The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1873-04-22
RELIcIoUs ITEMS.

a
The totd number of Presbyterian
churches in England and Wales is l, ,22S;
and of these 43 are in the city OF Lon
don.
IN the city of Rome there are seven
Evangelical ministers, nine Jewish Rab.
bis, 2.l75 Roman priests and monks,and
1929 nuns.
During the last winter the churches in
Iowa have been favored with gracious
reyiyals, resulting in unusually large &C
cessions #IffH
The Mormon semi annual Conference
has just been held in the Tabernacle in
Salt Lake City, attended by 5000 peo-
pie. They resolved to send number of
missionaries to foreign. parts. yfevy
Rev. E. Storey, the first ordsined mig
lister in the Northwest Territory, preach
Ell his frs, sermon April Z, 1778, under
a large elm tree on the banks OF the
Muskingum. opposite the present site Of
Marietta, Ohio. 7sss1 as
The Methodist Episcopal Church
South, including ministers, has total
membership of 654,169, being an in
crease for the past year Of 32,975. In.
Guiding the China mission, there are SO
annual Conferences, all OF which, except
three. show an Increase,
DR.. A. l.. Rice; favors the preaching,
of doctrinal sermons, and says that in
ministry of more than forty years he has
found discourses of that charsttcr to
awaken deeper interest than any 9th,
ers. The longest sermon ever preached
occupied three hours in its delivery IL
was close doctrinal discussion, and The
interest on the part Of his i5e4fers M
unfagging 10 The end y sf'r'ssll
Bishop Cox proposes that the next
General Convention OF the Protestant
Episcopal Church shall call a constitu.
tional congress, TO meet somewhere be-.
fore the year 1876, to be charged with
the duty of maturing such changes in the
organic laws Of the Church. and bring
about such notifications in the constil
tution of the body as are greatly need
ed, and which never can be, reached m,
der,the machinery and routine Of exist
ing conventions. sTas: alll5
A writer in the Congregationalist
thinks that non-church goers cannot be
brought under religious influences by
pro-churches or free seats set apart as
such in churches where weIl-to do per-
sons pay for their own pews, or By mis-.
sion chapels or the like The way to
compass the end is to build comparss
lively inexpensive church ediHces. withG
large number of sittings then use the
most rigid economy in the current ex-
penses and, as the result Of all. furnish
low-priced sittings.,
The Congregational Church In Frees
hold, N. j., is now 143 years old, aad Is
still wearing its original covering OF ce.
dar shingles, and receives its light
through the original window sashes,
whose panes are six by eight inches
Onesof the pews on which wounded
soldier was laid during the battle sof
Monmouth still has on it the stain of the
blood, and the pulpitsis is the same FROM
which the illustrious George Whitfield
preached the gospel with . tongue Of
wondrous eloquence.
The report o: the American Board Of
Foreign Missions in the Presbyterian
Church shows that the expenditures OF
the Board during the present fiscal year
have exceeded those Of the correspond
| ing period of last year ty 840,283, ow-
ing to an increase Of AZ in number OF
missionaries employed, while the receipts
have been less than the previous year by
S2l,S91. Adding % this 9 debt that
was remaining against the Board of $45-
757, wonld make the present indebted
ness Of the treasury SS5, ,1Sf.