The Colonization herald and general register

              ®ljc €
.flu.
fhmilft
AND GENERAL REGISTER.
CONDUCTED BY   THE  PENNSYLVANIA  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY
WHATSOEVER YE  WOULD  THAT  MEN  SHOULD  DO TO YOt7,  DO TB EVEN  SO  TO  THEM.
Vol. I.—NEW SERIES.
PHILADELPHIA,  WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER   17,   1838.
I%0. 4 9.
From the Newark Sentinel.
LETTERS FROM HAVANA.
Havana, 1839.
Slaves—Their Treatment—Their Privileges, <yc
The Cuba Stave Trade.    Prohibitory Lnw—how ob
j relative. I have placed my visit there among the bright j However little the authors of the Declaration miy
i spots which now and then illumine our pathway here {suspect it, the assertion that Christ has abrogated the
i below, shedding influence far over the troubled waves! law referred to, has a very close logical connexion
of life, like that of an isolated beacon which gives an j with infidelity. The law supposed to be abrogated, is
aspect of cheerfulness and hope to the most barren ! supposed to be the opposite of the law of forgiveness;
coast, however dark and stormy the night when it of course, a law aulhorising hate and revenge.     I h<
liated.    Captured Slaves taken to the Bahamas, t^-c.; meets the eye of the homeward-bound mariner.    The j supposition that God ever made such a law is blasphe-
Plantersof Cuba.    The Climate. j planters of Cuba are proverbial for bein? " given to
My several visits to Cuba have alTorded me many hospitality," and so generally has the fact spread, that
good opportunities for seeing, as well as hearing, how . tbe calls upon many of them to open their doors to
The slaves are treated. I must acknowledge that their | strangers—invalids seeking the balmy climate of their
condition is superior to what I expected to find it, and \ island—have been so numerous as to become burthen-
by many they are thought to be more favourably situat-1 pome. Those in the vicinity of Matanzas, particular-
ud than those in tho United States. They have per-' fy. have of late years been so much annoyed by the
haps more labour to perform here, but then, to counter-} requisitions made upon them for attentions to absolute
balance that evil, I should judge they were better fed, | strangers, not always such as they could entertain with
nnd   have   many privileges which the  slaves in our j pleasure, that I understand a considerable revolution
mous. The code which contains such a law cannot
have come from him. It must have originated from
some being whose nature is evil. To say that the Old
Testament taught hate and revenge as a duly, is to
say, virtually, that the Old Testament is not from
God.
There is no escape from this conclusion by saying
that tho will of God is the foundation of duty, and that
whatever he commands, is by that command made to
be right.    That doctrine, so far as there is any truth
them stat( t enjoy I has been worked in their manners. Moat of those with j in it, does not apply to cases like this.    If God has
'   There is a diversity of practice here among masters, ■ whom I have had intercourse have been educated men,, once made hate and revenge to be right, then he may
ns elsewhere, but generally the negroes have grounds  of cultivated  minds and manners;   and in  many in-   make any spiritual evil  to be right at any time; be
1 and thus stances speaking French, Spanish, and English fluent- may to-rnorrow make falsehood to bo a duty, and may
ly, and bringing up their children with the same ver- practice it himself. By this theory, all confidence in
satility of tongue. j God and all the foundations of morality are effectually
The climate of Cuba is certainly a most delightful j annihilated,
one for nine months out of twelve, and in the interior I     We do not accuse the authors of that declaration of
it is probably throughout the year, one of the most
healthy in the world.    The apprehensions felt for the
health of friends from the United States detained in
allotted them for their private cultivation,
grow yams, plantains ami vegetables which they sell.
