—The Society of Friends recently sent $8,930 to the Salvation Army for use in its social work.
—The will of George H. Babcock, deceased, of Plainfield, N. J., leaves $200,000 to the Seventh-day Baptist Church Association.
—The Presbyterian Church is beginning to take cognizance of the politics of its members, and the Christian at Work rejoices to know that "two members of a Presbyterian Church in New Jersey have been suspended on account of their action in voting for the licensing of the Linden race track."
—Late advices from Rome announce that the Moniteur de Rome, organ of the Vatican, which was recently suspended to avoid prosecution for statements offensive to the Italian Government, is about to be revived. The editor states that it will support the policy of Satolli, apostolic delegate to the United States.
—The Talmage Tabernacle, Brooklyn N. Y., is again in trouble financially. There is now $15,000 interest due, and the trustees do not know where to get it. For four years Dr. Talmage has donated his salary to help out the great "white elephant," which his ambition was mainly instrumental in foisting upon the congregation, but the burden seems not to lighten. He has tendered his resignation as pastor.
—A Catholic paper says that, with the approval of the pope, the general of the Jesuits has written to the emperor of Germany expressing thanks for the progress of the bill for restoring his order to favor in the empire. Father Martin promises that the society will be very good, and devote its energies to Catholic education, and to the training of missionaries who shall carry the gospel (of the Jesuits, of course) to the colonies of the empire. The remarkable feature of the case is that this is just what Bismarck expelled them for.
—Although the downfall of the Italian Government, which seems to be only a question of time, may be directly traced to its long struggle under the papal load, the Papacy will no doubt be able to make it appear to European eyes that the government's embarrassment is the result of her attempted divorcement from the Vatican. There are frequent rumors of the papal outfit being removed from Rome. The latest is a probability of Spain becoming a place of refuge, and it is said that in such an event the palaces in Seville and Valencia would be placed at the pope's disposal.
—A postal card, signed "Rev. J. W. Wells," gives this information, which we pass on as a sign of the times: "A Christian Federation (evangelical) or Prohibition Church will be organized in Chicago February 3, 1894. The object shall be to furnish a church house for those whose convictions lead them in this direction, an organization that will mother every righteous reform, and, while opposing the union of Church and State, will not hesitate to assert its God-ordained authority to censure and discipline wrongdoing, following the perpetrator into corporations, where greed robs the masses; into the legislative halls, where the act of one becomes the act of the many; to the ballot box, where the citizen sets the stamp of his sovereign approval upon the acts of men and parties. It is intended to be local, State, and national. Its creed will be Christ, and its authority God's word; its work, the salvation of souls,—salvation from sin and salvation of the country. Each individual or church may move in with his or their doctrinal household goods, placing them in bond in the federation storehouse, relying upon the cohesive force of the righteousness of our cause to adjust all minor differences. Membership actual and associate, local and non-resident." Inasmuch as we are in an age of delusions, this will probably gain some footing, if it be not overwhelmed in the multiplicity of other delusions. A like effort was made in this State some months ago, but it proved abortive.
—A banquet of the Church Club, an Episcopal society of San Francisco, was held last week at the Occidental Hotel. There were present most of the Episcopal ministers of the city, Bishop Goodell (Methodist), Rabbi Voorsanger, Rev. Dr. McKenzie (Presbyterian), Rev. Horatio Stebbins (Unitarian), and others of the cloth. The subject up for discussion was "Evolution," and its two great champions—Professor Le Conte, of the State University, and President Jordan, of Stanford University—were the leading speakers. A press report notes the fact that thirty-four ministers of the gospel and as many distinguished laymen applauded the speech of Professor Le Conte, in which he asserted that "the whole array of facts which are known in biology and organic science concentrate as one grand mass of evidence proving the theory of evolution." Judging from the utterances also of prominent clergymen who were not at the banquet, it is clear that evolution is fast coming to the front in popular theology, for the reason that it is deemed scientific. In these days the man who wants to be popularly recognized as learned must not be out of harmony with what is popularly recognized as science. If there is anything that the would-be popular minister dreads, it is to be classed as a "hard-shell," a "moss-back," or as "ignorant" and "bigoted;" and we have now reached the point where a minister is all of these and more if he prefers the plain word of God to the modern evolution delusion.
SECULAR.
—U. S. Senator Walthall, of Mississippi, has resigned on account of ill health.
—It is reported that the Ohio Legislature has dispensed with the chaplain formality.
—Another large Italian bank, the Banca Generale, of Rome, has failed. It has branches at Milan and Genoa.
—A storm off Bilboa, Spain, on the 21st inst., destroyed a number of fishing boats, and twenty-five fishermen were drowned.
