Religious Notes | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · May 18, 1882

Religious Notes.

There are in the Fiji Islands about 900 Wesleyan churches, and 1,400 schools.

-There are so few Presbyterian churches in New England that it is rather a notable event that another church of that order has been founded in Boston.

-Spurgeon says the Scotch have a more thorough knowledge of the Scriptures than the English, and attributes the fact to the practice of family worship.

-The churches and Sunday-schools of Brooklyn, N. Y., are greatly agitated over the question whether Universalists and Unitarians shall be permitted to march in the annual Sunday-school parade.

-There are in the forty-five leading evangelical theological seminaries in this country ninety-eight students who have decided to enter the foreign mission field, and 143 who will become home missionaries.

-Rev. E. Dowe, of Deerfield, Michigan, a Methodist minister, has been charged with having burned his parsonage two years ago. He has been absent in England, and was arrested immediately on his return.

-Rabbi Sonueschein of St Louis, has suggested the union of the Reformed Jews and the Unitarians. Rabbi Hirsch, however, regards this as impossible, and he is regarded as among the most progressive Jews.

-Dr. Woodbridge of San Francisco, Rev. J. T. Howard of Stockton, and Rev. Arthur Swazey of Chicago, have taken issue in the pulpit with Chinese immigration. Others will probably do so now, as the sentiment grows popular.

-The Baptist State Convention was held in San Francisco last week, and a highly satisfactory session is reported. It is gratifying to know that the difficulties which beset that denomination for several years in California have all been adjusted.

-The Lutherans in the northwest number 400,000 communicants, with 3,000 churches and 1,800 ministers. Of the ministers, only 242 preach in English. They have 331 congregations in the 18,000 communicants. There are five theological seminaries, with 18 professors, and 254 students preparing for the ministry.

-"Girls, wrapped up in sheets so as to be unrecognizable, were sold at public auction to the highest bidder at a Congregational Church sociable in Clear Lake, Iowa, recently. The bidding was spirited, some of the boys got badly fooled, and altogether the sale made lots of fun and much cash for the church treasury." Just so.

-A lady writing from Salt Lake says that, notwithstanding the passage of the anti-polygamy law, the Mormons go right on marrying according to their own ideas. A prominent Bishop, in a sermon recently, advised all young men to shed their last drop of blood in defense of polygamy and other (equally nefarious) Mormon doctrines.

Once a year the Methodist Bishops meet to exchange views as to the work to be done, and to agree as to their appointments. This year the meeting was in Detroit, on the 9th of May. It was a great occasion among the Methodist churches of that city. Preparations had been made for a grand reception to the Bishops and for a variety of special services in the churches. The Bishops of course are the central attractions at these services.

-A new sect has sprung up in Russia, called New Israel. They claim that Moses acknowledged the right of future generations to alter religious ceremonies according to the spirit of the times, and reject many rabbinical explanations. They begin the week on Monday and consequently worship on Sunday. They allow the eating of the flesh of animals killed by Christians. The members are forbidden to follow the profession of money-lending. The Association asks permission of the Government to wear a badge distinguishing its members from other Hebrews.