—Oregon papers speak of a traveling preacher and lecturer who passes as a Presbyterian and yet works the name and fame of Dr. Robert Collyer, the noted Unitarian minister of New York.
—Some of the Methodists talked quite loudly about withdrawing their exhibit from the World's Fair if the gates were opened on Sunday, but now that the decision is finally made to open the grounds on that day, they have decided not to withdraw.
—Rev. George S. Mott, D.D., chairman of the Sabbath observance committee of the Synod of New Jersey, has accepted the position of acting president of the American Sabbath Union, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the death of Elliott F. Shepard.
—Professor Chas. A. Briggs, lately suspended from the ministry of the Presbyterian Church by the General Assembly, does not propose to stop preaching. He discoursed before an audience of 5,000 at the Auditorium in Chicago on the 25th inst., on "Church Unity."
—The successor of Father Mollinger, the Pittsburg priest who in his lifetime acquired considerable notoriety as a faith healer, is a negro, and is maintaining the reputation of his predecessor. A dispatch of the 25th inst. gives "Brother Day" credit for five miraculous cures.
—Spiritualist authorities claim that Italy is placing itself at the head of the Spiritualist movement. Why not? Prophecy connects very closely both the work and the fate of the "beast" and the false prophet. See Rev. 13; 19:20; 20:10. As their united work is at hand, it is fitting that their headquarters should be coming together.
—Dr. Talmage has announced that the floating debt of $110,000 against the Brooklyn Tabernacle has been provided for, and he will remain as pastor. But the Presbyterian Review states that this indebtedness was cleared off by the willingness of the creditors to accept twenty-three cents on the dollar, and that a mortgage of $125,000 remains, secured by insurance on Dr. Talmage's life.
—The publishers of a religious paper entitled the Christian Standard are desirous of dropping their patent medicine and other advertisements of a questionable character. But they announce that it will be necessary to procure 5,000 new subscribers to replace the financial loss. It seems too bad that a religious paper should continue to be run by an acknowledged "questionable" financial support; but there are many of them that evidently do exist by the help of that class of advertising.
—Religious fighting is reported in Burmah. The Moslems were preparing for a religious celebration, and as they were about to sacrifice a cow near the Hindoo temple, the British magistrate sent an order forbidding it. The Moslems began stoning the police. The magistrate, who had been wounded in the conflict, ordered the police to fire. Twenty Mahommedans fell dead, and several more were wounded. The military was called, and further hostilities were threatened at last reports.
—The Boys' Brigade is one of the popular fads connected with the modern "form of godliness," and the absurdity of a military organization for the furtherance of a peaceful work is demonstrated by a Missouri Sunday school man. In order to become more efficient in his work he advised his boys to join the Boys' Brigade, and he himself enlisted in the militia that he might become better qualified to drill them. When Satan fails to keep men from professing to be Christians, his next game is to deceive them as to what Christianity is.
—In Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, fourteen congregations of different denominations have united to form an East End Union Sunday School Teachers' Association. The president is an Episcopalian, the secretary, a German Reformed, while the Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist Churches are represented on the committee. The sessions were held in churches of different denominations, and the program was so arranged that the teachers' meetings, say in the Baptist Church, are taught by a Lutheran, addressed by a Methodist, while prayers are offered by a Presbyterian and a United Presbyterian, an Episcopalian presiding.
—Monsignor Satolli thinks the Catholic journals of the United States would exert more power if they were associated together, and still more if in some practical way they could be connected with the Catholic journals of Europe. Satolli's mission to this country is mainly that of a peacemaker and unifier of the church, which was becoming quite discordant, not only in regard to the school question, but because of the personal ambition of several prominent individuals. After unification here, his next point is to more securely connect the growing structure with the Old World, and he seems to thoroughly understand his mission.
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.
FARM FOR SALE.
By M. C. W.
Brother George D. Ballou, Grant's Pass, Oregon, has 80 acres of choice fruit land in Rogue River Valley, near Grant's Pass, Oregon, worth, according to ordinary estimates, $1,500. Sixteen acres fenced, good house and well of water, nearly 1,000 fruit trees, some nursery stock, grapevines, gooseberries, etc., some in bearing this year, three miles from railway station, climate excellent, land level and easily worked. Prefers to sell, or would trade for city house and lot. Reason why he wishes to sell is that he may give himself to the work. Anyone wishing to invest in this way will do well to correspond with Brother Ballou at once. M. C. W.
