p. 703 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 44. (9/11/1893)

BATTLE CREEK SANITARIUM HEALTH FOODS.

THE unequaled health foods manufactured by the Sanitarium Health Food Company are neither made nor sold by others than their authorized agents. The Rural Health Retreat, St. Helena, Cal., is authorized to manufacture our granola and most of our other health foods for the Pacific Coast. The Union College is authorized to manufacture granola in Lincoln, Nebraska, and to supply members of the Seventh-day Adventist Conference living in that State. Our granola and other special health foods are not manufactured by any other parties.

SANITARIUM HEALTH FOOD CO., BATTLE CREEK, MICH.

Called to Special Service

"God called Moses to do a great work. As surely does God call each of us to special service. 'Ye are my witnesses.' 'We are laborers together with God.' He has a plan for each of our lives. Are we living according to God's plans?"

IN EUROPE.

By George C. Tenney

ONE who travels in the United States has but few of the real difficulties to meet that he encounters on a tour through the countries of Europe. To appreciate the situation fully let him imagine that State lines are the boundaries of distinct countries, under different government, with different languages, currency, stamps, and regulations; and that these now invisible boundaries were marked by customhouses, and generally by a change of cars; and if to the situation now presented he adds the usual fact that he cannot understand the language, does not know what to do, where or when to do it, and cannot inquire, nor understand the answer if he does, then he can think of some of the annoyances that continually haunt the stranger in the Old World. Happy is the traveler who enjoys the advantage of the company of some kind friend who will act as guide and interpreter, and listen with patience to his scolding because things are not as they are in that wonderful country he calls home.

We have had that good fortune on our present trip, through the kindness of different brethren. On our way from Amsterdam to Hamburg we happened to get on a train that did not take us directly through, and consequently the monotony of the night's trip was broken by three changes of cars, one walk through a city at midnight, and a wait of four hours in the latter part of the night.

Hamburg has, through its cholera experience, obtained a reputation that does not appear to be true to its real standing. To a casual visitor it presents anything but an unclean or infectious appearance. On the other hand, its appearance is very pleasing, and with its spacious parks, well-kept and tidy streets, its substantial buildings, and orderly government, it gives evidence at once of being a first-class city in every respect. It contains over 700,000 inhabitants, and is by far the most important commercial city of the German Empire. A vast and important undertaking of the government is now about being accomplished, which is the construction of a ship canal by which the largest steamships can pass from the Baltic to the North Sea in German territory.

This canal runs from Hamburg on the Elbe to Kiel, the most important naval port of the empire, situated on the Baltic. The distance is about eighty miles. Within the harbor of Hamburg is a very extensive free port, where goods and manufactures from any country may be entered without duty; they may also be manufactured there, and shipped or reshipped to any other country, and no customs are collected except upon those that go into Germany outside of the free port. So that so far as customs are concerned it is practically a foreign port within their own harbor, and of course is a great advantage to those doing business with other countries.

Our work was started in Hamburg about three years since, and though no extensive effort has been made, its progress has been steady. A few workers have done what they could, and there are now about 120 Sabbath keepers in the city and in one of its suburbs. In view of the importance of the city in its relation to a large part of the eastern world, it has been decided to make more of an effort there. Looking to the establishment of the work there, the General Conference voted to appropriate $15,000 to the obtaining of suitable buildings for mission and depository purposes. At the present time it seems probable that we shall be highly favored with an opportunity to purchase on reasonable terms a place that is just adapted to the wants of the cause, and thus avoid the trouble and delay of erecting a building.

Our stay in Hamburg has been but brief, two days at different times, as we passed through, but our acquaintance with the work and the workers has been interesting and enjoyable. In the near future, under the blessing of God, we anticipate that an extensive and most important work will grow out of what has been and is being done.

Our first objective point was Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, the route to which lay through Hamburg. From Hamburg we journeyed by rail to Kiel, thence by steamer across the southeast end of the Baltic Sea to Korsör, on the Danish island of Sjælland, formerly Zealand. On the eastern shore of this island, which is the most easterly portion of the kingdom of Denmark, Copenhagen is situated, within sight of the shore of Sweden. It has the reputation of being a very beautiful and orderly city, which it seems to well deserve. Copenhagen is credited with a population of over 300,000. The country at large is a fertile and prosperous agricultural district, and the people are sober, industrious, and frugal. A system of fresh water lakes, walled and bridged, extends through a main portion of the city, adding both to the appearance and healthfulness of the place.

