Religious Miscellany

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Mar 16, 1876

Religious Miscellany.

—On the banks of the Iowa River, about seventy miles from the Mississippi, is a colony of people known as “Amana.” They number about 1300, and located there nearly twenty years ago. Originally they emigrated from Germany and settled near Buffalo, being known as the “Ebenezers”—a quiet, moral, industrious people, devoting their energies chiefly to agriculture. But about 1856 they moved to Iowa. All property is held in common by them, but each family has its separate dwelling. They appear to have no vices, commit no crimes, have built school-houses and churches, and made many improvements in the villages they have built. German is the language used in business and social life, but English is taught in their schools. Their religion is similar to that of the quakers.

—The Catholic Review, in a recent number, calculates thus: “It seems to be merely a question of time when our numbers will preponderate over all other religious faiths. At any moment, if the Catholics move in a body, they can decide any election. They can make any party triumphant, or secure its defeat.” This is about as absurd as Father Burk’s statement that the majority of the voters of old Massachusetts were Irish and Catholic. There is great danger from the Romanists in sections where they are numerous, but for that church, which is not as strong as any of the leading Protestant denominations—not even as strong as the Methodists—to have the cheek to make the above statement, is simply absurd; and as silly as the infallibility of the old pope.

—A Madrid letter states that Don Alfonso received recently a deputation of ladies, who presented to him a petition begging that Catholicism should continue to be recognized as the State religion in Spain. No less than sixty thousand names were appended to the petition, and among them were those of twelve duchesses, sixty marchionesses, and fifty of the lesser nobility.

—The English Privy Council has reversed the late ecclesiastical decision that forbade a Methodist clergyman to put “Rev.” before his name. The ruling is that the prefix is a mark of courtesy, not an official title.

—It is said that about 43 per cent of the families of St. Louis have not a Bible in them. The Bible society of the city is making an effort to remedy this sad case.

—In Constantinople eighteen evangelical congregations meet every Sabbath, and about one-half of those in attendance are natives.

—The Minister of Public Instruction in France has ordered the restoration of the Cathedral at Rheims, at a cost of $400,000.

—The recent completion of a new Methodist Episcopal church in the city of Rome has attracted much attention in Europe.