p. 15 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 36. (9/12/1895)

News and Notes

SINCE OUR LAST ISSUE.

FOREIGN.

—General Pierola has been officially proclaimed president of Peru. So state despatches from that quarter.

—A Swiss scientist has been testing the presence of bacteria in the mountain air, and finds that not a single microbe exists above an altitude of 2,000 feet.

—Telegraphic communication has been established between Derby and Cape York, Australia, a distance by the wires of 7,246 miles. This is the longest telegraph line in the world.

—Three torpedo-boat destroyers, with a guaranteed speed of thirty-six land miles per hour, have been ordered by the British Admiralty. It is proposed to make these vessels the fastest of their class afloat.

—Besides her plague of rabbits, Australia is now threatened with a plague of foxes. These animals, imported for the sport of fox hunting, have increased so rapidly that a reward is now offered for their capture.

—The proposed alliance of the states of Central America has witnessed a step towards the project, Nicaragua and Honduras taking the lead by signing a compact of peace. It is expected that Guatemala and Salvador will follow soon.

—How well Russia is prepared for war is shown by the fact that in the district of Warsaw, which lies wedged in between the Russian provinces of Silesia and Prussia, there are five large fortresses, and 350,000 men ready to march at a moment’s notice.

—A remarkable speed run was recently made by the new fast train between London and Aberdeen, on the London and Northwestern Railway. The distance is 540 miles, and was made at an average speed of 63.47 miles per hour, including all stops. This is the fastest railroad time on record for a long run.

—A second attempt has been made by anarchists on the life of Baron Alphonse Rothschild, of Paris. The first was by means of an infernal machine in a letter sent to the bank, and the explosion destroyed an eye of the banker’s confidential clerk. The second resulted in nothing but the capture of a bomb thrower.

—In the beginning of his reign, Czar Nicholas, of Russia, dispensed with the usual body guard of the former czars when he appeared on the streets. This action was loudly applauded by the populace, who thought they saw in it a sign of better government. But the lapse of time has proved the new czar to be an autocrat, as were his predecessors, and he now moves about surrounded by a heavy guard. It is stated that extraordinary demonstrations or threats are being made by the Nihilists at present.

DOMESTIC.

—On August 29 water broke through the walls of the Bob Tail Tunnel mine, near Central City, Colo., drowning thirteen miners.

—On September 7 the Osceola mine, near Calumet, Mich., caught fire, and at latest reports thirty-two miners were cut off from escape. Over two hundred were rescued.

—A trial trip has just been made between Walla Walla and Fort Vancouver to test the utility of the bicycle in the military service. The trial was ordered by officials of the army.

—A new sect has sprung up calling itself the New Light Community. Recently at Arthera, Ill., fourteen men and twenty-five converts were baptized by a woman preacher of the cult.

—A runaway engine on the Sea Beach Railroad near Brooklyn, dashed into the rear of a standing passenger train on the 2d inst., telescoping several cars and injuring about fifty people.

—At least two methods of sending pictures by telegraph have been recently patented. Both methods, while totally unlike, are said to be very simple, and are likely to prove of great service to newspapers.

—Following the example of controlling dealers in other lines, the great lumber dealers of the Pacific Coast have formed a trust to control the entire manufacture and output of pine lumber from this section.

—Surveys and examinations of the bituminous coal beds of Pennsylvania have led the government experts to announce that at the present rate of consumption the supply will not be exhausted for 800 years to come.

—It is now announced that Monsignor Satolli, papal ablegate to the United States, is to be advanced to the dignity of a cardinal. It is stated that the gentleman will remain in America with the title of Pro-delegato Apostolico.

—A decision has been reached by the Controller of the treasury refusing to pay sugar planters the $5,260,000 appropriated by the last Congress for bounties under the McKinley tariff act, which bounties were ended by the new tariff law.

—A recent invention is the folding bicycle, the frame being so hinged as to permit the wheels to be folded side by side. The advantage claimed is that it may be easily doubled up and carried, where necessary, while being equal in other respects to an ordinary wheel.

—The health officers of San Francisco have undertaken the somewhat disagreeable task of inspecting the Chinatown district of that city, on the lookout for cholera germs. This district, comprising perhaps a square half mile, is said to hold over twenty-five thousand Chinese.

—Special action is being taken by the San Francisco and California state Boards of Health to prevent the entrance of Asiatic cholera. It is feared it may find its way in through Mexico, where the quarantine laws are said to be very lax, from Honolulu, where it has made its appearance.

