Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, August 25, 1878, Page 9

RELIGIOUS. “Broad Church, and No Church. Wfit Expressions on Religion by Philosophers, Divines, and Poets. 2 pird's-Eye View of the Fotire Theological Bat- tlefield. Ertracts from the Glaston bury Bible, Translated by Julia E. Smith. i Work of the American Sun- day-School Union in the Far West. general Notese=-Personals==-Pious Services To- -r'gETBEOLOGICAL BATTLE- FIELD. EWS OF TIILOSOPIERS AND Ecs o PREACHERS. Oursisa time of unprecedented activity and andor in the world of thought. As an illus- tration of this we prescota collection of opin- s on current religious questions, gathered 3 t diversity of men and women who are molding public opinion. JORN STUART MILL. Themost famous and the most vehement 10 John Stuart Mill’s writings upon the subject of his own religious views is to be found fo bis *Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosopby.” He is combaiing the theory of Hamilton and Mansel, who main- 4ain that 8 God understood is no God at all,” thos using slmost the identical language used - py Herbert Spencer, who insists that God is the uUpknowsble” and *‘unthinkable.” The Hamiltonizn school of theologians tell you 1hat 41t is blasphemy to suppose that God is as we are compelled to concetve Him.” It is none ofour business whetber His justice or love is Jheours in kind or vot. It may be and it may wtbe This reminds us of Punch's dip into peisphysics: *What is matter? . Never mind. ¥t is mind? No matter.”” In auswer to ifs theorv of Hamilton and Mansel, Stuart il says: - wTo say that God’s goodness may bedifferent @lkind from man’s goodness, what is it but gyioz that God may not be good! If instead o the glad tidings that there exists a Being fywhich all the excellencies which the highest | “foman mind can conceive exist in o degree in- ‘snceivable to us, I am informed that the world fsruled by 2 Belng whoseattributes are infinite, batwhat they are we cannot learn, nor what are the principles of His sovernment, except {hat the highest human morality does not sanc- * tion them. convince me of it and I will bear my fiteas I may. But when Iam told that I must believe this, and at the same time call this Beiner by pames which express the highest morality, Try in plain terms I will not. Whatever power such 2 Being may have over me, there is one thing which He shall not do: He shall not com- ‘pel me to worship Him. 1 call no Being good who 1s not what [ mean wheb 1 apply that tomy fellow-creatures, and if such a can sentence me to hell for not so callng Hiu, to bell I will mo!” i - W.R. GREG. Alr. Greg's name will be recognized av once as theanthor of “*Enigmas of Life,” one of the most charming and monggauul of the many charming and thoughtful ks that have re- cxutly come from the press. In his preface he says, *“It was my lot to in- Berit from Puritan forefathers the strongest im- ressions as to_the great doctrines of religion. And although I recognize agfully as any man of sience the_hollowness of most of the fonnda- tions on which those im{prcsslons ‘were based, md the entire {nvalidity of the tennre on which 1then held them, yet I by no means feel com- pelled 1o throw up the possession merely be- _amse the old title-deeds are full of faws. The aistence of & wise aud beneficent Creator, sod A arencwed life hereafter are still to me be- el Iy the first—very nearly reaching the solidity of absolute convictions. 'The one is most a eertainty, the other asolemn hope. 01 actual knowledge we have simply nothing.” THE DUEE OF SOMERSET. 2 uTb: Duke of Somerset, in a recent work on Christian Theolozy and Modern Skepticism,” mjects Christianity, but retains Theism, into s l";\fi;‘hemures 2s “the one unassailable fort- There is one unzseailable fortress to which we Ty retire—faith in God. This faith does not de- wad on the coliatibn of manuscripts or on the reconciliation of conflicting texts. —The believer n¢ed po1 seek a foundation for his faith in a Vati- cnor Alexandrisn Codex. He need not contend for the grammatical accaracy of 8 disputed pas- £12¢ or strain his facultics in vain Attempts 1o solve $metaphrsical problem. He may Jeave to theo- ogical dieputants the questions on which for o IADY centuries they have exercived theiringenaity. Here, atlast, the uatural and supernatural will be- ged in one harmonpious umiverse, under one Sv;rhwfi Inteligence. e Duke's ¢ ” = wl Wflqg.s“ ls!;;x‘-xtgg.? reminds us of Sam: SAMUBL WESLEY. Eamuel Weslcy was the son of John Wesley’s brother Samuel. He became a Roman Catholic, mmsed ahigh mass for the Pope, and died 2 s ist. He gaid: _ * My only consolation is the belief ‘of Fatalisin, which, although a gloomy asylum, is as bright as I can bear till convinced of that truth which a launch into the reat gulf only cau demoustrate.” i e experience of Dr. John Henry Newman, fleing 10 the Roman Catholic Cliurch as an asjlum from skepticism. was very different. Dr. Newp 0RY HENRT REWNAX. { r. Newman is not only the most noteworthy : lbl,),sc who joined in the celebrated ‘¢ Move- ent ™ at Oxford University about 1833, but Is 4 ‘_"f.”ded as ome of the most accomplished 4 “mcrs 2ud controversialists England has cver “l;nfl;md. In 1845 he passed frem the English ) the Roman Catholic Church, and has ever fiace *been in perfect peace aud contentment.” ] . e quote from his ** History of My Religious :‘mn(ona." in which he 533‘!" ot" his tate of mind since his _ change: “I never bave had a doubt. I was not :nlm:uus of irmer faith in the fundamental bml.hs ?( Revelation. 1hadno more fervor, ‘:ix; :ffu‘fif.?'?'“ into porCafter a rough 4 iness on tl ins t tmi; ;1:{: wiv.hum? xmerrum.im‘smm e - Newman's experie ¢! ecomis Roman Catbollc may be dectbon oy s o acch for 2 human authority in which he could repose {atire truer, and to which be could commit all H ¢s that beset religic sti Theablect of the “port was to get. Ha- of 1he uJousd sea’ The wish was father to—the ml Hence we need not be surprised to Gt im confess, and the confrssiou is a very Gcaut oue, that be *‘did uot believe the e of Transubstantiation till Le was a mmh(,:mul_xc; and that ““he had no ditfi- believingr it as snou as he helieved that Goy tholic Ruman Church was the oracle of by and that shc declared this doctrine to be rnl fi‘c“ un.—'nylml revelaiion.” - Newmau's ‘‘unassailable fortress® is a ;glglhfl'cr:nt one from that of the Duke of o :s::. More than thirty years before his T Dn:flrgd into his theism, *“after a_rough by mt‘.:b.zif:l:l’?na‘:;m : #0f all points of z , 10 W¥ OW) 5 fon, encompassed with most amcufir‘.fl"'em “}:f:x oft ::q liomn:, Catholic Church to ) ¥ potwithstanding, Dr. Newman ::I;:-\l:s that “Tpe Catholic Church boids it ok for the sun and moon to drop from m:fl, for the carth to fail, and for all the s c;mim; on 1t to die of starvation in ex- (2 hnmmg. so far as temporal ailliction . b:'l& thau that one soul, 1 will Dot say should oe lost, bt should comumit, one singie venis) nn,‘monm tell one willtul untrath, or. should % e‘fmvnu poor farthieg without excuse.” s atever we may think of. this statement as : hfie lied to the Roman Catholic Church, it cannot = interest us as an_cxpression of Dr. New- a0's obiuion a5 to what that Church ought to 20d as an indication of what Lis own moral ‘h:trunvis. A more beautiful character than b, of Father Newman, of Birminghamw, does Dot bless the Island of Great Britain. Woquote '} tiabit'of mind. ani High Church, Low Churc’flfv ts 35 od, and |2 fkom. Lilm, as “assutedly it is Fiot, this. is.bé . Pt sty Lk (il e THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE SUNDAY. AUGUST 1878—SIXTEEN PAGES a few of his eofgrams as'well as his dialeth : , Donbt isa posjtive, state .and, Jmplie thekeby'ni specimens of his dictio: 08 0w, system of princip! Al l{ilu enists 38 11 ram .Go rraption” of that which! * excess, pervérs: Has ‘anfia{:\uc.’ packis " The rreat ‘mystery s, ‘ot {h ' ‘lias m0 en Gt it i bad s begiannge o L B0 eRd. Tetributive justice is_the very attribute uad which God is primarily broug] e “Private " o il judgment " commonly means passive The maxim, *‘An Englishman's . house is hi: castle,” is most - ealutary § : = FRANCI3 WILLIAM NEWMAR: Prof. Newman is,a Theist of the school of Theodore - Parker and 'Frances Power Cobbe. He was formerly a_Professor at Oxford, and Fellow ot HBalliol ‘Colicre. He was edacated for tne ministry