Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, August 5, 1877, Page 9

\ THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY. AUGUST 5, 1877-SIXTEEN PAGES ELIGIOUS. Shall All ofthe Human Race Enjoy a Future Life? An Hypothesis that While Some Men Do Others Do Not. Why Sheuld a Digger Indian Live Forever, Any More than a Néwfoundland Dog? F The Traffie‘in Chureh-Livings by English Clergymen--Extent of the Evil. Yesterday’s Services at the Lake Bluff Camp- Meeting. General Church Notes-==Pious Smiles---Services Toe Day. SHALL WE ALL LIVE AGAIN? 1.—THE NEGATIVE SIDE. From the London Spectator, The answer to the Comtist proposition, that the inmoctality of the soul is only a misdeserip- tion of the posthumous life of man, contained in the last Spectator, is a verv strong one, but Goes nut quite cover the whole cise. There is a he subuer than Mr. Harcison’s and it may Ve tiure dangerous, which at present greatly attracts a few, and by-and-by will attract thousands, who, nevertheless, are not willing to place ‘themselves entirely out- side tlie Christian pale. It attracts me, 1 confes, vay strongly, and, though as yet it is not fairly cntitied to be called 2 faith, but only a working Lypothesis,—a theory that explains much, if not all; of the perplexize problems of cxistence,— peihaps I may be permitted to state it, for the sake of convenience, as ii it were an absolute conviction. I hold, then, as 2 hypothesis. that some men, possibly very many men, a large pro- portion, live agin, but that all men do not; that the potevtiaiity of continued existence, ‘which we vall Sou), is nut an inbereut quality or attribute of the kutuan rave, but an azquired or riven quahty ef sume portion of it only. My reasons for that belief are these: ‘The existence of a Creator, of «sentient ¢ who is the ultimate cause of all material + at bas orcan have cognizance, isassumed. If thavis not granted, we are all thrown back upon a different and fardecper line of arguinent, into which to-day I have neither epice uor inclination to enter; but, that being granted, thea :t follows that the existence of qan must haye some purpose, some object, wich that Creator intends through man to serve. It is simply incredible that so mar- velous an cxertion of power, conscious and farseeing power, as the develop- ment or creation of man, could be mean- ingless, or could bave a small meaning,— could have been accomplished in sport, or for a purely temporary end. About the metliod of the work of creation I say nothing, and, for the purpose of this argument, care. nothing. Whether man is the result of direct creation, or of the slow development of an effective law, is a matter just now of very minor importance. The Being who.couid cre.ie out of nothing or cutof Himself so efficient a material atom that out of it man bad tu spring; the Legislator who vould make a law so far-seeing, 50 wise, and so compelling, that under it, through end- less centuries or cycles of centuries, the fittest must survive, and the un- fit must perish: who could foresce Newton, and campel an Ascidian to such obedience that ‘oui of him Newton not only could come, but tcome,—is a Being anda Legislator that is cnt 1urme. Whether He is the ultimate God, the One of whom man strains 60 perpetu- aily aud fuls so grievously to turma conception, or only a Demiurzus, a subordinate existence in- uustei with delegated power, and capable, thereiore, ahke of mistaie and of ter- mamation,—He is. so utterly above me that, if I can only know His laws, I will obey them; if I can only discover His will, 1 will do it; if I can only ascertain His purpose, I wil’ go my best—as a doz would, and that analogy is lar too lofty—~to insure their fulfill- ieut.” Whatever He ‘is, the notion that, if He exuts, He can have wasted the marvelous energs discernible in the making of man by creat.re tiat or by vi gz law, is incredible, and indeed absurd. here. must—that one hypothesis, the existence of 2 creating Mind, be- dug granted—be a purpose in the making of man. And if man, as a whole, as an existence, dics ‘With this lite, that purpose has failed. Think ofitesue will, regard it from any point of ‘Ties, mes Lis brains till they are sick with thougut, or doubt, or longing, and still the keenest intellectuality among Us has only to ac~ Hnewrlede that man asamortal being is a Jailure. He is not a fit object of loveto a Creat- or. even it one could cunceive of an object of Jove with the lite of an ephemeris, He is not a cuntribution to the glory of God, whatever feuse you may put upon that glory. le is nut of any use, or rather the separate quality in him—the accumulating mind is not of any use, for he, and it, and all its Fains, vast as they may yet become, must, if he is mortal, pass inte nuthingness,—nothingness fo absolute that we may reverse even Emerson’s tremendous sentence, aud affirm that man is not even manure; fur, within a period which, even 4s mortals count, is small, the world will be illed beyond the vivifying effects of any guano 8 Yet discovered, or used, or can become. ho purp man’s existence,—or, to be more exact, ne purpose in the existence of that iu him which separates him from the brute “ii heas uot to endure. Tiere may be—donbtless there are—minas to Waich the idea of God is always present, yet to Wich that argument seeins Weak. So be it. Tam stating an opinion, not pronouncing a ocma, when [cay that to me it is unanswerable that my quind, though capable of holding doubts onall things, even the Hindoo doubt whether all is not Wusion, and capable of at least com- prekending atsulutely negativer thought, re- is ute =the existence of continued existence of ncapable of perceiving that Deism and ‘are uot direct contradictions in worthy. when the conditions are once i ceived, of simultanvous discussiun. But the clicf that the exi-teace of man has a purpose Waichas not fulfilled if he dies hke a flower Gses not carry with it the belict that the exist- cace of every man has equally a purpose which iust always be fulfilled. The purpose may be Xeneral.—something which te whole race of Tuli], and not the individual. In ery o:her department of life we see, or Uking we see, tlhe uperation of the grand law, tae survival of the fittest. Why not in this de- bartment of living after death — in everything else the practice ui the governing Mind ts the Proiusest waste. Why nut in the creation of man! Stare, we knuis, perish. Entire species of living creatures have died out unkvo' Waole races of men, some of them of bigh tie Mertal qualities, have passed wo the abyss. No’ matier perishes; but ‘the beinz into which matter 1s formed cihe tree, the flower, the statue—perishes eiricvably every day. Why should not the mau in whom tiat which his Creator desires, or itmay be necds,—ior I have careiully avoided Tejvction of the possibility that man‘s Creator iay uct be ultimate Ruler who is self-sufficient and perfect,—aiso perisn irretrievably? Is not tue probability so creat as to amount to cer- tainty—many churches affirm it—that the still- bora child perishes ‘like a plucked bud! Aud why should taere not be stiliborn spiritualitice, Persons in whom the anima—the somuthiug, Whatever it is, which has force sufficient to sur- Vive death—never reaches maturity! Why should the congemtal idiot conunue! Or why the Lad man, if he is bad not a3 the world rec! ‘Ous baaness, but as the Author of hfe reckons dt Granted a Creator, and granted a purpose in his creation, why should that which does not fulGll te purpose hot be cast away like the still- born child, the undeveloped acorn, the carbou half-hardened, but not wholly hardencd into mond? That would be waste, for some spiri- tusl essence must have perished? Nay, the spiritual essence must, be. if it exists at all. as buperishable as matter; but, like matter, may, in its dissolution, be but the .material for new iorms. If’ there were but a remnant leit which fulfilled the purpose. or helped to Grry it ov, the object of creation would be ac- complished, and man’s mind have its visible and suflicient place in the great scheme. If only those survived who were tire fittest for the work to be achieved, the law that to all - seeming gov- erns the universe would ve all the more perfect- ly unbroken. Where is the depravation of the idea of Deity, or of the idea of man, in that con- ception? : constitutes fitness} Who But what, then, shall tell? it may be force of will, base as that idea seems; for the one quality which cannot be ina perfect being, and cen be in an imperfect one,—the quality of capacity for effort,—would. sce at first sight the gnality likely to be most worthy of ssurvival. It may be intellectual power, for that seems to be the quality differen- liatiug man from creature otherwise as finely organized by nature as himself. It may be Gvoduess, “the moral — harmon: y Which brings man uearest to the Being Who created hun, and whic when found in mau, always suggests to men of all creeds that in him there is something otherthan himsel{,—some prevenient grace, as the theolo- ns sav. It may ve even, as many heretics wid. belief in. Christ; for though it “is ditlicult ta conceive that, in the faci of the. avsence of that belief, which may be involuntary, there is sSuilt, yet it is certain that, from the presence of that belief, once {ull and complete, arises in man a new and distinctive force.