Religious Miscellany

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · Apr 29, 1875

Religious Miscellany.

—Everywhere we hear of efforts being made to unite the different branches of the various churches, and also to unite the various denominations in some kind of union. We judge that this idea is meeting with much favor and is gaining ground. A convention for this purpose is called to meet in Suffolk, Va., May 5th.

—There are one hundred and six Unitarian churches in Hungary, or more properly Transylvania. Being poor they are helped quite largely by their American brethren. A considerable sum has already been contributed to assist the endowment of the university supported by these foreign churches, and the American Unitarians have also borne the expense of the translation of Channing’s works into the Magyar language.

—When the northern branch of the Kentucky Methodist Conference met at Louisville four years ago, it found the doors of the Southern churches closed to its members. The same conference has just been holding its sessions at the same place, to meet with a different reception. On the day it assembled, Bishop Kavanaugh, Dr. Schon, and several members of the Southern church, attended the Conference and cordially invited its members to occupy their pulpits on the next Sunday, which they did, the Southern ministers filling the pulpits of the Northern Churches in the city. Thus we see these two branches of that great and powerful body slowly but surely coming together.

—Father Boehm, the Methodist patriarch, lives to preach a sermon in his hundredth year. It was but ten minutes long, vigorous in thought, and was delivered in a firm voice before the Newark Conference in Jersey City on the 2d of April.

—As is well known, the German government is very hostile to popery, and, of late, the papists have fared hard at its hands. But it is very friendly to the old Catholic movement because it rejects the authority and infallibility of the pope. The German Old Catholics ask from their government to have a share in the regular Catholic church property. This they are likely to get. Reinkens, their bishop, moreover, is a loyal German, and has recently shown the utter fallacy of the pope’s claim to temporal power.

—Quite largely the reading of the Bible is being dropped out of the common schools. A letter in the Index states that the Rev. Dr. Gibbons, President of the “University of the Pacific,” in a lecture before a county teachers’ institute in San Jose, insisted on the necessity of retaining the Bible in the schools, and called upon all the teachers who used it in their schools to hold up their hands. One hand only went up. The Doctor said he hoped there was some mistake, and that his request was not understood. He would ask all who did not use the Bible in their schools to stand up. About seventy teachers responded. The Doctor said he was sorry to see there was no mistake; but he was greatly astonished and grieved at the state of things indicated. Evidently the rising generation have but little love or respect for the Bible.

—Another letter from Heaven in favor of Sunday! Somebody, as we learn from the Richmond Religious Herald, has imposed upon the superstitious credulity of the colored people in Charles City Co., Va., by circulating among them a printed sheet containing what purports to be a copy of a letter written by Jesus Christ in the Hebrew language, and found “under a stone both round and large, at the foot of the cross, eighteen miles from Iconium, near a certain village called Mesopotamia,” sixty-five years after the crucifixion. The letter relates chiefly to the observance of the Sabbath day.

—The property of taxing church property is coming to be extensively discussed. Some wealthy churches, as the Catholic, hold millions of dollars in such property upon which no tax is paid. Evidently, public opinion is coming to be in favor of taxing such property the same as other property.

—The Christian Union and “some clergymen,” are in favor of playing billiards at home as may be seen by the following question and answer:—

What do you think of the game of billiards for a home amusement?

In billiards, considered in themselves, there is no more harm than in the game of marbles or the game of croquet; the only difference being in the fact that billiards is immensely superior to any other game in which the sense of direction, the pre-judgment of force and resistance and skillful manipulation are brought into play. Billiards played in saloons are bad; they divert men from their homes, bring them into evil associations, tempt them to bet, lead to intemperance and other evils. Billiards are, however, coming to be exceedingly popular as a home amusement in all our large cities, and we know some clergymen who have become quite skillful at the game. We do not see any more harm in a game of billiards in a family than in a game of parlor croquet, while we doubt not those who understand it find the game much more amusing than croquet.

The fallacy and danger of such reasoning is too evident to need an answer. It shows where a fallen church is drifting.

—Great revival movements appear to be the order of the day. Moody and Sankey are preaching to audiences of from 15,000 to 20,000 in London. Pearsall Smith is doing about the same in Berlin, Germany. Mr. Hammond is very popular in a similar work in San Francisco and other large cities upon this coast. Mr. Earl and others are at work in the same style in the Western States. The sectarian churches generally go in with them. That they are productive of good is seriously questioned by the best of men wherever they are observed. That much evil grows out of them none can deny.

—Christian women in Calcutta are successfully using the weapon against the liquor dealers which has been so effectively employed by praying women here.

—A new church building has been erected by the Church Missionary Society at Jerusalem and has been placed under the charge of a native pastor.

—Trouble has broken out in Peru between the Bishop of Cuzco and the government. The bishop has attempted to enforce a papal brief without first obtaining the consent of the State. He will be brought to trial.

—Troubles in the Catholic church at Buenos Ayres seem to have culminated in the organization of an old Catholic movement. The reformers reject the papacy but retain the three primitive orders, bishops, priests and deacons, recommend the reading of the Scriptures, renounce transubstantiation, and uphold the reception of both elements in the Holy Communion.

—Cremation, or the reduction of dead bodies to ashes, has been authorized and legalized in Mexico.

—The Chicago Tribune says that “good, reputable Christian men” in that city rent rooms to well-known gamblers, and must be aware of the purpose for which they are used by the tenants, and it is the sheerest nonsense to feign ignorance. For instance: “Before the fire a prominent gentleman, who is authorized to use Honorable as a prefix to his name, was the owner of a block in the business center of the city. The basement was occupied as a lager beer hall, the first floor as a liquor store and drinking saloon, the second floor was used as a faro bank, and had rooms for other games of chance, and the other floors were tenanted by prostitutes, who plied their vocation with as much boldness as if they had been boarders at a brothel. This landlord was one of the most prominent members and officers of a leading orthodox church, and made himself conspicuous as a champion in maintaining the purity of the church against any innovations upon its ancient forms of worship.”

—The Jesuit College in Buenos Ayres has been burned by rioters. Some of the ringleaders of the riot have been arrested. Three persons are known to have died.