Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1883 — THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. [ARTICLE]

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

An Aidfictal and Cumbersome Establishment Standinc Upon By-Gone Agee. The different Nonconformist churches, the Salvation Army and other religious movements are having ft great influence in England. The signs of the times indicate that the day is not distant when church and state will be disassociated in that country. The London Mail sounds the following warning to the Church of England: “There is no church, there is no government, there is no institution in the world that so tittle adapts its means to its ends, its resources to work, its men to its positions, as the Church of England. The fact s proved, the want supplied and the evil mitigated by the surrounding atmosphere of nonconformity, everywhere pressing in to fill the void. Always and everywhere there are to be found those who will reap a harvest of souls wherever it may offer itself. The kingdom of grace has a spontaneous development, which ever supplies the shortcomings of human government and administration. No Bishop, however exalted, no theologian, however narrow or however Quixotic, can deny, even upon his own theories, a divine origin and order to the self-denying zeal of the men who do their best, by the simplest means at hand, to raise the surrounding tone of morality and religion, to rebuke vice and to encourage the virtues that all alike recognize, even if they practice them not. The good work to be done is as plain and universal as the sun in the heavens. The school and the field of true faith is all the world, and knows no demarkations or irohibitions. An artificial and cumbersome establishment, standing upon by-gone ages, and inheriting innumerable anomalies, hindrances and scandals, may be too sacred a thing to be rudely handled. But it cannot cover the ground nor reap the harvest. Part—indeed, the greater part—must be left to those who, if less privileged, are less trammeled, and who have the power, not of authority, but of freedom. In such a case there must be some jarring, some antagonism. How shall it be cured? How shall the established church acquire for itself that full liberty of action which it sees continually employed against it? It must condescend to gatlier all the lessons it can from the organizations and tactics of those whom it only too naturally regards as its rivals, if not foes. How do they get possession of the ground ? How do they advance everywhere, and hold the ground they win ? They do it by the use of common sense. That is what the Church of England will have to submit to. The ministry—that is, the entire system of employment in the service of the Church of England, will have to be adapted to the work everywhere to be done, unless the church is to find itself one day the shadow of a great name.

The Typical Ball-Pitcher. The following description of an amateur pitcher will be found rather entertaining and cannot fail to recall to thousands of players precisely similar characteristics : The pitcher is, as usual, the object of the most interest. He is approached in apparent importance only by a big-chested Drum-Major or the driver of a four-in-hand. The lordly air that the pitcher exhibits is at once impressive and instructive. After the o her men are crouched about the field, with their bands on their knees and their eyes riveted on home, the pitcher, with his hat very much over his eyes and his thumb in his belt, moves forth to his post before the bat. Once there, he gazes earnestly at the western sky and gently twirls his finger, assuming an air of total indifference to all save the sunset. Meanwhile the batter stands poised with legs apart, his lipe compressed, and his eyes resting uneasily on the indifferent-looking pitcher, while he swings his bat warily. After a tantalizing wait the pitcher turns his eyes casually toward the expectant batter, backed by the anxious catcher and the vigilant umpire, and after gazing at them as though they were beings from another planet he wearily turns away and casually draws up his stocking or resumes his inspection of the western sky. Then like a flash he draws back his arm, and, with a twist that nearly lifts him from the ground, sends the ball rushing toward the batter like a bullet from a gun. Sometimes the catcher takes the ball. Sometimes he allows it to whirl by him, and almost imbed itself m the fence at his back. Then he gently tosses it to the pitcher, and the play goes on again. The balla sent in are often cruel, and it is a very expert batter who can get one away from the diamond. When the batter is hit by the ball, the pitcher always runs up kindly and apologizes with great good-fellowship, while the ladies wave their handkerchiefs and look sympathetic. ~ ■