Welsh Journals

THE WELSH WEEKLY. July 22, 1892. THE LADIES' COLUMN. Meta.—(1) A cheap carpet is of no use ; do not be taken in by those advertisements. They look well, on paper, but we hardly think your new carpet would last you any time. Carpets should be of good quality, or they will soon get shabby. (2) No, do not drape the looking-glasses. (3) Your bed-room would look very pretty made up with dimity, or chintz. The Girl I Left Behind Me.'—We would advise you to lay the matter before your friends, if your medical attendant says that your health will not stand an Indian climate. We think that you are very foolish to think of going there, it would be far wiser to wait until your soldier-lover comes back to you; three years is not a very long time to wait; and if you cannot trust his loyalty for that time, surely you would not trust him with your life's happiness. Blue-Eyed Mary.—(1) We prefer the black cloth costume you mention ; we saw, a few days' ago, a most stylish dress made out of just such a kind of cloth, and trimmed with black ginpure lace ; the lady looked elegant in it. Though you detested your step-mother, you must not forget the respect due to you father's wife ; and, we are afraid, you must submit to the fashion of wearing mourning for some time again. (9) The colour o fthe hair is auburn. (3) The hand¬ writing is very illegible ; our eyes ached for half-an- hour after our efforts to get through your letter, and the less said about the spelling, the better. (4) A large hat would be the most becoming for you to wear; the shape known as "The Edinburgh Hat" is popular with pretty girls like you. Poor Betty Wynne.—What a good girl you are ! We hope your brother will appreciate the help you are giving him to go through his College studies, and, that in the future, he will take care you shall be well supplied with new gowns, instead of the old, shabby ones you are wearing now for his sake ; he may, some good brothers do remember : others forget all about their sister's self-sacrificing devotion. The old serge well, turned and cleaned, and made up in the Eton fashion. Pharmakon,—Anent the estimate we gave as to the cost of qualifying, it must be borne in mind that the lowest figure was calculated on every item. For instance, L.R.C.P. (Lond.), and M.R.C.S., (Eng.), the conjoint diploma fees amount to 35 Guineas ; while L.S.D. (Lond.), costs £10 ; the subjects of ex¬ amination being identical in both oases. You will find in the Calendar of Guy's Hospital, London, for 1892-3, just issued, and to be had on application, a fair estimate—Hospital instruments, books, diploma, &c, over £500; board, lodging, &c, for five years being extra. Verity.—(1) We are sorry to say that, in our humble opinion, Shakespeare, a great man though he was, wrote many things it is impossible to admire ; we see no reason why you must bow to the conventional and pretend to admire everything because it is the fashion to do so. (9) Yes, Byron was lame, and he was very sensitive about it. (3) The lines you enquire about are from Pope's translation of the "Iliad,"— " Part of himself: the immortal mind remains ; The form subsists without the body's aid, Aerial semblance, and an empty shade ; This night my friend, so late in battle lost— Stood at my side, a pensive, plaintive ghost; Even now familiar, as in life, he came : Alas ! How different! Yet, how like-the same ! " Mamma.—According to a decision arrived at by a learned body, of French Doctor—The Academy of Medicine,—children ought not to be allowed to re¬ enter school for six week, after they are apparently convalescent, in the case of measles, scarlet fever, and small-pox. Subjects of mumps and chicken-pox are not dangerous to others after three or four weeks. Henry.—It is published by Bentley & Son, at 6s. Truth.—Your letter will appear in next week's issue. We feel inclined to tell you that you are one of those that our Saviour would have called " the salt of the earth." Surely your reward will be great. A Maid Servant.—(1) Your writing is better than many youug ladies', but you must learn to spell, as you are anxious to improve and evidently determined to spare no trouble to do so ; you will soon overcome that difficulty. Let us hear from you again, and let us know how you are getting on. (2) You are quite right, servant girls that wear good, quiet materials are much more respected than those that go about in cheap finery. (3) It would be far better to ask the minister of your church's opinion of the matter, he will give you good advice, and is more able to judge correctly, having a knowledge of the state of affairs, than we are. Mushroom.—Your friend is quite right, mushrooms gathered about six o'clock in the morning make an excellent breakfast dish, fried in butter. All commuuications to the "Ladies' Column" to be addressed to Gwyneth, Office of the " Welsh Weekly, " 19, Moria Terrace, Cardiff. RE-UNION OF THE CHURCHES. A paper read before the Nonconformist Ministerial Union, Cardiff, by Rev. W. Seward. (Continued). " There shall be one Shepherd !" He who delights to call Himself "The Son of Man." When his voice shall at length have made itself reverently heard, there will be none other name pronounced among men, but His Name, which is above every Name, whether of Wesley, or Calvin, or Luther, or Augustine, or even of Paul himself. The sheep of His flock will no longer cry out "I am of Paul !" "I am of Apollos !" "I am of Cephas !" but I am of Christ !" '' And there shall be one fold ! Not Rome, nor Con¬ stantinople, nor Canterbury, nor Geneva, but the New Jerusalem, " which is above," which is the mother of us all. As at the first, there was to be in Christ, no distinction of Jew nor Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian bond, nor free, male nor female ; so, at the last there shall be neither Congregationalist, Methodist, Angli¬ can, nor Papist, '' but that which every one at his best strove to be, got a glimpse of, but could not reach the pure religion of Jesus, spiritual as it stood in His perfect mind and intention and shine grandly forth. What we have added shall drop away ; what we have lost shall re-appear ; all that is contrary shall perish ; all that helps and harmonises shall blend to make the completed edifice, " The Temple of the Lamb !" But are there not vast difficulties in the way ? Look¬ ing upon them in detail, and closing in swiftly around us, do they not make us feel again like Peter, looking away from Jesus, and so sinking in the turbulent waves ? Who shall have the grace