p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 5. (1/30/1907)

PROPOSED SUNDAY LAW.

(From the Woodland Democrat, city official paper, of January 15, Mr. Ed. E. Leake, editor.)

WE understand that a constitutional amendment has been prepared and will be submitted to the Legislature, the purpose of which is to reenact the old Sunday law which was in force many years ago, but which was repealed by the Legislature of 1883. The state has got along very well since that time without any Sabbatarian law, and we have heard of no good reason for any change at this time.

There are certain religious denominations who are opposed to a Sunday law, and ours is a government in which every man should be permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, so long as he leaves others to enjoy the same rights unmolested.

The Sunday law was a dead letter when it was on the statute books. The law was evidently intended to restrain citizens from a direct, free and full exercise of their religious opinions, and was therefore hostile to the principles and traditions of our form of government. It was for these reasons that but feeble efforts were ever made to enforce it.

A similar law has been on the statute books of Massachusetts for many years, but until recently nobody paid any attention to it. A defeated gubernatorial candidate attempted to enforce its observance with the result that some of the very best citizens of the Bay State have been put under arrest for the most trivial things.

It resulted in putting a stop to all Sunday recreations, and outdoor amusements, closed up livery stables, news stands, and all places of business, and the spirit of it is to prevent travel by rail or otherwise, and encourage a spirit of intolerance and the enactment of blue laws.

One of the most pious ministers we ever knew appealed to the young people of his congregation to attend church every Sunday morning, after which there was no objection to decent and orderly outdoor amusements and recreations. And that is the prevailing sentiment among a very large majority of the people of California.

There is no question but that the practise of observing one day in seven is of divine origin, but the attempt to enforce Sunday observance by civil decree is unauthorized by any civil law now in existence, and any attempt to enact such a law is a violation of the inherent rights of every citizen to act conscientiously in such matters so long as he does not interfere with the right of others to do likewise. The Legislature should not attempt to interfere with religious matters.

THE CHURCH TROUBLES IN FRANCE.

By Editor

It is almost impossible to get anything like an accurate account from the general newspapers of the church troubles in France. Roman Catholic influence on the press of the country renders what ought to be an agent of publicity practically nugatory on anything affecting the Roman Catholic Church and its principles. Practically all the great papers on the coast have admitted articles from Roman Catholic prelates, and these prelates have each time assured the public that the people in this country are entirely ignorant of the conditions in France, that we know nothing about it, and that they are the only true source of information; and yet the simple fact is that France is doing the very best it can to affect a separation of Church and State.

But France can not take the same position that America does.

Roman Catholics say we have no objection to conditions in America. Catholics have their church property, and hold their church property, without any let or hindrance on the part of the State, while France proposes to hold that property itself, or allow the church to form secular or cultural associations for holding it. The church rejects this because, they tell us, it is too humiliating to it. But would the United States take the ground that it does if it had been to the expense of contributing to all these various buildings, and maintaining their worship for centuries?

France feels, and it seems to us rightly, too, that she has a property right in connection with these buildings, and yet she is willing that these buildings should be used for religious purposes if the Roman Catholic Church will comply with the law. This Rome objects to doing, and hence the trouble. The Roman Catholics call it persecution, simply and solely because they are placed on the same footing as all other religious denominations.

They will contend in America that they do believe in separation of Church and State. In France it is another thing. From all the information which has come to us, we can not see but what France is in the right and that she is doing the church no wrong in the very liberal terms which she is offering.

The San Francisco "Chronicle" of December 18 closes an editorial in these words, "The Catholic Church in France is fighting a real battle for liberty of conscience and deserves the moral support of the world." Those who stand on the other side of the question in France, and have met the opposition of that church to everything outside of that church in the hundreds of years which she has dominated France, would hold that it is not the Roman Catholic Church that is fighting for liberty of conscience, but France.

We wish to keep this one thought before our readers that no person in the world believes in liberty of conscience if he does not believe in it for the other man. It is not true religious liberty that demands freedom for ourselves alone, but freedom for every one.

Sunday Funerals

IN RESOLUTIONS ALLEGING THAT "SUNDAY FUNERALS require much work on the Lord's Day on the part of the cemeteries and liverymen, and claim a large part of the day that should be their own for other uses, and also tax the strength of clergymen on a day already fully occupied with regular services," the ministers' association of Utica, N. Y., on October 29, expressed its "disapproval of holding funerals on Sunday on all ordinary occasions," and declared it to be its judgment that "when it seems necessary that a funeral should be held on Sunday, it should be private, not a church service."

Wealth of the United States

FIGURES fail to give an adequate idea of the immense sum which is said to represent the wealth of the United States. The total valuation of the wealth of the country is estimated to be $107,000,000,000. If this sum could be converted into dollars and these could be laid with their edges touching, it would cover a pavement twelve and one-half feet wide around the world, with a little to spare. Or if used in paying off the national debts of the world, there would be four times enough.

