The record-union., 1895-09-21

from such an unpatriotic custom, or to
find themselves without political power.
A Louisiana paper says there are one
third of the white men in Southwestern
Louisiana who ought not, by any means,
TO have the right to vote, because they are
so illiterate and ignorant of public affairs
that they vote at the dictation of few
leaders, and not according to any intelli
gent and independent judgment Many
of our huge cities are even worse off.
for there the evil influences are multi
piled"
SIT is a curious fact" observes the JelO-
iSh Messenger, ''that while other denomi-
nations may have their social clubs, col
leges, summer schools and publication
societies without being called to account,
let the Jew start anything in that line and
at once he is criticised as being clannish
and foreign. For instance, commenting
on the work about to be issued by the
Jewish Publication Society entitled
Readings and Recitations for jewish
Homes and Schools the Literary World
asks: But why should it be necessary to
to compile special collections of reading
for Jewish homes? Are not Jewish
homes in the United States like German,
French and Russian-American homes?
What we want is the assimilation of all
nRtionalities into the American type, and
literature should be help, not a him
drance, to that end.' The use of the term
Jewish need not be criticised. One
speaks of Methodist homes, OF Baptist
homes, Catholic homes, L nitarian homes,
ETC., without suggesting that they are un-
American. Why must the phrase Jew
ish homes be objected to as implying
foreign nationality? We fear that our
literary contemporary wears colored
spectacles. Cannot Jewish home be
American in our own country, English
in England, German in Germany, ETC.?
1t is Jewish in all only so far as the re-
ligion of its inmates is concerned, and
in that sense it is employed in the pres
ent instance"
1.-THE Methodist Church makes little of
FORMS" says the Nashville Christian 4 d.
UOcdte (Meth.). mo other church in the
world insists more strenuously on the
truth that God looks on the heart and not
on outward ceremonies. But in order to
avoid confusion some forms are necessary
in public worship. Our discipline pre-
scribes kneeling in prayer. For long
time the majority of our people and all
our preachers gave heed to this require
ment. OF late, however, we have seen
an increasing tendency to stand up and
pray. The innovation has nothing to
commend it, and ought to be discour-
aged. Let Methodists stick to their own
ways"
The Chicago AdUdnce (Cong.), discus
sing some of the defects of church work,
says: The churches have made ruts in
which they are in danger OF dying and
being buried. We have fallen into a
clericalism which is becoming the enemy
of the ministers and churches them
selves. We do not want TO do anything
in new way; or, if we desire change
we do not know how to make il. We
seem unwilling to do religious work with
men unless we have them in peWs and
the ministers in pulpits. We are as help
less as hunter who can shoot bird
only when it consents to sit still at close
range and he has rest for his gun. But
nlneteen-twentieths of the average SIM
ners Of the time refuse to come in and sit
down In front of the preacher until he
has converted them. What then are we
to do? We must do something else.
Brother McCord has proved that the peo-
pie Of our towns can be reached by tent
meetings. The same thing has been de-
mOnstrated here in the city by others
The Salvation Army and the students of
the Moody Institute are now reaching
great mum bers or people through meet
lngs on the street corners. Certainly it
IS In line with the Lords way of chang
ing methods which have lost their use
fulness. Christ himself had to turn to
the outdoor multitude. The disciples
were driven out of Jerusalem away from
the temple and to the people. The Wes-
leys and Whitefelds were forced from
the churches into the open squares and
fields, and the Salvation Army has made
a new chapter in the record of church
work by getting on the streets. 1t is a
great mistake to suppose that the Gospel
loses its effect out doors and must always
be housed"
''Our own opinion, more than once ex-
pressed" F." says the E,ran1iner (Bapt.), lis
that the beneficial results of woman suf-
frage, so frequently and eloquently set
forth. WOnld not-eYan If thAv mafariaI- :