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THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM. Vol. XXXII.—No- 48. Contributions. The Gospel Anions the Negroes, by Southern Method is m-- I Triumphs and Trophies. It seems to me tliat something might be collected and w ritten, in the form of history, pertaining to our operations among the ne groes, while they were slaves. This would be, legitimately, part and parcel of the his tory of Southern Methodism. These ma terials could only be gathered from the pres cat generation of preachers and people. "When the vail of fanaticism has been re moved, rational men will see things in their proper character; yes, they will compare inconsistencies with consistencies. Then, the master who cared for Jhe temporal and Spiritual wants of iiis servants, till they W'ere taken from him by the hands of power and robbery, will be held ill contrast with such abolitionists as came South, were poor, be came rich by marriage, sold their wives’ ne groes and went back to the North to live on the money, and to preach against the evils of slavery- to stir up abolition hordes to come and rob us of our negroes, of norlands, and of our churches. That the Southern Methodist Church cured for the souls of the negroes, the hundreds of faithful mission aries, and thousands of dollars laid upon the altar, and the two hundred thousand colored members at the beginning of the war, are our witnesses before God and Christian world. The ministry and membership of the whites, everywhere almost, recognized the obligations we were under to preach the gospel to every creature, and especially to the black man. The duty was insisted on iu this wav: The negro works in the field, and makes the corn and the cotton; these things yield us a temporal support and wc must render to f hem spiritual service. Gen erally, our hardest ministerial w ork was for them. After the Sabbath forenoon's labors, the heavy demand of a three o’clock service for the colored people had to be met. With al, iu these ‘'labors more abundant,” we had our rejoicings; for we saw them awakened, converted and established in the faith of the gospel. Take a single instance: In 1835 I was appointed to the Warren ton Circuit. Through troubles and afflic tions, the new held of labor was reached with my wife and four little children, oue a young babe; a precious little daughter had been consigned to the grave but a short time before. Three years previously our household ef fects were destroyed by fire. Since then we had occupied parsonages with furniture. Now, a house was to tie rented and furniture bought. On Thursday evening we went to the hotel, where ! left my family till I could till Taiy first appointments and make some preparations for living. Having procured a horse, on Saturday the first- church was visited. \This was at Raytown. When I en tered the house, some sweet singers in Israel were singinaf a hymn of welcome. O! how it cheered nvV heart and gave it a pledge of much needed sympathy, and an earnest of success. IVwt night was passed with an ex cellent. Christian family, and next morning | at i) o'clock. ' married a promising young couple am l - returned to the Church. The coniy gation was respectable /or numbers t ,.ad for their attention to the lervice. The vplaoe assigned the colored ) ople was not without devout worshippers. _ After the congregation was dismissed and koany introductions given, as I was passing Ipirougli the crowd, a heavy touch on the shoulder attracted my attention, when 1 turned round it was a venerable looking black man. who said in an earnest manner: “Are you not. going to preach for us? We have always had preaching for the colored people at three o'clock." “Yes,” said I , “Uncle Dick,” (for he had told me his name.) .1 found Dick to be a good man, and to have the confidence of the good, white and block. While Hay town was not worse than many other places, yet there was immorality enough there to make good man mourn; especially were the uegroes in lhat vicinity wicked, uncleanly in dress, Sabbath breakers, etc. The meddling of abolition emissaries de manded vigilance on the part of the good, and often furnished occasion for bad men to persecute pious blacks, and to deprive them of the privilege of worshipping God. Uncle Dick had these things to contend with, but he persevered. The Lord blessed his peo ple there, both white and black. How per ceptible were the fruits of the gospel! Many a time was the preacher encouraged by the expressive countenances of the sable congregation, and the crying out for mercy testified the Spirit’s power to convict; then the dead was made alive, and there was joy on earth and joy in Heaven. Often was my heart thrilled with joy at hearing them re late their Christian experience. When holding a protracted meeting at that Church, sometimes there were preachers enough to serve both congregations at the same time. Then was realized Gowper’s beautiful stanza: The calm retreat, the silent shade With prayer and praise agree And seem, by thy sweet bounty made. For those wiio follow thee. Nor was it at Church only, but at home ■and everywhere else, that others took knowl edge of them that they had been with Christ and had learned of him. The reformation was seen in that text of Mr. Wesley’s “cleanliness next to Godli ness ;” for if they came to Church with old and tattered clothes, these were patched and clean. But the best of all is, they lived and died in the faith of the gospel. And I shall not soon forget the pressure of Uncle Dick’s large hand, and his earnest inquiry: “Are you not going to preach for us? We have always had preaching for the colored people at three o’clock.” Timothy. Who can Solve the Mystery ? With onr experience, we shall never cease to remember the sainted Fletcher’s remarks to the saintly Walsli, when the latter said : “If a man lives piously, he will be sure to die triumphantly.” “ I differ with you,” said Mr. Fletcher, “I believe that the most de vout persons are sometimes sorely buffeted by Satan in their last hours”—or words to this effect. With some warmth of temper Mr. Walsh asserted that lie did not believe it. But, sad to relate, it was he himself who was called to verify the words of Mr. Fletch er. We have been led into the above re marks,. by reflecting on the lust hours of some holy men whom we have known personally or by their praise being in all the Churches. As regards Bishop Soule : —although there was enough to render his end sublime and touching—yet, did not his friends expect— considering his long, useful and laborious career—that he would go up to the top of Pisgah, and see all the glories of the heaven ly Canaan, and that God, —if He did not come Himself—would have sent His angels to put liis servant in the tomb ? Oft did the writer desire—if the survivor— fiauiltctn Christian to witness the end of the late Rev. R. J. Boyd : —to be in ‘ ‘the chamber where the good man meets his fate”—expecting that it would indeed be “ Privileged beyond the common walks of Virtuous life: quite in the verge of heaven;” and knowing bis ardent love for the Master, and that he had made f 'nil proof of the min istry which he had received of the Lord Je sus, and that he could challenge the people, as Samuel did, to bring against him a single act of injustice, fraud, or any other viola tion of his ministerial authority; and I re membered that I saw him at the District Conference in Marion, with Christ, on the mount of transfiguration. Yea, if ever Pe ter, or James, or John exhibited —by reflec tion —the glory, beauty and majesty of Christ, as there came this voice from the ex cellent glory : “this is my beloved sou, hear ye him”—so did we, at this District Confer ence, behold these two men—Gamewell and Boyd assume the appearance of unearthly beauty and majesty as they stood in the al ter before our pulpit, after having adminis tered the element of the Lord’s Supper to their brethren in the ministry. And not only did your correspondent observe this transfiguration ; but it was observed by many others. Truly it signified, but we knew it not, that God was about to take them to himself. It is a sweet consideration to me that I have known the.se brethren ; have been in timately associated with them ; and have felt that I had their approving smiles on my course as a member of the body of Christ. Brother Boyd, 1 knew in my childhood ; and knew him, as few could know him, in after years. I had all that knowledge of his pure and exalted character, which can only be discovered by the intuition of a kindred in telligence. The best of men—those of the finest constructed minds, and most sensi tive feelings are not always known and ap preciated by others. I verily believe that the purest and best specimens of our holy Christianity have often gone into the grave knowu by few, in the sense I mean— and with very few honors. Ido not mean these re marks as applicable to Bro. Boyd in every particular—for he was greatly beloved, and all bis brethren of the South Carolina Con ference will be ready to do him honor—yet I do infer that only to his intimate friends did he reveal himself fully. Our views were in perfect consonance; our hopes of the Church the same ; and my knowledge of his purity, integrity and holiness, induced tlie conclusion that he would die triumphantly— His end, how different!—Months of extreme pain, of unexpressed agonies, impaired that well-constituted mind, and tinged that spirit of unwonted cheerfulness, with a sadness distressing to his friends. In the gloom of those hours he was sometimes ready to ex claim with Luther: “I have spent my strength for naught.”—He felt this in his heart, but he would not express it—so ha bituated to silence was he, as regarded his own feelings and conflicts. He went down into the grave in sadness, because he saw not the Church where his ardent and zealous soul had so long desired to place her. To his dying eye, misted with the anguish of suffering—the spouse of the Lord Jesus ap peared atiil Wandering in licr weeds of mourning” surrounded with gloom and darkness and tempest. His once transporting views of the glory and success of the Church South were dimmed with doubt and fear. But what sweet surprise reanimated his freed sjiirit, when, in the pure light of eternity, lie be held the foundations of this Church fixed and secure on the Hock and her head bathed iu the sunlight of glory. What joy thrilled his exultant spirit to discover that “true re ligion never lmd more admirers than at the present time.” Do wo not daily see the verification of this assertion V Do we not see that affiic tion and sudden changes of fortune are turn ing the weary eve of the South from spuri ous coin, to “men of heart and faith sin cere?” And while they feel that these are the only reliable men—the only men who uuinoved can bear disappointment and mis fortune—-they admire that principle which exalts them so : and admiring they long for possession. So when Christ comes to dis perse the clouds and scatter the mists which now surround the Church, He will find a people prepared for His working. Yea, a nation now is “ripening for the deed.” “My people shall be willing iu the day of thy power”—willing to be converted ; willing to be made holy, Iu contrast to the death of Bro. Boyd, comes up that of the sainted Gamewell. No doubt of his own salvation, or of the future glory and conquests of the Church of his choice, entered to disturb the calm and peaceful end of the dying veteran. The same faith that moved him to cry out once from our pulpit—“ God can carry ou his work without any of us preachers" —still ani mates his departing spirit. Here is mystery :—two ministers equally holy, zealous and devoted :—and one enters the gloomy grave in triumph ; while the other enters —by no means unwillingly—yet, with a sadness touchingly affecting, and cal culated to move every sensitive cord of a sympathetic heart. We cannot solve the mystery, but we can remember the words of the pious vicar of Madeley and reflect, that not all the holy go up ou Pisgah’s top to die, or ascend to heaven iu the fiery chariot of Elijah. Few men exhibit in their last hours the grace, beauty and majesty of our holy religion, as did Richard Watson—few men die like Whateoat A. Gamewell. A death-bed may be the “revealer of the heart,” but it is not a true criterion for us to judge of the true status one holds in the heart of God. Who can doubt, that the sympathetic Christ looked with the utmost tenderness and pity upon the dying minister whom tlie Father— for purposes imknown to us— called to be crucifwd in remembrance of His Son. “Great is the mystery of godliness!”—but we are not staggered—having faith in the revelation which is to be made hereafter. C. Letter from Bishop Pierce. Regular correspondence on a trip like mine is out of the question. Since my last letter I have been in constant motion, or closely engaged with conference business. I left St. Louis on the 9tli September for Kansas City. As I took the evening train I could not see the country, and resigned myself to rest and sleep. Early next morning I reach ed my destination, and went home with Brother Lewis, the stationed preacher. The man who located Kansas City was a bold, adventurous spirit. Between the river and the hills there is a strip of level land. On this, when I first saw the place—four teen years ago—there were few houses, and I thought the place was about finished. Since tlie war, the former straggling village has grown into the proportions of a city in spite of tlie hills and hollows which seemed to me to defy all expansion. Immense amounts have been expended, and immense labor per formed, to lay out streets and make house building possible. But the work lias been done, and thirty or forty thousand people have congregated here ; business is brisk, real estate high and rising, and the citizens fully jiersuaded that Kansas City will re enact the history of St. Louis as to growth and prosperity. It is to be oue of the great railroad centers of the West. The physical difficulties (real impossibilities to the timid) which have been overcome in the outspread of this place, illustrate tlie energy, enter prise and indomitable will of our country men. On Sabbath morning I preached to a large congregation, and in the afternoon went out four miles to Westport, and preache dat night. Returning, we encountered a storm of wind and rain, followed by a day or two of cold, drizzling weather, and this, with ex posure and night labor, laid the foundation of the sickness which came upon me at Cliil licothe. Ou Monday I took the ears for St. Joseph, and preached at night. As my visit was short and hurried, I did not see much of that city. We have a good church and a strong membership, and preacher and peo ple seem alive to the work of extension. Ou Tuesday, with a good many brethren, I went forward to the seat of the Missouri Confer ence, and found pleasant quarters with Bro. Waples and family. Conference opened next morning, and business proceeded with dispatch. After a long absence, I enjoyed renewed intercourse with the brethren, and anticipated yet more, by mingling with them in the services of the sanctuary. But on Friday, while presiding, I was taken with a chill, and was confined to my bed for three days. lam greatly indebted to Dr. Watts for his skill and attention. His kindness is precious to memory. The Lord reward him. The closing scenes of the Conference have been reported by others, and I forbear. I returned to Kansas City as the proper point of departure for the Indian Mission Conference. Brother Lewis, always prompt and kind, met me at the depot, and inform ed me that the church was full of people waiting for a sermon. Though scarcely aide to stand, from fever and fasting, without supper or an interval of rest, I went into the pulpit. The labor of preaching was very exhausting, but the excitement was a tonic of great advantage. Soon after reach ing the parsonage, I felt decidedly improv ed. A night's sound sleep renewed my strength for