QUASI-RELIGIOUS soirees are becoming an unmitigated nuisance. This sort of thing began in treats for children, as inducements to attend, and as rewards for attending the Sabbath School. But it did not stop there. We have now congregational soirees, at which an annual opportunity is taken of parading the work done, and the money raised during the past year; flattering speeches are exchanged by those who take kindly to be licked all over with an oily tongue, and a great deal of vapid sentiment is mixed up with exaggerated statements as to success, seasoned with bits of drollery, and interspersed with sensational music. The attempt to sanctify all this by the Word and prayer is successful only as a sacrilege. What should be exalted is degraded, and the alliance of religion and the world, in that, as in every other instance, is all to the gain of the latter.—Dr Kennedy.