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138 gate and gaptist J. J. TOON, - - - * Proprietor. Bev. D. SHAVER, R.D., Editor. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1867. The Ministry of Jesus. The personal ministry of our Lord in the days of his flesh, supplies a theme of unfail ing interest. The loving heart never wearies, as it traces the footsteps of Incarnate Love. Here, preeminently, the study of revelation reveals: on the familiar page new aspects of wonder, of sublimity, of pathos, disclose themselves, and the story can not wax old. We have supposed, therefore, that the pious reader would be pleased to see the light in which a recent American* author presents this ministry —the successive stages into v\hich he divides it, and the peculiarity ascribed by him to each stage. There is food for thought in his view whether it be correct or incorrect — a question, by the way, on which we solicit the judgment of brethren who have weighed the problem and reached a definite solution. The public life of Christ, according to An drews, parts into three divisions. The first, extending from His earliest Passover to thd feast when the impotent man was healed, covered the space of about a year. During this time, His labors were confined mainly to Judea, and “had reference to the people in their corporate capacity, a nation in covcnent with God.” He “ organized no body of dis ciples, and did nothing that indicated a pur pose to gather out a few from the mass of the people; ” but sought acceptance “as the Messiah, through the divinely constituted heads of the nation ’* —through the ecclesiasti cal leaders, “ whom God had appointed to rule, and into whose hands it was given to re ceive or reject Him.” John bore official wit ness to his Messiabship. He himself asserted His Messianic authority openly, as it were in the presence of the rulers, by the purgation of the temple. He demonstrated llis title to it ‘ by words which showed Him to be the Truth of God, and by works which showed Him to be the Power of God.’ Securing no recognition from these “rightful representa tives of the whole people ” —these organs of national action, under the covenant with the fathers —He retired from Jerusalem, and be gan to baptize, through His followers, soine w'here in the province. ‘ Like his fore-runner, He did not seek the people in their cities and villages, but made the people seek Him ; ’ as the design of His baptism was, primarily to attract the attention and gain the concurrence of the ecclesiastical authorities, with a view to “ the regular development of His Mes sianic work,” by using those who sat in Mo ses’ seat for His service. It only inflamed their hostility, however; and He took His departure for a season from Judea. Though thus twice rejected by the heads of the nation* He still bore with them ; for “ the Baptist w as at liberty, and through his witness and labors the rulers might yet be brought to repentance* and the nation be saved.” On the imprison ment of John, He reappeared in Jerusalem, working miracles, if at last, He might win acceptance, in virtue of all that His harbinger and Himself had taught. But they attempted to kill Him; and upon this third rejection by the rulers, He took steps looking to the abo lition of the Mosiac institute, and the estab lishment of a church on anew foundation. This brings us to the second stage of our Lord’s ministry, which occupied a period say of one year and six months, from the Pass over, A.D. 28, to the Feast of Tabernacles, A.D. 29. The theatre of His teaching now was Galilee; for God had “ providentially overruled the political arrangements of the times, that there He could labor without hin drance, since the Tetrarch, Herod Antipas, did not trouble himself concerning any ec clesiastical movements that did not disturb the public peace; and there, too, the people were less under the influence of the hierarchy } and more open to His words.” His primary object was, to gather a body of disciples, ‘ who should bear witness to Him before the nation, and who, if this testimony were unavailing, should serve as the nucleus of the new insti tutions resting upon the New Covenant.’ Hence, he abandoned the model of His fore runner, and sought the people; selected Ca pernaum as the central point of His labors, but made nine successive circuits through the land, “ on a regular concerted plan of periodi cal visitation ; ” preached in synagogues, — the streets, —the fields, —wherever an au dience assembled; abounded in works of wonder and Healing; and “ thus, by degrees, collected around Him the most spiritually minded and receptive of the Galileans, and of the adjacent regions, from whom He chose a smaller band, whom He kept permanently near Himself.” Our Saviour began this stage of His ministry with no open avowal of His claims as Messiah, which were left rather as a matter of inference, by susceptible souls, from His words and works; and there ap pears to have been no general recognition of His divinity among the multitudes attracted by His teachings. On the death of John, therefore, reading in the fate of His fore runners prophecy of His own, He withdrew himself, more and more, from the crowds that followed him, and devoted Himself to the*in struction of His disciples; aiming less to gather new adherents, than to teach those al ready believing on Him the great mysteries of Ilis person and mission. When these instruc tions had prepared them to understand His Divine Sonship, and what should befall Him at Jerusalem, He took his final departure from Galilee. With that departure began the third stage of our Lord’s ministry, closing, after a lapse of some five months, with the Week of Pas sion. His labors in Galilee, like His former labors in Judea, were followed by rejection on the part of men ; for as His teachings grew more distinctive, they proved more repellent to the popular mind, and the great body of the Galileans turned away from Him. “ The machinations of His enemies at Jerusalem, also, were arousing hostility against Him in Galilee, and