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TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
VOL. XXXV. NO. 49.
(Srigiintl^ocfrj.
“HeCareth for You.’’
Casting all your care upon Him,
For He careth for His own;
Not a single care or burden,
Would He have you bear alone.
It will “ trouble not the Master,”
Should you every moment come,
Praying Him to lilt your burden,
And disperse your spirit’s gloom.
Say not, “ 'Tis too light a trial.
He will treat it with disdain,”
Can you think your Heavenly Father,
Thus indifferent t 6 your pain ?
Nothing great or small appeareth,
To His comprehensive thought;
Worlds or atoms He upholdeth,
And their weight compareth not
All the hosts ofheavau lie nantflh
Yet doth note the sparrow's fall;
Empires rise, and kingdoms vanish;
In His might He ruleth all.
• Yet He scoroetb not the lowliest, x
Whom His gracious hand hath made,
And doth kindly deign to number
E'en the hairs upon your head.
80 benign His condescension,
80 minute His tender care,
Let no doubtful appehension
Mar your faith ns you draw near.
Pour but all your heart before Him ;
Tell Him every giief and care;
And with pitying love transferring
He wil! all your burden bear.
CiIRUTIKE.
Contributions.
The Four Witnesses.
IV. Thomas the Doubter.
nr W. I\ HARRISON, D. D.
The character of this Apostle at first sight
appears repulsive. A cold, skeptical tem
perament, obstinately resisting the testi
mony of eye witnesses, and demanding
extraordinary proofs to satisfy him of the
reality of the Lord's resurrection. Thus,to
the superficial observer, Thomas appears
among the disciples as if he had no business
there. Hence, “ a doubting Thomas ” has
entered into the current speech of Christen
dom as the synonym for almost every form
of unbelief. They who slumber upon their
arms, and are suddenly informed of some
great work of God performed in their unex
oused and inexcusable absence, cite the case
of Thomas as a counterpart of their own.
People who give themselves no trouble to
understand the truth, and reject it because
they have not examined it, find refuge un
der the shadow of hii example, and fondly
dream that they aro defended by the im
aginary likeness.
Happily for us we are not left to grope
our way without a guide in attempting to
defend this oft abused disciple. The same
graphic pen which reveals so much con
oerning our Lord’s followers, gives us a full
length portrait of Thomas. The picture of
the witnesses is faithfully painted and held
out to view, “that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the bon of God: ar,d
, that Mii',-:- 0 -itas cAljm
His name.” The story of their conversion
to the amazing truth of the New Life is
given, beoatiae they are representative per
sons, iu whom all the forms of human tem
perament and constitution stand embodied
So that, the Lord has need of Thomas, and
he neither rejects nor coudemns him. The
“disciple whom Jesus loved ” i3 the selected
biographer because no other is endowed
with a sufficient insight of the moral nature
of his fellows. His great soul was a reader
and a reflector at the same time.
The first glimpso that wo get of the char
acter of Thomas is on the memorable occa
sion of the exile beyond the Jordan. The
Jews had not only threatened, but they had
attempted to put Jesus to death by stoning
for alleged blasphemy, because ha said, “I
an the Son of God.” He escaped out of
their hands, and abode “ in the place where
John had first baptized.” Whilst ho was
there a messenger comes from Mary and
Martha informing him of the sickness of
his friend Lazarns. He tarries two duys
longer and then prepares for the visit to
Bethany. His disciples, misconstruing that
delay as if it were occasioned by apprehen
sions of the hostility of the Jews, remon
strated with him, “Master, the Jews of
late sought to stone thee, and goest thou
thither again ?” His reply is characteristic,
an answer and its reason: “Arc there not
twelve hours in the day ? If auy man walk
in the day he stumbleth not, because he
■ ieth the light of this world ; but if a man
walk in the night, he stumbletb, because
there is no light in him.” The day-time of
duty has the sun of God’s Providence for
its light—there will be no stumbling in the
path to which duty calls us—but if wo allow
the day to pass, and the night comes, the
duty undischarged in its season, will fall to
the ground. We will stumble in the dark
ness if remorse and regret impel us to gather
lost opportunities and wasted privileges. It
is now day-time; mine hour is not come ;
until then, fear not. This reasoning is too
deep for the disciples, even Thomas, best
qualified among them all to penetrate its
occult depths, does not see it. He sees
nothing but certain death before the Mas
ter ; but he is no coward, and whilst others
are silent, he addresses them in the lan
guage of cool, calculating bravery : “Let us
also go, that we may die with him.”
We do not perceive anything of that
gloomy, melancholy disposition which has
been attributed to Thomas The Master
had relied upon ordinary means to escape
his enemies ; he had withdrawn from tneir
presence precisely as any other man would
have done if surrounded by similar circum
stances. Human foresight could discover
nothing but danger in returning to an en
raged and embittered populace. Here, then,
is a case wherein the men of impulse fail.
Simon and John have nothing to say.
They would all hinder the Lord from go
ing if they could. Failing in this, Thomas
steps to the front, becomes the counsellor,
and him they follow. In the face of peril
whose imminence they had seen illustrated
a short time before, the calm, philosophical
mind of Thomas rallies them to a noble re
solve. He is going to fall by the hands of
assassins, but we will share his fate ; we
will die with him. This is not rashness; it
is not the prompting of despair ; it is the
sublimity of moral courage.
This, then, is the clue to the character of
Thomas. He is the phil< sopher among the
twelve disciples. Calm, self poised, he does
nothing hurriedly ; he never acts from mere
impulse: he has reason for his guide in
every step. Hence, his is pre-eminently
moral courage. He sees the danger staring
him in the face, but he prefers to encounter
it rather than to forsake his Lord. Princi
ple Is the rule of his life. If you do not
Sandierti Christian JMvncafc.
give him a sufficient motive, he cannot act
at all. If he does not see that motive to be
sufficient he will not act. No one can ques
tion his love for the Master—no one can
doubt that he would have fulfilled his word
if the occasion had called for the sacrifice
of life. But he cannot, like Simon Peter,
believe a statement that is not only above
and beyond his reason, bnt seems to be in
conflict with it. He saw the Master die. It
was not enough that he had seen Lazarns
raised from the dead. No ; the wisdom of
this world, the pestilent tempter of all the
sons of thought, conld suggest an explana
tion of that ease. Perhaps it was a case of
“ suspended animation who can tell ?It
may be that death had not actually possess
ed his throne ; it may be that this Master
of ours has broken the charmed circle of
death’s forerunners, and recalled this spirit
havering over the confines of the shadowy
kingdom. Thns human philosophy could
argue, and the mind of Thomas suscep
tible to such influences. For how else can
it be ? Our Master, the Lord of life, and
Himself a subject of death? How can that be?
But the death of Jesns was no fiction.
Thomas saw him die—he saw the pierced
hands, we heard the dying groan ; more
than all, hejsaw the spear of the Boman sol
dier when it penetrated his 6ide, and he saw
the physical proof of a broken heart, the
mingled blood and water flowing from the
cavity. There is no room for doubt here.
