Deceased Wife’s Sister Bill.
We are pleased to observe that this Bill has not yet passed through lack of unanimity between the Houses of Parliament. It is lamentable, however, to think that it is High Churchmen and Roman Catholics who are among its most active opponents. Surely Nonconformity in England is very rotten, when it does not oppose this immoral measure with zeal—but rather urge its adoption.
Nunnery Life in English Church.
A remarkable will case was heard in London, on 6th June, in connection with the Convent, Mark Street, Shoreditch. Florence Fanny Toogood, a nun, died in April of last year, and two sisters claimed to have her will revoked on the ground that it was obtained by undue influence of two superiors of the convent, a Miss Skinner and Rev. H. D. Nihill. A good deal of the evidence will stand as showing the tyranny and cruelty of convent life, and that in the Episcopal Church of England; but the case was finally withdrawn and a settlement come to between the sisters of the late Miss Toogood and the convent authorities.
The Pope and the Bible.
The Pope has recently given instructions for a new version of the Scriptures from the Latin Vulgate—another example of Romish inconsistency. Some of his predecessors have published anathemas against any that would alter their own version, and yet it has been altered by succeeding Popes, and so one infallible Pope wages war against another unto this day. It is stated in the press that a number of Roman Catholic scientific men recently sent an appeal to the Pope stating that his dogmas on religion hindered them in their work of research and progress. Possibly this may show a rationalistic element in the Church of Rome that is in opposition, not merely to Roman narrowness, but to Bible truth in regard to creation and relative subjects.
The Change of Formula in the Established Church.
We have but slightly touched on this important subject in our notes on the Assemblies, but hope to explain more fully in a future issue the nature and effects of the proposed change. The words of the proposed Formula appear, on the surface, quite sound and satisfactory, but they are not so. The Reformed Faith set forth in the Confession is regarded as something embraced within the Confession, and not co-extensive with it. The Confession, without its Calvinistic doctrines, is the Reformed Faith with many in the Established Church—an error in history and fact.
Opium in China.
We are glad to see that honest endeavours are being made in China to carry out the Edict against the Opium traffic, and that the last of the Opium dens in Pekin and some other towns have been closed.