making the further prosecution of His work there full of difficulty and dan * “ The Life of Our Lord upon the Earth ; considered in its Historical, Chronological and Geographical Rela tions. Samuel J. Andrews.” New York: Charles Scribner & Cos., 1863. Tiff, CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7,1867. . .. —-—" ~ ’ 1 " "* " ger.” It became evident that His death was determined upon; and He must not leave to its perpetrators the plea of ignorance. “Up to this time He had not openly and expressly declared Himself to be the Messiah, either in Judea or Galilee; ” and this declaration con stitutes the distinguishing peculiarity of the third stage of His ministry. His final rejec tion must be the act of the nation, through its ecclesiastical heads; and His decease as the Christ, the Son of David, the King of Israel, must be accomplished at Jerusalem. To pre cede Him on His return to that city, He sent out the Seventy, “ two and two before His face* into every city and place whither He himself would come,” with the announcement, not of the kingdom simply, (as in the begin ning of the other two stages,) .but of the King. His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and Ilis purgation of the temple the second tirne, at tested His high claims. But, alas, for human madness, all foregoing rejections of the Lord of glory culminated now in His ruthless mur der —the last extremity of sin, and yet, thanks to Divine wisdom and mercy, the only hope of sinners ! Private Infant Baptism. The law of the (Dutch) Reformed Church requires, ‘except in case of the sickness'of the parents or child, that infant baptism shall always be administered in the church, or some other place of public worship, at the time of public worship.’ A writer in the Christian Intelligencer, however says : “It is a well known and much lamented fact that in some portions of the church an infant is rarely pre sented for baptism in a place of public wor ship. As might be expected, ‘infant baptism’ and the religious training of the children are sadly neglected in these localities. The young people are not in the church, and the sin lies at the door of the church when its officers so grossly neglect the requirements of our Con stitution.” We meet, every now and then, with repre sentations of the “solemn and touching im pression” attaching to the public baptism of infants, which might well persuade us that it is the very perfection of the “histrionic” Christi anity, so much affected by mediaeval Ritualists born, unhappily for themselves, (not to say, for the Christian world at large,) in these more practical, and yet more spiritual, modern times. If we might credit such representa tions, never w r as there an observance so won drously fitted to attract, to stir, to melt, an assembly of worshippers. How does it hap pen, then, that we meet, quite as frequently, with complaints, from all denominations prac tising infant baptism, of a tendency on its part to shun ‘ places of public worship,’ and to seek a private administration ? Why is it that eclesiastical law opposes itself in vain to this tendency? These representations and complaints directly traverse and contradict each other. The complaints deny what the representations affirm; and since the former convey the testimony of fact and embody the result of experiment, may we not fairly regard them as discrediting the former? If the im pressiveness of infant baptism when publicly administered, were half as great as is often alleged, the current of usage would set spon taneously and overwhelmingly in that direc tion, and nothing short of imperative necessity would suffice to drive the ordinance, in ex ceptional cases, into the seclusion of the fam ily. Is it not meet that infant baptism, by courting that seclusion, should bear witness against itself, as simply a Judaic substitute for the infant circumcision once prevalent there; should testify that the feeling which finds expression in it, is not of the church, or of evangelical Christianity, but of the house hold, and of a legal, ceremonial religionism? Dead or Alive? Two dead bodies have been found Th Cin cinnati. They were identified as belonging to parties held in honor by wide circles of friends. It was clear, too, that they had come to an untimely end. But no inquest sat to ascer tain on whom rests the guilt of their “ taking off.” Even a decent burial tvas denied to the lifeless remains. There the corpses lie to-day, with none to bemoan, avenge, or inter them— strangely disregarded both by public authority and private benevolence—startling witnesses to that “barbarism of civilization” which transcends in ruthlessness all other bar barisms ! Our readers, we are sure, would like to know something of the details which make up the history of these extraordinary cases ; and we will gratify them, so far as the general reticence of the press leaves it in our power — for it is another wonderful feature of this mys tery, that even the most enterprising metro politan Dailies “ are mum, and say not a word ” about it. The first of these corpses was discovered by the Catholic Telegraph , of that city, and is described by it as follows: “ Protestantism, orthodox (if any thing so heterodox can be termed orthodox) Protest antism, is dead, at least in articulo mortis. Protestantism comprised in and recognized by the Evangelicals as Protestantism has very nearly ceased to be a power in the United States; religion is divided only between the unchanging, unchangeable, ever progressing Catholic church and numerous associations which call themselves churches, but which teach non-religion rather than religion in the literal meaning of that term. In three words, they teach either Indifferentism, Rationalism, or Infidelity. But Protestantism as under stood a century ago scarcely exists in the United States.” The Israelite, of that city, discovered the second corpse, and gives this description of it: “Christianity exists no longer de facto; Sundays excepted. From an every day’s re ligion it has been advanced to a Sunday