The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-13


1t having been currently reported in Eng
land that tue Episcopal Church in this country
ana the Methodists were verging towards u
union. the Rev. DR.. Stevens, one of the leading
diNnes OF the Methodist Church, wrote to Eng.
land an explicit denial of the whole story. In
the course OF his letter. which is published in
the wesleyan papers, says:--
- know not one Methodist in the Republic
VINO believes there can be any identification of
the two churches. There certainly can be no
such union without the fullest concession of the
validity OF our ordination, sacram ents, etc This
concession will never be made by the High
Church party of the Protestant Episcopal
Church; and no Methodist expects, therefore,
that any result Will come of these pTeltmiuaries.
We are a Presbyterian church, with an Eplsco-
pacy as an executive Office, not as a divine
ordtE We cannot compromise our relations TO
the Pre.byteranism of the Protestant world by
tacttly dtsparagipg its ministerial validity in
reunion with the comparatively small Protest.
ant Episcopal Church OF these States, for,
nun encally, 1t is one of our minor religious
bodies. Oar position on this question is pre-
cisciy the same as that taken by our Wesleyan
brethren in England
The Free Methodist Church has had a de-
nominational existence since the fall Of 1860.
During eight years it has increased in stSength
until last fall 1t numbered 6000 members, had
81 preachers and 40 church edifces, and owned
church property valued at nearly Sl70,000.
This society is purely Methodist in doctrine,
and claims to occupy the ground on which the
founders Of Methodism first planted their ban
per, from which, as the Free Methodist be-.
lieye the great NJ. E. Church of the present day
has insensiby but fatally receded They be,
licye in the general doctrines of evangelical
Christianity, and holds practical piety, and the
Ienunciation of whatever tavor5 OF worldliness,
TO be the necessary resultof true religious eXpe>
uenCc. ay representation Is with them an
actual fact, and not h mere theory. Their
singing is congregational choir singing, instru~
mental music being prohibited They believe with
Edwards, that the spirits influence ON a mixed
multitude must produce "a great visible COM
notion" and consequently, rather encourage
than repress demonstrations of religious feel
ing. The most noteworty feature in tins system
IS their opposition to all pcnics, Christmas
trees, festivals, lotteries, fairs, and donation
parties, and especially to the rental or sale of
pews in the house'Of God. They hold most
strenuously that absolutely free churches are
necessary to reach the masses, and 1t is with
this principle in mind that the public is invited
to the sabbath morning ard evening services at
the corner OF Union and Court streets, Brook
lyn, and Of Eighteenth street and Eighth
avenue. in this city. The only society in this
city was or-anzed in April, 1864, with eight
members. 1t had increased to thlrty-eieht in
October last, when the Rev. George w. Ander.
They number now about fifty, some of them
beng in Blooklyn, but the majority being scat.
tered oyerths clty.-N. 7. Tribune.
BAPTIST.
The Hdtchmdn and Reflector says that within
aeout fifty years the Baptist chulChe in Boston,
Mass, have increased from three 10 fourteen,
and within a radius of ten miles round the CITY,
! Nom seven 10 thirty-ive.
Inc IteV. Dr. murphy pdpllZeu twenty clgnC
. in Salem, New Jersey, on Sabbath week, making
one bundled ana thirty persons baotized since
the revival commenced, aud the work still con-
tinues.
Newton Baptist Seminary has now fortysix
students. II was started IN 1925. There have
been five hundred and sixteen graduates, of
whom thirty.eight have been foreign missiona.
ries and one hundred aud twenty'iour have
/ died. 1t has furnished ffty-two presidents and
professors in colleges and seminaries.
EPISCOPAL.
Bishop Randall has been elected rector of
st. Johns Church, Denyer, i'll place OF Rev. Ii.
The. Rev. c. h. BonDell has resigned st.
Thomas Chulch, Whitenarsh, Pennsylvania,
and accepted call to ST. Raui's, Salem, Oregon.
The Church of the Coed Shepherd, in Hart
ford, Conn, built entirely by Mrs Samuel Colt,
was dedicated lately. -Four bishops and sixty
cIergymen Were present. The building cost
In his pastoral letter Of January 20, Arch
bishop Purcell, OF Cincinnati, said:-
1--WE live with peOple--our earthly lot is cast
among them-,who DO not believe in Jesus
, ancestors cried out, 'nIs blood be upon us and
on our children, maintain that be was not
God, but a vile impostor, and therefore Justly
slain by their forefathers; and this they teach
on every Sabbath In their svnagoguesn
In reply, Rabbi Isaac M.Wise tells his hearers
that such charge is the seventh abominaton
enumerated in Prov. vi 10. He says:-
"It Is utterly false, absolutely untrue that any
OF the Jews maintain that Jesus was vile i'm
postor, that he was justly slam, or that any.
thing of the kind or anything similar to it is
taught at any time In our syDagogues. The
whole statement, in the aggregate and IN all its
parts, is condemna0le ialsehood. The arch
bishop never heard such u thing in any syna-
gogue; he never read 1t in any jewish book; 1t
10 his own"
Certainly DR.. Wise ought to know, and we
believe him. And yet we remember scurrilous
Life OF jesus published by a Jew in this city,
which pletends to give reliable authorities from
old Jewish raobinic literature, some of which
references we know are correct, endorsing the
most disgusting and, 10 Christian ears, profane
fables. Still we have readily excused much in
men embittered by persecution in earlier CEN
tuTlee, and have never met in tue Je wish press
, anything but respectful treatment of Christ
and His religion. We have DO doubt that all
decent Jews regard Jesus as an honor TO their
own race. though not their Messiah; aud thaJ
/ they lament that the ilhberai spirit OF their
/ ancestors should have eIucihed Him. IRde-
I GendeIU.
The Ritualists of England are wriLhing ter
rOly under the decision OF the Priyy Council,
which forbids some OF their Romish eXtraya.
9anCes. Tney feel humiliated, and no wonder
that a secular court has had the power TO decide
against them. Several meetings have been held
by those aggreyed, aGd the final result has been
that they agree 10 bend TO the storm tor the
present, on the ground that the Court III con-
demlng the bols old not condemn the doc
frnes symbOllzed. They threaten that, il the
doctrine OF real presence"i is condemned by the
Jodclal committee OF the Privy Council. they will
pe compelled to secPde. In the meantime it is
refreshing to hear them attacking the union OF
Churcn aud state with viPo that would starte
the Liberation Society. Archdeacon DenISon,
the pIeSidine officer OF The late meetings of the
Hituaists, said with rare felicity:-"It is n
stral ge and ominous thing that when all else in
England Is nee the national Church is the only
thing in chains" Ii is contrary to all precedent
for an eDiscODallV con stituted' Cbnrch 10 ~