—At a grand Catholic drawing at Olathe, Kansas, the purchaser of a one-dollar ticket is entitled to twenty-five masses for the gift. We would take a chromo!
—Prof. Kellogg has replied, in the Bible Banner, to Prof. Pettingell’s strictures on his work on “The Soul and the Resurrection,” to which reply a rejoinder is promised by Mr. Pettingell.
—Bishop O’Connor, of Omaha, who so severely criticised Gen. Grant’s Des Moines speech, has acknowledged that he misunderstood the motive of the speech, and tries to remove the wrong he may have made.
—The Catholic Bishop of Montreal is in difficulties similar to those of Archbishop Purcell. His liabilities are said to be very heavy. He urges his friends to contribute for his relief, promising to pay them in masses. If there were conscience or shame in this system of deception, such things would bring them to sight.
—Bishop Huntington, of the Episcopal church, when advised to raise tobacco on his farm at Hadley, Mass., uttered this rejoinder: “God made this soil to yield something that will nourish man or beast, and without sitting in judgment on my neighbors, I choose to follow the Maker’s plan.”
—The Catholics of Belgium have made an assault upon the excellent school system of that kingdom, and the king has been threatened with death if he ratifies the bill depriving the Catholic clergy of the control of elementary education. Yet that church is permitted to control the schools in American cities.
—English papers severely criticise Mr. Talmage’s manner of address. Referring to the style of a temperance address, a correspondent of the Echo says, it was scarcely necessary for a Doctor of Divinity to come from the other side of the Atlantic to speak in this manner, as there are preachers in the East End, and cabmen all over London, who could do as well, if not better.
—The Christian at Work quotes the texts on capital punishment, including Gen. 9:6, and thinks, if it is inflicted, that it should not be “because of a command issued to a particular nation thirty-four centuries ago.” But all the civil regulations which we possess by revelation were given to that nation, and we query, what “particular nation” did Noah represent when he came out of the ark?
—Noticing the falling away in the membership of the Wesleyans of England, the London Christian says, “But of still graver consequence than the decrease in quantity is the decline in quality. Nor is the Wesleyan body alone in its cause for lamentation in this respect.” The preaching of the present day tells that the world is speedily to be converted, but facts correspond to Matt. 24:12-14; 2 Tim. 3:1-5.
—Dr. Morgan Dix of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church, New York, in his “Manual of the Christian Life,” warns the churchmen not to attend the places of worship of the denominations or sects. “Go not at all,” he says, “neither to hear preaching out of curiosity, nor to oblige friends. Keep to The Church alone. You have naught to do with those without the Church but to pray for them and treat them with kindness.”
—The action of the Wooster Presbytery is eliciting much discussion. The truth is, “theology” is being terribly shaken in almost every direction. Dr. Leonard Bacon, in the Independent, says of Mr. Alcott, the charge was, “that, instead of preaching an atonement made for the elect, he preached a propitiation for the sins of the whole world—in other words, that, instead of preaching the Confessions and Catechisms, he was preaching the gospel.”
—The Evangel, in an article on the “Retired List,” says:—There is a class of ministers who, saying nothing against their Christian character, are content to see the world of sinners around them perishing, and for reasons known perhaps only to themselves, neglect to preach to them the word of salvation. If we believed, like a certain society we could name, calling itself a church, that there is no such thing as a special call to the ministry, we might cease to wonder why so many of our preachers have practically laid aside the ministerial harness. Can it be that when God calls, the wrong men sometimes answer?