RELIGIOUS NEWS AND NOTES.
—There are at present in France 2,658 parishes unprovided with pastors. —An iron church has been presented for the use of the Reformed Episcopal church at Eastbourne. —The Catholic missionaries in China and in India during the last five years have baptized 165,522 heathens, 11,600 of the number being adults. —During the past year the Old Catholics in Switzerland have increased from 10,000 to 20,000. The prospects of that church in Switzerland are considered more favorable than in any other country in Europe. —The chaplain in charge of the Tombs in New York, mentions in his report the fact, that out of 1,030 incarcerated there, under fourteen years of age, a little over 200 were Protestants and over 800 were Roman Catholics. —The oldest Protestant Episcopal church now in use in New England is at Marblehead, Massachusetts. From the parish records it appears that the church was erected 1714, though the parish must have been founded some years before that date. —One of the largest gifts to missions ever made is that of a liberal friend of the Church Missionary Society of Great Britain who proposes to transfer $175,000 to the society for special objects in India. Another has offered $25,000 for a special purpose not yet designated. —Five large buildings have been put up at Bristol, England, at a cost of $575,000, for Mr. Muller's Orphanage. There is now accommodations for 2,050 orphans. The last year was commenced with a balance of $1,875, and the end of the year showed that an income had been received during its course of no less than $207,500. —The second annual congress of the Liberal League is called to meet in Syracuse, New York, on Saturday, the 26th of October. It will consider the expediency of nominating candidates for the next presidential election on the platform of secularism in politics; and also what action the League should take “with reference to the Constitutional Amendment already twice reported to the United States Senate by the Judiciary Committee, the practical effect of which, if adopted, will be to recognize in the Constitution the right of the Bible to be read in the public schools as a book of divine authority, and the right of church property to be exempted from taxation?”