—call it Love, Chanty, Benevoleuce, — Sympatiy, what you " will,—which, ' if the’ parpuse of man’s ercation {s to make of him an agent who can suffer and stri sake of others, may be the very furee he was created to develop. But that the fitness mus! exist, 18 certain; that it cannot and does not exist in all men, is equally certain; and 1 find it ditticult, to understand “why unfitness should survive. Why should a Dieger Indian ive for ever, aly more than a Newioundland doz? Out of the notion that it does survive have ansen the worst half of theologi ideas,—toce beliefs in sacrifices necessary to appease an anery God, in excessive and almost revolting” punisliment,.im the necessity for accuracy about dogma uncer eternal penalties, and in the incurability, except vy a miracle, of the badness in man. ‘The bad consequences which, owing to human perversity, may spring out of any Faith, furnish uo proo! Wuatever that that faith is faise. Many seientine truths, absolute truths, would, if popularly known to an otherwise uneducated world, be extremely mischievous. But it is not certain, though it is ofiyn alleged, that the con- sequences of this faith would ultiniately be bad. + the world advances in intellizence, the dread of extinction may become as jsnWerlul a deter- rent as thatdread of hell whicit bas beea so fearful an addition to tuman suffering, aud has Hitile to check hum: not ta sleep, whatever Mirabeau might and, in the universal reluctance to commit suicide as a inode of escaping suffering, we a partial measure of the reluctance with which the majority of human beirgs would look forward to cunchilation. A few might resolve that life was pleasant, and sleep restrul, and the hope of tuture lite uistracting, and su become mere intellcctua) swine; but, on the otber hand, a lew would, if they could but hold this faith With any certamry, gain from it a new motive fur exertion, for self-sacrifice, and jor that “* missionary Work” ainung men which, often as it is derided. 1s stili the higiest manifesta- tion of altruism,—the work winch whose does in singleness of beart and perfect self-subjuga- tion comes nearest among mankind to the apostolic life. I1—THE AFFIRMATIVE SIDE. The weak spot in thisargument appears to me to lie here: that it treats the future life too much from the side of the hypothetical pur- pese which God has had, or may have had, iu creating us, and tov little from the side of the actual anity with which we have to dea and the indications He bas so given us. In such apaperas this it would be idle to attempt a disquisition on the reasons for anticipating a future life, but I must say this: that thereseem to me even stronger rearuns tur treating men as in this respect all of one type. thau for the faith in immortality itself,—which, however, I firmly hold. This at least is certain: for whatever destiny munis ‘made, it has been prepared for him through long ages of prehistoric, and not only prehistoric, but prebuman existence. The nature thus ‘slowly molded and formed in the great laboratory of the past, nec essatiiy traces back its lineate to a com- mon ancestry of iniiuitely longer duration aud one infinitely more important in its bearing on the nature we now have, than any ancestry which any single race, or tribe, or family, least of all avy incividual, can point to as exclusively itsown. The differences between individual and individual, between family and. family, between race and race, seem to us so great only because we discriminate the differences at once, but sce likeness without disceruin: It is the vast extent of the community of nature uniting us which makes us think so much of the differ- ences of type, and which makes us exageerate taeir relative amount and significance when we come tothink waat immortality means, we feel at once that, whatever may be or may ot be invoived in it, itis at least a character- istic so intrinsically creat and momentous, that a nature carefully prepared for it must have a great many characteristics which a nature not prepared for itand uot imtended for it could hardly share. To suppose that the same tree would bear two compictely distinct kind of fruit—so distinct that the one should go on ripening for endless ages, while the ‘other should ripen and rot iu a few score of years— is to suppose something for which the aualogy of ature gives us no kind of warrant. Of course, what I am saying only rues so far as this: that the nature so careful- ly evolved by the cosmic agencies of millions of Years, and disciplined in a long common an- cestry of prehistoric and historic conditions, must be, to start with, made of much the same stuff in one man as in another: and that, great as the difference duc to use and abi may he, itas not credible that there is any intrinsic dif- ference between different human beings in their initial capacity for immortal life. Of course, this is not saying that God could not suddenly destroy, it He su pleased, what is intrinsically capable of an immortal destiny; nor that it is abstractedly inconceivable that this awful de- cree might’ really go forth, as the penalty of misused powers, But it is something—indecd a vast siep—to realize that, if He does decree this, it is, as it were, putting a violent end to the’ preparations of immeasurable azes; that such aresult 1s a great moral -eatastropiie, not the natural. close of a career. The moral fact which sows so ineradicable belief in a future life in self-conscious mcn—the recognition of personal identity, the bewilacring conscious- ness of the “1,” beneatn all the marvelous changes of body and mind which time brings to us all between infancy and see~1s the same iu us all. Sir James Stephen, certainly no mere dreamer. still less a facile believer in the trauscendental assumptions,of theology, in commenting on a passave-of Mr. Jolin Stuart/Mill’s, bus put this very powerfully: “(AML human language. all human opservation, implies that the mind, the }, is a thing in itselt,—a fixed point in the midst of a world of change, of Whych world of change its own organs form a. part. Itis the same yesterday, to-day, and to- morrow, It was what it is when its organs were of x different shape and consisted of ‘afferent matter from their present shaze and matter. It will be what it is when they have gone through other changes, Ido nut gay that this proves, but surely it suggests, it renders preo- able, the belict that this ultimate fect, this starting-point of all Knowledge, thought. f ing, and language, this ‘tinal | inexpticabihty (an’ emphatic though a clumsy phrase), 1s independent of its organs: that it may have ex- isted before they were collected out of the ‘cle- ments. and may continue to exist after they are dissolved into the elements.” And. a litte further on, he adds what, ing from such a writer as Sir James Stephen, is fir more im- pressive than if at came from one ot Tess n ative ceed: “It secms to me that We ure spir- its in pr.son, able only to make signals to each other, bat with a world of things to. think aud to say which our signals cannot deszribe at all.” Now, it this bel.et in an imprisoned “1, which oes not change, while its prison-house grows up. or falls to ruin about it. has anything really to do with the deeply-rooted faith in a future life, #t touches a point on which all men—irom the eoogenital idiot to the lughest amongst us— nave the same experience. The ablest man