Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 27, 1878, Page 9

e e S e~ TS TR, . RELIGIOUS. Further Contributions on the Question of the Fu=- ture. gaustic Review of Last Sun- day’s Sermons, with Several Red-Hot Texts. Beasons Why Endless Punish- ment Is Not Eternal Mis- ery--They Are Not Synonyms. HMan Alone Must Solve the Prob- lem of the Triumph of Good or Evil on Earth. The Qualifications Requisite to the Success of the Popular Preacher. A Negative View of Eternity What It Is Not---Some Computations of Time. General Church Notes—Personals— Pious Prattle—Services To- Day. POETIC POLEMICS. HOW IS YOUR WREAT} I8 your wheat loaded, John, Ready for the mill? Ts it ripe and sound, John? 1ies each bag its fill? Why. no, I've been standing out on the stile, Askang of people. who passed the while, Which road T had better take to the ruill; And some said, Keep straight up the Lill; Others said, Go acroes by Brown's; And others said, All the rozds are bad, And Tcouldn't et there, whatever I had; Aud, teying to get it straight in my head, Their tanzled advice, xnd choose my road, Iorgot all about sorting my load. You ean't fail to find 1t, John, Whichever way you go; And the miller will not ask yoa 1f your route lay thas or s0; But, How is your wheat, John? Never, By which road? - £0o Jose no time in casting ot The bad wheat from your load. MomaL. When half-a-dozen sermons, Pointing bLalf-a-dozen ways, From the page of Munday's paper Micets your anxious, puzzled gaze, Rest aseured you'sl find the City At the end of any road: So spend vour time, my brothers, In sorting ont your load, That the tares of Sin and Bigotry Msy not condemn the wheat, When the burden of your spirit Licth naked at MHis feet. i CHICAGO. Muue C. Poxznor. TO THE VOTART OF CREED. Dryup thoke swiftly-falling tears, mor let their uitter fow Llight thus tny young, thy Jife with wo And climp with me, this lovely morn, yon monnt- ain's rupeed steeps, From which the sparkiing brooxlet clear in rip- phing beauty leaps. There, farabove the @in of strife and anxious toils of msn, We'll sczu fair Nature's ampie book, and study well her plan, And eccif by fier scheme, ordained throush cease- _jess cycling years, ‘This Eartlis, a4 we oft have beard, & gloomy vale of tears., confiding heart, and cloud Now free thy mind from sli the lore of books and canting priest, And let it roam this' fair Earth o'er, from farthest c8t to Enst, is anght that lives, or wieldsa riven By Nature's God, which was not planned to make un Eerth a Heaven. s, und let their gaze trace yon tres . s grandear on through vales of loveliext zreen, Giving to man, und beast, and plant, its nvigorat- icy power: The mind concedes 1ta loveliness, nor fancy asks for more. See, too, how bounteons Nature epreads her lap with Jtscious fruits; The herbage from the plain leaps up, the rich soil vews With roots— Swect nour) nis Yands with blcod, Andlivein pence with ail’ that breathes, and har- oty with God. man msy cat, nor stain With Juod and raiment richly blessed, csressed by Iosc'e pxeet joy Withll the higher powers of mind, whose pleas- ure neyer cloys, Afibfln:iltulns ity "of kind regard, can any doubt ke play, Soplzuly oraved in Natarc's ook, for highest Jose of many 325! Raniing priests may froth and fame, with castand fraucht, And teach that God vile tortures schemed, and sof- fering mortals ought To szfo"fi” indeepest gloom while cndless ages Becaure they yield throngh strageles oft to powers thes can't coatrol. They bow iu gloomy forms, and ask their God to _ Jend aneur, While ther inforw Him what is done and worth ¢ ere, D the laws that wicld the roll- n high, i hand etars by their vile creeds, did power it them he. They gecnot that the. paltry knave, with all his lapgSeds of crume, bet the outerowth'of & germ transmitted down Frog LroReh tizic, on tire 10 £on angmented still, tuough curbed it TP ave been, zul, ‘:{Ilgn allits blighting power, 1t culminates Thns roboed of force, he lacks the strength o lve P 35 2oud men do; ‘ot ehould not those who piled the load assist to bearit, toor _ Thouh eociully, while here on Easth, he wears 0 el brand of sin, ¢rush not out Lis last fond hope by Leaping all o him, A!lthvls vast load of mora! wrong, and vice, and Ceep disgrace, ! @ving each his ehare, distribute fto the T The housebold of mankind fa large, and etrange hag piBEx bas it cone; D’,ihtmon and 1ty crimes, yet still it is but Tis ancetors were homorcd men; by cunning. Acggeth 2nd frane, Auir-cd wealth, renown, and place, reared tem- Disa Dles unto God, full of years. by good men mourned, deemed Wity 2lnost kainted even— pulpit-praise aud sacred song, arc wafted up 1o Heaven. Bat be whote cerm had been tmpressed while tncy Thro were plotting crime, uZh acts to Sate dlerce Passion’s maw that Shall ruled them at the time, expiate some dloody deed upon the gallows- urled dow, tag huomin o writhe in burning Hell turongh sll O eruel thousht! O barbarous creed! degrading - fehi of enigated age, and dark, vncultured When angry, jeatons, warriug Kings, with malice epe 124 P, ere bizhest type of Nature's God—of order, love, and peace, Those fiettane o1l ¢ 21l shall away, and all Earth's That Deoples know PR !]mm resard to Natore's laws the highest g Dleasures dowy those who Fiody well her plans, with fond de- eary lizht ghuly Earth bears no taint of Eae (0 aBn primal cf!me, nor was man But, through'an endléss life of "change, both here Each eucon shaifbg i b - him e ¥ ¢ learned, until he grows ud all shull see tnat ¢+, e stupendous whote,n C - ¢ PIris of one And each shall honored' be by al Dn. W, o Sont. as part of God HaMBLETON. B GOOD-BYE. TRUTI! Don’t belleve anything, passing through life, f you can nelp dotng it: Be very careful L avoid the trath, Much less be found pursuing it. Ute the name of Science in eves To aid you the truth to dudce? s And watch your brain carefully. day by day, Lest any truth there should Enfllc. Don't call anything by exactly thie name Y“ Pl’lc!? !;) thost Justly belongs; ‘ou'll be in davger of touching the trath— 'This should be handled with mn:fl. Don’t believe the Bible, nor truth contained In leasons therein mven, For fear your life shoula be noble and true, Your soul fitted for Heaven. Tse ingenuity and pains, forsooth, In twisting Ite lines about; WLy, if you're not vers carefal with these, Some trath might by chance leak out. 1t it uses the lonz word eternal, Sake it mean 1 little while; Aund there i3 punishment, too, dou't sourd well, — Reward would be more'in style. O don't believe that it means what it says; Ensily get around it, you knos 1 you only, insteud of Your prayers, Say, The "**original ™ stanas £ und so. an'l }!e. tlien. on any one point too strict; Yol be 0 inuch more at case 1f_the chosen path be a pleasant road, Where one can walk 45 be please. *Tig well the men of letters and learning Can be of service to youth, By helping them every day i turning Farther away from the truth. Be carcful. then, in reeard to advice— Not ready toreceive it; And, should it bear the slightest taint of truth, Say, 1do not believe it. The present s such a progressive aze That, if you've much depth of mind, *Twill be eary quite to progress so fast As to leave truth fur behmd. Cuicauo, Jan. 14. Luey R. RockwsLL. WIIAT'S THE USE? ‘What is the use of all this noise About the life cternal— If man Eternity enjoys Above in groves snuernal, Or Ins nncounted years cmp! Down fu the depths fuferns ‘Why keep up ench incessant