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Review and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 18.

The Call of the Years

Review and Herald

May 3, 1906

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · May 3, 1906

The Call of the Years

By L. D. Santee

L. D. SANTEE
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15.
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14.
He sends us to earth’s dark nations, To the hearts whose hopes are dead, And bids us to tell of Jesus, The true and the living Bread.
The pitiless pain of absence Is ours, but we can not stay; For the call of the years, my brother, Is from God, and we must obey.
We tell of the home in heaven, That the Saviour’s love has bought; We lead from sin and malice, And every unkind thought; To “every tongue and people” Has the gospel found its way; For the call of the years, my brother, Is from God, and we must obey.
Come from your homes and help us, Ye that sit at the temple’s gate; The fields are white for the harvest, And for you the ages wait; No time now for idle dreaming, For slothfulness or delay; For the call of the years, my brother, Is from God, and we must obey.
Soon will the work be ended, The gospel message done, The world’s great harvest gathered, As sinks time’s setting sun; The signs of the Saviour’s coming Grow clearer day by day; For the call of the years, my brother, Is from God, and we must obey.
Dixon, Ill.

Our Publishing Work

The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalm 68:11.
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HAVE you sent 25 cents for a year's subscription for Liberty? Do you know this magazine can be sold readily for 5 cents a copy, and that when 25 or more copies are ordered at one time by an agent, they can be secured for 2½ cents a copy, post-paid? Also that we give agents 40 per cent discount on annual subscriptions? Send for sample copy, order blanks, and circulars.
DURING a workers' institute recently held at Fernando College, twelve young men and women in their first day's work of canvassing, took seventy-one orders for “Heralds of the Morning”—an average of six each. All agreed that this first day's experience was the best they had ever had. All heartily enjoyed their work, and received for their services ample financial remuneration.
How easy it is now, while the whole nation is shocked over the great earthquake in California, to call attention to the meaning of such occasions, as explained in some of our publications. “Heralds of the Morning” and “Coming King,” or the small and inexpensive book, “His Glorious Appearing,” are good books to set before the people truths that the recent California earthquake will emphasize and indelibly impress upon the mind. “Coming King” and “Heralds of the Morning” are only $1 and $1.50 respectively in cloth bindings, and “His Glorious Appearing,” in cloth, is only 40 cents.
THERE is a little book, entitled “Making Home Happy,” in which some very practical lessons are given. It contains a very bright, wholesome story with a moral—a great subject treated sensibly and simply, revealing how an unhappy home was made happy through loving unselfishness, which is in the story shown to be the secret of happy homes and happy lives. We recommend this book to our readers. It will be highly beneficial to every home. Parents should secure this book for themselves and their children. Neatly and attractively bound and illustrated; in paper covers, 25 cents; cloth covers, 50 cents.
FROM Australia comes the cheering word: “With the help of the Sabbath School Worker, not only the children's lessons, but also the senior lessons, are made clear and interesting. Our teachers find this good paper not only a help, but also a great spiritual blessing, for it gives the food that old and young require. I feel so thankful to the Lord for his great love and wisdom in bringing about such plans whereby we can study his holy Word. I trust you will have our club renewed at once, as we can not afford to miss one number.” From every section of the country, our Sabbath-school workers who are availing themselves of the Worker are writing us of the benefits derived from it. It costs only 35 cents a year, or 25 cents when two or more copies are sent to one address.
AN agent who sold more than a thousand copies of the March and April numbers of Life and Health has just written us that she thinks the May number is the best we have ever published. Orders for this number are coming in very rapidly. Boys and girls have excellent success in selling single copies. Write the publishers for particulars and sample copies.
THE children in our Sabbath-school should have the benefits of “Bible Object Lessons and Songs for Little Ones,” prepared especially for the use of kindergarten teachers. This book is composed of fifty-two lessons, one for each Sabbath in the year, with suggestions accompanying each lesson; thirty-nine songs and hymns written especially for the lessons; thirty-six full-page pictures, six by eight half-tones, and colored plate; fifty-two pen drawings, showing how to use the illustrative material; one hundred and sixty pages filled with very practical information to all kindergarten and primary teachers. Bound in durable board, 7½ x 10 inches, $1.50; blue cloth, same size, $2.
THE old and tried book, “Daniel and the Revelation,” by Elder U. Smith, is still popular with the people. Though many thousands of this book have been sold, the demand is still good. The people are interested in its prophetic teachings. It is a verse-by-verse study of the prophecies recorded in the books of Daniel and The Revelation, and reveals many of these prophecies fulfilled, while it cites others still future. It contains 557 pages, exclusive of 66 full-page illustrations. Substantially bound in cloth, library, and morocco bindings, ranging in price from $2.25 to $4.50, post-paid. It is also printed on thin paper without illustrations, plain edges, one volume, $1. In paper covers, two volumes, 25 cents each.
ARE you not personally acquainted with some one person who is an officer or teacher in a Sunday-school? Have you thought of your favorable opportunity to interest him in “Desire of Ages” while the life of Christ is being studied during the present year? Send to your tract society for a free copy of a little booklet prepared especially to help the Sunday-school teachers find in “Desire of Ages” the vital truths of the topics composing the International Sunday-school Lessons for the present year. If every member would do as much as to interest one teacher in “Desire of Ages” at this very favorable time, the results would be at once observable. The opportunity is present, the way is easy, the material is at hand; who will be released from personal responsibility under so favorable circumstances?
Orders for any publication mentioned on this page may be sent to any conference tract society or to Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D. C., or Battle Creek, Mich. Also Pacific Press Publishing Company, Mountain View, Cal.; Portland, Ore.; Kansas City, Mo.; Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tenn., and Fort Worth, Tex.

