—President Cleveland is to act as arbitrator in a territorial dispute between Brazil and Argentine.
—In the Senate of Paraguay there is said to be a determined opposition to the president’s proposal to nominate his successor.
—The upsetting of a coal oil lamp caused a fire in the Chinese department of Salinas, Cal., on the 13th inst., which destroyed about forty houses.
—An organization of women has been formed in Philadelphia to secure the cleaning up of the city in anticipation of a possible outbreak of cholera.
—Late advices from Japan report a destructive earthquake and eruption in the interior, in which many lives were lost and much property destroyed.
—A repetition of earthquakes is reported from various parts of Greece. Serious damage has been reported at Thebes, in Bœtia, where the houses are in ruins and the inhabitants are camping out in tents.
—A certain class of people have a weakness for denominating themselves and their adherents "the best citizens of the country," but they have no authority for the claim beyond their own assertions.
—By the carelessness of a watchman, some dynamite was exploded in West Hoboken, N. J., on the 15th inst. Three houses were wrecked, and several stores and dwellings damaged. Six persons were injured, one fatally.
—The Society for the Suppression of Vice in San Francisco has begun a vigorous war on the sale of indecent and suggestive books, periodicals, and photographs, of which there is an ever-increasing abundance in the market.
—A disastrous rain and wind storm passed over the southern part of Georgia on the 15th inst. It is said at Valdosta and Thomasville many houses were blown down, and the melon and pear crops were badly damaged.
—The refusal of a barber in Cambridge, Mass., to serve a student in the University because of his color, has been speedily followed by an Act of the Massachusetts Legislature making it a punishable offense to draw such distinctions.
—A London dispatch of the 18th inst. says: "Cholera reports from the south of France are distinctly bad. During the last week the disease spread more than during the eight weeks since it first found lodgment in those squalid towns."
—The anti-cigarette law passed by the last Legislature of Washington is to be tested in the United States Supreme Court. It is claimed that the small bundle of cigarettes is an "original package," and its sale cannot be abridged by a State law.
—According to reports received from Berlin it appears that the British East Africa Company has evacuated Uganda, and that Sir Gerald Porter, the special commissioner, has raised the British flag and proclaimed a protectorate over the region.
—In his lectures at Stanford University, California, ex-President Harrison proposes to outline an international code of law to govern the leading nations of the world, with the purpose of rendering resorts to arms to settle international differences unnecessary.
—The United States is not the only country with a "Chinese Question." The East Indian possessions of all European powers are overrun by the citizens of the Celestial Empire, and the natives of Java, one of the most important Dutch colonies, are demonstrating against them.
—The Prohibitionist of San Jose, this State, says that in that city last week a saloon keeper was on trial for assaulting a Salvation Army captain, and that nearly an entire venire of twenty-five reliable citizens were excused from duty because they were opposed to the use of liquor.
—The last steamer from China to San Francisco brings news that the Chinese Government’s first act of retaliation against the United States over the Geary act is the prohibition of the use and sale of American kerosene, or coal oil. The official declares that if the act is carried out other and much more severe retaliatory measures will follow.
—Governor West, of Utah, recently went on a trip to the East, leaving Secretary Richards as acting governor. Mr. Richards is a Mormon, the son of an apostle, and is the first Mormon to occupy the gubernatorial chair since Brigham Young was deposed in 1857 by President Buchanan.
—The latest victims reported in the torrent of bank failures now sweeping the country are the First National, of Arkansas City, Kansas; the Farmers and Merchants’ State Bank, of Fairmount, Indiana; S. Bonham, of Fairfield, Illinois, and the Exchange Banking Company, of Weston, Ohio.
—France’s aristocratic prisoners, five in number, under sentence for complicity in the Panama Canal swindles, have all been liberated by the highest court of the nation, on the ground that the statute of limitations covered the charges, the indictments not being found until after the lapse of three years.
