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TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS. upeir. VOLUME XXXIX., NO. 45. Original Joetrn. “BRIGHT DATS WILL COME.” BY W. P. R. Good Heart, hope on and never weary ! Though winter days are dreary, The spring returns, with April showers, With songs of birds, and dewy flowers. Bright sunny days more cheery ! Be strong and brave, and ntvrr weary! Though days be black and dreary. Though dark-wingedcare sighs through the air, We may not yie and to dull despair, Bright days sill come more cheery. On darkest thunder-clouds appearing, Bright rainbows chide thy fearing, And skies of noon with storm? o’ercast, With sunset-glories show at last, A bright to-morrow nearing. Though lightnings flame with lurid glaring, Great good they are preparing; The terrors that our hearts appall, Shall clear the skies, for rain to fall; God’s love for men still caring. Good Heart, look up and cease repining ! The clouds have silver lining. Beyond the storms that drape the sky, Uncbarging Love is throned on high, And ail the stars are shining. Go t’s promise thine—be never weary ! Faint not, though days be dreary ! Life’s wintry days shall pass away. And Heaven shall all thy grief repay— Bright days will come more cheery. Contributions. JUSTITIA AM) COMMON SCHOOLS. Mr. Editor: I have read Justitia's reply to my article on Common Schools. He com plains that I treated his position unfairly, and concludes by expressing the hope that I will slick to the text in case I see fit to answer him. My first article was simply an expression of the fact that I rejoiced to see Bishop Pierce announcing himself as no friend to the Common School system, and a few com ments upon extracts from Justitia’s plea for that system. If the State has a right to adopt a system of education, supported by taxation, then the only question is, the wisdom and expe diency of the plan. If the State has no right to inaugurate such a system, then the system has no foundation, and the wisdom nnd expediency of the plan is not debatable. Justitia refuses to discuss the right of the State in the matter, hut proceeds to defend the system adopted by the State. “ I have refused,” he says, “to argue the right of the State to educate her people.” He thus places himself in a most anomalous posi ion He most earnestly contends for the correct ness of his conclusion, and yet, refuses to offer a single argument in support of his premise. Strange reasoning! I now address myself to Justitia’s “text.” I will di-cuss it fairly. It is conceded tha’ some of the poorer class cannot avail them selves of the system provided by the State. I suggested that if the State ought to provide a system which “is the only hope of the common people,” it should for the same ! reason place these in a condition to enjoy that system. To this Justilia objects, ana claims the deduction to be illogical. I sub mit if any other deduction can be drawn. If the State ought to furnish the system of ed ucation, and it is ascertained that the people cannot avail themselves of its benefits with out aid from the Slate; and if the State has noright to furnish the means to thesp people to enjoy their “ only hope;” if to furnish the means to enjoy the system would be going “beyond the limits of her right and duty,” is not that fact a strong argument against the system ? Why should the State provide a system of education, if, in those instances where the people are unable to enjoy its benefits without aid from the State, the gov ernment has no right tojifford tha means of that enjoyment ? In my first article I took the position that the Common School system gave to the Stale the performance of those things that should be exercised by the parent. Whereupon Justitia says: “ The performance of what things does it give to the State that should be exercised by the parent —and in what does the Common School system and ffer from any other? H ~hy. only in the payment of the tuition by the State. [ltalics mine.] It does not relieve the parent of one single duty, nor assume one of his prerogatives. The parent has choice of schools. If he does not like one he can send to another within reach." [ltalics mine] Again: “When ha (Justice) says that the Common School sy-tem gives to the State the performance of those things which, in his judgment, should be exercised only by the parent, he fails to mention one of them; and I deny that there is one.” Let us examine the law and the facts of the system, and then compare them with the hasty assertion of Justitia. The Public School system of this Siate, in its main features, is to be found in the acts of 1872. I quote from the act. Section XIl declares : “ That hereafter each and every county in the State shall compose one school district, and shall be confided to the control and management of a County Board of Edu cation.” That board is chosen by the graud jury of each county. Section XIX enacts : “ That the County Board of Education shall provide from time to time what text books and books of reference shall be us°d in the Common Schools of the county. Provided : That the Bible shall not be excluded from the public schools of the State.” This board, through the Coutity School Commissioner, employs the tfache-s and they are licensed by the board. Sec. XXXIII provides '■ “That the County Board of Education shall ■not be permitted to introduce into the schools any text or miscellaneous books of a secta rian or sectional character.” Sec. XXVI: “ That admission to all the public schools of this State shall be gratuitous to all the cbil dren residing in the sub district in which the school is located. Provided: That in special cases, to meet the demands of convenience, children residing iu one sub district may, by express permission of the County Board, at tend the primary schools of another sub district.” In view of the law, is the only dif ference between the Common School system and any other, simply in payment of tuition by the State ? In a private school the teach er can select his text books and books of re ference, and the parent has choice of schools -if he does not like one be can send to an other. In the private school system the pa rent only pays when his children attend the school. The doctrine of quid pro quo ob tains in such a plan. But the Public School system smiles at this principle in political economy. The parent is compelled to pay to the schools’ support, whether his childreu attend or not. Even if a man has no chil dren he is nevertheless made to contribute to sustain the school. Do not we find here a very material difference between the two finnthmi (fluis<ian 2Umalc. systems? In a short ar’icle I can only sug gest, the reader can readily pursue the rea soning to his own satisfaction. Justitia ad mits that