News and Notes by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 26, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 25.

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News and Notes.

By Editor

RELIGIOUS.

—An exchange states that four soldiers are in jail in Bahia, Brazil, for reading the Bible.

—A Mormon elder has recently been expelled from Bavaria, by order of the Minister of State.

—There are 81,717 clergymen and 17,267,878 church communicants in the United States.

—The Methodist Conference at Brockville, Ont., condemns foreign missions as detrimental to home interest.

—The Jewish Herald indorses Rabbi Gottheil's proposition to have an English ritual substituted for the Hebrew in the synagogue service.

—The Buddhists living in Paris want a temple in that city, in which to conduct their worship, and a rich English lady has determined to supply the want.

—Fifteen missionaries are supported on the continent of Europe by the London Sunday-school Union and last year 222 schools were established through their efforts.

—Last year, the Sunday-schools of Kings County, N. Y., in which Brooklyn is situated, contributed $50,000 to charitable objects, and furnished 2,500 members to the churches.

—It is announced that a committee of the Free Italian Church, of which Father Gavazzi is a representative, proposes to approach the Waldenses on the subject of a union in the churches.

—The Emperor of Germany has sent a copy of the Bible to the Mikado of Japan, commending its principles as a basis for good government. He might appropriately have sent the book and the advice to some courts nearer home, but it is doubtful if they would have been as thankfully received.

—The Catholic Church is noted for its extensive missionary work, but it does not spend a tithe of the money in its extensive outreachings as the Protestants do. There is not a more persistent, and at the same time a more self-sacrificing class of missionaries in the world than the Jesuits. In these respects their example might be imitated to advantage by the advocates of a better cause.

—Dr. Charles S. Robinson, in his comment on Rom. 13: 1-5, makes the following point, which is too often forgotten: "There are two ways of standing by the powers that be; we can obey law when the law is not against educated conscience. When it is wrong in itself, then we can do as Daniel did, take its penalty; thus we respect the law precisely the same as if we did the wrong thing it commands."

—A San Francisco pastor lectured in his church last Sunday evening on the subject of the summer vacation, and how to spend it. For summer reading during a sojourn in the country, he recommended the works of Scott, Macaulay, translations of Homer, and the poems of Byron, as calculated to stir the mind and lead it into new fields of activity. We would call the preacher's attention to an antiquated book in our possession, called the Bible, which we have found to be an excellent book for leisure hours. It is a wonderful promoter of mental activity, and it is quite true, withal.

—The Independent admits into its columns a "poem" by Richard Henry Stoddard, on "The Death of Moses," in which, when the wife of Moses expresses surprise that such a man as he must die, Moses is represented as saying: "I must—all must— The angels Michael, Gabriel, Israfel— God only is eternal, and dies not." The poem is drawn from Persian sources, and the Independent notes one or two points which do not "tally very exactly with what the Bible tells us about them," but lets the monstrous heresy contained in the lines quoted pass without comment. Can it be that the Independent believes that Michael, Gabriel, and all angels were once mortal men?

—The following from the Christian Union is probably not applicable to very many, but it is just the thing to be remembered by a few. By the way, the "modern sermon" seems to be getting a great deal of criticism lately; perhaps a return to the "old paths" would be a blessing: "The modern sermon appears to us to be in some danger of oscillating from an essay of mere unapplied generalities into an invective of personalities. Preaching ought always to be practical, but never personal; the preacher ought never to hesitate to rebuke any sin, and never to take advantage of his position to make a personal attack upon any sinner. He is a public teacher; not a public judge, nor a public prosecutor. He need not hesitate to make any shoe lest it fit some prominent member of his congregation; but he never ought to put it on."

—The Brahmo-Somaj religion of India, which a few months ago was being lionized by the very "liberal" pulpit and religious press in New York and New England, in the person of its representative, Mr. Mozoomdar, is suffering the effects of another division. The death of Mr. Sen, the leader of the wing represented in this country by Mozoomdar, left the church or society without a head, or provision for a successor to the deceased leader. Mozoomdar seems to be the only one qualified for the place, while the friends of Sen, who held the affairs of the society in his own name, have determined to set apart his chair as sacred, recognizing his spiritual presence, and reverencing him as above other men. So it seems that the attempt to mix the good things of Hinduism with a weak imitation of Christianity, and produce a universal religion, is doomed, for a time at least. Christianity does not blend with heathenism, and all attempts to make it do so will end in failure. The Holy Spirit will not occupy the heart that does not accept Christ as "all in all."

—The Jewish Times says: "Another grave question presents itself to American Judaism, a question that cannot be evaded or avoided, and must be met. This is known as the Sunday-service question. It has conspicuously forced itself upon our co-religionists of the East, and has warm advocates and equally warm opponents. The question has been brought into great prominence by the Congregational or the Temple Emanu-El of New York City, whose rabbi, Dr. Gottheil, is an enthusiastic advocate of Sunday service. This congregation, let it be remembered, is reputed to be the most numerous, the wealthiest, and the most intellectual Jewish congregation in the United States. Whether it is the most religious is a debatable point, to be decided upon according to individual experiences. But, judging it by its reputed superiority in the features indicated, its action will have wide influence. The congregation is not yet committed to Sunday service; yet the fact that its rabbinical authority can boldly avow his sentiments on the subject under debate, and is upheld and sustained by, perhaps, a majority of the leading members, is evidence that a Sunday service is looked upon in that quarter as not detrimental to American Judaism."