One of the most decisive proofs that the announcement made in 1844 was in Heaven's own time and order is the rise of modern Spiritualism immediately after. We have seen that as the result of Babylon's fall she becomes 'the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.' Rev. 18:2. Spiritualism must act a conspicuous part in the fulfillment of this prophecy.
The sudden rise and universal spread of Spiritualism in our time is a remarkable event. All who reflect upon it will admit this. It marks a new era as it were in the history of mankind. It arose since 1844, the first of its manifestations by rappings being witnessed in 1847; and it has spread over the whole world with astonishing rapidity. And none who are thoroughly acquainted with the demoralizing influence of the spirits which communicate their bare-faced infidelity and out-spoken lawlessness, can dispute the Bible definition and description of them: "The spirits of devils working miracles."
It is evident that these unclean and lying spirits would have engaged in this work of deception long before the year 1844, had they not been restrained by Divine power; and that power might have restrained them still. Why then were they let loose at that time, to begin their work of deception upon mankind, and to encourage infidelity and lawlessness? The answer is apparent: Heaven-sent truth had been rejected. "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thess. 2:11, 12.
There are numerous prophecies of Scripture which foretell a special work of deception by familiar spirits and false prophets in the last days. Our Saviour, speaking of the last days, in answer to the question, What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? said, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt. 24:24. Paul's testimony in 2 Thess. 2, to which we have referred, is in perfect harmony with this. After speaking of the coming of the Lord, he says, "Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion," &c.
Some years ago I asked an intelligent German what these texts meant as they read in the German Bible. His reply was, "Satan will work first, and then Christ will come."
In Rev. 16:14 the spirits of devils are said to "go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Christ comes to that battle. His next words are, "Behold, I come as a thief." Again, the apostle Paul says, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." 1 Tim. 4:1. And again he describes the sins of the Babylon of the last days—a people "having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof"—and bids believers, "From such turn away;" an expression equivalent to the call, "Come out of her my people." Then he tells us that these apostates will resist the truth as Jannes and Jambres,—the chief of the magicians of Egypt—withstood Moses. See 2 Tim. 3:1-8.
We view the new and wonderful development of Spiritualism in our times as proof of two things. 1. That the last days are here; because all the texts which predict these lying wonders clearly locate them in the last days. 2. That the proclamations of the hour of judgment and the fall of Babylon in 1844 were made at the right time and were the fulfillment of the promised messages of truth. These being rejected, it was meet that God should withdraw his restraining hand in a measure, and, as the result, the whole earth was soon flooded with the physical manifestations of demons, professing to be the immortal spirits of the dead; a thing well calculated to succeed with a people already drunken with the false doctrines of Babylon.
We have referred to a few out of many testimonies of the religious press, concerning the great spiritual dearth prevailing everywhere throughout the land about the year 1844. We now enquire, Has the state of the Protestant churches improved since that time? Many great revivals have been reported since that time. Are the conversions generally such as may be relied on? or are they merely the nominal, serving only to fill up Babylon with every unclean and hateful bird? Of the fruit of these revivals let the leading Congregational and Baptist papers of Boston testify.
Says the Congregationalist for Nov. 1858: "The revival piety of our churches is not such that one can confidently infer, from its mere existence, its legitimate, practical fruits. It ought, for example, to be as certain, after such a shower of grace, that the treasuries of our benevolent societies would be filled, as it is after a plentiful rain, that the streams will swell in their channels. But the managers of our societies are bewailing the feebleness of the sympathy and aid of the churches."
"There is another and sadder illustration of the same general truth. The Watchman and Reflector recently stated that there had never been among the Baptists so lamentable a spread of church dissension as prevails at present. And the sad fact is mentioned that this sin infects the very churches which shared most largely in the late revival. And the still more melancholy fact is added, that these alienations date back their origin, in most cases, to the very midst of that scene of awakening. Even a glance at the weekly journals of our own denomination will evince that the evil is by no means confined to the Baptists. Our own columns have, perhaps, never borne so humiliating a record of contentions and ecclesiastical litigations as during the last few months."
A Presbyterian pastor of Belfast, Ireland (1858), uses the following language respecting the recent revivals in this country: "The determination to crush all ministers who say a word against their national sin [slavery], the determination to suffocate and suppress the plain teachings of Scripture, can be persisted in and carried out at the very time these New York Christians are expecting the religious world to hail their revivals. Until the wretchedly degraded churches of America do the work of God in their own land, they have no spiritual vitality to communicate to others; their revivals are in the religious world what their flaunted cries of liberty, intermingled with the groans of the slave, are in the political."—N. Y. Independent, Dec., 1859.