fight About the soul's hereafter— Dimming perclisnce maw's littie light, And making him still dafter, With arzuments that tend to spite, When they don't tend to langhter? *Twill do no good to azitate A question s0 uncertaun As that of man's prospective state Wiicre nauzbt bu fancles flirt ing Thie wisest course will e Lo wait "The rislng of the curtain, For here the doctors disacree, And who, then, shall d If solved by enhr you o Those doztors will deride it The ouly way that I can see 1s for them to divide it Let each take part, and give the rest Tuto his **erring brother:™ S0 each may et wiiat Jikes him best, His discontent t» smother; And stop this crying with such zest, **You're wrong, sirf" **Yon're another! " For, if they arzue till they're blind, And fight hke men of mettle, ‘While mixirg matter t:p with mind, Like pottaze in a kettle, Yet atter all they still will find They can’t the question setile. TThe truth, say they, is writ ag plain As thought or word can wake 1t, And they wko err. for lust or gaiu, Do wilifully forsuke it; And yet each' D.D. will matntain ‘bt others do mistake it. For what s truth to onc of these 1s not *o to another; For each interprets as he please, Tiegurdless of his +*brother™: S0 each opinion Crengrecs With almost every other. Now, if the truth is writ o plain ‘That **he who runs may read " it, Why let them run and read again, Until they all concede it ‘Then Jet them all that truth maintain, And we will ery, God speed it! Mznkind have fouzht enough o'er creeds, And dogwss, ani such matters: Pure lives are what the world most needs— A cleaning of the platters Inside a8 well 8s out—such deeds Ax Love around us scatters, What matters if we bow with Panl Or bend the kner, with Petery God is the Father of us all, And foves us u **lonx metre, ™ Though we don't sit upon a tall Theological teeter. So Jet the D. D.'s cense their play, Nor seck to be s knowing, And let them work vs well us pray, With not guite o much ** blowin: But **point to Hezven, and lead the way, ™ d not be slow in xoinz. T. RANDALL. RED-HOT TEXTS. A REFIEW OF LAST SCNDAY’S SERMONS, 7o the Editor of The Tribune. Oaraira, Neb., Jan. 22—Glancing over your reports of sermons by Chicazo divines upon the subject of Heil, I could not help noticlug the diseracefully carcless manner in which they se lected their texts. One would think they ought to know their Bibles better. Not one -uf the number seems to ave been able to find a single verse that directly muche's upon zad throws more or less light upon the real nature of the Jocality in question. Of course, I cannot allow myself to belicve that they intentionallyavoided the numerous passages in which Jesus bimsclf characterizes Hell so vividly and clearly. No true foliower of is would deliberately cast sucha slurupon the Master. Yet it certainly does seem mysterious that they should Lave so unanimously refrained from finding the very texts they must have sought for. ‘fhinking that probably the subject will come up aguin in the future, I bave taken the trouble to ook up a number of texts which these gen- tlemen will find convenicatiy grouped below. The Rer. Mr. Williamson was either more dili- gent or more fortunate than his brethren. lie Scets to have found, away over in Psalms, written long before Jesus and John had investi- gatea the matter closely, a very tame passaze, like this And the wicked shall be turned into hell. Now, this mentions the name, it is true, but thatis all. The acvessories are entirely ignor- ed. Next time he takes up the suoj ree- Ymmcud him 10 Rev., xx., 10,which reads as fol- ows: And the devil that deccived them was cast into the lake of fire vnd brimstone, where the beast the talse prophet are, and shall be tormented nd night forever and ever. The Rev. Mr. Everts was very careless, in- deed. The most direet reference to Lell that be could find was in Genesis, and was as fol- lows: : For in the day that they taste thercof they shall sarely die. Now this is mere triflinz. When next he es- says Hell, I sugwest that heshould wrestle with Matt., xith., 42, a5 Lhus: . ‘And =hall cast them into a farnace of fire; there shall be wailin: und 2oashing of teeth Mr. Forbush, in his researches, came across this passage, only moderately llumined and iv- spired: y ” "And these shall go away into everlasting punish- mont, but the righteous into hfe eternal. This, though an improvement, by no means does the subject justice. This gentleman will thank me for quoting for his beuefit Matt., xxv., 413 Then shall Tle say alsounto themon the left haud: Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his anzels. Dr. Ryder is respectfully referred to Mark, ix., 45: Andif thy foot offend thee cut it oft: it fs better for thee to enter halt into life thin, having two feet, fo be cast into hell, juto the tire that never thall be quenched. Tle Rev. Crafts seemed to think that Heb., ix., 27, was definite enough for him: Yor it 11 appolnted unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. If it will save im any trouble I will refer him for his next effort to dark, ix., 47 1t is better for thee to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire. 3 The Rev. Mr. Hunter bit upon the same text with Mr. Forbush. Let bim take a different one next time. Let bim peruse and meditaze upon the Apocatvptic John—Lev., xei., 82 ‘f5ut the fearfol and unbelieving . . . sndsll liara shall have their part in the lake, which burn- cth with firo and brimstone, which'ts the second death. I wonder if any of these preachers would come under the licad of *““the fezrful and the unbelieying " spoken of above. Parson White waded clear through the whole Dible to the v last chapter of Kevelation only to reach the wing lame and impoteat conclusion—Chap. XXii., 122 And behold T come quickly, and my sword is with me to give every man sccording as his work shell be, Now, in order to unearth that very common- olace reminder, the gentleman skivped right over Rev., xiv,, 10, 11., where there is the fol- lowing lively passaze: And he ghull be tormented with fire and brim- stonc m the presence of the holy anzels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night. These instances ought to suffice. Sometimes when I think of this astounding carelessness, it eveu scems to me as if they did not wish to find the right passages. I nust say, too, that I donot like the mauner in which these preachers discussed the subject any better than I iike their extraordinary stupidity in the sclection of texts. This dwelling upon what this or that man says, what this or that Church teaches, this guotinx of secular authoritics, these evo- lutions of the inner vonsciousness, thesc appeals to the human beart and to the spirit of the aze are not at all to the purpose. The question, as 1 take it, 13: What does God’s Word say about it? It scems to me that the Bible is very explicit—if I may be allowed the expres- sion, is red hot—upon the subject. If our spiritual guides cannot keep closer to the record than this, I shall begin to believe that the critics, the literatl, and the clentists are right when they assume that Christianity is_underzoing the process of disintegration of which such discussions as this are but an example. 1 here ussume, as @ matter , that Christianity is bused upou the his, however, way be a rash assump- tion, and certainly is such if these preachers are falr exponeuts of Christianity. 