—Leading daily papers in Callao, Peru, are praising the excellence of the Methodist school in that place as compared with the ordinary schools of that country, which are all under Catholic influence.
—Mr. Mozoomdar, leader of the society known in India as the Brahma-Somaj, says there are 10,000,000 people in India who speak the English language. This is encouraging news to English-speaking Christians who desire to go there as missionaries.
—Grace Episcopal Church, San Francisco, has heretofore been kept open on week days from 8 A. M. to 5 P. M., but recently valuable books, pew cushions, footstools, etc., have been stolen, until the vestry have decided to open the church only on Sundays.
—The Baptist Theological Seminary in Germany, after what is denominated a prosperous year, sends out fourteen young men to assume charges, of whom one goes to Vienna, three to Hungary, two to Russia, and the rest to prominent points in the German Empire.
—At the recent triennial meeting of the Moravian Synod of the Southern District, at Salem, N. C., the spiritual condition of the congregations was represented as being more encouraging than for several years past. Pensions were fixed as follows: To a retired minister and his wife, $360 per annum; to a retired minister, if a widower, $175; to the widow of a minister, $175.
—In the N. Y. Christian Advocate we find the statement that a conference of Free Evangelical Churchmen—Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians—was held in London a few weeks ago to consider the spiritual and social wants of London from a practical point of view. Facts were presented showing that the increase in church accommodation in the metropolis during the last decade was less than half what was required to meet the needs of an increased population, and that the Nonconformists provided far less than their just proportion.
—The time to do good is now, for no one knows what a day may bring forth. On Sunday, the day before Christmas, Mr. Robert C. Fisher, aged 57, attended service as usual in Trinity Episcopal Church, New Rochelle, N. Y. He seemed to be in excellent health, and at the close of the service stood at the door and handed each of the poorer members and attendants a $20 gold piece as a Christmas present, as they passed out. Just as he had handed his bounty to the last recipient, he suddenly reeled and would have fallen had he not been supported by persons who stood by him. He was removed to the parish house of the church, and died at 2 o'clock the next morning.
—An order for 200 barrels of triple-test grape brandy was recently filled out at Fresno, Cal., for the Russian Church. Two Orthodox priests came from Russia, and, taking turns at the still, stood sentinel over the entire process until the brandy was in the barrels. Then they sealed the barrels with the seal of the church, and had them shipped to New Orleans on the cars, traveling on the freight train to keep watch over the precious cargo. At New Orleans it was to be shipped to Russia, the priests to keep their vigilant guard till the brandy should arrive at its destination. It is designed for sacramental purposes, and the close watch was a precaution against any adulteration in the manufacture, or theft by the way.
—The Sunday-closing mania has again struck the people of Fresno, owing to a rumor that the Board of Supervisors contemplated a repeal of the ordinance requiring saloons to close from 12 o'clock Saturday night till 6 o'clock Monday morning. The delusion that accompanies this Sunday-closing business is in the fact that people are led to believe that it is a temperance measure, whereas it is simply a piece of Sunday adoration. Everyone who takes a second thought upon the subject can see at a glance that the saloons are no better and the people no more temperate than they were before. The whole movement is in the interest of enforced Sunday observance and the advocates of a State Sunday law are stealthily weaving their web over county after county under the seductive guise of temperance.
—A correspondent of the New York Union Record, writing from Worcester, Mass., says: "This city has been, and is, pretty well stirred up by different movements, some of which seem near bringing about old-time religious quarrels. The sudden growth and influence of the American Protective Association, and the retaliating and daring operations of the Roman priesthood; an enthusiastic temperance movement, headed by the Murphys, father and son, and carried on under the auspices of the Protestant clergy, bringing in fifteen thousand teetotal pledges in three weeks; then the city going for license right on top of that; a weekly paper publishing ten articles on the Sabbath question, notwithstanding repeated protests on the part of the ministers,—these are some of the features of interest."
SECULAR.
—The Diet of Saxony has rejected the Socialist motion for universal suffrage.
