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22 The Methodist Advocate. "ATLANTA, QA., FEBRUARY 5, 1873. N. E. COBLEIGH, D.D., LX.D., Editor. OOINTTUKTCTE the CAISTVASS. Brethren will remember that every subscrip tion for The Methodist Advocate or the Ladies’ Repository, whether old or new, accompanied by the cash, entitles the subscriber to the steel en graving of Mr. Wesley and all the Bishops. Let the canvass go on, until our periodicals shall be in every home! Hitchcock & Walden. Thanks are hereby rendered to brother F. Ohlinqer for a report of the conference held recently in Foochow, and a translation of the • sermon preached on the occasion by a native Chinese elder —both of which will be found and read with interest on our first page. We must insist in saying, whatever other parties may write to the contrary, that no “Lesson Traots” or “Home Papers” have yet arrived at the Atlanta Depository. Those brethren who have sent their orders here must “wait a time in patience,” till the de sired articles arrive, or send their orders elsewhere. Their failure to arrive here is not our fault. Our brethren must bear in mind that if no report of appointments or of proceedings of an annual conference comes to hand, we can not be blamed for not publishing them. If they come late, we can not publish them early. In fact, we can not make any kind of brick with out straw. Being unable to attend the ses sions in person, we could not secure any one to do the necessary reporting. If any one is disposed to find fault about delay or neglect in publishing, let him empty his basket of complaints where they rightfully belong, not on our innocent heads. Wb see that bishops, missionary secreta ries, and distinguished laymen were to assist the churches in Philadelphia to raise their missionary contributions on Sunday, January 26th. Large preparations were made for great things. We have no doubt that all did well; yet we do doubt the propriety of teach ing churches that they can not do their duty fully without an extra urging by great men from abroad. We have none of these appli ances in the South. We think that churches every-where should be taught to do well on all occasions as a matter of Christian princi ple, without waiting to be stirred up by extra sensational efforts. If this is a good way to do things in New York, Boston and Phila delphia, let us have it spread equally all over the ohurch. We are in luck, after all. Just as we go to press we have received anlnteresting letter from Bishop Haven, which we will serve up to our readers, nice and warm, next week. It was written in Mexico, Jan. 13th. The Bish op’s well-known veneration for the conserva tism of age influenced him to write first to Zion's Herald , then to the New York Advo cate, and then —out of m regard for the inter ests of his residential diocese —to The Meth odist Advocate. The red flag on this train indicates that others are on the track and will soon follow it. The switches are all right now; come on. Advance postage is high, but we will remunerate the Bishop for all his expenses in the premises, except the waste of brain and nervous tissues. We now take back our last week’s complaining on the prin ciple of mutual forgiveness. Let us have peace, and more pieces! Historical Souvenirs of Luther, by Charley W Wnhnor uml pnhUaharl by Hitch - cock & Walden, is a charming little book. It gives us in few words the character of the sturdy German reformer and the most impor tant events of his life. How much better to get hold of these by reading 155 pages, 16m0., than to plod one’s weary way through huge volumes of octavo. And yet this little book does it. Mr. Hubner is a citizen of Atlanta. If he did not occasionally drop in at the Depository, where we meet face to face, we would be very pronounced in saying that he is not only an excellent, but a charming writer. His style is perfectly transparent, so that we see the procession of thoughts go by without the slightest effort. The sentences are smooth, flowing, and rythmical. He has seized upon the points of character best fitted for a perfect photograph of the immor tal Luther. There are many of these little volumes on hand in the Depository, which ought to be ordered and read in the next thirty days. The article ou our first page under the head of “request,” came too late for inser tion in last week’s paper. If any of our readers have omitted it, we invite them to turn back and read it with care. We hope our brethren and friends, so far as possible, will respond favorably to the request. Let us have a church entirely our own in Wes leyania. Such Christian treatment as our people have received there will fail to drive us from the country or from the neighborhood. We are there to stay. Let us take deep root. We have a mission in the South, if for noth ing else, to manifest ]and inculcate a kind, charitable, Christian, and equity-loving spirit. Whatever others can afford to do, our church and our church members should be careful to manifest Christian tempers and only a Chris tian spirit. The world will judge us by our works. “By their fruits,” says Christ, “ye shall know them.” “If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of His.” Per secution will do us good. It always has done true Methodism good and always will. There fore, be hopeful, brethren : cheerful, forbear ing. You will triumph in Christ only by manifesting his love, his patience, his charity, and, in a word, his spirit. We propose to practice on this line as well as preach. We shall send a small amount of material help to brother Hyden. Give his article a careful reading. Help them, brethren! A DONATION TO THE SOUTH. Through the beneficence of W. C. DePauw, Eeq., of New Albany, Ind., the Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church is able to make a donation of five hundred dollars’ worth of Sunday-school Journals for 1873 to desti tute schools in the South. The Executive Committee, at the request of Mr. De Pauw, offers to every such school (making application before the fund is exhausted) to de fray two-thirds of the expense necessary to sup ply each of its teachers with a copy of the Jour nal. For example, six Journals cost three dollars; now a school forwarding one dollar will receive six Journals, the DePauw Fund paying the two dollars. The following is the form of applica tion, which must in every case be signed by the pastor or presiding elder of the school asking for a grant: 1. Name of the Conference. 