Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, March 2, 1879, Page 9

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: SUNDAY. MARCH 2, 1883—SIXTEEN PAGES. a - RELIGIOUS. # Atheism and the Church”-- By the Bev. G. H. Cur- teis in “Popular Science.” «gomething Is,” the Creed of ihe Non-Religionist Simi- lar to ithe Ancient Brahman. o Church Must Not Leave the World She Is Com~ missioned to Evan- gelize. An Interesting Sketch of the Shaker Community at Warrensville, O. The Rules,ARegulations, and Prac- tices of a Society of Celibates. General Notes--Personals-- Sabbath Smiles--Serv- ices To-Day. ATHEISM AND THE CHURCH. . G. I. CURTEIS IN *POPULAR SCI- 108 REV. G- OTEL Oumuis excunt in—Thenlogism (Everything {ssgesioto theology). No Lranch of science ap- pears 10, consider itself complete, nowadays, antil 1t hasissued at last into the vexed ocean of theolozy. Thus, Biology writes ““Lay Ser- mons” in Prof. Huxley; Physics acknowledees jzel slmost, Christian in Prof. Tyndall; Au- {oropology claims o be reliious in Mr. Dar- win; and Logic, in Mr. Speucer, confesses that sy religious system is 3 normsl and eseeptisl factor in every evolving society.” 1t is ouly the second-rate men of science who Joudly vaunt their ability to do without religion sitogether, and proclaim their fixed and un- changeable resolve for its entire suppression. As well resolve to'suppress the Guif Stream or the cecentricity of the earth’s orbit! It the orizon of man’s thought is bounded on all sides by mystery, it is in simple obedience to the Jaw of Lis mature that he gives some shape {othat mystery. It were mental cowardice to shrink from facing it; it were positive imbecili- 1y to declare that the coast-line between known snd unknown had no shape at all. Granted that theline be a slowly-fluctuating one, and that conquests here and Josses there reveal them- gelves fn course of time, and one day become “gnking™ to the commonest observer, does that fact acquit of folly the Aguostic statement that, now and here, there is o thinkable line at all, no. features to be described, nothing to eketch, no appreciable curves and headlands, no conception possible which shall fntegrate (for practical utility) that great Beyond whose ! boundaries, on the hither side at least, are Jmown to us? Men who can only attend to one thing at o time, and whose *“*one thing " is the §eld of = microscope or *the snatomy of the loiver part of the hindmost bone of the skull of acarp,” may perhaps escape the common lot of mnhood by ceasing to be “mep,” in any artinars senge of the word. But, for people wholive in the open air and sunshine of common “lie, there is tie same necessity for a religion as there is for that mental map of our whereabonts fhat we all carry with us in our braivs. Let any one recall his sensations when be has st any time been overtaken in a fog or 2 snow- storm, and when all his bearings have been blottedout, then he will readily understand the need which a1l men fecl for u theology ol some Kind, and he will apprediate what the ‘old-school divines meant when they said that “Theology was the queen and mistress of the sciences,” barmonizing and gathering up into architectonic unity all the moltifarious threads that the sub- ordinate scdences had spun. 1. One Is driven, nowadays, to repeat both in public snd private thesc very obvious reflec- tions, owing to the extraordinary persistence with which certein philosophers think fit to in- form us that we are all makinga great mis- take; that we can do very well without a relig- jon: and that, though itistrue ** man canuatlive by breaa alone,” but must have ideas, vet the creed by which he may very well make shift to lisc is this—* Somethinz 35.” . In point of brev- itv thereis here little 1o desire. The Apostles’ Creed is prolix by comparison, and althouzh we might fairly take exception to ‘‘some- thing,” 25 embodying two very concrete acts of the imagination, and therefore capable of further logical “purification,” it were un- gencrous to press the_objection too far. This creed is purer than thut of Strauss: **We be- leve in no Gog, but oulyin a self-poised and, 2mid eternal changes, constant aniversum.” It is wider thon that of Hartmaon: “God is a personification of force.” It is simpler than that of Matthew Arnold: Godis “a power, Dot ourseives, that. makes for righteousness.” 1tis more intelligible than that of J. 8. Mill: “A gz of great buc limited power, bow er by what limited we cannot even conjecture,”’—s Dotion found also io Lucretius und in Seneca. It is more theological thgn that ot Prof. Hux- ley: “The order of nature is ascertainable by oaz faculties, and our violation counts for some- thine in the course of events.”” It is shnilar to thatof the ancient Brabmaus: “That which cnot be seen by the eye, but by which the eye sees, that is Brahma; il thou thinkest thou st know it, then thou knowest it very littles 1t is rcached only by him who says, ‘Itis! it is!"? And, considering that this formula is very nearlv what 18 said also by the Fathers of thie Church, what better formula concorde be- tacensuence and theism could we require? For fustance, Clemens Alexundrinus (A. D. 200) echoes §t. Paul’s *Kuow Him, sayest thoul ?ll}ermknnwn of Him,”with the confession, Wekgow not what Le is, but only what beis not”; Crilof Jerusalem (A. D.350) says, “To o God is beyond man’s powers: SL. Au- stine (A. D. 400), **Rare Is the mind that in of God knows what it means”; John of Damascus (A. D. 800), * What is the sub- stance of God or iow He exists in all things, we are Armostivs, and canoot say a word’ i the Midale Ares, Dups Scotus (A. D.1300] God aceessible 10 our reason? 1 hold that He Bspotn - It scems, then, there is a consensus amopg all competent persons, who_ have ever thought ecpiy ou the subjuct, that the resl nature of Wat Power which underlics all existing things is bsolutely unknown to man. Anditis allowa- ble, therefore, in the last resort, to fall back up- on Spinoza’s word ‘*‘sub-stance; und to ac- Cent, I cliarity so require, as the common basis {ffl_’mcolu;:il:fl reunion, the Agnostic formula, ‘Somethiny 1s.” But then, unless some means be found for in- fantly paralszing e restless enerzy of Dupan faquiry, °the ~mext guestion is !;e\'lmble: What is that Something? H hat are its qualites, its attributes! low are we Lo conceive of it? Given (in Aris- lum)hn phrase) fts essence, what is its quality, dis quantity, aul the rest, which go tomake up tsidea? *Existence ™ is, after all, only oneof our three necessary furms of thought: “Space and “Time* are 2lso necessary to onr thinking. Aod it is in vain for_pure logicians to put on ‘apal airs, to forbid the question, to cry Aon Pusumus {we cannot], snd to stifle all free isking. i is useless to say: “We have al- Teagy, with razors of the uumost fincness, split i respli y emergent phenomenou: We ive, by assiduous devotion 10 the one single and undisturbed function of analysis, examined every possible conception that man can form, ;\nd have discovered everywhere compound no- Xiuns. 1deas that are *impure’ and capable of h‘;flbu lorical fissures: salyation is only possi- -ble by the confession that *Something is *; there "fiu:mx be thaukfulls I is all of Do nvla:n. am ezpelias Jurca [put Naturc out with a g‘lld.\rork],—shn is sure [u. return in armed re- ‘_° t, and Lo demaud, * Who told thee that thou ast 1hus nakedly equipped? Reason is one m"l:;v but imacination is also another. If = alysis is a power of he buman miod, so also o synthesis. 