NARRATIVE OF THE STATE OF RELIGION

ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED

STATES, AT THEIR SESSIONS, AT BUFFALO, N. Y., MAY 1854, AND ADDRESSED TO THE

CHURCHES UNDER THEIR CARE.

Beloved Christian Brethren :

The General Assembly once more presents to you a Narrative of the State of Religion throughout the churches in our connection. The materials for this sketch are derived from the Reports transmitted to us from the numerous Presbyteries represented in the body. Our office has been simply to collate the statements thus supplied, and so arrange them as to exhibit, in one view, a full and accurate picture of the condition and prospects of the Church, in the various aspects of its important interests and movements during the ecclesiastical year now closed.

It behoves us, first of all, to call upon you to unite with us in devout thanksgivings to our Heavenly Father, for his abundant mercies toward the Church at large, and in all its departments. Never, perhaps, since the founding of this branch of Christ's kingdom upon the Western Continent, has there existed greater harmony in doctrine, in feeling, and in aims, than, as it appears from the accredited reports from our Presbyteries, now prevails in every part of our widely dispersed churches and people. When we consider the vast region embraced in this statement, and the great diversity of views and interests on other subjects, that will of necessity arise between different sections, such a union as that which binds us in Christian fellowship and love, must be accounted as a signal proof of the continued favour of the Great Head of the Church, manifested in the constant presence and everywhere prevalent power of his Holy Spirit.

The general condition of our churches, as we gather from the accounts submitted to us, is in a high degree prosperous. The past year has been characterized by peace and by progress. Our Presbyteries uniformly report that the attendance on the public ministra. tions of the word and ordinances of the gospel has been large and increasing, calling, in many cases, for enlarged accommodations in our houses of worship. Forty-one Presbyteries report that revivals of religion have been enjoyed in one or more of their churches. In some instances, the work of grace has been signally marked by the power of God; in each one important additions have been made to the number of Christ's followers. Besides the churches visited thus extensively by the influences of the Holy Spirit, other Presbyteries report that some of their churches have been blessed with seasons of refreshing, resulting in the conversion of some souls, and in the evident improvement of God's people in the graces of the Christian character. The Presbyteries in which distinct revivals have occurred are as follows, viz:-Donegal, Allegheny City, Elizabethtown, Northumberland, Huntingdon, West Jersey, Passaic, Susquehanna, Lake, Findlay, Zanesville, Indianapolis, New Albany, Logansport, Paducah, East Hanover, Des Moines, Ebenezer, St. Louis, Montgomery, Lexington, Missouri, Crawfordsville, Peoria, St. Clairsville, Potosi, New Brunswick, Ogdensburgh, Connecticut, Newton, Fayetteville, Concord, Louisville, Greenbrier, Charleston, South Alabama, Hopewell, Tuscumbia, Talladega, Tombeck bee, and Nashville.

In connection with this account of the revivals enjoyed by our churches, we would record, with special gratitude to our ascended Lord, that he has remembered, in the visitations of his grace, three of our seminaries of learning, viz: Westminster College in Missouri, Oglethorpe in Georgia, and the Witherspoon Institute in Pennsylvania. In the two first named it is stated that the work of grace, resulting, as is hoped, in the conversion of a goodly number of young men, and destined, as it is also hoped, to supply our Church with some faithful ministers of the gospel, commenced on the day appointed by the last General Assembly to be observed as a season of special prayer on behalf of our colleges and schools.

The past year has proved a season of general health throughout the country, with the exception-but it is an important one-of the prevalence of the epidemic which, during the summer and autumn, swept with unparalleled fatality over an extensive region in each of the States of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. In common with other of the inhabitants, our people suffered heavily under the judgments of the Almighty. Many valuable members of our churches were removed from the sphere of their much needed labours. It is gratifying, however, to know that our ministers, putting their trust, whether for life or for death, in God's mercy, remained at their posts to comfort the sick, and bury VOL. XIV.-24

the dead of their afflicted folds; and although some of them were brought to the verge of the grave under the power of disease, the lives of all were graciously spared. The general prevalence of the pestilence, and the numbers in every community who became its victims, afforded an opportunity for the exhibition of Christian philanthropy, on the part of those whom God shielded from the plague, toward the sick and dying, such as the history of our race has rarely, if ever, presented, and which could have been made only where the benign influences of our religion of love and kindness are felt.

The year now ended has been characterized by a high degree of prosperity and advancement in all the departments of worldly business, in which our members have shared with other citizens. The means have thus been afforded them of aiding with unusually large outlays of money, those enterprises of benevolence which they have felt a zeal in promoting; nor are we without evidence that the augmented ability to do good in the cause of Christ, by contributing of their worldly substance for its advancement, which God has given to his people, has in some measure been employed for his glory.