95. A QUESTION OF CONSCIENCE.
By Editor
If a person humbly and honestly seeks God for wisdom and guidance to do a certain thing, truly desiring to do nothing to injure the cause of God, will He leave him to himself, or turn him over to the adversary?
Many questions similar to the above are asked, to which no definite answer can be given by man, because man does not know all the facts having a bearing on the case. This we may say with assurance, God will leave no one to himself or to Satan who fully trusts in him. God's "ways are ways of pleasantness," and all his "paths are peace." But the Lord may not have wanted the person to do the certain thing. Sometimes we wish a certain thing done, and we persuade ourselves that we are the one to do it, though we are not, and then we ask God for wisdom to do it. We may have started on a wrong principle in the first place. On this we may settle, God does nothing wrong; he does all things right; he will always keep his word. If we fail, it is our fault not his. In our blindness we may not see our fault; it may be farther back than we wish to look; but if there be fault, it is with us not God. Yet, after all, what we may call failures or mistakes may in God's wisdom be success. It is ever safe to trust God. See Isa. 45 : 19; Rom. 9 : 33.
If in our human wisdom we have made mistakes, let us confess the mistakes to God and to those directly affected by them, and then leave them with him. He will take care of all results. If some will hold hard feelings over mistakes we have made, but have tried to rectify, we cannot help that. God will see that his cause does not suffer by our repented-of and forsaken mistakes.
Salvation Army Methods Examined
By Editor
Was It Misapplication of Scripture or Otherwise?
We admire the zeal of the Salvation Army, the wisdom manifested in making so many of their converts workers, and the love and burden possessed by many of them for souls. We believe on the whole that these features exist among Salvationists in a much greater degree, in proportion to the light they have received, than in most of the religious denominations. But we do not believe in their ornate, boisterous, irreverent methods, attitudes, and expressions, which sometimes border on the blasphemous. Often they are as ludicrous as they are irreverent and unscriptural, striking back with treble force on those who use them. An instance of this kind came under our notice the other day in this city. One member of the "Army" was driving round the city an advertising van attended by two other "soldiers," one having a cornet seated with the driver, and the other inside beating the big drum. On one side on white cloth was a picture designed to represent Satan with a three-tined fork in the
flames of tophet, and a notice of "Hell Fire at the Army Barracks to-night;" the other side we could not see. On the rear end of the van was this text in bold letters: "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous unto life eternal." The word these would naturally refer to those in the van, and on their own motion it might well be applied to the whole "Army." Certainly the contrast was drawn between these and the righteous. We presume, however, that the "Army" did not mean to so apply the text, although they really did; but it seems to illustrate the ignorance of the Scriptures which exists in many circles besides the Salvation Army, and the constant misapplication of the Sacred Word. It is akin to the remark reported to have been made by "General" Booth, that as the "Army" had been first in the slums and saloons, it would be first at the battle of Armageddon. In the light—or darkness—of this remark are we not justified in asking if the text above quoted was a misapplication after all?
OUR QUESTION CORNER.
By Editor
[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries on scriptural topics or moral questions as may be sent us. Questions which minister strife to no profit to our readers will not be answered here. 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. The questions will be numbered continuously.]
Please explain Rev. 13:10, which reads: “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword must be killed by the sword.”
The truth stated in these words is general, similar to the words of Jesus to Peter in Matt. 26:52, and to Gen. 9:6. The special application of the truth in Rev. 13:10 is to the Papacy. As the Papacy had led into captivity during the 1260 years of its reign, so would it be led into captivity; as it had killed by the sword, so would it be killed by the sword. This was fulfilled in the captivity of the Papacy and the deadly wounding of its head, in 1798.
96. THE TITHE AND DEBT.
By S. T. H. B.
If I owed a debt, would my tithes and offerings be accepted till the debt was paid? Or does God's own belong to him always? and should it be paid to him before man's debts are paid?