1o call attention t . Crafts, bove mentione Near the beginning of his sermon I find the fol- lowin: Of course no one holds, and it 1s doubtful if any one everaid hold, to the literal meaning of the word fire. The oulyremarlk that I wish to make inregard to that isthat I am afraid Ben Butler would blush to make such ustatement. Doubtless Mr. Crafts is young and cuthusiastic. Tuue BLUE. P. S.—A friend at my clbow suggests that I ask those preachiers who rewrard suchiexpressions as “hell fire,”” **everlasting fire,” * furnace of fire,” *+lakeof fire and Dbrimstone,” with the uscending smoke, ete., ete., as ligurative, what lapguage the Alnighty would Lave chosen ju casé he had wished to Speek literally¢ T, B. NOT ENDLESS MISERY. + CANON FAREAR'S CRITIC CRITICISED. Cmicago, Jan. 19.—The Rev. C. S. Pereival, of Marshail, Tn., having read Canon Farrar's sermon acainst endless vunishment, comes to the reseuc of that barbarism iu theology, in a iate issuc of TuE CiicAGo TRIBUNE. It is of Heaven, he thinks, because Jesus s, % He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and hie that believeth not shall be damned.”— Mark, xvi, 16. Let him note that the con- demuation is not said to be endless. OI course no one caa be saved till ug belicves, till he re- ceives and obeys the truth. But it is God's truth that finally *‘all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.” 8o says St. Paul. Ite then quotes: * How can ye escape the damnation of Uell?’—Mate,, xxiif., 833. Why did he not quote the third verse follow- ing! * Verily, I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation.” This shows that the * damnation of Hell ” was s temporal judgment awaiting that generation of the Jews. ‘I'he passage clearly has no refercuce to eterni- ty. This Jowa mau then refers to this passage: «'These shall go away iuto everlasting punish- ment, and the richteous into life eternal.”’— Matt., xxv., 46 By *punishment” Jesus doubtless means the * dimnation of Hell,”" which He affirms should come on thegeneration with whom he lived. In the preceding chapter be explains this: When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Danel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him un- derstand:) ‘Chen let them which be in Judes flec into the mountains: Let lnm which Is on the honsetop not come down tu_take anything out of his house: Neither fet i which i fu tne deld return back 10 taice his clothes, And woe unio them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your ilight vé not 1n the winter, neither on the Subbath day: JFor then shatl be reat tribulation, ench as was not since the bezinning of the world till this time, no, nor ever shall be.—Matt., xxiv., 1 In the thirty-fourth verse he ad * This generation shall not pass away till all these things are fultilled.” Luke records portions of this discourse thus And when ye shall sce Jernsslem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation there- of i3 migh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountaina; and let them which are in the midst of it depart ont; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fultlled. AR o shull fall by the edve of the eword, and shall beled away captive into all pations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the” Getiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fuliiled.— Luke, xxi., 20-24. This is the “damnation of hell,” this 15 the “everlasting pumishment,” 23 " exvlained by Jesus Himself. The “everlasting Jife ! of the passage is the life of the Gospel Kingdom, the Kingdom o1 God. Tae New Testament is clear 4s t0 this Kingdom: **The Kingdom of God cometh not with observa- ncither shall they suz, Lo bere, or, 1o there ! Kingdou of God Is witliin you.” 20-21. **The Kingdom of God Is and drink: but righteonsness. and peace, e Tloly Ghos H tio fur, behold, the —Luke, xvil., A + 20, -*Seek llret tile King- **Thou urt not far from the Xil.. 3. **Mepent, for th Heaven isat hand, "—3latr Joseph of Arimathiea ** waited for the Kin —Mark, xv., 4 I must preach the King God to other cilies also, "—Luke, iv., 4 Kingdom of Gud is come unto you = 28, 7 *¢The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given o a nation bringing forta the fruits ihereof."=Matt., xxi.. 43. In cxact harmouy with these statements as to the character and location of this Gosoel King- Qom are the words of the New Testament cou- cernine the * everlasting life: +Ile that believetls on me Zath everlasting life,” —Johmn. i 5. **Venly T say unto you, he the heareth wy word, and believetli on Him that sen e, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into cqpdemnation; but i8 passed from death into tife.™ —Johm, v., ¢+ Verily Tsay unto you, he that ‘believeth on Me Aafa everlasting life."—Jobn, 47. **And this is life eternal, that they may kno Thee the only living snd true God, and Jesas Christ, whoin Thou hust sent."~John, xvif., 3. The true Christian is now o member of this Kingdom and a purtaker of.this hfe. Says St. Paul to bis Christian brethreh wio knew afl this by experience **But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the hving God, the heavenly Jeru- salem, und to un innumerable compuny of angels. T the general moly and Clhurch of the firstborn, which are written in Heaven. and to God the Judge of all, und to the epirits of just men made perfect. “*And to Jesus the mediator of the new cov cnant. and to the blood of sprinkling, that gpo: cth better things than fhut ¢f Abel."—eb., sii., o ) 4 are come,” he says, to all these blessi; ‘The kingdom is bere. ™ The everlasting lify ;mrc. The wen of grace lind Heaven begun be- ow. But says the Tribunc writer, Aion aud Alonics rendered forever and everiasting means endless duration. Not so fast, The best authority in Iieaven and on earth are against you: *+Aud the Lord soid to Abrahiaw . for all the land which thou scest, 10 thee I wili give it, and to thy eced forever."-Gen., xiil., 1%, 15. ** And I will give unto thee, snd 1o thy seed after thee. the land Wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Lebunon, for an_ererlusting possession."™ xvik., 8, **1will give this land to thy e Tor an ecerlasting possession. v - 4. **And I will establish my ¢ between Me and thee. and thy sced after thee for an ecerlasting covenant. —Gen.. svil., 7. **He that 15 born in thy house, and bought With thy money, must needs be_circumcised. aud my covenunt shall be in_your flesh for an ecerlasting coveuant. "—Gen., xvil., 13. Here the Lord calls the priesthood of Aaron “an cverlasting priesthood,” circumcision an steverlasting covenaut,” the ownership of Ju- dea by the Jews *“an cverlasting possession.”? The Jews a8 not now possess that lana. The pricsthood is abolished: so is circumeision. Everlastivg, then, according to the Lord, cannot mean endless, and our lowa man is mistaken. Asull these everlastings have come to an end, whymay not everlusting gpunishment? Here we mizht stop; but we will give the definition of these words by men who have made it their business to learn the meaning of words. Sehleusuer, whose exact learning makes his au- thority of great weight, detiues 4ion thus: “Any space of time, whether longer or shorter, ast, Dresent..or futnze, to be determined by the Do tiinias spokon of, atd the scope of the the Jife oruge of man: any space in o measure human life, from rih to Jonnegan. *‘dion. time; a spaco of time; life- time and life; thie ordinary period of man's lifes the age of- man; mau's estete; along perlod of ternity. | Aionios, of long duration, eter- permanent.