Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 5, 1894
THE W. C. T. U. AND SPIRITUALISM.
MISS JULIA A. AMES, a rarely bright, charming, devoted young woman, was for five years, until her death, December 12, 1891, one of the editors of the Union Signal. An editorial in the issue of that paper of December 17, entitled "Julia A. Ames—Promoted," begins thus: "For the first time death has entered our editorial ranks, and he takes from us our brightest and dearest." She was, from the many utterances which appeared from her friends, an earnest Christian, walking in the light shining upon her pathway, lovable, loving, and loved. Our pen would not take from her memorial wreath so much as one flower or leaf.
But Miss Ames was mortal, and, sad as it is to those who loved her, she is dead, and, as the Idumean patriarch declared, adapting the language to the case in hand, Till the heavens be no more, she shall not awake, nor be raised out of her sleep. Job 14:12. It is sad to know that our loved ones do not live alway, but the blessed truth of God is better than the falsehood with which Satan would deceive us. The word of Inspiration declares that "the dead know not anything. . . . Their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished." Eccl. 9:5, 6. "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:4. The apostle Paul bases the entire hope of life on the resurrection, and declares that if there be no resurrection of the dead, then they that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. See 1 Cor. 15:12-23. Moreover, the reward of the Christian is never set forth in God's word as being bestowed at the time of his death, but always "at that day," the time of Christ's second coming in power. "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Matt. 16:27. "And, behold, I [Jesus] come quickly;210and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12. Death, instead of being "promotion," or "the gate to endless joy," is the result of sin (James 1:15), and "the last enemy to be destroyed" (1 Cor. 15:26).
Much more might be said on this phase of the subject; much testimony from the Scriptures of truth might be adduced to show that the dead are unconscious and do not communicate with the living, because they cannot. And, therefore, sad as it is for the friends of Miss Ames to believe her dead, sad as it is to believe any of our friends dead, the best Friend of all declares them to be locked within the prison house of the adversary, slumbering in the enemy's land, till his own good time, when the life that is in his keeping will be restored, and he will call back to life, and to a glorious immortality, all who sleep in him.
Here it is, in the holiest affections of men, that Satan has rooted one of his strongest and most delusive errors. In the beginning he gave God the lie, and declared that mankind in disobedience should not surely die, but should be as God. See Gen. 3:4, 5, Revised Version. Knowing that every evidence of the senses would proclaim to mankind that the dead were dead, he invented that most fertile error of the immortality of the soul and its power of conscious existence separate from the body. Based on this came ancestral worship, deifying of the dead, demon worship, polytheism, and numerous other forms of idolatry, down to the present invocation to the saints and the marvels of Modern Spiritualism.
Having secured in the world the belief that the dead were not dead, the great Deceiver next began to train his angels to simulate the voice, the style, the mode, the very appearance of the dead. All this many actors in this brief life will do; how much more Satan and his angels, with the experience of six thousand years of deception, if God permit! This is what he is now doing through Modern Spiritualism, which includes not alone those who profess to be Spiritualists, but a greater part of so-called orthodox church members who hold to the essentials of Spiritualism,—a belief in the conscious state of the dead, and that they are in some way cognizant of the living, and can communicate with them.
In this way the devil has laid his snare for the W. C. T. U., with its tremendous influence.
Mr. W. T. Stead is a very energetic, brilliant editor of London, England, and an enthusiastic, original, somewhat eccentric, semi-religious social reformer. He is the proposer of a civic church, which shall be a controlling element in both Church and State. He is a close friend of the W. C. T. U., and one whom they delight to honor and to follow. What of this?