The Siloam Disaster

By Editor

Editorial

The Siloam Disaster

When we say that the many terrible disasters of the present time are evidences that the judgments of God are in the earth, does it follow that those who suffer as the result of these visitations are all more guilty than some who are spared? The same query arose in the time of Jesus, and he answered it thus: “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” These disasters constitute a loud call to the world to repent and turn to God before the great day of his wrath is fully come. Some will heed the call.

An Earthquake Sermon

One man who was in San Francisco during the earthquake declares that when he saw the buildings falling and the flames bursting out, he fell on his knees and hid his face in his hands, for he thought that the end of the world had come. Those who really believe in the soon coming of the Lord and are trying to warn the world of that event know by the Scriptures that the end will not come until some other prophecies are fulfilled, and the way is fully prepared by proclaiming the warning message. When the Saviour is actually revealed at the last day, those who have accepted this message will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Those who have scoffed at the idea that the coming of the Lord is near will hide themselves “in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains,” and will say, “The great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” The text of the earthquake sermon is, “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly,” but the end is not yet. In the little time which remains redoubled efforts should be put forth to expound to all the world the text of the earthquake sermon.

Reading the Signals

The following paragraph quoted from a current publication is a clear recognition of the significance of current history: “Turn to whatever quarter we will, the horizon blazes with signal lights. How few are watching them and reading their true significance! Is it indeed possible to see their real, divine meaning without illumined vision? Elisha prayed for his servant: ‘Lord, open his eyes, that he may see:’ and immediately that servant became a seer. The hitherto invisible guard of angels that encompassed the prophet burst upon his clarified vision. God sets his signals on the historic horizon, but they become signals only to the clear eyes of his own watchers. Certainly stupendous changes are taking place from sunrise to sunset, and from pole to pole—great upheavals, political and social; civil and ecclesiastical revolutions; battles of the ages coming apparently to their hour of decisive crisis. Do we read the lessons of history aright? And, if not, how shall we meet the duty of the hour? No man can afford in these days an hour’s spiritual sleep or sloth, for the pace of events is at lightning speed. A decade of years now sees changes that a century did not witness in the time of Alfred the Great, or a thousand years in the days of Abraham.”

An Interesting Forecast

In the April number of The Missionary Review of the World there is quoted from another publication a portion of an address by J. Hudson Taylor, delivered more than ten years ago in Shanghai, China. In this address Mr. Taylor, now deceased, made the following prediction: “Brethren, I have a conviction which I believe is of the Lord, that, in the next ten years, there will occur one of the bloodiest wars in the world’s history. In this war Russia will be the leader on the one side. The sentiment of the Christian nations will generally be against Russia. Contemporaneous with this conflict, there shall burst out a revival such as was never known in the Christian church, and which shall spread throughout the world, turning many unto righteousness. And, my brethren, it is moreover my conviction that immediately following this mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Lord himself will come.” It is stated that the recent publication of this extract from Mr. Taylor’s address has created “intense and wide-spread interest.” Thus does the Lord use different agencies for calling the attention of the world to the great truth of the nearness of the second advent. Surely the people will be without excuse, even though that day should come upon them unawares. Many voices are saying, “Be ye also ready.”