of-the Church of Enaland, and “’“"‘. orders, which he soon repudiated, as far as active service was concerned, but he could not get rid -of them until ‘a law- was passed re- lieving all such as -he - from-tbe nominal obliea- ‘t,mns of the sacred- oflice. * While his brother, ohu Henry, was passing through all the de- s of orthodoxy on his way- to the * Catholic oman Church,” "he -was - passing * through all the desrees of heresy on his way to stark. Theism, -where we believe ‘he has ‘*becn -in peace and contentment’ ever since. At any rate, ne preferred’ the Duke of Richmond's *‘unassailable fortress” to bis brother’s peace- ful “port.” = He'is the author of a very earncst and discriminating book on ‘¢ Theism, Doctrinal and Practical;’? and, ‘like his brother gives in auother volume (* Phasesof Faith”) the history of his voyuge while driven about over a “ rouzli sca’ by every wind of doctrine. The following extract .from ‘bis **Phases of Faith” will show how far ‘apart the Newmauvs are with respect to the.oest:port w0 'make under such circum- stances: “'No difficulty is encountered, so far as the in- ward and the outward rule of religion agree, by whatever names men call them, —the Spiritand the Word, or Reason snd the Caurch, or Conscience and. Antbority. ‘None need scttle which of the 1wo rules is the, crecter, to long as the results coincide. lnfatt, therc i no controversy, no strugzle, and also, probubly, no progress. A child cannot guess whether fatlier or mother has the higher authority: until discordant commands ut- then commences the painful ne- f disobeying one in order to ubey the S0 also the ereat and fundamental cu other.. versies of relizion arise only when a discrepancy is detecteg-between the inward and the outward rule., and thep there are only two possible solu- tions, -1f the Spirit within us and the Lible, or tne Church, . without us arc at variance, we must obey the inward and disrcgard the oatward law. Prof. Newman reprimands those who teach that there can be no morality without the Bible or the Church is accepted. “This doctrine makes men Atheists in Spaiu and profligates in England as soon as they untearn the national creed. And those who have done the mischict moralize over the wickedness of human nature, instead of blamiug the falsehood which they have themselves inculeated.” - Prof. Newman is himself an illustration of his doctrine, Leing like his brotlier a man of irre- proachable life, abundant in beuevolence, and honest in his convictions. ? CATHERINE REECHER. -~ Miss Beecher was one of the most intellectual women which either the Beecher family or this country has produced. She was well read in several dircctions, especially in education and theology, and was more than a match in con- troversy with. several theologians who differed from her in sex. as well as in theologv. Her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, savs the turning goint in her religious exvericnce was the loss of er aflianced at sea. She sank into ‘* hopeless despair. There was_an utter breaking up of her religious faith. She fouud that her religious ¥iews did not sustain her, and she went into re- bellion. She talked of her utter loss of re- ligious faitb. As she could find no cousolation, in religion, she determined to give her whole 1ife for the benefit of others.” ‘And this she did. Her Jife was as sacrificial as that of any of the “Sisterhoods.” ~And she was as unostentatious as sbe was bencvolent. If Mr. Wesley found his only consolation in fatalism, Dr.Newman in Romanism, and the Duke of Richmond in Theism, Catlicrine Beecher “found it 1 going about doing good and being good. So did Harriet Martineau, who rejected the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and gaid she *‘did not see why Harriet Martinean should be perpetuated.” MATTHEW ARNOLD. The relizious opinions of slr. Arnold arc ex- pressed in language so very peculiar to himself that it is only just to bim to him speak for himself, as be certainly does with rare boldness in his book on ** Literature and Dogma ”: ecientific, language,—langusge tArown out at an object of consclousness, not fully grasped, which inspired emotion, Evidently. if the object be one not fuily to be grasped and one Lo inapire emotion, the lanzoage of firure and fecling will satisfy us better about it, will eover more of what we seek to express, than the lanouave of literal fact and ecience; the language of science about it will be ‘below what we fecl to be the truth. The questior, ‘however, has arisen and confronts us, what wes the sclentific basis of fact for this conscionusness. When we have once satisfied ourselves both as to the tentative. poctic way in which tae Dible per- sonages need languaze, and also 25 to their having 1o pretensions to metaphysics at all, et us, there fore, when there is this auestion raised as o the Bscientific account of what they hzd before their minds, be content with a very unpretending an- swer. And in tbis way such a phraseas that which we have formerlv used concerning God. and have been much blamed for using, —the phrase, namely, U'that, for science, God 13 =imply tie stream of tendencys by which all things Julfilt the law of their being,"—may be allowed, and even vrove useful. Certsinly it is inadequate: certainly it is a less proper phiuge than, for instance. ‘‘Clonds 2nd darkness are round about bim: nghteousness and judgment are the habitation of hissent.” But thenit1s, in however humolea degree and with how- ever narrow a reuch, a scicalific definition. which the other is mot, The phrase, *°A nersonal first cause. 'the moral and intellizent governor of the Umiverse,” has sléo, when applied 1o God, the character. no doubt, of a ecientific aefimtion: but then it goes far beyond what = admittedly certain and verifinble. which is what we meun by scientific. Jtattempts fartoo moch; If we want here, as we do want. to have what is admittedly certain and Seridable, we must conient ourselves Wwith very tittle. Noone will suy that it is admittedly cer- tain and venfable that there is apersonal first canse, the moral and intelligent governor of the universe. whom we may call God if we will. But hat all things seem to uk to have what we call a Jaw of tneir oeing, and to tend to fu"ill it, 1s cer- tain and admitted; though whether we wiil call this God or not is 3 matter of choice. With this view of *“thc lanwzuage of the Bible,” Mr. Arnold proceeds to subject it to the same eriticism that he applies to that of Homer or Socrates. He goes as far as Martiocay, Theodore Parker, or any German rationalist in his treatment of the language of what he calls “tghe reporters of Jesus.’’ He maintains that the miraclesof the New Testament are not Geyerifiable.”? therefore not to be received, and, furthermore, Christiapity is not dependent upon them. air. Arpoldis a member ‘in zood and regular standing” of the Churchof England, but, beinz a layman, is uumolested by the ecclesiastical authorities. He is, like all ‘the Broad Church- men, a sUff churchmun withal, opposes dises- tablishment, and the marryinz your deceased wife's sister, and everything that smacks of N radicalem,” and alinost evervibivg that smacks of liberalism. Mr. Arnold has - Grawn from the theological arona, much to the Toaret, of his readers, who are of the oviuiou that the Aspostle of Culture writes at his best only when writing on relizious gu tions. ’ Srmiold, Jike many another brilliant participant inthepresent theological quarrel, rutssomeofhis phrascological smartnesses from Carlyle. 1is “Power not ourselves,” 53 rehash of Curlyle's Wb force that is mot we Josepn Cook's « Supreme Powers ”’ are derived from the same source, nut to mention several other of his -tquips, and sentences, and buliets of the brain,” that amaze and daze his Boston audi- ence. THOMAS CARLYLE. Carlyle’s vehemend av jon jor **arelizion of vatgar hope and fear” is well koown. He holds up to ridicule that religion which con- sists in 2 theory * whereby a certain quantum of earthly enjoyment is to be !.