Earlier text: God's Message to the LaodiceansContradictions of Bible Doctrine
By J. O. Beard
“CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.” NO. II.
Contradictions of Bible Doctrine.
The Bible tells us: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” 1 John 4:1, 2. But Mrs. Eddy has it that there is no flesh for Christ to come into, for flesh is an illusion. Page 577. Other points of Christian faith fare no better, as the following will illustrate:— 1. “Christian Science” denies miracles:— Miracles are impossible in Science, and here it takes issue with popular religions.—Page 249. 2. “Christian Science” has no pardon for sin:— Science is a divine demand, not a human. Always right, its Principle never repents, never dishonors the claim of truth by forgiveness. Through understanding it destroys error, but never pardons it.—Page 223. More legal pardon (and there is no other, for Principle never pardons our sins and mistakes) leaves the offender free to repeat the offense.—Page 316. On pages 461, 462 we are told there is only one Principle, “and this is God.” So, according to her, God never pardons sin. See 1 John 1:9. 3. We are not cleansed by the blood of Jesus:— The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin, when it was shed upon the “accursed tree,” than when it was flowing in His veins, as He went daily about His Father’s business.—Page 330. Does erudite theology regard the crucifixion of Jesus as chiefly providing a ready pardon for all sinners who ask for it, and are willing to be forgiven? Then we must differ. The efficacy of the crucifixion lies in the practical affection and goodness it demonstrated for mankind.—Page 329. These statements sweep away the entire plan of redemption at one stroke. The idea that man is “sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14); that Jesus tasted death for every man (Heb. 2:9); for “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22), has no place in Mrs. Eddy’s system. On the contrary, she tells us:— One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt for sin. . . . That God’s wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son is divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made.—Page 328. 4. “Christian Science” denies the resurrection:— As death findeth mortal man, so shall he be after death, until probation and growth shall effect the needful change. Mind never becomes dust. No resurrection from the grave awaits mind.—Page 187. As matter has no existence except as an error in belief, when she says there is no resurrection for mind, she is saying there is no resurrection for anything. John 5:28, 29; 1 Cor. 15:12–18. 5. “Christian Science” denies the judgment of the Bible:— No final judgment awaits mortals; for the judgment-day of Wisdom comes hourly and continually, even the judgment by which mortal man is divested of all material error. As for spiritual error there is none.—Page 187. 6. Mrs. Eddy asserts her discovery is the second coming of Christ:— Its discovery is the second coming of the Gospel of “peace on earth and good-will to men.”—Page 43. The claim that soul and man are immortal, that there is no evil, and that sin is an illusion, was given in the first article, and need not be repeated. But death, that great enemy of man, and the last to be destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26), from the bondage of which Christ came to deliver us (Heb. 2:15), Mrs. Eddy defines as “an illusion, the lie of life in matter,” etc. Page 575. “Man’s individual being can no more die, or disappear in unconsciousness, than can soul, for both are immortal.” Page 424. This position she does not hesitate to follow to its logical conclusion; for the unscriptural doctrine of probation after death, with the liability of future sickness, sin, suffering, and death itself, with universal salvation as the climax, are plainly taught in the following passages:— When we learn that sickness can not kill us, and that we are not saved from sin or sickness by death, this understanding will quicken us.—Page 424. Understanding little about the divine Principle which saves and heals, mortals get rid of sin, sickness, and death only in appearance. These errors are not thus really destroyed, and must therefore cling to mortals until, here or hereafter, they gain the true understanding of God.—Page 223. “Death will occur on the next plane of existence as on this, until the understanding of Life is reached.”—Page 243. Universal salvation rests on progression and probation, and is unattainable without them; . . . as death findeth mortal man, so shall he be after death, until probation and growth shall effect the needful change.—Page 187. Angels are dismissed as being only thoughts:— They are pure thoughts from God.—Page 194. Angels are God’s impartations to man, not messengers, or persons, but messages.