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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.”