News and Notes by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 24, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 12.

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News and Notes.

By Editor

RELIGIOUS.

—Tunis has a population of 1,500,000, of whom 45,000 are Jews.

—It is said that there are but two Baptist churches in Wyoming Territory.

—Of the 408 members of the last Congress, 125 make no profession of religion.

—Sam Jones is to hold a six weeks' series of meetings in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, beginning about the middle of April.

—Some of the members of the Glasgow Free Presbytery are desirous of having the Westminster Confession of Faith modified on some points.

—Archbishop Ryan has issued an order that "hereafter only music composed expressly for divine worship shall be sung in the churches" in his bishopric.

—At the annual meeting of the Connecticut Congregational Club at Hartford, a Chinaman named Yung Wing was elected president for the ensuing year.

—The New Jersey Sabbath (Sunday) Union has commenced the publication of a paper, in the interests of first-day observance. The name of the journal is The Pearl of Days.

—The American United Presbyterian Church has in Egypt 21 organized congregations and 1,842 communicants. Only a few of their converts are from among the Moslems.

—It is now denied that the Pope sent his blessing to Dr. McGlynn. The blessing, it is claimed, was for the members of McGlynn's congregation who remained loyal to "the church."

—The Connecticut Legislature has passed a bill prohibiting the running of excursion trains in that State on Sunday, and placing certain other restrictions upon Sunday railway traffic.

—A movement has been set on foot by "the better portion of the Knights of Labor" in Chicago, the object of which "is the emancipation of some twenty-five hundred persons from Sunday labor."

—Dr. Justin D. Fulton, who has been connected for ten years with the Centennial Baptist Church in Brooklyn, has tendered his resignation, and proposes to devote himself to the conversion of Roman Catholics to the Baptist faith.

—It is rumored in New York that Dr. Parker will be asked to succeed Henry Ward Beecher in Plymouth Church. Dr. Parker is a man of the Beecher stamp, and is certainly the most popular preacher in London as he is fantastic and theatrical in style.

—At a recent meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod at Philadelphia the use of unfermented wine at the sacrament was approved; but it was decided that the fermented article is preferable, except in cases where it is likely to stimulate thirst for liquor.

—At a conference of the sect known as the Mennonite Brethren in Christ, held at Reading, Pa., recently, a vote was passed that preachers be prohibited from riding on railroads on Sundays. One minister declared that he walked eighteen miles every Sunday.

—It seems that 1887 is the fiftieth anniversary of the Pope's ordination as priest, as well as Queen Victoria's jubilee, and it is rumored that letters and presents will be exchanged between the Vatican and St. James's. The Queen is personally acquainted with the Pope.

—In a recent lecture Hon. John Bright, of England, said: "Since Queen Victoria ascended the throne there has been a war in New Zealand, three wars in China, one in Zululand, two in India, two in Afghanistan, and three in Burmah, all of which caused great loss of life, and misery, and were incapable of justification."

—Speaking of mummies, the Christian at Work says that the most interesting feature about them is that "they reveal the belief of Egyptians in the resurrection of the body." It is then suggested that as "the heathen, however enlightened and philosophical, were without the least faith in this doctrine," the Egyptians must have learned it from the Hebrews, "to whom God had immediately revealed it."

—The Catholic Mirror says: "The church in California is now receiving back from the Mexican Government the two million dollars known as the 'pious fund,' which was confiscated by Santa Ana in 1842. The record of the fund was lost for fifteen years, when Archbishop Alemany found at Monterey documents which established the claim of the church to the money. The fund had been deposited with the Mexican Government in trust for the proper management of missions."

—There are in New York City 500 places of public worship, including thirty Jewish synagogues and sixty-one Roman Catholic churches. The total number of sittings is 400,000, divided among twenty-eight denominations. The Protestant church organizations number 285, with a total membership of 94,467.

—The Protestants of Germany, alarmed by the partial repeal of the May Laws, and the prospects of still farther concessions to Rome, have formed an alliance and issued a call to the various church parties to keep their differences in the background and "firmly unite for the protection and defense of Fatherland and of the German Evangelical Church." The call recites that the Protestant factions must unite if they would combat successfully the "powerful unity of Rome." It declares that the Jesuits are at work, and that "Romanism is more and more degenerating into Jesuitism." And Jesuitism the world over is opposed to religious and civil liberty.