—The net gold reserve in the U. S. Treasury, December 7, was $107,957,562.
—A recent cable announces the arrival of the U. S. S. Baltimore at Chee-Foo.
—The Denver chief of police has decided to allow no more prize fights in that city.
—Arizona and New Mexico have applied for Statehood. The prospects are favorable.
—Count Ferdinand de Lesseps died December 7, at his home, La Chesnaye, France, at the age of eighty-nine.
—Congress assembled according to appointment the 3d inst., and is now assimilating the President's message of 15,000 words.
—Mr. Cramp has just received from the Navy Department $434,000, the speed premium earned by the Minneapolis on her trial trip.
—Advices from Richmond, Ky., announce the death of a student of Central University from injuries sustained while playing modern football.
—Japan's aim seems to be to humiliate to the depths her big opponent. From latest reports China must sue for peace in the humblest style if she wishes it.
—Work was formally begun the 7th inst. on the great Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago. The site is on the shores of William's Bay, Lake Geneva.
—Advices from Guthrie, O. T., state that a posse of 250 farmers has started for the Gyp Hills with the intention of wiping out the horse and cattle thieves infesting the territory.
—The vessels seized by the Japanese in the capture of Port Arthur, the key to China, are one torpedo boat, two merchant coasters, and a small cruiser, which was being built there.
—It is stated by late dispatches that Li Hung Chang is to be succeeded by Liu Kun Yih. Some trouble is anticipated when the latter attempts to take over the vice-regal seals.
—Chicago's Health Department is visiting and examining the city's bake shops. The first day's investigation reports an astounding condition of carelessness, filth, and disease.
—A trolley car on the Mt. Vernon line in Bronxdale, N. Y., overturned at a curve and slid considerable distance on its side. It was traveling very fast, and the occupants were severely shaken and cut up.
—The German Reichstag opened at noon, Wednesday. A characteristic speech was delivered by Emperor William from the throne. He expressed it as the foremost duty of the government to protect the working classes.
—Students of the California State University have just indulged in a haze. The victim was guilty of cheering and assisting members of an opposition football team. The spirit of hazing has slumbered a number of years heretofore in this institution.
—A bill was introduced in the Senate December 5, to form a temporary government of the five civilized Indian tribes in Indian Territory, with regularly appointed governor, secretary, and assembly. The proposed name of the new division is Indianola.
—Latest advises from our neighbors on the south indicate a very excited state of affairs between Mexico and Nicaragua. The ill feeling threatens to draw in all the Central American States. If the only means of settlement is war, Mexico will probably whip them all.
—Two parties returning from the gold and diamond fields of South Africa, report the best claims, especially those in Mashonaland, in the hands of a syndicate. They also report that gambling is not allowed in the colonies. The latter feature, if true, is certainly commendable.
—The Thursday evening express on the Texas and Pacific Railroad was held up by three bandits near Fort Worth, Texas, and relieved of over $100,000, in gold bullion. The train was delayed only fifteen minutes, and the work is pronounced the boldest in the history of Texas train robberies.
—A report from Washington states that Professor Langley has just put his aeroplane to a practical test. When released, it jumped into the air against the breeze, and, after floating for some distance, alighted upon the water. The trial was pronounced a success, but the report does not state whether the inventor sailed with the machine or not.
—Even the Reichstag has its trials and worriments. The president, Von Levetzow, made a reminiscent speech, and called for cheers for the emperor. The Socialists remained seated and silent, in spite of the angry protests of the other members. A great uproar followed, each side attempting to justify positions taken. Herr Singer, the champion of the Socialists, made a bitter attack upon the emperor, and was called to order by the president. The debate that followed was interspersed with remarks on this unusual exercise of party and personal feeling. Thus ended the first sitting.
—Fifty gallons of nitro-glycerine exploded behind a runaway team in West Virginia, last Thursday, and all that has been thus far found is a ten-foot hole in the solid rock, over which the wagon was passing, and a piece of horse collar. The explosion was heard forty miles away. The driver fell from the wagon a few minutes before the final act.
—A railroad express car, said to be bullet proof, is being constructed in Chicago. The car has a double floor and double roof, and at each end is a messenger's compartment, from which he may shoot along the sides of the car from outwardly swinging sections provided with portholes, or from which he can command the interior of the car with safety to himself.
—News from Chicago state that on the evening of December 8 a party of young people, while waiting at the Lyons depot of the Burlington road, were struck by a suburban train. Miss Ida Schultz was killed outright, her brother Edward perhaps fatally injured, and another brother, Emil, narrowly escaped death. It would seem that such accidents could be avoided.