™ Sciureveliva, ‘*Aton, an age, a long period of time, indefinite duration; timé, whether jonzer or xhorier, past, present, oF fature; life, the life of It dton:os, of lone duratin, sometimes ever- lasting. eometimnes lasting throneh life, " ‘Authoritics wight be mnultiplied to any ex- tent, but these are sufticient ™ to show that the radical meaning of the (zr'ec): vords translated “cyerlasting,” “forever,” cte., is not endless, but simply, indginite time, longer or shorter, past or fufure; aud that thevtake their force as 1o duration from the subjécts or persons to which they are applicd. If they mean strictly eudless in auy cust, it is not because that 1dea is fu the words dionios, Ain—everlasting,” “foréver; but Lecause the bejuw or subject qualified demands it, or is, of itself, nec Tily eadless. Hence Dr. Macknight, Presbrterian, seys: «These words, being_ ambiguous, are always to be understood according to the nature and cir- cumstances of the things to which they are ap- plied.” And though be claims the words in suspon of cudless punishment, yet he frankly udds: At the samc time, T must be socandid asto acknowledge that the use of theso terms forever, eternal, and everlasting, in Othcr pussages of Serip: ture, shows that they who understand the words in 2 limited sense when applied to punishment, put 1o forced interpretztion on them, ‘The Zribune correspondent, near the end of his article, delivers himself as follows: The theologlcal beariug of Canon Farrar'a ar- gument is of the gravest possible character, but I iave no time to entarge upon it now. Suflice it to say that it tends to deprive the present life of all its solemn import as & state of probation for an- other; to encoursze the bud man's continnance in #in, by holding out the delusive and unscriptural hope of an ooportanity for repentance ** beyond time;* to enlarse the Komish pureatory by mak- fng it the receptacle not ouly of Chyistians who have left the world stained witn venial sins, but of il classes of the unbuptized and impenitent as well; in short, o makz the Crosz of Christ of none tuting in its plece ** the purlfying z punishment which awaits the s penitent sinner beyond the grave, Youare a false prophet, we trust. Had the final **restitution of ull things? been believed and preached hall as long and as faithfuily as cternal punisiment has been, and mankind were 10 better than they are now, we should be ashamed to talk about its good infiuence, or the bad influence of anythiug else. . The doctrine of endless punishment has always been a disgrace to the Churcl, a toul siander on the Almighty, and a curse to man. Let it die, ana may there be po tiend to blow its resurrection trump. E. MaxFORD, E’;ERN;‘\L PUNISHMENT. DO TUE SCRIPTURES TEACH I7} 7o the Editor of The Tribune. Cn1cAGo, Jan. 26.—But tivo positions can be taken in regard to the duration of punishment; one, that it is limited, the other that it is un- limited, or one temporal, and the other eternal. Universalism in every phase, embvodies the former, and what s called orthodox by the cvangelical denominations wmay be classed under the second head. Prof. Boise hius stepped to thefront in defense of eternal punishment. He appeals to the Greek noun **uion ™ andits adjective **ajonios,” in support of this doctine. Bat why does the Professor ignore the corresponding words in the Hebrew Scriptures, which are often used to de- note limited periods? Are not these words in- sprration, and therefore entitied to as much consideration as their cquivalents in the Greek ¢ If thisis tobe a thorough investigation, that the truth may shiue out upon the great question of future puuishient, why limit the evidences to the New Testament Scriptures? Why not quote the same words from the Greek version of the Ol Testament, as scholars equally eminent agree that Christ and His posties quoted coplously from the Septuagint, thus giving it the sanction of inspiration! Why pass, in silence, the passaces in the New Testa- ment, where the Greek word “afon” is used in a limited sense! willrefresh the Professor’s mind with quo- tations in which these words are so used by Christ and His apostles: ¢ The harvest is the cnd of aionos.”—Matt. Xiif., 80. At the fortieth verse the same Greex word eecurs. Thus it reads: **As therefore the tares-are gathered and burned in the lire, so ehall it be in the end of the aonos.” Wil it be thus fa the end of cternity? Will eternity have onend! Again, the true witness says: “*And the cares of tuis aionos and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”—Matt. Xiii., 2. (Vhy does he say *this wionos® if there shall ve ho future ajonos? Wil there be cares, deceit, and thorny ground in Heaven or cterni- tyf Again, Christ speaks of tue “children of this alonos.’—Lu. xvi.. 8. And again, He “snid auto them the children of this aionos marry aud are given in marriage, but they which shail be accounted worthy to vbtan that aionos and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriave,”—Lu. xx., 34, 85. What o striking contrast between the social status of this aze and that of the fature age! 53+ Was Cbrist mistaken, or is Prof. Boise! Listen to hizher authority than even Dr. Farrar. The Apostle Paul asked questions which we would do well to consider. ** Where is the wise! Where is the sensible! Where fs the disputer of thisaionos#” 1 Col 9. Does the Proiessor believe there will b ting in the future age! Itis to be boped that disput- ing will terminate with this aionos. Aeain, the sume apostle savs: * Wherein times past ye lkied in aceordance to the course of this aiona accordiug to the prince of the power of the wir.”” Lph, ii, 8. The rules of the tuture agre will not be troubled with the darkness of the present ace. Again the apostle su; That in the aiosi (ages) to come he micht shew the exeeeding rienes of i3 grace,” Epi, Si,7. Yet once more. Paul, when referring to the advent of Christ at the end of the swes, says, * But 110w ouce at the eud of the aionon (ages), be ap- peared to puraway s by the sacritice of him- sell.” Hep., ix., "hus the apostie had ane scrics of awes to terminate 1,500 years ago. Dot Cuorist ang scut disns sation, this hich terminates with the second advent of Christ, and the reaping of the great harvest of the world. In contrast with all these ages past, the upostle speaks of ages o come. It is not safe to predicate the monstrous sys- tem of an eternity of woe upon the ctymoloz of words of such doubtiul import. 1t there was but one exception to the rule, the multi- tudes who have and will die out of Christ should huye the benelit of that exeeption. Lut 1 do not believe that the etymology of aion and aionios convey to the mind any detinite iu reference to definite duration of time. The du- ration of zionios in its adjective form is deter- mied, not by its etymolozy, but_by the dura- tion of that Which it quuhities. ‘Thé everlasting priesthood of Aaron way he addueed 2s an ¢x- dmple. The word everlastine denotes a period whici wonlé continue as long s that priesthood continued. “Everlustiug punishment?. is an- otherexample. “Tiwe adjective cverlasting denotes a period vhich will continue us long as the punisiment hall contmue. 