Our denominational work in Denmark has been prosecuted with some success; indeed, the labor put forth has been well rewarded in the acceptance of the truth by quite a number of the people, and the organization of a separate Conference. The latest reports give 10 churches and 380 members. For three years a school for the benefit of young people who contemplated entering the work has been conducted in temporary quarters in the city, under the care of Elder M. M. Olsen. It has been successful in its work, and has demonstrated the utility and necessity of a more permanent school of the same nature.

When we reached the city, the annual meetings were in progress. The Conference and other business meetings were already past, and there remained a week of the biblical institute that was being conducted by Brother Haskell. There were present at this meeting representatives from all the Scandinavian countries. The occasion was made a council for the work in these countries. And the question of a school was the most prominent one before the meeting. It was decided to move toward the establishment of such a school, and it was thought that the most feasible location would be at Fredrickshavn, at the northern extremity of Denmark, where it will about equally well accommodate Norway and Denmark. It is also adjacent to Sweden, and for a time it is proposed to make provision for a Swedish branch of the school, expecting that the time will come when Sweden will require a school of its own.

Other matters of interest and importance came up before the meeting. It appears that the prospects of the work were never before so good in Scandinavia as at the present time. In Finland, especially, where the work has just been opened, and where the power of oppression is very heavily felt, as it is a province of the Russian Empire, there is a readiness to hear and accept the truth that has not been equaled, as we were told, in any other of the Scandinavian countries.

One observes in this people very much that is attractive, with a simplicity of character that leads them to receive the truth in the love of it. And yet it is painfully evident that sin has made its mark in these countries as well as others. As in other European countries, militarism prevails. Many of the men on the streets are in uniform, and soldiers are everywhere under training.

From this point we returned to Hamburg on our way to the meeting in Switzerland. The harbor of Kiel presents a very interesting appearance as it is entered from the sea. On either side the most formidable fortresses, crowned with immense cannon, frown upon the passers-by. Inside the harbor are anchored the flower and strength of the German navy,—massive ironclads, active torpedo boats, and every class of war vessel lying with steam up, in momentary readiness for the great struggle that is being so mysteriously delayed. G. C. TENNEY.

FIELD NOTES.

By Editor

Elders J. B. Goodrich and H. E. Rickard report a good interest in their tent meetings at Presque Isle, Me.

At Shelton, Neb., a new house of worship was dedicated August 9, by Elders W. B. White and Daniel Nettleton.

Brother George W. Howard reports that at Rangeley, Franklin County, Me., nine have recently begun keeping the Sabbath of the Lord.

The Virginia Tract Society, at its recent annual meeting, recommended that Brother Wm. Hutchinson and wife go to Richmond to labor.

Sister M. J. Bahler, who has been a frequent contributor to the columns of this paper, died in Battle Creek, Mich., on the 19th of August.

At Garden Plain, Kansas, where Brethren E. L. Fortner and T. M. Thorn have been laboring, a church of eleven members was recently organized.

At Guthrie, Oklahoma, August 7, eleven persons, five colored, were baptized in the Cottonwood River, and after this service a church of twenty-five members was organized.

Sister E. G. White makes a special appeal in behalf of the work in New Zealand, the need of a house of worship in Wellington being set forth as an urgent necessity in order to get the attention of church-going people who will not attend meetings in halls used for all purposes.

"The best yet" seems to be the verdict at all the State camp meetings this year, and our Ohio brethren are not behind in the claim for their meeting at Mt. Vernon. Eighty-two persons were baptized. The report to June 30 showed fifty-seven churches in the Ohio Conference, with 1,431 members.

Elder R. M. Kilgore, superintendent of General Conference District No. 2, was at Welsh, La., August 5 and 6, and ordained Brother H. S. Shaw to the gospel ministry.

Elder J. H. Durland gives a good report of the late camp meeting at Castana, Iowa. The attendance was not large (250 in camp), but there was great rejoicing, and fourteen were baptized.