The Master is dead. Now, at last Thomas
gives himself up to despair. Whatever
mighty works Jesus did; whatever may
have been the inscrutable phenomena of his
life, the end is certain, and wo are hence
forth without hope. There was no longer
a lingering thought, a shred of hope in the
fibres of his being : he was not a doubter
simply, he was a son of despair. Dark,
helpless, hopeless despair settled in mid
night gloom upon his sonl. Hence his at>-
sence from the meetings of the disciples.
Why should ho join the assembly of these
orphaned children ? They had nothing to
cheer him, no intelligence to soothe his
desponding spirit.
When the members of the little company
meet him with the story of the Lord’s resur
rection from the dead, he is incredulous.
“ We have seen the Lord,” they say to him.
His reply is the natural expression, not of
a doubter, simply, but of an unbeliever.
They may be sincere in their opinion ; there
is no reason to call their integrity in ques
tion. Bat it is easy for men to be deceived.
A man of sanguine temperament, like Si
mon Peter, may be readily imposed upon
by his senses. The imagination has trans
formed a likeness into identity. Or, they
have seen an apparition—the creation of
excited sensibilities, real to them, yet base
less as the fabrio of a vision. Yet he does
not charge them with weakness or credulity,
but gives the ground upon which his faith
can stand : “ Except I shall sec in his hands
the print of the nails, and put my finger
into the print of the nails, and thrust my
hand into his side, I wil! not believe.” Ob
serve how strongly ho is instructed ; he will
not trust even the sense of sight—if he
should see the print of the r ails it is not
enough. Tench must testify with flight ;
he roil'd put ' ; s fir.? . luk mo pnnx ot tne
nails : then he will believe. This double
testimony of the senses will be a demon
stration, absolute, irresistible. Let us not
place too much stress upon the words, “ I
uiill not believe.” He simply means that he
cannot. He cannot control the demands of
his reason. The antecedent demonstration
of his death was absolute : the consequent
demonstration of the now life must be as
positive, as absolute.
This exacting spirit which will not yield
credence until all ground of possible mistake
is removed, may not be, and is not, the
happiest frame of mind, bnt it is essential
to the preservation of God's truth. With
out it, the Church has no safeguard against
the encroachments of fanaticism. Without
it, society becomes the plaything of the im
agination, and the victim of every conceiv
able imposture. Christianity has nothing
to fear from the doubting spirit of Thomas.
Her claims are supported by evidence so
clear that she can challenge investigation,
come from what source it may.
Therefore the Lord meets the little com
pany again. Thomas consents to join the
band once more, to test the reality of their
experience. The doors aro shut, and sud
denly the Master stands before them, and
the salutation “Peace be unto you,” is
scarcely uttered, before he turns to Thomas
and challenges his proof: “ Beach hither
thy finger and behold my hands ; and reach
hither thy hand and thrust it into my side ;
aud be not faithless, but believing.” The
form of the command is peculiar. The fin
ger is to see the hands of the Lord ; the
joint testimony of touch and sight is to be
blended in and absorbed by the touch alone.
Here, too, the highest form of evidence ap
pears in the Lord’s knowledge of the lan
guage used by Thomas. That which he had
spoken privately, in the ear of the disciples,
is known to the Master. The demonstra
tion is overwhelming. Sight, touch, mind,
all have the utmost of their claims con
ceded ; and now the faith of Thomas, rising
out of the very ashes of despair, plumes it
self and towers to the very summit of the
sky, when the conquered skeptic exclaims,
“My Lord and my God !” The victory is
complete. He is not only risen ;he is not
only the divinely constituted Messiah ; he
is not only the f Anointed One, the Son of
God, but be is God himself ! Impetuous
Peter had not yet reached this maximum of
faith—loving John had never given it form
and expression, if in the calm, deep con
sciousness of love ho had recognized the
truth. But to Thomas, the demonstration
of the resurrection brings the demonstra
tion of the divinity of Jesus.
Let us neither covet nor despise the
exacting spirit of Thomas. The Lord him
self did not rebuke but satisfied it. The
unbelief which resists demonstration is not
the unbelief of Thomas. “If any man will
do His will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of
myself.” Here is the substitute for the
pierced hands and the wounded side—a con
stant, perpetual presence of the Lord in the
body of His truth. Honest skepticism can
only end iu tiiumphant faith, and doubt
will lead to certitude, not to a trifler like
Pilate, but to a seeker like Nicodemus.
“Thomas, because thou has seen me,
thou hast believed ; blessed are they that
have not seen and yet believe.” Yea,blessed,
happy are they whose faith demands no
devious, thorny path of trial through the
wilderness of reason—whose souls repose in
questionless trust on the truth of God.
But the mind which God has endowed with
the greatest capacity of faith—the mind
that must stand as a beacon-light to others,
must struggle up through the haze and mist
of doubt, until demonstration clothes it
with eternal sunshine.
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BUBKE & COMPANY, FOB THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.
From the Nashville Christian Advocate
Letter from Bishop McTyeire.
WOOL—MUSTARD—A LUNCH—TREADING THE
WINE-PRESS—SAND STORM GRASS HOPPERS
AND OTHER —ANGELIC SERMON— OFF TO SAN
DIEGO.
Oct. 23.—Our route baok from the south
ern end of the valley to Los Angeles City
was chosen along the foot-hills—thus escap
ing sand, and getting new views. Flocks of
sheep were passed, each attended by a shep
herd, and numbering, as oar oompaniens,
who were used to such things, computed,
from one to three thousand. No green
thing, except oactns, was on the plains; bnt
their food was the dried grass and a elover
bnrr that abonnds, and is so small as to es
cape the unpraetioed eye. Our ship, the
week following, on her way to San Fran
cisco, took on, from this coast, 250 bales of
wool, weighing from two to three hundred
pounds, and not unlike the Carolina eotton
bales of thirty years ago, when screw-paok
ing had not come to be uniformly adopted.
This, with wine and lead from mines east of
the coast range, made up our return cargo.
The lead has a considerable per cent, of sil
ver, and '.(bro-e are works in San Francisco
for separating these metals.
The wild mustard is a native growth—
the patches covering from a quarter to sev
eral acres. It indicates a warm soil, and free
from the alkali that spots the land. A half
ton of seed may be gathered from an acre ;
and it is a merchantable article at three or
four cents per pound. The Chinese turn a
penny at it. The mustard of com
merce is sometimes sown in the fields high
er in the State.
As our dinner appointment conld not be
reached till 4 p. 11., the party of seven got a
lunch at the house of a well to-do native.
One dozen pomegranates for 25 cents—the
rest in grapes and pears and figs, making
the whole cost 75 cents. The oranges were
not ripe yet and the English walnnt in the
front yard was just cracking its hull, very
like a hickory-nut. The family were en
gaged, in primitive style, shelling out the
frijoles which form so large a part of their
sustenance. The only showy thing about
was a horse at the door, gaily caparisoned
with silver-mounted bridle and saddle, and
hair-rope gracefully dangling. A young
man, with hidalgo air, rode off, before our
admiring eyes.
