p. 127 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 8. (12/25/1893)

Earlier text: IN THE HEART OF THE SIERRAS

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 18.

RELIGIOUS.

—Right Rev. Samuel Gregg, bishop of Cork, has been elected archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland.

—At the celebration of the foundation of a Catholic school at Liege, Belgium, on the 16th inst., a serious riot occurred between Catholic and Liberal students.

—The New York Presbytery has adopted a resolution recommending that students for the ministry shall not pursue studies in any seminary not approved by the General Assembly.

—St. Peter's Church at Rome contained an audience of 15,000 people on the 17th inst., while the pope celebrated the mass, and then blessed the people. Fourteen cardinals and the ministers of Spain, Austria, and Portugal, and the Russian envoy were present.

—Cardinal Gibbons disclaims the authorship of the circular ascribed to him, which conveys the idea that he intended to ask the Maryland State Legislature for a part of the public school fund to aid Catholic schools. However, its Catholic origin is not denied.

—On the 17th inst. a fight occurred in the Armenian Church at Providence, R. I., which was quelled by the police after the interior of the church had been wrecked and ten of the belligerents had been badly cut and bruised. The affair was the result of a factional feud.

—It is claimed that the disciples of Buddha number 450,000,000. There are 30,000 in Paris alone, and in England and America there is a considerable reaching out after the old delusion, which, since its popularization by the Parliament of Religions, is becoming a new fad.

—The San Francisco Presbytery has recommended that hereafter no one who has not completed a college course or its equivalent shall enter the theological seminary as a student. This is in harmony with the desire of the seminary faculty to elevate the educational tone of the institution.

—The suggestion by a prominent Jewish rabbi of San Francisco that the Midwinter Fair will not be complete without its congress, will very likely receive further encouragement. So far as any religious feature is concerned, the prominence gained by the antichristian religions at the Chicago congress will, no doubt, lead them to favor another boom of their systems.

—Purushotam Rao Telang, a high-caste Brahmin from India, delivered a lecture before a large audience at Stanford University, Palo Alto, Cal., last week, giving an account of the religious and other customs of his country. He translated his daily prayer as follows: "I meditate upon the adorable glory of that God who is the creator of this universe; may he send us enlightenment."

—A New York paper says that the principle in what is now known as the boycott was borrowed from the church by the trade unions, which have made a vigorous effort to introduce it into industrial society. The principle is born of that spirit of intolerance that characterized the church that was dominant in the Dark Ages; and it is coming to the front again, as the churches are becoming more disposed to invoke the aid of force in their various enterprises.

—The Interior says that "the lawful attitude toward a representative government is obedience to it within the limits of conscience," and adds: "This principle was one of the vitals of the Protestant Reformation. Hence it is within the limits of law and of loyalty to dissent or protest where the occasion is such as to justify or require it, and not only so, but it is a part of the duty of the citizen and of the Christian." This is sound doctrine, which most of the Protestant denominations will indorse until they come to the Sunday laws and kindred legislation, and then they begin to make exceptions.

—The editor of the Baptist Sentinel (Dayton, Wash.) refers to the fact that his associate pastor, some fifteen years ago, preached a sermon on the Sabbath question in Woodland, Cal., which was listened to by several Seventh-day Adventists, and none of their representative men have ever replied to it. This fact seems to be taken as evidence of the impregnable character of his position that the Edenic Sabbath was the first day of the week. There have been thousands of sermons to which our people have not replied directly, yet their literature abounds in explosions of every first-day sabbath argument ever invented. Our tract "The Identical Seventh Day" (Bible Students' Library No. 114), while not a direct reply to Mr. Prior's position, presents the truth in regard to the Edenic Sabbath in such a light as to leave no place for his first-day sophistry.

SECULAR.

—Di Crispi comes to the front once more as premier of Italy.

—The bill for the admission of Utah as a State has passed the lower house of Congress.

—On September 30, 1893, the U. S. Army consisted of 25,778 enlisted men and 2,144 officers.

—A band of fourteen Yaqui Indians from Mexico are now on the way to the San Francisco Fair.