‘den!t‘,l'l for a certain quantain of heavenly enjoyment. ‘He was written to by a lady some ycars azo for his opinion on the future statc of the soul, and replied that “She might console hersell with the reflection that the guestion 13 insolu- ble to human creatures, aud that wbat nhuman ereatures mainly have to do with sucha g Shonis to ot it well put to rest, suppressed if 1ot auswered.” He then gots on 1o say in b course of the letter, ** Cousequences wood and St blessed and sccursed, it isvery clear, do 10l Jow from ail our actions here, belong, and pro- Jong, and propagate, and spread themselves into the infinite, or bevord our calcutation and conception; but whether the notion of reward and peosity be not on the whole rather a hu- man one, transferred to that divine fact, has teen doubtful to many. Add tnis cousidera- tion which the best philosophy teaches us, that the very consequences, nob to speak of the pen- . of ewil actions dic away and become olished long before cternity eads, and it is only -the conscquences of good actions that are ecternal, for tbese are in mopy _with the laws of ~ this unive and add themselves to it aud co-operate with it forever, while all that is disharmony. with it must necessarily be without continuance and soon fall dead. On the whole, I must ac- count it but a morbid imagination that shudders over this wondrous divine universe as a placc of despair to any creature, and contrariwise a most ‘mecessarily fvolyes:u. The lanzuage of the Bible, tlien, is literary; not | degraded human sense, sunk down to the region tof the bratal, that in any case remaing blind t® ; tho infinite there is_between Tight and- wrong ;for a human creature.” 3 B .. SAMES MARTINEAU. "Dr. Martineau, Professor in the Manchester «New College, London, is the most conspicuous and_accomplished Unitarian now livinz. He i tay be calleil theleaderof the Christian Theists- 25 arainst the Atheists, Materfalists, or Matter- ists- 6f~all schools on' the -one hand, and the orthodox theologians on the other. Heisas much revered for the purity of his ‘life and the sincerity* of his convictions as Dr. John Henry Newman, whom he resembles in temperament, While diametrically opposed to him fn theolozy. " Ina recent address at his college, Dr. Mar- tiueau said its students **have been trained un- der the assumptions that the universe which in- cludes us and folds us round is the life-gwelling of an ecternal mind; that the world of our abode is the scenc of a moral goveroment, in- ciplent, but, not yet compicte; and that'the up-, per Zones of humau’ affection” above the clouds of self and passion take us iuto the sphere of a divine communion. Into this over-arching scene’ it is that srowing thouzht and enthusiasm bave expanded to catch their light-aud fire.”? R ‘e maiutalus that * the suasion of Rizht speaks with a voice which no charmiug of pleasure aud; no chorus of opinjon can’ ever learn'to mimic. T'o disregard them is a simple matter of cour- age,—we defy them and-are frec,—but, 1if from: it we turn away, we hear pursuing feet behind, and, should we stop our cars, we feel upon us the grasp of an awful hand.” o This is a zood specimen not ouly of his creed, but his diction, which sometimes becomes in- volved and unintelligible on account "of its «clustered magniticence,” to use a phrase of his own. JOHN TYNDALL. ‘No more suitable quotation for our purpose can be made from Prof. Tyndall’s writings than toe following paragrahs jaken [rom his answer to Dr. Martiteau, whose position in the discus- sion we have griven in his own words: Physiologists suy that every buman being comes from un eze 1-120tb of an inch in diameter. Is this egy mautter? 1 hold it Lo be so, a3 much as the seed of u fern or of an oak. ine montbs go 10 the muking of it into a man. Arc the additions made during this period of gestation drawn from matter? 1 think so nndoudtedly. Mr. Martincan will complain that I am disenchanting the babe of its wonder, but is this the case! I figure it growing in the wormb woven by & something not itself, and appearing in due tioe, a living miracle, with all its organs and all their implications. Con- sider the work accomplished in these nine months in forming the cye aione, witn its lens, snd s humors, and its wiracalous retina behind. Con- sider the car, with its tympanum, cochlea, and cortis organ,—an instrument of 3,000 strings, ouilt adjacent to the brain, and employed by it to sift, separate, =nd interpret, antecedent to all contciousnese, the sonorous tremors of the exters nul world. All this has been accomvlished mot only without man's contrivance, but without his knowledge, the.secret of his own organization having been withiicld from him since his birth in the immeasurable past, until the other day. Matter I define us that mysterions theory by which all this 18 accomplished. 1ow it came to hitve this power ia u question on which Inever ven- tared an opinion. Martinena need fear no disenchantment. Theo- ries of evolution go but a short way toward the ex- planation of this mystery; while in its presence the notion of an atomic Manufuciurer sud Artificer of soula raises the doubt whether those who eater- tain 1t were ever rcally penetrated by the solemni- 1y of the problem for which they offer such a solu- on. We conclude with the paragraph which con- cludes Prof. Tyndall’s reply to Dr. Martinean, and_would call attention to its similarity in spirit,—and shall we say relizion?—to the para- graph we have quoted trom the latter about the “tupper zones of human affection,” ete.: What is really wanted is the lifting power of an ideal life. But the free play of this power must be preceded by fts release from the torn ewaddling- bands of the past, and from the practical material- fem of the present. Itis now in danger of being strangled by the one or stultifled by the other. 1 ook, however, forward to the time when the streugth, insight, and elevation which now visit us in mere hints and glimpses during moments **of clearncss and vigor ™ shall be the stableand perma- nent possession of purer ana mightier minds than ours,—porer and mightier, partiy because of their deeper knowledge of matter and their more faith- ful conformity to its laws. N FARRAR. “The recent uttcerances of the Rey. Dr. F. W. Karrar, Canon of Westminster, are so fresh in the public mind that no word of ours is neces- sary to introcuce the quotations we propose to make from his late sermon on_eternal punish- ment, which, together with Henry Ward Beecher’s, made so profound and iar-reachinz a sensation: Finding nerther in Scriptare thing to prove that the fate of every man is at _death irrevocably determined, 1 ehuke off the hid- ““eous incubns of atrocivus conceptions attached by false theology to the ductrine of final retribution. nor anywhere any- _1f there be souls amopg you very sinful, indeed, but not yet hardened in #in—souls that feel,'in- deed, that ever amid their failing they long, and prav. and love, and agonize, and strive o cree nearcr to the light, then to you I eay, Have fait In God. Theres hope for yon—hope for yon even if death overtuke vou before the tinal victory is won: hope for the peor in spirit. for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven; hope for the mourners, for they shall be comforied; though you, too, if you should continue to &in, may have to be puri- fied in that gehenna of ** aionies™ fire beyond the grave. ; Canon Farrar is quite in accord with his su- perior at Westminster Abber, Dean Stanley, who wrote a magazine article recently to prove that belief in eternal punishment is not a con- dition of membership in the English Church or of discipleship to Christ. Since the death of Bishop Thirlwall, Dean Stanley may be regard- ol as the intellectaal leader of the Broad Church, or rationalistic party in tbe Eunglish Church. BISHOP THIRLWALL. The late Rishop of St. David was the most Jearned man of the English bench of Bishops, and the Broadest. He was the intellectual head of the Broad Cuurch party in the Anglican Establishment, aud he had the. courage of his convictions. \When the late Bishop Wilber- farce undertook to oust the learned Unitarian, Dr. Vance Smith, from the Committee of Re- vision, Dr. Thirlwall gave the Committee to understand that if Dr. Smith were forced to take his hat. be would be forced to take his. And there the matter ended. Dr. Smith D survived both of the Bishops. Bishop Thirlwall’s most explicit and sigoifi- cant utterance ou corrent religious controversy is the following, taken from a charge to bis clergy: No doubt the.reception of spiritual truth s often impeded oy prejudices arising out of 1he per- Verse bies of & depraved will; but 1o maintain that ihis je always the case, that there