Newspaper Page Text
The Christ!an Index
VOL 56—NO. 7.
Table or Contents
First Pagf.— Alabama Department : Record of
State Events : Spirit of the Religions Press ;
The Missionary Field; Baptist News and Notes;
Elijah's Interview—Poetry; General Denomi
national News.
Second Page, —Onr Correspondents : Woman
not Wanted as an Evangelist in Our Churches
—B.; Look—No. Ill—F. M. Blalock; The Mad
ison Baptist Church—W. B. Crawford; More
Yet About Tobacco—Monitor ; Notes on the
Act of Baptism—No. XX—J. n. Kilpatrick ;
Wine-Growing—Luis.
Third Page.— Letter from Florida—New Labor
ers in the Field—lmmigration—A Hint to Im
migrants—‘-Uncle Shad”—G. W. Hall; To the
Churches of the Central Association—B. Boy
kin. Our Pulpit: Diligence and Devotion Har
monious Elements in Christian Character-
Sketch of a Sermon preached by Rev. J. H.
Kilpatrick, January 21, 1877.
Fourth Page. —Editorial: Religion and False
Science; Hon. Thos. Stocks; Inquisitive Cor
respondent; Rev. J. B. Hartwell; Georgia
Baptißt News—Rev. D. E. Butler. Church
Organizations—Rev. Samuel Boykin. Edito
rial Paragraphs.
Fifth Page.— Brother Hartwell at Rome—Rev.
G. A. Nuunally; “Going Home"—Bunnie; The
Bible Teacher; Our Pulpit; Progress. Secular
Editorials: Literary Gossip; Georgia News;
The Atlanta Daily Constitution; No Traveling
Agents; Foreign and Domestic Notes; etc.
Sixth Page.— The Sunday-School: Elijah at
Horeb—Lesson for Sunday, February 25, 1877.
Sunday-School work— Rev. T. C. Boykin. Mis
sions: Foreign and Home Missions; A Prop
osition ; Systematic Effort—Rev. C. M. Irwin.
Seventh Page.— The Farm : last of Members
of the State Agricultural Convention to Assem
ble in Milledgeville. Georgia, March 6,7, 8,
18J7 ; One Side of the Quoition ; Weevil in
Wheat; Progress ; Georgia Farm Notes ; etc.
Eighth Page. Communications. Obituaries.
Tribute of Respect. Advertisements.
INDEX ANABAPTIST.
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT.
Cullman county elects its officers March 6th.
Mr. Thomas Bradford has retired from the
Cherokee Advertiser,
A cotton manufactory has begun operations
in Union Springs.
The Birmingham public schools will get this
year S6OO from the Peabody fund.
The name of Sandford county has been
changed to Lamar.
Gen. George D. Johnston is traveling in the
interest of the Y. M. C. A.
Captain Jesse B. Shivers has been appointed
superintendent of education in Perry.
Dr. VV. T. Parker has become editor of the
Birm : gharn Independent.
G A. Prinlz has been appointed registet in
chancery in Cullman.
Wm. O. Treadway is in the Cherokee jail
for an attempt to murder his son.
Mrs. Ann Battles, of Leesburg, Cherokee
county, is nearly 100 years old.
Work will soon be commenced on the Dade
ville Baptist church.
Rev. Dr. Meredith has resigned the pasto
rate of the Montevallo Presbyterian church.
The Presbyterian ladies domino party and
supper at Eulaula, netted $325.
The Tuscaloosa gas works have been sold
under mortgage.
Governor Houston offers a reward of SIOO
for the apprehension of W, B. Hawkins, of
Cherokee, who is charged with murder.
A meeting has been held in Birmingham to
organize the Jefferson county Agricultural and
Mechanical Association.
Bev. William Burton has removed from
Rock Mills, Randolph county, to Edwards
ville, Cleburne county.
Mrs. L R. Bradley, of Coats’ Bend, and
two little girls, last year raised four bales of
cotton.
Eufaula has adopted measures looking to a
compromise of her bonded debt, which amounts
to $160,000, bearing 8 per cent, interest.
Thirty-four Sunday-school scholars in
Gainesville, contributed $16.50 to the Tuske
gee Orphans’ Home, on a recent Sunday.