The Essential Truths of Religion

Men who entertain the so-called “liberal” views concerning the doctrines of the Christian religion have rejected the leading tenets which have for many centuries been regarded as the plain teachings of the Bible. They deny the inspiration of the Scripture, the divinity of Christ, the virgin birth, the vicarious atonement, the miracles of Christ, and even the resurrection of Christ. And yet the claim is put forth that the decision of such questions as these can never touch the essential, cardinal truths of religion.
The only possible basis for such an assertion as this must be the view that the essential truths of religion are something entirely distinct from the person and work of Christ. According to the teaching of the Bible, Christ is simply the personification of Christianity—the concrete revelation of the truth. The divinity, miraculous birth, sacrificial death, and the resurrection of Christ are the primary truths of Christianity. Faith in the Christ of the Scriptures is essential to salvation. “Except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” To deny these truths is to deny the Christianity of the Bible.
What kind of a “religion,” then, canthat be which is not affected by any view concerning the person and work of Christ? Evidently it can not be the Christianity of the Bible. We are forced to the conclusion that it is Satan’s gospel of the inherent divinity of man—the flattering sophistry that every man can deliver himself from sin by developing the good which is within him. How astonishing that man, helpless and defiled, daily conquered by “principalities and powers,” should be deluded into the belief that he does not need a divine Saviour, and that he can lift himself out of “the horrible pit.”
This modern religion is simply a refined form of heathenism. It is a mere human philosophy instead of a divine life. It is a weak echo of Lucifer’s boasting self-assertion, “I will be like the Most High.” It cuts man off from him who is “able to save to the uttermost,” and prepares the way for Satan to forge the bonds of slavery all the more securely. Beware of a pretended religion which makes of secondary importance faith in the revealed truths concerning the incarnation, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. It is not Christianity.

South American Growth

By William Ambrose Spicer

The world recognizes the fact that South America is forging ahead. The attention given by the United States to the Pan-American Congress, appointed at Rio de Janeiro, is a recognition of the growing influence of these republics. On every hand here one may see signs of substantial progress.
This is an encouraging outlook for us, for, with more settled political conditions, and with fair industrial prosperity, we know that the time has come for the third angel's message to go to these peoples.
The ship on which I came out from Europe carried over five hundred emigrants, mostly from southern Russia. This is an indication of the tide of immigration setting in toward the fertile lands of the River Plate republics. Foreign capital and foreign settlers are coming freely into these fields.
We in North America hardly appreciate the rapid growth of South American cities. For instance, who of us has stopped to think of these cities as we have talked of the importance of evangelizing the great centers of population? Yet of the five greatest cities of all the New World, North America has three and South America two. They come in the following order: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Buenos Ayres, Rio de Janeiro.
I stopped over one night with Elder Spies, in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, and caught a brief glimpse of this growing city of nearly a million. Little has been done for it, though we have a few believers there as the result of that little effort. It is a great city, and a growing one. Large areas have recently been rebuilt, and improvements made in sanitation. The brethren whom I met are anxious to begin a more direct and public campaign in Rio. And surely the fifth city of the New World ought not to be passed by.
GROUP OF WORKERS ATTENDING THE SOUTH AMERICAN UNION CONFERENCE
GROUP OF WORKERS ATTENDING THE SOUTH AMERICAN UNION CONFERENCE
In Buenos Ayres, the capital of the Argentine Republic, we have the metropolis of the continent. It calls itself, sometimes, the Chicago of South America. Its population is nearly one and a quarter million, almost equaling Philadelphia. And it is truly a fine city, comparing well with any in Europe or North America in up-to-date appointments. A few days in the city must impress one that there must be great agricultural and other resources in the country for which Buenos Ayres is the distributing center.
We have a small church in Buenos Ayres. I was met by Brother Town as our ship arrived Sabbath noon, and went directly to the meeting room where Sabbath-school was in progress, with Sister Town in charge. It was a blessed haven to get into after a long voyage. The language was Spanish, but the study in progress and the whole tone of the place were thoroughly Seventh-day Adventist, and I was immediately at home.
We had a little service after the Sabbath-school, followed by a social meeting. Brother Town translated the testimonies for me as they were borne by the little company, every one of whom took part. These believers love the message. The language of their lips was strange to me, but the language of their hearts was the same old familiar third angel's message. It is one blessed hope the whole world round, and the hearts of the believers beat high with courage for the new time that is witnessing the rising of the message.
It touched my heart to see nearly all weeping tears of joy as we spoke of the progress of the work in various lands and of the courage with which our people everywhere are taking up the finishing of the work. These brethren and sisters of ours in South America are heart and soul with us in this closing work.
No special effort has ever been made in this great city, and the company here is one of the smallest in the River Plate Conference. Naturally and logically the chief effort has been put forth in country districts where the people are more accessible. But with the times of trouble before us in the great cities, we surely ought erelong to do more to give this fourth city of the New World an opportunity to know more of the message. When trouble begins in the cities, we may expect to see difficult times in these South American centers. Revolutions have followed one another in quick succession in these countries in years past, and all the elements of tumult and strife are here, for the time being held in check by the commercial expansion and prosperous times. Let reverses come, and our way would be made very difficult.
Our society's office is located on the edge of the business quarter of the city. Rents are very high, and they have but two rooms in a private dwelling, but well located, one room being used also as the meeting place. Brother Town, secretary and treasurer of the South American Union, has charge of the office. He lives about ten miles south of the business center, while Brother Oppegard and his wife, our other two workers in the city, live about nine miles north of the center. One day, with these latter workers, we visited a Spanish lady who has just accepted the truth under their labors. They were giving readings in an English family, the members of which were interested, but without the decision of character to take a definite stand for the truth. These, however, told what they had heard to a neighbor, this Spanish lady, who came to hear the readings, and later accepted the truth. Her sister and servant seem also with her. Years ago this lady became a Baptist in Spain,being the only one in her town to accept Protestantism. What she endured then gives her the decision of character to accept further light now. Thus from home to home the truth is being carried. It is evident that there are many honest souls in this great city waiting for us to bring them the truth.
W. A. S.
Buenos Ayres.

