—A missionary in Calcutta writes that the evolution theory has many supporters in India.
—It has come to pass in Denver, Colo., that anti-Catholic jurors are rejected in the trial of Catholic criminals.
—Over 6,000 persons have announced their intention to take part in the Spanish pilgrimage to Rome, during the present month.
—Mr. Sunamoto and family, of the Methodist Japanese Mission in San Francisco, left for Japan on the last steamer, to establish a mission in their native land.
—It is said that the Roman Catholics pay five per cent. of the taxes of Boston, and draw ninety per cent. of the money paid out as salaries to officials.
—The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has decided that any portion of a church building used for other than religious purposes, and from which revenue or income is derived, is subject to taxation.
—The Episcopalians of Quebec are said to be almost in revolt because, as they allege, their lord bishop, Rev. Dr. Hunter Dunn, is “endeavoring to Romanize the church” through his High Church ritualism.
—The forty-sixth anniversary of modern Spiritualism was celebrated in various places throughout the country on the 1st inst. But the foundation stone of the great deception is about 6,000 years old. It was laid in Eden, when Satan contradicted the word of the Lord, and said to the woman, “Thou shalt not surely die.”
—The Prohibitionist notes the fact that two of the new counties created by the last California Legislature have passed saloon-closing ordinances—Riverside closing them all the time, and King’s on Sundays only. It is clear that the action in the latter county was not a temperance measure, being only a move for Sunday laudation. If temperance reform had been the object, the same votes would have closed the saloons all the time.
—There is a tall, heavy-bearded Catholic priest in San Francisco. He is a Syrian priest, and came with friends who visited the Chicago Fair, and then came on to the Midwinter Exposition. In the little Syrian Church called the Star of the Sea, he has been celebrating a series of masses in the Syriac language, the first occasion of the kind ever witnessed on this coast, although there is a Syrian population of about 900 in the city. Although the Catholic Church is known as the Latin Church, its masses are sung in nine different languages,—Latin, Greek, Chaldaic, Syriac, Slavonic, Wallachian, Armenian, Coptic, and Ethiopian.
—Rev. George N. Makely (Presbyterian) of Brooklyn, N. Y., in a recent sermon, thus announced his sympathy for Rome: “If I want a knowledge of Roman Catholicism I must not seek it from Protestants, for most of them are uninformed, and would ignorantly make erroneous statements, and prejudice would lead them to exaggerate their errors. Nor is a disgruntled ‘reformed’ priest a thoroughly reliable source of information. No; I must seek my knowledge from Roman Catholic ‘text-books on theology.’ True, if we want the expression of Catholic dogma, we must go to their own ‘text-books on theology.’ But for information as to the practical working of the system, we must go to history and prophecy.
—Many of the representative journals tacitly, and some of them openly, admit that Christianity gained nothing by the Parliament of Religions. The oriental religions made a grand hit, while Roman Catholicism was especially conspicuous, and several of the so-called Protestant denominations attempted to ape their display. The California Christian Advocate (Methodist) frankly admits that “no strong statement of Protestantism was made.” It states that “the other religions gloried in stating their case as strongly as possible, but, by some oversight, no one took the trouble to assign a reason for Protestantism in the first place, or for its continuance.” The mistake of this utterance is seen in the fact that the failure to represent Protestantism at the Parliament was not an “oversight;” it was simply because there was no one there who could consistently do so. The denominations posing under the Protestant banner on that occasion are so clearly on the way back to Rome that they could not consistently contend for the “reason for Protestantism in the first place,” and, from their standpoint, there could be no lucid reason “for its continuance.” True Protestantism (which is true Christianity) is never found in gaudy display contesting for honors after the manner of the world. The projectors of the Parliament of Religions may congratulate themselves on having given heathenism the greatest boom it has had in modern times, and that, too, right in the land that claims to be the stronghold of Christianity.
—The Young Men’s Christian Association of Milwaukee has inaugurated a crusade against flashy show bills and sensational literature. The association is backed by the ministers of the city.
SECULAR.
—A late Athens dispatch reports severe earthquake shocks in Greece, but no particulars are given.
—Every cell in the penitentiary of Missouri, at Jefferson City, is said to be occupied, the number of prisoners being 2,008.
—The war concerning passenger rates between the various Pacific Coast lines is over, and the old rates have been established.
—The attendance at the Midwinter Fair, San Francisco, on the 31st ult., was over 90,000. The occasion was “Chronicle day.”
—The health commissioner of Brooklyn, N. Y., has issued a circular declaring smallpox epidemic in that city and in New York City.
—The canal is soon to come to the front as a modern means of transportation. All the canals of New York are to be propelled by electricity.
—Martial law has been proclaimed at Colon, United States of Colombia, S. A., and meetings of more than three citizens are prohibited.
