Religious Miscellany

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 27, 1876

Religious Miscellany

—Two Waldensian congregations still exist in France. One of these is in such extreme need that a collection is being made for its aid.

—Another liberal benefactor, anonymous like the first, has sent a donation of £5,000 to the church missionary society for the projected mission to King Mtesa’s dominion.

—A movement for the closing of public houses on Sunday has been started in England. It follows closely the plan of the movement in Ireland. The Dean of Canterbury and the Bishop of Exeter have taken up the temperance question with great vigor.

—Dr. Talmage, in compliance with very urgent requests from Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, and other large western cities, has the past week been on a tour visiting these places. It was hoped that he would visit Chicago before his return and deliver a few lectures on the school question.

The Oldest Known Bible Manuscripts

—The two most ancient manuscripts of the Bible known are the “Codex Sinaiticus” of the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg, and the “Codex Vaticanus” of the Vatican Library at Rome, both of which are believed to have been written about the middle of the fourth century, A. D. The “Sinaiticus” consists of 245½ leaves of very fine vellum, made either from the skins of antelopes or asses, each leaf being 14⅞ inches long by 13½ inches wide. Both manuscripts are written in Greek capital letters, are without spaces between the words, and have no marks of punctuation.

—Messrs. Moody and Sankey are expected to begin their services in New York City about the first of February, the exact date not yet being announced. Their work in Philadelphia closed Jan. 15. Great preparations are now being made in New York for their reception. Gilmore’s Garden, at Fourth avenue and twenty-sixth street, is undergoing a re-arrangement, and it is probable that two halls will be made of it, one of which can seat nearly eight thousand persons, and the other half as many more. A choir of five hundred voices, ushers and committees are nearly organized.

—The Interior doesn’t back down from its proposition to have all ministers who have arrived at the age of fifty-five years disposed of by a committee of elders chosen from the medical profession. And it argues this way: “There is a minister with grizzled locks now preaching on the sumptuous salary of $450 a year, whom we would rather listen to Sabbath after Sabbath the year through than to any minister of any denomination whom the writer has ever heard. But the question is whether it is better to starve him to death or to turn him over to the medical elders for more prompt and merciful, as well as more manly and honorable, treatment.”

—The wind storm near Tejon Pass, a few days ago was a terrific affair. When it commenced there were about 100,000 sheep scattered among the various camps, and after it had continued about two hours the herders were utterly powerless to restrain the flocks, and one-third of the number are thought to have perished. It seemed a storm of gravel, sand, and stones, the latter driven with force enough to beat the animals to death. A wagon was capsized and nearly torn to pieces by the wind, and men on horseback left the animals and came into camp with their faces bruised so as to nearly close their eyes. Thousands of sheep were driven into narrow gulches and finally covered with sand, literally buried alive. On the San Emidio cattle driven into the beds of the streams were in some places buried completely out of sight. The grass, which had grown to good feed, was taken out by the roots and piled up in waves along the plains. It was the most disastrous storm known in this county for many years.