1f you csnnot think at all with- ui"' Using the one, peither cab you witheut em- o[“fin:: he other. Take, fur instauce, a process b ;J'bu‘p\lrcsl 7 mathematics—* twice Six is clve; vou were taught that probably withan 4. anil theghost of the abacus sull lingersin i your brun. “The squsre of the hypotenuss”: you saw that once o a figured Euclid, and you carned thereby to form any number of stmilar mental figures for yourself.. No: you may call the 1ncthods by which mankind think *‘im- pure,” or attach to them anv other derozatory epithet you pleasc: but mankind will deride you for your pains, and will reply: *‘The phi- losophier who will only breathe pure oxveen will die: he that walkson one lew, and declines to use the other, will cut but a sorry figure in 80~ clety; he that, uses only one eye will never et a stercoscopit view of anythin: Use, man, the compound instrument of knowledze your nature has provided for you, and you will both sce und live.” . Why, even 5o detérmined a logician as “Physicus? is_obliged sometimes to ndmit that *‘this symbolic methoa of reasoning is, from the nature of the case, the only ‘method of sclentitic reasoning shich is available.” And Prof. Tyndall, in_the November number of an- other Review, after complaining that “it is against the mythologic scenery of religion that Science enters her protest,” finds himself also oblized to mythologiz pages further op): * How molccular motion? Suppose the leaves to be shaken from a birch-tree, . . . and, {0 iz the idea, suppose each leaf,” ete. And s0 Prof. Cooke writes: 1 cannot agree with those who reard the wave- theory of lightasan established princivle of sci- ence. . . . Thercis something concerned in 1he phenomena of light which has detinite dimen- sions. We represent these dimensions to our imagination as wave-lengths, and w¢ shall jind it difficult to think clearly upon the subject ‘without tlic aid of this wave-theory. 2 In short, it {s obvious that without the help of this mythologic, poetic, wnage-formings facul- ty, all our pursuit of truzh were in vain, And therefore, starting from the common basis of a confession that ** something is,”” we are nure than justified, we are obeying a neeessary law of our nature, in asking WHAT that eternal sub- stratum of existence 1s, and with what mor- phologic aid the imagination may best present it for our contemplation. But here the purc logician mav perhaps re- tort: * You forget.that the conceptions men form of things arc, at their very best, nothing more than human, and therefore relative concen- tions. A fly or a fish probably sees things dif- ferently. And an jobabitant of Mercury or Saturn might form & conception of the universe bearing little resemblance to yours.” Quite true; but lozicians there,, too, would. probably re we to figure this #|*be heard to complain that, coloréd by Saturuian ‘| or Mercurian relativities, truth was sadly im- pure, and was, io fact, attained by o one but themselves. Nay, in those other worlds vriests of logic might be found so wrapped in super- stition as to launch epithets of contempt on all who approached to puncture their inflated fallacies, and who devoutly believed that a syl Jogism did not contain a pfitio principil [begging the aquestion] neatly wrapped up in jts own premises, and en indaction was ot an applica- tion of a pre-cxisting general idea, but a down- right discovery of sbsolute truth. If from such affiictions we on earth are [ree, it i+ because the common senseof mankind drclares itself serene- Iy content with the relative and the huwan; be- cause, while fully aware (from our schoolboy days) that_all our faculties—reason amoug the rest—are limited and carthly, we have faith that “all is well”” in mind, as it certainly is in matter; and because we smile at the simpticity of our modern wranglers, who can only analyze down s8s far as ‘“SomETIING,” when their Buddbist masters two thousand years ago had Que far decper, viz.: to NOTHING: The mind of the supreme Buddha is swift, quick, piercing, becanse he is infinitely **pure.” N wana i8 the destructtion of ol “the clements existence. The veing who is *‘purified” knows there Is no Kgzo, no self; all the atllictions con- nectea with exiatence are overcome, atl the princi- les of existence are annibiluted, and that annihi- ation is Nirwana. ‘The Churchman, thercfore, holds him- in claiming the selt so far justified modern atheist ‘as. his ally. They oare at least traveling both together un the “high-road which leads from a destructive pihilism toward a constructive religion. Only the atheist has thought it his duty to zo back again to the be- gioning, and to measure {odustriously the same Bround that the Church had gone over just 2,400 vears ago, when the great * Something is ' ad- dressed itself to man through Moses in the word ¢ [ am," or Julovah (absolute cxistence).—Ex- odus, vi., & But perhaps the pure logiclan may attempt snother reply. Finding us not in the least dis- concerted by hearing, ouce again, the familiar trath that al} our faculties are imited, he may attempt to shatter our serenity by an announce- ment of a more novel kind. He may sa; Not only is the imagery with which youclothe, repre- sent, and conceive the Sclf-existent merely rela- tive and buman, but—Iar more demning fact—it is all a development. It hasali grown with the growth of yvour race. Environment and heredity havesupplied vouwith all your formsof thought. ‘Even your “ conscience is nothing more than an oreanized body of certain psychological cle- ments which, by long inheritance, have come to inform us by way of intuitive feelinz how we should act for tlie benetit of society.” Beitso. The proof has not yet been made out. But since thesc cvolution doctrines are (es Dr. Newman would say) **in the air,” it is more consonant to the ruling ideas which at present dominate our imagination to conceive things in this way. Indeed; to a large and in- creasing number of Churchmen the evolution hypothesis appears, not only profoundly in- teresting, but probably true. They find there uothing to shake ther faith, anda good deal to confirm it. Man is what be is, in whatever way he msy bave become s0. And how atheists can persuade themselves that this beautiful theory of the dlvine_method helps their denisl of a delty, the modern school of theologians is at a 10ss to understand. For the cosmic force whom Christians worship has. from the very begiuning, been represcuted to them, not as a fickle, but as a continuous and alaw-abiding energy. Father worketh hitherto,” said Cbrist. * “Not a sparrow falleth to the ground,” witbout his cogmizance. _* The very hairs of your head are 21l numbered.” “ln Him we live and move and have our being.” Pictorial expressions, no doubt. But what words could more ciearly ju- dicate the unbroken coutinuity 'of causation in nature than these texts trom the Christian Seriptures? And it is surely the cstablishment of a continuous, as distinct from aniutermittent, asency in nature which forms the leading point of interest both to science and to the Church, at the present day, as against a shallow _deism. If, therefore, 8 maw's imaginative and moral faculties, as we know them now, are 2 develop- ment from former and lower—yes, even from savage, from bestial, from matcrial—ante- cedents, what {5 that tous? Of man’s Jogical powers the sel-same thing has to be said. Why, then, shonld Lozic give itself such mighty airs of superiority and forzet its equally humble or- izin? How does it affcct the truthiulness in re- Jation to man, and the trustworthiness, for all practical purposes, of our image-forming facul- ties, that it 1s what it is ouly after long ~evolu- tion, and that the race bad a feetal period as well as the individual? The upshot, then, of the whole discussfon is surcly this: The Absolute is confessedly incon- cefvable by man. All our mental faculties are in the eame category: they are all finite, rela- tive, imperfect. But_ then they are suited to ouar present development and environment. Faith in them is therefore required, and a bold ‘masculine use of them z21l. For in pature, as in grace, *God hath noth not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and ot love, and of a sound mind.’—2 Timethy, i., 7. 