A trifling incident comes to mind whLh
reminds me to say that flies are numerous
here and fleas are innumerous ; against the
former wire or ganza doors and windows
can be constructed, but the latter are ‘‘char
tered libertines.,’ Sand-storms occur, of
which on 9 who has seen them gave me this
account: “ Occasionally the wind coming
down through the mountain-gorges meets a
current from the sea, and then we have it.
Tall mustard-stalks fly like arrows through
the air, and the sand blinds you. House
keepers shut their doors ; but it creeps in
through unknown crevices, and for a day or
so afterward bed-quilts, table cloths, and
things generally are gritty.”
The grasshopper puts in his his appear
ance at intervals—time and place nncertain.
Certain localities claim never to have been
visited. This scourge is short and severe ;
and like the cotton-planters, who see their
crops ent off by the caterpillar, the men
afflicted by the grasshopper try it again,
and hope for a better result next time.
Brother Ellis showed ns five fruit trees—all
that were left him two years ago of a plant
ing of three hundred. One of the preach
ers told me this : He was holding meeting
in a neighborhood that had lately been
cleaned out. One of the congregation was
a man “in liquor,” and holding his head
down. The preacher had occasion to quote,
in the course of his sermon, from Ecclesias
tes—“And the almond-tree shall flourish,
and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and
desire shall fail.” The stupid hearer straight
ened up: "Mfjiter, did you/say the grass-*
hoppers wan’t coming any more ?” It was
almost too much for the gravity of the pul
pit—the beseeching tone cf the interruption,
and its plain intimation, “If you did say
that., yon are the man for me.”
Night brought us to El Monte, the home
of brother Ellis, in the hospitalities of which
we had occasion to remark, as often before,
how well our Southern people can adapt
themselves to the situation, and without
Phillis, or Bridget, or “John," or Sambo,
live comfortably and elegantly. Our friend’s
kindness did not stop here. Next day he
favored ns and others with his company.
We visited the San Gabriel Mission, which
bears the marks of Frement’s cannon in its
east gable. Close to the mountains is that
gravelly soil so well suited to vineyards and
orchards, but it produces nothing except
small grain, without irrigation. Here are
the larger plantations and more expensive.
Mr. Wilson has over two hundred acres in
vines, and his yield this year of wine and
brandy is reckoned at two hundred thonsand
gallons. Mr. Bose has a more fancy place ;
much money and taste have been expended
upon it. Here are a thousand orange-trees,
some of them bending with fruit. His wal
nuts and lemons are fruitful, but the olive
will not yield much oil this season. The
vintage was over and the last of the wine-
pressing was done just before we came. Ten
men (Mexicans or Indians, I cannot tell
them apart) were sitting at the door of the
warehouse-looking building with pantaloons
rolled up above their knees ; the eleventh
was playing a hose on his calves and ankles,
washing off. Within I saw the places they
had left. Twelve cisterns stood in a row.
On each lay a vat six feet long by three
wide, and fourteen inches deep, and as the
juice was expressed it ran through small
apertures into the vessel below. The stems
and skins and seed and lees were distilled
into brandy—the woe-making still-worm be
ing near and at its baDeful work. I had
supposed this ancient method ©f treading
out grapes done away. Nothing, it seems,
is like the human foot for making pure wine.
Machinery breaks the seed, and thus spoils
the flavor that connoisseurs delight in.
It is proper to say that the moral results
hoped for by the friends of Temperance
have not been realized. It was said that
the same effect would follow vine-culture in
America as in Europe, where the juice of
the grape is a common beverage, and drank
enness is uncommon. Soil or climate or
national temperament tends to a different
resnlt here. Our countrymen do not get
disgusted at strong drink because a weaker
is abundant and cheap; nor does access to
it take off the edge of morbid appetite. A
friend in the grain-growing region gave me
his experience: “land my neighbors were
accustomed to turn the product of our little
vineyard into wine, after using what we
wanted for eating, and for drying into rais
ins. But I noticed that two or three of
them caught red noses, and one became a
confirmed drunkard. My wife and I took
counsel on it, and agreed to make no more
wine than what was needed for our vine
gar.”
We could not extend our trip to those
other valleys that make up the territory of
this youngest and smallest (in numbers) of
the Conferences —the San Fernandino Val
ley, the Santa Barbara, tbe San Bernardino,
the San Louis Obispo, and others.
Thursday evening found us in the city
again, where we filled an appointment at
the Conrt-honse—both preaching. As this
was the city “of the angels,” Dr. S. told
them he would, instead of exhorting, preach
a short sermon on 1 Pet. i. 12: “ Which
things the angels desire to look into.” Our
Church have a lot here, and must this year
have a house on it. If the right “trans
fer ” can be found for this place (and I am
in search of one) a strong Society may soon
be built up. I have nowhere seen a more
open door; we must enter and occupy, not
only for the sake of the place itself, but on
account of its relations to other positions.
Our kind host, brother Long, with his
wife, left nothing to be desired by ns dur
ing our stay with them. He gave me a view
of the city and its lovely suburbs. We rode
by a field where four natives were gathering
the crop, and emptying their baskets into
a wagon standing in the head row. I en
tered with them, and assisted one in filling
his basket, reoeiving graiias. There is a
joint in the stem, near its junction with the
vine, which, to a practiced hand, snaps off
clean and easily. No stakes are used—the
vines, from one and a half to four inches in
diameter, are cut off three or five feet above
the ground, and stand upright, supporting
laterals and fruit, A thousand to the acre
is the rnle, and under good cnltnre and seas
MACON, GA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1872.
sons they yield from ten to twenty pound*-
each. Small fanners bring in their crops to
the manufacturers, and are selling this year
at the low figure of seventy-five cents per
hundred ponnds.
I said to my friend, “ There is one thing
I have failed to see—men in (he ad of tread
ing the press.” “You shall see it,” he re
plied, and took me to the place. There it
was, differing a trifle from the order and
the neatness of Bose’s establishment. The
wine-press was large—conld hold a wagon v
load—and was so inclined that the fluid ran
out at one corner in a trough. Six men
were in it, and they looked weary, remind
ing one of horses treading clay for brick. J'
is downright hard work, and there is no law"
against perspiration. One of the six, a
Dutchman, had on his old boots, and
tramped tremendoasly. Another’s pant'
had fallen about his ankles, and were sadl/'
bedraggled. It was a squelching mess, f.
sight and sound. Desiring to see the vi,
gin color when the dusters are freshly brok
en, I selested from a wagon, waiting to diA
charge its load, three bunohea that Wocn!
average two or two and afe£f ponnds, and
piling them compactly iir a vacant corner Jt"
the vat, requested a with A
proper big foot, to <yngh them. He
tated, as if a trick against hint ike”-.-:?*
pected; bnt on being assured by the m*u‘™
boots, he advanced and pnt his foot on then.