—In San Francisco, footpadism has become too common a thing for special mention.
—It is reported that the entire maize crop of Argentine Republic has been ruined by drought.
—A review of the trade of Great Britain for 1893 shows a discouraging decrease in every class of imports and exports.
—The unemployed are thus computed in the four leading cities: New York, 110,000; Chicago, 117,000; Philadelphia, 90,000; Boston, 40,000.
—According to a computation by the New York Post, the bonded indebtedness of American railroads now in the hands of receivers is $1,301,000,000.
—In Carson City, Nev., on the 12th inst., a Chinese opium den was raided by the police, and four Indians and the proprietor were captured with the outfit.
—A Mrs. Knorr, who carried on a baby farm at Melbourne, Australia, and was accused of systematically strangling children left to her care, has been sentenced to death.
—On account of the dispute as to whether eight or nine hours shall constitute a day's work, several hundred wood carvers have been locked out by their employers in New York City.
—The latest news from the rebellion in Honduras is to the effect that the rebels and their Nicaraguan allies had been defeated and were on the retreat, destroying property as they went.
—It is said that the Italian Government has proof that France is aiding the revolutionary movement in Sicily. Consequently, the Italian forts on the French frontier are to be fully equipped.
—Miners are endeavoring to get permission to work a certain street in Folsom, Cal., which borders ground that once paid rich returns. They meet with opposition from adjacent property owners.
—On the 10th inst. an express train was held up and robbed by five masked men, within two miles of St. Joseph, Mo. They met no resistance, as engineer, fireman, and express messenger promptly obeyed orders.
—The creditors of Bishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, whose defalcation some time ago created a great sensation, have appealed to Papal Delegate Satolli for relief, but he declines to have anything to do with the matter.
—Walter F. Beck & Co., the largest commission house in San Francisco, has failed. Their yearly balance sheet, to the great surprise of the firm, showed a deficiency of $95,000. The liabilities are said to be $750,000.
—The Institute of France is said to have received a bequest of $20,000 from a lady who gives the money as a prize to the first person who, within ten years, communicates with a celestial body and receives an answer.
—At Williamsburg, Long Island, on the 12th inst., as sixty men and boys were crossing a temporary bridge over a creek, the structure gave way, and all were thrown into the creek. It is reported that nine boys were drowned.
—A fire in the McShane Manufacturing Co.'s bell foundry, Baltimore, on the 10th inst., caused a loss of about $200,000. On the same day the Starr Piano Works, Richmond, Ind., were damaged by fire to the extent of $100,000.
—Making the poor help the poor is illustrated by a Pittsburg man of large means who employs a large number of men. He subscribed a liberal sum to the poor relief fund and then reduced the wages of his employees twenty per cent.
—By resolution of Congress and a mandate of the U. S. Supreme Court, the United States receiver has turned over to the Mormon Church of Utah $438,174.30. This is money derived from the sale of personal property belonging to the church.
—Trouble is reported in the mining region of Deadwood, S. Dakota, between union and non-union miners. The union is determined that no work shall be done at reduced wages. Last week a collision was prevented by a sheriff's posse.
—Colored people in Omaha, Neb., are prosecuting a restaurant keeper, because one of their race was refused anything to eat, on a proper application. The prosecution is under the Civil Rights Law, the violation of which is made a misdemeanor by a law of Nebraska.
—An explosion of a gas meter in a tenement house in New York City, on the 11th inst., blew out the entire front of the building. The police afterward discovered a trail of coal oil leading from the meter to the cellar, where there was a quantity of cotton batting soaked with oil, and a bomb made of lead pipe, containing enough powder to blow the entire building into fragments.
—Even the great Bank of England, the supposed synonym of financial security, has a defaulting cashier, whose mismanagement or peculation has caused a loss of $650,000. The loss of public confidence is a worse blow to the once influential institution than that amount of money.
—Late Australian papers are full of accounts of great distress and criminality among the unemployed. Ministers of all denominations in the large cities are uniting to raise funds for the poor. Various coöperative enterprises are being formed to give employment to the unemployed.
