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THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM Vol. XXXII.—No 21. For the Southern Can alia n Atfvo ate. A Dram-Driaksr’s Argument An swered. Dram drinker Boys, if you ever want to be drunkards, j in some temperance or ganization. I joined one onee, and the first thing I km.w I wanted to drink so bad, I didn’t know what to do. Well, the first time the thing met I resigned, and I being then free from all restraint, indulged to excess, and got dead drunk. Now, you take my advice and keep away from all temperance traps. The Answer. Man is a free agent: his will governs his every act. lie can do nothing until he wills to do it. aad when he has willed to do a thing, if it is possible, he is obliged to do the bidding unless he changes his will, by concluding not to do it. If he wills then, not to drink liquor he will not drink, cannot drink, until he wills to do so. Now, the question is simply this : Will a man who has willed to quit drinking liquor; and to restrain that wiil has pledged his word and honor not to violate the deter mination—a man who has formed anew as sociation with good men around the altar of Love, Purity and Fidelity, where the vice is painted ii all its hideous coloring, will he be more'liable to become a drunk ard thap one, who willingly in a crowd of evil associates, makes or believes the argu ment above? The proposition is a plain one, and I have attempted to portray it in a simple manner that all may draw their own conclu sion. Liquor drinker, I beseech you, to cease dragging from us with your shallow argu ment the thoughtless youth of our country. If you want them to go with you to the lake that burnetii with fire, weave not around them the wily mesh, but let them know the port to which you have steered. 1 would suggest in tho place of your aigument above, the reciting of the following lines, which I am sorry to state, 1 found written on the back of a Bible History 1 purchased at a second-hand book store, viz : “If there is any one here that has a de sire to go to the place of brimstone and fire, let him come with me, 1 am bound to go where streams of lava (braver flow." They will then be responsible if they follow your advice. A Son of Temperance. From the N>w Orl*»na Cnrixtmn Ad r oca*.*. Episcopal Diplomacy. The correspondence so suddenly inaugur ated by the Nortborn Board of Bishops was publish'd at length in the Advocate of last week. The singular coition with which it was introduced, and the generalities in which it abounds, awaken in our mind, possibly, an undue suspicion of i te intent, ft may he that every Southern mau has just now in him a reigning distrust of every thing that proceeds from ant-austral re gions, whether from political or ecclesiasti cal sources. Repeated reconstructions, open violation of the terms of eapitula. tion, and continued military rule, have doa# their work so effectually that more grace is required to restore confidence in any North ern proposition than most of us have. > However, the Northern bishops propose union : “It is fitting,” say they, “that tho Metho- j (list Church, which began the disunion, i should not he the bit *a -ichb.vo the reun-, i ion ; and it would be a reproach to the j ohicf pastors of the separated bodies if they j waited until their flocks prompted them to j the union, which both the love of country and of religion itivokc, and which the providence of G. and seems to render inevita ble at no distant day.” This matter of restoring union is now tho rage. Episcopalians, North and South, i Presbyterians, Old and New, are yielding j to the new force. Then the Episcopalians , are proposing still further, that all Metho- i dists allow themselves to be ordained over ! again by Moravian bishops, so that all on I board this large craft may take passage i upon their pirogue; this they conceive to j be eminently for tho “interests of humani- 1 ty.’’ In vain do we assure them that j Methodists are fully satisfied with their j own ordination and church ; they yet con- I stantly insist. It secures for them the ! character of catholicity, and at the same j time unsettles some weak souls which arc j tho more easily gobbled up We have never been abie to sec the de- | sirableness of “reunion,” or “union,” with the Northern Methodists. It would in- j crease the political force of that church ! greatly, which is already too great for the 1 country’s good. In tact all these “rcun- j ions’’ are in the sole interest of that ten- j dency toward a centralizing despotism which ; threatens all civil as well as ail political liberty. If the Church South could de- ] liver herself from the common pressure by placing herself under the mgis of a body that prayed sod fasted to induce the Lord to impeach President Johnson, she I would not, could not do it. No, her work is to live with her own people, and if need be go down with them. The Methodist Church South is full large enough to do ; good work for Christ, the country, and the j world. We" only seek to swell it by the j conversion of sinners. But let us consider more accurately the situation of affairs as between these two branches of Methodism, and as in view of this spontaneous episcopal overture. A quarter of a censury ago the General : Conference of the Methodist Episcopal | Church, at-ils se*sion then being held iu New York, determined, by a vote of ono hundred and forty seven to twenty three, upon a friendly division of the ehurih forming thereby two distinct churches in place of the Methodist Episcopal Church. To quote the language of the decree of the Supreme Court of the United States, ren- j dered ten years after the division : “By : force and anthori.fi/ of the said General Conference (of 1844) she religious associa tion known as the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United (Stales of America, as then existent/, was divided into two into- I ciations, or distinct Methodist Episcopal Churches At the time of this division the mem- - bers of the General Conference from North \ ern States were largely in the majority; but the measure was expressly declared to be “not schism, but separation for mutual convenience and prosperity.” By the terms of the “Plan of Separation’’ the membership was divided in block ; and so was the property of its “Book Concern’’— all the meeting houses, parsonages, colle- : ges, schools, and cemeteries, within the limits of the Southern or the Northern ter- ! ritory, were declared to belong respectively ■ to the Southern or the Northern division of the ohurch. Nothing could be plainer or fairer. The South acted upon the un- j derstanding, but, to its surprise and annoy- j ance, could only recover its share of the property at the end of the law. Suits for property arc not usually productive of chari ty, and these made a wide breach between the two halves of Methodism. Asa corol- j lary to this the North refused to receive a fraternal messenger from the South, and occasional raid's mutually intensified these differences. Still the two divisions pros pered, and the increase of their member ship, of their schools, aod their missions, indicated the wisdom of the action of the General Conference of 1844. The law- | suit and the messenger, however, would j come up, for Southern people have a per- ! pistent memory. S'mi Hunt Christian AdtotaU, Next cime the war, full of dreadful things, and if it had been waged even after the most civilized methods, was not favora ble to any increase of love. It was diffi cult to conceive how any church, as a church, could be seen amid its fires, or he found at work fanning its flames. But to the chagrin of all gx>d men, the Northern division of Methodism entered the lists in propria persona, and threw itself actively into the conflict. One of its bishops armed himself with the following document, singled out and seized the principal churches of the South ern division of Methodism, ejected its min isters, and occupied them with his own men: Hiamgakvhs D»p’» of in Gwir, yew Orleans, Jan. 18. 