—Page 195. Concerning God she says that in Gen. 1; 2:1–3, “it is Elohim [God] who creates;” but in the next three or four chapters “the Creator is called Jehovah, or the Lord.” Page 516. Elohim she considers the true or spiritual God. But of that sacred name, which the Jews so revered, she says:— In that name of Jehovah the true idea of God seems almost lost. He becomes “a man of war,” a tribal God, to be worshiped,” etc.—Page 517. The Jewish tribal Jehovah was a man-projected God, liable to wrath, repentance, and human changeableness.—Page 34. And on pages 517 and 582, calling the worship of Jehovah a material mythology, she charges it with being the cause of the lewd, idolatrous worship of Baal, Chemosh, the Hindu Vishnu, the Greek Aphrodite, and “a thousand other so-called deities.” Having denied the existence of evil, called sin an illusion, repudiated the work of Christ, dismissed the angels as merely God’s thoughts, reviled the great name of the Creator, and charged upon that name the idolatry of the6 world, but one thing is lacking in this new system of philosophy, and that is a denial of the devil’s own existence. And that denial is fully and promptly made. Throughout the book the word devil is paraphrased “evil,” the “evil one” is turned into “one evil,” “Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs” (p. 245), and finally we are told, in the glossary, that the word “devil” means “evil, a lie, error, neither corporeality [matter] nor mind.” We will next consider some of her bold assumptions of authority. J. O. BEARD. How They Became Convinced
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.] I reached the only conclusion that can be obtained from the teaching of the entire Scriptures, namely, that the law of God is still, and forever, obligatory. I had no help in study save “Bible Readings.” Through that I came to a knowledge of the Sabbath truth over a year before I obeyed. Never having seen a minister or even a Sabbath-keeper, the truth which decided me was “in it [the seventh day] thou shalt not do any work.” This came into my mind with every returning Sabbath. It was the Lord speaking to me as truly as when He first spoke it from Sinai. D. F. STURGEON. While connected with the government at Washington, D. C., in 1890, my attention was called to a series of Gospel sermons then being held in a tent, and conducted by Elders H. E. Robinson and J. S. Washburn. The special subject there discussed, which brought the Sabbath question forcibly before me as an essential feature connected with the worship of God, was “The Seal of God and the Mark of Apostasy.” For the first time I understood the importance attaching to the words, “Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that YE MAY KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD THAT DOTH SANCTIFY YOU.” For the first time I saw the terrible work of Satan, who, attempting to be like the “most High,” was expelled from heaven. Here he has insinuated himself between man and the Creator. Under a form of godliness, without the power, men adopted a heathen holiday, and are treading upon God’s holy day. In order that Satan himself might not be observed, he instituted a system focused in a visible head, and termed in the Scriptures the “man of sin.” This system in very truth says, “I will be like the Most High,” and, as a mark of power, the “man of sin” points to the change which he has made from the Seventh-day Sabbath to the Sunday institution, for which there is no divine authority. These quotations from historical data were presented, together with the prophecy concerning the great apostasy:— The Bible says, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.” The Catholic Church says, “No! By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day, and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And, lo, the entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church!”—Father T. Enright, C.S.S.R., of Redemptorist College, Kansas City, Mo., in American Sentinel, June 1, 1893. Sunday, as a day of the week set apart for the obligatory public worship of Almighty God, . . . is purely a creation of the Catholic Church.—Am. Cath. Quar. Review, January, 1883. The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church.—Plain Talks for Protestants, p. 213. And these scriptures also became the source of almost daily thought and concern: Isa. 56:1, 2; 58:1, 12–14. Thank the Lord for the Message which came to me, which has helped me to take my feet from off the Sabbath. It is joyous to my soul, and I hail it with delight every time it comes. New Orleans, La. S. B. HORTON. THE HALF WAS NEVER TOLD.
By E. W. Lenstrom
O for that glorious, happy time,
When Israel's seed from every clime
Are gathered in the fold.
They for the coming kingdom seek,
And of its glories love to speak,
Which they shall then behold.
The great “I Am” their Guide shall be,
And set them from all bondage free,
Refining them as gold.
And when with Him on earth they reign,
With heart and voice they'll still proclaim,
“The half was never told.” Colorado Springs, Colo. E. W. LENSTROM. PROTESTANTISM AND ROMAN CATHOLICISM.
