty welcome. Poor little croatures ! their minds are as yet uncorrupted, and T hopi^ will ever remain so.
" This month I have distributed 575 Tracts, - three Riblcs, and five Testaments, preached and held other religious meet- ings IG times, visited the sick and the dying, read th(' Scriptures to them, and conversed and j)rayed with them. These exercises have been pleasing to me, and I believe profitablq to many of those visited."
IRISH MISSION SCHOOL IN NEW- YORK CITY.
LETTER FROM .MISS B , A TEACHER
I\ THE SCHOOL.
Tfie day-school increasing — pupils great- ly impi-oved in appearance — less oppo- sition from without — hooks greatly needed — Industrial School well attend- ed— girls interested in it — donation to it—Sahhath-school doing well- — teach- ers needed — many acts of kindness shown by visitors, etc., etc.
" Dear Sir : — I am happy to report to you that our mission day-school on 4;3d street, in this city, is steadily advancing. Every week, indeed almost every day of the week, we have some new names to add to our list.
"Another equally pleasant fact, is the appearance and manners of the children, wiiich are so greatly improved that we can scarcely recognize them as belonging to the same class with which we com- menced less than three months ago.
"We also feel glad to report that our prospects are brightening in other partic-' ulars. One of some consequence is, that we are not so frequently or so grossly in- sulted by rude and inimical persons, on the street at our very doors, as we were in the beginning of our labors. Then wo were often greatly annoyed, and even violently threatened at times.
" I must not omit to mention that with the increase of our school, wc have been
put to our 'wits' end ' to furnish our pu- pils with text-books in suflTicient numbers to make the lessons pleasant and profit- able.
"Our 'cards' have been now read and repeated so frequently, that I fcu-l assured the children would take hold of some new ones with great avidity. This feeling and taste is not peculiar to childhood. In adult life, ' novelty is pleasing.'
" Our ' Industrial School ' has been well attended. The time set apart for sewing has been Iook(>d iorward to with much, interest, particularly 1)y those who were the recipients of favors from that quarter. Wo had a donation, a short time since, of about eighty yards of cot- ton print, very suitable for girls' dresses at this season of the year.
"Our Sabbath-school is quite as large as we can attend to without the help of more teachers. We have had the prom- ise of aid from several quarters, and we look forward with bright hopes to their fulfillment.
" I cannot close this report, without ac- knowledging the kindness of many friends, from different parts of our own city and from neighboring cities, who have from time to time found it convenient to visit us, and who, while they encouraged and refreshed us by ' the word in season,' were also pleased to express their unqual- ified approval of our mode of instruction and discipline, and the many good results of our labors. llospectfully yours,
" 11^ ■ B ."
The Day and Industrial schools
noticed by Miss B in the above
report, are the growths of the Sab- bath-scliool which was connneuced, in that part of the city named by our missionaries, more than a year ago. Tlie advantages connected with them for diirnsing evangelical truth in places from which it has long been excluded, is very great;
The children taught arc those who fail to be gathered into tlie "Public Schools," and who, otherwise, would
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roinain unt!xn.!?lit, nnd bo loft to p;row up in vico and irrolif^'ipn, and become dupos of tlie .Pa])acy. Several iiun- DRKos of such children have been greatly bonofitod by these schools which our missionaries have collected
and taug'ht, and of which Miss B
has briefly written.
IRISH MISSION IN NEW- YORK CITY.
The m.i.ision prospering — interesting Bi- ble-rl.ass — sickness nmnng the pupils — death of a little girl — Romanists soft- ened, and ask for Bihles, etc. — an in- teresting family — two mem.hers convert- ed— the hushand thoughtful — mothers Iring their children to the mission school and ask admittance — summary of the month's icork, etc., etc.
" I have to inform yon that our work is on the advance, both with reference to our school and system of daily visitation among Romanists. "Wo have a very in- teresting- Bible-class cv vy day, and the children are acquiring a gi nt amount of knowledge of the Scriptures. There is a great improvement generally among the scholai's.
" There has been a great deal of sickness among the children, for some time past, and some have died. It is a painful, yet in some sense a pleasant work, to visit the families in time of sickness and death, to sympathise with them in their sorrows, and to seek to do them good. My visits to tlicm, at such times, have been well received and highly valued. One little girl who had been coming to our school for some time, (her parents are Romanists,) was sick for some weeks, and then she died. I visited her during her illness, and conversed with the parents on the suliject of religion. The girl seemed to be much impressed in regard to the things of eter- nity. I trust that she is one of those lit- tle flowisrs that shall bloom for ever in the Savior's heavenly kingdom.
