Earlier text: WHO WAS TO BLAME?WHEREVER civilized human beings live, human hearts have ached since the day when there was flashed around the world the fearful intelligence that the mightiest ship that ever sailed had gone down with her freight of human lives. The details of the terrible tragedy have been reiterated in every city and village in the civilized world, and we can not add to them, nor would we harrow the minds and souls of our readers by picturing these horrors over again. It is the greatest tragedy the annals of the sea record. Perhaps no single disaster has ever smitten the heart of man with so stunning a blow, and so stirred the compassion and the sympathy of the world. It has made the souls of millions a storage-battery of condemnation against those who are responsible for the foundering of the ship and the loss of those who went down with her. The "Titanic" was well named. She measured 882 feet in length. She was capable of accommodating the inhabitants of a small city, and was designed to be the mistress of the seas. Her builders had declared her unsinkable; and having such faith in her ability to ride the stormiest seas in safety, they considered life-boats and other life-saving apparatus as useless impedimenta. In fact, it was declared by her builders that the "Titanic" was herself considered a life-boat. She was on her maiden voyage. Her owners were anxious that she should make a striking speed record on this her first trip, not merely for the honor of the record, but for the increased patronage that her speed and her luxurious accommodations would bring them. She had on board one who held the position of chairman of the board of directors of the line to which she belonged. Her captain was proud of the honor which came to him with the command of this majestic palace of the seas, and which made him the associate of the greatest and wealthiest of earth, who traveled as the guests of his company. All that money could buy or the lust of luxury suggest was provided on that ship; but for the saving of lives there was little thought. There was pleasure in plenty; but life—ah, how that lack of its consideration typifies the age in which we live! Thus equipped, and with 2,208 souls on board, she slipped from her moorings, strong as man could build her, majestic in every line, graceful as a swan, and riding the waves in seeming disdain of the very sea that buoyed her up. "She can not sink," they said; and as she plowed her way out into the billows of the blue deep, her mighty propellers thrusting her mammoth hulk through the waves at a speed of twenty-five miles an hour, a miniature volcano deep down in her hull was sending up a cloud of smoke that trailed away over the waves like an emblem of defiance to the sea itself. Some had said, "She is the last word in ship-building," and they felt she had conquered the sea. But ages ago the Word of God came to man with this admonition: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God: who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." Ps. 146: 3-6. Too much have men come to trust in themselves. With every increase in the size of their ships there has come an increase of confidence in the safety of sea travel and in their ability to insure that safety by the mere size and strength of the vessels. Apparently forgetful of the unmeasurable power of the forces of nature, this "last word in ship-building," this unsinkable ship, this fortress of overconfidence, this challenge to the Almighty, this gigantic instrument of commercialism for reaping a harvest of gold, drives on into the rolling sea and into the night. Her captain hears through the pulsating ether that there is danger ahead. The wireless telegraph warns him again and again of the silent, ghostly ships of ice, launched by unseen hands from the ports of the frozen north, which are steering a chartless course toward the southern seas. The captain tells the director, and then both sit down to a banquet and toast the great unsinkable ship while she drives on toward her trysting-place with the unnamed leviathan of the polar seas. There is mirth and music, feasting and drinking, and all is "merry as a wedding-bell." Suddenly there appears just ahead a misty apparition, now shapeless, now almost invisible, now like a blur of mist or a filmy mountain of vapor. Ah, it is not mist nor vapor! It is the terror of the northern seas. Quick flies the order to port the helm and reverse the port propeller; but it is too late. The speed and the weight of the mighty ship are against her. The crash comes. She rises on a spur of the iceberg and slides back into the sea, her frame racked and strained, her very vitals pierced and the cold sea pouring into her hold. She settles lower and lower, but the great monster that answered her challenge sails away unshaken and uninjured. The cyclone and the flood on land and the iceberg and tidal wave at sea are thundering in the ears of man from year to year the admonition of the Almighty: "Put not your trust . . . in man, in whom there is no help."8 Every calamity such as this divides the company concerned quickly into two classes, the heroes and the cowards, the men who will willingly sacrifice their own lives that others may live, and the men who will sacrifice the lives of others that they themselves may live. Both classes were here. Instance the conduct of that grand old Jew, declaring, "I