The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-12-13


military escort and protection, plant at each
step Of progress fortress for truth and sal.
vasion. Thus has the Church militant of our
Lord Jesus Christ won possession of new
and wide domain and thus has the Presby-
terian Church, as one of its grand divisions,
secured for herself widespread and noble
heritage.
"To this feature largely is her history in
debted for its peculiar type. In this aspect,
compared with Old World Presbyterianism,
it is unique. Even the planting of the Apos.
tolic Church does not furnish parallel
The latter, indeed, was propsgated on what
to itself was new territory, and amongst
heather population; bu. it was a population
civilized, pursuing the most advanced avoca-
tions, and enlightened according to tie best
idcss u she ttiheri tSnpvu world. Oar works,
on the contrary, was where civilization, edu.
cation, and useful avoca,ions were unknown;
amid the wids of the wilderness, and in the
face of fierce, untutored savages. Pionee.
evangelism was sometimes literal warfare,
so much so, that in assembling for worship
it was as important to carry the rife as the
hymn book.
"This work of telling the wilderness, and
driving back savage beasts, and more savage
men, has marked features of its own. No
ecclesiastical history involves so largely the
feature of wild adventure and romance. 10
other lands and other days there has been
poetry in the heroic suff:rings of those who
have braved all for conscience and for God
in worshipping in dens and caves Of the
earth; in taking shelter amid the gloomy
corridors of catacombs; in mingling psalms
of praise with the sublime psalms of nature
amid the roar of billows on the wild sea-
shore. And yet, though there was in this q
spice of what you may term the romantic,
though through the hszs and softening Of
distance it may assume poetic garb, it was
the actual and hard experience of involuntary
exile, cruel injustice, and fierce and fiery per-
secution.
"Our spice of romance, on the contrary,
grows out of what is voluntary-what is done
under the impulses of pious enterprise in
peculiar field Ours it has been, and still is,
to follow or accompany the hardy pioneer as
he fells primeval trees, builds his log cabin,
and breaks the virgin soil. Ours it has been,
and still is, to gather congregations under
the Gothic arches Of maj sstic forests, and
amid the dim religious light Of their deep
and solemn shades; to watt the songs of
praise through ong-drawn aisles Of stately
treetrunks, whose tracery-work of parasites
and trailing vines surpasseS in variety that
of storied cathedrals. Oars to proclaim the
gospel from the newly. cut stump as pulpit,
to administer the Sacred Supper from the
cup and plate fresh from domestic uses at
the nearest settlers table. Ours, too, has
been the high privilege to learn, BY sweet
experience and observation, that God is no
respecter of persons or of places-that in an.
swer to prayer, and in connection with the
preaching of His Word, the Spirits work
may be seen in these wilds as we'll as in
time.honored sanctuaries; that under the
glare of the torchlight may be discerned the
tear of penitence, and that the sighs of the
contrite may be heard commingling with the
bowling of wolves and the moan of the night
winds.
"And great and blessed has been the re-
turn for these labors. Civilization, pouring
in it's ever.increasing tide, has changed the
once new settlement, with its frontier usagea,
into widespread domains of wealth; the ring
of the settlers axe has given place to the
hum of busy industry; the scream Of the
panther to the shrek of the locomotive; the
isolated neighborhood to the tbroDged city;
and the worship in the woods or by torchlight
to stately and almost too costly church edi'
fees, vieing in splendor and SURPRISING in
luxury the cathedrals of the Old Word.
GA blessed mission has it been-that of
not merely following up, but of keeping pace
With the ever onward progress Of civilizings
vast continent, and as the hosts have pressed
forward, making Zion's song the music for
the march. What has been won, and what
is now held for Christ by our Presbyterian
department of the militant hosts, may we'll
fill the mind with wonder and gratitude, and
stir the lips to exclaim, "Whss hath God
wrought" Surely, as Presbyterians, look
ing back to Mackenzie the solitary pioneer of
our cause, as he gathers his little flock in its
rude place of worship in the small colony OF
Maryland, sole laborer, and with vast con-
linent to occupy, and contrast with that, the
almost nine thousand Presbyterian ministers,
and more than nine thousand churches,
reaching on the North to the far eff SHOWS Of
Alaska, on the South to the cotton fields Of
Texas, on the East to where the pillows Of
the Atlantic break upon the rock-bound
coast, and on the West to where the Pacific
rolls its foods upon the golden Strand-look.
ing at these trophies gathered for Christ, we'll
may we make this Centennial year Of our
nations history memorial year of Gods
great goodness jubilee Of praise"
GAS FATHER coRRECTETH HIS SON.
Suppose you see company of children play
ing together awhile, and soon they fall to
fighting. And then you see man come and