Well, back of Mr. Stead is Spiritualism, and back of Spiritualism, as crooked as the initial letter of his name, is Satan. Mr. Stead has a "controlling spirit," which calls itself "Julia," supposed by him and friends in the W. C. T. U. to be "Julia Ames," deceased. For more than a year he has received communications from "Julia." All this we learn from an article by Mr. Stead in a London quarterly Spiritualist paper called Borderland. The article is entitled "My Experience in Automatic Writing; the Story of Julia and Others." By "automatic writing" is meant the use of the person's hand by the spirit for the purpose of sending messages to those in the flesh. To a friend in Chicago Mr. Stead is reported as saying:—
"Julia tells me that I will live to be seventy years old, and then I am to be kicked to death. She tells me I am to become involved in a mammoth work of reform at that time, and it will so arouse the people where I am working that they will meet me in the street and kick me to death. It's not a pleasant prospect, but Julia knows, and I trust and believe her. She is far more reliable than was my Babylonian friend. I do not make any moves at all in any important matters unless Julia assures me that I am right in doing so, and I am well satisfied to do all my life's work under her guidance."—S. F. Examiner, January 24.
The paper from which the above was taken, in speaking of "automatic writing," says:—
"In this practice and in telepathy, or spirit communication with living people at a distance, and, in fact, in all sorts of theosophical and hypnotic occultism, Mr. Stead has long been an interested student, but it is only within a year or two that he has developed this mediumistic quality and become the oracle of the W. C. T. U."
For all this deception the W. C. T. U. has been preparing. One of the friends of Miss Ames wrote of her after her death:—
"Is she not already a ministering angel to us who loved her and have lost her a little while?"
Said Miss Frances Willard in the funeral address:—
"Yolande [Miss Ames' pet name] knew she had her wings. She is trying them to-night."
A telegram read:—
"Her lovely spirit will be an inspiration to those of us who are left behind to fight on until promotion comes."
And now the "lying spirit" of an evil demon personates the loved "Yolande," and deceives the great body of women with which she was connected. Thus it is. This is Satan's work. Mr. Stead was deceived by the "Babylonian" spirit; he is worse deceived in the spirit called "Julia;" and deceived are all others who seek to that which is not of the truth. Would we escape the delusion? Let God's word answer: "And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, . . . should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. 8:19, 20; compare with Revised Version.
The W. C. T. U., which started out so boldly and nobly, even if mistakenly in some respects, have been led astray into one "reform," that of the Sunday-law delusion, by the National Reformers, and now the devil seems to be leading them to that other fatal delusion of Spiritualism. The love of God's truth is the only salvation from the delusions of Satan. 2 Thess. 2:9-12.
The Papacy and the Word.
By Editor
The last encyclical of Pope Leo XIII. says that “it is important that the whole authority of the Scripture may be established in as solid a manner as possible,” and intimates that this object can be secured only by the Roman Catholic Church. There is one way in which it may truthfully be said that the Papacy “establishes” the Scripture. She does it by fulfilling the predictions made by Scripture, from 1,800 to 2,400 years ago, of the rise, character, and work of the Papacy. But somehow neither she nor the majority of Protestants seem to see this. We propose, however, God willing, to present before our readers in the near future some of these predictions and fulfillments.
NOT UNDER LAW.
By Editor
A CORRESPONDENT, writing from Kansas City, Kan., under date of Jan. 6, 1894, asks that the SIGNS be discontinued, and says:—
I thank God I am not under law but under grace. If I mistake not the law was given to stop your mouth as well as mine, that we might all become guilty before God, that he might give us eternal life by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not by our Sabbath-day keeping. The word says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is death,” which takes in the man who is trying to work his way to heaven by law keeping.
It is very infrequently indeed that we receive such communications. Although many persons have the disposition, they yet have sufficient conscience left to prevent them from making such a shameless avowal as the above. Of course the writer of the above believes in taking God’s name in vain, dishonoring father and mother, worshiping idols, taking men’s lives, committing adultery, and stealing. He reasons that he is not under the law, and is therefore not bound to obey the law; for it is the same law which enjoins the seventh-day Sabbath that says, “Thou shalt not kill.” If remonstrated with for breaking this law, our correspondent would say, I thank God I am not under law, but under grace, and therefore I am not to win life by refraining from killing.