1184. i»p**ial Ordara > T o. 15. [Extract.] 5 In accordance with instructions, con tained in a letter from the Secretary of Yfar, under date of November 30, 1863, all houses of worship within this depart ment, belonging to the Methodist Episco pal Church, South, in which a loyal minis ter, who has been appointed by a loyal bishop of said church, does not. now effioi ate, are hereby plated at the disposal of the Rev. Bishop Ames. Commanding officers at the various points, where such houses of worship may be loca ted, are directed to extend to the minis ters, that may be appointed by Bishop Ames to conduct divine service in said hou'«s of worship, all the aid, countenance, and support practicable in the execution of their mission. Officers of the quartermaster’s and com missary departments are authorized and di rected to furnish Bishop Ames and his eleik with transportation and subsistence, when it can be done without prejudice to the service ; and all officers will afford them courtesy, assistance, and protection. Ur command of Major General Banks ttlOR vE B DRAKE. Assistant Adjuvant <j*ner*l. lIADqUARTIM DlP’t OF 111 CiOLP. New Orleana, La., July 13 lift#. Official: J. BCHUTLER CROSBY, Brevtt Liauianant Coloaal, A. D. C. and A. A. A. Gan. Here was something worse than the law suit, harder to swallow, and much harder to forget. But at length peace unfolded her benign wings The thunders of war went down beyond the sky, the voice of the turtle was heard once more, and timid creatures which had been frightoned away by the dreadful roar of tho combat, now crept forth again into God's sunshine. The holy angels ope ned the treasured vials of prayer, and shed love’s sweet odors once more upon the sanctuaries of the laud. But long af ter the pursuit of war had ceased tie pul pits of Southern Methodism continued to he filled hy this war-installed ministry. It was only by peremptory order from Presi dent Johnson that the appointees of Bishop Ames could be gotten out of tho churches of the Southwest. They were literally ejected against their will; and in all those houses from which they were not then ejected the; still remain, to tho scandal of the ciusc of Christ. There arc threo such churches cow in this city, and not a few in East Tennessee and elsewhere. Hero again was something more than tho special order seizure, worse than the law suit, W the rsjtcDd messenger—a etiuicli claiming to hold property, after peace is restored, by virtue of “military conquest.’’ A few months after this ejection was ef fected the General Conference of the South ern Methodist Church met in this city. All of a sudden, like a thought from heaven, there came to this venerable body a tele gram from a Northern Confercno# proposing mutual prayer. Rather startling, thought we, but no doubt honestly meant. It was honestly accepted; we prayed. When lo ! the parties who proposed prayer flash a re consideration and a refusal! Memory, that same Southern memory, writes down another time, “These people are not sin cere ” And again there comes up the law suit—the messenger —the “special order 15’’ —the “military conquest.’’ About this time Bishop Ames published a letter in which he proposed in good faith to leave the question of Southern Metho dist property to Chief Justice Chase! though the Supreme Court had, without a dissenting opinion, ordered and decreed it to be the property of the Methodist Epis copal Church, South, ten years before ! And latterly the organ of Northern Metho dism published in Atlanta, Georgia, by the book agents at Cincinnati, denits that the decinoa has any force, and still claims all Southeru Methodist churches! Is k.epitig with all this the principal paper ,'f tbs Methodist Episcopal Church, the New York Christian Advocate, an nounces it to be the policy of that church to disintegrate and absorb Southern Metho dism an announcement which has the double force of being made by the most in fluential person in that church, and of ba ing exactly descriptive of its horn* miision ary policy. This idea of recovering a na tional breadth by forming a Methodist Epis copal Conference in every Southern State, met with great favor both from its Mission ary Board and its Bench of Biahops. Preachers were sent out, were sustained as missionaries, and some made large returns of membership. In East Tennessee Bishop Clark reported a great succaes among whites as well as blacks But ia all these gains it was virtually but a transfer of members from Southern to Northern Methodism. Tho two hundred thousand blacks who be longed to the former might be ‘ disintegra ted’’ very rapidly ; by some military pres sure, some appeal to the obligations which they were under to their liberators, and a slight application made to exhorters and leaders in the shape of missionary appro priations, they could be melted off in large masses and floated out into the wide sea of Northern Meihodism. This kind of mia sionary enterprise adds nothing to the cause of the Saviour, because it only repeats in a new form among His people the conflict of passion which had oeased elsewhere. No sinner* are convicted or added to the church, but the war of States is changad into a war of churches. We know this ia putting the matter strongly, but truly. We do not object to the presence of Northern Methodism in Southern States ; but we se riously object to any church that carries on an ecclesiastical piracy and parades its spoil as an achievement of tho spirit of mia sions. ■Without going further in thi* bill, we lum up the items which oause the present wide divergence between two Methodisms : the law suit aod its corollary, the rejeoted messenger, tho “special order” seizures, the “military conquest” titles, the “net re sult” telegram, the “disintegrating” policy. It is in this attitude of affairs that we are surprised by anew phenomenon —a visit from the Northern bishops ! —Angels coming out of a thunder storm! We ad mire, and then ask, What sort of angels are these? Charity always regards the messengers of peace with favor, no mattsr in what shape they oome; much more when they oome as the angels of the chur ches. Can this vision efface the memory of the past and the facts of the presaut? That is the question. And upon regarding this company of godly persons we find one of them, at least, to be mortal —Bishop