25, 1817, the then generation was first noticed; on May 25, 1834, their successors appeared; again on that date in 1851 came their grandchildren, and their great grandchildren on May 25, 1868. It was in 1715 that these insects were first noticed in Eastern Pennsylvania. The record did not keep for the two succeeding generations, but the third appeared according to expectation in 1766. In 1783 and 1800 the genealogy of those Cicadas who will appear next week was kept unbroken, thus linking it to the Germantown records. The Western Pennsylvania Cicadas are recorded as appearing in 1832 and again in 1883. The period between these dates is a multiple of seventeen. Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia and Fall River, Mass., will also be visited this spring by these curious and comparatively harmless creatures, whose history has been strangely confused with the Biblical plagues of Egypt.-Philadelphia Press.

WHATEVER be the ultimate issue of the negotiations between Great Britain and Russia, the Governments of the two empires have done a deed for which pos terity will thank them. It is no small thing to find great nations, with immense armaments at their disposal, reverting to the humane and Christian plan of arbitration, instead of rushing in hot haste to the bloody and fearful fray. Surely such a step, whether or not it may have a satisfactory ending in this particular case, will tend more than ever to make wars between civilized countries impossible in the future. When will rulers come to see that red and ruinous war cannot settle any quarrel in accordance with the claims of justice; that might may be anything but right; and that God is by no means always on the side of the strongest battalions?- The Christian.

GRANDMOTHER'S LESSON.

The quilting party was over,
The folks had all gone home,
And grandmother was sitting

By the fireside alone,

When the children came in softly,

And clustering round her chair, Waited a talk with grandma

Ere they said their evening prayer. "We are each of us making patchworkAll of us, old and young,

And the pieces are all provided,
And sent to us one by one;
And when they come to us folded,
And we don't know how to turn,
We must just give up our puzzling,
And look to heaven and learn.
"Sometimes our work seems useless,
And with sighs of discontent,
We wish that something greater

For our life work had been sent.
But there's one who watches our labor
With earnest, tender care,

And when we are trying to please Him.
He makes it wondrous fair.

"He will examine our stitches

When the hour of trial shall come,
And He will look to the motive,
And help us to take each one;

And He judges us very kindly,
And allows for the falling tear,
That kept us at times from seeing

How to thread our needles clear.
"You will see that all your pieces
Were cut and prepared for you,
The light and the dark together,

With judgment unerring and true,
And the work that looked the darkest,
Now seems the brightest and best;
So your eyes are no more weary,

But have entered the heavenly rest.

"And then upon seeing the Master, And gazing into His face, You'll forget all about your own work, In His glorious work of grace; And with praises to Him for ever, Your heart will overflow, Till earth's sorrows are all forgotten, And its trials left below." -Monthly Record.

SUMMARY OF NEWS.

N. Y. M.

FOREIGN INTelligence.—Advices from Europe are to the 9th inst.

GREAT BRITAIN.-The Pall Mall Gazette of the 6th stated, "on the highest authority," that the longstanding question of difference between England and Russia concerning the northwest Afghan frontier has been fully and satisfactorily settled. A definite agreement has been attained on all questions of principle. The Commissioners, who are now on the spot, will forthwith begin to mark precisely the delimitation of the boundary. "The Penjdeh incident," (the conflict on the Kushk river), will be referred to the King of Denmark, who has informally consented to act as arbitrator. The arbitration will be rigidly confined to the interpretation of the covenant of Third month 16th.

The House of Commons reassembled on the 4th. W. E. Gladstone, in reply to an inquiry, said that it was not the intention of the Government to establish regular diplomatic relations with the Vatican. The next day he announced as the order of Government business the second reading of the Budget on the 8th ; the consideration of the Scoth Crofters' bill and the bill for the renewal of the Irish Crimes act, remodelled, on the 11th; and the introduction and consideration of an Irish Land Purchase bill as soon as possible.

It was believed that a decided difference of opinion existed in the Cabinet respecting the Irish Crimes act; the Radical members, Dilke and Chamberlain, being opposed to the renewal of the act, while Earl Spencer, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, urged it strongly, and was sustained by the majority of the Ministers. Gladstone, wishing to avoid a disruption in face of an approaching general election, asked the opponents of the bill to accede to Earl Spencer's wishes for one year, and they submitted.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on the 5th in the House of Commons that the extra duty on spirits had been fixed at a shilling a gallon. This, he said, was a reduction which would involve a loss to the revenue of $1,500 000 per annum. The additional duty on beer would be retained until Fifth mo. 31st, 1886, and no other changes in the budget would be made. He thought about $10,000,000 of the recent grant of $55,000,000 would be saved.

