—The Mormons dedicated a missionary schooner, the Evanelia, at San Francisco, on the 23d inst. The vessel will convey missionaries to Tahiti and other South Sea islands, and also engage in island trade.
—A Catholic priest in Santa Rosa, Cal., in a recent conversation in regard to the change of the Sabbath, said: 'If you take the Bible alone, the Seventh-day Adventists are right. The other Protestant churches are Protestant six days in the week, but on Sunday they are Roman Catholic.'
—In reference to Premier Crispi's recent advances toward reconciliation with the papal hierarchy on the part of the Italian Government, Leo XIII. recognizes the good intention, but insists that a solution of the question of Church and State in Italy is impossible without a restoration of the temporal power of the pope.
—The California Prohibitionist accredits Bishop Fitzgerald, of the M. E. Church, with the statement that no Christian can vote to grant a license for a saloon without committing sin, and that as the Methodist discipline declares against license, any member who would vote to grant license would put himself outside of the pale of the church.
—The Presbyterian Journal tells of a ruling elder who states that at a seaside resort hotel, where were many church members, he was the only one who went to church on a certain Sunday. 'He is convinced that large numbers of professing Christians, when they go off on their vacations, do not take their Bibles with them, and leave behind their church-going and other devotional habits.'
—In Burmah there are 100,000 nominal Christians; in China, 50,000; in Japan, 40,000; in the Friendly Islands, 30,000; in the Fiji Islands, over 100,000; in the New Hebrides it is claimed that 'there is not a heathen;' in Polynesia there are reported 750,000 professors. The discouraging feature of these figures is that the great majority of those enumerated have no experimental knowledge of Christ.
—It was the prime aim of the representatives of heathen religions in the World's Fair Parliament of Religions to belittle Christian missionary work in foreign lands. Especially was this done by those who came from India. But Bishop Thoburn calls attention to the fact that these representatives were not qualified to report on the merits of Christian missionary work, for 'that class know absolutely nothing of the native Christians, having no association with them whatever.'
—According to Sadler's Catholic Directory for 1894, the archdiocese of Baltimore, Cardinal Gibbons' diocese, includes the counties of Maryland west of the Chesapeake Bay, together with the district of Columbia. Within this diocese there is a Catholic population of 235,000, with 150 churches, 47 chapels, 60 stations, 22 orphan asylums, 90 parochial schools, 6 hospitals, 4 ecclesiastical seminaries, 8 colleges, 19 academies for young ladies, 2 foundling asylums, and 2 asylums for colored children.
—Here is another specimen of Roman Catholic temperance sentiment, taken from the Christian Statesman: 'Rev. Father Joseph Costa, of Galesburg, Ill., has threatened to withhold the sacrament from Catholic saloon keepers who do not obey the sabbath-closing law.' It is not the saloon evil at which the priest aims, it is reverence for Sunday which he would inculcate. And Protestants are masquerading in the same hollow temperance pretense, while closed saloons on Sunday is the extent of their burden.
—A Madrid dispatch of the 23d inst. says: 'With all the imposing ceremony of the church, the Most Rev. Lord Plunkett, archbishop of Dublin, to-day consecrated the Protestant church in this city, and also consecrated the Rev. Señor Cabrera as the first Protestant bishop of Madrid. It is expected that the elevation of Señor Cabrera will cause a sensation in the Catholic world.' The terms and titles employed in this situation would indicate that the Protestantism of the new institution is merely nominal.
—It is startling to note some of the proposals advanced by people who think they are Protestants for remedying the Papacy evil now prevalent in the United States. The A. P. A. proposes that no Catholic shall be elected to office, which is flagrantly out of harmony with the Constitution or the Golden Rule. And the Protestant Associated Press proposes that Congress shall expel the Jesuits from the country, which means the expulsion of the leading force of the Roman Church. Such propositions manifest the most ultra spirit of Rome herself. Even if the execution of these proposals were in anywise probable or possible, what would be the profit if in Rome's stead were installed a Protestantism imbued with the leading characteristics of Rome? Surely our country is in a strait place, with the alternative of Rome or such a Protestantism for monitor of the government.