Now he knows, if he has read the SIGNS, and so do all our readers, that we have never so much as intimated that we shall be saved or justified by law keeping, or Sabbath keeping. But we do teach this, because God’s word teaches it, that he who is in Christ, who has been made free by grace, who is led of the Spirit, fulfills the righteousness of the law. Rom. 8:1–4. He who professes to be justified by Christ and still transgresses God’s law, makes Christ before the world “the minister of sin.” But Christ did not come to save in sin but from sin. Matt. 1:21; Titus 2:14. As sin is the transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4; Rom. 7:7), it follows that the mission of Christ is to save men from transgressing it. He does this by taking away the carnal mind, which “is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be,” and implanting in man his own Spirit of loving obedience. Man then will have the faith which brings Christ’s life, which “worketh by love,” which keeps all God’s commandments willingly. In other words, faith will live out the righteousness which God puts within, and the law will bear witness that the man is just.
Christ kept all his Father’s commandments (John 15:10), the Sabbath included; and “he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked” (1 John 2:6). This is God’s way, a way that never seems right to a man, and never will unless his will is submitted to God’s will. We entreat our correspondent to submit to the will of God. See Matt. 7:21–23.
GOD'S LOVE UNMEASURED.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
"WALK while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth." From Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, beam forth rays of life and light. Would you have Jesus lift upon you the health and light of his countenance?—Then turn your face toward him, and look and live. Talk of Jesus; dwell on his matchless charms; eat of the bread of life; take of the water of life freely. Do you desire to love God supremely and your fellow-men as Jesus loved them?—Keep your heart in meditation upon the spotless character of Christ. His divine heart was moved with compassion and love for suffering humanity. His love cannot be fathomed, except as we take in the sacrifice made on Calvary. Through the renunciation of all selfishness, we need to be able to comprehend what is the height and depth and length and breadth of the love of God, which passeth knowledge.
If we constantly cherish the love of Christ, we shall have the love that cannot be repressed. We shall love the atmosphere of light and love and truth and righteousness. We shall be constantly inquiring after truth, and, knowing that there is such a wealth of precious ore of truth to be found, we shall not grasp for thorns and thistles. Humbly and sincerely we shall search after divine knowledge, realizing that all we can carry with us to heaven is that which is akin to heaven. We shall know that it is very poor policy to be cultivating ourselves in the art of seeing everything that is objectionable, for all the knowledge of God that we can here obtain we shall carry with us to heaven. We can safely cultivate purity, love, and devotion to God and our Redeemer. The love of God must be planted in the heart in this life, and it will enable us to have happiness, and joy, and peace, because the kingdom of heaven will be set up in our hearts. Heaven is to begin on earth. The word of God will reveal to us whatsoever is real and abiding, and these permanent excellences will find a place in our hearts, so that we may now have within us the perfection of heaven.
Can anyone think it possible that pride can exist in the heart and yet that heart have a place in the kingdom of God? It was pride that caused the fall of Satan. His heart was lifted up because of his beauty. All his wisdom and glory were the gift of God; but the very gift bestowed by the generous love of God was perverted to wrong use in exalting himself, as if his glorious endowments were something that he himself had originated. At that time no pride had been before manifested, and the results of evil had not been made manifest. Pride will never be admitted into heaven. Can we cherish envy in our hearts and yet be found in the kingdom of God?—No; envy cannot be transplanted into the kingdom of God. Satan originated this terrible evil, and its result was that Satan desired and sought to take the place of the only-begotten Son of God. It was because he could not have the place of Christ that Satan revolted in heaven.
Heart burnings, unhappiness, result where unlawful yearnings are cherished for the place and position of another. He who is full of envy looks upon the one he envies with dislike and seeks to show himself superior to his rival; unless he sees and repents of his sin, he will grudge against the one he envies, and all love of Christ will die out of his heart. Can one who cherishes envy be permitted to enter into the kingdom of heaven?—No; for envy brings evil surmisings, deception, pride, accusations, and enmity, and all these have been expelled from heaven. Unless we are divested of all that is evil, we shall not enter into the kingdom of God, but will find ourselves shut out of its gates.