" I have been very busy in visiting the families in the district, and especially
those wbose children come to our scbool ; nnd wliile T nu'ot oceasiorially with some Ronuin Catholics whose prejudices and opposition against the truth are as strong as ever, yet I am happy to say, as a general thing, Romanism here is weakened. Sev- eral Romanists have of late been asking me for Bibles and Testaments, and T have received messages to call and talk with them on the subject of religion.
" I held a very interesting conversation with a Roman Catholic man a few days feince. After I explained to him the way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer, and laid before him the nature of evan- gelical religion, he seemed to receive; with the deepest interest what I had said. He has a very interesting family of children who, for some time, have been coming to our school, and I have reason to believe that two members of this family hnvebeen converted to Christ. I trust that the hus-
■ band Anil soon lead as well as join his family in sending up daily and acceptable prayers to God.
" Mothers come with their children al- most every day to sock admittance for them mto our school, and some who were
j afraid to send at the first, do now send them.
" We had some of the oldest of the j children on an excursion to Fort Lee j on Wednesday, through the courtesy of some of our friends of the Fiftieth- street Church. The children enjoyed it very much.
" I have had some sickness this month 'in my own family. Two of my children had the measles, hwi are now, we think, ' out of danger.' The warm weather has thinned our Sunday-school a little, but we expect in the Fall to have a large ; increase.
" I have visited during the month 259 families, and distributed 567 pages of Tracts, and given to Romanists and others four Bibles and five Testaments. I have given to children and others 38 volumes from our library. The children of our Sunday-school love to read those books. Besides these, I have suppUe^
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li"IELD.
(Sept.
tlioui with otlioi" religious reading, that has biH'ii supplied by kind friends.
" We liave very little help in our Sun- day-school at present, so we have to do the work alone. We have not met with nuieh annoyance, of late, from the evil- disposed parties who used to trouble us, but our work is progressing-, and is gain- ing the confidence of the Ronumists in our district. Many of them now say, we are ' doing a good work on their child- ren.' I feel happy to be cuiployed by your Society to do this great work of seeking to convert Ilouianists to Christ, and I trust, through the bl(?ssing of God on our eflbrts in this part of the citj-, that many may soon see and renounce their en'ors."
The mission-school referred to in the foregoing rei)ort, is the same as
noticed in the report of Miss B
which precedes it. The missionary, who labors in the district in which the school is located, visits from house to house, converses with the families to which he gains access, reads the Scriptures, und prays with them when allowed so to do, and leaves with them religious Tracts, or copies of the New Testament or the Bible, if he finds good reason to believe that they will not be destroyed, but be used properly.
He also sjiends a sliort time, per- haps an hour daily, in the school, and instructs a Bible-class, aud sings with the children some evangelical hymns which they commit to memory. Thus the mission is rendered very cfl'cctive. The improvement which the children make is very encouraging ; and though not a little effort has been made, on the part of Papists to break it up, God has favored the work, and great good has been done. We shall look to the friends of the cause in this city to support tiiis en- terprise, and we hereby gratefully
acknowledge the kindness they have thus far shown towards it.
ITALIAN MISSION IN NEW-YORK.
The Italians who live in this city and in Brooklyn have few to care for their spiritual state, and their widely-scattered residences renders it difficult to assemble them for re- ligious purposes. The missionary of our Board, however, within the last month has visited a good number of Italian individuals and families, held consultations with them on the subject of evangelical religion, and succeeded in collecting groups of from five or six to twenty persons, to attend meet- ings for prayer and reading the Scriptures. He has, however, met with decided opposition to his work, in one instance having the door of the room in which the meeting was held pelted with stones, and the glass of the windows broken. The mission- ary thinks the opposition instigated by the Romish hierarchy ; but not- withstanding" the hindrances thrown in the way of his labors, they have not been wholly in vain. A number have manifested much interest in Gos- pel truth, and a few have been con- verted aud now attend Protestant places of worship. This is the re- sult we aim at — the conversion to Christ of these imperishable souls ; and if it can be accomplished, it is surely worth the effort. We must expect the rage of Satan to be ex- cited, when any of his subjects are re- claimed and added to the number of the Lord's people.
1858.)
IIISCKI.LANKOU.S.
MISCELL
AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMIS- SIONERS FOR FOREIGN MIS- SIONS.