During the time of the great Irish revival of 1859, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church of Ireland held its session in Belfast. Says the Belfast News-Letter of Sept. 30: "Here in this venerable body of ministers and elders, we find two ministers openly giving each other the lie, and the whole General Assembly turned into a scene of confusion bordering upon a riot."
Have the public morals of the churches been improving since 1844? Have they not rather been rapidly declining? We have before quoted the testimony of Prof. Finney, editor of the Oberlin Evangelist, given in 1844, that, "Very extensively, church members are becoming devotees of fashion—joining hands with the ungodly in parties of pleasure, in dancing, in festivities," etc., and that "the churches generally are becoming sadly degenerate." If this was so in 1844, is it any less so now? Have not parties, fairs, festivals, and sociables gotten up by the churches themselves, together with many means of very questionable morality to raise means to build churches, support the ministry, and to pay other expenses of the church, such as lotteries, grab-bags, fish-ponds, ring cakes, and a whole list of abominations, been wonderfully on the increase since 1844? According to my own memory they have. I was thirty years of age at that time, and I had scarcely heard of even a donation party.
While State laws have condemned lotteries as immoral, and on a par with gambling, the churches have indulged in them, and in other games of chance. The appetite of "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" have been appealed to for the support of the cause of God. To such organizations as the Young Men's Christian Association we would naturally look for high and holy motives and a godly example. Read the following report of one of their socials, as given in the Syracuse Journal of March 17, 1879.
"HAPPY TIME."
"The happiest time of the season in the Young Men's Christian Association was last Saturday evening. Over one hundred young men were present. Games, singing and refreshments made up the programme. Secretary Sayford is puzzled to know where to get sufficient room to entertain the large number of young men now seeking the pleasure of the Saturday night social."
"That which has been said concerning Babylon and her fall is spoken with no disposition to speak reproachfully of any. It is only to present the truth of God with fidelity, and that we may each understand our errors and our sins, and may make full preparation for the Judgment, that we may be found without fault at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ."
R. F. COTTRELL.
The Dead Cannot Return.
By B. A. Stephens
SPIRITUALISM affirms that the dead can return and communicate with the living. This the Bible denies. See Job 7:9, 10: "As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more." There can be no dodging this Scripture by saying it refers to the body’s going down to the grave, for the original word here for the grave is sheol in the Hebrew, or hades in the Greek. Says the Cottage Bible, in commenting on Job 14:13, "Sheol is alike used for the repository of dead bodies, and the receptacle of departed souls." The soul goes into sheol as well as the body. The reason why they cannot return is given in Eccl. 9:10: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Here, again, the word grave is from sheol.
The dead are all there, unconscious "body and soul" until "death and hades shall deliver up the dead which are in them." But this will not occur until the day of judgment. Rev. 20:13. The Bible nowhere affirms the soul to be immortal, but expressly declares that "God only hath immortality." 1 Tim. 6:16. Therefore, if men have immortal souls which are conscious after death, they can return to the places that once knew them. But the fact that the soul of man is not immortal, and that he is asleep in sheol, Job 14:13, makes it impossible for him to leave there in order to visit the living. Here is where this doctrine, sometimes called "soul-sleeping," undermines an important pillar in the synagogue of Satan. The truth upon this point will prove a shield and buckler against all the wiles of the devil to deceive the elect with great signs and wonders, in the phenomena of Spiritualism. Matt. 24:24; 2 Thess. 2:9-12; Rev. 16:13-15. May the Lord in his mercy save us amid the perils of these last days. 2 Tim. 3:1-9. B. A. STEPHENS.
Children's Rights.
"Why not, mamma? Why can't I have it?" said Christie Field, as she stood twisting her handkerchief around the top of her mother's chair, fidgeting, pouting, half crying, and wholly out of temper.
"Christie! how often have I told you not to ask me why?" said Mrs. Field, sharply. "It is quite enough for you to know that I say you cannot have it. Do stop shaking my chair, child!"
"But, mamma, you said in the summer that I might have a cloak trimmed with fur this winter, and so many of the girls have got them, and I think you might keep your word," said Christie.
Her mother turned and looked at her in surprise.
"Why, Christie! I think you forget to whom you are speaking," she said, sternly. "Leave the room instantly! Go up stairs and stay until you can behave yourself!"
Bursting into a flood of passionate tears, the child ran out of the room, slamming the door after her.
