—A late Rome dispatch says the pope has approved the decree forbidding the clergy to attend bullfights in Spain. He orders that the priests must refuse absolution to a dying matador.
—Trinity Church, Boston, has taken a new departure in establishing a "Christian pawnshop," where the rate will not exceed four per cent., and where the business will be conducted on humane principles.
—Professor Harper, of the great Chicago University, is reported to have stated in a recent lecture that the story of Cain and Abel is a myth, and some of his brethren in the Baptist ministry take decided exception.
—Because the Midwinter Fair is opened on Sundays, the Methodist Preachers' Meeting of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Christian Endeavor, and the State Sunday School Association, have taken action and decided to "have nothing to do with it."
—A Sprague, Wash., correspondent of the Harbinger says that the matter of church members attending the dance is becoming quite a serious matter in the Christian Church in that place, and fears that if the practice is not stopped it will disrupt the church.
—Following is a recent obituary of a Church of England clergyman: "Rev. John Saxton, Vicar of Bondleigh, died at Bondleigh yesterday. He was renowned as an angler; he was an excellent shot, and a perfect horseman, being a well-known member of the Eggerford Hunt. He was also formerly well known and respected in cricketing circles. He had been vicar of Bondleigh forty years."
—The Protestant ministers of Shepparton, Province of Victoria, Australia, have notified the Minister of Railways that they are "totally opposed to the running of the Sunday train," and they regard it as "a direct assault on the sacredness of the day which the colony acknowledges the people's rest." The design of this special train was to enable the people to attend a service for the benefit of a hospital institution.
—It is coming to be deemed a serious public offense not to acquiesce in the wishes of the ministers. They have the same right to petition that other citizens have, but the idea that every interest and every enterprise must be limited by their dictum or come under their anathema is getting entirely too common. To admit their right to be heard in public affairs does not carry the doctrine that it is sacrilege to go contrary to their wishes. When they come to publicly urging the boycott on legitimate business that does not happen to be conducted to their liking, they step outside their proper places as ministers of the gospel.
—The tendency of the church toward the world was well illustrated last week in the First Baptist Church of this city, when some new candidates for membership were being examined. One official asked the candidates if they considered dancing a proper thing for professing Christians, and the question so confused one of the young ladies that her father, who is superintendent of the Sunday school, objected to its being put to his daughter. The issue is causing quite a commotion, and seems to have drawn a line between the "Puritans" and the "Progressives" in the church. It is noticeable, however, that all modern "progression" in the churches means, practically, progression toward the world.
—Evidently the name "Christian" is not a synonym of morality in Greece. An Athens dispatch of the 3d inst. says: "The execution of four Christians, sentenced to death for various crimes, in the island of Crete, has incensed the Christians of the island against the governor. Their indignation is increased by the fact that several Mussulmans, convicted of capital charges, have been reprieved. Two Mussulmans were found hanging to trees near Canea recently, and it was thought they were lynched by Christians. The lynching led to wholesale arrests, and the fanaticism of both sects has been aroused. All the foreign consuls in Canea, except the Russian representative, have protested against the execution of the Christians."
SECULAR.
—Anarchist Vaillant was beheaded in Paris on the 5th inst.
—The notorious Spanish bandit, Barillas, "scourge of the Province of Valencia," was surprised and killed on the 4th inst.
—A recent dispatch from Lisbon states that the government has sent a fleet of war ships to Oporto to suppress an insurrection.
—The Chinese in this State are beginning to stir themselves in the matter of registering, seeming suddenly to realize the fact that the six months' extension of time is fast passing away.
—On account of Italy's weak condition, the German Government is becoming anxious for friendly relations with Russia, and a Russo-German treaty is now a first-class political question.
—The great Niagara Falls water power is now being utilized to move the machinery of the greatest paper manufactory in the world, and also in running extensive machinery for generating electricity.
—The pupils of San Francisco public schools continue to send noon lunches to the hundreds of poor laborers who are working in Golden Gate Park on the charity fund. They are greeted with cheers and tears.
—Serious riots, resulting from efforts to collect revenues on the Assam frontiers, are reported from Calcutta. Fifteen persons who resisted the officers had been killed, and the police were calling for reënforcements.
—Mr. George W. Childs, proprietor of the Philadelphia Ledger, died on the 2d inst. Deceased had a more than national reputation as an upright business man, a philanthropist, and friend of honest toilers of every grade.
—The decision of Judge Stein, of Chicago, imposing fines on Director General Davis and other World's Fair officials for closing the Fair on a Sunday after his order to keep it open, has been reversed by the Appellate Court.
