The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1879-11-12
BRIEF ITEMS.

has already made his influence work largely Tor
the benefit the of Greeks. He has founded one
church at Volos, and is now in England and Scot
land raising funds to complete churches begun
in Salonica and at the Pir@uS. He made so
good an impression on the Alliance that it
seems to me quite clear that he will obtain funds
not only in Great Britain but also in America to
aid him in the prosecution of his work. His
place is not one of ease, nor free from special
difficulties, but his courage is great, his faith I'M
faltering and his qualifications abundant and
striking He has perhaps never before had his
superior in Athens since Paul was there. But
the philosophers put less obstruction in the way
of Paul than the Greek church and Greek gov
eminent do in the way of Mr.. Sampson. We
shall have to wait little longer before that lib
erty for which Leonidas fought beside the old
Thessalian food shall come to be the possession
of modern Athens, bound hand and foot as it still
is in the chains of priestly superstition and mon
archical fears At Geneva | met with many
American friends, and among them Rev. DR..
Abel Stevens, formerly one of the editors Of the
Methodist. He has charge of the American I'm
ion Church, and is rebuilding it with very con-
siderable success. He has a thriving Sunday
School, the first founded in this city, and holds
two meetings through the week for the working
people These are crowded, and are addressed
in French with many proofs Of deep interest
on the part of their hearers DR.. Stevens took
me through the University, where l saw in its
library a great variety of ancient books and
manuscripts together with a multitude of por-
traits representing Luther, Calvin, Farel, Beza,
Diodati the translator of the Bible into Italian,
Voltaire, Rousseau and more than | can here
enumerate. The University is distinguished for
its scientific apparatus and Its learned body Of
professors.
The new Education law of Belgium, which
takes away the control of schools from the Rom
sh clergy and returns it to the State, has pro
duced an ecclesiastical earthquake. The blsh-
ops have been thrown by it into terrible ferment.
They threatened accommodation to any Of
their Church members who come in contact with
these unauthorized and attainted institutions.
The building of a bridge across the Tiber at
Rome, and its public opening without the pres
ence of the Pope, cardinal, or priest, is a strik
ing incident in the secularization of the old city.
1t is said that for athousand years no new bridge
has been built in Rome but in the new order of
things which is bringing the modern spirit into
that cloistral atmosphere, FIVE new bridges are
projected, and it is proposed to bring Rome into
conformity with the new industrial life which
- opI4uSlLS ny III AIeA) IL Viz OAASAA VAN viz
Pontifex Maximus would, as the name implies,
have been the very first figure in such celebra-
ton To-day he is not even invited to be pres
emit
The OPIUM TRADE.-vA great national dis
grace has rested upon the English nation since
She forced upon the unwilling Chinese nation
the opium trade In order that Englishmen' S
pockets might not suffer, a Christian nation
forced a heather nation to tolerate traf-
6c that was undermining the morals and
health of her people. Though many Eng
Hshmen deplore this state of thi-.gs there has
never been any strong public opinion against
it. and no determined effort to produce any. At
the late meeting Of the Evangelical Alliance in
Basic, Professor Christieb led discussion of this
subject and after an animated debate, the ALI
ance voted: That this assembly holds that the
interest of Christianity itself urgently demands
that there should be a change in the policy
hitherto pursued by the English Government in
regard to the opium trade and commissions its
officers to lay this resolution before the Secretary
of State for India This resolution has been
communicated to the English Secretary of State
for India, but whether any reformatory action
will result therefrom, remains to be seen.
RELIGION AND PoLIrIcs-Again: l learn
from this subject that man may take religion
into his politics Daniel had all the affairs of
state on hand, yet Christian. He could not
have kept his elevated position unless he had
been a thorough politician; and yet all the
thrusts of officials and all the danger of disgrace
did not make him yield one iota of his high
toned religious principle. He stood before that
age, he stands before all ages, a specimen of q
Christian politician.
So there have been in our day and in the days
of our fathers men as eminent in the service Of
God as they have been eminent in the service Of
the state Such was Benjamin F. Butler, At
torney General of New York in the time of your
fathers. Such was John Mclean, of Ohio. Such
was George Briggs, of Massachusetts,. Such was
Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey. Men
faithful to the state at the same time faithful to
God
1t is absurd to expect that men who have been
immersed in political wickedness for thirty or
forty years shall come to reformation; and our
hope is in the young men who are coming up,
that they have patriotic principle and Christian
principle side by side when they come to the
ballot-box and cast their first vote and that they
swear allegiance to the government of heaven as
well as to the government of the United States.
We would have Bunker Hill mean less to them
than Calvary, and Lexington mean less to them
than Bethlehem ~. -
But because there are bad men around the bal
lot-box is no reason why Christian men should
retreat from the arena. The last time you ought
to give up your child or fOrsake your child is
when it is surrounded by company of Choc-
taws; and the last time to surrender the ballot
| box is when it is surrounded by impurity and
dishonesty and all sorts of wickedness.-
TalmGge.
Dean Stanley has, in the October number OF
the NineteentK Century, an article on baptism,
the general drift of which will be repugnant to
the spiritually evangelical among the Baptists,
even if they be inclined to quote him as sustain
ing their formal positions The Rationalistic
leaven for which he has become noted works
through the whole article. In his broad desire
to include the belief of every thing and of moth
inc in the Christian church, the genial estab-
j y III