News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 5, 1892

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 28.

RELIGIOUS.

—Rev. J. Herndon Garnett, pastor of the First Baptist Church, San Jose, Cal., has tendered his resignation to the church and declared his intention to renounce the Baptist faith and become a Unitarian.

—Two more Protestants have been imprisoned in Protestant(?) Germany for writing and publishing strictures upon Catholic methods. This time it was the "holy coat" fraud and the bishop under whose auspices the crusade was conducted that were criticised.

—The Christian at Work notices a retraction on the part of Herbert Spencer of the charge that the apostle Paul was lacking in veracity. He had based the charge on statements in verses 4 and 7 of the third chapter of Romans; but he now acknowledges that he misunderstood the thought of the apostle.

—A London dispatch says: "The Theosophist Society is going to send propagandist missionaries all over the world. Annie Besant will go to America, Secretary Walsh, an old and wealthy enthusiast, will go to India, and Mrs. Oakley will go to Australia. Mrs. Besant means to work chiefly in the West, from Seattle to San Diego."

—The London Daily News publishes the statement that Catholic authorities have closed the Methodist Church in Vienna and forbidden the congregation to worship, either in public or private, because they do not believe in the sacrifice of the mass. Their Sunday school was closed because a little girl repeated, in the hearing of a priest, a verse of Scripture which she learned at the school.

—The last General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church gave all ministers to understand that if they didn't like the faith and practice of the church as it was they had better go elsewhere. Now the Occident says: "Several ministers have left our denomination since our General Assembly pointed to the door."

—The last is in New York. He believes that the Bible contains the word of God, but declines subscribing to human creeds, rejects such titles as reverend or doctor, and objects to denominations."

—"If Christians were not very much in earnest in questions concerning religion, would there be so much controversy in council, convention, conference, and assembly? There is a quietude that presages death. Where there is fermentation there is life."—Christian at Work. That sentiment hardly agrees with the word of our Lord. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." The effectual activity of Christians is not manifested in contentions with each other, but in united effort to give the gospel to the world.

—A Mexican Aztec under sentence of death for a heinous crime at El Paso, Texas, renounced the Catholic faith and became a Baptist. He was taken to the water and baptized in chains. This gained for him numerous friends, who interceded with the governor for a commutation of his sentence to imprisonment. The governor respited him for one week, but he would do no more. Then the fellow denounced the Baptist faith, sent for the priest, made confession, and once more became reconciled to Catholicism.

—Reports from Rome are to the effect that the pope is likely to come to the front as an arbitrator among the nations. It is said that communications are received at the Vatican from the German and Austrian Governments, aiming to obtaining the influence of the Holy See in interposing between France and Russia. It is also rumored that the pope will be called upon to decide the question of disarmament and rapprochement between France and Germany. It is also reported that Grand Duke Sergius has arrived in Rome to see the pope and try to induce him to support a combination in the interests of Russia and pan-Slavism.

—N. S. Ravlin, who as a Baptist minister preached Swedenborgianism until he became a full-fledged and outspoken Spiritualist, now propounds this rather hard question in the Progressive Thinker: "Why is it that so many who are really Spiritualists are ashamed to be known as such?" Inasmuch as the popular churches are full of people of that class, we suppose there are many answers not promulgated. But the true answer is, This is an age of deception, and many who cling to the root principle of Spiritualism, inherent immortality in man, are blind to the fact that they are parties to the gross manifestations that naturally spring from the corrupt fountain.