Newspaper Page Text
The Christian Index"
VOl. 55—NO. 36.
Table of Contents.
First Page.-- Alabama Department: Woman
not Wanted as an Evangelist in the Churches
—No. IV— Prof. Salma. Spirit of the Religious
Press : Baptist News and Notes ; Nothing bnt
Leaves Poetry: General Denominational
News : eto. ; etc.
Becokd Page.—Onr Correspondents : Bethesda—
John L- Lloyd: The Central Association—S.
Bovkin ; Indian Brevities—H. F. Bnctnor: In
the Field—W. D. A.; LeHe From Columbus,
Ga.—W. Lively; Letter From Florida—G. W.
Hall: Ordination—w. J. Wooten: Teni ossee
Notes—W. N. Chaudoin: A Query-Deacon ;
Wayside Dottings—Mrs. F. M. Haygood ; etc.
Tbibii Page. —Episcopacy Tested—Searching the
Scriptures to find the Truth —An Essay on
Apostolic Succession—The Baptist Churches
of the Present Day—Pedobaptism Considered.
Fourth Page.— The Catholic Problem—Rev. 8.
G. Hillycr. P.D.; Missions: Savannah : Geor
gia Brpii t News—Rev. D. F.. Butler- First
Baptist Ohltrch At'anta—Dr. J. S. Lawton: etc.
Fifth Pagf.— Stone Mountain Association—Rev.
J. S. Lawton; Paying the Pastors Salary; Hap
piness ;Per onal; Secnb'rEdit- 1 ' v’ HiaßoGSv
of Humhle L’fe ■ 'Hie Necessities of Savannah:
Bools Notiees : Georgia Nows; News of the
Week; Literary Gossipetc.
Sixth Page -Children’s Corner: A Short Ser
mon— Poc'rv : A Father's Lesson : The Povs in
Bod : Eddie’s First Walk with au Umbrella; eto.
Seventh Page.— Agricultural Notes : The Hog
and Chicken Cholere—Ma'.eomh Johnston; The
Cholera Question—Remedies tor that Dread
Scourge in Hogs and Poultry--“ Georgia
Grange:” etc.; etc.
Eioht Page.—Our Correspondents : Rev. R. D.
Mallaiy, in Rome —E. W. W.: Letter from
Cntlibert— I Thomas Muse : Mercer University:
In Memoriam, Obituaries : Advertisements :
Day W. Dnggau ; etc.
INDEX AND BAPTIST.
ALA F AIWA DEPARTMENT.
Mobile is free of yellow fever.
The corn crop in South Alabama is splendid.
The worms damaged cotlon in Conecuh
badly.
Rev. Mr. Baber has been quite sick- in
Hayne.ville.
The fall term of (he Conecuh circuit court
begins October 2d.
The worms ate up about one-third of the
cotton in Autauga.
Extremelv hot weather has prevailed in
Selma this nionth.
Thirteen have recently joined the Baptist
church at Georgians.
Col. Jno. T Milner is writing a book on
the resources of Alabama.
At Fairview ten converts were recently bap
tized by Rev. J. M. Thomas.
Eighteen additions have been made to the
Evergreen Baptist church.
The people of DeKalb have selected Fort
Payne as the county seat.
—♦ —m
There were one hundred and eleven deaths
in Mobile in August.
The real property of Lowndes county is as
sessed for taxation at $1 987,900.
Howard College will have a fine attendance
of students this coming season.
Rev. J. B. Hawthorne preached, recently, at
the First Baptist church in Mon'gomery.
A large number of colored people were re
cently baptized in Siearnatchie, at Livingston.
L. W. Frazer, county superintendent of edu
cation in Chilton county, ban been robbed of
$1,400. _
The Centenary Male Institute, at Summer
field, is now under the charge ot Rev. R. S
Holcombe.
Rev. Huger Adams, of Wilcox countv, is
called to the pastorate of the Grove Hill Bap
tist church.
►
Jack McAlpine (negro), aged one hundred
and twenty five years, died in Greene county
the other day.