—It is announced that the shah of Persia is to make another tour of European capitals this year. It is further stated that all civilized royalty is shocked at the prospect of another infliction of his Persian manners upon decent society.
—The Chinese Government has settled for the murder of the two Swedish missionaries of Sung Pu. Some of the Chinese are to be put to death, others degraded, and an indemnity of $40,000 is to be paid to the families of the missionaries.
—Ex-Premier Samuel Parker, of Hawaii, has issued an address to the people of the United States, in which he says the people of the islands, if given an opportunity, would soon decide in favor of the constitutional monarchy that has been overthrown.
—A heavy windstorm blew down a Congregational Church in Gate City, Ala., on the night of the 3d inst., and about thirty women and children were buried beneath the ruins. They were all more or less injured, three fatally. A Christian Endeavor meeting was being held.
—The Southern California Woman's Parliament convened in its fourth annual session at Pomona last week. At one of the sessions there was an audience of 2,000 people, and all the meetings were largely attended. Educational and labor topics received principal attention.
—The French Chamber of Deputies has approved the Franco-Siamese treaty. It is reported from London that an agreement has been reached between England, France, and China to respect the integrity of Siam, holding that country under the joint protectorate of the three powers.
—On the 28th ult., in Zurich, Switzerland, Anarchists marched to the Italian Legation building, and fastened red and black flags over the door. The police interfered, when a riot ensued, and a large number of combatants on both sides were wounded. Sixteen prominent rioters were arrested.
—A flag that has been prepared for adoption by the Provisional Government at Hawaii is soon to be unfurled at the Hawaiian village, Midwinter Fair grounds, San Francisco. Its field of blue represents the Pacific Ocean, and in the center is an eight-pointed star, symbolical of the eight islands of the Hawaiian group.
—The richest woman in America is Mrs. Hetty Green, of New York, and she is so afraid of being robbed or kidnapped that she takes lodgings in obscure places, and changes her domicile quite frequently. It is said that she tries to keep her place of residence a secret from even her relatives. So much for laying up treasures on earth.
—A dispatch of January 30 from Bogota, U. S. of Colombia, says that serious riots have broken out in that city. They are a protest against the monopoly in tobacco. A mob of over seven thousand men attacked the government offices in spite of the efforts of the police. The troops were called out, charged the mob, and many persons were killed.
—The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia has refused the application of the Knights of Labor for an injunction restraining Secretary Carlisle from issuing government bonds. Judge Cox said the Knights, as an organization, had no standing in court. There is talk of carrying the case to the Court of Appeals, and possibly to the U. S. Supreme Court.
—A great meteor is reported to have fallen between Candelaria and Belleville, Nevada, on the night of the 1st inst. Its brilliant lights and the noise of its explosion were plainly seen and heard at Carson, a distance of 140 miles. It struck on a knoll of sand and rock, tearing up the ground for a considerable distance and causing the earth to quake for several miles. It is described as having the appearance of a great ball of fire, with a tail like a comet, and it exploded just before striking the earth.
—The Equal Suffrage Association of Hiawatha, Kansas, raised the association flag in commemoration of Kansas day, January 29. Its design was the national colors, but instead of forty-four stars it showed only two, representing Colorado and Wyoming, where woman suffrage prevails, and one just rising into view, supposed to mean Kansas. Some of the G. A. R. men took offense at the innovation and tore it down. The ideas of liberty and loyalty are becoming more and more varied in this "Christian nation."
—The public has been wondering what had become of the new Brazilian fleet purchased in New York and London, and which was to have annihilated the rebel fleet in Rio harbor long before this. It is now reported that treacherous persons among the crew tampered with the machinery of three of the vessels to such an extent that extensive repairs were necessary, which has caused a delay of the vessels at Bahia. This might have been expected, inasmuch as most of the crews were said to have been pressed into service.
—It looks as if the rebel admiral at Rio Janeiro was anxious to surrender to some foreign power, for fear of being obliged to surrender to the government. He has fired upon United States and German vessels, and when the former promptly replied, it is said De Gama wanted to surrender, but his fellow officers would not submit to such a course. The action of Admiral Benham, of the American fleet, has had the effect of freeing American shipping from annoyance by the rebels, and that commerce will no longer be interfered with.
—U. S. Minister Willis, at Honolulu, declined to order the naval vessel in the harbor to fire a salute on the 17th of January in honor of the anniversary of the establishment of the Provisional Government. The officials and sympathizers of the new government are very indignant at what they call an insult on the part of the Minister, inasmuch as two former Ministers and President Cleveland "have given the amplest recognition" to the changed order of affairs; and even Mr. Willis himself had presented his credentials to President Dole for acceptance.
