OHIO. Synod of Ohio. From the statements made at the recent meeting of this (New School) Synod we learn, that, at present, it embraces about 30 connties in its territory, principally in the central and south-eastern parts of the State. It consists of 53 members and a number of licentiates. It has under its jurisdiction, 5 Presbyteries, and 73 churches. In the Synod there are a number of vacant churches, and large and extensive districts of country, unsupplied by ministers of our order. Three missionaries could be prifitably employed immediately, in the Presbytery of Marion, with some aid from the Home Missionary Society. The destitute churches are Liberty, Concord, Brown, Kingston, Jefferson, Marysville, Newton and Radnor. In the Presbytery of Tuscarawas, from 4 to 6 missionaries are demanded. In that Presbytery there is but one evangelical minister to every 4000 of the population. In the Presbyteries of Athens and Scioto, the cry is, come over and help us; these with Licking Presbytery, need at least 6 Missionaries. Faithful continuance. We have few cases of seriousness, and the attendance on the means of grace, has been as good as could be expected, considering the scattered condition of our congregations. The cause of temperance is on the advance. An individual, well known in this community, came to his death lately, by a wound received in falling from a waggon, while in a state of intoxication. Poor man! he had recently lost a sister, and had been told that it might be his last warning; and so it proved. We meet almost daily with little incidents which interest us, but we do not deem them of sufficient importance to be included in our report. We still meet with some things calculated to discourage us, but when we consider what opposition the truth has always had to encounter, and espe it not for the timely aid of your Society, I see not how it would be possible to keep these churches together. The voices of thousands from this county will, we believe, unite with the voices of millions from other parts of our comthe A. H. M. Society was formed. mon country, in blessing the day when Missionary colportage. I have obtained a supply of tracts, and I expect soon to get a supply of the bound volumes of the Tract Society, which I shall distribute to the best advantage I can. I am surrounded by a community, the largest portion of whom are almost entirely without religious reading. They do not attend on the preaching of the Gospel, and if they to their houses. This I intend to do, are reached, the Gospel must be taken as far as possible. I preach at several places in the country around during the week. At T. Plains, I preach once and sometimes twice a month, to a good and attentive congregation. There is a church of thirteen members there. There are tokens for good in that place. One man and his wife have recently renounced Universalism. Their minds have been deeply interested. They have a family of ten children, whose destiny will be influenced by the course of the parents. There are other places where I preach to good congregations. A difficulty. The great difficulty is, as some express it, "There are so many religions." Campbellism, Universalism, and even Mormonism, all have their advocates; and if we preach the Gospel and succeed in making a good impression, Satan is ready to come and catch away the word. Still I cannot but hope that the word sown in prayers and tears may yet spring up and bear fruit. cially that this whole field belongs to From Rev. J. Cochran, Charleston, O. Christ, and must one day be his, we feel greatly encouraged, and by the grace of God, we hope never to grow weary in our work. Money seems a small thing; but were Biblical instruction. There are a few who I hope will come forward and unite with us at our next communion season. For the present, tion in the churches. Hence I have they appear well; and I cannot but tried to wake up a greater interest by hope that they have been truly born establishing Bible classes, and, so far of the Spirit. Our meetings on the as could be done, Sabbath schools. Sabbath and on week days, have been Besides preaching two and three times sustained and attended about as former-every Sabbath, I attend and conduct ly, with the exception of the Sabbath evening prayer meeting, which has given place to a general Bible class. We are studying Romans-and it is to me, and so far as others have expressed any thing upon the subject, to them, one of our most interesting meetings. I am doing what I can to excite and cultivate among my people, an interest in studying the Bible. With what success, cannot now be decided, though appearances are favorable. I gave a course of expository sermons upon Galatians, last winter and spring, and think of soon commencing a similar course upon the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians. I know not that I can pursue a better plan to excite in my people an active spirit, and also to settle them as regards regularity and good order in the church. two Bible classes, and sometimes three. The labor.and toil are great. But I am willing to do this, as I feel assured that it is the only way to insure a permanent hold for the preaching of the gospel of Christ. In this way an interest can be created, that could not in any other. Great embarrassment is felt in adopting a well digested system of Bible class instruction, for the want of books suitable for such instruction. I am laboring under great disadvantages