The officers and members of the First Ala
bama Volunteers, of Mobile, have presented a
gold medal to Capt. McKeever, of the Second
U. S. Infantry, who has been on duty in that
city. _
Brother John N. Piestridge was ordained
to the ministry at Harpersville, Shelby coun
ty, on the 4 h inst. Avery fruitful revival
meeting is in progress at Harpersville, and a
number have been baptized.
Rev. li. A. J. Cumbie, so long the efficient
pastor of the Baptist church in Frednnia, has
sold his property, and will remove to the vi
cinity of Dadeville, Ala., his brother, Rev.
John Cumbie, succeed : ng him.
There has been quite an interesting revival
at Evergreen. Rev. J. E. Bell, pastor of the
Baptist Church, has been assisted by Rev. B.
H. Crumpton. About eighteen accessions to
the church, and almost universal interest
awakened
The Gadsden limes says : Gen. Ira R. Fos
ter furnishes us with the following facts: Oo
the General’s farm adjoining town, which a year
or two since was regarded as too poor to sprout
peas, he sowed wheat at the rate of one and a
half bushels per acre broadcast, and then
broadcast forty bushels cotton seed per acre,
harrowing in with the wheat. From the land
accurately measured he gathered a little over
thirty-five bushels ol good wheat per acre.
THE SOUTH-WESTEBN BAPTIST,
of Alabama.
Pontributions
Woman nut Wanted as an Evangelist in the
Chnrehes.
NO IV.
Perhaps it was incumbent upon us to explain
somewhat, in the first of these articles, certain
terms and phrases that we would be compelled
to use. And we would have met that obliga
tion, and wnrb' ’ ve made all our words,
meanings and allusions s i plain that, although
it would not have been necessary for “r.in; who
lead them to have run,” yet be who ran
might have read and understand them. But,
when we sat down to give our views upon a
subject which, a few years ago, was deemed
worthy of special notice and interest by
Quakers atone, but which, in this day of intel
lectual restlessness and spiritual restiveness,
when so many impelled by some mysterious
centrifugal power, are flying in indecent baste
from their proper centers, has most strangely
and suddenly transferred itself into other and
larger dimensions, and therefore, into wider
and more conspicuous spheres, we thought
that a single column would contain all that we
had to write about it. In this we were mis
taken, and now find ourself dealing out (we
trust, for the benefit of the thousands of readers
of The Inhex) a series of articles upon what
we regard as emphatically one of the themes
of the day. We thus ‘‘left undone the very
thing that we ought to have done." Although
to-day thia subject receives not one tithe of the
consideration its impottance emands, yet he
who lives to see to morrow, will see it creating
“no mall stir" among the religious societies
and the moral associations of the world. Nay,
more, it cannot fail to prove a disturbing ele
ment in the social and political combinations
of tbe age. What seer, with Heaven anoint
ed eyes, will rise up and reveal to our curious
minds the grand results that will be eflected
either in the near or the distant future, by the
introduction of woman as anew, potent, and,
so called, indispensable factor intoall the most
vital problems of life? Who will venture to
predict what v ise, glorious and beneficient plan
will be conceived, carried out and perfected for
our expectant race, when that power, behind
the throne, “down to this hour, urged on by an
uuieminine ambition, no longer satisfied with
being felt, but anxious to be seen, and impa
tient lo be beard, comeato tbe front of that
throne, boldly mounts’it, and, snatching the
scepter from the hand and the crown from the
brow of him who was her divinely appointed
lord, converts him into her peer or her slave?
Who knows but what, like Esther, siie has
come to work out a great deliverance for her
race, so that we can say to her as she si's, a
queen, self-enthroned and self crowned—in the
very words of Mordecai to his royai neice,
“Who knowelli whether thou arl come lo the
kingdom for such a time as this?” As the
whole Jewish people in the hundred and Rev
enty-seven provinces of Ahasuerus bad great
reason to rejoice that Esther had rome to the
kingdom to work out a glorious deliverance for
them, so may the people of the world’s thous
and provinces have even greater reason to re
joice that woman has been exalted to Ihe high
er planes ot influence and power that she
might do what man—at least her equal—has
utterly failed to do—deliver the children of
men from the presence of ills, long-standing,
grievous and oppressive. Then, will the
countless curses that have been showered un
ceasingly upon the memory of Eve, the grati
fication of whose curiosity “brought death unto
the world, and all our woes” be converted into
blessings upon the beads of her highly gifted
daughters, who claim that it is their special
mission, either to lessen those woes, or to re
move them altogether. With this salutation to
that power which is being more generally and
more sensibly lelt every day, in church, State
and society, at the corners of the streets, within
the long, exclusive precincts of the bar, on the
open rostrum, and in the sacred pulpit, we pass
on to the consideration of woman’s connection
with her directly personal agency in the world’s
evangelization.
