Religious Miscellany

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 11, 1875

Religious Miscellany

—Four Catholic Universities are to be opened this month in France.

—A Chinese Christian has finally been admitted to Holy Orders in the Che-Kiang Mission of the English Church in China. This is the first instance of the ordination of a native.

—A man in Massachusetts has written a book to prove that there will be two heavens—one for the women, and the other for the men. The writer says nothing about two hells for the rest of folks.

—Dr. Holland suggests a new form of church consecration, as follows: “We dedicate this edifice to Thee, our Lord and Master. We give it to Thee, and Thy cause and kingdom, subject to a mortgage of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000),” etc.

—The managers of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum of New York City have commenced the erection of a large building near Peekskill, where they propose to put several hundred boys to work, making boots, shoes, doing tailoring, printing, and other light work.

—Mr. Garter, who labors among London thieves, burglars, and pickpockets, has gathered a church of eighteen hundred members from these outcasts of society. His wife instructs sixteen hundred mothers, meeting four hundred at a time, who, without her labors, would receive no instruction at all.

—Recently the Baptists in Prussia have secured an official recognition, which is likely to be of advantage to them in various ways. A law was proposed by the Government, which gives to the Baptist Churches the right of incorporation. It was discussed very fully, and had opposition to meet, but it was finally passed by both Houses.

—President Grant has ordered the removal of the Post-master at Ogden, Utah, who is a Mormon but not a polygamist. This is the first step toward the removal of all Mormons holding Federal offices in Utah. The removal was opposed by Senator Sargent of California on the ground that the incumbent had a right to his religious belief, so long as he did not practice polygamy and thereby break the laws of his country.

—The Irish Catholic bishops have come out explicitly against State education, and have decided to establish a Catholic training school for teachers, under the care of the Vincentian Fathers. They say the primary education system is more than ever distrusted by them, and declare that the control of the State over the education of the country has been enlarged to an extent perilous to liberty, and they are convinced that in a few years the band of professors and masters now being formed by the Catholic University, will have the intermediate education of the country in their own hands, and it will become impossible for the State to withhold legal recognition of them.

—From Mr. Montague’s report of the Montefiore Testimonial Fund, we should judge that the Jews about Jerusalem are in a sad condition of degradation and poverty. Mr. Montague says that there is no manufacture whatever, deserving the name, in Jerusalem, except on the smallest scale—trifles of olive wood, made to supply the demands of visitors. One Jew only has made himself a loom, and fabricates a coarse kind of cloth. Soap is manufactured on a small scale from a greasy kind of earth, and some olive oil and wine are made. Palestine, in soil and general appearance, forcibly reminds one of the Rhineland. Many of the hills show the appearance of having been terraced for vine-growing. The ploughs are merely bent sticks, which trace a faint and shallow furrow in the soil; but the crops are said to be good, and the land very fertile. Cotton is growing in considerable quantity at Nablous, the ancient Shechem. Mulberries have been planted in great abundance at the Netter Agricultural School at Jaffa, but have not yet been used for producing silk. Excepting at the Institution just named, no Ashkenaz Jew employs himself with agriculture. He pays a miserable pittance to Arab laborers, and superintends; or he purchases the cattle, and implements, and lends them to the Arab proprietor of the soil, taking a proportion of the produce in payment; or he simply lends money to the Arab farmer, taking interest in grain.

THE BIBLE IN TURKEY.

—A brief cable dispatch brought the announcement that the Turkish Government has given its consent to the circulation of the Bible in Turkey. A letter from Rev. Dr. Bliss in the Congregationalist gives further details of the concession, and shows it to be a very important victory for the missionaries. By it the Turkish Government authorizes the printing of the book, and also the insertion upon the title page of a statement to the effect that this authorization has been given, so that nobody can stop its sale in the empire. A persistent demand was made at the very last on the part of the officials that the book should be labeled, “For Protestants,” or “Protestant Translation.” Had this point been conceded, any colporteur caught selling the book to Turks might have been stopped, and pointed to the title-page, and told that the book was for Protestants, and must be sold to them alone. “But,” argued the officials, “something must be appended to the statement of authorization to prevent the people saying that the Mohammedan Government is responsible for the book. Finally it was agreed to put on the title-page, in addition to the authorization, the name of the printer and the name of the Bible Society under whose auspices the book is published. This saves the point the officials made, while the official authorization secures the right to sell to anybody who wishes to buy.”