—Paper sails are a recent invention. The paper is subjected to a process, whence it issues in sheets of the usual width and thickness of cotton duck. These sheets are cemented and riveted together so as to form a smooth, strong seam. The sails are said to be light, durable, elastic, and air tight.

—The head chemist of a molasses factory at Chino, Cal., has found a novel but very useful use for refuse molasses. The product was mixed with a certain kind of sand and the resultant mixture used as a pavement for a sidewalk, equaling the best asphalt pavement. The idea suggests a use for waste product for other mills.

—The great tobacco trust, whose field has been the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes, recently began the manufacture of plug tobacco. This invaded the territory of manufacturers of that article, and a combine of nine of the heaviest firms in this line has been formed to protect themselves and retaliate by beginning to make cigarettes. And so the war is on between two great trusts.

—One of the largest dealers in tobacco and cigars in Boston sells 1,000,000 cigarettes each week; there are three more who sell 500,000, five dispose of 100,000 each and two others 250,000 each, making an appalling weekly total of 3,500,000 of these worst of tobacco compounds. Most of these cigarettes are smoked in Boston. This basis as an average would give every individual in the city of Boston a cigarette daily and leave a reserve fund.

—Boston is to have a subway, that is, a tunnel to which will be removed the bulk of its electric street car system, especially those lines supplying the great business centers. The standard height is fourteen feet, and the top of the rails will be seventeen feet below the surface, while the width for two tracks is twenty-four feet, and for four tracks twenty-eight feet. Five great stations are provided, reached by stairways from the street. Work on the tunnel is now in progress.

—Articles of incorporation have been filed for the Civic Federation of San Francisco. The object of the corporation, which is similar to other federations of like name, is the “formation of a non-partisan, non-sectarian association, embracing all the forces that are now laboring to advance the municipal, philanthropic, industrial, and moral interests of the city, and to use such forces in promoting the honesty, efficiency, and economy of its municipal government and the highest welfare of the citizens.”

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR CONSECRATED YOUNG WOMEN.

By John Harvey Kellogg

THE Medical Missionary College has already begun its first preliminary session. The class numbers nearly thirty. The first regular session will open October 1. Qualified students may be received at any time prior to that date. It is, however, desirable that all who can should take the preliminary course. A few more well-qualified young women can be received. For terms, conditions, etc., address, J. H. KELLOGG, M. D.,

President S. D. A. Medical Missionary Board.

CHRIST, OUR ADVOCATE

His Ministry in the True Tabernacle

An up-to-date pamphlet on the work of Christ in the sanctuary in Heaven. Bible Students' Library No. 128. Fully Illustrated. Paper covers. Price, 10 cents.

Address,

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.

OAKLAND, CAL.

Kansas City, Mo.　　　　　　　　　New York City, N. Y.

RISE AND PROGRESS OF Seventh-Day Adventists.

By John Norton Loughborough

Tokens of God's Hand in the Movement, and Brief Sketch of the Advent Cause from 1831 to 1844.

By J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

This new book, fresh from the pen of one of the oldest ministers in the advent movement, cannot but be of great interest to all, and especially to those who have become Seventh-Day Adventists in recent years and know but little of the early history of the cause and its leaders.

The following are some of the chapter headings: Extent of the Advent Proclamation; The Tarrying Time; The Midnight Cry; The Disappointment; Fresh Tokens of Divine Guidance; Perils, Reproaches, Victories; New Features in the Work; Providence of God in the Publishing Work; Organization; Rapid Advancement; Though Workers Faint, God's Work Advances; Truth Advanced Even by Opposition.

The book contains nearly 400 pages, with 50 illustrations, several of them full page, and is neatly bound in cloth, and furnished in two styles.

Cloth, plain edges . . . . . $1 25 Cloth, gilt edges . . . . . 1 50

Books sent postpaid on receipt of price.

Address,

PACIFIC PRESS PUB. CO., OAKLAND, CAL.

Or 43 Bond St., New York.

THE ATONEMENT.

The author, in a book of 368 pages, takes up this great central doctrine of the gospel, and treats it in two parts. Part first,

An Atonement Consistent with Reason.

In this he shows that the doctrine of an atonement through the medium of a voluntary substitute is consistent with reason. Part second,

The Atonement as Revealed in the Bible.

In this is discussed the plan of redemption through Christ, by which every sinner who accepts Christ will be justified; sin will be turned back upon the head of its originator; the earth will be cleansed from the curse; God's righteous government will be restored over the entire universe; and all who will not become loyal subjects of that government will be destroyed.

