RELIGIOUS | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 3, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 22.

RELIGIOUS.

—It is said that from 1851 to 1890 the population of England and Wales increased 60 per cent., while the increase of Catholic priests was 300 per cent.

—A petition of German Catholics, asking the government to recall the banished Jesuits, has secured 65,000 signatures in the province of Westphalia alone.

—A dispatch to the New York Times says that there is a religious contention in Columbus, Ohio, between Protestants and Catholics in regard to the school board election.

—Very Rev. P. F. Hylebos, V. G., of Tacoma, Wash., has been confirmed by Cardinal Gibbons as director of the new Catholic National Indian Bureau, with headquarters at Washington, D. C.

—The pope, in bidding farewell to the English pilgrims, expressed the hope that once more England would be a Roman Catholic country, and said that there are already many signs of such a consummation.

—A Detroit correspondent of the Harbinger says that Rev. H. P. Welton, pastor of the Thompson Presbyterian Church of that city, with almost his whole congregation, has withdrawn from the Presbyterian fold, and adopted the New Testament as their creed.

—There is a proposition in Hungary to reform the marriage law by making civil marriage a complete legal fulfillment of the marriage contract. The archbishops and bishops have petitioned the emperor to protect the church against the measure, which is declared to be hostile to its interests.

—Rev. O. H. Gulick, a missionary to Japan, delivered a lecture in this city yesterday, giving some of the history of Christian effort in that country. When he went to Japan twenty-two years ago, any native who embraced Christianity was liable to be killed. There are now over 500 missionaries, and about 35,000 native converts.

—Sunday, June 11, has been set apart for Temperance Sunday, and every church in Chicago and vicinity has been invited to open its pulpits and Sunday schools for solid temperance work on this occasion. All the pastors are requested to preach on this subject, and the Sunday school superintendents to have special temperance services for the benefit of the children.

—The pope has been so accommodating as to speak in a phonograph a message for the President of the United States, so that he may hear "the very voice." To the American who worked the machine, the pope said: "I hand you this message; guard it carefully, for it is the expression of my love for all the people of the United States, and I wish you to deliver it with your own hand to the President."

—The San Francisco journeymen bakers have inaugurated a movement for Sunday closing, and Rev. J. Q. A. Henry (Baptist) has taken up the contest on their behalf. The daily Report also advocates the proposed reform, and says: "The pastors should invite all members to come forward and sign a pledge not to use any fresh bread, etc., on Sunday, and to patronize no bakery that insists on keeping open or serving it."

—President Cleveland and all of his Cabinet, excepting the Secretary of the Treasury, are members of the Presbyterian Church, and this excepted one, Mr. Carlisle, is said to incline that way. It may be a source of consolation to the country to know that the cabinet still has a Sunday school superintendent. Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith is superintendent of the First Presbyterian Sunday school of Atlanta, Georgia.

—Rev. Dr. Cuyler, in course of a temperance lecture, said: "The third party [Prohibitionist] has lost ground largely through attacks on the church as being in an unholy alliance with the saloon. Garrison and Phillips committed a stupendous blunder in arraying themselves against the church. They never would have abolished slavery in ten centuries. Whoever begins a warfare on the church is doomed to defeat." The church, according to Dr. Cuyler, must not be criticised, no matter how inconsistent it may be. That is about Rome's position.

—Says the New York Independent: "The Chicago meeting of Congregational ministers has adopted a resolution in favor of the observance of Passion week, preceding Easter, as a week of self-denial. The object is to obtain special offerings to maintain missionary and evangelizing work. The preamble to the resolutions states that the Salvation Army has adopted the plan, and also the Congregationalists of England, and the result has been increased offerings to the Lord's work." The most remarkable feature of the innovation is that it is another recognition by Protestants of a papal church festival. And so they continue on their journey Romeward.