THE RELIGIONS OF THE COLONY.

We .take the foliovv’ng interesting analy sis of the-religious beliefs of the New Zealand.'people from the ‘‘New Zealand Wesley &h ” for the month. The figures have been supplied by the census returns of the colony for 1878: “ It will be matter of surprise to many that, in a European population of less than half a million, nearly 100 different sects , and denominations liave been enrolled. In some pf these, the number is exceeding ly small,' 'but the Vecord is interesting as showings the .vagaries of religious belief, and the tenacity with which men cling to their, opinions.. One solitary brother calls himself’a ‘Dawsonite,’ and by his side there" stand ;a‘ Congregational Methodist,’ an y a “ Glassite,’ and a ‘ Trinitarian,’ each being the only repre sentative of the body. The ‘ Church of the Future ’ has four men and three wo men, upon its roll,. while the ‘ Church of God;’, so called, has seventeen. • “Consideringtlie noise Spiritualists make in the oolony, .and the space they occupy in the 'newspapers, one is surprised to find that only 52 have so enrolled themselves. Probably some have not the courage of tlieirf Opinions, and it may be that others whoUbehevedn, spiritism still remain mem bers of other churches.. So far as these returns show,_ the number of Mormons — fifty-seven—-is in excess of the Spiritists. “A somewhat ominous sign of the times, and ah evidence of the general unsettled ness in'matters of creed, is that so large a proportion as 10,564—0 r one in 40 of the whole "population— ‘ object to state ’ their' belief. - As against this 30 have the courage to avow s themselves Atheists, 7 dub themselves Materialists, and 490 are Freethinkers; Nineteen persons ten men afid nine women-—are evidently seek ing'more-light, for they subscribe them selves . ‘Free ,to choose. ’ ‘‘ There are in the colony 1424 Jews, 39 Mahometans, while, a field for Missionary effort. is revealed by the entry ‘ 4379 Pagans.* " The ‘ Catholic and Apostolic Church,>q founded, hy. the late Edward Irving, has 55 adherents, and there are also 5 Huguenots'or; French , Pyotestants. “.Taken.in numericalorder, the Church of'England,' attd'Protestants not otherwise defined, comds'first, .with 176,337, or 42.55 percent. of the whole population. Next followi-ihe Presbyterians with 95,103, or 22.59'per cent.;. Roman Catholics, 58,881, or 14. 21 per cent.; and Methodists, 37,879, or‘9.l4'per'Cent;' No other denomination number 10,000, those who come nearest to that‘being Baptists, 9159; Congrega tional Independents, 5555; and Lutherans, 5643. In view of the fact that the Pagans, composed chiefly of Chinese, show a de crease of 8: 08 ’per cent, during the'four years, there scarcely seems any need' for agitation'abouttheir coining. ' ; “ The'proportional increase of the ad herents of the several churches from 1874 tQ ; 1878 shows the Methodists to stand first with 50.20 per cent. The others follow in this ratio: Roman Catholics, 45.85; Lu therans, 44 17; Baptists, 44.12; Church of England, 38.66; Presbyterians, 31.22; and Independents, 2.10: It will be somewhat of l a surprise to mariy that in the City of Dunedin, usually reputed as “ trueblue” throughout; there are A almost as many Episcopalians as Presbyterians, the num bers being Presbyterians, 7658, and Episcopalians, 6736.” .. .

RETROSPECT.

I satlalone .with my , conscience, In a place where time had ceased, And we talked of my former being Tt> adarid where the years increased

And I felt I should have to answer

The question it put to me, And : face:the answer and question ‘’"Throughout eternity ......

The-ghosts of forgotten actions. Came floating before my" sight; And things that I thought were dead things 8 Were Alive with/a terrible might.

