The afternoon session was devoted to reports concerning Turkey and Greece, and the missions in Bulgaria and Armenia. Dr. Dwight, and Dr. Schauffler, of Constantinople, and Dr. Hamlin and Dr. King, of Athens, gave the reports. They were very encouraging. The forenoon discourse of the seventh and last day, was delivered Thursday, September 17th, in the German language, by the Rev. J. Cairns, of Berwick, England, "On the influence which a closer union of German and British Christians would probably exert upon the theology and religious life of the two nations." This was a masterly essay, evincing a comprehensive and accurate knowledge of German theology, and a just appreciation of the religious advantages and defects of the two nationalities. The speaker remarked, by way of introduction, that it was impossible fully to discuss so large a question in so limited a space, and yet it ought to have been expressed in still more comprehensive terms, so as to include all Christians who speak the English language. He would, therefore, with their leave include his American brethren under the head of Britons, for the occasion. The principal points of the interesting discourse were the following: "It may be affirmed, that a closer union between English and German Christians must lead to an enlargement of theological knowledge on both sides.... Much advantage is to be derived from the mutual reaction of the characters of the two nations upon each other. The German mind descends from principles, the English mind rises from results. The German mind strives to harmonize ideas with each other, the English mind to harmonize ideas with facts. The German mind seeks to reach its goal by depth of thought, the English mind rather by energy of action. To the German mind theology exists as an end to itself; to the English mind theology is only a means to Christian life and practice. Each has its own right, each ought to be associated with the other. It would, indeed, be altogether wrong to give up the peculiarities of national character and development. We look for satisfactory results in both countries, simply from the action of that principle of assimilation which belongs to every living Christian organism. By the action of this principle, it is to be hoped that England will add to its penetrating judgment and practical earnestness in religion more of that comprehensive learning and culture which are found in German theology, and that Germany will more and more subject its far extending research and its speculative tendencies to the government of that practical sense, and that sympathy with the wants and necessities of the people, which have ever characterized English theology. "On the field of the confessional theology of the two countries, the cooperation of English and German Christians must have a peaceful, and at the same time a progressive influence. Is it not to be hoped, that the unanimous sentiment of the whole Protestant Church beyond the pale of Germany, estimating as very subordinate in importance the difference of the first Reformers respecting the Lord's supper, will exert a healing and reconciling influence upon the unhappy confessional controversies which have again become the center of German theology? In like manner the association of German theologians must cast a broader light upon the hereditary controversies of religious parties in England and America. In more recent times, especially through the rise and wide-spread influence of Methodism, much has been done to fill up the great chasm which before separated Calvinists and Arminians. The Evangelical Alliance has gathered up the points of agreement between the two parties into a new formula of concord, and adopted it as the basis of all its efforts to promote Christian union. It seems to be a great duty of the Christian world at present, to establish more firmly upon a Scripture basis, and to develope more fully a theology which shall bear the stamp of these fundamental articles, at once in harmony with the word of God, and imbued with the spirit of living faith in Christ. The Church of Christ must find, sooner or later, its gravitating center, which is to be reached, not in the track of a dead scholasticism, but of a personal saving experience of gracious communion with the Divine Redeemer, the glorious incarnation of all truth; and in the degree in which the Church thus recovers itself and all its mutually alienated members in Christ, will a deeper and more comprehensive theology arise, which, penetrated with the distinction between fundamental and non-fundamental doctrine, shall unite in Christ all that does not of itself repel the union, and thus strive to reach the sublime model of the New Testament. "As regards the second department of this topic-the influence of the union in question upon the Christian life and practice of both countries-England has confessedly the superiority; yet there has long existed a gratifying interchange of benefits between England and Germany even on this field. If England called into existence Missionary, Bible, and Tract Societies, it must not be forgotten, that Germany, in the first and most difficult age of missions, trained some of the most successful missionaries for the service of English societies. . . . . The influence of the observance of the Lord's day in England must exert an increasing control over the Christian sentiment of Germany. It may also be hoped that those scruples of excellent men in Germany respecting English views of religious liberty will disappear, when it will be more and more understood, that by the freest exercise of religious liberty, including the right of proselytism, neither public quiet nor Church concord are in the least degree endangered, but rather invaluably promoted. "Within the inmost circle of Christian life there is room for mutual instruction and admonition. In England there prevails a more distinct line of separation from the world in matters of worldly art, amusement, and indulgence, and hence the practice of German Christians may gain much. În Germany, on the other hand, there is a noble indifference to that all-devouring love of gain which is the deepest cancer in the vitals of English religion. Nevertheless, England, taking into account its domestic devotion and discipline, its habit of church attendance, its love for the Bible, and its fixed moral and religious usages and institutions, is fitted to exert both a quickening and a directing influence on Germany." Mr. Cairns's address sank deep into the hearts of the audience, and will make a most beneficial and lasting impression upon the German people. Thursday afternoon, September 17, the closing session of the conference was held. Rev. E. Kuntze, of Berlin, the chairman of the German branch of the Evangelical Alliance, who had acted as the presiding officer in all the sessions, reported on the religious condition of East Germany. It was a dark picture. Although, as we remarked in our former paper, the greater portion of the clergy have given up Rationalism, and returned to more evan gelical views, the masses of the people seem, as yet, little affected by it. The countries comprehended in Mr. Kuntze's sketch, though almost entirely Protestant, are, to a frightful extent, regions of spiritual death. The average attendance at the churches was from twenty-five to thirty persons. Whole classes of people had in many places