Elders Wm. Ings and A. J. Osborne report the baptism of five persons in connection with their tent labor in Lodi, Cal. Others have taken their stand on the truths presented, and a Sabbath school of twenty-two members has been organized.

Sister Vesta J. Olsen writes concerning the recent camp meeting at Seward, Neb.: "We have had showers of blessing here. I never attended a better meeting with the children; it was truly encouraging to see how ready they were to take hold of the promises of God by faith, and in an intelligent manner too."

The London city office of the International Tract Society (formerly the London Branch of the Pacific Press Publishing Company) has been changed from No. 48 to No. 59 Paternoster Row. Correspondents are specially requested to bear this in mind. The present room is conveniently located on the ground floor.

From Elder Conradi's report in the Review we learn that the deacon of the church at Sarighiol, Russia, and three families from Charkoo have been banished to Siberia. A sister has lately visited those who are in banishment near the Persian border, and describes their condition as "miserable and pitiful." No letters can now reach our brethren there, and the latest news is that they are to be further removed, and cut off from all possible communication.

The brig Galilee, which sailed from San Francisco for Papeete, Tahiti, September 1, has on board a complete printing outfit, consisting of type, printing press, and material, for our brethren at Tahiti. Brother E. C. Chapman, a practical printer, who sailed on the Pitcairn on her last voyage, is stationed at Papeete and will take charge of the plant. Several of our tracts have already been translated into the Tahitian language, and only await the arrival of the press to be printed and sent out.

Brother Maui Pomare, the first fruit from the Maoris of New Zealand, arrived in this city on the 31st ult., on the steamer Alameda. He is one of four young men, students at a college in Napier, N. Z., who accepted the Seventh-day Adventist faith a few months ago. He received his first knowledge of the truths we hold from the cook at the college, who had been an English sailor. This cook had not himself united with the Adventists, but had in some way learned much of their doctrines, and was a nominal believer. Brother Pomare went on to Battle Creek, Mich., to attend school. The Maoris are the natives of New Zealand.

Of the work in South Carolina, Elder E. W. Webster writes, under date of August 18: "The Lord is blessing the work here in a remarkable manner. He has gone out before in all directions, so that calls for meetings are now coming in from the country around us. We have our hands full to follow up the interest in the city, and are pressed for time to do that. We are years behind the providence of God in entering South Carolina, but we are now here and at the work with all our might. Besides calls to labor publicly, we have all the house-to-house work we can do, and the papers are also open to our use. These we have used, with an invitation to use them again."

A Bible school, under the auspices of the General Conference, will be opened in Battle Creek, Mich., October 12, and continue six months. The object of the school is to give persons of liberal education an opportunity for special preparation to engage in the work. If they wish to enter upon any line of health work, special facilities are offered at the Sanitarium. Calendars can be obtained from any of our educational institutions on application, and circulars of information will be forwarded from the Sanitarium in regard to that branch of the work.

The first sentence of Sister White's article in another column expresses a truth which should be engraved on the memory of every professed servant of God: "The professed church of God may be possessed of wealth, education, and knowledge of doctrine, and may say by her attitude, 'I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;' but if its members are devoid of inward holiness, they cannot be the light of the world." Yet this holiness awaits all. Jesus invites us to open the door and let him come in, let his mind be in us. His light will shine away the darkness, and will cause us to believe.

A WASTED DAY.

By Christian Alliance

THE day is gone, And I, alas! have wrought no good, Performed no worthy task of thought or deed; Albeit small my power and great my need, I have not done the little that I could. With shame o'er forfeit hours I brood,— The day is done.

'One step behind, One step through all eternity— Thus much to lack of what I might have been, Because the temptress of my life stole in, And wrapt a golden day away from me. My highest height can never be,— One step behind.

I cannot tell What good I might have done, this day, Of thought or deed, that still, when I am gone, And long, long years gone singing on and on, Like some sweet fountain by the dusty way, Perhaps some word that God would say,— I cannot tell!

O life of light, That goest out, I know not where, Beyond night's silent and mysterious shore, To write thy record there forevermore, Take on thy shining wings a hope, a prayer, That henceforth I unfaltering fare Toward life and light. —Christian Alliance.

International S. S. Lessons.