2. Name of the District. 3. Name of the Charge. 4. Number of Teachers. 5. Number of Scholars. (Signed) , Pastor. Or, , Presiding Elder. , J. H. Vincent, Cor. Seo. 8.-3. Union. THE PLAN OF SEPARATION. How Affected by the Decision of the Court. Our series of articles on the “Plan of Separation” (so called) has been inter rupted by necessary absence a portion of the intervening time from our office. Im portant duties called us elsewhere. We are now at home again, permanently, we trust, and are ready to resume the thread of our discourse. We have shown in previous articles, to the satisfaction of candid readers, we think, that the so-called Plan of Separa tion has been since 1848 practically “null and void”—that in fact it was never really entitled to any binding force. Some have supposed, honestly we will presume, that notwithstanding the fail ure of the annual conferences to au thorize a change in the Sixth Restrict ive Rule, and the frequent violations of the provisions of the so-called Plan by the authorities of the Church South, it was made legally and morally valid by the decisions of the courts in the Book-Room property cases. This impression w r as not confined to members and friends of the Church South, for persons connected witl our church have to some extent in some localities been carried away by the same delusion. Hence the claim set up b} writers and public speakers of the Church South that the decree of the U. S. Court confirmed to them every thing offered in the Plan of Separation—a valid title to all church property in their possession south of the designated line—and a sol emn promise that no minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church should ever attempt to establish societies or labor for the good of our church below that line. This in brief is the substance, if not the language, of what has been affirmed and reiterated hundreds of times by ministers and members of the M. E. Church South. These things have been declared in such a way, by men of such standing and in fluence, that we are constrained to believe that they are sincere in what they say— that they really believe the facts are as they state them. This we cheerfully con cede to our opponents. All men, how ever, even the very best, are liable to mistake, to error in judgment, to be de ceived. When great interests are at stake and strong feelings are excited, the tendency to err in judgment in favor of self-interests is very great. In the af fairs of this world, things are often “not what they seem.” The inferences which they have drawn are unwarranted by the facts. The main point of inquiry now is, Are these things so? What are the facts? From the nature of the case, what effect could those decisions have on the ques tions now at issue between the two Meth odisms? What could they do to give va lidity and moral force to the “Plan of Separation,” especially those provisions in the plan not involved in the points at issue before the court? However others may feel on the subject, personally we are more interested to know the truth than to make out a case or to sustain a par ticular cause. The real interests of our church (indeed of any church) are all with the truth, whichever way it may lead—forward or backward, to the right or to the left. Show us the truth, free from doubtful colorings, and we will thankfully accept it. On May 19, 1851, Henry B. Bascom, A. L. P. Green, and Charles B. Parsecs, Commissioners of the Church South, brought a suit “in equity ” in the U. S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York against George Lane and Levi Scott, Book Agents, for a pro rata divis ion of the property of the New York Book Conoern, under their supervision. Able counsel appeared on both sides, and the trial lasted some ten days. The Southern Commissioners put in as evi dence, among other things, the Report of the Committee of Nine, otherwise called the Plan of Separation. The final decis ion of the court was in their favor. With the justice or injustice of that decision we have now nothing to say. It is a fact which must be respected. Giving it then all the force of a fact, what effeot does it have on the provisions of the Plan of Separation ? It is a principle well known in law and among intelligent lawyers, that a judge can not legislate—can not make law—he can only apply existing laws to the case in court. His decisions can cover only the points involved in the suit—can affect nothing outside of the case in litigation. In this case the petition was for a decree giving them a pro rata share of the funds of the New York Book Concern, based on the relative membership of the two churches. The decision of Judge Nelson covered that point, but nothing more. He granted the request of the petition ers. It affected and could affect nothing beyond that. Whatever the Judge may have said while giving or previous to giv ing his legal decision was simply his opin ion, with no more legal weight than any other intelligent man’s opinions. His preliminary words decided nothing, set tled nothing, confirmed nothing beyond the simple points pending in the suit. Even if he had said in so many words that he regarded the Plan of Separation as legally and morally binding in all its provisions and specifications, his words would have had no legal force, no power to make it so, any more than Judge Lea vitt’s opinion (directly the reverse) would have made the Plan of Separation null void. These points are vital and must not be overlooked or ignored by parties on either side of this question. The decision of Judge Nelson gave the Church South what it claimed of the funds of the New York Book Concern. It gave them nothing beyond that—no rights, no titles, no privileges or immu nities outside of that suit. It decided no right or title to any other church property, north or south —it made obliga tory the observance of no boundary line by either party. It gave the Church South no more right