The Portland daily press., 1868-07-25
Religious Intelligence.

The Pope has issued call for meeting
of all the great authorities of the Roman Cath
ollc Church, to take place at Rome, on the 8th
of December, 1869. The object of this Gcum-
enical or Universal Council, is to advise the
means ofresistance against certain evils which,
the Pope thinks, threaten not only the Roman
church, but all human society. Among the
'grievous ills" which according to his Holiness
"afhict society,"" he enumerates the following:
The Catholic Church, her salutary doctrine.
her venerated power, and the supreme author
ity of this Apostolic See, are opposed and set
at naught by the bitter enemies of God and
man. All sacred things are contemned, &C.
clesiastical property is plundered, and relig-
ious families suppressed Impious books of
every kind, pestlent journals and mu titudi-
nous and perncious sects are spread abroad
on all sides. The education of the unhappy
young is nearly everywhere aoithdrdaen from the
clergy.
This council seems to be Plus ks last card
in the great game he has been playing against
the advancing spirit of freedom in this age
and whether or not any important result comes
of the reunion of the great clerical Parliament.
il must in itself constitute one of the most ex-
traordinary events of the age. The cardinals,
the patriarchs, the archbisbops and the bish-
ops of Catholic christendom are warned to be
present in person or by proxy, under threat of
ihe penalties visited upon delinquents in such
cases.
"A writer in the Independent strongly op-
poses the New York movement in favor of
Sunday laws, on the ground that human
cnactments are likely rather to diminish than
to increase the sacred observance of the Sab
bath.
ho
or Sons OF the League, secret order existing
among members of the Israelitish faith. has
been holding its annual session in New York
this week. The B'ni Birth is a secret order
like the ancient Essenes, Rosicrucians and
Free Masons, and it has existed in this conn
try about twenty-five years. 1t comprises )
Grand Lodges and 115 local lodges, with a
membership exceeding 12,G00. The objects for
which the order is founded are the promotion
OF the highest interests of humanity, a liberal
support OF science and art the incubation of
pnilanthropy, honor and patriotism, and above
al, the PRONUNCIATION of the sublime and eter-
nal doctrines of Judaism among its professors"
The Catholic World for August maintains
that the Catholic Church does NOT condemn
the Bible, or forbid her people to circulate and
read it.
The Standing Committee of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Rhode Is
iand nave officially charged the Rev. John p.
huDDard with requesting and permitting the
neV' frederlc Denison to officiate in the con-
Sregatlon of Christ Church, Westerly. on the
10th OF February, 1868, Mr. Denison being
known to Mr.. Hubbard not to be a minister If
the Protestant Episcopal Church. A court is
to convene in the Church of the Messiah. in
Providence, on the second Wednesday of Sem
tember, for the trial of the offender.
The Gardiner Reporter says that Rev. J.
Z. Weston, President of Galesburg, Qll.,) Uni
Versity, and Rev. j. w. Hanson, of Dubuque,
iowa, both formerly pastors of the Unive rsalist
society IN Gardiner, intend visiting the State
IN short time
heV' L. d. Blake, of the Brunswick Street
baptlst Society in Gardiner, has rendered his
resignation as pastor of that Society. and it
has been accepted.
That able paper the Church Union has |
Just been enlarged again. 1t is now the larp- |
est religious paper in the worlds the leading |
organ OF the Christian Union movement-and |
taraet VI tne Strongest most fearless and most in
sermois vi our religious exchanges. Two |
waat1r -; VI me iSev. H. w. Beecher, published |
III ''S coiumns, are valuable feature. /