1f, then, there are questions into wh mere analytic reasoning cannot enter, if Logic is powerless, for instance, before a musical score, and is struck dumb_be- fore the self-Gevotion of Thermopyl, or the un- approachable self-sacrifice of Calvary, by what Tight are we forbidden to employ these other faculzies which help us, and whose constructive belp brings joy, aud health, und peace to our minds? ‘The many-colored poetical aspect of things is, assurcdly, no_less **pure? und far 1moré interesting thap the washed-out and color- less zero reached by interminable analysis. The colored suolight isno less *pure,” “und it re- veals a great deal more of truth, than ¢ the pale oon’s watery beams.” Aud 0 we venture to predict that a constructive Christianity which, at sundry times and_in divers wanuers reveals the cosmic force and unity to the millions of men, will ever hold its own against a merely de- structive Buddhism, whether ancient or modern: and, long after pure Logic has said its last word and—with a faint ery, * Sumcthinr' perhups is”? —has evaporated info Nirwana, will continue its turice-blessed efforts to rear a palace of human thought, will handle with reserve and dignity 1lic best results of all the sciences, and will io- tegrate (with courage and not despair) the in- finite contributions of all phenomena into a theolory of practical utility to the further evo- lution of the human race. . For evolution there has certainly been. And in spite of all that has been said to the contrary, the moral atmosphere which has from age toage rendered mental progrees possible has been, for the most part, eniendered by religion, and, aborve all, by the confidence, peace, und brother- hiood preached by the Christian Church. No doubt religion was cradled umid gross_supersti- tions; and only by great and perilous trausitions has it advanced fruin the lower to the higher. It was s great step from the fetich aud ihe seraphin to the snimal and plam symbols of Ezvpt and Assyria. It was another freat step to Baal, the blazing sun, and Moloch, wiclder of draught and sunstroke, apa Agui, triendly comrade of the hearth. But when as- tronomy. and physics had reached sutlicicnt growth to master all these wonders, and to pre- Gict the solstices and the eclipses, then the full- ness of time had come once more; and now the grreatest relizious transition was 'accomplished that the buman race had ever scen,—a transi- tion from the pbysical, and the bratal, and the Gstral, to the human ané the moral, n inan’s search after a true ble) representation of the infinite forces at play around him. In Abraham the Hebrew,—the 1nan who made the great transition,—this im- portsut advance is typificd for the Semitic races: for others, the results oniy are scen in the Olympian conceptions of Hesiod and Homer. For here we have, at last, the nature-forces pre- sided over and controtled after a really human fashion. Crude, and only semi-moral, after all, as was this carliest human effort, still human it was,—not mechanical nor bestial. And it open- cd the way for Socrates to bring down philoso- phy, too, from Heaven to earth, for Plato to discuss the mental processes in man, and aoply them (writ large) to the processes of nature, and Moses to claborate with a diviue sagacity a completely-orzranized society, saturated throuzh every fibre with this ooe idea,—the unity of all the nature-forces, great and small, and their government, not by hap-hazard, or malignity, or fate, but by what we men call law. *Thouhast given them a law whick sball not be broken.” For this word *“law” distinctly con- notes rationality. It implies a quality akin to, aud therefore expressible In terns of, buman rcason. Its usaze on every page of every book of science’ means that; and repudiates, there- fore, by anticipation, the dismal invitations to geientific despair with which the logicians @ outrance are now so pressingly obliging us. This grand transition, then, ouce wmade, all else became easy. ‘The human imagination, the poetic or plastic power lodged mn our brain, after mauny fallures, had now at Jast got on the high- road which Jed straight to the oal. Redemption had come; it only needed to be unlolded to its utwost capabilities. Dull fate, dumb, sullen, and impracticable, had becu renounced as infra- human und unworthy, Lut stocks and stoues in the mountains and the forests be ruled bv it; not free, glad, und glorious men! Brute, bestial instinct 2150 bad been renounced, as contempti- ble and undivine in the bizhest degree. And so, at Jast, the culminating point was attained. The haman-divine of Asiatc speculstilon, and the divinely-bumsn of European philosophby, met* and coalesced; and from that wedlock emerged Christianity. ‘The ‘‘Something is*? of mere bald analytic reasoning bad become clothed by the imagination with that pertect human form and character than which notbing koown to man is aud that very maohood, which is now- adays so loudly asserted by positivists and atheists to be the most divine thing known .to science, was precisely the form in which the new religion preached thatthe great exterior .existence, the Something Is, the awful **Lam.” .can alone be presented intelligioy to wan. For i No man shall sce Jehovah and live,” says the 01d Testament; * No man nath secu God atany time,” says the New Testament; the Son of man, who is on the Father’s bosom—projected on the bosom of the absolute **1 am ”—He hath declared Him. Of this languace in St. John's Gospel, it is obvious that Herel’s doctrine—echoed aiter- ward by Comte and the positivists—is a sort of variation set 1 a lower key. In humanity, said he, the divive idea emerzes trom the erial and the bestial ioto the self-conscious. flu- manity presents us with the best we can ever’ know of the divine. In “the Son of mau ” that sowmething which lies bebind, and which no man can attain to, becomes incarnate, visible, imag- inable. Buit it cannot surcly be meaut by these bilosophers that in the sous of men laken at’ hap-hazgrd the Divinity, the great Cosmic Un- Jnown, is best presented to us. It canuot pos- sibly be maintained that in the Chinese swarm- ing on their canals, in‘the Lideous savages of Polynesia, orin the mobs of our great Buropean capitals, the ‘ Something is ” can be effectively My studied, fdealized, adored. No, it were surely a truer statement that bumanity concentrated in 1ts very purest knowa form, aud refined as much 88 may be from all its animalism, were the clear lens (as it were) through which to contemplate the great Cosmic Power be- yond. It is, therefore, 2 SON of map, and not the ordinary sons of men, that we require to aid our minds and uplitt our aspirations. Mao- kind is hardly to be saved from retrograde evolution by superciliously looking round upon 2 myriad of mediocre realitics. It must be belped on, it st all, bya new variety in our specles suddenty putting forth in our midst, at- tracting wide attention, securing descendants, and offering an ideal, a goal in advance, toward which etfort and conflict shall tend, We must be won over from our worldly lusts and our auimal propensities by engaging our kzarls on higher objects. We must learna lesson in ractical morals from the youth who is redeemed from rude boyhuod and coarse selfishuess by love. e must allow the latent spark of moral dosise to be fapued into a flame, and, by the enkindling admiration of a human beautyabove the plane of character litlerto attalned by man, to consume away the animal dross and prepare for new cuvironments that may be in store for us. What student does not know now the heat-of love for truth mot vet attained breaks up a-heap of prejudices and fixed ideas, and gives a sort of molecular; fustability to the. mind, ]Srepkrine it. for the most surprising trans- formations?* \Who bas not observed the devel- opment of almost a new eye for color, or a new car for refinements in sound, by the mi con- stant prescntation of a higher mstheticideal? And just inthe same way, who that knows anything of mankind can have failed to per- ceive thut the only succcesful method by which character is permanently improved is by cmploy- ing the force of example, by accumulating on the censclence reiterated touchesof a new moral color, and by bringing to bear from aboce the power of an acknowledged ideal, and (if possible) from around the simultancous juflucace of a similarly affected environment? Baptize now all thesc trutbs, translate them into the ordinary current lanzuage of the Chureh, and you Bave simoly neither more nor 1egs than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And ss carbon is_carbon, whether it be presented as coal or as diamond, so arc these high und man- redecming verities—about the {nscrutable 1 am,” and his intelligible presentment in a gtrangely uvique Son of Man, and the trans- muting agency of a brotherhood saturated with His Spintt and pledged tokeep His presence ever fresh and effective—verities still, whether they take on bomely and practical or dazzling and scientific forms. And the foolish man is surely he who, educated enough to know better, scorns the lowly form, and is pedantic enough to sug- gest the refinements of the lecture-rootn as suit- Zble for the rough uses of cglky-day life. A man of seose will rather : Let us by all means retain and—with insight and _trust—cm- }Jluy- the homely traditional forms of thesc sub- i 1 e truths; let us forbear, in charity for others, o weaken their