—An explosion of benzine in the Philadelphia Dye Works, of this city, last week, caused a conflagration that did considerable damage to the Eureka Block, besides very seriously injuring the proprietor and an employee of the works. The cause of the explosion is a mystery that no one can explain.
—The latest news from Rio Janeiro is that the rebels are discouraged. Two recent explosions in their forts caused great damage in the loss of forty or fifty lives and large quantities of ammunition, besides the wrecking of important defenses. To add to all this disaster, Mello's forces in Rio Grande do Sul have been defeated, and he himself is said to be quite sick.
—A great fire destroyed the principal buildings of the late World's Fair at Chicago on the 9th inst. So far as the buildings were concerned, it is said that was the cheapest way to remove them; but there were hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of foreign goods packed in one of them, ready for shipment, much of which was damaged or destroyed. Fortunately, most of the exhibits designed for the Midwinter Fair at San Francisco were uninjured.
—In Alaska many white men have purchased for themselves native wives, which is contrary to law; but the practice is so common that it has been thus far impossible to secure a grand jury that will take cognizance of the crime. But the U. S. Marshal has recently issued orders to his deputies to arrest all persons living in violation of the law, and it is said that as a result the jails will not hold all who are liable to arrest, many of whom are leading citizens.
—The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has passed an anti-boycott order, making it a misdemeanor, punishable by fine of $50 to $500 and ten days' to six months' imprisonment, for any person or persons to prevent or seek to prevent by unusual or improper means any other person or persons from carrying on legitimate business of any kind. The improper means objected to include force or threats of violence, solicitations, intimidations, parades, processions, and similar demonstrations.
—Rev. Henry E. Cheesman, pastor of the Eighth Street M. E. Church, Camden, N. J., was thrown into the Delaware River by two men, on the night of the 10th inst., and drowned. Two men were seen to run away from the wharf, and two were afterward arrested on suspicion. No cause is as yet conjectured for the deed, or for the minister's presence in that region after night. His cries were heard by some sailors and police, but he died in a few minutes after being pulled out of the water.
—A reporter of the Kalamazoo, Mich., Gazette, recently attended a seance at which several spirits were materialized, and among them he recognized his departed brother. A Methodist lady, a resident of Texas, was present by urgent invitation, rather against her will, but one of the forms presented was readily recognized as her grandfather. He was still lame, as before his death, and carried a heavy cane. According to the prophecy (2 Thess. 2:9-11), Satan is even now working "with all power and signs and lying wonders," and those who do not receive a love of the truth will surely be deceived by his lies.
—While the various boards of trade of Oregon have condemned Governor Pennoyer's published statements regarding the labor condition of the State, his representations are indorsed by the Portland Central Labor Council. This council, representing thirty labor organizations, claims to be in a better position to know facts concerning labor than the well-to-do members of boards of trade. It is asserted by the council that 75 per cent of the laboring people of Oregon are unemployed, and that 10,000 people have lately left Portland for want of employment. And it is further stated that not one laboring man can secure $100 in money to save his home from mortgage, and that hundreds, unable to secure money, are being driven from their homes. The council also alleges that not one property in fifty would bring in cash one-half the price demanded last year.
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 3 cents. Address Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal.
BAPTISM: Its Significance, Its Nature, and the Necessity for It. By Ellet Joseph Waggoner. Bible Students' Library, No. 79. Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal. 16 pp.; 2 cents.
Question Corner.
By Editor
"If ye will inquire, inquire ye." "But avoid foolish questions."
[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.]
130. THE LITERAL RESURRECTION.
Do Adventists, preachers, missionaries, and editors, believe that the resurrection taught by Christ, his apostles, or anywhere in Holy Scriptures, refers to a literal resurrection of the material body at a long period of time after death? Do the following Scripture quotations refer to such material, literal, and general resurrection of mankind or the redeemed: John 11: 24-26; John 20: 27; Acts 24: 14, 15; Rev. 1: 16, 17, last part; two first sentences of the eighteenth verse; 1 Cor. 15: 20-22; Dan. 12: 2; Job 14: 13, 14? Answer as fully as is convenient in the Question Department of the Signs of THE TIMES.