myself for the want of books suitable for a minister's library, to aid me in preparing for the sacred desk; but we have the Bible"precious book divine!" and from this, without any other aid, (as I have comparatively none,) I try to instruct the people, and I am not without assurance that it will be beneficial to many souls. One young man of talent, a lawyer by profession, met me on the side walk a few days since, and observed that he was not aware of there being so many good things clustered together in the An obstacle which I find here, and Bible as he has found there is, since his one, I think, that prevents the preach-connection with our Bible class. This ing of the Gospel from taking hold on young man of promise is now in the the heart and conscience, is the want daily habit of reading the Holy Scripof a more systematic course of instructures. Efforts at Biblical Instruction. Miscellaneous. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Fruits of cultivation compared with the re sults of neglect. the support of Home and Foreign Missions, she gives more than FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS, Her six hundred and fifty thousand people are doing, at least, five times more, to build up and sustain schools, and seminaries, colleges, and churches, and ministers in the greatWest, than Perhaps, there is no state in the Union, in Pennsylvania with her one million eight hunwhich, from the beginning, there has been a dred thousand. And is she poor for doing so? greater expenditure of effort, and of means, to Has her benevolence beggared her citizens? give to every parish within its bounds, a per- Has it depressed her energies, wasted her remanently settled pastor, than Massachusetts. sources, and paralyzed her enterprise? ConAnd what is the result? Where Pennsyl-trast her condition with our own, and I leave vania gives ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS towards you to reply. [Dr. De Witt, of Pa.] Advantages of our national position. I stand pre-eminent among the nations of the "O that they were wise!" Never since the birth of time, was there a people thrown into a condition of civil society so favorable for the exertion of a wide spread and permanent moral influence as this. Our country itself-beautiful and magnificent beyond any on the globe-formed as the theatre for great names and great deeds; with a history short, indeed, but brilliant as that which records the deeds of Marathon, of Thermopyla, of Salamis, and Platea-its inexhaustible resources-its untold wealth-the ca earth. Her walls of defence, her towers and bulwarks, would be the world's gratitude. In paans of joy it would be borne to her on the winds of the ocean, from every continent and every isle. The sun of her glory would ca reer with unsullied brightness in her firmament, and mantle in light the dark cloud that shall come charged with earth's final ruin. [Ibid.] THE DISEASE AND THE CURE. TIS, before the Synod of Indiana, that there are brethren in the West who sympathize with them in the views of the true interests of our country, and who may be depended on as fellow laborers, in striving for a high stand safeguard of all that is dear to ourselves and valuable for our children. Symptoms of the disease. Our eastern readers will see, in the followrace, the genius, the language, the intelli-ing seasonable remarks of Rev. HARVEY CURgence, and the enterprise of its inhabitants, are each singly the element of a vast moral power. But these are all combined in a government, which is itself the concentration of public energy every pulsation, every action of which is the expression of the will of millions of free-ard of intelligence and religion, as the only men, through their own chosen agents-their energy concentrated and combined in expression. This is the power of republics like our own. When Russia, with her millions of serfs speaks, it is her autocrat's voice alone we hear; and beyond the brute force it wields, what do we heed it more than the voice of a man like ourselves. When this nation speaks, it is the combined voice of MILLIONS OF SOVEREIGNS, speaking through their chosen agent; and it goes forth as the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings; and no walls that tyranny can erect-proposals to dispense with chaplains, or will prevent its reverberations striking on every ear, and waking up to new life and vigor, those energies which now lie crouched beneath oppression's iron arm, and rousing them to a death-struggle for liberty. Oh! if the moral power of this great nation were sanctified by the grace of God, and under the controlling and benignant influences of a pure Christianity, what might it not achieve? Combining her resources and her energies, should she seek her glory, not in the prowess of her arms; not in the spoils of the vanquished and the trophies of victory; not in her own national aggrandizement; but in extending the blessings of a rational liberty, of civilization, of the arts and sciences,and above all, of Christianity; and in elevating manuniversal man-to a high state of moral and intellectual improvement; then would she The moral disease of our country is the corruption of the human heart. This is the source of all our social evils, and shows itself in such particulars as these— First.