reli gion. The whole blessed week the Christian is no Christian ; Sunday he is, or at least pre tends to be. Christianity in this country dis solved itself in Sectarianism and dogmatism. The polemical points, the points for which the various sects, in contradistinction of each other, contest, are the remains of Christianity, on which the ministers preach on Sunday and write in their organs. Religion itself has no place in the system, and no defender among its advocates.” We make no comments, but simply ask a question. Dear reader, Is Christianity dead with you? Or do you live to God through its inner quickening power ? Can you, on the warrant of your experience , affirm its inde structible vitality, and, by the light of your practice, constrain others to see it ? If not — whatever life there may be in Christianity, there is none in you— you are dead. Alas! the name of dead Christians is legion; for they are many. ‘O my soul, be not thou united unto their assembly !’ Grace. —Wherever there is an mflow of grace, there should be an outflow of gratitude and ser vice. Contentment. —Surely believers should ‘not seek high things for themselves,’ since their great Exemplar, who ' Entered the world, the world to save, Had birth and burial in a cave! Asa mechanic toiled for bread. And when He taught, by gifts was fed, Aud bad not where to lay His head! Child’s Delight. We invite special attention to Brother Boykin’s advertisement of the Child's Delight. There is no mistake about this being an admirable Sunday school paper, and one that Southerners ought by all means to encourage. We think Brother B. adapted to his work, and heartily recommend his paper to our readers. We know that his subscribers will more than get the worth of their money, ten times over. To Correspondents. —We beg the breth ren generally to furnish us w ith news from the churches—ordinations, pastoral changes, re vivals—every thing, in fact which enters in to the current history of the denomination. Such intelligence is always thankfully received and published promptly. A week or two more w ill complete the se ries of articles on “The Early Baptists of Tennessee.” We shall then begin the publi cation of an able and interesting series on “The Kingdom of Christ,” which w r ou!d be itself worth the subscription price of the pa per for the year. We have other communi cations of interest on hand—and many in prospect —to enrich our columns. Bewraying Speech. The Christian Register, Boston, has an article denying that the blood of Christ was the price paid for man, from which we make an extract, aptly illustrating the strange intermixture o's sec tional politics and false doctrine which finds such wide currency in modern New England. “ The blood shed in our battles was not a stipulated price paid for the freedom of the slaves. It was not a price paid for the preservation of the Union. None the less was it the blood of the new covenant of onr nation, shed for many to give them liberty and protection. And it bound thousands of hearts to fidelity to the great objects for which it was shed so freely. We all feel ourselves bound by new obli gations to see that the nation is made worthy of that sacrifice, and that not one jot or title of the cause for which the heroes died, is lost. So did Jesus speak of his blood as the blood of the new T covenant, and thus did it bind his followers to self forgetting faithfulness ; so, that, to-day, its power is strengthened by the blood of thousands who have died, following in his steps; and the new co venant of which lie spoke is now mightier than ever before in the hearts and lives of men.” Our Southern Zion—in Our Exchanges. Georgia. The Noonday Association, at its last session, adopted a report on Sunday schools, giving this advice to the churches: “In country schools let nothing sectarian be taught, except inquiry be made; then give the Scripture.” A correspondent of the Religious Herald takes exception to this advice, justly, we think, as countenancing an im' proper and even sinful suppression of Baptist principles in the religious instruction of the young. The right view was expressed, rather, by the reso lution of the recent Illinois Baptist State Conven tion : “ Resolved , That as Baptists, holding the word of God in its purity and simplicity, we are especially called upon to meet thd great errors re sulting from the perversions of men, in the early religious education of the youthful mind; and that every where in this work we are inexcusable* if for any reason we ignore those distinctive truths which characterize us as a denomination.”—A let ter from Atlanta to the Examiner and Chronicle says: “We have already four Baptist churches in this city ; two for white persons, and two for colored ; and measures are now on foot to build a mission chapel, which we hope may prove the nu cleus for anew church. Some time this year, the First Baptist Church of New York agreed to give SI,OOO towards the building of a chapel for such an interest, provided the Baptists of Atlanta would provide a suitable lot. This they have recently taken measures for doing, and the prospect now is that we shall have a chapel erected at no dis tant day. The enterprise is under the direction of Rev. R. M. Nott, formerly of the Baptist church in Rochester. Yankee as he is, he is one of the best men I know. He removed to this city about eighteen months ago. Immediately, with his lady and his sister, he united with the Second Baptist church. Broken in health (which com pelled the resignation of his charge in New York,) with all the prejudices against him, which I regret to say the people were then, and are too much now, entertaining toward those who come from the North, and engaged, too, in commercial pur suits, Mr. Nott might have excused himself from any active service in the cause of Christ. But he did not. With his amiable lady and devoted sister, he began work in the Sunday school. Teaching in the morning in the school of the church with which he was connected, he went in the afternoon to a destitute part of the city, and collected a hundred poor children whom he has faithfully in structed. During the week he has been regularly holding prayer meetings among the poor in re mote parts of the suburbs. By such an exhibition of the spirit of Jesus, he has effectually conquered all prejudices growing out of political antipathies, and is now received by all Christian people as a brother beloved. Whilst doing all this humble (as we call it) work, his talents and attainments fit him for the very best positions in the gift of the denomination.” Alabama. Rev. S. C. Hearn, of Cusseta, reports to the Baptist, the baptism of 40 persons within a month ; one of them, a gentlemen sixty-five years old.