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MOVEMENTS IN THE RELIGIOUS FIELD. A RECENT work by Prof. McGiffert (Presbyterian), of Union Theological Seminary, New York, "A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age," has brought the author under criticism from "orthodox quarters. He is attacked, it seems, on the ground that he does not make enough of the texts which are relied on to prove the Trinitarian doctrine as to the deity of Jesus, and that he quite dismisses the theory that the Supper is an obligatory ordinance. One of his critics, Prof. F. D. Estes, writing in a Baptist journal, says the book is learned and able, but that it "seems to cut away faith" in the miraculous conception of Jesus "by the Holy Ghost, and birth of the Virgin Mary, in descent into Hades and resurrection from the dead, in any real ascension into Heaven or sitting at the right hand of God, and in any return to judgment of any kind."

It has been suggested that Prof. McGiffert shall be tried for "heresy," but there is a decided protest against this. The Independent says "the Presbyterian church needs no more trials for heresy just now."

THE subject of the Supper, or "Communion" is of interest to Friends, since they have always declined to receive it as an obligatory observance. The Outlook summarises Prof. McGiffert's treatment of his subject as follows:

"Dr. McGiffert is writing, not as a theologian, but as a historian. He is describing how the Lord's Supper was originally instituted, and how it was at first observed. In doing this he gives some information respecting its origin which any student may easily verify for himself this, namely, that neither in Matthew nor in Mark is Christ reported as bidding his disciples Do this in remembrance of me'; that this command—if it is to be regarded as a command-is found only in Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians and in Luke, which Gospel an ancient and well-authenticated tradition reports as influenced largely by Paul, and that the command in Luke is omitted in many of the best manuscripts, and is regarded as an interpolation by Westcott and Hort, whose text, we may add, is by universal consent regarded as the best text we have of the New Testament.

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'From these facts one scholar, Dr. McGiffert tells his readers, has conceived the notion that the idea of observing the Lord's Supper originated with Paul. Against this notion Dr. McGiffert argues with considerable force. 'It is inconceivable,' he says, 'that the Jewish wing of the church would have taken it up had it originated with him [Paul]. Its general prevalence at an early day in all parts of the church can be accounted for only on the assumption that it was prePauline. At the same time, the fact must be recognized that it is not absolutely certain that Jesus himself actually instituted such a supper and directed his disciples to eat and drink in remembrance of him.'

Can any one say [asks The Outlook] that this is 'absolutely certain,' in view of the facts that John, the Beloved Disciple, does not refer to the Supper at all, that neither Matthew nor Mark refers to any command or suggestion of its future observance, that the reference in Luke is regarded by the best textual scholars as an interpolation, and that thus our only real authority for the command is Paul, who was not present, and only reports what had been reported to him?''

THE Roman Catholic Church in this country appears to be active and persevering. Its losses of members are said to be considerable, but evidently it makes some gains also. Writing in one of the church newspapers, Cardinal Gibbons, of Baltimore, reports 1,500,000 children as being educated in the Catholic schools of the United States at the present time; that "Missionary Bands" are carrying on work among nonCatholics in seventeen different dioceses, and that “ 30,000 persons are annually received into the Catholic Church in the United States" through conversion.

EVERY movement in the direction of simplicity and moderation at funerals is a matter of satisfaction. At Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently, the ministers of the city, in their 'Pastors' Conference," united in an effort at funeral reform and

adopted a series of resolutions to be read in their respective churches. The resolutions recommended that no "Sunday funerals be held; that the customary mourning attire be discarded; that funerals be more private; that public display be avoided; that the expenditure be carefully limited to the ability of the people; and that the custom of preaching extended sermons on such occasions is not wise.

It is announced that Prof. Charles A. Briggs, professor of Biblical theology in the Union Theological Seminary, New York City, the famous author and theologian who was tried and suspended for heresy, by the Presbyterian General Assembly, has left that church, and gone to the Episcopal body. He has applied to Bishop Potter, of the New York diocese, to be "ordained" a deacon of the Episcopal church, with the purpose of becoming ultimately a minister. He will of course be compelled to surrender his chair in the Theological Seminary.