Several of our Presbyteries state that an unusual attention has been given to the improvement of the houses of worship, and to the erection of additional ones. We rejoice in every indication of an awakened interest and enlarged donations to the important object, whether it appears in more liberal support of the Church Extension of the Assembly, or in the more vigorous prosecution of enterprises of an independent and local character. Much may have been done, but much more remains to be done. Some of our Presbyteries, which cover territory but sparsely occupied with members of our communion, mention the insufficient number of church edifices, and the inadequate means of a people to provide more, as a formidable obstacle to the progress of religion. They appeal to their brethren, in more favourable regions, for assistance in making a provision, which is essential to the permanent establishment and growth of the Church. Surely, in the abounding wealth of the land, and of the Church, an appeal so reasonable will not be disregarded. You will learn from the Reports of the Boards of Domestic Missions, of Foreign Missions, of Education, and of Publication, which are widely dispersed through our churches, and abstracts of which are published in the Appendix to the Minutes of this body, that the several plans of Christian benevolence committed to the Boards enjoy, in an eminent degree, the favour of God, and by his blessing upon their judicious management, are advancing steadily toward the consummation of the purposes for which they have been instituted. Earnestly desiring that you should read these Reports, we shall not here present any details of their contents. But, confining ourselves to the information furnished us directly by the Presbyteries, as to the zeal manifested by the churches at large on behalf of the objects of the Boards, we regret that our report cannot be one of unqualified plea. sure and approbation. Many of our Presbyteries, indeed, inform us that there has been evident progress among their people; that more interest is felt, and larger contributions made. Others inform us that whilst there may not have been any diminution of zeal or of liberality, there has not been that increase in either which is demanded by the increasing destitutions of our own country and the providential openings for missionary labour in foreign fields every day becoming wider and wider. Others again bring us the painful and humiliating intelligence that in many of their churches little interest is manifested, and that the contributions are small and irregularly made. In some of our churches no aid is given. These things, brethren, ought not to be so. The highest trust ever confided to men, is that which our risen Lord and Redeemer committed to his Church when he constituted the Church his agent upon the earth in carrying out the purposes of his mission into our world, as these concern the universal spread of his truth, and the subjugation of the whole family of man to the dominion of his grace. The common sentiment of Christ's followers throughout the world would reproach us as criminally delinquent in a point of duty, second to none other in importance, if our Church, in its aggregate capacity, were neglecting to execute any part our Lord's commission, given in terms so authoritative and solemn. You would feel, and we should feel, in such case, that we were wanting in one of the most certain marks of a true Church of Christ, and that we could not lawfully hope that his blessing would abide with us. What, in this respect, belongs to the Church as a whole, belongs to each particular church, and to each individual within the limits of their abilities. What is our duty, is your duty also.

From a large number of our Presbyteries we have received alarming complaints of the inadequate supply of ministers either for the churches already planted, or for the extensive destitute regions prevailing on every hand, and promising rich returns to faithful labour. If all the candidates now prosecuting their preparatory studies were qualified to enter during this year upon the work of the ministry, the field at home would be but partially supplied,

and that without furnishing a single missionary for our service abroad. The Board of Education has, from time to time, addressed the most fervent appeals to our churches. Seminaries of learning, of various grades, for the religious training of the young, have been multiplied. Revivals of religion have been enjoyed by many of these institutions. Year after year, the Assembly has appointed days for the special instruction of our people as to their duty on this subject, and of special prayer for the increase of labourers in our Lord's kingdom. Yet, notwithstanding all, we are constrained to believe that a very general and lamentable apathy prevails, both in regard to the real wants of the Church, and in the use of the proper means for the supply of those wants. We need many more messengers of salvation to our dying race. It is the great distinguishing need of our Church, and of the times in which we live. Without more ministers, we cannot carry forward with success any of the operations of the Church; our Boards of Missions will be rendered comparatively impotent for the accomplishment of their ends; the ground we now occupy cannot be maintained; much less shall we be able to advance in our conquests, and extend the boundaries of the Redeemer's kingdom. In your prayers, and labours, and benefactions, we beseech you, beloved brethren, not to overlook that department of the Church's functions upon which the perpetuation of her existence, her life, and strength, and glory depend. Let your supplications continually go up to the Lord of the harvest, that, having now ascended on high to give good gifts unto men, he would be pleased to shed down upon our youth in their homes, and as assembled in our schools and colleges, such measures of his grace as shall constrain them to consecrate themselves to his service in the work of the ministry.