—The Muscle Shoals Association decided that “a majority may exclude, but to receive or re store a member the church should be unanimous.” —Rev. P. T. Henderson, late of New Market, Madison county, has taken charge of a school about eight miles west of Murfreesboro; and his address is, Smyrna, Tenn.—According to the more recent report of the Examiner and Chronicle, it is Rev. David M. Reeves who has beea called to the pastorate at Tarry town, N. Y. He has ac cepted. Kentucky. The Louisville Democrat, in its notice of the Kentucky Baptist Ministers’ Institute, mentions the presence of “a colored brother, Rev. Henry Adams, who for thirty years has been the worthy, zealous and pious pastor of the First African Bap tist church in this city. No man sustains a better reputation or has labored more effectively to ele vate his race. Mr. Adams was invited to take a seat in the Institute,’and was received with great cordiality. Upon invitation he addressed the meeting.”—Buck Creek church, Shelby county, has had 15 additions; Pleasant Ridge, Logan, 4; Three Forks, Hart, 21; Little Union, 12; New Harmony, 6; Bethel, Hebbardsville, 159, (of whom between 30 and 40 are from the Pedobaptists); Bethany, Union, 21 ; Salvisa, Mercer, 29; Boon’s Creek, Fayette, 14; Blue Spring, 14; Wolf’s School House, 15 ; Macedonia, 7; Pleasant Grove, 27; Antioch, 19; Hill Grove, Mead county, 31; New Bethel, Boone, 15; Buffalo Lick, Shelby, 11; Salem, Barren, 25.—Rev. G. C. Lorimer has re signed the pastoral care of Walnut Street church, Louisville, on account of health inadequate to so laborious a charge. Lou ila NA. Rev. D. L. Hicks held recently a nightly meet ing of about a week at Downsville church, Union Parish, which resulted ill an accession of 34, of whom 24 were baptize#—The Red River Assp ciation, with 22 churches, estimates the Sabbath school scholars within its bounds at “ only about 150, and these in three at four churches only.”— The church at Holly Springs has grown, from 15 at the beginning of the year, to 52 ; a result large ly owing to the establit-fithent of a monthly prayer meeting, according to a resolution of the North Louisiana Association. MissjfeippL Eleven persons were baptized recently at a meet ing in the south-western portion of Holmes county, “where at present there is no church or church house.”—The papers state that “Prof. Walter Hillman, a graduate of Brown University and a successful educator, has been elected to the Presi dency of the Baptist College at Clinton, Miss. The property of the College is estimated at $150,- 000.” Missouri. Fourteen have been baptized at Mt. Pleasant church ; 8 at Patchet School House, St. Charles county ; 4 at Salt Creek church; 26 at DeKalb, Buchanan.—lt is said, in a St. Louis letter to the Baptist Journal, that in the Missouri towns, “ the attendance on public worship since the war, averages but a little ovei- one-half the number for merly in regular attendance ; ” and that “ the dis cipline of the churches'has been sadly neglected since the war.”— Reid was ordained, at Dover church, Oct. l&A-Rev. J. B. Carrico re ports to the Journal, JL Utpusni of five yawing men, under remarkable fircumstances. When tie first conversed with the«f“ they all said that they were satisfied there wC no reality in religion.” He proposed to give thop $1.50 per day, on con dition that, for one hopr each day, they would “ take the Bible and to the silent grove by themselves, and read a chapter and kneel down on the ground and ask G« and to pity them, for they were destined to an widlcss hell without the change of heart.” Thdr “ commenced the work in fun ;” but “God cimogcd their sport to soi row, and they all mour®d, wept and prayed, and begged God to have miMcy on them for six hours at one time. The LordYvcard and answered their prayer, and turned the#* mourning to joy; and they all came back sirring, leaping and praising God.” Ten®® see. A recent meeting to the Chapel Hill church, Humphreys coiSJy. . “ Two Campbellites professed religion, des®ethe influence of the members of that sect.”-*Che First Colored Baptist Missionafy {it its August session, reported 35 chißpbes, (an increase of 17,j and the baptism of 2,G®persons during the year. —There have been 6 uKdisms at Barton’s Creek church, Wilson count™ 5 at Rock Valley, and 2 at Carmel. NoKTljjfA ROLINA. Twenty-five were haMiaed in Union church Gas ton county, in a meetinftllowing the session oftiie Catawba Association, Wearly all of whom had been members of the Wthodist and Presbyterian churches.—Rev. W. TArYoung, of Wilmington, has accepted a call to tn| pastoral care of a Baptist church in Pittsburg, lira —rAt the Brown Creek Association Rev. E. Diwtdsaid: “He would live on half rations rather Yi»n live without the Re corder."—The Baptistjfetate Convention, at the request of colored bredKren, appointed a Commit tee to assist them in Ipming a colored Baptist Convention for N. Cillpeventeen persons have been baptized at Mills Aver church; 34 at Peach Tree, Nash Nash.—Our State Missidfc- 24 excellent missionaries under dp^HWfeent. SouthiCarolina. The S. C. Baptist airoounces the death of Rev. Zedekiah Watkins apu Rev. Abner W. Asbill, both of the Edgefield Association, and for many years useful ministers f—There have been 61 re cent additions to Newv Prospect church ; 23 to Philadelphia; 22 at Cedar Springs; 52 at Mt. Zion ; 26 at Manning. T. R. Gaines writes : “ Since the first of September, I have baptized thirty-seven persons, most of whom were Pedo baptists.”