p. 215 | Religious Miscellany

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · May 13, 1875

Religious Miscellany.

EFFECT OF THE REVIVAL.—The Vallejo Chronicle says: “The result of the late religious revival was not great so far as expressed in the number of those who have joined the church. Six persons have united with the Presbyterian society, four with the Methodist, and two or three will probably join the [first-day] Adventists. There have been no additions to the Congregational or Baptist churches.” We were informed that not all the ten who joined were the fruit of the revival, as some united by letter. The union meetings in San Francisco shrunk to small proportions when Mr. Hammond left. The Oakland Tribune noticing this said their religion needed constant “boosting.” These “great revivals” are merely sensational, and depend for success on the stimulus of a great name or of good acting. When the man is gone the power is gone, and the excitement dies.

MEXICO ON ROMANISM.—The law recently passed by the Mexican Congress contains the following provisions: All the Roman Catholic Church buildings are made the property of the State, and only a certain number are allowed to persons of the Roman Catholic faith in each city or town. Sunday is made a legal day of rest; public feast-days are abolished; the Sisters of Charity banished, and in future no man or woman can wear a religious habit in the street.

—The Pacific Advocate says: Dr. H. Barber, of Lower Lake, has been driven to insanity by spiritism. He was sent to the asylum on Tuesday.

—The Universalists twenty-five years ago had five churches in Boston, and now they have but two.

—The Annual Report of the Missionary Society of the M. E. Church shows that the total receipts of that Society from 1853 to 1873 was $10,131,046.51, more than one third of which has been spent upon home missions. Its receipts for the last year were $688,000.

—The Congregationalist Quarterly says that the membership of that denomination is 330,391. Last year they lost in Vermont, once the stronghold of that church, 506; in Illinois 113; and in New Hampshire 68. But they gained in other fields. Their contributions fell off $25,000.

THE FIRST AMERICAN CARDINAL.

Bishop McCloskey of New York, has just been elevated to the rank of a Cardinal by the Pope of Rome. As he is the first one in America who has ever received that high honor, it has naturally attracted much attention. Some assert that is done with a view to prepare the way for the pope to remove to this country.

A Cardinal occupies the highest rank in the Roman church next to the pope, who must always be elected from the Cardinals. Hence the way is now open for McCloskey to the popedom.

At the ceremony of bestowing the red hat upon Bishop McCloskey, representatives were present from all parts of the Union. A number of front seats were reserved for the invited guests, and among those seated in them were Chief Justice Daly, Judge Donohoe, District Attorney Phelps, Sinclair Toucey, Collector Arthur, Hon. Thomas Murphy, and many other well-known citizens.

Thus this old persecuting power is steadily and rapidly gaining numbers, influence, and popularity in our government. Its influence will soon be felt.

MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS AND THE CIVIL LAW.

In Portugal monasteries have been abolished; in Sweden and Norway they are not tolerated. The Spanish Cortez, in 1868, suppressed the monasteries, but in 1872 they were sanctioned again. Since 1864 in Russia, the entry into monastic orders and the admission of novices cannot take place without the consent of the local civil authorities. In Austria recent legislation has greatly limited the independence which monastic institutions formerly enjoyed. In Switzerland they have been put under strict surveillance, and in some cantons suppressed. In Italy their property has been confiscated, and the members pensioned as a compensation for the loss of their livings. In Germany the Jesuits and other kindred orders have been dissolved, and the members banished. There is no Imperial law affecting the orders generally. The French government is disposed to be tolerant in its supervision of monastic orders, and yet does keep them under its observation.—N. Y. Methodist.

FOREIGN.

GERMANY—BERLIN, April 30.—The Emperor has given his assent to the introduction of a bill abolishing religious orders in Prussia.

—One of the issues between Germany and the Pope is that Germany wants the State to be permitted to nominate Bishops, but the pope doesn’t acquiesce.

—Moody and Sankey continue to draw large crowds to their revival meeting in London.

—The criminal part of the Catholic population in Scotland is over 37 per 1,000; and that of the rest of the population is a little over 7 per 1,000.

—According to statistics obtained from Protestant sources, 30,000 Spaniards have been converted to Protestantism since 1868. The Protestant chapels in Madrid and elsewhere in the country remain open.

—The Bible Society of England issued last year 10,101 Hebrew New Testaments, for Poland 89,413 Irish New Testaments, 1,627,517 Welsh Bibles, 98,224 Arabic, 379,526 Spanish, 4,383,527 French, and 1,175,118 Swedish.

—The Seventh-day Baptists of America have decided to send Eld. Wardner, one of their ablest men, as a missionary to Scotland in the interest of the Sabbath cause.

EUROPEAN SITUATION.

“Four years have passed since the treaty of Versailles, and what do we see? All Europe is a vast camp of preparation for war. Every great nation on the continent enrolls its whole male population, and counts its available troops by millions. Every one feels that war is only a question of time, and that when war comes it will be on such a scale that all Europe will be drenched in blood. And what is the cause that impels one nation after another to thus assume almost intolerable burdens in preparation for what is in itself one of the greatest of calamities? It is France’s unquenchable desire for revenge on Germany. That passion is now so strong and so deep, that the one condition exacted of every French Government is that it shall prepare the nation for attacking Germany; the one thing in which no Administration dares fail is in augmenting the military force. Germany, in counter preparation, decrees larger levies and heavier taxes; Austria takes the alarm and follows the example; so does Russia; so does Italy. The young men of the whole continent are being trained to butcher each other. National wealth is diverted from peaceful industry to be swallowed up in wholesale destruction. Liberty and social progress are postponed to military exigencies. And, in due time, sufferings unspeakable will fall on soldiers in the field and families at home. And all to satiate the flame of national hate.”

So says the Christian Union of March 10, 1875, and so say all the papers. The nations are all preparing for war on a gigantic scale. In this we see a fulfillment of Rev. 11:18; Joel 3:9–12. D. M. CANRIGHT.