S. T. H. B.
These are questions which frequently arise. First of all does the tithe belong to the Lord? Lev. 27: 30-33; Mal. 3: 8-10; Matt. 23: 23, and other scriptures seem positively to prove that the tithe is the Lord's. Secondly, to whom should our first and best service and gifts be rendered? Matt. 22: 37, 38; Prov. 3: 9, 10, and many other passages of Holy Writ expressly declare that the first and best of ourselves and our possessions should be rendered to God. And this is reasonable, because all that we have, "life, and breath, and all things," come from God. Acts 17: 25. Again, not only by creation, but by redemption, we are not our own; God has bought us with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 6: 20; 1 Peter 1: 18, 19. We are but stewards of what God has given us and stewards should be faithful. Although all of our time belongs to God, he specifically demands but one day in seven, namely, the seventh. Although all our means belongs to God, he specifically demands but one-tenth. He asks neither the one nor the other because he needs one or both, nor arbitrarily to exact of us a certain amount of what is in our possession, but to develop in us honesty and integrity of heart and faith in the great God and Father of all.
Therefore, if we recognize the truths stated in the Scriptures referred to above, we will render to God all that he claims as his own. Does he in his providence place in our hands one dollar, one-tenth of it belongs to God. "But I owe that dollar to someone else." No; you owe ninety cents of that dollar; one-tenth is the Lord's. If we were working a ranch, vineyard, or farm "on shares," for one-half, and the proceeds of the whole should amount to $4,000, and we should owe just that sum to our neighbor, would we be justified in paying that whole sum?—No, we would say at once, $2,000 of that does not belong to us, but to the owner of the ranch. Of the $4,000 I can only owe one-half, because only one-half of that belongs to me. Therefore, of what God gives us we can only owe nine-tenths, because only nine-tenths of it belongs to us; and if we use that which does not belong to us for our own purposes, are we not robbing God?
The above presents somewhat of the moral aspect. There is another phase and that is the privilege of doing just what God says, that he may fulfill to us just what he has promised in Prov. 3: 9, 10 and Mal. 3: 10. But God's promises are not for those who pay tithes or keep the Sabbath because it pays financially or commercially so to do, but because of faithful love to God and simple faith in his precious promises. All the world is his; can he not bring us all blessings? Will not nine-tenths be better with God's blessing than ten-tenths without his blessing? Is it not worth while to trust God? Let us not say, "It is vain to serve God" (Mal. 3: 14), but let us be among those who shall reap of his blessings, and be found among his jewels.
W. N. G
By William N. Glenn
COL. ROBERT J. INGERSOLL is credited with the following statement of the labor problem, which contains food for thought:—
Rich men meet in the bank, the clubhouse, or parlors. Workingmen, when they combine, gather in the street. All the organized forces of society are against them. Capital has the army and navy, the legislative, judicial, and executive departments. When the rich combine it is for an "exchange of ideas." When the poor combine it is "conspiracy." If they act in concert, if they really do something, it is a "mob." If they defend themselves, it is "treason." In this country the political power is equally divided among men. Why should the rich control? There are certainly more poor men than there are rich. Why should not the laborers combine for the purpose of controlling the executive, legislative, and judicial departments?
Being an infidel, of course Colonel Ingersoll does not reason from a Bible standpoint, but his statement of the case calls to mind a plaintive cry of labor against capital predicted by the inspired word, and which is evidently near to fulfillment:—
"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you." James 5:1-6.
W. N. G
Sabbath Observance in Mission Fields
A MISSIONARY from Tarsus, Asia Minor, speaking of Sabbath observance in heathen countries, says that the first efforts in a new field are directed to putting a fence around the Lord's day and separating it from all secular uses. "Within that fenced space," he says, "we can sow all manner of good seeds, and can expect them to spring up and bring forth fragrant blossoms and life-giving fruit. We find on mission ground that when the fourth commandment is kept, all the other nine are kept with it; when the fourth commandment is broken, all the others are broken with it."—Christian Statesman.
If missionaries bore to the orient world the Sabbath of the Lord, the true Lord's day, they would not need to put forth their first efforts to put a fence around it; Christ, preached in the fullness of his revelation, would do all of that; in fact, that would "build the old waste places," which God laid down, with material of his own furnishing. See Isa. 58: 1, 12, 13. The fourth commandment is never kept, can never be kept, in any other way except that enjoined by the commandment. The only Bible Lord's day is the seventh day of the week.