p. 263 | ITEMS OF NEWS by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1880

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 6, No. 22.

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ITEMS OF NEWS.

By Editor

The Czarina of Russia died on the 4th inst.
General Guillerman and Brig.-General Jose Macco, Cuban insurgent leaders, surrendered, with 222 officers and men.
A report from Rome says the clericals have decided to participate in the municipal elections, to test their strength in view of future political elections.
June 5 a large fire occurred in Nevada City, Cal. Loss over $50,000. The same day 5000 cords of wood, valued at $30,000, were burned at Washoe, Nevada.
A railroad train was maliciously wrecked in Andalusia. Thirteen of the wreckers were sentenced to death, and thirteen to imprisonment for twenty years.
The British Colony in Constantinople is preparing a strong memorial to Goschen respecting the prevailing insecurity of life and property, which is truly alarming.
A telegram from Mozambique informs the Portuguese Government of the capture of the principal slave exporters. Three dhows were taken with 200 slaves on board.
Alexander H. Stephens says of the present Congress, it "will go down to posterity as the do-nothing Congress; perhaps the most indolent and listless in the history of the government."
New York pays more for tobacco than for bread. Dealers say there are smokers in New York City who average 100 cigars a week, and men whose cigar bills run up to thousands of dollars per annum.
The Christian Mirror says, "We do not think there was ever an age of the church when conversions were proportionally more numerous." To which the Christian at Work responds, "We decidedly Doubt, with a big D."
The Burmese Ambassador, before leaving for home, sent a letter to the British Commissioner, but it was returned with an intimation that in the present state of the relations between Burmah and Great Britain, no communication could be received.
There is reason to fear an outbreak of the Utes. Chief Ouray has exerted himself to keep them at peace, promising that "the Ute bill" would speedily become a law. But the majority in Congress cannot just now spare time to legislate for the welfare of the country.
At a late Conference of German Baptists, or "Tunkers," at Lancaster, Pa., it was urged upon the brotherhood that extravagance in funerals must be frowned upon, and that, signing a tavern license is unbecoming to those who profess to follow Christ. Birthday and surprise parties were prohibited.
A number of Khokand pilgrims have arrived in Cabul, fugitives from Samarcand, where some of them were arrested, bearing letters inciting a general revolt in Bokhara, Turkistan and Khokand, in aid of the Chinese. They report that the Chinese had driven the Russians back to the Kuldja frontiers, capturing many villages.
A very curious case, which may possibly get into the courts, has arisen lately in Australia. A Catholic merchant died some time ago, leaving the sum of $7,000 to the church "to deliver his soul from purgatory." Now the executor of the will refuses to pay the legacy until proof is further furnished that the soul of the dead has actually been delivered!
An eastern paper says it has been "raining church conventions." There have just been held, the Methodist General Conference at Cincinnati, the Baptist Assembly at Saratoga, the Reformed Presbyterians at Pittsburg, the Cumberland Presbyterians at Evansville, Ind., the Episcopalians in Diocesan Convention in New York, the Presbyterian Northern Assembly at Madison, Wis., and the Presbyterian Southern Assembly at Charleston, S. C.
The ravages of the phylloxera in France are becoming more serious daily. In July last it was computed that one third of the total surface devoted to wine-growing had been irretrievably devastated, and as the plague has been steadily increasing all the year, it is estimated that forty thousand acres have been added to the total amount of land lost. A society of wine growers has been formed for the purpose of utilizing and applying scientific means for destroying the insect.
Since the first of April there has been an epidemic of fires throughout the country, which is estimated to have destroyed some $13,000,000 of property, aside from the great damage done by extensive forest fires and the conflagrations in the oil region of Pennsylvania. During this time there have been more than 80 fires where the loss exceeded $25,000. In this list is included the total destruction of the large village of Milton, Pa., and the smaller villages of Coudersport, Pa., and Stuyvesant, N. Y. The loss to insurance companies is estimated at $7,000,000.
The Rev. George C. Miln, who is pastor of a Congregational church in Brooklyn, writes over his own signature: "As to eternal punishment, I do not believe in the endless suffering of any creature whatever. I have a better opinion of my Maker. I do believe, however, that every sin is visited by an adequate punishment; that 'whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap;' but that for the foolish, weak and sinful sowing of three score years and ten, a soul shall reap an eternity of woe, is something too monstrous to believe. Nor do I think it is believed to any great extent in religious circles of the more orthodox stripe to-day."

For ten months ending May 1st, the export of breadstuffs from this country reached the value of $207,000,000, an increase of $57,000,000 over the same portion of the previous year. New York exported more than half of this food, or $105,000,000. Baltimore comes next with $49,000,000, and Philadelphia follows with $23,900,000. It is to be added that Baltimore shows the greatest gain (of the three cities named), or 60 per cent. advance over the preceding year. New Orleans more than doubled her food export, though only reaching $7,500,000; but the great gain is an indication that the new jetties are facilitating the commerce of that city.
The Portland, Oregon, Baptist church is reported as doing a good work in the Christianizing of the heathen in their midst. By invitation of the church, Rev. E. J. Simmons, a recently returned missionary from China, and Dong Gong, a Chinese convert of the San Francisco Mission, arrived in Portland on the 11th of Nov., 1874. Since that time schools have been taught, and the gospel preached to the Chinese with good results. Thirty-two have professed Christ in the ordinance of baptism. A beautiful chapel has just been built upon one corner of the church lot, for the use of the Mission, costing $1000, of which amount the Christian Chinese gave $450. The Chinese may and should be Christianized in America.

A writer in the Advance bewails the tendency to resort to fairs and theatrical "entertainments" in order to raise the needful funds for carrying on church work. He says: "The tendency and the very common practice among us are certainly lamentable and utterly demoralizing. One of the inevitable results is the cultivation of Christian selfishness. A church trained in this way loses all love to the Lord and purchases pleasure instead. It cuts charity up by the roots; it makes the charity described in 1 Cor. 12 impossible. Where fairs and scenic performances are relied upon to replenish the treasury, and the purse is reached only by an appeal to the appetite, the people learn to think that they can best serve the Lord by ministering to the flesh. Such a conception of Christian service is earthly, sensual—shall we add the other word? The tendency is in the direction of that condition described by St. Paul in Phil. 3:19. It cannot be too earnestly counteracted."

At a meeting in Philadelphia of Methodist preachers, the Rev. Thomas Guard, D. D., of Baltimore, was introduced. Having spent some time on the Pacific Coast, the Rev. Anthony Atwood requested Dr. Guard to give his views on the Chinese question. In response, he said that things in that section of the country were not as they should be. Though he had a pleasant experience in the West, he was now glad to be on this side of the Rocky Mountains. I have had a Chinese servant for two years, and he had never had a better. The speaker alluded to Denis Kearney, the sand-lot orator, as the nearest approach to Darwin's missing link that it had ever been his pleasure to meet. "But," he continued, "I believe that he is largely the tool of others. He is enjoying a rest now—he is taking a recreation. Although I was born in Ireland," Dr. Guard continued, "I am generally called an American, and I certainly believe in American liberty. I, therefore, say that rather than endorse the sentiment: 'The Chinese must go,' I would make it 'The Irish must go,' and the sooner the better."