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22 Jfute a#l gijitfet J. J, TOON, - - - * P roprictor. Rer. P. jRAVER, P.P., Editor. THURSDAY, JANUARY 81, 186 7. Reduction of Terms, As our readers will remember, we have, at various times, announced that a patronage sufficient to place the Index and Baptist on a basis of self-support, would be followed by a reduction of terms. Though there has been a steady growth of our subscription list from the beginning, this point has not yet been reached. We believe that it would be, in course of time, at present rates; but the con tinued scarcity of money throughout the South hinders its early consummation. Anxious, however, to secure a wider sphere of useful ness, —to work for the cause of Christ among a greater number of His followers, and in this way to accomplish more for it, —we have decid ed to accommodate the price of the paper to the necessities of our brethren at once, though at the cost of present sacrifice to ourselves. This is not the first time that this resolution has commended itself to us. Several months since, sve determined to make the change, and fcjrqteTo correspondents and agents to that etl’eot —but the views of brethren whose ex perience entitled their judgment to weight, induced us to re consider the matter before the paper with the announcement went to press, and we wrote again cancelling the in structions. We return now to the purpose formed then—hoping to bring the paper with in the means of all. From this date the terms will be For one year $4, in advance. For six months -...»—12, “ “ For three months sl, “ “ With the present subscription list, this step involves loss to -us—loss which we can not afford, and which can be prevented only by the renewed efforts of the friends of the paper to secure a more extended circulation for it. May we rely upon them for this ? Ought not the paper to pay for itself? Shall we not make the improvements which are impos sible without adequate funds and which we purpose to introduce at the earliest practica ble date ? Justice to Christian Reputation. In our “ Glimpses of the Times,” last week, we placed before the reader the late but tri umphant vindication which clears the name of John Harris from infamy. This remarkable case opens a line of enquiry which may be pursued with profit. It suggests grave doubts whether Christian reputation is guarded with due jealousy by Christians themselves; wheth er, as respects their mutual fair fame, they have not yielded to the infection of the spirit which asked, of old, “ Am I my brother’s keeper ? ” Let us look at it. In this case, the accused was a man whose praise, while he lived, was in all the churches; whose character had by no outgiving fallen under the slightest shade of suspicion ; who in every sphere of evangelical labor had borne himself nobly—even grandly. The accuser was a woman who, on her own confession, had plunged “ Into a pit of injf{ that the wide sea Had drops too few to wash, her clean again, . And salt too little which might season give To tainted flesh.” The accusation sfootl alone, with nothing to relieve its huge incredibility, except that form of evidence—the circumstantial, which has passed into a proverb as indecisive and mis leading. And yet universal Christendom ac cepted the gross slander. The star was plucked from the firmament and trampled in the mire. Do these facts betray no lack of charity ? Is this, brotherhood —stern to chal lenge, slow to credit, aspersion of a brother I Os a surety, No ! Now, we do not mean to represent credulous, blind trust as the basis of Christian fellowship. We know and we applaud its clear-sighted vigilance. But if Christian fellowship be more than a mere name, a life passed without reproach, nay, with honor, in stations of eminent conspicuity, ought to have outweighed unsupported, posthumous traduction from one who was— what " There is not chastity enough in language Without offence to utter.” That it did not, lays bare, we fear, a fault in the spirit of the times. We question whether our fathers would have lent an ear quite so readily, to just such charges, with just such surroundings. But look at the case again. The victim of this atrocious maligning was dead. He could utter r.o word of denial; could institute no process of exoneration. Were there, then, none living who might subject to rigorous, patient scrutiny, ‘ the circumstances which looked like proofs,’ until that hollow look was wrenched away ? None to secure for by siftings, and soundings, and probings, carried forward, if need be, through years, the benefit of the grand judicial fact in the constitution of providence —that the most thoroughly panoplied falsehood, is doomed Jo have always some opening between the joints of the harness, where the Ithuriel-spear of refutation may find entrance ? Had the cause been their own, who doubts that these search ing processes would have been followed up to the utmost verge of possibility ? Butthey did it not for him who lay mouldering in the grave. The cloud was suffered to deepen over his memory, while the years wore on; as though a life, spent amidst the sanctities of our faith, had been throughout a leprous lie; and a death which seemed “quite on the verge of heaven,” had been but a hideous masquerade of grimace and hypocrisy, in the “ honest hour” at the threshold of eternity. Vindica tion was abandoned to the tardy relenting of the defamer, when, lying face to face with «the last enemy ” and hastening to stand fae.e to face with the