RELIGIOUS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 753, 6 August 1886, Page 6

RELIGIOUS.

At the recent meeting of the Jewish Ministers' Association in New York, the question of admitting women to membership in congregations was taken up and discussed, and finally a motion was adopted that F be admitted. Dr. Wintner, in advoc7

the innovation, said that often, becaus husband is indifferent concerning mem* ship in a congregation, his wife and child are deprived of the benefits of membersh When women have a voice in the manag ment improvements in congregations wilt b more readily accomplished. Dr. Leucht said the proposal would revolutionise congregational government. The proposed federation of the Australian and Tasmanian Presbyterian Churches has advanced considerably, and it is expected that the first federal assembly will be held next July in Sydney. Recently the Prime Minister of Siam and his sons and some young women visited the Presbyterian chapel at Petchaburi. He sat grave and silent through the service, including a sermon on the divinity of Christ, smoking cigarettes and chewing betel. The women were intensely interested. The English baptists are making all necessary arrangements to carry on mission work vigorously in the Congo Free State. It is mentioned that Alfred Baynes, Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society has just been to Brussels, and has had a most satisfactory interview with the King of the Belgians regarding the mission and the protection and encouragement which the missionaries expect at the hands of the Government.

The past year was one of steady advance by the Protestant church at home and abroad, and the outlook was never brighter. Protestanism never thought as little of its differences, and has never been so ready to unite in laboring for the salvation of men. The givers in money for missions, and the givers of self, to become workers in the harvest-field are increasing, and the year 1886 promises grand results for the Christian Church. —Gospel in all Lands. Dr. W. W. Scudder of the Arcot, India, Reformed Mission, writes of an unusual event in Madnapple, which has caused a great stir among the natives, not only in that town, but in the surrounding towns. He has baptised a young man of high caste (Bulgee). It is, says Dr. Scudder, the first invasion of the high caste ranks. Every effort has been made to persuade the young man not to break with his caste, but he has proved deaf alike to entreaty and threat. He was formerly an atheist. A lad of seventeen, of the same caste, has also broken caste, and is receiving Christian instruction, A sceptic who was trying to confuse a Christian colored man by contradictory passages in the Bible, asked how it could be that we are in the Spirit and the Spirit m us. He received the following, reply : ‘ Oh, dar’s no puxzle ’bout dat; it’s like dat poker. I puts it in the fire till it gets red. hot. Now, de poker’s in de fire, and de fire’s in de poker.’ - . -