—Rev. Henry L. Kellogg, editor of the Christian Cynosure, Chicago, died on the 15th inst., from the effects of injuries received when his home at Wheaton was burned, a few days previously.
—The Board of Trustees of the Western Theological Seminary of Pittsburg have rejected the recommendation of the Presbyterian General Assembly that all Presbyterian seminaries be placed under the control of that body.
—The new czar of Russia is said to have assured a deputation of Polanders that he knows no distinction between the different religious professions, that he loves all his subjects equally. If that is true, then all subjects in exile for their faith will be returned to their homes. We will see.
—The American Bible Society has suffered a heavy loss by the burning of its house in Yokohama, Japan, used as a depository for Bibles. The entire stock of books and sheets was much injured by fire and water, but the plates were, fortunately, stored elsewhere and thus are uninjured.
—The Very Rev. S. R. Reynolds Hole, dean of Rochester Cathedral, England, now on a lecture tour in the United States, expresses the opinion that saloons should be open part of the day on Sunday. His opinion is based on the beer-drinking custom of his own country. He says "the workingman in England must have his beer with his Sunday dinner," and he naturally supposes it is the same in this country.
—The Protestant papers persistently keep before the people the incident of last August when a Roman Catholic mob at Quebec attacked two Protestant mission houses, hurling stones and breaking windows. But when a Protestant mob, at a more recent date, attack a Seventh-day Adventist house of worship at Shady Side, Md., break the windows, drag a leading member in the street, and threaten the minister's life if he does not leave the town, these Protestant papers have no word of protest.
—Archbishop Corrigan having forbidden Priest Thomas J. Ducey to attend the sessions of the Legislative Committee now investigating political crookedness in New York City, the priest has appealed to Papal Delegate Satolli. Ducey is reported to have said: "I do not recognize that a bishop or any other man has the right to interfere with the liberty of an independent citizen, whether he be a priest or a layman, unless that man is violating the law of God, some defined law of the Christian religion, or some law of the State or nation."
—The Board of Directors of the city schools of Alameda, Cal., have interposed an objection to the W. C. T. U. literature, which has been freely distributed. They let it all go until statements to the effect that a man could not be a good Christian and use tobacco found their way in. This, it seems, was coming too close to the Christian standing of some of the board, and it was thought to be time to call a halt, and restrict not only the literature but the lectures on temperance which had been introduced at the instance of the W. C. T. U.
—A half-breed Cherokee Indian named Blackwell is under arrest at Claremore, I. T., charged with treason. He has been posing as a prophet sent from God to proclaim the coming of Christ. He founded the town of Blackwell and built for himself a church. Then he went into the Cherokee Nation and founded the town of David, and has been offering lots for sale all over the Territory. But, by a law of the Cherokee Council, it is high treason to sell real estate to one not of the nation; hence the arrest, although Blackwell insists that he is operating under the special direction of the Lord.
—"Why do the Jews not accept Jesus as their Messiah? is ably answered by Dr. Felsenthal in a pamphlet."—Unity. Think of the folly of writing a pamphlet to answer such a question, when everybody knows there is but one reason, and that a brief one, namely, because they do not believe in him. If the pamphlet is designed to give a reason for not believing in Jesus, that, too, is brief and simple—it is because they do not believe the Scriptures. So that pamphlet is a superfluity in every sense. But all classes of people, of whatever nationality, who reject the Messiahship of Jesus, are actuated by the one sentiment, —unbelief of the Scriptures.
—Bishop McQuaid, of Rochester, N. Y., is out with a sharp denunciation of Archbishop Ireland, of St. Paul, Minn., for his conspicuous intermeddling in politics. Amongst other things he says: "I contend that this coming to New York of the archbishop of St. Paul to take part in a political contest was undignified, disgraceful to his episcopal office, and a scandal in the eyes of all right-minded Catholics of both parties. It was, furthermore, a piece of meddlesome interference on his part to come from his State to another to break down all discipline among our priests and justify the charge of those inimical to us, that priests are partisans and use their office and opportunities for political work.