Many, out of mere complaisance, from too
nice a regard for the feelings and preferences,
we had most Baid weaknesses ol tbe once weaker
sex, have called for the co-operation of that
agency as if its open recognition and its pub
lic use were absolutely indispensable l > human
progres-. Martha, knowing that Jesus had
power to “heal ail manner of sickness,” and
feeling most keenly ihe an; uish ol mat he
reavement which His earlier present e might
have prevent d,addressed to Him those wortis
so lull of confidence and regret : "Lord, it thou
hadst been here, my brother had not died." So
these dissatisfied dreamers, surveying the
wrecks of many a wisely conceived plan and
enterpi ise, projected and prosecuted by man
alone, confidently ascribing the mighty turn to
the ignoring of the c -operation of woman,
address her in these words of consummate
flattery: “If ihou hadst been there, these
thingß bad never been.” Pietending to believe
that the failures of the past were occasioned,
for the most part by the absence of woman
irorn the cabinet and the field, they have de
termined to atone for that neglect which shed
so much disaster upon human enterprise by
demanding her presence in the conception,
concoction and carrying out o' every scheme.
They thus feel assured that wiiat ihe unaided
wisdom of the one did not or could not effect,
wiil now most certainly be eflected by the
FRANKLIN PRINTING ROUSE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, SEPTEMBER 21, 1876.
combined wisdom of the two. But these forget
that liability to err and to fail is inseparable
from man as a falien, imperfect bei g. No
combination, no association of all the wisest
and best of both sexes and of every age, could
insure constant and unvarying success to the
most carefully considered and most cherished
plans. The weakness, the short-sightedness of
its authors is necessai ily stamped upon it from
first to last.
On the contrary, the church is a divine in
stitution. and it lias a divine mission to ac
complish. In all her glorious proportions
there is no trace of imperfection ; there is noth-:
ing of the human ; all is unmistakably divine.
Who, then, will suspect or dare to calculate
upon failure in any, even the least of these
designs that pertain to her? That mission
winch has been assigned to her, Bhe will un
doubtedly accomplish, but she will do it, not
in the year that human zeal or impatience may
determine, but in the fullness of time,” in the
day and the hour decreed by the Father him
self. Nothing that may happen to that
church, in the future, however disastrous it
may seem, can prevent, or even postpone that
accomplishment. If every agent now employ
ed in her behalf were immediately paralyzed,
and if every instrumentality, now in use, were
immediately ignored, when the clock of time
sliall strike the divinely appointed hour, Zion
will realize in all their fullness "the glorious
things that have been spoken of her” by the
voice of prophecy.
But, what is the church ? Some, who are not
very careful and discriminating in the use of
words, may conclude llmt we embrace in this
terra every moral society or religious organiza
tion, whatever its age, creed or origin, which
has assumed this name. All who thus con
clude, greatly mistake us. It “is a remarkable
and mortifying fact that scarceh one person in
ten knows what the church is. The world, at
large know not and care not what it is.
Blind to their inconsistency, they call that a
church that openly denies, and that too, which
boldly confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,
that He is Immanuel-God with us." Now,
these two tilings, the denial and the confession,
are diametrically and irreconcilably opposed
to each other. How is it possible then, for the
advocates of two sentiments so dashingly hos
tile, to sustain the same relation to Christ,
“the Head over all things to the church?” If
| that which confesses Him is the church, then,
that which cienies Hint, is not ihe church.