It would have made the gorge of a wit 4-
bibber rise to see how the purple juice
boiled up between his toes! They say that
all that is bad works off in the process if
fermentation. Let us hope so.
And now, if the reader is tired of thipjjl
crave pardon, and have done with it. ft
was all new to me and interesting.
Do I advise anybody to move? I durst
not. Some have been benefltted by mov
ing; others worsted. Go and see; bnt 6e
prepared to stay, for it may take all you’ve
got to get there. The poor will be always,
and—they are everywhere. The local com
pensations of Providence are striking. Nev
ertheless, some places are better than others.
We took passage for San Diego—one hun
dred miles south, and five hundred froTh'
San Francisco—the terminus of a line of
steamers, and the terminus of our trip also/
But I have gone on with minor matters to
such length, that another letter is required
for treating of graver things. H. N. M.
Wiiut Ministers Give.
It Las been lately repeatedly proposed
(at the last Synod and in the Christian
World) that, since so lamentably litll&j?!:
done for the extension of our Church, the
ministers of the gospel themselves shonld
take the lead in giving of their substance
for this laudable purpose.
We are not at all opposed to this, because
there are some ministers in our Church who
have substance, and are therefore able to give.
But onr object in this writing is to drawihe
attention of the lay members to a few facts
—a few considerations—which have perhaps
never entered their minds, in regard to what
ministers have already actually given, and
are giving every imar. Our object in doing
this is precisely tne same that those had in
view who proposed that ministers should
take the lead in giving, namely; to excite
in the members a feeling of shame at their
own indifference, and thus stir them up to
more activity.
We will commence by stating a fact wh.ch
may—and ongkt to—astonish some men in
the Church who think they have nudj> a
wonderful sacrifice because they may have
given one hundred, or five hundred, cr a
thousand dollars to tba Church. The fact
is this: there are now ministers in our Church
who have, up to the present date, given no ’ess
than $60,000 to'the Church ; others wkc’ have
given no less than $25,000; others who have
given no less than SIO,OOO or $5,000. Yon
ask: “ Jlow do yon ih#j^ufc|L-j§iM!
'.rise to< explain, 'i'he first statement is true
of ministers in our Church who have la
bored, say for twenty-five years, as pastors
or otherwise, whose average yearly income
has been no more than six or seven hnndred
dollars, whilst, with the talents, education
and ability they possess, if they had, daring
these twenty-five years, been engaged in
Borne worldly calling, as lawyers, physicians,
merchants ©r manufacturers, there can be
not the least doubt in any candid mind but
that some of them, at least, would have be
come men of great wealth. In what
cnmstances do we find these men now?
Why, with the utmost frugality they have
not been able to make more than a bare
living. Can we not say, with full truth, that
these men have given their whole wealth,
say $60,000, or, in a few cases, perhaps,
SIOO,OOO, to the Church? And in a similar
way we would explain the other statements
made above.
There are at present, perhaps, no less than
fifty or one hundred (or may be more) min
isters in our Church who have in every way
the ability to make 82,000 a year as school
principles or in some other occupation,
whilst their salaries now, as pastois, rarely
exceed seven bnndre.d dollars, if n .-feed they
reach that stint. Can we not say, with full
truth, that these inert give, yearly, §1,206"
to the Church V
We do not write this to flatter anybody.
Nor do we deny that there are some minis
ters who, in our opinion, do not earn more
than they get. But this has nothing to do
with the above statements. All must ad
mit their truth.
Dear friend, if you are a man worth
850,000, and you should give one-half of
this to the Churoh, you would not be doing
such a very wonderful thing, if our state
ments above are true. And there is a real
possibility for you to do this. You will
have 825,G00 left to live on and give to your
children.
Let me say a few things in regard to this
latter point: giving to your children. Con
cerning this there is prevalent a deeply
rooted trror. Most parents think the more
they can give to their children the belter it
is for them. There is hardly a greater prac
tical mistake found among men. Universal
and continual experience teaches just the
opposite ; the more you give to children
the worse lor them, in this world and that
to eome. Season teaches the same thing.
There is, perhaps, no way in which you
coifid throw a larger number of the strong
est temptations right across the path of
your child than by leaving him large pos
sessions. And by this we do not mean tens
of thousands only, but even a few thousand.
There are, comparatively, very few youDg
men and women whose moral organization
is strong enough to resist all these tempta
tions. In these assertions we stand on the
rock of universal experience.
Or if you are worth 830,000, or 820,000,
or 810,000. and you give half of it to the
Church, you will not be doing any more
than a large number of ministers are doing,
according to our calculations above.
Or, say your yearly income is 81,000, if
you give 8300 of this to the Church every
year, you will be doing no more than those
ministers who might earn 81,000. and are
now laboring in the Church for 8700. And
so forth.
O! ye men of money, be it 85,000 or 8100,-
000, remember that you must, at some fu
ture Jime, render an acconnt, before the
great and just God, of every dollar, every
cent, given in your care; how you have used
it—whether for yourself or for God’s glory
in the welfare of souls!
The Gbeat Mission of Woman.—Great
indeed is the task assigned to%oman! Who
can elevate its dignity ? Not to make laws,
not to lead armies, net to govern empires;
but to form those by whom laws are made,
armies led, and empires governed; to guard
against the slightest taint of bodily infirmi
ty the frail, yet spotless creature, whose
moral, no less than physical being, must be
derived from her; to inspire those princi
ples, to ineulcate those doctrines, to ani
mate those sentiments which generations
yet unborn, and nations yet uncivilized
will learn to bless; to soften firmness into
mercy, and chasten honor into refinement;
to exalt generosity into virtue by a soothiDg
oare to allay the anguish of the mind; by
her tenderness to disarm passion; by her
parity to triumph over sense; to cheer the
scholar sinking under his toil; to console
the statesman for the ingratitude of a mis
taken people; to be compensation for
friends that are perfidious—for happices
that has passed away, Suoh is her vocation.
The coneh of the tortured sufferer, the
prison of the deserted friend, the cross
•the rejected Savionr—these are theatres on
which her greatest triumphs have been
achieved. Such is her destiny; to visit the
forsaken, to attend the neglected when
monarcha abandon, when counselors be
tray, when injustice persecutes, when breth
ren and disciples flee, to remain unshaken
and unchanged, and to exhibit in this lower
world a type of that love, constant, pure,
and ineffable, which in another we are
tanght to believe the test of virtue.—Blatk
*wood’s Magazine.
The Rest of the Soul.
Our Creator’s blessings, bonntifnl as they
are, do not satisfy onr sonls, because our
souls are much snperior to them. Nor could
| these souls be filled with temporal blessings,
even though these blessings were still more
abundant and precious. It was never
intended by the Creator that His gifts to
his creatures should satisfy them, but only
that these gifts should lead His creatures np
to Himself, the Giver, the infinite original
sonree of all good, who can satisfy them.
