p. 238 | News and Notes by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 10, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 15.

News and Notes.

By Editor

RELIGIOUS.

—It is estimated that seven thousand books and pamphlets on Luther appeared last year in Germany alone.

—Dr. Ezra Abbot, of Harvard Divinity School and a prominent member of the American committee on the revision of the New Testament, is dead.

—Michael Dunn, founder of the Home for Discharged Convicts, in Houston Street, New York, is organizing a similar institution in San Francisco.

—Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, died at Columbus, Miss., on the morning of the 19th ult., at the age of eighty-three.

—The New York Examiner decides that a Baptist minister who teaches the annihilation of the wicked should be excluded from denominational fellowship.

—The queen of Tahiti, now in Europe, and ready to return, is in dread of that part of the home journey which lies through America, on account of the newspaper reporters.

—A letter from Asia Minor states that authorized agents of the Turkish Government are attempting to close the Protestant schools conducted by American missionaries.

—Bishop O'Connor, of Omaha, announces his ultimatum to the effect that he will allow no more "dispensations" between Catholics and non-Catholics in the diocese of Nebraska.

—The fourth International Sunday-school Convention for the United States and British North America Provinces will be held in the city of Louisville, Ky., on June 11, 12, and 13.

—The Catholic Directory for 1884 reports that the number of churches, stations, and schools in Scotland and England were increased fifty-one per cent. during the previous twelve months.

—There is a strong feeling among the miners in the vicinity of Mahoney City, Pa., against the Hungarian cheap labor recently imported, and trouble is expected if employment is given to this class.

—Some of the Presbyterians of England and Scotland are feeling the need of a "modified form of liturgy." Some have hinted that this is a "bridge leading over to the Church of England." And thence?

—In the course of Joseph Cook's remarks upon the new Congregational creed, he says: "Only a general and profound revival of religious life can effectually counteract the present perils of the Congregational churches."

—Mrs. Georgiana Miller attended a prayer-meeting at the Missionary Rooms, Chicago, recently, and at the end of a prayer remained kneeling in a fixed position. On going to arouse her it was found that she had died of heart disease.

—A young lady, a member of a Baptist Church in New Jersey, refused an offer of $1,500 a year to sing in a Unitarian Church, because she would not lend assistance in that way to those who not only deny the divinity of our Lord, but are teaching others to deny it.

—The Christian Church seems to me to be still full of Ephesian Christians, who, if the truth were known, have hardly so much as heard that there is a Holy Ghost.—Lyman Abbott. That would be all right, if, like the Ephesian Christians, after knowing they would accept and follow its direction.

—The Catholic bishop of Montreal does not view with favor the exodus of French Canadians to the United States. He has issued a pastoral detailing in vivid terms the spiritual and other dangers to which the exiles are exposed. He strongly urges their repatriation, and favors their colonization in suitable districts in their native province.

—A new and interesting fragment, written on papyrus, of a New Testament MS. has been brought to light. It is a single leaf written on both sides, in so-called minuscule cursive letters. It was found at Fayyuni and is now the property of Theodore, Count of Wien. Experts suppose it to be a production of the sixth century. One side contains Luke 6:36-44, and the other Luke 10:38-42.

—Mr. Spurgeon's jubilee, in June next, has already begun to excite much interest, and will be an event in which most of the nonconformist churches are likely to take part. A special fund is in contemplation, though the exact object toward which it will be devoted is not yet announced. The church at present numbers 5,300 persons, and overtaxes the sitting accommodations of the tabernacle.

—A visitor to Mr. Moody's Home at Northfield, Mass., gives a glowing account of the success of his boys' schools. She states that five new brick edifices bought and dedicated just before Mr. Moody returned to England last fall, are now filled with boys gathered from the North, East, South, and West. Nearly all nationalities are represented by these seventy-five lads, ranging in age from eight to sixteen. A few of them may have homes, and friends who support them here, but by far the greater number have no homes and few friends, save those who have been raised up to them through the school. Some come from homes broken up by the demon drink; others have been "picked up" in the streets of our large cities; but all alike find a friend in the large-hearted founder of the school, whom they love and reverence as they would a father. In No. 1 house, called "The English House," are the twelve English orphan boys Mr. Moody picked up in Manchester and Liverpool.