Mrs. Field rose from her chair, intending to call her back again to reprove her for this exhibition of temper, but just then a gentle voice checked her.
"Lucy, dear," said Aunt Susan, "I don't believe the poor child meant to do that. She has been trying very hard to control herself."
"Trying to control herself!" said Mrs. Field, in an astonished tone. "I think you are mistaken, Auntie. She is a passionate little thing, and distresses me by her bursts of temper." Mrs. Field sat down again with a despairing sigh, and went on with her work.
"I have been watching her, Lucy, all this time," said Aunt Susan after a pause, "and I could see that while she was fairly quivering with excitement and eagerness, she was controlling herself bravely ("much better than you are doing," Aunt Susan might have said); but at last her strength gave way."
"She was very impertinent," said Mrs. Field, rather shortly, but in the silence that followed the remark she looked up, and her eyes fell upon Aunt Susan's face. A sweet, kindly face it was, with deep, thoughtful, dark eyes, and waves of silver hair under a snowy cap. Now Aunt Susan looked sad and troubled, and Mrs. Field's conscience smote her.
"Oh, Auntie," she exclaimed, suddenly, "you don't know what a trouble that child is. She used to be a sweet, docile, little thing, and minded me without saying a word; but of late she is always asking, 'Why can't I?' 'Why mustn't I?' and there is no peace with her. She is so persevering and so determined to know the reason for everything, I don't know what to do with her."
Mrs. Murray smiled as she answered, "Well, Lucy, I never thought that 'perseverance' and a determination 'to know the reason' for anything, were such bad traits. And it seems to me that Christie, being old enough now to understand the reasons for most of your commands, has a right to know them."
"A right!" said Mrs. Field, in a surprised tone.
"Why, yes, dear, a right. Children have rights, though they are not much respected by grown people. A mother's rule over her children should be a limited monarchy. Limited by good sense and a strict regard to 'children's rights.' Now, Christie, being a sensible, reasonable child, has a right to be treated accordingly. Forgive me, dear, for saying so, but I think you should have told her why you were obliged to retract your promise of the furred cloak. To her it seemed a mere 'change of mind,' if not a deliberate unkindness."
Mrs. Field was looking down now, and working very rapidly, and with flushed cheeks.
"It did not seem to me to be worth while to go into an explanation about it," she said, in a low tone.
"I always found, dear, in the long years that I had my many children round my knees, that it was worth while to take any trouble to save them from a heartache. And surely a few words of firm, kind explanation would have been less trouble than this scene you have gone through."
"Yes, oh, yes," said Mrs. Field, with a sigh. "But then it is not always convenient to give your reasons to a child. There may be something it is not proper it should know. For instance, Christie flew into a passion a few days ago, because I would not let her go to see little Kittie Barton. I could not tell her that it was because Mrs. Barton was a poor, miserable drunkard, and the child might see her at her worst. You know that it is not generally known. We who are her husband's friends have never spoken of it, though we know it is true."
"I know. You could not tell her that, but if you were in the habit of giving her good reasons for such things, she would trust you when you said 'I have a good reason for this, Christie, though I do not think it is right to explain it to you.'"
The conversation ended here, for Mrs. Field put down her work and went up stairs. She went to the door of Christie's little room, and paused a moment. The sound of sobs reached her ear. As she opened the door, Christie raised her flushed face from the pillow where it had been buried, and then dropped it quickly again.
Her mother knelt down by her and softly laid her hand on her head.
"Christie, dear," she said gently, "I want to tell you something. I meant you to have as pretty a fur-trimmed cloak as I could find in the city, but your father has had a great deal of money to pay for your poor Aunt Christie, whose husband died, you know, last fall, and so I had not as much as usual to spend for our clothes. You see I have no new cloak, either. I don't want my little girl to think I would break a promise or be unkind to her."
Christie raised herself up, looked at her mother a moment, and threw her arms around her neck.
"Oh, mamma, do forgive me!" she sobbed. "I was so bad! Please forgive me!"
Mrs. Field kissed the little, flushed face, and assured her she was forgiven. But still Christie's sobs went on.
"Don't cry so, dear," said the mother tenderly. "It is all right now."
"No, no, mamma; you don't know," said Christie at last. "I kept saying to myself, 'Mamma is so mean, I won't love her any more!' But I do love you, mamma."
Tighter were the little arms clasped around her mother's neck, and now the mother's tears were falling, too.
"Mamma, will God forgive me for being so bad?" said Christie through her sobs.