1ts daration, a3 before stated, is not determined by the adjective everlastigr, but by the duration of the noun punishment. If it can be proven that the gentence against the ungodly shall ever be revoked, or that their punishinent shall ever come to an end, then the qualifying adjective everlasting must be under- stood in a limited sense. But if there is no such evidence then it must, per consequence, be cternal. When this adjective is used with ref- erence 10 deatbless beings, God, Christ, and the ungels, then it must be understood in an abso- Iute or unhunited sense; not, 1 repeat, from auy such mezning in the ctymolozy of thls ad- juctive, but from the evidence of the immor- tality of the beings to wiom 1t relates. 1f it can be proven that the wicked are now, or will be, immortal when the sentence of everlasting punisbiment is denouuced agaiust them, then tne penalty must relate to a condition of life, and not to lite itsell. I can find no evidence in the Bible that the final entence acainst the wicked shall ever Dbe repeated, or that they shall ever be pardoued or reprieved. But does it follow, because their punishment shall be unlimited, that, therefore, it must con- sist in consaous miserv¢ Is there no other al- ternative? It coes not necessarily follow that the wicked muss either be saved or tortured through the endless ages of eternity! 'The Bible, from Gen- esis to Revelations, threatens death as the pen- alty of God’s law, If they cannot be saved, why not let them dief I lh:I)' will not accept the prescribed conaitions of salvation, if all the rlonous promises of the Gospel, Atnon which are an incorruptible constitution! and an end- less iife, are not a sufficient motive for repent- ance, why not let them simply lose the proffered reward, and die—go back to -their original element—return to the dust, a8 God threatcned Adam in the beginning. They will have gojored the present life, whicn is cousidered of invaluable worth, ‘They Lave choseu deatb, aud refused to comply with the conditions of eternal life offered i the Gospel, and shall God torture sinners to all eternity for accepting a result, the choice of which he offers to _every human be- fug! NotifleisaGod oi Justice. Iutlein- vestigation of this subject a urea: mistakeis made in confounding the word punishment with Dain or suffering. Pain and punishment arg Dot synonymous terms. But punishment aad penaity are synonyms. Cobb defines punish- meat to be dliction imposed in _vengeance of erime. Whatever the Judze awards to the crimingl for his offeuse is the -punishment; whether fines, conriscation, stripes, imprisou- ment, or death. In all ‘these penal- ties the word paunishment is admissable, but the word painisnot. A man may pay his fine or give up his property, and perbups even accept imprisonment, without a pang.’ He may intentionally violate a law of the -land fu order to be transported toa more hospitable clime and country, yet he suffers the full penalty of thiat law. If pain and pusishment are synonymous, then all Governments inflict the greater penalty for the lesser crime. Fifty lashes upon the naked flesh will intlict more pain than death by hang- ing. Surely a man will suffer far more pain during a lone jmprisonment jthan death from violeuce. The enormity of the sentence of death does not consist in the amount of suffer- ing endured, but in the immense value of that which is sacrificed. Life being the richest treas- ure we possess, its deprivation iuvolves the greatest Joss, 3 Thus, death fs called fn the Bible the *curse of the law.” ¢ All that & man hath will he give for his life.” **My Kingdom for a horse” ex- claimed a fugitive King, that he might cscape the avenging sword, and thereby save his life, Christ says, * He that will save his life shall iose it, or what §s 1 man profited if Le shall gain the whole world and lose his own life, or what wiil 1 man give in exchange for his life.” Thus Thus the penalty consists in the loss of life. Matthew, Xxv., 46; does not read, “And these shall go away into everlasting misery,” bug *e crlasting punishment.” We will refer to Paul’s cxplanation of the nature of this punishment: “ And to you whoare troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with Mis mighty angels in flomes of fire, taking vengeance on thew that kunow not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Chnst, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.” I Thess., 1., 7,8, 9. The forezolng covers the whole ground of controver: First. ‘The dis~ obedient will Le punished. Second. This pun- ishment will be cternsl. Third. The nature of the punishinent will be destruction. In con~ firmation of this may be quoted all the plain, literal texts relating to future punishment in the Bible. J. M. STEPIENSOX. THOUGHTS FOR THINKERS. MAN'S BESPONSIBILITY POR WIS FUTURE. To the Editor of The Tribunc. Karaxazoo, Mich,, Jan. 20.—The thinkers are the Kings. As in the past they bave ruled, and as to-day they do, so in the future they will, rule the world for good or ill. Believing this, I would, through the columns of your paper, respectfully suggest a few thoughts for the thinkers. (1) "T'his is a day when men mpy dare to speak what tuey think, when right is more valuable than creeds, when truth is to be sought above all things. (2) We dswell in the infinite, the boundless, the oternal. What is infifite can never have been created. What is boundless can never have been established by a persouality, a tizure having bounds. Itfs casier to atteémpt to grasp the infinite, the boundless, than to conceive of the dinite, that whict has bounds, as creating the infinite, (3) Worlds, suns, avd systems bave alwavs existed, will always exist. Thewords “origin,” creation,” as used to-day, msiead and bew der. There can be no origit, no creation. W} we observe 2s_new in Nature is' but a modifica- tion of the order of the infinite. Monarchs and men, atoms and worlds, suns and_svstems, em- anate frow aud are absorbed in the infimte. The new is begotten of the old as age succecds age. What we call origin or creation is only the emanation of something {rom somethine} it is birth from that which bas birth already; it is but another manifescation in the endless order of lite and manifestation. Emanation and absorption are the order of infinite. The absorption of the old i: to the emunation of the new. Th the infinite is constantly beivre our eyes; we cannot escape it. (4) Intinite spirit requires an infinite dwell- ing. 1nfinite atoms, infinite suns, and infinite sys- tems constitute that dwelking. ‘The infinite mcludes the evil and the good,— what fs called religion and irreligion, aud afl wodilications and exhibitions of these. - Man, 3s included in the futinite. makes the distinetion between the evil and the good, the uegative and the positive; as he chuoses to surve the one or the other, secures to bhimself bappiness or misery. s The trumpl of good or evil in this world @oes not then depeud upon an overruling per- sonal God; but it does depend upon the ruling, personal man,—ruling by the excreise of the power to choose the good or evil of the intinite, the positive or the negative, and thus give char acter to his own being. The problem of the triumph of good or evil in this world will never be solved only as man solves it. Itis under his control. Heaven and Hell must be of his making. v (3) I am something; as something, a part of the infinite. No part of the jufinite cin ever be- come nothing. (6) Al lite s one life; life Is infinite. (7) All deatl the sume deatn. Al death 18 but the entering upon new life. (®) Life is posiuve. Death negative. J. THE POPULAR PREACHER. QUALIFICATIONS NCCESSARY TO SUCCESS. To the Editor of The Tribune. PERVILLE, Jan. 20.