A circular lias just come to our hands nuiking a stronj:^ appeal in be- half of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions, and urging individuals in all the churches, to which it may be sent, to make a SPECIAL effort in its behalf. Ifct is our sincere wish that the appeal may be successful, and the work be accomplished at once, and not be stretched over the whole of the com- ing year.
We have a variety of reasons for this wish, but we notice only the fol- lowing :
1. Because the Church is not doing too much to send the Gospel to the heathen, and the appropriations made by the Board are the smallest that could have been made by them in the circumstances ; and, therefore, the raising of the money is essential to the successful prosecution of their work.
2. Because the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions is not the only Society engaged in the great work of doing good, or of preaching the Gospel to the perishing.
The American Home Missionary Society and the American and For- eign Chrlstian Union have hundreds of missionaries on the Home and For- eign Fields, preaching the Gospel, whose labors are equally important, equally successful, and ichu are equally dependent on these Societies for their bread. And the sj-stem of making yearly special efforts, besides the reg- ular collections of that Society, only
ANEOUS.
disarranges all the plans of system- atic benevolence, and intorf<!re8 with the operations of all the other great benevolent Societies.
A PASSPORT TO HEAVEN.
A document of this nature, which appears to liave cost the bearer the pious little sum of four hundred thousand francs, has been found in a manuscript belonging to the library of the British Museum, in London, No. 6,845, fol. 143. It is in the fol- lowing terms :
" We, the UDfiersigned, priests and true ecclesinstics, atte.st and promise lhat our Society, which has full powers for the pur- pose, takes the Sieur Hippolyte Oreem, jurist, under its protection, and pledges itself to defend hiui against all the infernal powers who would injure his body, soul, goods, and estate: — in confirmation whereof we engage the authority of liis Highness the Prince, our Founder, to the end that the said Sieur Brifm be presented by hioi to the blessed chief of the Apostles, with all the fideUfy and exactitude to which our Society binds itself by these presents.
'• Signed and sealed witli the seal of the Society.
" Francois de Seelin,
"Rector of the Society of Jesus.
" Francois de Suhhon,
" Priest of tlie Society of Jesua.
" Petit de Potn,
" Priest of the .Society of Jesus.'
" It is known," says the Ohservateur Catholique, " that the Jesuits were in the habit, as they probably still are, of issuing these passports for the other world. Louis XIV. had one made out in due form. It is very questionable, however, whether St. Peter honors the signatures of the reverend fathers."
:ur>
MISCELLANEOUS.
SATNT NAPOLEON.
It is iifif. o-(Mipriilly known that tlio "Romish (^Imrcli has upon its calendar a St. Nooi)olns, or Napoleon, whose annual feast-day occurs on the fif- teonlh of Aus^ust. The Berne Calho- lir/ue, of Louvaine. in the July number of 1857, pa.sre 396, contains the fol- lowinji' lines, being' part of an article upon the writings of the Abbe Cor- neille Stevens :
"Stevens criticizps. in the same wnt-k, [r.oftei- of the firnt of Decembov. ISOfi.] the estnhlishinpTit of the Feast of St. Napoleon, fixed for the fifteenth of Augnst hv an Im- perial (iecree of February 19lh, 1806, con- firmefl by the Cardinal Caprara. letr.ite a latpre. Aeeordinfr to Stevens, the holy martyr Neopolns, or Neapolus, is different from St. Napoleon, vvho never exi.sted Rnt, snpposinir even that he did exist, and that Napoleon and Neopolus are the same name, his feast onjiht not to be eelebraled on the fifteenth of Ansfust. The arguments of Stevens made such an impression on many curates, that they fibjectod to baptiz- ing children whose ofod parents wished to give them the n.'ime of Napoleon."
It would not do to give it up so. Saints are scarce in that famous fam- ily. And it has come to pass, that other learned men, "better informed," has since made it out that Napoleon is the name of the blessed martyr Neopolus, according to the Italian manner of pronouncing it in the Mid- dle Ages ; and they have also agreed in placing the anniversary of his martyrdom on the fifteenth of Au- gust. The reader who is curious in this matter is referred to the " Lives of the Saints," by Alban Butler, un- der that date. As to the name itself, it is composed of two Greek words, of whicli the first means new, and the other signifies the ymmg of any ani- mal, and sometimes, in the poetic style, the young of the human being. The compound name, therefore, means simply young-child.
THE MEMORY OF LUTHER.