a long and toilsome journey. My good friends sought to dissuade me from going forward, and seemed to think me im prudent, if not presumptuous, iu undertak ing a ride of three hundred and thirty miles, mostly by stage, and pictured the possibili ties of the case in very threatening colors. God willing, I was resolved to go, and go I did. Save the discomfort of stage travel ing, and the weariness of constant motion, I felt no damage. Wc start on the Missouri, Fort Scott and Galveston railroad, and run fifty-five miles, and then take stage for Fort Scott. The travel on this route is wonder ful—some moving, some prospecting, some on business. I was put into a stage with thirteen more, and we were sixteen hours making fifty-five miles. Not very refreshing to a sick man. We arrived at last. Fort Scott is an em bryo city. The arrival of the cars, it is thought, will make it bound forward to its “manifest destiny.” After breakfast, with one passenger besides myself, and my little traveling companion and grandson Pierce, the stage started for Fort Gibson. Room was a luxury we all enjoyed. The road was good, the country beautiful, the speed respectable, and about night we drove up at Baxter Springs, having traveled sixty miles. Kansas is one great prairie, diversi fied at long intervals with narrow strips of timbers on creeks and branches, and with the richest soil—capable of immense pro duction of com and wheat, would be almost uninhabitable if it were not underlaid with coal. It is high, rolling, and very pictur esque. Sometimes on reaching the top of these great land swells, we have a perfect horizon round and round, dim and distant, and yet within the vast area not a shrub or tree top is visible. It is all a waving, undu lating surface of grass, flecked with shad ows, or dazzling with sunshine. The eye wanders over the scene delighted, and the lips cry : “Beautiful 1 beautiful 1” There is a kaleidoscopic variety of outline and com bination. and yet there is a general same ness which makes the whole monotonous, and, at last, you grow weary. The sight of a tree is a relief. A line of green timber is gladdening, like meeting a ship on the wide waste of ocean. Indeed, the whole thing is like the ocean. Tlie land seems once to have been liquid, and by some force from above or beneath, to have heaved, and swell ed, and tumbled, and, in some great com motion, to have been suddenly indurated, and fixed, and as you ride upon the waters, so here—there is constancy of change, and uniformity of scene—prairie—prairie—all prairie. I admire—but I should not like to dwell here. The cold, and the winds, anil the snows of winter must be terrible. Asa home, I should prefer Florida to Kansas. At Baxter Springs, I struck a tri-weekly line of stages, and had to lie over two nights and a day. The delay was bad enough in itself, but it was rendered more unpleasant by the abounding wickedness of the people. I do not think I ever heard as much profani ty in twenty-four hours in all my life. A horse-race was on hand, to come off the day I left. This was the. theme of general con versation—some betting on the black horse, and others on the sorrel, and every sentence mixed with oaths and blasphemies, which made me shudder. It was mortifying to see a company of human beings born to die, and yet immortal, thus excited, and absorb ed by a quarter race between two saddle hor ses. I was glad when the time came to leave. There were but four of us, all told— the hack was comfortable, and as one rode out with the driver, we had room enough within. We met many, during the morn ing hours, hastening with eager steps to the race. Alas 1 for society, when prize-fights, liorse-raeing, ball-playing and boat-matches, rouse national feeling and pride 1 Iu this case, civilization has turned her face toward barbarism. The very competition degrades, and to rejoice in victory, is to glory in our shame. A taste for brutal sports will de moralize the people, and may be considered the forerunner of national decay. We soon crossed the line of what is known as “the natural lands,” and entered the Cherokee Nation. Prairie still predomin ates, but timber is more frequent and more abundant. We dined at one Indian cabin, and supped at another, and fared very well at both. Late Saturday night I was at Cabin Creek forty miles from Fort Gibson, where I had an appointment to dedicate a church. The agent and driver promised to carry me in by 9 a. m. ; but we did not arrive till 4 p. m. Brother Harrell preached the dedication sermon in my stead—and I occupied the pulpit at night. The people seemed so eager to hear, I lingered over Monday, and preached both morning and night/ Two joined the Church at the List service. Bros. Harrell, Ewing, Gumming, and my self and grandson, with five Indian preach ers, set out Tuesday morning for Oekmulgee, the capital of the Creek Nation. The most of the company were on horseback. Two or three of us occupied an ambulance and carried the commissary stores. We had am ple supplies, and no small variety. Houses were few and far between—too small to lodge us all, and so, at sundown we halted on the banks of Cane creek—hobbled our hor ses, kindled a fire, boiled our coffee, drew forth our various eatables, supped heartily, talked cheerfully, had family prayer, and lay down to rest, each according to his notion. Thus we camped under a large oak, on the margin of a prairie. It was a very cold night, and blankets were too scarce to keep ns all warm. The fire had to be renewed a time or two. With this exception we rested well. We took an early breakfast, and were making ready to start, when we ascertained that Brother Cumming’s horse was gone. Here was a dilemma. The old man was sorely troubled. The Cherokees scattered in every direction, hunting for the lost ani mal. As one after another returned without him, we all grew sad iu sympathy with the dear old brother. At last—away across the prairie—we saw one of the Indian preachers returning with a horse in tow. All was bright again, and we were soon on our “winding way.” This delay compelled as to dine, camp-fashion, on the road once more. Early in the afternoon we reached the seat of the Conference, and were assign ed to rooms in the Council House of the Creek Nation. This Conference deserves a separate letter. For the present, adieu. G- F. Pierce. PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & CO., FOR THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH. Macon, Ga., Friday, November 26, 1869. From the Richmond Christian Advocate. The Times and the Manners. To every thoughtful person there is now a sad discrepancy between the times and the manners of our people. On every side much appears to shock the sensibilities of a Christian. Politically we have promises made to our ears and broken to our hopes; socially, we are unsettled, selfish, and despondent; religiously we are too fitful, formal and halfhearted in our ser vices; commercially, we are grazing the borders of ruin, in a vast number of business transactions. This state of affairs, dark enough already, takes a deeper, darker shade from the wide spread want threatened by the failure of the com and other staple crops of the country. Thousands of laboring people are now employed only on half time, and while win ter draws nigh, they are now and then startled by hints that work will soon be shorter still. Underlying all this is tlie feel ing of painful uncertainty iu reference to the political future of the South; which has fastened itself like a them iu every heart. It would hardly seem to be possible for a people so tom, shocked, humiliated, and politically racked, as we have been to evince such a spirit of frivolity, extravagance and reckless indifference as now appears in ever;; section of this unhappy land. But tlie lessons of history are constantly repeated. It needs not the imagination of the romancer to depict the unnatural and shocking revelry that shows itself in the very midst of poverty, disease, desolation, and death. Sin often holds