SECULAR.
—The city of Montreal is preparing for a world's fair during the summer of 1896.
—A case of Asiatic leprosy has been discovered in Grand Forks County, N. Dakota.
—Rubenstein, the great Russian pianist and composer, died at Peterhof on the 20th inst., of heart disease.
—A gang of outlaws shot and robbed the occupants of three adjacent farms near South Bend, Ind., on the 20th inst.
—China has lost her best war ship by an accidental collision with one of their own torpedoes at Wei Kai Wei.
—Spain has paid $17,500 indemnity for outrages perpetrated upon American missionaries at Ponape, one of the Micronesian Islands.
—A press dispatch states that the town of Marion, county seat of McDowell County, N. C., was entirely destroyed by fire on the 25th inst.
—Ex-President Peixoto, of Brazil, is about to visit the United States, on the advice of his physician. The new president, Moraes, has pardoned forty political prisoners.
—In New York City, on the 21st inst., a crowd of hungry cloak makers, with their wives and children, thronged the strikers' relief headquarters begging for provisions.
—The U. S. Treasury Department has decided to issue $50,000,000 in government gold bonds, bearing five per cent. interest, and there is a rush for a chance at the investment.
—Fruit growers in Fresno County, Cal., are trying the experiment of shipping fruit to the San Francisco market by mule teams, on account of the high railroad freight tariff.
—It is announced by telegraph that the strike of shirt makers in New York City is practically over, a reduction of ten per cent. in wages having been agreed upon by arbitration.
—The crop of oranges in the Narcossee settlement, Florida, is being sent to England, where satisfactory prices have been received on two large consignments already disposed of in that market.
—St. Petersburg advices say that Czar Nicholas II., on the occasion of his approaching marriage, will issue a manifesto of clemency, remitting arrears of taxes and modifying sentences of certain criminal classes.
—The scheme for a union of the Central America governments is said to be a failure. Costa Rica is credited with the only stable government on the isthmus, due to the fact that it does not interfere in the affairs of the other governments.
—There has been a large exodus of French-Canadian families to the New England States of late. It is estimated that nearly 3,000 have left Canada for Lowell, Holyoke, and other milling centers in Massachusetts since the middle of October.
—There is said to be great excitement at Lone Mountain, twenty miles from Middleborough, Ky., on account of the discovery of gold. The rush is so great that Judge McCampbell, on whose ground the find is located, has appealed to the governor for protection.
—The German Government expense estimate for the coming fiscal year is increased by $17,500,000 over last year on account of increased army expenses. Under the new military law it will increase at about the same rate for five years to come. This is a peace estimate.
—A reporter in St. Petersburg recently conveyed in his description of the dress worn by the czarina the impression that it was an old-fashioned gown, and now the press censor has forbidden any Russian newspaper from commenting upon anything worn by her majesty.
—The Canadian Deputy Minister of Marine has repudiated as impracticable the scheme of placing a 20-knot steamship service on the route between Great Britain and Canada, toward which the Dominion Parliament last session voted an annual subsidy of $750,000.
—Dallas, Texas, advices of the 24th inst. state that "the drought continues without a sign of rain. Water wagons are doing a big business hauling supplies of artesian and river water to private residences." It is also stated that prayers for rain were being offered in the churches.
—It is said that Queen Victoria, on account of chronic rheumatism, will be an almost helpless cripple the rest of her life. It is impossible for her to step up or down, even into or out of her carriage. A specially designed chair has been provided for carrying her majesty up and down stairs.
—Official dispatches from U. S. Minister Denby and from Admiral Carpenter, commanding the Asiatic squadron, confirm the news that the Japanese have captured Port Arthur, one of China's greatest strongholds. The place was taken on the 21st inst., after eighteen hours' fighting. Immense quantities of coal and ammunition fell into the hands of the victors.