if it be shown that the operation of the Common School system is to step be tween parent and child, he will no longer advocate it. I ask him, in all candor then, when the State compels a parent, by taxa tion, to contribute to the support of a school, and yet, gives that parent no voice in the management of it; when he cannot select his teacher; when the teacher has no power t adopt his text books and books of refer ence ; when the parent has no choice of schools; in the light of these facts , I ssk him if the legitimate operation of such a sys tern 13 not to step between parent and child in the important ma'ter of primary eduea Mon. I insist with in the words of Bishop Pierce, “ something is due to pa rental responsibility in the matter of prima ry education.” I have not, so far, discussed the right of the State in this question. Justitia desired me only to discuss his text —the operation of the Common School system, and wherein it differs from any other system. I have done so, and now submit it to a candid public. And now, a few more reflections on the Public School system. Any system of education that fails to re cognize that a child has a mental and moral and physical nature, and that fails to make provision for the fullest development of each of those natures, is, to that extent, defective. The moral, mental, and physical natures are all capable of high education, and no person is properly educated that has neglected the education of either of these natures, and most especially the moral nature. And just here is a great objection to the Common School system. The tendency of the system is to exclude all religious instruction from the school room. That has been reached in some places. A Board of Education of a Western city passed the following resolution : “ Resolved , That hereafer no teacher in the employment of this board shall either teach or practice religion.” A profound thinker and fine educator, the late Bishop Thompson, has left us this whole some reflection : “Tell me that I shall say nothing to influence the moral character of those under my care and you tell me non sense- As well say that I shall restrain the atmosphere from bearing my breath in any direc'ion hat the North Pole. They who forbid moral instruction generally overlook 'he fact that it is constantly going on. Though the school may not teach morals, the play ground, and the street, and the market, and the tavern, and the nro nenale, aud tire auction block will. Though the teachers do not teach the written Decalogue, there are plenty of masters to proclaim the unwritten one ; lust, and stealing, and blood, and atheism, preach without any license. Let the youth grow up and choose religion and morals for himself, and he may choose himselfinto the penitentiary long b-fore he is fully grown. Men of en complain of the ease wi h which the young mind receives a religious bias, hut they ought to think of the greater ease with which it receives an irre ligious one. * * * * The school-house is the great fountain of national character , and sends forth sweet or bitter waters through all the streams of the nation's thought. It must be in the hands of either religious or irreligious men. Let it fall into the hands of the latter , and Cata * line is at the gates of Rome." Let Justitia “ chew and dig est” the thought well. In tellectual education, in and of itself, does not make lie'ter men. Dishonesty, and pro fanity, and licentiousness, and murder, are often found where the intellect alone has been educated. The many defaulters of this age are smart men but knaves. Their ras cality is refined, and for that reason all the more dangerous. The penitentiaries are not filled with men who were properly educated iu reference to their moral na'ures. Horace Mann, a close observer and thinker on the subject of education, says: “I think I re strict myself within bounds in saying that, so far as I have observed in lite, ten men have failed from defect in morals where one has failed from defect in intellect." The pub lic School system makes no provision for the education ot the heart and conscience. Nor can the State adopt a system for primary educatiiu and make such provision. The Catholics, and Jews, and Infidels, have too much power at the ballot box for that “ Education is a normal function of the Church," says Dr, Havgood, in his fine Alumni address, delivered at Emory Col -1 ge, 1874. A careful perusal of that excel lent address will afford Justitia pleasure and profit. The question of Public Schools is one of vast moment. The subj“Ct is worthy of sober reflection. It is assuming importance, and within the decade may be a question o‘ national politics. The writer wishes such may not be the result, but the tendency is in that direction. I have no desire to prolong this discus sion ; as Justitia has none, I presume it is at an end. Justice. Burke County , Oct. 27, 1876. DR, MYERS. We copy the following from an apprecia tive and discriminating tribute which appears in the St. Louis Advocate of October 2oth, from the pen of Dr. Myers' trusted friend. Rev. A. G. Havgood, D. D : Dr Myers was one of our best aud hard est workers. He had many talents and large, aud he used them all and altogether for the glory of God and the good of men. An af fection of the throat cur'ailed his pulpit work, but in or out of the pastorate, he preached when he could, for he loved lo preach, and deplored, but with resignation, the infirmity that so often hindered him. He was a faithful expounder of God’s word. He made its meaning plain to the understand ing, and pressed its truth upon the conscience. There was critical exegesis, philosophical breadth, and evangelical fervor in his preach ing. His minis'ry was always characterized by sound sense aud sincere earnestness. He wai susceptible of profound religious emo tion. and at times when the unction of the Holy Ghost was upon him his preaching was in great, power. His preaching was religious ly courageous ; what he believed he pro claimed, whether in reproving sin or expos ing error. Asa teacher he was punctiliously faithful, laborous, patient, untiring, impartial. His long career as editor brought him recogni tion everywhere as one of onr best writers and strongest minds. Especially will his ed itorials that preceded the important changes in our Church economy by the General Con ference of 1866 be remembered lor their sobriety, clearness, breadth and power. His volume, entitled, “ The Disruption of the M. E. Church,” had he produced nothing else, would stamp him as a man of learning, research, and ability. Dr. Myers was a man of “ affairs.” He PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & COMPANY, FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. would have succeeded in almost any depart ment of life