This is self-evident. The way-faring man,
though a fool, one would think, cannot fail to
see it. And yet, it seems impossible to make
men acknowledge their inconsistencies and
correct Iheir mistakes. They feel satisfied
that there must be a dumb, if there is only a
meeting house where some congregation meets
regularly and some oneaddresses it upon mor
al subjects, and talks somewhat of God, Jesus
and of Christianity. This is the notion of a
church that is too generally entertained. The
term diurcli, as we use it, has no reference to
anything of this kind ; nor has it reference to
any of those moral assucialions ami those re
ligious communions, which, in spite of their
morality, their zeal and their piety, have very
widely ‘ erred from the faith ouce delivered to
the saints” in their doctrines, their offices and
their ordinances, Any society timl is un
apostolic or anti-apostolic, as lo any one of
these, is guilty of a presumptuous sin in assum
ing to itself that sacred title, that rightly
and solely belongs to the chosen, blood
bought bride of Christ. Too long have
men (rifled with, misunderstood and mis
applied that title. We, by no means, in
tend to follow “Ihe multitude to do evil” in
this respect; nor do we intend to enter upon
anything like a full discussion of the question:
What is a church? We shall leave that for
some abler pen lo do. In concluding this
article, we candidly state that we cannoi
recognize as a churcu of Christ any religious
or moral association, however respectable it
may be on account of its wealth, its numbers,
i or its influence, that rejects any of the funda
mental docilrnes of the Bible, and lives in
j constant and wilful Turn-observance of the or
-1 dinances of the Gospel- By the term churches
we mean those bodies of baptized (immersed)
oelievers in Jesus, who are “keeping the
ordinances as they were delivered to the earliest
Christian by no less peisons than the inspired
• postles. Who are these? We answer, the
Baptist churches.
—A large and very important work
on “The History of the Christian
Creeds,” is in preparation by Dr.
Schaff. It will appear in three vol
umes, two of which are now completed
and the third is rapidly finishing The
work will present in full all the principal
creeds of the various denominations of
the Christian church, together with an
historical account of their origin. The
intrinsic interest of the subject, togeth
er with Dr. Schaff’s universally recog
nized ability in the treatment of such
themes, will make it a work which
ought to be in the possession of all
who can obtain it.
—A motto on the walls of the Del
pbian ‘iemple, ascribed to Periander,
one of tbe seven wise men of Greece,
was, ‘Nothing is impossible to indus
try.”
Spirit of the Religious Press,
—Here is something calculated to set Chris
tians, church members, to thinking; it is from
the Canadian Baptist, and is entitled “Stick to
your own church.”
“There has been so much pious talk iu Lite
years ab iut non-essentials, and the church of
tne future, that many think their obligation to
the local'church of which they are members
UllfilleAwiih any kind of religious work, per-,
formed a..y where, and with any other people,
We have heard of a pastor, not a Baptist, tried
exceedingly became some of his vonn -
men feel it their dotv to neglect their own
church in working for souls elsewhere alto
gether. Perhaps pastors do not call tbe at
tention of converts to the nature of the coven
ant, that it pledge? not only to Christ, but to
the local, individual church opening its doors
to receive them from the world. A man who
and ies not strongly belong somewhere, who does
not give It's heart and time to his own spiritual
home intensely, accomplishes but little in tbe
world.
Tbe Baptist Reflector, commenting upon
the fact that a protestant girl, who had been
educated at a Catholic convent, was recently
inveigled by the priests to make over all her
imiuens* property to them, alludes to the
subtle moral power which the teacher has over
the pupil and says:
“When will parents learn the powerful in
fluence that teachers exert over their pupils?
The teacher who is worthy of the position will,
whether intentionally or not, impress his ideas
on the mind of the student. It may appear a
matter of small consequence who inst ucts the
youth in literature, and we may be called a sec
tarian for expressing our disapprobation of the
course of many who neglect to hedge in the
child with proper moral influence during its
intellectual training, yet we freely confess that
much as we prize education, we prefer that a
child should grow up with a meager share of
it, than that the tares of error and falsehood
should be sown with tin- germs of truth. Let
parents b. careful what schools they patron
ize, and entrust the mental training of their
children {o.those only who will implant correct
moral and religious ideas in the youthful mind.
