RELIGIOUS NEWS | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 17, 1878

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 4, No. 3.

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RELIGIOUS NEWS.

—Boston has a car conductor's religious meeting.

—As many joined the churches in China last year, as in all previous years.

—Sweden and Switzerland contribute the largest number of new members to the Mormon church.

—For the first time in history a Protestant Theological Seminary has been established in Paris.

—Winthrop church, in Holbrook, Mass., was destroyed by fire on Christmas morning. It was insured for $20,000.

—A Chinese Young Men's Christian Association, with a Chinese president, is in full and successful operation in Honolulu.

—The Roman Catholics are building a new church in Boston, which is to cost upward of $200,000. It is nearly completed.

—New Haven, with 60,000 inhabitants, has 55 churches. The Congregationalists have 15, Methodists 13, and Episcopalians 10.

—Philadelphia has about 250 organizations for the relief of the suffering poor, not counting the churches which number about 600.

—There are in all Africa about 130,000 church members of various denominations. They have been gathered in as the fruits of mission work.

—Several of the old Catholic priests of Germany have married recently. This will probably compel the Synod next year to decide the celibacy question.

—The Pope has authorized Cardinal Manning to open negotiations with Great Britain for the removal of certain difficulties which delay the re-establishment of a Roman Catholic hierarchy in Scotland.

—An exchange says: "The colored Baptists of Alabama held their State Convention recently at Eufaula. It represented 24 associations, with a membership of about 75,000. The greatest need of these people is schools, an effort to supply which is being made."

—The Universalists, according to their Year Book for 1878, are now 35,395 strong; against 32,947 in 1876 and 31,071 in 1875. They have 691 church organizations, 765 church edifices, and 722 ministers. Their parish property is estimated to be worth $6,978,110.

—It is reported that the Free church of Scotland has determined to take prompt measures to prevent the spread of Roman Catholicism in Scotland, as threatened by the re-establishment of the Roman hierarchy. The ministers intend to instruct the people in the true nature of the Roman system, as well as the present movement by the Vatican.

—Whittaker's Protestant Episcopal Almanac for 1878 reports the following statistics: Bishops, 61—increase 2; ministers, 3,216—increase, 45; parishes, 2,900; baptisms, 46,787—increase 4,756; confirmations, 29,179—increase 2,418; communicants, 281,977—increase, 13,443; contributions, $6,734,268—increase $95,331.

—More than three and a quarter centuries ago many refugees arrived in London who had been driven from their own lands by the spirit of religious persecution. A company of these refugees who were Frenchmen were allowed the use of the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral for worship. Their descendants still enjoy this privilege, and the little congregation has just celebrated the 32th anniversary of its existence.