"I hope he will forgive both of us, dear, for I wasn't as kind to my little girl as I should have been," said Mrs. Field. "And, Christie, dear, I trust you will not say anything about your Aunt Christie's troubles. It would not be kind to speak of the money your father gives to her."
"No, no, mamma, I won't," said the child.
It was all right between Christie and her mother now, and Aunt Susan's kindly eyes shone with pleasure as she saw how much good her words had done.
But presently another little cloud arose. Christie went one day to Aunt Christie's to "take tea" with Bess and Mattie.
"See what pretty little spoons and sugar tongs we have, Christie," said Mattie, as they were setting the table.
"Why," said Christie, "these are just like mine that I haven't seen for so long! Where did you get them?"
"Aunt Lucy gave them to us," answered Mattie.
Then Christie took them up and looked at them. They were hers, for there was the straggling "C. F." that she had scratched with the scissors point on the sugar tongs. Christie put them down without saying a word, but her little heart swelled with a sense of injustice and her pleasure in the tea-drinking was gone.
"Well, Christie, did you have a nice time?" said Mrs. Field, as the little girl entered the sitting room.
"No, ma'am, not very," said Christie in a low tone.
Mrs. Field looked up.
"Why, what's the matter?" she asked, as she saw Christie's lip trembling and her eyes full of tears.
The tears came in a flood, then, and Christie could scarcely sob out:—
"It's—it's my spoons. Mattie says you gave them to her."
"So I did," said Mrs. Field. "Why, Christie, I didn't think you cared for these old things, and Bessie and Mattie have so little."
"But they were mine!" said the excited child, and then, as Mrs. Field looked at her reprovingly, she dashed out of the room and ran up stairs.
"Such a temper," sighed Mrs. Field.
"'Children's rights' again, Lucy," said Aunt Susan.
"Now, Auntie, must I let the child be selfish and greedy?" began Mrs. Field.
But Aunt Susan said with her gentle smile:—
"No, dear. Teach her to be generous by encouraging her to give, but teach her to be just by respecting her right of property. 'It is my own to do what I please with,' let her say with confidence, but teach her, too, that 'it is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
"Christie," said her mother that night, as she came into the child's room to kiss her good night, "I am sorry, dear, that I gave Mattie your spoons. I will get you another set if you want them."
"Oh, mamma, I don't care about them so much, but I just wanted to"—
Christie stopped with a flush on her cheek.
"To do what you please with your own," said Mrs. Field, smilingly. "Well, dear, I was wrong to give away your things. I will not do it again. You may do what you please with them all."
"O, mamma! And may I give away just what I please!" cried Christie, sitting up in bed in her excitement.
"Yes, you may, indeed."
"Well, then, I want to give Bessie one of my doll's trunks. She hasn't any. May I? And, oh, I can give Mattie that velvet chair that her doll fits in so nicely. May I, mamma?"
Selfish and greedy, indeed! With a full heart the mother kissed the beaming little face and went out to tell Aunt Susan the result of her experiment.
"I shall respect my 'children's rights' in the future, dear Auntie," she said, when she had told the story.
"But these are not all the rights they have," said the old lady, smiling.
"What else?" asked Mrs. Field.
Mrs. Murray was silent for a moment.
"Mrs. Kingsley was here to-day, you remember," she said presently, "and Christie came into the parlor. Do you remember rebuking her for her awkwardness in tangling her feet in the lace curtain? And then you told Mrs. Kingsley that Christie was getting dreadfully round-shouldered. And when Mrs. Kingsley spoke of Harriet's proficiency in music, you said that Christie neglected her practicing so that you were sure she would never learn to play. Now, I saw the child growing more and more uncomfortable and embarrassed all this time, till presently she slipped out of the room, and a few minutes afterwards I saw her crying as I passed her door. She is a very sensitive child, and she has suffered intensely through your rudeness."
"Oh, Auntie!" said Mrs. Field, flushing deeply at the last word.
Mrs. Murray offered no apology. She went on quietly with her knitting. In a little while Mrs. Field spoke again.
"Dear Aunt Susan," she said, falteringly, "I am sure you must think me a very bad mother."
"I do not, my dear; you are a most devoted and self-sacrificing mother; but you do not always remember that your child has a right to be treated like a lady. You should not mortify her by unnecessary rebuke and personal remarks in the presence of others. You love your children dearly, Lucy, but you sometimes forget the admonition, 'Be pitiful, be courteous,' and you do not always obey the command, 'Provoke not your children to wrath.' I hope I have not offended you, my dear, by my plain speaking."