final Judge, a startled con science wrung from her the secret, of which she had been strangely left in undisturbed possession. Is this justice to reputation? Had John Harris no rights which his brethren kept back from him? Was it not his due that the cross-examination of the accuser should be as strict, protracted, winnowing, as they would have made it, if their own honor had hung trenibling in the scales ? If more than one answer can be returned to this ques tion, the ethics of modern Christianity need to be re ? written. The innocence of each single THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, JANUARY 31,1867. Christian, wherv falsely impeached, becomes the “ cause ” of-all. The whole body should account jury of inquest, to drag Pe skulking calumny unmasked and naked to the light of day—or a court of justice, to withhold sentence .of condemnation, until the truth has been sought by all the means which legal sagacity supplies, and with all the persistence which individual interest prompts. In relation to this case, we with which to reproachVwse 1 ves» first, we innocence If the -■ L r c." we slijjmQh M that raw M' ■ v ‘" likelihood Before tsffltemg these facts, we pausjpgr notice briefly the diverse causes which operate to produce the want of charity and justice ex emplified by them.' - The Phari aism which cries, “ Nor even as this Publican,” leaps to welcome accusation. It rejoices to find another Publican, who may warrant the repetition of the cry. Conscious, hidden guilt renders the bosom defiled by it, credulous as regards the alleged defilement of other bosoms. Carrying, too, in its fears a prophecy of exposure, it marks with pleasure multiplying instances of reputed obliquity; hoping that these things may serve to break the force of its own fall, if overtaken by detection, —may impart to its offences the air of results flowing from the general race than from specjaj personal deptf^PHWhT. and thus plead of judgment. Besides*: it sedtks to purge Yt self from all suspicion of complicity with such misconduct, by affecting a righteous indigna tion. Then, there is envy, with a show of generous regretfulness indeed, but not ill-pleased in se cret, when an overshadowing name takes tar nish. The competitor who outran it in the race for distinction drops away from the fore ground, and leaves a clear space for its own adva:*»3 toward the “ uppermost room ” and the “ chief seat.” We have spoken so far only of feelings which make their den in souls of most ignoble type. As these are, in comparison, few, such causes work within a narrow sphere. Os wider range is the working of a partisan spirit. Men fancy that their position gathers strength through the individual weaknesses of those who do battle against it. The faults of an opponent are reckoned as bringing opposition itself into discredit, despite the fact that, of the Twelve who were chosen to rear the stan dard of revolt from Judaism, one was “a devil !” Hence, many times, accusation of persons identified with a system of theology, or a sect, wins easy credit among those who belong to another sect, or who espouse anoth er system. Like consequences follow preju dices springing upbetweendifferentnations, or different sections of the same nation, or differ ent classes of society in the same section. The calm, impartial intellects which rise serenely above these obscuring mists, to view assailed reputation in the clarified atmosphere which the sunbeams of truth bring with them, are, alas, a minority. Another and even more specious influence impels toward this issue. There is a timidity which calls itself jealousy for the honor of pure morality and vital religion. It recoils from thejrisk of-GhrhrtMrntty respon sible for tjfe misdeeds of unworthy adherents. It would not imperil its influence by seeiMtog to st*sd out against righteous accusation, or to interpose a shield between guilt and the avenging shaft of publie scorn, ft shows* therefore, how sternly just it is, what robes of stainless incorruptibility it wears, by—setting its seal to slander! Consciously or uncon sciously, this feeling sways the beam with mul titudes. Christians would not have it thought, that because they bear this name and trust they rightly bear it, false pretenders find them partial judges ; and ministers must guard “ the profession ” from the suspicion of throwing the aegis of its sanctity around intruders into it. Under this prompting they echo unde served reproach, when it becomes them pa tiently to sift from the chaff of plausible charges, the hidden grains of truth that vindi cate character. We recall a ease in point. Years ago, a divine, of spotless repute, was taxed with grievous wrong. Tried before a council of divines, sentence went against him. But when the cause was transferred to the ju dicial tribunal, a prompt verdict of acquittal bore witness to his innocence. And this, though no evidence was absent through lapse of time, and none eluded by legal technicalities —though the showing for the prosecution was in no measure weakened, nor the showing for the defence strengthened in the least—though the popular appetite for the scandal of the case had not yet burnt itself out—though he stood in court under the disadvantage of a prior ecclesiastical condemnation, with loss of caste. So, often, the timidity we speak of makes even Christian charity or ministerial fraternity a harsher thing than publie law in its execution of “ judgment without mercy!” But we must break away from a sub ject which grows under