OVERCOMERS. 



OYSTER-BEDS, DETERIORATION OF. 707 



ing the principal stockholders of our company. 

 This control over both corporations is now 

 transferred to a third corporation, the Oregon 

 and Transcontinental Company, with an au- 

 thorized capital of $50,000,000, of which, how- 

 ever, only $30,000,000 is to be issued at pres- 

 ent, and is now in process of being paid in. 

 The large proprietary interest of this company 

 in the other companies is the very best guar- 

 antee to the latter that its power will only be 

 exercised to promote their legitimate develop- 

 ment to the fullest extent. Or, in other words, 

 the new company can only promote its own 

 interest as a great holder of Oregon Railway 

 and Navigation and Northern Pacific stocks by 

 taking the best care of every other stockholder 

 in both companies." 



The State elections and the sessions of the 

 Legislature are held biennially. The next occurs 

 in 1882. (See " Annual Cyclopaedia " of 1880.) 



The population of the State by counties in 

 1880, as compared with 1870, was as follows: 



OVERCOMERS. A new sect of Christian 

 believers has sprung up near Chicago, Illinois, 

 and has made a considerable number of con- 

 versions among persons who are described as 

 belonging to the "comfortably situated and 

 more intelligent classes of society." It is 

 commonly known as the sect of the " Over- 

 comers," the name being derived from the 

 application of the word "overcome " as it is 

 used in the following passages in the second 

 chapter of Revelation and in other parts of the 

 New Testament : " He that overcometh shall 

 not be hurt at the second death" (Rev. ii, 11); 

 "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of 

 the hidden rnanna, and will give him a white 

 stone, and in the stone a new name written, 

 which no man knoweth saving he that receiv- 

 eth it" (Rev. ii, 17); "Ho that overcometh, 

 and keepeth my words unto the end, to him 

 will be given power over the nations : and ho 

 shall rule over them with a rod of iron" (Rev. 



* In 1375, from part of Jackson. 



ii, 26, 27). The sect was founded by M. H. 

 G. Spatfbrd, formerly a ruling elder in the 

 Presbyterian Church, who was engaged in the 

 revival meetings that were held in Chicago 

 a few years ago under the preaching of Mr. 

 D. L. Moody. Mr. Spafford was led, by the 

 studies which his participation in the revival 

 meetings incited him to make, to the accept- 

 ance of the doctrine, which was at variance 

 with the confession of his own church, that 

 only those who "overcome," or wholly con- 

 verted Christians, are immediately saved, while 

 all others, including the mass of the persons 

 regarded in the Orthodox churches as " con- 

 verted," are " hurt at the second death," and 

 cast into the lake of fire, where they remain 

 and suffer till they are purified ; and that 

 punishment is not eternal, but " age-abiding," 

 and lasts only until the purification is accom- 

 plished. He was excluded from his church 

 for heresy, when he, together with a number 

 of other church-members who, having adopted 

 his views, had withdrawn from their churches, 

 organized a new congregation. The Over- 

 comers believe that the Scriptures are the in- 

 spired word of God, and accept the doctrine of 

 the Trinity ; and they claim that their church 

 was organized with Abraham, and has since 

 that time been buried away as a church, but 

 that the religion to which it testifies has been 

 represented by sanctified persons in the cor- 

 porate Church throughout the intervening ages. 

 At the same time, they renounce church or- 

 ganizations, and teach that the true children ot 

 God, who constitute the "Bride of Christ," 

 are called to step out and show the world in 

 their lives in every movement of their lives 

 a higher type of absolute holiness, urging a 

 complete and entire consecration of the whole 

 being to the service of God. They hold that 

 all souls will finally be restored through the 

 atoning blood of Christ, but that, if a soul is 

 not entirely consecrated to the service of God 

 in this life, it must suffer severe purgatorial 

 punishment. Some of the sect are said to be- 

 lieve that they possess a degree of inspiration 

 and gifts of healing, such as were exercised by 

 the apostles on the day of Pentecost. A con- 

 gregation of Overcomes has been organized 

 at Lake View, near Chicago, Illinois, and 

 another, a larger one, at Valparaiso, Indiana. 

 A party of seventeen persons of this sect 

 started during the summer of 1881 for Pales- 

 tine, where, they believe, they had a divine 

 mission to gather the Jews into the land of 

 their inheritance, and rule over them. 



OYSTER-BEDS, DETERIORATION OF. Tin- 

 failure of the oyster-beds of the New England 

 and Middle States, the deterioration of those 

 lying in Southern waters, and the necessity of 

 some efforts, either unon the part of the State 

 governments or by individuals, to maintain 

 the supply of oysters in sufficient numbers to 

 satisfy the large and increasing demand of the 

 consumers, have of late excited much atten- 

 tion. There is no doubt that the natural beds 