The alleged intolerance of their liberal views will, it is added in connection with this announcement, result in several other prominent theologians soon leaving the Presbyterian church.

CURRENT EVENTS.

THE probability of war has appeared very great in the week to which these news paragraphs relate, yet peace has still been hoped for. The most energetic naval and military preparations have been made in this country, and presumably in Spain. The fleets at Key West and Hampton Roads are reported "stripped for action," and ready to sail at a few minutes' notice. The Spanish torpedo-boat flotilla was reported to have reached Porto Rico, but a dispatch later, (2nd inst.), reports it at Cape Verde islands, and unable, under favorable circumstances, to reach Porto Rico for several days. The United States has purchased another cruiser in England, it being one built in a shipyard on the Thames for Peru. In all the churches (Roman Catholic) at Madrid, on First-day last, the priests read a letter from the Bishop of the diocese announcing that he considered war to be imminent, and ordering prayers for the success of the Spanish arms. It is said that the Spanish people do not wish war, or, rather, they are indifferent, as they always have one in progress somewhere, and do not regard a war with the United States as different from the others. Spain has authorized the issue of 225,000,ooo pesetas in treasury notes, being about forty-five millions of dollars.

THE United States, on the 4th instant, purchased ten merchant steamships at New York, to add to the auxiliary fleet. They are vessels in the southern trade to Gulf, Mexican, and South American ports. The American flag was removed on the 4th instant from the wreck of the Maine, in Havana harbor. The reports of the consuls of the United States in Cuba, it was stated on the 4th, would not be sent to Congress with the President's message. The reason assigned is that the President considered it unsafe to print the reports of the Consuls in the present state of feeling, and while they were in Cuba, and that he would not send them in until the writers should be withdrawn, which was expected to be done

soon.

It was positively announced in Washington on the 4th inst. that on the 6th President McKinley would send to Congress a message on the Cuban question. 'Mediation between the United States and Spain, by European nations, has been much discussed, and it appears quite certain that the Pope has made urgent representations at Madrid in favor of peace. The difficulty has been that Spain would not listen to any suggestion of allowing Cuba's freedom, while the Cuban insurgents would not consider anything short of that. The insurgents have been unwilling also to agree to a protracted armistice, as they believed it would be employed by Spain in renewed preparations for war, and that when the rainy season (summer) was over, they would again be attacked. The feeling of a majority of Congress has been in favor of decisive measures, including a definite demand for Cuba's independence.

A SEVERE shock of earthquake was felt at San Francisco at 11.43 o'clock on the night of the 30th ult. The vibrations continued fully 15 seconds, causing people to rush from their homes in all parts of the city. The earthquake was one of the most severe ever experienced in California. Buildiugs were violently rocked, telephone and telegraph circuits were damaged, and considerable injury was done to buildings of frail construction.

THE Constitutional Convention of Louisiana has adopted, by a vote of 95 to 28, a new suffrage system for that State. The purpose is to get rid of the negro vote, and turn over the political control of Louisiana to the whites without any further need for election frauds." The new clause requires that the voter shall be able to read and write, but if he owns $300 worth of property, and pays tax on it, he need neither read nor write. Additional clauses provide (1) that any person who was a voter in any State of the Union on January 1, 1867, may vote, and that his son and his grandson may do so,

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whether illiterate, or not, and whether a property-holder or not; (2) all persons naturalized before January 1, 1898, may also vote without being subject to the illiterate and property rules; (3) in the next State election, 1900, persons may vote without paying a poll tax, but after that the prepayment of the poll tax for two years, to be paid at least six months before an election, shall be necessary for registration. These complicated provisions are designed to affect particularly the colored voters. They will necessarily stimulate their efforts to acquire education and property. Many leading citizens of Louisiana oppose the clauses as framed, and their constitutionality is to be tested in the United States courts.

GREAT BRITAIN has demanded, and China has conceded to her, the possession of the port of Wei-Hai-Wei, on the Shan-Tung peninsula, after the Japanese evacuation, as a compensation for the disturbance of the balance of power in the Gulf of Pechili. Wei-Hai-Wei was held by the Japanese pending the payment of the Chinese war indemnity. In the

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It was the first time Johnny had ever heard a guinea hen. "Oh, ma," he shouted, "come and hear this chicken a-windin itself up."-Montreal Herald.