"So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." —Neh. 8:8

LESSON XIII.—SABBATH, SEPTEMBER 23, 1893.

RESISTING THE ENEMY. 1 PETER 5: 7-14.

[Note.—The questions which follow are merely suggestive for the student on the leading points of the lesson; it is presumed that the thorough student will think of many more as he studies the subject. References, where verses alone are given, always refer to the lesson scripture printed above. All other references are given in book, chapter, and verse. The text printed is that of the Revised Version, not because it is especially preferred, but because it is not found in every family, as is the common version.]

Review Questions.—(a) With what class in the church does our last lesson deal? (b) What are the duties of elders? (c) What injunction does he give the younger members? (d) What injunction is given to all?

I. How to Resist the Devil.

Verses 7-9: "Casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. Be sober, be watchful; your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom withstand steadfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world."

Upon whom should we cast our cares?
What assurance is given us?
To what are we exhorted?
Why should we be sober and vigilant?
What is the devil called?
How are we to resist him? Note 1.
Do we stand alone in these afflictions?

II. The Mighty Helper.

Verses 10-14: "And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, stablish, strengthen you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. By Sylvanus, our faithful brother, as I account him, I have written unto you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God: stand ye fast therein. She that is in Babylon, elect together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Mark my son."

Who has called us?
To what has he called us?
Through whom does this call come?
Through what experience do we all have to pass?
What will he do for us through it all?
To whom then will belong the glory?
What does the apostle declare he has testified?
What is the final benediction to all?

Notes.

1. Whom resist.—The only way to resist the enemy is by faith in Christ. We cannot do it by watching Satan as we would a physical foe. If our eyes are fixed upon the enemy, we fall before him; and it is his greatest object to induce us to look at him. When Peter looked down upon the raging waves, he sank; when his eyes were on Christ, he safely walked the boiling billows. "Looking unto Jesus" is our only safety (Heb. 12: 2, 3); for faith puts him before us so that we do not have to meet the enemy; Christ meets him. Satan's accusations fall against Christ's righteousness, his craft against Christ's wisdom, his power against the mighty power of Christ, and by faith we are more than conqueror. We are not alone in trials; the children of God everywhere have them to meet, but Christ is able to succor all who trust him. Heb. 2: 18.

2. Called.—Let the heart rest on the great fact that God has called us, not to wrath (1 Thess. 5: 9), but to eternal glory (1 Peter 5: 10); Christ died that all might have it (John 3: 16; 20: 31); he accepted us according to the good pleasure of his will (Eph. 1: 5, 6); he has wrought us for immortality (2 Cor. 5: 4, 5); and he who has begun the good work is able to finish it till the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1: 6). Why should we doubt God? God himself has undertaken the work which it is his will, his good pleasure, to finish. Shall we not make his will ours? The sufferings and trials we meet will not hinder him. Satan will say that we are killed all the day long like sheep for the slaughter, but faith says, because Christ says, that in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Rom. 8: 36-39.

Word Thoughts.—Casting (v. 7), a casting on God once for all. A holy carelessness, yielding all to him; for he cares for us, and can help us.—Watchful (v. 8), a reference to the experience of the apostles. See Matt. 26: 40, 41.—Adversary (ho antidikos), from anti, against, and dikē, lawsuit. Only used here of Satan in the New Testament.—The Devil, ho diabolos. The word refers to Satan, never to the demons, or angels of Satan. When referring to Satan it is always in the singular with the definite article, when to men, the definite article is wanting, as in John 6: 70. "Devils," plural, is from daimon.—Lion.—"Christ is called a lion because of his courage; Satan, because of his ferocity. The one lion comes to conquer, the other to hurt."—Walketh about. The Arabs called Satan "the busy one."—Withstand (v. 9), better than resist. Not to strive against, but to be firm against its attack.—Steadfast, to stand firm, compact, as a body of men, to stand like a rock.—Perfect (v. 10), margin restore. From that suffering God shall himself perfect, restore, stablish, and strengthen. It is a promise to the suffering ones. God will do all this, even to settle us upon the rock. See Luke 22: 32.—Silvanus (v. 12), supposed to be Silas. See Acts 15: 22, 27, 32, etc.; 1 Cor. 1: 19; 1 Thess. 1: 1; 2 Thess. 1: 1.—Our faithful brother, literally, the faithful brother, one noted for his faithfulness.—Unto you. Not "brother unto you," as in common version, but "written unto you," as in R. V.—Account (common version, "suppose"). The word means "a settled persuasion, or assurance."—Babylon (v. 13), without doubt Babylon on the Euphrates.—Peace (v. 14). Peace is the fruit of the gospel, and Peter brings the gospel in this epistle. See 1: 23-25.