to any other church property than it did a right to the island of San Domingo or to the peninsula of Yucatan. It no more absolved the min isters of the Methodist Episcopal Church from thoir obligation to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,” than it absolved the Church South from obligation to keep the com mandments of the decalogue. If Judge Nelson’s decision in the New York case was so potent and so far-reach ing in its effects as is claimed for it, why did it not settle the property question at Cincinnati? The Southern Commission ers knew and practiced on that knowl METHODIST ADVOCATE: FEBRUARY 5, 1873. edge, that the decree concerning the prop erty at New did not and could not set tle any case outside of the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York, whether in the North, South, East or West. Hence, in their love of equity, they brought a suit “in equity” for their pro rata claim to the funds of the Western Book Concern in the U. S. Circuit Court for Ohio, before Judge Leavitt. The trial commenced June 24, 1852, and closed July 9th. The evidence agreed upon by oounsel on both sides, and read in the case, was the same that was used in the New York case. Judge Leavitt’s decision was adverse to the Southern Commissioners. His presenta tion of the case is masterly and his ar guments unanswerable. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, at Washing ton. Judge Taney w'as then living, and a majority of the judges were then in sympathy with the South. The decision of that bench of judges, where even a majority of one decides the case, was what every body expected it would be. It reversed Judge Leavitt’s decision and gave the South what they asked, and doubtless would have given them much more if they had asked it. It was the same bench from which came the Dred Scott decision—which decision receives now from a near posterity the amount of respect due to the justice and humanity it contained. In this decision of the court we bow to it submissively as a fact, but with no more respect for the justice of it on the grounds of constitutional and common law than for the Dred Scott decision. That decision of the Supreme Court had the effect only to reverse Judge Leavitt’s decision —just the effect that Judge Leavitt’s decision would have had if it had been given in favor of the South ern Commissioners. Its whole force and effect was limited to the points involved in that suit. It did not, it could not go beyond them, as every intelligent lawyer knows. It affected the Plan of Separa tion just as the New Y r ork decision af fected it, no more, no less —that is, none at all. It made no point in the Plan of Separation not involved in those suits, valid. From the very nature of the case it could not not affect them. If a similar decision bad been made in regard to a share of the Chartered Fund, the decis ion would necessarily be limited in the same way to the points involved in that case. It is evident to us, therefore, from the foregoing facts and principles, that the Plan of Separation (so-called) was not confirmed, established or legalized by the decision of the Supreme Court, as has been so widely claimed and so often re peated. The decision would have been as it was, in all probability, if no such plan had ever existed, had the suits been brought as they were in equity for a share of that property. The Plan stands just as it would have stood if there had been so such decision. It has received neither weakness nor strength, legally, from the decrees of the court, except in the vain imaginings of those who wish to have it so. It is to all intents and pur poses just as the General Conference of 1848 pronounced it, “null and void." We propose to show in our next how those decisions of the court affected the church property questions in the South. OBLIGATION OF SUPPORT FOR THE MINISTRY. The true Gospel minister is called of God. He does not take the sacred office self-moved. He generally hesitates until he feels Wo is me if I preach not the Gos pel ! The call is divine. The obligations are divinely imposed. The responsibili ties are what God has made them, not simply what any one may think them to be. The preacher must give himself wholly to the work, and thereby give up all other means or reliance for support. He must preach the Gospel and live of the Gospel. The relation between the Gospel minister and the people, between the pastor and his parishioners, God has established, has fixed it so that neither the hand nor the will of man can change it. The duties which grow out of that relation both to the pastor and to the people are precisely what God has made them, and for their faithful performance God holds each party responsible. If faithfully performed, the Great Head of the Church will reward the performers; if slighted or neglected, punishment from the divine hand will be equally sure. If the preacher neglects his duty, God will surely call him to account. If the people fail in their duty, God will not fail or neglect to call them to account. He will reward or punish one as readily as the other. Let it be borne in mind that the obligation is no more sacred, no more binding on the one side than it is on the other—-no more fearful responsi bilities tremble over the minister than over the membership. Faithfulness on the part of the people is just as necessary to secure the approval of God as it is on the part of the minister. This point may not have been so much thought of or so care- fully considered as it ought to be. Peo ple often think how fearful the preacher’s responsibility must be, without dreaming that their own responsibilities are equally fearful. Many believe that if a preacher refuses to preach the Gospel when called of God to that work, he will lose his soul, without ever passing on to the thought that they may equally endanger their own souls by withholding from the preacher the means of his support; when perhaps their own withholding determined him to leave the work. Brethren, there are solemn considerations, sacred duties, awful re sponsibilities, growing out of both sides of this sacred pastoral relation. Jesus says “the laborer is worthy of his hire.” If the preacher—the