RELIGIOUS NEWS AND NOTES.
—The Old Catholics of Basle have increased in number the past year from three to four thousand. —The American Board have opened a special fund for the establishment of a mission to Central Africa. —Nebraska has 130 Baptist churches, with a membership of nearly 4,000. This is the work of twenty-five years. —Twelve clergymen are said to have withdrawn from the church of England within a month, to join the church of Rome. —A United Presbyterian church is to be built at Blentyre, Scotland, the birth-place of Dr. Livingstone, as a memorial of the missionary traveler. —The prisoners of the Concord, Mass., State prison are allowed to subscribe to one religious newspaper. Over 100 Boston Pilots (Catholic) are thus taken. —The Massachusetts Congregationalists report a net increase of 3,658 members, being the largest gain in many years. The total membership in the State is now 91,131. —The Revivalists, Moody, Sankey, Whittle, McGranahan and Pentecost, met in Boston last week and held a consultation. Mr. Moody, it is understood, will go to Baltimore next winter. —An exchange says: "The Presbyterian church, South, expresses its disapproval of Mr. Moody and other unordained preachers, by adopting a report strongly condemning lay preaching as contrary to the Word of God." —The statistics of the diocese of South Carolina are as follows: Clergy, 46; parishes and churches, 73; number in parishes, 6,949; baptism—infants 466, adults, 57; confirmations, 202; in Sunday-schools—teachers, 264; pupils, 1,696; in parochial schools, 255; communicants, 4,051; offerings, $63,257.33.