will not set my foot into a life-boat so long as there is a woman on board unprovided for." He went down with the ship, his wife with him, because she would not seek safety while he was in peril. And a common sailor, when asked why he did not have on a life-belt, replied, "I don't think there are enough to go around, mum." On the other hand, we hear of a passenger attempting to strip a life-belt from another to provide for himself. Thus we see self-sacrifice and self-service in every avenue of life. We do not wish to attempt the impossible and harrowing task of describing the horrors of that night, when 1,595 human beings floating upon life-belts were slowly perishing in the icy sea, while the wives and children of many of them were in the life-boats, unable to lend them aid or to close their ears to the death-cries of their loved ones. Such fearful disasters cause the child of hope to yearn with deeper longing for that land where none of these fruits of the curse can ever come. With the light of day came the rescue ship, imperiling her own passengers and crew to aid their fellows in distress, her work a faint likeness of the work which our Saviour did in our behalf. She was not able to help all to safety who cried for help in that bitter night; but he who has given himself for us is able to bring to the haven of eternal safety all who call upon him. Who was to blame for this fearful catastrophe? It is impossible to place the blame upon any individual or company of individuals. The whole world is to blame. This age in which we live is to blame. It is an age of speed and luxury. The mass of the people who travel are speed-mad, and give more thought to luxury than to life and what it means. The managers of the great steamship lines know that the more perfectly they can cater to these whims of the age, the more patronage they can secure, and the more rapidly they can pile up their riches. The love of luxury, the love of speed, and the love of money form the tyrannical triumvirate that made such a catastrophe possible. Some would call it a direct judgment from the Almighty. It is rather a direct consequence of man's forgetting God and pandering to his own inclinations and desires. Nevertheless, it is a sign of the times which we should not disregard. The world will witness more painful scenes than this before the end of time, and God will permit them to come that men may learn to trust less in themselves and more in him who alone can save. On the Argentine Plains
By W. A. Spicer
Out on the rolling plains, fourteen miles from the river port of Diamante, the South American Union training institutions are located. They grew up here more in the course of nature than by the planning of the brethren. That is, the truth gained a first foothold in this country between the great rivers of the Parana and the Uruguay, because here were German and Russian colonists. As believers were raised up, the young people wanted an education for the work. Land was given and purchased, and here the school work began. Six years ago there was but one building here, and class-room facilities of the most meager sort. Yet the school turned out young people who are bearing burdens to-day and leading out in the work in various fields. Now there is a good college building, and an enrolment of about one hundred twenty-five is expected this year. Prof. W. C. John is director, and he and his associates are leading an earnest band of young people and children into the way of service. The union conference has called Elder W. W. Wheeler, of Ecuador, to take the department of Bible instruction, and all expect this year to be the best and strongest in the history of the school. Alongside the school is the sanitarium, a health institution in the country,—so far in the country that on busy days the roadway alongside is lined with carts and farm wagons that have brought patients or their friends. The growth of the institution is a wonderful testimony to the power of the methods that the Lord has given us for the healing of the sick. Years ago Dr. R. H. Habenicht came to South America. He settled here among the farm colonists. No permission could be secured to practise in towns where other physicians were; but here in the country the sick began to learn that there was help for them. Six years ago, on my first visit, when there was no institution, I saw how the doctor's house was visited by the sick brought in by farm wagons, and how he was sent for to come many leagues over the plains to visit those who could not be brought to him. Out of this has grown up a health institution, to-day as full of patients as its accommodations will allow. The special law passed to restrict the institution's growth allows but twenty-five in-patients. The house has this number now, and there are more than a dozen others in outbuildings. Our brethren thank God that the law recognizes their work even to this extent, and hope to see the restriction removed. Last year, through the influence of physicians in the towns, who found their patients coming to the country to get the care of our institution, it seemed for a time that the work would be stopped. But so many had been helped and blessed by the medical work that protests came to the local government from every side. It led really to a sort of cabinet crisis; and out of it came the compromise law allowing the work to go forward, but