A Form of Godliness, Denying Its Power
Concerning moral conditions, few men are better qualified to give an opinion than Dean Farrar, who has recently published the conviction that “while there is less of open and ostentatious infidelity in these days than there was in the days of Charles II., or in the earlier years of the eighteenth century, on the other hand there is a far more widely spread spirit of doubt, and even of positive unbelief, than there has ever been, even among men who have never professedly abandoned all allegiance to the religion of their fathers.” It is a fact that much of the professed Christianity of our day is nothing short of covert infidelity. This is not so much the result of intention as of delusion. Men are deluded because they adhere to the “traditions of men” rather than to the plain Word of God. This kind of infidelity, so prevalent in the world to-day, is foretold in the Word. Those who are noted as “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, etc., are represented as “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” It is a characteristic of last-day infidelity that it increases while the profession of godliness increases. The mind that is not stayed on the Word of God can not discern the counterfeit profession; hence the delusion that the world is growing better. It is officially announced that at the next session of the Swedish parliament the government will push a measure providing for the substitution of electricity for steam on all the railroads in the country, drawing the power from the waterfalls and cascades, which are everywhere abundant. If the measure goes through, Sweden will be the first country to totally discard steam in the propulsion of its railway trains. Mail advices from Japan report the disappearance of a mountain which stood in the midst of a plain, leaving nothing to indicate that there had ever been a mountain there. Similar but more extensive phenomena are reported by prospectors from the Copper River district of Alaska. Small lakes and creeks well known to pioneers have completely disappeared as if by magic. Boulders of mammoth size were found rising from lake beds, and small hills had disappeared. These are but slight evidences of the great powers that are bound up in the earth. A letter from South Africa indicates that residents do not expect tranquillity in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal for two or three years yet. The stand taken by the women is one of the strongest factors in prolonging the struggle. They refuse to have anything to do with a surrendered Boer. Captive Boers who make their escape from the British camps are said to rejoin the Boer army at once. The students and teacher of a young ladies’ school near the residence of Count Tolstoï, at Yasnala, Russia, called upon the count recently and presented him with flowers. The students were immediately arrested and their teacher dismissed. Tolstoï’s religion is obnoxious to the State Church of Russia; and thus is furnished another example of the intolerance of a national religion. The remains of the great astronomer Tycho Brahe were exhumed recently by order of the town council of Prague, it being the 300th anniversary of the death of Brahe. Positive proof that the body was that of the famous astronomer was seen in the absence of the nose, Brahe having lost that organ in a duel, and wearing a silver one in its place. The French and British Governments have selected a private arbitrator to settle their differences in regard to the territory of West Africa, thus totally ignoring the Hague Arbitration Commission, appointed for the purpose of settling just such disputes. Thus has been illustrated again the farcical character of the whole peace congress. It is stated that the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo has brought so many visitors to Toronto, Canada, that the latter place has been forced to suspend the operation, temporarily, of its strict Sunday laws; and that street-car traffic has been resumed, places of amusement and recreation opened, and restaurants allowed to resume operations. The death of President McKinley has called out a remarkable outburst of sympathy from all parts of the civilized world. This was especially marked in England. King Edward has commanded his court to go into mourning for one week, and wherever a public assembly has met, expressions of regret and sorrow have been profuse. Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office as President of the United States at Buffalo, N.Y., on the afternoon of September 14. The oath was administered by United States Judge John R. Hazel. Five members of the cabinet, a few personal friends, and representatives of the press, were the only ones present at the ceremony. According to the latest census, the Catholic population of Ireland shows a decrease of nearly 6 per cent., while Protestantism shows an increase of 10 per cent. It is recognized that if this tendency should continue, it would be only a question of time when Ireland would be a Protestant country. France and Turkey have not resumed diplomatic relations, altho it is reported that the sultan has agreed to the settlement of the claim over which the relations were broken off. France, it is reported, will now hold aloof until other claims of much greater magnitude are satisfactorily settled. The demand from the Hawaiian Bar Association that Circuit Judge A. S. Humphreys be removed from his office as judge of the Circuit Court of the first judicial district of Hawaii, has been denied by the attorney-general, who severely criticizes the Bar Association for the charges it has made. Chile is reported to have finally agreed to be represented in the Congress of American Republics, to be held in the City of Mexico. As the holding of