The book presents a CRITICAL AND EXHAUSTIVE TREATISE on this interesting subject, by a thorough Bible student, and wholly from a Bible standpoint, and cannot fail to be of great value to everyone who reads it.

Third edition, bound in cloth, embossed in black, with gold title on back and front cover.

Price, postpaid, $1.00.

Address, Pacific Press Publishing Co., Oakland, Cal. Or 43 Bond St., New York City.

BIBLE SANCTIFICATION: A CONTRAST OF TRUE AND FALSE THEORIES.

By Mrs. E. G. White.

This is a pamphlet of only 84 pages, but its value is not to be judged by its size. It is just what its title indicates: a faithful presentation of Bible truth on this important subject, and an exposure of the false theories prevailing in regard to it. Every believer in Bible truth should read it. Buy it, read it, and lend it to your neighbor. Price, 10 cents.

Address, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.

TEACHERS’ BIBLES

GENUINE OXFORD EDITIONS

From $1.25 to $20.00 in price. Send for price list.

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

Kansas City, Mo. New York City, N. Y.

THE ATONEMENT.

Part I, “An Atonement Consistent with Reason.” Part II, “An Atonement as Revealed in the Bible.” Pacific Press Publ. Co., Oakland, Cal. Cloth, $1.00. Kansas City, Mo. New York City, N. Y.

Under the Law: Grace and the Fourth Commandment

Under the Law.—This is an expression that occurs several times in the writings of the apostle Paul, in the use of which he shows that Christians are not under the condemnation of the law, because of the pardoning grace of Christ. We often hear professed Christians use it to excuse their transgressions of God’s law, but always—strange to say—with respect to the fourth commandment. If the claims of the fourth commandment are presented before them, and the blessings which follow its acceptance urged upon them, they will say, “I am not under the law but under grace,” just as though God’s grace gave them the privilege of trampling the law of God underfoot; for if it is true of the fourth precept, it is true of the first and third and seventh, and every other. The fact is, grace frees from sin, “the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:5. And grace is manifested in keeping the whole law, as Christ did.

Earnestness and Conscientiousness

Earnestness and Conscientiousness.—But earnestness and conscientiousness are not a proof of the goodness or utility of a movement. There are conscientious heathen, pagans, Mohammedans, Mormons, infidels. Many of these are as thoroughly conscientious as it is possible for a Christian to be. The Pharisee Saul was conscientious when he pursued Christians to imprisonment and death. He said, “I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to his disciples, “The time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” This is conscientiousness. Sir Thomas More was a conscientious Catholic. Calvin was conscientious doubtless in his actions concerning Servetus. The Puritans were conscientious in their persecutions of Baptists. And the zeal and earnestness of the devotees of false religions would put to shame many Christians.

Let It Not Be Forgotten

Let It Not Be Forgotten by our readers that men are persecuted in the United States to-day, a country called “Christian” by many, for keeping the same day for the Sabbath that Christ kept.

On Trial

“On Trial.”—We are all on trial before God. Every earthly court and judge will have to give an account to the great Judge of the universe. Read the article with the above title, beginning on the first page.

Brethren in Tennessee Released From Chain-Gang

Our Brethren in Tennessee are now out of the chain-gang, those having shorter terms working out time for those having the longer terms. All are well. All the other prisoners were sick more or less, but only one of our brethren lost any time, Brother Terry losing one-half day from toothache.

Is It Christian to Prosecute Sabbath Observers?

Even Admitting that seventh-day observers are altogether wrong in observing the Sabbath that Christ observed and working the first day of the week as he worked, is it Christian to prosecute them? Did not Christ say, “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise”? Luke 6:31. Can not the Lord be trusted to deal with them according to their deserts?

Religious Persecution Justified by Law

The Religious Persecution now going on in this country is said to be justified by law. “We must enforce the law,” say its officers; “that is our duty, whatever the law is.” This was the Pharisees’ justification of Christ’s death, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die.” John 19: 7. May it not be that the law is evil? And is there a virtue in enforcing an unrighteous law? Even Gamaliel said, “Let these men alone.”

What Is This?