—The Illinois Legislature has passed a kindergarten bill, which provides for the establishment and maintenance of kindergartens in common with the common schools wherever ordered by the Board of Education. Children between the ages of four and seven years are to be admitted to the kindergarten, just as other children are admitted to the common schools.
—A large meeting in favor of universal suffrage was held in Weissenberge, Austria, on the 18th inst. The police attempted to disperse the assemblage, when an officer was killed and five policemen critically injured, and twenty-six workingmen were wounded. Another meeting held in Prague led to a similar encounter, when thirteen policemen and fourteen workingmen were wounded, one fatally.
—The New York Sun says that we cannot compel or even request of Russia to grant the rights of human beings to its Jewish subjects; but if we can bully little Chile into granting extraordinary privileges of asylum to local political offenders not American citizens, then certainly we ought to be able to enforce treaty rights for citizens of the United States who cannot travel in Russia because they are Jews.
—German colonists in Russia are heartily tired of the continual persecution. They have for some time past negotiating with the Roumanian Government, which is only too glad to receive them. This government has signed a treaty with the representatives of the German Russians, which secures to them freedom of language, creed, and customs. In consequence of this they are now emigrating en masse into Roumania.
—The trial of Armenians accused of or concerned in the rioting at Cesarea and Marsovan last spring has just been concluded at Angora. Seventeen of the prisoners, including Professor Thoumaian and Professor Kayayan, were condemned to death; six, including the Protestant pastor at Gimeric, were sentenced to fifteen years’ imprisonment; eighteen were sentenced to imprisonment for terms ranging from seven to ten years, and fifteen were acquitted.
—Reports are received of disastrous forest fires in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In the former the mining towns of Virginia, Biwabik, and Mountain Iron, are said to be almost entirely destroyed, the property loss being at least $1,000,000. Fires are said to be raging all through Northern Wisconsin, and thousands of people were taken to Ashland on the 18th inst., many of whom were badly injured. The town of Iron River, 2,000 population, which was entirely destroyed one year ago, is again in ashes.
—An armed guard of Wells, Fargo’s Express was shot and killed while riding on a stage with the driver between Ione and Jackson, this State, on the 15th inst. The assassin was concealed by the roadside. The team of six horses became frightened and ran, when two of the horses were wounded by subsequent shots, but no attempt was made to rob the stage. It was supposed that the culprit was an ex-convict bent on revenge, as Tovey, the murdered man, was an old guard and had incurred the enmity of several criminals by causing their conviction.
—O. H. Simons, United States Consul at Hongkong, China, has informed the State Department that he believes, as a result of investigations made, that from 500 to 1,000 fraudulent notarial certificates have been distributed to intending Chinese immigrants each month for the past three or four months. Consul Simons refused to certify two certificates, as the persons presenting them, while ostensibly having been in the United States, as their certificates showed, could not give any account of the country, and, in fact, declared that “sedan chairs were the only means of traveling in America.”
THE TALENTS. By M. C. Wilcox. A brief essay on "The Parable of the Talents," showing that the talents represent the various gifts of the Spirit which God bestows as he will upon those who are consecrated to him, with the duties and blessed privileges involved therein. Bible Students’ Library, No. 77; 16 pp., price 2 cents.
NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION. Political and scriptural reasons why the popular claim that this is "a Christian nation" is utterly unfounded and impossible. 8 pp.; $1.00 per hundred. Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal.
Religious Liberty and Missionary News
By Editor
Our thanks are due to John F. Shaw & Co., 48 Paternoster Row, London, for the eighteenth annual report (1892) of "Mission to Lepers in India and the East."
It is now stated that colonies of Mohammedans are about to emigrate to this country and settle in the South. What will they do when the "Christian" decrees of this "Christian nation" are carried out?
The International Religious Liberty Association purpose to give No. 7 of the Religious Liberty Library a circulation of nearly one and one-half million of copies. Let the good work go on and the seed sowing continue.