The Independent of Nov. 20, 1902, in speaking of the change in name of the Protestant Episcopal Church, says:— There was a time when nearly the whole Christian church of Europe was Roman Catholic; then it was proper for people to protest and to call themselves Protestants; that time is now past. The churches that inherit the general designation of Protestant are stronger in influence and power than the Catholic, and there is no longer any reason for them to be putting their antagonism into the forefront; for they see very little of the Roman Church, and no longer trouble themselves to antagonize it. Indeed, they admire and love such a Catholic priest as the Father Scully who died a few weeks ago in Cambridge, or the Father Nilan who is buried this week in Poughkeepsie. The simple fact is that the Roman Catholic Church on the whole is stronger now than she ever was in the past, and stronger on the whole in her definite influence on governments and the things that make for world-moulding than the Protestant churches; and there is more need of protest to-day against the principles of the Papacy than in the time of the Reformation—more need, because these principles are permeating all Protestantism. They are manifest in the increasing demands for civil power to support church dogmas, in holding tradition above the Bible, in the perversion of the Gospel through “higher criticism,” even as it was perverted by medieval scholasticism; in the pagan philosophy which is taught and fostered in all our great institutions of learning. This utter inconsistency in nominal Protestantism renders her weak and purposeless, and her efforts abortive and nugatory. Weigh all the influences of the so-called Protestant churches against the Roman Catholic Church at Washington, and the beam tips in her favor as demonstrated in appropriations for support of Indian schools, in appointments, etc. Scan the daily press, and Roman Catholicism receives more space for its men and work than all Protestantism combined. The great trouble is that Protestantism has left her own legitimate field, where alone she could stand and prosper, for a field that is purely papal. She can hope for nothing but failure. There is so much of the Papacy within that its workings can not be discerned without. True the name of “Protestant” is negative, but the principles of the Protestantism of the Reformation were not negative. They were most decidedly positive. As the historian D’Aubigne sets forth: “The Reformation was accomplished in the name of a spiritual principle. It had proclaimed for its teaching, the Word of God; for salvation, Faith; for king, Jesus Christ; for arms, the Holy Ghost; and had by these very means rejected all worldly elements. Rome had been established by her law of a carnal commandment; the Reformation, by the power of an endless life.”—Hist. Ref., Bk. 14, Chap. 1. And the Protest of Spire, from which the name Protestant came, he thus admirably sums up: “The principles contained in this celebrated protest of the 19th of April, 1529, constitute the very essence of Protestantism. Now this protest opposes two abuses of man in matters of faith: the first is the intrusion of the civil magistrate, and the second is the arbitrary authority of the church. Instead of these two abuses, Protestantism sets up above the magistrate the power of conscience; and above the visible church the authority of the Word of God. It lays down the principle that all human teaching should be subordinate to the Word of God.” This is primitive Protestantism, negative only as regards evil and error, positive as regards righteousness and truth. If true Protestant principles were ever needed—call them what we will—they are needed to-day as respects both so-called Catholic and Protestant churches. There are admirable characters in the Catholic Church. There are in all churches. There are in heathendom; but they are not what they are because of the man-made systems with which they are connected, but in spite of them. Against Roman Catholics as men and women we have naught in this world; against the principles and teachings of Roman Catholicism, the Papacy, we enter emphatic, earnest, persistent protest wherever those principles are found, and by whatever name they are called; and in their place we put the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is all-sufficient to salvation to every soul. ONE of the most striking portrayals of the signs of our time is contained in a recent discourse of Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis, pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. He takes the ground that the “two giants,” organized capital and organized labor, have no need of sympathy, and makes a plea for non-union labor. The capitalist is all but omnipotent, having money for comforts, conveniences, travel, equipage. Organized labor, also, is a trust almost as influential. Indeed, organized labor is for the time being more powerful than organized capital. Corporate capital to-day owns its ship or engine or factory, less the right to control and administer them. Organized labor owns itself, plus the right to administer the mine and locomotive of the capitalist. But organized labor’s power over the property of the capitalist is the heart of its power. The unions control the politicians of the country. In Albany their lobby has passed thirty laws giving union men special privileges over non-union men, and one of these laws has been, and the rest probably will be, declared unconstitutional, yet the politicians had to pass them. The labor unions own the wage. In the anthracite coal country the school-teachers, aggregating over two thousand, in four counties, receive $1.20 a day for only 200 days’ work, a wage less than the miner’s helper and less than one-half what the miner himself receives, while the priests and the Protestant pastors average two-thirds the miner’s wage. At present this country is producing something more than a thousand dollars annually per citizen. Of this the farmer receives less than $500, the average teacher, physician, and lawyer less than $800, the trades-union men—the carpenters—work at the rate of $4.50 a day, while the capitalist often has an enormous excess. But owning the wage, the union also can control the hours. A Plea for Non-Union Labor.