The Reports before us afford gratifying proof of a growing interest among our churches generally, on behalf of the religious instruction of the young in the Sabbath-school. The Catechisms of the Church, which at one time were so commonly banished or omitted from the ordinary routine of studies pursued in this institution, have been to a great extent restored to their proper position. From their use in all our Sabbath-schools, we hazard nothing in predicting that the piety of our children and youth, to whom God should sanctify the knowledge derived from their study, would be at once enlightened, symmetrical, and robust, eminently qualifying the rising generation of Christians for the arduous conflict with error and iniquity which awaits the Church at no distant day. We should hail it as an infallible omen of good to all future times, if, even to a greater extent than can now be claimed, these incomparable manuals should supersede, in all our methods and schemes for the instruction of the young, the numerous works, superficial in character, avowedly, and sometimes boastingly, negative in doctrine, and often enervating both mentally and morally, by which our Catechisms themselves have been supplanted.

We would not, however, conceal from you the fact that some of the Presbyteries which tell us of the flourishing condition of their Sabbath-schools, and many others, which speak not so favourably on the subject, report to us that there exists among their church members an alarming delinquency in the proper instruction of the young at the domestic hearth, under parental oversight. There is, we are assured, no necessary conflict between the Sabbath-school and the family, as institutions in which this class may be trained in the knowledge of God's word. They may be made, and ought to be made, mutual help one to the other. Yet it is not to be disguised that the effect of the privileges offered by the Sabbath-school may be, in some cases, to relieve the minds of parents from the sense of the personal responsibility resting upon them. Hence, they are led to consign the religious instruction of their children chiefly, if not wholly, to the Sabbath-school teacher. If such a result were inevitable, or even general, then should the Sabbath-school institution be condemned as a curse to the Church. God has laid upon parents the command to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." The obligation is recognized as one personal to themselves, in the covenant into which they enter when presenting their children to God in the ordinance of baptism. In this matter there can be no transfer of responsibilities, no substitute in the discharge of duties. The Sabbath-school teacher cannot answer for the parent in the day of final reckoning; neither should the parent's work be committed to his hands in this life. The instruction of the children is so important an element of all domestic religion, that when it is neglected, it is to be feared that family worship, and other kindred duties, are also but slightly regarded. As on various occasions heretofore, we would now exhort you, brethren, to all diligence and fidelity in the whole duty of family religion, not omitting the regular instruction of your children in the word of God, and the Catechisms of the Church.

The reports sent to us from the Presbyteries covering the portion of the Church in which there is a large slave population, reveal the gratifying fact that the zeal hitherto

manifested on behalf of the religious welfare of this class, instead of abating, is evidently growing more ardent and active. In their houses of worship, provision at once special and liberal is made for the accommodation of the coloured people, so that they may enjoy the privileges of the sanctuary in common with the whites. Besides this, nearly all our ministers hold a service in the afternoon of the Sabbath, in which the exercises are particularly adapted to their capacities and wants. In some instances, ministers are engaged in their exclusive service-not ministers of inferior abilities, but such as would be an ornament and a blessing to the intelligent, cultivated congregations of the land. In a still larger number of instances, the pastor of a church composed of the two classes, inasmuch as the blacks form the more numerous portion, devotes to them the greater share of his labours, and finds among them the most pleasing tokens of God's smiles upon his work. Besides the preaching of the word to which they have free access, in many cases a regular system of catechetical instruction, for their benefit, is pursued, either on the Sabbath at the house of worship, or during the week on the plantations where they reside. Thus we give thanks unto God, our common Father, that he has inspired the hearts of our brethren, in the parts of our Church referred to, with love to the souls of this numerous race, and that he has opened among them a wide and effectual door of usefulness. At the same time, reminding these brethren that the work is great, and is yet far from its full accomplishment, we would exhort and encourage them to persevere and abound more and more therein, assuring them of the sympathies and prayers of the entire Church for them in their self-denying labours. The position taken by our Church with reference to the much agitated subject of slavery, secures to us unlimited opportunities of access to master and slave, and lays us under heavy responsibilities before God and the world, not to neglect our duty to either.

There are two other subjects relating to the state of piety in our churches, to which frequent allusions are made in the reports before us. One of these is the desecration of the Christian Sabbath. We would remind you, brethren, that with respect to the observance of this holy day, our Church has always taken high ground. We believe that we have the sanction of God's word to uphold us in that position, and we cannot recede from it. It is, therefore, with exceeding pain we learn that among our members the Sabbath is frequently violated, especially by travelling. We entreat you, brethren, care. fully to abstain from a sin so detrimental to all the interests of piety, and so much in defiance of God's authority. The large influx into every part of our country, of a foreign population, whose principles and practices are at variance with ours with regard to the divine authority and proper sanctification of the Sabbath, requires of us great boldness in proclaiming our doctrines, and great firmness in resisting the temptations by which we are assailed. But we exhort you to yield not in your principles or practices. Show to them the better way. Teach them, by precept and example, to honour the law of God, which enjoins upon you and them alike, to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