“Reserved Unto Fire”

By L. A. S.

MANY are the object-lessons which have been set before this generation, of destruction through the agency of fire. Within the life span of people not yet old, have occurred some of the greatest disasters of this kind known in the history of the world. In 1871 Chicago was almost destroyed. The year following Boston was visited, and suffered a loss of eighty million dollars. Baltimore and Toronto have not yet effaced the marks of the conflagrations which swept them with ruin, and now comes the greatest disaster of all, which makes a world's record for destruction, the almost complete obliteration of a modern city of four hundred thousand people, with a monetary loss estimated at three hundred and fifty million dollars. Many lesser fires, such as those at Ottawa, Seattle, Hoboken, Rochester, London (England), and other places, might be mentioned in addition to these.
To this record must be added also some great catastrophes from the breaking out of the earth's internal fires in the form of volcanic eruptions. The sudden, terrible, and complete destruction of St. Pierre, by the neighboring Mont Pelée, is still fresh in the memory. Other cities in the West Indies, and in Mexico, suffered at or near the same time. There was also great volcanic activity in Europe, among other volcanoes in eruption being Mt. Vesuvius. Not many years before this, occurred the stupendous eruption of Krakatoa, in the Straits of Sunda, with the loss of thousands of lives. And now again Vesuvius has been vomiting fire and spreading desolation over a vast district, obliterating towns, and throwing the great city of Naples into a panic which has hardly yet subsided.
All this destruction by fire has come within the present generation, and the greater part of it within the last few years. Who can have failed to note the significant frequency of such visitations? What preceding generation in all history had such a record? Science is supposed to have made great advances in the art of the construction of buildings. The great cities have “fire-proof” buildings now, and maintain efficient fire departments with improved apparatus for extinguishing fires; yet the conflagrations come, just the same. Human science and human foresight find themselves at fault. Something happens that was unforeseen, and all human calculations are upset. San Francisco had a fire department of which the citizens spoke with pride, and which no doubt could have controlled an ordinary fire; but no one seems to have foreseen that there might come at some time an earthquake which would at once start numerous fires in the city, and wreck the water system upon which depended the hope of their extinguishment. No provision had been made for such an emergency.
Many who have passed through these scenes of destruction have been unwillingly forced to ponder the Bible description of what is to come at the end of the world. “The heavens and the earth, which are now,” it is declared, are “reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:7, 10. This day will come as unexpectedly as did the earthquake.
The people of San Francisco were rescued from the worst effects of the disaster by the prompt arrival of aid from parts where disaster had not come. They were rescued because the visitation of destruction was local. Yet even so, the experience was so terrible that the victims became—to quote their own words—“saturated” with horrors, and almost strangers to their ordinary feelings and instincts, while hundreds went mad in the streets. When the judgments of God are poured out, and the destruction becomes general, when one place can not send succor to another, the earth will present a scene too terrible for description.
The words of inspired prophecy will be fulfilled; the Bible descriptions of scenes at the coming of the day of God will be realized. “Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled,” says Jeremiah. “I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.” Jer. 4:20, 26. The prophet John saw in a vision of things that were to come, an earthquake scene in which all “the cities of the nations fell.” Rev. 16:19. Well may the people of this generation be admonished by passing events that this present world with all its cities is reserved unto fire and general destruction, at the day of God which is hastening on, and that now is the day of salvation. L. A. S.

