twenty-five. No wonder that secresy is a part of the whole policy of the Roman church. But the people are beginning to open their eyes, and to demand a supervision of this great interest. Nature cannot be forced out of its course in the delicate female frame without complaining. The VENERABLE RELIC.-The process of widening Beekman street, New York, has rendered it necessary to remove the vaults in front of the venerable Brick church. Last week, among the bodies exhumed was that of the Rev. Dr. Rodgers, the founder and first pastor of the church, who died in 1809. The wig and silk gown-for he seems to have been inter-free air and social relations suited to educate and dered in his full professional dress-were in a state of nearly perfect preservation, though the body of which they once were the mere adornments, frailer than they, had almost entirely disappeared. Dr. Rodgers was in a great measure the father of Presbyterianism in this country-the Moderator of the first General Assembly, in 1789, and pastor of one of the oldest churches of the denomination. He was a man of great excellence of character, and was converted while a youth, by a sermon delivered by Whitefield, while he held the candle for the preacher to read the Bible. PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN SCOTLAND.-At the last meeting of the Irish General Assembly, a delegation, headed by Dr. Candlish, of Edinburgh, appeared with a request for the services of Dr. E. M. Dill, who, it will be remembered, visited this country in behalf of Protestant Missions in Ireland, as Secretary and Manager of the missions recently undertaken among the Catholics of Scotland. In order to prevent any prejudices, it was requested that Dr. Dill retain his connection with the Irish Church, so that none of the evangelical denominations of Scotland, which it is proposed to unite in this mission, will have motive or occasion to withhold its co-operation. The proposal was cordially received, and Dr. Dill appointed to the work. The enterprise is new, the Scottish Church never having systematically attempted missionary work among the Catholics. DEPUTATION FROM THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.-The Venerable the Archdeacon of Middlesex, John Sinclair, has been appointed by the English Bishops to return the recent visit of the American Episcopalian clergymen to England. Archdeacon Sinclair is a son of the late Sir John Sinclair, the great Scottish agriculturist, with whom Washington corresponded on that subject, and brother of Miss Hannah Sinclair and Lady Colquhoun, whose writings and memoirs are familiar to the Christian community, of Miss Catharine Sinclair the authoress, the Dowager Countess of Glasgow, and Sir George Sinclair, of Ulbster, Scotland. The Archdeacon is an earnest rather than an eloquent preacher, and is the author of a Life of his father, and various useful works. He sailed for America on the 5th of August, and will soon be in the United States. PRUSSIA. The king has issued a proclamation that he will dismiss from his service any officer, who, marrying a Roman Catholic, shall promise to bring up his children in that faith. This is intended as a protest against recent encroachments. CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA.-A Chinese church is to be built in San Francisco, forty-two by forty-five feet-three stories high. It will be devoted to moral and religious instruction, under the direction of Geo. Athei, of the See Yup Company. The ninth section of an act passed by the California Legislature for the collection of the foreign miners' tax has been printed in the Chinese language, for the information of more than thirty thousand Chinese in the new State. Tong'k Achich, a Chinaman, certifies that the translation is "faithful and good." Who would have thought, six years ago, that the laws of one of the States of the Union would have to be published in English and Chinese for general circulation? Yet so it is. NUNNERIES-A correspondent of the London Christian Times says: "Mr. Seymour has stated, on the authority of an official visitor of the Roman Convents, that one half of the nuns die raving mad before they reach the age of velope and strengthen the physical economy, are essential to a sound mind in a sound body. The people of this country are beginning to take notice of these things, and it is not strange that they should be jealous of every attempt to allure young females to take the veil, or to wear it after they alter their minds. LIBERIA.-Liberia has lost one of its most talented and useful citizens, Rev. Hilary Teage, of the Methodist Epis copal Church. He was editor of the Liberian Herald, a Judge of the Court, and an eloquent preacher of the Gos pel. MINUTES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. Copies of the Minutes for all those known to be entitled were mailed on the 10th and 11th of August. Postage prepaid here. THE HOME AND FOREIGN RECORD OF THE Address, post paid, "Home and Foreign Record, 265 POSTAGE, in Pennsylvania, 3 cents per annum. BOARD OF DOMESTIC MISSIONS.-Report of the Board of Missions for 1853-its circulation urged, p. 259. A word touching the present State of the Board, p. 259. Condition and Wants of our Frontier States, p. 260. How some Ministers are kept Poor, p. 260. Movements, p. 261. Northern Indiana, p. 262. New York, p. 262. The Two Mites, p. 262. Receipts, p. 263. BOARD OF EDUCATION.