Rev. James W. Graham, a good man and a
good citizen, ha* removed from Pleasant Hill
to Oxford, Mississippi.
The Selma Tima announces that weekly re
ports of the Sunday services in the churches of
that city will be a feature of its Tuesday’s is
sues. _
The State University at Tuscaloosa, is now
in a very prosperous condition with one hun
drtd and fifty students in attendance, the high
est number reached since the war.
Allen Grimes, Richard Mimß, Felix Du
vane, Joe Holloway and Duncan McKenzie,
of Bursonville, Monroe county, are over 90
years old.
The ministers’ and deacons' meeting of the
Salem Baptist Association, will be held with
Good Hope Church, six miles west of Troy, on
Friday before the sth Sunday in April. Rev.
R. P. Copeland is the appointee to preach the
opening sermon, and Rev. J. L. Youngblood,
alternate.
THE SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST,
of Alabama.
Spirit of the Religious Press,
—On the subject of “Chris,ians and Amuse
ments," Rev. G Anderson, D.D., in the
Baptist, (Memphis,) wilh great foroe says:
What is the remedy when church members
give themselves over to condemnable amuse
ments? The remedy which cuts ofi and
perhaps destroys the wayward member is
found in church law and discipline, a remedy
which for the sake of the purity of the body
of the church, must sometimes be resorted to;
but we should move slowly aud cautiously in
that direction, it is the remedy only for des
perate and seemingly hopeless cases. The
remedy which saves is gentle yet faithful
remonstrance; words of reproof uttered with
the tenderest love, duty plainly pointed out,
and the quickening power of the Holy Spirit.
The incomiug of a higher spirit in answer to
prayer, is the supreme antidote. Wilh that
the world recedes and ceases to fascinate the
soul. The oak in winter issometimes covered
with withered, sapless leaves; but the new life
which c imes in spring-time pushes them ofi,
and in their place are seen bursting buds, un
folding foliage, and forming fruit. 8o when,
through the coming of the Spirit, the life
currents of spiritual spring time begin to flow
in a church the dead leaves of worldliness fall
away, and in their place appear the fruits of
godliness. And if every member of this
church was so filled with the spirit that the
deepest impulses of (heir aonls led them to ab
stain cheerfully from evqry form of evil,
there would scarcely be auy limit to their
power for good. We wish the conversion of
men ; God grants us in some measure our de
sire ; but we might see multitudes turned to
Christ if every person whose name is on our
church record was so fully separated from the
world that he found constantly his highest joy
in the Lord.
You who have recently professed faith in
the Gospel, if you would be both happy and
in the largest degree useful, abstain from every
kind of evil. “It sinners entice thee consent
thou not.” The moment you begin to toy
with worldly amusements, your peace and
your power for good are gone. If you desire
to live a poor, driveling, miserable Christian
life, your own soul devoid of joy, a weight on
the church rather than a help to it, then at
tempt to serve God with one hand and the
world with the other. Professing to give
Christ all, and by giving nothing but the
withered leaves of a profession, and you will
be wretched in heart and worse than useless to
the church. But live out your profession, ab
stain from every kind of evil, and your life
will be one of unending song, and so full of
blessing to otners that when you die you will
be sadly missed.
—The Advance well says:
Hundreds of pastors will hear us witness,
that their best successes in their work have
been largely due to the fact that the various
officers in the church had always, with quick
eye and effective enterprise, furnished them
with the suitable conditions, and appliances
for doin'., their best work.. v *
—Tlijjf Presbyterian at Work say® very truly:
“One looking throogh our American Sabbath
schools would often be led to the conclusion
that maturity of experience unfitted for the
instruction of the young. Not always—for in
some of our schools will be found the ripeness
and wisdom of age; but in too many cases the
young only are found in the instructor’s chair.
Elderly Christians should not evade duty.”
—A writer in the Presbyterian says: “Re
member what was said by the Methodists, that
of 197,000 probationers last year, only some
32,000 settled down even as tolerated mem
bers.”