—Tlie test now almost exclusively applied
in deciding the value of a minister’s time and
the desirability of the services is his eloquence
in the pulpit. This is the lowest, rather than
the highest test. It is applicable only to the
lecturer, act< r, and partisan politician. The
business' man knows better than to select his
lawyer by the glihness of his tongue. He pays
liis money for more solid qualities, and cares
next to noth ng whether his lawyer bean ora
tor or not. \ pleasant and eflective delivery
in the ■'i* pit b highly det ruble, lib), the
pasta.•iclbsf’ft, oily precious , ... 1. cm
pulpit. The church member will carry his
doubts and ferns and troubles to his pastor, and
go away with new light and joy. Tlie pastor
must carry spiritual healing to every sore
heart, and guidance to every uncertain Btep rf
his flock. To do this requires experience,
study, profound knowledge of human pjHure
and of spiritual experience. All these are al
most incalculably more valuable to the eWn
gregation, and to every family in it, than any
degree of the fascinating power of eloquence.
A pastor who lias given his lies! thoughts lo
these wants of his people is above all price—a
veritable angel of the Church.— lnterior.
—The Biblical Recorder, commenting on
Dr. Burrows’ letter and the action thereon of
his church, nays:
“Tlie church adopted a series of resolutions,
declaring, that the statement was satisfactory
and also Declaring that they desired no change
in the pastorate Dr. Burrows’ letter is writ
ten in tb£ spirit of a true man and Q|irjlian.,
It whole ground and vie rejoice
that he yA’s written it. jThe action of the
church was in all respects proper and we think
it will reeeive the hearty approval of the de
nomination.
—ln a trenchant article on the subject of
‘Contentious Preaching,” the Stvruhud wisely
says: .
‘‘There is, of course, occasional need of such
preaching. Errors are to be combated, falla
cies errmied, objections to be met, and argu
ments Wif the truth of Christianity to 1k stated.
This work, when thoroughly done, requires
good talents, careful study and paiuful elabor
ation. It has its uses, and every pastor should
hold himself in readiness to do it in its season.
But what we insist upon Is tha' •it should he
snboadinate, and never be a characteristic of a
man ot an age. Christianity is broad, and
touches man in every phase of his being and is
adapted to all his changing experience-. Ser
mon* should Is- something more than exercis
es in logic. They should be instinct vilh life
and feeling. They should he varied as are the
want* of the human heart. The preacher, giv
ing Hi* .whole time and strength to his high
calling, losing himself absolutely‘for the sake
of his divine Master, probing wit the wounds of
the diseased soul, should pour into each and
every one just that preparation that it most
needs. With a mind stored with varied knowl
edge, enriched especially by the study of the
Skripturee, with a heart mellowed and softened
by life’s experiences, and by close communion
with God, and filled with all fatherly tender
ness towards those to whom it is his high
privilege to minister, he should come not simp
ly as a debate!, an advocate, a warrior, a pu
gilist, but as a teacher, guide, friend, pa-tor
leader; to instruct, rebuke, warn, persuade, to
ipcite to holier living by his own pure, Christ*
|kr example.
“We want not pugilism, but shepherding ;
£ot perpetual polemics, hut new phases of di
yine truth, _ original meditations, fresh argu
ments and illustrations, anew setting forth of
(he old doctrines, promises and hopes of the
Gospel, flooding the mind and heart with a
Heavenly light and warmth.”
—The Examiner and Chronicle has an in
ci fve way of illnstratlnr homely truths. The
'following is an instance; it is on the art of
"Topping off:”
"The piactice of it is not wanting in the very
churches of Christ. There, for example, is
the pretentious church member who is forever
“topping nfl” his religious profession with loud
protestations of pecnlar piety, when everybody
knows that his fair words are falsified by a sor
did, worldly life. There, too, is the ostenta
tiously benevolent man, who gives largely on
THE C HRISTIA IST HERALD
of Tennessee.
all public occasions, with a grand flourish of
trumpets —and never pays. And we might make
mention of those women who are so angelic at
the prayer meeting, and so—otherwise—at
home ; but we forbear. We have heard of some
ministers, even —a few—who are always sure,
by some mysterious chance, to have their two
or three “crack” sermons with them when on a
“candidating” visit, and who manage to “put
the best foot forward” with an unaffeeting sim
plicity vastly amusing to those who happen to
be acquainted with their ordinary—their very
ordinary—ministrations.”