A Methodist minister in Aberdeen, Maryland, lately expressed the opinion that, the Supreme Court having declared this a Christian nation, all that Christians have to do is to ask for laws according as the majority may wish them, and the minority must suffer the consequences.
The Christian at Work says there are 14,000 Christian converts in the new Hebrides Islands, and that the work of the missionaries is being undone and hindered by rum brought in by traders. Great Britain has forbidden her traders to give liquor and firearms to the natives, and France and Germany stand ready to do so when "Christian" America concurs.
In speaking of the closing of the World's Fair on Sunday, the Christian Inquirer (Baptist), which believes the Fair ought to be closed, says: "We are content to rest the argument on the fourth commandment." But what has this to do with Sunday? If the managers of the Fair kept the fourth commandment, Sunday opening would be assured, and the seventh day would be observed.
The Evangeliets Sendebud or Sandhedens Tidende is the name of a new religious weekly paper in the Danish language, published at Battle Creek, Mich.; or, rather, it is the transformation of a monthly into a weekly. May God bless it on its gospel mission among the Danes and Norwegians of this country. The first number is dated June 2, and is excellent in typographical appearance and matter also, we should judge from a hasty examination. Price, $1.50 per year.
The Medical Missionary, No. 5 of which lies before us, is an excellent little monthly, published in the interest of missionary and benevolent work, by the S. D. A. Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, Battle Creek, Mich., edited by J. H. Kellogg, M. D., and Mrs. E. H. Whitney. The first article, "Organized Christian Help Work," shows what can be done in this line. It is an excellent journal, and is worthy of a wide circulation. Price only 25 cents a year. Address as above.
It is a great mistake to call Sunday-law people "Sabbatarians." The true Sabbatarian is he who holds to the true Sabbath of Jehovah, the seventh day; who holds that that Sabbath is a duty to be rendered to God, not to man; who recognizes that its observance must be voluntary, not coercive; who will observe the day himself, persuade others through the word if he can, but coerce them never; who has the rest of Christ in the heart, and who also finds Christ in the Sabbath, a spiritual rest and refreshing. Sunday-law people are Sundarians.
The recent General Synod of the German Reformed Church resolved that it heartily approved the action of the United States Government in its effort to prevent (the opening of the World's Fair) by legal measures this violation of the law of God. It is only efforts at best to prevent violation of the law of God. Violation of God's law is sin. Sin exists not in overt act, but in the thought, the intent, the motive, and no government can control them. This resolution shows how little the real nature of God's law or its violation are understood.
The Sabbath Outlook, which has done such faithful service in the Sabbath reform work, especially in original historical research, is now succeeded by the Evangel and Sabbath Outlook, weekly, at 50 cents a year. Truly the Gospel goes with the Sabbath; the Sabbath is a part of the Gospel. The Evangel truly says, as we have said in substance many times, "that no man can attain unto true Sabbath keeping who is not religious and has not the Spirit of Christ." May God bless the little sheet and keep it true to truth, and make it a thousand times more useful than its predecessor.
Speaking of Sunday closing of the World's Fair, when it was thought Sunday closing was assured, the Harbinger said: "Satan never surrenders without a fight, but when the church unitedly puts its heart and hand to any work, then Satan must surrender." That is true, but Satan often finds his most active ally in that which assumes to be the church of God by virtue of its being popularly so recognized. It was so in the days of Christ, in the days of the Reformation, in the days of Puritan sway in New England, and it is again looming up in these days of Sunday-law assumption.
The Illustrator, in answering a question concerning the Sabbath, says: "True, Jesus said, 'If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments,' but he said it to a Jew," and the inference is that therefore Gentiles ought not to keep his commandments. What are Christ's sayings worth to such teachers? With but two or three minor exceptions all that Christ ever said he said to Jews. Do we therefore have no part in promise or precept? Yes; the apostles were all Jews, and Jesus was a Jew, and he says, "Salvation is of the Jews." If those who cry "Jewish" every time the Sabbath is mentioned would remember how much is involved in their cry, it would stick in their throat. Where is the Gentile code of laws?