—The Biblical Recorder says:
“To one who is at all observant of late de
velopments in religious inteiests, it must
appear that the cords and bands that once
bound denominations to what are termed
creeds of faith, are either broken or very
much relaxed. The strict construction of the
Scriptures as the infallible word of God —the
abiding faith in the revealed truths of the
Bible; the absolute submission to its authority,
however plainly stated—no longer exists
among the pastors of many of the largest
churches and the leaders of their denomina
tions. These creeds of faith, with all idea of
obedience to the written word of the New
Testament Scriptures, are relegated to the past,
and regarded as the cast off utterances and su
perstitions of the barbarous and unlearned. A
large part of the Protestant churches have not
only tacitly concluded that there is no settled
system of truth in the Bible, but have banded
together for the propagation of this latitudin
arian theory and the oppression of all those
who believe in the written word. Propaga
tors of the new doctrine, or what is termed
'liberal Christianity,' are sustained at vast ex
pense by the united energies of these denomi
nations, and the widest circulation and
strongest endorsement are given to their inter
pretation of God’s Word.”
To the above the Watchman with great point
and force replies :
“That there is a tendency to laxness of be
lief in the binding authority of Scripture, and
in what were once the unquestioned docfrines
of Christendom, is obvious enough. But the
assertion that the “leaders” of “the largest de
nominations,” and the denomination* in the
aggregate, are in the movement, or that “a
large part of the Protestant churches” have
renounced their creeds and banded together to
propagate the “latitudinarian theory” that
“there is no settled system of truth in the
Bible,” is not only unsupported by adequate
evidence, but opposed to all evidence accessi
ble to us. Every organized heresy languishes;
and if the sporadic cases scattered through the
orthodox denominations could be added to
those bodies, the enlargement so produced
would not be very astonishing. As Burke
said, a few insects under a hedge make more
noise than a herd cf cattle grazing. Every
one who dissents from his brethren is a marked
man. He becomes distinguished. The news
papers report him. It is wonderful how much
little unbelief does to endow a man with
hitherto unsuspected talents and genius. One
such “star” makes much capital lor one side,
and alarms the weak brethren on the other in
proportion ; but the hundreds who continue
to believe, and pray and work as before, are
forgotten."
FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 22, 1877.-
—The Christian World has the following:
“The more our religion becomes a religion of
visible objects, the more it becomes a religion of
■ outward worship. The same tendency which
makes men put the sign (or picture) of an un
seen object in the place of that object, makes
them put the sign of an inward worship in the
place of an inward worship. Early Chris
tianity permitted no pictures or images to he
placed in the churches.”
—’£he New York Obsener has the follow
ing concerning nunneries and convents:
“Every nunnery, or convent, or school taught
by the Romish “sisters,” or others of that
faith, is designed to bring the pupils into the
Romish church, and in many cases the design
is carried out. Therefore, the only safety is in
keeping out of them. Never send a child to
one of these schools, under any circumctances.”
—The Christian at Work says: “A curious
fact in connection with the late Cardinal
Antonneli’s will has just come to light. In the
clause in which he commits his soul ‘to God,
to the most Holy Immaculate Mary,’and to
the saints, he doss not make the least mention
of Jesus Christ, the only true Saviour and
Mediator. What more striking proof could
there possibly be of the thorough supersedence
of our Lord by the Virgin in the modern
creed of the Vatican ? It is in perfect keeping
with the declaration of the Encyclical of his
master, Pio Nono, dated from Gaeta, 2d of
February, 1849, namely, ‘Qod has placed the
plentilude of all good in Mary,’ and that He has
willed that we have all through Mary.’ ”
—The Biblical Recorder brings out the fol
lowing startling and suggestive facts in regard
to North Carolina—facts quite as true of every
other State, more or less: “Dr. Pritchard
stated in his sermon last Sunday, in the pres
ence of Gov. Vance and many members of the
Legislature, that according to the calculations
of;Maj. Robert Bingham, the Christian reli
gion in all its claims, cost each man, woman
and child in the State just twenty-five cents.
Tlte cause of education cost each man, woman
and child one dollar, but that intoxicating
liquors cost every man, woman and child in
North Carolina eight dollars a year. That is,
our people pay four times as much to the
cause of education as they do for religion, and
thirty-two times ,as much for whisky and
brandy as they do for the Gospel What
people spend their money lor they certainly
appreciate—it thus appears that they think
tbirty-two times as much of that which is the
great curse of the land as they do of the
Gospel, the great blessing of the land. And
yet man is a rational beinjjj.”