is no such thing as honest, disiutcrested unbelief, is an arbitrary assumption, incapable of proof, and apparently contradicted by larze experience. Yet it is only on this nssumption that it secms possible to sertion which has been advanced by s t divines in the course of the present con- rsy, without any gualitication, that nnoclief = in itsell min. To me this doctrine sppears to ve subversive of the sirst principles of rehgion and ‘moralitv. Ican conceive no greater dishonor cast on the Divine character than is implicd in the sup- position that any one is respongible in the «ight of ;iiml‘ for intellectual any more than for physical in- rmity. FIIOE. JOSEPH HIN The late Prof. Henry’s religious views were d in a letter to 1 fricnd, which was never ut was found in his desk alter his death. hat letter he asks, +“On what cvideuce does the existence of a Creator rest!” and adds » 1. Tuisone of the truths best established by ex- perience in my own mind that T have a thinking, willing principle within me, capable of intellectual activity and of moral feclinze, 1t iz cquaily clear to me that you have a similar spirit i ciple within yourself, smce, when I ask vou an in- teltizent question, yon give me an intellcetual un- swer. . When I cxamine operations of Mature, 1 find everywhere throngh them evidences of intel- lectual afrangements, of contrivances to reach finite ends, precisciv as I find in the operations o man: and bence I infer that these two classes of operations are results of similar intelhgence. ‘Avnin. in_my own mind I find ideas of rizht and Wrong. of zood and evil. ‘These ideue, then, exist in the universe. and_therefore form a basis of our ideas of a moral umiverse. Furthermore, the con- ceptions of good which are fonnd among our uleas arsociated with ovil can be attributed only to a be- ing of infinite perfections like that we aenominate “‘God." On the other hand. we ure conscious of baving such evil thouzhtseand tendencies that we cannot associate vurselves with o Divine Being, who 15 the_director and governor of all, or even call upon Him for mercy without the intercession of one who may attiliate bimself with ns. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Goy. Seward was a man of uniform amiablility. His vatural disposition was one of remarkable placidity. Noman of the great crisis through which this country passed while he was passinz from youth to old age had fewer words of in- judicious violence to recall or repent. And tie rehgious side of his naturc was as unemotional as his pohitical. He was sinzularly free 1rom feeling for a inan of 5o much sentiment. lic was confirmed in the Epizcopal Church March 26. 1857, And on that day he writes as Jollows to his life-long fricnd, Thurlow Weed: But 1 may as well be explicit with you. T profess not to have experienced any miraculons change of heast, or tohave in any way gone throuzn that ordeal of despair so commonly supposed to be the entrance, and the only entrance, upon Christian life. Ihave always been sensible that Iwae an offcnder, and a grievous ope. aguinst the duty I owed 1o God and my fellow-men. 1 have endeavored now to repent, and resolve, with God's vrace, to live more i the fear of and under the influence of fove and gratitide 1o God. and to that end 10 stady His revelation. I do not anticipate tbat, it wiil make any considerable change in my habits of life, bat1 humbly trust that it will gradually elevate and redne my motives of action. g CHARLES SUMNER. Mr. Sumner was as reticent on the subject of s relizious views a5 Macsulay,iwhom - he re- ‘sembled inthe uprightuess of : his public and private life, jn _excessive rictorid, and- aversion :t6 his‘enemies. The oulv expréssion of -his on the subject of his religion we haye been able to ifind-is \a letter written early inglife to an nti- mate friend. . In that hesayshewas.. - . . . unconvincea that Christ was commissioned to preach a revelation to -wnen, und that he was n- trusted with the power of working miracles. 16 not think I have o basis of faithto baild upon. 1 am without religious fecling. I seldom refer my happiness or acquisitions to the Great Father from whose mercy they are -derived. OFf. the first great commandment, then, noon which 8o much hangs, 1 live in perpetual unconsciousnces, —I will notsay disrezara, for that. perbaps, ‘would’ imply thatit was present my love to my neighbor—namely, my anxiety that Iy fellow-creaturcs shonld be ‘hanpy, and dispo- sition to serve them in their_honest-endeavors—is pure and strong. Certainly Ido feelan affection \for everything that God created; and ths feeling is my religion. S 2 WILLIAM G.. BHRYANT. L4 Mr. Bryant was_a Unitarian,’and would, we’ siippose, be glassificdas oneof the * Leflt'Wing » of. that respectable body of thbughtful Chris- .tlans. There has been some radsacking of his poetry since his death to get/at his religlous opinious, which indicates how sparing,be was of such opinions in his public uttérances and pri- vate conversations, In his poem T he Flood of Years™ he sings of ‘*old friends coming tozeth- er? in the future life. And when asked if these lines were to be understood a8'g statement of his own pelicf, he replied: “1f I bad not be- ieved in the statement of the lines 1 could not bave written them. I belleve® in the ever- lasting life of the soul, and it séems to me that immortality would be but au_imperfect gift without the rocornition in tholife to come of those who are dear to us bere.”’: “This is probably about the extent of the ven- erable pocv’s positive belief. JOXIN G. WHITTIER. Whittier, like Bryant, professes to cxpress his relirious opinions in his poetry, and refers an inquirer to his poem called “The Answer » for his belief 8s to the condition of the soul in the future life. Ie says in the same note: 1 am not a Universalist, for I believe in the pos- sibility of the perpetual loss of the soul that per- Sistently turns from Gud tn the next life us m this, But 1 do believe, also, that the Divine love and compassion follow usin all worlds, and that the Yeavenly Father will do the best that is possible for every creature lie has made;. What that will be must be left to His infinite wisdom and good- ness. .: Whittier is a Quaker by birthright, and when the- division in_that body occurred went with what are termed *Orthodox Friends,” but it is not at all probable that he wonld be admitted ou his *experience ? to membership in any of the great orthodox deaominations. SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. TS WORK IN THE WEST. The trip to the Rocky Mountdins in the in- terests of the American Sunday-School Union, planned by F. G. Eusign and the Rev. Arthur Mitehell, D. D., was necessarily modified owing to sickness and death in Dr. Mitchelr’s coo- gregation. The Rev. George H. Peak took his place. Leaving Chicazo via the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, the first point of gen- eral interest reached was Pottawattamie Coun- ty, Towa. Here the Union has established 103 Suuday-schools during the past two years and 2 half, through the labors - of one missionary, whom it pays $600 3 year. Twenty-fourof these schools met, 1,200 strong, for a day. of conference about their work. " All, with one or two exceptious, have been i operation less than three years, and some of them were the- first and only religious service held for many years. The peculiarity of this work is, that it operates on the Union, undenomivational plan, seeking only to lead the people to read-and study the Bible, and provide the youth with wholesome literature. Crossing the Missouri River into Nebraska, we find S00 Union Sunday-schools. One mis- stonary planted twenty-seven new schools last vear, and aided 125 other schools, makine a total of 152 communitics elped in that which is of first importance to ali the childrenand youth in a single year by one man, at a cost of $800. And this is paid by one business man. South ot this State is Kansas, now coming to her glory and strength after many years of strugrle and suffering. The’Union, under the lead of L. M. Marsh, a veteran of twenty years’ _service, is doing work _that will-tell on the fu- ture of this State. Six hundred schools have been formed by his personal effort. Ope mis- sionary reported fifty new schools formed in the soutliwestern part of the State last year. Each of these schools hasa supply of-good papers, and in mauy cases a librery of choice books, noue of which they would have without ihe Bible School. The rapid development of this great Statz 2 indeeq a marvely _Ten .years ago only the eastern countics were* much settled. Now all along the line of the great Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Kuilroad, even to its west- ern terminus in Colorado, settlements are being made or towns arc sprinzing up. 1t is said a belt forty miles wide from east to west, and seventy-five miles lou;f from north to south, has been taken up on the linc of thisroud siuce we began to write 1878. This scems to be the fa- vorite toute for travel. Running as it does through the great Arkansas Valiey, it avoids the arid and dusty country so unpleasaut to the traveler on the high lands away from the water courses. ‘This road seems to be buitt aud ope ated by men who expect to hold their property and operate their road, to accommodate the people and help them to prosperity. 