They raise lings also which they dispose of, (very fre¬
quently finding their best customer in their own mas¬
ter,) at high prices, and are thus enabled to procure
money with which to obtain their freedom; for the
Spanish law requires a master to give freedom to the
slave whenever the sum  he cost is  returned ;   and
should he have been raised on the estate, rendering it | tho city during the summer are not unfounded. The
difficult for him to agree with his master as to his j harbour is so surrounded by hills, and has so narrow an
value, there is an officer whose business it is to enquire entrance, that "unrig the calm weather a storm is ac
into the matter and fix the price of his freedom. They
also have means of redress, if their fellow-servants, or
their owners, render theirsiiuation uncomfortable, such
ns the slaves in the United Slates do not always possess.
These privileges, of course, render the manumission
of slaves a matter of frequent occurrence, and conse
infidelity or blasphemy, because we presume they have
written ignorantly, and without any blasphemous in¬
tention. But such as we have pointed out arc the logi¬
cal tendencies of their doctrine ; and such arc the con¬
clusions to which, if it operates for any considerable
time and on considerable numbers, it cannot fail  to
tually required to effect a a change of the waters; oflbring many minds. It is not infidelity; bat it is a
course the exhalations from such a vast pool must be ' doctrine which, if not arrested, will lead a p*tt of its
prejudicial to the health of the city.    The danger is  adherents into infidelity
not so great as it was, owing tothe improvements made
in the police regulations, the streets presenting now a
very different appearance from what they^did a few
ntly a considerable proportion of the coloured popu-! yenrs ago. The climate on our side of the gulf is very
similar, and when a few years more shall have given
to the Florida Keys mnre of the comforts and conve¬
niences of life, it will hardly be necessary for invalids
to seek the shores of Cuba for a more genial clime.
Much of the sickness here, among our countrymen,
is attributable I think, to a cause which prevails in all
southern climates, viz: their own want of prudence.
A man with a constitution hardened by the cold of our
northern winters, comes here, changes his course of
life to a considerable degree, has his system relaxed
by the heat and is taken sick : instead of profiling by
the example of the people among whom he reside.*,
whose usual prescriptions are powerful remedies—he
thinks it more advisable to take a dose of magnesia—
the next day, if no better, he takes a dose of oil—in
short, pursues the procrastinating course which is his
custom when at home. The consequence is, disease
becomes so rivetted to his frame that it cannot be re¬
moved and he falls " a victim to the climate," when
in a vast number of cases a different course would have
ensured him renovated health.
During the winter the temperature is very pleasant
both by day and night, and I have 6lept here through
our coldest months, on a cot, spread in a friend's parlor,
oftentimes without a mattress (having in place of it
ono of the country mats') beneath me and a single sheet
for covering. Private parlors nre frequently made use
of by bachelors of the family in consequence of their
being more spacious and airy than the sleeping apart¬
ments; the simple paraphernalia I have mentioned be¬
ing easily removed during the day. G. P.
latum of the island is free. The last census gave lOfi,
500 as the number of free coloured people, and 287,
000 as the number of slaves. Trios1, who are free en¬
joy the same privileges of education and protection in
their property and persons as the whites, which shows
a liberality on the part of the government that might
be followed by somo of our own states.
On the estates every attention is paid to the comfort
of the slaves. Spacious and airy apartments are pro¬
vided as hospit.Is, and supplies of every medicine, and
of the most grateful articles of diet, kept constantly
on hand for the sick. Their apartments are inspected
with a view to their order and cleanliness, nnd they
frequently dwell under substantial terraced roofs of
cement while their master's habitation possesses only
one of palm leaves: for generally speaking, unless a
proprietor is entirely independent of the receipts from
his estate, his own house is the least showy building
upon it. On the Cafctnl La Calma, the barracoons of
the negroes were arranged on three sides of the Batey,
being separated from the other buildings by a high
wall of mason work—an arrangement which served
as a precaution against insurrection, while it gave them
greater liberties and conveniences from their being by
themselves. Their number, if I remember rightly,
was nearly 300, but during « etiy of three weeks ,>.
one time among them I never heard of the application
of the whip once. The driver carries a whip, but it is
more as a badge than to afford facility for punishment,
for when it is inflicted it is done, as on board of a Man
of War, in the presence of "all hands." I have before
adverted to the kind manner in which"house servants
are treated—it takes but a short residence to make
one aware of it.