And the vision of all my past life Was an awful thing to face —- Albfie with my conscience sitting i In that solemnly silent place.

i'And I thought of a, far away warning, ■ Of a sorrow that was to be mine, ■ (Ip-aHndthat then was the future,.-, now-was the present, time. ■ XIHAOH ill,O', j. Y. And I thought of my former thinking ov Of the judgment day; to be^r-, .; But sitting’alone with my conscience " £ Seemed judgment enough to' me. .

And ! wondered if there was a future 1 .To, this land beyond the grave ; But no oiie came to answer, - No 6n6 came to save.

Thun I felt that the future was present, Jnd the present would never go by ; it was but the thought of my past life ■4;. Crown into eternity. T.l iff ff ;‘v. '

Then I; awoke from my timely dreaming, And the vision faded away ; i . And I! knew that the far away warning Was a warning of yesterday.

■And I pray that I may not forget it In this land before the grave, That I may not cry in the future, And no one come to save.

Now I have learned a lesson, Which I ought to have known before, : And which, though I learned it in dream . I’ll remember evermore. * [ing.

So I sit alone .with my conscience, In the place where the years increase, And I try to remember the future In the land where time shall cease.

1 And I know of the future judgment, . Then whensoe’er it be To sit alone with my conscience ' Will be judgment enough for me. ' : —London Spectator,

SPURGEON ON PRAYER FOR FINE WEATHER.

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Sunday, July 13, Mr. C; H: Spurgeon, preaching from the text, .Hosea v. 15, “I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their' offence, and seek My face : in their affliction they will seek Me early,” referred to what he designated our “national troubles.” He said: No one will deny that our country is passing through a time of great and grievous ad versity. We have been perplexed now for many months and for some years with the perpetual rumors of war. No man knew when he went to bed at night but what the journal of the morning would inform him that we had plunged into some great war with certain of the greater Powers of: Europe.: Our polifcy has been such, whether wise or not, that we have been constantly on the verge of imperill ing ourselves in long and serious conflicts, and this of itself is a . serious injury to the prosperity of any country, for trade and commerce swim in the waters of peace, and,when these waters are lashed with storms, or -when the breath of the' rumor of war disturbs them, your trade and commerce are seriously injured. In addition to this, we have been engaged in two wars in which it was impossible for us to gain honor, since it was the mighty going to war with the weak —in which the laurels tliat we "gained; "if there had been any, would have been unworthy to put upon the brow of a great nation. But disaster has followed upon the heels of disaster, and, what is often forgotten, this has to be paid for, not only with the blood of our soldiers, but with the sinew and the muscle of our working men. That which ought ito; have gone to the arts and i tb;the progress of civilisation-has been thrown like huge masses of' flesh into the mouth of the lion to be devoured, and shameful waste, I fear, may be fol lowed by shocking want, unless God in his mercy shall interpose. On the back of all this war has come depression in trade. You cannot enter anybody’s house but what there is complaining ; even the most cheerful of men begin at last to look very serious, to wonder whether they shall be able to “provide things honest in the sight of all men. ” They labor and they toil, but their care is little repaid. Some branches of industry seem to be utterly paralysed, ;with little prospect of being revived, and the land itself, notwithstanding that it is not so bad as some would make it, hath never theless come under a cloud of an unusually dark and lowering character. And as if this were not enough, the weather refuses to assist the processes of husbandry. Probably the crop of. hay that was needful for the cattle has gone, and may scarcely be looked for, and now great peril is upon the corn. In some places it has probabl suffered little as yet, but a continuance o such weather must .deprive us of the most precious fruits of'the earth, and. men are beginning to cry out about it, and there is a request that there should be prayers put up in all the churches, that God would be pleased to look upon the land and deliver us iii this hour of trouble. In the first matter, that of war, we may, by God’s goodness,; 'get out of that. It may be possible that better principles may come to the front, and we may no longer be the universal snarlers aad growlers at - every nation under heaven. But as to the other two matters, what can we do ! We are powerless to quicken trade, we are certainly powerless to stay the bottles of heaven. If God wills it, the clouds will “ return after the rain,”, and deluge will follow deluge till ' the farmer’s..hope is : swept; away., Prayer is therefore asked, and by some' it is asked ;as if it were quite . certain that;if prayers ! were put up the rain would' cease and the weather would be changed. Ido not think it. I know' of many reasons why it may be possible that prayers, and such prayers as they are likely to be, will not be heard ; but, instead thereof, the threatened judgment of God may come upon us. God is a prayer-hearing God, but not always doth He answer us just according to our mind. We must not put much confidence in prayers which will probably be sincere in the mouths of a tenth of . the people-—I wish I could hope as much as that—and that will by others be regarded as absolutely ridicu lous, and by many more as a mere matter of form which it is proper to use, but in which no confidence 'whatever can be placed. Do not therefore say, if the rain should continue for a month to gether, that prayer was ordered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and God did not hear it. No ; but see what kind of prayer it is, and how little connected it will be with confession, how little it will be genuine, and how -‘little--it will be true, and then you will not wonder if my text is true in our own case. What, then, is to be done ? This is to be done ; all hope for a country lies in the true believers in the midst of it. Remember Sodom, and how it would have been spared had there been ten righteous found there. Let us, then, make confession of sin. As the high priest went before God bearing the sin of the people, so act you as a priest before God in your quiet, retired personal prayer, and there confess the sins of the nation. If it will not repent, repent for it; stand as a sort of consecrated sponsor before God, and let the sin lie on your heart till it break it, and you repent before the Most High.