—The Methodist Church of California is quite well committed to prohibition in the present political campaign. The Prohibition candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are Methodists. And the Prohibition party organ says of the recent M. E. conference that 'it was unquestionably a Prohibition conference, and its hosts of sturdy, faithful, and conscientious workers will go to their different posts of duty filled anew with fire and zeal, to work for the election of Henry French and Chauncey H. Dunn, those two staunch Methodists, the entire Prohibition ticket, and the cause of prohibition, every allusion to which met more applause than any other matter that occupied the attention of the conference.'
—The Protestant Associated Press is an institution that has been established in Washington, D. C., for the purpose of furnishing information concerning the status and movements of the papists in and about the capital. The mistake of the association, and some Protestant ministers in Washington, is that there is to be a great 'battle with the Papacy,' whereas the Papacy has already won the victory, and is even now developing its advantage. Rome insidiously crept in and occupied the fort while credulous Protestants slept. When the latter wake up, if they ever do, they will realize that it is too late to battle for that which is lost. All they can do now is to seek refuge in true Protestant principles, and sound the note of warning to the world against receiving the 'mark of the beast.'
—Evangelist S. M. Martin (Disciple), who is holding forth in a tent in San Francisco, discoursed recently on the subject of 'The American Sunday.' He is not in favor of a religious law, but believes there ought to be a civil law which would close all places of business, except those necessary for the comfort and necessity of the commonweal. But here is his curious illustration of his position: 'For instance, a man who lives over a saloon and wants to have family prayers should not be disturbed by the gathering of a crowd of drunken roisters, who by ribald song and oaths prevent him from keeping the sabbath as he desires.' But he does not explain why a man should be exempt from having his prayers disturbed on Sunday any more than on other days. This illustration rather indicates that his ideal Sunday law has a religious rather than a civil purpose. By the way, how does he come to call Sunday 'the Sabbath'? It is not very long since he (in common with his denomination) was declaiming against the propriety of calling any day of the week the Sabbath. In this city he declared that the Sabbath was abolished, and the 'Lord's day' had taken its place. It is very clear that were it not for the religious idea of the Sunday law neither Mr. Martin nor any other advocates would have any burden in that direction.
SECULAR.
—President Nunez, of the Colombia Republic, South America, died on the 18th inst., of gastric fever.
—Dr. Burrus, of Lincoln, Neb., has patented an aluminum burial casket, and is about to establish a plant for its manufacture.
—Dr. Palitschek, Austrian Consul General to the United States, has been dismissed in disgrace for embezzling $15,000 of a charitable bequest intrusted to his care.
—At a political meeting held in a Baptist Church at Gatlingburg, Tenn., on the night of the 22d inst., a fight resulted in the injury of several persons, two fatally.
—Galveston, Texas, has its turn at official scandal. The mayor asserts that the city has been systematically robbed for many years, and a general expert in the books is to follow.
—The free trade sentiment, which was reported to be gaining foothold in the Australian provinces, seems to have received a setback in the province of Victoria by the recent elections.
—The people of Lindle and Caseyville, in Union County, Ky., are aiming to resist the collection of railroad taxes. The collector declares his intention to do his duty, if it takes the power of the military.
—The Hebrew shirt makers of New York City, to the number of 3,000, went out on a strike on the 23d inst. They demand a raise of wages, and a deposit from employers in the hands of the union as security against reduction for six months.
—The miners in the region of Massillon, Ohio, having gone out on a strike, it is said that several hundred colored men will be brought from Alabama to take their places. This proposition is said to cause much excitement among the strikers.
—A late report from Topeka, Kansas, says that about 100 suffrage women have agreed to come out in reform dress. The dress consists of Turkish trousers covered by a skirt reaching to the fold, a close or loose waist, as the wearer may prefer, and cloth leggings to match the trousers. It is the intention to organize into relief squads, so that a number of them may be on the street all day, and thus accustom the community to the reform.