Yes; Seventh-day Adventists believe in the resurrection of the body. The body returns to dust, in death and decay; God will call it back from dust. "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise." Isa. 26: 19; see also Hosea 13: 14. Jesus rose again, so did Lazarus, and others. Have we any reason to believe that the resurrection of all others will be less literal? Some of the above texts refer to a general resurrection, some to special resurrections, but all to a literal resurrection. John 20: 27 and Rev. 1: 18 refer to Jesus after he was raised from the dead. The whole hope of the future life is based by Paul on the fact of Christ's literal resurrection, and the resurrection at the last day.
But all will not be raised from the dead at the same time. There is first the resurrection of the righteous, and one thousand years after the resurrection of the wicked. Rev. 20: 4-6. But the righteous do not rise from the grave with their corrupt, mortal bodies, but with glorious, immortal bodies like Christ's. See 1 Cor. 15: 51-55; Phil. 3: 21. The wicked, raised one thousand years after, come up from the grave with the same mortal body which all men possess. The resurrection of the dead is one of the great elements in the Christian's hope. Take the word of God as it reads.
131. SELLING IT UNTO THE STRANGER.
EDITOR "SIGNS OF THE TIMES:" I do not understand the following. Will you kindly explain it in your Question Corner? "Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien; for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God." Deut. 14: 21.
The Lord means just what he says. He told his people not to eat anything which died of itself, but gave them permission to give it to the stranger within their gates, or to sell it to the foreigner. See Revised Version. "But was not this inconsistent?"—Not at all. The stranger believed that such food was good and ate such food continually. It was given or sold to him without any deceit, as flesh of an animal which had died of itself. We recall the fact of a German's asking to buy the bloated carcass of a yearling bovine for food. The farmer told him that it was unfit for food, but the German wanted it anyway. It was therefore given him at the price of the hide. The Israelites were forbidden to eat blood, but that which died of itself of course contained the blood; but the other nations around them did not consider it wrong in any way to eat the blood. In all cases they evidently bought and sold such flesh for just what it was, while many times, if reports are to be believed, meat is sold nowadays for fresh, healthy meat when it is the flesh of animals which died of disease. And few are the flesh eaters indeed but what eat fish and shellfish which die of themselves by slow, lingering deaths, and they find no fault with the dealer for selling such. In fact, the great majority of all fish, lobsters, clams, crabs, oysters, shrimps, etc., die of themselves, and are eaten with gusto by those who criticise the Lord's directions in Deut. 14: 21.
Patriarchs and Prophets in Spanish
By Editor
WE have received from the International Tract Society, 59 Paternoster Row, London, Eng., a fine volume in Spanish, entitled "PATRIARCAS Y PROFETAS," by Mrs. E. G. White. This is a work of over 700 large octavo pages, in 73 chapters. It is a history of the great controversy between good and evil from the creation of our world to the end of the reign of David. It reveals many of the reasons of God's dealings with men; it throws light on many dark problems, and causes the Old Testament Scriptures to glow with new light. The illustrations are generally excellent, and the presswork and binding all that could be desired. It is better than Americans do. The book is sold by subscription, and will prove a blessing to the Spanish-speaking world.
USEFUL AND INTERESTING BOOKS
By Editor
FOR BOTH OLD AND NEW SUBSCRIBERS.
WE will send the SIGNS one year with your choice of either one of the following books, postpaid, for $2.00:
PROPHETIC LIGHTS, by E. J. Waggoner, Prophecies of the Old and New Testaments, interpreted by the Bible and history. Paper bound, 180 pages, handsomely illustrated.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF FOREIGN MISSIONS of the Seventh-Day Adventists, with maps showing location of churches, etc., 294 pages, paper binding.
Muscle Mad.
The present tendency of this "Christian nation" is well expressed by the first line of an article in a Sunday newspaper. That line is,
"Society is muscle mad."