The Song of the Lark.

(Sunday Magazine.)

Above our heads, almost invisible, poises a lark, singing his “ profuse strains of unpremeditated art.” The tuneful speck is half a mile above us, yet every note and trill falls clear, and sweetly on the ear. The little vocal cords within his throat, - which constitute his lyre, are scarce a third of an inch in length ; yet their vibration fills the air with melody; On every side for half a mile his song is heard, and thus he fills a sphere of air a mile in diameter with music. Music, and indeed all sound, is the effect produced upon our ears by vibrations or tremors of a certain frequency. Hence every particle of air in the mile-wide sphere is pulsating in unison with the lark’s small vocal cords. A cubic foot of air at this time of the year weighs about 400 grains, and the number of cubic feet which are taking up the song amount to tens of thousands of millions. How is this stupendous result brought about by such apparently inadequate means '! The answer is simple. When tiie vocal .cords in the throat of the lark are set vibrating like harp-strings, the particles of air' in contact therewith are

violently driven forward, and by their elasticity spring back again to their ori ginal position. During their forward motion they impinge upon the particles of air in front of them, which are in conse quence similarly driven forward, and in like manner recover themselves by virtue of their elasticity. This process is con tinued, each particle driving its neighbour forward and then returning to its former station. It thus appears that while every particle of air swings to and fro over a very small space, the pulsation or vibra tion is carried onwards and outwards in every direction. Finally, the throbbing particles reach our ears, and impinging upon a beautiful apparatus therein, yield up their motion, which is carried on to the brain, where it produces the sensation of sound.

CHARLES DICKENS’ CREED.