requiring industry, energy, pa tience. sound judgment, broad views, and adminisirative ability. On committees and “ boards” in Annual and General Confer ence work, there were few so able ; none more faithful, honest, and painstaking. He knew more of the wants and polity, resources and possibilities ot our Church, than scores of average men. And he will be sorely missed wherever he has worked. We will now begin to knew what many were not over quick to learn, his great worth, by our keen sense of his loss. It is as when a great tree falls —there is vacancy all around. And it will take a whole genera’ion for smaller and younger trees to fill his place. Dr Myers was a thoroughly trained man ; his mind worked under admirable discipline. His reading was extensive ; his culture was broad and real. His library contained many of the masters, old and new. And he knew what his books contained, and was the mas ter, not the slave, of his learning He kept himself well informed in the best thoughts of the day, in literature, science, philosophy and theology. Dr. Myers was thoroughly coneecrated. He was consciously Christ’s. His religious experience was deep and wide. He had a lofty ideal of Christian character, and nobly strove to realize it. He was much given to prayer, and to the study of God’s word. He trusted God with all his heart. She who knew him best writes to me: “During the thirty years of our married life, I never re member to have known his faith falter, nor to have heard him murmur or repine, at any dispensation of God’s providence.” Our dear Bro. Myers loved the Church, the whole Church of Christ. He belonged to the Church body and soul, but not as a partisan. He was truiy a catholic Christian. The Church was ever in his thoughts. His talk was of the Church and her interests. In the trou bled slumbers of his last illness, he dreamed of the Church. The Church filled his heart; in her prosperity he rejoiced, in her calami ties he sorrowed. He bad faith in the Church, because he had faith in the Head of the Church. New-fangled infidelity had no ter rors for him ; he knew in his soul that the Church of Christ is in this world to stay and to conquer. Sailing on the good old ship, the painted cockle shells of infidel philoso phy and science had no attractions for him. He feared Tyndall, Darwin, Huxley and the rest, living, no more than he did Julian, Porphyry, Voltaire, Hume and Tom Paine, dead. He had dug down and felt the rock under his feet. There were among us men more popular, none more trusted. I would not have chal lenged him as a jurror or judge had one of his children been the opposing party in the case. None who really knew him failed to love him. From my boyhood to the day of his death he was one of my truest and most loving friends. I owe much to him. While he lived I loved him ; I revere his memory, now that he is gone from us. When they told him he was about to die, he replied promptly, quietly,and unfaltering ly, “I am ready ; I have been for a long time.” All Monday night he lay dying, con scious, and at himself when awake. About 5 o’clock Tuesday morning, about two hours before the end came, he roused himself, and with full consciousness, despite the nervous spasm that lollowed his efforts to speak, he tried hard to tell what was passing through his mind to bis family and friends. Address ing Mrs. Sanssy, of his Church, laying his hand upon his breast he said, in broken tones, “ All-peace-here.” Then he said, “ Wife-children”—and something else they could not catch. Let us who survive sup pose that it was “I commend them to the Church and to God.” There is something sad to see this strong man, who had always been able to speak and to write, trying in vain to do either. When his paralyzed tongue refused its office he tried to write with a pencil, but his “ right hand forgot its cunning.” Findingthat hecould neitherspeak nor write, he gave it. up with a sweet resigna" lion, and, quietly folding his arms, in a few moments, without a struggle, breathed his last. Stlcrfions. From the Nashville Christian Advocate. LETTER FROM BISHOP MARVIN. The line between the State of Oregon and Washington Territory bisects the Walla Walla Valley, giving the larger fraction to the latter. In descending from the Blue Mountains into this valley, you leave the forests behind and emerge first, into a region of bold, bare hills, and then into the level plain, which is also destitute of timber, except that there is a fringe of willows along the Walla Walla River, which pursues a course so tortuous as to make quite a show of verdure as you con template the landscape from a dis'ant point. The town of Walla Walla, in Washington Territory, only four miles from the line of Oregon, is situa’ed in the heart of the valley. It is a very lively town of about 3 000 inhab itants, which has come to be almost all that it is within fifteen years. There were a few people here, perhaps, as much as twenty five years ago, but no settlements of any con - sequence. But now it is supposed that the Walla Walla Valley alone produces a mil lion of bushels of wheat annually, and that within an area of say, twenty by forty miles. It is a wonderful country for wheat, not only in the level valley-lands, but on the hills. I will not venture to give the estimated aver age yield per acre, lest someone might snp pose it to be fabulous. But farmers are at a great disadvantage iu gt ing their produce to market, having to give two bushels to get one to market —that is, to the Portland mar ket—but to get it to its ultimate market they have to give three or four bushels to get one sold. The price now realized at home is twenty-five cents. Why is this? The reaFon is plain. A sack of wheat, after it leaves AValla Walia is han‘ died ten times before it sees Por'land. It goe3 thirty miles by rail to Wallula, and is there unloaded from the train and loaded up on a boat, from which, at the head of the Dolles, it is unloaded and loaded upon the train ; at the foot of the Dalles it goes again from the train to the boat; then at the head of the Cascades it undergoes another un loading and re loading, and po again below the Cascades. You see what a costly system of transportation this is. Now, if farmers can live here at this rate, what will the coun" try be when they get good facilities and an accessible market? Nor is this wonderful wheat couutry con fined to the Walla Walla; but, lrom all I can learn, it covers a vast area of irregular outline. If it were in a solid body it. would be, I suppose, two or, perhaps, three hun dred miles square. Its amazing fertility is just now becoming known largely, even on this coast. MACON, GEORGIA, TUE The prospects of our Church in this r.e(v region are good. For want of men and means we have not occupied it largely here