On the 20th of last July (1851) monument was raised, by the lib- erality of the Duke of Meininger, .near the Thuringian forest, to cora-
(Sept.
memorato the abduction of Luther, for his own safety and his seclusion in the castle of Wartburg, by order of his vigilant friend, the Puke of Saxony. The monument consists of a simple column, erected on the spot where this amicable arrest was made. Thousands of joyful spectators were present in festal costume, and made the welkin ring with their enthusi- astic singing of Luther's favorite hymn — " Ein festc Burgist unser Gott."
A more important monument is to be raised at Worms, where the bold reformer so bravely confessed Christ in the presence of the haughty Em- peror Charles V., and his Biet, or Parliament of bigoted lords and bishops. At the last account above ten thousand dollars had been con- tributed for this memorial, of which sum Queen Victoria and her consort gave a liberal share. The work of construct on was to have been com- menced last year.
It is gratifying to observe these indications of revived Protestant feel- ing in Germany. We regard them as tokens of a quickened religious life, and of a growing zeal in behalf of those great Bible truths by which the monk of Wittemburg shattered the ancient and formidable despotism of Rome.
ADDRESSES AT THE DEDICATION OF THE AMERICAN CHAPEL IN PARIS.
ADDRESS OF PASTEUR FISCH.
Among others who participated in the services of the dedication of the American cliapel in Paris was the Rev. Mr. Fisch, a pastor of the Tait- bout church, which was kindly granted to us w^hile our chapel was in process of erection. His address on that occasion was very appro- priate, and it extended to the enter- prise, and all associated with it from America, a most fraternal and cor- dial welcome to the French metropo- lis. It did not reach us in time to
1858.)
MISCf;i,LANICOUS.
311
appear in tlio iminbor of the Mag-a- ziiu! which coiilaiiicd llic address of the Rev. Dr. (i! raadpiorre, and il was uiuiv(ii(hxl)ly crowded iroiii the coliiiniis of Liie last munber. Wo are happy to .sul)iiiit it to our readers now, and are ({uite sure that tiiey will rejoice willi ns in the spirit wliich it breathes, and the brifjiit prospect oi' this chapel which it in- fers. Mr. Pisch said :
" My Christian Fkiknus : — I am hero not only the representative of the Free Church of France, but 1 am also one of the pastorw of tlu; Taitbout church, which had the privihsge of giving- hospitality for a whole j'ear to this congregation. I say the privilege, for I think it was indeed a great honor conferred upon us, to receive under our roof a church based on those principles of Christian union which were so admirably laid down in the paper read by one of your oliice-bearers, and in the excellent sermon that we have just heard. I will suggest that this discourse be printed by many thousand copies, in order that every American attending this church may receive one of them.
" It is with a deep gratification that I attend the opening of this new church.' When I passed through this street, and saw the building which was in the way of being erected, I rejoiced to think that this line Gothic architecture was to shelter not the mere show of gorgeous external rites, as it happens too often to be the case, but the sound, simple, and scriptural preaching of the everlasting gospel. May that gospel resound always with its almighty power w ithin these walls !
" I consider, moreover, this American church, based upon non-sectarian princi- ples, as a means of immense blessing for our metropolis. We needed that such a testimony of the real unity which exists among our diversities on minor points should be given by American Christians. The church of Rome, our mighty adver- sary, opposes to us continually, as an irresistible argument, our numerous splits, exemplified by the ecclesiastical state of
America. Tiieir jihantawy niultiplvcs your sects at leisure, and they allirni you have thousands, even ten thousand of them.
" Now we have on(! of those answers which are far stronger than the most powerful argument. Here w(! have not wordi^ but a deed. We can bring them to tins church, saying to them, ' Come and see ; here is a monument of that I Christian love which is pervading all our j dillerent organizations, and makes us all j one in Christ,'
I " I have one rtsason more to rejoice at ; this opening.
j " There has always existed a jx'culiar I sympathy between France and the United j States. We, especially French Protest- ants, look to your great nation with ad- i miration. We take part in your sorrows , and difhculties, we ask the Lord to re- , move everything which may impair your ! testimony for Christ, and to let your sun j shine before the world in heavenly bright- [ ness, in its full glory, and without a sin- gle shadow.
" We knew that there were at Paris a great many of your countrymen wdiom we wished to .welcome, and from whose ac- quaintance we expected much benefit; but they were scattered throughout this great city, so that we did not know where to find them. Henceforth we shall know it. You have now a centre, a Christian family circle, where every one coming to this country may be sure to be heartily received, to find all the sweet recollec- tions of his native land, and to have a friend in the pastor of this church.