laboring preacher we mean—has a God-given right (as we have before shown) to his support, the people for whom he labors have also a God-given obligation to support him. Let the reader not hurry over this point, for it will bear close examination. The Savior never would have commanded his disciples not to cumber themselves with the means of their support when he sent them into the field to labor, if he had not already imposed upon the people a cor responding obligation to support them. The fact that he has not revealed this ob ligation in the same place nor in the same way, does not prove that the obliga tion does not exist. It is very clearly revealed in the following passage as well as in many others: “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel shall live of the Gospel.” To to perceive it, the this point as a this relation one side of it is- j* just as divine as the other. What the Lord has made the preacher’s right to a support, he has also made the people’s duty to supply. The one is the measure of the other. The two sides are equal—both are heaven appointed, both divine. God, who imposes these relative respon sibilities, holds them in his own hands. Each party i3 responsible to God, not to the other. The preacher has no right to punish the people for unfaithfulness to him, nor have the people any right to ad minister punishment to the preacher if he neglects his duty. God holds each party responsible to himself. He alone will re ward the faithful and punish the guilty. Neither can escape the consequences of neglected duty, except by a speedy and hearty repentance and a full pardon. This will a return to fidelity in the performance of duty. The people are under obligation to God to support the faithful minister to the ex tent of their ability and the minister’s work. The work merits hire, and is the measure of reward. The minister is God’s servant; so are the people. He com mands the preacher to do one kind of work,and the people to perform another— the former to preach the Gospel faithfully, fully, promptly; the latter to furnish the preacher the needed means of support. What we are especially anxious to show is the divine element in both, and the di vine relation running from God to both. All are prone to break away from God to sunder the ties that bind them to God— to forget him'and their relation to him. We wish to call the people’s thought back to God, that they may discover their im portant and unchangeable relation to him. There is a great deal of digging to be done at the foundation of this spiritual temple, a vast amount of rubbish to be removed, before the people’s eyes can clearly see the King in his beauty and behold the intimate royal relations which he sustains to them. The point we have tried specially to make in this article is that the obligation of the people to support the faithful pas tor is just as great, just as sacred, and just as fearful as the obligation of the preacher faithfully to preach the Gospel. God imposes both; both grow out of dif ferent sides of the same relation; both are equal; both divine. Over each trem ble similar responsibilities visible to each party is the hand-writing of promise, and over against this the threatening of punitive reward. POLITICAL OR NON-POLITICAL? The article from D. C. Kelley, in the Nash ville Advocate, of January 25th, from which we made a brief extract last week, contained also the following in reply to F. W. Vinson’s pamphlet: In the pamphlet before me, the author nets out with an attempt to answer the charge that the Methodist Episcopal Church is a political church. We do not understand him to deny the charge, but only to defend his church by charging that the M. E. Church South was equally a political church —the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Union, the M. E. Church South for the Confed eracy. The charge as against us we kindly deny. We held before the war that whatever we might, as individuals and citizens, believe, teach, or do, that when acting through our church organiza tions we would have nothing to do with the right "aF'Wrong'Trf political questions as such. During the war we inculcated what we had done before and are doing now, viz: Obedience to the de facto government within whose jurisdiction we found ourselves. The author of this pamphlet charges that the Holston Conference, under the presidency of Bishop Early, did more than this. We doubt it. If so, they did wrong, and are an exception to the general course of our church. An occasional preacher dragged political questions into our pulpits. I heard but one such sermon —that by a brother invited to preach to the church I was serving. My congregation was offended; so was I. Such was, so far as I believe, the general temper of our church. Even through those years of intense excitement, where a fragipent of the church or an individual preacher varied from this course, we believe them now to be heartily ashamed of it. Do not misconstrue me; what we did as citizens, out of church organizations and away from our pulpits, we believed to be our duty, and are proudly willing to leave our record to the verdict of his tory. This is where we stood when we parted from you in 1844, where we have stood ever since, and where we unequivocally stand to-day. Corrob oraiions of this statement allow two facts: Some of our ministers and members were Virion men from the beginning to the close of the war, without producing one word of censure or reproach from any conference or church. We do not propose any formal reply to this article. Brother Vinson is abundantly able to vindicate himself or his pamphlet. We publish the extract to let our readers see how those preachers defend themselves, and what they can muster up courage to say. We do not try to keep our readers in ignorance of what their opponents are saying of them, as some editors we know of do. We call special attention to the sentences in italics, put in italics by ourself and not by the writer: “ During the war we inculcated what we had done before and are doing now, viz: Obedi ence to the de facto government within whose jurisdiction we found ourselves.” By his use of the we, we understand him to mean the Church South. Now