—A monk in Valencia, Spain, has been prosecuted by the queen regent for stating that she had become a member of a Freemason lodge. A short time ago it was stated that she had prosecuted a newspaper publisher for announcing that she had allowed the boy king to be initiated into that order.
—A discovery has been made near Churintzio, State of Michoacan, Mexico, of thirty human bodies in an advanced stage of decomposition piled up on one another in a cave. Cleofas Gomez was robbed and murdered recently. Pascual, his brother, while searching for him, made the discovery, which explains many disappearances.
—The St. Petersburg correspondent of the London Telegraph says that absolution placed in the hands of the dead czar was intended to frank him about the spirit world for the first few days after death, unmolested by evil spirits. This is a custom dating from the time of Theodosius, who was besought by Prince Simon to bless him in life and death, and he wrote the prayers and placed them in Prince Simon's hands after death in this manner.
—Reports from the great earthquake in the southern part of Italy are more serious than the first accounts. At Procopio 200 dead bodies were taken from the ruins of one building, and 48 were found under a wrecked church. At Palmi every house was rendered uninhabitable, 15 being totally destroyed, and 300 people were more or less injured. At Seminara 5 persons were killed and 200 injured. The villages of Barapir and Santa were totally destroyed.
—The town of Shelbyville, Ind., had a narrow escape from entire destruction on the night of the 22d inst. By mistake the natural gas was given a high pressure in low-pressure mains, and at midnight over 500 stoves and heaters were melted under the intense heat, and buildings were beginning to burn in various quarters. The flow of gas was stopped, and by heroic efforts to stop fires only three buildings were burned. If the discovery had been delayed but a few minutes longer, the town could not have been saved.
—Late advices from Madagascar state that the people are desperately opposed to the annexation to France. Prince Rakotenana, the princess, and other relatives of the queen, are preaching a holy war. Fanatics harangue the people, and are stirring them against the French by displaying the heart and entrails of children found, they declare, in French residences. The Hovas, the ruling tribe, declare that the French kill and eat children. The Hovan Government has promised to protect English missionaries.
—A Hallettsville, Texas, dispatch of the 24th inst. says that on the night of the 22d a gang of robbers blew up a large safe in a mercantile house in the town of Shiner, setting fire to the store and burning nine buildings. When the people heard the explosion, they rushed to the place, but were kept back by armed men, while others gathered up the treasure. After leaving, the robbers were followed by a sheriff's posse, who brought back four men, two of whom were recognized by citizens as having been of the party. It is thought that they secured at least $25,000, and the loss by fire is about $100,000.
—The Grand Jury of McLennan County, Texas, has returned an indictment against all the officers of the Standard Oil Company, from President Rockefeller down. The indictment charges them with violating the trust law of Texas by making a conspiracy to control prices. Application will be made to the governor for a requisition on the governors of New York and other States for the extradition of the indicted men. The attorney for the company says the same thing has been done before, and the indictments dismissed; therefore he thinks the present cases will have a like result. Quite likely, as the defendants are all wealthy.
—Commissioner Shields, of New York City, has rendered a decision which will affect the situations of many Chinese in this country. He held one Lee Yuen, who claims to be a merchant, for deportation, on the ground that he was a laborer before he returned to China two years ago and after he came back to America. Many Chinese laborers have small interests in small mercantile establishments in order to pose as merchants, but Judge Cox, of New York, defines a merchant as one engaged in the business of buying and selling, and who does not engage in any other kind of work. This decision renders hundreds of Chinese liable to deportation.
—It is said that Russia is Great Britain's natural ally, because if the great "bear" wishes he can be the "lion's" most dangerous foe. Therefore Great Britain consents to Russia's war ships passing out of the Black Sea through the Dardanelles, because it is better to have them do so as friends than as enemies. Yielding this point of the nominal treaty between Russia and the European powers is no more than yielding the point of allowing Russia to have a naval fleet in the Black Sea at all. Russia stepped over this provision of the treaty without asking leave, and has shown a determination to pass the Dardanelles whenever occasion demands. Hence it is no doubt good diplomacy for Great Britain to yield consent.