But the non-union men, who represent eighty per cent of the trades, whose sons are forbidden the right to become apprentices and whose wrongs are above all other wrongs whatsoever, justify a plea. Organized capital has deserted non-union men. Organized labor maltreats them. And, just as one hundred soldiers, organized and with a leader, can scatter a crowd of ten thousand, so the twenty men out of a hundred, representing organized labor, terrorize and browbeat the eighty non-union men, who are being driven lower, made more and more ignorant, more poverty-stricken, until at last, in their despair, they are ready to turn against the capitalists who will not defend them and the union men who maltreat them, and hate the country, the protection of whose laws is refused them. Having made many addresses in the interest of the colored people in the South and the red people and yellow in the West, and having made more than one score of addresses for union labor, I am going to make a plea for the non-union man’s right to be a non-union man, since he has fully decided that that is the best way for him to make the most possible of himself. The union man has a right to decide how many hours he will work and at what wage he will work. The non-union man has a right to deliberately consider the reasons for the union and also to refuse to join it in his own happiness and welfare. No union man has received any charter from God or the Constitution to kill a non-union man or to send around these printed notices saying the following factory and the following store and the following shop are declared “unfair,” and you are directed to boycott any merchant who handles their goods—orders that have bankrupted scores of little shops and factories and stores, notices that have broken the hearts and ruined the lives of innumerable poor men. These men may have been mistaken in not joining the union, but they have the same God-given right to do foolish things that you and I have, without being starved to death by being posted as unfair, or pounded to death. For every twenty union men and their families there are eighty non-union men with their families. These laboring men may hate capitalists, but labor’s hatred for labor burns like a flame, eats like nitric acid, is malignant beyond all description. But the other day a woman, representing a certain union, visited many of the families in Plymouth Church, asking them to boycott a certain institution and saying, “If you will boycott these non-union goods in this line we will boycott all non-union goods in your line.” It never seemed to occur to this woman that she was pulling down other poor women’s houses and lives and climbing up upon their bodies. At first I was so innocent as to suppose that this woman had come to tell how labor loved labor, how a union woman loved non-union women. She was pitilessly, relentlessly, and tirelessly pursuing the non-union women and men to destroy the market for their goods, to ruin their factory and to starve them out; and that woman named The Vengeance, in the French Revolution, was not a better hater. Thank God, only a little section of the labor unions feel in this way; the great majority disclaim violence, but just here we remember that Guizot tells us that only one or two per cent of the people of France believed in violence; the ninety-eight per cent were disclaiming violence; they allowed the two per cent to fill the streets of Paris with festering corpses, to clog the Seine with dead bodies, to shut up every factory in Paris until the laboring classes starved by scores of thousands. And the one per cent element in the labor union that hates non-union men, that sends out letters declaring non-union factories unfair, the element that makes the union effective by the boycott, are now daily using the United States mails to boycott little shops and factories all over the country, and if permitted they will get this country into immeasurable ruin. The time has fully come for every patriot to put himself on record against labor’s hatred of labor and the union man’s boycott of the products of non-union men that is destroying our little shops and factories all over the country, ruining the lives and breaking the hearts of innumerable poor people who have no voice, no newspaper organ, no friend to lift a shield above them, no defender. The man who keeps silent must some day meet that Judge who said: Inasmuch as ye have not done it unto one of the least of these, My little ones, ye have not done it unto Me. Let the honest merchant, whose business is a philanthropy, and who administers his wealth as a trust, say to selfish capitalists, Luxury is not the throne on which you stand, but the chains which you wear, and the grave that will finally bury you. Let good union men say to bad union men, The cause of labor is too noble to have political confidence men for its leaders; and on labor’s banner let us inscribe, not the word “boycott” or the motto, “go and buy a gun”—advice that a labor leader has made historic—but on labor’s banner let there be written these words: Opportunity, Equality, Justice, Goodwill, Fair Play. The union should precipitate its hatred as water precipitates the mud. The entire discourse in pamphlet form can be had of the Christian Work and Evangelist, New York; or of the Fleming H. Revell Co., New York or Chicago. Price, $1.00 per 100. We have given but a few specimen paragraphs; the whole discourse should have a wide circulation. AN EXTRAORDINARY BUT NOT IMPROBABLE STORY.