" We hope to come sometimes to meet you here, shaving in your religious ser- vice ; and we hope also that these among you who understand our language will sometimes visit our own churches, so that bonds of spiritual fellowship may be formed still more and more between the Christians of the two nations. Your ex- cellent pastor will lind in us brethren who are happy to see their little band strength- ened by a new fellow-laborer, and who
318
MISCEU..
.ANEOUP.
(Sept.
give liiin from thi> drpth of their heart the ri^jht hand of fellowsliip.
" And we hope, finall}', that many of those who conic over from your country, where the Lord is doing at thiis time t^o great wonders of mercy, will stir us up by the good tidings of tliat maiTelous I'evival, and that a refreshing breeze of the Holy Si)irit blowing from your shores to tiiis hxnd will bring us also Pentecostal blessings."
REV. JOHN SHEDLOCK.
The Rev. John Shedlock, of the English Independent Church, who was present and took part in the exercises of the dedication, said that—
" Solomon, notwitlistanding he iiad an express command to build the temple, and that he had accomplished the task of erecting a house for God, when the mo- ment arrived for liim to present it to the Almighty, felt that he could hardly ven- ture to ask God to make it his dwelling. Still, encouraged by the manifestation of God's presence, he offered up his prayer, and received an answer in the tire tliat came down from heaven. This humility of the monarch was responded to by the people — they fell on their faces and wor- shiped God. So should you, my Ameri- can friends, with humility present your house of prayer, and in dependence on God offer supplication.
" In this connection I would also sug- gest that special prayer be offered for those who have contributed their money for the erection of the edifice, also for tiie workmen by whose toils it has been brought to a completion.
" Oh that the blessing of God, even his salvation, may rest on these; and may the lire of heaven come down here on tlie pastor, and both pastor and people be abundantly blessed with the love of God!"
Committee-Members Present.
While speaking- of the American Chapel, we will state to our readers, that Messrs. Tucker and Curtis, members of the " Prudential Commit- tee," and residents in Paris, who,
with a few others, have had charge of tlie Chapel in behalf of -the Board, are now in this city, where they wjll remain for a few weeks.
They bring us very flattering ac- counts of the Chapel and its service — of its acceptableness to the Amer- icans, and of its usefulness and im- portance to the cause of evangelical religion — and of its happy bearing too, in the estimation of Europeans, on the reputation of the American people in general.
The whole enterprise in that city, to morals and religion, is a happy conception, and we trust that the EXTRA and unexpected debt devolved upon the Board in connection with it — to whicli we alluded in a former num- ber, and which must be provided lor in a sliort time, but which, had our lamented Treasurer, Mr. Phelps, lived, would have been cancelled without allowing its existence to have been known by the public — will not be forgotten by those to whom God has given means to liquidate it.
Since our last issue we have re- ceived some valuable donations for this object, for which we hereby offer our acknowledgments to the gener- ous donors, and we will hope to re- ceive others from other persons in a little season.
Mr. ANSON G. PHELPS, DECEASED.
The following resolution of I'espect and sympathy was adopted in Paris, France, by the "Prudential Com- mittee " of the Board which has charge of the American Chapel, at tlieir meeting in June, on hearing of the decease of Mr. Phelps in May immediately preceding, viz :
" Resolved, That the Connnittee has lieai'd with profound I'cgretof the death of Anson G. Phelps, Treasurer of the American and Foreign Christian Union ; and while it bows with resignation to the will of our Heavenly Father, who has in infinite goodness and mercy re- called our bi'other to himself, it desires to record and to express by this resolution its heartfelt sympathy with the bereaved fam- ily, and with the comnmnity of which he was so beloved and useful a member." Signed, J. D. B. Curtis, Sec.
1858)
RECEIPTS.
319
A Nkw Book. — An American Di- vine— tlu; Rev. Isa.vc P. L.VH.vaii — an Episcopal clci-f^yinan of ]?rool<lyn, Now- York, has recently issned a val- uable little voliune on the subject of lloiuanisni, entitled, "The Holy Cath-
olic ClIUKOII COMPAIIKI) WITH TIIK Ilo- MAN O.VTHOLIC CUUKCII."
Further notic(\s of this, and notices of otluu- books received— in the next number.
iv c c c I p t s
ON HEUALF OF TIJE
AMKRICAN AND FOlll JULY TO THE let
Fl!OM TIIK let OF
Maink.
I) ciiiiytvillc. Peter E. Voee, Efq., .
New-Uampshirk.
