The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-08-30
FOREIGN CHURCH NEWS.

the Anglican clergy take towards native
churches gathered by Nonconformists-i. c,
non Anglican missionaries-and obtaining no
satisfaction on the point from the Bishop of
Calcutta, considerable body of native Chris
tlans have held public meeting in that city
and passed the following resolution That
the time has come for Bengali Christians to
make an emphatic declaration against Ritualism
and Sacerdotalism, and to take active steps for
maintaining and strengthening the unity which
now obtains among them BY all means let
the native Christians mass themselves together
and develop native church, keeping quite
clear of the unhappy prejudices and antago
nlsms imported from England. And let Chinese
and Japanese Christians do likewise"
In Brazil, larger than the U. S., and
having a coast line of about 1000 miles. the
Presbyterian Church is the most active Protes
tant force, having 81 churches and ,729 church
members. The Southern Methodlsts have a
church In Rio de Janeiro and there are. also
two Baptist churches; but fourteen of the TWEEN.
ty large provinces of Brazil are entirely desti
tute of evangelical teaching. French is spoken
quite as generally as Portuguese, and the worst
class OF French literature is read by the people
There is more than ever" says the Sac Paulo
Report observable a widening of the breach
between Romanism and the reading people, but
a tendency to License and unbelief"
Mr.. Arnold, of the Evangelical AL
lance, who has lately been on a visit to Sweden,
reports remarkable progress among the Baptist
churches. They number now no less than 20,
OOO members, and one place of worship at
Stockholm alone Is regularly attended by 1900
persons and there are several other such large
churches A considerable revival appears to
have taken place during the past twelve
months, specially encouraging feature of
which is the addition of numerous members
through the Sunday Schools. The leader of the
churches speaks also more hopefully of their
position IN relation to the government and its
liberation of their religious position Mr.
Arnold's report throughout is full of hope and
encouragement
-Infdelity follows close upon the
proclamation of the gospel. The Buddhists of
apan are translating and circulating Ingersoll's
lectures as an offset to the successful labors of
The per centage of net numerical
growth in the foreign mission fields of the
United Presbyterian Church of last year was
more than seven times that of the Church at
home; and this notwithstanding the fact that
the home growth was proportionately larger
than that of almost any other Northern Church.
The Primitive Methodists of Great
Britain reported at their recent conference
of l9l 1923, an increase of 6,Ol7
which is considered satisfactory But their four
theological colleges turn out more trained young
men than the Conference can employ, and quite
a number of qualified young ministers have
been sent back to business for year to await
openings for ministerial work, and two of the
colleges have been closed for a year on this &C
count
Canon Wilberiorce has written a long
letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, drawing
attention to the large number of public houses
built upon Church land. He cites the ROYAL
Oak at Bayswater, on the estate of the Bis6op
Of London and the Hero of Waterloo on that
Of the Archbishop of Canterbury and quotes
the fact that the Bishop of London, on his wav
from his house in st. Jamess square to his palace
at tulham, passes more than 100 public houses
built on land belonging to the Church Nor Is
this the worst; for when the lease of public
house In the possession of the Church Commits
honers falls IN, 1t Is valued by professional
gentleman employed on property of this kind.
10 know If its rental can be increased.
M Olivier was one of the Premiers
Of France in the days of Napoleon III. and
helped to wreck the Empire lie has EMERGED
rom obscurity to say that Italian unity must
De broken or Catholic unity must perish" The
world will say, q" Let it perish" ANY reconcilia-
non OF the Vatican with King Humbert, he
declares, would be the most revolving apostacv
N ecclesiastical history" Nay there is a great
or apostacy, accomplished when the Roman
{hurch became political power, kingdom OF
his world.
The Wesleyan Conference which has
ust been held in England had stirring dis
,ussion on the revision of its baptismal service
The revised formula leaned away from baptismal
regeneration, and therefore towards Protestant
SIN. The revised service was carried bv a
arge majority, but liberty was given to the on. |
oosers of this service to use the old form if thew
those. 1t was the chief matter before the Con
ference, and its decision placed it most empba.
lcally on Protestant ground.
MINUTES OF THE IRISH PREsBYTE-
Ran CHURcH.-We learn from the Minutes
bat the Assembly has at present sos congrega |
ions ministered to by 500 ministers. Of the |
minister's SIS attended the late meeting of the
Assembly, along with 341 ruling elders max. |
ng the total attendance this year $50 Ger
AMY this was one Of the largest deliberat1ve
bodies which ever met The full strength of the
House OF Commons is 65S, so that the recent
Meeting OF tbs Supreme Court had over two
hundred members more. OF licentiates and or |
famed ministers without charge there are "a /
The following table of ecclesiastical changes as
compared with former years, is interesting
1880 1881 1882
Icensules, Is - IA
ordinations, 20 II %
installations, 10 % 35
Deaths. % IL %
Permission to
moose assistants II
Number Of assistants. 81 % 20
icentiates, Al RI 81