might fall into idiocy, or the merest idiot sud- deniy grow inte intelligence. by a change in the structure of his brain, and yet either the one or the other would apply the the same word +1? to both the opposite states throurh which he had passed. Indeed, as far as science has traced back the history of man into the past. we might fairly sav that evolution means the story of the long preparation, first, for the introduction into the world of a being with a sense of personal identity, who can distinguish himself from the universe aground him: and, next, of the taming, and sub- dug, and disciplung, and purifying of the immense capacity for anarchy and selfishness which the attaininent of this taarvelous end in- volves, But, if this be so, then at least itseems clear that the selection of some such egos to de- stroy,—even though not purely arbitrary,—while others.of them are reserved for what may be called their natura? career, would invalve a great catastrophe. a signal intervention of the Creator to change the course for which apparently He ad been creating man. B ‘Nor can J at all accept as justly applicable to this ‘suoject the argument from aualozy sug- gested in the preceding paper, derived from the apparent predominance of waste,—the ete ‘out of what is uniitted to survive.—in the world as we see it, “Entire species of living crex- tures have died out unknown. Whole races of men,—some of them of high mental qualities,— Have passed to the abyss.” Well, the differ. ence Setween a species dying out “uoknown, and dying out when it is a little known, or even very wal jown, by men, is not a difference of ind. That ichthvosauri preceeded man, aud ‘Were not at all known by him in their life-time, comes to very little more t-.1 that a vast number ‘of intinitesimally small ‘crea- tures, dnd a few tapetisn of. gigantic size, appear still to live in the depths of the ocean far away from human sight, and only now and then:to give a hint to some keen-eyed ob- server of;their existence. There is no difference iekind between dying out in one series of cen- turies anil dying out in another. As fat as their bodiiy torms are concerned, al! races of beings apparantly die out, some sooner, some tater, while all;will expire when the resources of the planet are exhausted. But surely the mere evanescence of a temporal life, whether that of ¢ or an individual, fitted only for a short suggests no reason for supposing tuat a. type expressly made and fitted tor endless jexistence—which is what 1 am as- suming,,and what I think I must assume forail, if I may assume it for any—could without A catastrophe—a natural shock that would violate all analogies—split off intu two parts, ne disappearing for ever and the othe. Progress forever. You vannot. 2p} gies drawn from the shortness of a career which * at longest would but be a few years or centurics longer, Co make out that there is_nothing sur- prising in a sudden branching-off of the same stock inte mortals on the one hand, and immor- tals on ithe other. Nor co I sce that any of the criteria suggested could well con- stitute | the ground of —_discrimmation. ‘Why should the cungenital idiot continue” Why, because, it Ihave areued soundly at all, he has that sense of personal i tutes the essential characteristic of immortal life; winle the idiocy, as a matter of organi tion, may weil drop off with given organ changes, 2s it often comes on with iiven organic changes; Why should the vad man continue, “itue be bad, not-as the world reckons bad- ness, but as the Author of Jife reckons 11 Why, anly because, as far as we know and understand God's laws, there is no sign in them } that badness in this sense leads to the extinc- tion of ja persouaiity. any more than goodness itseH, Tam not arguing, of course, that God may not, if he pleases, destroy the evil soul, ‘but the! whole question is whether there be ay sort of reason, natural, analogical, or revealed, itiking that te dogs so please. The evil Lity. so lung as it remains evil, is rather emphasized than extinguished. Iv is never im others. It goes on to even greater degrees:of sel tion. It lives in the atti- test, defiance, and rebellion,—that eof more highly exaggerated aud marked personality than the personality of any one Woo lives tor others, or for God, If, then, the bad are to die eternally, it must de due to un act, so to say, of Divine violence, uot tie uperation’ of any law we can diseern,— ssumitiz. as Edo assume, that. like the rest of us, their wature -is molded and prepared for immortality. ln other words, if this be the end of the Gad, and the bad only, it will be due to some suditen arrest of tne development of spir- tonal beings, not to avy principle now visibly at work. And, further, it seems to me that the differ- ence between human beings alter their short time of trial on earth, grave as itis, is, rela- tu the long antecedents-of their life, too minute by far to become the foundutioa of so enormous and unalterable a distinction as this. ‘Talk of, the idiot; Woy, a lever reduces a man. to temporary idicey, and old age very frequent- ly reduves him tu ‘idiocy which ends only with live. Gr take even the greater distinction of moral qualiti Why, the sudden growth of a belated human affection, or the swift impression made by one of Christ’s sentences, wil! not un- frequently become a turning-point, and that, :too, towards the very end of a hunian ‘career, which leads to a new Kind of life. For beings who have been pre- paring for millions of years, it is, to my mind, barely ‘possible that ihe incidents—bowever distitic({ly yoluntary—of a score or tivo of years. can ever be the ground of the tremendous dis- criminition between eternal life and extinction. And certainly in Revelation there does not scem to me: to be the least trace of sanction for any view of this kind. There man {s_ always treated as a specific type, not a3 a species comn- prehending a number of immortals living side y side with ephemerals, who are their brothers and sisters ff we look only at their origin, but who are to part with them’ so widely in destiny that they might haye been creatures of a dif- ferent universe. SIMONY. THE SALE OF CHURCH LIVINGS BY ENGLISH CLERGYMES. At the evening session of the British House of Conimons, June 26, Mr. Leatham rose to-call the attention of the House tothetraflic in church livings. The gentleman said it could not be said that in bringing forward this matver he had shown, the impatience of an enthusiast. He had waited until the reforming zeal of the whole bench of Bishops had evaporated, and it was evident to everybody that if refurms were to be introduced it must be by those who, if not so zealous a8to honor the Church, were more hopeful of indicating the necessity for these re- forms. He should content himself with laying. bare, as briefly as he could, what he conceived to be the extent of the evil, aud leaving those who bud the right to do so to indicate ‘the remedy. All he wished todo was to draw, if possivie, from his right honorable friend the declaration that be was prepared; when the op- portunity should arrive, to give this sub- ject some o1 the attention. and skill that he had been willing to give to it before, and also todraw from the House the expression of opin- ion which might be strong cnough to fortify his friend in his resolution to deal with the ques- tion a little more effectually then was attempt- ed by the abortive bill of 1875. Now, as to the extent of the evil. Mr. Day, who for seven years was Secretary to the Bishop of Rochester, had aid betore ‘committe of the Honse ol Lords a tabular statement of the number of living offered for salem the Ecclesiastical Ga- zelte during the month of January, 1872, 1873, and 1874. In Junuary, 1872, there Were eighty: vight livings offered. A iriend of his, weil- known toe many members of the House, writing to & prominent organ of the provincial press (the Manchester Examiner and Times) under the nom de plume of Promotion by Merit,” esti- mated that two or three years ago one-fifth of the whole patronage of the Church was in the hands of the azent for the sale of livines, and that the whole Chureh might be “turned over” in thirteen years. Through the kinduess of ie various friends he had’ in his posseasion recent issues of nearly the whole of the — publisted preferments for sal that in the Ecclesiastical Gi vertisements relating