1tis pushing its lincs west and southward, with true Chicago encray,—just as we would expect, since W. B. Strong, Esq., formerly (General Superintendent of the Chicago, Bur- Jinwton & Quincy, is at the helm. At the present speed of track-laying it will not be many months before their engincers will sound the whistle in New Mexico, and whirl their trains of well-laden cars through the Graud Cauon of the Arkansas to the silver mines in the great San Juan country. Two miles a day, the iron is being luid on the branch towards New Mexico, we are told, and we heard the re- ‘port of the workmen blasting the rocks to pre- pare the road-bed in the Grand Canon, as we stood on the dizzy height snd Jooked into the terrible gorze below, 2,000 fect to *he river, along whose banks the road is to be built. What the future of this great country will be is 0ot to be determined by its wealth of silver and gold, or the fertility of the soil, or thegreat- ness, of its population and vastuess of its ra road enterpnses, but by the character of its people. Go to some of the mining towns— Which have sprung into beinz in a day—and gamblers and harlots are revorted to be on every bhand, and life is soon burnt out and de- stroyed by vice and intemperance. Murder and robbery are the rule. In the agri ultural set- tlements men aud women go to live and make , in which they may live and rear their chilaren. Here is the wealth and hope of the great W And the Sunday- school comes in to reinforce every good impul and teach the children and youth that which is pure, and beautiful, 1nd good, and he Ameri- can Sunday-School Unjon is doiuse fts work in guch a thorough and systematical way that it must commend it to ail who bopt for the future goud of the grest West. THE GLASTONBURY BIBLE. SOME EXTRACTS PROM THE: TRANSLATION OF ONE OF THE SMITH SISTERS. Hew York World. * ‘There is something pathetic in the thought of a woman who has attained well nigh to the al- losted spau of human life undertaking such a task as the study of Hebrew with & view to the translation of the Bible. Yet this is what Miss Juha E. Sniith, of Glastonbury, Conn., the last survivor of the female Hanpdens, did; and the pluck and perseverance of the task thus self- imposed merit recognition. In the preface to her book she justly says that ** it may secmn pre- sumptuons for an ordinary woman with no par- ticular advantages of education to transate and publish alone tke most wonderful book that has ever appeared in the world;” then zoes on to tell how she entered upon the enterprise. Nearly a quarter of a century ago, she sass, she, ber sisters, and 2 fricnd met weekly to s gearch the Seriptures,” being desirous to Jearn the exact meaning of every Greek and Hebrew word.” They saw by the margin that the text had not been miven literally. and it was the Jiteral meaning which they were seeking. She began by translating the (Greek Testament, then the Septuagint, then she undertook to study Hebrew. which was recommended to her as a *simple languare and, easily learned, there beinz but ome Look in the world of vure Hebrew, the Bible.” Accordingly the old lady she ‘was atready an old lady—gzave her atteu- tion to the Hebrew, * studied it thoroughly, and wrote it out word for word. giving,” she says, tno jdeas of my own, but endeavoring to put the same English word for the same Greek . or Hebrew word everywhere, while King James! translators baye wholly differcd {rom this rul The result, Mise Smith and her sisters were agreed, was to give them 3 much clearer uvder- standing of the text. 7 - “The translator wrote out the Bible five times, twice from the Greek. twice from the Hebrew, and once from the Latin languages, which, she says, are now dead and cannot be altered. ** it may be thought,” she adds, not without reason, % that I have great confidence in myself in not conferring with the learned in so great a work; but as there is but one book in the Hebrew tongue, and I have defined it word for word, I do 1ot see how anybedy can know more about it in my mind. Ibelieve, though, that . . ignores all religions han T d rovement can be made upon it. As for the tin and Greek, I have no -doubt many have searched deeper into the standard works than £ lave, but I think no one has given more time and attentioh to the literal meaning of the Bible text in these Janguages.” 2 i * Before presenting some of the oldest parts we' should quote this characteristic ‘passaze from: the preface: *It i$ very possible that the read- ers of this book may think it stranre that Thave made snch use of the tenses, zoing according to the Hebrew grammar. It scems that the origi- nal Hebrew had no rerard to time, and that the: Bible speaks for all azes.. If.I did not follow, the tenses as they are, I myself should be the judee, and man must not be trusted with re- gard to the Word of "God. I think the’ pro-- miscuous use of the tenses shows: that there must’ be -something’ hidden—that we must search out and not hold to the outward, * for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” Miss Smith changes the order of the books of the Old Testament as follows: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshusa, Judges, Samuel, Kings, 1saish, Jercmiah, Eze- Kiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiab,Jonah, Mical, Nahum, Habakk:k, Zephaniah, Hasgai, Zecha- riah, Malachi, Psalms, Proverbs. Job, The Songs of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Eccle- slastes, Esther, Danicl, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. e may notice, by the way, that— to the disgust, doubtless, of the temperauce folk—the Glastonbury Bible says of Joseph’s feast to his brethren (Genesis, xliii., 34), And they will drink and be intoxicated with him," which is accurate, for in the marzin King Jumes' yersion says, *‘drapk largely,” by way of qualifying’ the text, ** And-they drank and were merry with him.” | ‘We have not space to ‘spare to-day for more than a few, specimens of the Glastonbury ver- sion, selecting the pest'known passages aud leaving, the sced-pearls fora future occasion. In some particular’deseriptious the variation is slight; thus we have: *‘In the beginning was the Word, and _the- Word was with God, and Giod was the Word;” and awggin: “In the be- ginning God formed the heavens and the earth.” Some cxtended recital will best dis- play the peculiarities_of style to which allusion has already been made. Here, for instance, is the offering for Isaac (Genesis, xxi., 1-14): And it chall he after_these words, and God tried Abraham, and He will say to him, Abraham: and he will say, Behold, here I "And He will soy, Take now thy son, thine only, whom didst love, Isaak, and o by thyself to the land of Moriah; and carry him there for a burnt offering upon ons of the mountaine of which I told thee. ‘And Abrabam will rise early in tne morning, and will enddle his ass, and will take two of his hn{! with bim, and Jenak his son, and he will cleave the wood for the burnt offering,’ and will rise up and £0 10 the place God apake to him. LAy 1In the lfih’d day Abraham will lift uphis eyes and see the place from far. e And Abrabam will say to his bovs, Sit ye here in this place with the ass: Land the boy will zo even there and worship, and will turn back to you. And Abraham will take the -wood of the burnt offering, and put upon Isnak his son: sod will take n his hand the fire and the kmife, and they will go they two together. "And Isaak will 82y to Abrahatn his father, and he will say. My father; and he will say. B old me, myeon: And he will say, Bebold the i nd the wood, und where the sheep for a burnt offerina? ‘And Abraham will eay. God will see to Himzelf the sheep for a burntofiering, my son: and thoy will go, they two together. 