Tea Used for Tanning

THE steamer Mongolia, which was stranded at Midway Island last September, carried 70,000 pounds of tea which was damaged by salt water. According to the law in the matter, this tea would have to be destroyed or exported, but an arrangement was made with the Treasury Department to land it and sell it to a tannery, at about two-thirds the price of the uninjured tea. Now the tea will be used to tan skins instead of the stomachs of the consumers.

France Builds Larger Warships

FRANCE has six large battle-ships in course of construction at the present time, all of great displacement. Admiral Fournier advocated large flotillas of torpedo-boats and submarines as better suited to the defensive purposes of France, but the government officials take to the larger ships. It is a constant strife among the "great powers" to keep up to the standard in death-dealing military and naval inventions.

Mauna Loa Lava Reaches Sea

MAUNA LOA is pouring over its crater a stream of lava which flows down the mountain to the sea at the rate of seven miles an hour, covering a distance of thirty miles. The only damage has been to the grazing lands in the path of the stream.

Heavy Snowfall in California

AN unusually heavy snow for California fell during the first two weeks in January. It is a rare treat to Californians, many of whom made excursions to the snow-covered hills to enjoy the sports attendant upon a snow-storm.

Coal Famine Threatens San Francisco

A COAL famine is the prospect before the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, owing to the grasping spirit of the coal trust. Coal which costs the combine only $2.60 a ton is sold for $12.00, and the supply is very low.

Rockefeller’s Gift to Chicago University

The University of Chicago received a New Year's gift of three million dollars from John D. Rockefeller. This brings his total benefactions up to $19,416,922.

Typhoon Claims One Hundred Lives

ONE hundred lives were lost on the island of Leyte, Philippine Archipelago, January 10, in a typhoon, the worst that has occurred in ten years.

A Good Governor

By Editor

Remember this, whoever you are: Christ Jesus stands ready to save you from sin and sinning, if you wish to be saved. Do you? Do you not hate the sins which enslave you? Then go free in Christ Jesus. "If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

Our brethren in Bethel, Wis., have our heartfelt sympathy in the loss of their school buildings by fire, noted in another column. We wish they had let us know of it at the time. The news was slow in reaching us. May God guide and lead and bless them.

A Good Governor.

It seems to us that every good citizen will regret that George C. Pardee's term of office as governor of California has closed. We believed he would make a good governor; and we have not been disappointed. He leaves the office without a stain upon his administration morally, and with many and splendid evidences of efficiency. He may not have pleased the politicians; we believe he pleased the people, and we are one of the people. We hope that Governor Gillett will do as well.

The California Sunday Constitutional Amendment was introduced in the Assembly, January 14, by Hon. Grove L. Johnson, and was referred to the Committee on Constitutional Amendments. We hope that the committee will study the Constitution. If they report this Johnson measure favorably, they ought to bring in another bill to repeal Sections 1, 3, 4, and 11 of Article I; for if the Amendment should become a part of the fundamental law, these sections can not exist with it in operation. If California can not grant liberty to her citizens, let her do away with all pretensions.

Is there any relationship between the two acts that the same one who introduced the Sunday Amendment to the Constitution in the lower house of the California Legislature was also responsible for delaying the passage of the bill providing for an investigation of the fuel conditions in San Francisco and vicinity, where thousands are suffering, and schools are closed for want of coal, of which there is plenty in the mines with direct communication by rail or sea with those in need. The first act for the suppression of liberty, the last for the suppression of life.

God's characteristics of His people in the last days—these days—are not miracle-working, speaking with tongues, healing the sick, and doing other great signs and wonders. These are, however, characteristic of Satan's agents, who will work thru them with "all power and signs and lying wonders," and who will say, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works?" and they may have done all this; but the Lord will answer, "Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." See 2 Thess. 2:9; Matt. 7:21-23. These are the marks of identification which God places upon His remnant: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. And to do this is miracle-working. But the power is of God.

There are some poor souls who leave Christianity and turn from Christ because professed Christians have done wrong. Why should they join the ranks of infidels and of worldlings? Do they find them living up to their profession? Then when they leave Christ, they all go to some worse condition. Why not choose something better than Christianity? Where will they find it?

The striking firemen on the Southern Pacific System have returned to their former positions, an agreement of arbitration having been signed between them and the roads. A board of three will determine whether or not the Southern Pacific abrogated its contract with the firemen when it signed the new contract with the engineers, May 1, 1906.

A score of people killed and many injured in a collision between a passenger and freight train near Fowler, Ind.; eight killed in a church in Lodz, Russia, because a priest would not bestow his blessing upon two men killed in a street fight, is the record of Sunday morning's paper of January 20.

ANOTHER GREAT CALAMITY.

JANUARY 16 brought us the news that the earthquake army had made its first wild charge in 1907 in the city of Kingston, the capital of the island of Jamaica, in the West Indies. The island has an area of about 4,200 square miles, and a population of about 650,000, nearly 500,000 of whom are black; 122,000 half-breed; 15,000 white; 10,000 Indians, and a few Chinese.