And to Him must they go, if they are ever
to find a substantial and supreme portion, a
sure and complete rest.
The spiritual difficulty with mankind is,
that they have lost their true center of
repose, by turning away from God, by
rupturing their union and commnnion with
Deity, and hence, in their case, as in the
case of other things which lose their equi
poise, there is unrest. As until “streams
and brooks reach their proper depths in
river or sea, they fret their mountain chan
nel,” as until “ the waves of ocean disturbed
by the storm, rest again in their natural
and common level, they heave and sway
themselves,” as until the equilibrium and
harmony of nature’s elements are restored,
forked lightnings leap from the clouds, and
the thunder bellows in the heavens ; so in
the moral world, commotion, disquietude
and dissatisfaction reign, until the spirit of
man, born for and craving an infinite good,
finds its ancient and original heritage and
rest, in Him, who is the alone Infinitely
Trne and Holy, and Fair.”
When Jenny Lind, the unrivalled female
singer was in this country, and was in the
height of her triumph, an album was handed
her by one of her friends and admirers,
with a request for her autograph, and a few
paragraphs. She returned it with her name
and a few lines. The lines were these :
“ In vain I seek for rest,
In all created good;
It leaves me still unblest,
t And makes me sigh for Ood;
. And sure at rest I cannot be,
Until my soul finds rest In Thee.”
Yes : it is notin sensual pleasure, in the
song, and the dance, the theatre, and the
opera, nor yet in bodily ease, wealth, honor,
and power that rest for the soul is found,
but only in God. ‘ ‘ Como unto me, ye weary
and heavy-laden ones, and I will give you
rest,” is the invitation of incarnate benevo
lence, he who made man, and knows what
is in man, and what man must have, to give
him snre repose. And if we would not be
disappointed, ill at ease, restless “ as a bird
that has wandered from her nest,” would
not have aspirations ungratified, and a sense
of existence unfulflilled, wo must say,
“return unto tby rest, O my soul,” and
■ come back to tbe bosom of the Father of
—bo reconciled to God through
Jesus Christ.
Our springs aro in Him, springs of com
fort that never dry ; and tbe creature who
goes to Him, takes Him for his portion,
abides in His love, under His genial shadow,
rests in Him, is the happy possessor of
peace, “ peace passing all understanding,
which the world can neither give nor take
Way.”— Religious Herald.
J. Pillow Prayers.
who knows nothing of -pillow prayers
is ignorant of one of the sweetest modes of
.prayer practicable cn earth. The day with
its engrossments being gone, it is a most
favorable time for the gathering in of oiir
thoughts upon ourselves—our sins, our
wants fears and hopes, and then the turn
ing of them up towards heaven. This is
what the Psalmist is apparently referring to
in his words, “ When I remember thee
upon my bed, and meditate upon thee in
the night watches.” That ho uttered many
a pillow prayer is a thousand fold more
than probable. “ I have remembered tby
mme, O Lord, in the night.” “I prevent
ed the dawning of tbe morning and cried.”
1 aose cries were prayers before the dawn of
dty.”
If these prayers of the pillow, however,
be begotten only of sheer evening sloth, we
may say of them that they are “bastards
and not sons." But if they are the legiti
mate children of wickedness, excessive
"weariness, sickuess, or other similsr circum
stances, then tLey are of the true house and
lineage of heaven, coming down in kindred
ship all the way from Bethel, where the
overjaded Jacob had his angelic vision on
his pillow of stones.
Many a timid boy at boarding-school
with boisterous room-mates about him, has
alive his prized communion with his
‘father on high, and so, perhaps, saved his
soul by means of his silent pillow prayers.
Boys, try them ! Girls dont neglect them!
Invalids, with your eyes so often held long
Waking in the night season, distrust not the
pillow prayers. Hundreds are continually
climbing to heavenjon them, as on a ladder.
If you, perchance, fall asleep in the act, do
not fret about it. For what opiate from the
shop of the apothecary is so harmless as
such an outbreaking of yonr holiest desires
upward ? What is sweeter than to loseyour
self in such a prayer ? For prayer is sim
ply a form of thought toward God, and
nothing can be more fitting to the very
last moments of daily consciousness than
such thoughts.— Christian Weekly.
Family Religion.
Love to God, the principle of religion
ruling in the heart,. will manifest itself in
every relation. Its influence in the family,
and thereby on the community, is invalua
ble. It has been wisely said that if onr
churches were closed, and there were no
magistrates, religion in the family would
preserve the community.
Sea the household at their accustomed
devotions. The sacrifice of prayer and
yaise devoutly offered at the domestic altar
is more that, ceremony. It is higher than
duty, higher than privilege. It is commun
ing with God. The Holy Spirit sheds the
oil of gladness on them. They are strength
need by grace for the neceesary duties of
life; in the spirit of prayer they go to their
daily work; in humble confidence in God
they expect and fiud His blessing abiding
with them.
Here is a fountain of holy influences
whioh may be always fnll and flowing.
Christian parents, it devolves on you to
keep it always at its full height. Do you
love tho Saviour? Do you show it to your
family? If in your heart, it can not be hid.
It will appear in your spirit of kindness,
in your conversation, in all your conduct.
The family relation is appointed of God,
“that he might seek a godly seed,” Your
children are receiving impression from
every circumstance. Your example will
lead them early to the cross of Christ, or
produce indifference to their personal sal
vation. Do you have family worship? Is
it regularly performed? Say not you have
no talent for it. You can, at least, read a
portion of Scripture, and offer the Lord’s
Prayer. Do this and you will find it in
yonrjieurt to continue in your petitions for
your family and others. This is a standing
exhortation to piety, a constant invitation
to your children to devote their hearts and
Ifves to the service of God.
A pious father, whose children were all
early converted, when asked by bis son why
he never talked with his children about
their conversion, said that “he had known
muoh said by parents whose example hin
dered the force of their conversation, and
he preferred that his children might learn
from his example the reality of religion;
and they were always remembered in family
prayers.” The consistent exampl of piety
of those parents rendered their prayers ef
fectual and availing in the early conversion
of their children. The family thns became
a chnroh in a house.
This strongest of associations becomes
donbly bo when Christian affection is added
to natural affection. The more these are
multiplied in the community, the greater
the influence of godliness in the nation.
Unconverted men feel that it is a protection
to them to have praying families for neigh
bors. Often from this consideration have
they been led to begin religions lives.
Christian parents, will you improve your
opportunity to honor God in your family?
Will you be, by His graoe, a blessing to the
community? Then let yonr example be
fore your household, and also your religions
services, witness yonr high purpose.— Zion’s
Herald.
Living Flowers.
BY SABAH DOUDNBT.
“ Flowers that could bles3 you for having blessed
them, and will love for having loved them: flow
ers that have eyes like yours, and thoughts like
yours, and lives like yours; which, once saved,
you save forever.”— John Jtuskin.
