—Archbishop Riordan confirmed 500 children in two Catholic Churches of San Francisco on the 22d inst.
—The Baptist Churches of Atlanta, Ga., sustained the past record of that denomination in the matter of freedom of conscience by sending to the U. S. Senate a protest against the proposed religious amendment to the Constitution.
—The grand jury of Platte City, Mo., has indicted forty of the leading ladies and gentlemen of that place for playing progressive euchre. A great sensation is the result, and the peace and harmony of a prominent church is seriously disturbed.
—The Minneapolis Journal, which is credited with having several times published Catholic news before it was known in the church, states that Monsignor O'Connell, of the American College at Rome, will be made papal ablegate at Washington as soon as Satolli is confirmed as cardinal, which will be in a short time.
—Rev. J. Q. A. Henry, the Baptist minister who has been publicly ventilating Catholicism for several weeks, makes this assertion: "Every Catholic paper in the country is attacking the American Protective Association, Masonry, and all other organizations opposed to Rome. These signs indicate that the war has begun."
—The "Armed Brothers of the Sahara" is the title of a new Catholic organization formed to assist and protect the white fathers in their mission work in Africa. In criticism of this movement the Cynosure says, "The gospel is entirely opposed to all secret and armed forces." But how about enforcing religious dogmas by the civil power? Secular power is an "armed force."
—A Mr. Grein, of London, not long ago set on foot a movement for popularizing the English Sunday by having a series of Sunday evening lectures and debates on dramatic questions at the Royal Theater. Now it is said the Lord's Day Observance Society threaten to prosecute him, and it is intimated that the case will be a notable one, inasmuch as Mr. Grein is backed by many people of wealth and influence.
—The National Christian League for the promotion of Social Purity has deemed it necessary to publicly "resolve" against the conduct of Congressman Breckinridge because of his scandalous conduct as exposed in the recent breach of promise suit. It ought to be known as a matter of course where professedly Christian people and societies stand on such matters, without the ostentation of public resolutions.
—The incident of Rev. Dr. Eddie, of this city, having gone over from the Congregational to the Episcopal Church, calls forth the following comment from the Evening Tribune: "The announcement is in keeping with the drift of the times in that denomination. Of late several others have done the same thing. Twenty-five or thirty years back—and, for that matter, at a more recent date—the drift of the Congregational body was toward Unitarianism. As the stronger churches in the body have grown rich, there has been a growing tendency in them toward the ritualism of the Anglican Church—a leaning toward the observance of fast and fixed days and the adoration of the saints—matters which were regarded as abominations by the Puritan fathers of the denomination."
—The Christian Statesman is overanxious to represent to the world that Californians are very wicked on Sundays, because they have no Sunday law. In a recent issue it said: "Sabbath, April 1, was made children's day at the Midwinter Fair, and an immense number were present." True enough, Sabbath was made children's day at the Fair, but it was the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day of the week, March 31, and not Sunday, the first day of April, as the Statesman would fain represent. There is plenty of wickedness in California, and plenty of Sabbath breaking at the Fair and in every other locality; but the wickedness does not consist in doing on Sunday anything that would be proper on any other secular day. Nevertheless, there is not a city in the Union where a stronger protest would have been raised against making Sunday a children's holiday at the Fair than in San Francisco.
SECULAR.
—Two men have filed gold mining claims within the residence portion of the city of Tacoma, Wash.
—Two of the public schools of Chicago were closed last week because of the prevalence of smallpox.
—On the 17th inst. all the employees of the Milwaukee Street Railroad Company, 450 in number, went on a strike.
—After a cessation of operations for one year, the Illinois Still Mill at Joliet has again started work, giving employment to 2,000 men.
—There is dread of a wheat crisis in Australia, owing to the extremely low price, which is said to be far below the cost of production.
—The village of Jerome, the largest mining camp in Arizona, was entirely destroyed by fire on the 17th inst. The fire started in the post office.
—The latest crop bulletin of the State Agricultural Society of California gives a good prospect for the fruit yield but a very poor outlook for the grain and hay crops.