to printed lists of 1,676 livings, and if they were to add the number whicli one of the most prominent of the agents always had on_his list: they arrived at the ¢nor- mous total of 2. ings as being at this mo- ment for sale or exchange. Perhaps it might be said that the desire to dispose ot the livings led to the employment of several agents, so that many advertisements in the lists were duplicates; but st that might be set the number who did not appear upon the registers, but who disposed of their livings by private in- yitation, giving, if he might so call it, to this protligacy the decency of an assignation in the dark, {t micht be fairly set.down that the number of livings for sale or exchange was moré than 2,00, or nearly one-fourth of tae whole salable capital of the Church. He had heard it said that very many of the advert ments Were botus ones; but his friend to whom he had before referred had tapped these lists, and never found that that was the case. One such he thought be had discavered at Ashton-upon-Mersey. He replied to ati advertisement emanating trom a Rev. Mr. Ray, offering immediate possession, and in. the eud it led to a correspondence not of the most creditabi¢ kind, and immense indignation among the parishioners. When brought to bay, how- ever; the utinost the reverend gentleman could be brought to say was that the living was not then, for sale. Judging from these advertise- menis, the traffic was curried on_with feelings oL coarsest: speculation. Sometimes the question of views, ritualistic, or evangelical, or what not, Was introduced, but the great bait. held out was immediate possession. Society, to0,:Was an attraction, and one inducement of- tere was thst the parish contained a real'Baronet and an actual Admiral. [Laugh- In some cases scenery was intro- and the sporting predilections of iritual clients were always considered. Fishing, was always a sport to be pur- sued Tangier), but in one instance al} the sport that could be offered was that of a pea mile. [Laughter.} Immediate possession, owing, to the advanced age of the incumbent, was con- tanually promised, and the trade did not always confine itself to retailing, but was sometimes of a wuolesale nature. and livings were suld in a bunch—as, for instanee, Stockport. It appear- ed that a Mr. Symonds made his purchase sev- euteen or eighteen years are, and hopes of im- mediate possession were held out, the incum- bent being 71. He bad, however, to wait sev- entien years, but when he did realize he had no reason to complain, for the patronage included six other parishes. Another instance was that of a patronage being sold for £1,590, the pur- chaser putting in his son, and raising the vicar- ial tithes until an income of £1,600 was produc- ed.) But it micht be said that there was nothing to prove that this trade was anything diseredit- able or dishonorable.’ To that he replied that he sould engage to satisfy the most’ fastidious. ‘He uow came to the most paintul part of what he had to say, and that was the er.dence which would seem te connect much of this trafile with transactions of a more or less simoniacal char- acter. Mr, Bridges was asked by the House of Lords! Committee if he could etve any idea of the extent to which simoniacal transactions went. He replied that he bad no doubt they covered a large area. Another evil arose in connection with the exchange ol fivings. This was often iacal transactions. made the means of simi Mr. Lee, to whom he had already referred, said evasions of the law were almost universal. And. no wonder, when they recollected the state of confusion into which the clerical conscience seemed to have fallen on) the subject. Mr. Bridges, in reply to a question, said that it was not an unfrequent occurrence to find glerzymen who, so far from understanding the law against simony, regarded the whole affair simply as an absurdity, through which they,must get in the best way they could. Asa transaction of a very objectionable character he was asked whether the clergyman concerned iu it was reaarded as a re- spectable man. He replied that he was a man of good position and good family, and that tere was nothing against him. What sald Mr. Pugh, who was known to most of the House. on this pomt! te said that it was dificult to. get clergymen to understand the oath against simony. ‘There wa§ too much reason, in fact, to t the purchase of livings actually vacant ken place. Mr. Dunnmg. indeed, t although he could not prove it. be believed that this had been done: but tor his awa part he did not see any difference between the pur- chase of a vacant living aud one im whica im- mediate possession was promised. By a statute of the reign of Queen Anne clerks in orders were prohibited ‘from purchasing the next presentation to livi 3, but this was evaded by the purchase of ad¥owsons with the right of je ater the next vacancy. Ie then caine to Swarming-pans,"—tbat. Was, when a living be: vame vacant, and in order to its being sold ad- yantageously, a man of great aye was placed in it. Then tne living was advertised with a glow- ing desription of his age and infirmity asa twmptation to -purchesers. Lord Sydin Godulpiin Osborne mentioned no fewer than three cases of this Kind. Then there was the case of St. Orme, in Cornwall, where the incumbent was in such a weak state that. he had to be supported up the aisle by two per- sous. The incumbent was not able to. go through the Thirty-vine Articles in the morn- ing, and died before the'sale lad been complet~ ed. Then there was the case, which the Hot was no doubt aware of, of Falmouth. The cimoluments taere amounted to £1,709 a year, which suin was raised by a rate passed in’ the reign of Charles 11, ‘The iacumbent died, and an aged gentleman of 77 years was put iu, und the nving -mmediately thrown into the market, He thought there was no one in the House who would be disposed to dens that clergymen ongat to be good characters, but in actual Hfe some were met with who were not all that could be wished for. The person whom he had already spoken of told him of a case in which a clergy- man was appointed who was most objectionavie, and at last got such a character that le resiened. ‘They put in.A B, and the Bishop of Salisbury wrote to him, but he at last became so bad that. ne had to be removed from it to Z, where he re- wd for life. He invited the attention of the House to this case especially, because the Bish- warned ol tie character, but, as in many ses, he was entirely unable to intertere, Tne Bishop of Peterborough, to whom tue utmost credit was due for theenergy he had shown in endeavoring to make amendment in this branch of the Church law, in the course of avery eloquent charge which he made in the year 1875, alluded to four cases which caine under his not In one the clergyman was over age, iu another he was so {nfirm taat he asked ‘for perpetual leave of absence, iu a tlurd a reclaimed drunkard was ordained to a living within a few miles of the place where he had spent hus life, and the fourth was a retired public officer who hed resigned reference to meeting 2 most serious cha h had been brought against him. Evasions of the law were ery Lrequent, and as sumony covered a yery large area, at the same time prosecutions for sitaouy were uever Known, He must ask the House to say aye or nu to the present motion. An attempt was made a few years ayo to change the law, and every one was aware of the fate of that bill in’ another place, and the wanner in whicn it was altered before it came down to the House of Commons. The measure was cut and hacked iu a most extraordinary mauner. The bill when first in- troduced was intended to prohibit the sale of next presentations, but that was eliminated from the bill by the episcopal brethren, All the important provisions of the measure disappear- ed one by one, ‘The bill also as tirst introduced. abolished adonative, which was a benefice that was not presented; but that provision also dis- appeared. Hv wished to say one word as to the rights of the congregation. The bill originatly proposed to give some rights to the congrega- tion, and te entitle themito make a remon- strance, but the Bishop was bound to give his countenance toit, He (Mr. Leatham) supposed that tuis was thought to be au unwarrantahle concession, and the clause which was inserted in the bill tocarry out tais principle was reduced to this—that if remonstrance were made the persons against whom it -Was directed were not ty be cut down Yorlife. | The wwhole system of sale, barter, fraud, evasion, commission agents, and auctioncers was to receive a sensible checiz from the cobweb legislation to which his right houorable friend opposite bad been induced to lend bis name, He must ask his right honorable friend to take wider views. He assured the House that he spoke in uo spirit of narrow sec tarian jealousy, and he did not hesitate to say that it would have been better for tne Church of England as well as for religion and for com- mon morality had this tratlic to which his mo- tion referred becn left in the dark rather than that they should poured go strong flovd of light noon it, and then refused to grapple with the facts that were thus revealed. He asked the House to say what would be the cast were these livines meré municipal appoiutments. Would not the men engaged in. the ‘sales be sent to prison? .