-I. Ministerial Education. Our Aggressive Work Impeded, p. 265. Our Candidates come short of the Demands of Providence, p. Preachers for the People, p. 265. Prayerless Ministers, p. 266. Self-made Men, p. 267. II. Christian Education in Schools and Colleges. School at Fletcher, Ohio, p. 267. Academies, p. 267. Windsor Academy, New York, p. 269. Schools at Christiansburg, Va., p. 269. Makemie College, p. 269. Westminster College, p. 270. Receipts, p. 270. 265. BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.-Recent Intelligence, p. 271. BOARD OF PUBLICATION.-Annual Report and Catalogue, 1 THE COLPORTEUR'S SONG. TUNE-"What is life?" Sacred Songs, p. 314. On through woodlands dark and dreary, Night to me can bring no terror; Oft I taste divinest pleasure By the wayside as I read; Leaves of heavenly truth to bear, What a glow it spreads around! How it charms the listening ear, Young and old, with faces beaming, Group the Pilgrim's tale to hear; VOL. IV.-19 Learning from the lessons given, All the wondrous way to heaven. Nor in vain to bosoms thirsting, No. 10. Flavel, does thy Fountain flow-Stricken hearts, with anguish bursting, Owen points you where to go. Weary pilgrim, seeking rest, Wear these jewels on your breast. Thus with hymns and heavenly musing Daily I my course pursue, All my single talent using, Loving well the work I doTrusting in my Saviour's care, Cheerily my books I bear. -St. Louis Presbyterian. IMPORTANCE OF DOCTRINAL TRUTH. We hear much said contemptuously of cold, dead formulas, and barren dogmas-thereby to disparage all attempts at the accurate and scientific statement of Christian truths. The life! the life! this is the watchword. Have the life of religion in the soul, and let it actualize itself in the conduct and sentiments, and it is of little moment what may be the form of doctrine with which each man chooses to satisfy his own understanding. But all we have to say is, the life which does not correspond to revealed truth, and take its law from it, is not Christian life. Truths there may be, so volatile and so Protean that you can bind them down to no one definite form of words; and such truths may be seen, or felt, or scented in the transcendental atmosphere of some ethereal dreamland; but none but "dreamland folk" will ever be satisfied to make these the basis of their faith. Men of intelligence desire to know what they believe, and “whereof they affirm," and to be able to give a reason, founded in some known fact or holy zeal in the blessed work of helping forward her principle, for the faith and the hope, the feeling and appropriate agencies. Now is no time to rest in the law of life that is in them. And such men never lazy ignorance of what is going on in the world. can be satisfied with a religion which has not truths No indeed. Each one should prepare to understand, capable of being stated in intelligible propositions, in some measure, the wonderful evolutions of God's and as such considered and defended. providence, in this most signal time of the world's history. I doubt not, if the Record were taken as extensively as it should be, the Presbyterian Church would soon gird herself with new energy for he Hence, as a matter of history, we find some of the most vigorous periods of the Church's life to be those in which the most intense interest has been felt in the doctrines of our holy religion; and the grand safeguards which have operated to prevent aggressive movements against the powers of darkthe degenerating of Christian piety, and to restore it when degenerated, have been found in the accurate statement and defence of these same theological principles. Stearnes' Sermon on Justification by Faith. ness; and we should not hear it said any longer HOME AND FOREIGN RECORD. The following communication is from the pen of a respected layman, who has long been a consistent and active friend of the Boards of our Church. We trust that his timely appeal in behalf of the Home and Foreign Record will be responded to by all our pastors and churches. With suitable effort, the circulation of the paper might be greatly increased; and its enlarged circulation would vastly increase the usefulness of all our ecclesiastical Boards. For the Home and Foreign Record. For the Home and Foreign Record. THE LIVING FOUNTAIN. Jer. ii. 13.-They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. God is a fountain. A fountain is the source of streams. So God is the source of every comfort. Every stream which gladdens the world issues from this fountain. God is a fountain of water. Such a fountain is refreshing; it imparts health, and comfort, and happiness. So God sheds blessings on all around, and is to those who trust in him like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Isa. xxxii. 2. God is a fountain of living water. Such a fountain is unfailing; it is always full. So it is with God. He is an unfailing fountain, inexhaustible, full, ever-flowing, overflowing. Streams are ever issuing from this fountain, and none who come here to draw ever go empty away. Yet Jehovah complains, "They have forsaken me!" We forsake him when we forsake his word, his wor ship, his ordinances, or his service. Nor is it enough to pay an external regard to religious rites-to come to the Lord's house, and the Lord's table. We may go through the form of every religious duty; be ever in our places in the sanctuary, be diligent in our attendance upon social meetings, and upon ordi One can hardly help asking, Why do not all in connection with the Presbyterian Church have access to the Home and Foreign Record? It is worth many times its cost. Some, I know, decline taking it, on the alleged ground, that its contents reach them through other channels. But this is quite a mistake. It should be distinctly understood that the Record has