—As tlie times seem to indicate, ihat * the Popular Preacher ™ is an “argicle” for which there is to be an increasing detnand, it may be well to consider what are the qualities essential to suceess in that pro- fession. The ‘“calling™ of the Popular Preacier has a semi-religious side toit, and is a profession, requiring in a high degree, mavy and pecatiar abilities. Keadiness of speech, command of language and of imugery, are only primary clements. In ad- dition to these essentlals, it is indispen- asbiv necessuy that the “Fopalar Preacher malie ©self? supreme, that his personal aggrin- dizement be bis leading object in lite. 1t he do not possess this devotion to **self,” in an eminent degree, he will not be able to accom- modate himself, casily, to “ the cbb and fiow of popular ideas. H¢ will be hazmpered and re- strafned by the claims of truth and a sense of duty. The mistake should not be made of sup- pusing that the aun of *popular preaching” is 10 suide wen m ‘the struigat ana narrow puth,” und up the diflicelt ascents, where duty ever leads the way. Its um is to guide them in the smooth and flowery paths of case and pleasure, whither the popular sentiment of the hour is ever tending. If well adapted to lis protession, such a preacher endeavors Lo as fain, seize upon, und rellect the favorite idens d Wins his popularity caielly be- cause, his orations being a rellection of public scutinent, he is never opposed to, but al- ways witl, the popular techng. Couse- quently, the religion of whica he is the true expoment is mot - really that of the Gospel, but that which is condensed in the phrase, ** The voice of the people is the Unless bis persoust axgrunduize- ment be bis cbief aim in liie, a preacher ca adapt himself to such a religion” with suf case. On the other hand, it ** self " be hisunly object in existence, be will readily sacrifice everything else to au increase of his popularity, und theretore willingly adapt himself 1o what- ever sentiment happens to be the ruling passion of the hour. t is a’ further cssential to the “ Popular Preacher ' that ne possess a suppleness of dis- position, and a llexibility of conviction, and a skill in the use of Janguage to . such a remark- avle degree that he le to justity, seemtugly, any position he may assum e must be able to stand in the front rank with the most liberay, and at the same _time not seri- ously offend the senslvilities ot the moderately orthodox. He must maintain his placeina professedly Christian pulpit und vet satisfy the ears and’ please the hearts and esse the consciences of the most avowed of {free-thinkers. It will readilv be surmised that tuis is a difficult feat to accom- plish. There is-danger—while the preacher endeavors to sustain himscif both upon the Christian and the frecthinker’s platforms— thut they shall separate so widely that he must fall of necessity between them. ” There s alsu dangrer that he be found resting o exclusively upon tbe ler stauding upon the free- thinkers' plank that his orthodox hearers shall become alzrmed. This will ne sitate a readjustment of his ‘positiom always more or less awkward. Ile will probavly Swing as far over to the other side, and thus fmperdl his popularity anew. To avoid these mishiaps the Popular Preacher requires the uttmost plia- Dility of disposition and flexibility of conviction, varfed taleut, and mastership in the use of lan- guage. . He should, morcover, ever be on the finger on_the popular pulse, so that he m: always even with, and never iu advauce of ner bebind, the thnes. Tue people must find in his sermons s reflection of all ihe' vurying changes of popular. sentiment and fecliug contemporary With tueir ocenrrence. ile must be a living exponent, nop of the Gospel, but of the relizion whichi the popular heart ut the tine demands. 1t will be scen from this **exhibit shat the profession of the Popular Preacher should not be rashly assumed. Success in it is not easily attained. If any are Jooking forward to it who donot possess the qualitics we have enumer- ated, we advise them to reconsider their de- cision. If they persist in thetr intention they will most assuredly fail of success. When they have staked everything, possibly their soals, upon the attainmént of popularity as preachers, the result may be that lEL-y have failed in their bopes and lost all. RerAL Pansox. A DIVE AFTER TRUTH. WHAT IS DIVINITY! To the Editor of Te Tridine, Auntny, N. Y., Jan. 18.—It is obvious that this question cannot be satisfactorily answered, and we will therefore consider what it is not. Let us construet a lne with which to fathom an inappreciable portion of that abyss of com- ing ages from which the glad echo of “For- ever!” shall ascend to the cars of theredeemed. What is a billion -of years! It is a period so vast that it may be safely said no human mind can comprehend it. Not a filth part of a billion of scconds has yet elapsed swnce the creation of Adam, and more than 470 years must pass be- fore that fifth is completed. When the sum of billion of seconds is completed the earth will be more. than 25,000 years older than it is to- day. I adopt the English mode of reckoning biil- ions instead of the French, i. e., countinga million of millions to the billion. This is after Dr. Dick’s precedent in estimating distances of stars, and it is obviously unimportant for the purposes of this essay which mode of enumer- ation is used. There i3 no danger of getting 100 Jong a line for our soundings. What, then, s a billion ot years? Five thousind cizht hundred and seventy years have passed since Adam was created, and if we fmagine the humnan race to continue on the carth until that period has been repeated a hundred aud sixty-six thousands of times we shall then have—what? A billion of yearst No., Something less than a thousandth part of that vast duration. Pouder this awhile. Trytourasp the thought, and see hiow its immensity will startle and ap- pal you. FPonderit, becauseitis to be a link, a very minuto chain, with which we shall pres- ently seck to fathom, mot_eternity, indeed, but an infinitesimal part of cternity.” Let this bili- fou of years (165,000,000 of times of the present age of the human race) now form a unit of our caleulations. Let every grain of sand in the world, every stone aud pebble. every drop of waterin all the oceans, lakes, and rivers, every spear of arass or grain which has ever grow, every kernel of every kind of grain, cvery leal in every forest, every hair upou every human head throuehoutall generations, andevery word that has ever been spoken, en, or printed, represent one of thesc billions of years. What have we now{ A line ‘with which to fathom eternity? No, it is f00 short. The at- tempt would be absurd, Wemust try again. The sum is more than million of times the size of the earth, and astronomwers teli us that one of the nebule is very many trillions of times larzer than the sun. Let us supposc this ncbula i3 to be entirely composed of the wminutest graing of sand, such as whiten the ocean shores (in num- Der at least a willion to the cubic inch) and let all the grains be counters for their separate billions of vears. Agin: Light travels nearly two hundred thousaud miles in a second, or twelve millions of miles in a minute, and yet there are worlds 50 distant from us that their livht has never yet reached our rlobe, although it has been lzaping throush the infinite fields of space with this incouceivable