The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-06-10

Pocasset.
a Baltimore church has summary wa
Of dealing with financially delinquen
members. The occupant of a pew VIII
failed to pay his rent was astonished upol
a late Sunday by finding the entrance L
1t boarded up.
Rev. DR.. Primo in his report upon tn
theological seminaries before the recen
Presbyterian Assembly at Saratoga recon-
mended the exclusion from them OF 9Th,
lazy, dull and worldly.minded."
Rev. Mr.. Clifford, defining his position
on the communion question upon assum
ing his Boston pastorate lately, stated that
as he understood the matter, the Lore
has placed the ordinance Of the l.ord'l
Supper upon an island. "An island,
said he, "is OF course surrounded BY wa.
ter; nor have learned that ever any
Joshua has been commissioned to divide
the waters so that they who seek acces.
to the ordinance may pass through dry
shod."
Preparations for a Sunday School as,
sembly in Minnesota are makingo very
large scale. An entire peninsula, com
prising two hundred and twenty-five
acres and extending into one OF the lakes,
has been purchased; $l4, 900 are to be ex.
pended on hotel, and pavilion is to be
erected with seating capacity for three
thousand people.
The COngregatiOna!ist says: "a telephone
has been placedin the church in Mans.
field, Ohio, the Rev. Frank Russell, pas.
tor, the wires leading to the houses Of
several aged and invalid persons. 1t sur
mounts tlower-pieCe on the table in front
OF the platform, in a very unnoticeable
position. The speaker pays no attention
whatever to it, yet every word uttered in
the auditorium is easily heard with entire
distinctness in the rooms Of the dwellings
which the wires reach. The first communi.
cation from the minister was the Scrip.
ture, The Word is nigh unto thee His
Word runneth swiftly"
Mark Twain's brother, Orion Clemens,
Of Keokuk, Iowa, has achieved notoriety
and accommodation from local presby.
terrain Church by his utterances in lee.
ture entitled "Man the Architect OF Our
Religion" In it, Mr.. Clemens asserted
the last six commandments in the Deca.
logue to be moral rules always practiced
by mankind, the settling OF which in form
and words was like naming river or
mountain; that inspiration Is simply a
higher development Of thought in spe-
cial direction, or is dream; that there is
nothing in the Old Testament indicating a
belief Of its writer's that anything thought,
said or done in this life would affect the
condition OF the soul in the life to come;
that Abraham was sun and fire VOL.
shipper, adoring the Canaanitish gods, at
Canaanitish places, in Canaanitish ways;
that Melchisedek was Canaanitish priest
and king, and priest of the sun, as the
god meant by ''the most high God" that
the smoking furnace and burning lamp,
described in Genesis XIV, II, were the sym.
bols Of three gods, the sun, the tree and
the planet Venus; that Abraham's sacri.
riliCe, described in Genesis XIV, was offer.
ed to the sun, the tree, and the goddess oil
love and beauty; that the turtle dove was
a symbol OF love and beauty and spring
and that. the young pigeon was symbol
of the life-giving powers OF nature and
the lifc-giving generosity OF their nature
The followers OF Emanuel Swedenborc
were in annual session at New York few
days ago. The entire membership OF the
Swedenborgian church in the United
States does not exceed 5000. Between
three and four thousand of them are gath
cred into societies affiliated with the gener
al convention through State associations
The doctrine Of the sect are peculiar. II
accepts the Bible as Gods relevation to
mankind, but takes Emanuel Sweden
borg's visions and dreams and revelation!
us the model and only proper method Of
Interpretation. 1t discards some OF wha
arc called the evangelical doctrines
Touching the Godhead the new church il
more nearly Unitarian than anything
though they emphatically deny that they
are in any sense q part OF the old church
They are new church in every sense, and
being new, ministers who 60 to them from
other denominations must begin at The
alphabet Of the new theology. But the
denomination makes very slow progress
in the United States Notwithstanding thu
prominence it gives to the divinity o
Christ and the authority OF the word
Massachusetts is the seed.bed, so to speak
OF Swedenborgianism. There are eigh
teen societies and churches and fourteen
ministers OF the new church in the Mas
sachusetts association. That association
embraces not only the State which gives /
name, hut also two societies in Providence
r. l., and in Contoocook, n. II.
The various divisions OF the Presbyter
ian Church have held their annual Assem-
blies within the past fortnight. The bod,
in session ut Saratoga represented 8
synods. OF its us presbyteries, one is Il
Africa, one in South America, one in Pei
sin, one in Japan, five are in India an
five in China. 1t has upon its roll 400
ministers, S9l liCentiates and 63G cand
dates for the ministry. The number {
communicates is 5B7,S55, and the Sunda
School membership 590,SS2. During lS7
its various churches received 5000 men
bers, and the contributions for congregl
tional and benevolent purposes aggrega
ed the large sum Of sS,oSl,05S. In ii
church South, which held its gathering
Louisville, KY, there arc now l2 synod
o. presbyteries, LII ministers and liCent
ates, l45 candidates for the ministry, Isl
churches, 5,4?S elders, 3,452 deacons, ia
SIS COMMITMENTS and 6S,l2l Sunda
School children, showing and increase
churches and membership OF over 80 p,
cent. The contributions to all objects 7
: ported last year were Sl,030,07l. tt
church South has two fine theologic
scminaries, one in Virginia and the 9th
in South Carolina, and school for pr
pairing colored men 10 preach the gospl
"a T,.,I,oIonpo Ala frhn NuUInnlo,