Christian Nation Vol. 18 1893 - Rparchives.org

April 26, 1893.A FAMILY PAPEE.city of Eedwing, Minn., were busy registering votesfor the Municipal election just held, when a terrificexplosion took place. Three dynamite bombs werefound concealed in the room.' —Official statistics of the Eussian government wbichcan be depended on not to overstate the case, showthat oholera prevails more or less throughout theEmpire.—The project is proposed to connect the MississippiEiver and the Great Lakes by a canal between St.Paul and Duluth. A company has been formed toeffect this object, and so to open up the north-westthrough the Lakes.—Vice-Chancellor Bird, of New Jersey, proposesto settle the question whether or not the decisions ofMgr. Satolli are flnal. This arises ont of the Swedesboro'church war, in the Treacy versus Leaby, priestcase. Treacy had been suspended by the Bishop andhad appealed direct to Eome. When the case camenp the Vice. Chancellor made an order continuing thecase "either side may have the right to the affidavitstouching the validity and' finalityof the appeal in theEoman Catholic Church to the Pope after the appealof the apostolic Delegate."—A severe cyclone swept over the country in theend of the week bringing death and chaos in its wake.The Lakes were in a confused mass of turbulent wavea,and many buildings swept down.—At Hazelton, Pa., the Italians and Hungarianshad a pitcned battle. For years a feud has existedbetween these factions which from time to time hasresulted in battles, but never with such fearful resultsas at present. Two men are dead, and two are missingand three seriously wounded.—The question of gold in the United States is beooming a pressing one. Secretary Carlisle is said to often we have asked when it happened to be adiflfer from the President. The Seoretary has issued mail behind time, what has become of it? It ishis official statement. No order has been issued, as a national paper in the sense that echoes comewas expected by Bankers, stopping the payment of from the Pacific coast and the sunny South, asgold for coin. Treasury notes issued for the purchase well as from the other side of the border in theof silver. The report states "the purpose of thesister country of Canada. Gems from acrossgovernment to preserve its own credit unimpairec^and maintain the parity of the two metals by all lawfulmeaus will not be abandoned nnder any oircum-Eeligious subjects are dealt with in a broadthe ocean frequently sparkle in its columns.stances. There is gold enough in the country to meetthe requirements of the situation."—The Island of Tante, in the Ionian group, hasand comprehensive spirit, characterized by conservatismin truth and purity; the moral issuesof Eeform, Temperance, and National Eighteousnessare always treated in a spirit of man­been visited by a most destructive earthquake. InFebruary and March the island sustained great damageby seismic disturbances, and a large number offul defence and heroic regard for what is right;the editorial columns and the items of weeklylives were lost. The city of Tante is a mass of ruins.Hundreds have been killed and injured. The peoplenews, as well as Ecclesiastical Intelligence arehave fledto the plains.always gratifying. Taking it all in ali wo know—In Bulgaria many hundred workmen are on strikeagainst the increase of the octroi. The Minister ofof no newspaper on this continent that betterfulfils its ideal, true to the early promises givenPublic Works was attacked as he rode through Bucharest.He was rescued from the rioters only byat Its firstpublicaiion. It can safely b? saidthat it ought to find a place in every family; hethe cavalry and soldiers.who desires to read history in the light of the—Prof. Calderwood, of Edinburgh, has issued avolume, "Evolution and Man's Place in Nature." Bible will not forget that in the Observer heThe subject is one of difficulty but it is dealt with in secures a publication that excludes the immorala clear and scholarly manner. He admits evolution and irreligious from its pages, and tries to readbnt fixesits limits. Evolution is the principle of the into the intelligence of the Christian world, in19th century. No one can write or speak on any topic philanthropic, literary, educational, and religiousmovements, the credentials of the Bible,apart from evolution. "There is a power operating continuallyin nature which does not come within therange of the observation possible to seientific modesas \i\ e vade mecum of moral and spiritual lifeand appliances, yet to which science is ever indirectly for man, individual, social and national. Webearing witness. This power has manifested itself atthe most impressive periods in the world's history—first at the appearance of organic life, again on theappearance of mind, and again on the advent of ration alife." This conclusion is the main proposition of thevolume and is proved with much tact. We welcomesuoh a contribution to evolution, as it is furnished toug firstin the saored volume of inspiration, althoughonly reoent yeara have bronght it into anything likedue prominence.