velovity ever since creation’s dawn, Divide the distance which separates these un- scen worlds from ours futo hair-oreadths and let every hair-preadth represent itsbiliion of years! Do you stand awhast at these numbers?” Nay, you nced not! Add these awful gagrerates to- rether and what have we then? Eternity¢ No! 1alf of eternity! No! A tentnpart! No! A hundreth—a thousandth—a milliouth part? No—no—no! Would they constitute a millionth part of o septillionth part of eternity? % Again we Inust answer, No! Is it necessary to dilate upon these stupen- dous figures? No, for we have only undertaken to show what eternity is not. " It is something intinitely longer than all this. Now, is it conceivable thatany buman being is to be kept in torments, or in misery of auy Kind, throuzh such 7ast illimitable aees! Nay, more: that a largre portion. a majority ot all the human race from the beginnine of the world to the present day, are thus to be kept? Ts it con- ceivable that (God has created thousands of mill- jons of men, knowing (I say nothing of decree- ing) that such was to be their doom ¢ That He is now, every glorious day of every passing year. creating tens of thousands of buman souls to whom He knows that this ap- palliug destiny is certain? To believe this of Deity, to utter it of Him by speech or Wwriting, to preach it in His holy témples, seems to me an error 0 great that nothing can exeuse it, and nothing butignorance or culpable want of reflectfon can palliate it. In my last conununication 1 dwelt cliefly upon the argument amuinst endless punish- ment which is deducible from the Old Testa- meunt Scriptures, and the question now arises do the modern Jews, whose faith is found- ed on the Old Testament and on their tradi- tions, believe in regard to this momentous sub- ject? itie Jews commonly reckon but thirtecn es of faith. Maimonodes, a famous Jewish bbi, reduced them to this number when he drew up their confession about the end of the eleventh century, and it was generally received. All tie Jews arc obliged to live and “die in the profession of these thirtcen articles, ich the reader can see at lenzth by consulting Buck’s ‘Theological Dictionary. "The only one of these articles which speaks of the punishiment of the wicked is the eleventh, which is in these words: *Phat God will regard the works of all those iwho have performed what Ile commands, and punish those who have transsressed His laws.” “Thus this written creed is entirely free from this odious and irrational doctrine, and doces not teach nor in auy way sugeest eternal misery. Yet Dr. Buck says they believe inahell or paratory, the same dlace. being a hell (cternal) 1o some but » purzatory to others. But they suppose no Jew, unless cuilty of heresy, or cer- tain crimes specified by the rabbins, shall con- tinue in purzatory above a twelvemonth. and that there are but few who suffer cternal pun- ishment. ven this modified doctrine of eternal misery is not in their written crecd, and is probably taught in their traditions. That_there is any such distinet_teaching fu_their Scriptures as cternal woe, probably few Christiaa tacologians would claim. ; § ‘Tl Sadducees of course belicved nothing of this kind, not even admitting a future state. ‘We might observe, in passing, that the Ma- hometans, although they belicve in an eternal hell for intidels (Christians, Jews, ete.), where he who is punished most. lightly of all will be shod with shoes of fire, *‘the fervor of wlich 11} cause his skull to boil like_a caldron,” they do uot belicve that any Mahometaz, however wicked, will suffer these torments louger than 7,000 years. This would scem to be long crouzh to wear red-hot shocs, but what is it to that eternity of woe which many Christian ministers. teach, where sufferings equal to this are to be inflicted —uot for seven thousand years, but for a perio of which seven thousand millions of years mul- tiplicd seven thousand billion of septillions of times wowd constitute only a minute part, bearing no appreciable proportion to the endless remander. ¥ 1f people will only think for themselves on these subjects instcad of swallowing, open- mouthed, ail the theolozical boluses which are dealt vut to them, will they not ask the ques- tion, **Is this justice?” Do common people, who arudge throush a life which they never sought, wroaniug under its burdens, and recefv- fng while on earth certainly a large share of punishment for their sins, do_they deserve, in addition to the multifarious pains and anxietics of life, the added_norrors of * bein grievously tormented in hell fire withont intermission for- evert Or do they deserve any equivalent for this eternal roastivg, any eternal azouy of which fire is butatype.aud 3 mild type, a3 we_ are sometimes taught P H M MISCELLANEOUS. DR. NORTHRUP AGAIN. To the Editor of The Tribune. Cmicago, Jau. 25.—I observe that Dr. Taylor says the report in ‘fuesday’s TRIBUNE of re- marks made by Dr. Northrup before the Baptist ministers Monday morning was not correct. Among other emendations made by Dr. Taylor is the following: *¢ Another error was a wrong fnference, drawn and used as if it had been a statement. Hesaid that endiess punishment was not based upon sios committed in this life, but upon cndless sioning. Sin, whenever, wherever, and by whomsoever committed, will be punished. The inference drawn was, ‘If sin was not in the world to come, then there wzs a cessation of punishment bestoswed for the wrdngs in the life that now is.” The Doctor did not use that lauguage.” From the zeal with which this correction is made, I infer that Dr. Northrup (or Dr. ‘Taylor, who sacm3 to speals fad Lim) _fopnulntu “the position attributed to him .by your reportér as somethin‘ie quite Toreign to his sentiments. Are we, then, toun- derstand these reverend gentlemen as holding that even though there should be a cessation .of sin o the next world, therc would be noeessa- tion of punishment? And this, notwithstand- ing the fact that endless punishment is based. ot upon the sins committed in this life, but upon endless sinninz? 1had always suppossd that, in logicas in architecture, the superstric- ture must fall if its foundation were torn away. But in this it seems I have been mistaken, for we are assured that Dr. Northrap’s defense of endless punishment was *‘clear and able.” Per- baps there is some peculiarity jn the Jogic of theology rendering it iwpossible for tne wn- theological mind to appreciate its beauty and force. OpsERYIX. DR. THOMAS. To the Editor of The Tribune. Ca1cAGo, Jan. 26.