tofore. Something had been done in East’ ern Oregon in an irregular way, but it had not been followed up in any efficient effort. But last year Bishop Kavanaugh did all that was practicable to reoccupy the field and en large it. On reaching Walla Walla I found that Bry. Mays had done an excellent work there, and explored the country largely in the regicu. beyond. He had effected an organization in the town, consisting of substantial citi zens, who had long desired the advent of Southern Methodist preacher. They have made a bargain for a good house of worship! built by the United Brethren but no longer occupied by them. The property is offered at a low price—not above two-thirds of its actual value. This property secured, we shall be on an excellent footing in thi s i country. Brother Og ! esby, the Presiding Elder, ha.; done a noble year’s work, and this year. /■ shall be able to send some additional men t, the District. It would astonish you to find how abundant Southern people are here, anc how eager they are for preachers of our owr Church. At Walla Walla I found fruits of all kinds in great abundance. It is astonishing how rap idly trees grow and how early they begin to bear. Brother Jesse, mine host, has a grand orchard, and you ought, to have seen me out in his vineyard destroying the ripe and lus cious grapes ; and that in this latitude! The eccentricities of the thermal line on this con tinent are a mystery to me. Up here ir Washington Territory the winters are com paratively mild, except iu the elevated, mountainous portions of it. After spending Sunday with our little flock in town, with great comfort, 1 was up and off to the depot by a little after day break, iu company with Brothers and Mays. We were now fairly on our way to Conference at Corvallis. To be in time we had to take a freight train loaded with wheat. At about ten o’clock we reached. Wallula, on the Columbia River, some dis-. iance below the mouth of Snake River. | Above Wallula there are broad valleys skirt ing the river, but just here there are precipi tous blull's of basaltic trap on both sides of it —the familiar Snake River formation that I had beeu traveling in for hundreds of miles At Wallula we had to wait all day at the hotel. Just at dark the boat arrived, and we went aboard and slept as best we could, the boat not being designed for passen gers. But the captain was clever, and a) lowed us to make our-elves comfortable/* We had the tmndle of the wheelbarrows j rolling in the wheat, for our lullaby. A l daylight the whistle sounded, and we were off', down the beautiful Columbia. As we approached Umatilla the scenery be tame ; less rugged, and as we moved on rapidly down stream the snowy ridge of Mount | Adams was descried, and soon after the I white crown of Mount Hood, the loftiest/ peak on the Pacific slope—at least in the , United States —being over seventeen thou- i sand feet high. Mount Hood is in Oregon, j* and Mount Adams in Eaahington T--p just opposite. At several points on the river the view of Mount Hood is magnifi cent. In general contour it bears a st-ong resemblance to my old California friend, Mount Shasta, and is a shade higher We made very rapid progress down stream, the current being very rapid. At some points I should have pronounced the navi gation impossible if 1 had not known the fact that it is navigated. At one tin e, as I looked ahead, I saw the stream so choked with immense rocks, rearing their heads above the surface, and apparently crow:V ing the space from bank to bank, that I al most shuddered as we approached. Amongst the rocks the rush of the water is so strong that I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw our boat braving it under full head of steam. But in we plunged, and the staunch boat responded to the hand of the pilot as promptly as if it knew the danger, and turn ing its sagacious nose this way and that as i: dashed along, dodged all the rocks, and danced away down stream as if proud of its dexterity. These boats have to be very strongly built, and supplied with machinery of tremendous power, in order to make any head whatever, or even to hold their own, in ascending the river. At the Dalles there is a stretch of several miles in which no boat could live, except at a very high stage of water. A short railroad carries the freight and passengers over this distance. I rode on the top of a box-car that I might have a full view of this magnifi cent piece of scenery. It is indescribable. At some points you have the precipice of naked basalt rising to a height of two or three hundred feet on your left—perpendicu lar, majestic. Here, the water spreads itself out among the rocks, and dashes itself into foam in the rapid descent: there, it makes a leap over a ledge, and farther down the full volume of the mighty stream is compressed between two walls of solid masonry of Na ture’s own building, not over one hundred and seventy feet apart. — -feet, not yards. The captain of our boat, in describing it to before I saw it, said that at that point the river had been set upon its edge. Th? depth of it at this narrow place no man knoweth. I presume no skill could obtain a sounding, so swift and strong is the cur ent. Some forty miles below the Dalles are the Cascades, where there is another portage of a few miles by rail. This is where the river has broken the back of the Cascade Moun tains and pours itself through the chasm. At the foot of the Cascades the mountains tower on either bank to the height of three thousand feet at a very sharp aagle. One magnificent column of basalt stands by itself, full eight hundred feet from base to summit. Below the Cascades the river widens and'* flows with a more placid surface. For sev eral miles the scenery is precipitous on both sides, and every man who has written about it mentions the little mountain torrents leap ing down, sometimes by a sheer descent ot several hundred feet. I had supposed from what I had read that they were more nu. merous than they are. In the spring, when the streams are flush, I Buppose they are both more numerous and of greater volume. We were soon in the level valley region, between the Cascade Mountains and the Coast Range, and just at dark turned into the Willamette River. By uiue o'clock we were at Portland, aid at the St. Claries Hotel found Brother Shreve, a transfer from the Baltimore Conference. Af er an early breakfast we took the 'rain, and were met by Brother White at Albany, where we en joyed his hospitality tor a f'tw hours, after which we proceeded by hack to Corvallis, the seat of the Conference. Here my old Missouri friends, Brother A. C.uthorn, and his most hospitable fami y, re eived me with joy; and I, also, entered wiih joy under their roof again. What hours of delightful ISDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1876. and hallowed inteicourse I have had with them at intervals for near a quarter of a century! Every preacher was in his place at Con ference, but the attendance of laymen was small, for the harvest is not over with in this latitude. We have had a peaceful, de lightful session. E. M. Marvin. THE HOLY COMMUNION. I tbiuk if my sins, O Christ! My endle.s sius against Thee! “ Nay, r ittier,” a voice replied: “ Remember Me.” I think of she wa ted years. No fru t on this barren rice : “Yet, since I can raise the dead, R member Me.” My hear t is narrow and cold. When- love should b- warm and free: “Be Hbeil with mi fullness then— Remember Me.” I iose my way in the dark ; 1 grope, for I cannot see : “I am rhe l ight of the world. Remember Me.” Alas! I may know Thy law. But what will the doing be? “I can baptize with lire: Remember Me.’’ “ Poor is thv love, indeed, To ;ha: which I b'ar to thee; Forget thyself—for an hour Remember Me.” And, as I gaze at His cross— Gaz - till my eyes are dim, The strength comes hack to my heart, Remembering Him. O Lord and Giver of life, Do as thou wiit with me ! I feed upon h -aven y brt al. Remembering Thee! —A. Y Observer. HUXLEY’S LOGIC. We have received from an unknown friend a copy of the New York Tribune containing Dr. VV. M. Taylor's admirable review of Prof. Huxley's lectures in New York. Dr. Taylor disclaims any pretensions to scieu tide erudition, but tries the lectures by the test of logic. We make the following ex tracts from his letter: A BEGGING OK THE QUESTION. For his argument rests on a conjecture, and so it violates the first of the two can ons regulating circumstantial evidence. His conclusion is thus a hypothesis evolved from a hypothesis. To see that this is indeed the case, let us put his argument in syllogistic form. It is as follows: Wherever we have an ascending series of animals with modifi cations of struclure rising one above an other, the latter forms must have evolved themselves from the earlier. In the case of these fossil horses we have such a series, therefore the theory of evolution is estab lished universally for ail organized and animal life. Now even if we admit his •premises, every one must see that the con clusion is far too sweeping. It ought to have been confined to the horses of which he was treating. Bit passing that, let us ask where is the proof of the major premise? Indeed, that premise is suppressed altogether, and lie nowhere attempts to show that the exis tence of an ascending series of animals, with modification of structure ascending one above another, is an infallible indication that the higher members of the series evolved them selves out of tlie lower There, in the sup '.seFSed premise, in which Whateiy cautions u/itiok nio?t warily aber laiiaey, the Haw in Huxley's reasoning is to be found. He has taken for granted in the major premise of iiis argument, which is conveniently out of sight, the very thing which, amid a great great flourish of trumpets, he set out to de monstrate. Nobody denies the existence of the fossil horses, but, his inference from their existence, to the eff ct that the latter horse is an evolution of ilie earlier anchitheriuin, is purely and entirely begged The exis tence of a series does no* necessarily involve the evolution of the higher members of it from the lower. The steps of a stair rise up one above another, but we cannot reason that therefore the whole staircase has devel oped it-elf out of the lower step. It may be possible to arrange all the different modifi cations of 'he steam engine, from its first and crudest form up to its latest and most com pieteiy organized strq ture, in regular gra dation ; but that would not prove that the last grew out of the first. No doubt in such aca e there has been progress—no doub: -there has been development too —but it was progress guided and development directed by a presiding and intervening mind. And nowhere in the existing order ol things will you find modifications increasing and per petuating themselves except under the inter vention of some intelligent mind. There fore all present experience is against this major premise which Hurley has so quietly taken for granted. It is a pure conjecture. I w 11 go so far as to say that even if he should find in the geological records all the inter vening forms he desires these will not fur nish evidence that the higher members of the series rose out of the lower by a process of evolution. The existence of a graduated series is one thing ; the growih of the series out of its lowest member is quite another. No doubt if it could be proved that there was such a growth, we should certainly find such a series; but it is a mistake to suppose that because ol that, the existence of the series has proved that there was such a growth. This being the case, the argument of Huxley is something very d’ffVrent from a demon stration —‘o wit, a fallacy. EVOLUTION NOT WELL BASED Indeed, to affirm as he did. that evolution stands exactly on the same basis as the Cos pernican theory of the motion of ihe heav enly bodies, is an assertion so astounding that we can only “stand by and admire” the “ marvelous” effrontery with which it was made. That theory rests ou facts pres ently occurring before our eyes, and treatei in the manner of mathematical precision. It is not an inference made by somebody, from a record of acts existing in far off and pre historic, pcssihly also prehuman, ages. It is verified every day by occurrences that hap pen according to its laws. But where do we ste evolution going on to-day ? If evolution rests on a basts as sure as astronomy, why do we not fee one species passing into an other now, even as we see the motions of the planets through the heavens? Why cannot its votaries foretell that at a certain time, and in a certain place, not too far for per sonal inspection by us, some modification in the structure of an animal or a plant shall occur, without any human intervention, even as astronomers predict the occurrence of a transit of Venus across the sun ? We know that astronomy is true, because we are verifying the conclusions every day of our lives, on land and on sea. We set clocks according to its conclusions, and nav igate our ships in accordance with its pre dictions ; but where have we anything ap proaching even intintesimally to this, with evolution? It may he that there is truth in it; and whenever that shall be made clear to us, we are ready to accept it. But, with Prof. Huxley himself, “we have an awk ward habit—uo, 1 won’t call it that, for it is a valuable habit—of reasoning, so that we believe uothiug uuless there is evidence for it, and we have a way of looking upon belief which is not based on evidence, not only is illogical, but immoral.” The Professor is wclceme