3 ‘And they will come to_the place which God Baid. o him: and Abrabam will build an altar there, ant put in order the woods and he - will ind Tsaak his Son, and put him upon the aitar, upon the wood. 'And Abraham will stretch_out the hand and will take the knife to slaugncer his son. And the messenger of Jehovah will call to him ont of the heavens, and will say, Abraham, Abra- nam. And be will eay, Behold me. "AEd he will say, Thon shalt not put forth thy hand upon the_buy, and thou shalt do nothing to him; for now I Lnow that thou fearest God, and hou didst not pare thy son, thine only. from M ‘And Abraham will lift up hie eyes, and will s and behold a ram, beinz held ina thicket by bis horns: and Abraham will come and take the ram and briny it for a burnt offering instead of his von. And Avraham will call the name of that place, Jehovah will sce: which will be said to this day, Jehovah will sce in the mountain. In due course the messenger of Jehovah promises that because Abraham did not spare his som, his only, his seed shall become as the sand upon the lip of the sea. By tht way, Isaak’s birth is_thus annousced: "‘‘Aud Je- hovah reviewed Sarah as he said; and Jehovah will do to Sarah as He spake.” = Somuch for narrative, For rhetoric, let us turn to the prayers of Habakkuk (Hab., iiL., 17-18): 1t the fig-tree ehall not blossom, and no produce in the vines; the work of the olive fatied, and the fields made not food; and the shecp being cut off from the fold, and no oxen in the stalls, 2 T will exult in Jehovah, 1 will rejoice in the God saving me. That is literal,—but so is this, which has the ring of a trumpet in it: Althongh tie fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shali fruit be in the _yines; _the labor of the olive ghall fail, nnd the ficlds shall vield no meat; the focx shall be cnt off from the fold, and there shali be 10 herd in the I Yet I will rejoi n the Lord, I will joy in the God of my ralvation. Or, turning to the fourteenth of Isalah, let us takeup the parable against the King of *¢Babel,” s follows: . . . How did he oppressing, cease! Oppres- sion ceased! . . . Striking the peoples in wratha blow not removed, bringing down the nations in anger; pursuing, not sparing. . . . o thou fallest from the heavens, brilliant star, son of the morning! Thou wert cut off to the earth, overthrowinz upon the nations! "And thou eaidst in thy heart, I will 2o up to the heavens; from above to the stars of God 1 will ift up my throne, and I willsit upon the mountain of appointment in the thighs of the North. o Hades shait thou come down, to the thighs of thepit. . . - 4 g Pat it for the possession of the hedzchiog, and pools of water; and 1swept her with the ‘broom of desolation, says Jehovah of armics. Or, here is the Ninetcenth Psalm: To the overseer; chanting of David. The heavens rccounting the glory of God, and the firmament announcing the work of His hands. ey to day will gush out the saying, and night to nizht will breathc out knowledge. No saying and no words without their voice being heard. Their line went forth into all the earth, and their worde into the end of the havitable globe. In them be gct a tent for the sun. ‘And he ns a bridegroom cometh forth from his naptiat couch, will rejoice 3§ a strong one to run away. Fn};m the extremity of the heavens his guing forth und his circuits upon their extremities; and no hiding from his heat. To obtain some idea of Miss Smith’s transla- tions from the Greek, the reader may turn to the Sermon upon the Mount, Matthew, v., vi., LS 5 !Inppj the compassionate: for they shall be commiserated. . . - % Rejoice and be transported with joy, for mach 3 . 1 the heavens: for so they drove oat the prophets which before you. Ye are the salt of the earth: and if the salt be red insipid, with what shall it be salted? her do they burn a Mzht, and set it under a - but upon & chandelier; aud it smines to all inthe houre. . . . ' and whoroever skall compel thee to carry de- ex one mile, 2o forward with him two. . . . re so do yon pray: Onr Father which is in the ieavens, Let thy name be declared holy. Let thy kingdom come. Let thy will be as in n also unon the earth. ¢ us this day onr bread suficient for susten- beave Giv ance. S let 0 us our debts as we let g0 to our debt- ors. “And thou should’st not Jead us into temptation, Bat detiver thou us from evil. For thine Is the Kinzdom. and tue power, and the glory, forever. Amen. . . - “And hold you from fal to you in shep’s dress cigus wolves. ¥ their fruits shatl ye know them. do tuey gather grapes from thorns, or trops¥ In profane phrase, the reader may be tempted to conclude that the new version costs more than it comes to. While be is annotating and digesting the variations above tited, we may as well paralyze him with a few of the Proverbs, displaving the wisdom of Solomon: For by a woman_a harlot, even to 3 round of and & man's wile will hant the precious prophets which come in but within toey are rapa- Far from it, figs from cal- Weighine 3nd balances of judgment are to Jeho- vah. nnd bis work all the stones of the bag. . . . "And put o knife to thy awallow if thou- the pos- sewsorof asoal. . . - 3 To whom wo? to whora want? to whom strifet to whom complaint? to whom wounds gratuitoust 10 whom dark flashings of the eyes? "To those remaining at the wine; 10 those going 10 see mixed wine. g “Thou shait not look ,upon wine when it _shall be red. when it shall ive 1ts eye in the cup, it will go abont in uprighinesses. Tts Tutter atate it will bite a8 a serpent and sting as 3 viper. RELIGION OF THE COMMUN- ISTS. THE PLATFORM OF THE COMMUNISTS OF GER- . MANY treats all religion as a chimera aud holds the Christian religion In especial contempt. A Ger- man correspondent. of the New York Nalion writing from Hamburg says: You will have percerved from the above state- mentthat, except making relizion a private aifair of each indiviaual, the Social Democrats do not even mention it in their platform, Their 4eaders troatall idea) aims asa remnant of euperstition wluch suffices for the **foolish Philistine, dall by hereditary stnpidity.” Thus religion is o stand- ing theme of attack for even the most tnsignifi- cant Social-Democratic stump-speakers. Marx, Lassalle, and the more promnent foliowers belong to the modern German pbflaflorhlul school, which, being stbelstic in its principles and tendencies, creeds and the Church. Ia Tt beig 8 dend language, no im- | this respect their subo to mitate them. Thus, two Berlin wome ing Socialists, who upenly declared themselves in- .i‘.ld:h aMrs. Canzius and Mrs. - **President™ Attorney _for ‘sneerinz at ‘‘tue:infamy of - the .Christian religion™ 1h a public mectine. - Decause the preachers,” with a few cxceptions, have in .former xeamonn? times always sided with the Government, and upheld the most oppressive measares’ agninst the people, . they arc, if not despised, in the eyes of the masses a sort of black :gendarmes, and therefore have no hold and little influence on the popalar mind. 5 Ho can it be exvlained, under these circum- stances, that orthodox Protestant clergcymen and the Roman Catholic Gltramontane. party not only work at times with the Social-Democratic dema- gognes, but oven encourage them .in their nefari- ons schemes against the very foundations of State and society? To begin with the Roman Catnolics, organized under the name of the **Centre™ us a political party, tncy hate witn the utmost intensity a Gov- ernment whicn does not smifer a foreign anthority to interfere with its own, and consequently does not submit to the dictates of ‘Rome. “That partv. of course, cries ont against thie oppression of con- science: and in eager to throw obstacles in the way of the Prussian Government. For tnis purpose the Roman Catholic priests stir up the worst rusiuna. do mot refrain from open rebell- on. and try to undermine the roots of the secular authority. ~ Althongh prompted by other motiscs. the Social-Democraly pursue the same alms, and wish to get rid of ali government, while the ‘Roman