National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-04-16

The Congregational Church at Hol-
| brook, Mass, has been seeking pastor for nine
years listening during that time to sermons by 24O
| candidates.
Question answered: "And now,
Lord, what shall say?" were the words of the
| minister at the close of long prayer. "Say
amen" said softly little cherub of the congrega-
| ton.
The finances of the negro church at
Gainesville, Ga, are managed on sound business
principles. Every member is assessed twenty five
| cents month, and failure to pay is followed by
| expulsion.
! The first Bible printed in America
| was what is known as Eliots Indian Bible, which
was printed in Cambridge, Mass. in 1861 by the
Commissioners of the United Colonies in New
England, at the charge and with the consent of the
corporation in England for the propagation of the
| Gospel among the Indians of New England" 1t
was printed in the dialect of the Natick Indians,
and the translation was the work of John Eliot, a
missionary and pastor at Roxbury, Mass
The Unitarians of Boston fear that
| the Episcopalans will capture Harvard College,
because call has been extended TO the most pop
ular preacher in New England, Philip Brooks, to
become chaplain of the University, although ma
jority of the faculty have always belonged to the
| Unitarian denomination Episeopalianism pre-
| dominates among the students, and some of the
! greatest bequests have come from gentlemen of
that sect. The people of Trinity Church. Boston,
are very much exeited over the prospect of losing
their pastor.
Speaking of music in churches, the
Rev. R. G. Seymour of the Ruggles-street Baptist
| Church, Boston, Ia church of Puritan type and
traditions), says: Attempts have been made to
cast out the new songs, and give the old ones the
| full sway They say the new ones are too light,
they have not character enought, they want some
| thing more solid. Well, the attempt is falling
| You never want to turn out the young people of
the church, and make its workers exclusively the
| old nor turn out the old and make its workers
| exclusively the young. Happy the people who
wed these two happy the people who hold fast to
| the dear old hymns that have vigor in them, and
| are constantly putting in new ones. These new
hymns and tunes may have the butteriy's life of a
| summer season. but they make rs glad while they
are here and they wing our thoughts of bright ex-
perience and keep from groYeling.'
| The growth of Professionalism in this
| country is shown by some tables compiled by the
| Ildepeade1R to be constant despite the cries of
| aarmists that the church is in decline. These
tables do not go into the question of Roman Catbo
lie growth, but they give some exhaustive and in
! teresting facts regarding membership in sixteen
Protestant denominations called evangelical
| These denomnations-whch do not include the
Congregationalists, the Disciples. the Methodist
Episcopal South, the Methodist Episcopal African,
Methodist Protestant, and other smaller Methodist
bodies-show for the year 1850 264 ,29S more mem
bers than for the year before This increase in the
| denominations unreported would almost certainly
increase to 2650o0 This, be it remembered, is the
increase of membership for one year. The popu-
lation of the country, excluding Catholics, is
A, 600, and the communicates number ssOO000,
one in five The increase in the Protestant popu
lation of the country in the year covered by these
statistics about 100000 while the increase Of
| communicates is 265OO0, or nearly one in four.
| Thus the Protestant Church is making rapid and
| substantial gain.