—The Friends have opened their new college at Whittier, Cal., with 100 students. This is the only Quaker college west of the Rocky Mountains.
—Judge Dallas, of the United States Circuit Court at Philadelphia, has again affirmed decisions denying naturalization to Chinese residents in America.
—President Cleveland has vetoed the bill providing for the coinage of the seigniorage silver bullion stored in the Treasury Department, amounting to $55,000,000.
—Sixteen persons, indicted for violation of the election laws, at Gravesend, N. Y., have pleaded guilty and been sentenced to various terms in the penitentiary.
—The people of Colton, Cal., have decided that no more tramp “armies” shall be fed by that town. They were very liberal with the Fry contingent of the Coxey army.
—Mexico is coming to the front as a strong competitor in the United States orange market. The State of Sonora alone sent over 300 car loads in January and February.
—Disturbances are reported in various parts of Hungary, owing to the refusal of the clergy to toll their bells on the occasion of the funeral of the idolized patriot, Kossuth.
—The too intimate mixing of the white and colored races at Paso Robles, Cal., is said to have brought about a reaction, and hostilities of a dangerous character are imminent.
—At San Lucar, Spain, on the 27th ult., a mob of 2,000 people paraded the streets, pillaged stores, and did much other damage. The military was called to quiet the disturbance.
—A defaulting bank clerk from Bay City, Mich., accompanied by his wife and brother, was captured in San Diego County, Cal., last week, when within ten minutes’ ride of the Mexican line.
—Last week fifty houses in Colfax, Wash., were inundated, and water ran in the streets of a considerable part of the town. The flood was caused by heavy rains overflowing the Pelouse River.
—As some of the more enterprising newspapers began reporting in full Ex-president Harrison’s law lectures at Stanford University, he has resorted to copyrighting to keep them from the press.
—The Supreme Court of California has decided that the law of the last Legislature removing the capital from Sacramento to San Jose is unconstitutional in certain provisions, hence inoperative.
—A Rome dispatch states that the Minister of Foreign Affairs is conferring with the Italian Ambassador at Washington with reference to establishing colonies of Italian emigrants in the United States.
—Sergeant Isaac Cohen, from Fort Warren, Mass., recently attempted to visit his family at Warsaw, Russia, but, on account of his being a Jew, the Russian authorities would not grant him permission to do so.
—The Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators at Chicago have decided on a strike for 35 cents an hour. The order comprises 1,000 members. A big strike of iron workers in Pennsylvania is also said to be at hand.
—The Superior Court of San Diego, Cal., has sentenced the judge of the La Jolla Indians to one year’s imprisonment in the penitentiary for burglary. Though chosen judge of his tribe, the culprit is but 21 years of age.
—It is said that Russia has adopted a new plan to crush Polish national spirit. Officials have visited the art stores and studios in Warsaw and destroyed all the busts of Polish heroes they could find; then they took written promises from all the sculptors not to make any more.
—The proposed religious amendment to the preamble of the National Constitution has been laid on the table by the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, and that is where the hypocritical suggestion ought to stay.
—Notwithstanding the agreement between Great Britain and the United States to jointly patrol the seal fisheries, the latter is apparently being left to do the bulk of the patrolling. There are only six seaworthy British war ships in all the Northern Pacific Ocean, including as far south as Central America and Hawaii.
—Young Fredericks, ex-convict and all-round criminal, who murdered Bank Cashier Herrick, in San Francisco, last week, is daily visited in the jail by women. Two came all the way from Sacramento just to see the murderer. This mania on the part of women to sympathise with such fellows is probably the result of reading sensational novels.
—A Monclova, Texas, dispatch of the 27th ult. says: “The mountainous districts south of here are being swept by forest fires, and during the past ten days, hundreds of thousands of acres of valuable timber have been burned. Hundreds of head of live stock have perished in the flames. A great many families have been made homeless by the fire.”
—Judge Catlin, of Sacramento, Cal., has made a new ruling in regard to libel, which, if it holds good, will greatly curtail the publication of news that reflects upon private character. His decision is to the effect that it is not enough for a publication to be free from malice; it is not enough that it be true; the publisher must be able to prove it true, or he is amenable to an action for damage.
—The Colored Anti-lynching League was recently organized in Chicago, the object being to exert an influence to stop the summary execution without trial of people of their race accused of crime. And now the white people also are taking an interest in the matter. The W. C. T. U. of Chicago and President Gunsaulus, of the Armour Institute, are endeavoring to form a Caucasian Anti-lynching League.
—At Huchow, China, on the occasion of the magistrate’s formal proclamation of “Welcome Spring,” there was a large procession. As the crowd passed the Baptist mission, they threw bricks and stones on the roof and through the windows. Finally a crowd burst open the gate and began looting the premises. The missionaries stood firm, and the rioters, evidently becoming afraid that they would be individually identified, left the place.