In the cool tempered light and mellow shade
I saw you atand amid your plants, one day,
Sprinkling the slender fronds that seemed to fade
With showers of silvery spray.
And as the tremulous sunlight softly crept
Into the ripples of your golden hair,
And your white robes across the blossoms swept,
I thought they loved your care.
II you could kiss the rose’s velvet mouth,
To charm the cruel caukerworm away,
And cry, “Awake, O north wind! come, thou
south!
Breathe on my flowers to-day; ”
Would you not love to save them from the blight,
And flush them into beauty fresh and new ?
To bring them gifts of fuller life ami light,
Sunshine and limpid dew ?
This you van do, for fairer flowers than these—
Flowers that have thoughts and feelings like
your own;
Whose stems are broken by the stormy breeze,
Whose freshest tints are flown.
Out in the darkness of the miry strest
Those bruised lilies iu their weakness lie ;
Down-trodden by the tramp of reckless feet.
Left there alone t > die.
Go raise them gently—wash away the stain
On thuir whin- petals with your tender grief;
Your tears shall fall like showers of precious rtin,
Cleansing each sullied leaf.
Oh, give those human blossoms human love!
Uplift the fallen seventy times and seven ;
Save these Bweet living things to bloom above,
In the fair land of heaven.
—Sunday at Home.
Parent* and tlie Sunday-schools.
Many average parents consider their duty
begun, continued, and ended, when they
have started their children for the Sunday
school. Many parents are ignorant of the
Sunday-school lesson, or whether the chil
dren are properly prepared upon the same
or not; So, often, many children come to
their classes utterly oblivious of where the
lesson is. They come in a nebulous condi
tion. Their motive isnine-teiitL play, one
tenth something else.
The charge is brought that Sunday-school
instruction is usurping the place of family
training. Whose fault is it if all the Bible
teaching the scholar reoeives comes through
the teacher, possibly, iu some case?, a young
and inexperienced baud, when the parent
throws off all responsibility of parents !
Parents ought to know what ’is being
done at the Sunday-school. They ought to
know who teaches their children, what in
fluence is brought to bear upon them. No
man would trust hi3 cattle for six months
in the hands of a stranger of whom he knew
nothing. Yet many parents are careless
about their children’s best interests. Oh,
parents! make the Sunday-school teacher
of your children your friend. If worthy, of
the right character, co operate with him in
his “labor of love,” See to it, that tbeles
sonsare thoroughly learned, committed and
understood by your children. Devote even
a single half-hour, if no more, going over
with them the principal topics of the les
son. In this abort time mnoh will be done.
Do not defer this till Sabbath morning.
Understand the lesson yourself. See to it
that your children memorize it. Simplify
it to them. Aid thorn as thoroughly as may
be in your power. Then send them to the
school, hoping for God’s blessing.
There is complaint that much of the
teaching in Sunday-school is Superficial.
Whose fault is this? Parents themselves
should keep in close relation with the Sun
day-school. Where practical every father
and mother shonld belong there. They have
not yet reached the limits of knowledge.
Let children feel that their parents are in
sympathy with the Sunday school, thattliey
consider the study important, that all their
efforts are put fo.-th to help them along,
then all the impressions of tho Sunday
school are deepened, and the most hopeful
results may be confidently expected. —Ad
dress before the California Convention.—S S.
Times.
The Honey and the Gold.
There is ho way of feediug upon the
Word except by thinking well over it. Per
haps no learned scholar evr attained a deep
er insight into the real spirit of God's truth
than a poor widow, who, in her penury, al
lowed herself still the one luxury of u half
hour’s candle light after her toilsome day
was done, that she mig/ht read her preoious
Bible. Experience bad taught her how far
it would burn iu a half hour. So it was her
custom to light it for a few moments, and
read such a portion as she thought she
could remember, aud then blow out her
light, and think it over. So she continued
to do until the mark on her candle was
reached. Surely such meditations, joined
with humble prayer, could not fail to extract
the pure honey from this precious honey
comb. The joy of that evening feast more
than made amends for all tbe day’s ills. She
lived the truths she had thus made her own,
and was truly said to be “mighty in the
Scriptures.”
Another poor, lone womau, who had
walked by the steady light of her old famil
iar Bible, for a long lifetime, found that her
failing eyesight could serve her no longer.
She could not find her favorite passages for
otliprs to read. She resorted at last to the
expe-huiit of placing pins carefully in tbe
margin opposite them, and when any one
came to visit her she would pass her with
ered fingers down the page, and bog them
to “read here” or “ rt-ad there.” When
she died, a hundred and sixty-eight pins
were found in the book. Are there pins in
our Bibles ? Have we our golden passages,
to which we turn in time of trouble or any
need ? If we feed well on the Word, this
will be our only true solace, our strong and
sure helper.
We can never gain the gospel gold except
we delve for it. Careless reading over a
chapter or two will never secure it. Better
one verse with meditation, than tbe whole
book read thoughtlessly.
Too Good for God.
Some people act as though their best
things were too good for God. Tlieir high
est endeavors are the world’s. Their corn
and wine and oil gladden their own hearts,
and on particular occasions the hearts of
their friends. But they give grudgingly to
God.
Their children are trained for the world.
That bright, earnest-eyed boy is too good
to be a minister; be is too good to be a
missionary; be is too good for God.
Tie writer of this knew a young man who
wanted to be a missionary, but- his wealthy
and worldly father thought be was too good
for that-, so he made a merchant of him.
The young man went sadly about liis dail
ly tasks. Like tbe statue v£ Columbus at
Genoa, wbich is made ever to look longing
ly westward, tbe heart of the young man
would look longingly toward the ministry
—towards the sublime service of that prince
of missionaries, the Lord Jesus Christ.
“ Too good fur God." Look out, profes
sor of religion, lest in the great day, you,
who have thought your best earthly posses
sions too good for God, shall find that
heaven, Christ and everlasting glory aro too
good for you.— Am. Messenger.
A Lost Life.—A young man whr con
verted during an illness which proved fatal,
though this was not apprehended when he
gave his heart to Christ. When death ap
proached, he expressed entire resignation,
and requested his friends to sing a hymn.
An hour or two after, in the silence of the
room, he was heard to say: “Lost, lost,
lost!” This surprised his mother, and caused
the immediate inquiry: “My son, are your
hopes feeble?" “ No, mother; but O, my
lost life-time! I’m twenty-four, and, until a
few weeks since, nothing has been done for
Christ, and everything for myself and my
pleasures. My companions will think I’ve
made a profession in view of death. O!
that I conld live to meet this remark, and
do something to show my sincerity, and to
redeem my lost, lost, lost life!”
Domestic Life.
Domestic life is the school of patience.
Its duties, its difficulties, and its delights,
too, are constantly recurring. Only the
work of to-day oan be done to-day. There
is a sameness, also, in the mere external
form, on ever-recurring round that mast
disgust, or make -one a mere mechanical
drudge, nnlesa the heart is put into the
work, and the little, oommon, trivial acts
are made the embodiment of noble ends.