the pen. There is but one remedy for this great fault—the spirit of brotherhood, “ the communion of saints,” the love which “ believeth all things, hopeth all things.” Let us seek with special earnest ness to grow in that grace ; for as we become more and more like Him who is love, we shall be less and less apt to condemn our fel low-servants whom His enemies traduce but whom He approves. Sixpence. “ He who hath sixpence,” says Carlyle, “is king to the extent of sixpence.” Quaint lan guage this, and putting strongly the sover eignty of money in earthly things. It sug gests withal—a thought which should allay the feverish speculation of the limes—that this sovereignty pertains, the million aire alone, but to men of (if only free from debt.) But what if the owner ofwh sixpence loves it inordinately—clings to it,.when the claims of his own mental culture, the needs of those who suffer around him, or the interests of Zion, summon him to part with it—and thus permits it to override and repress the better qualities of his nature? Then he is a slave to it. The slave of sixpence! What an in glorious bondage ? Nor is it necessary that one should own the sixpence, in order to come under the yoke of its vassalage, through this inordinate love. That only deepens the shame. The slave of another man’s sixpence ! Who woufH not quail under the sense of • tferaldom so minious ? V Now, the princely fortune js only & great muJ» itu^e °f sixpences. Yowcan make noth i,, & more of it than that. He who sells himself, then, to the possession or pursuit of a large estate, is simpiy the slave of many sixpences! Every sixpence in the throng lords it over him. The name of his tyrants is legion. Alas, for the abjectness of such servitude ! Will those who profess that ‘ the Son has made them free,’ exchange for this M the glorious liberty of the children of God ? ” The Coming Prosperity of Zion. It is not the delay of God, it is our impa tience, that darkens the prospects of Zion. Even in the season of reverse, which chasti ses our sins and disciplines our faith, we may feel that the hours of night, with their weep ings, are numbered, and the joy of the morn ing makes haste to come. The word of pro mise is more “ sure,” if possible, than the simple “ word of prophecy”—for if this be the witness-bearing of Unerring Foresight, thai pledges, with it, the wonder-working of Almighty Power. How, then, can we give place to despondent thoughts, as though God had ‘ forgotten to be gracious,’ and His ‘ mer cies were clean gone forever ? ’ These long’ and weary yearp all lie summed up in His To-Day ; and when His “ relentings are kin dled together,” our hearts shall smite us for weakly questioning, because the Sun hid his face from us for a little moment, whether “darkness was the universe.” During the captivity in Babylon, Ezekiel, under the light of inspiration,exclaimed, “ O, mountains of Judea, ye shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.” A restive unbelief might have repelled this ex ultant cry, as pitiless irony. At hand to come! when only twelve years of their ap pointed exile had elapsed, and fifty-eight mbre were yet to 1 drag their slow length along.’ At hand to come ! when the generation that heard these words must make the unblessed land of the Gentile their grave, and another generation ‘ stand in their lot ’ to inherit the joyous prediction. Yes! To a true trust, yes ! “ Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing—that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” When His hand is uplifted, one day shall do the work of a thousand years; and who shall say, when their work is done, that the thousand years are lost, because His hand while they were passing was not ‘ plucked out of His bosom?’ Who, for the joy of that day, as faith “ seizes it wich her eye,” shall not overleap the dreary interval and rejoice as though it were not ? Brethren, the faithfulness of God abides throughout His seasons of delay. His prom ise is “ ordered in all things and sure.” The prosperity of Zion is “at hand to come.” Let us not put it off by unbelief, prayerlessness, and slotff but look for it with confidence, ask for it with Importunity, and labor for it with diligence. So, shall her Head teach us how “ one day ” may suffice for chastisement and discipline —how the reward of our Aoils, the answer of our and the fruition of our faith require but “ one day.” O, for the steadfast trust that wearies hot in work ing or in waiting! When that prevails among us, the God of our salvation will “do and defer not.” Onr Southern Zion. Missouri.—A lady, writing to the Baptist Journal , laments that “in 59 counties of the State, more or less supplied with churohes, there is such a lamentable delinquency, as regards or ganized and well conducted Sunday schools under Baptist influence.”—There have been 15 additions to Dover Church, Lewis county ; 33 to Liberty, Clarke; 16 to Union, Audrian; 6 at Salem, Boone; 43 at Chillicothe; 6at Telo, Henry ; 6at Osage, Benton. Some of the most successful of the meetings crowned with these results were held during Christmas week.—A church has been con stituted in Howard county, with the name “ Salt Creek.”—Rev. A. P. Williams, D.D., during the year preached 208 sermons; received into the churches by letter 32, and by baptism 72; wit nessed 93 conversions; and assisted in the con stitution of one church. —Jno. Eaton was or dained at Hunnewell Church, Dec. 29th.