News and Notes by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 7, 1886

News and Notes.

By Editor

RELIGIOUS.

—The College of Cardinals at Rome consists of sixty-two members, of whom forty-two have been appointed by the present pope.

—Dispatches from Rome state that at the Consistory in March the pope will appoint several new cardinals; and one or two of these will be Americans.

A clergyman who has been examining statistics on the subject announces that the salaries of all the religious teachers in the country do not amount to so much as the sum spent annually in supporting dogs.

—Queen Victoria has about 300,000,000 subjects. Of these 45,000,000 are at least nominally Christians; 68,000,000 are Mohammedans; 175,000,000 are Hindoos; 7,000,000 are Buddhists; and 7,000,000 are pagans under other names.

—Fifty-five active men are engaged in selling the Scriptures in various parts of France. They have little faith in the usefulness of books that are given away, as they find that they are little valued, and are easily surrendered to the priests, to be torn up and burned.

—About four thousand Poles, parishioners of a Catholic church in Detroit, Mich., dissatisfied because their favorite priest was removed by the bishop, gave vent to their dissatisfaction in a series of obstinate riots, December 25, 26. One man was killed. The rioters did not hesitate to attack the police, who were attempting to restore order.

—The London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, the chief of the societies organized for that purpose, has an income of upwards of $175,000 a year, and works both at home and abroad. The missionaries report that in some respects their work during the past year has been more encouraging than in any previous year.

—The Independent quotes from an editorial in the Catholic Mirror on the pope's Encyclical: "Impudent sects of heretics, infidels, atheists, claim to be treated by States on an equal footing with the one true church. How shall we view this deplorable and perplexing problem?" And adds: "This is strangely un-American. Does the Mirror think that, in our nation, other churches ought not to be on an equal footing with the Catholic before the law?" The position of the church, and the tone of the pope's Encyclical, seem plain enough on that question.

—The General Conference of the German Missionary Societies held in Bremen in October, was a very important meeting. Besides the prominent ministers who attended, a representative of the German Government was present and took part in some of the discussions. The questions discussed had reference chiefly to missionary work in the German colonies. It was insisted that a fair recognition ought to be given of British, American, and other missionary enterprises in these colonies. The Conference also took strong grounds against the liquor traffic in these dependencies of the nation.

—The citizens of Cambridge, England, are signing an address to the bishops and archbishops of the Church of England, asking that necessary reforms in the church be no longer delayed. "Among the reforms named are abuses in the sale of patronage, inequalities in the distribution of revenues, and difficulties in the removal of 'criminous and incompetent clerks.' It also asks for a more complete development of the constitution and government of the church, central, diocesan, and parochial; and especially the admission of lay members of all classes to a substantial share in the control of church affairs."

—One of the live issues now before the people of England is the question of the disestablishment of the State church. Most of the leading bishops are vigorously opposing the separation of Church and State. Some of them go so far as to declare that it is wicked to discuss the question, or to meditate the breaking up of a union that has been established for three hundred years. But many of the most prominent non-conformist and denominational ministers are earnest supporters of disestablishment. They point out the deadening effect of connection with the State, on the spiritual life of the church, and assert that were it not for the numerous non-conformist churches throughout England, Protestantism would long ago have lost its firm hold of that country.