Ames, him of “special order 15,” not to mention one or two others of earthly mould. They unfold their message, and our readers and the whole church have by this time pondered it. It seems to be in the interest of peace. “Their words are smoother than butter.” “At a meeting,” say they, “of the Board of Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in Erie, Pennsylvania, in June, 1865, we made and published the following declaration: “That the great cause which led to the separation from us of both the Wesleyan Methodists of this country and the Metho dist Episcopal Church, South, has passed away, and we trust the day is not far dis tant when there shall be but one organiza tion, which shall embrace the whole Jletho di»t family in tho United States. “This declaration was made in good faith, and shows what were then our sentiments and feelings, and was deemed by us as the utmost we were authorized to say or do on the subject at that time. “Although our iate Genera! Conference did not directly authorize us to take further specific action in the matter, yet we judge that some of its acts justify advanced steps on our part. “In our quadrennial address to the Gen al Conference we referred to the declara tion above quoted, aad ro exception was taken to it by that body.” In June, 1865, these were their “senti ments aad feelings, uttered in good faith.” And while they were uttering these senti ments we were on our way to Washington to obtain our churches in Louisiana from the hand of the President and the Secreta ry of War. We waited through July, Au gust, September, October, and November, of 1865, and then by the intervention of Mr. Johnson we, after four munths, obtain ed that which those angels of the Northern Methodist Church might have given us in one moment. But that was the year after the war They now feel “justified” iu taking soma “advanced steps,” the Gener al Conference having taken ‘‘no exception” to their “declaration’’ of 1865 We sup pose not, for that body took the “declara tion” at its worth, by weighing it against their episcopal acta. The Conference doubtless felt that so long as they went in that, direction they needed no further spe cific instruction, that the policy of “disin tegration and absorption’’ was being well enough managed. We may, therefore, b* pardoned if we look at the acts, not at the “declarations” of this episcopal board.— What is it doing “for the interest* of hu manity and the glory of God ?’’ It is hold ing on to every church in the South in which it was placed hy Secretary Stanton, freon which it has not been forcibly ejected by Mr. Johnson. In Maryland it holds on to chur ches bscsuse the deeds run in its favor, though congregations which built the chur ches are turned ont of doors; in Louisiana and Tennasse* it holds on to churches where the deeds do not run in its favor, but holds by “military conquest.” Now let these venerable representatives of chaiity begin their mission ia tho “in terests of humanity” by giving up every church which they occupy in violation of either law or equity, and by abstaining from all acts likely to disintegrate the love which remains between us and them. Oth erwise let them not expect to have the credit of doing something without doing it—to seem to do something, not to do it, and yet to get the credit of doing it. A Touching Talo of Truth. There was not a ripple in the Channel that would have spilled a glass full of wine, if you could have placed it upright on the water. I shall not mention the correct route which I traveled, because, although I am not bound to secrecy, and although the facts may possibly come before the pub lie in a less peaceable manner than this, I thiak it wiser at present, to disguise the names of persons and places. I shall say, therefore, that tha Channel was perfectly smooth, on a certain Thursday in July of this year, between Havre and Southamp ton. Nobody was ill, if you exespt one French lady, who had clearly made up her mind that she ought to bo, twenty minutes before the steamer left the wharf. She of oourse, gasped “Mon Diets!'’ aud went down to her berth. Otherwise, we had a perfectly clean bill of health, as f*r as mal de mer wn concerned. Bat, on going into the ctbin tor one of tho innumerable lun cheons I always require on board ship, I found the conversation waxing warm on the great topic of the day—the Irish Church, of course. All were agreed that the Radical measure was neither more nor leas than a cunning assault on the Eaglish Church, and, through it, upon the English Constitution. But there was one passen ger who and ffared from the rest on the side which would probably be taken by the high Ritualist party, whan the fight fairly sets in, at election tin e. His companions seam ed to think that the affinity between Ox ford and Rima was rather apparant than real, and that Traetarians and the Millinary Church generally would be found English at the core when the brunt of battle came. The old gantleman who sat by the cabin door knew better, and assumed the tone of one who had a right to speak. He was a fine specimen of a substantial, well-to do- Euglishmao, verging, perhaps, on seventy. ITe had clearly gone through most deep and sore trouble, and vary lately too; and it scarcely requirsd two glances to find ont that the trouble was somehow eonnacted with the topic of conversation. As he apoke upon it his lip quivered, and his white cheeks grew paler still; aad his eyes, underneath the pent-house bushy brows, aetually glared upon the more moderate or more charitable of the company, who evi dently thought him prejudiced. “I think I ought to know sir,” he 3aid. “whsther Ritualism leads to Popsry. If any body knows, I should know, air.” And the old man’s voice quivered as he rubbed hi* knee very nervously with his hand looking down to hide what he was feeling terribly. “You’ve seen something of them your salf?’’ I said, after listening a minute or 10. He didn’t apeak at first, but droopod his bead still more, and his mouth was work ing so painfully that evarybody felt the sub ject getting too serious, and even embar raasing. (And now, I wish it to be under stood that lam relating almoat word for word what followed ) “They’ve cost me my favorite child, sir —that’* what those scoundrels have done, air. So I think I ought to know.’’ “Indeed ! How was that ? That's no tri fit. How did that occur?” “Well sir,’’ he said, “I had five daugh ters. Aud I lost lour, one after another, by death.’’ And the poor old gentleman took out his handkerchief, and burying his face in it, didn’t speak for a few seconds. “I followed them, sir, one by one, to thair graves—as fine gir.s as perhaps ever graw ; and I think I brought them up with out grudging expanse, and certainly loved them well, if ever a father did. But if you’ll believe me, sir, I wish, as I sit here, that, instead of burying four daughters, I had buried all the five. “What happened then ?’’ “My favorite girl, sir, who was spared to me for a year or two after her sisters were gone, turned her back on her mother and me, and she is now worse than dead to us— -0 ! a thousand times worse than dead I” PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & CO., FOR THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, Macon, Ga., Friday, June 11, 1869. And never have I seen more, real grief in human countenance, or heaW it in hu man tones “Then where is she now ?’’ “I don’t know, sir—l don’f know. I think some where in Birmingham. But I cannot find cut. She never writes. And I am told, that ai she is twenty-three and her own mistress, I am powerless, and can do nothing “Then, I suppose, she is in some Pro testant religious house —a sister, or some thing of that sort ?” “Protestant! Lord bless ye, sir—noth ing of the kind ! She is a Romanist, sir ; and one of the most rigid and austere of tha lot. She never told a lie, sir, to her mother or me, till she was one-ai-d-twenty. I gave her the best education a girl could have. She could translate any Latin or Greek yon could set her down to. And, al together, though I say it as her father, a fioer, lovelier, and grander girl in every way never stepped!” The old min’* love, and misery, and en ergy, were a fine sight to see in ;he cabin that day. “Then what brought about tfetAhauga ?’’ “Why, sir, I live at have dona for many years—and my poor girl took it into her head, on Sunday anernoons, that she would go to hear the music—first at one of these high churches, then at another. She went to Mr. Lagaer’s one Sunday, and to Mr. Paalaad’s the nett; and so on —till she got thoroughly infected ; and than, (though she denied it, and told her very first lies about it,) she went to oonfession —and so on, from one Tilling to another, til!, at last, shs went up tc London, aQd saw the Arahtoshop himself.” “What, of Canterbury?” “No, no, the other— ’’ (And I am afraid that I must omit the speaker's irreverent conelusioa of tho sen tence ) “And he advised her to go inti a nun nery ?” “God knows what he advised her, sir; but one dav she told ua she was going tho next morning; aad gj she did, Lord love her!” And then the old man fairly down, and we all wished we had not leJLhim on so long. ' * “But you could sen her,” I said, “occa sionally, if you like ?” “Yes She on one side of an irra grat ing, and her mother or I on the other! Besides, she doesn’t want to see u-: She says she is dead to us; at Icast-so her brother has heard.’’ “Then you have a son ?’’ “Yes; one child left, sir. lie’s in the Church, and a great blessing to u-.. But he’s not my dariing—he can't b«—as she was. I think f ought to know witch way these traitors iu ths Church are carrying us What do you think, sir ? We all agreed that it was a sad story, and joined in fearing that there were many more quite as sad. “It’s bringing the mother fast down into her grave, sir, that’s what it’s doing. She takes it worst, sir, naturally.” t And when, at the end of the par-age, I saw the poor old couple walk oft' the pier together, I wondered whether Mr. Lavner’s and Mr. Peaiand’s churches had he ten commandments printed up ia place near the communion table if they had, I wondered whether the fifth had been painted out or not. And when I shook hands with my companion, and wished him “good bye,” I said to him “God save us all, sir, from any religion which teaches children not to honour their father and mother !’’ If it be true, that Radicals and Romanist* are going to join together, and bring our happy Eaglish homes to this pass, or anything like it, why, then, we hype the cry of “No Popery,” unfashionable as it may be, will once more become one of the echoes of the times. — Rock ( London ,) from tha Msmahis Christian Advocate. Tho Ministry and the Church—Thoir Eolations. it tiii a*y de lotick piamca. The Church of God is either a divine order, or else it is without any established order. It is a divine institution, or a hu man institution, because it is emphatically an institution. If it is a divine institu tion, it must have a divine order, if it has a divine older, all disobedience (o that order is disobedience toward God, anli can not bo indulged iu without the guilt c; mor al delinquency. Paul said of tha liberal saints, alluded to in 2 Cor. viii. 5., that they had done what they had done in his ordered collection : First, because they had given their own selves unto the Lord ; and secondly, be cause they had given themselves unto His ministers as their pastors, and done so by the will of God. This was a feature in the organic relations of a divinely called and appointed pastorate ia the Church of Christ, which eould not exist in it then, and be dismissed from it now; because its incorporation into this relation then, cer tifies it to be an indiapensable element in Church organization, or else it involves the unerring mind of God, in the organization of the Christian Church, in the monitroui conception of inserting in its primitive structure a principle of 00-operatirenvss with the pastoral authority and relation, which was to be eliminated from thorn at the will of Church members, and this, as exaotly by the will of God as the foj|jter; for if it is still the will of God *hat Those who give themselves to God should 1 also give themselves to Ilis ministers, as co workers with them, then is disobedience to their divinely appointed overseers an act of rebellion agaiosc divine order. The order of God is between a ministe rial pastor and his flock : “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit your selves.” But the duty of submission ean not exist in this case, unless the right to rule ii absolute and divine. This order, of right, however, must always be understood as issuing, aot from lord* over God’s heri tage, but from ensample* to his flock. God has not invested His ministers wi’h any right to command their members to do any work but such as ho is an exemplar of in himself. Take, for instance, our glorious Sunday-school cause—say it is a pastor’* duty to put the children of bis charge into a Sabbath-school for their instruction in re ligioui knowledge, and then, say it is the religiouv right of his members to refuse to superintend and to teach, as he directs what a farce would Church organization fie ? Or, suppose when a pastor summoo%Jhis people to assemble at church lor a solemn prayer-meeting, to pray for the peace or the prosperity of Zion, three fourths of them should voluntarily decline to attend, and not a few ol them do so, because they chose the gossip of a parlor sociable, or the dissi pation of an evening stroll. But he says : “My brethren, I require your attendance upon prayer-meeting because these are meetings of the Church for social, religious communion ; meetings which you are com manded especially not to forsake, but to take part in them for mutual help and com fort. I require your attendance on these meetings iu the name of the .Lord, for lie has so ordered it. And I urge it because in this order of God it is made your duty to obey them that have the rule over you, those that have spoken to you the Word of God, and whose faith you are required to follow. But you say practically that I, as your pastor, have no right to assign you to any work in tho Church, nor hold you res ponsible in view of your right of member ship in the Church, under my aare of it as Christ's household, for attendance upon prayer-meetings