p. 4 | Notes by the Way by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Nov 11, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 15.

Notes by the Way.

By Editor

IN our last we spoke of the Eucharistic Congress. To Catholics it was destined to be the nature of a triumph. Great gains have been made in England. The High Church people have been following fast after Rome and utterly repudiating Protestantism; and the voices of Protestants raised in protests against Rome's errors and for the Gospel are few and far between. In fact, "Protestants" professedly so, are strong and ready to denounce as bigoted those Protestants who do protest, as are Romanists.

Oftentimes the protests against Roman Catholicism are based on utterly wrong principles. It is with these protesters a perfectly proper thing for Protestantism to be united with the state, but not Catholicism. Their very attitude places weapons in the hands of Rome. Historically she has the priority, and logically her claim is as good as that of any other religious body. But in truth, no religious body should be connected with the state. It has ever been a curse to both state and church. The church thus proves false to her covenant God, and looks to earthly power for her success, and the state becomes embroiled in religious controversies, and becomes a party against its own loyal subjects. Union of church and state, or Christianity and the state, spells weakness and ruin for both and a bitter curse to civilization.

BEAUTIFUL in her greenness is England. The sad thing is that so much of her land is unproductive for her masses. It is held in large estates and great parks, used for game preserves and racehorses, which do little good to her thousands of needy people. Her colonies are open for millions, and many are interesting themselves in inducing emigration, notably to Canada. But hundreds of thousands are too poor to go, and labor conditions must ever be pitiful.

YET the worst foe is drink. The curse of the public house is over the land, black and blighting. It is pitiful to see fathers and mothers and children throng the public houses (saloons) and drink; painful to see the little child sent to the grog-shop with the bucket for ale or beer for besotted parents. If the curse of rum could be wiped from this beautiful island, what an untold blessing it would be to the men who are waxing rich on the bodies and souls of their fellows.

LONDON overflows with Americans. They are found everywhere, so that lodgings even have been very difficult to obtain. American ships are filled to the full by the returning multitudes. The great historic places, such as Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, the Tower, and the British Museum, are thronged. It is so with the Museum Library, where the writer spent much of his time. Regulations are becoming more strict because of the many applications to read. There were more than 750,000 readers in the great library last year. One can understand somewhat of the crowded conditions in the reading-room at times, with an average of 2,500 a day. It is a great institution, but it demands time.

GREAT London is the same, yet changing. The old historic streets seemed familiar as ever. Who has not heard of Piccadilly, The Strand, Fleet, and Farringdon Streets, Cheapside, Holborn, Ludgate, Threadneedle Street, Paternoster Row, etc.? Who does not know something of the Tower, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, the British Museum, the Guildhall, the Monument, and many of the great buildings made famous in history? They are all there in their own individual rugged grandeur. We love them all for the heroes of God whose names are associated with them.

WE have no criticism for much of the conservatism of old England, in which so many Americans flippantly indulge. We love her regard for law, manifest in the peaceable and accommodating policeman in the street, in her crowded lanes and arched byways built over some tortuous path used by the public for so long that it belongs to them, and regard for their rights would not bate a jot or tittle of what is theirs. But "the old order changeth." The great book-mart, Paternoster Row, is housing the draper and restaurateur. The underground railway with its Hadean fumes has given place to beautiful tubes, lined with porcelain brick, in which run swift and comfortable electric cars, making accessible all parts of London. Electric railways and tramways are common, of course. Motor "buses" are endeavoring to compete with the old horse "bus," still a great favorite with Londoners, and cabs and hansoms are everywhere in evidence, while thousands walk, walk, walk, much more than in America, and doubtless generally for their own good. But you will find no car tracks in Old London; they will not have them, nor will you find electric wires stretched over the finely paved streets. London has regard for the safety of the public. Her courts of justice are worthy of honor. With all the poverty and misery to be found, with all the foolish laws and customs of entail and feudal rights, and titled "nobility," who are not noble, one must honor her for the rich associations and inheritance of noble names, great characters, and devoted men of God. May thousands of her sons and daughters receive the mighty, blessed truth of God's last message.

OUR voyage home was without particular incident, save that it was generally cold, and rough, and stormy. A little babe died during the voyage, and was buried at sea early the next morning. The mother was almost inconsolable. Our ship, the "Kensington," of the Dominion Line, is a two-class boat, second and third; but her second class is not equal to the second class on the three-class ships, and we can advise no one to take the Dominion Line; altho with a better boat it may be an agreeable voyage in the summer. As we close this we are nearing American shores. The Gulf of St. Lawrence has received us, and land has been sighted. All hearts are glad. How much more so should God's children be glad as we near the eternal Homeland after earth's stormy passage. W. Sept. 25, 1908.