The slaves, generally, are admitted by baptism into
tho Catholic church; the country Padres deriving no
small revenue from the performance of the rites, allow¬
ing sometimes a discount from the prescribed fee, per
head, if a number arc presented. At " La Calma," two
snaps of the driver's whip about seven o'clock in the
evening, was the signal for their assembling before
their master's door, where, formed in line, they repeat¬
ed a prayer after the driver, part of which I observed
was always said with their mouths to the ground.
They would then wish their master (who was always
present or represented) " good night" and retire.
The vigilance of the British cruisers has materially
diminished the number of slaves annually imported
from Africa, but tho trade is still carried on to a con¬
siderable extent. Although the importation of them
was prohibited by law in 1821, yet it was not unusual
NEW ENGLAND   NON-RESISTANCE
SOCIETY.
An account of the formation of this Society will bo
found on our last page. Il was our intention to leave
the whole to the consideration of our readers, without
a word of comment; but on further consideration, we
think it better to notice one or two of the sophisms found
there—especialfy as we have seen evd_r ministers of
the gospel perplexed by such reasonings.
It is asserted, both in their Constitution and Decla¬
ration, that " the penal code of the Old Covenant, ' an
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' has been abro¬
gated by Jesus Christ." Our Saviour, however, has
expressly forbidden us to think that he came to de¬
stroy, that is, to abrogate, any part of the law or the
prophets. No law that God ever made has ever been
abrogated. Some ceremonial and municipal regula¬
tions were "imposed till the timo of reformation,"—
were enacted to be in force for a limited time, and
If we had stated, two weeks ago, that the doctrines
of that Declaration were held by the peiSOM who have
voted for it, the assertion would doubtless nave been
charged upon us as a most atrocious slander; just as
we have often been charged with slander for asserting
that their reasonings tended^ towards such a result.
We suppose, however, that the documents which we
now publish will be allowed to speak for themselves,
and to inform the public what views are entertained by
the most vehement and thorough-going accusers of the
Observer, and of its present editor. We have no fond¬
ness for being accused; but if accusations must como,
we choose that the advocates of such doctrines should
be foremost in bringing them.
Perhaps some will think that we are making too
much of this affair, as such errors cannot be cmbrcced
extensively or continue long. But most of those who
think thus would have yesterday pronounced it impos¬
sible that such errors should be embraced at all. And
somo of the most startling of these errors, after all, are
substantially the same that, more than once, have
spread extensively and done serious mischief. We are
informed, too, by a gentleman whose employment has
naturally led him to a knowledge of the facts, that
these notions have spread much more extensively and
taken a much stronger hold, than has been supposed.
We are aware that they cannot become predominant,
and they may die out soon and easily; but they may
last long enough and spread far enough to produce no
little inconvenience, and a vast amount of sin.—New
Totft Observer. ■*■
for several year., to see piratical looking vessels sail j when that time expired, they ceased to be in force
into the  habour of Havana in ballast, from Omoa or I But all moral laws, all laws directing what spirit we
some Other small port of the island into which they
had smuggled cargoes of slaves; their equipments
would be procured and they would sail undisturbed on
another voyage directly from under the eyes of the au¬
thorities. It is only a few years ago that the Gover¬
nor of Matanzas, actually suspended the -prohibitory
should be of, are eternal and immutable.
The law, "an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth,"
was never given for the regulation of private conduct.
It never authorised the man who had lost a tooth by a
blow, to knock out a tooth of his assailant. It was a
direction to the magistrate, prescribing what punish-
law  for a time, by allowing the slaves to be landed | ment he should inflict in cases of that nature.    The
POWER OF CONGRESS OVER SLAVERY.