Dickens preached—not in church, not. from a pulpit, but a gospel which the people understood—the gospel of kind ness, sympathy—in a word humanity. His creed may be found in the following beautiful extracts on the subjects of death : Tale of Two Cities, Book 2, Chap. 21. “ Even when golden hair lay in a halo on the pillow, round the worn face of a little boy, he said with a radiant smile, ‘ Dear papa and mamma, I am very sorry to leave you both and to' leave my pretty sister, but I am called away and I must go. ’ Thus the rustling of an angel’s wings got blended with the other echoes, and had in them the breath of heaven.” Ibid, Book 2, Chap. 14. “ There is no time there, and no trouble there. The spare hand does not tremble ; nothing worse than a sweet, bright con stancy is in her face. She goes next be fore him—is gone.” Nicholas Nickleby, Chap. 58. “ The dying boy made answer ‘ I shall soon be there.’ He spoke of beautiful gardens that stretched out. before him, and were filled with figures of many men, and many children, all with light upon their faces ; then whispered that it was Eden, and so .died. ” Bleak House, Chap. 47. 1 “It’s turned very dark, sir ; is there any light a-coming ? The cart is shaken all to pieces, and the rugged road is very near to its end. I’m a-gropin’—a gropin’ -—let me catch hold of your hand. Hallowed be thy name. ‘ Dead ! my lords and gentlemen. Dead! men and women born with heavenly compassion in your hearts. And dying thus around us every day !’ ” Ibid, Chap. 65. “ He slowly laid his face down oh her bosom, drew his arm closer round her neck, and with one parting sob began the World. Not this world. Oh, not this! The world that sets this right. ” j David Copperfield, Chap. 9. ! “ ‘lf this is sleep, sit by me while I sleep ; turn me to you, for your face is going far off, and I want it to be near. ’ And she died like a child that had gone to sleep.:/(]; Ibid, Chap. 30. ! “Time and the world were slipping from beneath him. He’s going out with the tide.. *.*...** Audit being low water, he went out with the tide.” . .r:o3.*io:c; ZiXuJyssai:.

Ibid, Chap. 53,

| “‘Don’t cry; is my chair there, in its jold place 1 * * * * That face so full of pity and of grief that would .appeal to me, that solemn hand, upraised towards heaven ! It is over.”

| Martin. Chuzzlewit, Chap. 19. i “ One new mould was there, which had .not been'there last night. Time, burrow ing like a mole below the ground, had marked his track by throwing up another heap of earth. ” ■' Old Curiosity Shop, Chap. 71. “ She was dead. No sleep so beautiful and calm, so free from trace of. pain, so fair to look upon. She seemed a creature fresh from the hand of God, and waiting for the breath of' life, not one who had lived and suffered death. She was past all help or need of it. We will not wake her.” Hard Times , Chap. 9. “ The hand soon stopped in the midst 'of them ; the light that had always been feeble and dim behind the weak trans parency, went out.” Dombey a?id Son , Vol.l, Chap. 1. “ For a moment the closed eyelids trembled ; and the faintest shadow of a smile was seen. Thus clinging to that slight spar within her arms, the mother drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls around the world. ” . Ibid, Chap 17. “It’s very near the sea, I hear the. waves! The light about the head is shining on me as I go !’ The old, old fashion that came in with our first gar ments, and will last unchanged until our race has run its course, and the wide firmament is rolled up like a scroll. Oh ! thank God for that old fashion yet of immortality ! And look upon us, angels of your children, when the swift river bears us to the ocean.” Ibid, Chap. 34. “ In this round world of so many circles within circles, do we make a weary jour ney from the high grade to the low to find at last that they lie close together, that the two extremes touch, and that our journey’s end is but our starting place J” Cricket on the Hearth, Chap. 2. “ A cricket sings upon the hearth ; a broken child’s toy lies upon the ground, and nothing else remains. ”

Healthy. —No less than twenty pages of a late Victorian “Gazette” are filled with the names of selectors in arrear with their rents, under various sections of the Land Act. An Aristocratic Policeman. —lt is said there is a baronet in the Melbourne police who receives a handsome monthly remittance, and continues to be a con stable apparently from mere force of habit. An actor with a very homely face was once acting Mithridates, when a beautiful captive said to him, “ My lord you change your countenance. ” Theodore Hook, who was in the pit, exclaimed, “Don’t stop him—don’t stop him ! For Heaven’s sake, let him ! ” j:

IHE ASHBURTON HERALD.

