Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-02-14

neck if DON'T
One of the verses of James Russell
Lowelrs ':Pious Editors Creed" from
the "Biglow Papers" reads as follows:
Idu believe tits wise an good
To send out furrin missions.
That Is ON sartin understood
An OrthydOx conditions
Imean nine thousand dolls per anI.
Nine thousand more for outfit.
An me tn recommend man
The place would jest about tit.
When the genial Lowell penned the stanza,
over thirty years since, he doubtless had
little idea of ever filling a "frrrin mis-
sion" at salary nearly double the figure
mentioned
REV. ALEXANDER KEITH, the dlstin-
guished author and traveller, whose death
is announced by cable, was born at keit-
hall, N. B., in 1891. From 1916 to 1S43
he was minister to the established
church of Scotland at St. Cyrus, Kincard-
ineshire, afterwards of the Free church,
but for many years he was unable to at
tend to his ministerial duties. OF his
many religious works may be mentioned
his Evidence of the Truth of the Chris
tian Religion, and Poetical Interpretation
of the Prophecies, " translated into many
languages. In company with the Rev.
DR.. Black, the Rev. A. Bonar, and the
Rev. Robert McCheyne, constituting
dcputatiOn from the church of Scotland to
Palestine and other Eastern countries, he
visited some of the scenes of scripture
prophecy to make researches respecting
the actual condition of the Jews. A mar
rative of this mission was published under
the title of "A Narrative of the Mission
to the Jews.
THE Philadelphia Erening Telegraph de .
livers itself OH foreign missions thus !:
:. Bishop Coke, of Western New York, has
addressed a strongly-wOrdedc circular to the
laity of the Protestant Episcopal church,
urging more liberal contributions for for
eign missions. The bishop thinks that
there is too much sham about the foreign
missions contributions ; that they are beg
carly showings that the great body of
churchmen are unrepresented in them, and
so forth and SO OH. All of which, may be,
will have some effect in stimulating con
tributions to foreign missions, and may be
it won't. We are afraid that Bishop Coke
wrote and issued this circularwithout any
thing like due inquiry into the reason why
of the falling off in the matter of contribu-
tions to foreign missions. If he had made
such inquiry he would probably have dis
covered that the average layman does not
think powerful much of the average mis-
sionary. or of the quality of the average
missionary's work in foreign parts and,
moreover, that lie is particularly well-sat-
isfied that he can do better with such
money as he may have it in his heart to
give for the promotion of missionary work
by bestowing it for the regeneration Of
near-at-home heather than he can by CIV
ing it for the conversion of people VINO al
ready have very good religions, which they
are in the habit of living up to in better
style than the average Christian is of living
up to his
| SPEAKING GOOD only of the dead is a
practice that doubtless needs to be reform
ed, for it is not at all conducive to morality
to make saint of sinner in funeral
Grafton. But on the other hand, the rule
having been all one way SO long, changes
should be made moderately. Such change
for example, as was given lately by Bishop
| oc%1 %1,a 81, f1,o
coffin of an ex-saint of that denomination
carries reform forward too violently.
''Once saint, he departed from the
church," remarked the bishop over this
ill-starred young mans remains, ,-"he left
the faith, he died a drunkard he has gone
to hell, and there is where he deserved to
CO." This cheerful message of coincidence
to the young mans friends was naturally
received with deep feeling the ex-saint's
mother and sister were borne fainting from
the tabernacle, and there was no doubt
conviction upon divers of the brethren that
the bishops notions of the reform of what
is, after all, a long-establshed and very re-
spectacle custom were of a rather too rad
ical and sweeping sort. We have so long
been telling good-natured fibs on such oc-
casions that the departure towards the
truth must not be of wrenching kind.
Bishop Taylor has allowed his zeal to out
run his discretion he would not relish the
idea of such impartiality of statements at
his own obsequies.
| Can't Think 1t Possible.
| Mai. Griest's Inquirer.