—A Baptist minister of this State, who recently visited the North to secure aid toward the erection of a house of worship, writes to the Missouri Baptist Journal: “If I had gotten but the amount that I mysslf have from time to time given to Northern institutions, it would have been sufficient for the purpose of erecting our church edifice, but not a dotiSr did I obtain.”—Fifteen were recently baptized at Cross Roads church, Chesterfield District.»At the Southern Baptist Theological SerflinaryaGreenville, there are now r twenty-four students Jrom nine different States, and others are expeewd.—Our vigorous contem porary, the S. C. Baptist, is kind enough to say of us: “ The Index stands among the first upon our list of exchanges, aft*, it is with pleasure we chronicle the fact th*. it is soon to come to us again in its full prop|/tions. Brother Shaver is one of the best in the South, and the In dex should be in everj Baptist family in the State of Georgia.” i VlfftlNlA. Rev. A. Routh has ,-japtized 13 at Hensonville, some of whom “ hack never witnessed a gospel baptism in their live*T’—A correspondent of the Baptist , mentioning j sermon preached at the Lebanon Association l>v liev. Charles H. Ryland, says : “ His style is pjeasing and persuasive, and he might be deemed one of the ‘sweet singers ’ of our pulpit. A thorough Baptist, a classic scholar, earnest and energetic,s e promises to rank among the first ministers of~the State.”—Rev. G. W. Stock well, in a letter7to the American Baptist says, of Abingdon: “jHere I found a small church of colored brethren, wo have a good house of worship built for church, but, as they have nearly run out, the colored people take it.” —Rev. J. L. M. Curry, LL.D., was announced in the Richmond papers, to preach at the Second Bap tist church of that city, on Friday night of last week. He has been elected to the Chair of His tory and English Literature in Richmond College; an appointment which, in the name of the Baptists of Alabama, we hope he will not accept —The Religious Herlld announces the death of the wife of Rev. T. GK Jones, D.D., President of Richmond College. Sh* was a lady as remarkable for force of intellect ast/or Christian piety and for patience through yea»£ of ill health. —Some 30 have been baptized at New Prospect, Amherst; 53 colored persons at Jonesboro, and 40 at Mt. Moriah; at which a colored minister was ordained by a white presbytery recently.—The number of beneficiary students for the ministry at Richmond College is 25. —Rev. J. E. Massey has resigned the pastoral c**e of Mountain Plain and Free Union churches, Albermarle county. . West Virginia. A Baptist church htt* been organized at Clifton, Rev. J. D. Leonard, pastor. —Nineteen persons have been baptized at Petona -church, Boone county ; “ one a girl of only ten years, which is a remarkable case in thai section,” but, full surely, ought not to he. On Both Sides o t the Ocean. — Not long since, when Dr. Chapi*, Universalist, preached in Charleston, Mass., Rev. Mr. Twombly, Methodist, conducted a portion of the service; and the Wes leyan pulpit at Barnard Castle Moor, England, was occupied, recently, by Rev. James Knapton, Unitarian. Does this illustrate the inherent ten dency of Arminianism toward unevangelical Christianity? (if, indeed, anything deserves the name of Christianity which is unevangelical.) (Bfimpaes of the Himes. BAPTIST. Shameful Inconsistency. —An English correspondent of the Christian Era complains, that so many American Baptist ministers w hen they visit England “ throw the whofh weight of their influence into the open communion scale.” He says: “American brethren, w ho, in their own country are loud in their advo cacy of ‘ close communion,’ and who would ‘discipline’ one of their own people at home for sitting down to the Lord’s Table with the unbaptized, come here*and do that very thing.” Ho ‘shows them a more excellent way: “ Mr. Oneken, of Hamburg, acts on a different principle. He often visits this country to collect for his Seamen’s Mission. He preached last year in Plymouth to an open communion church. They gave him a collection for his new chapel in the morning, which amounted to forty pounds sterling; hut he declined to commune with them in the breaking of bread, because of their open communion. That was fidelity to principle.” Anti-Missionism. —The statistics of the Kehukee Association, N. C., for the present year, show a membership of 714 members — a decrease of 27. Unsanctified Sorrow. The Religious Herald mentions a minister who recently re marked : “ I have a deacon who was a devo ted, active. Christian until the loss of a good Portion of hjte property. He hft9 been ao manner of amount since.” Money. —Rev. E. Dodson, giving, in the Biblical Recorder, an account of the Yadkin Association, says: “On my way to this meet ing, iny buggy broke down, and I asked for a saddle. The man said I could get none in the village, as all the people had gone to a circus. 1 asked a very intelligent man, a few days afterwards, how many people were at the cir cus. He said he supposed 700, or at least 600. Think of this; they were to pay 75 cents each. How easy for the devil to raise money, but how little is raised for Christ.” Strong Drink. — A writer in the Watch man and Reflector says: “I know a whole family of beautiful grown-up daughters, not one of whom by any chance ever refuses, at home, or at a party, or on a picnic, to take a glass of brandy, toddy, or any of its likes. The habit was formed by the mother making brandy the panacea for every stomach-ache, for nausea, tor faintness, for bodily derange ment, for a chill, for an overwork or an over meal.” Alas, for this home-manufacture of drunkards, in the name of health ! LUTHERAN. * Work. —When Dr. Hurst, '*on the recent visit to the University of Halle, asked Pro fessor Tholuck “ what message he desired to Le conveyed to his many friends, readers, and co-workers in the Master’s vineyard beyond the sea, he looked towards the sky, and a smile playing on his face, he replied in a voice full of pathos : ‘ Tell them lam still working hard here for the higher work of Heaven .” Unconverted Membership.