and church meetings, as the meetings in the order of God over which, as pastor of the flock, I am consti tutsd and appointed to be the moral and spiritual ruler.” Well, if so, there is no rule, no order in the Church, for the Churpb, as a body, cannot rule itself. As well might a militia company, in time of war, be expected to becomo efficient in battle while the men claimed the right to order their own move ments. The analogy between moral and military law is striking The requirements in both must be absolute, in order to make them available. If a soldier can say: I will march when I choose, and decline when I please, military law is a bauble. Its vitality is in its power. It is just so with moral law in the Church. Its vitality and its worth are in its immediate power. If it eould allow of any gainsayings, or could compromise its absoluteness in de mand for accommodation terms, it would bo null as to organic efficiency. I, therefore, maintain that this gift of ourselves unto God’s ministers, as His executive officers in Hie organie Chureh, is as much an ele meat in a divinely constituted Church, as is the gift of ourselves unto the Lord ; be cause a Church cannot be divinely consti tuted unless the constituency is bound by divine law to obey all the orders issuing from its immediate executive head; and to this place and offioc Christ did assign His ministers when, in token and demonstra tion thereof, he delivered unto them the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which meant their right by divine appointment, both to declare the laws of the Chureh and to enforce them. Unless this were so, the Church would be nothing but a restless, changeable, religious democracy. But God has iastituted and ordained it to be a divine monarchy. It is the Chureh that is called tho kingdom of heaven. It is a kingdom because its laws issue from one mind. To the Church it is emphatiellly true that there is only one Law giver, and to the di vinely constituted pastorate has been con-, sided the explanation and the application of the divine law to the lives of the corpora tors in this spiritual association, and from the decree of his judgment the Church cat* have no appeal except to the Bible, on the ground of wilful or of accidental mal ad ministration. To the Church, on the ground of relief by a mere majority vote, there is in tho divine economy no resort. If the Church wou and know its place and fulfil its destiny, it would see that its execu tive work is to maintain inviolate the laws of the kiogdom of heaven, even at the cost of every member of the divine corporation who shows any want of godiy obedience to ail the laws of the kingdom. Wc aro ambassadors for Christ, a very different thing from our being mere ambas sadors of Christ. Wo can hold no treaty with any one outside ts Christ as lie is. We are appointed only to treat with per sons inside of the laws of His kingdom These laws we must uphold if the heavens fall. It is our duty to exact upon you up to the measure of the laws of His king dom, and if we fail to do it, up to the point of separating ihe preoious Lorn the vile, we fail to be as the mouth of God. How forcibly does this Old Testament rule ro miud us of Christ’s investment of His apos tolic ministers with this tremendous judi cial and executive power: “Whatever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, snd whatever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’’ Why ? Because you *re appointed to settle the law of duty, and compel compliance. And while you stick to the law aud to the testimony, you are as My mouth, and the Church must know that what I do by My agents, is done by Myself, and will bo endorsed by Me. Therefore, if a minister were to settle a di vine law question aright, and expel a mem ber at his own iastance ou that decision, and that member could get restored to the Church by a majority vote, yet would the sentence pronounced against him by Christ’s executive agent, ramain affirmed as betweeu Christ and the excommunicated member. The Church will slowly or rapidly decline wherever the miuistry is degraded from tlnir executive relation to tho Church; and also, wherever holding it, the ministry succumbs to the tear of ouiside pressure, or yields to the corruption of an inside latitu dinsrianiam. To the mistaken notion of our pcoplo that they are undsr no divine obligation to fall into orderly working line, along with their chosen or appointsd pastors, at their call and appointment, and especially our chief male members, may be traced the reasons of oar partial failure to carry out Methodism in its original, marvelous glory. These men assumed that they did not give themselves unto us by tho will of God when they professed to give their own selves unto God at the first. Thus, what God had joined together in Ills Church, they scif-willedly put asunder, so that when we wanted we eould not get class-leaders who could have sustaii ed this good old in stitution. which I now declare, if it had been well carried out, can never be substi tuted by anything else equal to itself. In the same way, in some places, the Church is doomed to great future loss because our members utterly refuse to obey their pas tors in fiflins places in Sunday schools, to which they are appointed, and will let a school utterly fail rather than fill the place to which they have been solemnly and Seripturaily appointed by the v«ry man to whom God in Ilis Word has required thorn to submit themselves. And in tLe name way Church extension is cut off. Let a pastor of a Chureh devis* work for Churoh exten sion in this city, for icstaece, no matter how wisely, if iteannot be carrieJ out without the aid of certain leading men —members of his charge —aad let him appoint them to load meetings among these people as his helpers, and many of them will feel under no more moral obligation to obey his pastoral behest than if it had been issued from a common court bailiff. How can we carry on the work assigned us with a male membership who do not scruple to set aside our divine right to their co operative help? It cannot be done, only slowly and imperfectly, because the Church, to which this home work belongs —as the corporate body—will not do its part. Church members refuse to give themselves unto us by the will of God, as was the wont of apostolio converts. And we dare not spread out beyond our own ca pacities to hold meetings, for if we pledge help in advance, and send brother A. B. word to go and lead a prayer-meeting there, he will tell you he cannot do it, and he will not do it. He feels no scruple to disobey you, because he has not left the settlement of this question with the Bible, but settles it for himself, and in doing so puts himsel; in antagonism with his Bible and with his God : for he refuses to be either the salt of the earth ortho light of the world. Politics and Religion. —A Congrega tionalism in the Boston Courier, says: “Within the knowledge of the writer of this article, there were in a neighboring New England State, less than twenty years ago, seven Congregational churches in con tiguous parishes, all flourishing, and with settled ministers. Now there is but one of these ohurches over whioh there is a pastor —the others have been abandoned from the inability of the societies to support stat ed preaching. Thtre are large numbers ol churches iu New England which, within this period, have met a similar fate, and the end is not yet. In fact, there are but few country churches which are not to-day making desperate struggles for very life. And all this because the professed ministers of Christ have given up the preaching of Christ and him crucified, and used their pulpits for only the vilest of partisan pur poses.” Jgodrtne anb Csgerience. Salutation to Jesus Christ. DT JOIN CALVIN. [Tha following sacred hymu is taken from Dr Se.iaff'* volume, entitled “Guriai in Song ” Dr tJchaff »*▼.