many voices beseeching him to come to Christ and come immediately, he could not withstand the appeal, and so yielded his heart there and then. Many instances of the same kind might be quoted. Some may have fallen within the circle of the reader's own acquaintance. For often has the serpent been charmed and drawn forth from the heart by the sacred minstrel; often has the evil spirit, haunting the troubled soul, been driven away by the lyre of the Psalmist; when the wanderer has returned and sat down at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind.

Which of us (in spite of our imperfect singing,) has not felt deeply moved at times by the melodies of praise? When, for instance, after celebrating the communion, we have "sung an hymn"-some hymn of trust and triumph, till we felt, in doing so, that we were strengthened to go out to our Olive Mounts of trial; or that the walls of the enemy's city were torn down by our song, like the walls of Jericho by the blast of the trumpets; or that it stirred us, like martial music, to "wax valiant in fight, and to put to flight the armies of the aliens." Or when, at some new stage of our pilgrimage, we have sung some wander-song of home, such as David Dickson's "Jerusalem! Jerusalem!" or the Psalmist's sighing for the wings of a dove, that he might flee away and be at rest;" till, as we sang we began to feel as Swiss soldiers are said to do in foreign lands when they hear the Ranz des Vaches or herd-songs of their native mountains-till we have yearned intensely to go homeward, and cherished more fondly the hope of Lavater's quaint beatitude:-"Blessed are the homesick for they shall reach home!" Or which of us, when dressed in deep mourning, when cherished forms have dropped away from our embrace-when pestilence, perhaps, was trampling down life around us, has not turned to hear, in the music of the sanctuary, the echoes of heavenly voices cheering us, and calling us to come up hither; till the gates of heaven seemed to open, and loved faces of the dead to throng around us; and cholera graves become as mountains of Beulah, yielding visions of the promised land? Or which of us, when we could not sing ourselves for lack of comfort, has not felt comforted by the singing of others, and especially of children round us, till we could almost address them in words like those of the melancholy Cowper, when, unable himself to sing for sadness, and marking an old man bravely singing at his side, he said, "Bless the good old man, for praising Him whom my soul loveth."

In a word, which of us has not felt his spiritual joy enhanced by sacred song? For joy is its governing key, and nothing is so helpful to holy joy as this is. It is the wing on which the soaring spirit rises, ascending to the presence of her God; or it is at least the breeze that carries her upward in her ascensions to heavenly places, and it is perhaps when borne up on the whirlwind of some passion music, such as Beethoven or Mendlesohm might furnish, and in the fiery chariot of some hymn of Wesley's or Toplady's, that one can best afford to look down upon this world, and say with the quaint George Herbert in a musical ecstasy, "God help poor kings!"

Some suggestions as 'to prevailing errors in church psalmody we reserve for a future number.

It is not to watch children with a suspicious eye; to frown at their merry outbursts of innocent hilarity; to suppress their joyous laughter, and to mould them into melancholy little models of octogenarian gravity.

And when they have been in fault, it is not to punish them simply on account of the personal injury that you may have chanced to suffer in consequence of their fault; while disobedience, unattended by inconvenience to yourself, passes without rebuke.

Nor is it to overwhelm the little culprit with a flood of angry words; to stun him with a deafening noise; to call him by hard names, which do not express his misdeeds; to load him with epithets, which would be extravagant if applied to a fault of ten-fold enormity or to declare with passionate vehemence that he is the worst child in the village and destined to the gallows.

But it is to watch anxiously for the first risings of sin, and to repress them; to counteract the earliest workings of selfishness; to teach an implicit and unquestioning obedience to the will of the

parent, as the best preparation for a future allegiance to the requirements of a civil magistrate, and to the laws of the great Ruler and Father in heaven.

It is to punish a fault because it is a fault; because it is sinful and contrary to the commands of God; without reference to whether it may or not have been productive of immediate injury to the parent or to others.

It is to reprove with calmness and composure, and not with angry irritation; in a few words, fitly chosen, and not with a torrent of abuse; to punish as often as you threaten, and threaten only when you both intend and can remember to perform; to say what you mean, and infallibly to do as you say.