—It is announced at Berlin that trichinae have been found in American hams. But that is not new.

—It is officially reported that 63 per cent. of the late World's Fair awards went to foreign exhibitors.

—The telegraph reports that a cyclone did much damage to property at Harrisburg, Ill., on the 16th inst.

—Dispatches from Albion and Carmi, Ill., and Mount Vernon and Evansville, Ind., report earthquake shocks on the 14th inst.

—It is reported that six hunters have been found frozen to death in the Pilchuck Mountains, sixty miles east of Mount Vernon, Wash.

—The Carnegie Iron and Steel Company is said to be preparing for another reduction in wages in anticipation of a lowering of the tariff.

—Several steamers engaged in the Pacific trade have been laid up until times are better, and some 300 men are thus thrown out of employment.

—It is claimed in Mexico that the insurrection in the States of Guerrero and Chihuahua is completely subdued, General Neri being now in prison awaiting trial.

—The Spanish campaign against the Riffian tribes that have threatened Melilla, Morocco, has been closed through a conference with the sultan's representative.

—Some Polish capitalists have decided to establish a beet sugar factory and refinery at Omaha, Neb., and bring out a colony of beet sugar farmers from Poland.

—At a banquet of soldiers in St. Petersburg last week forty guests partook of meat pie which contained stale meat, and ten of the number afterward died of cholera.

—It is announced that the large plant of the Maryland Steel Company at Baltimore has been closed for a year. Some Western concerns have bought its silence for $400,000.

—The western buffalo have become so nearly extinct that the recent discovery of a herd of two dozen in an uninhabited region of Colorado is heralded abroad as a wonderful incident.

—The French Chamber of Deputies has voted 800,000 francs for the increase of the police force. The increase is designed for surveillance of persons known to have revolutionary tendencies.

—The final survey for a ship canal across the Florida peninsula is about to be made. It will shorten the route from New Orleans to Atlantic Coast points and Europe about 1,000 miles.

—The exposition at Augusta, Ga., was addressed on the 12th inst. by Hon. Adlai Stevenson, Vice President of the United States. Two Cabinet officers, Secretaries Herbert and Smith, were also present.

—Great suffering is reported in the mining regions of the upper peninsula of Michigan, and a Detroit committee reports that $100,000 will be necessary to prevent actual starvation during the winter.

—Chris. Evans, the noted bandit, whose trial at Fresno, Cal., has been a prominent sensation for a month past, has been convicted of murder in the first degree, with sentence fixed at imprisonment for life.

—Five natives of Ceylon have arrived in San Francisco to prepare an exhibit for the Midwinter Fair. The exhibit of the far-famed island will consist principally of coffee, cocoa, tea, spices, laces, and embroidery.

—The Georgia Legislature has declared in favor of free coinage of silver, and denies the right of the national government to interfere with, restrict, or regulate the issue of paper currency by the authority of the State Legislature.

—Four Chinese laundrymen were burned to death in their beds in San Francisco on the 15th inst. They had all gone to sleep at 1 o'clock A.M., after a whiff at the opium pipe, leaving a red-hot stove in the room, as was their usual custom.

—At Portland, Me., on the 12th inst., fire destroyed property to the value of $150,000. On the same day, at Hammond, Ind., was another $150,000 conflagration. The latter was distillery property. Also on the 14th inst. fire destroyed property on Main Street, Buffalo, N. Y., valued at $750,000. On the 17th inst. fire destroyed the plant of the National Carbon Company at Cleveland, Ohio; loss, $160,000.

—The pupils of John Swett public school in San Francisco accumulated over a ton of coal and twenty-five sacks of potatoes and other provisions for the poor, by each one bringing a little. And this example has incited other schools to do likewise.

—A Buffalo, N. Y., dispatch of the 16th inst. says: "Heavy rains are melting the snow, and high winds from the lake have caused the flooding of five square miles in South Buffalo to a depth of seven feet. A thousand families have been driven from their homes."

—If the hungry people of San Francisco and this city can manage to hold out till Christmas, they will all get something to eat, for that one day is least. The preparations for that occasion will probably be quite extensive. So much for the adoration of a holiday.

