There are incidents that have come under the personal observation of the writer the past year in regard to the parochial clergy which are very ominous on account of the character of the persons involved, who not only are among the first in intelligence and influence, but may properly be denominated, in reference to the leading class of pastors, “representative men.” In one case, a young man of great intelligence and moral worth, who might properly be regarded as a “representative man” of the better portion of “Young America,” informed the writer that he and his wife had accepted the general invitation of their pastor to receive the communion. Inasmuch as the doctrines of the creed of that church were not accepted by him, the inquiry was made whether this step was taken with the approval of his pastor, and the reply was in the affirmative. The inquiry was then made, on what ground he united in this ordinance. The reply was, substantially, that he wished to be good and to do good, guided by the teachings of Christ; that he wished to be united in feeling and action with good men, who cherish the same aims, and also to make it manifest that he was associated with that class; that he regarded this sacramental ordinance as instituted for this very purpose, while his minister, as a consistent Protestant, did not insist that he should interpret the Bible according to his creed or be shut out from this privilege. In another case, an intelligent mother who had trained her children exclusively on the common‐sense theory, informed the writer that she had taken them to the Lord’s Table with the consent of one of the most distinguished pastors of the land, without any examination or admission to the church. She simply narrated to him her own opinion that her children from early years had learned to love the Saviour and to be conscientious in daily efforts to obey his teachings; that they and she felt that they were commanded by their Saviour openly to acknowledge themselves as his followers, “even to the death,” if need be, in order to fulfill all righteousness, and that they did not and could not believe the creed of that church, nor in the right of any man, or body of men, to exact such belief under penalty of exclusion from the table of their Lord. The pastor welcomed these lambs of the fold with their mother, and felt that had he driven them away it would have been in defiance to their Saviour’s word, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.” In still another case, one of the most honored Congregational pastors of New England openly declared to friends of the writer that it was in vain to try to preach this Augustinian system any longer; that _the people would not hear it_, and that he should have to preach to bare walls if he attempted it any more.