—The stockholders of the World's Fair corporation and the city of Chicago get a return of about ten cents on the dollar of the capital invested in the enterprise. The statements that the receipts were a little over $1,000,000 more than the expenditures do not include the original capital of the stockholders and the gift by the city, which amounted to $10,666,495. It is probable that the city did or will get even indirectly, and the same may be said of some or even all of the stockholders, but the business of the enterprise itself did not pay them.
—Officers who went to the mining village of Woodville, Pa., last week, to arrest persons connected with a riot of striking miners, report almost unparalleled scenes of degradation and want. The homes of some of the rioters were in a horrible condition, and in two of them the carcasses of dogs were found, which had been killed for family food. Over forty men were arrested. One man picked up his little child and dared the officers to shoot, saying he would rather die with his family than to be taken away, for if he were arrested, they would have "no one to steal bread for them." But he was arrested. The president of the United Mine Workers says the riots in the Pittsburg coal district were due to starvation, the wages having been reduced so low that miners could not earn enough to keep their families in food.
—It is very rarely that anyone can get a government, State, or municipal appointment unless he belongs to some fraternal society. The biographical notices of political appointees almost invariably include the order or orders of which the subject is a member. A few years ago a young man in this State sought an appointment as railway postal agent. He had good recommendations, but after two years of waiting on promises, he was plainly told that he must become an Odd Fellow before he could secure the appointment. He joined the order, and was immediately appointed. The postmaster whose recommendation was necessary, the County Committeeman of the party in power who held that portion of the perquisites in his hand, and the Congressman through whom the appointment must come, were all Odd Fellows, and the rest was a matter of course.
Items of Interest
By Editor
An appeal will be made in our next issue for dried fruit for the Pitcairn. This by way of preparation to those who may have it to furnish.
THE following item is clipped from a Gouverneur (New York) paper of last month. It presents a picture of the side where the greater number of the successes of the church are found:—
"The Rag Tag sociable of Trinity Church last evening was a first-class success,—so voted by all who attended. It was something out of the usual order of church sociables, as its name would indicate."
Truly yet sadly has it been well expressed:—
"The Church has fallen, the beautiful Church,
And her shame is her boast and pride."
ONE of the finest editions of a daily paper ever issued is the San Francisco Examiner's Midwinter Fair edition. Its illustrations are admirably apropos, and the majority of its special articles, by such writers as Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson, Hon. Frank McCoppin, Joaquin Miller, John Vance Cheney, Annie Laurie, Irwin C. Stump, and a host of others, well written. The wonderful resources and natural beauties of the State are set forth in general and by counties, and what the Midwinter Fair is to be is well told. The issue contains seventy pages, and the price of the immense volume contained therein is only 10 cents.
Christianity in Japan.—In the Signs of January 8 we printed an article on page 146, entitled "The Effect of the Parliament of Religions in Japan." The opinions of Buddhists are there given, that Americans are seeking a new religion, because dissatisfied with Christianity, and are ripe for Buddhism. A writer in the New York Observer, Mr. Edward B. Sturges, of Japan, believes that "Buddhism and its sister, Shintoism, are in their death throes, and that Christianity is already nearing a complete triumph in Japan, at least." But the writer admits that there has been in Japan a reaction against Christianity, yet thinks this reaction only temporary, and that Japan will eventually become a "Christian nation." There are causes which are now delaying this, one of the chief of which to his mind is "the lack of devotion to their principles on the part of so many visitors from Christian countries while in foreign non-Christian lands." Chief among their derelictions of duty he mentions nonattendance at church services and lack of respect for Sunday. In fact, the "American bar" is in full blast on that day, few of the patrons of which are Japanese. "All home restraints were thrown to the winds." Some visit the theater and go sight-seeing, while some, "even," went "shopping," as though that were worse than pleasure seeking and liquor drinking. "One merchant told me," he writes, "that Sunday was his busiest day. Nearly all their customers were tourists from Christian lands!" And so on and on. Now all such pleas as this would never need to be made if the ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ would recognize the fact that there are no "Christian countries" or "Christian nations," and that the only Christians there are are those who hold living connection with Jesus Christ, and manifest it by a godly life. There is another thing shown by this article,—the mark of Christianity is coming to be not Christ and his teaching, but the observance of Sunday, an institution which in its origin and nature is antichristian.
ACKNOWLEDGING GOD BY ORGANIC LAW.
By Editor
THE following is a verbatim copy of a joint resolution (H. Res. 130) which was introduced January 25, 1894, in the House of Representatives, by Hon. Elijah A. Morse, of Massachusetts:—
JOINT RESOLUTION.