influence, and =o to cut awa) the lower rounds of the very ladder by whicl we ourselves ascended; and let'us, tvo, in mercy to our own health-of charicter, dz- cline to stand aloof from the world of common men, or to relegate away among the lumber of our lives the Words that have a meaning for those who understund, that ‘we learned of simple saintly lips in cnilahood. Rataer, a8 the SoN oF MAN hatn bidden us, we Wil “bring out of our treasures things both new and old”; will remember, as Aquinas taught, that **nova nomina antiquam fidem de Deo significant,” the new terms sienify the ancient faith concerning God; und will carry out in practice that word well spoken in gdod geason, “It isnot by rejecting what 1s formal, but by interpretingit, thatwe advance in truc spirituality,” *The Patience of Hope.” 11. On the other hand, if men of scicnce are to be won back to the Church, and the widening zulf is to be bridged over which thre: s nowadays the destruction of all that we hold dear, it can_not be too often or too carnestly repcated, 7he Church must not part company with the wor'd she is commissioned 1o evanyeize. She must awake both from her renaissance and her medfeval dreams. To turn over on her uncasy couch, aud try by conscious effort to dream those dreams again, when daylight is come and all the house is fully astir, this surely were the hight of faithless foily. An animat- Ing time of action {s come, a day reauiring the best exercise of skill and knowledge aud moral courage. Shall we hear within the camp, at such o moment as this, a treasonable whisper go round: ‘“‘Byouc act of mental suicide we may Sontrive to escape all further exertion; science is perplexing, history is full of doubts, psychol- ogy spins webs too fine lor our self-induigence even to think of# Why not make believe very bard to have found an infallible oracle, and de termine once for all to desert our post and *jurare in verba magistri’ ™ [Swear us a master piga)? It is truc that history demonstratcs beyond adoubt that Jesus and Hisapostles koew nothing-of any such contrivance. But never mind!_ *A Catholic who should adhere to the testimony of history, when it appears to con- tradict thie Chureh, would be guilty not merely of treason aud heresy, but of “apostacy.” Yes, of treason to Rome, but of faithful and coura- geous logalty to Christ. “lLam the truth,” Ssaid Christ. *The truth shall make you free.”? Speak the trath o love, prove all things, hold fast that which is true, said His apostles: How can it ever be consonant to Ris will that the members of His brotherbood shoulda couspire tozether to make believe that white is black at the bidding of any man on earth? The Church of England, at any rate, has no treason to an- Over for. Ber doctrinal canons, by distinetly | asserting that even * Geperal Councils may err 2nd bave erred,” aud by -a constunt appeal to ancient documents, universally accepted, but capable of erer-improving interpretation, have averted the curse of a sterile traditivnalism. No new light is at any time inaccessible to her. Every historical truth is treasurcd, every liter- arv discussion ig welcome, every scientific dis- covery finds at last a place amid her system. Time and paticace are, of course, required to rearrange ‘and harmonize all things together new' and old; and. a” claim is rightly made- hatnew “truths ” should first be substantiated as sach, before theyare incorporated into 50 ! vast and widespread an engine of popular, edu- cation as hers. But, with this proviso. * Tl (or the to him truest posei- ! ¢ accepts every certain conclusion of physical scionce 93 mmaa’s unfolding of God 's wook of * = : Nature.” It ié therefore most unwise, if anv ot her clergy pose™thgmselves ds lostile to new discoveries, whethél. in history, literature, of sticnce. 1t may be gagural to take up suctthi attitude; and a certdid | impatience and: resct- ment at the manner fu which these things arc often paraded, in the crilest forms und hefore au unprepared public, mad e easily condoned by all candid men. Bt $uch an attitude of suspicion und hostility be@yeen * things old” and * things new » yoes firhg il the commis- sion Lo *‘banish and drive aWBuii strange and erroncous doctrines contraryte God's word.” For this commission requires proof, und not surmise, that they are ervonegus; and the Church has had experience, over iyl over again, bow easy and how dispstrous it~ “to banish from the door an unwelcome guest, who was perhaps nothivg Iess than an angekén .diszruisc. ‘The story of Galileo will never Cemse, while the world lasts, to cause the cncmisof the Church to blaspheme. Yet of late yaars it has been honestly coufessed by divinesithat **the oldest aud the youogest. of \thes matural sciences, astromomy and geology, 60 1ar from being dapgerous, + s« . BEEM providentially destiued *.t0; ebzage the that; the' ideal reseut century. €0 puwerzullii majesty of infinite time unl endlees space {nlzlvl,t counteract a low and parrow: materml- sin. . ” This experience ought not to be thrown away. No one who has pajd a serious atiention to the progress of the modern sciences can entertain a doubt thatall the really substdotial discoerics which bave been supposed to contravene-Chris- tianity do in reality oniy deep@ its profundity and emphasize its inaispensaBle necessity for man. Never before, in all_thd history of man- kind, has the Deity secmed so pwlul, so remote fromn man, so mighty in the tfemendous forces that e wiclds, so majestic inj the permanence and tranquillity of His resistless will. Neyver before has man realized hif own excessive stallness and impotence; his inabllity to de- stroy—mach more, to crentb—one atom or molecule; hisdeoendence for fite, for thought, for character even, on the matdrial environinent of which he once thought hirfsclf the master. "The forces of nature, then, havg become to him once more, as In the (nfancy "of bis race, almost aterror. And poised midway,Jor a few event- sul hours, between an futinite giust of which he knows a little and an mfinite {dture of which he knows nothing, he is tempted o despair of him- self and of his little, and in_cHildish petulance o coinplain, * My whilom cobeit is broken; there is nothing else to Jive for.” And ami these foolish despalrs, & voicd is heard which says: * Have faith in Ggd! have hope in Christ! have loveto man} Knowledgze of this tremendous subsiratum gf all being it s not for man to bave: his knowledee is confined to phenomens and to everv human (but suffi- cient) concentions of the so-called laws by which | they all coherc. But thesc thiee qualities are moral, not intellectual, virtue: For the Church never teaches that’ God canjbe scientifically known; sbe never offers cerfalnty und sight, but only “hope,” in many ascending de- gree; she docs notsay that Godis amap, a person like one of us—that yere indeed per- versely to misunderstand her s btile terminojo- gy—but only o Man bas appeared, when the Tine was ripe for him, in wilord that awful aud tremendous existence has shown us something of hisideas, has made intelhgible to us (as it were by a word to_the listeniujr car) what we may venture to call His “uliut%’pmwunlus, and Tias fnvited us—by the simple expedient ol giv- ing our heart’s loyalty to this most lovable Son of Man—to reach out peacefully tohigher evolu- tions, and to commit that indéstructible force, our life, to Him in sercne well-doing to the brotherbood among whom his spirit works, and whose welfare he accounts his own. TIs not the Aumanizing of the: great existence, for moral and practical utility, and this utterance (s0 to speak) of yet another creative word in the ascenaing scale of contiouous development, und this soc’a Lzing of Hissweet, beneficent spirit fn a brotherhood as wide as* the world, precisely the religion most adapted to accord with modern suence? 3 Yet no one can listen to ordipary sermous, no one can open popular books of picty or of doc- trine, without feeling the urecht need there is among churchmen for a higher| appreciation of the majestic intinitude of God.. It is true that, in thes cases, {t is the multitude and not the highly cducated few whoarcaddressed ; and that, even amone that multitude, tlhiere are nooe so grossly ignorant as to compare the Trinity to “three Lord Shaftesburys,” add not mauny so childish as to picture ‘‘one Almizhty deseend- ing into hell to Dnci(yunomer.“.