—The Journal says : “It is fearfully apparent that the social convulsions through which we have passed, have left many of our churches in a sad condition. During the war a thorough administration of dis ciplinary government was impossible. Meanwhile the line which divided the professed people of God from the world was becoming less and less dis tinct. This state of things has led to loose no tions on the subject of discipline—notions con trary to New Testament directions and the purity which years ago characterized our discipline. We are required to deal gently with the erring, to for give and forgive again, lest we inflict injury upon one of Christ’Sj flock. But while this obligation rests upon us, we should not forget that the honor of the cause in the community, the integrity of the faith,* the purity of the church, are committed to us. How can we expect genuine revival pro gress while we are compromising with the world?” Kentucky. —At the Western Baptist Theologi cal Institution, Georgetown, are twenty or more young men, studying for the ministry.—There have been 14 additions to the Owensboro Church; 14 conversions at Millstown; and 33 at Blue Spring, Trigg county. At the last church, a meet ing which was designed to be protracted was cut short by the sickness of the pastor; but the church held nightly prayer-meetings for three weeks, and the work of grace was chiefly experi -1 fenced during that time, in the absence'‘of*'"all min isterial help. Tennessee. —The Nashville Union and Dis patch, of Jan. 26th, brings this unwelcome intel ligence : “ The friends of the Rev, Dr. Howell, the estimable pastor of the First Baptist Church in this city, will be pained to learn that he is suf fering frogt^*||i-4 ttac k of paralysis of the left side. He was stricken' several days ago, but had so far recoveredrtffto ride out to South Nashville Thurs day, and rnarrv*-a couple; but since his return has been considerably worse. Wp sincerely trust we shall be able'to chronicle his complete restoration iu a few days.” The Lord mercifully grant it ! Rev. D B. Hall, of Gallatin, writes to the Ken tucky Baptist that he has been on a visit to some of the Northern States, to solicit aid for the re pair of our church in that place ; that while his collections were small, owing to. the unpropitious juncture, he was asked by almost every church to ( return at a more favorable time, and that ‘ his re ception was scHtordial in many places that he wept tears of gratitude.’ West Virginia. —“In no portion of the coun try,” says the Religious Herald, 44 do our breth ren seem to be making more rapid progress than in West Virginia."—Rer. J. Stump has baptized 20 at Little Creek Church, Roane county, and constituted a church at Arnoldsburg, the county seat of Calhoua.—There have been 10 additions to Sardis Church, Harrison county ;~ 21 to Mt. Zion, Wetzel; and 14 to Ravenswood, Jackson, the fruit of a meeting following the constitution of the church in January. Virginia.—By an error of the press, last week, Rev. M. S. Chancellor was credited with the bap tism of 4,210 persons in a little over a year. The figures should have been 200. —Rev. S. C. Boston, pastor at Farmville, writes to the Herald: “ Per haps out congregations never were larger, or our Sabbath school more prosperous and encouragingi or our church more united and active, than now. Within the last fourteen months some forty or more have been added to our number, thirty-one of them by baptism. All these, with two or three exceptions, have come from the Sunday school."—Capt. S. S. Wallace, a licentiate of Geor gia, who professed religion during the war, and has since been a student at Mercer until within a few weeks, is in Virginia seeking a field of labor there. South Carolina. — The Baptist appears on an enlarged sheet, and-with other improvements.— ■>orts, through the or State Missions, $902.76; pledges the 15 missiona its sub-agents.— 5, urging the Mis to activity, says: at at least one of rother to labor as their missionary, and failed to give him sufficient encouragement. They set a time for the Board to meet; the missionary is requested to appear at the meeting to make his first report; he rides 30 miles in the cold ; the hour for the Board to meat comes ; not one of the Board appears at all. He returns home feeling discouraged, apprehending that his children may cotne to poverty, if he con tinues under appointment from that Board.” Alabama. —The Big Bear Creek Association, at its last session, requested each minister to preach to each of his churches, during the year, one ser mon on ministerial support, and another on mis sions.—A correspondent of the Religious Herald states that Rev. R. Holman declines the call to the Greenville Church, and that Brother Reeves has resigned the charge of the Ebfaula Church.—The Christian Herald says : “ The custom which, of late, has become quite common, of having fairs, concerts, suppers, etc., for the benefit of churches, is a wrong one, and the tendencies are evil; and therefore our churches should not countenance it.” Mississippi. —With a large Baptist influence, Natchez is now without a Baptist pastor. Louisiana.— Rev. G.W. Hartsfield reports to the Texas Baptist Herald 7additions to the Mansfield, and 9 to the Union Church. —Rev. W. H. Tucker writes to the Religious Herald, of Coliseum,Place Baptist Church, New Orleans : “ The members, who had abandoned the church on account of the unwarranted assumption of the pastorate by those whom they could not approve, are now rallying around their new pastor, and new members are being added to the church everyj|§|ek. The con gregation has been steadily increasing since Rev. W. H. Bayliss has been preaching to them, and now the church is well filled. Bro. B. seems quite hopeful, and ,1 think he is decidedly 4 the right man in the right place.’ ” Texas!—JJev. R-Green writes from Texas to the Western Recover T “*I have been in the" South-West nearly- eyght years, and have received $2,072, which is anCAverage ©f $259 per year; which rendered it impossible Tor me to give my time wholly to, the wot«k.”—Rev. T. S. Allen has located near Wheeloek, Robertson county.—Rev. W* Howartfi D.D., has entered on his labors as passfej£.t Gaiveston, and has baptized Rev. Ed ward T. Thiting, for many years a Methodist preacher.—J§jk. D. jB. Morell has removed to Ty ler, to take thaGeneral Superintendence, in East ern Texas, for Jhe Baptist Sunday School and Col portage Union,. (Slimes of tty Child-Whipping.— The Christian Register, in reference to tSje officially reported whip pings in the schools of Boston, (while a con siderable number} more are not reported,) says: “ There arefabout 240 days in the year in which school i kept in Boston, each day having about five purs of session. Dividing the number of flippings, 17,714, by 240, gives us about 74iwhippings a day. Every morning, therefore)of each day, during which school is kept, wd may say, ‘ Sevt nly-four whippings will be ilflicted on the children of Boston to-day.’ Tl|s amounts to one whip ping for every four Minutes of the five hours of school dime. As fce walk the streets, then, about our business, it the end of every four minutes we can think, ‘ Another child has been whipped.’ ” —A correspondent of the same paper states that the yearly whippings in the New York schools, asilast reported, were 35,- 196; making 155 eaiih school day, and one whipping every two during school hours ! Pulpit Plagiarism.— A writer in the Chris tian Times and Witness Isays : “ A prominent pastor, in a State not far east of Illinois, at an Associational meeting not many months ago, preached a sermon that was subsequently found in a volume called * New York Pul pit.’ ” —The North- Western Presbyterian states that a suit for divorce is now pending in a Chicago court, in which the defendant is a young Methodist the first cause of complaint on the part of wife is, that he had stolen certain sermons anAyreaoheJ them as his own 1 Archbishop Trench. —We regret to learn that this distinguished author is supposed to favor the Ritualists. Under this impression two or three hundred person* left a Dublin church, not long since; when he,rose to preach in it. * Pr;avjhr. —The St. Louis Christian Advo cate justly rebukes the expression—“ eloquent prayer,” as “ in very bad taste, although it is becoming quite common.” The Financial Aspect. —Parton, in his Atlantic Monthly article on “ Fashionable Churches,” mentions a Christiln young gen tleman, who recently conclifflW-a glowing ac count of a sermon, by saying tMt it was “ the direct means of adding to the i)»urch a capi tal of $175,000.” r Northern Baptist Home M4sions. —The Christian Era alleges that the Bap tist Home Mission Society is * endeavoring to consolidate the Slate Conventions into one vast organization, of which Netv York shall be the centre,” and pronounces the plan “ a monstrous absurdity and a mischievous chi mera.” k Ecclesiastical Secession. —Several mem bers of Salmon Creek Baptist Church, Wash ington Territory, have gone out from it, and established a separate interest ten miles dis tant, with a view of observing “ feet washing ” as a church ordinance. Episcopacy. —The Round Table thinks that the American Episcopate has declined since “the days when such men as Mcllvaine, and Chase, and Wainwright, and Aloyzo Potter, and Burgess were chosen Bishopsand says : “If mere ecclesiastical sympathies of a cer tain kind, or a negative position pn important religious questions, are to^be,made the special qualifications for the Episcopate, then the Episcopal church may prepare itself for less respect in the future from the public general ly, and a waning influence in the land.” No wonder that the spread of Puseyism should dwarf the dignitaries of a church, since it spreads most among those who lack what Locke calls “ a large, sound, round-about com mon sense,” Tobacco. —A New church in the West has, in the vestibule, a large card requesting 4 gen tlemen to leave their tobacco outside.’ Church Sittings. —“ There are 500,000 souls in New York city,” says the Church Union, “ that could not find a seat in a church of any persuasion whatsoever, were they to change their custom, and attempt to worship God the next Lord’s day.” The Pastor’s Home. —The Indiana corres pondence of an exchange say’s : “A pastor is as much entitled to reside in a respectable and comfortable house as any one else, and I am glad that many of our churches are beginning to sympathize with this sentiment.” Short Pastorates. —The instability of the pastoral relation is :i crying evil of the times. The Michigan Christian Herald says: “ With in the year 1866 a large majority of the prin cipal Baptist churches in this State changed their pastors. Indeed, whoever will take the pains to ascertain accurately, will find that not fir from one half of all the Baptist churches in Michigan, both small and large, which had pastors at the beginning of the year 1866, closed the year with different ones, or in many cases with none; and more than this, we sup pose that the length of time for which minis ters, called pastors, remain on an average, with their churches in this State, (the Baptist churches we mean,) will not be found to be over about one year and six months.” This looks very much like the abolition of the pas toral office. Is there no remedy ?