to the application of his own prin ciple. For me, the demonstration of Hux ley, so far as it has been set before us here, is of the same sort as the conjecture of Top sy, “ ’ specls I growed.” It is after all, de, spite the words he has multiplied around it" the “ ‘ spects” of Huxley, As such it is worthy of respect—just as any opinion or conjecture of suc h a man must have a certain de< :ree of importance - hut as a demonstra tion it is an imposition, which we have done our best to nail to the counter, that it may not get into currency. REVEALED IN CHRIST. The universe is full of God. There is no' an atom of the earth or sky that does not proclaim his being and his power; but espe cially the whole structure and frame of the universe is a complete demons'ration of his greatness and the glory of his perfections. I' requires but a little use of natural reason to find ihe absolute necessity of his existence, the demonstration of his being and of his power in the universe he lias made. The argument has prevailed always with great and noble minds, and it lias been considered conclusive, that without a Bible the world has proof of God. He is its maker and its father, and has written Ilia name upon every star and upon every atom of earth ; he has revealed himself in the infinitude of his ws dom in the ingenuity of the structure in ail parts of it, as well in the material globes as in the organization of the infinitesimal lines. Everywhere the demons!ration of Gcd is complete and perfect. But while this is con ceded, 1 am here to state the appalling pro position that if Jesus Christ be not a meg senger from God, if he did not come into the world to communicate truth to mankind, the woild has no other knowledge of God than that of a great inexorable power that has originated it and set it agoing. He that rides in his chariot of thunder in the heavens and above the heavens he has made has nev er once in all the ages spoken one single word of tenderness to the human creation ; he has never once given forth the idea that he is compassionate, tender, loving Father, and tint, we are his children. Tue world has no fatherhood in God out of Christ. I would emphasize this declaration because of its importance, and because of its truthfulness. You will search in vain over all the litera ture of all Ihe ages, so Liras human history is accessible to human study and investiga tion—so far as we are able to press the dis cussion into all the minute parts of ihe indi vidual histories of the world, and there is not a solitary fragment of evidence that the great God who made it and reigns over it as its chief and gl-'rious head has ever or<~e broken the silence that reigns throughout cre ation as to his thought and feeling; he bu s never uttered one seutence that can give hope or comfort to his human child. All along thpse ages pressed with a sense of the im portance of communication with Him, urged by insatiable longings and unappeasable thirst to come into some kind of communion with him, he has remained dumb and silent — has dropped no word out oi beaten, has per formed no act, has given no sign that he has ever had a thought concerning his human creation since Ihe day he made it and finish ed creadon. You will search in vain among all the religions of the world, ancient and modern, for a solitary communication, if it he not, contained in this book. And, my fiend?, this isa most appalling fact: it, gives significance to the mission and character ol Christ that is trai scendantly and inconceiva' bly great. —Bishop Foster. DULL PREACHERS AND DULL HKAKEKS. It, should he remembered that eloquence is n raie gift with all cla-ses of public speak ers, and that genius only occasionally ilia urinates even the pages of secular writings, l’owerful sermons are few, and great preach ers are rare, hut neither fewer nor more rare than excellence in other things—in fact much less so, for we know of no branch of intel lectual effort that, taken as a whole, is so vital and i: flueotial as the pulpit. Every large city has at least several preachers whom eager crowds gather lo ltPar; every section has more than one noted pulpit orator whose fame is spread afar, and, if grumblers at dull sermons would point out the hook makers or journal writers whose influence is greater or whose followers are more nu merous or more zealous, they would do something to justify their complaints. But there is another aspect to this ques tion. When we hear a complaint of a dull sermon, it is by no means certain whether he dullness is in him who pireaches or in him who listens. There are orators ot such energetic nature that the passionate earnest ne?s of their delivery excites every auditor ; but it does not follow that, these men have utterances more worthy of atten'i -n than hose of less emphatic speakers Tiie ser mon that flows smoothie and calmly along may have far m .re intricate thought, much more fresh suggestion, than the tuibulence of a so-called eloquent preacher; and these calm and ihough'ful addresses, above all things, require intelligent lis'ening. In these cases the attention is not carried by storm ; it must, be surrendered by the alert imagina tion and the willing sympathy ; the spirit, the life, the significance, the worthiness, of any sermon must largely depend upin the relation of the mind that receives to that which expounds. No matter what wealth of color an artist pours upon his canvas, the picture is meaningless io him who does not look upon it with quickened apprehension : no matter wi'h what splendor of imagery a poet adorns his lines, it is all a babble to him who has uo poesy in his soul. Dante and Shakspt-are, Raphael and Murillo, Beethoven and Handel, all are locked up iu dullness to the dull. Of course there is varying quality of performance; it must be conceded that there are poor painters, weak verse writers, and bad preachers; yet who shall say how much of critical depreciation in these assumed cases springs from the in sensibility of the critic ? Many a line of a poet has profound significance to a student., which is but meaningless jargou to the clown. Many a flower is full of beauty to a naturalist, that to the crude rustic is no more than a worthless weed. As it is true that The ripe flavor oi Falerniau tides, Not in the wine, but in the 'arte resides ; as it is certain that the glowing tints of the flowers and the raiiiaut splendors of the sun set depend upon the susceptibility of the retina that mirrors them ; as it is Ihe delicate seusi'ivedess in the photographic plate tha t catches successfully the shadow of the suu, and fixts the subtle lines of ihe image; as divine uieiody can live only in the attuned ear; ashcatand light are vital forces only as they act upon the material that receives them —so we may be assured