The Minister of War, in answer to inquiries, said that the Government hoped it would be unnecessary to detain the guards at Alexandria much longer, but

Correspondence of The Christian Union.

A UNIQUE COMMENCEMENT.

The exercises held at Hampton Institute, yesterday, were markedly different from those of the ordinary college commencement. The most striking of these distinguishing marks was the emphasis laid upon the work already done by each pupil. Hampton says to her students, not merely, "What are your aims, your ideals? what do you mean to do with your life?" but also, "What have you done already? what fruit have the past years borne? what use have you made of your opportunities?" To enable her students to answer these questions the morning was devoted to the regular work of the school, which we were all invited to see. Here, without previous "cramming," the classes were called upon for the ordinary recitations, preceded in one or two cases by a short review, that we might have a general idea of the year's work. Among the recitations of the Senior class, perhaps the most interesting was the time devoted to Literature. Evidently the work of the year has been confined to American literature, and the aim has been to "educate the faculty and cultivate a taste for good reading, rather than to accomplish a set course." In connection with Bryant's poetry his translation of the Iliad had been read with care and with enthusiasm, as was evident when the

CONTENTS.

A Unique Commencement A Saviour, or I Die.... Active and Passive Faith

....

........

Christian Union 721 ..Lyman Abbott 722 Christian Union 723

723 724

..Independent 725

.....

726 727

Foreign Mission Association, Indiana Y. M..
Religious Intelligence
The American College
BOOK NOTICES
Rural..

EDITORIAL.-Isaac Robson-New York Y M. Testimony Concerning the Ordinances-Ministry and Eldership-Dublin, London and Canada Y. M-The Bible as a Text BookGuidance in Bible Study-Haverford College-Friends' Freedmen's Association.......

Earlham College Orations and Declamations.
Notice
DEATHS..

728 730

... 730 ....... 730 731

New York Yearly Meeting, concluded.
CorrespondENCE.-White's Institute-Ministers and Elders.. 732
Address on Constitutional Prohibition, continued..... F. L. Baily 733
Items.....

POETRY.-Ruth's Gleanings-Memories...
SUMMARY OF NEWS...

......

735

........ 735

.....

736

teacher called for the individual favorites among the characters of this poem. As we followed the recitations, the first impression of the practical nature of the instruction given and the good record of the students, was deepened. We saw the Senior and middle classes in practice teaching, where they acquitted themselves well and proved to us that they were to go out with a firm foundation laid for good teachers. The Indian department, too, answered Hampton's questions bravely; an opportunity was given to see the steady development of these boys and girls from the first lessons in English, almost confined to object lessons, in which they were learning to speak, read, and write such sentences as, I put tea and coffee in my cup," and "I eat with my fork," up to advanced lessons in history and geography. Besides the work with their minds, each student has some work with his hands to answer for. The students in the Indian department work one half of each day, and study the other half; the Normal students study four days of each week, working the other two; and the "night students" work all day, studying for two hours each evening. In order that this part of their education might be inspected, the industrial departments were open for a part of the morning, and an exhibit was made in one of the buildings of the results of the year's work. Here were gathered farm products, tin-ware, wood-carving, shoes

from the shoe-factory, carts and wagons from the "repair shops," and mittens from the knittingroom, arranged in an artistic monogram. To each exhibit was attached a card giving a statement of the number of students employed and the amount of work accomplished. What one of our Northern schools could bear such a test as this in all its departments?

At noon the work ceased, and there was the customary march to dinner, which was a very pretty sight, for the girls, dressed in the light calicoes to which they are limited on commencement day, were escorted by two military companies of boys in their dark-blue school uniform. While the students were at dinner, a lunch was served to the guests of the school, and immediately afterward we proceeded to the gymnasium, where the commencement exercises were held. The very appearance of this building was stimulating. Before us sat the students, almost six hundred in number, earnest men and women, most of them. The audience crowded the building, and it was a noticeable fact that a number of those present were friends of the students-families of colored people. Here the spirit of the school was not lost sight of. Out of the nine addresses given four were by graduates of the school. One of them had been teaching six years, and was called back to account for his time; one, who spoke to us on "Our People in Southwestern Virginia," graduated in 1877, and has since been teaching while studying the needs of his race.