“Monday* October 6, 1879,

Printed and published by Horace John Weeks and Charles Dixon, at their Printing Office, East Street, Ashburton Monday, October, 6 1879,



Holloway's Ointment and Pills. — During the late autumn, when the atmospheicr changes are.alike sudden and extreme, it is a subject for grave and serious consideration how ■ ? the health can be best preserved. An occasional alternative, like these Pills, will be the surest preventative of disease because it overcomes all derangements ot the system, purifies and regulates the circulation, and gives that needful energy to the nbfyous structures which carries the frame triumphantly through trials to which the weak and sicklyhYoultfsuccumb. Neuralgic pains and rheuma’ic agonies derive present and - permanent relief from diligent friction with -1 Holloway’s Ointment, which, acting as a derivative, releases the gorged and irritated bipod vessels from congestion, and the nerves Ji om" pressure. —Advt. ...



IShbolesftle and Eetiil'Stationers, &c.‘ ' ™—™ ~ ■ = ~rz r ~ — l —r— BOOKS! BOOKS! Clearing out sale i ’; ■ * •' - " ( i ' ; : : . r I ’* : Reduction of ss. in the Pound. WEEKS AND DIXON jg>EG to call special attention to their Clearing-Out Sale of the undermentioned Books, at a Great Reduction on former prices, in order to effect a Speedy Clearance, as they intend giving up the Book Trade, and carry on the Stationery and Account Book Business on a more extensive scale. Particular attention is invited to their Large and Varied Assortment of Church Services, Wesleyan and Presbyterian Hymn Books, some of which are in Very Elegant Bindings, all to be Sold Out at 25 per cent, reduction. REDUCED PRICE .LIST. -



The Little Camp on Eagle Hill, 3s. 6d. Sceptres and Crowns, 3s. 6d. Fairy Stories with a Purpose, 2s. Marco Yisconte, 2s. lOd. Sydney Stuart, 2s. 4d. Aunt Martha’s Corner Cupboard, 3s. 6d. In India, 3s. 6d. Little Mercy, an Australian Temperance Tale, 3s. 6d. Favorite Fairy, Tales, 2s. Bd. The Fairy Spinner, 3s. Hall’s Vineyard, a Temperance Tale, 3/6 Too Good for Anything, 2s. 4d. Prince Übbeley Bubble, 3s. The Lost Father, 4s. Miss Roberts’ Fortune, 2s. Little Hazel, 3s. 6d. Washed Ashore, 2s. 4d. Turnaside Cottage, 3s. Trot’s Letters to her Doll, 3s. 6d...; Told in the Twilight, 2s. 4d. Penelope, 2s. lOd. Tract Magazine, Is. 6d. On the Eve, 2s. lOd. The Silver Casket, 4s. Swiss Family Robinson, 4s. 6d. Recreations of a Country Parson, 4s. A Cloud of Witnesses, 6s. Moody, and his Work, 6s. The Argonaut (2), 3s. 9d. each Church Life in Australia (2), 2s. each The Home and the Synagogue, 4s. Christmas at Annesiey, 3s. v_i Richard Hunne, 4s. Sword and Garment, 2s, 9d. The Land of the Sun, ss. Lectures on Preaching, 4s. 3d. Tales of Old Ocean, 3s. 6d. Military Heroes of England, 4s. Earth and its Treasures, 4s. General Beckwith, 3s. 6d. The Diary of Dampier, 3s. 6d.



