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THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM. Vol. XXIX.—No. 45. ©riginal |lortnr. The Resuscitation of Idolatry in Shanghai- Before our eyes new temples rise, And idols not a few Are in them placed, by priests debased, And by them worshipped too. The heathen rage and fierce engage, To drive the Light away, But for them still, with right good will, We can yet watch and pray ; And hope; ere long, to see the throng, Now to their idols given, In Church of God, the only Lord, Learning the way to Heaven. In years es old, the Prophet told Os a valley white with bones, That were as bare, and dry as are The mountain’s granite stones; But at the word of God, the Lord, The Prophet raised his voice, * And as he spake, the bones did shake With low sepulchral noise. Flesh, sinew, skin, did then anew, Cover them o’er again ; The wind it blew the valley through Where lay the countless slain. And army then, all mighty men, Os Israel’s chosen race, With life renewed, together stood, In that most wondrous place. The Prophet viewed the multitude, And gloried in the Word That life could give and make them live. And know that God was Lori. litre , in this plate, the C hinese rase, Like these dry bones are lying, Nov life-breath here, doth yet appear, Though here the Herald’s crying. Shall these not live ? Wilt Thou not give To them the quickening Spirit? Wilt Thou still frown ? Cnnst thou disown Our Christ's atoning merit? Some Prophet send—some saviour-friend, Send, send ! by whom Thou wilt, Lord, At Thy command, be all this land Filled with Thy living Word. C’.anghai, July 2 oth, 13011. Y. J. A. From the Nashville Chr stian Advocate. The Ministerial Office and its Law of Perpetuation. The question of a divine call to the gos-' pel ministry has been considered. To do God’s work, one must be called of God. This is a fundamental, axiomatic principle. The business a minister takes in baud is God’s; his call to it must be divine It is manifest that the existing body of Christian ministers have no power, authority, or pre rogative thus to call any one into the holy ofliee. They can confer no inward qualifi cations, transmit no spiritual life, bestow no spiritual endowments. What right, indeed, have they to intrude upon the divine pre rogative, and take out of the hands of the “ Lord of the harvest ” the work of select ing and appointing laborers ? Their proper function is to recognize and authenticate the call of God—to verify the vocation and countersign the title, and confer the formal investiture of the office. The 23d Article of the Church of England sets forth the Protostent doctrine on the subject: “It is not law'u for any man to take upon himself the office of public preaching, or ministering the sacraments in the congre gat ion, before he is lawfully called and sent, to execute the same.” The Confessions of the Reformed Continental Churches teach the same. The standard of judgment in all such cases, in the Methodist Communion, is laid down very clearly in the book of Discipline. In regard to persons who profess to be “ in wardly moved by the Holy Ghost,” and who apply for the outward vocation, it is asked, I. “Do they know God as a pardon ing God ? Have they the love of God abiding in them ? Do they desire nothing but God ? Are they holy in all manner of conversation? 2. Have they gifts as well as grace for the work ? Have they in some tolerable degree, a clear, sound understand ing, a right judgment in the things of God, a just conception of salvation by faith? And has God given them any degree of ut terance? Do they speak justly, readily, clearly ? 3. Have they fruit? Are any trely convinced of sin and converted to God, by their preaching?” The concurrence of these marks is held to be a sufficient evi dence of an inward vocation. The “setting apart ” to the ministerial office by the laying on of the hands of the Bishop and Elders, in Episcopal churches, confers the outward, ecclesiastical commis sion to preach and administer the sac: aments. There is no sacramental character, no so called “grace of ordination” conferred in this rite. It only authenticates the divine call, and confers legitimate authority from the Church. “If,” sajs Litton, in his “ Church of Christ” —one of the ablest works that the English press has brought out in late years —“ the imposition of hands for the work of the ministry, as the rite meets us in Scripture, was but a recognition of the PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & CO., FOR THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH. gifts which Christ had given, and a com mission to exercise them, we should expect to find that it would be a matter of indiffer ence, except as a question of order, by whom the act was performed. And so, in fact, it is. No law respecting the minister of or dination can be found in the inspired vol ume. Wherever Apostles were present, they naturally discharged this, the most im portant of all duties connected with the government of the