Haverliill. Pei'lcy Ayre
Hillsborough. Sii-phmi Richardson, Keene. Diinicl Adams, in part of L. ^L for
John S. Adams
Gilsutn. Congregational Cluirch, per A. Hay- wood, Esq 13 00
Vermont. St. Johnsbnry. North Church, .
" South Church,
Rutland. Congregational Church, West Rutland. " " Chelsea. " " . .
Swantori " '* . ■
St. Alhan'6 Bay. " " . .
10 00
3 no
2 00
l."> 00
46 U a.-) 46 29 .56 3U 00 la 66 M, 00 8 00
Massachusetts. Greenfield, lat Congregational Church,
2d Congregational Ch., in part,
Haydenville
South Hatley. Sunday -school, towards L. M. " Some of the yoimg ladies of
M. H F. Seminary, South Hadley Falls. Congregational Church Monthly Concert, in part to make Rev. E. Knight, a L. M. Williamftown. Cougrcgatiunal Ch., in i)art,
ISraintrfe. Anah,
Andover. Theological Seminary Church, Lawrence. Lawrence-street Church, in full to make Oliver Bryant ri L. M. Kast Marfhfield. Congregational Church, West Cambridge. Orthodox Cong. Church, 'iVwkeRbury. Congregational Church, . Wilminprton. Conr;'l Ch. in full to make Rev, Sam'l H. Tillman a L M. . Bo.«ton. E. S. Rand, Esq, forthe Paris Cliapel, Amher.^t. A legacy of the late Mrs. E. Haven, by l*j-of. HavHi,, A legacy of the late Mrs. M. Hunt, wliich makes Joseph CU'Verly and Ebei.ezer Shaw Executors,
L. D's.,
2d (Jongregritional, balance, College Church, Congregational Church Sahbath-school, in part for L M , Conway. Congregational Church, Hinsdale. " "...
Great Harrington. Congregational Church,
for the Paris Chapel, Sprinefield, George Merriam, Esq., for the
Paris Chapel. . Hubbardstown. Mary Parker,
Connecticut. New-Haven. 3d Congregational Chnrch, bal.
" Chapel-street Congrega'l Ch.,
Vernon. Congregational Church and Society,
per Allyn Kellogg, Rockville. 1st Congregational Sabbath-school
per S. W Johnson, Westminster. Eeclf siastical Society, per Na- than Allen, .... Wallingford. Congregational Church, per F. J. Jarman,
Ahington.
Greenfield. Amherst. Gill.
23 23 73 70 2.5 00 6 20
8 00
8 33 60 Wl
10 00 20 72
22 27 3 01) .'■>4 06 24 51
14 92 10 00
50 00
200 00 3 00 32 00
l.T 00 65 40 ID 00
08 7.5
100 00 1 00
24 00 98 28
40 00 25 00
6 00
;K;N CHRISTIAN UNION, OF AUGUST, 18.5i».
Wattrbury. 2d Congi^ gational Church, per
N.,'l»oii Hall
Plainville. Congregational Church, . Bristol. ■' "...
Daniclsville. " " to make
Sabbath-School a L. M.,
New-Yokk.
Marion. Uicliard H. Lee
New-York (.'ity. Mrs. Lucy Lord Sutton, ■' ■• F. V. Ru-titon, Esq., " , M. H. Myers, Berkshire. Congregational Church, for L. M. Newark Valley. Presbyterian Chui idi, Brockport. Mrs. Lydia Gift'ord, Sweden. Presbyterian Ch , Peter Sutphi n, $10 for L. M. ; others, $2 53, . Ariolarchu^ Champion, J. H Decker, for L. M. $5; Albert Marce-llus, in full of L. M , $10 ; Steplien Lu,-k, ,«:>; Mrs. L. Husha. 11, $\, . IJiirou. Presbyterian Church, in part, Wolcott. •' "
Presbyterian Church, in part, $7 02; J, A, Mdler, for L, M., $:>; A. F. Cressy, $10, for Mrs. Cressy's L. M.; Esquire WiUiMms, $1, Presbyterian Church, §11 (iO, for L, M.; H. Dusenlmry. S'S 40, . Presbyterian .Church, in phrt, .
Rochester. Plttifurd,
Nevvark.
PortviUo.
Olean.
York. James McNab, Bruckport. Clai kson Church. So of which tin- Edwin Wadum.-' L. W. Ogdcnsbnrgh. A Sykes, . . . . Cuba. Kev. J Wyiikoop, , , , .