—A sensation is said to be aroused in London by the publication of alleged discoveries in regard to the traffic in girls between the great city and the Continent. The Purity Society claims to have evidence that a systematic business is conducted, and that it extends to India and China.
—Don Pio Pico, the last governor of California under Mexican rule, died at Los Angeles on the 11th inst., aged 94 years. At one time one of the wealthiest men in the State, he passed the last dozen years of his life as an object of charity among his friends. Such is the fame and the wealth of this world.
—In this city, on the 23d inst., fire destroyed the two upper stories of St. Mary's (Catholic) College. The building is of brick, comparatively new, somewhat isolated, of approved modern architecture, and about the last place in the city where fire would have been expected. The fire was of internal origin, and the loss is probably $150,000.
—Generals Antonio Ezeta and Leon Bolanos, and Captain Florencio Bustamante, the Salvadoran refugees for whose extradition the new government of that troubled country had made application, were all released by Judge Morrow, of the U. S. District Court of San Francisco, on the 22d inst. Colonel Cienfuegos was held for extradition, subject to the approval of President Cleveland.
—Portland, Oregon, had a great fire on the 23d inst. The loss included the Pacific Coast Wheat Elevator, warehouse and contents, the railroad coal bunkers and contents, a long stretch of wharves, sixty or more freight cars and contents, four miles of railroad track, and a river steamboat. Total loss, over $1,000,000. It is also stated that three men are missing, supposed to have been lost in the flames.
—A destructive storm passed through Northwestern Iowa and Southern Minnesota on the 22d inst. The towns that suffered most were Cylinder, Forest City, and Manley Junction, in Iowa; and Leroy, Spring Valley, Dodge Center, Holmes, and Lowther, in Minnesota. The town of Marshland, Wis., also suffered much damage. In all fifty-two deaths are reported, and the injured are said to number more than 100.
—The Japanese, according to the best reports obtainable, have won two great victories, one on land and one on the sea. The former was at Ping Yang, Corea, and it is claimed that the Chinese lost 2,000 killed and 14,500 in wounded and prisoners. In the naval engagement off the mouth of the Yalu River, on the Corean Yellow Sea Coast, the Chinese lost four ships, three foundered and one burned. The Japs report small loss in the land engagement, and no very serious damage in the naval contest. Japan is endeavoring to put 80,000 fresh troops in the field.
—Louisiana sugar planters propose to bring suit against the U. S. Treasury Department for the bounty allowed under the McKinley tariff law, which was repealed by the new law at the recent session of Congress. The plea is that the McKinley law provided for a bounty until 1905, and that a repealing act could not properly take effect until that time. The withholding of the bounty, on the assurance of which large investments were made, is held to be an act of bad faith on the part of the government. Secretary Carlisle pleads inability to pay the bounty because Congress made no appropriation for that purpose.
CHRIST IN THE GOSPELS,
—OR—
The Life of our Lord in the Words of the Evangelists,
BY JAMES P. CADMAN, A. M.
Is, as its Name Indicates, a Compilation in which the four Narratives of
# THE LIFE OF CHRIST
ARE WOVEN INTO ONE CONNECTED STORY, MAKING A COMPLETE HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS IN THE EXACT LANGUAGE OF THE SCRIPTURES.
THE text is that of the Revised Version, and while every word in the four Gospels appears, the work is so arranged that the reader can tell at a glance the words used in each Gospel. Those who have tried to gather all the facts concerning some miracle, or other event, and at the same time properly locate and credit the various parts of the narrative, will appreciate this book, which is the very best of its kind and gives evidence of an immense amount of careful and painstaking labor.
The book is fully indexed so that any text or subject can be readily found; and the maps, notes, and diagrams which it contains are alone well worth the price of the volume. The following partial (less than half) TABLE OF CONTENTS will give an idea of the scope of the work:—
Index to chapter and verses; Life of Our Lord (333 pages); Index of persons, places, and subjects, with dictionary of proper names; Explanation of maps and diagrams; Map of the pathway of Jesus; Diagrams illustrating the principal events of crucifixion week.