Mrs. Field got up and came over to her aunt. Her eyes were full of tears as she bent to kiss the old lady's serene brow.
"No, dear Auntie, I am thankful to you for your kind warnings," she said. "I might have gone on doing my children great wrong but for your little lectures on 'children's rights.' Pray for me, that I may never 'offend one of the little ones' again."—J. S., in Illustrated Christian Weekly.
Runaway Marriages.
The marriage laws in Virginia are very strict, a full account of the age, parents' names, occupation and residence being required from both parties before a license is granted. A clergyman who marries minors without the parents' consent is liable to imprisonment and a fine of $20,000. It is probably owing to these safeguards about marriages that divorces are so rare in Virginia.
Before the war a village called Hard-Scrabble, just over the Pennsylvania line, was a sort of Gretna Green, and a quondam shoemaker, who had been chosen justice of the peace, officiated as god of love to join the flying lovers who hied to him to escape the law.
When they were very young, however, the old man often reasoned with them like a father, and more than once sent them home to learn wisdom with age. On one occasion, when the girl was a mere child, Quimby, the shoemaker, laid down his pipe, and fixed his eyes on her blushing, trembling face, "Marry you?" taking up two bits of thread, "Yes, I can marry you as quickly as I can tie this knot,"—and the old man rose solemnly—"only God's hand can cut the knot asunder." For the first time, perhaps, the awful import of her act flashed upon the girl. She burst into tears, and sobbed out, "I want my mother!" "I'll take you to her, my child; as for you, young man, go about your business." They were never married, and to the end of her life the woman had reason to thank the old man for his interference.
The papers have been filled lately with the runaway matches of two young girls, one flying from Vassar College, the other running away with a servant. Girls who have never probably chosen a dress for themselves, in one rash moment fix inexorably the fate of their whole future lives. The only argument they hear in the matter is the good looks of a young fellow of whom they know really nothing. Girls so immature and unreasoning ought not to be trusted to choose their everyday companions. Parents are to blame if these companions lead them into life-long misery.—The Youth's Companion.
The Home Circle.
By Mrs. L. H. Washington
SMILES.
Like pearls of dew, in the bells of flowers;
Like songs of birds, from the woodland bowers;
Like the gentle patter of welcome rain,
Falls a soothing word on a burdened brain.
As peace which follows the battle's strife,
Which soothes, yet quickens the pulse of life,
So charity's voice, on an erring heart,
May love for a holier life impart.
Like the first-born blossoms of early spring,
Which smile in the gladness and joy they bring,
Thus a cheering word may new life bestow
To a heart frost-bound by adversity's snow.
As fresh as dew on the thirsting corn;
As fair as the roseate hues of morn;
As bright as stars in the azure blue,
Are the words and deeds of a friend proved true.
—Mrs. L. H. Washington.
Education of Girls.
The education of girls takes different forms according to the state of society in which they live. In old and well established communities, where there is permanent wealth and widely extended family connections, it is perhaps safe to educate girls as ornaments of society. But in a country like ours, where families are constantly being scattered and where the rich man of to-day may be poor and broken down to-morrow, it is not safe. The vicissitudes of life exact of girls as well as boys, a practical preparation for the uncertainties of the future.
It is a common every-day experience among women, that they need a practical knowledge of the world, and the ability to take care of themselves. A husband becomes disabled or dies and the responsibility for sustenance and education of the family devolves upon the woman. And even when property is left to women they require some knowledge of business matters to retain what they have. No man can safely assume that his daughters will not need a practical business education. On the contrary, he can assume that they will have occasion to use all the knowledge that they can obtain.
And why should we suppose that such knowledge would detract from the loveliness of women? Loveliness and ignorance are by no means synonymous terms. Unfortunately a false idea has prevailed among Americans on this subject, and we have educated girls as dolls, only to be played with and destroyed by bad men. Soft, and infantile ways, gushing manners, may be very attractive, but they do not constitute the characteristics of real womanly character. A woman, whether as a wife, mother or friend, is grandest when she is strong as well as lovely. And as she is naturally possessed of a degree of moral courage unknown to the man, why should not this grand trait be deliberately developed and made to take a practical form as soon as possible?
Many of our girls have voluntarily struck for a womanly independence and self-reliance. And no one acquainted with them will say that they are any the less attractive by reason of their fitness to fight the battle of life alone.—Sacramento Bee.
Home Beauty.
