The following items, relative to the late national Convention in favor of the Religious Amendment, held in N. Y. city, Feb. 26, 27, 1873, we clip from a report of the meeting in the Christian Statesman of March 8:— The most imposing and influential Convention yet held in behalf of the Religious Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, assembled last week in the hall of the Cooper Union, in the city of New York. In the number of delegates in attendance, in the variety and effectiveness of the addresses which commended the cause to enthusiastic and delighted audiences, and in the generous provision made for the prosecution of the work on an enlarged scale during the coming year, this Convention far surpassed all that have preceded it. Wednesday, the 26th ult., the day fixed for the assembling of the Convention, was a day of spring-like mildness and beauty, a circumstance which contributed to swell the audiences at the first two sessions of the Convention. But the increasing interest of its proceedings, and the earnestness of its members and friends, were manifest in the fact that, notwithstanding an incessant snow-storm on the second day, which lasted far into the night, the attendance continued undiminished till the end. The assembly, at each of the evening sessions, numbered fully 1500 persons, and these, with scarcely an exception, remained till a late hour with evident interest and delight. According to the report of the Committee on Enrollment, found in another column, four hundred and seventy members took seats in the Convention, and three hundred and sixty-three of these bore certificates of their appointment as delegates from public meetings, auxiliary societies, churches, and other bodies. The students of Harvard Law School, for example, had held a meeting and appointed three of their number as delegates to New York. Thus the Convention, large as it was, represented an immensely larger constituency devoted to the cause. Nineteen States and one territory, were thus represented. A delightful feature of this, as of all previous conventions, was the harmony with which the representatives of the various denominations of Christians were able to deliberate and act together, in the interests of their common Christianity. Not a trace of denominational self-assertion, or of sectarian jealousy, was visible through the whole course of the proceedings. In fact, sectarian diversities sunk out of sight in the unity of feeling and purpose which pervaded the assembly, and the question, “Of what church is he?” was seldom asked. To every one who deplores the divisions of the church, our work has great moral value, as it makes visible the underlying unity and essential agreement of all Christian sects, and brings them together in a holy fellowship which greatly promotes mutual acquaintance and esteem. The presence of large numbers of ladies, many of whom were members of the Convention, added to the interest of its sessions, and a cordial resolution, expressing our confident expectation of the hearty co-operation of the Christian women of the country, will be found among the proceedings. But the most convincing proof of the increasing power of the movement was furnished in the subscription of upward of five thousand dollars to the treasury of the National Association, to carry forward the work during the year.118 STAND IN THE COUNSEL OF THE LORD.
Stand in the counsel of the Lord;
Why halt ye by the way?
Haste to obey his holy word;
O speed! make no delay. The Saviour left his Father's throne,
He laid his glory by,
To lead a self-denying life,
To suffer and to die. Visit Gethsemane and see
The drops of blood that flow
From him who bows in sweat and tears
Beneath his weight of woe. Follow him to the judgment hall,
Where scourged and spit upon,
Smitten, derided, and oppressed,
His visage marred and wan. View him ascending Calvary's mount
Beneath your load of guilt:
Then, 'mid a jeering multitude,
His precious blood is spilt. Oh! hear him cry, My God, my God,
Hast thou forsaken me?
For you the Lamb of God expires,
Quivering in agony. And can you not for his dear sake,
Your appetites deny?
Your love of vanity and pride,
And tinsel crucify? You weep and mourn your little strength,
And yet your want of power
Is just because you cling to these,
And thus the standard lower. Rise, in the strength of Israel's God,
And deal the fatal blow;
And for the love you bear to Christ
Your idols all forego. Just what the wheat is to the chaff,
You'll find it in that day,
When God shall settle man's accounts,
Are those who him obey.