—The Rational Baptist, on the subject of
Christian self-denial, takes brethren to task
for the objections to Christian liberality, ordi
narily advanced, and suggests the adoption of
the true principle of economy :
“But we can’t economize. We don’t see any
place. We are spending as little as we can.”
Dear friend, you deceive yourself. Don’t yon
remember the time when you lived on less
than you are living on now ? If the Lord
should cut down your income by a quarter,
you would find that you could because you
must. Why not do it when you can, and
when it may be a willing sacrifice, rather than
when you must ?
Look at your table; look at your dress; look
at your jewelry- Do you find no place ?
Bearing it to the Lord in the closet, ask him to
show you where ; consult with your wife or
husband, your children ; say to them : “We
must save something for Christ’s cause ; where
shall it be.” Oh, try this, disciple of the
Lord; try it now, before the Master shows you
in another way that you can when you must.
—The United Presbyterian takes the true view
of revival efforts:
We need a revival that our people may be
made holy men and women. When God’s
spirit works mightily in us, it produces right
eousness and godliness. The more thoroughly
revived any man is, the more will he hate in
iquity, transgression and sin, and the more
will he love righteousness and holiness, and
the more closely will he walk with God. Is
not many a church often disgraced and ren
dered po iverless for good by the unrighteous
ness and ungodliness of its members ? Is not
the unworthy conduct of many professing
Christians a source of unutterable grief to pas
tors and the godly everywhere ? Can it but
give the enemy cause Io blaspheme and hinder
the prosperity of the cause of Christ? But a
thoroughly revived people is a thoroughly
godly people.
BAPTIST MEWS AXD NOTES.
—The Baptist Missionary Magazine has now,
become the exclusive organ of the Missionary
Union; the Macedonian and Helping Hand
having been transferred to the Woman’s Socie
ty, to be used in diffusing information in that
department of the work.
—There is an Association in North Caro
lina, which in 1875 had eighty-two churches
and only thirty Sunday-schools within its
bounds 1
—Rev. Boswell Traylor, the oldest Baptist
preacher in Virginia, died at his residence
near Castle Craig, in Campbell county, Vir
ginia, in his ninetieth year. He professed
religion when a boy, joined the Baptist
church, and soon entered into the work of
the ministry. For nearly seventy years he
preached the Gospel faithfully. In his last
hours he said that he “constantly viewed hiß
Saviour. ”
—The Baptists are about to build anew
church in Stockholm, Sweden. The congre
gations in that city are in good spiritual con
dition, and growing.
A correspondent of the Western Recorder
writes to that paper from Mobile: “A meet-
ing, composed of representatives from the
three Baptist churches in this city, was held at
the St. Francis-street church, looking to the
organization of anew Association. Rev. J. B.
Htmberlih, the originator of this movement,
discussed the subject with unusual interest.
The plan proposed is to organize into one
Association the churches in Mobile and those
road between Mobile and New Orleans and the
churches in New Orleans. We earnestly hope
the eftor to accomplish this will prove a suc
cess.
Rev. J. H Curry has entered upon his
labors in the Broad street Mobile church with
encouraging prospects.
—The young men of the Beth-Eden Baptist
church, Philadelphia, have taken seats to the
amount '"51,200 and placed them at the dis
posal ol those who cannot afford to rent them.
—Thqro were additions to the Central Bap
tist church, Nashville, nearly every week last
year.
—The Minutes of the fifty-third annual
meeting of the Connecticut Baptist Conven
tion, jussi published, give the following statis
tics: Whole number of churches 121, bap
tisms for the year 1,838, total membership
20,550 ,*K,mbership last year 19,756.
—There are at least two, may be three, Ger
man Baptist churches in Kentucky and several
in Texas.
—lt is reported on good authority that there
are twenty-six Baptist ministers in lowa who
were elated and prepared for the pulpit
while members of other denominations.
—Recognizing the efficiency of the organiza
tion of women, for foreign work, auxilliary to
the Missionary Union, the friends of the Home
Mission Society have inaugurated a move
ment in. Chicago, for a similar effort in the
interest of Home evangelization. An organ
ization was effected and plans were adopted for
a general movement in all parts of the coun
try.