—Concerning the recent alleged slaughter of Armenians, it is claimed by Turkish authorities that Turkish troops have not exceeded the requirements of civilized warfare in dealing with bands of insurgent Armenians, who have been during the past few months pillaging Mussulman villages. A commission has been appointed to investigate the truthfulness of the reports. President Cleveland will send an American delegate.
—The latest novelty in detective work is a telephone in a hat. A well-known Chicago lawyer, desiring certain evidence, arranged a transmitter in the crown of his client's hat, placed a small battery in his pocket, and connected these by means of very fine wire with a receiver one hundred feet away. Thus equipped, Dr. Janss, the client, met the party to be interviewed, and was conducted through several doors with the wire trailing from his heel. The conversation was recorded at the other end of the wire, and the information thus gained so overwhelmed the interviewed party that it brought forth a complete confession in the presence of witnesses.
—In the recent storm that visited this coast, lightning and thunder played a conspicuous part. These visitors are of such rare occurrence in the vicinity of San Francisco that they are worthy of notice. In Sausalito a hotel in course of construction was struck by lightning and completely demolished. In its fall other buildings were damaged to the extent of several thousand dollars. The residence of Julius Franklin, 2930 California Street, San Francisco, was also struck, twisting a large chandelier, fusing the connections, and destroying the electric light system in the house. This is the first instance known of lightning striking a building in San Francisco.
—The electrical museum of Cornell University has received a valuable souvenir from Stephen Vail, whose father, Alfred Vail, was associated with Samuel F. B. Morse in the invention and development of the electric telegraph. Vail invented the semaphore, or sounder, and the alphabetical code based on the divisions of time and space, which are often attributed to Morse. The first telegraph line was one constructed by Vail in his father's iron works at Morristown, N. J., and consisted of three miles of wire stretched around the four sides of a large room. The transmission of the message, "A patient waiter is no loser," over this line by Alfred Vail, is the first historic instance of a message sent by telegraph, and led to an appropriation by Congress for the construction of the line between Baltimore and Washington, with which Ezra Cornell, the founder of Cornell University, was prominently identified.
RELIGIOUS.
—Rev. H. S. Harrison, editor and proprietor of the Advance, Congregational Church paper, was instantly killed by a suburban train at La Grange, near Chicago, November 21.
—The pope has instructed the patriarchs of the Eastern churches in communion with Rome, to maintain at the Vatican a resident bishop to assist in the plans for the development of the Catholic clergy in the Orient, and prepare for a union of the churches.
—"The church cannot legislate; it can only declare God's legislation, and execute what he has formulated." So says the Good Way. It is a true saying, but why will it not apply to Sabbath legislation? Will the Good Way tell us when, where, or how God ever "formulated" Sunday observance?
—Advices by way of Lyons, France, from Seoul, state that all the Christian villages in Corea have been pillaged and burned, and that numbers of native Christians have been massacred. The report adds that all the French missionaries have, after great hardships, succeeded in reaching Seoul, the capital.
—A dispatch from Victoria, B. C., states that a band of Indians has just arrived from the north to wait on General Booth. They are from the Siwash Salvation Army, and are in uniform. General Booth is on his way to San Francisco. He has thus far met with extraordinary demonstrations on the part of the clergy of Chicago and other cities.
—A Toledo, Ohio, dispatch of November 20 notes the fact that the noted Catholic missionary, Rev. Walter Elliott, of the Paulist Order, is drawing large Protestant audiences, composed of members of nearly every denomination. His mission is specially to Protestants, explaining to them the various points of Catholic doctrine. It is claimed that wherever he goes he attracts many Protestant hearers.
—We have reached that point in the process of the healing of the "deadly wound" of the papal "beast" (Rev. 13) where the feeble protest of nominal Protestantism against Catholicism is merely a political protest. The contention against the fast-recuperating invalid has fallen from the high plane of Christian principle to the mire of strife for political prestige. Poor, degenerate Protestantism will soon find that in the use of papal weapons she is no match for the old mistress.
—Advices from Warsaw state that the governor of Russian Poland has been instructed by the czar not to interfere with the Catholic clergy, and not to impose any orders upon them. If this policy is adhered to by Czar Nicholas, he will have to depart from the custom of his predecessors, although a similar move was at one time made by his father. The faction in Russia favoring liberality in the treatment of Polish subjects has always been in the minority, and doubts are expressed that the present decision will continue long.