What is it that will gain us an entrance into the kingdom of God?—A character after the likeness of that of Jesus Christ. The Lord God has given to the world all opportunity, all privilege, the grace of the Holy Spirit, the gift of Jesus Christ, in order that we might have a character like that of our Lord, and find abundant entrance into the kingdom of God. Christ's mission to the world made it evident that the human race was standing under the menace of incensed justice, on the verge of eternal ruin, in helplessness and ignorance. To our help Jesus came, bringing the fullest assurance of relief. What has the Father done?—"God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
The question has been asked, "Would not a lesser gift from God have been adequate for the redemption of lost man?" "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." The question is unanswerable, and it is not profitable for us to spend our time in making conjectures. All our thoughts and imaginations will not alter in the least any part of the plan of redemption devised from all eternity. God loved the world to such an extent that he gave full and complete evidence of the fact. He did not leave any chance for the tempter to say that he did not love us, for he gave a gift whose value could not be estimated. Had he done less, Satan and his agencies would have sought to have inspired jealousy against God by intimating that he could have done more than he did. God so loved the world that he determined to give a gift beyond all computation, and make manifest how immeasurable was his love. The gift of God would be a wonder to all worlds, to all created intelligences, ever enlarging their ideas of what God's love was in its infinity and greatness. Contemplation of this love would uproot from the heart all selfishness, and so transform the soul that men would cherish generosity, practice self-denial, and imitate the example of God. God so loved the world that he gave heaven's best gift, in order that the most guilty transgressor should not be deferred from coming to Christ, however great his sin, and be enabled to ask for pardon at a throne of mercy.
Since God has given the greatest gift in his power, we are to render to him our whole heart. He has poured out to the world the treasures of heaven, giving with such largeness that there is nothing more to bestow, no reserve grace or power or glory, and we are to respond to this love by rendering willing service to Jesus, who has died for us on Calvary's cross.
At the time when sin had become a science, when the hostility of man was most violent against heaven, when rebellion struck its roots deep into the human heart, when vice was consecrated as a part of religion, when Satan exulted in the idea that he had led men to such a state of evil that God would destroy the world, Jesus was sent into the world, not to condemn it, but, amazing grace! to save the world. The unfallen worlds watched with intense interest to see Jehovah arise and sweep away the inhabitants of the earth, and Satan boasted that if God did do this, he would complete his plans and secure for himself the allegiance of unfallen worlds. He had arguments ready by which to cast blame upon God, and to spread his rebellion to the worlds above; but at this crisis, instead of destroying the world, God sent his Son to save it. The apostle caught a glimpse of the plan, and he kindled into inspiration upon the great theme. Language cannot express his conception, but ever falls below the reality. John exclaims: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not."4
Before the coming of Christ to the world evidences abundant had been given that God loved the human race. But in the gift of Christ to a race so undeserving was demonstrated the love of God beyond all dispute. This gift outweighed all else, showed that his love could not be measured. We have no line to measure it, no plummet by which to sound its depths, no chain by which to encompass it, no standard with which to compare it. All we can say is that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Jesus said, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life." He gave his life for the sheep. The only-begotten Son of God accepts all the liabilities that fall upon the transgressor of the law, vindicates its unchangeable and holy character. The death of Christ removes every argument that Satan could bring against the precepts of Jehovah. Satan has declared that men could not enter the kingdom of heaven unless the law was abolished and a way devised by which transgressors could be reinstated into the favor of God, and made heirs of heaven. He made the claim that the law must be changed, that the reins of government must be slackened in heaven, that sin must be tolerated, and sinners pitied and saved in their sins. But every such plea was cast aside when Christ died as a substitute for the sinner. He who was made equal with God bore the sin of the transgressor, and thereby made a channel whereby the love of God could be communicated to a fallen world, and his grace and power imparted to those who came to Christ in penitence for their sin.
The sum and substance of the arguments of Satan is that sin may be immortalized, that Christ abolished the law, and that evil doers may be in favor with God. But the death of Christ tells a different story; for he died to vindicate the claims of the law, to give to the world and to angels an unanswerable argument of the immutability of the law of Jehovah.