—Rev. Prof. Pepper, of Crozer Seminary, is
to lecture at Newton during the present Semi
nary year on “Comparative Religion.”
—The Baptist denomination, and especially
the Rochester Theological Seminary, sustains
a great loss by the death of the Rev. R. J. W.
Buck lac. 7, D.D.
—The Baptist ladies in Staunton, Virginia,
have purchased a splendid parsonage for Dr.
Charles Manly, their pastor.
—S. ft. Mitchell, a Baptist deacon, of
Lawrenty, Massachusetts, with ample pecun
iary me. ns, has entered upon evangelistic
workA
- J /ills', referring Jo tlte *kite
" Maswicl.it i ml
'Sunday
°f store -Jon that dayi takes the
followin'!; "view of the case : “In ofir opinion
this is a violation of religious liberty. It is
compelling the Jew to observe the Christian
Sunday. It is in so far as it goes, an establish
ment of the Christian religion. No man
ought to be compelled by law to observe the
Sabbath ; he ought to be compelled to abstain
from what will prevent his neighbors from
observing it. But if he plows, or hoes in his
garden, or makes shoes, or keeps open his
store, without disturbing others, in our opin
ion the law has no right to interfere wilh him.
That is the Roger Williams doctrine as we
understand it.”
The Missionary Field,
—The British Wesleyan Church contribu
ted, last year, for Foreign Missions $795,530,
and the Methodist church of Canada $155,-
000.
—A Mexican paper publishes the following
statistics of Protestantism in Mexico: “There
are 125 Protestant congregations, 11 churches
and 99 halls of worship—sl39,ooo is the
probable value of church property —28 free
day schools, 28 night schools, 5 orphanages, 2
theological seminaries, 0 presses employed in
the publication of religious literature, 6 reli
gious periodicals 122 agents employed—sloo,-
000 spent this year in carrying on the work."
—The Independent says that in Gambia and
Sierra Leone, in North Africa, the Wesleyan
Church Missionary Societies and the native
church have established strong Missions, and
here are found some 14,000 members, 7,500
scholars and fifty-two ministers, native and
foreign. South of Sierra Leone we reach
Liberia, where some 18,000 Americo-Liberianß
are found, and a very large number of natives
who are heathens, amounting to at least 300,-
000. In the colony there are about 4,000
communicants. Along the Gold Coast, and
taking in the whole of Northern Guinea, are
interesting Missions of the various churches.
One of the Missions is wholly composed of
native preachers, under the superintendence
of a native bishop. There are over 7,000
communicants connected with the different
churches, and in the schools are 4,000 child
ren. The Bible has been tianslated, in whole
or in part, into fifteen different languages.
—Those engagaged in promoting the benev
olent enterprises of our denomination are
often “almost discouraged” by the large num
ber of chcches which'make no contribu iont
to the general objects of Christian work. In
this, however, the Baptist churches are not
singular. The Methodists, with their "iron
rule,” record the same complaint. And the
THE CHE/ISTLAH HET?, a r.Tll
of Tennessee.
Herald and Presbyter makes this statement in
regard to the Presbyterian churches: “The
number is larger than we supposed before we
examined the statistics. There are 5,077
churches connected witli our Genera] Assem
bly. We have eight schemes of benevolence
and church work for which contributions are
asked and expected. For these schemes or
boards, averaging them as a whole, 2,197 churches
contributed last year, 2,880 made no collec
tions, or thtee-sevenths gave and four-sevenths
gave nothing.” No wonder that it asks, “Why
this lack ? Who is responsible? What shall
be done ? What can be done ? The interests
of the Redeemer’s kingdom are deeply in
volved in these statistical facts.”
—Mrs. Thomas C. Doremus, founder of the
Woman's Missionary Union, died in New
York on the 29th ult.