At a late Anti-Slavery Convention at St. Albans,
Vt., a letter from the Hon. Ileman Allen was read, in
which he says:
"That Congress has power to abolish slavery in the
slave-holding states, is not, 60 far as I know, pretended
by any one."
Mr. Allen, then, is not acquainted with certain facts,
which ought to be well known to all who have any
thing to do with the Anti-Slavery movement. Though
once published in this paper, we will repeat them.
On the morning of Friday, May 4, 1838, at the
Broadway Tabernacle in this city, the American Anti-
Slavery Society being then and there in session, Alvan
Stewart, Esq. of Utica, submitted the following reso¬
lution :
" Resolved, That the clause of the second article of
the constitution of this society be struck out, which
1 admits that each state in which slavery exists has, by
Lhe Constitution of the United States, the exclusive
right to legislato iu regard to its abolition in that
state.'"
He also submitted an argument, delivered by him
before the N. Y. State Anti-Slavery Society in Sep¬
tember, 1837. To this argument there were append¬
ed seven resolutions, the last of which declares that
Congress has power, under the constitution, to enact,
"that all persons who, on the first of January, 1837,
were held as slaves, and who have not been deprived
of their liberty by indictment, trial and judgment, ac¬
cording to the constitutional provision aforesaid, might
be declared to be free; the constitution of any state,
in  his district on the payment of a certain sum per I scribes and pharisecs interpreted it, as the Society seem J the laws thereof, or any practice, custom or usage,
of | to do, as authorizing the spirit and practice of private   whether judicial or legislative, of such state to the con-
head,  which  he appropriated  to the construction
some   public   work,   in   the   completion   of   which j revenge, thus making void the law of God by their
he felt interested.    Even   if  the slavers were  cap-  traditions.    This interpretation our Saviour did not
tured  by the English vessels of  war  the condition  "abrogate," for it was never in force; but he con-
of things was not much changed.    The slaves were   demned it, and enjoined the spirit and practice of for-
bronght to  Havana and   given up to some tribunal, 1 giveness.
which bound them out for a certain number of years ; I     That society, however, cannot admit this interpreta-
in a majority of cases tothe very individuals by whom ! tion.    They admit no distinction between private and
the vessel was fitted oh', they giving bonds to account' official character and duties.    They do not admit that
for the negroes at the specified time.    Befoie the  pe- [ God has "approvingly ordained" the existence of civil I to convince a majority of the slave-holders, so that they
riod expired certificates would be procured from the j government.    They suppose it to be wholly the crea-! wfll voluntarily emancipate their slaves!    I hopo we
country Padres—who had been either bribed, or de- I tion of man, and that it neither has nor can have any ' persuade many, but I have no expectation of accom-
" ject in lhat way. But let Congress have
is given by the constitution, and when
ie fifth of the South with us, the remain
trary notwithstanding."
These documents had been referred by the State
Society, without expressing any opinion concerning
them, to the American Anti-Slavery Society, for con¬
sideration at this meeting.
Mr. Stewart spoke at considerable length in favor of
his resolution, and closed by sayino—
"I would ask here, do gentlemen seriously expect
country l sores—who naa oeen either bribed, or de- ; tion ot man, and that it neither has nor can have any ■ persuade many
ceived by fictitious funerals, that on such a day, they \ authority, except what men have conferred upon it. i plishing theobj
had " buried Juan, Diego and Miguel," on another oc- [ Of course, they infer, the government, the magistrate, j all its power, n;
casion, "Pedro and Maria"—and in the same way a I cannot of right do any thing which the individuals who ■ we can get one
gland, France and Spain, having cognisance of such I the right of a nation to govern its individual members ' "8-
captures, and impositions are less frequent but still, as ■ —is the very foundation doctrine of Jacobinism. How-1     " The debate was continued on Mr. Stewart's rcso-
I have observed, the traffic continues. i ever earnestly and honestly the society may protest  lotion.    The vote being called by yeas and nays, it
Many of the slaves who are taken by the English ! against the name, it belongs to them. Not that the was rejected, 40 voting in the affirmative, and 38 in
cruisers, are carried at oace to the Bahamas, where' doctrine originated with the Jacobins of France; for tho negative; two thirds bein<r required to alter the
they are made troops of, or bound out to trades for a   the ancient Greek sophists are some of them full of it,  constitution."