- —A writer in the Christian Times and Witness gives this reason for the spread of Rationalism in the different branches of the European Lutheran church: “ Because all bounds between the church and the world had been removed. Be cause men came into the church by natural, instead of spiritual birth. Because the church included everybody.” He mentions in this connection a fact: “ Brother Wiberg, of Swe den, for years a Lutheran minister, once told the writer that he was first led to refrain from discharging his official duties by his conscien tious inability, after examining the Bible upon the subject, to receive to. the communion aud into full church fellowship, at the regular sea son of the year, the usual class of boys and girls who had reached the required age, but whose only other qualification was a knowl edge of the catechism. By the usages of the church the evidence of any spiritual change w’as not required. Brother Wilberg found that the New Testament did require such evi dence, and still further study as to distinctive doctrines made him a Baptist.” He asks: “ Is not the dead formalism of so many of the state churches of Europe the legitimate con scvuence of neglecting to recognize and main tain the principle which distinguishes us a de nomination : ‘ Baptism and church member ship only on profession of personal faith in Christ.” PRESBYTERIAN. Life Insurance.— The Presbyterian church at Riverdale, N. Y , in settling its new pastor, Rev. H. H. Stebbins, pledged itself to pay the annual premium on his life insurance pol icy for SIO,OOO w hile he remains with it. The N. Y. Observer thinks that churches generally might well do likewise. So do we. Earthly Trouble. —According to the N. Y. Observer: “It is said that the financial crash of 1857 killed thirteen bank presidents in the city of New York.” To make a false god of gold, and then to be shorn of it—to meet loss and sorrow without the true God for a helper—oh, last extreme of wretched ness ! Giving. —Among Old School Presbyterians, the past year, 24 churches, with 9,000 com municants, contributed to the various causes of benevolence outside of their own bounds, $462,000 —an average for each church of $19,250, and for each communicant of ssl, (or less than $1 a week.) The remaining 2,598 churches, with 237,000 communicants, contributed $583,000 —an average for each church of $225, and for each communicant of $2.46 cents, (or less than 5 cents a week.) The Christian Press. —The Presbytery of Red River has a just appreciation of the agen cies which conduce to the intelligence, zeal and usefulness of a denomination —as appears from the resolution, adopted at its recent ses sion, “That each minister and elder be en joined to use all diligence to induce not only the members of our communion, but other per sons also, to take at least one of our religious newspapers, and to report their success at the next meeting.” Communion. —An applicant for ordination to the Northern Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church was rejected, among other reasons, because “ he believed in occa sional, though not in open, cominunmn, and thought that an application for admission to the Lord’s table should be made to the ses sions of the congregations, who might admit those whom they consider as true Christians.” The Presbytery was not willing to split a hair after this fashion, or to allow open communion under any guise. Here then are, in one de nomination, 160 Presbyterian ministers who hold, teach or practice close communion ; as there are also 543 in another (the United) — in the two some seven hundred I To these must be*added the*ministers of the Associate Reformed Church of the South, (and perhaps others who do not occur to us just now.) Ministerial Education. —With 617 va cant congregations, representing 200,000 souls without a shepherd, the Old School Presby terian church had last year but 261 candi dates for the ministry—a proportion not so great as it was a generation ago. Its Board of Education states that nearly one-half of the present ministers of the church have been its beneficiaries. Old School Presbyterianism. —The Ger man Reformed Messenger says of the Old School Presbyterian Church: “She has plunged into new measureism, a thing not to be whispered among them twenty years ago; she has pronounced Roman Cat ho lib baptism invalid, a thing which Calvin and Knox would have spit upon ; she makes the sacraments mere signs or badges, contrary to her own doctrinal symbols, and then cries out ‘heresy’ against all who adhere to the old doctrine; she talks about conversion, regeneration, &c , in the very dialect and phraseology of the modern sects, which she could not even have pronounced with her Scotch brogue twenty years ago; she has divided herselt by starting up and fighting a political issue, and has made certain political questions a test of commun ion, the result of which is division and aliena tion not to be healed in the present generation; and, among still other faults, she assumes the leadership of American Protestantism!” Profanity. —A to the North-western Presbyterian states that, during his connection with the church for fifty years, he has heard not a single sermon on the sin of profane swearing. Is this silence of the pulpit, one reason why profanity has grown to be a characteristic sin of the nation ? Political Religionism.