IN a Yorkshire village there were two barbers who were rivals. One being ill, his customers patronized the other shop. At the end of the week the active barber turned over to his sick rival the extra earnings of the week.

new charm when you have discovered the great collection of the SOULE PHOTOGRAPH Co., of Boston, for which we are agents in Philadelphia. Scenes of travel in all countries; castles, cathedrals, and cities of Europe; portraits of royalty and celebrities of all times, past and present; reproductions of famous art works, old and new; these are a part only. With such a collection to draw upon, illustrating becomes an absorbing pleasure.

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AT the recent annual meeting of the

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Congressional Temperance Society, the Lamps

secretary spoke of the prohibition of in-
toxicating drinks by railroads and express
companies, affecting 830,000 employes,
as most significant. He quoted from
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this subject, in which he claimed that of
30,000 employes of the New York Cen-
tral, not one per cent. were now discharged
for drinking, while before this rule was
enforced the loss on this account was 20
per cent.

"A Summer Shower," after the picture by E. Blair Leighton.

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ferences with Spain. The delegation consisted of Joseph S. Elkinton, of Philadelphia; Samuel Morris of Olney, and Charles Rhoads, of Haddonfield, N. J. The first named acted as spokesman and read the memorial, which had been

English House of Commons, on the 5th instant, the government leader, Arthur J. Balfour, explained the concessions made by China,-that the region of the Yang-tse-Kiang should not be alienated by any foreign power; that the successor of Sir Robert Hart, as Director of the Chinese Imperial-prepared by the Meeting for Sufferings. The President reMaritime Customs, is to be an Englishman, and that access to the inland waters is to be had by ships of all nations. Three new treaty ports are to be opened, Fu-ning, Yochan, and Chin-wang. The possession of Wei-Hai-Wei offsets Russia's seizure of Port Arthur. Japan agrees to the former.

A frightful flood disaster occurred at Shawneetown, Illinois, on the evening of the 3d instant. By the breaking of the levee the river (Ohio) burst into the town, “a stream of water twelve to twenty feet deep carrying half the current of the overflowing river.” This "came down in a great rush like a tidal wave," and frame houses were lifted up and rolled over and over. It occurred near evening, when most of the people were at supper. Some reached strong buildings and climbed on the roofs; some fled to the hills, and others got off on rafts, etc.; but it is estimated, that some forty persons have been drowned. (Shawneetown has a population of about 1,400.)

THE Comparative statement of the United States Government receipts and expenditures during March shows that the total receipts were $32,958,750 and the expenditures $31,882,444, an increase of nearly $5,000,000 over March, 1897. This increase is largely due to expenditures under the recent appropriation for the national defence. The receipts from customs during the month were over $7,000,000 less than March a year ago, which were then abnormally heavy on account of the pending Tariff act.

men,

NEWS AND OTHER GLEANINGS. DWIGHT L. MOODY, the evangelist, who has been "traveling about a good deal, and meeting all sorts and conditions of as an exchange remarks, gives his impressions thus in a Chicago newspaper : "The country seems more prosperous, but there is a terrible restlessness-an unsettled feeling—an utter and absolute dissatisfaction with the times, conditions, and surroundings-a dissatisfaction that includes life itself, and leads to the constantly increasing list of suicides."

A delegation from the Meeting for Sufferings of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Arch street), called on President McKinley at the White House on the 16th ult. and presented to him a memorial, urging the amicable settlement of the dif

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RECENTLY, two gentlemen, driving in a wagonette, were smoking, when a spark falling from one of their cigars set fire to some straw at the bottom of the carriage. The flames soon drove them from their seats; and, while they were extinguishing the fire, a countryman, who had for some time been following them on horseback, alighted to assist them. "I have been watching the smoke for some time," said he. Why, then, did you not give us notice?" asked the astonished travelers.

Well," responded the man, "there are so many new-fangled notions nowadays I thought you were going by steam. Boston Herald.