—Amid all the national-bank wrecking so rife in the country the past year, one official—the president of the national bank at Little Rock, Ark.—has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment, and is allowed to give a $20,000 bond pending a review of the case by the Supreme Court.

—One of the escaped Russian exiles who recently arrived in San Francisco is already in jail, charged with burglary, having been caught in the act. This will modify, to some extent, the widespread sympathy that was expressed in their behalf when they arrived from Saghalin Island.

—A cowboy who held up and robbed a mail carrier at Chadron, Neb., has been sentenced to imprisonment for life by the Federal Court of the Omaha District. He secured just one copper cent by his desperate adventure, but the penalty is the same as though it had been a large amount.

—The Provisional Government of Hawaii still holds the fort, and assumes a determined attitude toward all opponents. Minister Thurston left San Francisco on the steamer of the 15th inst. for home. Representative Canadian business men are actively engaged in efforts to turn the tide of trade in that direction.

—It is stated that a new plan of railway tickets will be adopted in Hungary in December. The traveler will make out his own ticket, and the government will sell railway stamps and supply blank cards. The passenger will, when he desires to take a journey, write on a card the name of the starting point and destination, and affix as many stamps as the published list of fares calls for.

—A basking shark thirty-five feet long was caught in the nets of some fishermen at Monterey, Cal., on the 11th inst. Specimens of this, the largest known of the fish tribe, are very rare, and the British museum has a standing offer of $1,000 for the skin of one. The fishermen will get about 100 gallons of oil from the liver, and the remainder is placed at the disposal of Stanford University.

—Nine passenger conductors on the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway have been discharged by the receiver of the road for "knocking down" money received from passengers. The men have brought suit in the U. S. Court at Seattle to compel the receiver to prefer charges before the Brotherhood of Trainmen. It is thought the suit is for the purpose of finding out the source of the receiver's information against the conductors.

—The latest advices from Rio Janeiro indicate no immediate prospect of peace. The government had regained Governor's Island, recently captured by the rebels. Rebel sympathizers were being thrown in prison in the city. The rebel Admiral Mello, with his flag ship, had returned to Rio harbor, and fighting was still progressing, with considerable damage to property. There was talk of the foreign powers recognizing the rebels. The American admiral has notified captains of American merchant vessels that they will not be protected in landing goods, and if their crews go ashore and get killed, he will testify against the captains on charges of manslaughter.

HEALDSBURG COLLEGE.

By W. C. Grainger, M.S., President

A select boarding school, open to students of both sexes who present testimonials of good moral character. No others need to apply.

Four courses of study: Normal, Biblical, Scientific, and Classical, with a Preparatory course for those who are not qualified to enter upon the regular courses.

Careful attention is given to the manners and morals of the students, that they may develop those traits of character which distinguish the Christian gentleman and lady.

The discipline of the school is strict, but parental and reasonable.

It will enter upon its 12th year Wednesday, August 16, 1893. Length of session, 38 weeks.

Terms: For board, tuition, room, etc., $142.50 to $161.50.

“ tuition only, from $30.00 to $47.50.

For further particulars, or catalogue, address

W. C. Grainger, M.S., President,

Healdsburg, California.

National Reform Convention

By Editor

A REPORT of the National Reform Convention, held in Pittsburg, Pa., November 14-16, 1893, sent out from headquarters, says:—

“The keynote of this convention was the kingly authority of Jesus Christ over the nation, and the application of his law to the moral issues of our national life. . . . Special attention was given to the sabbath question, and the influence and labors of the association were pledged to the advocacy of a national sabbath law, as the next great forward step to be taken by the friends of the sabbath in the United States.”

Among the resolutions passed they summarize as follows:—

“The resolutions adopted declared that the nation is a moral person under moral law; that the supreme law for nations is the law of Christ; that the most important moral question for this nation now to settle is the sabbath question; that the Chinese Exclusion law, and the wrongs done to the Indian and the negro, are in defiance of the law of Christ; that the conflict between capital and labor has its deepest roots in moral causes, and can be settled only by the sincere acknowledgment, as final Arbitrator, of Him who labored as a carpenter and now reigns as a King.”