—The female portion of the membership of Centenary Church is said to be, in great commotion, and deeply exercised con- cerning their beloved pastor, Dr. Thomas, nnd the vicws be bas recently expressed concerning the future ouniskment of the wicked. It would vaturally be supposed that, of all classes of perzons, the sex would be more readily inclinet, to entertain liberal idcas upon this question and the first to aceept a doctrine which has love for its main foundation. But the opposite seems to be the fact in the present case. They are In a perfect azony of fear lest the Doctor may fall from grace, and his heretical - opintons, subject him to the stern discipline of the Churen of which he is as an aceredited minister. At a recent church prayer-meeting, they there- fore took bold and apparently converted action, and thegood sisters prayed unitedly and earnest-, 1y that their pastor misht be kept in the strait and narrow way, to each of which petitions, ve- fore it may have had timne to ascend higher than the ceiling, the Doctor iight be beard to promptly respond, in a loud and ringing voice, *Amen!?” It is still Ieft to conjecture, however, which is the true strait and narrow way, the one in the mind of Dr. Thomas, or the old-fashioncd, or- thodox one referred to by the petitioners. CHURCUMAN, GENERAL NOTES. There are in England 2,012 Congregational churches, a decrease of two since 1875, The Interior and Standard have declined to aceept the challenge of the New Covenant to dis- cuss the question of eternal torment. ‘Tom Paine’s *“ Memoriat Hall,” recently dedi- cated in Boston, with a grand flourish of trum- pets, has been sold at auction under a §5,000 1mortzage. A Tue Catholic benevolent societies of St Louis will -dispense with the parade on St. Patrick’s Day, 1575, and devote the amonng heretofore paid out for music to charitable pur- poses. The State_ Street Episcopal Church, Ports- mouth, N. H., has the oldest organ in this coun- try. 1t was built in London for Queen’s Chapel, Boston, in 1713, and rewoved to Newburyport in 1736, aud to Portsmouth in 1836, A correspondent of the Chrixtian Union re- ports Bishop Coxe of Western New Yorkus saying: *'The Church ought to sct forth a form of sound words to be used by Christfan mew under eircumstances of great provocation.” Pressing calls for missionaries come froi? the Black Hills regrion of the Great West. ‘There is only one Methodist preacher in Dakotah Ter- ritory, and the Northwest Iowa Conference sup~ plies one man for Fargo and Bismarck, which are 200 miles apart. It is stated as a singular fact that while there are between twenty and thirty Brahmo Somajes (native theistic churches) in Calcutta, there is not one in Madras. Several of tae leaders, who have attempted to establish Somajes in the cap- ital of South India, have died before they could accomplish it. ‘The nincteenth century is signalized by the fact that 201 names have passed the process of canonization or beatification, Of these 163 were martyrs. Of the whole number, 80 belonged to the Corea, 44 to.Tonquin, 29 to Italy, 22 to France, 10 to China, 9 to Cochin China, 5 to. Spaia, 1 to Austria, and 1 to Poland. ‘The church building formerly standing at the corner of Robey street and Warren avenue, be-. longing to the Church of God. has been pur chased for the use of the Central. Christian Church, now meeting at - No. 997 West Van Bu- ren street, of which A. J. White is pastor. The building is now beinzis now beine moved t¢ lots on Western avenue, near Congress street. The number of parishes in the Russtan Church 15 snid to be 86,000, and the ageresate of the in- comes of the clerrry about $33.500,000, of which the Imperial Treasury contributes $3,000,0005 “ houses and properties belonging to tle par- fshes yield $500,000, and the Test arises from the * contributions of the parishioners.” The average income of the clergy of each parish amounts to about $650. We bave heard of a Universalist preacher who arrued long and loud to show that the word translated *everlasting” might mean only limited time, even quoting one example iz Diblical use, where the vord covered a space of but three dags. o fervent pruyer followin this sermon be flnished with the petition thac each one ju_that assembly might at least be saved *“with an everlasting salvation.” Did ke mean a three days’ salvation f—Addvasce. - The Christicn. .{dvocate understands the Hicks- Lord case. Widow Hicks wus a trap. The Cardinal **sot” her: She caught a fat viettm. “The Romish Church will receive a larze profit for the trouble of concealing the lovers and warding off judicial proccedings.” It is the use to which Rome puta charming widows. Soon Widow Lord can be fet apain. In the rowing dominance of Home it is well for us to ecome samibar with the kiduappings of our fathery, a3 well as of our children. Tnus_far, sixtcen out of forty-eieht dioceses of the Protestant Egiscopal Church have voted on the papers of Dr. Sevmdur, Bishop elect of Soringficid. Those of New York, Missouri, Alabama, Minnesota, Iilinois, Quincy, Massa: chusetts, Maine, aud- Tennessee—nine—vote in the affirmatives and those of Southern Oblo, Kentucky, Central Pennsylvania, Virginfa, Dela- ware, lowa, and Louisiana—seven—vote in the negative. Dr. Seymour requires the votesof sixteen dioceses in addition to what he has for confirmation. The Bishop of Nice, Monseigneur Sola, never liked the Jesuits, and to the decree of inralli- Dility he gave in ouly a tardy and reluctant cou- sent. Consn?ucntlv he received an order from Rome to resizn his diocese. He declined to comply. Then he received notice that unless he resizned within three months the Holy See would send an administrator to relieve him of his functions. ‘This bas been done. The Deputy from Nice, it I8 said, will bring the fact to ths notice of Parliament as a nigh-bauded and per- fidious violation of .the Concordat. In the present temper of the French people and Par- liament the consequences may be such as to make the Koman Curia wish that it never had tried to meddle with the guaranteed rights of 8 French Bishop. Relizlous enthusiasm, says the New York Herald, can go too far. The Church may rail at skeptics for the blasphemy, but the editor of the Christian Adyocate can out-Herod the worst of them. Such is his zeal for the cause of temn- perance that he has allowed himself to pe trans- formed into a bigot who hesitates at nothing. He says: Jesus Christ is put on tri:ln!?dflnl‘lngmn; not as a sot, but as a moderate drinker who, ac- corting o the Jaw of humaa nature, with $0 many millions iliostrations, wss possibly eaved from be- coming an example for sots by beinz crucilied in carly mannood.- 1If this sentiment had been uttered by one of the so-culled advanced thinkers it wounld be trumpeted all over the land o3 the natural out- comeof the skeptical theory. As it is, how- ever, it is a shade too heterodux fur our vrtho- doxy. A rather interesting ecclesfastical suit was re- cently tricd fu one of the Capadian Chancery Courts. The plaintul, one Dunnet, complained that the defendant, Farnefr, the ‘Rector of an Episcopal church at Belleville, declined to ad- minister to him the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supoer, on two occasions, for the purposs of rendering him inelizible to fill the oflice of 3 lay delegate to the Diocesan Synod. The reverend pentleman farther undertook to ex- communicate the layman, on the ground that he had not contributed to the support of the church according to bis means, and also for the furtber reason that he was a schismatic and de- praver of the prayer-book. The defendant de- waurred to the bill on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction. Vice-Chancellor Proudfoot delivered the opinlon, in which the demurrer was sustained, on the ground that the church was a voluntary association ing its own tribunals for the discipline of its members, and. that us there were no _ violation of civil rixhts, the Court could not interfere. The costs were, however, assessed on the defendant for the rea~ sou thit he had not wade out bis casc in all other respects. A bad staried fn New York Father McNamurz had s n New City what he cails the Irish Catholic Charch. Its” articles Irl:.hlnhllzn_ce lfl!‘;n; s:hri‘alu?elnljfig Catholie Ciu rw)%:&! tht Papul Intduence worked to Irish Cath- olics all over the world; that thes Worsldp of the