—The Woman's Club, of Denver, Colo., have set the present week as the time when 100 of the membership are to appear simultaneously in a new dress-reform costume.
—A cyclone struck portions of Lincoln and Pottawatomie Counties, O. T., on the 17th inst., doing great damage to property. Two persons were killed and several others injured.
—The gold decrease in the national treasury has been so rapid recently that the $100,000,000 reserve is again threatened, notwithstanding the recent issue of $50,000,000 in bonds to keep it intact.
—The dignity of the lower house of Congress was pretty well gauged on the 19th inst., when so many of the members were absent at a ball game that business had to be suspended for want of a quorum.
—San Francisco authorities are in the midst of an extensive police scandal, and several old and heretofore trusted officers have been detected in their collusion with gambling and other unlawful enterprises.
—The little kingdom of Greece experienced several severe earthquake shocks on the 21st inst. Six villages are said to be in ruins, and fifty houses fell at the city of Thebes during one shock. It is said that a large number of persons were injured. At Athens the damage was slight, although the royal palace was somewhat injured.
—The last steamer from Japan brings news of a great fire in Yokohama, when a quarter of a mile of buildings were destroyed and six people were burned to death. Two of the latter were U. S. marines.
—The South Carolina State Dispensary Liquor Law has been declared unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court, as was authoritatively predicted at the time of the late troubles over its enforcement.
—Japan is to have an exposition in 1895, at Hiogo. It is to cover manufactures, fine arts, agriculture, education, water productions, mines, mining, and machinery. Foreign goods will be admitted for purposes of comparison.
—The latest report from the Brazilian rebellion is to the effect that a government torpedo boat had sunk the Aquadaban, the mainstay of the rebel fleet, and that Admiral Mello had surrendered his five other vessels to the Government of Argentina.
—Fresno County, Cal., is prolific of criminal sensations. The latest is the mysterious disappearance of a wealthy rancher named Wootton, aged 70 years, and the arrest of a well-known citizen named Sanders on charge of having murdered him.
—Last week a San Francisco wife murderer named Patrick Sullivan was hung at the San Quentin penitentiary, and Fredericks, the murderer of cashier Herrick and former partner of bandit Chris Evans, was convicted of murder in the first degree.
—The Detroit Water Board's refusal to pay the wages demanded by 500 Polish laborers employed on water works extension near the city, was the pretext for a strike and riot on the 18th inst. Two men were killed outright. The sheriff and one deputy and three strikers were fatally wounded, and a dozen or so other strikers and another deputy were less seriously injured.
—Of the venality of the criminal courts in San Francisco the Examiner says: "Cases are juggled on the calendars until they are lost sight of. Criminals are passed from court to court in such bewildering succession that they at last escape entirely from the clutches of the law. Even convicted felons are hocus-pocused out of the penitentiary right under the eyes of the officers of the law, if not with their collusion."
—The British East Africa Company's forces have defeated King Kabba Regas in Uganda. Fifty of the king's warriors were killed and the rest put to flight. He was a powerful slave dealer, and it is claimed that his capital was a rendezvous for Arab slavers. It is probable that the East Africa Company will get entire control of Kabba Regas' dominions, on the plea of humanity, and then King Rum will reign in his stead, with even a more cruel hand.
—The Secretary of the Treasury has instructed the collector of customs at Tacoma, Wash., that "Chinese merchants domiciled in the United States, and who departed prior to November 3 last, may be permitted to land on evidence sufficient to satisfy the collector of their identity as returning merchants. Those who left the United States since November last, and whose names do not appear in a firm name, must be excluded under the opinion of the Attorney General of the 6th inst."
—The steamer Los Angeles, of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, was wrecked on the rocks off Point Sur, on the Southern California coast, on the night of the 21st inst., and is a total loss. Eight persons were drowned, and it was with great difficulty that any were saved. There was much suffering, especially amongst those who were compelled to cling to the rigging for several hours. The vessel was an old condemned government boat, and it is claimed was unseaworthy.