}’ Such petalance is reservea for men of the hizhest istellectual | gifts, who—whether purposely or igoorantly, it | 15 hard to say—bave stooped to provide their generation with a comic theolozy of the Chris- tlan Charch. But, after all, it is impossible not to feel that the shadows of a well-loved past are lingering too long over a present that might be Drizhit with joyous sunshine;.tjat the subtiltics of -the schoolmen are to6-1oug altowed ‘to-dark- en theairwith pointless and antiquated weaponss; that the Renaissance, with its licracy fanaticism, still relaiis over the whole domain of - Christian boolk-lore; and that the crude conceptions of the Ptolemaic astronomy have never yet, among ceclesiastics, been thoroughly dislodged or re- placed by the far more maenificent revelations of the modern telescone. It is not asserted that no percolation of *‘things new " is going on. It is not deniea that as in the first century achange in jdeas nbout the priesthood carried.with it a change in the whole reggious system of which that formed the axis [Hebrews vii., 12], 80 now & change in ideas about the eartn’s position’ in space demands a very skillful and patient read- justment of all our conneeted ideas. But such a readjustment of the old Semitic faith was ef- fected in the first century by St. Paul: and there is no reason to think that the Church is unequal to similar taskg mow. And iu this country especially there is an cstablished and orzanized . “Ecclesia docens” [Teaching Chureh] which probably never had its cqual in all Chureh bistory for the literary and suientific eminence of its leading members. For such a society to despair of readjusting its theology to conteinporary science, or idly to stand by while others effect the junction, were indecd a dis- grezeful and incredible treason; so incredible that-~until it be proved otherwise—no amount of vituperation or unpopularity should induce any reflecting Enclishman to render that work impossible by allowing his Church to be tram- pled down, and its time-honored framework to be given up as 2 spoil to chuos. THE QUAKERS. AN INTERESTING SKETCH OF THE WARRENS- TILLE COMMUNITY. Special Correspondence of The Tribune. ToLEDO, O., Feb. 22.— Yes, we ar¢ old, and very few of the younger onescome to usnosw. We are waiting for the fullness of the Lord’s good time though, and we know that He witi remem- ber us and come to our relief. The world does not like our severe ways and our climination of all worldly pleasures, but our vprophets nave many revelations which show that we are not forgotten, aud thut we shall at Iast possess the carth.” The speaker was a fatherly individual, dressed in the plain homespun garb and broad-brimmed whiite felt hat of the modern Shaker. The at- terance struck mfe. 1 bad traveled many miles {0 behold the village of which the speaker was the pariarch, and I desired to have him speak further. 1t had always been 3 wonder to me liow this body of modera celibates were held to- gether, and what inspiration,istill drawn from their founder, the cmotional Miss ‘Lee, holds thern together in the bonds Of apparent purity aud peace. « \Vhat are some of thesigns which you be- hold in the religious horizon?” [ asked. “Thou art of course an unbelicver, my young' friend, and shouldst understand that we make wo efforts to convert the world. We believe thut when the great day of the Lord shall come we will be taken care of.and the worid shall come to us without our effort. Nevertheless e are not averse to giving, when we arc asked, the rezson of the hope that is bezotten within us. We behold, in the first place, all over the 1and bodies of those people called Spiriwualists. “They do many wonderful things whbich no man can account for. Their mediums speak with strunge tonsues and cause many manifestations which common people cannot do by any meth- ods koown to the world.” %Do you hold similar bellef to the Spiritual: ists?” “By no means, mly young fricod; thou hast ot listened until I had finished., I was about to say that these manifestations but prove that there is somethiug true ot which they ure but the poor imitations. Our revelagions™ through our prophets are the true and thie Spiritual me- diums are the faise. We observe it all with much interest on that account. Itis the pure gold that is counterfeitcd, ot the gaudy brass. 1 these {mitations did nov exist, theie might be Jdoubt that there was anything true end good.” “ You said 2 moizent ag0 thut there are but few who came to you now:” + By that I mean tbat the number is very few compared with the time'when 1 was young, and first gave my heart to _the work of the Lord. Those who come now all want the best places, and do pot waut for the places to seek them. L came a5 2 youth 14 years old, and was willing to do anyriting which the 2ood Elders saw fit o place me at. L worked early aud late at the bard labor of the farm, and when the Lord called me up higher und gave me tne Eldership’ 1 had come up throngl alithe grades, and koew Low to symputhize with all the pardships of the bretbren, We taie ull Who come to us, and. =5 2 a rlmural consequence, are often imposed upon. omctimes 1 know that those with wickeld Thearts approach us, but 1 cannot cast them off, for how can_we' teil-but the Lord will soften their wicked heerts and make them useful to our community? ‘They often come fn the lute fatl, poor, and hunery, and poorly clothed. We take them In and give them food, and clothing, and shelter. ‘They stay with us until the win- ter is past and thé warmth of spring approaches, and then the lusts of the flesh and the de- ccitfulness_of the world lure them,and they depart. Wecen only expect men who have been used to our rigerous life from their carly youth to prove of much use to us. They must never have tasted of the lusts of the flesn, and then they are never temoted. What we need most is an incoming of young blood to zrow un instructed in the wisdom of the Elders, so that they may take our places when we shall be called hence. God has always had a peenliar nnd separate people upon the earth. He hus never been left entirely without a representation, although nearly so at times. Once fie only ba Noah und his family. At another time, When the bad cities were destroyed, simply Lot and his family, and in this instance the wilc could not obey the rieid 'command, and was de- stroyed, while, later, those who wereleft yielded to the lusts of the flesh. Later camc the Jews, who were raised up by long generations of sncelal cate and Divine legislation. But they crucificd the Savior and were scattered. In later davs Christ’s followers were pure, but have now for lo! these many yeurs become full of petty dissensions and strife_among them- seives, and it {s necessary that by special ha- miliation and erucifixion of the flesh und the fleshly lusts a people should be prepared for the indwelling of the spirit of the Lord. We know that_we are that separate and ?eculhr people. The con- stant revelations which we obtafn would indi- cate that the great day of the Leord isnot far distant. If we can only keep HIS name alive upon the carth, it will be well with us.”” ‘As [ said before, I had traveled many miles to visit the community of which the patriarch who has just ceased sfcaking was the chiet Elder. Froin iy youth I had wondered in regard to this peculiar people, und had heard many co- rious stories concerning them. The conversa- tion had conveyed much information, but still was not fully satisficd. T desired to hear more aud sce more. The community was located some cizht miles from Cleveland, O.. in the Townsbip of Warrensville, aud the name which the Shakers themselves had bestowed upon it was North Union. Icall it u villaze because thit is the most convenient apoellation, and the oné which the Shakers themselves are mostfond of apolying. But in reality it is a community, scll-sustaining, operating a large farm, and per- forming all the work, mechanical and otherwise, that is necessary thereon. From the appearance of the sofland from convereation withworldly out- giders of the vicinity I learned that the land which the community have pre-empted from the wilderness proved to be very poor, but they had cleared it, und by meaus of industry, economy, and the utmost thrift had prospered. - There are in reatity three collections of houses upon the tract. One called the North Village, another the South, and the third the Middle Village, sit- uated about balf-way between. The Middle is the principal one, where are located the nills, shops, churches, and.principal office. From the Elder I learned the following faces: - This Sociely came into the unbroken wilder- ness in 1822, and have seen all their present do- main reclaimed from its primeval wilduess. 