CHARITY, supremest love,
Forever doth abide;
Of righteousness it doth approve;
From sin it turns aside.
Charity hath elements
Of Christian graces rare;
Is rich in works and fruitfulness
Abounding everywhere.
Charity hath temper sweet,
Not easily provoked;
Has grace for all who with it meet;
With anger is not yoked;
Rejoiceth not in evil things,
But truth it loveth well.
Our faith to heaven only brings
Where charity doth dwell.
Charity is true and kind,
And seeketh not her own,
For to all selfishness 'tis blind,
And ever suff'reth long.
Charity is not puffed up—
Humility it wears;
It puts a seal upon the lips,
Speaks not of self or cares.
With courtesy 'tis always filled;
In little things 'tis kind;
With hearts of purest love instilled,
Its mercies are entwined.
Charity is generous, too,
Is great in gifts; it seems
The noblest things for heaven we do
When love through action gleams
It leads us through the pearly gates,
Is guileless, free from sin;
It enters where all heaven waits
For us to enter in.
If, then, we see but darkly here,
Through faith and hope and grace,
We know, with charity, we'll there
See clearly face to face.
THE NATIONAL CHRISTIANITY QUESTION.
By W. N. Glenn
BY W. N. GLENN.
A NEW quarterly publication, entitled Sunday Reform Leaflets, has been started in Columbus, Ohio, by Rev. Dr. Edward Thomson, formerly Pacific Coast secretary of the American Sabbath Union, now general manager of the Sunday League of America, another member of the "National Reform" combination. This initial number of the Leaflets is entitled "Is This a Christian Nation?" In this particular document the utmost imagination seems to have been strained to sustain the delusive Christian-nation theory. It is the purpose of this article to note a few of the more extravagant assertions. Of the men who composed the Constitutional Convention the editor says:—
The Constitution which these great and good men made at that time is a distinctively Christian document.
The reader should bear in mind that the author of that expression has been for several years a prominent factor in the American Sabbath Union, which is a close ally if not, indeed, a direct offspring of the National Reform Association, which for about thirty years has been combating the unchristian character of the Constitution, because it does not recognize God. This association arose from the ranks of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, one of whose prominent tenets is to refrain from voting until the godless character of the Constitution has been changed. So we see that the testimony of these yoke-fellows in political Christianity fails to agree on this prominent point in their Christian doctrine. Following is another paragraph, which contains a number of absurdities:—
In the first article of our Constitution we find a Sunday law: The President of the United States "shall have ten days, SUNDAYS EXCEPTED, in which to consider each bill" that comes before him from Congress. Our fathers expected the President to be a Christian man, and the White House a Christian home—where Sunday would be a day of rest and worship, and they proposed to protect the Chief Executive in the enjoyment of this privilege.
Yes, that Sunday law, if you choose to call it such, was designed to protect the President in his right to observe Sunday if he wanted to do so, but there is no intimation of a compulsory observance. He can sign bills all day Sunday if he so desires, and the bills are not thereby invalidated. So the Constitution, "Sunday law" and all, protects the President in his right to keep Sunday or not to keep it, just as he pleases. If "our fathers expected the President to be a Christian man," why did they insert in the Constitution the provision that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States"? See Article VI, paragraph 3. Again we quote from the Leaflets, as follows:—
They [our fathers] plainly intended this should be a Christian nation of the best type, as is evident from an examination into the various departments of our government.
We can better learn what our fathers "plainly intended" by reference to some of their own utterances. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were the first four Presidents under the Constitution. Washington, Jefferson, and Madison were leading members of the convention that framed the Constitution, Washington being chairman. Adams was at the time doing important diplomatic service in Europe; however, he was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the first Vice President under the new Constitution. The actions or expressions of these men would naturally be deemed better evidence of what was "plainly intended" by themselves and associates than any assumption on the part of Church-and-State enthusiasts of the present day.