high carnival in the midst of a city whose streets hourly echo to the rumble of the dead carts, and whose houses all stand in tlie shadow of death. Poor humanity would fly from the stem facts that confront it to the places of gayetv and pleasure, hiding itself for a little space from the fatal dart and the inevitable doom. But this is only’ the stratagem of the foolish ostrich that fancies itself secure because with head buried in the sand it does not see its pursuer. Nothing can be more certain than that ex travagance, dissipation, selfishness, pleasure seeking in all its seductive forms, and the thousand and one studied arts by which peo ple thrust away serious thoughts and the yet more serious facts of their condition, are utterly at variance with the times now upon us, and of which we all complain. Theoret ically we condemn our daily practice. And iu this appears the huge inconsistency that brings us under the contempt instead of the pity of those who look upon us from a dis tance. The South, they will say, has no ground of appeal to our sympathy and our help while she presents herself as she does. Professing to mourn the thousands of her slain sons who lie iu unmarked and unmonumented fields, whose bleaching bones are turned to the light by the plow share, or rooted up by the beasts of the field, her people cast away their money for a momentary gratification instead of consecrating it to the adorning of the graves of their sons and fathers. With countless numbers of widows and orphans appealing for bread, for shelter, for clothing, for education, her people carry the means of doing so noble a work to the shops of the distinguished modistes and invest them in the worse than useless glitter of the party and the ball room. With the appalling cry of want coming up from the virtuous anil suffering poor of the land, the means God has given us for drying tears and clothing nakedness, and sheltering the houseless, and lighting up darkness, and soothing sorrow, and alleviating pain, and smoothing, if only a little, the rough way that leads to tlie grave, are cast down at the shrine of fashion and forever lost. “Make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,” said Christ. Make to yourself joy and mirth, and admiration, and a name among the gay J worldly throng that fling away care anil health and life and hope in the eager rush after the highest point of admiration iii the festive scene, by means of this mammon says his modern fashionable follower. There is now a flippant au.l profane per version of the precepts of our faith. And the worst of it is that many who take part in this work are professing Christians. Let any serious man glance over the daily journals. What does he read? In the North a great daily pays out thousands of dollars for telegrams that tell of what—a new and wonderful invention that shall lessen the painful toil of humanity, or a great scientific discovery that opens new fields of thought and activity, the finding of some new coun try where genial nature pours her richest fruits at the feet of weary pilgrims, or the sudden and glorious fulfillment of prophecy ill the conversion of a nation of sinners in a day? No—but these thousands are paid out to announce to the nations that six boys from Harvard and six boys from Oxford have had a boat race in England!! O the times and the manners! We need no resurrected Roman censor to repeat in sonorous Latin his satires ou the manners and fashions of this day. Was ever the carnival season at Rome ex ceeded by the fantastic, frivolous, unmean ing and corrupting exhibitions which have been gotten up among us within this and the past season? If the spirits of mischief, presided over by the arch enemy, had met hr counsel and planned with diabolical in genuity the corruption of a people retaining some repute for morality, to say nothing of religion, they could not have fallen upon a more specious and fatal scheme. With bold, defiant, palpable wickedness we should be shocked and thrown upon our guard. Fathers and mothers would take the alarm and shelter their sons and daugh ters. But when the sin is covered and eon concealed with flowers, and painted, and gemmed, and joined to music, and flaunts in satin and laces and all the parapharnalia of the brainless goddess of fashion, and is brought forth thus well disguised at some place of fashionable resort, the maelstrom is set in motion, and while its slowly cir cling circumference hears along the light hearted and ingenious youth of both sexes, who are dreamless of danger, its whirl grows more swift and strong, until amid the rush and foam of the vortex they are broken and swallowed up in utter ruin forever. We have read with a sickening heart of excursions that break and dishonor the holy Sabbath, and the God who ordained it; of singing feasts, and shooting feasts in which this blessed day was the great day of the feast, when drunken infidelity enthroned on beer kegs, sputtered out its venom against the faith and found its meed of praise in the plaudits of its wretched votaries. We have grown sicker still when we have read approv ing paragraphs of these disgusting and de moralizing celebrations in the newspapers of a Christian land, and conducted by men who live on the patronage of a people whose faith is thus outraged and ridiculed by imported unbelievers. Superadded to this, we have the mournful spectacle of wide-spread intemperance among all classes of society. Let any one go through the streets of our towns and cities, and through the rural districts, and mark the places at which rum is sold by the ten thousand gallons, or by the quart, and pint, and gill. The vice and suffering en gendered at tliose precincts of hell no pen can describe. The revenue to the general government from liquor licenses is counted by hundreds of millions, and the loss to the material prosperity of the country by the traffic, can only be estimated by tens of thousands of millions. The loss of property is nothing, great as that is, in comparison ■with the loss of honor, of character, of de cency, of life, of body and soul for time and eternity. —- 1 We say this horrible evil pervades all classes, and endangers everybody. It rears its gorgon head even within the pale of the Church, and the wicked with sneering laugh point at the passing church-member as “a man that drinks.” His breath reveals it in its sickening whiskey-taint; and more than this; he has been seen to march boldly up to the bar and wait till his dram was mixed. A traffic that sends a hundred thousand vic tims to prison in this country in one year, is hell’s grandest instrument in the ruin of men. On what principle can those who partici pate in them, justify the useless and extrav agant outlay of money in the scenes of dis sipation that have attracted so many thou sands to the fashionable watering-places during the present season? If this question be sneeringlv spurned by the utterly worldly throng, we press it on the consciences of church-members who were drawn into those wild extravaganzas. Did they feel that in the dizzy whirl of the dance at the masked ball, they were doing God service, and illustrating the excellency and power of the Gospel of Christ ? Were there no quakiugs of conscience while the preparations were going on, and the splen did array of dresses were passing under review? Were there no misgivings iu regard to the throwing away of money for a mo mentary gratification of the flesh, when every department of the work of God was loudly calling for help? While the fine ladies were arraying themselves in dresses that cost thousands of dollars—some are re ported to have cost from ten to thirty thou sands dollars—did they cast a thought to ward their poor sisters who were at that moment illustrating, in pain, and sorrow, and poverty, Hood’s song of the shirt? What a terrible controversy God will have with those who thus cast away the meaus of spreading the blessed influences of religion throughout the world. The time of hilarity will soon pass away, and