p. 131 | Religious Notes by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 16, 1882

Religious Notes.

By Editor

--At a Christmas Eve service in Uvarre, Spain, a pack of wolves entered the church and killed three and seriously wounded five of the congregation.

-A Scotch Baptist Church has been organized in Patagonia. There are Chinese Baptist Churches in Guiana, and a French one in the Argentine Republic.

-Chicago has the largest Hebrew population of any other city of equal numbers in the world. There are fifteen synagogues in the city, which have an average attendance of 1,300 each.

-A letter from Salt Lake, addressed to Speaker Keifer, states that under the decision of the Courts marriage is a civil contract, persons in that city are forming polygamous relations by a simple written agreement.

-Mrs. Cooper, who was ousted from her position as teacher of a Bible class in Calvary Church, San Francisco, for heresy (though she had the sympathy of Dr. Hemphill, the pastor), is now leading a large class in the First Congregational church.

-Eighty-two cents per member is the average yearly contribution of a certain church in Michigan, and this is spoken of, by the Advance, as a "hopeful symptom." Some folks interpret the statement, "Salvation's free," in an extremely literal manner.

-The Hartford Theological Seminary has sent out 24 per cent. of its graduates as missionaries, standing in this respect at the head of the list of theological schools in the country. Oberlin comes next with 19 per cent., and no other exceeds 10 per cent.

-The Mormons are said to be openly boasting that they have captured Congress and there will be no anti-Mormon legislation. It is estimated that the Mormons have spent over a million dollars in their fight this winter, and the money has been placed where it would do good service.

-News comes to us of a correspondence between the Catholic officials of Quebec and the Pope, with a view to his removal to that city. It is stated that the Pope has replied that the time has come for his removal, but the place has not been determined. We anxiously wait for a confirmation of this news before publishing the full report.

-A complete file of the Banner of Light, the Spiritualist journal, was some time ago advertised for sale by ex-Judge Peter P. Good of New Jersey, who now informs the editor that the purchaser was an agent of the late Czar of Russia, and that the volumes are now in the royal library in St. Petersburg. The collection of Spiritualist books and periodicals left by the Czar is said to be the largest in the world.

-The S. F. Alta is sometimes caustic. It says: It is reported that "the boy preacher," Rev. Thomas Harrison, is having such success in meetings among Methodists of Cincinnati that he is likely to remain in that city through the month of March. Thomas has cause to congratulate himself. He had, however, better remain in Cincinnati, for circus competition is growing more severe and it is best to let San Francisco alone for a little while, until the season becomes livelier and the public can better tolerate poor shows.

-Dr. Herrick Johnson, pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, is doing good work in showing the demoralizing influence of the theater. In his "Plain Talk about the Theater," he makes, among others, the following good point: "There are good as well as bad plays; clean as well as dirty players. Of course there are. But what of it! The same institution mounts the good and the bad plays. The same management pockets the profits. The same theater board welcomes alike the clean and the dirty players. If a witness lies half the time and tells the truth the other half, his truth telling makes him none the less a liar. Yet the same theatrical management is heard saying, 'Come now, good Christians, come to my theater. This is the moral drama.'"

-The San Francisco Chronicle says: "At a meeting of the ministerial union Rev. Dr. Williams and others spoke of the dissatisfaction felt on the part of many with the centralization of the revival meetings under Messrs. Whittle and McGranahan, and a motion was made that the committee of the Union on Evangelical Work, which had had direction of the matter, be instructed to withdraw and give over the matter in future to the exclusive charge of the Young Men's Christian Association. Rev. Otis Gibson said the Methodist brethren had never been in favor of inviting evangelists from abroad, and had refused to unite with Dr. Jewell in inviting Mr. Harrison. Rev. Dr. Briggs confirmed this statement, and said his own feeling had been and was that, in the final result, the attendant evils would outweigh the benefits resulting from importing evangelists. The decision of the matter was referred to a future meeting."

-The San Francisco Pacific Methodist is of the opinion that the old proverb, "Speak nothing but good of the dead" is carried altogether too far by our clergy, and that they have a "serious fault of preaching funeral sermons for persons of respectability, as to worldly circumstances, moral character, and attendance on public worship," but who have never "exhibited any of the more decided and satisfactory evidences of a change of heart," in such terms of eulogy and commendation as to leave the impression that what is called "a good life" is sufficient without being "possessed of vital religion." "To make the utmost of what was praiseworthy in such persons, and to pass encomiums on their virtue and piety, is calculated to do immense mischief, by lowering the standard of religion ; and it would seem to make it appear that very little sanctity is sufficient to constitute a safe state to carry a man to Heaven. * As a consequence it is not surprising that those who have incorrect ideas of what real religion is, are confirmed in their estimate of it ; whilst some, far enough from a state of grace, bless themselves as to their own condition ; and those who are disposed to skepticism, are fortified in their dangerous errors."

-The San Francisco Chronicle of Monday, March 13, says: "The Sunday law was openly violated yesterday, notwithstanding the decision of the Supreme Court. No arrests were made, and no attempt was made to enforce it. Dr. R. H. McDonald, the president and prime mover in the Home Protection Society, intimated that the Ministerial Union will assemble early this week, and the subject will be brought up for special consideration. The association hoped to join with it and other religious and law-abiding organizations in carrying out some plan, not yet fully developed, to enforce the law. The first movement, however, would be to call upon the Mayor and the Police Department and demand the enforcement of the now fully established Sunday law." "He and his adherents were aware that the League of Freedom and its supporters could clog the administration of justice in the two Police Courts by demanding jury trials. If they did he could not foretell the result. He had no doubt that the Sunday law will become an important, if not the most important, factor in the next political canvass, and before the Legislature. Therefore, and in view of the determined opposition of the League of Freedom, he and his co-laborers counted upon the law and order abiding citizens to drop all political, religious, and minor differences, and unite in one common effort to sustain the law, or make others in order to have it carried out." As a political question the Sunday law is likely to overshadow all others.