certain number of years; and then sent back to their j and it has occasionally made mischief in the world ever ! " That Congress has power te abolish slavery in the
own land, or else turned adrift, free, to add to the al-1 since their day. In the French revolution, it only re- slave-holding states," instead of being M pretended"
ready unpleasant circumstances attending the resi- ; ceived some new modifications, and a new name. The by no one, as Mr. Allen supposes, was "pretended" by
dence there of the white population. Already do black doctrine will not do. God has made it the duty of a majority of the members of the American Anti-
members of the Legislature, black Justices of the Peace, every people to form a government, arrange a magis- j Slavery Society, present and voting at its annual meet-
and black Constables make and administer the laws for ; tracy, and enforce wholesome laws, as its necessities | ing. May 5, 1839.
whites, and one need not be much of a prophet to for- j require. The rightful authority of the nation to do | The Emancipator, the official or<ran of the Society,
see that very soon the Bahamas will be a black colony. ; this is not derived from the consent of individuals to be | for the 10th and 17th of May last, gives a full account
It is a matter of very little moment to the British offi- governed—a consent which those who most need go-; of the matter, filling, if we remember correctly, ten or
cers after the slaves are captured what becomes of verning would be slow to give—but from God. He twelve columns. An abstract may be found on the
them, for all that is required, to entitle them to £5 per does " approvingly ordain" the existence of govern-; last page of the New York Oteervor for May 20,
head, is to deliver them to the proper officers here, at  ment and its legitimate operation, even in cases where ; 1839.—R>id.
Nassau or Jamaica. ' Some of the acts of that government are 6uch as he 	
I look back to my intercourse with the planters of does not approve.    It may very well be, then, that the ■ From the United Service Journal.
Cuba with unalloyed satisfaction, and I do not know magistrate should have duties to perform, which the . EXTRAORDINARY SECT OF FANATICS IN
that I ever left a section of country, not home, with  private individual has no right to take into his own j INDIA.
more regret than I did the interior of  the Island ; i hands.    It may be his duty to punish, by the loss of an ;     Ever since I have he,-n in   .n.l,« l h..oi,_n  i   r
where, a perfect stranger, I had received all the kind-  eye or a tooth, the offender whom the injured person , cJ-SSIal^^^'a^rf1. sect 0St bv
ness and attention that might have been extended to a ought to forgive, and ha* forgiven. narae ghaU-h Euffa^ X. i^K, to i__fprSi/toe un-
believers with the truth of the Mussulman faith, im-iand the radical in ecclesiastical as well as political
parted to his followers the power of plunging swords I communities ; of all spirits most abhorrent to lhat ot
into their bodies, cutting oft their  tongue, frying   it j Christianity.