It is to govern your family as in the sight of Him who gave you your authority; who will reward your strict fidelity with such blessings as he bestowed on Abraham, or punish your criminal neglect with such curses as he visited on Eli.-Selected.

Bistorical and Biographical.

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

ITS FOUNDERS, ITS PRINCIPLES, AND ITS ACTS.

No. XIII.

THE Acts of the Assembly of 1837 having been thoroughly discussed throughout the church during the year, the Presbyteries sent up delegates, in 1838, according to their views of the important reformation which had occurred. The two parties were fully determined upon their course: the Old School to adhere to the Acts which excluded the mixed or Congregational Presbyteries, and the New School to go to law as the last hope of recovering their ecclesiastical position.

Immediately before the meeting of the Assembly of 1838, conventions of the Old and New School assembled in Philadelphia, composed of the Commissioners sent by each party to the Assembly. The New School Convention expressed a "readiness to co-operate in any efforts for pacification which are constitutional," and proposed to the Old School Convention the re-admission of the Exscinded Synods as the basis of pacification !" Before receiving a reply, they resolved that, if this proposal was not acceded to, they would, nevertheless, proceed to organize the Assembly according to its terms. The Old School Convention replied that the proposal was wholly inadmissible, and was "calculated only to disturb that peace of our church, which a calm and firm adherence to the constitutional, just and necessary acts of the last General Assembly can alone, by the blessing of divine Providence, establish and secure." Dr. JUDD

endeavours to magnify the New School plans of pacification; but their sine qua non was that the Old School should restore the exscinded Synods; or, if separation was preferred, then that there should be two new Assemblies, neither party having the "succession." It was very well known that the Old School would accept of neither of these alternatives. JUDGE KANE, in giving the history of his agency in this renewed attempt at a voluntary division, says, "Finding it looked at the destruction of the existing organization of the church, and left its future organization to the contingencies of legislative action, I said at once that I could regard it only as designed to break off the negotiation."* The New School, who had been "advised by counsel learned in the law" of the mode of forming a "separate organization," determined to execute their concocted plan, and to bring the matter into the courts of law.

THE LAWSUIT.

The General Assembly met in the church in Ranstead Court, Philadelphia, May 17th, 1838, and the usual religious services were conducted by DR. ELLIOTT, the Moderator of the preceding Assembly. After the benediction, Dr. Elliott took the chair, and opened the meeting with prayer. The Rev. WILLIAM PATTON, D. D., immediately arose, and asked leave to offer some resolutions, in regard to enrolling the names of commissioners from the exscinded synods.t Dr. Elliott declared him out of order, as the first business was to hear the Report of the Clerks on the roll. An appeal was taken, which the Moderator likewise declared to be out of order.

The Report of the Clerks upon the roll was then presented by Dr. Krebs, and the names of the commissioners regularly appointed, were announced. The Moderator then called for any commissions which had not already been presented, when the Rev. ERSKINE MASON, D. D., rose to offer a resolution to complete the roll by adding the names of the commissioners from the exscinded Synods. The Moderator decided that the motion was not in order "at this time;" and Dr. Mason having appealed, the Moderator decided that the appeal was also out of order.‡

* See "The Presbyterian" for July 20th, 1839.

†The Old School had a considerable majority in the General Assembly over all the New School commissioners, exscinded and regular, notwithstanding the persevering efforts of the latter to obtain a "full representation." DR. GILBERT, one of the New School Clerks, testified that "the gentlemen of the Old School were the majority." p. 84. DR. MASON, the other New School Clerk said, "My opinion is that a majority of all on the full roll did not take seats with us." p. 93. The number of commissioners enrolled by the Clerks of the General Assembly on the first day and entitled to vote, was 220. DR. KREBS, one of the Clerks, states, in a communication to "THE PRESBYTERIAN" of September 15th, 1838, that out of the whole number 220, only 58 assisted to organize the secession Assembly of the New School, the relative proportions being 162 Old School to 58 New School. Afterwards 4 were added to the Old School, and 5 to the New School. A few remained neutral or went home. The number of exscinded commissioners present was 58. The whole number who finally remained in the Old School Assembly was 159, and in the New School Assembly 121. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the Old School had a clear majority; both sides admit it, and the figures prove it. And yet the New School, disregarding alike religious and republican usages, claimed to have organized the only true General Assembly! It is to be noted that the Old School majority was greater in 1838 than in 1837. The Plan of Union had been repealed by a majority of 33, and the Western Reserve Synod exscinded by a majority of 27. The clear majority in 1838 was 38.