with limitations. Still Dr. Habenicht is called to go long journeys to attend the sick. Last evening a farm wagon was sent, and the doctor left our committee meeting to make the journey, accompanied by a nurse. This forenoon he got back, having saved two lives. Now Dr. Geo. B. Replogle is associated with Dr. Habenicht, and Sister Lillian Voris is matron and one of the instructors in the nurses' class. The first class graduates this year. There is a sturdy band of young men and women in training, who will be a success in the work, we are assured. It is encouraging to see the sanitarium training-school turn out these nurses, who already have the Spanish tongue and can take up the work in needy fields. We shall doubtless be called upon now and then to supply still further trained nursing help from North America, but from now on we may expect to see more and more of the South American young people in active field service in this department of work. The third angel's message is bearing the same fruitage in South America as in all the world. It is good to meet the workers and believers, and the Lord has richly blessed in the meetings. Camerero, Entre Rios. W. A. S. The Roman Catholic Peril
By Francis M. Wilcox
For more than seventy years Seventh-day Adventists have been warning the world of a growing Catholic peril. This peril they have believed would become so great that it would prove a serious menace to the people of every nation under heaven. Their reasons for maintaining this position for the last seventy years are found in the predictions of the Holy Scriptures in which the character of the papal power is clearly delineated, and the work which it has done during the ages of the past and which it will do in the closing drama of earth's history is clearly outlined. In the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians is found the prediction that there would arise a power, the man of sin, a development of the mystery of iniquity of the first century, which would work havoc in the Christian church. This power would seek to exalt itself "above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." The same power is brought to view in the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel, and of it the prophet declares:— "And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." In these scriptures is clearly outlined the work that has been done by the papal power. This power has indeed exalted itself above God. It has spoken great words against the Most High by arrogating to itself titles that belong alone to the Creator. It claims the power to forgive sins. That it has worn out the saints of the Most High reference need only be made to the millions who have been put to death as the direct or indirect result of its influence. This power over the consciences and bodies of men was to continue for "a time and times and the dividing of time," or 1260 years. This period began in 538 A. D., when the bishop of Rome became by imperial decree the head of all the churches and the corrector of heretics, and extended to 1798, when his power as a persecutor was taken from him. But this was by no means to witness the end of its operations. A later prophet in the Christian church, John the revelator, looking down the stream of time to the closing days of earth's history, sees this great system of error again on the stage of activity, engaged in the carrying forward of its old-time work. Under the symbol of the "beast" in Revelation 13, the Papacy is represented. Of it John declared that the deadly wound which it received (in 1798, in the taking away of its power) should be healed, and it should be restored once again to its old-time prestige. The nations of men would rally to its support. "All the world wondered after the beast, . . . and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" And this great9evil system, conscious of its glory in its restoration to power, cries out in exultation, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." Rev. 18:7. The conditions in the closing days of earth's history which will make possible this return of papal prestige will be similar to the conditions that resulted in the exaltation of the Papacy in the fourth century. Then it was the loss of gospel simplicity in the church; a discarding of gospel truth for human error and heathen superstition; a love for show and ceremonialism and pomp and pageant; a trust in form, in the externals of religion, to a discarding of the spiritual. The spirit of the world controlled the church. The teachers of spiritual truth toned down their message to meet the common standard of the people; and the people, lulled to sleep in their carnal security, allowed their spiritual teachers to become their consciences and to rob them of their liberty in Christ Jesus. Lacking divine power, the church sought the aid of the state in the carrying forward of its work. It is not hard for the student of church history to find the counterpart of these conditions working in the church at the present time. The Protestantism of the twentieth century has largely lost its power. The line of demarcation between it and Rome grows less and less distinct. The same causes operating to-day will produce the same results as they did in the times which witnessed the elevation of the papal power. So marked indeed is the likeness, and so strong the current Romeward during the last