A TASTEFUL woman can make a garret beautiful and home-like at a little cost, for the beauty of home depends more upon education and refined taste than upon mere wealth. If there is no artist in the house it matters little that there is a large balance at the bank. There is usually no better excuse for a barren home than ignorance or carelessness. A little mechanical skill can make brackets and shelves for the walls. A thoughtful walk in the woods can gather leaves and ferns for adorning the unpictured rooms. A trifle saved from daily expenses can now and then put a new book upon the table or shelf. The expenditure of a few dollars can convert the plain window into a laboratory. In these and many other ways can a plain, barren room be converted into a scene of beauty.
Reflecting on Past Actions
NEVER reflect on a past action which was done with a good motive and the best judgment at the time.
Warsaw, Ind.
By S. H. Lane, W. W. Sharp
THE attendance during the past week has averaged about one hundred and twenty-five. Some are deeply interested, but the interest does not seem general. We have just finished an investigation of the Sabbath question. Several kept last Sabbath. About thirty came to our last Sabbath meeting. We sell some books, but they do not sell so rapidly as in most places. Our donation last Sunday toward tent expenses was $6.45. The order and attention is complete.
S. H. LANE.
W. W. SHARP.
Religious News and Notes.
By Editor
—The United States contributions to foreign missions do not exceed $2,000,000 annually.
—An Episcopal church in Hartford has voted that none but baptized persons shall sing in the choir.
—A New Jersey Methodist church are going to pay their church debt by raising one cent a day to each member.
—Dr. Cummings of London will retire from the ministry, his physicians having ordered him to renounce all mental labor.
—Dr. Dollinger says Dr. Newman was created cardinal because his writings are in English and not known at Rome!
—Nearly 200 delegates representing Hebrew congregations have arrived in New York to attend the union of American Hebrew congregations.
—James Eells, D. D., of Oakland, Cal., has been chosen professor of sacred rhetoric and pastoral theology in Lane Theological Seminary at Cincinnati.
—The Sunday Magazine protests against the common custom "every Sunday and week day too, pastors begging, stewards begging, and young lady collectors begging."
—The general Assembly of the Scotch Church discussed the subject of the abolition of fast days. One speaker said the last fast day in Glasgow was the "fastest" day he ever saw.
—Dr. Moffat, than whom no one is better informed on whatever concerns that part of the world, says that "Mission work over all South Africa has been thrown back fifty years by the present war with the Zulus."
—The Pope has decided to increase the number of foreign Cardinals in proportion to the number of Catholic subjects in foreign countries. If this policy is persevered in, the balance of power in that church will soon leave Italy.
—At the recent meeting of the London Missionary Society, it was stated that in Madagascar, only ten years had passed since the idols were burnt; and there are now in the island 67,729 church members, 386 native pastors, 156 evangelists, and 3,468 native preachers.
—Of 964,764 scholars in Sunday-schools connected with the London Union only 46,154 are church members, of whom 13,086 entered that relation the past year. The Union proposes to celebrate the centenary of Sunday-schools in June, 1880, and to erect a statue to Robert Raikes.
—The revival services begun by Messrs. Moody and Sankey in Liverpool are still kept up with success. Meetings are conducted in different parts of the town, and are participated in by ministers of the different denominations, including Churchmen, Independents, Presbyterians, Baptists and Wesleyans.
—The Wesleyan Conference of New Zealand reports in that distant land 150 churches, 116 preaching places, 203 local preachers, 149 class leaders, 3,190 members, 433 probationers, 474 catechists, and 139 Sunday-schools, with 11,147 scholars. The average attendance at public worship during the year was 29,540.
—Dean Stanley officiated at a wedding in a Nonconformist chapel, and has done other unchurchly acts, but the London Christian Signal says he is not called to order because "he is rather too big a fish for the defenders of the Act of Uniformity to hope ever to land." Only the smaller ones are orthodox by compulsion.
—The Brethren at Work says, "That Unitarian Church in Newburyport, Mass., which recently celebrated the Lord's Supper 'without material bread or wine,' but regarded it 'as a purely spiritual rite' was no less inconsistent in what it did than those who undertake to obey the thirteenth of John by feeling a little humility in the heart."
—The Ragged School Union of London expends about $130,000 a year in efforts to elevate the lowest and poorest classes. It has 30,500 children in Sunday-schools, 5,489 in day schools, and 9,287 in night schools. It maintains 75 ragged churches, 82 lending libraries, and 75 penny banks, besides superintending mothers' meetings, men's clubs, Bands of Hope, and a variety of children's meetings.