-A growing disregard of our religious institutions, and depreciation of all religion. This is shown in the increasing desecration of the Sabbath by Congress, public mails, &c. have a succession of all sorts of religionists, and the efforts made and widely sanctioned to remove the Bible from the public schools. Second. An increase of lawlessness and violence, as manifested by great men in personal broils, street rencounters, and field-fights, and by the masses in the administration of lynch law, mob vengeance, election ruffianism. He instanced further, and as manifestations of this same spirit, the nullification of national laws, by states; and of state laws, by individuals or masses. Third. The waning of public faith and been shown,-1st. In the repudiation of state justice, and of individual integrity. This has debts contracted in good faith, and for which a full consideration or equivalent has been received. 2d. In the labored defence and meditated extension of negro-slavery, which our fathers only tolerated, as a temporary institu tion, but never attempted to justify as a permanent law of society. Fourth. The open and manifest perversion of official power and patronage to private or party ends; bargain and sale of votes and in fluence; individual speculation and fraud, and evasion of moral obligation by wild speculation and stay laws, or bankrupt acts. will prevail, and wrong doing will cease, just in proportion to the increased number of sanctified minds, and clearness with which truth and duty are exhibited. Nor is the power of the preached Gospel confined to those who are saved by it. Many consciences are enlightened and quickened, so as to become ex Fifth. The increasing maddened violence of party spirit. The fathers of the constitution must have anticipated the existence of differences of opinion, and hence the existence of parties. But little could they have antici-tremely sensitive; and thus are raised up pated the blind subjection to party interests, which has since become common, and the virulence and disregard of truth and candor, which are beginning to characterize our political contests. many advocates of virtue and justice; many supporters of order, law, and equity. We have not relied enough upon this power of the Gospel to renovate society. In the multitude of human devices we have sometimes forgotten the balm of Gilead, the preached Gospel, God's appointed remedy for sin and evil The Remedy-not legislation, but the works. Gospel. The Gospel of Christ faithfully preached and sent home to men's hearts, by the energy of the Holy Ghost-this, this alone is the conservative power which will avail to make communities peaceful, law abiding, and prosperous, and individuals virtuous and happy. Is violence and lawlessness one disease, and the perpetual enslavement of men another, and Sabbath-breaking another? No, in no wise. They are all offshoots from a common stock. They are only different workings of the same radical disease. The alienation of man's heart from God, and the disregard of his authority, is the single stock, from which springs all that is criminal in action, or mischievous in tendency. An unregenerate heart, unrestrained by religious considerations, will of course sin, but will sin differently in different circumstances. Nothing can heal its perverse and injurious tendencies, however, that does not essentially affect its character. Legislation will not do it. Association for specific reform movements will not do it. An increase of general intelligence will not do it. Despotic power may repress many of its outbreaks, but here we have not this resource. Religious principle and the fear of God can alone do it. Indispensableness of the living preacher. From these considerations it follows, that our eyes and our efforts ought to be turned in some other direction than to the devices of political men. The speaker goes on to say— "The Home Missionary Society, is a most patriotic as well as christian institution." And the humble missionary who goes into a destitute field, and builds up a church of Christ, and is instrumental under God of converting twenty, thirty, fifty, or a hundred souls to Christ, besides sustaining Sabbath schools, and circulating much religious truth, actually does more for the permanent prosperity of his country, and better deserves the nation's grateful remembrance, than many a successful general, or distinguished statesman; whose names nevertheless will stand out prominent on the page of history, while his name and deeds are recorded only by an angel's pen. To the Missionaries of the A. H. M. S., Curtis thus addresses himself: Mr. Dear brethren, you who are engaged in the missionary work in this land, though the world may not appreciate your efforts-be encouraged. You are engaged in a great and good work, a work not second in grandeur or imThe Bible alone is dumb, unless it be ques-portance, to that in which our fathers engaged tioned. The religious book is not often read until the attention has been otherwise aroused. It requires the living voice to break upon the reluctant ear; that voice too, enforced by the kindling eye, the glowing countenance, the impassioned tones, and earnest importunity which indicate deep anxiety and tender regard. These will gain for truth a hearing, and then the Divine Spirit accompanying that truth, will make it efficacious, transforming and renovating the heart. The Gospel of Christ thus converting the soul, is the only effectual remedy for the vices that degrade society, and the crimes that rend it, for the social evils we experience, and the public commotions we