1t now numbers something over 100 persons, less than twenty of whom are under 21 years old. ‘T'he larger proportion of these members are Americans, and their oelief religionsly has been various. “There was quite a sprinkling of Ad- ventists, althongh some of the * professed Methodists, Baptists, and other denominations have contributed oceasiopally a inember. A considerable nru;mruon of the present member- ship bas come from old and friendless ‘people, whobad some property left, but no hope and de- sire to have some gociety. They casily swallowed ‘the religious portion of the creed and so be- come full-fledged members of the order. As .would be gathered from the couversation of the Eider. there is a sort of sublime religious check prevailing in the denomination which holds all who once come within its influence. It is as- sumed that everybody else is wicked and per- verse, and the only way to be saved isin carry- ing out the absurd vagaries of Miss Lee, the founder. i This community is the second in_size in the State, and owns some 1,355 acres of land; thelr Emducflons most famous in the ‘market are rooms oud pails. They have a saw-mill,a blacksmith shop, s gnst-mill, fn fact nearly everytling that is necessary in the running of a simple agricultural community. Their dress s proverbial for its plainness. ‘The men Wwear a licht-blue coat with light-felt bat, broad- brnmmed., The women "irear coarsc dresses, much plaited, and their head-gear consists of a plain “-cap’ close] rawn ~-around- the- face- and covered with the well-known Shaker bonnet. The most beautiful woman i the world decked out in full Shaker costume appcars on the same level with the most homely to the casual ob- server. The community is divided into sections of from thirty to nincty, and each of these is called a family, and all live togcther in one large buflding. On the first floor are located the kitchen, pantry, store-rooms, nnd dining-hails. The upper floors are divided into sleeping-rooms somewhat similar in their character. They wiil accommodate abont eizht persons each. The -furniture is of the plaiest Kkind. There is nothing resembling a ‘parlor or sit- ting-room about the whole building, for in the simple and rigid life of the Shaker there is no need of these luxuries of the world. The walls are furpished with rows of wooden pegs on which are hung the hats, bonnets, and coats of the occupunts when not being worn. The most scrupulous neatness prevalls everywhere, and nothing like dust is tolerated. Strips of carpet of ahome-made quality are laid loosely upon the fluor, so that it may be taken up and swept every day. For two reasous, perfectly satisfactorv to the Shaker mind, evervthing like pictures is ruled out: First, they are in the shape of ornament, and all orna- ment is wrong; sccond, the cords and framnes by which they would be hung would simply sorve as means of gathering dust, and so hinder a chicf law of godliness, ncatness. Awakening in the morning is accomplished by a signal on the great bell, and takesplace at 4:30 o'lock in the summer, and at 5 o'clock in the winter, Perfect order marks the Shaker life from the moment the devotec is out of bed, He first places two chairs back to baclk, and doubling the clothes of his bed once, he places them scross the chairs. The pillows arc meatly placed in the chair seats. The women then boxrin the work of putting the rooms in order, and by 6 o'clock all_are ready for breakfast, which takes place without the least formality, men and women cating at separate tables in the same room, but in the utmost silence. All kneel in silence 3 moment before the meal be- gins. Dinner comes at 12 m., and supper at 6 p.n. All Jights in the various puildings must De out by 9:30 p. m. “Mhe toil of the Shaker is not severe, and there is very littlc complaint, the Elder told me, in regard to_cuoe havivza softer job thav another. Ve hold,” he said, “that toil should veja pleasure, and to this cnd we work together evenly and easily.” Work beeins immediately after the morning meal is finisbed, und ample **nooning” is taken in the middle of the aay. Regutar fore- men, called s eare-takers” have charge of the men and deal out the tasks. @ 7he cotertainments which we have,” said the Elder, in answer to a question, “all come in the evening. Weread our cveuing letters of consolation and comlfort from ot er sacicties, and read in our Society journals of the progress of the cause elscwhere. Sometimes we spend 90 evening 1a social converse, and again we cu- gage in our social and religious dance or practice ©n new hymns for our service.” One of the most pecaliar thiogs which I Jearned was in reizurd to the special care that is taken to keep the bretbren and sisters at their ‘proper distance from each other. Brethren are never permisted to visit the sisters under any circumstunces, but on Sunday nights, the sisters, six or oight in a body, call upon the brethren i their rooms. On these occasions sisters place themselyes In a stifl row in chairs afong one side of the room, while the brethren are-in 8 similar Tow at the other side. “Fheg then converse in a stilted mauner o re- gurd to the crops, the weather, and the general prospeets ot the Society. 11, on any of these oceasious a bréher is seen to be taking special intcrest in the egnyersation of auy sister, or Jooks ut her in sucl'a mayner as to particularly atcract attention, she isubyer permitted to visit that porticular room again. %, “I1e rules of_the Society are soffpthing which 10 oue can find out, but they are _simoply known to be of the most strict and stad®d character. 1c is to be supposed that they differ’to a certain extont with dilferent, commubities. - 1t is said that brethren and sisters are not per- mitted to pass cach other on the stairs; cannat visft each other’s rooms except on business, und then can never stay wore than fifteen minutes at a time. No brother and sister can converse together alone. Every one is bound to report to the proper authority the least violation of . aoy of the rules, and this constaut watchiulness, i hé onc upon another, is what keeps them pure more than anything else. A mcmber -cannot ‘even leave the premises oo which he belougs ithout obtaining permission of the Elders, and this is done by stating the business which calls him away. No vonversation® except the most succinet und discrect is vermitied between the members of the ‘different families. On the premises of their own families brethren, but not sisters, are permitted Lo roam at will. No metn- ber is permitted to play with or particularly fondle uny eniwal. Al visiting from people of ‘the world. even from relatives of the wenbers. - tion of the Park Avenue M. E. Church. About is forbidden, unless there exist prospects of con- version, TI\eSpbhmthisobservedver}:nlosely. No books, except they be those of thé Society, arc permitted -toibe read. No unnecessary work can be performed. If crops are likely to incur loss by peing left, they mav be suthered ou the Sabbath, but, under ordinary ¢ircumstances, not even a mouthiful of fruit which is wathered on the Sabbaths must be eaten. The Shaker has a pecaliar fonduess for the right as contradistin- guished from the left. .The right foot must be put forward {n walking. The rieht horse must e first harnessed; the right kuec must be first bent in prayer, and the right foot tirst placed upon the floorin risiog.. All these regulations are provided for in the most careful and ac- curate manner by strict rules. The visible head of the Church is vested in the ministry, which is composed of men and women. This'ministry is an absolute autocracy, and all appeals in_matter of business or other- wise are taken to them. Notwithstanding the reputation of bonesty which the plamn garb and solemn talk of the Shakers vaturally conveys, their neighbors, some of them, cowplain of certain small trans- actions which do pot by any means appear ex- actly square. They are generally quite cun- ningly devised and show simply a disposition %o thrive to the hizhest degree possible in their communistic capacity. One man related to me his experience in buy- ing a horse. The Shaker wanted $110 for the horse, while the buyer was willing to give $100. Neither would yicld a dollar. ‘[he Snaker, who was..by the way, an Elder, or some other such hich dignitary, claimed that e was held to this sum by the sisters, who were greatly attached 1o the beast. Finally 3 happy thoueht scemed to strike the Elder. He proposed to sell the norse for 3100, but requested ns a spezial favor that the buyer advance $10 extra that he mizht show it to the sisters, and then he would return it. This was aerced toand themoney advanced, but when the purchaser asked for its rettrn the Elder maintained that that was the sum agreed upon in the trade, and would not listen to the proposition to return the money. ‘Soms years ago it was discovered by some quarry men, who had been prospecting, that there was a valuable quarry on the Shaker farm. It would require considerable capital to open it up, but these men could form a cotpany to do the work and advauce the money. 