—The following is taken from the Metho
dist Missionary Magazine in relation to Russia :
“Universal religious toleration is enjoyed in
the Russian Empire ; that is every denomina
tion ol Christians, and the Mohammedans
and the Pagans enjoy their own religion
without hinderance. The Greek Church is
the State Church, and its members are not
allowed to secede from it. The Moravians
have prosperous Missions in the provinces of
onia and Esthonia. The Baptists have
also established Missions in Russia. In
Russian Asia there are five hundred and fitly
thousand pagan Buddhists, with three hundred
and eighty places of worship, and four thous
and four hundred priests. There are more
than three million Protestants, the most of
whom are Lutherans. There are more than
seven million Mohammedans. The circula
tion of the Bible is unrestricted in the Russian
empire, and is encouraged by the Government
and the Holy Synod of the Greek Church.
It ia, therefore, the height of lolly to assert
that the Russian Government would restrict
or abolish Protestant Missions if its empire
were extended over Turkey."
—Dr. S. W. Williams, the American mis
sionary in China, who has just left that coun
try after a residence of forty years, has proba
bly made himself more agreeable to the
Chinese than any other foreigner. They ex
press immense respect and regard for him.
—The Presbyterian church has, in foreign
lands, a total of 893 missionaries and helpers,
8,567 communicants, and 13,501 scholars.
—Husbandry is improved by Missions, and
all kinds of farming implements, as plows,
hoes, shovels, forks, etc., are demanded; so
that the value of plows alone, exported from
Boston to the Zulus jin 1870, amounted to more
than fall that’was expanded oh that Mission
that year.
-lUJAH'S INTERVIEW. , 7
On Ilrfeb’H rook the prophet stoca—
The .Lord before him passed
A hurricane in angry mood, y — .
Swept by him stoiig aiuTfSutTv
The forest fell before its force, )
The rocks wore shivered in its course—
God was not in the blast;
’Twas but the whirlwind of his breath ;
Announcing danger, wreck and death.
It ceased. The air grew mute; a cloud
Came, muffling up the sun,
Whon through the mountain, deep and loud,
An earthquake thundered on.
The frighted eagle sprang in air,
The wolf ran howling from his lair—
God was not in the storm;
’Twas but the rolling of his car,
The trampling of his Bteeds from far.
’Twas still again, and nature stood
And calmed her ruffled frame ;
When swift from heaven a fiery flood
To earth devouring came.
Down to the depth the ocean fled,
The sickening sun looked wan and dead—
Yet God filled not the flame;
’Twas but the terror of his eye
That lightened through the troubled sky.
At last a voice all still and small,
Rose sweetly on the ear,
Yet rose so shrill and clear that all
In heaven and earth might hoar;
It spoke of peace, it spoke of love,
It spoke as angels speak above,
Aud God Himself was there;
For, oh ! it was a Father’s voice
That bade the trembling heart rejoice.
— T. Campbell.
Brother William H. Williams, of Tuscaloo
sa, in a letter to the Chicago Standard, of last
week, alludes to some of our prominent
pastor’s churches and institutions as follows :
“The Baptists of Alabama number not much
less than one hundred thousand. Their effi
ciency is by no means in proportion to their
numbers, though this state of things is not pe
culiar to Alabama. In Mobile we have
three churches. The most prominent of these
is the St. Francis street, the pastor of which is
Rev. J.O. B. Lowry, a young brother of much
promise, and whose pastorate of three years
has been successful.
“Marion is the educational center of the Bap
tists ol Alabama. Here are located the How
ard College and Judson Female Institute.
Both of them are institutions of high order.
The Baptist church here is one of the strong
est arid most efficient in the State. The pastor
is Rev. E. T. Winkler, D. D., who is doubtless
well known to you.
“The church at Montgomery has recently se
cured as her pastor, Rev. Dr. Hawthorne, for
merly of the Tabernacle church, New York.
Dr. H. is exceedingly popular, and is drawing
immense congregations.; Montgomery is a
point of great importance, as the capital of the
State.
“|ln Selma, there is a strong Baptist church,
of which Dr. Teague was pastor until last sum
mer. He has been succeeded by Rev. W. C
Cleveland, D. D., one of our best preachers.”
WHOLE NO. 2257
General DsnominatiGnal News,
—Fitly thousand Russian Mennonites have
determined toimmigiate to the United States.
They have the alternative of taking up arms
or leaving the Empire, and prefer to cross_the
sea. Fourteen thousand of them will settle in
Kansas early in the spring.