— The Southern Pres byterian thinks there has been an “ unprecedent edly rapid growtli of Romanism in the North du ring these late years,” and that it is “ unquestion ably due to the fact that the pulpits of that section have become corrupted by the intrusion of a radi calism from which the Catholic altars have been comparatively free. Men have been driven to worship at these altars where they were at least exempt from that incessant berating on the score of negrophilism, which lias so sadly characterized the sermons and prayers of pulpits once the purest on earth.” CONGREGATION ALI3T. The Pastoral Office. —lt is a fact not without significance, that, among the Congre gational ists of Massachusetts, there has been a steady decrease in the number of settled pastors, for twenty years. Christian Stinginess. —A speaker at the Buffalo minting of the American Board of Commissioners for foreign Missions, said : “ We have some church members whose reli gion can not endure the mention of the word dollar. Their heart shrivels at the sound of it, as the flower shrivels before the bite of the frost. They are good at singing, good at feel ing well, and good at getting happy, but good for nothing in helping God.” Independency in Scotland. The sub scriptions to the fund of the Scottish Congre gational Union last year, were only $5 70 more than they were thirty years ago. * EPISCOPAL. Confirmation. —The following from the Gospel Messenger illustrates the style in which Hig-churchism treats the laying on of conse crated hands : “ If there is a Covenant for the remission of sins, there is also a Covenant for the renewing and sanctifying influences of the Fsbly Ghost, without (vhose aid no, Christian can gain strength to h#ve victory and triumph against the flesh and the devil. There have been, and are in many minds, grave doubts upon that subject of lay baptism : but w’e suppose that, however the exact truth may be as to that matter, there is pretty general agree ment that the laying on of hands supplements the effect of baptism, and brings all into full communion and fellowship, not with a partic ular society or congregation, but with the Catholic Church, the whole Household of the Faith, under the Bishop as one of the Chief . Pastors and successors of the Apostles there of. So are we built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone. So are we made a Temple of the Holy Ghost, a habitation of God by the Spirit, and are commanded not to grieve that Holy Spirit of God whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Marriage. —lt is stated that the marriage ceremony of the Ritualists “ drags its slow length” through three hours. If this be true, is it not a valid inference, that Ritualism, should nothing else kill it, is destined to die for lack of common sense ? “Evangelical” Episcopacy. —The Protes tant Churchman alleges that the “evangelical” party in the Episcopal church ‘ forms a large .minority all over the land, many of them amongst the most distinguished of the clergy, with more than two-thirds of the active be nevolence of the church under their influence and direction.’ It says that they are likely to assert their liberty on three points : “1, The right of preaching wherever there are souls willing to hear the message of the gospel. 2, The right of recognizing the ministerial character of those who exercise the office of the Evangelical ministry outside of the Epis copal church, and to do it in the usual forms of such recognition, unrestrained by canonical restrictions. 3, The right of using some ex pressions alternative of ‘regeneration’ in the Baptismal Office, which will not be misunder stood, and which will express what was meant by the word ‘regeneration’ when the Prayer Book was compiled.” METHODIST. “The Children of the Church.” —Bishop Andrew enquires of the Nashville Christian Advocate: “Can you tell me what is the se cret defect in the training of our children, which makes them so ready to desert the col ors of Methodism and range themselves un der other standards? How often is this done!” Human Authority. —The Baltimore Epis copal Methodist frankly says: “We declare that in all our knowledge of Methodism, we have no recollection of ever having heard or read of an error attributed to Mr. Wesley, or that any of his religious opinions might be wrong.” Methodist Statistics. —ln a recent letter to the Wesleyan Times, Rev. Luke Wiseman estimates “ the several branches of the Meth odist communion at between eleven and twelve millions in those countries where the English language is spoken. .The adherents to the Anglican communion within the same space, he puts down at ten millions and a half.” Infant Baptism. —A correspondent of the Western Recorder' states that “ one of the ablest and most popular ministers of the Louisville Methodist Conference,” finds a Scriptural argument for infant baptism, in Matt. vi. 10, “Thy kingdom corue, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” He rea sons : It is the will of God that infants shall be received into heaven ; and therefore they should be received into the church l This looks dreadfully like infant logic—if it l )e logic«at all. The correspondent well replies that infants are received into heaven without baptism, and “to full fellowship”— two things which Methodist churches will not do: and indeed, the one would bring infant commun ion in, and the other would cast infant bap tism out! Christian Perfection. — The Baltimore Episcopal Methodist says: “Mr. Wesley preached two doctrines on this subject which he could not harmonize. When he spoke from his own knowledge and experience, his views of Christian perfection were clear enough and in harmony with the Scriptures; but when compelled to defend the experience' of others, his h gic was not always sound, and his application of Scripture was often unwar rantable.” This erroneous doctrine, with added errors, is now zealously propagated in the Northern Methodist church, by a host of adherents “numerous enough, and with influ ential names enough, to aim at the subjuga tion of the church;” and our Baltimore con temporary think that “ if it shall succeed, the whole body will become a chaos of fanaticism | and be destroyed by the development of its j own errors.” He alleges that this doctrine I “is a spurious and dangerous out-growth of [ ignorance and self-complacency;” that it “cannot be harmonized with the religion here tofore known as Evangelical Christianity;” and that there is “ absolute infidelity in much of ‘the experience’ with which jti# usual