The other subject alluded to, is the prevalence of a worldly spirit, which is reported to us in terms of deep and earnest complaint and lamentation, by almost every Presbytery in our connection. The prosperity with which God has been pleased to bless the various forms of labour and enterprise of our citizens, seems to have seduced the hearts of his people into an undue anxiety for the accumulation of wealth, and a criminal conformity to the customs of a wicked world. Hence, it is easy to account for the fact, that although the attendance upon the public ministry of the word on the Sabbath is large, the social prayer-meeting, and the monthly concert, and the duties of family religion, are, as many complaints show, too much neglected. Hence, too, the preaching of the gospel to congregations so numerous, has been followed by such rare and slight evidences of its power; for although an unusually large number of Presbyteries report the existence of revivals in some of their churches during the year, none of them mention a general, wide-spread work of grace, and most of them deplore the low state of vital godliness and active zeal throughout their bounds. Worldliness has invaded the Church. It is the evil of our times. It becomes us to humble ourselves before God on account of our sin in this matter. We have abused the bounties of his providence to the disparagement of his grace and the detriment of our souls.

Finally, brethren, farewell! May the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen!

HENRY A. BOARDMAN, Moderator.

ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE BOARDS.

ABSTRACTS OF THE ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE BOARDS OE THE PRESBYTERIAN

CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES, MAY, 1854.

BOARD OF DOMESTIC MISSIONS.

OFFICERS OF THE BOARD.

Rev. J. J. Janeway, D. D., President.

Rev. John McDowell, D. D., Vice-President.

Rev. G. W. Musgrave, D. D., Corresponding Secretary and General Agent.
Rev. R. Happersett, Assistant Secretary.

A. W. Mitchell, M. D., Recording Secretary.

Samuel D. Powel, Treasurer.

William Nassau, Sr.

Matthew Newkirk,

Auditors.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD IN PHILADELPHIA.-Rev. John McDowell, D. D., Chairman. Rev. G. W. Musgrave, D. D., Rev. R. Happersett, Rev. H. S. Clarke, Rev. C. W. Shields. Elders-Matthew Newkirk, Wm. Nassau, Sr., A. W. Mitchell, M. D., James Field, John M. Harper.

CHURCH EXTENSION COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD IN PHILADELPHIA. Rev. Joseph H. Jones, D. D., Chairman. Rev. W. W. Phillips, D. D., Rev. W. S. Plumer, D. D., Rev. Henry Steele Clarke, Rev. Daniel Stewart, D. D., Rev. G. W. Musgrave, D. D., ex off., Rev. R. Happersett, ex off. Elders—A. W. Mitchell, M. D., Matthew Newkirk, James Field, Charles Macalester, Paul T. Jones, Robert L. Stuart.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD IN LOUISVILLE, KY.-Rev. J. J. Bullock, D. D., Chairman. Rev. James Woods, D. D., Rev. W. W. Hill, D. D., Rev. J. M. Stevenson, Rev. J. LeRoy Halsey. Elders-Samuel Casseday, Wm. Richardson, Wm. Prather, Henry E. Tunstall, Wm. C. Brooks.

TRUSTEES OF THE BOARD OF MISSIONS IN PHILADELPHIA.-President, William Nassau, Sr. Secretary, Matthew Newkirk. Treasurer, Samuel D. Powel. Rev. G. W. Musgrave, D. D., Matthew Newkirk, A. W. Mitchell, M. D., James B. Ross, Rev. L. Cheeseman, D. D., Hiram Ayres, Rev. Alexander Macklin, D. D., James Field, Wm. Nassau, Sr.

OFFICE OF THE BOARD, No. 265 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA. All letters relating to Missionary appointments and other operations of the Board, and all applications and letters relative to Church Extension, should be addressed to the Rev. G. W. Musgrave, D. D., Corresponding Secretary, No. 265 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

Donations and subscriptions to

S. D. Powel, Treasurer, No. 265 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

If more convenient, to the following:

J. D. Williams, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Andrew Davidson, Louisville, Kentucky.

Wm. Rankin, Jr., Mission House, 23 Centre Street, New York.

Abstract of the Report of the Board of Missions, presented to the General Assembly in Buffalo, May, 1854.

In presenting their Fifty-second Annual Report to the General Assembly, the Board of Missions desire to express their devout gratitude to Almighty God for the measure of success which he has vouchsafed to his servants in the prosecution of the missionary work assigned them during the year. There has been an increase both in the number of our missionaries and in the contributions of the churches during the year; and, what is