Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1875 — RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL. [ARTICLE]

RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.

—The hew Compulsory Education law of New York will place in the public schools of New York city about 250,000 pupils between the ages of eight and fourteen years. —A “ Purity of AVorship Defense Association” has been formed in the Irish Presbyterian Church. The object of the association is. to counteract the tendency toward the introduction of instrumental music and the singing of hymns other than the Psalms. This it purposes to do by the aid of “special sermons, lectures, addresses at public meetings and the circulation of literature advocating tjie Scriptural doctrines and form of worship as set down in the standards of the Presbyterian Church.” —A very concise statement of the organization of Universalism in the United States is furnished in the Parish Helper. There are 93a parishes in fellowship with the General Convention, presided over by 674 ministers. The communicants are thus distributed: Eastern States, 165 churches, 9,233 members; Aliddle States, 123 churches, 7,087 members; Western States, 297 churches, 12,773 members; Southern States, 32 churches, 1,129 members; Canada, 7 churches and 83 members; making a total of 624 churches and 31,005 members. —Dr. Mitchell, writing from Calcutta, suggests that the “Nameless Sect” in China, which has recently shown a friendly spirit to the Protestant missions, may be a remnant of the widespread Nestorian work. The followers of this sect are very numerous in China, especially in the province of Shantung, and are intensely disliked by the authorities. Their religion is said to have borne from the West; from whence they also expect a deliverance. They do not worship idols and have a religious form resembling the Lord’s Supper. —At the late meeting of the Presbytery of New York, which is the largest in the Northern Presbyterian Church, the following overture to the General Assembly was adopted: “ Believing that the cause and kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in this land would be greatly promoted by the establishment o’s friendly relations between the two General Assemblies which bear the Presbyterian name, and churches. North and South, which they represent, and believing that the want of success in securing this result on the part of Hie Southern Committee which recently convened in the City of Baltimore ought not to be regarded as conclusive of efforts in this direction, since the difference between the two parties was in reality not extreme or based upon essential distinctions, this presbytery would urge that the assembly, continue to labor for a better understanding between the two churches by the appointment of a new committee, who shall be ready to- meet any committee of the Southern Assembly that may be appointed, or by adopting such means promotive of harmony as its wisdom may dictate.” *