During the last year of Washington's second term as President he had executed and signed a "treaty of peace and friendship" with the government of Tripoli, in which it was expressly stated that "the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." By the time the treaty had been forwarded to Tripoli and returned, Washington's term of office had expired, and John Adams was President. By President Adams the treaty was promptly presented to the Senate and ratified. So that these two prominent "fathers" showed by this act that it was "plainly intended" by them that this should "not, in any sense," be regarded as a Christian nation. Now, as to the political force of a treaty entered into by the United States, we submit paragraph 2 of Article VI of the Constitution: "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges of every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."
The editor of Sunday Reform Leaflets says that "George Washington stood before the people with one hand upon the Bible and the other lifted to heaven, and, in this most solemn manner, he was sworn as first President of the United States." Well, suppose he was; he was not obliged to be thus sworn. The Constitution provides the following form of "oath or affirmation:" "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Suppose George Washington to have been a Christian in the strictest sense, it does not follow that he expected to make every other citizen acknowledge Christianity as the true religion. Washington evidently had sense enough to know that no action of a civil government could make individuals Christians, and therefore no such action could make a nation Christian. Washington had no doubt read the history of Rome, and knew just what kind of a Christian nation that was after it had been so declared by the Emperor Constantine and the Senate. The more of a Christian Washington was, the more he would know that civil laws and civil court decisions could not produce Christianity, either in individuals or nations.
Thomas Jefferson has left on record very emphatic declarations showing what the fathers "plainly intended" when they laid the foundation of the government. In a letter dated January 23, 1808, during his second term as President, he said: "I consider the Government of the United States interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises." In harmony with this principle he refused to proclaim either fasts or festivals. He declined to even recommend a day of fasting and prayer. In the letter above quoted he says: "I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its discipline, or its doctrines; nor of the religious societies, that the general government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting and prayer are religious exercises; the enjoining them, an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises, and the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the Constitution has deposited it."
James Madison has left documentary evidence of what was "plainly intended" by the Constitution so far as he was concerned. In a convention in his native State (Virginia) he uttered the following sentiment: "There is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion; its least interference with it would be a most flagrant usurpation." And in a memorial to the General Assembly of the State in 1785, against a bill proposing a general tax for teaching the Christian religion, we find the following expression of his views on religious liberty: "Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess, and to observe the religion which we believe to be of divine origin,213we cannot deny an equal freedom to them whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us. If this freedom be abused, it is an offense against God, not against man. To God, therefore, not to man, must an account of it be rendered."
"In a letter on this subject to General Lafayette, Mr. Madison said: "The memorial was so extensively signed by the various religious sects, including a considerable portion of the old hierarchy, that the projected innovation was crushed."
(Concluded next number.)
REMARKABLE THUNDER AND HAILSTORMS.
At a recent meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society, Mr. W. Mariott gave an account of the thunder and hailstorms which occurred over England and the south of Scotland on July 8, 1893. Thunderstorms were very numerous on that day, and in many instances were accompanied by terrific hailstorms and squalls of wind. It was during one of these squalls that a pleasure boat was capsized off Skegness, twenty-nine persons being drowned. About noon a thunderstorm, accompanied by heavy hail and a violent squall of wind, passed over Dumfries and along the valley of the Nith; many of the hailstones measured from 1 inch to 1½ inches in length. At the same hour a similar storm occurred at Peterborough. From 2 until 10 P.M. there was a succession of thunderstorms over the northeast of England and southeast of Scotland, and at many places it was reported that the thunderstorms were continuous for nine hours.
Two storms were remarkable for the immense hailstones which fell during their prevalence over Harrogate and Richmond in Yorkshire. The hailstones were four and five inches in214circumference, and some as much as three inches in diameter. Great damage was done by these storms, all windows and glass facing the direction from which the storm came being broken. It is computed that within a radius of five miles of Harrogate not less than 100,000 panes of glass were broken, the extent of the damage being estimated at about £3,000. The thunderstorms in the northern part of the country traveled generally in a north northwesterly direction, at the rate of about twenty miles an hour. They appear to have taken the path of least resistance, and consequently passed over low ground and along river valleys and the seacoast. Several storms seem to have followed each other along the same track.—Scientific American, Dec. 30, 1893.