—Better than such a state of things would be action on the part of all our churches, like that of the church and congregation of Rev. E. A. Wy man, Essex, N. Y., who, “ Jadies and all voting, old and young, recently passed a unanimous resolution requesting that his pastorate be for life.”—Perhaps some may excuse these fre quent changes, in many instances, on the ground taken by a Writer in the Evangelical Lutheran; “ that where a minister has to serve four or more churches, he ceases to be pastor, and is nothing more than an evange list, itinerating among the several churches under his care.” Divorce.— -The Congregational church at Winsted, excluded a woman for getting a divorce fstun her Bible cause.” * "*> ’ Apathetic Worship. —The Episcopalian, jin allusion to the coldness and apathy of wor shipping assemblies in its denomination,says: “We have been present in churches of every kind We have officiated and preached in nearly every church in Philadel phia, and have found the same practices in them all. With the exception of a few signs known only to the initiated, it could not be known that the church was Evangelical or Sacramentarian. But this was evident in all, that the people did not engage heartily in the worship, the responses were faint and low. There was the same inattention to the atti tudes in prayer and praise.” Strangers. —All our city churches might well follow the example of the First Congre gational Church, Detroit, which, besides ap pointing a permanent committee on strangers, has placed in all the principal hotels of the city, a notice framed in gilt, telling the name and residence of the pastor and of the deacons of the church ; also, the place and hour of public and social worship, of Sabbath school and Bible class. Evangelists. —The Southern Presbyterian General Assembly enjoined every Presbytery under its jurisdiction, to seek out and set apart a minister to the work of an evangelist with in its bounds, to act as superintendent of its vacant congregations wherever practicable. War. —A writer in the Weekly Record affirms that “ there is a reaction in the South ern mind ” as to the rightfulness of war un der any circumstances : “ Our people gener ally, and our ministers I may say almost uni versally, are anti-war. The scenes of horror through which we have passed have forced the truth upon us with an irresistible logic.” Ritualistic Photography. —To the disgust of Low Churchmeto, the Bishop of Oxford— “ Slippery Sam ” —has had himself photo graphed in the posture of benediction ! A Strange Decision. —One of the French courts has decided that to call a woman a “ female ” is to insult her, and may be pun ished by fine. Union. —The Methodist looks ft -great way ahead, when it says: “As the abolition of slavery has removed tlie greatest obstacle to a future union between Northern and South: ern Methodists, and as the introduction of lay representation will remove the main obstacle to a union between the Episcopal and Nan- Episcopal bodies, a union of all Methodists in the United States may be effected at a time not very remote.” A Colored Ministry.— lt is thought that the recent admission of a colored man to the office of deacon, by Bishop Smith, of Ken tucky, is t the first ordination of one of his race in the Episcopal church within the South ern States. ‘ *t. Romish Audacity. —The has issued an allocution, in which he declares marriage, if not solemnized by a “ Cat hoi it ” priest, to be scarcely disguised adultery. Singular Want of Wisdom. —A corres pondent of the Southern Presbyterian^? g es that “ three-fourths of our houses of Worship’, seem to be constructed on the supposition that “ caloric is a sinful luxury.” He says : “To get stoves, or put up chimneys to the church, is the investment just now urgently needed in many a neighborhood.” Blessing— An Italian writer seems to think that a special fatality attends those whom Pius the Ninth blesses. He says . He blessed Italy in 1848, and Italy was thrashed by Austria. He blessed Ferdinand 11, of Na ples, and all Offs family at Gaeta; the king died in the greatest torments, and his family has lost everything. At Ancona he blessed three merchant ; they went down, or were shipwrecked in their first voyage. He blessed General jLamoricieie, who lost his well-earned re|>uj|tion as a soldier at Castel Fidardo—and 'fcoiyit Pimedam, who was killed there. He blessed the advocau Boggio, who was drowned at Lissa ; not to fliention the Empress of Mexico, and many others. Political Reasoning. —ln allusion to tke tariff the Nation says, of “the sweeping econ omists of the Tribune school,” that 4 their syllogisms are apt to consist of two war whoops and one 4 bad name.’ ” Weekly Communion. —By order of Bishop Whipple, the Lord’s Supper is to be adminis tered every Sabbath in the Episcopal churches of Minnesota. No Messiah. —The Jews propose to estab lish anew Theological Seminary in New York or Philadelphia; and one feature of the scheme is, that no person shall be a member of the Board of the institution “ unless he be a member of a congregation v which has ex punged from its ritual the advent of a per sonal Messiah and the idea of a national resto ration.”