decade, that on every side are found men and women who recognize the danger that threatens. The great multitude are indifferent, but from every quarter are coming anxious queries as to the significance of the trend of the times. Many are asking if we are not as truly confronted with a Roman peril as was the church in the fourth century. One great church in its representative assembly—the Presbyterians—declared last year that it viewed "with serious concern the growth and pernicious activity" of the Roman Catholic Church, and deplored "the apathy of our public men concerning this menace." A writer in a recent number of the Philadelphia Presbyterian expresses the same concern:— With president after president distributing offices right and left to the Roman Catholic Church; with an ex-president proclaiming openly that there is no reason why we should not have a Roman Catholic president; with both great political parties working on the same line for votes, we can not wonder that the Roman body looks to the time when it will control the secular and religious affairs of the nation. He then proceeds to show how all their organizations are combining with this purpose in view. A writer in Zion's Herald, a Methodist weekly of New England, expresses his belief "that Rome is determined to conquer in the United States." Other papers speak in a similar strain, expressing the same fear. That this is Rome's purpose goes without saying. Nor does she seek to disguise her aims, but openly proclaims them. Various organizations, comprehending in part the principles involved, have been formed to stand against this threatening danger. One of these, The Guardians of Liberty, has among its supporters such men as Lieut.-Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Maj.-Gen. D. E. Stickles, Rear-Admiral G. W. Baird, and former Congressman Charles D. Haines of New York. This organization states, in its declaration of principles, that—
as the fathers established, so are we resolved to maintain, the separation of church and state. We deny the right of any political or ecclesiastical organization to manipulate or control the sovereign citizenship of our people, or to dispose of their rights and privileges for political office or power; and we are determined that every citizen shall exercise those rights and privileges unmolested, answerable only to his conscience and to his God. We unite to protect and preserve the free institutions of our country, especially our public educational system, against any foreign or menacing influence, and we particularly protest against the diversion of any public funds or lands to any religious purpose whatever. Cardinal Gibbons recognizes in this organization a menace to the Catholic Church, and charges that it is "an attempt to revive the bigotry of the A. P. A." In reply to this charge from Cardinal Gibbons, former Congressman Haines declares:— Cardinal Gibbons is mistaken in his statement that the order is an attempt to revive bigotry; yet if he and others so comprehend our declaration of principles, then we proudly proclaim ourselves bigots in fact as well as in faith. We are of the blood that takes pride in our American citizenship. We do not assail any fraternal organization, yet we are alive to the fact that the Masonic and other orders have by scurrilous methods been and are still being secretly, energetically, and persistently attacked, while no protest has been entered against the secret military order known as the Knights of Columbus. Several publications in the United States are endeavoring to meet the issue and warn the people of this growing menace. Regarding these, Current Literature in its May issue, from which we make the above quotations, in an article entitled "Is There a Roman Catholic Peril in America?" says:— Papers in various parts of the country are devoting themselves to anti-Catholic propaganda. The latest and most vigorous of these is the Menace (Aurora, Mo.), which claims a circulation of sixty thousand. Thomas E. Watson, the brilliant, eccentric Populist leader, is running in Watson's Magazine (Thomson, Ga.) a series of articles headed "The Roman Catholic Hierarchy, the Deadliest Menace to Our Liberties and Our Civilization." The Protestant Magazine and Liberty are carrying on a campaign from Washington, D. C. Seventh-day Adventist, Methodist, and Presbyterian journals confess themselves perturbed by increasing Roman Catholic strength. While we appreciate the spirit of earnestness that characterizes some of these attacks against Roman Catholics, we deplore the spirit in which much of this anti-Catholic propaganda is carried forward. It is to be regretted that some anti-Catholic papers greatly lessen the force of their appeal by the intense partisan spirit which they manifest. We can commend the fearless, dignified spirit with which Liberty and the Protestant Magazine have entered their protests against the Catholic propaganda. But mere protests alone from the papers of the various denominations will not meet the situation, which is daily becoming more marked. A weak, decadent Protestantism can not hope to cope successfully with the virile strength of this great error. Before Protestantism can do this, it needs itself a rejuvenation. It needs to return to first principles. It needs to raise aloft again the standard of true Protestantism, which has fallen in the dust. It needs to clothe