that the world of mind is equally with these instances of phys- ical phenomena a matter of correspondence. No seeds are so fruitful that they can quicken in a desert soil, and few so feeble that they will not vivify in a generous loam. In depre ciative criticism, therefore, it is often uncer ain where the defect lies—whether it is real ly in the dullness of the producer or in the stubborn insensibility of the censor. — Apple ton's Journal. EACH IN HIS OWN WAY. " All the great works are done by serving God wi'h what we have in hand. Moses wa? keeping sh- ep in Midian. God sent him to save Israel, but he shrank from the un dertaking. We empathize with Jethro’s herdsman —alone, a stranger, not owning a lamb that he watched. He had nothing but his shepherd’s rod, cut from the thicket, the mere crab stick with which he guided liis sheep. Any day he might throw it away and cut a batter one. And God said, “What is that in thy hand ? With this rod with this stick thou shalt save Israel.” And so it proved. What is that in thy hand, stranger? An ox-goad, with which I urge lazy beasts Use it (or God, and Shamgar’s ox goad defeats ’he Philistines. What is that in thy hand, David? My sling, with which I keep the wolves from my sheep. Yet with that sling he slew Goliath, whom an army dare not meet. What is that in thy hand, disciple ? Nothing but five barley loaves and two little fishes. Bring them to me, give them to God, and the multitude is fed. What is that in thy hand, poor widow? Only two mites. Give them t<* God, and behold the fame of your riches fills the world. What hast, thou, weeping woman? An alabaster box of oint ment. Give it to God. Break it and pour it upon thy Saviour’s head, and its sweet per fume is a fragrance until now. What l ast ihou, Dorcas? My needle. Use it for God —and those coats and garments a*e multi plying and are clothing the naked still. You are a manufacturer, a merchant, a mechanic, a man of leisure, a clerk, a stu dent, or a sewing woman. God wants each one of you to serve Him where you are. You have your business? Use it for God. Order it in a godly manner. Do not allow any wickedness ill it. Give godly wages ; preach Christ to your clerks, not by a lone face, hit by being i ke him, doing good. Use your profits for G and, feeding the hun gry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, comforting the wretched, spreading the Gos pel far and wide. What a field you have to glorify God in, just where you are ! If you have nothing else, use your tools for Him ; He can glorily Himself with them as easily as he could with a shepherd's stick, aii oxgoad, a sling, or t wo mites. A poor girl who had nothing hut her sewing machine used it to aid a feeble church; and all her earnings above her needs were given to wards building a house of worship; and in a var she paid more than others a hundred times richer than she. So you can do if you will. Think of the widow with her two mites; the woman wilh her alabaster box, and Dorcas and her garments; you can do as much and have as great reward, (JHURCHLY CHURLISHNESS. If there is any )lace under heaven where good manners should be practiced, that place is the church. But, in many instances, it is the very home of churlishness and boorish ness. A stranger dropping in, finds kirns. 7 l[ in an atmosphere of such Arctic chilliness mid fret zing rigidity, that his fi-gt thought is that lie has suddenly intruded in'oa spiritual refrigerator. T. ere he stands, unertain whether to advance or to back ouri No one shows him a pew. or speaks a kind word lo trim, or gives him the slight st look of en eon rage in ent, or welcome. He feels that he is a stranger, an intruder, that he is ' ot wel come, that to stay is only to l e tr ier 7 ted. What wonder the service his no effect on 'hat man? Or, if any, that he retires after the benediction more hardened than sof en ed ? He went, to gather stiength for the grand purpose of anew lite ; lip Ipaves, feel ing that there is no strength nor grace to he extracted from this frosty selfishness which has built itself a temple iu the iinnie of Chris tianity. Now, had some kind hearted Christian stepped up to this diffident, new comer, and frank in speech and warm and sympathetic in hart, grasped him by the hand and hade, him welcome, and given him to understand that the Church wanted him, and had work for him to do, how different the result! Ah, when will the Church be as wis" as the devil ? When at her doors will the stranger meet a welcome as bright and cheery, as hearty and warm, as he finds at those doors which open on death and hell ? Fill the Church with an atmosphere of radiant kindness, of genial welcome. Let. there be exhibited 'he courtesy, not of outward deportment and etiquette only, but that also of the heart. B - civil. Be cordial. Be pleasant. Keep b-:ck your antipathies. Bit show your good-will. Be hospitable, for 'hereis no'hing like church hospitality. Thereby you will entertain an gels. who will come again. Then every flow er of Christian grace will bloom in richest colors, and every stranger that enters " ill be conscious of an attrac iveness and a warmth that will irresistibly bind him to it as his home. —Christian at Work. AN IMMEDIATE ANSWER. Washington Allston, one of our best, paint ers and poe's, tells us in what way he was led from the enjoyment of j* s s at sacred sub jects into an abid'ng trust in them. Having married the s'ster of Dr. Cbanning, he made his second visit to Europe. He met with l'ttle success; nay, was at, a lost for the means of procuring the necessaries of lit'?. Reflect ing one day almost with a feeling of despera tion upon his condition, his heart, all at once was fi led wi h the hope that God would help him if he only askeL Accordingly he locked his door, withdrew to a corner of his loom, and .brew himself upon his knees in prayer. He was aroused by one knocking at the door. He opened it to a stranger who announced himself as the Marq -is of Stafford, who in qutred if his painting of the angel Uriel was sold. Receiving a negative reply the noble man prid him four hundred pounds for the beautiful production ; wa3 so pleased that he introduced the poor painter to the leading nobility and gentry, and thus to immediate fame and fortune. Alls’oa never regarded this as a mere happy coincidence ; the feel ing which led him to prayer and the imme diate relief, he looked upon as the direct iir terposition of God in his behalt. Fixed de votional habits became predominant traits in his character to the end of his life.