—The Coxey “industrial army” had a real ovation when they came to Beaver Falls, Pa. A delegation of mounted citizens escorted them through the town; money was collected by the marshal for their benefit; thousands of people came from neighboring towns to visit them; food for two days’ consumption was furnished; a religious meeting was held in the camp; a mass meeting was held in the theater, after which the army, 270 strong, slept in the building. The force was augmented here by the addition of 125 recruits.
—The Southern California “industrial army,” under “General” Fry, 600 strong, arrived at Little Rock, Ark., on the 31st ult., on its way to Washington. After being left on a Texas desert by the S. P. Railroad until they were almost starved, they were again taken up, and different roads have carried them along. The citizens of Little Rock contributed liberally to their support. They left that city for Memphis by railway conveyance, their membership having been increased to 1,100. A second army was announced to leave Los Angeles on the 2d inst., and a force of 300 are ready to leave Denver as soon as they can get transportation.
—Another revolution has broken out in Samoa, and several battles have been fought, in which the “government,” if such it may be called, has been victorious. The foreigners are said to be in a precarious situation, as neither of the three so-called protectorate powers (the United States, Great Britain, and Germany) have a war vessel on hand. The king’s forces are charged with indulging in their old-time heathen war atrocities. The Samoans are held up to the world as Christians (the fruit of Catholic mission work), but their disposition to fight, and their proverbial cruelty to defeated foes, indicate the superficial character of their conversion.
—The State of South Carolina now tolerates the sale of alcoholic liquors only through State dispensaries at prominent places. Recently State spies undertook to search private houses at Darlington in quest of contraband liquor, and the citizens resented what they called an insult. The excitement rapidly spread to other places, and seven State dispensaries were utterly destroyed. The governor placed the counties of Darlington and Florence under martial law. Several militia companies refused to obey the governor’s orders. In a conflict at Darlington one constable was killed, and a number of others fled to a swamp for safety. There is great excitement all over the State, and the constables seem to be the special objects of popular vengeance.
Jesus Christ Our Righteousness. (Spanish.) A translation of Bible Students’ Library No. 71; 8 pp., price, 1 cent. Address, PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO., Oakland, Cal.
"SIGNS OF THE TIMES," NO. 18.
By Editor
THIS number of the SIGNS is meeting, as it deserves, with a wide circulation. After printing two editions, and having them both exhausted, we ordered a third, but, through some misunderstanding, the matrices had been destroyed, and the first set of plates were worn out. But we could not disappoint our subscribers, and so have done as follows:—
1. We have carefully revised the first nine pages, correcting some errors of minor importance, which escaped our contributors in the preparation of copy, and which we overlooked.
2. We have added seven pages of later, fresher matter, and have dated the paper April 9. This makes this number better than before. The first nine pages are revised, and the last pages are brought up to date. The quotations in the article of Elder Ballenger may not agree with the works from which they are quoted, possessed by some of our readers; this will be found especially true of the quotations from the "History of the Reformation." The reason of this is that they are quoted from a different translation. The different translations will be found the same in substance, although sometimes paragraphed differently. These works quoted from may be obtained at a reduced rate by addressing the Religious Liberty Association, Room 7, 185 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill. These differences, however, in no way affect the value of this article, or the value of SIGNS No. 18. Let it be circulated as widely as possible. It is printed without profit. The price is $1.50 per hundred. Order by number. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Twelfth and Castro Streets, Oakland, Cal.
News and Errata
By Editor
THE news from Europe is that the depleted treasuries of some of the powers, together with the Russian French and Russian German alliances, promise peace for a time so far as the powers are concerned, but that "the single black spot on the horizon," Socialism in its various forms, "menaces all the sovereigns and governments of Europe." It is said to be making "alarming progress."
THE Paulist Fathers, a Roman Catholic society, are sending out their preachers to all parts of the country to "convert" America, and from the reports some of them are able and eloquent. One of them delivered the first regular sermon ever delivered by a Catholic priest in Harvard University, Appleton Chapel, April 1. The report says: "The occasion was a memorable one, being the first really cordial recognition Harvard has ever given a Catholic priest." And this is characteristic of the leaning toward Rome.
Errata.—In the SIGNS of March 5, No. 18, there are two errors to which we wish to call attention: (1) On page 279, third column, first line of first paragraph, coarse type, the word after "Rev. George Guirey" should be "Baptist" instead of "Presbyterian." (2) On page 281, second column, third line, the word "not" should be inserted between the words "they" and "oppose," making it read, "and as they did not oppose this, it plainly follows," etc. These are both corrected in the later editions.