itself in the mantle of Luther and Melanchthon truly to represent the cause for which they so nobly contended. Protestantism must have something better to offer in the place of Rome's delusions and errors; and this truth is recognized by some of the writers to whom we have referred. Says the editor of the Philadelphia Presbyterian, as quoted in Current Literature:— If Protestantism will bestir itself and arise to its true self, it can neither be uprooted nor conquered. . . . The great difficulty is that while Catholicism has stuck to its position with definiteness and determination, Protestantism has been wool-gathering in the fields of speculation. It has lost its old-time vigor and message, and may therefore become a prey to any ism. The only thing which will maintain Protestantism is a return to the message of the gospel and its liberty. Liberalism is the greatest foe to Protestantism, and the real spy of all other isms. If Protestants stand true to their position, any attempt of Catholicism to subdue this land will be met by such reaction as will repeat Catholic experience in other nations. To all this we can heartily agree. Let the great Protestant church to-day take as its rule of faith and conduct the Bible, and the Bible alone. Let it return to its old-time simplicity of faith and practise. Let it preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity. Let it offer to the10world a true and a sure foundation for faith, and many, and some even from the Catholic communion, will be found who will discard error and again enroll themselves under the banner of gospel truth. But this we fear will never be done by the large majority. Modern skepticism is honeycombing the masses. Higher Criticism is doing its baneful work. The great churches of the world have become for the most part social organizations. They likewise are seeking political affiliations. True, they still contain many godly men and women, but they are in the minority. The trend is downward. We are in the days of a great spiritual declension. In recognition of this condition, for this very time, and to meet this very peril which threatens not alone this country but the world as well, God is sending to the nations of earth the warning embraced in the threefold message of Revelation 14. That message is the message of old-time Protestantism. It calls men to take their stand upon the infallible Word of God, to obey its commandments, and to seek salvation alone through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Conversely, it warns against the doctrines of the papal church and against the reign of bondage which that great system is again seeking to force upon the world. While in every church are found those who still possess the spirit of true Protestantism, as an organized movement the work represented by this paper and this denomination is the Protestantism of this day. This is the people who are giving the message of Revelation 14. This is no egotistical claim, but a consciousness of the work to which Providence has called us. Let us seek to give the message in its power, and let us seek to give it as well in love. It can be given in power only as it is given in love. It is not for us merely to warn men, but it is for us to seek to save men. The strength of this message will be seen not alone in that it warns men of their impending doom, but chiefly in that it brings into their lives a power that will save them from sin, and sanctify them through obedience to the truth. Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
By W. A. S.
The Hand of God in History — No. 9
Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
"Unto Messiah the Prince"
"SEVENTY weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city. . . . Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks." Dan. 9:24, 25. The plain statement of the angel that the seventy weeks extend to the time of the Messiah, shows at once that a day in the prophecy must be used as a symbol for a year (as in Eze. 4:6; Num. 14:34). Seventy weeks were allotted to the Jewish people, and sixty-nine of these weeks — 483 years of the 490 — were to extend from the going forth of the commandment to restore Jerusalem "unto Messiah the prince." One more week, seven years, would yet remain of the seventy; and "in the midst" of that closing week of years, the Messiah was to cause the sacrifices to cease. There the great sacrifice was to be made. First, we consider the 483 years to the Messiah. The manifestation of the Messiah — which means the Anointed — was at Christ's baptism by John, when he was anointed of the Holy Ghost to his earthly ministry: — "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matt. 3:16, 17. "John . . . saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29. This was the event to which the 483-year period had pointed for centuries. Now, 483 full years from 457 B. C. reaches to A. D. 27. What is the historical evidence as to the time of Christ's baptism? The key to the solution of this question is found in Luke's Gospel: — "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, . . . the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came unto all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Luke 3:1-3. It was (1) the fifteenth year of Tiberius, and (2) Pilate was governor. 