Scott’s Poems, 3s. Lyric Gems of Scotland (2), ss. each. ~ ~ morocco binding, 6s. 6d, Goldsmith’s Poems, 4s. 6d. Sunday School Speaker, Is. 2d. Sabbath School Reciter, Is. 2d. Temperance Speaker (4), Is. 2d. each. Excelsior Reciter, Is. lOd. Afloat and Ashore, 2s. 3d. Sons of the Gross and Crown Is. 6d. Under the Microscope, Is. 9d. ■ Humming Birds, 2s. 3d. City. Sparrows, 2s. 3d. . , Conrad and Columbine, 2s. 9d. The Children arid the Robin, 2s. ; Stories of the Apostles, Is. lOd. Diversions at Holycott, 2s. 3d. The New Year’s Bargain, 2s. Child’s Comer Book, 2s. 9d.‘ : 1; The Absentee, 2s. Children of the Line, Is. lOd. Philip and his Garden, 2s. The Boy’s Book of Recreation, 4s. 6d. The Boy’s Prize Book, 4s. 6d. The Bay's Book, 4s. 6d. . ' : : Every Boy’s Annual, 6s. Once a Week 3s. 9d. each. Nails Driven Home, 2s. 3d. Nettie’s Mission, 3s. 6d. Revolt of the Field, 2s. Elate Brunton, 2s. Homely Proverbs, 2s. Phrenological Works (2), 4s. 6d. each. Ball Room Companion, 7d. Ready Reckaners, 6d. each Mercantile Letter Writers, Is. each Carpenters Spelling, 7d. Comprehensive Letter Writer, Is. 2d. Advice to a Mother, 2s. British History, 2s. Royal Readers, 2s. 3d. Grammar and Analysis, 2s. lOd. *



—REMEMBER— The Sale will be held for a limited period, to make room for Consignments of Stationery, Account Books, &c., SOLD AT THE ASHBURTON HERALD OFFICE WEEKS AND DIXON, PROPRIETORS, EAST STREET, ASHBURTON,



Publics Notice, NEW TRI-WEEKLY MORNING PAPER. ®Jw AsMiurtoit (i£>u;mU;nt. PRICE—TWOPENCE | • PUBLISHED ON TUESDAYS, i ; THURSDAYS, and • ~V j SATURDAYS: The size of the Guardian will be Six pages demy for the present, • pending the arrival of suitable machinery, when it will take the , same size permanently, as the Christchurch Press. 7 .7 The Guardian is intended to meet the want in the County of Ashburton of a paper specially devoted, to the agricultural and pastoral interests. It comes into existence in response to the expressed desire of a numerous section of the influen tial farmers, merchants, and other settlers in the country dristricts, and it purposes to supply an excellent compendium of the news of the day, derived: from the most trustworthy sources. Arrangements have been made with able correspondents in every district in the County to supply intelligence of all events of interest, c- ' curing in their locality, while advantage will also be taken of the great, facilities now given by the telegraph for securing the latest news from all parts of the colony,, and, through Reuter’s Agency, of'sum maries of intelligence from all parts of the world. Special attention will be given in the Guardian’s columns to matters of interest to agriculturalists, and no pains will be spared to make the Paper an indispensable 1 item in the economy of the Aishburtoh farmer’s household and a welcome guest at every fireside. . v , Travelling reporters have been retained, who will personally visit the various dis tricts ; and arrangements have been made whereby reports . upon the condition and progress of the crops, &c., written by men with a practical knowledge, of the subjects on which they write, will be secured. On this point it may be mentioned that papers have been secured written by some of the ablest and most practical pens in the colony on subjects of moment to the farmer ; and these wiR appear in. regular succession.' \\v;t The Guardian will be thoroughly inde* pendent, and appears with its hands untied, and in no way trammelled by the influence of any party, its aim being, while the progress of the farming interest in the County has first place in its desires, to secure the greatest good for the greatest number. In politics it will give an honest support to thoroughly Liberal measures, and will be loyal to any Government, who, having the country’s confidence, is prepared to legislate upon a wise and liberal platform, and is capable of administering public affairs with prudence, honesty, and ability. The price of the Ashburton Guardian will be * _ , ; Single Copy : 2d. Terms to subscribers : 1 In advance. Eoolred. Quarterly 6s. ... 7s. Half-yearly 12s. ... 145,,. Yearly ... 245. ... 28s. Advertising terms on application at the ' Office. #£§"lntending Subscribers should order the “ Guardian ” at once, as the quarter commenced on the Ist October. WEEKS AND DIXON, : PROPRIETORS. 1 Publishing Office, East Street, Ashburton.



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