Catnolics only attack it in ilspresent shape. The Roman-Catholic pricst is for every German Soctalist an unmitizated nuisance: he laughs at the Catholic creed as a poor remuant of medieval inventions. The Centre is perfectly conscious of these kind feelings, but.iznores them fdr the more practical purpose of ni Soci cratic votes o its slde in close clections and of oc- casionally using them against the Itberal parties. In the Relchstag they often vote tozetuer in advo- cating or rejecting, in the name of liberty, motions or measurea broughtan by the Governmeut and sustained by the. other parties. On the politico- economical field Catholics and Socialists are both, strong Protectionists. While: the Centre wants to return to the **soand. old pratective policy:” which, however, has never existed in Germauy, the Social-Democrats promise to protect national Jabor and exclaim against the Manchester school, the **laissez-fuire et laissez-allel economists, who have likewise never existed in Germany, or at Jeast_never exercised ny inflience on her com- mercial policy . o the credit of the Social-Democrats, T must say that they have never concealed their hatred and contempt of tiae clergy in weneraland of the Protestant ministers in particalar. Within afew months only, with great ostentation they availed themselves ih Berlin of the law whichaliows every Protestabt to leave the establi urch. Thas hundreds, men and women, prblicly declared their withdrawal from all_communton with the Church. The Protestant. clergy became atarmed. and tried to avert the impending danger by au agitaion among the workingmen themselves. g ‘GENERAL NOTES. The revised New Testament is nearly all printed. It will be presented to the Convoca- tion of Canterbury next year. Over 100,000 copies of the new Methodist Hyninal have been issued in six weel Fifteca hundred copies are now being suonlied daily. ‘The London Sunday-school Union, which is in the habit of fixine uoon days of united prayer for Sunday-schools, have recommenyled for that purpose Oct. 20 and 21, 1878, The organ of the English Ritualists says: “Qur quarrel with the Roman Catholic is ehnet- 1y on matters of detail, but our guarrel b Protestantism is about first principles.”” The experiment of the American Bible Socicty in issuing a five-cent editfon of the New Testa- ment has proved a great suceess. In order to ineet the demaand, 1,000 copies have to be print- ed dail The Rev. W. R. Jolly, of Birkenhead, having refusea t0 administer the communion to 3 young mas beczuse he bowed in adoration be- fore the altar, the Bishop of Chester has been asked to deal with the clergyman. A camp-meeting is to be held in Grand Rapids, begioning Sept. 11 and contivuing till_the 17t! The Seventh Day Adveuntists is the denom: tion represented. Able speakers from Michi- gan and other States will be present. The First Congrezational Church at Maaison, Conn., was organized in 1707, and has had ouly six pastors, no one of whom, except the present one, had been settled over any other church. It ins never dismissed a pastor, all having died while holdine the otlice. An interesting array of statistics is presented by the Congregational Conference ol Alinneso- ta. Therearein the State 11t Cougrezational churches and 5,921 members. Six church been organized during the year, and eighty-two have received missionary aid. The Railrond Chapel, State and@ Fourtrenth streets, has purchased a printing press, and will comnichee. next. month the publication of a four- sheet mouthly, cntitled the Chaye’ Chronicie. 1% will be aevoteil to_ the mierest ol the Railroad Chapel, and edited by the Rev. B. Kent. Thirty-seven of the nincty-one Annual Con- ferences of the Metnodist Episcopal Church hich have beld their sessions since Jau. 1 re- port 676,304 members and 112,277 probationers. There is an increase of preachers, 17,193 members -and prot 7 Sunday-schools, n church At the recent meetingz of the Synod of the Christian Catholic Swiss at Auaran, Switzerland, the following s were given: One Bishop, 73 priests, 61 parishes, 10 smaller organizations, 3,606 children under religfous in- struction, aud 0,000 adherents. The Svnod solved that communion in both Kkiuds was & Catholic and permissible.” Seven theological seminaries comp privilewe of educating the rising ministry of the Congregationalists. These institutions have 35 Professors, 1% lecturers, and 327 students. all the rage.” h: ow onl come the fashion and leads three Western schools have only 79 altogether. Lutheran mivisters sometimes serve veryi Jarye parishes. The Rev. Joshua Jaczer, of Al-, Ientows, Penn., serves H has been in the active ministry sixty-one 3 The Rev. T. T. Jacger, ot Reading, Penn., serves siv congrerations; the Rev. H. Weiksel, North Cumberlaud County, Peunu.. vight congrera- tions; the Rev. T. Steck, Berwick, Penn., seven; three others, in the same State, serve five con- gregations cacl hree serve and twoserve seven. The largest congregation reported is 1,100. Dr. Comandi four vears ago cstablished in Florenve, Italy, a Pror.stant Industrial Home for ““street arabg.” 11z plan has been success- ful. The Hou sists of extensive premises and W has seventy lads under traini iz bl which will seat 460 persons has just becs opened in connection with it. the cost of the building having been an English paysician living in Florenc opening services were attended by the pastors of all the different branches of the evangelical work in the city. The Reformed Episcopal Church has estab- lished itself at Wilmington, Del. Owing %0 2 lack of harmony betiween Bisnop Lee, of that Diocese, and the active workers of Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church. an_invitation by leading members of the Church was extended to Bisliop Fallows to preach at Wilmiugton on the 21st of last mouth, which was aceepted. At the close of the sermon about thirty persons presented their names, and on the Tolluowing Sunday the First Reformed Episcopal Church of Wilmington was organized. The Protestant. Episcopal Churck: Conzress will meet in Cincinnati Oct. 1518, The sessic will be held in Pike’s Opera-Hor 8i: are anncunced fortreatment Dy the essayists and speakers: *The Interoretation of the Bible, in Relation to the Present Condition of Learn- {ne and Science”’: The Novel in Its Influence upon Modern Life; “The New Testamens Doctrine of Absolution”: *The Sunday Ques- ion ”; “*Mutual Relations of Labor and Capi- tal.” The introductory address will be deliv- ered by the Rev. Dr.’T. U. Dudley, Assistant Bishop of Kentucks. Amony the visitors ana speakers announced are President Potter; Prof. oodwin, Drs. Osgood, Harwood, snd many others. The Britich Wesleran Conference did not de- cide to co-operate with the two leading Metho- dist Churches of America in callige an Ecu- menical Methodist Conference. ~The = report adopted by the Conference approved cultivation of the spirit of union, but expressed 2 doubt whether the proper time had vet arrived for holaing a Pan-Methodist Council. Chancellor Haven, of Syracuse, urzed the matter onthe Conference, and pleaded the desirc of his Church that the mother Church should take the Jeadership of the movement, but the Con- ference would only agree to the ngpoimmm of a special committee to consiier the matter fur- ther and report uext year. ‘fheAwerican prop- osition is to bold the council in 1554, Thne persons who have recently been graoted Jetters of dismissal and commendation by the First Christian Church for tbe purpose of enter- jncupon a separate work ina Jocality further south, will to-day hold their opening services in the church building corner of Thirty-third street and South Park avenue, it being a very neat and comfortable house of worsiip, and un- il latety occupied by the Congregationalists. The Rev. J. C. Lully, of Albany City, Ind., will ‘morning_and_evening, assisted io the services by the Rev. W. D. Owen,who is expect- ed to minister to the church as its regular pas- tor. At the close of the morning service the , have lately been indicted by she District-«|! \|inew organization will be formed. and the en- {rollment of: members will take place. It is be- l!mv:dgme‘oernien will prove one of unusual crust, > and. an earnest invitation is exteuded E all friendly-disposed persons to be present. Espieciallyare the friends and neighbore resid- ing. in the vicinity cordially asked to lend their presenceat these inangural services. In'a léttesto the Lhrbtian. World of London, Dec. Pressense, the! well-known Dmcheroot the Reformed. Church ot France, und Member of the Chamber.ol: Déruties. gives.an _account of Father Hyaciothe's revent: lectures i Paris. lu his opinion the lectures were'much finer this* year than last, although they faited to.attract ag jarge audiences. islicd men, how- ever, attemdted.. ‘I'be. discourses. werc_more argnmentative and less rnciorical than Father. Hyacinthe’s usually are. e expressed his sym- pathy with Protestantism, aud at the cose of ! tusl ’serics urged uis nearers tb' break from Cleris catism. 