News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 26, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 55.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 19.

RELIGIOUS.

—Rev. E. R. Drake, who for several years was pastor of Mr. Moody's church at Northfield, Mass., has entered the evangelistic field.

—The largest salary that any Baptist minister receives in Germany is 3,600 marks, about $850, and the church that pays this salary has between 500 and 600 members.

—At the National Convention of the Christian Alliance, in session last week at St. Louis, the call for missionaries brought out fifty volunteers for foreign work and fifty-four for service in the home field.

—In a recent sermon in San Francisco, Rev. F. L. Farrand said, "Love is a deathless passion." But the Scripture says, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." So Christ says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

—The National Reform party and the Presbyterian Church failed in their effort to defeat Walter P. Lyon, candidate for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. Their opposition was due to his pledge to use his influence for the repeal of the tyrannical Sunday law of that State.

—The London Standard's Rome correspondent says: "The Vatican views with disfavor the nomination of Prince Hohenlohe to succeed Caprivi to the German chancellorship, because he opposed the doctrine of infallibility and the temporal power of the pope. Nevertheless, its diplomatic reserve will be maintained."

—The logic of the Theosophy creed was recently illustrated in Providence, R. I., when a devotee of that religion caused a special service to be held over the grave of a favorite dog on the anniversary of the animal's death. The man believes in the reincarnation of souls, and showed his confidence in the assurance of Madame Blavatsky that the soul of the dog had once been the soul of a great warrior.

—An Episcopal tourist tells the New York Sun that Protestant missionaries in China have been far less successful in making converts than the Catholics. As one reason of Romanist success he states that "Jesuit missionaries from France and Italy were met who looked so much like Chinamen that it was difficult to distinguish them from the natives. They have adopted the Chinese dress, even to the cue, and they live like the Chinese and talk their language fluently. The Protestant missionaries live like Europeans, and generally aloof from the natives."

—Rev. Dr. Hirst, of San Francisco, recently preached a good, strong sermon against the union of Church and State. We hope he will stick to it, and while he so earnestly protests against the fruit, that he will stop cultivating the tree. Unless very recently converted, he is an ardent advocate of Sunday laws and kindred legislation, which form the very essence of Church and State government. There are a number of professed Protestant ministers who are just now nominally opposing the doctrine of Church and State union because they are fearful of Catholic influence in the State. Yet if the combined Protestant churches could be sure of wielding the church influence in the event of such a union, their protesting voice would not be heard.

—That the spirit of enforced Sunday observance is identical with the spirit of Church and State union, we have in evidence the utterance of one Dr. Young, in a recent speech at Newark, N. J.: "No rest should be taken until the city is cleared of all who are not of the spirit of the Covenanters and Puritans who settled in Newark in 1666. The good religious people who came here from New England founded a colony in which they could worship God according to their hearts' desire, and all others who do not carry out the purpose of the founders are unbidden intruders." He is also reported to have glorified the time when "the town was the church and the church was the town," stating that the pastor of the first church called the town meeting, and no one was allowed to vote unless he was a member of the church.

—Like millions of other professed Protestants, Emperor William II. of Germany is, no doubt unwittingly, a Roman Catholic in principle. Here are his words, addressed to some recruits recently enlisted in the army: "After you have sworn allegiance to me I greet you as my soldiers. I hope you are all good Christians, for if you are to be good soldiers you must be good Christians. You will have to guard and fight for the welfare of the fatherland. You soldiers are to be guards, and will enjoy the advantage of serving under my own eyes. You will wear a handsome coat, and the moment you are draped in this coat you will become something noble. Always remember that the colors before you must never be insulted. Obey the oath you have taken, and be courageous, despising death. Not only must you defend the honor of the fatherland abroad and keep order at home, but you must defend our holy religion if necessary with your lives."