Our Work: Prospects and Labors in St. George

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232 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

of "scientific criticism" (sometimes called "."the higher criticism" in order to protect it from the attacks of the vulgar crowd) the Bible has been demolished. Men who are prominent in the pulpit have submitted both their faith and their reason to the conclusions of this "higher criticism'^ —conclusions which are based on suppositions, theories, suggestions and deductions. The German theorizers who have put these deductions forward, modestly call themselves "scientists;" consequently their criticism of the Bible is necessarily "scientific;" and a great many people are ready to fall in with the deductions and theories of the enemies of the Bible simply because the latter have put a tag on their productions and labeled them "scientific." Well, these investigators have just as much right to the tag and label as the venders of patent medicines, who are all the time invoking the name of "science" in behalf of their wares. The right is the same in both cases, and perhaps in both the employment of the term is calculated to deceive a certain portion of the public; but thoughtful people who are not misled by labels which the real scientists of the age the — men who know enough to be able to approach the unknowable with real humility —would repudiate with scorn. Jod Chandler Harris, in Philadelphia Post.

The principle of baptism for the dead is not well understood by the Christian world at the present time. Ministers of the different churches do not seem to understand it, or, at least, they do not mention it in their sermons, nor teach it to the people; yet it is one of the most glorious principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It reaches so far into the past,

and the redemption of so many souls depends upon it, that it becomes of paramount importance to this generation. If it is not preached and practiced, the whole earth will be smitten with a curse at the coming of the Lord. (Mai. 4: 5-6.) "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." This principle, and also that of the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, do not seem to be understood by the Christian world —are not taught in the churches, nor recognized as points of their doctrine. What a mistake this is! — /. 0. Freekleton.

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IN LIGHTER MOOD.

A Serious Implication.—Dr. Macnamara, a noted ex-teacher of Eng-^ land, once asked a boy in a rural school the definition of the word "pil- grim." "A pilgrim," answered the boy, "is a man who travels from place to place." "I do that," said the inspector. "Am I a pilgrim?" The answer came: "No, sir; a pilgrim is a good man."

"Doan Drap 'Em."— An old colored woman of my acquaintance, be- longed to the Methodist Church, though she was the sexton of our church. The Methodists were having a revival, during which this old woman felt called upon to make a prayer. She commenced with the stern spirit of an ancient Puritan, and closed with the tenderness of an old Southern mammy: "Oh, Lawd, tek de sinnahs ob C an shek 'em obah de fiahs ob hell— but please, Lawd, doan drap 'em." Recollections of a Missionary.

The horse looked all right» but he broke down completely as soon as he got over the effects of the pepper he swallowed just before starting* and the candidate arrived after his rival had been nominated, and the convention had adjourned. "Look here. Smith," said the politician, on his return, "you must be training this horse for the New York market. You expect to sell him to an undertaker for a hearse horse, don't you, at a good round price." "No, no!" expostulated the stableman, "he's one of my best horses." "Oh, don't deny it! I know by his gait that you have spent days, training him to pull a hearse; but it's all time wasted. He will prove a dead failure. He's altogether too slow. He couldn't get a corpse to the cemetery in time for the resurrection!" Eobert Waters.