"Proposing an amendment to the preamble of the Constitution of the United States, 'acknowledging the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and nations.'"
"Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following amended form of the preamble of the United States be proposed for ratification by conventions in the several States, which, when ratified by conventions in three-fourths of the States, shall be valid as a part of the said Constitution, namely:—
PREAMBLE.
"We, the people of the United States, devoutly acknowledging the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and nations, grateful to Him for our civil and religious liberty, and encouraged by the assurances of His Word to invoke His guidance, as a Christian nation, according to His appointed way, through Jesus Christ, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America."
The above was referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
He who knows the mystery of God in Jesus Christ can see at a glance something of what is in the above proposed legislation. Let our readers study it; we will have something to say upon it next week.
A SIGN OF WHAT IS; A PROPHECY OF WHAT IS TO BE.
NEVER, perhaps, has there been such a scene witnessed in Congress as was seen in the closing debates and passage of the Wilson Tariff Bill in the House of Representatives, February 1, 1894. "There was not a vacant seat anywhere in the chamber," runs the report, and the great crowd overflowed on the floor of the House. The Diplomatic Corps, the representatives of the various nations, were present in their brilliant costumes. But the most striking thing of all is that set forth in the Examiner's report in the following words:—
"In the Speaker's pew sat James Cardinal Gibbons, clad in a robe of black silk and wearing on his head the scarlet cap that betokens his rank."
Such a thing as that would never have been tolerated when the spirit of liberty prevailed in this country. It shows how thoroughly under Rome's influence our government has fallen. Not only this: Leo XIII. has said:—
What Rome has done for other countries, she will do for the United States.
The right of rule belongs to her, is her claim. Kings rule by right only when they rule by her consent, is her doctrine. While she is not in the fullest sense the power behind the throne, the presence of Cardinal Gibbons, clothed with the insignia of his office, is the prophecy of what is to be when the Papacy shall dictate the legislation of the country. The sentence quoted above should startle every true Protestant.
Boycotts and Personal Liberty
By Editor
THE following is from one of our local dailies, which a short time ago was thundering against the tyranny of trades unions and the religious boycotts:—
"At last Mr. Happ, the Seventh Street merchant, has apparently come to his senses, and has agreed not to further antagonize the Clerks' Association. Last Sunday his door had a big lock on it, and therefore the clerks are happy."
Mr. Happ, with several other clothing merchants, formerly kept his store open Sunday—a thing which he had a perfect right to do. The Clerks' Association and the Federated Trades induced the greater part of the clothing merchants to close on Sunday, Mr. Happ holding out until it seemed "expedient" in a business way, we suppose, to succumb to the boycott. We do not know Mr. Happ, nor do we plead his case; but there is a principle involved in this matter which ought to be repudiated by every true lover of liberty. Mr. Happ has as much right to keep open Sunday as any other day, and every other man has the same right. The clerks have the right to refuse to work on that day, and no one has the right to compel them to do otherwise. Neither have they the right, by boycott or otherwise, to seek to compel anyone else to do their pleasure. But this is how, if we understand the matter, Mr. Happ "came to his senses." By methods based on the same principle as the modern boycott, tyranny of all ages has brought men to yield their inalienable rights. By the same principles the Inquisition was the means of "converting" thousands during the Dark Ages.
MR. EDWARD B. STURGES, a Presbyterian business man in Japan, thinks that Buddhism and Shintoism "are in their death throes," and that "Christianity is already nearing a complete triumph;" and yet he charges Christians with lack of devotion to principle, while of Buddhist zeal he draws the following picture:—
"A few days since I saw in front of a Buddhist temple four immense piles of large rope that had been used in collecting and raising to their position the massive timbers of the great temple. That rope was all made of human hair, contributed by men and women mostly still living, as a freewill offering to this dead[?] faith. How insignificant in comparison the slight self-denial that would cause the travelers from Christian lands to at least rest upon the sabbath day [Sunday]!"
How much better it would be for the professed Christians of the world to turn from the Sunday of tradition to the pure precepts of God's word! They would have a power then which could dispense with the wanted example of half-hearted professors or "travelers from Christian lands." There is nothing more void of life from God in heathen lands to-day than is the Sunday.
USEFUL AND INTERESTING BOOKS
By Editor
FOR BOTH OLD AND NEW SUBSCRIBERS.
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PROPHETIC LIGHTS, by E. J. Waggoner, Prophecies of the Old and New Testaments, interpreted by the Bible and history. Paper bound, 180 pages, handsomely illustrated.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF FOREIGN MISSIONS of the Seventh-Day Adventists, with maps showing location of churches, etc., 294 pages, paper binding.
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