totally deserted them. Open atheism, drunkenness, profanity, profligacy, degrading vices of every kind prevail to an awful extent. The few who yet have some sympathy for the Church, and desire moral reform, expect everything from the police or government. Nevertheless, there were appearing some hopeful signs of improvement. Prayer meetings had been introduced in some parts. The Inner Mission was actively at work, and the missions to the heathens and Jews were the means of rekindling the religious life in some hearts at home. Surely such a state of things justifies our Church in sending missionaries to Germany, and who must not acknowledge that Methodism is the very agency which the Church in Germany needs? The closing scene, the farewell addresses, the epilogue of Dr. Krummacher, the last prayer, the sublime music, the great multitude absorbed in devotion, as it was perhaps never seen in Germany, the interest which the king and queen took in it, all this was of thrilling interest, but we have no space for details. We will only add, that when the conference, at 8 P. M. adjourned sine die, those who were able, hastened from the Garrison Church to the other end of the city, where, in the Church of the Moravians about two hundred ministers of the Gospel-Lutherans, Calvinists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, and other denominations-sat down together at the table of their common Lord and Saviour. We close with one retrospective remark. Dr. Krummacher was, a few months ago, accused of having changed his sentiments respecting the Evangelical Alliance. This report is essentially incorrect. It originated from some remarks which he made in a private meeting of the Berlin Committee of the Alliance. The question was proposed: By what means can the prejudices which many evangelical men in Germany still entertain against the Alliance be best removed? In answer to this question the doctor reviewed the objections made by orthodox men. They were threefold. One party, he said, fears, notwithstanding our protest, that we intend to make a fusion of Churches; they say our nine articles are a new confession of faith. Another party complains of the nine articles, because they contain only a part of those truths which they hold equally dear, and they wish not to assume the appearance of attributing less importance to the truths which are not contained in the nine articles. The third party objects, that the nine articles contain too much of doctrinal confession. The alliance professed to manifest the communion of saints in the most comprehensive manner, but her nine articles exclude true children of God, such as the "Friends" and others. These different objections had led him to think whether the German branch of the alliance would not accomplish more, if, like their French brethren, instead of insisting upon the acceptance of the nine articles as the condition of membership in the alliance, they would offer the hand of brotherly fellowship to all who believe in the triune God, and who promise to love the Lord Jesus Christ by keeping his commandments and loving one another. These remarks of Dr. Krummacher are very suggestive of further reflections in more than one point of view. But we must leave the subject with the reader. ART. IV.-DRUGS AS AN INDULGENCE. 1. The Lands of the Saracen. By BAYARD TAYLOR. 2. The Hasheesh Eater; being Passages from the Life of a Pythagorean. Harpers. 1857. 3. Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa. By DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D., D.C.L. Harpers. 1858. 4. Confessions of an Opium Eater. By THOMAS DE QUINCEY. LIFE is action, and man naturally loves that which rouses him, and creates pleasurable motion and emotion. From the cradle to the grave he has something before him which he would like to do, or be, or possess, something for which he works, or about which he dreams. We all move, with less or more rapidity, steadiness, wisdom, or folly, and the motive power varies in a thousand ways. Some catch the breath of heaven in lofty sky-sails, and speed on to the ports of eternal peace. Others, heavy laden with earthly projects, push on under the influence of motives that are best kept out of sight, propellers that become powerless unless sunk beneath the surface. Few stop to ask themselves the question, "For what do I live?" and fewer still seek till they find the true answer. Ideas and emotions, hopes and fears, set the world going, and each man feels their power, and moves under their impulse. This motive power varies in its nature with age, physical state, and mental and moral character. Look at the incessant activity of the child. Its little feet patter about from morning till night: its eager eyes dart, and its restless hands are laid upon everything within its reach, while its chattering tongue shows that the mind is as active as the muscles. The little child moves under the impulse of two forces, one mental, the other physical. The mind is constantly excited by the presence of new objects, and new properties discovered in those objects. As he draws the toy-wagon over the carpet, as he erects and then knocks down his castle of blocks, and then runs to the mirror to contemplate his own merry face, the child is not merely amusing himself. He is, in fact, carrying on a series of philosophical experiments; he is investigating the laws of matter, and making discoveries, without a knowledge of which he would be utterly unfit for the ordinary duties of life. But there is another reason for the industrious habits of children. He who made the light for the eye, made the human frame for action. Every muscle in the little form seems to contain a steel spring, wound up to its highest tension. To keep it still is impossible. And, indeed, among young and old, a person of vigorous health and energetic mind will love motion, nor can he be deprived of it without creating a restless, uneasy feeling, which is nature's remonstrance against wrong. The amount of effort of which a man is capable depends primarily upon his physical organization, and this, in turn, depends upon race, family, climate, food, habit, and other hereditary or incidental circumstances, many of which are exceedingly difficult of explana If we call attention to the fact that one Englishman or American will do as much as a score of Hindoos in any kind of mental or physical labor, we are told that in energy and power the men of temperate climates have always been superior to the tropical races. But how are we to account for the differences which we see in the forces of men outwardly equal? Take, for example, a long and exciting session of our General Conference. At its close perhaps a third of its members will be worn down, wearied out, while another third will be apparently as fresh as at the beginning, and yet they could not have been singled out and classified at the beginning. The apparently strong man often breaks down the soonest, and the seemingly feeble one wears the best, and Cassius, with his "lean and hungry look," is found as capable of unremitting labor as the "fat, sleek-headed men, that sleep o' nights." But besides this matter of endurance, there is another curious subject, which is of great importance, especially to those whose labor is mental: I refer to mental and physical excitability. We are susceptible of being roused, stimulated, excited, so that every |