1. The fifteenth year of Tiberius Cæsar. The death of Augustus was in A. D. 14. But Tiberius was associated with him as colleague shortly before Augustus's death. Some modern histories give the time of this appointment as probably A. D. 13; others say A. D. 12. Dion Cassius (Roman senator, born in the second century) wrote a great "History of Rome," most of which is lost. But in the history of the events of A. D. 12 he says: — "Augustus, because he was growing old, wrote a letter commending Germanicus to the senate, and the latter to Tiberius." — Book 56, chap. 26, translation by Herbert Baldwin Foster. The less is commended to the greater — Germanicus to the senate, but the senate to Tiberius, indicating that in A. D. 12 Tiberius was recognized as having the imperial dignity. It was doubtless toward the latter part of the year, as the events seem to some to crowd it even into A. D. 13. Again, in a foot-note in his "History of the Christian Church," Dr. Philip Schaff says: — There are coins from Antioch, in Syria, of the date A. U. 765 [A. D. 12], with the head of Tiberius, and the inscription, Kaisar. Sebastos (Augustus). — Vol. I, page 120. And as the first year of Tiberius would be from the latter part of A. D. 12 to A. D. 13, the fifteenth year would be from A. D. 26 to A. D. 27. 2. "Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea." Was Pilate governor in A. D. 27? Josephus says that Pilate so exasperated the Jews that at last Vitellius, president of Syria, took action: — "So Vitellius sent Marcellus, a friend of his, to take care of the affairs of Judea, and ordered Pilate to go to Rome, to answer before the emperor to the accusation of the Jews. So Pilate, when he had tarried ten years in Judea, made haste to Rome, and this in obedience to the orders of Vitellius, which he durst not contradict; but before he could get to Rome, Tiberius was dead." — "Antiquities," book 8, chap. 14. Tiberius died March 16, A. D. 37, while Pilate was "making haste" to Rome to save his position, and possibly his life. He must, then, have left Jerusalem early in A. D. 37, or in the end of A. D. 36. But he left after "ten years in Judea." Ten years reckoned back from the end of A. D. 36, would bring the first year of his governorship from the end of A. D. 26 to the end of A. D. 27. The time prophecy of Daniel 9 declared that 483 years from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, the Messiah, the Anointed, would appear. That index-finger of divine prophecy pointed through all the centuries to the date A. D. 27. When that year of the prophecy came, "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, . . . the word of God came unto John," who bore witness, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." Mark 1:14, 15. The word that came to John in the wilderness of Judea was the word of the same living God whose angel had uttered the prophecy over half a millennium before. "I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them. Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it?" Isa. 48:5, 6. Note and Comment
By Editor
THE following ocean disasters are recorded since the year 1866:— 1866—Steamer “London,” on her way to Melbourne, foundered in the Bay of Biscay; 220 lives lost. 1867—Royal mail-steamers “Rhone” and “Wye,” and about fifty other vessels were driven ashore and wrecked at St. Thomas, West Indies, by a hurricane; about 1,000 lives lost. 1873—British steamer “Northfleet” sank in collision off Dungeness; 300 lives lost. 1873—White Star liner “Atlantic” was wrecked off Nova Scotia; 547 lives lost. 1874—Emigrant vessel “Cespatrick” took fire and sank off Auckland; 476 lives lost. 1878—British training-ship “Eurydice,” a frigate, foundered near the Isle of Wight; 300 lives lost. 1878—British iron steamer “Princess Alice” sank in collision on the Thames; 700 lives lost. 1878—French steamer “Byzantine” sank in collision with the British steamer “Binaldo,” in the Dardanelles; 210 lives lost. 1880—British training-ship “Atlanta” left Bermuda with 290 men, and was never heard from. 1887—Steamer “Kapunda” in collision with bark “Ada Melore” off coast of Brazil; 30 lives lost. 1887—British steamer “Wah Young” caught fire between Canton and Hongkong; 400 lives lost. 1890—British steamer “Duburg” was wrecked in the China Sea; 400 lives lost. 1890—Turkish frigate “Ertogrul” foundered off Japan; 540 lives lost. 1891—Anchor liner “Utopia” in collision with British steamer “Anson” off Gibraltar; 574 lives lost. 1892—Steamer “Namehow” was wrecked in China Sea; 414 lives lost. 1894—Steamer “Norge” was wrecked on Rockall reef in the North Atlantic; nearly 600 lives lost. 1895—German steamer “Elbe” sank in collision with British steamer “Crathie,” in North Sea; 335 lives lost. 1895—Steamer “Chicora” vanished in Lake Michigan; 26 lives lost. 1895—War-ship “Reina Regina,” collision; 400 lives lost. 1895—Steamer “Colima,” was wrecked; 171 lives lost. 1896—Steamer “Copernicus” sank; 152 lives lost. 1897—Steamer “Kapunda” foundered; 300 lives lost. 1898—Steamer “La Bourgogne,” collision; 540 lives lost. 1904—Steamer “General Slocum” was burned; 958 lives lost. 1904—Steamer “Norge” was wrecked on reef; 750 lives lost. 1905—Steamer “Hilda” sank; 123 lives lost. 1906—Steamer “Valencia” foundered; 119 lives lost. 1906—Steamer “Sirio” foundered; 225 lives lost. 1906—Brazilian cruiser “Aquadaban” sank; 212 lives lost. 1907—Steamer “Larchmont” was lost; 185 perished. 1907—Steamer “Hongkong” struck rock; 130 lives lost. 1907—Steamer “Berlin,” was wrecked; 125 lives lost. 1907—Steamship “Lakota,” struck a reef; loss unknown. 1907—Steamship “Columbia”; 70 lives lost. 1912—“Titanic”; 1,595 lives lost. The Spirit of the Age