and putting it together again, cutting off the head and 2. Its effects on pastors nre also not 'ess injurious,
limbs, scooping out the eye, and—in truth doing with ; Some one or two years subsequently to the settlement
their bodies whatever it pleased them to do ; all ofiof a pastor, after the novelty is worn off and the first
which Colonel G ■, in company with a clergyman, j gush of his people's interest in him is subsided, almost
a Mr. R , had  seen, when the latter grew sick j invariably there comes on a period of trial.    If he will
and ran out of the place, declaring it was the power of j gird himself up to meet it, and with study and prayer
Satan, which to thi9 day he believes, and the colonel ; press through it, his Christian and pastoral character
that it is done through the power of the art of magic j will acquire a tone such as promises most enlarged
at which I, of course, laughed, and declared that, so usefulness in the church. But if he is encouraged to
soon as a man of tho regiment (by name Shaikh Ku-* fly from his charge, the effect is like that upon the pu-
reem, one of these Ruffai) should return from furlough, I pil which results from abandoning his hardest lessons
I would witness the exhibition. (instead of going through them.    The very thing most
A large tent was accordingly pitched, and fifty lamps necessary to his pastoral character, is the very thing
furnished, and plates full of arsenic and quantities of] he shuns. By thus moving from place to place, as ot-
a plant of the cactus tribe filled with the milky juice ; j ten as? ho accosts a difficulty, instead of overcoming, he
a drop of which, if it would fall on your skin, blistersfoi.lv learns to be overcome.
it, and a vast quantity of the common glass bangcls, or I The eflect in also bad upon his intellectual character,
bracelets worn by the women, and daggers and swords ! especially upon his theological study, and upon the
and things like thick steel skewers and another horrid j compass of his sermonizing. To severe mental labor,
looking weapon like a butcher's steel, only with a ban- such as is demanded to originate, most men are averse,
die covered with chains, and about twenty Ruffuis to ; Hence the man who is moving from parish to parish,
beat all manner of drums; and so, when all was ready f has ordinarily no motive sufficiently strong to force his
about five of the officers left the mess table with myself,   mind from trie beaten track.    He lives continually up¬
end along with us about a hundred sepoys crowded into
the tent. When we were seated and silence obtained,
the w-ork commenced by a sort of chant from their sa¬
cred books, the drumbeaters joining in and keeping
time; the chant increased in noise and velocity, until
at length having worked themselves into an ccstacy,
they seized the instruments, the body kept in a sort of
swinging motion, plunged tho skewer instruments, one
through each cheek, another through the tongue, a
third through the throat, and then commenced stabbing
on the old stock. This is indeed not true of ell, but
that such is tho tendency of moving from place to
place, is very obvious.
Its effects upon his personal piety are also bad; so
essential to the highest attainments in Christian char¬
acter are the patience and perseverance which over¬
come all things, and the profound and severe study
which elicit things new and old.
Its effects upon his pastoral affections are truly dis¬
astrous ; such is the unavoidable consequence of tri-
themsclves with swords and  daggers, and all sorts of< fling with them, and of sundering rudely and for insuf-
nasty instruments. Others cut off their tongue, and
having roasted it in the fire put it into their mouth
again, when it immediately united ; they eat arsenic
and the blistering milk plant, while others munched
the glass bangles as though they were the greatest
delicacies. This was all done within half a yard of my
knees for they came up close to me with many lamps,
in order that I might see there was no deception ; and
I do assure you that it made me feol sick, and produced
any thing but an agreeable sensation on my mind, for to
this moment I know not what to think of it. I am not
superstitious; and although the Colonel and numerous
most respectable natives had declared to me that they
did actually do these things, and that if a sense were
to be actually trusted, they had seen it all done, I would,
nevertheless, not believe it. I was told beforehand that
it required faith and purity on the part of the perform¬
er, and that not a drop of blood would follow, but that
otherwise, a drop of blood would sometimes follow the
instruments and the performer would receive some
slight injury.
On taking my departure from the tent I happened to
say that I _hould, at all events, think more honorably of.
their prowess if I saw them exhibited in the open face
of day, and divested of noise, motion, paraphernalia,
die. On the following day, whilst reclining on my
couch at about two o'clock, reading an English news¬
paper, without a servant or a soul near me, in rushed
their Kazee, (priest or judge,) his hand full of instru¬
ments, which, throwing upon the ground, he seized one,
plunged it through his cheek on lhe left side, another
on the right, a third through his tongue upwards, eo
that it stuck into his nose, another through his throat;
he then 6tabbcd himself with a bright sharp crease,
which entered his body about three inches; not a drop
of blood fell; he was going to cut off his tongue, when
I begged of him to desist. I was, in truth, perfectly
nauseated at the light The man was in a state of
phrenzy, and really looked frightful, his face stuck full
of instruments and stabbing and cutting himself with
all his might. 1 sang out for somo people and turned
him out.