—Ex-President Harrison is expected in Palo Alto, Cal., in February to deliver his law lectures in Stanford University. The course will occupy six weeks.
—The formal opening of the San Francisco Midwinter Fair will take place on the 27th inst., and Governor Markham has proclaimed that day a legal holiday.
—A Vera Cruz, Mexico, dispatch of the 17th inst. reports the steamship Seguranca, from New York, in quarantine with twenty-two cases of smallpox on board.
—A farm hand near Abilene, Texas, one day last week dug up a pot of gold and silver coin amounting to $3,100. It is supposed the money had been buried by robbers.
—A recent steamer arrival in New York brings news that the president of San Domingo has taken nine political enemies, one being General Machina, and had them shot.
—A Pullman car with twelve newspaper correspondents left Chicago for San Francisco on the night of the 20th inst., to report the Midwinter Fair opening on the 27th.
—Gen. A. J. Warner, president of the National Bimetallic League, has called a convention of the silver men of the country, to be held at Des Moines, Iowa, February 22 and 23.
—The people of Riverside, Cal., have decided to secure a gravel pit in which the unemployed will be given work at seventy-five cents per day. If they refuse to work, they will have to move on.
—The Anti-vice Society of San Francisco is making a raid on the violators of the law forbidding the sale of tobacco to children under sixteen years of age, and have had sixty-seven warrants issued against offenders.
—During the past week the German police at several prominent points prevented the assembling of unemployed men. At Watter the men refused to disperse until several were seriously injured in the conflict.
—The present hero of Nevada is Johnny Crow, aged 14, who rescued six younger brothers and sister, who had broken through the ice in Carson River. He swam forty feet under the ice after a little five-year-old brother.
—All the employees of the Diamond Plate Glass Company at Kokomo and Ellwood, Ind., to the number of 1,400, went on a strike on the 17th inst., the object being to support a strike in the polishing room at Kokomo.
—A detachment of French troops pursuing a gang of pirates in Tonkin, a few weeks ago, were ambushed by the marauders. The result was that Captain De Luney and eighteen men were killed, and three lieutenants wounded.
—Fifty families of colored people in Arkansas want to go to Liberia. If they can get to New York, the American Colonization Society will take them the rest of the way. So they offer to turn over all their property to the government for means to carry them to New York.
—Late news from China, by way of London, reports a series of destructive earthquakes in the province of Urga, Mongolia. About one hundred of the native nomadic population, with their flocks, were swallowed up or otherwise destroyed.
—A Pittsburg dispatch says the national secretary of the United Mine Workers makes the statement that the miners have abandoned the idea of fighting employers in districts, and are planning for a strike in every State in the Union, which will involve about 280,000 men.
—On the 20th inst. a tornado, accompanied by thunder, lightning, and rain, struck Dallas, Texas, and demolished or damaged over 100 buildings. Of the buildings totally destroyed were the Christian and M. E. Churches, in Oak Cliff. One boy was killed, and two others severely injured.
—Late reports from Thibet give more definite accounts of the great earthquake which occurred in the district of Kada last August. It is said that 9,000 square miles of territory was devastated, and that seventy-four Laama priests and 137 Chinese and Thibetans were killed, and hundreds of others injured.
—Major Sims, a lecturer for the American Protective Association, was mobbed at Kankuana, Wis., on the night of the 17th inst., and his meeting broken up. The building was assailed by 2,000 men. Officers succeeded in getting him to his hotel, but not till after he had been knocked senseless. He was escorted to the train the next morning by an armed guard.
—From New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, comes the good news that several large factories are being placed in operation after a long idleness. These include cotton and woolen mills, silk factories, machine shops, iron and steel works, potteries, shoe factories, etc., and the employment of thousands of idle people and the relief of many needy families is the result.
—A disastrous railroad accident occurred at Chester, S. C., on the 17th inst. A collision between two passenger trains caused the instant death of twenty-five sleeping-coach passengers and the injury of many others who occupied regular cars. Many of the killed were mangled beyond recognition, the passenger coach having been struck in the center by the locomotive of a train coming on a cross track.
—Several hundred Anarchists gathered at Tarona, Italy, on the 16th inst., and compelled the people to deliver up all their arms and ammunition. Securing also a large quantity of liquors, the marauders prepared to march upon the town of Carrara. They were, however, attacked by a strong force of infantry and gendarmes, and official reports state that eight Anarchists were killed and forty or fifty wounded.