—Tlie Christian at Work remarks that “the
Baptists have an association among the Greek
Indians comprising thirty-two churches, be
sides an association among the . Choctaws,
Chickasaws and Oherokees, and also a church
organized among the Seminoles. They evident
ly understand the Indian problem better than
the politeians do.”
“NOTHING BUT LEAVES."
Nothing but leaves ! the Spirit grieves
Over a wasteful life—
Siu committed while conscience slept,
Promises made but never kept,
Hatred, battle and Strife-
Nothing but leaves!
Nothing hut leaves—no garnered sheaves
Of life's fair, ripened grain ;
Words, idle words, for earnest deeds I
We sow pur seeds—lo, tares and weeds;
We weep with toil and paiu
Nothing but leaves !
Nothing but leaves ! Memory weaves
No veil to screen the past:
As we retrace our weaiy way,
Countiug each loss and misspent day,
We find sadly at last,
Nothing but leaves.
And shall we meet the Master so.
Bearing our withered loaves ?
The Saviour looks for perfect fruit;
We stand before Him lmmble, mute,
Waiting the word He breathes—
“ Nothing but leaves.”
BAPTIST NEWS AND NOTES.
—lt is stated that Dr. Boyce, through his
agents, is receiving subscriptions to the South
ern Baptist Theological Seminary at the rate
of two thousand dollars per week.
—At the recent great open air meetings of
Baptists, held at Martha’s Vineyard, Dr. Lam
son said:
The first great and retrine of the early Baptists
was that all church members must be convert
ed. In this respect Baptists iLfiered widely
from all other denominations. Others include
their children with themselves Baptists de
mand a personal profession of faith. The
second point is that after persons are in the
church alj are equal. Moral worth alone
giVe/oiiffioriiy. it is the amfroruy 01 person
al character. Ail the members are kings and
priests unto God. Roger Williams left the
Church of England because he could not ac
cept its views of the relation of clergy to laity.
He soon saw that the Puritan church by re
ceiving infant members would become as im
pure as the church from which it came out.
Dr. Hodge freely admits that Baptists are the
only denomination which demands positive
evidence of regeneration in those who are in
vited to the Lord’s Supper, in guarding
therefore rhtr communion table, we are guard
ing not simply scriptural baptism, but also the
doctrine of a regenerated church membership.
Dr. Damson warmly advocated the fullest de
velopment of every member. He claimed that
God’s plan is always the best; it is ours to know
and lollow it.
—The current number of the Canadian Bap
tist states that so far as the reports from Asso
ciations have been received, it would appear
that the additions by baptism during the year
have been some 2,500, or about 12 per cent, of
(an increase. And better than all, there seen s
good reasons to hope for a continuance of the
blessing.
The Scottish Baptist Magatine gives a sketch
of the life and labors of Archibald Macartliur,
the oldest Scottish Baptist, who has now at
tained the remarkable age of ninety-nine
years.
—The colored Baptists of Texas will meet
in Srate Convention on November 16th next'
to organize a General Association.
—The 2,500 copies of the “Service of Song,”
the distribution of which among the poorer
Baptist churches in the North and West, w.is
so generously donated to the Home Mission
Society of Messrs. Sheldon & Cos , have been
sent to over one hundred churches.
—Brother Penn, the Texan evangelist, con
tinues his blessed work. During the meetings
which he has recently held w th five or six
churches, since leaving Waco, nearly five
hundred professions have been madfe.
—The receipts of the Baptist Missionary
Union from April 2d to July Ist, were less by
$4,G09 than during the same period last year.
‘“The pulpit *****
Must stand acknowledged while the world shall
stand
The most important and effectual guard,
Support and ornament ot Virtue’s cause.”
—The Presbyterian gives a list of twenty
churches of that denomination which report
the addition of over one hundred members on
profession of t cir faith, the total increase of
the twenty aggregating two thousand four hun
dred and eighty.
—lt is reported that 10,000 copies of
Lieutenant Cameron’s book o n his ex
ploration of Central Africa, have .been
ordered in England, and that his share
of the profit is already -£5,000.
—Owing to the protracted sickness
of the present Sultan of Turkey, he
has resigned and Sultan llamid, has
been proclaimed as his successor.