For a full report of the proceedings in the Assembly, and in the Court, the reader is referred to the Presbyterian Church Case, by SAMUEL MILLER, Jr. Mr. Miller reported the proceedings of the case with great fidelity. This book ought to be in all the public libraries of our literary institutions and congregations. A number of copies are still offered for sale on reasonable terms. Mr. Miller (now Rev. of Mount Holly, N. J.,) gave some important explanations about his edition of the case, in the "Presbyterian" of 1839.

VOL. IV.-No. 6

18

It may be here mentioned that the organization of the General Assembly is governed by certain fundamental rules, which require the following order of procedure, viz: 1. The Moderator of the preceding Assembly must preside until the body has proceeded to its complete organization. 2. The Permanent and Stated Clerks are a standing committee on commissions, to report the names of all the regular commissioners. 3. The first act of the Assembly is to appoint a Committee of Elections, who are to examine all the irregular commissions and make report to the House. 4. After this, a Moderator is to be chosen. 5. No member can speak or vote until his name is enrolled. For the exact language of our book, the reader is referred to a note.*

After Dr. Mason had set down, the Rev. MILES P. SQUIER, of the exscinded Presbytery of Geneva, got up and claimed his right to a seat; but the Moderator declared him to be out of order.

Now commenced a scene of confusion, which is without a parallel in our Church courts. The following is the statement, taken from the Minutes of the General Assembly, Old School.

"Mr. Cleaveland then rose and began to read a paper, the purport of which was not heard, when the Moderator called him to order. Mr. Cleaveland, however, notwithstanding the call to order was repeated by the Moderator, persisted in the reading. During which, the Rev. Joshua Moore, from the Presbytery of Huntingdon, presented a commission, which being examined by the Committee of Commissions, Mr. Moore was enrolled and took his seat.

"It was then moved to appoint a Committee of Elections, to which the informal commissions might be referred. But the reading by Mr. Cleaveland still continuing, the Moderator, having in vain again called to order, took his seat, and the residue of the Assembly remaining silent, the business was suspended during the short but painful scene of confusion and disorder which ensued. After which, and the actors therein having left the house, the Assembly resumed its business."t

Mr. Cleaveland, who stood some distance from the Moderator, and was much agitated, could not be distinctly heard in the confusion; but the purport of his paper was recorded by the New School, "in an evil hour to themselves," on the Minutes of their Assembly, as follows:

The Rev. John P. Cleaveland, of the Presbytery of Detroit, rose and stated in substance as follows:-That as the Commissioners to the General Assembly for 1838, from a larger number of Presbyteries, had been refused their seats; and as we had been advised by counsel learned in the law, that a constitutional organization of the Assembly must be secured at this time and in this place, he trusted it would not be considered as an act of discourtesy, but merely as a matter of necessity, if we now proceed to organize the General Assembly for 1838,

* The constitutional and standing Rules relating to the organization of the General Assembly are as follows, being compiled from official sources :

1. "The Moderator of the last Assembly, if present, or in case of his absence, some other minister, shall open the meeting with a sermon, and preside until a new Moderator be chosen." Chap. XIX. Sect. 3.

2. "Resolved, That the Permanent and Stated Clerks be and are hereby appointed a standing committee of Commissions; and that the Commissioners to future Assemblies hand their commissions to said Committee," &c. Minutes 1829, p. 384.

3. "The first Act of the Assembly, when thus ready for business, shall be the appointment of a Committee of Elections, whose duty it shall be to examine all informal and unconstitutional commissions, and report on the same as soon as practicable.” Minutes, 1827, p. 132. 4. "No commissioner shall have a right to deliberate, or vote in the Assembly, until his name shall have been enrolled by the Clerk, and his commission examined, and filed among the papers of the Assembly." Chap. XII. Sect. 7.

5. The election of Moderator then takes place. Minutes of Assembly, 1838.