if the Church South had inculcated that sentiment before seces sion with ene-half the earnestness and zeal they did after secession, there would not have been, in our judgment, any secession at all, nor any war in the United States during the years from 1861 to 1865. We are too near the events in that histoi’y to be caught or blinded by the chaff thrown into that sentence. Our readers fully understand the scenes through which they have passed. Memory is vivid and tenacious. The logic in the second sentence in italics is truly refreshing. What the church South had to do with politics they did as citizens, not as members of the church. Therefore the Church South is not, was not a political churoh. What an achievement in ratiocina tion! what a vindication for the Church South! Shades of Aristotle, what a triumph, in logic! Let us construct the cognate argu ment as the writer above would have it con structed. What the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church had to do with politics, they did as members of the church, not as individ ual citizens, therefore the Methodist Episcopal Church is a political church. Such a charge, whether openly made or implied, we unquali fiedly deny. That is certainly one of the most convenient systems of logic ever invented, for a man can shape his premises to warrant his conclusions. The facts are that there was as much and as earnest political preaching in Southern pulpits during and before the war as there was in Northern pulpits, even if brother Kelley did not happen to hear it, and no fair, logical reasoning that will exempt the Church South from being political, can con vict the Methodist Episcopal Church of be ing a political church. If the latter is or has been political, the former has been equally so, and a careful c'ollation of the facts in the case will prove the declaration beyond a reasonable doubt. We do not know whether any sophistry was intentionally woven into the last clause in italics or not. The record of the Holston Conference at Athens, Teun., in 1862, will prove that sontence either sophistical in statement or false in fact. If he moans that some ministei‘B and members in some portions of the Southern jjhurch were Union men dur iug the war, and were not persecuted or cen sured, that may be true; for such men there undoubtedly were who managed not to let their Union preferences be known. They were very quiet and prudent men. In some places they may have been known as such, but because of their age or surroundings they were not supposed to be in danger of doing the Confederate cause any harm. It was not so, however, in East Tenuessee nor in the Holston Conference. Ministers were ex pelled from that conference for no other rea son than that they were not in sympathy with the Southern Confederacy. We have considerable evidence of a very striking char acter, written or '.available, which will fully settle this question. It can be produced if necessary. We are willing, however, to lot these ques tions of the past rest in quiet graves, if the other side do not keep raking out of their sepulcher the old mouldering bones. There is not much earth upon them yet, and a great many curiosities can easily be exhumed. We prefer to recreate among the green and grow ing things of the present that may in the fu ture ripen into golden harvests, rather than wander or dwell among the tombs. Yet we must obediently follow wherever duty to Hod or to the ohurch may lead the way. Notes and Brevities. The Atlanta Herald claimed, last week, the largest oiroulation of any daily published in this city. The Atlanta Constitution announced, last Saturday morning, an issue of ton thousand copies to veritable subscribers; also an acces sion to its editorial oorps of Messrs. Howell C. Jaokson and J. P. T. Finch. The Methodist says: “ The Virginia Legislature refused the use of their hall to Bishop Ames for religious servioes, though the hall has been repeatedly granted for similar and other purposes. The objection, as stated by themselves, was that ‘ he is a Bishop of the Northern Methodist Church.’ ” Another “cold snap” has come down upon us, another “arotio wave” has rolled over the land, and January 29th is reported as furnishing the coldest experience in some of our Northern cities for thirty years past. The weather in this city, for nearly a week, waß the meanest, the nastiest, the most un pretty, undesirable, hateful even, that old father Time has administered to his unde serving children this coldest of winters. Come, O ye balmy breezes of the springtime I We are getting impatient for your gentle caresses, when we can feel that “ The winter is over and gone.” W. C. DePacw, Esq., of New Albany, Ind., has made a donation of SSOO to the Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Epis copal Church, to be expended in circulating the Sunday-School Journal among teachers in the destitute Methodist Episcopal Sunday schools of the South. The Executive Com mittee, at Mr. DePauw’s suggestion, require schools to pay one-third of the cost of all such grants, the other two-thirds coming from the “DePauw Fund.” This is a noble exam ple which our wh»le-souled Indiana brother has set to the men of means in the church. Current Literature. Peters’ Music at. Monthly, for February, as usual, is filled with first-class pieces of music. Only $3 a year; J. L. Peters, 599 Broadway, New York. Those who would keep posted in the popular musio of the times would do well to take this monthly. Briggs & Brother’s Illustrated Catalogue of Floral Work is a perfect gem of its kind. Those who are fond of rare and beautiful flowers will be delighted with it. This is a Quarterly for 1873. Send to the publishers, at Eochester, N.Y., for catalogue or for flowers. The Plantation, for February—a magazine of Progressive Agriculture and Improved Indus try—is an excellent number, well filled with interesting and useful articles; published in this city by the Plantation Publishing Company. Eural Chronology, we notice, is a feature of special interest. Every farmer in the South would do well to exchange $1.50 for this period ical every year. The publishers of the Musical Independent, a monthly magazine, with much good reading and several choice pieces of new music—offer magnificent premiums to parties who procure the greatest number of subscribers for it. Send for the January number and it will give you all needed information. Robert Goldbeck, Chicago, Illinois. Cincinnati Medical News. No. lof Vol. II has reached us, and we learn that the new year is begun under very auspicious circumstances. Certainly the enterprise shown by the publishers in their first volume deserved reward, and we are glad to know it is meeting with it. The News is a popular, cheap and valuable journal for medical ifien, has able editors, and is up to the latest improvements. Price, $1.50 per year; J. A. Thacker, M.D., Agent and Editor, Cincin nati, Ohio. Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal. The Herald Publishing Company has issued the first number of this familiar magazine under their management. The old editors are retained, and the Journal looks quite natural. There was considerable delay in getting out the December number; but it is all ready at last, and better late than never. The new publishers have shown great enterprise in their other publications—the Atlanta Herald, for instance—and we expect to see improvements of great importance in the Journal soon. $3 per year is the subscription price, and it is well worth the money. Stayed on God is the title of a small, neat volume, published by N. Tibbals‘& Son as a kind of memorial and tribute of respect to the late and lamented Rev. Alfred Cookman. It embodies some of the best thoughts from the pen of brother Cookman. Besides this, appropriate extracts are given, taken from the remarks and addresses made in honor of the deceased; a poem by Rev. G. Lansing Taylor; testimonies and incidents. It contains a life-like photograph of the deceased. It is a volume gotten up by affection for the departed, and will bless the careful reader whenever or wherever perused. Agents wanted to sell this every-where. The Uniyersalist Quarterly, for January, has the following list of articles: “John Ruskin,” Contributions to the History of Universalism,” “Africa,” “ Physical, Historical, and Etymologi cal,” “ Christian Missions,” “ Hosea Ballou and Edward Turner, a contribution to the truth of history,” “The Rise of the Republic of the United States,” “Infidolity,” “The Triumph of Good over Evil,” “Ernestus Sonerus,” “General Review,” “Contemporary Literature.” The con tributors to this number are able and interesting writers. $3 a year; Universalist Publishing House, 37 Cornhill, Boston. The National Quarterly Review, for De- ceml>er, 1872—Ed ward I. Sears, LL.D., editor and proprietor; published at Oo Bible House, New York city—is on our table. It is a solid, stately Quarterly of 210 octavo pages, lhe articles are ably written, and in <flie exhaustial stylo ot the old English Reviews. We have in this number, “Siam and the Siamese,” “Notabilities of the American Bar,” “ Rufus Choate,” “ The I tiffing Element in American Literature,” “The Plane tary Theory,” “The University of Pennsylvania and its New Windows,” “Pope Alexander \ 1., Development of Art,” “ Horace Greeley, No tices and Criticisms.” Each article has to stand on its merits, for we have no clue to its author. We always like to know whose production we are reading. This is Vol. XXVI. and No. 51; so the reader will see that the Review is an old settler, and has the marks of age upon it. W e consider it among the ablest of American quar terlies; price, $5 a year in advance. We heartily commend it to those who want substantially a review in fact as well as in name. Lange on the Psalms is not Lange on the Psalms,but someoneelse. Carl Bernhard Moll, D.D., a distinguished Prussian divine, has done the critical and the commentarying in this vol ume. Being done in German, it had to be trans lated into American. Four men have done this — Revs. Charles A. Briggs, John Forsyth, D.D., James B. Hammond, and J. Fred. McCurdy. After the historical, exegetical, critical, doc trinal, and homoletical doing of the Psalms in the same style of Lange’s other volumes, we have anew version of the Psalms and Philological Notes, by Rev. Thomas J. Conant, D.D.; pub lished by Scribner, Armstrong & Cos., New York. This will be a valuable accession to the literature of the Book of Psalms, already varied, rich and full. The new version of the Psalms mentioned above will add much to the interest and value of this volume of Lange’s great Commentary. The Earth. That is the brief title of a large book. It is an octavo volume of 573 pages; it is a beautiful book in binding, paper, type, me chanical execution —so the eye says. But what is it about? It gives “a descriptive history of the phenomena of the life of the Globe.” That is pretty big talk, isn’t it? Who is the author? Elisee Redus. But he is a Frenchman. It is translated, though, by the late B. A. Woodward, M.A., and edited by Henry Woodward, of the British Museum. Those last two words make it look up a little. We said it is beautiful; a part of this beauty is found in the 230 maps inserted in the text of the book, and 23 page-maps printed in colors. Who publishes it? Harper & Broth ers? Now, reader, you think you know it all; but you are mistaken. This volume is a treasury of knowledge on this vast subject. It is charm ing in style, profound, speculative, full of re search. It is full of interest and information. The thorough scholar will read it at any rate, and those that want to be thorough scholars ought to read it. It is a valuable book; buy it. We can’t let you have our copy; we must keep it as a book of reference. Personals. S. B. Conover, on the 31st ult., was elected United States Senator from Florida. Adam Sedgwick, an eminent geologist, died recently in London, aged eighty-five. A bill divorcing Gov. Safford from his wife has passed the Arizona Legislature. Prince Arthur, of England, paid a visit to the Pope and Cardinal Antonelli on the 23d ult. The retirement of Bismarck from the Min isterial presidency, he says was entirely in consideration of his health. Hon. and Rev. Baptist W. Noel, an emi nent evangelical divine, recently deceased in England, aged seventy-four. Hon. Oscar C. Shafter, formerly Judge ol the Supreme Court