This work is invaluable, and all who love the Bible should have a copy. It contains 394 pages, is well printed on good paper, and is neatly and substantially bound in cloth.
We are glad to hear from President Howe, of Healdsburg College, that the prospects are encouraging for a good school. The attendance is more than was expected. This is good. It ought to be greater still. The college should be filled to the utmost capacity. Many a young man, yes, and young woman, has expended during the last year a sufficient sum of money for a needless bicycle and its congeners to maintain them, if economical, a year at college. Would it not be worth while to change the brawn for brain in the year to come? You may get sufficient exercise at school. And, young man, if your circumstances are such that you could not attend school yourself, would it not better repay you to loan the means to some deserving student who is endeavoring to fit himself for usefulness in God's cause? These questions are of eternal import.
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVORERS AND SUNDAY SALOONS.
By Editor
WE learn by the Examiner of September 22 that the "Christian Endeavorers" of Alameda County propose to make the Sunday saloons an issue, and thereby show their strength in the political field. Dr. Robert Coyle, of the First Presbyterian Church of this city, in his address before the quarterly convention, held in the First Methodist Church, September 21, after stating that nothing could be expected from manipulators of politics, said (we quote from the Examiner):—
"But we don't propose to allow this Moloch [the Sunday saloon] to feast unchecked upon the flower of our land. The Christian Endeavorers say that the open Sunday saloon must go.
"We propose to compel the caucus and the conventions to respect us. We propose to compel the saloons—although they may not respect our principles—to at least fear our power. The first decade of the Christian Endeavor Societies' existence meant organization. The second and third will mean a battle for the church and Christ, for God and humanity.
"The young people are in earnest, and their tramp, tramp, tramp, which is heard in the East and West and North and South, means annihilation of the open saloon. The hour is coming when the saloon keepers will have to change the key of their tunes. There is enthusiasm, plan, purpose, in this movement to close the Sunday saloons.
"We are going to gather it up into one mighty volume and then we will see who laughs."
Now we do not question the motives of Dr. Coyle or the Y. P. S. C. E., in this matter of the Sunday saloon, but the methods which they are using, or propose to use, the influences which they propose to bring to bear upon the saloon men, are certainly not Christian, although there may be large endeavor behind them. It may be well to note some of these briefly.
1. The whole question is a politico-religious one. It is the Sunday saloon that is the great Moloch. Says Dr. Coyle:—
"We oppose the open Sunday saloon because it is the great citadel of the liquor traffic. Close it and the Gibraltar is won. We oppose it because it draws into its coffers the earnings of the working-men. Close the Sunday saloons and laboring men will have more to contribute to their families. It saps their intellect and undermines their manhood, destroys the workman's tenderness for his family, destroys his health and energy, and leaves him a wreck upon the wayside of life, to die in poverty and disgrace. The Sunday saloon is filled with the men from shop and factory who spend the money there that is due to the butcher, the grocer, and to the dry goods merchant.
"It opens temptations to the young, who are drawn into the Sunday saloon most frequently for the first time; and the saloon, like death, loves a shining mark.
"We oppose the Sunday saloon because its existence is a discrimination in favor of business that is confessedly bad. If banks and hardware stores and all other necessary shops should open for trade on Sunday, it would cause overwhelming opposition. Why then tolerate an open Sunday saloon? Why should a business that is deadly be more highly favored?"
According to the above, if language means anything, the saloon is wicked only on Sunday. In other words, the Monday to the Saturday saloon is tolerable, but the Sunday saloon takes all the workman's money, robs his family, saps his intellect, destroys love for wife and children, and ruins him generally, and all because the rum is sold on Sunday. But is this true? Is not a glass of whisky as full of evil if imbibed on Monday as on Sunday? Who cannot see that the whole thing is a plea, not against the saloon, but for the Sunday. The fact that the Sunday saloon is made the object of attack is saying in so many words that the rest-of-the-week saloon has a right to existence, and that it is proper enough in its way. It is not the deed, but the day on which the deed is done, which constitutes it criminal.