I wish the readers of The Christian

Union might have heard that address-fair, intelligent, stirring. What student of Yale or Harvard could answer creditably, as did the graduate of '84, to the call: "You have had one year of work— what have you done to elevate men? what help have you given your people?" One of these graduates told us that when he began his teaching, his schoolhouse was not large enough or sufficiently comfortable for his pupils. Thanks to his Hamp ton training, he obtained materials and enlarged it himself! The result of the study another had been making is that he urges the need of education. His people, he says, are taking advantage of the opportunities offered them. Religiously they are advancing, they are leaving the darkness of superstition and looking for light; politically "they will be the dupes of political tricksters, who will use them for their own selfish ends, so long as they remain in ignorance; they must have educa tion and be besought to keep out of politics until they are intelligent."

The appeal for "Citizenship for the Indian" made by a member of the graduating class, was a proof of what can be done for the Indian, and what the United States owes him. I quote from his address, delivered with a manly straightforwardness which betokened calm thought in its preparation and the earnestness of the speaker: "This question of citizenship has been in the minds of many friends of the Indian, and it has even been before the House of Congress. This is a pretty good proof that the day is coming, when he is better

prepared, that the Indian will have given to him the right which will make him feel as a man ought to feel. I think that then the trouble with the Indian will cease; that instead of holding in his bosom a hatred for his white brethren, he will love them and be ready to support the laws and the flag of the Union." This was supplemented by the words of an Indian girl in her essay on the Indian woman: "How do you think we like the treatment we have had?" she said. "If a boy whips a cat with one hand and feeds it with the other, does the cat stay and enjoy the food? The United States comes to us with rations in one hand and soldiers in the other. Are we to blame if we don't like the policy?"

When the forty members of the graduating class stepped on to the platform to take their diplomas from the hand of the Vice-President of the Board of Trustees, the Rev. M. E. Strieby, D.D., of New York, many of those in the audience must have felt with the gentleman who answered, when some one asked him whether he had enjoyed the exercises, "Don't ask me to talk about it! Twenty years have made such changes here as we never dreamed of, and such proof as this of the magnificence of General Armstrong's work cannot be quietly discussed." H. V.

Hampton, Va., May 22d, 1885.

A SAVIOUR, OR I DIE.

Sin is a greater gulf between God and man than ignorance; and sacrifice bridges this gulf, as revelation that. The high priest must offer sacrifice for his own sins, and for those of his people, before he could enter the Holiest of all. The minister must suffer for his own sins, and for those of his people, before he can either come nigh to God or bring them nigh to him. He must sow his seed with tears if he would bring any sheaves with rejoicing. I cannot enter here into any philosophy of sacrifice; I do not, indeed, care to; I have none to expound. But nothing is a religion which has not written into it vicarious sacrifice-suffering for the sake of others. It is in vain to tell me that God is good and will forgive me; he has so constituted me that I cannot forgive myself. Something must be done by me or for me before I can be at peace. And no religion ever yet gave peace to the soul burdened by remorse, unless it either imposed a penance for selfinfliction, or pointed to penalty endured by suffering love to take its place. The only religion which has ever evoked the strains of peace from sin-burdened hearts is the Christian religion. For it is the only religion which has satisfied the yearning of the soul for some penance or penalty borne by or for the sinful one. The figure of blood cleansing away a stain is one of singular contradiction, rhetorically. It is one dreadful to contemplate if it is translated into a cold and literal philosophy. But it gives peace to the soul sinburdened. The cry from every pagan temple is a cry of pain; the song from every Christian church is a song of triumph and of peace. "By His

blood," by the glad self-sacrifice of His life, Christ has taken away the sin separation, as by the glory of His character He has taken away the ignorance separation, leaving to us, as a glorious inheritance, the right to share in his sufferings, to be made conformable to his death, to take up our cross and follow Him, to fill up what is lacking in His sufferings, to continue and complete His sacrifice and His divine manifestation-complete it by perpetually typifying it and pointing back to it, as the ancient sacrifice typified and pointed forward to it. All rituals interpret these two great facts-priesthood and sacrifice; all true preaching has them for its theme; all true living reflects and reiterates them; and nothing is religion which does not embody them.-Lyman Abbott.

