RELIGIOUS NEWS AND NOTES.
—The Society of Friends in England numbers not quite 14,200 persons of all ages. —The business men’s daily prayer-meeting which has been held for two months in the Rialto building, Baltimore, has proved to be so successful that the executive Committee has determined to make it permanent. It is attended by 200 business men, and lasts exactly a half hour each day. —Bishop Lynch of Toronto has told his parishioners that hereafter he will only allow five cases at the funerals of poor persons. If an additional number is desired, they must not be used, but the money that would have to be expended if they were employed, must be given to the priests “to pray the dead through purgatory.” —The controversy in Spain over the question of religious toleration is fierce. The Espana, organ of the Ultramontanes, says that the Papal Nuncio is authorized by the Vatican to refuse the least concession in relation to liberty of public worship. The Epoca declares that the Cortes will approve the principle of religious toleration. The Vatican will be compelled to accept it. —A new thing in religion is the “Eclectic Church,” of which A. Pickell, of Prairie City, Iowa, proclaims himself the Pope. The following is a copy of the doctrines of his faith:- One God and Father of all.
- We are living in the dawn of a new dispensation—the Eclectic Church.
- One man in a normal condition should be married to two women, and two only.
- Jesus Christ will come to this world at some future time.
- Must have a visible head to the true Church of God.
- Limited punishment in future life.
—An ordinary Christian has very little conception of the hilarity and joy that attends the Passover season. It is rather an expensive entertainment. As the Jews in the time Nehemiah at their festivals “ate the fat and drank the sweet,” and sent “portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared,” so the Jews of New York have organized a society whose business it is to assist poor Israelites with money to keep their entertainment in a proper manner. The multitude of Israelites among us (N. Y.) is shown in the fact that our leading grocers advertise “Fine wines and extra spices and groceries suited to the Passover season.” —Dr. Talmage speaks boldly in defense of truth and for the Bible in the schools. This has aroused the enemies of God’s Word who threaten genuine persecution. In a recent sermon he gave utterance to the following: “I have been warned again and again that if I opened my mouth on these schools it would be disastrous to me; and this week while I was absent in the Canadas many threatening letters have been received by my secretary, threatening me with all sorts of things if I kept on giving good advice; and men have gone so far within ten days as to set fire to my home and try to consume my family. I want to say, if any of the people of Brooklyn or New York have an idea that by taking such a course my lips will be closed on such a subject as this, involving the best interests of society, I tell them they are mistaken. I always judge of the success of a sermon by the amount of riot it stirs up in infidel circles.” —The Examiner and Chronicle, a Baptist paper, has the following:—“The ladies of a Baptist church in South-western Ohio are to give a Martha Washington Tea-Party, ‘the proceeds to be devoted to church purposes.’ One of the secular papers of Cincinnati has a notice of what may be expected as follows, omitting the name of the church:—
> “The ladies of the — — — Baptist church give a Martha Washington Tea-Party, Thursday evening, March 30, at Kay’s Hall. Characters, en costume—music and singing, songs by the old folks, comic opera, Indian War Dance, &c., included in the entertainment. Tickets 50 cts. Doors open at 4 o’clock.”
>
> “A church of Jesus Christ to be established in its goings by its church members turning playactors in a comic opera and Indian war-dance.”