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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 23, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 17.

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News and Notes.

By Editor

RELIGIOUS.

-Denver, Col., has fifty-five churches.
-Providence, R. I., has over eighty churches.
-The Russian Government steadily persecutes all religious communions other than the Orthodox Greek Church.
-The Universalist doctrine was first preached in this country by John Murray, in 1770, and the first church was organized in 1779.
-The donations to the American Board of Missions have fallen off nearly 20,000 during the first six months of the current fiscal year.
-Bishop Samuel Fallows, an Episcopal clergyman of Chicago, thinks that the signs of the times point to a speedy second coming of Christ.
-The Presbyterian says that the Salvation Army is rapidly vanishing from London, and that the subscriptions from the outside have almost ceased.
-The United Brethren of Pennsylvania have bought a tract of land on the ocean front at Cape May Point, N. J., which they propose to fit up for a camp-meeting site.
-The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions reports a falling off in receipts from living members, of $20,568 for the current fiscal year to March 1, and its legacies are $20,000 less than last year.
-March 7, a solemn requiem mass was celebrated in the church of Santi Apostoli, Rome, for the repose of the soul of Pius IX. What! infallible before he died, dead seven years, and not at rest yet! If it is so with a pope, and such a pope, how must it be with the poor common people?
-As an example of some of the abuses still allowed in the English church it is stated that the rector of a certain London parish has not been seen within the limits of the parish within seven years. His income from the parish is £11,000 a year, while his duties are delegated to a curate at a salary of £175 a year.
-Two confessional boxes have been placed in the Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City. What is the use of such a church inserting the term Protestant, in its title? Why not call itself Catholic and be done with it? That is what it is, and why does it persist in sailing under false colors.
-The Voice says: "A thousand missionaries" could not so affect the minds of the Soudan hordes in favor of Western civilization and Christianity, as did General Gordon. That is certainly a very low estimate of the worth of a thousand missionaries, or a surprisingly extravagant estimate of Gordon. We rather think the latter.
-A riot occurred at the A. M. E. church, Clarendon, S. C., Sunday, April 5. The pastor was dragged from the pulpit, beaten, and thrown out of the house. A part of the congregation had seceded and wanted to control the property. It is said that the men planned, and the women executed, the assault. A large number were arrested.
-Cincinnati has a population of 300,000. A correspondent of the Christian Union says that of this number only 20,000 are members of Protestant churches, with no flattering signs of any increase. He says that in portions of the city the people are living in a condition but little better than that of the lower animals, apparently unconscious of their degradation, and indifferent to their wretchedness. Here is a fine opportunity for home missionary work.
-"Observer" writes from Boston to the Christian Union, thus: "I note continually how the old denominational walls are broken down. People pass from one communion to another, as a matter of convenience or taste, almost as freely as they change residences. This remark applies to Protestants and Catholics. As the result of Catholic mission services in Cambridge, a priest announced that twenty-eight Protestants had been converted during the meetings."
-Phillips Brooks, in a recent sermon, severely reprimanded the press for its lack of discrimination in commenting on the moral character of wealthy men. He intimated that if a Boston millionaire should die the papers would make him out a public benefactor, whether he had gained his wealth by fair means or foul. Upon which the N. Y. Observer justly remarks: "Undoubtedly the press is in fault in this matter. But is the pulpit so free from fault as to be justified in throwing stones at the press? We trow not."