{Hear, hear.) What would be the feeling if the appointments were military? What would be thought of the nation that in this way brought its tame_to the hammer of the auctioneer? (Hear, Hear.]. But what, he would ask, ought they to think when the traffic he condemned was associated with the most solemn responsibihty that could be brought home to any man! Without detaining the House any longer, be would conclude by moving— - ‘That im view of the eimonincal evasions of the law and other ecandals and abuses in connec- tion with the exercise and. ditpomul of private patronage m the Church of England. remedial measures of a more stringent character than any recently introduced in this House are urgently re- quired. Mr. Hibbert seconded the motion. As a churchman he deprecated these simoniacal transactions, and thought they should be put down by the Legislature. He did not think they could put a stop to the sale of advowsuns altogether, but Parliament would certainly be justitied in probibiting the scanda! of the public sale ot livings, The congregations also should have some power of interference. Whenever a person was appointed by a private patron notice should be given to the congregation, who should ave time to consider the appointment, und, it they objected, should bave the right of making a representation to the Bishoo. Mr, tardeastie objected to the terms of the motion, although he admitted the scandal of the transactions complained of. - He moved as an amendment, “That it is desirable to adopt measures for preventing simoniacal evasiuns of the law, and checking abuses in the sale of liv- ings in private patronage.” ‘Mr. Cross believed that abuses did exist, and hoped that on whatever side ot the House he might sit he would never be found standing up for abuses. here was, however, a difference tu the sale of an advowson and the sale of a next presentation. It was not desirable that there should be any interference with private patron- age, and althouzh he would not prevent the sale of the patronage so far as the adyowson was concerned, the might of presentation was a sacred trust, and the possessor of it had no more right to sell it for money than he would have to seil a vote at a Parliamentary electior He urged Mr. Leatham to accent the amen ment, which he would on behalf of the Govern- ment also support. Mr. Leatham assented, and after some remarks from Mr. Rail Mr. Whalley, Mr: Ramsay, Mr. Faweett, and Mr. H. B. Samuelson, the motion was withdrawn, and the amendineut agreed to. CAMP-MEETING. THE FRIDAY EVENING. SERVICES at Lake Bluff camp-mecting Friday evening were conducted by Elder W.G. Miller, of the Wisconsin Conference, and were opened by sing- ing the eigaty-ninth hymn, “Jesus, lover of my soul, after wnich Brother Haddock led in prayer. Dr. Aaron Gurney took for his text the last |) clause of Verse 3, Chap. xil., I Corinthans: “No man can say that Jesus is the Lordebut by the Holy Ghost.”” The speaker sald that religion was either of supreme importance or it was an imper- tinenee. It is the relation sustained be- tween ourselves and our Maker, and the super- natural was an essential part of religion be- cause it had to do with God, who was infinite and unfathomable. They had to guiae* them the Word of God as given in the Scriptures, and the recorded utterances of Christ him- self. Our attention was often directed to the wonderful condescension. of Christ, who came upon earth to suffer and dic for mankind, but it was but seldom that the wondrous con- deacension of the Holy Ghost, in directing men to the cross, was considered. Christ. promised His disciples that He would sena the Comforter to them, and charged that they should tarry at Jerusalem until He came. . When the disciples questioned Him as to the establishment of His’ kingdom He promised that they should be bap- tized with fire and the Holy Ghost. On the day of Pentecost ae chosen tongues descended, the disciples: spake with every man in his own mother tougué, ana 3,000 Were added to the church in one day. “The Holy Ghost incarnate in the Church was the endow- ment of Christianity, and-all that the Church had ever done had been through that power. ‘The distinctive work of the Church was tu point gut to men the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Christ never saved a soul that He didn't sov- era, and never would. Men’s relationship to Christ must be that of wilting servants.” It they loved Him, their passions’ and their hates would be subdued. Straight was the cate aud narrow us the way which Ied to erernal lite, and the speaker felt that Jesus kuew more ubout the diunzers of life than the uiodern dilettante poputar preachers. . Good. character wes an absulute uecessity to eternal happiuess, and God coutd surely distinguish be- tween right and wrong. Surely He must know that there wus a difference between Florence htiuzale tending the si and Jobo kes Booth) committing murder. Men Were full of sm, and the atonement made by Christ was their only hope. A perfect selt-surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ was the key of human destiny. Christ did not work with armies and cannon, ‘with famine and pesti- lence, but sought to win free souls trom si. God did not give His onty-vegotten Son to die that men migut siu with impunity. The past might be blotted out, but only when they would submit themselves tu Christ.” Creeds and rit als were good things. but they were the ied on the tree, not the fruit. May God help all to build upon the rock of Christ Jesus by resting upon His Word. ‘Tne meeting closed with singing and prayer by Elder Miller. THE REGELAR 3 O'CLOCK PRAYER-MEETING yesterday. morning. was held in the chapel of Clark Street Chureh, and was conducted by Dr. and Mrs. Palmer. At 9:30a.m. the Class Leaders' Convention in the Tabernacle was opencd by singing “Am 1 a soldier of the cross?" “The Rey. Mr. Hughes then led in prayer, A paper on “The Sub-Pastorate and Its Re- lation to the Itinerancy ? was to have been con- tributed bv the Rev. O. H. ‘Tuilany, D. D., but for suine unexplained reason it tasted to cume to hand. On motion of Elder Jutkins, tie meeting therefore udjourned. Elder Jutkins presided at the regular 11 o'clock preaching service. i THE KEY. W. Hl. CRAFTS, of Trinity M. E. Churca,. preached, taking for his text “Matt., xvii. 8: “They saw no tran save desus only.” He said that numbers were not requisite for a successiut prayer-mectins, Tor where two or three were gathered he! there would Christ be also. The tire apustles fel) as) saty the face of ured hike unto an angel. not the true transiiguration of Christ; that came when tle sacrifice Was consummated ov Calvary. ‘This was a rending away ol the teil, 2 propiieey of the future. His beanty and glory came not from without, but trom within, it was the reflex of His soul shining in [is countenan Let young men and women remember that their transtigurution muse result from their character. There came to assist in this creat schemi: two. reat prophets of uld, Moses and Elias. At last, alter many years, Mc attained the de- sire of his life,—his feet pressed the soil of the Promised Land. This should teach the le: that our hopes and longins, if not altogether realized in this life, 1: anted to us in the glory of the angels. Death did nut end all; by faith we sav our friends now, and’ by sight we should see them in Heaven. Death was but a passage from the Church