Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1882 — RELIGION AND SCIENCE. [ARTICLE]

RELIGION AND SCIENCE.

A society has been formed in Eng land for the preservation of ancent sepulchral monuments in churches, j A people’s church, to cost SIOO,OOO, to be erected, in Boston, will be the largest religious edifice in New England. The Rensselaer county Sunday school union commemorated the 50tn anniversary of its foundation in Troy on May 28. The number of communicants of the Episcopal church in Massachusetts is nearly 18,000, or a gain of over 50 per cent, since 1873. The Presbyterian church in Texas, according to the census of 1880, foots up 13,000 members: the Methodists have 157,000, the Catholics 150,000, and the Baptists 125,000. The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of Trinity Parish, Newtown, Conn., and the consecration of the new church recently treed from debt will occur on June 8. It has been found desirable to appoint a special committee of the reformed classis of Illinois to assist the large number of Hollanders who have immigrated to Eastern Dakota, in forming churches. The 156th anniversary, on June 4, of the birth of Philip William Otterbein, the founder and first bishop of the United Brethren Church, was appropriately observed in all the churches of that denomination.

The Eastern Primitive Methodist conference of the United States reSorts an increase of 194 members uring the year, the whole number being 2,157, The whole value of its ■church property is about $270,000. • The Presbyterian General Assembly,recently in session at Springfield, had among its members a Dr. Hornblower and a Dr. Stillman. The formwas rarely heard in the discussions, while the latter made some of the longest speeches. The latest heretical tendency discovered in the Congregational denomination is one toward ritualism “Were there Dot candles on the speaker’s table at the recent festival in Fanuil Hall?” quietly remarks the Congregationalist. It is proposed to erect a suitable monument over the remains of Hester Ann Rogers and of the Rev. Mr. Thompson, the first president of the Wesleyan Conference after Mr. Wesley's death, which lie in the churchyard of St. Mary’s, Birmingham. The National Baptist says: “The man who complained of paying $lO for pew rent went to Barnum’s snow, and took bis wife and five children, paying $1 each for reserved seats. He is going to take a cheaper pew, and is in favor of reducing the salary of the minister.” The recent exploration party of Col. Mercer up the Spanish river, in the province of Ontario, is said to have discovered vast pine forests containing upwards of 24,000,000,000 of feet of a superior quality of pine timber, with facilities for getting it to the market equal to the best. A London paper says: “In the United Kingdom of Great Britian and Ireland there are about 40,000 places of Religious worship; while it appears to be a well ascertained fact that for every 1,000 persons attending the house of God above 2,000 are to be found on Sunday in the publichouses.” Prof. Forel has been making experiments on the depth to which light penetrates water. By using photographic emulsibn plates, which he sank to various depths in Lake Leman for twenty-four hours, he found that all his plates were distinctly affected by the chemical rays of light, the deepest plate being at 99 metres (nearly 300 feet.) Les Mondes has recorded a very unnsu&l instance of suppression of telegraphic communication. Some time ago it was found that no messages could be sent between Souk-el-Arba and Medjez of-Bab. Those who had been detailed to make an inspection found that an enormous serpent had coiled itself around the wire and a post, and thus interfered with the conductivity of the line. St. John’s Episcopal Church, Haferstown, Md., was consecrated on une 7. In some respects it is considered one of the finest church buildings in Maryland. The corner-stone of the edifice was laid in 1873, and the building first occupied in 1875. The memorial tower and spire were erected at a cost of upward of $20,000 by Mr. C. C. Baldwin, of this city, in memory of his wife. Bailie Roman Baldwin. TheDunkers of the United States have just held their annual meeting, the Supreme Council of the church, at Arnold’s Station, Indiana, and it was attended by nearly 20,000 people. A feature of special interest was the trial of Mr. H. R. Holsinger, published of the Brethren’s newspaper, for having published objectionable matcontrary to the rules ot the Church. He was expelled by a vote of four to one, the whole assembly voting. The Examiner recently offered the New York Christian Advocate SIOO if it would “prove to the satisfaction of three scholarly men, standing in Evangelical denominations, that the Christians of the apostolic age understood the word baptizo to have anyother meaning than dip, blunge or immerse.’. The Advocate thought the sum not big enough, and suggested $20,000. The Christian Register takes both papers to task for betting on the meaning of the word, ana thinks it quite odd to decide a matter of scholarship after this method.