of California, died in Florence, Italy, January 25th. President Grant has vetoed the bill to give the East Tennessee University, at Knoxville, $18,500, for damages done during the war. Henry Ralph Dennis, Esq., one of the old est members of the New Orleans bar, died in that city January 28th, aged eighty-six years. The Senate has confirmed the nomination of J. C. Bancroft Davis to be Assistant Sec retary of State, v\ce Charles Hale, resigned. A telegram from San Francisco, Jan. 29th, announces that Prince William C. Lunalillo, is elected King of the Sandwich Islands. Victor Emamuel, King of Italy, has pub lished a royal decree whereby he takes pos session of sixteen convents in the city of Rome. Mrs. Hamline, widow of Bishop Hamline, is living at Evanston, 111. Though not in ro bust health, she is active and zealous in her Master’s work. General Palmer, of Illinois, thinks railroads ought to be constructed as public highways, allowing every man to run a train who is able to afford it. Senator Sumner’s condition, according to reports, is not materially improved. He is not expected to be able to be in his seat again during this session. The Dowager Empress Amelia, of Brazil, died in Lisbon, January 26th, aged sixty-one years. She was married to the Emperor Don Pedro 1., of Brazil, in 1829. Rev. Wm. Butler and family are announced to leave New York, on the steamer City of Mexico , at 3 o’clock p.m., Thursday, Feb. 6th, from Pier No. 3, North River. Thomas G. Boyd, of Sweetwater, Tenn., waSj on the 31st ult., in Knoxville, sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and $5,000 fine for pension frauds/®*) the Government. Rev. James White, of the New Jersey Con ference, was buried on the 16th ult., aged fifty-seven, having been thirty-five years a member of his conference. Mrs. Jennie F. Willing has been holding a series of meetings in New Albany, Ind., which have been signally blessed of God. So says the Methodist Home Journal. Dr. B. F. Test, editor of the Ladies Repos itory in by-gone years, has recently become editor of anew weekly, published in Bangor, Me., and called The Northern Border. We learn indirectly that Rev. W>H. Rogers, of the Holston Conference, comtemplates go ing as a missionary to Mexioo —by invitation of Dr. Dashiell —to leave for that field about the Ist of May next. We learn from the New York Times that Rev. John Hutchinson, an Episcopal clergy man of New Jersey, has been indicted by the Grand Jury, in Boston, for obtaining money under false pretenses. Bishop Simpson and family have been vis iting in the vicinity of Boston. The Bishop recently dedicated a churdh at Leominster, Mass. He has also favored several New En gland towns with his popular leotures. bather Boehm, aged ninety-eight, preached a short and very affecting discourse in the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, Wil mington, Del., on a recent Monday evening. He referred to his preaching in that city in the ear 1800. This is a most extraordinary fact. D. Wemiss Jobson, of New York, has been awarded SIO,OOO damages for having been forcibly ejected from the United States Court building by United States Marshal Sharpe. It was, not after all, so very sharp in Sharpe to do that. Mr. G. Smith, of the British Museum, whose translation of the Chaldean account of the Deluge has caused so much talk lately, has been asked by the proprietors of a daily London paper to go to the East to undertake further researches. Dr. W. 0. Tilden, Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University, was accidentally shot in the National Hotel, Washington, on Thurs day night, by a pistol which fell from the pocket of G. C. Wall. The wound is a seri ous one, in the abdomen. Rev. Wm. C. Clark, who was recently ex pelled from his church in Brooklyn, N.Y., lor dealing iu lottery tickets, was not a mem ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as some newspapers have reported him, but of the Protestant Methodist Church. They served him right. It is high time that both ministers and churches should oppose lot teries and gambling in all forms, no mat tor what the money raised is to be used for. Christ does not want his cause assisted by any doubtful expedients. Kodama, the Japanese, who was baptized by Dr. Newman, at Washington City, several months ago, has abandoned his intention of making law his profession, and proposes to study for the ministry and return to Japan and establish a Methodist Episcopal Church. At the late session of the South Carolina Conference Rev. Richard M. Valentine was recognized as an elder from the Colored M. E. Church of America; Rev. Nathaniel Drayton, as a deacon from the African M. E. Church. Rev. E. J. Snetton was re-admitted. Pere Hyacinth made a public address in Paris, Sunday, J anuary sth, the first since the bishop of Paris removed him from the pastor ate of Notre Dame, some three years ago. It was at the opening of the week of prayer in Dr. Presencee’s Church. Both Catholics and Protestants were his auditors. A telegram from Berlin reports that Car lotta, the daughter of a King, widow of Max imillian, Ex-Empress of Mexico, who has been insane for several years, on account of her husband’s death in Mexico, was released by death from her earthly sufferings on Jan uary 30th. Her death was not unexpected. Hon. James Brooks, Congressman from New York, has been ordered by his physi cians to quit all work of any kind, and has not been in his seat either in the House or Ways and Means Committee for over two weeks. He is suffering severely from attacks arising from his summer journey around the world. John McLean, a prominent Methodist lay man of New York city, died suddenly of ap oplexy at his residence, January 24th, aged seventy-five years. For several years past he has been President of the Sing Sing Camp meeting Association. A devoted, pious and useful man has passed from labor to reward. Gen. Thomas Eckhart, Superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and G. B. Prescott, electrician, are to visit Eu rope during the coming month, on behalf of the company, to investigate the workings of foreign telegraphic systems, especially the ap pliances of pneumatic tubes, with a view to their