mihtant to the Cuurch triumphant. Death made many changes and severed maay ties, but neither death nor life could’ separate us from the loye of Christ and the tie w: bound us to Him. ‘At this the grandest interview ever held upon the earth, thetheme was not the slory of God or the power of Christ, but the sacrifice upon Mount Calvary. If this were’ the greatest theme of Cirist to Mis disciples should not preachers of tie present day continue to preach the blood? Not Jong azo a Chicazo religious paper pronounced tie hymn,“ There isa lountain titled with blood.” ‘as being noth- ing but amass of doxgerel. He believed that, itit had been in the collection at that time, Peter, James, and John would have sunz it upon the Holy Mount. They needed careful, prayerful preparation tor the work tney had tu do, and even Christ needed preparation for the sufferings He was abont to undergo. James, great strong man as he was, had tu learn that the Law was subordinate to Christ, and when be saw Moses fade away in the greater glory of the Messiah he learoca.a much-needed-teseer-~~<Phe-errdr-fallen intu'by Peter was that he entertained so strong a be- lief in prophecy that he considered at that time Isaiah and the o:der proptiets as fercat as Christ. Christ hat teen walking inthe guise of a _ servant, : a3 Kings in olden times disguised themselves in homespun and rags, us begyers and peddlers, in order to Jearn the teelings of their people. Till then the Apostles knew not that He was divine: was in truth the Son of God. From the top of the Mount bey could sce the seven battle-flelds on which He was se soon to suffer. On every oceasion when great things were to be done we read that Christ spent a whole night in prayer and contemplati Men had a habit of paying, “f have so much to do to-day that ican only read a short psalm.” Better far was the declaration of Luther, who said that he had so much to go through that day that he could not get along with less than three hours’ prayer. In that httle company of four were the seeds of mili- ions of revivals. Another reason than that of preparation was to show to the world the grand pre-eminenev of Jesus, "Only Tis countenance, was chanzed, al there who en. When Peter propused to build these taber- uacles,—one for Moses, one for Elias, and one for the Lord, patting Him on an equahty with men,—the terrble voice from ont the clouds re: buked him, and they neard the words, “ This is my beloved Son; hear ye Him.” And when ere Were two others though th the abashed Apvsties dared ouce more to aise their heads they _ found Jesus alone. Unbappily men gave far too much consideration to what people would say and think if they declared for Curist. “ What will they say # was considered on ail hands, and this: social despot ruled France more than Marshal Maesfahion, England more than Queen Victoria and her Parliament, and America more than President Hayes and Congress, It was which men and the mirror in e women fashioned not only tueir dress. but their characters. ‘Though - their couvictions were favorable to a declaration of their faith in Christ, they were afraid to so declare for fear of what their neighbors would say or would think of-them. It was like the iron bedof Procrustes, upon which that eruel King stretched his vic~ tims. If they were too long to tthe cut off taeir fect; if too short he used the rack to lengthen them out. So it was with “they say.” We stretched our characters and our actions to fit in with whaj.our neighbors believed, and for- got the instructions of God to took to Christ, and to fim only. ‘The afternoon services were opened by sing- ing “Halleluiah! Thme the clory,” “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds,” and other hymns. Bishop Harris then led m prayer. THE KEY. W. W. EVERTS. D. D., of the First Baptist Church. selected as his text, He stilleth the nvise of the sea, the noise of i and the tumult thereot,” Psalm 5, vil, and compared the wars and rumors of wars, the —_ labor strikes, and conflicts witir the restless sea. The causes of this universal agitation were complex and mysterious. It might be said tiat men jostled one another in their search for wealth, or it might be said that the moral per- version of men precipitated the conilict. So that men were battling against the law of God as the sea beat upon’ the rozk-hound shore. ‘Every precept of God had been assailed. and the whole world kept avitated and in turmoil. The sinful freedom of man had be-ome organized; “men had been class against class, tribe azainst tribe, nation against nation, governments hav- ‘ing a'false foundation, having iniquity meorpo- rated into their constitutions, becain¢ warring jelements against society. It was so in th country with slavery. which cost a million of men and a thousand inillions of dollars to wipe out, and so it was with the Ottoman Empire founded on s false religion and full of erroneous | ideas and antipathy to Christianity and to God. None could doubt the woaderfal eif good of the railroad system of this coun: intelligence of the great class connected with it. But a few men, bound to amass fortunes ile- gitimately, had done infinite mischief. The Credit Mobilfer and kindred schemes for rob- bing stockholders and the public set class azainst class, and precipitated a conilict. Thel ozs of property was but slight in comparison with the loss of a single life. AN knew how hard it was ta shoot down a starving man. He micht have been Jed into the mob bj fanatics. What did the poor wretches in the Eastern armies know of the reasons why the: lad been ar rayed one against the otter? Nothing: they were but a3 the waves of the sca. Something becter and crander thax tie police was uceded for -the government of this great mon- ev-seeking mass of restless humanity. We wore ail hoping and praying for the mullen, nial time, the reign of peace. a nan who could even lave for thla, even it it ba | bat a dream. God lind set barriers to’ the sea, and there was a limit to its rage. So He had set boundaries to human passion and sin. The frontier ruttian who bad killed twenty men had to vield at last to a stronger man, A wretched New England adventurer gathered in his hands great railroads and was endangering the peace of an entire com- munity. But he fell before the bullet. of the assassin, and only a day or two ago another ¥ery smart man, a former partner of -him who was Killed, was thrasheain Wall street. Jehovah had set one power against another. and so the world got, peace. ‘There was a God of Battles, and above the orders of the commanders of con- tending armies was His hand directing the is- d-by would come peace out of ail P conflicts and happy nations would dll the earth, >, Another : great prospect for peace was seen in ‘the constaut advance of education, science, art, and civilization, Education consisted not only. in what was Jearned in schools, from art aud science, but in the higher teachings of the moral: Jaw. Insprove the moral- eense of men and you achieved ali that was de sired. Things had been done lately in the West and South that were impossible in New England, simply because a higher moral sense prevailed there. Technical law went for hothing; the uitimate arbitration must be made by the ioral sense of the people. A good man was a law to himself, oppressed no one, perse- cuted no one: wanted no jails, or courts, or gal- lows, Eastern creditors were a class who were doing much -harm in Chicago. principally tor the reason that they allowed agents tocome between themselves and their debtors. They should consider that their debtors could not be expected to lose all and them nothing, and must refrain from usurv and of pression, Moral power and discipline, and a better church government would do much in this direction. The Sunday- school and the church were powerinl engines for good. There had to -be a progressive ad- justinent of law; and, unless law walked hand in hand with justice, class would be svt against class, property aguinst labor. The speaker concluded ‘with a dissertation upon forms of Government, and ported out the danger resulting fromthe blind worship of numbers. He did not wonder that thonghtful men could sce danger to the Republic abeud, when people had zutten the idea that they could cal] together a towa-meeting and abro- ite the. Decalogue. He held that a city or district. had. no more right to banish the Bible