in the quietness of home the fashiona ble Christians (pardon the misnomer) can estimate the amount of good accomplished during the season, and the weight of godly influence they bore with them into the midst of the giddy worldly throng that crowded the halls of pleasure. When the call is made for help for the Church in her struggle with the powers of hell, it will not be at hand. Why? It has been cast down at the shrine of folly and fashion; and though lost to the cause of truth and righteousness, it is not lost iu the history of him or her who has offered it on the altars of the flesh; but will come again in the great and solemn future, when each shall stand in his lot under the eye of the Judge iu the Anal day. It is enough to make au angel weep to look upon the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus in the midst of the wild wicked ness that revels iu sin and forgetfulness of death and eternity. No warning, however sudden and startling, can lull the music of the revellers, or still their flying feet, At the great masked ball death appeared. Not far from the festive scene lay a poor child of humanity fainting under the heavy hand of disease. As the lights of the ball-room flashed out brighter, the darkness in his cottage grew deeper. The evening breeze bore the strains of the biuul to the bed-side of the dying man, and mingled them with the death rattle in his throat. But what of this—death is nothing —mi with the dance! And on the throng moves wilder and faster, and the death darkened cottage and the blazing ball-room make the true contrast of life. How can this corruption of manners bo arrested? Only bv the earnest and faithful preaching of the Word by the ministers of Christ, iunl holy living ou the part of God’s people. Let us betake ourselves to self examination and prayer. Let us seek for a great revival of religion in the Church. We must not lower the claims of Christianity. If men will not live up to the rules of the Bible, they must go out into the world. The Church must be purged and purified. The more earnest and godly Christians must come to the Mercy-seat with devout appeals to God for mercy upon a thoughtless and backslidden people. We call upon all good men and women to awake and look about them; to consider the times and manners, and to pray and work for a great and thorough revival of religion. May God turn a pure language upon us, and save us from the follies and sins that threaten our overthrow and ruin. Memphis Conference Appoint ments. The thirtieth session of the Memphis Con tVviajue- Bishop Kavanangh, presiding, in good health aud spirits— was held Nov. 3 10, in Holly Springs, Miss. The atten dance of members, lay and clerical, was very large—and the display of interest in our be loved Methodism was witnessed not only her eiu, but in the proceedings generally- —• at once arousing gratitude, and inspiring hope. The following are the appointments : Memphis District. —John Moss, P E; Memphis : Second Street church, E C S'a ter; Central church, W M Patterson; Her nando Street church, L D Mullins; Saffarans Street and Greenwood, A H Thomas; J T Baskorvill, supernumerary; Springdale and Bethel st, D R S Kosebrough; Raleigh, James Perry; Germantown, Thus Joyner, Joseph J Brooks; Marshall, Thos L Beard; Bylialia and New Salem st, M H Ford; By halia ct, James M Beard; Olive Branch, T P Holman; Book and Tract Society, Sam’l Watson, Agent; Memphis and Arkansas Christian Advocate, W C Johnson; State Female College, Charles Collins, President; Bylialia Female Institute, I’ J Eckles, Presi dent. Someiivllle District.— T L Boswell, P E; Somerville st, W D F Halford; Newcastle, A Davis; Boliviar st, S B Suratt; Middle burg, .T G Acton ; N A 1) Brvant, sup; Ma con, W M McFerrin, G B Baskervill; Em bury, A G Smith, J D Slaughter; Mt Zion, -I II Garrett; Covington st, W T Melugin; Tabernacle, M II Cullom; R A Umstead, sup; Wesley, A R Wilson; Dancyville, M D Fly; RY Taylor, sup; Somerville Female Institute, W T Plummer, President. Jackson District. —-W H Leigh, PE; Jackson st, J H Evans; East Jackson st and Sunday-school Agency, J T C Collins; L Lea, sup; Jackson ct, W B Seward, B F Blackmon; Humboldt and Milan st, W T Bolling; Brownsville st, G Jones; Denmark, to be supplied by Jas A Heard; S A Mason; Big Spring, G K Brooks; P J Kelsey, sup; Medon, R G Rainey; Rock Spring, J G Glas gow; Purdy, GW Bachman; Memphis Con ference Female Institute, A W Jones, Presi dent, andß A Hayes, Agent; Superintendent of the Work among the Colored People, Thomas Taylor. Trenton District.— G W D Harris, P E; Trenton st, 8 W Moore; Trenton ct, M M Taylor; N Sullivan, suu; Cageville, J B Mc- Cutchen, BM Burrow; Ripley and Mt Pleas ant st, J M Scott; Brownsville ct; C J Maul din, J S Renshaw; Dyersburg and Union st, H B Avery; W J Mahon, sup; Dyersburg ct, John Randle; Kenton, N P Ramsey; Gibson, R S Harris; G B Allen, sup; An drew College, S W Moore, President. Dresden District.— Fßynum, PE; Dres den st, Edgar Orgain; Dresden ct, to be supplied by J M Spence; H B Covington, sup; Hickman st, J P McCall; Hickman ct, JMFlatt; T BAttebnry, sup; Madrid Bend, J G H Wilson; Troy, to be supplied by E D Baker; M D Robinson, sup; Union City aud Troy st. J E Beck; W H Frost, sup; Rich land. -T Y Fly; S Weaver, sup; Boydsville, D C McCntehen; McKenzie, W R Gardner; .T C Crews, sup; Murray, W T C Young. Paducah District.— A B Fly, PE; Padu cah st, W T Harris; Paducli ct; W W Faw cett; B H Bishop, sup: Bland ville mis, H R Caldwell; Columbus st, S It Brewer; Clin ton, F A Wilkerson; Palestine, J G Pirtle; A L Hunsaker, sup; Mayfield st, It H Ma hon; Benton, T R Luter; B B Risenlioover, sup; Wadesboro, to be supplied by D W Padgett ; Birmingham, J L Futrell;'Briens bnrg, R R Nelson. Paris District. —J H Witt, P E; Paris st, A L Pritchett; Paris ct, WB Quinn; D M K Collins, sup; Conyers ville, B F Peeples; Huntingdon, Benj Peeples; Trezevant, Jlt Sykes; Hickory Ridge mis, to be supplied by W Cliriateuberry; Morgan’s Creek, T 0 Ellis; Lexington, It S Swift; Decaturville, to be supplied by WD Stayton; New Salem, W A Cook. Holly Sprinos District.— J H Brooks, P E; Holly Springs st, EE Hamilton; Holly Springs ct, Elias Jackson; Early Grove, J K Morris; Lamar, Iraß Hicks; Salem, SB Carson; Tippah mis, to be supplied by A Freeman; Ripley, J W Luter; Hickory Flat, S W Miller; Coronersville, T G Freeman; Lafayette. Springs, B H Bounds; John L Yancy, sup; Oxford ct, B B Brown; A A Houston, snp. Hernando District.— A J See, PE; Her nando st, E B Plummer; Hernando ct; T P Davidson; Harmony, T P Ramsey; Sardis, Warner Moore; Senatobin, A P Sage; Cock rum, L H Davis; Chnlahoma, R A Neblett; Tyro, H C Moreliead. luka District.— P Tuggle, P E; luka st; It L Harper; Jos Johnson, sup; luka ct; W J Reeves; Burnsville, to lie supplied by John McElhannon; Corinth st, JW Honnoil; Cor inth ct, J N Reeves; Rienzi, and Booneville st, John Bareroft; W E Ellis, sup; Kossuth, A M Barrington, D L Cogdell; M L Martin, snp; Marietta, H H Thacker; J B Price, sup; Lagrange aud Middleton st, J A Fite; D C Wells, sup; Jonesboro, K Adams; luka Female Institute, J E Douglass, President. Aberdeen District. —A C Allen, P E; Ab erdeen st, Isaac Ebbert; West Point st, J P Dancer, Vinton, T F Brewer; J WPeavy, snp; Okolona and Verona st, to be supplied by David Sullius; Okolona ct, M M Dunn; Rufus Yancy, sup; Richmond, to be supplied by S Mayfield; Fulton, to be supplied by S D Worsham; Baldwyn, E J Williams; W W Pearson, sup; Saltillo, 1> W Stubbs; Lee, R G Porter; W L Kistler, sup; Pontotoc st; J C Lowe; Pontotoc ct, T J Lowry; Hous ton, to be supplied by W A Langley; Chickasaw, W C Green. Water Valley District. —F S Petway, P E; Water Valley st, W S Harrison; Water Valley ct, J W Poston; Panola, Wm Shep herd; Coffeeville, J M Hampton; Charles ton, F C Pearson; Grenada and Coffeeville st, J W Boswell; Grenada ct, J F Markham; Calhoun, R A Roach; Oxford st, Amos Ken dall; University of Mississippi, J J Wheat, Professor. Sunflower District. —JW Knott, P E; Sunflower, L