Church. Who so quali fied to make choice of persons for the office of the ministry as they who possessed in its highest form the gift of spiritual discern ment ? But, in no part of Scripture is the rule laid down that to a legitimate ordina tion the presence of the Apostles or of their delegates was necessary; no intimation is given that a mystical virtue resided in the inspired founders of the Church, which they only were capable of transmitting, and with out the possession of which no one was en titled to preach the word or administer the sacraments. Where the Apostles were present, they, for the reasons above given, commonly ordaiued ; where there were no Apostles, others might perform this office, provided only they did so in an apostolical spirit. A Timothy and a Titus might, du ring St. Paul’s lifetime, ordain elders with j no prejudice to the validity of the ordinance. And if the transaction referred to in 1 Tim. iv. 14, relates to Timothy’s ordination, it seem* to follow from it that the presby tery might, at the suggestion of‘prophecy’— i. e., by special divine intimation—send him forth into the vineyard. Or shall we say with some ancient commentators, who could cut the knot in no other way, that they who laid hands oti Timothy were not presbyters, but bishops ? (Because in his time presby ters could not, by the rule of the Church, ordain, Chrysostom argues that so it must have been in the first age of the Church.) ! Even Apostles, like Paul and Barnabas, might be separated to their special mission by certain persons at Antioch, concerning whom we cannot pronounce with certainty that they were or the positive ministry or not, still less of the highest order of it. In this as in other matters of ritual and polity, the Church was left comparatively unfetter ed; the essential point was to pitch upon those, who, in the words of Chrysostom, had ; been, previously to their formal ordinaticn, i ordained by the Spirit, to whom it really appertains to qualify and send forth laborers into the vineyard.” When subsequently to the time of the Apostles, episcopacy was introduced, the power of ordination was reserved to the bishops as the highest order of ministers. Subsequently, we say—for in the first place no passage from the New Testament can be produced which affirms that Christ insti tuted the episcopate, any more than the two inferior grades of the Christian ministry. Jeremy Taylor is very ingenious, and so are his American jrelatical imitators: “This office of the ordinary apostleship or episco pacy,” says Taylor, “derives its foundation from a rock; Christ’s own distinguishing the apostolate from the functions of presby ters,’’ etc. Here it is slyly and quietly as sist c<7, without a particle of proof, that the j apostolate and the episcopate are one and the same tiling. The jure divino right of episcopacy cannot be maintained by a so’i tary text of the New Testament, if by di vine righf is meant a formal institution by the divine Head of the Church. No such appointment was ever made by Him —the New Testament records being valid evideuee in the case. Ignatius and Cyprian may al lege the argument: —The Apostles govern ed and ordained ; Bishops also, in subse quent times, governed and ordained; there forc the Apostles were Bishops. But a tyro in logic can see the palpable non sequi fur. I; deed, according to Cyprian’s own idea of the episcopal office, it differed in several material points from the overseer ship of the Apostles. Each Church was ; to have its own Bishop, and only one, who I had no authority over any diocese hut hi* ] own ; whereas the authority of the Apostles j embraced the universal Church. “The apostolic office was altogether a peculiar j one; it was vouchsafed by Christ for the purpose of fouuding and organizing Chris tian societies, but it was never intended to be a permanent part of their polity. When the Apostles had completed their work upon earth, they were removed for the very same reason that Christ himself, having risen from the dead, did not remain in the world —viz., that it was incompatible with the nature of a spiritual and universal dispensation that there should exist attached to any parties lar locality a living infallible tribunal; and for the same reason they neither had nor have any successors. Certain functions which the Apostles exercised continued to be exercised after their death by the ordina ry ministers of the Church ; but the Apos tolic office ended with the persons of the Apostles, and has never since been vouch safed to the Church ’’ Their inspired writings have taken the place of the living men; iirthese they still govern the Church of God, and constitute the supreme authori ty of its scheme of doctrines and morals. In the second place : if Christ himself did not institute episcopacy, did the Apos tles ? Now it is undeniable that no oAler of ministers is referred to in the New Testa ment, inferior to Apostles, but superior Macon, Ga., Friday, November 9, 1866. jto Presbyters. Bishops, indeed, are often j mentioned ; but