—Of this school is the Israelite, Cin cinnati, which says : “ Science is the steady and restless forerunner of the Messiah, to level the path and surmount the inveterate obstacles ; and truth is the Messiah ; the uni versal triumph of truth is the kingdom of God on the earth.” “ The Service of Sacred Song.”—Hagen bach, in a recent discussion of church music, says : “ It is a commonly established princi ple, that the song is to be sung either by the whole congregation, or by the choir, but not by single individuals. Solo parts, performed by single male or female singers, trench unpn the rightful boundaries of religious cultute. They belong to the Sacred Concert, to tke Oratorio, where they certainly can subserve some devotional purpose; yet in these thlp devotional element is but the secondary con) sideration, and the artistic the primary ; in religious worship this is reversed. The fun damental basis of a Protestant Ecclesiastical song is the choral.” Pastoral Support. —Says a writer in the Christian Era: “ The churches con sider that, so far as the mopeJ' thdre are few pastors who wßtlfd be better off out of the ministry than in it. I know one paitor who receives a salary of SSOO only, whp has a standing, offer of $1,200 from a coijimercial house in Bu&ton, with travelling expenses paid, whenever he will give up his pastorate and travel as a by.fagent.”— Th« Zion's Advocate says : “ Several instances havie come within our knowledge, where /4j n _ isters have been offered twice and three timt« the!amount of their salaries to engage in some secular business, which they at once declined, feeling under greater obligation to remain in the ministry.” Skepticism. —The North * African Review, < says : “ The total absence df the skeptical spirit marks the secondary rfiind. For a hun dred and fifty years, no young man of truly eminent intellect has accepted his father’s creeds without having first called them in question; and this must be so in periods of transition.” Novel Preaching Arrangement. —Rev. R. Stevenson, who has been called to the pas torate of the Baptist Church, Vevay, Ind., “ preaches to it a series of sermons once a a month, beginning on Friday and closing on the following Thursday. This is rather a novel arrangement, and we shall be pleased to learn how it works.” Universalism. —The Universalist states that its denomination “ has done more during the year 1866 than in any year—we may per haps say any decade of years before. We have been permitted to see in the advanced sheets of our forthcoming Register, an esti mate of our year’s work, made by one who has special opportunities for information on the subject. For educational institutions, in the form of bequests, he thinks we have raised $30,000, and by subscriptions and donations $272,000; for missionary funds, etc., $33,- 000; far church edifices dedicated during the year, $435,000 ; total, $1,040,000, or, in round numbers, $1,000,000, as the year’s addition to the permanent resources of the denomination. The transient contributions for the year, o> annual expenditures, are estimated as soP >ws : Ministers’ salaries, $287,000 ; p<*iodieals, $90,000; Sunday school and o»- ,er denomi national books, $40,000 ; saJaAes to teachers in our schools and colleges* $53,000; inci dental expenses of the s* r, ie, $15,000; total, $625,000. Added U> the above, this sum makes $1,665,00*“; over one million and a half paid or cowcributed for Universalism dur ing the year just closed.” —We noticed, a week or two sin*e, the special recent growth of Unitarianism. Does this progress of het erodox beliefs indicate p*» mischievous er ror of orthodoxy in itself with polit ical religionism? A writer in ‘he American Christian Review, Cincinnati, Convention of Unitarians held in thu*sfty f not long since, a member rose and said : ‘ The cause is prospering finely in my neighbor hood ; I have quite a respectable church un der my charge. Jt is composed of Unitarians, Universafists, Second-Adventists, Swedenbor gians, Newlights, and |pme who do not be lieve in any thing; but I thank God there is not a single Copperhead in the Church. Some men do not care what a man is religiously , so his politics are all right- A man may be an infidel and yet be by a political Gos pel.” Annual Prorates. —The Michigan Chris tian Herald tlßnks that the common practice of, electing rjjfetcare for a year, is characterized by “.extr®rop7|PQlishness.” It ««yu: “Wo can how a church may inconsiderate ly fell into tM* practice, but that a discerning f man, worthy to be a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Dhrist, and professing to order his times and places of preaching by the direction of Him whom he serves, should corfsft|pt to this custom, and take pastorates on such con ditions as these, is exceedingly grange. It may be that sometimes God approves of pas torates made by thfl year, but we have failed as yet to fiu4 any evidences that he does.” City Evangelization. —“ We maintain,” writes Rev. Dr. Cuyler of Brooklyn, N. Y., to the Boston Recorder, “ two free chapels in connection with the church, in which the Gos pel is preached every Sabbath by two breth ren employed by us; the three edifices afford accommodations for about three thousand hearers. Ought not every prosperous city church to support at least one auxiliary chapel with free seats and a good preacher ? ” Baptism. —When, as recently, four persons believing immersion to be the only baptism, receive the ordinance from Henry Ward Beecher, a Congregationalist, and Rev. Dr. Hague, a Baptist, consents to immerse four persons who propose to connect themselves with a Congregational church, —there are ten persons guilty of irregularity. The Lord’s Supper. —Out of that half of the population of England which adheres to the Established Church, not twenty-five per cent, are communicants. Education of Freedmen. —Congregation- attets organized at Washington, D. C., an institution, to be called “ Howard Univer sity,” with Theological, Medical and Normal departments, to educate colored ministers for the South and the foreign fields, and colored physicians and teachers. —A Northern letter writer from Brownsville, Tenn., says with reference to the education of the freedmen : “ I am much astonished at seeing so little done for them by Christians of the North. If they lived beyond the ocean, I apprehend they would be better attended to. ‘ Distance lends enchantment to the view.’ There is not as much effort made to elevate the colored peo ple as before the war closed.” Lay Representation. — Zion's Herald, the Methodist Episcopal organ, Boston, says: “We have come to the belief that the lay representative movement is of the Lord, and that its adoption by our church is inevitable, and that it will ultimately prevail in all Pro testant churches.” Church Temperance Society. —A corres pondent writes from Erie, Penn., to the Michigan Christian Herald: “The only Tem perance Society here, is one in connection with the Baptist Church, which has several hundred members. The President of the So ciety, was a drunkard 30 years, but was con verted last winter, and thqn he began, as all true converts do, to think of doing something, for those who are out of Christ. And the Uemperance society was formed, and it has \lone great good. It holds meetings every S»turday evening in the Baptist Church.” Spurgeon. —Rev. Dr. Cuyler says : •geqn’s success seems to lie in these three qualities: sound Puritan doctrine, a magnificent voict and rare practical executive capacity. Thesb three qualities have made him, under God, the foremost evangelical minister on the globe.” 1 (|armjjondm4. Reflections in my Study. * Dear Blather Toon :—Neither flv consan guinity, .qor the ties of party or sectarian creed, do I Address you ; but, as members of that brotherhoiod, whose links extending from man to man, up a chain of universal fraternity. Alone/this evening, in m/ cosy retreat from the world, a cheerful fire within, whilst the winds are bleak without, and the night dismal with its pall of leaden clouds, I can but feel thankful for the blessings of an unworthy life in contrast with‘Jje poor wretch with nothing to shield him from the pitiless blast. But, my dear sir, it is not alone th<f wants of the physical man that need provision! in this life. Warm fires, woolen clothes, and comfortable houses may protect us from the i cold, and wholesome food nourish our perish-j ing bodies, but the soul needs other nutriment than these. Whilst the body may dose in fro™ the world, forgetful of the pinching necessitif that others feel, neither seeking light froh abroad nor treasuring knowledge fromnbo*, the spiritual man needs to look forth' through crystal doors, beyond prison walls, upon a universe, whose outlines are as distinct |md clear as its nearest approach. And whilst thankful for the blessings of an humble life, , I am not unmindful of (he obligations I owqi to others more than to myself. / Here lie before me, on my table, books M the choicest Iq ye. Here is the Bible) more wisdom than all other books it/the world. Kere are musty tomes laden with the of centuries. H/re are fountains upon whose liquid waves I/Can glide to the mystic head lands of the ages- Yet we can not, dare not live altogether jrt the past. Life has a real, an earnest, present existence. He who would not bury himself to the world must scan the daily page, as its sybilline leaves unfold before him. Here, also, are faithful mirrors of the busy life to which we daily rise. Here is the morning journal with its record of stirring events, and here likewise the weekly heralds of literary and religious truth. Among the latter, what claim more fitting than that of the Christian Index and South-Western Baptist ? Though not a member of your whith church, I hail yotir paper with that interest ever attaches to the meritorious production. I welcome it, because of its weekly contribu tion to my real wants. I read it, beoause I I rise Ma jtg wiser and j better man, prize it, becausevwmoral and timent supplies a want of my and depraved being. A member of a different church, I have often asked myself “whether your paper 1* read by the professedly intelligent of your own de nomination ?” I know we are in t*e midst of great physical destitution. Poverty lurks around most 0 f our doors, and to« winds of adversity wail above our housetops, whil»% want is visible almost everywhere in the l»»d. But here is a want easily us see how. IRw many in the chunh, how many in no chufch at all, in the eourse of the year expend fortoVuv/vo, for cigs ,s > w his ky, for theatres and miserable shows) enough to pay the jubscription price of everj reli gious »nd literary paper in the land ; their number is legion. Think ofit! b orone ft hole year, 50 numbers in one volume, for the piti ful sum of $5 00. Here is aH amount of reading matter —its moral purity acting as a leaven to the grosser sense, painting as a fin ger post to the way of life, what? —For a tithe of the tobacco smoke we exhalo, the poisonous l/quids we imbibe.* This is a sad commentary upon the truth. It is a stern re buke to ouj want of conformity to the uobler,