no substitute. Its valuable and deeply interesting journals and letters of our noble band of missionaries, scattered over three quarters of the globe, are not reproduced in any other form, and the Church cannot afford to lose the details they furnish, if she wishes to understand what heathenism is, in its multiform phases, its revolting cruel-nances; read our Bibles, frequent our closets, and ties, and its loathsome abominations. yet be backsliders in our hearts. Reader, is such the case with you? Have you forsaken the fountain of living waters? Have you the form of godliness, but not its spirit, and its power? There are many good reasons why each member of our Church should be a reader of the Record. Its intrinsic interest to the mere lover of excitement; its amount of important information, other- In forsaking God, we forsake our pleasures and wise inaccessible; the fact that it is the sole organ our privileges. While the most happy life which of the four Boards of the Church; that it contains a man can live is a life of consistent and devoted monthly exhibit of the receipts at the Church's piety, the most miserable life on earth is that of a treasury, and indicates the sources whence drawn; backslidden, worldly-minded professor of religion. these should suffice. But the paramount reason, His broken cistern can hold no water! "I would more than sufficient, in the absence of all others, is thou wert cold or hot! So then, because thou art its adaptedness to beget an intelligent appreciation lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee of the Church's great mission, and to enkindle a out of my mouth!" Rev. iii. 15—18.—W. J. M. J. D. WILLIAMS, Pittsburgh, Pa. CALL FROM LOUISIANA.-WHO WILL GO? "Permit me to say a word on another subject. Can the Board of Missions not do something for this destitute region? I do not mean in the way of money, but of labours-devoted, hard-working labourers. I never have been in a region so perfectly ripe for harvest. All are anxious to have the means of the gospel. There are very few professors of religion. There is a great deal of wealth and intelligence. The country is yet rather thinly settled, and some of it always will be, because of its belonging to a few wealthy planters. There will always be a very dense negro population, however, which will afford an interesting field of labour. "Two or three ministers might be pleasantly and usefully located around where I am. The people at Monroe, the parish seat of Washita, an interesting little town of about twelve or fifteen hundred inhab WILLIAM RANKIN, JR. Mission House, 23 Centre street, itants, have just built a pro bono publico house of New York. DEATHS OF MISSIONARIES. It is our painful duty to record the death of the Rev. JOHN M. BECTON of Larissa, Texas. He was taken sick on the 15th of June, and died on the 14th of July, after an illness of twenty-nine days. He died calmly, believingly, peacefully in the Lord. Shortly before he died he said to his physician, "Has the messenger come?" The physician replied, "I think so." He rejoined, "Thank God, he is welcome!" He has been in connection with the Board since 1849. He organized in Eastern Texas seven churches, viz: Douglass, Palestine, Rusk, Mount Bethel, Larissa, Gum Spring, and Church Hill, all now in prosperous condition. His life was laborious and useful, and he has died sincerely beloved and lamented. worship, and want some one to preach for them. R." We shall be happy to hear from any brother in the ministry, who feels disposed and moved by convictions of duty to enter the field, here presented by our missionary brother, who is labouring faithfully and successfully among the people in the region from which he writes. Communicated for the Home and Foreign Record. WHY IS THE WEST, AND THE MORE RECENTLY SETTLED PORTIONS OF OUR COUNAnd still another-Mrs. CASE, wife of Rev. Joel T. TRY, SO FULL OF RELIGIOUS ERRORS? Case, of Victoria, Texas. She welcomed her husMessrs. Editors-There are complaints made by band home in health and spirits, on his return from Missionaries of our different Denominations, of varithe General Assembly, but on the sixth day after his ous errors in doctrine and discipline, which meet arrival she was seized with a prevailing epidemic, them in their fields of labour in the West, and in whose ravages no human skill could arrest. Her the recently settled portions of our country. Assumheart was in the missionary work, and she cheering that there is foundation for these complaints, fully shared her husband's labours, privations, his I have been led to search out some reasons for the joys and his sorrows. "She died a shining witness existence of these errors; errors, indeed, which may to the power of the Saviour's love to sustain his be as rife in one part of our country as another, but trusting followers in their most trying hour." which exhibit their strength, and come more into notice, in the regions referred to. Whether the reasons are all correct, I shall not undertake to decide, but will proceed to state them to you very briefly. We sincerely sympathize with our afflicted friends. They well know that their consolation and support are divine, not human. God, in his great mercy, make us faithful in life, and prepare us for that solemn event which is cer- 1. The neglect of rigid doctrinal and religious traintainly approaching us all. And may He pour outing of children in families in the New England and his Spirit, and raise up and call into his ministry many able men to fill our present destitute churches and fields, and to supply the places of those whom he has removed from us by death. Middle States, from whence a vast number of people have moved into the Western States. The good old fashion of teaching the children the Westminster Catechism has been much laid aside. The doctrinal faith of the children has not been fixed in their youth, secure the leading men and families, and to attain by their parents. 