and the conclusion of the great apostle quoted, "If these things be in you and abound, they will make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Other exercises followed, and the meeting closed under a solemn covering of Divine love.

The session of the Women's Meeting held on the afternoon of the 30th, was first engaged in reading the minutes of the Representative Committee. These gave the particulars of the work of this body for the past year, and in them was a clause prepared for insertion into the Book of Discipline, should the Yearly Meeting approve. This provides for the disposition of property belonging to meetings that are laid down, and it was duly considered and approved by this meeting.

Touching memorials for the deceased Friends Alfred Moore, Job Wilbur, and Naomi Barnes were read, introducing the meeting into deep feeling in remembrance of the beloved dead who so long stood as standard bearers and champions of the truth of God. Their faithful and gentle lives of dependence. upon the Divine arm, their dedication to the right, and their peaceful and triumphant close, were felt to mark out a shining pathway to the Heavenly kingdom for those who follow them as they followed the Divine guide.

On Fifth-day morning, the 31st, the report of the committee having charge of a fund, the proceeds of which are applied to the purchase.of Friends' books for distribution, reported their action during the past year. Their report was approved and the same committee was continued.

A Friend expressed concern and exercise for the renewal of the vigor and zeal of this Society. The faithfulness of the aged should be to those in youth and middle life an evidence of the efficacy of that Arm of Power which has been the support of these venerable servants of the Heavenly Father during their work and pilgrimage.

It may devolve again upon Mothers in Israel as of old, to take the seat of judgment, as when Deborah arose and ruled and saved her people. Giants even now are round about the camp of the hosts of the Highest, and there must be valiants raised up to cope with these. Strength and qualification will be furnished to those whose hearts are open to the incomes of the Father's love, and whose willing hands are ready to enter upon his service.

The meeting received the report of the committee to visit subordinate meetings. They had visited all the meetings comprising this body except one. The meetings in some of the localities were quite given up, and others were in a languishing condition. But the visits

of the committee appeared to be inspiring and helpful. They deemed it right to recommend to the Yearly Meeting the tendering of assistance to those in need of pecuniary help in keeping their meeting houses in good repair, and in making them cheerful places of gathering.

The report was approved, and it was agreed to furnish $500 in aid of the school at Easton, which was designated as needing help.

A deputation from the Men's Meeting announced that their meeting had decided to appoint a committee to take into consideration the guarded education of the youth. It is believed that the assistance of schools already established, as well as the planting of new schools might be engaged in, and $250 were appropriated for the use of the commit

tee.

A nominating Committee was appointed to unite with Men Friends in bringing forward to the afternoon session the names of suitable Friends to serve on this committee.

Epistles to Philadelphia and Baltimore were produced, and these being approved were adopted.

A deputation from Men's Meeting asked the appointment of a committee to join with one from Men's Meeting in final consideration of the change in discipline proposed by the Representative Committee. Such a committee was appointed.

At the afternoon session the Epistle Committee presented the essays prepared to be forwarded to the Yearly Meetings of Genesee, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. These being united with, were directed to be forwarded to those meetings.

The committee on an amendment of the Discipline, reported their approval of the clause recommended by the Representative Committee, and their report was accepted.

A Friend here expressed her conviction that this Yearly Meeting has shown evidences of a very hopeful spiritual growth among the younger members. This she believed has been nurtured by the First day school work, which has taken root here. There is great reason to hope that a new life and energy of work for the cause of the right advancement of the standard of our profession may be experienced.

The report of the Temperance Committee. was presented. They have sought to forward the cause of temperance by the distribution of documents, by the holding of conferences, and by labor with legislators. The report was united with and the committee continued in the work.

The nominating Committee to bring forward names of Friends to serve on a committee to take action for the advancement of the

cause of the guarded education of youth, reported, and the committee named was appointed.

A deputation from the Men's Meeting informed that that body had decided to have the report of the First-day School Association printed, with the extracts from the minutes of their meeting. They had also appointed a committee to consider the expediency of the recognition of the First-day school movement by this Yearly Meeting and report next year. This was believed by many thoughtful Friends to be a movement in the right direction, since much hope of a revival of zeal and devotion in the ranks of our younger members is founded on this First-day school work. A very large expression was given in favor of co-operating with the Men's Meeting in the appointment of the proposed committee, but a few Friends objecting on the ground of the far advanced stage of the meeting, the opportunity was lost. This was a matter of perhaps little consequence to the usefulness of the work of First-day schools, but some Friends believe that there is now a necessity for care that the religious nurture of youth should be in accordance with the wisest and most mature thought of the Society, and to this end the schools should be taken under the supervision of the meeting. A committee of consideration and consultation was a preliminary step to the desired recognition of the schools, and the delay is deeply regretted. The report of the Indian Committee closed the deliberations of this body, and the meeting concluded under a solemn covering. Its several sessions had been held in great harmony and the business transacted was throughout of such a character as might tend to the welfare and growth of the Society of Friends. S. R.

Our correspondent was not able to procure the proceedings of Men's Meeting. We will publish these when we receive them, as well as such reports of committees as may be of interest to Friends generally.

