RELIGIOUS NEWS AND NOTES.
—During the present year 2,043 French Catholics in Montreal have abjured the Papal religion. —The buildings of the American Missionary Association in Macon, Ga., were burned to the ground on Wednesday, the 13th ult. —There are said to be seventy Catholic negroes in the College of Propaganda, in Rome, training for missionary work in Africa. —Another Cardinal, Constantine Patrizi, has died at Rome, and still another is very ill, giving color to the alleged superstition that Cardinals die in groups of three. —At the Consistory held in the Vatican last week the Rev. John Spaulding, of Louisville, was appointed Bishop of the new Catholic See of Peoria, United States. —At a great ball given in Chicago lately, the waltz which evoked the most praise from the dancers was entitled, “Moody and Sankey Potpourri.” It included among other familiar airs, “Almost Persuaded,” and “What Shall the Harvest be?” —Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., recently told the women of his parish that he wanted $4,000 for their Orphanage, and if they would buy gloves with one button instead of three or four-button styles they would have no difficulty in raising the money. —The supreme court of Massachusetts has sustained the lower court in its decision that Israelites must be held amenable to laws of the State regulating the observance of the Sabbath, (Sunday). The case grew out of an attempt to keep open a store on that day. —According to the official “Statistical Abstract” issued for British India, the total population of that empire is 190,000,000. Of the whole number, 139,000,000 are Hindoos, 41,000,000 Mohammedans, 3,000,000 Buddhists, 1,000,000 Sikhs, and 900,000 Christians. —The last music played by the orchestra of the Brooklyn Theatre just before the awful fire was “What Shall the Harvest Be?” Those who make dancing tunes of these sacred melodies may meet with no such terrible accident, but sooner or later, unless they turn from the error of their ways, they will learn “what the harvest will be.”—N. Y. Witness. —The Interior reports that a Woman’s Christian Association has been formed in Chicago. “Its aim,” says the same paper, “is to secure homes for young women who come here, surround them with Christian influences, labor for their conversion, and interest them in Christian work. Its organization is similar to that in other cities. Its affairs are under the direction of a Board of Managers, consisting of two from each of the evangelical churches. —Of the Moody and Sankey meetings in Chicago, now closed, the Alliance (Prof. Swing’s paper) says: “They have been of infinite worth to at least many intemperate men who had given themselves up for lost. The energy, the directness, the anecdote and pathos of Mr. Moody have touched many of these hearts, and now they are on the upward path again. Some will fall back. But some will stand firm and will never again be down in the gutter. Many will date their new life back to the autumn of 1876.” It is estimated by competent judges that 1000 souls have been rescued from the evils of intemperance since the revival meetings commenced in October. —The Christian Union remarks that some of the Japanese newspapers have taken a sudden turn in favor of religious equality. All religions are now tolerated by the Government, but this is claimed not to be enough. The State, it is argued by one of the vernacular papers, must “free itself absolutely from all connection with religion.” The movement is said to be supported by the “general opinion of the country,” and several of the Mikado’s Ministers are claimed as advocates of a separation of Church and State.