I have now told you what I have seen, and yet I will
not ask you to believe it, for I know not myself what to
think. There are many persons of very strong minds
in other respects who firmly believe, and who do not
hesitate to declare their belief, that, although driven
out of Christendom, demonology, witchcraft, necroman¬
cy, and the entire list of black and forbidden arts and
powers, are abroad and in full existence in India. And
1 must declare that I never will a^ain trust my senses
if I did not see all that I have told you. I examined
the instruments—I saw them drawn out of the flesh,
and no scar, or blood, or mark left; I also saw a man
eat and swallow three ounces of arsenic, and craunch
and swallow glass bungles innumerable ; and yet, al¬
though " seeing and believing," I can scarcely say that
I believe what before a court of justice I would Ewear
I had seen.
DISMISSION OF MINISTERS.
The institution of the Christian Sabbath, and of tho
Christian ministry, is undoubtedly the most important
means of heaven's ordaining for the moral renovation
and salvation of the world. Whatever tends to im¬
pair the strength, sacredness and influence of these,
tends to the moral ruin of society and the prostration
of all true religion.
With what vigilance then should we guard against
any invasion upon the character and influence of that
office, which is so intimately connected with the dear¬
est interests of man and the glory of God.
It is with this view, that we wish to point a few re¬
marks against an evil which is fast impairing the in¬
fluence of the ministerial office, and which, if not
checked, will eventually involve the American church¬
es in ruin.
We refer to the frequent dismission of Christian
pastors.
1. Its effects are deleterious upon the character of
churches and parishes, as respects their relation to
their pastors. It tends to mako them unstable, capri¬
cious, restive, lovers of novelty, easy to love and easy
to hate, and finally more fond of their own indescriba-
ficient reasons the most sacred ties. Indeed it isalike
impossible either for pastors to love their people,or tor
people to love their pastors, with any affection worthy
to be called love, in the present precarious state in
which their relation is held in many churches.
3. It tends to prevent thorough doctrinal knowledge
in churches; the most important and most neglected
knowledge of the present time. As things are new
going, pastors remain in one place only long enough
to be<_in to teach. No man can stamp the impress of
his mind on a people without the labour of yeais.
Every new pastor must begin in some sense de novo;
but nowadays by the time he bos laid out his work, nnd
initiated his people into his definitions, terms, and
modes of presenting subjects, and has commenced a
doctrinal course, his time is up. Some of his hearers,
perhaps, too indolent to profit under solid preaching,
conclude they could be more edified by some other per¬
son. Another person is substituted, and before ho has
reached the point which his predecessor left, it is tine
for Un to go to make place fur a third. This is the
real history of some parishes—aud can tbe members
of such parishes ever become thoroughly indoctrinated
by the preached word ? What can we expect by such
means but superficial hearers, as well as superficial
preachers? It is like pupils continually changing
teachers, always beginning to learn, and never learn¬
ing any thing thoroughly.
4. It tends to destroy the love and veneration of chil¬
dren for their pastor ; or rather their love and vene¬
ration have not time to form. Some of us can remem¬
ber the feelings which we had in childhood for tho
beloved man of God who had baptized us—who had
been the guardian of our souls—who had visited and
comforted us and our parents in sickness—who had
long presided over the devotions of our sanctuary—
who had taught us the way to heaven—and with whom
we had learned to associate all that is venerable, holy,
great and good in the man we called ■ our pastor.'