By Editor
Of the wild, mad rush for wealth which characterizes the world to-day, Rev. R. J. Campbell, of London, according to the Lutheran Witness of April 25, 1912, bears this testimony:— My recent visit to America has made plainer to me the nature and direction of some of the characteristic tendencies of our time, which are more accentuated up to the present in the New World than in the Old. In the mad race for money, the scramble to excel one's fellows, the cruel, merciless competition between man and man for the possession of worldly good, the claims of the soul are ignored and trampled upon. Again and again, in the course of my travels, I was thrown into the company of men whose general quality could be summed up in one word—"soullessness." There was only that one word for it. It was plainly to be seen that they lived for nothing, thought for nothing, wrought for nothing, but dollars; they could imagine no good that could not be expressed in terms of dollars. Their higher faculties were atrophied; spiritual susceptibility, they had none; all their ideals and aims were utilitarian, materialistic, mundane. Do not imagine that I am describing the character of the American people as a whole; I am not; I am merely indicating a spirit which is so wide-spread among them, and exercises an influence so great, as to be a menace to their national future. And, more or less, the same spirit of temper of mind is observable everywhere throughout Christendom, though in older countries it expresses itself in some other forms than the tireless pursuit of money. As Dr. Campbell observes, this spirit is not characteristic of America alone. It is the spirit of the age,—the spirit which forgets God, which seeks the gratification of every selfish endeavor. In the midst of this spirit, which prevails everywhere, the children of God are to show that they are possessed by different aims and purposes. They can not manifest a sordid or mercenary spirit. It is for them to show that they regard the riches of heaven of greater value than all this world can give. Liquor Selling on Railroads
IN a recent number of the New York Observer, Mr. Andrew Stevenson raises serious objection to a state of affairs by which he is forced against his will, in order to obtain necessary food while traveling, to “enter the barrooms conducted by the transportation companies of this country”; for such he charges railroad dining-cars have in most instances become. He then proceeds to give several incidents occurring on different roads, where the passengers were brought into a state of offensive intoxication through liquor that was dispensed to them in the dining-car. Most of these railroads strongly promote Young Men’s Christian Associations among their employees; but while they do this, Mr. Stevenson charges that these roads operate dining-cars that compel young men to act the part of bartenders, and to serve to others intoxicants which, if they themselves used, would result in their discharge from the service. When so-called Christian men vote as they talk, and are willing to carry out in their own business, even though it may mean the loss of dollars and cents, the same principles which they profess as a part of their Christian belief, conditions of this sort, and many other conditions in the world, will be greatly modified. Affiliation Means Compromise
By Editor
RECENT reports from Japan tell of a conference held in February of representatives of the Shinto, Buddhist, and Christian religions, to study, according to the Independent, “if the forces of the three religions could not be united for the purpose of improving the moral character of the Japanese people.” According to the Independent the purpose of the meeting was threefold: First, to study and elevate public morality; second, to counteract the influence of an order by the minister of education last year, encouraging ancestor-worship and visits to public shrines. It was felt that this was a breach of the spirit, if not of the letter, of the “freedom of conscience” clause in the constitution; third, “to give Christianity recognition as a reputable and established religion of the Japanese people, thus making public amends, as it were, for the suspicion and unfair treatment of Christianity in the past.” It is stated that the members of the “present cabinet were wise enough to avoid any attempt to combine the three religions, or to establish a state religion, or to interfere in any way with the internal affairs of any of the religions.” If this policy on the part of the government is adhered to, all will be well; but we must regard with disfavor any effort on the part of Christianity to affiliate or unite with the cults of heathenism. Affiliation can only mean compromise, and the worst thing for the cause of Christian missions in Japan, as for Christianity in every land, would be governmental recognition. For the liberty to teach religion without interference from the state, Christian missionaries have the right to ask. But to seek governmental promotion or influence or legal recognition, or to seek any affiliation with false systems of worship, can only result in compromising the holy character of Christianity.