the Fourth Week of Advent
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Bible Encyclopedias
Nevis
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or a small but beautiful and fertile island of the West Indies, belonging to Great Britain, forms one of the group of the Lesser Antilles, and lies immediately south-east of St. Christopher, from which it is separated by a strait called the Narrows, two miles wide. It is circular in form, rises in a central peak to the height of about 2500 feet, and has an area of 45 square miles. Population (1871), 11,735, of whom only a small proportion, not more than one fifth, is white. Charlestown, a seaport, with a tolerable roadstead, situated on the south-west shore of the island, is the seat of government, consisting of a government council and general assembly. The principal products are sugar, molasses, and rum. Nevis was colonized by English emigrants from St. Christopher in 1628, was taken by the French in 1706, and restored by the peace of Utrecht; it was taken again by the French in 1782, but restored by the peace of 1783. The Romanists have many adherents in Nevis. The Wesleyans, who were the first Protestant missionaries to preach in the West Indies, established a station at Gingerland, and are laboring there with some appearance of ultimate success. At Charlestown the United Presbyterian Mission is pushing the work of evangelization, especially among the blacks.
Additional Note on the Mormons. — Since our article on this subject was written, the collision between the Mormon authorities and the United States government — which is still the supreme and sole general civil administration in the territory, Congress having steadily refused to admit Utah as a State in the Union without such stipulations to loyalty, as the Mormons are unwilling to accept — has resulted in the federal court taking possession of the Mormon premises in Salt Lake City, practically confiscating, or at least occupying and controlling, them, on the groun of treason; and it is said that the Mormons are secretly preparing for another migration, this time to Mexico, where they have purchased a large tract of land, so as to be beyond our jursidiction. The temple is nearly completed, although likewsie in the hands of the general government; but it is not to be used by the Mormons as a place of worship, for which intended its interior construction is not adapted, but for purposes of ecclesiastical ceremony and general office work. The denunciatory tone of Mormons is now greatly moderated; and although the old style of declamation on the subject of civil power is still maintained, its tone is greatly softened, and all talk of open or forcible rebellion is abandoned. Criminal suits have been instituted, and are still pending before the U.S. courts, also against many leading Mormons for bigamy, adultery, and other unchaste practices, and in consequence polygamy is generally abandoned, at least in public, by the sect as a whole. The general aspect of the situation points to a speedy disruption of the Mormon community in Utah, especially as the influx of non-Mormon immigrants is gradually but surely overpowering them.