The Sunday Question and the Late Strike
AMONG the lessons which Dr. Joseph Cook draws from the late strike are the following: "The worth of the national army," he says, "is better understood and the necessity of increasing its numbers is very generally granted by an aroused public sentiment," and intimately connected with this is the Sunday question. He declares; "The worth of Sunday has been emphasized by the lawlessness of those who rarely observe it. Most of the rioters and many of the strikers have been men who have little or no regard for Sunday, and who receive little instruction and hear hardly any discussion of the labor question outside their own organizations." Would we understand that all these things which are lacking, according to Dr. Cook, must be furnished through the forces of the law, and if necessary, by the increase of the army?
OUR THANKSGIVING.
By Editor
THE President of the United States authoritatively proclaimed and appointed November 29 "as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, to be kept and observed by all the people in the land." But how many thought of the proclamation after they once read it? and how many were thankful or prayerful because of it? Men—good, loyal citizens—gorged themselves on roast turkey, pumpkin pies, plum pudding, and all the et ceteras of "Thanksgiving" day as erst before, but how much more thankful were they that day than the day before? and how much less thankful were many the next day, while "enjoying" the "blessings" of indigestion! But many feasted and fattened, many more fasted and famished—the one class selfishly thankful, the other grudgingly envious. But who will say that God did not look with more favor upon the latter than the former?
Yet is there cause to be thankful for bounteous temporal blessings, for abundant spiritual blessings, for the riches of God's grace in Jesus Christ. And many of all classes doubtless were truly thankful on November 29, not because of the legal appointment of the day, but for God's goodness. But such are always thankful. True gratitude is never manifest but for a day. The true child of God, the genuine Christian, is thankful all the time. The Lord says (not the civil magistrate): "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
A TENNESSEE COUNTY COURT.
According to the Dayton Leader of Rhea County, Tenn., the grand jury of that county, which lately closed its sittings, found 116 indictments, 20 of which were against Seventh-day Adventists for working on Sunday. Upon this the Leader, with much clearer insight than is manifest by many journals, remarks:—
"These indictments which persecute people on account of their religion are the outcome of personal malice and not of any honest desire to see the sabbath day kept holy. Why, one of the leading spirits in these persecutions would not, of his own practical knowledge, recognize a religiously observed Sunday if he met it on the road.
"Of course they burned witches at the stake in Massachusetts 100 years ago, and if the blue laws of our ancestors are to be revived in Rhea County, let us have no partiality in the malicious jamboree. If the Seventh-day Adventists are desolating the county because they do a few chores on Sunday, what about the 500 men who work for the Dayton Coal and Iron Company on the same sacred day? It is as much of a crime for one class of citizens to work on Sunday as it is for the other, but with this difference in favor of the Adventists—their religion does not recognize the sanctity of our sabbath.
"Prosecuting Attorney Fletcher has instructed the clerk to issue no fee certificates to the man who is prosecuting the Adventists, and he has relinquished all his own fees on the indictments, which shows a commendable spirit. But the proper caper for Judge Parks and Attorney General Fletcher to do is to kick those indictments out of court, and put an end to the personal malice persecutions of some of the best citizens of Rhea County. Our courts ought not to be vehicles for gratifying private spite."
It is stated that among those indicted are Professor Colcord and other teachers of Graysville Academy.
Tyre as a Type of Apostate Church
(Continued from page 888.)
monarchy, and at the end of that time those kingdoms that had been so widely oppressed by Babylon would be in a measure relieved. See Jer. 25:11, where it is said that these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. At the end of the seventy years Babylon was overthrown; the days of one king seem to have reference to the days of one kingdom, king and kingdom being used as synonyms. See Dan. 7:17; 8:20. At the end of the seventy years a new city was built on the site of Tyre, which rivaled the old one in splendor and luxury. The second Tyre was overthrown by Alexander the Great. The character of Tyre is also indicated by the expression used in this prophecy; she is represented as a city given to fornication, even as Babylon of old. She had used her riches in evil ways instead of for the glory of God. She is therefore called a harlot city, and in her restoration the Lord says she shall continue in the same character. She shall sing as an harlot, and shall turn to her former wickedness and commit fornication with all the kings of the world upon the face of the earth. In this sense Tyre is used as a type of the apostate church of the Lord.