Step by step, stitch by stitch, stroke by
stroke, the work goes on. One round of
duty is completed only to commence an
other. Every day is a lesson and a practi
cal exercise in patience. It is a good lesson,
and we need to learn and practice it. It
helps us to do another work which is abso
lutely necessary to the perfection of human
character and the happiness of home, and
that is the surrender of self. When two
persons unite ic the marriage relation they
become one by mutual concessions. They
mutually approach each other. There is
much to give up as well as to give on both
sides. There are many sharp corners to be
rounded off, many rough surfaces to be
made smooth, and many crooked ways to
be made straight, and irregularities to be
adjusted. Some of these are in the very
grain of the constitution; some of them
have been confirmed and hardened into
habit, and it is difficult to make any im
pression upon them. Neither must seek to
make self the standard, and to exact all the
surrender and conformity from the other.
Neither must seek to become the other, bnt
something better than either. When two
substances unite, chemically, the result is a
substance different from either of its com
ponents. So it should be in marriage. The
result should be favorable to husband and
wife. Each one should become freer, no
bler, stronger, purer and wiser—should at
tain a higher excellence than either could
attain alone. This will always be the re
sult when the rale of action is mutual sur
render, accommodation and help. Each
should inquire, What can I yield ? In what
respect and how far can I reform ?
Every day will briDg occasions to put our
principles to the test. There are diversi
ties of taste, of feeling, of judgment, of
principle. Happy are those who can yield
their own preferences so cheerfully that the
diversities of character are softened and
shaded off into harmonious varieties, and
not hardened into irritating and hostile op
posion.
A great part of the sum of domestic mis
ery is eaused by this want of mutual accom
modation, in apparently trivial things. It
is as though the builder had left here and
there in the floor, partitions and passages,
the sharp points of nails to pierce the feet
and rend the garments ; or as thongh a
thousand rough surfaces and sharp corners
were fretting the inmates, and loose, ill-fit
ting joints were annoying them. If we
could see the spiritual house as we see the
natural, we should discover all these defects
in the very walls. We would see the marks
and scars of painful collisions ; the want of
proportion and harmony in the various
apartments. I repeat, then, if we desire to
have the work in onr spiritual building to
go on harmoniously to a successful and no
ble issue, we must seek harmony in' little
things. Our intercourse must be courteous
and respectful. We must be filled with that
worthy fear which is the offspring of love—
not fear of each other, but fear for each
other; fear of ourselves that we may be
wanting in some attention or respect; fear
that we may do less for each other and ex
act more from each other than we ought.
In a word We must seek the good of each
other and of all in the honae, and around
that end as a centre the life of each and all
shonld revolve in freedom.
Tact in Christian Effort.
Talent is something, but tact is every
thing. Talent is serious, grave and respect
able ; tact is all that, and more too. It is
not a sixth sense, but it is the life of
all the five. It is the open eye, the
quick ear, the judging taste, tbe keen smell
and lively touch; it is the interpreter'of all
riddles, the snrmounter of all difficulties,
the remover of all obstacles. It is useful in
solitude, for it shows a man his way into
the world; it is useful in society, for it
shows him his way through the world. Tal
ent is power, tact is skill; talent is weight,
talent is momentum ; talent knows what to
do, taot knows how to do it; talent makes a
man respectable, tact will make him re
spected ; talent is wealth, tact is ready
money. For all the practical purposes of
life, taet carries it against ten to one. Take
them to the bar together, and let them shake
their learned curls at each other in legal ri
valry ; talent sees its way clearly, but taot is
soonest at its journey’s end. Talent has
many a compliment from the bench, but
tact touohes fees from attorneys and clients.
Talent speaks learnedly and logically, taot
triumphantly. Talent makes the world won
der that it gets on no faster, tact exoites as
tonishment that it gets on so fast. And the
secret is, that it has no weight to carry, it
makes no false step, it loses no time, it takes
all hints, and, by keeping its eye on tbe
weather cock, it is able to take advantage of
every wind that blows. Take them to church.
Talent has always something worth hearing,
tact is sure of an abundance of hearers ; tal
ent may obtain a living, tact will make one;
talent gets a good name, tact a great one ;
talent is an honor to the profession, taot
gains honor from the profession. Place
them in the Senate. Talent has the ear of
the house, but tact wins its heart and has
its votes. It has a knack of stepping into
place with a sweet silence and glibness of
movement. It seems to know everything ;
it has no left hand, no deaf ear, no blind
side. It puts on no looks of wondrous wis
dora, it has no air of profundity, but plays
with the details of place as dextrously as a
well taught hand flourishes over the piano
forte. It has all the air of common place,
and the force and power of genius. London
Atlas.
Seek After Illustrations.
Having discovered your plan, prepare
yourself to teach your lesson in the most
interesting way. Preparation of manner is
second only iu importance to preparation
of material, for if you cannot win the atten
tion, you cannot capture the intellect nor
gain the heart. Seek for fitting, sparkling,
impressive illustration. Seek it in nature
—and by nature I mean everything besides
God and the Bible, for the devil is a part of
nature, of nature self-perverted and ruined,
yet studiable—seek it in nature, whose
manifold departments are the store-houses
of divine thought. Each spiritual truth
has its physical type, its material symbol,
sweetly sleeping somewhere near you. It
sleeps lightly. It will awake at your gentlest
touch. Awake it. Call it up. Bid it pre
sent your lesson in its attractive costume
aud tones. Its voice is always heavenly mu
sic. The tints of its garments are from the
hands of the great Painter. None can help
listening to its voice and gazing upon its
vesture. Christ, the Teacher of teachers,
spoke in parables. Imitate him. Speak
through illustration. Let this become your
mental habitude: that every truth in your
soul shall come from lips clothed iu a win
ning form, which it has taken from nature.
The habit will beautify your own mind aud
attract the minds of others; for nature, too,
is God’s sacred Scripture—his own hand
writing, full of wisdom, grace, love, tender
ness, infinite beauty. Look into the Bible,
and then upon nature —earth, sea, 6ky,
fauna, flora—look everywhere, and bring
back through memory’s enorgies all that
you have ever seen, and by imagination
worked over, and weaved, with fancy’s mys
tic shuttle, garments of loveliness and robes
of grandeur for the truths which you desire
to teach.— Sunday-tehool Teacher.
E A glad, brave nature meets the ills of life
courageously, conquers its diffioulties, and
rises above them into the sunshine of happi
ness overhead.
F. M. KENNEDY, D. D., EDITOR
WHOLE NUMBER 1930
Miscellanea.
Bishop Colenso is preparing an abridged
edition of his work on the Pentateuch for
popular circulation.
The centenary of the birth of LinuKmg,
the great botanist, will be celebrated ia
January next, at Stockholm.