—An Italian newspaper says that the widow
of the Duke of Galliera has offered the Pope
$200,000 for his apostolic benediction on the
suffering soul of her deceased husband.
—About 50,000 children ol the London
Board Sabbath-schools competed for the
4,000 New Testaments given as prizes for ex
animation in Scriptural knowledge, Mr.
I‘rancis Peck and the Religious Tract Society
each gaye the sum of £5,000 for this object,
requiring, in addition, that those competing
should have attended school 175 times in the
six months.
The Methodist Prolestanls are arranging
to unite wilh the Methodists Episcopal. Six
teen of the twenty Annual Conferences of the
* lave voted to call a Convention to
meet next May to adopt the basis of union be
tween these bodies.
—The “Christian .Catholic Church” of
Switzerland numbers ft
seventeen Associations, and nearly eighty
thousand adherents.
—A successful union effort has been in pro
gress in New York city over three months for
reaching the uon-churcli-going masses. Latge
congregations gather at Chickering Hall.
There have been numerous conversions, in
cluding some drunkards.
~~ Thc Episcopal Society for the increase of
the ministry calls for $25,000 to help 120
students and candidates during the current
year.
seventy-third annual meeting of the
Sunday-school Union lias been held in Lon
don. The schools have 3,000,000 scholars
and 300,000 teachers.
_ —The Episcopalians of Cincinnati have
established a “Biblical Institute” and
School of the Evangelists,” under whose aus
pices a course of daily free lectures is to be
given, the subjects including all the points
necessary to a thorough theological training.
The leading Episcopal clergymen in the city
are lecturers.
—The additions to the Presbyterian church,
on profession, last year, were 48,240; the
adult baptisms were only 15,753.
—The Chicago, churches have already gath
ered in 1,792 members, as the fruit of the
revival meetings.
-JT Four young men in (he Richmond (Va.)
Institute are preparing tot Mission work
Africa.
k A Presbyterian cLurch composed of twen
ty-Wutliers, all MejK c ans, has been organized
by Ilev. J. M.“e>C r t g) 0 f Tatis, New Mexico.
—Mr. Moody’s - Tabernacle, which
seats 6,000 ‘ \
—The Moravianycar btoL for 1877 &r, o rtV
thirteen bishops in different'pans ot
and 97,262 members. Of this total, 67,413 are'
to be found in the Missions.
—ln the recent discussion of the Budget of
Public Worship by the French Assembly
Bishop Dupanloup presented some valuable
statistics of the Catholic Church in France.
The number of priests is put at 50,000; of
these 12,000 are over sixty years of age; 2,000
priests of seventy years of age and over are
still doing duty. The Bishop estimated that
there were 3,000 communes in France without
any provision for public worship.
—The annual report of the Bank of Italy
shows that the Pope has $32,000,000 in that
institution. But the collection of money to
aupport the “poor Pope” is to be continued.
—Although well aware that the most in
tense jealously has long existed between the
Greek and Latin (Roman) churches at Jeru
salem, the Rock says it was hardly prepared
for the exact form which it haß recently as
sumed. The Roman Catholics for many years
have had possession of a plot of ground which
they say occupies the exact site of the Garden
of Gethsemane, wherein the Betrayal of Our
Lord took place, but the alleged “fact” is dis
puted by competent judges. Be that as it may,
the prestige which thus accrues to the Latins is
gall and wormwood to the Greeks, who, to be
avenged on their rivals, have now actually set
about planning another Gethsemane at no
great distance from the first, the authenticity
of which will doubtless be guaranteed by the
Holy Eastern Patriarch in due time.
The Matthews cotton mill in Selma, one of
the completest in the country, is almost ready
for work. The beautiful buildings, including
the factory, 186x80 feet, and 8 stories high,
engine rooms, offices, storehouses, etc., are all
completed, of the best material and after the
best designs. Except the looms, the machinery
is all in place, and is being rapidly adjusted
for operations.
The Troy Messenger wisely says: “Consid
erably less corn is being purchased by the far
mers this spring than any previous season.
This is a favorable indication, and we hope to
see the day when every county in Southeast
Alabama will make its own supplies of every
kind. The farms could be made self-sustain
ing if the people would but do away with the
long exploded idea that cotton is king.”