But the 18th verse of this prophecy points to a time when there would be those in the city of Tyre who would yield their riches to the Lord, not that Tyre herself would do it, but that there would be those whose hearts were given to God, and who would yield to God that which was his own. We find in the history of the Christian church that the Christian religion was early established at Tyre. Both our Saviour and Paul visited it. Acts 21:3-6 shows that there were disciples there in the days of the apostles. Jerome says: "We have seven churches built to the Lord in Tyre. We have built the wealth of all which was not treasured up nor hid, but which was given to those who dwelt before the Lord." That there were many Christians there seems evident from the fact that it early became the seat of a bishop. The prophecy in Isaiah does not tell us as to what is right or what is wrong; it simply predicts what shall be concerning Tyre. It does not mean to convey the idea that the wickedness of Tyre was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, or that her ill-gotten riches were acceptable before him. We are simply told the judgments that would come upon Tyre, how she would recover from the judgments, and how in that wicked city there would be those who would honor God by the wealth and substance which they had.
A COMBINATION OFFER FOR ALL.
By Editor
PROPHETIC LIGHTS. By E. J. WAGGONER. Prophecies of the Old and New Testament explained by the Bible and History. Finely Illustrated. Paper bound, 180 pages, 50c.
STEPS TO CHRIST. By MRS. E. G. WHITE. A wonderfully helpful book to the sinner who would find his Saviour, as well as to young and old, in Christian experience who would know Christ better. Neatly bound in Cloth, 158 pages, 75c.
The Signs of the Times, one year, with PROPHETIC LIGHTS (post free) - - - - - - $1.75
The Signs of the Times, one year, with STEPS TO CHRIST (post free) - - - - - 2.00
Address—Signs of the Times,
12th and Castro Streets, Oakland, Cal.
Released
By Editor
Released.—A letter received from Brother Dwight C. Plumb states that he was released from Dayton jail (Tenn.) three days before his time was up. He says that he was never happier in the religion of Jesus Christ than when in jail. And that is the only liberty which gives rejoicing, even in civil bondage. Liberty in Christ is freedom from sin. While in jail Brother Plumb was given liberty to go out in the town during the day. He improved it by doing work for the Master. The people invited him to come and give them Bible readings.
The Liberty Desired by Sunday-Law Advocates
The liberty which our Sunday-law people desire is liberty for themselves.
Letter from the Society Islands
By Editor
WE print next week a letter from the Society Islands, written by Brother B. J. Cady. It will be of interest to our readers.
The Sabbath of the Lord
THE Sabbath of the Lord cannot be destroyed by men any more than can Christ, its Author. It may be ridiculed, rejected, trampled upon, crucified between two thieves, and the devil and his allies may rejoice as it seemingly perishes and is buried under the rubbish of tradition, locked in its creed-bound tomb with papal keys; but it has in it "the power of an endless life." It does not need human laws to revive it, guard it, or keep it from desecration. It is above man's power. Its foundation is God's eternal throne.
Jottings from Europe
By Editor
In this number is presented another "Jottings from Europe," from Pastor H. P. Holser. It gives a lively and interesting resumé of the trend of matters, political and religious.
Prohibition and the Alcohol Interests
According to the Prohibitionist of November 22, F. D. French, an employe of the Postal Telegraph Company at Riverside, Cal., was discharged at the behest of the brewing interests of San Francisco, because he worked in the last election campaign on the side of Prohibition. He does not seem to have been offensively partisan or to have neglected his work. But this is a characteristic of the age. The myrmidons of alcohol are following the same tactics as the Sunday-law people. "Great is Gambrinus." "Great is Sunday." What is the difference?