—Referring to the recent decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that Roman Catholic nuns may teach in the public schools wearing their religious garb, and to the dissension of one of the judges from the decision, the New York Christian Advocate says, "In this case, as often, sense and equity are with the minority." This is a logical and truthful conclusion, but the Advocate goes further, and very illogically advocates the employment of a like method by Protestants, as follows: "If this is and is to be the law, it will be well for Protestant sects to establish orders, of which the badge shall be, worked in appropriate and conspicuous letters, 'NOT ROMAN CATHOLIC.'" When Protestantism was indeed a spiritual power in the world, its warfare was based on the motto, "The Bible, and the Bible alone." The Christian's only legitimate weapon, offensive and defensive, is the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
—Rabbi Voorzanger, of San Francisco, recently delivered an address before the Presbyterian Ministerial Union of that city and vicinity, on the subject of the "Modern Hebrew Idea of the Messiah." He asserted, says the Occident, that millions of the Hebrews, himself among them, hold that there will be no personal Messiah, but that the idea conveyed by the name rather means an era of general redemption, peace, and good will, when all creeds and faiths will be merged into one under the great light of truth, and find its final consummation in God. For the "able exposition," "delivered with such deference to the views of his hearers," the Occident adds that "applause and a vote of thanks were given the rabbi." This "modern Hebrew idea" is practically the same as is held by many professed Christian rabbis, who reject the scriptural idea of the second personal advent of Christ. True, the latter do not explicitly deny the Messiahship of Jesus, but they reject his teaching in regard to his "appearing and kingdom," which is practically the same. To deny his word is to deny him.
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.
THE ATONEMENT. Part I, "An Atonement Consistent with Reason." Part II, "An Atonement as Revealed in the Bible." Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal. Cloth, $1.00.
Christians and Civil Government.
By Editor
A local paper east of the Rockies from which we expected better things, has the following in reply to a critic on a Christian's right to vote:—
"Is it right for a Christian to vote? One critic evidently believes not. Now if all Christians should refrain from voting, in whose hands would be the reins of government? Manifestly in the hands of the enemies of Christianity. Is that the design of God? We think not."
Now this is the very argument of National Reformers and Roman Catholics. Miss Willard's statement that the kingdom of Christ should enter this world through the gateway of politics is the logical result of such reasoning. Every human government that ever existed has been the enemy of Christianity the very moment it entered the sphere of Christianity or morals. And no class of people has ever done more to make civil government an enemy to Christianity than have professed Christians who wished to put and to keep "good men" in office. There are none under greater temptation in this respect than Christians the moment they enter politics.
It is the old Babylonian cry over again: "Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. . . . And the Lord said, . . . Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language. . . . So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth." Oh, that man could and would learn that the kingdom and reign of Christ come not by policy or expediency, but in the hearts of men through his gospel; and in the realm of earth, "the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." The only proper civil government is the one absolutely non-religious, and the less that Christians have to do with it as Christians the better.
Roman Catholic Influence.
By Editor
The Catholic Mirror of November 24 has as its leading contributed article, "Our First Explorers Catholics. What They Did to Spread Civilization in America." Of course the writer claims everything, they always do, although he admits that both of the first Catholic attempts at colonization of what is now the United States, were abandoned. But what if a Catholic did discover America first? What has that to do with the right of Roman Catholics to rule or not to rule? The aborigines have a better claim, and therefore their idolatry ought to be predominant! This is the logic of Roman Catholics. The fact is that those who discovered this country did so as men, not as Catholics or Protestants. As to the influence of religion on civilization in this continent, it is only necessary to compare the Roman Catholic republics of Central and South America with this country. This country has made its growth free from religious domination. The governments of South America have been Roman Catholic. We give her the credit of their civilization. It belongs to her solely. In this country it is what it is in spite of her.
Church Politics and Labor Trials
By Editor
The incident related in the following short letter in the Des Moines, Iowa, Bulletin is decidedly significant:—
"During the District Conference of the M. E. Church held at Sheldon, November 13 and 14, one of the presiding elders, in an enthusiastic address, made the following significant statement: 'The M. E. Church is the strongest political and ecclesiastical body in the United States.' He used the illustration of cannon balls to represent the church, Epworth League, and Sunday school, which when hurled against those who oppose the advancement of the church, will, like an avalanche, sweep everything before them."
Over 100 cases of members of the American Railway Union are pending in the United States District Courts of San Francisco and Los Angeles, the charges in the main being interference with the carrying of the mails during the great strike last summer. The following resolution of the Farmers' Alliance, recently in session in this city, expresses the sentiment of that body:—
"Resolved, That the Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union of California view with alarm and indignation the action of Judges Morrow and Ross in their arbitrary and tyrannical treatment of the members of the A. R. U., who are undergoing trial in their respective courts, and, in their action, we see the approach of absolute despotism."
