house, conversing, praying, selling, when he can, the best works of the best minds and hearts of Christendom, and giving where he cannot sell. May God speed the work! If to the rich and the surfeited, it does not seem to bless them, let them bear in mind that it does help the and the needy, and so fulfils the word of the Master: "The poor have the gospel preached to them." poor The Universalist. We take the following from a letter from a colporteur in Northern Iowa, whose labours are generally away from churches and Christian people, and among those who are either destitute of gospel privileges, or indifferent to them. After speaking of the scarcity of money and dimin ished sales, which do not, however, prevent his going from house to house, leaving suitable tracts, and small books, and conversing, and praying with the people, he writes as follows: "Yesterday I passed through a settlement of Universalists, where I sold Universalism False, &c. The man to whom I sold it said it was a lie from first to last. I asked him how he knew that, as he had never read it? He said he had read other books of the same kind which were lies. "What lies are in them?' I asked. "Well,' he replied, they teach eternal punishment.' "I answered that the Bible did the same thing. He denied this, and said the Bible taught everlasting punishment. I then asked him to explain the difference between eternal and everlasting. 66 6 Eternal,' he said, 'means that which never ceases to exist.' "Very well,' I replied, and when will anything that lasts for ever cease to exist?' "Everlasting,' he replied, 'means age-lasting, not eternal.' "But,' said I, 'that doesn't answer my question. When will anything that lasts for ever cease to exist?' "He couldn't tell when, but said that every scholar knew the difference between eternal and everlasting. The things that were everlasting would cease to exist, while those that were eternal would always exist. "Very well,' I answered, 'we read in the Bible, "from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God." Now according to your theory, a time will come when God will cease to exist; it may be millions of years hence, but it will come. Who then will govern the universe? There will then be no alternative but for some 'eternal' Universalist to grasp the reins of government. "That sir,' I responded, 'is, I presume, your strongest argument for universal salvation.' "He said he believed the Bible taught that doctrine. "I then asked if he believed the Bible, to which he replied, 'Decidedly I do.' "So does the Devil,' I answered, he believes and trembles. You believe and don't tremble, and this may be the chief difference between you and him.' "I then gave him Dr. Jacobus's little work on 'Universal Salvation,' and a few tracts, and we parted good friends. "J. S. L." NEW BOOKS.-We would call the attention of working Christians to two books recently issued, to which were awarded the prizes offered by the Presbyterian Publication Committee; "Heavenward Bound," the book for the instruction of Young Converts, price 75 cents, and "Peace for the Troubled," the book to guide the inquirer, price 15 cents in paper, and 25 cents in muslin covers. DONATIONS RECEIVED FOR THE MISSIONARY FUND OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, SINCE LAST ACKNOWLEDGMENT. BOARD OF CHURCH ERECTION. Corresponding Secretary, Rev. H. R. WILSON, D.D., 30 Vesey Street, New York. DONATIONS TO THE BOARD OF CHURCH ERECTION, JULY 1870. Pby of Cedar-Hermon ch 6 10; Princeton ch 4; Pby of Rochester-Moscow ch 6; West Mendon ch 10 16.00 Pby of Washington-Lower Buffalo ch 4 50; Fairview ch 11 40; Forks of Wheeling ch 79; Wolf Run ch 5 99 9J Pby of Northumberland-Grove ch 24; Bloomsburg ch 65 75; Mahoning ch, Danville 24 11; Washingtonville ch 9; Derry ch 2; Chilisquaque ch 12 136 86 Pby of Baltimore-Taneytown ch 7 86; Barton ch 9; Cumberland en 25 85 42 71 Pby of Genesee River-Sparta ch 5 75; Geneseo Central ch 22 04 27 79 Ply of Monmouth-Bordentown ch 3 25; Manchester ch 6 ch 3 40 18 25.00 Pby of Crawfordsville-Union ch 6; Crawfords- 89 25 Pleasant 8 60 Pby of Sidney-Union City ch 9 29; Pequa 1st ch 9.25 Ply of Peoria-French Grove ch 5; Brunswick ch 3; Delavan ch 23 10; Lewistown ch 32 21 63 31 Pby of North River-Smithfield ch 10; Kingston 51 15 56 00 4.00 39.00 Pby of Carlisle-Emmittsburg ch 20 12; Gettysburg ch and Sab-sch 21 42; Piney Creek ch 12 50; Green Castle chr 55; Paxton ch 12 . 121 04 Pby of Fairfield-Lafayette ch 3; Fairfield ch 9.25 Pby of Chester-Oxford ch Pby of Columbus, O.