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE FAITH.

Salvation and sanctification are descriptive of character; the first a character begun, the second a character completed. Character can never be furnished ready made. Virtue is never, and never can be vicariously achieved for another. Vicarious suffering is the law of the universe; but vicarious righteousness?-never! The mother suffers for her child; and by her suffering she saves him. But no courage of mother can serve for courage in a cowardly boy, no purity of mother for purity in a sensual boy. Righteousness can never be put on from without. It must grow from within.

The do nothing theory of salvation and sanctification has no real warrant in Scripture. The direction to do nothing was never given by Christ, nor by Paul. When Peter, amazed at the draught of fishes, fell at Christ's feet and cried, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord! the Lord did not reply, do nothing, only believe; he replied, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. When, later, the recreant disciple had denied his Lord, the Lord did not say to him, You can do nothing toward conforming your life to the standard set before my redeemed ones. He said, Lovest thou me? then feed my sheep. When the woman taken in adultery lifted her shrinking eyes to the Saviour, as he rose from his writing on the ground after the last accuser had left, he did not say to her, "Trust in me to do all that you need;" he said, "Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more." Do nothing? To what a battle, with all the influence of evil associates dragging her down, and all Pharisaic purity pushing her down, did these words invite her! When Siul cries out, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" the Lord did not rebuke the question, but bade the questioner go into Damascus, and there it should be told him what he should do. Ask Isaiah the conditions of salvation and sanctification: "Cease to do evil; learn to do well." Ask Paul: "Put to death, therefore, your members which are upon the earth." Ask Peter: "Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Ask John: "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second

death." These are not the advocates of a donothing faith-cure, of a passive righteousness.Christian Union.

Semi-Annual Report of the Work of Friends' Foreign Mission Association of Indiana Yearly Meeting in Mexico.

To Friends:-Distinctly marked providential circumstances are the miracles of to-day to make known God's dealings with the children of men. In our last annual report we said: "What is possible, is to es tablish a boarding school (for girls at Matamoras) with a suitable complement of teachers." We needed for this, $2,500; the committee decided it was necessary; guidance had been asked; prayer followed decision, and the Lord put it in the heart of our dear friend, C. G. Hussey, of Pittsburg, Pa, to send us the entire amount. We gratefully accept it, and our faith recognizes the hand which guided and blessed. The lot has been purchased and preparation for building commenced.

THE WORK.

The following is from the Semi-Annual Report of Samuel A. Purdie, our resident missionary at Matamoras, Mexico:

MATAMORAS.

"Meeting for Worship.-The attendance at our meeting for worship has been considerably increased, owing to the increased interest in the Bible-school and day school re-acting upon the church.

"A New Bible school has been opened on 'Plaza de la Capilla,' adjoining a Catholic Chapel. Besides those for whose special benefit the school was begun, from twenty to thirty-five of our regular Bible-school scholars came, and it became necessary to tell them that we would prefer that they did not come, as we had not seats enough for all, and wished to have those present who had no other religious instruction. This is only another evidence of how we are pressed for room in every branch.

"The Week Night Bible Class has been well attended; not one session missed even in the time of

mud and Northers.

"The Sabbath-School.-There are two new classes. The lowest attendance has been 85, the highest 95. The greater part of those who attend the Bible-school, also attend the meeting for worship.

"The Boys' School. This school has not increased in numbers, because the present school-room would not admit any more. We have refused twelve applicants this month. As far as numbers are concerned the school might be increased indefinitely. There was a slight falling off in the average attendance during the cold weather, but as there was no way of warming the room, and the excellent ventilation which the children could hardly be blamed for not coming, it enjoyed allowed free entrance to the Northers, for if we opened the door we admitted the cold; if we closed it, we shut out the light, and whether we opened it or not, we were pretty sure to get wet; there being so many leaks in the roof we found it difficult to get a dry place for the books."

We commend the subject of a building for a Boys' School to the thoughtful consideration of those who are interested in the work in Mexico. The present building is entirely inadequate to the demand upon us, and now that we are assured of proper accommodations for the girls, we earnestly desire that before another winter we may be able to furnish a schoolroom in which there may be light, warmth, and proper