From the Religious Press

A Saint Within Three Degrees.

Rev. W. C. Roberts in The Church Standard says: "There is a class of people, and it is a large one, with whom it is perfectly delightful to live, so long as the thermometer does not vary more than three degrees. If the mercury stays at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or does not sink below sixty-seven degrees, they are reasonable and even pious—their tempers are equable—their spirits are good, their view of life is roseate, and altogether you put them down as just the best people in the world.

"But when the frost gets into the air, never so little, and creeps into the house, to make the thought of chilliness possible, a change comes over them that is pitiful to behold, and painful to contemplate. All the gepiality has departed, the well-rounded nature has changed into a mass of sharp angles, the altruistic spirit has turned to vinegar, and a single hour of companionship with them is sixty minutes of martyrdom—fussiness and fretfulness are in every tone of their voice.

"The same thing occurs, and is perhaps intensified, when the unruly mercury dares to show his head above the 70 degree mark, for by this turn of his magic wand he has changed the lovely being into a panting and abusive creature—taken away every sign of elasticity, put up the bars against every endeavor, and made an overheated self so prominent that it is extremely uncomfortable for any second self to approach."

It is a grave error to declare that the teaching and example of Jesus and the apostles are opposed to definiteness of belief and to plainly enunciated principles. They all were earnestly and emphatically positive and definite in their convictions and in their open avowal of them. Why did Christ come to this world, if not to teach new truths, to oppose old errors, to reform men's lives by presenting for their acceptance precept and rules unlike those on which they were acting? He came to save from erroneous beliefs by imparting instruction that is eternally true.

The Universalist Leader.

Marion Harland in an article in The Congregationalist, headed "The Church Supplanted," criticises the present method of conducting Sunday Schools, and charges that the young people attending them manifest slight interest in the other work of the church. The writer says: "From Maine to California the press, secular and religious, is discussing the question, Why do not our young people go to church? The problem is serious."

The constitution of the Transvaal forbids the public exercise of any form of faith outside that of the Heidelberg Catechism, and explicitly proscribes the Roman Catholics. Only those are eligible for office who are members of the Dutch Reformed Church. No minister of this Church may perform any of the Christian Sacraments for any black man.—The Church Standard.

Rev. G. Campbell Morgan, the English preacher who has been holding a series of meetings in American cities, is said to make a practice of giving at least two days of each week to preaching in different cities and towns in Great Britain in addition to ministering to his own congregation in London.

Arthur Mee in the Puritan for September says that something like 100,000,000 copies of Spurgeon's sermons have been sold at a penny each, and double that number of copies of newspapers containing his sermons have been circulated.

Keep your thoughts clean, your heart pure, and your hands active in good works. Whoever observes this rule is not far from the kingdom of heaven.

The Universalist Leader.

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