FROM

LONDON FRIENDS' MEETINGS."

BY WM. BECK AND T. FREDERICK BALL.

"In the early days of Quakerism, apostolic tradition, practice and custom of the Fathers, ordinances and priesthood, had been worked out by what they thought a safe, sure, and comprehensive basis, by the Episcopalians. The Presbyterians, rejecting tradition, and accepting the Holy Scriptures alone as their guide, claimed for their system a safer and surer basis. The Independents in the light of Scripture, and by a blessing on its study, to have been led into a more excellent way, which the Baptist maintained had be

come yet more thoroughly perfected by their taking the Word of Scripture as their still more and exclusive and literal rule of faith.

"It is difficult to realize what would result when these religious bodies, earnestly seeking the right way as discerned in the pages of Holy Scripture, should hear as they did, that not alone had narratives been preserved by prophets in days of old, but that prophets had arisen among them, and were proclaiming their message to wondering thousands! So that not alone, in a former and far distant time, on the sacred soil of Syria, but even then in England, on the moors of Yorkshire, and in the streets of London, all over the country, and in every town the words, 'Thus saith the Lord,' were freely spoken, and a like authority claimed for the utterance of their inspirations, as if the messenger were a prophet among the Hebrews.

"The men who embraced these new views and admitted the prophetic claim, became placed in antagonism with the other gathered churches. All denominations denounced them, and at times, unfortunately, railing was given for railing. The Baptist charged the Friend when he exalted the 'Light within,' as deprecating the one great and all-availing outward sacrifice made by our Lord Himself; the Independents ridiculed this 'inward monitor' as nothing but natural conscience; the Presbyterian abhorred it as blasphemy, when the Friend said, 'Christ dwelt in him;' the Episcopalian denounced Quaker scruples as a crime against society and the Holy Church; all had their special points of difference and debate with the Friend, and yet under this separate and combined opposition, the new views spread, and the Friend, like Israel, 'grew and multiplied.'

Though at first but unsystematic, and receiving varied developments according to the nature of the individual preacher, there is observable throughout, a prevailing idea, which, like a central cord is found penetrating and connecting the whole, even the precious truth, that Christ is in you.' It was the realization of this truth inwardly revealed, that brought peace to the troubled soul of George Fox. The same truth proclaimed by him, and brought home by the Spirit's power, gave peace also to Howgill, Burrough, Farnesworth, and all of that early band who have left us their experiences on record. This was the sun and centre of their doctrine: 'the kingdom of God is nigh,' 'Christ is in you.' This was what hundreds and thousands rerejoiced over, even that He whom they worshiped afar off, was nigh them and in them.

The same truth was it, that a century before had emancipated Luther from Rome, the same, that under a Whitfield and Wesley

awoke an ignorant populace to rejoice in God's free salvation, the same, that in our day gives such power to the modern evangelist, when he calls on all to a personal, conscious, loving union through God's free grace with Christ our Saviour.

"It is a high testimony to the humility and judgment of its leaders, and their dependence on Divine guidance, that they should have brought, as they did, a newly-formed society through such a period, and were enabled as the national mind became more settled, to consolidate the body and keep it intact during the time that succeeded, when it was not only opposed by pen, but also by the power of the State and acts of Parliament." -Selected by H. M. L.

CORRESPONDENCE.

The following extract from a private letter has been sent us for publication.-EDS.

TRINIDAD, COLORADO,

Fourth mo. 14th, 1883. § Precisely at 8.50 on the morning of the 12th our train pulled out of the Union Depot, at St. Louis, and commenced its journey westward.

On arriving at Kansas City, about 9 P.M., I judged it best to secure a sleeping berth, and two hours later our long train moved out over the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad, on its way to this city. During the night the ride was through the beautiful Kansas river valley; but, although its beauties may have been fabulously lovely, my berth offered more attractions than the windows, and I saw but little. We stopped, in the morning, at a place called Newton, whose chief attraction was a substantial breakfast.

The route through Kansas, a distance of about 450 miles, follows the old Santa Fé trail, the entire distance consisting of a prairie, broken by no trees, save the little groves of recent settlers. The pioneers going west from Kansas City had no fuel, save buffalo chips, a sort of dried manure, finding neither trees nor bushes wherewith to kindle a fire. The population of Kansas is still very thin, and the thousands of acres inviting settlers with the news of beef at 24 cents per pound, butter at 40 cents, and potatoes at $1.00 per bushel, prove that farming in that region is not yet overdone.

We passed through several towns, the appearance of which indicated prosperity, but the absence of shade was everywhere apparent. Soon after stopping for supper we passed into Colorado, and after another night's travel were awakened early in the morning at our destination, Trinidad. This lively town derives its principal importance

from its coal mines, and is a rough, hilly place, with a correspondingly rough frontier population, engaged in mining coal and burning coke.