— Rev. John Waugh. Christian, do not excuse yourself from work in G d’s vineyard by saying that, you have not the feeling that will prompt you to work. Are we not just as responsible to God for not having the feeling, as we are for not doing the work? i F. M. KENNEDY, D. 1)., Editor J. W. BURKE Assislfliit Editor A. G. HAVGOOD, D. D., Editorial Correspondent WHOLE NUMBER 2020 MISCELLANEA. Tue Order of the Sisiers of Charity in the Roman Catholic Church now numbers over 50 000 members. The minutes of the General Assembly ofthe Presbyterian church show that the additions on profession of faith last year were 48 240. It is stated that five hundred conversions have been reported as a result of the labors the past Summer in young Tyng’s gospel tent in New York. Gen. J. Meredith Read, United States Minister in A'hens, has induced the Greek government to rescind the order prohibiting the sale of English and American Bibles and religious books in Greece. The Methodist Board of Church Exten sion has a buiiding loan fund of $270,000 cash, and over $200,000 in good subscrip tions and promises to pay, and $60,000 in real estate besides over SIOO 000 known to be on the w y *o the fund in wills. Zion's Herald denies the statement that the late Bishop Janes left a large, property. It ?ays it will only be by the wisest manage ment on the part of the executors of his estate that any considerable sum will remain for the family he leaves behind. Joseph Smith, Jr , son of the founder of the Mormon Church, is preaching in Cali lornia. He denies the h -adship of Brigham Young, He says that he has from 12,000 to 15,000 personal followers and that thehiad q.iarters of the reformed church are at Pla no, 111. The English AVesleyan missionaries on the Gold Coast, Africa, have resolved to re open missions in ihe K ng of Dahomey's dominions. At little Popo, one of the states or divisions, and at Aligway, they have been welcomed bv H * kings or caboceers of the respective states. At the Society for the Increase of the Min istry, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, held recently in Philadelphia, it was report ed that the receipts lor the year were $28,- 859, its expenditures. $32,959. It has aided the past year 153 scholars, of whom 31 were the sons of clergymen. The Presbyterian Board ol Foreign Mis sions has in its employ nearly nine hundred missionaries,helpers,anu teachers, with 8 567 communicants, and 13 501 scholars in day ani boarding schools. Tue missions are among the Indian tribes in Mexico, South America, Africa, India, Siam, China, Japan, Persia, and Syria. Y’ou have a disagreeable duty to do at twelve o'clock. Do rot blacken nine and ten and eleven, and all between, wi h the color ol twelve. Do the work of each, and reap your reward in peace. So when the dreaded moment in the future becomes the present you shall meet ir, a at king in the light, and that light will overcome its darkness.— Geo Macdonald. The Rtmish papers deny the truth of the story thut the General of the Je-uits is to be made a Cardinal. In tha terms iu which they deny it, however. are some suggestive items. AA’lien Clement XIV dissolved the Society of Jesus, was he infallible? And if Pins IX. should make a gracious reparation fi r that in elevating Falher tfoekx to the Cardiealate would lie b infalilVe also ? Missionary progress in ihe South Seas, especiilly on the Gilbert I lands, has been quite remarkable during the past year. On one island where a year a ;o thirty were re ported lo have professed Christianity, there are now three hundred a : i twenty who have thrown off heathenism. On anoth-r island, instead f fourteen candi fates, as reported last. year, there ere upward of lou" hundred this year, aid ol these over one. buudred late been adtin t. and lo Church m-mbe-sHp. At the las’ reg ila- men ing o tli“ B ■ .rd of Mat asters of the Mi -SHI a-y S ici ty of the M E C ninth the treasurer pr ’sent-d a re port of which an abstract is as full ws: Bal ance Septe nher 1, treasury in deb’, $253 - 702 17 ; rsceints, $47,424 70 ; dtsbirse inputs, $43,218 14; treasury in de it 8249, 545.55, le-s amount in the hands of tlre as sistant, treasurer in Cincinnati, $28,899.82; actual indebted ness. $220 615.73. Bishop Levi Scott was elected President iu place of Bishop Janes deceased. The New Y'nrk Tribune says: “ The So ciety of Friends in the United Sta'es hw3 un der its charge 20,000 Indians. The seventh annual report of their Ex ettfive Committee states 'hat at Rosrvilie. Kansas, the Potta wattom es have 95 farms a boarding-school, and a school farm. The Kiekapoos, in Kansas, have al o a boarding school and a school farm. Many o ! the ch ldren are ad vanced in arithmetic, grammar, and history. The Mndocs have 200 acres inclosed, have log houses built by themselves, and are well disposed Tiie Friends are confident that the Indians can be both Christianized aud civil zed.” In a recent address upon the Mexican work of the M E. Church, Rev. Dr Bu’ler said: “ On this great continent of America there are living at this day thirty-one mill ions of people sperking the Spanish tongue. These people live in Mexico and in various Spanish provinces of South America. Mex ico contains by far the larger proportion of the thirty millions of souls, an and is in many respects the example for other Spanish states. Where Mexico leads they will follow —and if the seed; of a pure Protestant Christianity can be firmly rooted in this cen tral ground, they may be expected to spring up wi h incalculable fruit among all this vast body ot Spanish-speaking people.” A Presbyterian missionary at Orootniah, Persia, says a rema-kabie change is taking place among the Mu-salmans, who show an anxiety to converse witii any Christian they can find. Many go to Deacon Pera, at the Bible bazaar, for Christian instruction, some times as many as eighteen or twenty at once. They also attend the public meetings of the missionaries. Mohammedanism has assumed wide dimensions in tiie Holy Laud ; but the Christian cause has, nevertheless, made much progress. There are in Palestine 250 Protes tant churches, and iti Jerusalem, 30 000 Pro testants. 6,000 youths who attend Protestant schools, and a high school which is attended by 1.600 Prostestant youths. Similar success is reported from Alexandria, Cairo, Abys sinia, etc. The Fall Mall Gazette publishes a long statement which it says, is by a person fully ent tied to speak on behalf of the whole body of American missionaries in Turkey. The writer says: The Protestant mis wea ries do not hesitate to say that the Turkish government affords a better assurance of re ligious liberty than some forms of Christian rule which might replace it. Ttte missiona ries have such dreid of Russian ascendancy that they have requested me confidentially to lay Ifefote the German government cer tain proofs of Russian intolerance, and to solicit Germany to secure from Russia guar antees of religious liberty The missiona ries appealed to Germany beca tse of Amer ica’-’ policy of nou intervcnliou in European affairs.