A Short Work

By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS gather courage day by day from the assurance God has given that he will do a short work in the earth. Those who count on this promise see many evidences that it is being fulfilled, but it is more than probable that very few of us fully realize how fast the Lord is finishing his work. That which took a long time to accomplish a few years ago is frequently brought about now in a very short time.
On March 7, 1906, Elder F. L. Perry wrote me a letter from Lima, Peru, South America. I received this communication April 2. Brother Perry says:—
There is no English school in Lima; yet there are a considerable number of English families here who want their children to learn the English, and also do not wish to send them to the Catholic schools. There are also a large number of children, youth, and men who desire to learn English.
One man, an employee in the post-office, whom I met for the first time to-day, wanted me very much to teach him English, and promised to come to my Bible readings. He said he had twelve friends who wanted to do the same.
I do not feel free to do much of this work, but I do believe that a good work could be done and a strong influence exerted for the truth. I shall present the matter to Elder Spicer, but as you go over the field, you may be able to find the right persons (a man and his wife, I think best) who would undertake this work.
We are willing to share our home and living with such ones until a start is made. They should have diplomas from some reputable school. This will give them standing here. I am much interested in this matter, for I believe it will be a success.
In thirty minutes after reading this request for help, I had a letter written to the principals of several of our schools. The principal of the Fernando College, located at Fernando, Cal., received the one addressed to him, Monday evening, April 9. He wrote:—
Your letter was received on Monday evening. On Tuesday morning I presented its contents to the students, after we had made a special call for a meeting of the Young People's Society. I read your letter, as well as the letter from Brother Perry, to them, and took an expression as to what our attitude should be toward this call from Peru. It was unanimously decided that we accept it as a call from the Lord, and at my suggestion a committee on selection of candidates was chosen, which included four teachers and four students. Feeling that it would be helpful to all those concerned, as well as to the Mission Board, to raise the means for paying the transportation of the workers that should be chosen, I told them of a plan that we had carried out at Healdsburg last year in raising means to secure a tent for Ceylon, and made a motion that the Young People's Society shoulder the burden of raising one hundred dollars for this purpose. This was carried, andI called for volunteers to have a part in the gathering of the means, and twenty-five persons responded.
We printed letters, setting forth the call, and also the response on the part of the students, to use in local work, and also in sending it to friends who would be interested in this work, and who could solicit funds in their immediate vicinities. Copy of same is enclosed herewith. The students who volunteered to have a part in raising the money necessary were asked to meet that afternoon at four o'clock, and the committee on selection at six o'clock. At the four o'clock meeting much interest was manifested, and a fervent prayer made for the success of the undertaking. About fifty of these letters have already been taken by the students and used locally or sent to different parts of California. In the morning I asked the students to feel free to give me slips containing names of those who, in their estimation, would be suitable persons to take up the work in Peru. In order to give sufficient latitude to their nominations I suggested that we might select persons now in the school, persons who had finished courses here heretofore, or any other person in California who might be suitable. Before the committee on selection met, quite a number of names had been presented, and I asked the committee on selection, after prayer and a fervent seeking of God, to write out their own impressions. There were eight or ten names presented, but the persons finally chosen had the majority of votes from impressions that students and teachers had gained without conferring with one another. The committee was unanimous in their selection, and when it was announced to the school the following morning, we could see universal approval on the countenances of all present. However, it may be a matter of surprise to you that three persons, instead of two, were selected to go to Peru. It seemed providential that the very next morning the mother of two of these selected, came to Fernando from Los Angeles for a day's visit. They presented the call to her, and she was favorable to their accepting it. Her greatest desire is to have her children in the Lord's work, and she would not stand in their way in going to a foreign field, but rather encouraged them in their decision.
Now while we are impressed that these are the ones to take up this work, we will leave the matter with you and Brother Perry, and possibly Brother Spicer, for final decision. I will send a copy of this letter to Brother Perry, and ask for his immediate approval or disapproval. It is understood, of course, that our selection is subject to the ratification of all concerned.
I have thought considerably about the work in foreign fields, and have felt that many of our young people are lost to the cause by not being looked after and pressed into actual service by men in authority; and further, because the Mission Board does not have the means, we must do something to plan for self-supporting work. I believe that many young people would be in the mission field to-day if they had had some encouragement. We have many bright young people left in our school who, when they have finished their education, would be able to do good service in other lands.
The following note was written a day later:—
Since writing you yesterday, I have received some word from students who are raising means to help the three that we have chosen to go to Peru. They are so very successful that I would advise the Mission Board to select the persons that we have chosen. Those who are giving of their means also feel impressed that these are the proper persons to take up the work in Peru, and they are contributing liberally. From the present appearances it seems that one hundred dollars will be raised by the first week's work, people giving in sums of five dollars each. We believe that it will require between two and three hundred dollars to land the three in Peru, and we have now set our stakes to secure this amount.
I received these communications April 18. On the nineteenth these were placed before the General Conference Committee. In thirty-four days after Elder Perry wrote his letter, and eight days after that letter reached the General Conference office, and in one day after it reached Fernando College, the selection of teachers was made, and their transportation practically provided.
While this process may differ a little from that used in the case of Phillip and the eunuch, it is the Lord's way at this time, and it is effective.
The Lord has stationed his ambassadors in nearly all the countries of the world, to proclaim to them his warning message. As they see the open doors for service, they are to send back to his people their calls for help. If we at the base of supplies were as wide-awake and enthusiastic about this grand movement as we should be, the calls that come to us from these distant, needy lands would soon be answered. Let us pledge our all to God to unite with him in cutting his work short.
A. G. DANIELLS.

