Owing to the preponderance of the hoodlum-element at Sunday picnics in the neighborhood of San Francisco, the Southern Pacific and other railroad companies have decided to run no Sunday excursion trains from that city this summer. The company has also issued an order prohibiting the selling of liquor at its stations, except at the principal eating stations. It is also considering the advisability of closing all the bars on the ferry-boats on San Francisco Bay.
Hurricane Wrecks Warships at Apia
MARCH 16 a hurricane swept over the Samoan Islands, doing untold damage and wrecking the American and German men-of-war in Apia harbor. Four vessels, two American and two German, are total wrecks, while one American and one German vessel it was thought might be saved. The total loss of life in the two fleets was 142; of those 96 were Germans and 46 Americans. The one British man-of-war at Apia, the Calliope, having a supply of fuel, which it seems the other vessels did not have, escaped by putting to sea.
Truth on All Days
By Editor
In the office chapel the other morning the pastor said in substance: I suppose that most of us have not forgotten that to-morrow, April 1, is a day which heathen custom has set apart as a time in which we may tell lies; but falsehood on one day is just as bad as falsehood on another. The apostle says, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds." Neither does sport justify the foolish lying and jesting; for "as a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbor, and saith, Am I not in sport?" "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor," on all days, under all circumstances. And the Signs responds, as will all its truth-loving readers, Amen.
The New Roman Catholic University
"America" well says that "the new Roman Catholic University in Washington, which is soon to begin educating American young men, will probably prove itself as un-American in all the ideas and methods found within its walls, as anything could well be. Bishop Keane, the rector of the university, is now in Rome, whither he lately took the statutes of the new institution as framed by the American bishops, to be corrected and approved by the Pope. They have been examined by a commission of Italian cardinals, on whose recommendations the Pope has acted. While in the shadow of the Vatican, Bishop Keane is picking up Italian professors to bring back with him under contract to teach American pupils. Therefore, the new university will be, to all intents and purposes, a foreign institution of learning planted on American soil, and reeking with the dogmas of Rome."
A Millennium Maker
"A MILLENNIUM MAKER" is what the San Francisco Examiner calls the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage. That gentleman has submitted the conversion of the world to a mathematician, and finds that 2,754,375 Christians out of the nominal 500,000,000 can accomplish the conversion of the world, or bring about the millennium, by the beginning of the next century, if each converted person will convert another, and that person another, and so on. He thinks an army of 50,000,000 earnest Christians would do it, while an army of 47,000,000 could be held in reserve. But there have been just such millennium makers in the past. The same idea was advocated a few years ago by the Christian Commonwealth, of London. The question is not, Can they do it? but, Will they do it? All might become Christians, but the divine word asserts that all will not. The millennium will not come till ushered in by the presence of the Lord to reward his own and destroy the wicked. And the millennium of saints will not be on the earth, but in Heaven.
The True Lord’s Day
QUITE a number of ladies of Healdsburg, Cal., recently presented to a certain defender of Sunday sacredness, a memorial, in which they say, "We, the undersigned, ladies of Healdsburg, who observe Sunday as the Lord's day, desire to extend to you," etc. Evidently they wrote more truly than they designed. They do not observe the Lord's day, nor do they call Sunday such, but they "observe Sunday as the Lord's day." We may in the same way observe Monday, Tuesday, or any other day of the week, as the Lord's day.
But Sunday is always only observed as the Lord's day. It has no right to the title any more than Monday. "The seventh day," God declares, "is the Sabbath of Jehovah" (Ex. 20:8-11); the Lord calls it, "My holy day" (Isa. 58:13); and Jesus declares that he is Lord of that day. Mark 2:28. The seventh day is the Lord's day, and he who observes it according to the commandment, observes the Lord's day. The Lord's day of the Bible then is, not the first day, but the seventh day, commonly called Saturday.
Pleasing God, Not Men
The soldier of Christ must make up his mind that he cannot please all. In fact, it is not to be his object to please any man. The ship that will sail with every wind will never enter port. The Christian who endeavors to agree with each one he meets will as often go backward as forward. His chief object should be to love God, seek God, please God. Men will find fault with him, it is true. They will find fault with him if he tries to please them. John the Baptist was temperate and abstemious, and men said that he had a devil; Jesus met with men at the social board, and the Jews said that he was gluttonous and a wine-bibber. Matt. 11:18, 19. Their lot would have indeed been hard if their only object had been to please men. But they had a higher motive,—to please God alone,—and their joy was proportionately great. "Not as pleasing men, but God that trieth the hearts."
The Famine in Northern China
The extent and severity of the famine in Northern China can scarcely be realized in America. In this country of vast resources, numerous railways, and sparse population (only fourteen to the square mile), a failure of crops may cause "hard times" in the district immediately affected, but a famine is scarcely possible, at least such a thing has never been experienced in our country. In China, however, the case is very different. The country is destitute of railroads, and is densely peopled. The provinces now suffering from famine are said to have a population of from 150 to nearly 500 per square mile. A vast majority of these are poor. At least they lead a precarious existence, living from hand to mouth, and with them a failure of crops means not simply financial embarrassment, as it does to the American farmers, but hunger, cold, and nakedness, and in many cases actual starvation.
Northern China has cold winters, and in the present case the horrors of famine have been increased by the rigors of a hard winter. The Chinese Government has done something for the relief of its suffering subjects, and the people in the more favored districts have also contributed, but the resources of the Government and of the people are alike limited, and an appeal has been made to the world. Relief committees have been formed not only in China but in London, Berlin, New York, San Francisco, and other cities, and funds are being collected and aid forwarded as rapidly as possible. It is stated that the sum of ninety cents will provide food for a single person for three months, and if such be the case certainly none should be permitted to starve unless lack of transportation prevents aid from reaching them in season.
Address of Elder J. W. Scoles
By Editor
The address of Elder J. W. Scoles will be Oakland, Cal., care Pacific Press, until further notice.
Upper Columbia Camp-Meeting
By Editor
WE are requested to state that the Upper Columbia camp-meeting will be held May 14 to 21.