M Nichol; Friars Point st, J R Peeples; Concordia and Beulah, J F Trus low; Austin and Commerce, J F Armstrong; F A Owen, sup; Magnolia, to bo supplied by D O Hughes. Transferred. —Lsham L Burrow, to Arkan sas Conference, and appointed to Lewisburg station; John W Walkup, to Arkansas Con ference, and appointed to Wittslmrg ct; Al fred T Mann, to North Georgia Conference; Henry B Frazee, Little Rock Conference; W F Mister, to St. Louis Conference. Sunerann nates. —W D Scott, J M Major, Elias Tidwell, Jeremiah Moss, Charles B Harris, Hudson D Howell, Michael J Black well, Robt H Burns, Clement C Glover, John Young, Thos J Neely, Robt Martin, William McMahon, James W Mathis, Henry Bell, W S Jones. Located. —Bryant Medlin and Elhridge L Fisher. Religious Jltiscfllann. Tlie Evangelical Alliance. Extraordinary Meetings—Return of Dr. Selmfl— European Divines, Scholars and Statesmen, Com ing over—Council of 1870—Money Subscribed. The Reformed Dutch Church was crowded, November 4tli, with clergymen, and laymen, and ladies, to hear the report of Dr. Seliaff, and to consider the question of assembling the Evangelical Alliances of the World in New York in the Autumn of 1870. Hon. Wm. E. Dodge, President of the American Branch of the Alliance, occupied the chair, and introduced Dr. Scliaff. Dr. Scliaff thou gave a deeply interesting account of the reception he had met in Europe. In Groat Britain, at the annual meeting of the British Council of the Evan gelical Alliance in London; at the meeting of the Congregational Union of England and Wales; and at the General Assemblies of the Free and the Established Churches of Scotland; he met with a unanimous re sponse to his invitation. In Loudon a pro gramme of topics was arranged embracing the leading religious questions of the age, such as Christian unity aud co-operation, Christianity and its antagonists, Protestant ism and Romanism, Christianity and civil government, Christianauity and the Press, Christian life, Foreign and Domestic Mis sions, Christianity and social evils; also, reports on the state of Protestant Christen dom by the delegates. The programme is now submitted to tlie New York Committee for their final revision. Dr. Scliaff hadqier sonal interviews with tlie Archbishops Can terbury, York and Deans, Canons, and Processors; members of Parliament and noblemen; with most of the prominent Presbyters of Scotland; the Oon gregationnlists, the Wesleyans and the Bap tists; and from most of these gentlemen re ceived cordial sympathy with the objects of the proposed Conference. The Archbishop of Canterbury said that lie would not like to commit himself at once on the question, hut would be very happy to correspond with him on the subject, and introduced him to Doan Alford. The Dean of Canterbury, with whom he spent some delightful days, prom ised to prepare a paper, and, from the posi tion of the Church of England, is to extend the hand of brotherhood to all evangelical denominations. The following prominent clergymen promised to he present: Tlie Rev. Dr. Reynolds; Rev. Dr. Mullins. Sec retary of the London Missionary Society; Rev. Newman Hall; Rev. Dr. Allen; Rev. Dr. Stoughton; Rev. Dr. Harrison; Rev. Dr. Dale, and Rev. Dr. Alexander, of Edin burgh. Rev. Mr. Spurgeon declined at first for personal reasons to attend, but Dr. Scliaff has learned since that he is very will ing to come. At Paris the French Branch of the Alliance cordially accepted the Amer ican invitation, Rev. Mr. Bersier Grand pierre, Pressense, and other eminent min isters, promising to come. In Holland, Cohen Stuart and the famous Van Oozterze made the same promise. The Prussian Minister of Public Instruction willingly granted leave of absence to all professors in the Universities who should desire to go. Dr. Scliaff mot, at Bonn, Drs. Kraft and Lange; at Berlin, Hoffman, who has in the Prussian Church an influence equal to that of tlie Archbishop of Canterbury in the An glican communion, and Prof. Dorner; at Halle, Dr. Tholuck; at Leipsic, Tiscliendorf; at Delitzen, Erlangen, Herzog and Ebrard; at Stuttgardt, the assembled representatives of evangelical Germany at the Church Diet; and, in Switzerland, Dr. Merle D’Anbigne and Count Gasparin, beside many others, at all these places, whom he named, with many more whom he did not mention. He met with no rebuff. All became enthusiastic, many promising to come. There is good reason to hope that England will be repre sented by many of the most eminent men in the Established Church and all other churches. From Germany, besides Dr. Hoffman, we may expect to see, next fall, Dr. Tholuck, who, despite his seventy years, is full of freshness and life; Dr. Dorner, Dr. Kraft, Emil Krummacher, Dr. Faber, Prof. Mess ner, Count Bernstorf, Dr. Konig and others. From Switzerland we hope to have Dr. Godet, Prof. Astie, Prof. Pronier, the Rev. Mr. Coulin, Dr. Van Der Golz and Dr. Ste helin; from Spain the Rev. Antonio Carracio, and from Italy Prof. Revell. Finally, Dr. Wichem, of Hamburg, the greatest Christian philanthropist of the age, expressed to Dr. Scliaff his intention of coming. At the close of Dr. Scliaff’s report, Rev. Dr. N. H. Sehenck, rector of St. Ann’s Epis copal church, Brooklyn, offered the follow ing resolutions: Resolved, That wo have listened with feel ings of lively interest and grateful satisfac tion to the report of Rev. Dr. Scliaff, and while gladly welcoming home the distin guished representative of the American Branch of the Evangelical Alliance, beg to exchange with him our warm congratula tions upon the successful issue of his mission, and thank him for the important and efficient service he lias rendered. Resolved, That as we heartily approve, so we are prepared to second, with Christian zeal, the steps which have been taken in fur therance of our cherished purpose, anil, as we believe, the general desire to hold a Con ference of tlie Evangelical Alliance in the United States; and, therefore, be it further Resolved, That we hereby extend a whole hearted American invitation and welcome to the several branches of the Evangelical Alli ance in the various parts of Christendom, to meet in general Conference in the city of New York, at a date hereafter to be agreed upon, during the autumn of the year 1870. Resolved, That we are eminently gratified to learn, by the report of Rev. Dr. Scliaff', that the preliminary invitation of the Amer ican Branch, conveyed through him to our brethren in Europe, lias been so kindly re ceived that we have already good reason to expect the attendance of a number of dis tinguished delegates, and that we have pleasing encouragement to anticipate a large representation from Great Britain and the continent. Resolved, That in offering to our brethren abroad the hospitalities of New York, we propose, under God, more than open doors and hearts full of welcome, looking forward, as wc do, to sncli communion in Christ anil i such “sweet counsel together” touching the I interests of His Kingdom as shall bring I down upon our Churches and the world we seek to evangelize, a fresh baptism of bless ing, aud help us all who now labor in Chris tian unity and spiritual fellowship, to the achievement, through Christ, of a heavenly fellowship when labor shall cease and love be enthroned forever. Dr. Sehenck supported each one of these resolutions in a speech of remarkable beauty and power; recounting the scenes of the groat Conference at Amsterdam, and antici pating the reunion in New York as a fore taste of the glorious assembly of the saints of the Most High, from all nations and names, in the kingdom of heaven. Rev. Dr. Prime, the Corresponding Sec retary, said that these resolutions are not to be adopted by merely saying aye. But the vote is to be taken by ballot, and the cards on which the votes are to bo written are in the pews, aud tlie amount of the subscrip tion you make will determine whether or not this great Conference of the World’s Evangelical Alliance can be held. All these invitations spoken of by Dr. Scliaff are i>rovis