—The Honduran revolutionists have achieved considerable success of late, which by some is deemed equivalent to the overthrow of the government of President Vasquez, although at last report he occupied a strong position at Cerro de Fuerte. The success of the rebels and their allies is said to greatly encourage malcontents in adjoining States, and there is a probability of trouble throughout all Central America.
—A Berlin dispatch says that the Russian Government has applied to the Government of Greece for the keys of the naval magazine on the island of Paros, in the Grecian Archipelago. The island was formerly used by the Russians as a naval depot, and the present request is made on the plea of a desire to replenish the storehouses. A reply has not yet been given, and it is understood that Greece will consult other powers before giving an answer.
—Near Cazadero, Cal., on the North Pacific Coast Railroad, seven men lost their lives on the evening of the 14th inst. A conductor, engineer, and six others went down to Austin Creek on a locomotive to test the bridge, which it was feared had been weakened by a sudden flood. The conductor went across the bridge on foot, and the engineer attempted to follow with his engine; but the bridge gave way, precipitating the engine and seven men into the torrent.
—A reign of terror is reported at Black Rock, Ark., where there is a large number of unemployed men, and amongst them many hard characters. This class it seems have determined to drive out the colored population, who number about three hundred. Mill and factory owners have been notified to discharge all their colored employees, or their establishments will be burned, and property owners have been ordered to turn out their colored tenants. The negroes are greatly terrified, and many have left the place.
—The three colored legislators of Ohio have interviewed Governor McKinley with reference to the punishment of parties engaged in lynching one of their race at West Union, Adams County. The governor said that he expected the grand jury of Adams County to indict and prosecute all the parties implicated, and if they failed to do their duty, he would himself see that justice was done in the matter. Inasmuch as several prominent citizens are known to have been engaged in the affair, the governor's assurance creates considerable excitement.
True Religious Liberty for All
By Editor
ADDRESSES of our workers when requested will be given in Our Work and Workers department.
We would call the attention of our readers to the article in the editorial columns entitled "Protestantism Found Wanting." Roman Catholics are testing Protestants by the professed standards and creeds of Protestantism, and Protestants are found wanting, weighed by their own balances. How will Protestantism stand when weighed by the balances of the sanctuary? Right in connection with the above article read the one entitled "The Independent Has Spoken." We have heard from no other Protestant papers to date. The battle, however, is on. Rome has entered the lists. As of old, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
He who holds to true religious liberty holds to the right of the other man to think and speak and act for himself in all things pertaining to his conscience just as long as the lives, property, reputation, and chastity of his fellow-men are not endangered. The Puritans claimed to believe in religious liberty, but it was religious liberty for—the Puritans. The Buddhist claims religious liberty for—the Buddhist. The Roman Catholic is the great conservator of religious liberty for—the Roman Catholic. But the true follower of Christ believes in and grants religious liberty for all. Jesus said, "If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."
There is a much more general prediction of war in Europe this year than ever before. All the powers are better ready to engage than ever before, so far as equipments of war are concerned. There are 130,000 more men under arms now than there were one year ago. Men who thought there would be no war are now predicting war. The strain is fearful, and the crisis must soon come. Italy is bankrupt, and Greece owes $60 per head of her population. This she has proposed to repudiate, while Britain and Germany warn her that it must not be done. Russia and France are a menace to Constantinople, and no one knows how soon the double alliance of France and Russia will be engaged with the triple alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy, in deadly warfare. Meanwhile God has his work, and the angels will hold the winds of war till his work is done.
Our Ship "Pitcairn."—We learn from recent communications by Australian steamer that the Pitcairn's last voyage was a prosperous one. Two of her crew when she left San Francisco were unconverted; one of these left the ship at Tahiti, and the other was converted at the Wellington, New Zealand, camp meeting. The ship is now on her way direct from Wellington to Pitcairn Island, where she will take Elder Gates and wife on board, and, unless duty seems to demand a call trip via Tahiti, will proceed direct to San Francisco, arriving here, the Lord willing, somewhere between March 1 and 15. March 15 Elder Olsen will probably arrive from Australia, when, together with other members of the Foreign Mission Board, he will supervise the outfitting of the ship for another voyage. The next voyage of the Pitcairn will be short, probably about one year, carrying workers, in the way of teachers and physicians, to the fields already opened. Her next trip will probably be in "the regions beyond." We praise the Lord for his blessing upon this enterprise. May he bless our little ship more abundantly in her mission of love for the Master. The isles are waiting for His law.
