Religious News and Notes.
By Editor
—Mr. Sankey has commenced a new series of evangelistic services at Newcastle-on-Tyne. —The Baptist church in Paris is now composed of 110 members, two-thirds of whom are converts from Romanism. —Senator Christiancy of Michigan has prepared a strong anti-polygamy bill; which has been favorably reported. —Four colored students have entered the Episcopal Divinity School at West Philadelphia who expect to engage in Missionary work in Africa. —There is noted, a large falling off in the number of candidates for admission to theological seminaries connected with the Presbyterian church. The Catholic Mirror closes an earnest appeal in behalf of the pope with the declaration that he is not only "poor and aged," but that he is "in a prison in Rome." —It is proposed to abolish the office of chaplain in both branches of the Massachusetts Legislature; the salary which is $800, having become a source of contention. —Charles Demond, Treasurer of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, has resigned by request of the executive committee, for making unauthorized use of the funds. —The Methodist Recorder says that "the love of some members for tobacco is stronger than their love for the Methodist Protestant church." Poor sort of Christians, such nicotine Christians, we should say! —The Second Baptist Church of St Louis was destroyed by fire a week ago, and in a few days the rabbi of the Hebrew Tabernacle offered the pastor of the church the use of that edifice for a place of worship on Sunday. —The statement is put forth that Archbishop Purcell's indebtedness on account of his trust funds is so great that it is feared that "not even the entire property of the church in the diocese will be sufficient to meet the demands." —This prayer was found in the late Doctor Bethune's Bible at the time of his death: "Lord, pardon what I have been; sanctify what I am, and order what I shall be, that Thine may be, and mine the eternal salvation." —A Catholic priest in San Francisco advises the formation of another party—a Christian party—to be composed of Catholics and Protestants united, and very suggestively asks if Catholicism and Protestantism are worse than infidelity in the public schools. —The Sunday-school assembly which is proposed to be held next June in the Yosemite Valley, is to be managed by Dr. J. H. Vincent, and is to be dedicated the first Sunday in that month. Funds are now being received for the dedication of the chapel and other expenses. —At the dedication of the Congregational church in Oakland, Dr. Benton, who has been a missionary, said, there are three missionary religions in the world, Christianity, Buddhism, and Mohamedanism, and that Buddhism is spreading faster on the African continent than Christianity. —The following query we find in the California Christian Advocate: "Should a man be licensed to preach the gospel in the M. E. Church who is able, and yet will not take any of our church papers? Don't you think he would be a little like those who still vote for General Jackson?" —The Methodist makes a good point when it says, touching those good brethren who will sing the psalms, and who won't sing uninspired hymns: "We cannot see, however, why they should preach their own sermons or make their own prayers; better sermons and prayers can be found in the Bible." —Dr. Schaff, in his "Creeds of Christendom," is of opinion that in its present complete form "the apostolic creed," can hardly be traced beyond the sixth, certainly not beyond the close of the fifth century, while its triumph over all the other forms in the Latin Church was not completed until the eighth century. —A Unitarian writes to the Christian Register: "I feel that the blight of worldliness is falling upon the ministry in general, and the Unitarian ministry in particular, because preachers, too, have commenced to go for the loaves and fishes, the chief seats in the synagogue, the comfortable places; considerations of self have come to be almost as common as the spirit of self-sacrifice." Well, the Unitarians are not alone in this. —The Rev. Dr. Morris, of the Lane Theological Seminary, propounds this conundrum: "What shall the Presbyterian church do with those of its ministers who have embraced the belief set forth in the recent Conference?" Why not turn them out of the church—and then about 1909 meet in General Assembly, and take them all back again, and have a hand-shake?—Christian at Work. —Bishop Simpson was about to begin his lecture before the Yale theological students the other day, when he was seen to pause and look for something. "Young gentlemen," he said, "I find myself in the position of the preacher who was informed by the lady that thirdly had flown out of the window." A part of his MS. was missing, and while Professor Fisher went away to search for it, the Bishop entertained his audience with a half-hour's talk on President Lincoln. Then the MS. appeared, and the lecture began.