given to him to bring about visible union between even the least, and the most recently separated units ;—the various branches of Menhodism for example ; the Congregational and Baptist bodies ; the Presbyterian Churches of Scotland ? Well, '' With God all things are possible." We shall certainly have to exclaim when at length, to the spirit of Christian re-union, God shall have given a body as it hath pleased Him. '' This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." We say now that " re-union is in the air." What is that but saying in other words that the earnest desire for a more universal fellowship with saints is being in¬ breathed into our hearts by the life-giving Spirit of God ? And what powerful elements there are ever making for this wider unity. Nay, what a suprising unity has been maintaining itself in believing hearts all the while ? "A unity " in the words of Dr. Dale, "so central, so vital, that differences of country, of civilization, of language, of creed, cannot conceal it." Have we not been singing each others hymns, studying in each others schools, reading each others books, even preaching each others sermons, rejoicing at each others successes, weeping together at our common loss when the mighty of any communion have fallen ? All that we need is to see more of one another, and thus know and understand each other better, and to be assured as we then must be, that the loving heart of Jesus, is sending the vitalising pulses of His grace continually through every consecrated life amongst us all. The nearer we each draw near to Him, the nearer will He bring us to one another. Social intercourse, common philanthropies, all the great problems born of our constant contact with poverty, crime and practical atheism, are lifting us out of our narrow and isolated ruts ; the pressure of our mighty tasks is fast forcing us together. We are in the main, growing wise enough and Christian enough to keep our ever new questions from growing into ever new schisms and breeding new sects. We are realizing every day, that difference of opinion no longer necessitates divided worship of onr one Father, but the rather serves to enrich any church, to promote its vitality, its spiritual circulation, and the thoroughness of its instruction in righteousness; causing its re-union along with its charity, to commence at home ; and, spreading thence outwarps, to leaven the the whole lump of Christ's Church on earth. What other way is possible ? We see the standard of re-union conspicuously uplifted in the Christian press ; and perhaps we all hail so marked a sign of the times as the Review of the Churches making room, side by side with each other, for the great representative teachers of all. And union of ministers such as our own, cannot fail to pro¬ mote the intrinsic unity of the churches we represent. Still, no definite and wide-spread movement to this end, has as yet reached the stage which would make the suggestion of practical lines of action possible in a paper like this. Progress, for a while, must lie in the education of the public mind ; in the cultivation of the temper and capacity to make much more of the eternally unshaken foundations of faith in Christ, upon which the whole church is built up, than of the mere changing, and often perishing details of the super¬ structure. We must all come more and more to hold, with the memorable saying of Augustine :— " In things essential, unity ; in things indifferent, in all things, charity "; with all the openness of mind and heart, that will alone keep clear those perceptive and receptive faculties, through which '' the thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns." The most lasting and effectual of God's great forces, are the simplest and most silent in their operation. Each must strive to move constantly in the right direction as guided by the all-illuminating Spirit of God, using faithfully what light he has already received, heedless of any personal sacrifice that may be involved in the continual tail and trouble, which are inseparable from all Divine leading of souls ; and looking eagerly for weat more light God shall continually " break forth." In His "one unceasing purpose," His Church will not be kept waiting beyond the most fitly decreed hour for some accredited prophet and leader, into the things that belong unto her peace ; some Luther of Church Re-union ; some latter-day Elias, to prepare the way of the Lord ; and like the forerunner of the Great Bridegroom, glad to decrease as he must increase, to make straight in the desert of our earthly divisions, a highway for our God ; in the full light of whose coun¬ tenance all our partial and broken light shall fade away and be no more seen. WEEK BY WEEK. The eruption of Mount Etna is becomining every day more formidable, and the crops aae completely destroyed. It is stated that Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn is to be offered a peerage, and that he will probably accept the coronet which was three times refused by his uncle, and twice by his grandfather. At a meeting of the London Mansion House Com¬ mittee, held on Thursday afternoon, the 7th inst., under the presidency of the Lord Mayor, it was announced that the fund for the relief of the sufferers by the fire in St. John's, Newfoundland, amounts to £4,400, and it was decided to remit £4,000 by cable to Newfoundland. It was also decided to ask the assis¬ tance of the mayors and provosts of the United Kingdom in collecting funds. The Rev. Hugh 0. Rowlands, pastor of Lazelle- avenue Church, Chicago, is now on a visit to Wales. He is a nephew of Dr. Rowlands, of Llanelly. He is en route for the Continent, and, perhaps, the East. Arrangements have been made to place a brass in Truro Cathedral, as a memorial to the late Professor Adams, of Cambridge, who was unquestionably one of the most distinguished. Cornishmen of his generation. The inscription is to be written by Professor Jebb, M.P. Dr. Price, of Llantrisant, visited Cardiff last week, supported on the arm of a friend. The doctor is now 93 years of age. We have learned that a statue of Mr. Gladstone is to be erected at Athens, in front of the University, in recognition of his services to the Hellenic cause. On Thursday, the 14th inst., the Rev. Dr. Chidlaw, an American divine, died suddenly at Dolgelly. It has been decided by the Washington Senate that the World's Fair should be closed on Sundays. The value of the personal estate of the late Mr. John Evans, of West Ham, is proved to be about £75,000.