A Leader in Lawlessness

By L. A. S.

News is received of a serious political situation in France. There is open and wide-spread rebellion against the government. Dispatches of the 23d inst. state:—
France at the present moment is face to face with the gravest peril that can menace a democracy or any form of government. The law has bowed before the mob, . . . with the inevitable result. Rebellion has begun, and anarchy threatens to swiftly follow, not only at the scenes of the prevailing riots, but in Paris itself.
The present disturbance is described as being a labor insurrection, which began with a strike in the mining districts. But there is much of interest and significance in other statements which are made regarding the beginning of the present disregard of governmental authority. Note the following:—
It was in dealing with the rioters who opposed the authorities taking inventories of church property that the government first openly condoned violent defiance of the law. Citizens who flagrantly assaulted public officers and soldiers who refused to obey orders were allowed to go scot-free. Attempts to enforce the law in districts where it was especially unpopular were finally abandoned entirely under the plea of inexpediency.
It was a foregone conclusion that this successful defiance of law should encourage agitators of various types to press forward their schemes for undermining the government. All the enemies of the present regime, though there was no direct co-operation, advanced to the attack simultaneously. The royalists, clericals, anarchists, and socialists were re-enforced by the great body of organized labor, whose rank and file are not enemies of the republic, but whose unscrupulous leaders seized the opportunity to press demands which they knew were impossible of attainment in ordinary times.
There was “violent defiance of the law” on the part of those who opposed taking inventories of the church property; in other words, on the part of the Roman Catholic Church; and the present “appalling condition” of existing or threatened anarchy is the direct outcome of following Rome’s example. Let it be noted that the opposition to the government in the matter of church inventories did not take the form of “passive resistance,” as the English government has been opposed by the non-conformists in that country. It was not that adherence to the dictates of conscience which submits to the government officials and the penalties of the law, exemplified by the martyrs; but it was resistance by force and violence; it was open defiance of law and rebellion against the government. And now Rome’s example has been followed, and the lawless element in all France have been encouraged to strike against governmental authority and inaugurate a reign of terror and anarchy. The papacy could have repressed this lawlessness on the part of French Catholics if it had chosen to do so.
And yet Rome never tires of posing as the one great conservative force in human society, upon which the nations of the world must depend for the preservation of law and order among their peoples! L. A. S.

Studying the California Earthquake

It is stated in the Washington Times that a commission of geological experts is to make a study of the California earthquake in order to ascertain the cause, and “if possible, prevent a repetition” of the occurrence! Probably it is only a newspaper assumption that any human power would essay to cope with the force behind an earthquake; but the statement is suggestive of the self-sufficient spirit of this generation.
Continue reading: The Great Controversy