Now all this seems good, and some of it is good in a certain way, but in it all there are all the baleful evils which resulted in putting to death the Christ of God; for “the kingly authority of Christ over the nation” means the authority of the National Reform Association, and the disfranchisement and banishment of every opposer. “The sabbath question” and the “national sabbath law” mean the sabbath of the National Reformers, with persecution for those who do not and cannot submit to the usurper of the Sabbath of the Lord. Christ as “final Arbitrator” means to submit to the National Reform régime in all things. The evil of the whole thing comes in the desire of the natural heart, in unwise zeal, in unholy aspiration, to do for God what he has never committed to man. God is the “final Arbitrator” of all things religious, not through men, but in the great judgment day. Are National Reformers afraid to trust him?

HOLIDAY OFFERINGS.

By Editor

THE days of the old Roman Saturnalia are upon us, observed with the same madness and excesses which characterized the old heathen festival—days of drinking and feasting and carousing and wantonness, of giving and receiving gifts. For it was from the old Roman Saturnalia that our Christmastide comes. The very term "Christmas"—Christ's-mass—is idolatrous, as the "sacrifice of the mass" is idolatrous. Christ, it is evident from the best authority, was not born December 25.

Yet there are many who will remember on that day, in the true spirit of Christian thanksgiving, that Christ the Saviour was born nearly nineteen hundred years ago, and that he lives a present Saviour. Many will use the day in the special remembrance of earthly friends. Many will give gifts to "pay back" gifts which they have received. In the majority of cases selfishness of some sort will be the basis of the giving. From the worldly standpoint we expect this; and in consequence of this those who are the least needy will receive the costliest gift. It is heralded all over the United States that a leading Chicago firm has given to the poor of that city 500 loaves of bread and 3,000 cups of coffee, at a maximum cost of probably $50, while each member of the firm, if at all following the fashions of the day, would on Christmas make presents aggregating much more than that to friends who need nothing. This is the way of the world, and the world follows its own way, responsible to God.

But Christians should be moved by a higher law, by better motives, by a truly grateful spirit. There are two or three ways in which Christians will give this coming Christmas:—

1. Do they feel that they must remember their own friends?—Let it be in simple, costless gifts of kindly remembrance to cheer some heart, or gifts which are needed, or which will serve to lift the soul nearer God.

2. Ye have the poor with you always, says our Lord, and when ye will, ye may do them good. This is emphatically true this winter. Many are homeless, houseless, shelterless, and many more without sufficient food, sufficient clothing, sufficient fuel. Some of the most needy do not publish their needs. Begging to them is almost worse than death, and they cling to their last hope before they publicly apply for relief. Kind, sympathetic hearts are needed to seek them out, and large charity is needed to supply actual needs during the coming winter. Forego some of the contemplated costly presents and sumptuous feasting, and give to the poor.

3. There are the millions of poor souls starving for the bread of eternal life. Eternal interests are at stake here, and God has committed the work of saving souls to his people. Let every Seventh-day Adventist, aye, every Christian, remember this as he contemplates what the birth of Christ means to him. And if it means to him what God designed it to mean, he will realize that he is a debtor to every man, without respect to race, color, or condition, because Christ was born for all and died for all. Then in this holiday season, when the great world is feasting, drinking, pleasure seeking in the indulgences of the flesh, let Christians find higher, purer pleasures in liberal giving for the cause of suffering souls in darkness.

Many of our readers will meet at their respective churches for the week of prayer, December 23-31. Those of our readers who desire to make a Christmas offering for the cause of God, for foreign missions, but who are not connected with any of our churches, may send it to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal., and it will be appropriated for that purpose. We hope that every Sabbath-keeper will either have or hear the reading for that occasion.

Reading History in His Sight

By Editor

Brother Price's excellent paper on "History" closes this week. We trust that those who have read these articles will, in the future, read history in a different light. In fact, the only true way for Christians to live, or to weigh all things earthly, is "as in His sight."