I'reshytenan Church, in full of L. M.
for .Sabbath-school, .... T. H. Vance, lor L. M . . . Brooklyn. (Miurch of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, Eastern District. M. B. H,, Nurida, Mr,^ Mary J, Cosnett, Hastines, Mr. and Mrs. Preston, . DobbsFeny, Individuals,
.Methodist Episcopal Church, Parnelia A. Graves,
Haverstraw, Kitiderhook. Fonda, Camden, E
29 84 24 93 .39 00
30 00
1 .50 1 00 50 00 1 00 21 22 13 69 10 00
12 53
25 00
21 00
4 52
5 47
20 00
lu 00
10 00
10 56
2 00 33 42
)2 20 10 00 1-J4 13
3 00
1%
3 50 . 8 64 3 00 7 36
P. Osborn, in part for L. M,, $10; Presliy terian Sunday-school, in full of L. M., «10 30, . . 20 30 Presbyterian Church, . . 2ii 00 Baptist Chuich, . . . 7 00 P. Gridley, .... 5 00 Gen. J. J. Knox, in part L, M for Charles E Knox, $10; others,
S6 13, 16 13
Wolcott Presbyterian Church, bal., . . 4 00 Anueiica. Congregational Churcii. in part to
to makeRev, H. E. Niles a L, M, 18 05 Presbyterian Church, in part L. M.
forUev. F. F, Ford, . . 13 13
Dea. Joseph Clark, fcir L. M,, . 5 00 B ick Presbyterian Church, . 51 75 Ref. Dutch Ch. to make Hcz'a E Legg L. M. and P. J. Dubois in
part,
" A Friend
', Lockport. 1st Presbyterian Church,
Gilbert.^villo,
Utica. Hon Augusta
Le Roy,
Batavia.
Rochester.
Kingston.
44 .50 5 00 19 50
New-Jersey.
39 00 I Keyport. M. E. Church,
8 03
320
RECEIPTS.
(Sept. 1858.
Kiiyport Baptist Clmixh, in part to make
Kov. I'. A yii.t.-r H 1,. M. . . C :i3 Miildlotown roiiit. I'n sb Cli. in pin t to mnke
Ki v. .1. M. lios' T6 a L. M. . 17 00 Midclktinvn. Wrllnnii.-t hjiiP. Clj., in piirt to
niul;r Ju v. C, H. Neal n 1,. M. 7 42 I'lTth Anibyj'. y. J',. VVoc.dbi-iilfif, A. M., to inalir l!t;v. lii^uj. Cony, A. C. Goodman, h. M.'s, . ]00 00 I'leehold. Hire. Mary I'eriin, . . . 2 OU Long Branch. Mcth. l.pisc Cliuich, to malio
*Krv A Mcjrrcll al,. M., :!1 C:. " DutcU Uot'. CI)., in pari, to muke
lii v. J. li. WiUunaL. M, G 13 Fariniiigiiale ami tiwauliuni. Moih £pis. Cli., 10 li-' llaclvcnoatlt. Julin A. Parsons, i'.tq., . 100 00 Newton. Jtt I'rt'sby toriau Cluucli, to malvu Tliomas H. tiliatrr and Danitl li. Hull L M's., . • . . Bl 00 Lafayette. rrtsOytorum Cliurch, in pai t,'. 11 OU Ringoua. I'ruibyicrian Uhurcli, . . .13 00
^ Pennsylvania.
Willianisport. A. 1). Hepburn, . . . 5 00 Piiiladi-lpii:a, M. M. iialdwin, for the Paris C'liapL'l, ifc30; a friend, ditto.
$^5, 75 00
" William Purvis, $10; II. S. Per-
kins, $3; VV'ni, li. Teiibrook,
$10 2.) 00
" 1st Prscbytenan Church, add., 10 00
" Cedar Cliurcli, add., . . 8 ^3
" ~'d Reformed Preebyterian Ch , 'J OU
South Cauolina.
Charlrpton. Individuals in Circular Church, 13 00 " VViUiiiui S. Caldwell, ii»q., . 10 00
Geobgia. ,
Griiliii. C. II. Osborii, 5 00
Louisiana.
New-Orleans. John y. Walton. Ksq., . . .3 00 Kentuckv.
Louisville. Cumberland Pre.-byteriau Church, Hi lull ol 1.. M. U.r llev. 11. A. Hunter, D. D,, . . . .10 00 St. I'aul'ii LpihCopal Church, . iiS 90
Missouiii.
St. Louis. Wr. Edgell, ^0 00
" Methodist Episcopal Church, Uev.