-Lithopolis ch Pby of Wooster-West Salem ch 3 78; 12 25 58 26 13 80 10.00 6 40 5.00 Jackson Co 12.40 18 79 Chippe way ch 9 75 13 53 44 10 Pby of Erie-Mercer ch 19; Oil City ch 15 25 00 85.00 34 23 Phy of Winnebago-Weyauwega ch 2.50 Pby of Michigan-Grand Rapids, Westminster ch 19 59 Pby of Louisville-Chesnut St ch, Louisville Pby of Maumee-West Bethesda ch 5; Delta ch 4; Toledo 1st ch 14 35 23 35 10 00 Fby of Winnebago-Depere ch 12 43 85 Pby of Schuyler-Ebenezer ch 13; Camp Creek ch 10; Bushnell ch 3 26 00 Poy of New Brunswick-Trenton 4th ch 50; Cranberry 2d ch 10: New Brunswick 1st ch 58 31; Lawrenceville ch 69; Trenton 1st ch 125 312 31 Pby of Huntingdon-Milesburg ch 11 61; Snow- Pby of Winona-Albert Lea ch 8 50; Owatonna Pby of Steubenville-Uricksville ch 6; Canons- Poy of New Castle-Green Hill ch 10 50; 108 25 Phy of Cayuga-Port Byron ch 75.00 Phy of Ottawa-Ottawa ch 12.00 7 00 12.00 13 97 3.70 The following contributions were received in May and June, by the former Ministerial Relief Fund, before consolidation. St Joseph. Mo. Westminster Pres ch, Greenville, NY, Pres ch, Chicago, Ill. 1st Pres ch, $2,344 88 CHARLES BROWN, Treasurer, Office, No. 1331 Chestnut Street, Phila $11.80 Byron, N Y, Pres ch, 6.00 10 00 Upper Alton, ill. Pres ch 3. 00 182 25 Brooklyn, NY, Classon Ave Pres ch, 175 75 Fredonia, NY, from Rev ES Wright, D D 10 00 Cuba, NY, Pres ch. 10 00 Galena. Ill, 1st Pres ch. 11 05 Shakopee, Minn, 1st Pres ch, Bloomington, Ind. 2d Pres ch Pleasant Ridge, Ohio, "A Friend," Northumberland, Pa, Pres ch. Philadelphia. Pa, Mantua 1st Pres ch Humboldt, Kansas. Pres eh, Harbor Creek, Pa. Pres ch, 500 Jordan, NY, Pres ch, 9 00 Apple River, Ill. Pres ch, West Nantmeal. Pa, Pres ch, 20.00 Troy, NY, 1st Pres ch, 5.00 82.00 7.00 46 30 Centreville, NY, Pres ch 1870.] General Assembly's Committee on Freedmen. 215 GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S COMMITTEE ON FREEDMEN. Rev. A. C. MCCLELLAND, Cor. Secretary. REV. JAS. ALLISON, D.D., Treasurer, Lock Box 43, Pittsburgh, Pa. WM. Main, Esq., Receiving Agent, 907 Arch street, Philadelphia. The Want of the Work. Not fields "white already to harvest," nor labourers ready to reap, both these are numerous; the former waiting, the latter pressing to enter. The want is money to pay the labourers the hire of which they are worthy. The reconstructed work of the Committee, with but few exceptions, is being reduced to that which is strictly parochial, i.e. church and school united. But never, we believe, has the work of the Presbyterian Church among Freedmen been so sorely pressed for money to meet its absolute wants as at present, and the Committee most earnestly asks liberal contributions to its treasury from every congregation, and every individual, in connection with the Church, which has committed to its care not only a great and good work, but this with a present pressing pecuniary emergency involved. Fire at Sea. On Tuesday afternoon, at close of the late term-time, Rev. J. II. Bates, Misses Jennie Woolcott, C. A. Lyon, Kate Moorhead, and Florence Bausman, all missionaries in South Carolina under care of our Committee, took passage at Charleston, on the large and splendid iron steamer Tennessee, to spend vacation at home, or among their friends in the North. With weather-tight compartments, steam pipes, and pumps, the vessel was deemed well guarded against the perils of both water and fire. She was freighted mainly with cotton, had also some rice and rosin, and earried over fifty passengers, who, with such excellent accommodations and appliances for safety, anticipated a pleasant voyage, and as the evening wore into the night, one by one retired to their state-rooms for rest. But about midnight, "Get out that hose! lively boys!" in a subdued tone, was the overheard utterance of an officer, while the unrolling of coils along the deck followed. "What's the matter?" asked an awakened passenger of one already on the alert. "I think she's caught, they are getting ready to pump water down her hold," was the reply, indicating, but too plainly, that there was fire below. Fire had, indeed, "caught" in her cotton; how, so far as we have yet learned, remains a mystery. At once, steam and water, of the latter four streams, were turned into the hold, and the vessel headed for land, which was now about thirty miles distant. Officers, crew, and passengers, did their utmost to extinguish the fire, but in vain. The smouldering flame increased, and "the ordeal of smoke and steam" became more and more intense. Those holding the discharge pipes below were soon compelled to ascend. Men jumped down and attempted to close the hatch, only to be driven above almost suffocated. The closing was effected only by the lowering of wet sail-cloth. Smoke and steam forced their way into the engine-room. The engineers and firemen were obliged to relieve each other by short turns of fifteen minutes each, and with hatches closed, and the full force of steam and water turned into the hold, the night wore on with great hope, not only of no loss of life, but even of saving the steamer. At length the day dawned, but with no land in sight. Amid an atmosphere of |