Mrs. Lena Dexheimer, of Hoboken, N. J., a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of that city, astonished the Mother's Club by confessing that she had been an anarchist, and in the last year had known of three plots to assassinate President Roosevelt. The first assigned to perform the deed, having been chosen by lot, came from France, with the intention of carrying out his mission. Mrs. Dexheimer, having become convinced of the error of her ways, argued with him with such success that he went back to Paris; but, according to anarchist tenets, his death was soon announced. Another was selected who lived in New York. He was weak-hearted and killed himself. A third time a choice was made, and the lot fell to a woman living in Harlem, a part of this borough; but rather than carry out the contract she too committed suicide. Mrs. Dexheimer's husband was as much amazed when she made her revelation as any one else, for it was only recently that she told him anything about her anarchistic associations, and that was not until she had made a confident of her pastor, the Rev. Charles L. Mead. Mrs. Dexheimer, who is about forty-five years of age, has been in this country twenty-one years. She professes to have been a friend of Emma Goldman, and was invited by her7 to attend a meeting. Mrs. Dexheimer did so, and signed certain documents, subsequently learning that she had subscribed to the doctrines of the anarchists. She was then known by her maiden name, Lena Rosenthal; but she subsequently attended many meetings. About three years ago the family moved to Hoboken, and a year later her husband, who is a Christian, induced her to visit the Rev. Mr. Mead's church. Becoming a deeply religious woman she resolved to sever all connection with the anarchists; but they, ignorant that she had changed her views, continued to send her the documents. She gives the particulars of the last meeting which she attended, at which there were about a hundred men and women. There were two ballot boxes; in one were the numbered ballots, and in the other the names and addresses and numbers of members. One ballot at a time was taken from the box, until that one was reached on which were the words, “He or she has to commit this deed.” The Rev. Mr. Mead is convinced of the truth of her story, which some facts seem to corroborate. One is the suicide of Mrs. Schroeder. Mrs. Dexheimer is fearful that her life will be forfeited on account of this, and claims that she had not the slightest idea when she made her confession in the Mother's Club that the story would become public. Whether her story be true or not, there are nests of anarchists throughout the world, and the lives of kings and presidents are in increased jeopardy on account of them. Because of this, kings and presidents need to take especial care of themselves.—The Christian Advocate. The observance of Friday as the weekly commemoration of Christ’s passion is based on the same authority as Sunday observance. It is a creation of the Catholic Church, and whatever of sanctity is claimed for Sunday attaches with equal force to Friday. The observance of both is of human origin, there being no divine authority for either. That both institutions stand on the same foundation is acknowledged by the Church of England, which follows Rome in her church days, and in many things else. On this point the Bible Echo, published in Melbourne, Australia, says:— In the Church Congress, recently held in Adelaide, this condition of things was clearly seen. Archdeacon Whittington said: “We observe Sunday on the authority of the Church, . . . and the same church ordered the observance of Friday as the weekly commemoration of Christ’s Passion. He did not scruple to say on that account that he could very much more and conscientiously enter into amusements on Sunday afternoons than on Friday.” The Rev. E. S. Hughes said: “High Churchmen, if they were going to urge Sunday observance, should see that Friday was not left out.” And so the discussion proceeded. We are not surprised at this. We shall hear much more of it as apostasy deepens. In the days when the Papacy was developing, the same things were very prominent. Holidays multiplied, and a long train of ceremonies followed in their wake. It would seem that legislators—fathers, brothers, husbands—would be interested in the purity and protection of young girls. Yet the W. C. T. U. have had one constant fight to raise the “age of consent” when a girl can legitimately barter her body for immoral purposes. The Pacific Ensign of some time ago tells this story in part of their struggles:— When the W. C. T. U. of California was organized the “Age of Consent” for girls was ten years. Over that age moral lepers, if they could get “consent” from an unsuspecting child, were not criminals. Mrs. Peet and some others can tell of the heart-aching, dreary, disgusting experiences. Lecherous men, deemed the women who care enough about these girls to do something, good targets for their dirty wit. We asked for eighteen years. After much tribulation, we secured fourteen years. Legislative experiences only proved the need of such laws, and we worked on for eighteen years. Very few fathers and mothers in the State cared to inform themselves on the question. At last we secured sixteen as the age, and Governor Budd refused to sign the bill. Two years later we tried again, and Mrs. Peet and the women who had circulated petitions had so educated the legislature that the bill passed unanimously (cut down from eighteen to sixteen) and Governor Budd was compelled to sign it. Why cut down? The opponents declared themselves afraid of blackmail. These men of position, old enough to