in the polity of the Christian j Church, then existing, episcopos and pres < hyter were but different appellations ot the ! same official person. The appellations are | used interchangeably, as in Titus i. 5, 7. St. Paul salutes “ the bishops and deacons” of the Church at Philippi, omitting the ! mention of presbyters because they were i the same as bishops. Much stress has been j laid, by High-Church writers, on the cases jof Timothy and Titus. But it is hard to see how such writers can extricate them selves from the following dilemma: If Timothy and Titus, when St Paul address ed his epistles to them, were formal bishops, bishops are not successors of the Apostles, for the Apostle Paul had not, at that time, either abdicated his apostolic functions, or been removed from earth; if on the other hand, it is essential to the idea of a bishop that he succeed to the place of the Apostles, Timothy and Titus could not at that time have been formal bishops. The most rea sonable and reliable view of the origin of the episcopate is, that daring the lifetime of St. Paul the Church had no formal bishops; that this new feature of Church polity emerged into view subsequently to the de struction of Jerusalem ; and that x iL may have emanated from those of the Ajpostles who survived that event. If it be piVall an apostolical institution, the proof rests on un inspired testimony. Os its antiquity there can be no doubt. Post-apostolic testimony is as abundaut as unquestionable, as to the fact that no other form of Church polity existed from the beginning of the second century down through following ages. This rules out the Romish theory of epis copacy. There is uo divine law establishing this order in the Christian ministry. It exists not by divine prescription. It is not the sole fountain of covenanted grace, of a legitimate ministry, of valid sacraments— a divinely appointed ordinance without which the Church can have no existence. On’the other hand, episcopacy is the off-* spring of the Church, the expression of the inner sentiment of union, an organic form in which the energy of the interior life de velopes itself. “Bishops/’ says Litton, “ were added to the two earlier orders, not from any notion of their being channels of Christ’s covenanted grace, or as being neces sary to the existence of a Church, but part ly because Christianity naturally settles into visible forms of organic unity, and partly because the wants of the age dictated an extension of the existing arrangements. The law of nature and of order is abun dantly sufficient to account for the phenom enon, without our having recourse to a sup posed divine prescription.” In a word— episcopacy is an order in the Church of God, jure ecclesiastico—not jure divino. To that order, in Episcopal communions, the power of ordination is reserved. They confer, by solemn prayer and imposition of hands, the formal, positive sanction of the existing pastors of the Church, for the exercise of ministerial functions and offices. W. From the North China Daily News. Persecution in the Corea. Most painful nows has just been received Irorn the Kingdom of Corea. On the 7th instant, a Corean junk with the French tri color at one of the mast heads, was observed entering the harbor. It brought the Rev. Abbe Ridel, Catholic Missionary, and elev en Corean Christians, who have fled from that country on account of the persecution now raging there by order of the father of the King, against the Christian churches. Mr. Ridel reports that, in the month of February last, the King received intelli gence that the Rus ians had crossed his frontier, and that they were holding inter course with his subjects. At the same time the Corean embassy in China informed their sovereign that the Chinese had murdered two Catholic missionaries, and that it would be well to imitate this example. Upon this a general order was issued to apprehend all the Catholic Missionaries, (there being no other Missionaries) and to exterminate the Christians. Two French bishops and seven priests were arrested, and after hav ing been cruelly tortured were beheaded. Asa special favor a request by some of the missionaries to be executed on Good Friday, was acceded to. Only three Catholic priests remained, and they managed to hide themselves in the mountains. They deter mined that one of their number should en deavor to reach the coast, and come to this port for the purpose of asking the protec tion of the French government for those who remained. Mr. Ridel was selected by his confreres for the task, and it was only in obedience to the united judgment of his brother priests, that, he parted from them, and came on his present errand. He de scribes the devastation committed on the Christian church of the Corea as appalling. One town, nearly all Christians, were order ed to renounce the faith. Many were mar tyred j others fled, and the greatest conster nation prevails. The Pagan population are averse to the persecution, but they are too weak to resist. There were at the be ginning of this year