8 % 7 The following is a part of a remarkable prayer’ offered in & churel in Rossshire, Séofi.snd.‘;n fn,r last Sunday-in June: ** We pray for_our, aris- toeracy; gzive them some: education in® tlivir: low and derenerate condition, that they may. have some common scnse to wuide them to do some good, which is much ecded in this conn-; try and this poor Highlands. We hear so much’ of alarm of war, aud of the cruel slaughter of men and horses, caused by those who fovern this countrv, who are ouly cowards, designing, truckling sneakers and poltroons; sweep them all awav with tbe besom of destruction, and pus men in their place who will do good to this poor Hivhlands, and wive *us peace, prosperity, and happimess, for which we can give zlory to God, 5 Wis done im the prophetis uwes.” 'PERSONALS. “The Rev. Ross.C. Houghton, D.D., of S TLouis, has accepted the Presidency of McKend- ree College, Lebanon, Tl " "The Rev. H. Cross, of St. Paul, has resizned the pastorate of the church with which he con- nected himself four years azo. The Rev. John A. Douglass. the oldest Pres- byterian minister in the State of Maine, died recently at Waterford, azed S6. Bisiiop. Whittle, of Virzinia, refuses to ad- minister confirmation to_ any man or woman who persists in the practice of round dancing. The Second Baptist Church, of this city, hag extended a ¢all to the Rev. Dr. Peddic, of Phila- delphia. The brethrea are hopeful that he will aceept. i The Rev. Dr. Lyman Coleman is the oldest college Professor in - active service in America. He is hiving at Easton, Pa., andis.in the'Sid year of his age. The Rev. Thomas R. Bacon, the voungest son of Dr. Leonard Bacon, of New-Haven, has entered the winistry and received a call from “Lerre Haute, ind. The Blue Istand Ui the services of the Re late of Waverly, Ia- Sh about the 1st prox. . a The Baptists of England have resolved, asa tribute of ir estecm of the Kev. Dr. Aozus, to estabhish au Angus Lectureship in connection witls Regent’s Park College. The late Hon. Simon Page, ex-Mavor of Hal- lowell, Me., who died on July S0, had been Superintendent of the Congrerational Sunday- school in that city for iy years.. .~ - . The _editor of the hristian Hera'd, London, who is a minister;of the Establiched Church, annonnces that he s collecting a testimouial of $2,500 for Dr. Talmage, whose sermons he re- prints regularly. Tue Rev. W. Braden, of Kings Weigh House Chupel, London, and edior of the Engiish Lude- pendent, is dead. He was a Congregationsl min- 1ster, and preached for Dr. Studder’s church, Brooklyn, onc smnmer. Miss Fannie E. Kellozg has been apoointed rsalists have sccured liss Florence Kotlock. will begin. her work Postmistress at Sitka, Aluska Terrilory, where. she is engaged by the Presbytery of Otcibon a3 a missiotiary teacher tothe resident Indians. Sho. is u native of New York. The Rev. . H. Soyder, pastor of the Preshy- terian Ciurzh in Abileve, Kap., has received a call to the Chair of Biblical aud Oriental Litera- ture in she German Theolozical Seminary ol Dubuque, Ia. He has not yei made kuowu his purpose. The Rev. Samuel F.Upham. D. D.. of the New England Conference, pastor of I Methodist Episcopal Church, Springfield, Mas: is the fraternal delegate from the Methodis! Episcopul General Conference to the General Couference of the Methodist Churels in Canada. ;l‘he laster Conference mects in Montreal Sept The revivalists, Moody. Sankey, Whittle, Me- Granahan, aud Pentecost, Luve just met in Bus- ton und held a_consultation. Mr:. Moody, it is understood, will go tu Baltimore next winter. He will not cngage in work to the extent that hé has beretofore. Me, Moody has indeed over- excrted himsell, and §t is uecessary that ne should husband his strenyth. A salary of $5,000 and vacations of six months cach for the nexs two years. did not offer the Rer. E. A. Reed, of Spriugtield, Mass., induce- wments enough to retain huu in the pastorate of the First Congregational Church there. The call of a Metropolitan pulpit outweizhed all, and nie comes to the Madison Aveaue (N. Y.) Re- formed Charch, Iately vacated by the Rev. Will- iam Lloyd. next month. Mr. Reed is now cn- joyiug a vacation in Amherst. Mass. “The Kev. Frederick Freeman, now 73 years ol age, and living in 1llinois, is the only survivor of the party which made the first trip from New York to Albany in Fulton’s first * stcamboat. The speed was at the rate of five iniles per Lour. The Rev. Dr. A. 8. Freewan, now of Haver- straw, N. Y.. theu a_very small boy, saw Fulton’s first boat, the Clermont. as it rounded the powt at Catskill on its first trip to Albany. He aud a fellow-companion were greatly Irighit- ened at the * fire-ship.” PIOUS HUMOR. Professor—** What was the immedtate cause, the first hostile act of the Reformation?” Senfor—* Luther’s sacriticiog the bull of Leo ©\What straits ure the most perilous?” asked the Sunday-school Superintendent, and 2 little boy spoke up promptly, “Whi straights ™ Xnd the boy was right. Young curaie (preaching on the story of Bar- timeus): My fricnds, we shonld never miss an oprortunity. 1f Bartimens had unssed dis, he would have been begring still.” A clersyman askea some children, ““Whv do we say in the Lord's Prayer, ‘who artinhcasen,” since God is everywherc?” A little drummer- boy answercd, * Because it’s headquarters.”” An Irishman waited at the Cardinal’s table in Dublis, oo o Friday, when there were seventeen courses of fish. * Bedad,” he exclaimed, i that’s what ye call fastin’, it’s meeself that could stand Lent all the year round.” An exchange a few davs azo announced: ** A report of the Rev. Mr. B—'s very able sermon is crowded out of this issue by & press of more timely matter.” On avother page we found a column devoted to base-ball, and 4 hall-columa to a hurse-trot.—Vorristown Hera'd. A country deacon went on a free ticket to a circus. His pastor remonstrated. But be made answer, - Wh, you see, pastor, 1 baa a dead- head ticket, and 1 thought it my bounden duty to go and keep somebody out of that seat who might bave been barmed by the circus.”” \WFifty years hence,” said an old infidel, w people will_wonder that there should ever have been a discussion about o place of future punishment.” * Yes, responded a clergvman, ¥ people who are now 50 vears old will then no Qoubt wouder that tbere should bave beeo any need of discussing it.” . A Philadelphia philanthropist ~ brouzht a Chinese washerman to Sunday-school and rave him a Bible. Meetng him during the **hot wave,” he asked him'how he liked the weather. The reply from the new Sunday-school scholar as not very encouraging: * kvery dayee allea samee; hot as hellee.” 3 As the story goes, Col. Ethan Allen was greatly taken aback ooe day while in a sell- gratulatory mood he observed that therc wero never seven -other such born of any woman as he and his six brothers. ‘¢ You are mistaken,” paid a Scotch officer, who was standing by, s )ary Magdelane was delivercd of seven ex- actly like sou.” \ A minister examined his schoolboys thus: «iVhatis_the meaning of the word ‘repent- ance’?’ Boy—*‘Please, sor, a3 divvent knaa.’” Minister—* Now, if 1 had stolco a loal of bread. what snould 1 bel”” Boy—Please, sor, locked up.” Minister—** Well. should I fecl sorry?” Boy—**Yes.” Mimster—* Well, why shoald I feel sorryi” Boy—* Please, sor, 'cause yuu Was catched P'—Judy. b Atove of the. Whitchall Sucday-schools a teacher was instructinic her class about the Prophets. She finally put tne guestion, & ‘Why dow't we have prophets now?” and asked a bo who conld acswer it to hold up his right A little hand of a 6-year-old boy went up guick- iy. *Well, my little man, why is1t we do not have prophets now?” ‘* Because, ma’am, my papa says that the times are 80 and_so