2. Large numbers now on the stage of action have grown up in the West, under many disadvantages in regard to religious education of every kind. Hence they are liable to be blown about by every wind of doctrine. 3. Fixing the faith of children and youth in the fundamental doctrines of the word of God, has not been sufficiently attended to in Sunday-Schools. It cannot be done ordinarily and successfully without a form of sound words; and the Catechism is too little used in our Sunday-Schools. 4. The constant and careful training of the lambs of the flock has been inefficiently attended to by pastors. The children have been given over to the SundaySchool, and the most that is done by the pastor, in many cases, is to examine the school at stated times, and make "an interesting season” of it. 5. The broaching and increase of heresy, for years past, has had a deleterious effect upon the people. Sich heresies as Unitarianism, Universalism, Pelagianism, Deism, Mormonism, and Infidelity, in nameless shapes. Men have been seduced from the faith, and cast upon a sea of uncertainty. The enemies of the cause in this way have been greatly increased. 6. The corruption of some in the ministry by a study of German Neological and Rationalistic writers. Few have indulged in such German studies without serious injury. We have seen their baneful influences in high places. Doubts and difficulties touching faith and practice; indirect attacks upon the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures; loose rules of interpreting the Bible, have been set forth under colour of profound scholarship and learning, independence of mind, and a spirit of improvement suitable to the age. 7. The preaching of doctrines which establish “another Gospel," by those educated in places where orthodoxy has been in many important points crippled, if not denied. Unsound Theological Seminaries will prove a curse to any land! 8. The turning aside of the ministry, in some cases, from the preaching of the cross-the pure word of God, their appropriate work—to lecturing on uninspired books, on literary and scientific subjects, on travels, and sights, and scenes, in foreign lands; on political and moral questions of the day, and so on. Pulpits in rivalry one of another, originating "interesting courses of lectures," to attract the multitude; the house of God converted into a place of resort for an hour's entertainment, instead of a place for solemn appeal and impression for the conversion and salvation of perishing sinners. 9. The rivalry of different Denominations, in towns, villages, and country places; each doing all it can to commanding influence. Hence an accommodation of doctrines to men's tastes; a lowering down of terms of admission into the Church; the getting up of religious excitements, hasty admissions, &c. 10. The influx of foreigners, of all creeds, and confessions, and professions. But I forbear. These reasons are sufficient. Let me add, that revivals of religion have, of late years, been by no means prevalent, and a spirit of wordliness overflows society, and produces what some are pleased to call indifferentism in respect to the truth and salvation of God. The ministry have much work to do in these times, and well should they do it, for the good of the Church, and the country. They are called of God to preach HIS word. His word is the fire and the hammer; let them believe in its power to subdue and to save, and rely upon the promise and Spirit of God, and not upon human wisdom and power. Progress may be slow, but it will be sure; opposition may be great, but if God be for us, who can be against us? It appears to me, our respected and beloved Missionaries have simply to go forward preaching the word, unmoved by the excitements and influences to the contrary around them. This requires faith and resolution. But God will give both, and bless his servants. The means put into our hands by God himself for building up his kingdom, are the only means to be used by us; the only sure, reliable, unfailing, and successful means. I am of opinion that in our OldSchool pulpits, the voice of doctrinal preaching and instruction is not heard with the frequency and power which the necessities of our Church, and of our common Christianity require. Am I right? Ministers, who read this letter, what is the character of your preaching? May every missionary sent out into our country, and in connection with our Board of Missions, go armed with the truth as it is in Jesus, and be filled with his Holy Spirit; and to whomsoever they preach, whether to Jew or Gentile, wise or foolish, rich or poor, bond or free, may God always cause them to triumph in Christ, and make manifest the savour of his knowledge by them in every place. Very truly yours, A. L. N. For the Home and Foreign Record. DOMESTIC MISSIONS. The field of missions is the world. But our country is no inconsiderable part of that field, whether we regard its own extent, or the influence it is destined to exert upon the rest. It is probable that, through the concurrence of several causes, we do not duly appreciate the magnitude and importance of Domestic Missions. That it is a home enterprise, that the scene of operations is our own country, divests it of those sublime and somewhat romantic |