feel or dread. True conversion implies a love of righteousness and truth. And in a community of such minds, righteousness 70 years ago. This world as sin has made it, is a great moral desert, over which wild beasts roam and siroccos blow. Divine grace alone can reclaim it, and make it like Eden, like the Garden of the Lord. Every missionary who forms a new church, or revives and builds up an old one, enters this desolate waste, cleans out an old well, or digs a new one, waters the surrounding tract, and cultivates an oasis there which shall blossom with benevolence and love, and bring forth the fruits of peace and righteousness. Nay, his influence stops not there. That fertile spot sends up its exhalations, and in time woos the dews, and rains of heaven, which fall not on itself alone, but on the parts adjacent, thus extending the fertilizing and blessed influence. Brethren, this is your work. Let each one resolve to till his The following account of a curse pronounced against a refractory priest of the Roman Catholic church, we find in the N. E. Puritan, and Boston Recorder, credited to the Olive Branch. We republish it in our columns-1st, Because it is unquestionably authentic. 2d, Because many of our western readers have probably never seen a specimen of the horrible maledictions of the "Holy Church." 3d, To show that even the influence of surrounding intelligence and Protestantism cannot extinguish the inherent spirit of persecution in that intolerant system. Wm. Hogan, it seems, was once the priest of St. Mary's church, in Philadelphia. "The Pope of Rome sent over a Legate with a deed, made out in Latin, covering all the Catholic churches and burying grounds, etc., in Pennsylvania, directing all the church-wardens, who before held the property in trust for the societies, to unconditionally sign that deed, making it over to the Pope. Some of these wardens and others asked Priest Hogan whether, as Catholics, they were at liberty to withhold their signature to those papal deeds. Mr. Hogan thonght they might refuse to sign, and so answered their queries. For this he was excommunicated, and the papal Bishop consecrated and delivered nearly half a cord of heavy billets, clubs or shillalahs, giving them to the faithful, with which to murder or punish Hogan and his adherents, who were nearly the whole of St. Mary's church. The attack was so dreadful, that the friends of Hogan were compelled to tear down the iron paling around the church with which to defend themselves; and they would doubtless have been murdered, under popish instigation and control, had not the Governor of Pennsylvania called out the militia, and checked the popish revenge." This was 20 or 25 years ago. Mr. H. laid down his office, became a Protestant, and retired to private life. But "the curse" is on him; he is a man marked by the Catholic community for their undying hate. "Recent ly he has been employed in the custom-house in Boston. The Catholics determined that he should not remain there; and to accomplish their purpose of driving him out, declared that they would give their votes against the party that put him there, if he were not removed. The result is, that he has been removed! Now the constitution of the United States absolutely forbids the exclusion of any man from office, on the ground of his religious opinions. The Catholics take the ground that a man must and shall be excluded for his religious opinions, if they coincide not with theirs. Thus are they already at open war with the constitution, which is the palladium of our liberties. Mr. Hogan has renounced Romanism, because he believes it incompatible with our republican institutions because he is opposed to nunneries, which he personally "knows to be places of sin, shame and sorrow." And for this renunciation he is to be starved, so long as he cannot be immured in the dungeons of the pope, and to be persecuted by every appliance which the nature of our institutions will permit. Thus we have a new exhibition of the features of Romanism in our very midst ? And can there be those still who will look upon it with complacency!" Form of Excommunication, ther, Son and Holy Ghost, and of the undefiled By the authority of God Almighty, the FaVirgin Mary, Mother and patroness of our Savior, and of all celestial virtues, Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Cherubims, and Seraphims. And of all the Holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and of all the Apostles and Evangelists of the Holy Innocents, who worthy to sing the new song of the Holy in the sight of the Holy Lamb, are found Martyrs and Holy Confessors, and of all the Holy Virgins, and of all the Saints together with the Holy Elect of God-may he, William Hogan, be damned. We excommunicate and anathematize him, and from the threshholds of the Holy Church of God Almighty we sequester him, that he may be tormented, deposed, and be delivered over with Dathan and Abiram, and with those who say unto the Lord "depart from us, we desire none of thy ways," and as fire is quenched with water, so let the light of him be put out forevermore, unless it shall repent him, and make satisfaction, Amen! him!-May the Son who suffered for us, May the Father who created man, curse curse him! May the Holy Ghost who was given to us in baptism, curse him! May the Holy Cross, which has Christ for our Salvation, triumphing over his enemies, ascended, curse him! May the Holy and eternal Virgin Mary, |