*: “This hymn, together with eieren other*, (mostly translations from Psalms ) written in Frenoa, was recently discovered by Felix Bovat. of Neuchatel. in an old Genevese prayer-book, and first published in the sixth volume of t he new edition of the works of Calfio, hy Baum. Uui-itz and Kenes, ItKK It reveals a poetic vein arid a devotional fervor and tenderness, which one would hardly have suspected in the nevere logician ” The English translation is by tae wife of Prof. H*nrv B. Smith. D. D., of the Union Theological Seminar t, N\ w York •-! I greet trie*, who my sure Red*amer art, Trua Bridegroom and sole Saviour ol’ my heart! Who so much toil and woe And pain didst undergo. For toy poor, worthless sake: And pray Thee, from our hearts, AM idla gri«f and smarts, And foolish cares to take. Thou art the king of merev and of grace, Reigning omnipo'ent in evary place; So come. O king! and deign Within our hearts to reign, And our whole being away ; Shine in us by Thy M^ht, And lead us to the height Os Thy pure, heavanly day. Thou art the life by which alone we live, And all our substance and • ur strength receive ; Comfort us by Thy faith Against th<» pains of Death ; Sustain us by Thv power; Let not < ur fears prevail, Nor our hearts faint or fail, When comes the trying hour. Thou art the true and perfect gentlanes*; No haishmss bast Thou, and no tuterncss; Make us to taste an t prove, Make ii“ adore and b ve The sweet grace found in Thee ; With longing abide Ever at Thy dear sido, In Thy sweet un tv. Our hope is in no other save in Thee. Our faith is built upon Thy promise free ; Gome! and our holm increase, Comfort and “ire us peace, Make us so strong and pure Teat we sha'l conquerors be, And well and patiently Shall every ill endure. Poor, banished exilf s, wretched «ons cf Fvs, Full of ab sorrows, not ■ Thee we grieve ! To w » bring our sighs, Our groaning* an I our cries ; Thy city. Lord, we crave ; ’ We take the sinner’- plane. And prav Th»e. of Thy grace, Turn Thy sweet eyes upon our low estate, Our Mediator aud our Advocate, Propitiator best 1 The God of gods. Most High! And let u- by Tav milt, Enter the bleated light And glories of the sky ! Oh, pitiful and gracious as Thou art.. The lovely Bridegroom c.f the ho y heart, Lord Jean* Christ, meet Thou The Antichrist. *>ur foe, In all his cruel nub ! The Spirit give that we May. tn true verity. Follow Thy word of truth. Look to mo for the Ront. “Have you ever thought of the great sal vation ?” I asked one ovening of a work ing man who had been hearing the Gospel preached, and with whom I had to walk some miles. “O, yes,” ho replied; “I have often thought about it.” “And are you saved ?” “Weil, I could not say that—l don’t feel as I would like.” “I quite believe that ; but do you think any of us eould ever feel perfectly rieht here? But are you in peace with God ?’’ “I never could say that I am satisfied with myself.” “But, iny friend, I never asked if you were. It would boa very bad sign if you were sailsßfid with yourself. But are you at peace with God “Well, I never could foci that C have peace. ,7 “But I don’t ask if you have peace with yourself. I hope you never will. Have you peace with God ?’’ “To tell you the tmth, I am not right.” “How !o£!£ i- it since you began to think of these things ?’’ “About atven or eight years ago, in the north of Ireland, I was first awakened by a minister preaching on ‘Y'e must be born again.’ And often since that time, I have been trying to feel God’s Spirit working iu me.’’ “And you never have?” “No ; I could not be sure.” “llow could ever any one be sure of what was going on within him, especially as our enemy comes as an angel of light. That is God’s part, not yours.” “Well, what am I to do then ?” “Jesus was the one, you remember, that said *Y e must be born again ’ ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.’ Now, at the end of ail this conversation, Nicodcmus knew nothing about how to be saved for himself, but only said, ‘llow can these things be ?’ even when Jesus himself wss the gr at teacher.” “That’s just where I am.’’ “Now, what did Jesus do ? He took him away to the picture book for children, and showed him the picture of a dying man looking away from himself to a serpent oq a pole and thus living; and then told that ‘as Moses lifted up the serpent in tho wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.* Now. all you have to do is to look and live.” “But that is just what I’ve been trying to, and which I don’t know how to do; wbat is it to look to Christ?” “Now I understand your difficulty—you can not s*e Christ with the eyes of your body—you can’t see him in vision—you say that you can’t fael his presence within you—you can’t feel that you have faith.” “Exactly; whit am Itodo ?” “Allow me to give you an illustration.” In some such words I spoke with my friend, and gave him the substance of the follow ing illustration, which seemed to clear awsy his difficulty ; and I thought l would write it for you, as by God’s blessing it may »nable you to receive God’s simple plan, and accept God's salvation for noth ing. “You have a rent —say £lO a year to pay —having to maintain a large family, and having been recently in distress and out of work, you find it impossible to pay it. Suppose that I was able, and knew your difficulty, and took pity on you, and said to jou, “ ‘John, I hear you have a heavy rent, and have had very hard times, you will never be ablo to pay it. Now I wish you to use your money for your most pressing wants, to get food and clothing for your wife, and look to me for the rent ’ You, knowing me, and hence believing me, would go away homo with a burden off your mind, and a happy heart. When you came home next Saturday with yonr wages, you would tell your wife to spend all the money in getting food and clothing. “‘But,’ she would say, ‘are we not to lay aside something for the rent?’ “ ‘O, no,’ you would answer, ‘I met a man whom I know, and who said, look to me for the rent, and I know him and be lieve him.’ “And thus weeks would go ou, till a month before the rent day a neighbor comes in and says, “‘John, I’ve got only £5 gathered for inv rent, and I don’t know what I’m to do. How much have you ?’ “ ‘None at all.' “ ‘What! are you to do nothing ?’ “ ‘O, a friend of mine said, look to me for the rent.' “ ‘And are you not getting anxious about it ?’ “ ‘No.’ “ ‘Why ?’ “ ‘Because I trust him.’ “ ‘Why ?’ “ ‘Because I believe him,’ “ ‘Why ?’ “ ‘Because I know him.’ “Soon the rent-day comes, and even your wife begins to be suspicious and doubtful, but you have implicit trust in what I said—you have no difficulty in un derstanding what look to me for the rent means, and so at the appointed hour 1 walk in and make my word good, and you would be happy to find that, against all your neighbor’s doubts, against all your wife’s fears, and even against all your own trem blings, you had trusted my word and looked to me for the rent This of course is only an illustration, as I have no doubt you are at the present quito able and willieg to pay your own rent; but in the matter of our salvation, though we might be willing, we are totally unable; so ths Lord now says, ‘Look to me and be ye saved.’ Christ on the cross is God’s fulfillment of this. He paid the debt of the sinner. Men are do ing right enough things; praying, living moral lives, giving money, etc., but all for the wrong end—all will never save. God says, 'look to me for salvation,’ and then be gin to use your time, talents, money, pow ers, eto., for their legitimate end, to glori fy God. Don’t try to bo holy in order to be saved. ’That would b* like a man lay ing up for a rent which he oould never pay. '■Look to me and be saved,’ says God, and then be holy, because you aro sutc of salvation on the authority of God. Religion will never save you—even pure religion. God defines pure religion iu James i. 27 : ‘Pure religion and uudefiled, before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their af fliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world ‘ By the deeds of the law we can not ba justified; therefore by doing all this we cannot be saved. But religion is the life of a saved man, not the efforts of an unsaved man to get. saved. The work is not to the cross, it is from the cross to the crown. Jesus did ALL to save. He brought the cross to our level. Get saved by looking to him and then work to God. Don’t look to the feeling as being saved— look away from what is being wrought in you to what is being wrought./br you We are not saved on account of the Spirit working in us, but hy means of his work —we are saved on account of Christ dying for us. ‘Look to me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.’’’— British Ileraltl. Apostolic Church—All thing* Common In the first place wc must beware of vagu* aud fantastic conceptions as to what this having all things common really was ; what it looked like as a veritable and visiblo faot. Wc must not supposo that the first Chris tian community lived like monks in one vast establishment; or that they all clus tered together in one collection of alma houses, all built on ono model, something like tha great Moravian institutions; or that they all took their meals at a common table, like the Spartans of old. No ; thsy still occupied their own homes ; they broke bread from house to house. No one was required to alienate his estate, as Peter dis tinctly reminded Ananias and Sapphira. “Whiles it remained, was it not thine own f and after it was sold, wai it not in thine own power ?’’ What, then, wa.s the real state of the ease ? To save ourselves from hasty and extrava gant ideas on this subject it may be well, first of all, to ask ourselves, What was the economical and financial system adopted by Christ and his Apostles ? The twelve who were in constant attendance upon the Mas ter, who moved where he moved, save when at liis bidding they left him alone for pray er, turned all that th«y could turn, sensibly and with advantage, into ready money, and cast it all into a common stock. Os this Judas was appointed treasurer, doubtless because he was tho moat skilled, probably because he was most experienced in money matters. Most likely Judas had been a shrewd, succtfcsful man ol business, and the covet ousness which became his ruin was but a relapse into an abandoned sin, as Peter’s cursing betrayed the early habits of voci ferous blasphemy, which he could not as readily cast off as “his fisher’s coat.’’ Now any one can see that this throwing all their available cash into a common fund was not only the most brotherly, but the mest com mon-sense, arrangement; in fact, the only practical arrangement for an itinerant asso ciation whose life was to be henceforth de voted to the one common object of preach ing the kingdom of God, and learning tbe laws of that kiugdom from the lips of Christ. Yet even then there was no reckless aban donment of their previous possessions. When Peter and his brother Andrew left their ship and nets to follow Christ they retained the ownership of them; for they were owners, and not iu a state of abject poverty. Their ship was henceforth placed at the disposal of tho Master; its deck was his pulpit, its stei* cabin was his sleeping room. When ont upon the lake it was for his transit, retirement, and convenient standtng»room, so long as he tarrmd oa the borders on the Sea of Galilee But when the brothers wure away with the Master, Peter’s wife and her neighbors knew very well to whom the ship belonged ; and Peter did not leave her or her mother without a house over their heads. This ship and those nets remained in the possession of the brothers until after the resurrection of Christ, for they returned to them and re sumed their old employment. John, too, the youngest of tho brotherhood, had a house of his own which he retained with the knowledge and approval of the master, since fiorn the hour of the crucifixion, he toot the Loru’s mother “to his own home.’’ When Matthew, at a moment’s notice, left tho tax collector’s booth, he took his money with him, and his account* too, *nd held his house, for a time at least, since ha invited his brother-publicans to meet tho Maater there at a great suit. In the few dftys’ interval between the Ascension and Peutecost, the hundred and twenty brethren and sisters then tarrying at Jerusalem, and devoting themselves whol ly to prayer and srdent sxpeotation, would live as one household, though too numerous to eat at one table, or lodge under on* roof. They were a community, the expenses of which would bo met at onoe in the most economical and th* most generous manner, in the way most noble and considerate on the part of tho better-off, and the least ex acting and encroaching on the part of the poor. But the hundred and twenty who had been present at the Ascension from the Mount of Olives, although they had formed themselves into an enrolled association, as certaining “the number of the names, ’ were not the whole existing Churoh of Christ. They were not even the majority. More than three hundred and eighty “breth ren,” the larger number of the “above five hundred” who had “as onoe’’ worshipped tho risen Master, had been unable to spend in the neighborhood of the holy city tho E. H. MYERS, D. D., EDITOR. Whole Number 1755 whole six weeks, whioh intervened from the crucifixion to the ascension. Yet they formed an integral and a large portion of the Church to which the three thousand were “added” on one exemplary diy. And they, too, were “partakers of the Hedy Ghost,” “the Spirit of love,’’ and in their several localities were of one heart and soul, and “had all things common.” Os oourse, arrangements would diffi-r with differing circumstances; but while there were “dif ferences of administration,’’ there was “the same Spirit.” Scattered over Judea and Galileo, they were “ together ,’’ and “contin ued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship .’’ The brethren at Jerusa lem “continued daily in the temple and from houso to house,” not neglcoting the duties of homo and business, or spending tha months in one unbroken string of ser vices, as is now done sometimes at a peri odical or occasional camp meeting Tho ■uaxim was in force then as ever, “If any piovid* not for his owu, aad especially for thoso of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Tho believing tradesmen, couu-.ellor, cr .v.-fcbt tf.J not throw his wife and children, along with his money, upon the funds of the commu nity, nor did he leave them to starve. But many a believing tradesman lost his busi ness, scores of mechanics were turned adrift, hundreds of hired seivants were dismissed, dependent widows were turned out upm the street. “ Loss of all things'' was tho penalty of professing faith in the crucified Jesus. What then? Could their indepen dent brethren see then starve ? No; they mot the emergency in a prompt, noble, and right brotherly spirit. “Neither was there any among them that lacked : for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the price of the things that were sold, and laid them down at tho Apostles’ feet; and distribution was made unto every man, as every man had need.’’ “Lands;” “houses.’’ The market-gardener, whoso children’s bread depended on tho produce of his half acre, did not put it up to auction so long as the market was open to him ; but the landed proprietor sold his suburban or distant estate, and devoted tIY" proceeds to tho necessities of his destitute brethren. The small frrcho tier dii not sell his humble homestead, and thus make one less house of prayer among the dwel ling-places of Mount Zion ; but the weil- o do owner of house property secured tho best possible prioo for his block of buildings without disturbing his tenants or turning his wife and family out of doors. In short, every one who had private pro perty more than was sufficient to meet the current demands of necessity, of home, and of business, held that property available for the exigencies of his needy brethren; so that without all dressing in a similar fab ric, or all limiting themselves to the same daily bill of fare, they took good care that no poor Christian should be at a loss for a meal as long as a brother Christian had meat in his larder, or milk in bis dairy, or bread in his bin ; and no Christian shoul 1 go scantily clothed, so long as another Christian had raiment, ia his robe, or money in his purse. That io • general all held their private property their own hands, until the necessit' their brethren mitrht call ior dishy ■■ and distribution, is plain Irom the narrai' It is not sail that no <jue continued to ’ ■ess anything. Oj the contrary, he / stated them till tho wants of his brethicn laid olaitns on them ; but none said that aught of things whicn ho still “possessed” was his own He fold them, yet not lor himself, but as a steward, for the necessities of the household ot faith. Now all this in spirit would bo reproduced tvero wo all to obey the exhortation of tho uposllo, “ Distributing to the neoessity of saints.” This passage in the Epistle to the 1! nnons shows that there was nothing local or tem porary in this “community of goods,” noth ing which would not work just as well in Romo as in Joruialem, in tho year of grace 60 as in A. D. S3 ; just as well in London as in either, when an 18 has been prefixed to fi, and the 0 changed into a !). “Distri buting to the necessity of saints.’’ (Rom. xii 13 ) The word there rendered “dis tributing” has no derivative relation to the word rendered in the Acts, ‘'Distribution was made;” but it is of the same r iotas that which is there translated, “They had all thing* common.’' It is therefore literal ly, “having in common the neoessity of tho saints,” or taking your share in the neces sity of the saints, or making your own, the nacossity of the saints. The word is sig nificant of something far beyond tho bare distribution "8T alms. It implies that fellow feeling which proverbially "makes us won drous kind.” It enjoins a double sharing; the more wealthy snaring by stueore, hearty, thorough sympathy in the sorrows, wants, and woes of the destitute; aud making tho poor share in the abundance with which God has blessed the wealthy. As tho Sav iour promises to the penitent soul, “1 will sup with him, and he with me ” Christ graciously engages first to tako his part, in the burdans and the bitterness of a broken spirit, aud then to cause that broken spirit to eat and drink its fiil of heaven’s own happiness. So, the relief which we afford to our hungry brethren should not, be cold, but sympathetic. We should feel in our owu hearts the pressure aod tl e pangs of their necessity. We should gather around us in spirit the poor man’s pining little ones, and make our hearts hear thorn say, “O, mother, lam so hungry !” Wo must feel tho hollow eyes of want rest upon us We mutt not think that after having asked the divine blessing upon his bounties, and returned thanks for his indulgences, we may heartily enjoy the superfluities with which we are favored, and wrap ourselves luxuriously in our costly apparel, without oaring that a brother or sister is naked or destitute of daily food. No; we must share in thtir necessities, and let them share in our comforts. There is, therefore, nothing Utopian, nothing impracticable in the “all things common ” The mi-takes which have been made on every hand about these verses in the Acts of the Apostles from hasty, unre fleotive roading, and smart, self ooufideut interpretation, are much upon a par with those made on the first chapter of Genesis. These verses have boon, and still are, often made to identify Christianity with vagaries of Communism and Socialism. See, for example, a very able article on “Trades Unionism” in “Fraser” for Ootober last. The only difficulty in th* reproduction o! tho state of thiugs in Jerusalem is in realizing the dispensation of the Spirit, as a "spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind It was but the carrying out of our Lord’s di rection to his disciples in all ages, t-Sdl that ye have" —more exactly, “your super fluities that is, what you might parr, with, without bringing youruCives into diffiouities —and “give alms-” “Bear ye one anoth er’s burdens, and so fulfill the law oj Christ.” In a thoroughly Christianized community uo such spectacle eould bo witnessed as a rich man faring sumptuously every day, while a believing beggar was lying at his gate “full of sores.’’ “Sell that thou hast, and give alms, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and oome, follow Me,’’ is a standing admonition to wealthy individual Christians to make tho safest aud ino-t ac cruing investment of oapital by in.king their superfluities available for meeting the necessities of their pining brethren. — (Loq don) Wesleyan Magazine.