'frusting in the honor and honesty of the Elder, simply a verbal bargain was made in regard to most of the arrangement, thoush a contract was fixed up afterward. 7The quarry turned out a great suceess, and after the first cost ol opening was over the contractors made money fast. Just at this time other purties, seeing the success of the enterprise, made a higher bid for the stone than the contract called for. The Shakers tried to evade the contract, and as an excuse said that the Elder bad po right to make u bareain which should waste their land. They said that the ministey had been consulted and had decided that the contract must be broken. A law-suit followed, which resulted in a compromise. Of course the brethren hold that these trapsactions are ull right, as they simply inconvenience the Gentiles of the world, and are for the good of the Lord’s people. I simply give the above as illustrations of what I heard in the neighborhood, und as show- ing that the reputaticn of the brethren is not entirely without reproach. GARY. GENERAL NOTES. Ten students from Cypras have entered the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut. A pastoral has beca issued by the Episcopalian Bishop of Western Michigan condemning world- 1y devices for the purpose of raising money for church objects. A number of Israelites at London, Ont., have been summoned for disturbing the Sabbath by having a festival and dance at 2 wedding which took place on Sunday. The English Committec upon Bible Revision has now revised for the first time all the books of the Oid Testament, except Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. There are now four Catholic. dioceses vacant in the Upited States,—Chicazo. Hartford, Mar- quette, and Columbus. And Bistop Borgess?, of Detroit, resignation, if accepted, will make the fifth. i The Council of the Evancelical Alliaice an- nounces that it is now definitely settled that the next, which will be the seventb. General Con- ference of Christians of all nations will be held during the present year at Basle, Switzerland, bewinning on Aug.” 31 and continning until Sept. 7. A : The Rev. Mr. Nutt, Sub-Librarien of the ‘Bodleian Library, Oxtord, will brinz out in the course of:next month:s edition-of=Eiizier-de Beaugeocy’s Commentary on Isaiah, with an Enelish introduggion. on the exegesis of thé Frencn Rabbis il the eleventh and - twelith centuries. For several weeks a revj developing in the Sunds; 1 interest has heen bool and cougreza- fifty persons bave been recognized us seekers of religion, and there seems gowd reason to be- lieve that tue colsing year of Dr. McChesney's pastorate will be successful and satisluctory. The walls of the Jewish synagogue at Prague are so thick with dirt as to be absolutely black. Yocal tradition has it that the name of Jehovah js somewhere inscribed on the wall, and that it it were to be cleaned thie holy name would be effaced ; hence, for generation after generation, the grime has been permitted to accumulate. Much_ unpleasant excitcment has been oc- casioned in the Vatican, according to the cor- Tespondence of the London Standard, by the result of the Pope’s inquiries reapecting sundr; large sums mentioned in the will of Plus IX. as provided for various objects. Laree smounts ‘believed to have been invested abroad have entirely or in great part disappeared, leaving no trace. The Vineland, N. J., Baptist Church isia trouble on the communion gquastion. Some of the members recently communed together with Congregationalists. This was a heresy that could not be _countenanced, aud they were ex- yelled from the church. “Fhen without any such formality many more, who sympathized witn them, withdrew, and the once bappy family are at lougerheads. ¥ The Tablet makes an able plea for the revival of Peter’s pence, which have greatly fallen off since the death of Pias IX., owing, us the Zablet thinks, to tne fabulous inveations regarding ac- cumulated millions; in the Vatiean freasurv. The present Pope is_euffering in his Court and fn his spiritual work for lack of funds. Boxes are hercafter to be placed in the churches to re- ceive contributions Tor the Pope. 7 A gentleman of liberal views recently died io Bellows Falls, Vt. His widow,a member of the Episcopal Church, desired her husvand buried from the cburch, but, as be bad nof been bap- tized, the Rector refused. After the sick man had become unvonscious he was sprinkled with water, eutirely without his knowledge or con- sent, and then the tender conscieuce of the par- son was pacified, snd the body was buried from the church. The members and friends of the First Baptist Church will be pleased to learn that the finan- cial embarrassments which have loog environed it have at last becn satisfactorily arranged. compromises with creditors and sell-denials on hie part of maoy of the members the debt was Feduced from $37,000 to $30.000, the latter be- ing allowed to run for five years at 7 per ccot. A pastor to replace Dr. Everts will be called as soon as possible. The Aethodist Recorder, of London, publishes a correspondence which shows that all the cler- jcal bigots are not dead ret. Two young ladies named Hird werc members of the Anglican Cburch at West Butterwick, aud taught in the Sabbath-school. They occasionslly went to the Methodist chapel, or * Dissenting meeting- house,” as their Rector, the Res, D.J. White, callsit. Mr. White, having heard that the sis- ters were guilty of such a crime, wrote to them to know if it was true, and at the same timc telling them that if it was they mizht consider their further services in the parish Sunday- school declined. One of the young ladies wrote back = short, sbarp answer, which has saved the Rector some trouble, but_ made him a laughing- stock among the Dissenters. A schism has spraog up in the Greek Ortho- dox Church which promises to be serious. At any rate, the Greek Government, after allowing it 10 exist undesturbed for the last four or five years, has sent officers to take the children from ts schools and to close cburches, while all the clergy who huve joined the movement bave been ordered to retirc to 3 monastery, where they will be subjected to s severc penanc The leader of this new party is one Makrakis. He stands aloof from the -authority of the Bishops and the Synods, and is opposcd to the system of fasts swhich prevails throughout the Greek “ommunion. Confession {s not abolished, but penitents vonfess on Suuday before the whoie congregation, from which, after the ancieat manner, theg recelve absolution. Makrakis per- Inits o Telation” bétwgen- the sexes which he calls “spiritual marriages.” Several Greel pricsts have joined nim und have been--given places in his schools. = Mopsignor Capel and the Catholic Colleze at Kensington are likely to occupy the mind of Cardinal Manpinz during his stay in Rome; for the Ward (London) reports ihat there s a question @t issue between themn which has already gone 8o far ‘as to bringouta tareat of Jegal procecdings. Mousizuor Capel is a poor man, *‘not,” says the Worid, *‘beczuse the waalthof Lie worid may not be his. but because e is generous.” He has been known to aive away 5250 in charity in a day, and to borrow the price of a cab fare in the evening. The same nerosity has characterized his management of The Colleze of Kensington. When his own means of conducting it