be fathers of girls, are afraid of the machinations of girls under eighteen. With courts, judges, juries, all of their own selecting, they profess to fear the wiles of girls in their teens. The truth is they do not want girls protected from their own wiles. Some legislators, about a third, are excellent men, men of principle; but I have not overstated. It makes one's blood boil to think that such things could be, but it is all in harmony with God's prophetic Word. Apart from Christ this world will not reform. The Springfield Republican points out that monetary circulation has increased thirty-five per cent in five years; it increased $60,000,000 in the month of October alone, and it declares it to be “the greatest monetary inflation or expansion known since the Civil War.” Yet it quotes a financier as saying our currency system must be changed; that “there is not enough money to supply the legitimate demands, and unless the administration sees fit to enact legislation to relieve the situation, there must be a tremendous amount of liquidation. President Roosevelt has been told this plainly, and Mr. Morgan’s words have made a deep impression.” John W. Gates and James J. Hill are calling for more money. The Republican says: “Great as has been the currency inflation of the past five years, the expansion of speculative venture has been greater, and in the consequent exhaustion of available money supplies arises the cry for more inflation. It is a disease that grows rather than subsides by such feeding, as has always been noted in times of fiat money creation. The more money is put out, the greater is the apparent need of more money to keep up the fires of speculation that have been started.” The fruit of the folly will soon be manifest. It is a time now to be wise men. The Control of the Trusts
The Control of the Trusts.—The spirit of gold-getting is just as much alive to-day as during the years immediately preceding this. There has not been as great capitalization during the year just closed as during the previous year; but the cause has been as apparent as the fact. Capitalists have been waiting to see the outcome of the suit brought by the government against that consolidation of the northwestern railroads known as the Northern Securities Company. It is regarded as a test case, and the trusts are watching it with anxiety. If the decision is adverse to the company, other suits are expected to follow against other trusts; and the fear that it may be so has retarded the formation of trusts, tho it has not prevented their formation as the figures show. In 1898 the capitalization of new trusts amounted to $4,000,000,000. The year following it increased to $5,200,000,000. In 1901 such capitalization amounted to $4,000,000,000, while for the year 1902 it is estimated to have reached $3,700,000,000; but even the latter figure is enormous. The tendency is toward a continuance of the formation of great commercial combines. Congress has appropriated $500,000 to enable the Attorney-General to enforce the provisions of the Sherman anti-trust law. A number of bills have been introduced in that body, since the beginning of the present session, intended to curb the power of the trusts, notably one by Senator Hoar, which is generally regarded as covering the matter sufficiently well. But in all probability nothing will come of it. Money sways too great a power. The trust principle will not die, however it may be bound about, until selfishness is eradicated from the human heart, and that will not be this side of the coming of Christ. Coal Shortage and Winter Suffering
Coal is still a leading topic east of the Rocky Mountains. In Kansas, as the coal supply shortens, the weather has become colder. In Topeka dealers announced on the 20th inst. that they were practically out of coal. Two manufacturing concerns had been obliged to close down. The State Reform School had but two days' supply. At Ottawa, Lawrence, and Atchison riots had been narrowly averted when coal cars arrived. In Chicago there is extensive suffering because of cold, and on the 4th inst. four persons were reported dead from exposure to the cold. Some big packing-houses are said to have confiscated several carloads of coal consigned to the city pumping station. Citizens of Arcola, Ill., stopped a coal train bound for Chicago, and the coal (sixteen carloads) was confiscated. “In the crowd were two pastors of churches, the presidents of two banks, and other prominent citizens.” The police of Chicago say no such condition ever existed in Chicago before as is now brought on by coal famine and the extreme cold weather. The city of Detroit has petitioned the legislature for permission to go into the coal-furnishing business as a municipal enterprise. At Sidney, Neb., there was a proposition to raid the railroad coal yards, and the company said arrangements had been made to have the coal protected by the soldiers. A press despatch of the 8th inst. says that in Toledo, Ohio, a physician's certificate that coal is necessary because of sickness in a family must be shown before any coal can be purchased, and then only a small quantity can be purchased at a time. The combination of independent coal operators, who now have control of the anthracite market in New York, have advanced the price of anthracite coal to $10 per ton at tide water. A coal convention to be held in Washington at an early date is contemplated for the purpose of devising means for relief throughout the country. Even in the midst of the coal region in Pennsylvania prices for home consumption are gradually rising. And all this in a country where there is plenty of coal. Catholic Growth in the United States.