Christ's Example.—In our news columns will be found a brief note on the mobbing of an A. P. A. lecturer, presumably by Roman Catholics. Now Roman Catholics claim to be the only true church of Christ, and its members, of course, true Christians. But let the reader imagine Christ and his apostles mobbing a Pharisee who might speak against Christianity or denounce it. Such a thing could not be imagined for a moment. He who had power to call more than twelve legions of angels to his assistance, suffered indignity of every kind, insult was heaped upon injury, till death came to his relief, yet he bore it all with divine patience. He trusted God, and trust demanded endurance. He committed his cause to God, knowing that God would judge righteously. In this he is an "example" to his people. 1 Peter 2:21-23. Can it be that that church and that people which continually and persistently do the very opposite are his church and his people? Do they bear the test?
Not Roman Catholics but Roman Catholicism.—The Signs of the Times has had and will have much to say with reference to Roman Catholicism and its work. But it holds nothing against Roman Catholics as individuals. There are many honorable, high-souled, generous, noble men and women in their ranks, just the same as there are in all other communions. There are many, no doubt, in cloistered cell who are following every ray of light which they have seen, and are accepted of God. The great mass of the church are doubtless honest—sincerely blinded—in what they believe, and this makes them all the more fruitful of evil. It is against the system of Roman Catholicism, against the principle on which it is based, against the mystery of iniquity which is involved therein, that we lift our voice and pen. Roman Catholicism is not based on the gospel, but a perversion of the gospel. It is not founded on the word of God, but a perversion of that word. It lives not by faith in Christ, for it has perverted faith, a living principle, bringing life from God, to a dead form, which must be maintained by human force. As long as Catholics hold to their principles, they are bound to be persecutors, and the better Catholics they are the more will they persecute if opportunity offers and power is given. It is the religion of self instead of Christ. And these principles, if held by Protestants, are just as subversive of righteousness, justice, truth, toleration, and liberty as they are if held by Catholics. Principles make men, and therefore principles are greater than men. The principles of Christ are in the gospel, fully developed in the redeemed, regenerated, and sanctified soul. The principles of the mystery of iniquity may be seen in Roman Catholicism, and their finished work in the persecution of the Dark Ages and in later times by so-called Protestants. We beseech all to turn from them, both Romanist and Protestant. Of this we shall have more to say in the months to follow.
Poor Italy.—The expression is literally true. Italy seems practically bankrupt. At the close of her last war, December 31, 1866, her national debt was 1,057 million dollars. Up to July 31, 1892, it had increased to 2,395 million dollars, or more than doubled during a quarter of a century of peace. In 1866 the interest-bearing debt of the United States was over 2,332 million dollars, but in 1892 it was only $585,029,330, having decreased during twenty-five years more than two billion dollars. It will be seen that Italy is constantly increasing her debt, and will soon collapse, the only question being as to how soon. Many acute observers think that it must come this present year. She has no gold, her silver money is gone, and only the depreciated currency of a bankrupt State remains, and the amount of Italian silver money held by France, it is said, is sufficient, if demand is made, as it can be, for its redemption in gold, to topple Italy into the dust. It is reported that the pope will leave Italy and take refuge in Spain. Italy, ruined Italy, is the finished fruit of Roman Catholicism. With one of the fairest and most genial of climes, with soil of great fertility, she is the poorest country of the world. Burdened, priest-ridden, her people ignorant, she attempted to throw off the papal octopus too late. Her long struggle with the monster has depleted and ruined her, and she is now in her death throes, ruined by her religion. Conceive the picture. Write underneath it, "A Masterpiece of the Papacy."
ONCE MORE WE SAY IT.
Do not come to Oakland to escape hard times. We do not mean by this that Oakland is worse than many other places, nor so bad as many, but there are hundreds here unemployed and suffering for the necessaries of life. We have brethren and sisters coming here from other churches and Conferences (sometimes recommended to us by brethren in official position) who have little if any means of support, and who expect to be assisted to find employment in our office or among our brethren. To all such we will say again that it would be much better to use the transportation money to secure what is needed where they are. It will go much farther in the rural districts than in a large city like Oakland. Our church here is heavily burdened with the constant demands made upon it, and, while willing to do all it can, feels that it is not just to cripple it with more than its quota of poor. If dependent upon daily labor for support, do not come to Oakland or San Francisco unless arrangements have been made beforehand and place secured.
"THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH."
By Editor
THOSE "Mirror articles," which have been three times put into pamphlet form by Sabbath keepers, have now been printed by the Catholic Mirror itself. There are those who, when our tract is presented, express doubt as to whether the articles were published by the Catholics. It might be well to place in the hands of such the republication of these articles in pamphlet form by the Catholic Mirror. Those who thus desire them may obtain the pamphlet by inclosing ten cents, with their address, to the American Sentinel, 43 Bond Street, New York.