froin the public schools than Utan had to legalize polyzamy. It was clained in each case that a right of option existed, and that the majority should rile in all things. He denied it, and beld that the family and the Sab- bath were above all rulings of Foting majori- ties. A people that allowed salouns to keep open on Sundays while the courts. and bus- iness houses were “Kept closed, would ultimately go on to ruin. . The waut of religion destroyed the French Republic and reintru- duced monarchy. Christianity offered all that the Commune was madly fighing for: peace and good-will and a happier fe fur all would follow if religion spread as it should do among the people. “Enough money was wasted on in- toxivating liquors iw Hingis to furuish every family with fi or six barrels of flour a year. The great - reforms. must come throuh the churches; yaupe and poor-nouses would be wiped out when liquor was driven out by the influence of religion.” The church could “better relieve the poor with five cents than secret societies conll with ten, But the churches bad much neglected their work. A people that had nut the poor with them were not much of a church- going peuple. Christ brought good-will and. Peace to men; soon muzht the prophecies be accomplishet. : During the day several prayer-mectings were hetd in different church tents during the inter- vals of service. . IN THE BVENING a service was held in the Tabernacle, | Mrs. Jennie Caldwell preaching, followed by an inquiry-tneeting. This morning there will be » love-feast.at 9” o'clock. aud at 10:45 Bishop Harris will preach. The Rev. C. H. Fowler, . D. D.. will preach in the afternoon, and the Rev. G. C Haddock, of Appletou, Wis, in the evening. GENERAL NOTES. Archbistop Bailey, of Baltimore, announces from Vichy, France, that Bishop Gibbons, of Richmond, has been appointed his coadjutor, with the right of succession. The Baptist Church in Manchester, Va.;. has solemnly resolved to exclude from its member- ship every member that is able and refuses to help pay the expenses of the church. Jews in that city number 8,000, or. one-third of the inhabitants, and that they are all orthodox, and their influence lucreases every year. ~ A bronge statne af Robert Raikes, the founder | of Sudday-schools, will” soon be placed’ in his native town in England,—Gloucester. The money has been raiscd by 2 general subscription under the auspices of the Evglish Sunday-School Union. The Irish priests were the only persons that treated Gen. Grant with disrespect in Great Britain, because they regarded him as the great- est enemy of the Catholic faith and of Catholic education, and they forbade any recognition of him by tneir people. aie Sir Moses Montefiore, of London, who is no in his 94th year, has cffered to undertake ami: sion to secure an amelioration of the condition of the Jews of Morocco. Several years azo he made a visit_to Palestine with a view vo the ob- Sscervation of the condition of the Jews there. Dr. Paxton, of New York, one of thedelegates to the Pau-Presbyterian Convention, said before that body that Presoyterianisin was ¢eclesiastical republicanism, a3 upposed to ecclesiastical mun- y or Popery,’ ecclesiastical aristocracy or Episcopucy, and ecclesiastical demoracy or inde- pendeac’ It is a beautiful starry nicht and the Seniors are out singing. First Scuior (who studies as- tronomy}—* Look up there and see how beauti- {ul Orion looks.” Second Senior (who does not stady astronomy. but who has a streak ot Irish blood)—"Is that O’Ryan! Thank the Lord, then, there is one Irisbman in heaven, any- how.” One of Bishop Coxe's ‘monitions,” in his excellent tavushts on the service, is this: ‘Prepare for divine service in your closet, not at your toilet.” ‘it isa sign of ill-brecding, as well as of trivolty, to dress elaborately for cuurch.” A simple, unnoticcadle costume is what a Christian taste demands for wearing to church. ‘The London Missionary Society announces an unusually large mortahty among its misston- aries the past three months. From its Indian ‘Mission it has lost the Rev. Messrs. R. C. Mata~ er, LL. D., Frederick Baylis, Samuet Jou George Pettigrew, and Edwin Midwinter. All th jouaries excent the last had seen long terms of service. Mr. Mather was in the ticld lorty-four years, Mr. Petticrew thirty-six, Mr. Baylis twenty-six, and Mr. Jones nineteen. ‘The Baptists have- 9,000 more churches than ordained ministers, and the Baptist Weekly ac- counts for the snomaly in this wise: Fi dred of those churches suffer froin f: ness and self-conceit, 4,000 from chrunic covet- ousness. which will not support a pastor. and the remaining 4,500 lack financial ability to pay. $500 year. Taese are serious charges to be made by Baptist brethren against their own people. And yet while so. many churches are without pastors more than that number of min- isters are altogether idle or are only occasion- ally employed. Lord Shaftsbury once said that Moody and Sankey’s preaching did more good than Canon Liddoi’s; bat he is now quite disgusted with the later ‘results, as they appear ia London. The undervaluing of the Church, and the slight DUL Upon the sacraments are having their ef- fect, for Mr. Muody’s converts largely refuse to belong toany church. They are “Christians unattached; “religious vagrants, strolling from plaze to place.” Of course, if there is no altar, no priesthoud, no sacraments, there is 20 tie but the sentimental tic, which is transient a3 the fluctuating and uneasy emotions of men. Prof. Plumptree has called attention, through the London Guardian, to a book entitled the “ Enclish Catholics’ Vade Mecnm.” published by Mr. G. J. Palmer, the publisher of the Church Times. The. ‘following passages are specially noted: * confess to Almighty God, to Blessed Mary.and All Saints . "3 there- fore 1 pray that Blessed Mary and Al’ Saints may pray to the Lord and God forme.” The M ‘Toffler unto thee by the bands of the priest. the sacrifice of the body and blood uf our Lord Jesus Christ . . for the remission of the sins of all Christians, living or dead." Bishon Kertoot, of Pittsburg, has ordered the following prayer for use in his diocese for the ration of peace and order: ©. Eterna) God, our Heavenly Father, who alone makest men to be of one mind in & bouse and atill- est the outrage of a violent and unruly people: We earnestly beseech Thy Holy Name that it may please Thee to appease the ecastions tamults which have been jately raieed ap ai.ungst us: most hom- bly beseeching Thee to graut toailof negrace, that we may henceforth obediently walk in Thy holy commancments. and. leading a quiet and peacea- ble life in all zodlinese and honeety, may continu- ally offer anto Thee our sactifice of prayer, of praize and thanksgiving for these Thy mercies to- ward us; through Jesus Christ oar Lord. dimen. They had the usual crazy person in attendance atthe Edimbore Presbytectan Church. A mid- die-aged lady march Dr. Schaff. writes from Jerusalem that the” the delerates on one of the frdnt tenches. Soon: an officer observed her, and endeavored to in- duce her to go: ont; a request which sho mets with the reply that she hoped that-Wod’s light- ning (there was a thunder storm raging at thes thnc) would come down and strike him.” A few: minutes later the officer retarned with, assist + ance, and the intruder was told she must. go: As she was leaving a slight senflie took place and, addressing herself to the Chairman, shi asifed if they wanted the just judgment of Go’ upon them in Scorland. eer Kentuck preachers certainly will not find thei, money a bar to their entrance into heaven, A minister at West Liberty last week said taat be had been trying to get his wife a pafr of shoe: for a month, but his salary for that time haé amounted to only 19: cents, aud he was afraid it would be winter before he could buy them. . She woald not let him go in debt, and when he tried to work in a harvest-deld he was offered as pay a broken washing machine or a jug of whisky. And yet he has been a devoted, faithful taboret for two years with the same people, who say simply that they “are too poor to pay for preach: ing.”” and he and his wife consider it their duty to remain. The instructive article on Reformed Judaism, by the learned Jewish Rabbi, Dr. Adler, iu the last Vorth American Heview,. is adapted to give great aid und comfort to Congresationalists, All evclesiastical