The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-07
Religious Notes.

Stole proyerb: / am a king when l rule my
self.
Those were beautiful words of the late Mrs.
Joseph Ayres, of Toledo, o., VIII just before
dying in severe winter, said 1T is all summer in
heaven"
Edward Garrett: 1t is not giving that makes
paupers. 1t is giving without personal acquaint-
ance and liking which does that. Gifts come
poor.
A general religious interest has been awakened
In Richmond, Va. ever since the Moody conven-
tion a few weeks ago, and the evangelists SER
mons are IN as much demand there as the most
popular periodicals.
Do not let the old church 60 out of the hands
of the trustees intact. See that it is torn down
or remodeled for residence or business purposes,
else it may be transformed into a theater, as
was old Morris Chapel, in Cincinnati.
Bishop Hall: The hands of faith never
knocked at heaven in vain. No sooner had
Moses shown his grievance than God shows shin
the remedy, vet an unlikely one, that it might
be miraculous. He that made the waters could
have given them any savor.
Baxter: To run a few steps will not get a
man heated, but walking an hour together may;
so though a sudden occasional thought Of heaven
will not raise ont affections to any spiritual heat,
yet meditation can continue our thoughts
and lengthen our walk, till our hearts grow
warmer.
A society has quite recently been organized in
SarlS Tor the purpose OF oDltoraClng the WOru
''God" from all languages of the world. A dis
tinguished London contemporary-the Noncon.
formist and lndependent-very properly asks,
what nextl" 1t does not volunteer any answer.
Ingersolism is thus finding expression pParis as
well as in New York and Brooklyn.
Father Riordan, the Roman Catholic mission
airy at Castle Garden, said recently: For Gods
sake, tell the Irish to stay at home" He be-
iieves the competition among the immigrants for
work has become so close as to threaten a de-
moralizing reaction. Men who have to wait
several weeks for employment, N the mean
time are serving an apprenticeship as dead-beats
and tramps, and are more of an injury than a
benefit to the land of their adoption.
Bishop Pierce, of the Church South, said:
'Never mind about the preaching. The preach
ers are corrupted and the church nearly ruined
by reports of big sermons by which nothing is
achieved. l would not give one of Jeremiah's
bad figs for the flashing rhetoric which plays
like sheet lightning about the summer clouds.
I. want the bolt that strikes, and rends and
burns. What of. grace, style, elocution,. if
penitence sheds no tear and faith no rapture|
Since 1870 the Protestant population of Berlin
has increased by half a million. Strange to say
this marvellous increase has led to the
building Of only two additional churches. AS q
result the four existing pastors are greatly over
worked. On a recent Sunday afternoon one pas
tor performed 108 baptsms and nine marriages.
OF course thousands must be neglected. 1t is
not at all wonderful that in the circumstance
the cry should be raised that crime is on the in
crease and that infdelity is triumphant. Berlin
is in need of q revival
New York Advocate: The revised version Of
the Old Testament now appears. The publish
ers will handle it more carefully than they did
the previous volume. The great demand for
that soon ceased, and three months afterward it
'dwindled. almost to nothing" Whether the re-
yisers have learned wisdom from the almost uni
Versal execration of their barbarous English we
shall see. One of its friends lately said that the
.'~'revision of the Old is relied on to float the
New" 1t cannot do it. The new, whatever be
its fate, will never be substituted for the old
version.
Statistics of the New York City Mission show
that there are in that city 489 churches, chapels
and missions. Of these, SO are Episcopal, 81
Presbyterian, 60 Methodist, 81 Roman Catho-
lie, 49 Baptist, 81 Jewish Synagogues, 81 Re-
formed tDutchl, "a Lutheran, 9 Congregational,
4Uniyersalist, 4 Friends, 3 Unitarian and 2
Moravian, and miscellaneous, Of. There are
H. C0 drinking places, and the number of per-
sons committed to the city prisons every day is
about loo, three-fourths of them intemperance
cases. The population of the almshouses, pris-
ons, hospitals and similar city institutions is
about II, 900.
Here is sound philosophy, founded on facts
corroborated by Mr.. Wesley in his wide range of
observation: Wherever the work of sancti-
fcation increased, the whole work of God in
creased in all its branches In 1865 he found in
Bristol fifty less members than he left before.
He thus accounts for this decline: Zone reason
is that Christian perfection has been little in
sisted on; and whenever this is not done, be the
preacher never so eloquent, there is little increase
either in the number or grace of the hearers. "
When a definite point is presented to the be-
lever as attainable Immediately, all the ener-
gies of the soul are aroused and concentrated.
Prayer is no more at random. There is a target
set up to fire at. Faith as an act-a voluntary
venture upon the promise-puts forth its highest
energies and achieves its greatest victories
DIR. Thomas Guthrie thus pictures the poverty
OF many of our ministers: ITO place a man in
circumstances where he isexpected to be gener.
GUS and hospitable, to open his hand as wide as
his heart to the poor, to give his family a good
education, TO bring them up in what is called
genteel life, aud to deny him the means of doing
80, is enough. but for the hope of heaven, to EN-
bitter existence. In the dread of debt, in many
daily notifications. in harassing fears of what
will become of his wife and children when his
head lies in the grave, q man of cultivated MIND
and delicate sensibilities has trials to bear more
painful than the cup of privatiors of the poor.
1t is a bitter cup. and my heart bleeds for broth
rem who have never told their SORROWS, conceal
ing under their cloaks the fox that gnaws at
their yitals."
Christian Inteliigencer. When a man OF
w0man attllns a full, fair apprehension Of such
words of our Lord as I'VE are the light of the
world, the salt of the earth, = Go We into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature, .
he has got a big heart. His sympathies and af.
feclons nave Deen greatly enlarged ana nave De"
come sensitive aud promptly responsive to the
appeals, mute or expressed, of need of any kind.
In other words, words that we prefer, he has be
come Christ-like, in full sympathy with the
heart. the sacrifice, the work of Christ. The
Lord Jesus Christ never said and does not say
to-day TO the Christian people of New York city
or any ether city, "Ye are the light and tbs salt
OF this city" He tells thom they are to lighter
Ake world, and when they rise to such a degree
OF Christian love as to shed light upon Africa
and Asia, they will shine with ten times al
much o~riiiianey upon those right about them.
without God.
London Spectator.