CAMP MEETINGS FOR 1893.

By General Conference Committee

DISTRICT NUMBER ONE.

New England, West Lynn, Mass......Sept. 7-17 New York, Little Valley...................Sept. 14-24

DISTRICT NUMBER THREE.

Illinois (southern), Olney...................Sept. 13-19 Michigan (State), Lansing.........Sept. 21 to Oct. 1

DISTRICT NUMBER FOUR.

Wisconsin, Glenwood.......................Sept. 12-19 Wisconsin (northeastern), New Lon- don...............................................Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 Iowa, Sigourney...............................Oct. 3-10 Minnesota, Wadena.........................Sept. 19-25 Minnesota, Owatonna.......................Oct. 3-10

DISTRICT NUMBER FIVE.

Colorado (western), Delta......Sept. 27 to Oct. 2 Kansas, Herrington.........................Sept. 7-17 Missouri, Sedalia............................Sept. 13-24 Oklahoma, Oklahoma City......Sept. 28 to Oct. 8

GEN. CONF. COM.

SECULAR.

—Late news from South America is to the effect that Ecuador is preparing for war with Peru.

—The Thornton Worsted Mill in Johnstown, R. I., was burned on the night of the 2d inst. Loss, $225,000.

—The Irish Home Rule Bill has finally passed the House of Commons, and now goes to the hostile House of Lords.

—The strike of longshoremen in New York City is at an end. They have given up the struggle without gaining anything.

—The Nicaragua Canal Company has come to a point where it cannot meet its obligations, and a receiver has been appointed.

—The Carnegie Steel Works at Homestead, Pa., have resumed work in all departments, giving employment to 2,000 idle men.

—A fire in Marseilles, France, on the 30th ult., destroyed property to the value of 2,000,000 francs, and left 200 people homeless.

—The Wells-Fargo Express Co. has made a general cut of ten to twenty per cent. in wages of employes, besides largely curtailing the force.

—Of the score of banks closed during the recent panic in Denver, Colo., all but three have resumed, and it is expected that these will resume in a few weeks.

—The World's Fair is drawing to a close, and the time has come for the usual charges of bribery, fraud, etc., in connection with the matter of awarding prizes.

—A cloudburst in the vicinity of Guyton, Ga., occurred on the 2d inst., and people outdoors had to flee for their lives. The water in the streets of Guyton was four feet deep.

—The last steamer from the Orient brings tidings of two great fires in Japan,—one at Hachioji, which destroyed 1,000 houses, and one at Niigata, in which 400 houses were burned.

—A Panama dispatch says the town of Barranquilla, Colombia, has been declared in a state of siege, and it is thought this action on the part of the government will hasten a revolution.

—The Javanese village, said to be one of the most attractive shows at the World's Fair, has been compelled to close, owing to inability to meet the requirement of 25 per cent. of the receipts.

—The Government of South Australia is said to be strictly enforcing the provisions of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and a bill is pending which provides for applying the law to all colored Asiatics.

—Near Chester, Mass., on the 31st ult., an express train broke through a bridge and fifteen persons were killed, while several others were seriously injured, several of whom are expected to die.

—The Oliver Iron and Steel Company, of Pittsburg, employing 6,000 men, has decided to run as a nonunion concern. The action of the company has created great excitement among union men.

—The San Francisco Examiner says that 2,000 men and women in that city are known to the police as victims of the cocaine habit, and there are many others who keep their weakness to themselves.

—The Southern Pacific Railroad Company is curtailing expenses in every possible way, and has taken off a half dozen or more local trains running from San Francisco to various points in the interior.

—Last week a large number of workingmen notified the Chinese of Redlands, in Southern California, to leave the town. At last accounts the militia and a number of citizens were in readiness to defend the Chinese residents.