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ceived them kindly, and said he desired to maintain peace.

-Those who deplore the influence of the saloon should give deep thought to the following, which is from The People, of Milton, Pa. : You have no right to expect honesty of officials whose nomination and election were brought about through the influence of the saloon. The saloons do not work for political candidates without knowing that they can depend upon them to do the dirty work for which they were chosen." -Commonwealth.

-The Court of Cassation (Court of Appeals) of France has quashed the sentence of one year's imprisonment and 3,000 francs fine imposed upom Emile Zola on February 23, at the close of his long trial. The decision is based on a technicality, that the complaint against Zola should have been made by the president of the Court-martial that tried Dreyfus, and not by the Minister of War. It is not announced whether Zola will be re-tried.

-The new State Capitol at Harrisburg is to be built of brick, without exterior ornament, in order to keep it within the limits of the appropriation. Public sentiment will approve the thrift of this arrangement, and State pride need have no cause to feel ashamed of a brick capitol. There are few Philadelphians who are not more proud of Independence Hall than of the City Hall and its expanse of dingy marble.-Phila. Record.

-Emigration from Europe to the Argentine Republic last year, according to the official report, amounted to 130,626 persons, mostly agricultural laborers, who will find there measureless tracts of unoccupied land. These figures bring the South American republic up pretty closely to the United States as an attraction to the emigrant, for our present rate of immigration is only about 200,000 a year.

-The district in which Berea College, Kentucky, is located established local option, nine years ago, "after quite a hard contest.'' The law, it is stated, has been quite well enforced. " Owing to some uncertainty of precinct boundaries, a new vote was ordered for Twelfth month 4, 1897. When the polls closed at the end of the day the votes stood 593 for temperance and 40 for whiskey."

-Among the archives of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, has been found the original copy of the Declaration of Independence in Thomas Jefferson's own handwriting.

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branded and sold as Pure White Lead contain little if any

White Lead, but are zinc and barytes. Barytes is used because it is cheap, not because it has any value as paint.

Protect yourself by using brands which are genuine and made by the old Dutch process. See list of genuine brands.

National Lead Co., 100 William St., New York.

NOTICES.

**The Salem First-day School Union will be held in Friends' meeting-house at Mickleton, N. J., on Fourth month 9, at 10 a. m.

Subject for discussion: What did George Fox mean when he said "Mind the Light”?

Mary E. Speakman, of George School, will conduct a class. The lesson will be taken from the Intermediate Lesson Leaves.

Trains leave foot of Market street, Philadelphia, at 8.20 a. m.

All interested are invited to attend.
JOHN G. BORTON,

*

ELLEN M. COLES. Clerks.

** The Philanthropic Committee of Burling ton Quarterly Meeting will hold a meeting in Friends meeting-house, at Rancocas, N. J., on First-day, Fourth month 17, at 3 p. m.

Invitation is extended to all interested in the

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Easter Gloves

A grand assortment of Easter Kid Gloves is here and ready. The prices are exceptionally low At $1.85-the equal of any Glove sold in Philadelphia at any price. Every new shade and all the desired fastenings. It is the "Fleur de Lis.'

At

$1.50—the "Daubrey," made in France exclusively for these Stores, and here in all the Easter shades. Every wanted fastening, and a quality not sold elsewhere under $2. Same for men.

At $1.00-the " Empress," in all the newest shades and with all best fastenings. We do not think. so good a Glove as this is sold elsewhere at this price.

Good Gloves for Boys, and for Misses we are showing Glove effects and styles quite unusual.

Silver Novelties

The Stirling Silver sold here is .925 fine and makes useful and ornamental gifts for Easter. Sterling Silver Book Markers, 25 cents to $1.50. Sterling Silver Button-hooks, Shoe Horns,

Nail Files, Curling Irons, Letter Op-
eners, Cuticle Knives, Erasers, Tooth
Brushes, Nail Brushes, Stocking
Darners, Seals, etc., are here priced
from 50 cents to $1.50.

Mail orders receive prompt and
accurate attention

Address orders to "Department C."

Strawbridge & Clothier,

PHILADELPHIA

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