At the graduating exercises of a class of twenty-three young women in New York University last month, among the subjects discussed were "Christianity and the Common Law," "The Evolution of Law," and "Perpetual Peace." "All this," says the New York World, "sounds visionary and rose-colored, for Christianity and perpetual peace seem strangely at variance with a court of law. But who can prophesy what may not be accomplished when the Portia of the future has a full and fair chance." The incident will illustrate the present drift of things.
The "Christians" are coming to believe more and more that the church ought to control the State, and the statesmen of the day are more and more looking upon Christianity as a mere worldly force, the existence of which is like any other political element; that as a religion it is a little better, perhaps, than Mohammedanism; and a religion which it is well to profess as a matter of policy.
What are we going to do? Our dailies' regular issues are now too large. The Sunday editions of the great dailies are equal to many of the monthlies. But the New York World recently celebrated its tenth anniversary with an issue of 100 pages, an immense amount of reading matter. The World is the great newspaper of the world. Its daily circulation is nearing the 400,000 line. But now the Examiner, the "Monarch" of the Pacific Coast, presents the world an issue of 120 pages, containing a whole history of California by counties, and much other matter. These things show big enterprise, but if matters keep on what are we going to do? One copy of the Examiner weighed one and three-fourths pounds.
The Independent has the following editorial note:—
The Catholic Review sarcastically says that when the good time comes which shall see all Protestant divisions harmoniously united, the "300,000,000 Catholics are not to be taken into the account, but to be deliberately left out in the cold." Oh, no! [remarks the Independent.] Long before that millennial day arises the Catholics will have become a powerful wing of united evangelical Christianity.
Rather, the Protestant churches will have all become Romanized. It is not Rome that is yielding to evangelical Christianity. Her policy demands, as it always has, a certain conformity to the spirit of the age, but she never surrenders her faith; but Protestantism cannot yield or conform to the spirit of the age without surrendering her faith. So-called evangelical Christianity will soon be in fact as she is largely now in spirit a part of Rome.
The London Speaker of recent date has this item: "The growing zeal for the due observance of Sunday on the continent has taken a curious form in Belgium. The post office of that country will issue a ten-centimes stamp with a small label attached, which may be torn off at pleasure, bearing the legend in French and Flemish, 'Not to be delivered on Sunday.' Collectors may be glad to learn that the stamp bears the effigy of the king, and that its color is between that of a salmon and that of a ripe gooseberry. Supporters of the movement for the better observance of the day of rest will, it is expected, henceforth post as many letters as possible on Saturdays. An opponent, however, has devised a caricature of the stamp—black, with the head of the Postmaster General—with which a counter demonstration is to be made."
The following note comes to us accompanied by a copy of the most notorious infidel paper in the United States, the Truthseeker:—
It is with much pleasure that we send you a package of our fresh literature and we would ask for it your careful consideration. It is the object and desire of our society to reach the hearts and homes of those who wish to read along such lines of thought as religion, health, temperance and social purity. May you not only be interested in the selections sent to-day, but seek to interest others by handing the same to them. Please accept the samples sent with the best wishes of yours faithfully.
We suppress the name of the one who sent the letter. We have no need of the paper. We do not believe that it makes for either religion or morality; on the other hand, we do believe that it is against truth and righteousness and purity. But the friends of the Truthseeker have as much right, so far as man is concerned, to labor to pervert souls as have Roman Catholics, or as have Christians, to labor to convert souls. The only way to meet all religious error and baleful doctrine is by the truth of God's word. The judgment of every man belongs to God alone.
BIBLE ELECTION. By M. C. Wilcox. A brief presentation of God's plan and purpose concerning man, showing that the doctrine of election, or predestination, according to the Bible, is full of comfort and instruction. It throws new light on old controversies. Bible Students' Library, No. 67; 24 pp.; price 5 cents. Address Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal.