The Four Hundred of New York are all agog with admiration over the brawn of the strong man Sandow. To witness the fight in Jacksonville, Fla., between two famous bruisers, 250 boxes, averaging four seats to the box, have been sold, it is reported, for $20 each, or $20,000 for the 250 boxes. A town in the suffering State of Colorado pledges $40,000 purse if the fight can be held there. Disgraceful as are these "glove exhibitions," football is becoming worse, and over this brutal contest between muddy bruisers great crowds of the elite of the land lose their senses. Meanwhile thousands are dying in this "Christian nation"—physically and spiritually dying—for the want of necessary food. How these things ought to stir every Christian's heart to labor for the Master!
Revolution on the Verge in Italy
ITALY, say our latest dispatches, is just on the verge of a revolution. The only influence of any worth or strength connected with the sunny peninsular to-day is that of the Vatican. The London Times correspondent says: "I have good reason to believe that during the coming fortnight or three weeks there will be a more or less concerted attempt at revolution in various portions of Italy." "There seems to be a most incongruous union of various elements hostile to the house of Savoy." It is supposed that the Radicals, Clericals, and partisans of the dethroned Bourbon dynasties are in some way united in these things. Vatican officials are said to believe that the revolution will be successful, and that the Quirinal will be tenantless and the Savoy family in exile before spring.
The report, however, thinks that, in case Rome were sacked, the Vatican would fare even worse than the Quirinal. And in the madness of the mob this may be true, but in time of sore trial, plague, or calamity, Italy will return to the Church of Rome. The Church of Rome holds winning cards in the politics of Europe, and there are no more astute or crafty diplomats, nor those in better situation to dictate terms, than are the emissaries of the Vatican. Even proud, imperial, and Protestant Germany has been forced to yield.
The Sunday Question in Church Circles
By Editor
THE article on page 184 illustrates the hopeless condition of the Sunday advocates. Scripture, logic, and consistency are alike wanting, and with the Baptists, too. The lines are narrowing. The force of God's truth and Spirit is driving men to the traditions of the Papacy or to the word of God. Our prayer is that it may be the latter. There is another little item on the same page on Sunday Discipline, which shows the same inconsistency. Anxiety to discipline Sunday offenders is as difficult as it is to prove Sunday sacredness. Page 184 in this issue well illustrates the whole wretched condition of this Sunday question in church circles. How long will those who love God cling to such an institution?
Four Million Pages of Truth
By Editor
LAST week's order from the East for the Bible Students' Library aggregated 250,000 copies, averaging 16 pages each. This makes four million pages of truth which will soon go into the hands of the people. Let us thank God and take courage. Let the publications containing the gospel of Christ fall like the leaves of autumn. Those who cannot distribute publications may be able to furnish donations to aid those who do. Let all have a part in the good work. This is God's plan, and for all there is room.
This Rock or the Foundation of the Church
By Editor
IN another column will be found an article entitled, "This Rock or the Foundation of the Church," by Brother F. C. Kelly, translated from the Spanish. Before us lies the Spanish original, a little four-page leaflet, "Esta Roca ó La Fundacion de la Iglesia." It will be found useful for distribution among the Spanish, and should be liberally used. It will help the Roman Catholic Spaniard to see that Christ Jesus is his only hope. Price of tract, 50 cents per 100. Address Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal., or California Tract Society, 1059 Castro St., Oakland, Cal.
Religious Liberty and Equal Rights
One aged brother, born in 1810, of What Cheer, Iowa, writes truly that the giving of the law to man by an all-wise God is positive proof that man, in God's way, of course, was able to keep it, and that making man a free agent is positive proof that he is at liberty to do good or evil. And as God made man in his own image of character, man inherits no principle from God to oppress his fellow-man in religious belief or practice. The example from God in Jesus Christ is equal rights and exact justice to all men. It is the pure spirit of soul-saving righteousness in human life. This sacred rule violated is now breeding persecution in our own nation. And so it is.