—Were it not for the prophecy of Revelation 13, the phenomenal growth of Catholicism in this country would be incomprehensible, for this extraordinary gain in numbers and consequent influence means a corresponding waning of Protestant influence. The chancellor of the archdiocese of Chicago reports for the past year an increase of 200,000 in church membership. The whole Catholic population is estimated at 1,000,000. There are 370 places of worship in the archdiocese, 153 of which are in the city proper. There are 566 priests. The pupils and students in church educational institutions number 92,000. Roman Catholics have made a special effort to capture the large cities, and they have had remarkable success; and this means control of city politics and the great daily newspapers, most of which are already at the beck and call of Rome. And the control of the large cities and their daily press means at least the balance of power in State and national politics. Rome gains much, if not most, of her influence by political intrigue and by looking after the children. In this latter respect Protestants are weak, for the reason that so much of what they teach the children in the way of religion is in the wake of Roman ceremonialism. It requires heart religion and individual piety to be a true Protestant; but the glitter of church festivals and man-made holy days and the traditions of men can produce only followers of Rome, or of the “image” of Rome, which is virtually the same. The result is that the more forceful tactics of Rome are turning it all to her purpose. A despatch from Rome under the date of December 20 last, to the New York World, gives the following news: “The long-standing difference between Emperor William of Germany and the Vatican respecting the training of candidates for the priesthood of Alsace-Lorraine was satisfactorily adjusted to-day. Cardinal Rampolla in behalf of the pope, and Baron von Hertling representing the Emperor, agreed that the Vatican shall organize a theological school in connection with the University of Strasburg, under the same rules as those at Bonn and Breslau. The appointing of the faculty will be subject to the approval of the Bishop of Strasburg. The existing Episcopal seminary at Strasburg, to whose pro-French influence the Emperor objected, remains intact, but will be distinct from the new school.” And so everywhere is the Papacy gaining influence. China is again in the throes of rebellion, and missionaries predict that in a few months, unless the powers interfere, there is likely to be a more extensive uprising than that of 1900. The present seat of rebellion comprises the provinces of Kansu, Shensi, and Mongolia, and the movement is headed by the exiled General Tung Fuh Siang and the noted Prince Tuan. The United States having accepted payment on a silver basis for an instalment of the indemnity debt, the Chinese government proposed to pay the other powers on the same basis; but they have refused to accept, and demand a fulfilment of the terms of the original protocol. Russian negotiations with China contemplate the old scheme of gaining control of Manchuria. Japan advises China not to accede to Russia's propositions, and China promises; but it is thought to be doubtful if she can hold out, even with Japan's encouragement. News has reached Peking that a strong Mohammedan uprising is on foot at Chang Chia Chuan. This is a natural stronghold, which, until recently, was occupied by a strong force of government troops. The World's Unsatisfying Fortune
A reputed billionaire, having enjoyed only forty-seven years of existence, is said to be dying of apoplexy. Such is the record the associated press gives of Alfred Beit, who was a partner of the late Cecil Rhodes, of South African fame. He, too, amassed a fortune difficult to estimate, and died at about the same age. Such is life, or, rather, what is called life by those who seek only the fortunes and honors that this world affords. They seem to be never satisfied, and yet no wise man could be satisfied could he even attain the goal they seek. The psalmist says, “As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.” Galveston’s Recovery and Growth
That the city of Galveston, Texas, has risen out of her ruins is shown by the fact that her bank clearings for the past year have amounted to $372,238,800, and her shipping business to $260,837,000. Twenty-eight steamship lines now converge at that port. A great sea-wall is under construction which is expected to give Galveston protection against another inundation. Being the natural outlet and inlet to a great portion of the great Southwest, that city is destined to a rapid and steady growth. This we learn from the Galveston News. Proposed Church Union in Australia
The Presbyterians and Congregationalists of Australia are endeavoring to form a basis of union. Committees have been appointed by each denomination, to whose consideration have been submitted propositions relative to doctrine and church government. While difficulties are acknowledged, both sides express the belief that they are not insuperable. Philippine Leper Settlement Planned
As soon as the commission can complete the necessary arrangements, one of the Philippine Islands will be set apart as a settlement for lepers, of whom there are about ten thousand in the group. About one hundred and seventy-five are now cared for at a hospital near Manila.