We can never forget the power of his character and
influence over our youthful years, in restraining us
from vice, and persuading us of the truth and claims of
religion. And we are confident that a deeply formed
veneration and love for their pastor, grown." with
their growth, is one of the most effectual means of en¬
gaging children on the side of virtue and religion.
But ordinarily children will feel towards their pas¬
tor as their parents do. If parents manifest respect and
love for ministers and the sacred office, so will chil¬
dren. If parents allow themselves to trifle with th_
office—to speak unbecomingly of preaching and other
pastoral labore—to show a disposition to get rid of their
pastor, for unworthy reasons—they plant in tho mioda
of their children the seeds of infidelity and ruin. It
has been often remarked, that those parents who are
most affectionate, true and constant to their pastor, are
most blest in their children ; while those who are most
forward to make trouble for their pastor, usually get
paid in the end by children most forward to make trou¬
ble tor them.
5. The frequent dismission of ministers is tending to
make our churches attach undue importance In tem¬
porary excitements, to the neglect of the divinely con¬
stituted means of grace. Probably three fourths of
the unsettlements of ministers are occasioned by meu
who have a hankering for more excitement than the
pastor gives them ; a hankering, resulting not, as they
imagine, from superior sanctification, but from a real
deadness of soul and disquietude of conscience, in con¬
sequence of their neglecting patiently to cultivate
their hearts by a faithful attention to the divinely
constituted means of christian growth. They wish to
be taken up and carried to heaven by steam. Thev
want a preacher that will make them feel. But tho
elements of deep, calm, strong feeling not being ii
them, because they do not study deep, calm, strong
views of christian truth, no sooner is the novelty of ari
exciting preacher gone by, than their interest in his
preaching declines, and nothing remains but to shove
him off and look again. In this way multitudes are
neglecting the personal study of the Bible, secret
prayer, self-denial, tho keeping of the heart, a life hid
with Christ in God, a faithful contemplation and diges¬
tion of what they hear; and are looking to periodical
ng to periodical
waves ot feeling and the excitement of ponular i
ble likes and dislikes, than of the established order of passioned preaching, to float them aloDMo hea
God's house and the stability and glory of his kingdom, j Who cannot see that all this is wrong» ant] so w^*
It also tends to foster a spirit of conceit and undue  that unless it is checked another generation of rh^'
self-importance in the minds of the very class of per-  tian minds cannot survive it.    It will soon emni    ._*"
sons in whom it is the most dangerous, because the  church of intellect, doctrine, stability and oietv-      a
least restrained by that kind of modesty which liberal! prostrate all our religious institutions,
intelligence imparts. In almost every town and church j     We hope these remarks will not'be misron t      i
are to be found some men of Diotrephian character,' into  an   undervaluation of religious  revivals     ""H*1
who have it in their power, and too often in their hearts,' firmly believe that in the kingdom of grace as      ii   "
to scatter the seeds ot discontent, and thus create what  of nature, there is some inequality—there bi-p &S
in these days is called an expediency that their pastor of more and of less special effusions of the SS2*"0?"
should be dismissed.    They thus magnify their own ! the kingdoms of nature and of grace therp  '
importance, while, for the sake of peace, the more de- j times sun, sometimes dew, sometimes rain     'S S°me"
servedly influential members retire from action, and , breeze and sometimes calm, sometimes snri 80meJtimes
the pastor is left alone to the only alternative of asking! mer, and sometimes autumn; and the m i   Una"
for a dismission. In this way it has come to be in the ' gleets the duties which either brings sina **ho.no"
power of two or three disaffected or uneasy men, so! the natural and moral laws of the universe.    Th*
ffeet
lnvari-
appalling sin, the ease and rapidity with'which the jdea"d, when the.steam is off-VndUheTRm?K,nS,^rStone
pastoral relation is dissolved, directly and most effectu- to lay the blame at his pastor's or !___ hi* d,,8P08ed
ally contributes. There is the spirit of the demagogue | rather than his own, when coldness and d   d     ! d°°r'