—The Central American State of Costa Rica has established quarantines as follows: One against New York on account of cholera, one against Honduras and Nicaragua on account of smallpox, and a third against Cocas del Toro on account of yellow fever.

—Floods are said to be causing great damage in the province of Bahar, in Bengal. Hundreds of square miles, including the towns of Mosaffar, Pur Darbhang, and Paddy are submerged. The rice crops are ruined and thousands of people are homeless. Other parts of Eastern Bengal are also suffering from the floods. Famine is feared.

—Late dispatches from Bangkok, Siam, state that the special envoy of France endeavored to extort from the Siamese Government an agreement quite different from the ultimatum which formed the basis of the recent peace settlement. The government stolidly refused, and the French representative receded from his extraordinary demands.

—Late advices via London state that on the 28th ult. a hurricane in the Azores Islands did considerable damage. Three ships were destroyed, and two others are since missing. At Fayal thirteen houses were wrecked, and on the island of Terceira twenty-seven houses were swept away and five persons killed. Most of the crops are said to be ruined.

—At the German Army maneuvers, which began at Metz on the 3d inst., the emperor was accompanied by the crown prince of Italy. This is deemed a circumstance of great significance in France, on whose border the fortress of Metz is situated. A counter occurrence of equal significance is the appearance of a Russian fleet at the French port of Toulon, and a great ovation to its officers by the French authorities.

—Judge Ross, of the U. S. Court in Los Angeles, Cal., has decided that Chinese who are in this country in violation of the Exclusion Act may be proceeded against by warrant on the complaint of any citizen. The court has nothing to do with the question of Congressional appropriations for the expense of sending the culprits away. The executive officers must see to that. On the strength of this decision there will be numerous complaints against Chinese in this State.

—Dr. T. Thatcher Graves, who was tried two years ago and convicted of the murder of a Mrs. Barnaby, a wealthy woman of Providence, R. I., then visiting at Denver, Colo., and was soon to have a second trial, has cut the matter short by committing suicide. The case has been one of unusual notoriety, as Dr. Graves at the time of the murder resided in Providence, and it was charged that he sent the poison to Mrs. Barnaby at Denver in a bottle of extra whisky. He had been her physician and confidential adviser for several years.

—The Venezuelan Government has recently discovered a plot on the part of adherents of the lately overthrown dictator, De Rojas, to inaugurate a revolution against the government of President Crespo.

—Cholera is spreading throughout Europe, even getting a hold in England, Grimsby having become so affected that the traffic between it and other British ports has been prohibited. Our own country has also been invaded, several deaths having occurred in Jersey City, N. J. Vigorous measures are being taken to arrest the progress of the scourge.

—The Shanghai Mercury's Hankow correspondent is authority for the statement that an anti-foreign riot took place at Yen Kia-wen, in Meinyang, July 25. Two native converts were killed and the French priest of the district was barbarously beaten. The chapel was burned, and the mission property destroyed, the inmates being obliged to fly for their lives.

—An anti-Chinese riot occurred at Selma, Fresno County, Cal., on the night of the 2d inst. The Chinese had previously been ordered to leave the town, but had not obeyed the order. About forty men employed on a neighboring vineyard attacked the Chinese quarters, broke down the doors of the houses, robbed them of considerable money, and started them all off toward Fresno under a guard. Officers and citizens came to the rescue, arrested eleven of the rioters, and returned the Chinamen to their looted houses.

—Over 60,000 of the 100,000 coal miners of South Wales, who were on a strike for 20 per cent. advance in wages, have returned to work, breaking the strike there and greatly discouraging the remaining 300,000 strikers in England. Reports from the strike districts indicate great distress among the families of the strikers. The miners of East Lothian and Midlothian have resolved to strike unless wages are advanced 20 per cent. In Chesterfield, on the 31st ult., 1,000 strikers gathered at the gates of the Balsaver collieries, and, the police being unable to cope with them, they invaded the works and did much damage, and then dispersed before reinforcements for the police arrived.