ional, depending on our raising the money to defray the expenses. We must have lit least $20,000, and probably more; and wo must have it subscribed now. A collection was then made. The Presi dent, Mr. Dodge, gave 82,000 toward 820,- 000. Dr. Hall said his church would cheer fully give a tenth, or 82,000. Dr. Adams said his people would give whatever was needed. Dr. Crosby pledged 8500; Dr. Sehenck, 8500. Dr. Nathan Bishop gave 8500 for himself. Jonathan Sturgis, 8200; H. K. Corning, 8500. Dr. DeWitt said that he would take all the delegates from Hol land, and see that they were provided for. President MeCosh, of Princeton College, said: The most remarkable doctrine estab lished in onr day in physical science and doctrine, singularly illustrative of the power and wisdom of God, is what has been char acteristically designated the correlation of physical forces. According to that sublime doctrine, there is just one force operating throughout the whole universe, but various ly modified in different circumstances. It is the same powor that moves and breathes, burns in the fire, shines iu the light, gives ns all tlie mechanical power that sets our machinery going, that is in our very animal life, and enables us to live. That is a doc trine established in onr day, and this power is a power derived almost exclusively from the sun, coining from the sun to onr earth, entering into the plants of our earth, going into everything, diffusing itself over the whole of nature. Now, I think this is a magnificent illustration of the work of the Spirit of God in the Church and in the in dividual Christian. It is said iu the Scrip tures that there is one Spirit, but there is a diversity of gifts. It is the one Spirit tlirougliout the universal Church that has called men out of sin anil misery, and brought them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer, and who lias united them to God through Christ. This manifests itself in a variety of forms, and as we have a di versity iu nature, so it is in the Church of God, where we have such a diversity of gifts. One man has a sanctified knowledge; an other Inis wisdom in devising means for the promotion of God’s grace; another has great another has great zeal; love. As it is in individuals, just so it is iu Churches. Oue Church is distinguished for onegift. Some Churches have been greatly distinguished for the zeal with which they have defended the glorious doctrines of the Word of God; others have been remarkable for liberality; others for keeping up a proper sort of fellowship among the members of the Church, one with another. While there are these diversities of gifts in the Church, still they are all one. I believe in the holy Catholic Church. I believe that the Roman Church is perverted, that they have turned it into a doctrine that lias opened tlie way more than any other for the perversion of the true unity of the Church of God. The object of the Alliance is not to constitute Cliristian unity, but to manifest that pure and Christ-like sentiment as it actually exists in the evangelical Churches of Christendom. These Churches have been active and vigo rous —as they ought to have been—-in ex tending ain’t multiplying themselves; but there was another kind of activity equally necessary in which they had been deficient, viz: Iu cultivating brotherly love and sym pathy with one another. Tlie Alliance, however, sought to do more than nourish a sentiment. It aimed to erect a standard and under it unite all the followers of Christ against the dominant materialism of the age, against the enemies of the Sabbath, and against the Church of Rome, specially in the efforts she is now so vigorously making in the Old World and the New to overthrow the educational institutions of Protestant countries. Dr. MeCosh also thought that the snstontation of the Gospel ministry was a subject which should lie discussed by tlie Conference with a view to devising some method to wipe away what was the crying reproach of the Church, especially of tliose maintaining themselves without aid from the State—viz. the insufficient support of the clergy. Itev. Dr. J. P. Thompson, of the Broad way Tabernacle, then said a few timely words with reference to Father Hyaeinthe and his “protest againt the doctrines which are Roman and not Cliristian.” If the coming Council at Rome refused to do him justice, lie had appealed to “God and" men to call another truly united in the Holy Spirit, not in the spirit of party, and repre senting really the Universal Church, not the silence of some men and the oppression of others.” What Council could better answer this description than the approaching Con ference of the Evangelical Alliance in this city. Dr. Thompson, speaking of the. “un doubted sincerity” of Father Hyaeinthe, mentioned having received from Mr. Pres sense and Theodore Monod, names eminent among the French Protestant clergy, letters iu which they speak iu warm praise and commendation of the noble Christian monk who has lately come to our shores. Rev. L. W. Bacon, at Brooklyn, then read a letter from Father Hyaeinthe which he had lately written as a preface to the En glish translation of a volume of his sermons, which Mr. Bacon is preparing : “I am grateful as well as surprised at the honor which yon are disposed to give to the few discourses I have published in Europe. I should have been glad I acknowledge, if I had been able to bring to America some thing less unworthy of the sympathies with which I have here been welcomed and which I shall always reckon among the greatest honors and the purest joys of my life. Such as theso are, however, t commit these rough productions to the intelligence of your read ers. Frenchman and Catholic as I am, I present them, through your hands, to that great American Republic of which you are a citizen, and to those numerous and flourish ing Protestant Churches of which you are one of the ministers. I am proud of my France, but I deem it one of its most solid glories to have contributed to the independ ence of tliat noble country which it has never ceased to love, and which it shall one day learn to imitate, a people for whom lib erty is something more than a barren theory or bloody practice ! —with whom the cause of labor has never been confounded with that of revolution; which rears its houses of payer next to its houses of commerce, and crowns its noisy and productive week with the sweetness and majesty of its Sab bath. I continue faithful to my Church and faith, but I have protested ngainst the ex cesses which have dishonored it, and which socni bent upon its ruin. You may measure the intensity of my love to-ilav by the bit terness of my lamentation. When He who is in all things our Master, onr Example, armed himself with a scourge of cords against the profaners of the Temple, His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. ’ lam still faithful to my Church. lam none the less sensible of the interest which must bo felt in the bosom of other churches in wliat I luay say or do within the pale of Catholicism. For that matter, I have never deemed that tlie Christian Communions that have been separated from Rome have been disinherited of the Holy Ghost, and are without a part in the infinite work of the preparation for the Kingdom of God. “In my relations with some of the most pious and most learned of their members, I have experienced in the very depths of my soul, that unutterable blessing of the com munion of saints. Whatever may divide us externally in space or in time, vanishes like a dream in the prqsence of that whioh unites E. H. MYERS, D. D., EDITOR Whole Number 1779 us within—the grace of the same God, the blood of the same cross, the hopes of the same Trinity. Whatever be our prejudices, yet under the eye of God who seeth every hidden thing, who gives His hand which is leading us, we are laboring all in common for the upbuilding of that Church of the future which shall be the Church of the past in its purity and its original beauty. In the days of his captivity the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel and said to him, “Take a stick aud write thereon, For Judah aud for the children of Israel, his companions; and take another stick and write thereon; For Joseph ; the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel, his companions. Then thou slialt join them one to tlie other, and they shall form lint one stick, and they shall bo one iu thy hand. ’ “To me, likewise, whom am the least of Christians, in those spiritual visions which are ever vouchsafed to longing souks, the Lord hath spoken. He has placed in my hand these two sundered and withered bran ches—Rome and the children of Israel who follow her; the Churches of the Reforma tion and the nations that are with them. I have pressed them together on my heart, and under the outpouring of my tears aud prayers I have so joined them that hence forth they might make but one tree. But men have laughed to scorn my effort, seem ingly so mnd, and hav e asked of me, as of that ancient seer, ‘Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these things ?’ And while I gaze upon that trunk so bare and mutilated, even now I seem to see the bril liant blossom and the savory fruit. “ ‘One God, one faith, one baptism.’ “ ‘And there shall be one ffock and one Shepherd.’ “Br. Hvacintre.” Highland Falls, AU Saints’ Day, Nov. S, ’O9. —A”, i. Obscvver. » i ♦ll Death of Rev. Ileiuan Hangs. This venerated father in the Gospel, so long and favorably known in connection with the New York Conference until its last division, and subsequently with the New York East Conference, died at his residence in New Haven, Conn., on the 2d instant, aged eighty years. He was born iu Fairfield, Gunn., April 15, 1789. While yet a child he removed with his parents aud their whole family to Dela ware county, N. Y. He was converted to God and became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at the ago of eighteen, or, as he would state the ease, lie was then re claimed, for he insisted that lie was first con verted at ten years old. Being zealous in the service of God, and somewhat gifted in his public exercises, he was licensed to ex hort, and afterward to preach as a Local Preacher. He soon became impressed with a conviction that God was calling him, by the Holy Ghost, to the work of the ministry, to which, however, lie felt a strong repug nance, and would yield to it only under the strongest convictions. To block up his own way in that direction he married, thinking that he would not be accepted with a family, and also engaged successfully in business. But the voice of the Spirit still called after him until, he became satisfied that it was his solemn aud imperative duty to become an itinerant minister; and encouraged by his brethren, and urged to his duty by his faith ful companion, lie entered tlie New York Conference in 1815. He remained in the active work of the ministry fifty-four con secutive years, retiring only last spring. Os these years thirty-three were devoted to the regular pastoral work; during eighteen years he filled the office of Presiding Elder,’ and for three years he served as Financial Agent of the Wesleyan University. Hcman Bangs was, as a man and a minis ter, much above the average of his fellows. His preaching was able and edifying, and al ways marked with the signs of his own in dividuality. It was plain, practical, and eminently evangelical. He handled the great foundation tiutlis of the Gospel with great force and an admirable skill, and his labors demonstrated their efficiency in tlie fruits that followed. Asa pastor lio was kind, ac cessible, aud fatherly, ready to listen to all, whether old or young, sympathizing with the sorrowing and instructing the doubting; and as necessity required, reproving the er ring. Learned he was not, in the technical sense of that word, yet lie was more than a man of strong natural sense. He made the English Bible his life study, and became truly mighty in tlie Scriptures, systematical ly and practically learned in theology, as well as skillful to divide the word of truth. His acquaintance with men was extensive, and he thus became an able judge of human nature; and as a man of keen observation, he gathered valuable information from all liis varied surroundings. Ho was a man of deep and strong convic tions, and altogether too loyal to them to al low them to ho inoperative in his life and ac tions, mid accordingly he was sometimes thought to be self-willed and unpersuadable. He was a warm aud fast friend toward those who commanded his confidence, and on the opposite side liis dislikes were positive, though we cannot say they were designedly unjust. He was an early and a persistent friend of the cause of Temperance; he took an active part in the initial movements of the Church in the cause of education; he aided iu the formation of the Missionary Society, and in his pastoral labors lie received into the Church nearly ten thousand members. Xiis religious experience, \v lien it became evident that death was near at hand, was eminently in character. In August last he made a visit to his relatives in Michigan, returning about a month before his decease. Soon after he found that his strength was failing, when, talcing an opportunity, ho said to liis two daughters: “Be prepared for a change. The Lord may be about to take me. I think lam failing. lam not anxious either way. It will do no harm to be ready." He thou gave directions respecting his funeral; named the pall bearers (all laymen,) and some of the ministers whom ho wished to officiate, adding the solemn injunction: “Don’t eulogize me, but glorify Christ During his sickness his mind was very clear, and his faith never clouded. He exclaimed at one time, lam saved—not shall be ; lam saved note.” When his sufferings were re ferred to he answered, “It is all right; this tabernacle must be dissolved. ” To his Pas tor, Rev. W. F. Watkins, who had asked af ter the state of his mind, he said: “It triumphs; God lives in me, and I in God, and soon I shall live with him. * * * So un worthy am I; but the blood, the atoning blood —that meets my case. I have done nothing. Tlie Lord has used me.” His funeral took place on the 4tn instant, at New Haven, and was attened by a large concourse of ministers and laymen, and of the citizens of New Haven, by whom he was well known and respected. Rev. Dr. Bacon, of the Congregational Church, Rev. Dr. Roche, Rev. C. Fletcher, Rev. W. F. Wat kins, Rev. J. B. Merwin, of the Now York East Conference, and Rev. Dr. Hatfield, of the Rock River Conference, conducted the opening services. Bishop Janes delivered an appropriate and deeply interesting me morial address, abounding in reminisoenoes of the deceased, and recognizing his useful ministry. The remains of our departed brother were laid to rest by the side of those of his deceased companion and children. A sorrowing but mightily comforted Church blesses his memory. Servant of God, vxil done: Kisst froui thy loved employ. Lay Delegates. —Bishop McTyeire has handed ns the following decisions in regard to lay delegates : “The lay members of an Annual Conference arc entitled to be record ed on its Journal, as such, whether they are present or absent; as is the ease with minis terial members. And, in the absence of their alternates, they are to be reckoned in the basis of constituency for representatives to the General Conference. Where there are less than four lay delegates from an An nual Conference, a local preacher cannot be a memlmr of the delegation. The lay dele gates to the General Conference need not lie members of the Annual Conference. It is only required by law that they be members of the' Church within the bounds of the Con ference, and fulfill the qualifications required in the Discipline. (College of Bishops, 186!).”) —Nashtitle Christian Advocate. 1 -X St. Bernard calls holy .fear the door keep er of the soul. Asa nobleman’s porter stands at the door and keeps out vagrants, so the fear of God stands and keeps all sin ful temptation from entering.