—There it an insurrection of outlaws in Mexico.They have captured several towns and surprised theFederal troops, killing and wounding over a hundred.—The people of Belgium have won a signal victory.The proposal to establish universal suflfrage rejecteda week ago haa been adopted by an overwhelmingmajority. The upper classes ruled in Belgium andthey refused to loosen their hold. The people werestriking against the exclusive monopoly of rule. Thefranchise is conferred upon every male over twentyflvewho has resided one year in the same commune,and has never been convicted of a breach of law ;upon every male citizen aged thirty-flve years payinga government tax of at least one dollar ; upon everymale twenty-five years who is the bearer of a diplomaof superior education or is fillingor has filled a publicoffice.—The Irish Home Eule Bill has passed its SecondEeading in the House of Commons by a majority offorty-three. Eeports from England indicate that acorps is being raised in Yorkshire and the orangemenof Scotland are storing rifies for the purpose ofaiding Ulster in its projected battle against HomeEule.THE NEW YORK OBSERVER.We learn from a note received from the editorsthat the New Yorlc Observer purposes topublish a special number on May 10th, in celebrationof the 70th anniversary of the paper.It has maintained for 70 years, almost the extremelimit of a human life, the high moraland Christian character of its pages. It liesupon our editorial table week after week, andoffer to our contemporary friendly greetingsand our best word of cheer in the service ofGod and humanity.M. TAINE'S RELIGIOUS POSITION.This distinguished Frenchman who died recentlywas nominally Eoman Catholic, but itappears from the Temps that he died a trueProtestant, and left instructions for the educationof his daughter in the Protestant faith.Feeling the necessity of some religious teachingfor his children, he sent for the CatholioCatechism most used in Paris, that of AbbeGaume. He says: " My wife and I read it togetherfrom beginning to end. There wereassertions in it so contrary to the very foundationsof modern culture that we judged it unfeasibleto subject our children's minds tosuch a discipline, we consequently resolved toconfide them to a Protestant pastor. I hadlong been readiug M. Eeuss's Bible in my family,and this had inspired me with respect forProtestantism." At the suggestion of M. Bouting,Pasteur Holland was called upon by Taine.Ou being asked the nature of his religiousteaching, the protestant pastor gave him a Catechismof Bahbut, a Neines pastor, saying:" Eead it. You will find there the spirit andsubstauce of my teaching." After a week,Taine came back, aud said that faith was nothis, but it represented the religious form whichhe desired for his religion. He took his sonand daughter ooce a week to the pastor, andgave instructions that his funeral should be inaccordance with the forms of Protestantism.Such is the living and dying testimony of aCatholic to the truth of Christianity as formulatedin the Protestant faith.VALUABLE DISCOVERY OF MSS.Biblical scholars will be interested in thediscovery of a palimpsest containing the completeSyrian text of the four gospels, in theconvent of Mt. Sinai. Thirty five years agoTichendorf secured from the monks of theConvent of St. Catharine, at Mt. Sinai, theCodex Sinaiticus. This time the discoverer isProfessor Eendel Harris. The particulars ofthe discovery are as follows. Last year someladies discovered the palimpsest Mss. at theConvent of St. Catharine, and made a photographiccopy of it. On their return to England,Messrs. Burkitt, Benslv and Harris were sentout by the Pitt Press of Cambridge to make acomplete copy of the Syriac text. This last isthe Curetonian Version of the gospels, not theordinary Peshito, and probably the oldestSyria Version known, but not the oldest extantmanuscript copy of the Ne'v Testament,as stated by some foreign papers. This Versionwas hitherto known only from a Mss.copy of the 5th century, discovered and publishedby Dr. Wm. Cureton, from whom it receivedits name, with one half discovered byEodiger. The portion already published consistsof large fragments of the gospels. Fromthe new manuscript the complete gospels havebeen nearly all discovered ; but wh< ther itcontains more than the gospels has not yetbeen told. This newly found Mss. omits thelast twelve verses of Mark's gospel, a factalmost as important as the discovery itself, becausethe oldest extant copies close the gospelof Mark at the 8ch verse of the 16th chapter.The Mss. comprises about three hundredpages, a fact which points to the conclusionthat it contains only the four gospels.