—The worst cyclone yet reported struck the South Atlantic Coast States on the 29th inst. Its path was forty to fifty miles wide along the eastern coast of Florida, and at Mayport, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine great damage was done to shipping and other property. In the vicinity of Savannah, Ga., the loss by storm and tidal wave is said to be forty to fifty lives and $10,000,000 in property. On the Sea Islands, along the coast of North and South Carolina, 500 persons are reported to have been drowned by tidal wave. In the city of Charleston the water was from two to six feet deep, the streets were filled with debris, and many houses were unroofed and otherwise damaged. In Port Royal and immediate vicinity over 100 lives were lost, mostly negroes, and hardly a house escaped more or less damage. Twenty persons were drowned on Paris Island. In Beaufort every house suffered damage. The damage to shipping all along the coast is beyond computation at present, and the loss of life among sailors as yet unknown. The damage to cotton and rice crops, it is thought, will reach $3,000,000. The storm continued northward, doing considerable damage at various points in Virginia, also at Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and even in New York.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 4.

RELIGIOUS.

—Dr. H. S. Venable, of Virginia, and six ladies, missionaries to China, left San Francisco last week on the steamer City of Peking.

—A convention of the National Reform Association has been called to meet in the First United Presbyterian Church, Alleghany, Pa., on the evening of November 14.

—Bishop Kephart, who has recently visited the mission of the United Brethren on the west coast of Africa, says that the practice of circumcision is very general among all the African tribes of that coast. It is practiced among the converts to Christianity as well as among the pagans.

—The governors of the provinces of Kuban and Stavropol, Russia, have given orders to close Baptist meeting houses within their jurisdiction. In the province inhabited by the Kuban Cossacks the Baptists have recently made a considerable number of conversions from the orthodox church.

—Of the 800 policemen employed by the city of Chicago, 600 are Roman Catholics. And the Cynosure gives this fact as the probable reason why a man and his wife, who attempted to preach the gospel in the streets, were arrested and fined, and why the roughs who wantonly assaulted the woman were not molested by the police.

—When Satolli was in Cincinnati recently a police officer was kept near him all the time, lest some evil should befall him. This was at the earnest solicitation of a priest, who said, "There is no telling what some sectarian crank may attempt to do." He evidently judges "sectarian cranks" by the fanatical mobs of his own persuasion.

—It is interesting to note what hard things the religious papers are continually saying about the people and the government of this nation, which most of these same papers contend (in the light of the Supreme Court decision) is a "Christian nation." This assumption is supposed to wonderfully exalt the nation, but the daily exposition of flagrant wickedness in almost every corner shows that the general appellation of "Christian" to it all is but a degradation of Christianity.

—The Interior says, "It is hard to see how a law-abiding and conscientious chaplain [of the army] can keep silent concerning the liquor nuisance at the posts." And it is still harder to see how a "conscientious" minister of the gospel can be an army chaplain at all. They have to carry a military rank, which demands a subservient recognition on the part of the rank and file of the army, to whose special welfare they are nominally supposed to minister. Thus the whole situation is incongruous in the light of the Scriptures.

—The Christian Statesman of the 26th ult. says: "There has been this week the usual number of electoral revolutions in the Sabbathless Spanish republics south of us." The reason they are "Sabbathless" is because they know only the spurious papal institution supported by civil law,—the same that the American Sabbath Union is endeavoring to enforce in the United States by civil law. The Statesman ought to be able to see in these "Sabbathless Spanish republics" some of the evil effects of civil law religion—but it doesn't.

TO THE WORLD'S FAIR.

Weekly Excursions.

ARE you going? If so, it will be to your interest to call on, or write to, the undersigned before arranging for your trip.

The "Santa Fe Route" being the only line under one management from California to Chicago, we can offer you advantages, for a safe and pleasant journey, unsurpassed by other lines.

It is the only line running Pullman Palace and Tourist sleeping cars through to Chicago, every day, without change, on the same train.

Select Overland Excursions leave every Tuesday, with manager in charge through to Boston. Baggage checked to destination. Steamship tickets sold to and from all European points, via all the popular steamship lines. J. J. Warner, Agent, 972 Broadway, Oakland, Cal., or W. A. Bissell, G. P. A. 650 Market Street, Chronicle Building, San Francisco, Cal.

Catalogue free on application to the nearest Columbia Agent, or sent by mail for two 2-cent stamps. POPE MFG. CO., 221 Columbus Ave., Boston,

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