It Is Now Too Late.—We have received Document No. 20 of the National League for Protection of American Institutions. It is a petition to the fifty-third Congress concerning the Indians. "The League petitions against the violation of the American principle of the separation of Church and State, which is involved in making any sectarian appropriations for Indian education." The document then goes on to state that the official bodies of the Congregational, Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, and the Protestant Episcopal Churches have determined to withdraw their applications for funds from the United States Treasury, because of the principle which they now see is involved in this dangerous practice, and they propose henceforth to support their own schools without government aid. The League claims that the time has now "come when the national government should cease entirely from making such appropriations, and petitions that the government adopt a definite, permanent, and uniform principle, on the basis of the American free common-school system for education among the Indians." Then follow quotations from various church and religious bodies against sectarian appropriations.
Now all this is good, but it would have been much better if it had been manifest long ago. All of these various religious bodies were just as anxious to obtain funds from the United States treasury to carry on their schools, in the beginning of the matter, as they now seem to be to protest, and, judging from their action then, we have no reason to believe that they would now stand where they do if the Roman Catholic Church had not so clearly beaten them in this race for public money.
The fact of the case is the Roman Catholic Church obtained in 1886 more than all the other churches combined, and continued to increase its lead up to the present year. When the Protestant Churches found they could not, by any efforts of their own, make a change in this matter, they all saw at once that a wrong principle was involved!! They ought to have seen that a wrong principle was involved in the very first step. It was just as wrong when they took the first dollar as it is now, and true Christianity and true Protestantism ought to have seen it then.
The time has not only now come when the government should cease from making appropriations for sectarian schools, but it has always been. It never should have been begun. But the matter now is gone too far to recall. The treasury door has been opened, and the head of the camel has entered; and the American League and all Protestants will find themselves powerless in their endeavor to compel it to withdraw, or to close the treasury doors against its voracity. Roman Catholicism has demonstrated during the last eight years that she has a greater power in Congress than all the other religious bodies combined, and we see no reason to believe that it will ever be otherwise. We regret beyond words to express that it is so, when it might have been the opposite. The reason for it all is that Protestants have departed from Protestant principles, and the principles of liberty in the American Republic exist largely in name and association rather than in vital motive power. Let the Protestant churches return to Protestant principles and to Protestant means and methods, and no longer try to meet Roman Catholicism by the arts of which Rome alone is mistress.
PUBLICATIONS ON THE SABBATH QUESTION.
By Editor
READ the following and see if there is not some publication among them which you desire to read, or which will benefit some friend:—
The Abiding Sabbath. By A. T. Jones. No. 9 of the Bible Students' Library. This is a review of two Sabbath "prize essays," one of $500, and one of $1,000. It contains mighty arguments on the Sabbath question; 174 pages; price, 15 cents.
Is Sunday the Sabbath? No. 24 of the Library. A brief consideration of New Testament texts on the first day of the week; 8 pages; price, 1 cent.
Nature and Obligation of the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment. By J. H. Waggoner. No. 54 of the Library. Clear and strong in argument; price, 10 cents.
Sunday; Origin of Its Observance in the Christian Church. By E. J. Waggoner. No. 80 of the Library. The testimony given with reference to Sunday is wholly Protestant. All Protestants should read it; price, 15 cents.
Who Changed the Sabbath? No. 107 of the Library. What God's word predicted; what Christ says; what the Papacy says; what Protestants say. A most convincing document; 24 pages; price, 3 cents.
"The Christian Sabbath." No. 113 of the Library. A reprint of four articles in the Catholic Mirror, the organ of Cardinal Gibbons. What Catholics have to say to Protestants on the subject; 32 pages; price, 4 cents.
Christ and the Sabbath. By Prof. W. W. Prescott. The spiritual nature of the Sabbath, what true Sabbath-keeping is, and the relation of Christ to the Sabbath in both creation and redemption. A most important tract. No. 14 of the Religious Liberty Library; 38 pages; price, 4 cents.
The History of the Sabbath. By John N. Andrews. A complete history of the Sabbath and first day of the week in religious life and thought, from the earliest ages to the present time, and especially during the Christian dispensation; 500 large octavo pages; price, cloth, $2.00; library binding, $2.50.
Any of the above may be obtained post free on receipt of price by addressing Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.; 18 W. Fifth Street, Kansas City, Mo.; 43 Bond Street, New York. Works on all phases of Bible truth. Send for catalogue.
The Spirit of Public Schools
By Editor
The Rev. J. Q. A. Henry (Baptist) said in a lecture on Romanism and the Public Schools, delivered in Odd Fellows' Hall, San Francisco, "No man should dare to point the finger of scorn at our public schools except under the penalty of death." What better is this spirit than that of Roman Catholicism? It certainly is neither true Protestantism nor Christianity. The perpetuation of our public schools lies in the benefit which these schools are to the public, and not in the "death" penalty, nor in "red-hot bayonets."