introduction into this country. We learn from the Methodist Home Jour nal that Dr. J. S. Inskip and Rev. W. McDonald were to commence a ten days’ meeting in New Albany, Ind., January 26th. Dr. Fuller has reoeived no letter from Dr. Inskip in reference to the invitation from Loyd-Street Church to come to Atlanta. These brethren are expected, but it is not certain that they will come. The New Orleans papers say that Bishop J. C. Keener, of the Church South, left that city January 20th, for Mexico, with a view of establishing a mission or missions in that old city of the Aztecs. He expects to be absent about a month. $1,600 were contributed for . that mission by friends in New Orleans. The Bishop thinks it will require from SIO,OOO to $50,000 to establish the mission on a perma "nent foundation. Dr. Reid, one of the Missionary Secretaries, visited Boston, and preached January 19th, in Winthrop Churcn in the morning, (col lected $1,500;) Tremont-Street Church in the afternoon, (collected $1,500,) and at Harvard Church at night, (collected S9OO) —total for the day, for missions, $3,900. Dr. Butler, same day, preached at Lynn Common-Grace Church, and Church-Street Church. Lynn Common proposes to make its contribution $2,000. Bishop Haven has reached the City of Mexico in safety, as we learn through Zion's Herald. The editor of that paper says: “ From a private note we learn that his way seems to be providentially opened before him. The railroad was just eompleteted between Vera Cruz and Mexico, and he was invited to accom pany the President of the Republic and govern mental and railroad officials into the capital, upon the new route. So he enters the heart of the new mission under the highest auspices. He is in fine health and spirits, and full of Christian hope and courage.” TEXAS CONFERENCE APPOINTMENTS. Houston District, W. R. Fayle, P.E.— Houston. Mission) John Hail? "Houston, Spencer Hardwell? Houston circuit, Murray Cole. West Point, Ga briel Todd. Lynchburg, Elias Dibble. Harris burg, to be supplied bv Wm. Burley. Galveston, Jessie Shackleford. San Felipe, Austin Logan. Richmond, John Whittaker. Columbia, James Smith. Caney, to be supplied. Staffords, James Davis. Liberty, John Nesby. West Liberty, to be supplied by Benj. Johnson. Cypress, John Brown. Danville, P. S. Meadows. Montgomery, Enoch Jefferson. Frost Chapel, Reuben Reeder. Gulf Prairie, Mason Reddick. Bernard, to be supplied. Livingston, Isaac Smith. Wharton, Washington Thomas. Columbus, B. F. Wil liams. Columbus circuit, Collin Maya. Wallia ville, Henry Patterson. Navasota District, S. M. Kingston,'P. E. Hempstead, Samuel Gates. Hempstead circuit, A J. Neeley. Bellville, Sami. Laurence. Court ney, Wesley Childs. Navasota, A.Gillum. Plau tersville, Louis Lane. Anderson, Charles Gor don. Huntsville, J. K. Loggins. Millican, Ste- Shen Curtis. Bryan, to be supplied by Peter lake. Brewer’s Hill, to be supplied. Brenham, John Guess. Brenham circuit, to be supplied. Hopewell, to be supplied by H. McDonald. Red Top, Mack Williams. Brazos circuit, Willis Van Hook. Walker circuit, Richard Williams. Yel low Prairie and Caldwell, Turner Jackson. Waco District, B. O. Watrom, P. E. —Waco, Anderson Brack. Marlin, Abraham Taylor. Big Creek, Prince Wilson. Port Sullivan, Solomon Morgan. Calvert, Lewis Woodward. Springfield, Hiram Melton, h airfield, to be supplied by James Allen. Cotton Gin, Gabriel Wilson. Battle Creek, Austin Lockhart. Corsicana, to be supplied. Waxahatchie, Wesley Fletcher. Centerville, Perry G. Brown. Austin District B. C. Hammond, P.E.—Aus tin Wesley Chapel, Daniel Gregory. Austin Janes’ Chapel, Jacob Miller. Austin circuit, to be supplied by Charles Madison, Elijah Nesbitt. Georgetown mission, T. J. Lacy. Cross Creeks, Joel L. Strickland. Cameron, to be supplied. LaGrange, Alexander Campbell. Cunningham, to be supplied by Primus Gates. Industry, Samuel Alien. Bastrop, Cesar King. George town. Cyrus Shanks. Belton, Christopher Young. Lockhart, Nathan Caswell. McDade and Gid dings, Archie Johnson. Burnett, John Boyd. San Antonio District, T. T. Leach, P.E.— San Antonio, William Brown. San Antonio circuit, W. O. Sheeley. Seguin, to be supplied. San Marcos, to be supplied by Tony Angus. Gon zales, M. Henson. Gonzales circuit, London Morris. Cibolo, J. G. Webster. Lavender, John Wright. Clinton, Charles Schraggs. Goliad, George Young. Victoria, Larkin Carper. In dianola, Allen Harris. Corpus Christi, Cyrus Hackett. Texana, to be supplied bv Isaac Smith. Yorktown, James Holt. Helena, W. H. Thomas. Belmont, John T Hill. Sweet Home, Reuben Coleman. Peach Creek, James Boyd. Halletts ville, Asa Moore. Boxville, Daniel Harper. Rockport, to be supplied. Hesterville, to be supplied by Henry Thompson. Marshall District, W. L. Mallov, P.E. —Mar- shall mission, F. C. Moore. Marshall Ist Church, Emanuel M. Williams. Marshall 2d Church, Elijah Wells. Marshall circuit, E. Beck. Tyler, to be supplied by Wm. Saunders. Quitman, Abraham Robinson. Honey Grove, Cesar Wo mack. Clarksville, A. M. Gregory. Paris, Dan iel Battle. Bonham, to be supplied. Sherman, to be supplied. Jacksonville, to bo supplied. Palestine, Thos. Ward. Jefferson, Paul Doug lass. Jefferson 2d Church, C. Luester. Jefferson circuit, Daniel Benjamin. Wheatville, Anderson 8. Strong. Cofteeville, Henry Smith. Hickory Grove, E. Blair. Nacogdoches, to be supplied. St. Augustine, Hubbard Kellum. Marion, J. Jordan. Linden, Edmund Williams. Sabine, Edmund Barrett. Shelby, to be supplied. Fort "Worth mission, Thomas Wilson, Dallas, to be supplied. Western German District, Carl Biel, P.E. — Fort Mason, to be supplied. Llano, Anton Ul rich. Fredericksburg, Conrad Pluennecke. San Antonio, Gustavus Elley. New Braunfels, Wil liam Felsing. Hockheim, to be supplied. Vic toria, Henry Homberg. Eastern German District, Wm. Pfaeffie, P.E. Austin, to be supplied. Waco, Frederic Mumme. Dallas, Henry Diets. Anderson and Navasota, to be supplied. Industry, E. W. Strocter. Bren ham, Carl Urbanthe. LaGrange, Edward Schnei der. Rabb’s Creek and Bastrop, Christian Speck map. E. F. Biscoe transferred to the Newark Con ference. Superannuated. —lsaac Wright, Johnson Hens ley, Wm. Burley. Supernumerary. —T. B. Ferguson, G, W. Honey, Aaron Neeley.