Mr. I'artons ~'8 00
Illinois.
lielvidere. Martha II. Lacy 2 00
Lisbon. Congregalional Church, per Rev, L.
b. Lime, . . . . 14 00
Chicago. '3d Presbyterian Church . . . ilu 00
Indiana.
Greensburg. Mrs. 1. J. Hamilton, for L. M< $3; Mrs. T. G. Hamilton, for L. M., $5, .... 10 00
Sunday in Roman Catholic countries, . . 2e9 Rev. Dr. McDonald's Sermon — The Uiftusiou of
Pure Christianity, 20O
Foreign Field : —
Switzerland 302
Sweden, 301
France, 300
Sandwich Itlando, .'i07
Bohemia, 309
Home Field: — A Successful Laborer's Report, . . . 311 Irish Mission-school in New-York City, . 312
Indianapolis. I. M. Frost, .... 30" Zionsville. Mrs. Loughby, ... 1 00
Vaiidalia. Add., 75
Poplar Ridge. Friends' Meeting, . . 2 93 Pittsburgh. Rev. A. Jones and others, . . 9 10 Greencastle. Prof Nutt, .... 1 00 CrawfordsviUe. Mrs. House, L. M., in part,
$5; -Mios .Stephens, $2, . 7 00 Walnut Ridge. Friends' Meeting, . . 84 30 Charlottovillc. Lutheran Church, . . . 1 50 Munroe. Presbyterian Cliurch, in part, . I bti New-Albany. 1st Presbyterian Church, add.,
Mrs. Filch, IJ3; A. A. Hay, IS5 8 00 " Centenary Methodist Kpisco-
jinl Church, ,1. Montgomery and others, ... 2(1 50 " Wesley Chapel, P. Stoy and
others, 17 50
Bank-street Hajitist Church, J.
K. Wood and others, . 7 50 " Christian Church, . . . 3 75
" German Presbyterian Cliurch,
Charles Meeker, . . 2 00 .lohn-street Methodist Lpiscop'l
Church, .1. Forman, . . 2 00 " L. C. Ferry and others, . 17 00
Ohio. ;
Mount Vernou. Pre^bylenan Church, in part
L. M. lor Rev. M. A. Sackctt, 8 00 " Congregational Church, . 5 25
Wellington. Cong. Ch , add., and in part L. M.
for D. P. Reamer, . . . 3 20 Cleveland. Mrt. Horace Weddell, . . a 00 Austeuburgh. Cong. Ch., in part L. M. for
Rev. A. M. Ricbard.-ou, . 2 43 Erucksville. John Leard, . . . . 1 00 York. Add. to L. M. lor Mrs. Rotettu San- derson, 1 45
Voungstown. \\ lUiam J. Ldvvards, in part
L. M., 5 00
Elyria. Dr. E. DeWitt, .... 1 00 Talmadge. Mrs. Amelia Hanford, for L. M. . 10 00 Hopewell. United Presbyterian Church, to
make two L. M.'s, . . 03 2ti
Fairhnven. Uuited Presb. Ch., in full of L. M.
for William C. Swan, . . 25 00 Morning Sun. Meeting, .... 2 15 Piqua. Associate Reformed Church, in part
L. M 9 Cfi
" Baptist Church, in part, . . 3 25 " 2d I'rcsliy terian Church, . . . 2 73 Fulton. PresbytLrian Church, add., . . a ij5 Cincinnati. Welsh Baptist Church, in part, 1 51 Seveiilh-st. Congregational Ch.,
lu lull for three L. M's., . . 8(102 Oberiin. Mrs. E. M Bowi-n, for L. M., $5;
Rev. G. Dana, in lull of L. M., $13; Thomas F. Howard, SI, . 2100 Bellevue. Congregational Church, in part
L. M. for Its Siibbath-school, . 6 95 Lyme. Presbyterian Church, in part L. M.
for Rev. J. B. fcheldon, . . . 11 25
Wisconsin.
Racine. Ist Presbyterian Church, . . 29 00
Irish Mission in New-York City, . . . 313 I Italian Mission in New-York, . , , , 314
Miscellaneous : — American Board of Coniraiss'ioners for Foreign
Missions 315
A Passport to Heaven, 315
St. Napoleon, 316
The Ml mory of Luther 310
Addresses at the Dedication of the American
Chapel in Paris, 316
Mr, Anaon G, Phelps, deceased, . . 318
A New Book 319
Itcceipts, .320
CONTENTS.
For nse to
for im Id l.lk-arj ouiy