Kingston is situated in the southeastern part of the island. It has a splendid land-locked harbor, which the largest ships can enter, and is strongly fortified. Its population is about 55,000. But even the British Government can not fortify against earthquakes. When the earthquake of January 15 struck the city, it toppled and fell, a mass of ruins. Despatches of January 16 declare that at least 1,000 are killed and thousands injured. The business portion of the city is burned, and the fire is still burning. The churches, the public houses, the hotels, are all gone. "Not only was almost every house in Kingston destroyed, but all the houses within ten miles were injured." Of the 2,000 foreigners in the city, many are reported killed, but few names are given. Among these is that of Sir James Ferguson. Forty soldiers were burned to death in one hospital.

The first shock came at 3:30 P.M., Monday, the 15th. The day had been sultry with an unusually high tide. There were no premonitory symptoms. The first shock was the worst, followed quickly by others, some of which were felt thruout the island. There were many British officials on the island at the time, and hundreds of tourists. Our own people were holding a district conference at the time also, and delegates were present from America, and from other islands of the West Indies. Thousands are suffering from lack of food, and the dread guests, Famine and Fever, are awaited with trembling of heart. It is said that in Kingston and vicinity 10,000 are homeless. The money loss is estimated at $25,000,000. Relief ships are rushed to the rescue, this government sending six war-ships. It is feared that the extinct volcano, Portland, sixty miles south of Jamaica, on St. Thomas, in the Danish West Indies, may again become active.

Later reports say that the bottom of the harbor is sinking, and it is feared that the city itself may sink. Each day makes the calamity more serious.

London, January 16.—Professor Belar, the great seismologist and chief of the Laibach Observatory in Austria, reports a general unrest of the earth's surface. Proofs thereof, the professor asserts, are shown by the recent numerous earthquakes, hailstorms, and falls of rock in various mountainous places. The Laibach instruments recorded the Kingston earthquake Monday at 9:40 P.M. The disturbance was recorded during a continuous earth unrest which still continues. There is an intimation in Professor Belar's report that further earth disturbances may be expected.

Naples, January 16.—Professor Matteucci, director of the observatory at Mount Vesuvius, reports increased agitation of this volcano coincident with the Kingston earthquake. "The earth shall wax old like a garment," the Lord says. She is nearing her end.

Prof. Linden Wallace Bates, a competent engineer, one who has received the grand prize and decoration from the French Government for distinguished services to science, who has been a contracting and construction engineer of mammoth works for years, declares that the plans for the Panama Canal are altogether insufficient; that the design of the great Gotun dam can not be built; that the clay rock can not be excavated with dredges as proposed; that estimates on the locks are mere guesswork; that the locks are too small even for present needs; that the contract system itself paves the way for the wholesale steal of the nation's funds; that the appropriations are inadequate to complete the work at the progress now being made; and that, finally, the canal might be constructed at the expenditure of less time and money. The simple fact is probably that some of the very ones connected with the canal are not anxious to see it built. That is especially true of railroad men.

The Real Test.

In all the great religious questions before the world at the present time, there is one great one which lies back of all others. Many get to thinking that many of these questions are mere matters of terminology, questions of little importance. And some of them may be. But with others it is not so. It makes a great difference what we say and believe, as New Thought and Christian Science teach that Christ is in every man, good or bad, and that the only thing he needs to do is to recognize this, or whether we say that Christ comes into the heart by faith, and brings with His presence a power of which the unbeliever knows nothing. The Sabbath question to some is a mere matter of days, but faith in the word of God is more than time. The Sabbath is a memorial of God's power to save. Sunday exalts nothing save human tradition.

Worse than earthquake, even the worst yet, is the famine which is gnawing into the very vitals of some portions of central China. A report from Shanghai, dated January 16, states that at Sing Kiang, where many refugees are gathered, a quarter of a million are doomed to die, while 300,000 have been turned back to their destitute homes. At Antung it is said that at least 400,000 are doomed. To the horrors of famine is added that of smallpox. Relief work is being pushed forward, but thousands will die before it reaches them. How all these calamities ought to wean men's hearts away from this world with its sin and disappointments to the righteous standard, righteous life, and the righteous inheritance of the saints of God. The Red Cross Society say that $3,000,000 is needed quickly to do any practical good. Any funds sent us for China's suffering will be forwarded.

To meet the big Pullman and Armour trusts it is said that there are many indications that the railroads are preparing to take over for themselves the business of the sleeping-car, refrigerator car, and express companies on their lines. Nearly all the refrigerator cars in the United States are owned by the Armour Company of Chicago, and the sleeping-cars by the Pullman Company. The Harriman lines have ordered thousands of fruit-cars. The Rock Island has formed an express company, capitalized at $25,000,000, and the St. Paul has formed one with a capital of $30,000,000.