In Butte, Mont., August 3, a Hebrew was arrested for selling goods without license. Being too poor to pay his fine, he was put in the chain-gang to work it out. Being an orthodox Hebrew, when Sabbath (Saturday) came he told them, the authorities, that he could not work as it was the Sabbath, upon which he was put into a dungeon and water pumped in so that he could not sit down. Two men, Elder Palmer and Mr. Boggs, called on the mayor of the city to learn the reason of such treatment, and were told that the American people kept Sunday, and it did not matter whether a man kept the seventh day or not, if he was in the chain-gang and refused to work Saturday, he would have to take the consequences. And this contrary to Montana’s Bill of Rights and the United States Constitution! Is it not religious persecution? But let the Hebrew remain steadfast, though he may not know Christ Jesus, nevertheless Christ is with him, and with every other soul unjustly dealt with, or oppressed for conscience’ sake.

A SYMPOSIUM NUMBER.

By Editor

The Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, will be the prominent subject considered in the Signs of the Times of September 26. The great subject will be treated under the following heads, by experienced Bible students:—

The Scripture Canon.

The Inspiration of the Scriptures.

The Incarnate Word.

The Word Came through Christ.

The Word, How Understood.

The Power of the Word.

The Word in Us.

These articles will occupy the space now given to Editorial and General Articles. This number will be illustrated with appropriate and original cuts, illustrative of the subject. It is hoped that it will not only be an interesting paper, but that it will bear to many thousands a soul-saving message.

Christian Endeavor “Christian Citizenship.”—

By Editor

We have had considerable to say in recent past numbers concerning Christian Endeavor and “Christian Citizenship” work. We have pointed out what to our minds are grave errors. That there are true, devoted Christians among the Christian Endeavorers we are glad to believe. That their lives are devoted to the Master, and that they are doing good in his name, we also believe. That there are earnest, conscientious men pushing the Christian Citizenship movement we are also constrained to believe. We do not impugn their motives. So much for this.

The Reason Men Persecute

The Reason.—The reason why men persecute, why they pursue a course which leads to persecution, is given in connection with both of the scriptures quoted above. Paul says, “I thought with myself.” Jesus said of those who would kill his disciples, “These things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.” See Acts 26:9; John 16:3. The difference between persecutors and non-persecutors is not so much a difference between ages, or epochs, or men; for men in all ages are naturally the same. Mere intellectual knowledge will not prevent man from being a persecutor. The difference between Saul and Paul was one of motive and life. When a persecutor, he thought with himself, he did not know God and Christ. If Pilate and the Jews had known the Gospel, the mystery of God, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 1 Cor. 2:8. The reason is simply this: The Gospel of Christ to him who receives it puts Christ within, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27), and the soul thus converted can not lift his hand against Him who rules within.

Christian Citizenship

The “Christian Citizenship” movement, the “applied Christianity,” taught by Professor Herron and others, is afflicted as was Saul of Tarsus. It thinks with itself, with man. Its schemes are human, man invented, man made. It does not know Christ and his Gospel. If the promoters of “Christian Citizenship” or “applied Christianity” only knew Christ, they would know that Christ’s “kingdom is not of this world;” that his disciples are nowhere authorized to use the civil power, the civil arm, the temporal sword, for the promotion or support of his teachings; that Christianity can only be applied through the word of God, by the Spirit of God, upon the heart of the individual; that the individual must receive its power by faith; that the Christian’s “citizenship is in heaven,” and that here he is but the ambassador of peace from God to a rebellious world; and that every attempt to accomplish this by human means will result in total failure. It will do more than this: it will make hypocrites of those who have not the courage to suffer, and will persecute those who are courageous enough to stand to their own convictions of duty and right and to exercise a conscience void of offense toward God. Such may be wrong, but the arbitrament of their cases rests with no human tribunal. It is because of this that we lift warning voice against these seemingly “good” schemes, but which have in them the very essence of papal assumption and rebellion against God. We appeal to Christian Endeavorers not to be led away from the simplicity, the purity, the peace, the power of the Gospel of Christ. Do not think with yourselves or with ambitious men; think with God. Take his thoughts as revealed in Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Labor for men, beseech men, persuade men, teach men, lift them up by lifting Christ up, in the love of Christ. More than this is not of the Gospel, it is of the mystery of iniquity.

Atlanta Exposition Closed on Sunday Controversy

The Atlanta Exposition will be closed on the Sunday. The president and director general of the affair thus writes to Mr. William Ingersoll, a lawyer:—

“DEAR SIR: Replying to your communication of July 30, I beg to advise you that this company has never for a moment contemplated opening the Exposition on the Sabbath day.”

In the letter of fact this would mean that the Exposition would not be open from Friday sunset till Saturday at sunset, but Mr. Colyer did not mean this, as shown by Mr. Ingersoll’s question. Nevertheless, calling Sunday “the Sabbath day” does not make it so. It does not change brass to call it gold. A lie can never become truth.