Religious Notes | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Dec 21, 1882

Religious Notes.

—A pastor in New Britain, Conn., on a recent Sunday, had, by means of a telephone, attentive hearers in another city, forty miles away from his church.

—The Witness notes the fact that thirteen new theaters and only two new churches have been built in Berlin in ten years, as marking the downward progress of morals in that city.

—The attempt to close the Sunday theaters in Cincinnati is a failure. The Mayor of the city seems to have made an effort to keep the doors closed, but has finally weakened, and the large theaters have been re-opened and packed full.

—The officers in charge of the Salvation Army in New York City, claim that they have already secured more than three thousand converts there. They say, however, that the converts are so afraid of being “chaffed” that not one-twentieth of them are willing to appear in public.

—The Monitor asks its readers to pray “for the repose of the soul of Mrs. ——, that God, in his infinite mercy, may admit her purified soul into the possession of that sweet peace which pervades alone in Heaven.” It strikes us that there is more need of prayers for the unpurified souls of those now living than for the purified souls of the dead.

—The Calvary Baptist Church, of New York has given $307,304 during the past year. Of this, $113,000 was for a new building, and for running expenses. The remainder was charity, missions, education, etc. That is a good record, but if the contributions of many smaller country churches could be seen, we doubt not that they would show a greater amount in proportion to members and wealth.

—We are glad to reprint this good confession from the Independent: “The Holy Spirit of God and the divine providence which have given us the sacred Scriptures are not to be rudely questioned. They have given us what we have, and we are to be satisfied with it. They have not gratified all our curiosity; but they have given us enough not merely to save our souls, but abundantly to minister to our spiritual wants.” To this we respond a hearty Amen.

—Quite a number of the colored Baptists of Georgia propose to establish a new denomination, with Baptist principles and the Methodist system. Rev. George R. Jackson, the founder of the new church, says that independency may do very well for white Baptists; but among colored Baptists it leads to divisions and fightings. These colored brethren are beginning to learn the force of Paul's statement that “We are members one of another.” A correspondent of the Examiner states also that “independence” has impaired the influence of many Baptist churches in New York.

—Father O'Conor, of the Independent Catholic Church, New York, disclaims all connection with those anti-Roman lecturers who do not offer pure Christianity in the place of Catholicism. He says: “Such persons have no connection with the Independent Catholic Church. No one desires the overthrow of the Romish system of religion more ardently than I do. I believe it to be in its distinctive features opposed to the religion of the Bible, and I shall labor all the days of my life for its utter annihilation; but I hope God will help me to do so as a Christian and an honorable man.”

—At the recent Baptist Conference held in Brooklyn, N. Y., Rev. G. D. Boardman, the presiding officer, said: “Creed should be adjusted to growth in the apprehension of truth. Possibly the day is not far distant when the thoughtful exponents of Christendom will assemble as at Nice and Westminster and, irrespective of denominational differences, will restate the old truths in new forms.” But each individual must hold to his present form of belief until the divines tell him just what he may safely accept. We believe, however, with him, that the day is near at hand when this will be done.

—One of the English Baptist missionaries says of the steady increase of his work during the last six months: “The number of converts, learners, adherents, and stations, has itself made it impossible that we, either foreigners or foreign paid men, could visit and control these stations, and so it had to be moved on to the shoulders of the influential native members, and those who had gifts for evangelization. The result is that, independent of the foreign mission, there are numbers of voluntary evangelists whose services are in continual demand among the new learners. They invite them once to the various villages, they provide for them while with them, and the men come back when they see fit; and so the work goes on until these become regular stations under pastor, elder, and deacon.”