about fifty thousand Catholic Christians in the kingdom of Corea. The two priests who survive, if they can escape the researches of the King’s soldiers, will try to keep alive the faith until fresh missionaries arrive; but they have lost eve rything. The library which existed in the : capital city, containing many Corean books, ! and especially two dictionaries of the Corean j language, compiled by the French missiona- I ries with the labor of twenty-five years contin-1 ! ual application, together with the printing ; establishment and material for publishing j books in the Corean language, have all been destroyed. The loss to the science of lan« guages incurred by the destruction of the above named dictionaries is, it is feared, ir reparable. All the sacred vessels for cele brating the holy sacrifice of the mass have been destroyed by the King’s orders, and the Christian church in the Corea is threat ened with destruction. At the time Mr. Ridel left, the persecution had momentarily ceased, as the King Yound that it interfered with the harvest of the crops; but orders had been given to resume the work of ex tirpating the Christians in the approaching autumn. The Corean government is in a wretched state; the widow of the late king has adopt ed a youth for the sovereign, and it is the father of this youth who is the author of all these cruelties. The Corea is completely undefended. A gun-boat could make its way to the capital without any fear of re* sistance. The Corean army is a rabble un provided with artillery or even muskets, and a very slight demonstration would suf fice to induce submission. Mr. Ridel will most probably go to Pekin, and it is to be hoped that the British minister will not lose such an opportunity as this to ask, in con junction with the French minister, for the opening of the Corea to European inter course. This will be the surest way to prevent the recurrence of such lamentable events. Morven District Meeting, Florida Conference. The District Meeting for Morven Dis trict assembled, Oct. 12th, 1866, at Mount Zion Camp Ground, and was organized by electing H. W. Sharpe, secretary, and after prayer by N. B. Ousley, the P. E., the meeting proceeded to business. The usual committees were appointed, and 1 am requested to give you their reports for publication. The Committee on the Religious Inter ests of the Freedmen made the following re port : 1. Resolved , That we feel a deep and abiding interest in the welfare of the freed men of our country. That we will do all that we reasonably can do to promote their religious interests by united and persevering efforts to carry out the plan adopted by our late General Conference on the subject. 2. Resolved, That we will give them all the aid in our power in the formation of schools and the education of their children, and in the adoption of any and all measures calculated to promote their moral and intel lectual worth, and consequent elevation in the scale of civilization. 3. Resolved , That we recommend to tie Presiding Elder the emplcying of such col ored preachers as are competent and worthy to assist the preachers in charge of circuits, missions and stations in their labors with the ; colored people. The Committee on the State of the Church made the following report: Your Committee on the State of the j Church in the bounds of this District, after gathering all the information in their reach, as to its condition, are glad to learn that the j preachers generally, local and itinerant, have labored faithfully, and with a good degree of success. There has been considerable revival influence on most of the work on the j District. Many have been added to the Church. The congregations are generally , large at the Sabbath appointments, but the 1 week day appointments are nearly nominal. While the preachers have been zealous and the Lord lias blessed their labors, your t Committee are pained to learn from all quar-' ters of the work the small amount that has been received by them in the way of supp >rt. We have heard many plans suggested to remedy this difficulty. Something must he done, or dear as is the itinerant work the preachers will be forced to secular pursuits, which thought we deprecate. While the people plead their poverty and the scarcity of money, and while we make all due allow ances for those things, this does not save the preachers and their families from des titution and want. 1. Resolved, That we recommend as the only successful way of sustainiug the minis try, that, as soon as the preacher reaches the work assigned him the stewards meet and assess his provision support, and every stew ard collect and bring the same at once to the parsonage. Then the preacher knowing his wife and children have bread is free to de vote himself undividcdly to his loved em ployment. 2. Resolved, That they assess the amount in money they are to pay him during the year, and pay the same quarterly in ad vance. Then he will be saved from the un pleasant necessity of going in debt to supply the wants of his family. 