Review of Sunday Legislation in Century Nineteen

By Editor

WE again ask a careful reading of Brother Magan's articles on a "Review of Sunday Legislation in Century Nineteen." Some most valuable historical citations, parallels, and lessons, are given, besides the argument and applications of the writer.

Articles Worthy of Special Mention

By Editor

AMONG the articles worthy of special mention and reading in this number are "Walk in the Spirit," by Sister White; "Sound Doctrine," by Elder G. C. Tenney, former editor of the Bible Echo of Australia, and "Christianity Repudiates Force."

American Sabbath Union Meeting

By Editor

We have a representative, in fact, a former editor of the SIGNS, in attendance at the annual meeting of the American Sabbath Union. A report is expected for our next issue.

The Extreme of Sundayolatry

ABOUT the extreme of Sundayolatry is the calling of a Sunday paper “sabbath's issue.” Yet this is what the Rev. M. Willet calls the Sunday Examiner of December 10.

The Deception of Hypnotism

By Editor

Mrs. Woodward, the hypnotic evangelist, if such a term may be allowed, is now, we understand, operating in Los Angeles. She was in Oakland about three years ago. One of those who fell under her influence here predicted that a tidal wave would destroy the towns on the bay, and advised all the people to leave for higher ground. Many did leave Oakland, but the tidal wave did not come. If people would read God's word, they would not be deceived by such delusions. To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. The real consecrated student of the word of God will not be deceived.

LITERARY NOTICES.

By Editor

"HISTORY OF THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS" by Rev. John Henry Barrows, D.D., is the title of a work now issuing by the Parliament Publishing Company of Chicago. Published in two volumes, 812 pages each; price per set, in cloth stamped with gold, $5.00; leather stamped with gold, $7.50; full morocco, $10.

Dr. Barrows was the most prominent actor in bringing about this world-famous meeting. He was the organizer and chairman of the parliament. He alone of all others is able to furnish a complete history of the great parliament. While other works may give a verbatim report of all that was done and read at the parliament, Dr. Barrows will give very much which did not come before the parliament at all. None of the cheaper works will compare with it in richness of illustration. These pictures have been sent from all parts of the earth, for the express purpose of furnishing the wealth of marvelous illustrations adorning this book.

Many of the most important papers were not read in full, some not at all, in the parliament, and others were but partially reported in the papers. The learned story of the religions of the world has never yet had such a chapter as the very extended account of Pung Kwang Yu, Chinese secretary of legation, of Confucianism. Here, for the first time in human history, China has told the world its impressive story with a scholarship and literary felicity worthy of the highest honors of any European university. The first and general part only of this masterly Chinese document has been heard or published. The more special and significant second and third parts will appear in full in the first volume of Dr. Barrows' book, and cannot be found in any other publication. Mr. Pung is a gentleman and a scholar, a courteous critic also of American and English mission methods, whose words will raise questions for Christians extremely hard to answer. And what is true of this contribution to the parliament applies to a large part of the wealth of material in the hands of Dr. Barrows for adequately filling out the representation of the religions of the world. Much of it has not been heard at all and cannot be used for any other publication; much of it was specially added by authors of papers to more clearly bring home to Christians the problems which the other religions raise.

One of the most interesting parts of Dr. Barrows' great history will be the account of the years of labor which preceded the parliament. He has given an elaborate sketch, for which no other writer has the materials, of the plans for the parliament, the responses from all over the world, and the scenes and doings of the opening and closing meetings.

Whatever we may think of the influence of the parliament, everyone who wishes to be intelligent in regard to this great meeting must have a history of it; and it goes without saying that the best is that by Dr. Barrows.

The California Illustrated Magazine for December is a superb number. The holly bough and berries in green, gold, and red, adorn its cover. The first thing which greets us in the body of the work is "The Messiah," a fine little poem (illustrated), by Lucius H. Foote. "California through a Snow Bank" (illustrated by photographs) is the experience of a winter in California, with all of its varied changes—delightful reading on a cold winter morning for an Easterner. "Early Art in America," "Hills and Corners of San Francisco," and many others are of interest. The illustrations are excellent. Price, 25 cents. Obtained at any news agency.