—A German tailor has invented a bullet-proof cloth, which is attracting much attention in army and navy circles. A test was made last week in presence of a large number of officials, in which the inventor, Herr Dowe, submitted himself for a target, clothed in a coat of his new cloth. The regulation rifle and ball were used, and two shots fired. Mr. Dowe was uninjured, while both the bullets were imbedded in the cloth. A horse was then blanketed with the new cloth and several shots fired, without the slightest injury to the animal.
—Three explorers have secured seven well-preserved mummies from the ruins of cliff dwellers' domiciles in Southeastern Utah. These mummies are well preserved, probably on account of the absence of moisture in the atmosphere and earth in that region. Because of their resemblance to the Caucasian race, rather than to the cliff dwellers, speculators are supposing them to have been residents of the country anterior to the advent of the cliff dwellers. But this fact would be equally good proof of a more recent existence. It is said that one of the mummies shows marks of death by violence, which, considering the locality, does not preclude the idea of comparatively modern existence.
Poor Wicked California
By Editor
Poor Wicked California.—Rev. Wilson Phraner, D.D., of New York City, has been spending some time of late in California. He records his impressions in the Occident of April 19. Among other things he says:—
“The wider my observation, and the more I mingle with the good people of this Pacific Coast, the more am I impressed with the spirit of earnestness and fidelity which prevails within the church. With less of Christian sentiment to cheer and encourage from without, the church here is compelled to take a positive position—a position which tends to develop and strengthen Christian character.”
Mr. Crafts, of Sunday-law fame, stated, we believe, that the best Sunday keeping was found here. And yet the State has no Sunday law. Does not the condition of the church show that such a law is not needed? and is not a church in a “positive position” better able to do aggressive work for the Master? Apart from Sunday laws, what have the churches in the East to “encourage” them which the churches in California have not?
We do not mean by this that Sunday laws are encouraging or Christian in sentiment. They are neither, though fallaciously supposed to be both. The testimony above shows that they are not needed. And Sunday is as well observed in Oakland or San Francisco as it is in Coney Island, or in New York, or in Chicago. There is an absolutely free field for all religions here; and Christ is as near here as any other part of the earth. What more should be asked? What more would be asked of human governments than this by Christ or his apostles?
IF NOT IDOLATRY, WHAT?
By Editor
If the following from a recent Catholic Mirror does not express idolatry, or saint worship, we do not know what does. We have italicized some of the stronger expressions.
TO SAINT JOSEPH.
Patron of the Universal Church—Prayer of Our Holy Father, Leo. XIII.
BY M. J.
[Written for the Catholic Mirror]
We come to thee, O Blessed Joseph;
To our sore distress, give heed;
Having sought thy Spouse most holy,
Full of confidence we plead.
We recall thy love for Mary,
God's own Mother, Virgin fair,
All thy tenderness for Jesus,
Father's love, and faithful care;
And, we humbly beg, assist us,
In our urgent needs give aid,
Watch the heritage Christ purchased,
Precious Blood, the price he paid.
Guardian of the Holy Family,Guard with love, Christ's chosen race,Let no blighting touch of error,No corrupting sin have place.From thy place on High, defend us,With thy might, our foes engage.Help us in the bitter conflict,That the powers of darkness wage.Once, of old, from death most cruel,Thou didst save the Child Divine;Now protect God's Church from trouble,From the snares her foes combine.Lead us on by thy example,Have us always in thy care;With thy strength, support our weakness,Patiently all ills to bear.Living thus, a life all holy,We may humbly trust and pray;Through a happy death to enterHeaven's eternal, blissful day.
Notice how such prayers both clothe humanity with the attributes of Deity, putting man in the place of God, and at the same time deceive the poor, deluded souls who believe in the efficacy of such prayers. Here is one poor devotee in San Francisco, Cal., who is offering the prayer; here is another in London, Eng., another in Melbourne, Australia, another in Hongkong, China. Does Joseph hear them all?—then he is omnipresent. Does he hear but one?—then the others are deceived, and pray in vain. Or does he have a clerk who pigeonholes the prayers till some more convenient time? But he hears none. "The dead know not anything." "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." All this false doctrine of saint worship and deification of man comes from that first falsehood of Satan, "Ye shall not surely die; . . . ye shall be as God."
