A FEMALE PARSON.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1101, 7 February 1872, Page 3

A FEMALE PARSON.

The New York papers give the following particulars of the '< ordination" of Mrs Oelia Barleigh as pastor of the XfxAtarian Ohnrch at Brooklyn, Connecticut ; "The church, a centenarian: of ecclesiastical edifices, quaint and solid in structure, occupying the centre of a green, was crowded to its utmost with mends and strangers, curious to see the ordination of a woman to the ministry. Ex-Governor Cleveland and ex-State Treasurer Tain ton, of Connecticut, were among the audience. In excellent harmony with the occasion, the pulpit was dressed with true, womanly taste by ladies of the. congregation, with wreaths of bright autumnal leaves, mingled with snowballs and garden flowers. In the centre a fragrant floral design, of tuberoses and others, forming a heart, the gift of < Sorosis, - occupied the centre, around which the free and abundant gifts of the people clustered. Tases of garden flowers and wild ferns adorned the pulpit and the high window sills all about the room, while the choir, in the old-fashioned box at the rear, were in ambush behind a wealth of goldeu leaves. A large cross of similar material adorned the wall behind the pulpit. After an anthem by the choir, and the reading of Scripture by the Rev Fbebe A. Hanaford, an ordination hymn, composed for the occasion by the Rev. J. W. Chadwick, of the Second Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, New York, was. sung. Rev E. P. Tilden. of Boston, made an appropriate ordaining prayer. The pastoral charge was delivered by the Rev Wra. Potter, of New Bedford. The Rev Oscar Olute, of Vineland, N.J., gave the welcome to the

ministry. The charge to the people was pronounced by Mrs Julia Ward Howe. A letter from Henry Ward Beecher was read by Mr Tilden, addressed to My dear and Rev. Mrs Burleigh. In the course of !it the writer said, 'I cannot get away, and so you must take my good wishes on paper. I do cordially believe that you ought to preach. I think you had a 'call' ;in your very nature. Nor do I doubt i that you will be both instructive and edifying. There are elements of the gospel which a woman's nature ought to bring out far more successfully than a man can. We have no adequate expression yet for sympathy, for mercy, for pity, for love, in the sermons of men. It is these very elements that our civilisation and our popular Christianity need. The illustration and application of these Divine qualities to all those phases of character, to the household culture, to public sentiment, to secular affairs, to civil procedure, constitute a life's work, and if done with thoroughness and power would produce the effect, almost of a new gospel.' The Doxology was sung and the Benediction then pronounced by the pastor ; after rhich the guests from abroad mingled in social intercourse in the room below."