Prop. Agassiz has been elected a member
of the French Academy of sciences, to fill
the vacanoy oansed by the death of Sir B.
Murchison.
Ludwig Feuerbach, the German philoso
pher, who died at Nuremberg on September
13, expired in saying, “Troth, O truth !
where is it ?”
A World’s Benefactor. —A statue has
been erected to Sir Humphrey Davy at Pen
zance, Eng., hi3 birthplace, representing
him holding the miner’s safety lamp in his
right hand.
The Eoyal Geographical Society has sent
a letter of thanks to James Gordon Bennett,
for the part he took in the discovery of
Livingstone, and has voted Stanley a Victo
ria medal of 1872.
We are gratified to learn from the Presby
terian and Index, that the sale of the First
Edition of Dr. Thomwell’s works has yield
ed his family a royalty of SI,OO0 —a second
edition is to be published.
Samuel Austin Allibone, author of an
enormous critical dictionary of authors,
making 3,140 pages, forty indexes, including
forty-six on lives, is secretary and editor of
the American Sunday-school Union.
A Jew by the name of Aaron Philipssoa
has been elected from Gothenburg to the
Legislature of Sweden. This is the first
instance of such an election that the history
of that country can offer, and is another of
those events which mark the spirit of the
age.
Healthy Fruit. —A lazy, complaining
dyspeptic, meeting a stout and hearty friend,
asked him what he did to make himself so
strong and healthy. “ I live on fruit alone,”
was his reply. “ What kind of fruit do yon
eat?" “The frnit of industry, and lam
never troubled with indigestion.”
The Fuel Question.— The excitement iu
England and France at the diminishing
snpply of coal is extending to Germany and
Bassia, where the attention of the people
and of the anthorities is dlreoted to the
rapid clearing of the forests, and to the ne
cessity of substituting mineral combustibles
for wood, which baa been generally used.
In the Lion’s Mouth.— Eev. Mr. Van
Meter writes that he has seoureda desirable
building for a Bible school and preachiDg
place in the Leonine Gity of Borne, on the
street, leading from St. Peter’s to the castle
of St. Angelo, within a hundred yards of
the piazza in front of St. Peter’s, and 200
yards from the Vatican and the old Inquisi
tion I
A Presbyterian ohuroh in Indiana of
about eighty members has the financial plan
for each member to give one tenth of his in
come, and the money is thrown into the box
on Sabbath morning. Thongh the mem
bers are nsnally poor, about SIOOO is nsnally
thrown into the box during the year, from
which the minister’s salary is paid, leaving
something for benevolent purposes.
A letter from Jerusalem says: Laborers
working under the direction of a distin
guished French lady, the Princess de la
Tour d’Auvergne, have just discovered on
the Mount of Olives, near the Church of
the Pater, a splendid specimen of ancient
Mosaio in four colors—white, red, black and
yellow. It is sixteen feet long, but as yet
only six of its width has been uncove red.
This relic, it is believed, belonged to so me
sumptuous Boman habitation.”
Bulgaria.— The American Board of (Com
missioners for Foreign Missions are jne*i re
inforcing their Bnlgarirn Missjior b- L"A
ing out three additional missionaries. They
are also strongly reinforcing their labors in
India by adding to their number some seven
teen more. Mexico is also having a place
in their attention; they have recently
strengthened, or will shortly be strengthen
ing, their forces there.
Mbs. Kavanaugh, wife of Bishop Kava
nangh, was present during the session of
the Pacific Conference, Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, held in Santa Bosa, Sonoma
county, California. Toward the close of
Conference she was invited to make an ad
dress, which she did, directing her remarks
mainly to the ministers and the wives of the
ministers. A Correspondent says, “It drew
tears from all eye*.”
Jewish Conference.— A general Confer
ence of Jews is in session in Brussels, Bel
gium. Delegates are present from all conn
tries. Delegates from Boumania have laid
before it the condition of their people in
the Principalities. They propose to peti
tion the Boumanian Chamber for fall civil
and political rights, and state that the in
tention of emigrating en masse to America
has been abandoned. It was said that 8,000
families intended coming to Amerioa.
What a Change.— The minister, in Borne,
of the Free Church of Scotland, says that
they are occnpying two rooms with remark
able traditions. Their first building opened
for public preaching, formerly was the
Seminary of the Inquisition, where it is said
the Apostle Paul preached, and where
martyrs were tortured, as late as 1533. Their
second building was tbe palace of the old
government, where “the Popes used to
administer injustice.”
Injurious and Offensive,— The Protest
ant Episcopal Society for the Increase of
the Ministry, at their recent meeting at
Brooklyn, adopted anew by-law, earnestly
enjoining upon its scholars “abstinence
from the use of tobacco and intoxicating
drinks.” The Chenango Presbytery liave
resolved not to license any one to preach
who uses tobacco in any form, except by
medical direction. Other religious bodies
are taking similar ground.
Here is a new heorine ef the genuine typo.
When the news of the Boston fire reached
St. Albans, an Irish servant girl there, who
had lived some years before in a Boston
family, wrote to her former mistress beg
ging her to accept of two hnndred dollars
the savings of the girl’s lifetime—as a free
gift in a time of need. Let Boston put that
girl’s statue in an honored place. It may
be a homely thing, but no work of art could
do the city greater honor.
It is not generally known that the veteran
Peter Cartwright, though advanoed in years
and in firm health, never was plaoed on the
superannuated list, as he would never cou
sent to be so regarded. Just previous to
the late session of this Conference, writes a
correspondent to Zion's Herald, fearing his
brethren might put him iu that relation, he
found himself in his dying condition, and
protested
before his death,*his name was read out by
Bishop Bowman as “Conference Mission
ary.”
The transit of Venus, which occurs in
1871, will be a very important event in tiie
astronomieal world. From data obtained at
the transit of 1769, Encke computed the
distance of the son from the earth to lie
95,000,000 miles. Other methods cf com
putation have given varying distances. A
favorable transit occurs only once in centu
ries ; hence its importance as a means of
establishing the correct distance of the snu.
Tho British Government will establish flvo
stations of observation, with appropriate in
struments ; Germany will send out four gov
ernmental expeditions; Russia and France
will also make authorized observations.
The Accident in Mont Cenis Tunnel.—
A lady passenger in the train gives a graphic
account of the sufferings of the passengers:
“We had got nearly half through when,
without the least warning, except a terrific
noise and an awful crash, which sent us
flying from our seats, our train stopped. In
about five minutes our coupe was filled with
smoke, and we were in total darkness, the
heat was like an oven. Well, we stuck in
this horrible place, without light, alincst
without air, and without help for five hours
We fairly shrieked to God to deliver us. We
wrote our names on slips of paper, in o*sc
we should die in the tunnel. At last we
were taken back to Modane. When wo ar
rived at the station, such a scene I shall
never forget. Some women were in convul
sions ; men were weeping; some had to I
carried from the covpe; my sister and I both
fainted when we put onr feet on safe
ground."