2. If the Monday saloon has a right to exist, so has the Sunday saloon. The dry goods store, or the grocery, or any other business right, on six days of the week is just as proper on Sunday, so long as those who engage in it do not interfere with the equal rights of others. Dr. Coyle has as much right to preach on Monday or Tuesday as he has on Sunday, and no man has the right to interfere with him. The whole Sunday-closing business is not in the interest of temperance, but of Sunday. It is ever the Sunday saloon, the Sunday itself, of which the Sunday-closing law is the entering wedge of still further and more restrictive legislation.
3. The methods of the Y. P. S. C. E. are unchristian. Says Dr. Coyle, speaking for the Endeavorers, "The open Sunday saloon must go." "We propose to compel the caucus and conventions to respect us." And to show that this respect is not compelled by a Christian life and godly example, he continues, "We propose to compel the saloons—although they may not respect our principles—to at least fear our power."
Jesus Christ said to his disciples: "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion [lordship] over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you" (Matt. 20: 25, 26); and then he tells them that those who are greatest are those who serve in humility. Again he says: "If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world. . . . The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." John 12: 47, 48. Says the apostle Paul: "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord [which awaits the ungodly in the day of judgment], we persuade [not compel] men." 2 Cor. 5: 11. The power of the gospel never rests in carnal means, and for its followers to turn to these, while professing to do Christian work, is a denial of Christ.
We do not believe in saloons. We would that they were closed every day; but we do not propose to be deceived, nor do we wish others to be, by a so-called temperance measure which is nothing less than religious legislation. In just this way—as "beneficent" measures—began the union of Church and State that slaughtered thousands of "the whitest of the saints of God."
"GOSPEL SONG SHEAF."
By Editor
BEFORE us lies one of the most beautifully printed Sabbath school song books we have ever seen. The printing and binding are all that can be desired. The name of the book is "The Gospel Song Sheaf," and its use is expressed in the words "for the Sabbath school and praise service." The author and compiler of the book is one well known to many of our readers, F. E. Belden. Many of the songs and pieces of music are of his own composition. It is published by the Pacific Press Publishing Co., Oakland, Cal., and we learn that, though the book has been out less than a month, the first edition, of 5,000, is exhausted, and paper has been ordered for another. The book consists of four parts, comprising Primary Songs, Intermediate Songs, Gospel and Special Songs, and Old Hymns and Tunes. It possesses quite a collection of the good old hymns and songs which we learned at mother's knee. But for a fuller description of this beautiful book see the advertisement, on another page.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
By Editor
In another column will be found a suggested interpretation of the parable of "The Rich Man and Lazarus," which is worthy of consideration. This parable has been the stronghold of inherent immortal-soulism advocates from time immemorial. Of course, all the positive teaching of Scripture is against it; that no doctrine should be built upon a parable is a recognized rule of Scripture explication, but all this has made but little difference to those who were bound to hold to the pagan doctrine instead of being anxious to know just what God's word teaches.
The Papacy’s Progress in Europe
By Editor
We give in our next number, from our correspondent in Europe, Pastor H. P. Holser, a series of incidents which show most clearly the religious trend in Europe. To the student of prophecy the article is most thrilling. It shows the progress that the Papacy is making in the Old World, and that the coming of earth's rightful King is hastening on. This number of the Signs is valuable; the next number will be even more valuable.
The Pope's Bell Ringing in Basel
By Editor
In another column will be found an article from Pastor H. P. Holser, of Basel, Switzerland, on "The Pope's Bell Ringing in Basel." It is worthy of being read. Next week we shall have something else from Brother Holser of still greater interest, as showing the progress that Roman Catholicism is making in "Protestant" Europe.
What Manner of Persons Ought Ye to Be?
By Editor
Do not neglect to read the article "What Manner of Persons Ought Ye to Be?" It presents some forcible thoughts regarding God's law.
The Bible Readings at Brewer's
By Editor
The article entitled "The Bible Readings at Brewer's" will conclude next week. They present some plain truths in a convincing way.
Holidays in Different States
By Editor
In our Home and Health Department will be found a list of "Holidays in Different States," which may be worth preservation.