The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-07-09
REV. MIR. lORRENCE'S 'SSERMON
INTER ESTING TALK ON 4 WESTERN
 MISSION FIELD.
Michigan City, Where the Prcncher is Located, and Its Different Religions Graphically Described.

Graphically Described.
 The Rev. George B. Terrence, arch
 deacon of the diocese of Michigan City,
 occupied the pulpit in St. Thomas
 church yesterday morning, and spoke
 very interestingly to a large congrega-
 tion on the work that is being done in
 that section of the state of Indiana
 The diocese of Michigan City comprises
 large section of the northern part of the state, and is section in which the ratio of communicants in proportion to
 the inhabitants is very small Rev Mir
 Florence took his text from Acts xvi,
 part of the ninth verse: "Come over into Macedonia and help us" The preacher at the beginning of his sermon spoke of Paul's plea for help in Macedonia, and compared it with the call for help in the report of the foreign missionaries of Europe two hundred years ago, when the missionaries went back from Amer ica saying that there was no thought of religion among the colonists in this country, all their attention being taken up with other occupations.
 No time was given in spiritual inter- ests and it was about time the mission aries of 200 years ago thought that something should be done to establish the Church of England here. From then on the work has been marked and spreading. Connecticut especially was backward with regard to religious mat ters until now the ratio of the commu- nicants to the population of the state is one to twenty-three, which, MT. Tor renee said was as good as any other state in the east.
 The preacher then went on to give an account of the missionary field in which he is working, and said that that is more truly missionary field than that of part of the far western states He said that the diocese of Michigan City has never received the fostering care of the churches of the east that the west has received, simply because the domes- tic missions line is the Mississippi river, and all to the west of this great river is included in their missions.
 Continuing, the speaker said that Michigan City comprised about a third of the state of Indiana and in it were more than one million people.
 The territory occupied covers an area of that equal to the states of Mas sachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Is- land, and that the rate of the communi- cants to the population of the entire district is i to 477. In Rhode Island 1t is 1 to every 2S, and In Massachusetts l in 56. In only one diocese in the United States is the ratio of communi- cants as small as that of MT Torrence's diocese. That one is the diocese of Ok 1ahoma the ratio of which Is one in l every 67O. Thevast territory of Michi- l gan City is divided into counties, seven | of which are given in charge of Rev. | MT. Terrence. In five of these seven | counties the ratio of communcants to | the population is 1 to 2500. "There | are probably more denominations in | these counties of mine" said the speak er than in any part of the country. | There are five kinds of Methodists, five l or six kinds of Presbyterians, four or five kinds of Baptists, and a number of others. The extravaganza of the people Is not parallelled in the country. They are not satisfied with the truth of the gospel nor the preaching and I plead for help in the name of God.'
 A collection was taken, especially for the worthy cause, and a large amount was collected. The Rev. MT Florence is making a tour of the eastern states and last night preached in Meriden.