had becn exhsusted, he borrowed Ly thousands from a wealthy relative, 80 that it s estimated that the college has cost him aud_his friends something like $33,003, But the Bishops, in taking charze of it, now re- fuse to acknowleage ang indebtness for the sums advanced: and as trustees of the Catholic body they repudiate the responsibility altogeth- er. Monsignor Capel has already placed his claim in the hands of lawyers, Who threater public proceedings. PERSONALS. The Rev. W. J. Thompson has just closed 8 four years’ pastorate at Newington, Conn. The Rev. E. P. Hammond, the revivalist, is snatching brands from the burning in Cavada. The Rev. Dr. Fisher, President of the Univer- salist ‘Theological School at Canton, N. Y., died a few days ago. The Rev. H. C. Hitchcock, of Milwaukee. has accepted a call to the Congregational Church st Thomaston, Vt. - The Re. F. A. Noble, of New Haven, has ac- cepted the call to the Union Park Congrezs- tionat Church, of this city. [ ‘The deatn is announced of the Rev. Dr. Reu- ben Nelson, the Scnior Azent of the Methodist Bouk Concern, in New York. The Rev. J. D. Davis, missfonary to Ja has restiyed, bocass The Beasd. Git down. Lo appropriation from $£,500 to $2,750. _ Mr. Robert Arthington, of Leeds, Eoeland, Bas offered the American Missionary Associs- tion $15,000 for mission purposes in Centrsl Africa. - Bishop E. De Schweinitz will attend the forth- coming Moravian General Synoa in Germany, by virtae of_his office, aud as the represeatative of the Provincial Bourd. Dr. Enoch Pond, of Bangor. Me., Congrega- tionalist, though $7 years old, still writes ser- mons and essays. e has been an ordaiued minister sixty-four years. SI. Geoffroi, the old Catholic cure of Courte- mauche, Berne, has re-entered the Roman Cath- oli¢ Church, and many other priests are said to meditate following his example. Talmage will lecture in this city Tharsday evening next on the “Brizht Side of Thines,” to be illustrated with a bogus subscription as a new way of paying old chucch debts. The Rev. Edward Wilson, D. D., of Metuchen, N. J., has been appointed Secretary of the Gea- eral Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church, * in place of Marshall B. Staith, resiened. The Rev. W. H. Koowliton has accepted the call of St. Andrew’s Church, und will enter upon his duties us its rector the second Sunday in Lent. At Easter, 8t. Audrew’s witl jorn the ranks of the Iree churches, of which there will then be three iu this city. OQctavius Brooks Frothingham, of New York, recently announced to his Society there bis in- teution of retiring from the miuisiry and devot- iug himself to travel, study, and rest, but lus people have persuaded him to reconsider his Ge- termination s0 far as to make his withdrawal only temporary. He will, sccordingly, continuc his Sunday addresses until the close of spring, waen he will devote a year or two to travel In Europe and the East. The Sacred Colleze of the” Propaganda has nd:fltcfl areport to the Holy Sec on the tilling of the vacant Sees of Dublin -und Ardagh. In the case of the former, the Propazunda reports in favor of the fitness of Dr. McCave, who s re- turned as difim’ux'mw. but speaks very highly of Dr. Moran, Bishop of Ossory, and nephew of the late Cardinal Cullen. Mgr. Woodlack, Rector of the Irish Catholic Oniversity, is recommended gs the successor to the lamented Bishop Conroy in the vacant Sce of Ardagh. SABBATH SMILES. 0 Lord," a certain minister prayed, ** Thoa hast scen by the morning papers how the Sab- bath was desecrated yesterisy.” Many & man who prays not to be led into temptation, would be awfnily disappointed if his prayer was granted.—Keokuk Constitution. . A tramp who received a blow {rotn an Ama- _zonian widow declared that, until then, he had never realized the full signifieance of the wid- ow’s smite.. 2 «Sambo, kin yo* tellowhy dey, inwarlably takes de pennies frim de chil'ren at¥e Sunday- school#” +Conse I kin. -Dat s toget decents ob de meetin’.” . 1t is now fashicnable to take opera-glasses to church; and the day is not far distant when the wewhers of Mr. Talmaze’s Tapernacle will go out between acts to get a liquid clove to chew. ‘—Norristowon Herald. . Junior clerk—* Would you kindly permit me to absent mvself to-morrow to attend my father's funeral?” Head of tirm (deep in fic- ures—** You may go, Hawkins, but pray do not let this buppen again.” : “Do you mean to call me a Har?"” asks = fero- cious oid gentleman. “Well, no, not exactly,” temporizes his youos friend, *but. if I saw you in the company of Ananias and Sapphira, L fhe;.nld say yon were in the bosom of your fami- y. A minister never feels more discouraged than when. after uniting a couple in the *holy bonds of matrimony,” hi¢ opens the neat littie envel- ope handed to him by the departing groom and finds nothing in it but a sheet of paper on which is written, *3old again!*’ After relizions teachers have defined the in- finite, cornered the incomprehensible, and touched pottom in the unfathomable, it bas been sugeested that they take up the problem, “How to drive horses with humanity and seil cabbages with honesty.—Christian Iteyister. A boy’s mind looks at everything from the standpoint of base-ball and marbles. * Why do vou suppose.” suid a Sunday-school teacher to his class, **whydo you suppose they took Ste- Bhun outside the city walls when they stoned im™ It was a poser, but one of the aspiring youths was cqual to the emergency, He said; ]t was 50 they could get a better crack at bim, Iguess.” Interesting incidents and sayings of a guaint New Enelan parson, the Reg. Nathaniel Howe, of Hopkinton (who died in 1837, aged 72), aro told by his latest suceessor, the Rev. Horatlo O. Ludd. Mr. Howe was a Federalist in politics, and his political serinons stirred the wrath of his hearers, who were mostly Democrats. 1n the midst of one of these sermons, the leaer of the opposite party felt agarieved, and cailed out: *Why don’t you call names. Mr. Howe " ] do not wish to ve interrupted,” said 1he par- 20, solemnly, and went on. In o little while the voice came more angrily than before: * Why doo’t yon call pames, Mr. Howe?” “Therc Is 1o nced of it while conacience is doing ker work 50 well,” was the quiet. response. CHURCH SERVICES. BAPTIST- The Rev! G. W. Northrup will preach this morn- ing and evening in the First Charch, corner of South Park avenne and Thirty-frst atreet. —The Rev. John Peddie will preach morning and eventng in the Secoud Charch, cornec of West Monroe and Morgan sireeta. * 2 The Rev. E. B. Hulbert will preach morning and evening in the Fourth Church, corner of West ‘Washington and Paulina etreets. S Ibe Rev. A. Owen will preach morning and evening in University Place Church, corper of Douglas place and Rhodes svenne. B —The Rev. R. P. Allison will preach morning and. cvening in North Star Church, corner of Division a0d Sedgwick streets. 2 The Rev. C. Perrin will preach morning and eveningin the Weatern Avenae Church, corner of and Western and Warren avenaes. " The Rev. E. K. Creswey will preach mornin; and eveming in Coventry Street Church, coroer of Coventry strect and Bloomingdale road. Tac Rev. B De Baptiste will preach morning and evening 1 Olivet Church, Foarth avenue, neat Taylor strect. ~The Rev. L. G. Clark will ‘reach this morniog in the South Church, corner of Locke and Boua- parte streets. 4 A e Hev. C. E. Hewitt will preach mominz and eventunz in the Centennial Cnurch, corner of Lincoln and West Jacksun atreets. —The Rev. E. O. T=ylor will preach mornin and evening m the Central Charch, No. 280 Orchar streel. . % —Mr. B. F. Jacobs will conduct the Sunday- school services in the aftornoon and the Gospel meeting in the eveninz at the Bantist Tabersacle, Nos, 302 and 304 Wabash avenue. —The Rev. J. Q. A. Henry will preach morning and eveninz in the Deartorn: Street Church, cor- ner of Suuth Dearborn and Thirty-sixth streets. —The L. G. .Clar< will preach this even- ingin the Twenty-fiftn Street Church, near Wen! worth avenue. Ex —The Rev. C. Swift will preach morning and evenini In Evangel Chiurch (Rock Island car-shops), South Dearborn street, near Forty-seventh. —The Rev. C. Mobart will “preach morning :nii evening in the Millard-Avenae Charch, Lawu- ale. ~The Rev. Mr, Meyer will preach moming and evening inthe First German Charch, cormerof Bickerdike and Huron atreets. —1'ue Rev. J. B. Smith will preach moraing and