to bolster it up.” The Moustache. —A writer in. the Wesleyan Times, England, says: “As an old Methodist, I have been grieved to see the growing conformity of a number of Wesleyan ministers to what I be lieve most of our people view with deep disgust— namely, allowing the hair to grow on the upper lip. 1 know not how far presidential authority cun reach those already ordained; hut 1 do think, if any young men present themselves for ordina tion with the hairy appendages in question, the President would do well to follow' the example of his Grace, the Archbishop of York, who, when a number of young men presented themselves at the palace, refused the rite of ordination until they di vested themselves' of their hirsute honors. On again presenting themselves with clean upper lips, lus Grace proceeded with the ceremony. I trust that those of our ministers who have adopted this unseemly adornment will display their return to good sense by speedily divesting themselves of it, and that the President will put his veto upon it on all who are yet under his authority.” Success. —According to the New York Observer, a Western Methodist paper speaks of a camp meet ing, as “ a most glorious success,” and mentions the fact that a railroad company sold 4,500 tickets to it on Sabbath —wiiich seems to us an indication, of most miserable failure. HEFOHMED. A Midulb Wav. —A correspondent of tho' Christian Intelligencer says: “The sentiments of the writer of this article relating to unful filled prophecy do not lead him to take sides with either party engaged in the millennial controversy. He believes that under the government of her King the church has a groat and glorious future; and the use of pro phecy is to confirm us in the truth that “ he knows the end from the beginning,” and has purposed and foreseen all lhe events which, in order and in time, her history shall develop. That for us now to interpret the language of prophecy, and say that such and such events shall be their fulfilment, is prevented by the symbolical and hieroglyphical language em ployed ; the diversity in the explanations of which has produced in us the conviction, that like the predictions relating to the coming of Christ to assume our humanity, they can onty be explained by their fulfilment?” There is an element of truth in this view; hut we sub mit whether “ the symbolical and hieroglyphi cal language” of prophecy, which so framed as not to allow us to say what events shall enter into its fulfilment, may not be so framed as to enable us to say that certain events shall not enter into it—as, for example, a personal reign of Christ at Jerusalem ? BOMANIST. Romish Neglect of the Poor. —The New York correspondent of the Richmond Chris tian Advocate says: “The Roman Catholic church in this city does not properly care for its poor. There is a great show of asylums and retreats of various kinds, which are pow erful assistants to the work of increasing tho number of Roman Catholics, but when these are fully made, and there seems to be no danger of losing them, or when they are horn Catholic, ‘dyed in the wool,’ they are left to. shift for themselves. Poor old Irish women are often dependent upon Protestant charity for a mere subsistence. Ido not find that the priests pay pastoral visits among the poor, although really in that matter the Protestant clergy are not specially zealous. Sometimes when Protestant ladies have offered to send or go for a priest or a sister of charity, the poor sufferer has said, ‘lt is not the likes of me, ma’am, that they will come to see.’” UNITARIAN. Long Prayers. —A correspondent of the Christian Register says: “ Long prayers stand more in the way of true worship than long sermons. Indeed, the way in which some ministers speak of the ‘long prayer,’ as though the length of it was no less essential than the devotion, is enough to chill whatever devout feeling a man brings with him into the house of worship. If any one would take the trouble to go through the congregation with which he is connected and ask how many really follow the minister in his supplication from beginning to end, he would be surprised at the very small number who do this.” Tiie Atonement.—A writer in the Chris tian Register says: “ The atonement is the great point of difference between Liberal and Evangelical Christians. The latter, whatever modification their views may have undergone in a few minor points, cling with persistency to the doctrine that Christ is an Almighty Saviour without whose sacrifice we perish. If every other ground of difference were giv en up, this alone would leave an impassable gulf between the two denominations.” Unitarian Infidelity. —Rev. E. H. Sears, editor of the Monthly Religious Magazine, (Unitarian) takes the ground that “ the Amer ican Unitarian Association have forfeited all claims to the support of any who profess to be Christians, inasmuch as they have given their funds to the dissemination of the most infidel sentiments, thus rendering true the very worst that has been charged by the or thodox, as to the denomination.” In support of this charge he ‘quotes from publications authorized by the Executive Committee of the Association—one in w hich it is stated that ‘no one of the Gospels is authentic,’ and that of ‘John is an entire fabrication,’ others where Christ is spoken of as ‘a young man not only deceived himself, but deceiving others.’” Prayer and Liberality. —There is much truth in the remarks made by Rev. Dr. Col lier, of Chicago, in a meeting of his Unitarian brethren: “A people that has not faith in its own belief, a people that has not an enthusi astic holdy>f itsowm convictions, a people who never takes that faith and those convictions to the throne of God in prayer, is not a people to pay their money for the spread of that faith and the propagation of those convictions. I believe prayer moves God; that it takes hold of the arm of the Almighty ; that it in terests the heart of the Deity in the work for which we are pleading. I want to see Unita rians on their knees pleading for the salvation