—A man is never such a I roe man as
when he is led by the Spirit of God.
WHOLE NO- 2236
General Denominational Neils,
—The first religious newspaper in this coun
try was the Religious Remembrance. It was
published hv the Presbyterians, in Philadel
phia, and was started in 1813.
1 wo Roman Catholic priests have recent
ly joined the English Unitarians—fathers
Stiffieh! and Hargrave.
—The Russian government will allow no
Protestant mission to be established within its
dominions. J
—The progress of missions in the South
Sea Islands has been remarkable in the past
year.
Ihe English Ritualists now appear in op
position to State Bishops.
—Thirty novices of he Sisterhood of Notre
Dame have made their profession at Reading,
Penn. The Catholic Telegraph says: “Many
of the professed are natives of New England,
from which the sisterhood is largely recruited,
and of which it is 'argely composed.”
—A member of the Southern t resbvterian
church offered, a while ago, a prize of S2OO for
a tract upon ‘Tlie Nature, Design and Proper
Observance of the Sabbath.” One hundred
and eight manuscript were received by the
Committee of award. Rev. James Sfacy, of
Newnan, Ga., received the prize.
—Mr. George Williams, of England, has
the honor of being the founder of Young
Men’s Christian Associations.
—The English revision of the Old Testa
ment has been carried as far as the 17th verse
of the 23d chapter of Ezekiel.
—The fund for supplying an annuity to Eng
lish Baptist ministers who retire from office
on account of age or ill health has reached
thirty-two thousand dollars.
—Only forty years ago the Fiji Islanders
feasted on human flesh, and drank warm
blood from human skulls. Their brutal licen
tiousness and degradation were almost beyond
belief. Now no less than 43,000 thousand
children attend Sunday sclioool, and thousands
of the people are earnest, consistent Christians.
What a marvelous triumph of the gospel of
Christ!
'. t their recent meeting in Louisville the
African M. E. Zion General Conference made
arrangements for organic union with th*
Colored M. E church of America at an , ari>
date.
—Rev. Mr. Robertson, missionary to the
Greek Indians, said that Indians learn more
during the one day’s leaching on Sundiy, by
th° aid of their phonetic alphabets, than they
could during the rest of the week with the En
glish alphabet. One Creek learned to read in
one day. The alphabet has only sixteen let
ters or characters.
Dr. Fallowes, the new Reformed Episco
pal church bishop has lid letters from fifteen
to twenty towns in Illinois, Michigan, Wis
consin, lowa and Missouri, all pleading for
the establishment of the Reformed Episcopal
Church in their limits.
—The Congregational Association of Ore
gon, probably understanding the whole matter
as well as anybody, have resolved substantially
that the true solution of the Chinese question,
is, not to oppose the coming of Chinese to our
shores, nor to seek any modification in the
treaty, but to break down, by legal restraints
and penalties the present contract system of
the ‘‘Chinese companies,” and to destr. y their
power to keep those brought here in a state of
Virtual slavefy.
George Muller, the celebrated author of
"Life of Trust,” is on an evangelistic tour
through the north of Scotland, following up
Moody’s great work. He recently made the
statement, “That he believed that during the
last eighteen years there had been more con
verts than during any of the other periods of
the Church’s history, the apoßtolje age includ
ed.”
—lt is noted as one of the signs of
the times, that ladies are devoting
themselves to the reading of scientific
works more than ever before. We con
sider this a very healthful sign; it
forebodes the decline of the superficial
novel and the questionable society
romance, among' the cultivated circles
of society. „
—Disraeli is engaged on anew novel,
the subject of which is connected with
the increase and future development if
the imperialistic movement in Eng
land. The fortunes of “ Lothair" will,
it is said, be resumed and carried on in
the work.
—llcsttir A. Benedict, has anew vol
ume of poems in press, and so has
John Savage, the well known Irish
poet.
—Mrs. Helen Hunt, has in prepara
tion anew volume, to be published in
the fall, which she calls “Bits of Talk
in Prose and Verse for Young People.”
—The Midsummer Holiday number
of Scribner’s Monthly was the most
popular edition of an American maga
zine evcr.published.