the congress was doubtful so long as Chile held aloof, her consent to a representation would indicate that the congress will be held. Europe has taken a dog census, and France heads the list with 2,864,000 in its possession. It thus contains 75 dogs to every 1,000 inhabitants. Ireland comes next with 73 to 1,000 inhabitants; while England has 38, Germany 33, and Sweden 11 to the thousand. Austria, England, France, Germany, and Russia have united in Spain’s demand upon the Sultan of Morocco for the release of certain Christians captured by Moorish tribes. The demands include compensation for their capture and the punishment of the tribes. The Duke of Cornwall, heir apparent to the British throne, arrived at Quebec on September 16, accompanied by the duchess. The duke and duchess have been making a tour of the world. By an explosion in a coal mine at Springfield, Colorado, on September 16, 6 men were killed and 3 injured. On the morning of September 16 the body of President McKinley was borne from Buffalo to the capitol building at Washington. A special train of seven Pullmans and two engines, with right of way over everything, conveyed the body of the murdered president, his wife, attendants, and members of the press. The casket, enveloped in a silk flag, was placed between the windows of the observation car, in order that the thousands who waited at the various stations might look upon it. During Tuesday the body of the president lay in state in the rotunda of the Capitol, whence it was taken on the following day, September 18, to the president’s home at Canton, Ohio, to be interred September 19. President Roosevelt accompanied the body from Buffalo to the capital, and thence to its final resting-place. The Duchess of Marlborough, according to a cable from Paris, has declared her intention, as soon as she returns to England, of waging a relentless war against Christian Science. Several deaths that have occurred recently where the cases were in the hands of Christian Scientists, have incensed the duchess against the sect. She intends, if possible, to enlist sufficient influence to pass laws making Christian Science practice or propaganda a crime. Leon F. Czolgosz, the assassin of the president, was indicted by the grand jury at Buffalo, on September 16, for murder in the first degree. Czolgosz refused to answer any question put to him in the court room, and in view of the fact that he had secured no attorney for his defense, the court appointed as his counsel Robert C. Titus and Loran L. Lewis, both of whom formerly sat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of New York State. High officials of the Catholic Church in China have sent to the foreign ministers at Peking a protest against the present treaty. They demand that certain laws aimed at certain phases of their work be expurgated from the statutes of the Chinese empire. The laws against which the protest is made are probably those which prohibit missionaries from interfering in the civil affairs of the Chinese. At the Methodist Conference at Pacific Grove, California, the committee on “Sabbath Observance” brought in, on September 16, a report urging action by the members of the conference, in connection with the clergy of other denominations, for the purpose of arousing sentiment in favor of securing the enactment of Sunday laws in this State. The Czar and Czarina of Russia sailed for France on September 16, and festivities in connection with their visit began in Paris on the following day. Great precautions are being taken to guard the royal visitors against the designs of anarchists. It is reported that 50,000 men will guard the railway along which their train will pass. Since Theodore Roosevelt has become President of the United States, reports have come from several sources of a plan to take his life. An arrest was made in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 16, of a man who claimed to belong to a society that had offered $15,000 to the man who would assassinate President Roosevelt. That a great amount of the tourist travel of the West is finding its way into the State of Colorado is shown by the fact that during the month of August 103,568 pieces of baggage were handled at Denver, an increase of nearly 14,000 pieces over August of last year. Rear-Admiral F. M. Ramsay has been appointed to serve on the Schley court of inquiry in place of Rear-Admiral Howison, to whom Admiral Schley objected. The court adjourned its sittings until after the funeral of President McKinley. President Roosevelt is reported to have asked all the members of President McKinley’s cabinet to retain their portfolios of office. This is in harmony with his declaration that he would carry out the policy of Mr. McKinley. Bishop Henry B. Whipple, long known as the “Apostle to the Indians,” on account of his long and faithful work among them, died at his home in Faribault, Minn., on September 16. Thursday, September 19, the day of President McKinley’s burial, was set apart by proclamation of President Roosevelt as a day of mourning and prayer throughout the United States. The strike situation in San Francisco shows little change. More men are working, more vessels are being unloaded, more drays are moving; but the strike is still on. There is said to be 25,000 square miles of coal fields in China that have never been developed, with coal enough to last the world for several hundred years. Twenty-three persons were drowned at Osali, Croatia, on September 16, by the wrecking of a ferry-boat which was crossing a flooded river. General Eli Torrence was elected commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic at the recent encampment in Cleveland, Ohio. The Czar of Russia has removed five Finnish senators for opposing the publication of the new military law of Russia.