3. Resolved, That it is the imperative duty of the church to sustain the Presiding Elder, and the best way to do this is to pay him his salary quarterly and secure a Dis trict Parsonage, and furnish him with pro visions at the commencement of the year. E. H. MYERS, D.D., EDITOR Whole Number, 1509 4. Resolved, That the District should ex tend to the Oelocnee River. It is too small aod too weak to support a Preliding Elder. 5. Resolved, That we recommend the blending of churches on the circuits when the same can be done without injury to the Church. 6. Resolved , That we earnestly request the Georgia Conference so to arrange, under the provisions of the General Conference, as to embrace that portion of the Georgia Conference territory now in the Florida Conference, and that the secretary transmit a copy of this resolution to the next Georgia Conference. RESOLUTIONS RESPECTING THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. Resolved, That we highly appreciate the liberal and benevolent policy of the Ameri can Bible Society towards the South. Resolved, That we will co-operate with the Rev. R. H. Luckey, Agent of the Amer ican Bible Society, in procuring and dis tributing the Holy Scriptures in this dis trict. The Committee on Sunday Schools made the following report: We are more than ever convinced of the importance of the religious instruction of children. They are the hope of the Church and of the country, and the blessed Saviour has enjoined on us the special duty of feed ing his lambs, and of bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And we believe that the Sabbath school is the first means to be made use of in bring ing them to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. Therefore we recommend the adoption of the following resolutions; 1. Resolved, That we believe the main object of Sabbath schools to be to teach the •hildren the knowledge of the Holy Scrip** tures, which are able to make them wise unto salvation. 2. Resolved, That we will be more faith ful in trying to establish Sunday schools in every circuit, mission and station on the dis trict, and to establish schools at every ap pointment in our bounds. 3. Resolved, That we recommend and request the Annual Conference to repri mand every preacher in charge of any cir cuit, mission or station in the bounds of this District, who does not put forth proper ef forts to establish schools on his work. The Following Resolutions were passed : Resolved , That we submit cheerfully to the ehanges made by our late General Con* ference, and hope sincerely that they will work good to our beloved Zion. Resolved, That we tender our thanks to the tent holders at Mount Zion Camp Ground for thtir devotion to the cause of Christ, and for their preparing the ground and sustaining the camp meeting for the ac commodation of the District Conference. N. B. Ousley, Chairman. 11. W. Siiarpe, Sec. To the Members of the Montgomery Conference. Trains from Selma to Blue Mountain ; distance 185 miles—fare, $9 45. ; Stage from Blue Mountain to Jacksonville ; J distance 10 miles—fare, $2 00. Stage from Rome to Jacksonville ; distance 50 j miles—fare, $8 00. 1 Stage from Montgomery tri- weekly to Tallade ga—fare, $lO 00. Train from Tal'adega to Blue Mountain; dis tance 25 miles—fare, $1 89. Presiding Elders please give us the names of candidates for admission, also of local brethren coming up for ordination. Ministers who expect to bring their wives to Conference, must let us know in due time. Ministers who do not expect to attend Con ference, will do us a favor by letting us know before Conference convenes. Ample provision will be made for all. L. M. Wilson. Oct, 2G— 3w W. R. Kirk. APPEAL FOR MISSIONS. TO THE PREACHERS OF THE GEORGIA CONFEB -ICNCU Dtar Brtthrm: The Missionary Treasury having been empty during the year, the Treas urer has been unable to cash the drafis of Mis sionaries. Some of them have been doomed to suffer as k* has reasen te believe. It is un n eessary to insert extraets from letters receiv ed from brethren engaged in the missionary work. We enly assure yon that money is need ed to meet their wants, and let us see that it is forthcoming. Let ms urge yon to take a collec tion in every Chnreh of your charge, at once, and get iwe or three faithful laymen to aid you. Let the membership be thoroughly canvassed, and every cent obtained that is possible, as we have a pressing need for all the money that au earnest and combined effort can secure. Come, dear brethren, let us not be appalled by the gloom that hangs over the future, or dismayed by the trials of the present, but with stout and brave hearts meet the perils of the storm, and hope for calmer seaß. Before coming to Conference, please exchange small for large bills, and you will very much aid the undersigned in his duties. Believing that our noble Conference will do its best, let us pray that <Jod may bless the Church with abundant liberality. Yours, fraternally, 2w Arminius WRianT. Treas. Ga. Cons. Missionary Society. Augusta, Ga., Oct. \bth, 1866.