writers axree that the synagosue was largely the model of the primitiye Chn: Church. Dr. Adler shows that the synazowava Were independent organizations and were sub- ject to no superior control, but acted conjoint! only in the way of mutual coasuttation and nib vice. He argues that tiis was the strength in- stead of the weakness of the system. It nad ue central power to be stricken down, or to be per” verted, carrying the parts with it. "All that enc ini¢s or apostates could do would be.to suppres: ~ a single synagugue, here and there, leaving the: rest unharmed. Any ten Jews bad arisnt te, organize one, and this persecution could never crash out the organization. . Tn reply to the query, * What does it mean te‘ bea true Spiritualist?” a distinguished apostle - of the taith says: i Whatever constitutes trae manhood or woman- hood in the highest sense of ihe term: whatever the ancients understood to mean the true philuso- pher; wistever Christians understood by the mran- Ing of true Christianity, iy embodied in that teem which expresses the trie yplrituahity of the human mice. But you are perfectly weil aware that ne: semblance wonid answer the purpose, and thatue zelf-deception or pride of rizhteoucness will do; thut mere belief in existence beyonu death, while it makes a velievec in spiritual life and spmt, presence, it dues not make a true Spicttaalist: Crit Tecornition of human Jife merely docs not ma trie men and w many belne aware of th trach of Spititnatiem wno. gre provably unworthy in thei expression of 1t. | Many are aware of the existence beyond death who do not live trua oF’ well. : Bishop Crowther's present visit to Engidnd * calls attention to bis remarkable history a work. Fifty Vears agu, Whe a boy, he wits sold as a slave from Oshuzun, Yoruba Country 3+ ext year he was rescucil at Lagos, and put un- care of Bishop W. t Serra Leones baptized with the name Su Crowther; became the first ‘ studen! Bay College; i ro ordained Englani, in 1843; went out as one of the ! ionaries to Abeoukuta: founded the Ni Mission in 18573 and was con isssi 7 Bishop in 15% Since the est hment of te ions, ia W857, with three tivtts i progress has been made. ‘The Bishop has constantly traveling over the coantry trorn 3 tiun to station, oftcn in peril. There are new nine stations—three have been abantoned—wit ten ordained and fourt.en unundaiaed azcnts. ali Atricans, and 700 nominal and 209 yrotessitge Christians. All these nave been reclaimed frou Fetichism. The Bishop is in Boyland to raise money for asteamer, which he greatly needs fur use in the Niger and its tributaries. The company appointed for the revision of the. authorized version of the Old Testament con- cluded their torty-fitth session July'13 at t Chapter Library, Westminster, Tue followin - members were present: The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Mr. Bensly, Prof. Birrell, Mr. Cheyne, Dr. A. B. Davidson, Dr. Douglas, Mr. Driver, ‘Mr. Elliott, br. Ginsburg, Dr. Cioteh, Archdea~ con Harrison, Dr. Kay, Prof. Leathes, Lumby, Canon Perowne. Mr. Sayee. Prof. Rob-. Sree Smith, Prof, Wright, and - Mr. Aldis ight (Secretary). Communications wer reevived from. the Bishop of Liandatt, . Lindsay Alexander, Dr. Chase, Dr. eld, and Mr. Geden, who were unable to attend, The company completed the first re-; vision of Hosea, and provecded with the revision of doclas farasi,7. They sat for tea days,, the usual period of asession. The rovisers of the authorized version of the New Testament’ concluded on the same day their seventy-second, session, and carried on their second revision to the close of the twenty-third chapter of the Acts of the Aposties. There were present dur- ing the session the Bishop of Gloucester and. Peittol(rve brestited), the rien of svestmine ster, ester, Lincoln, and Lighticid, the Mes- "ter of the Temple, Profs Sern sip ett er, Moulton, and Newth, Dr. Vance Smith, a1 Prebendaries Humphry and Scrivener. The next session will be’ held in the early part of ctaber. . WISCONSIN UNITARIANS. ‘The twenty-second session of the Wisconsta « Conference of the Unitarian und Independent Nocieties will be held at Baraboo und Devil's Lake, commmencing Aug. 9, and lasting four days.” Following is the programme: ‘Thursday.. Auz. 9-8 p. m.—Opening sermon at the Free Conyregational Ha Baraboo, by the Rev. Kovert Collyer, of Chicuz Friday—8:30 2. m1.—Introductory devotional exercises, led by tne Rev. J. L. dones, of Janes- . O30 ow. mr.—Address by the Le’ Hewitt, of Broadhead; essay by of Mouroe. subject: **'The Citi Matiera of Faith:” essay by the -Rev. George W._ Cooke, of Grand Haven, Mich., subiect: S* Who are the Infidels?” 11:90 a. m by the Rev. John ier, of St. Le Subject: ** The New Catholic Charch, wavs by George Suicknay, Esq.. of ich.. on Politics nad Religion”; _F- Alien, of Wisconsin State’ Univer: ty. on **"The Ethical Aspect of Cnitarianiem by the Rev. G. E. Gorion, of Milwaukee, +? Some of the Wavs 1 whichtModern Seience fas Increased Our Moral Responsiaulity.” = Besay by Miss Genewra M. finds, of Bo-ton, ‘on ‘Phe Kelvsion of the American Poets.” address oy the Itev. T'. B. Forbush, of Chica- xo, Snbyect? ** Compulsory Education. Saturdsy—Exearsion to Devil's Lake. a, m. and retnrn at Speaking ‘an the plenic grounds at Kirkland Esvays by Gen. James Binthif, of nd A. Ve WL Cargenter, -Esy..” of Subject” of the latter, ‘> tlomo- Brief audresses by the Ievs, Collyer, Campbell, Balch, and others, 8 D. m-—Lectire ut the hall by the Rev. S. &. Hunting, of Davenport, ta, Subject: **The tela- He Cost of Edneation and fgnorance, Virtue and Niees™ Sundsy—D a. m. ed by the Rev, G. E. —Devotional meeting, condact Gordon, of Milwaukee. 10:30 a, m. -Sermon'by the Hev. Dr. ‘Thomas Kerr, of ford, IN. Subject: **The Parable and PrimitiveTrath.” 2p. m.—Sermon by the Rev. William 8. Balch, D.D.. of Duonqae. Ia. Subject: **Knowledye of the Trnth.” 5 p. m.— Sermon by the Kev. C.D. N. Canpbell, of St. Louis, So. 8 p. m.—Sermon by the Rev. H. M. Simmons, of Keno-ha. THE DAY OF INTERCESSION. = . Bishop McLaren bas received the following letter irom tue Archbishop of Canterbury Lamnzti Patace, Lospos, S. E., May, 3 My Dear Lord: Ndesire has been generally preseed that the observance of a Day of Intercession, for Missions, which has been waintuined for the last ve years, enon} not be ciacoutmnued. It is felt almost everywhere thut a bieasing from God has followed our prayers, Tie yeneral pinion appears to be that, tor the present, as was auysest- ed by the Convocation of the Province of Canter- - burs, St. Andrew's Day {3 the movt euitavle day to ectapart. It has beeu recommended, accordin “tv, that Friday, 30th November, 1877. 'St, Andrew's Day, be kept fur thst purpose; or ff, for local reusona, that day be inconventent in some districts, then any of the following seven days, T aye reaeon to bipe thet tie day will be gen= erally obzerved in Enzland: and ft will sreatly aad to the sulemnity of the occasion, ty weil strenghen our unity in Christ. if our breil throughout the worid wit] unite in prayer with us. Tbe leave to assure you that with respect to the Day of Intercession in fature-years, the tulle: consideration will be given'to the suuestion re cently offeres by the “Protestaut Episcopal Church ; of tae Unned States. i aud tock aseat with ; Workof the American Sunday Believe me to be your faithful brother in Christ. - A.C. Casttaz | «~- PERSONAL. : The Rev. Miss Chapin will continue ber pas. ; torateof the Universalist Church at Blue {sland.. for another year. : The Rev. F. O. Osvorne, formerly rector or Trinity Episcopal Church, at Highland Park, is | spending a few weeks among his old, parishun- | ers, and preached for them last Sabbath. : The Rev. RB. B. Howard, of Exst Oranxe, N, : J., Will spend his summer vacation at Glencuc, ; with his brother, Mr. C. H. Howard, of tac Ad- - vance, to Which paper he will contribute cditori- ally, and preach for the charch at Glencoe. The Kev. J. ‘I. Breese ieft on Tuesday for the Pelee Islands, where he goes asa missionary. ° Mr. Breese is well known a3 the author of ten Portraits,” and he has lately Jabored in the Bethel cause in this‘ city, in connection with Father Leonard, whose death was recorded a” Jew weeks ago. L ‘The Rev. Dr. Thomas, pastor of Howa:d Con grequtional Charch, Bovokline, Mase., has gone tw Minnesota with Mr. F. G. Ensign ‘to sce the school Union. i