The next morning, at five, we left for Las Vegas, riding 134 miles through a country difficult of description. It could not be called barren and incapable of sustaining life, as we passed through several well-populated towns, and saw cattle grazing on the prairies; yet, to all appearances, life must be a struggle. a struggle. The almost total absence of rain, and the very dry atmosphere, render cultivation of the soil useless. Occasionally a small stream finds a struggling way, carrying with it more fertile soil, and making irrigation possible in a few instances. Again, the total absence of trees is a striking feature, and, having thus had no lumber before the advent of the railroad, their architecture is very characteristic. Not having fuel, they could not burn brick, and the mechanics necessary to erect stone structures were not wanted in

New Mexico. Resorting, therefore, to the only expedient left them, they take the abundant loam, temper it with water, and make of it a building brick, about 12 inches long, 4 thick and 8 wide. These they dry in the sun, and with them erect their one-story buildings, each containing one small window and a door, and having the inner walls daubed with mud, or, as an occasional luxury, whitewash. The roofs are perfectly flat, and made of the same material, but placed on poles brought from the hills. Not having much rain, pitched roofs are unnecessary, but when the rain does come they, no doubt, have leaky ones.

In June of this year the people of New Mexico are to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the settlement of the country. Nearly three centuries ago the adventurous Spaniards, making their way into this region, planted colonies and left behind their civilization; and in that long interval this civilization has made no advance, but rather a deterioration. The spirit of adventure, so prominent in their ancestors, has not actuated succeeding generations to either improve their own fields or seek other and better homes. The Spanish search for gold and silver was in a measure rewarded; but far greater treasures are to be discovered by the new civilization so lately taken hold. The meeting of the purely American and the old Spanish civilizations has already occurred, and in due course of time the former will triumph and the latter melt away, to be known only in history.

It is interesting to note here the three distinct classes of human beings, one semi savage, the other two civilized.—the American

Indians, the Mexicans, and the people of the United States. There are large numbers of Pueblo Indians in this vicinity, and when they ceded to the railway the right of way through their lands, it was with the stipulation that they should ride on the trains free of charge. Hence, wherever the whites are the most numerous Indians are always to be found. Appearing very peaceable, and not being allowed to carry arms off their reservation, they make no disturbance, especially as no one is allowed either to sell or give them liquor.

For the most part, the Mexicans are owners of the land most easily cultivated. They are Roman Catholics, and are said to be honorable in their dealings. Many of the land grants to these holders are enormous, some of them 100 miles square.

The Americans are building the railroads, and founding towns at available points, and are opening the mines with the introduction of machinery.

We reached Las Vegas about 1 P.M., and soon after saw the beautiful Montezuma Hotel, at the Las Vegas Hot Springs. The Springs are about six miles from Las Vegas, the place being very delightful, fully realize ing to the traveler the glowing reports of the railroad company. Everything is purely Northern, the guests at the hotel being almost exclusively from the East and North. The climate is delightful. Last night ice was formed in the basin of the fountain on the hotel lawn, yet the day is exceedingly mild. The water from the springs is very warm, some of it almost boiling. These crystal waters have not at all an unpleasant taste, and a bath in the water is delightfully refresh ing and beneficial. The city of Las Vegas

In

is divided into the old and new town. the latter there is a curious blending of the adobe buildings of the Mexicans and the more modern brick and frame structures. In the new town all is new, especially the

immense saloons.

seems to me this is a very important question for every one.

Great and momentous questions are coming up before us, greater, I feel, than have ever yet engaged the attention of Christendom, questions that are not to be decided by the sword, but by a weapon mightier than the sword. "Truth is Authority," and therefore it is Power, it is the Word of God that "is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The beloved Paul felt this when the Light of Heaven shone around about him above the brightness of the sun. When he heard the Lord speaking, he exclaimed in fear and trembling, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Poor soul, poor brother, a persecutor of God's people, thy brethren, and here in a moment, stript of all thy power. Oh, when the Lord arises in Power, then must everything bow and submit to His Will. And, now, His Power is rising in the earth, let us all be willing to come under the direction of His Holy Will entering into the closets of our hearts, and making the inquiry, and then, oh, let us be willing to "sell all" that do as He says, even if it is to we have. Only be willing, and He will make it easy for us to do His Will. And now, I exhort each and every one of us to commune with God in his or her heart, and to ask, “Lord, hortation is for all who wish to dwell in love, in God and His Christ, and who wish God to dwell in them.

what wilt Thou have me to do?" This ex

Come, dear Father, and annoint us with Thy Holy Oil. Teach us to do Thy Will, and strengthen us to walk with Thee.

LOCAL INFORMATION.

W.

Bucks Quarterly Meeting.-A large number of Friends, and others in sympathy with them, assembled at the time-honored meetinghouse in Buckingham, on Fifth-day, the 31st ult. Reference was made to the decline of

our Society, as spoken of in the late Yearly Meeting, and it was thought that the large and attentive audience attested the fact that Quakerism still had a place in the hearts of the people, and the simple faith of our earnest minds. A fervent petition arose to the fathers was yet a power for the gathering of throne of grace that we might be favored with the presence of the Almighty, and know the evidences of His Heavenly love in our own souls. Testimony was borne to the efficacy of the truth in delivering from al error, and parents were earnestly entreated to be such an example to their children that their memory should ever be blessed. After