THE "WEEK OF PRAYER."
By Editor
EVERY week should be, and no doubt is, a week of prayer with the people of God. With Seventh-day Adventists it has come to be a custom to make the world's feasting season a season of devotion. It is fitting that at such a time the Lord's people should specially watch and pray, lest they enter into temptation.
While the Christmas festival is a nominally Christian institution, it is practically a world's carousal. Being merely the continuation of a heathen holiday occasion, having no legitimate place as a Christian memorial, it is but natural that its observance should be mainly a gratification of carnal appetite and sensual pleasure. The special temptations are in that line, temptations to do the very things which the Christian should scrupulously and persistently avoid. So strong is the temptation to cling to the fascinating customs of the holiday season that many who profess to ignore it as a church festival will encourage it through a sentimental idea that the social amenities attached to it have a tendency to strengthen the family ties and cement a neighborly friendship. But it is, nevertheless, a fact that "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." The expenditure of means and time and talents to perpetuate a worldly convivial institution bearing the mask of church sanction, is sheer idolatry, and a most delusive deception. Even the custom of some Christians of deferring the purchase of necessary articles for the family in order to bring them in as "Christmas presents" is in a measure catering to the worldly custom of honoring an institution of the great deceiver, held up by an apostate church.
Let those who are looking for the Lord, come out from the world in the matter of holiday frivolities, and come out from the delusive snares of church institutions based upon the traditions of men who were guided by the great apostasy. The occasion of the "week of prayer" this year will continue from Sabbath, the 22d inst., to Sunday, the 30th, inclusive,—nine days in all. The offerings, as usual, go to the foreign mission work, and should be of means customarily spent in unnecessary purchases and extraordinary feasting. The world's feasting time may well be spent by the church as a time of fasting.
The Failure of Prohibition Politics
It is evident that the Prohibition party, like the W. C. T. U., has too many irons in the fire for effectual temperance work. As a political party the Prohibition political machine must needs espouse other issues foreign to temperance reform, which of necessity alienate many temperance men who are opposed to the side issues held up for indorsement by the party organization. A writer in the Occident, seeing the remoteness of victory through a political party, draws this conclusion:—
"We now see that temperance men can unite extensively and efficiently by non-partisan methods. The liquor dealers have long been using such methods to protect their own interests. The National Protective Associations and the United States Brewers' Association, which were organized in 1886 to check the spread of laws prohibitory of the liquor traffic, have prevented the enactment of any such laws since they were organized, and also have accomplished much in preventing the execution of the prohibitory laws that have been previously enacted."
The failure of the Prohibition political party as a means of securing prohibition has been pretty well demonstrated in the United States. The Prohibitionist, organ of that party in California, not long ago made the statement that twenty-six per cent. of the territory of the country is now under prohibitory law. Admitting the statement to be correct, it is a notable fact that no part of this result has been achieved by the election of Prohibition party nominees to office. While little or nothing is expected of the old popular parties in the way of prohibition, it is nevertheless true that the measure of prohibition so far gained has been in the main secured when one or the other of them was in power. The exceptions have been in merely local instances, where non-partisan candidates have been placed in office. Prohibition can only win as a principle, not as a political party expedient for political power.
Papal Overtures to the Anglican Church
The pope is not only reaching out in direct efforts to secure a return of the Greek Church to the Roman fold, but he is said to be making similar overtures to the Church of England. The following on this point is from the Catholic News:—
"By way of Vienna comes a dispatch from Rome, as follows: 'The pope has appointed a theological commission to inquire into the validity of ordinations in the Anglican Church from the view point of the Roman doctrine. His holiness has invited Cardinal Vaughn to Rome to discuss the union of the Anglican and Roman Churches. He also proposes to submit a specific scheme to a conference of cardinals, as in the case of the Eastern churches.' Leo XIII. hopes to overcome apparently insuperable obstacles in his project for the reunion of Christendom. Every Christian must admire the pope's zeal. We Catholics pray that he may succeed in his great work."
An Important Tract.
By Editor
No. 62 of the Sentinel Library has just been issued, and our brethren should give it an immediate and extensive circulation. It tells of the imprisonment of several of our brethren, nominally for laboring on Sunday, but really because of their conscientious observance of the Sabbath of the Lord. The particular cases detailed are those of Brethren Robert R. Whaley and W. G. Curlett, of Queen Anne County, Md., A. J. Howard, of Anne Arundel County, Md., and D. C. Plumb, of Graysville, Tenn. The tract is entitled "Now in Jail for Conscience' Sake," and is the same as No. 28 of the Religious Liberty Library. The tract contains 8 pages. Price, 1 cent.