Religious Notes by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 22, 1883

Religious Notes.

By Editor

-The Chinese Province of Hunan has 15,000,000 inhabitants, and not a single resident missionary.

-The United Brethren Church in Eureka, Cal., has seceded from the body and set up an independent church. The itineracy is one point on which they strongly dissent from the policy of the U. B. Church.

-Morocco, in North Africa, which has a population of eight or nine millions, still presents a stern and relentless appearance to the Christian faith. The emperor will not permit a Christian to live in the interior of his country.

-The Herald of Truth gives an account of a "Jug Concert" in Los Angeles-not a saloon affair of whisky jugs, but a church affair where money jugs are broken to get their contents for the benefit of the church,-and labels the account, "Juggernaut in Los Angeles." Very expressive.

-Dr. Edward Judson, of New York, is soon to publish a book which will contain a complete history of the life of his father, Adoniram Judson. Many letters hitherto unpublished will appear; and the brief prospectus indicates that it will be a very valuable and interesting work.

-A late number of a popular religious journal says: "The theological assumption that the first chapters of Genesis are a revelation from God, is pure assumption." Why stop at the "first chapters of Genesis"? Those who have read the fable of the camel and the Arab's tent, have the answer already. The devil is content to have religious teachers deny the account of the creation and the fall of man, since the truth of all the rest of the Bible depends on that portion.

-A. W. W. Dale, writing from Cambridge, Eng., says that the election of Dr. Benson, Bishop of Truro, as Archbishop of Canterbury, is a victory for High Church principles, and that from his accession the Ritualists have everything to hope. He says: "The new Archbishop may curb the vagaries of fanatics, but the doctrines and practices of the High Church party will be recognized as conforming to the canons and creeds of Anglicanism. For the time being, Protestantism in the Church has suffered not a defeat but a collapse."

-General Booth, of the Salvation Army, has just issued a year book, which contains the following: "During the year 1882, 609 of our soldiers, to our knowledge, have been knocked down, kicked, or otherwise brutally assaulted, 251 being women, and 23 children under fifteen. No less than 56 of the buildings used by us have been attacked, nearly all of the windows being broken in many cases, and in many others even more serious damage being done. Meetings have sometimes been broken up by stones crashing through window or roof."

-As examples of Christian liberality among Chinese converts, an English paper mentions two men who gave $10.00 each last year to a preaching fund, out of an annual income of between $70.00 and $80.00. Another gave $6.00 out of $48.00 a year. A third gave $7.00 out of $54.00; two others, $5.00 each out of $60.00; and one, $6.00 out of $36.00. If Americans, some of whom claim to be Christians, would refrain from abusing the Chinese until they outdid them in liberality, it would be many years before we would again hear the cry, "The Chinese must go."

-Mr. Newton gives as his reason for his recent sermons on the Bible, in which he denies its infallibility as a guide, and its correctness as a history, that he considered that "a congregation composed, to a considerable proportion, of independent-minded Protestants of all orthodox denominations-of Unitarians, Swedenborgians, Free Religionists and Agnostics-might naturally need a pabulum which to the more conservative would be noxious indeed." This is in keeping with the modern idea that in religious matters people should be taught, not the things that they need to know and practice, but those things that will agree with the tastes and habits that they already have.

-The Christian Union, in regard to the probable trial of Rev. Heber Newton by the authorities of the Episcopal Church, says: "From the published interviews, we judge that the gentlemen who propose to conduct this prosecution, regard Mr. Newton as denying the inspiration of the Bible; we judge that he denies its infallibility and its plenary authority, but not the inspiration of its writers." This is certainly a distinction without any difference. If the Bible is not infallible, of what value is its inspiration? Any uninspired person can say unreliable things, and make mistakes; but the strength of inspiration is that it can be depended upon. "Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in Heaven."