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Baptists Leaning Toward Rome
By Editor
The Baptist Record, of Meridian, Miss., in its issue of March 29 says:—
"We have little right to expect the Protestant Pedo-baptist world not to go back toward Rome, for there is so much they hold in common, and which has a strong affinity for its like; but our hearts grow sick when we see Baptists who are the antipodes of Rome in every way, leaning in that direction. Beloved, know ye not that deaconesses and sisterhoods and the observance of Easter and other days, to say nothing of pictures and emblems, are all of that old apostasy. Beware of that which is even worse than the leaven of the Pharisees."
But, brother, what of Sunday? It has the same origin.
Report of the Aumsville Debate
By Editor
SOME time ago the Harbinger (Disciple), of San Francisco, contained a report of a debate at Aumsville, Or., between Mr. Bonnell, a Disciple, and Mr. Anderson, a Seventh-day Adventist, in which debate Mr. Bonnell was victorious, and won certain converts. As questions have come to us relative to the matter, we wish to say that inquiry elicits the fact that we have no church at Aumsville, nor any laborer by the name of Anderson there. There are some Seventh-day people there, we believe, but they are not Seventh-day Adventists. Thus much for this report.
No Letter from Home
By Editor
"No Letter from Home."—A soldier, J. W. Boyd, in the National Home at Milwaukee, Wis., writes us a truly touching letter concerning the loneliness of some of those in such places. Many of them, he says, have friends and relatives living somewhere, whom the soldier is always glad to see if permitted. Oftentimes these friends promise to write, but for weeks and months the man looks and waits for a letter from home in vain. This, with disease and feebleness, often makes life sad, weary, and disappointing, and Mr. Boyd appeals to those who have relatives in such a place to write them good, cheerful, loving letters. Then, he says, we will believe that we are not forgotten. His suggestion is worthy, and, if this meets the eyes of such, we hope it will be acted upon. But to all such as Mr. Boyd describes we wish to speak of a "letter from home" sent to every poor, lost, body-sick and sin-sick son of Adam. That letter is from the Great Father of all, sealed with the blood of his Son, full of love, cheer, strength, and wisdom. It invites all to be soldiers under the banner of the Prince of Peace, and to conquer in his name every sinful foe. To this letter, God's holy word, we commend the soldiers of all "Homes" (many of which are not homes), and bid them to look to the "Home on High," to the "Father's House," where all the faithful shall sometime meet to share the eternal triumph of the "Captain of our salvation."
Not Much of a Victory.
By Editor
It was triumphantly stated in this city, the 17th inst., by Rev. J. Q. A. Henry, the aggressive Baptist pastor of San Francisco, who led in defense of the work against the Roman Catholics, that Myer's history was retained in the public schools of that city. It was counted as a great triumph of the Protestant cause. But now comes the Occident (Presbyterian) of April 19 with the following:—
"The subject of Myer's school history was settled as a text-book in San Francisco by retaining the book but asking teachers to omit all sections relating to the Reformation. Thus teachers are expected to teach history and leave out one of the most important events of history."
This is a Protestant triumph with the Protestant left out. But it is like many others which they are winning in these days.
Brother Magan's Article
By Editor
INSTEAD of running the article of Brother Magan under the regular title of the series, we have given it a heading descriptive of its matter. It will be of as much interest to those who have not read the former articles as to those who have. We hope that it may be read, and its valuable testimony preserved.
Tommy and the Gum Drops
By Editor
Some parents and guardians of children may learn a lesson from the little story of "Tommy and the Gum Drops," and in this connection we hope that excellent poem of Brother Williamson's may be read, "True Love Begins at Home." It has been printed before, but is worth repeating.
The Roman Apostasy
By Editor
An article on page 408 by Elder I. E. Kimball is the introduction of a series of articles noting the various steps of the Roman apostasy in the first centuries. Read them and note the parallel between those times and these.
Christ's Coming
By Editor
In this number begins a series of independent articles on Christ's coming, by Elder Matthew Larson. We trust they will be widely read.
Parents Should Be Christlike
READ the article "Parents Should Be Christlike." Its truth may condemn many, but truth wounds only to heal.