China and Britain, and the Opium Traffic.—We learn from time to time in the periodicals “National Righteousness” and “Britain’s Opium Harvest” the progress that is being made in China in the way of suppressing the growth of opium. Testimony is borne that China has more than fulfilled her promise, but that the Government of Great Britain is not rising to the occasion—only trying for the sake of Indian revenue to prolong the experimental period of suppression. In October, 1909, Sir John Jordan said, in a report to Sir Edward Grey, that the province of Szechwan would “furnish the supreme test of the success or failure of the programme of total prohibition,” and that at the very time he was writing, “the issue on which so much depends” was being fought out in the province. Since then the most encouraging reports have been received. Of the sixty-one large districts of which Szechwan is composed, “fifty-three report that the policy of total prohibition has been in force, while of only eight districts is the report less satisfactory.” From some of
the latter the report is “almost total prohibition.” One missionary says, “Truly a miracle has been wrought in a single year,” while another declares: “It is just a marvel to me how the people have submitted, as it was the main trade of this district.” It is also stated that in some places the opium farmers have been put in chains, and the land ploughed up. The price of opium has advanced to thirteen times its former rate. All these features are most promising for the complete deliverance of China from this dreadful curse. It is lamentable to think that our country is the chief drag on the wheel of reform. May the Most High grant a change in the unworthy policy of our legislators, and may He make the removal of opium a powerful help to the progress of the Gospel among the teeming millions of China!
What would Whitefield think of it?—We wonder, says the English Churchman, what Whitefield would have said if he had been on Sabbath last at the Tabernacle in Tottenham Court Road which bears his name. The minister, Mr. Silvester Horne, had been on the previous day returned to Parliament, so, as a daily paper remarks, “the congregation’s prayers and praises took the form of giving him a great reception. They rose and cheered for about two minutes, waving yellow flags and ribbons, and then wound up with three rousing cheers, in response to which ‘Mr. Horne returned thanks.’ ” Such a use of the Lord’s Day is to us an unmistakable sign of deplorable degeneration.
Church Auction Sales.—On looking over the advertisement columns of a northern newspaper the other week our eyes lighted on the announcement, “Latheron U.F. Church Auction Sale.” The U.F. Church has certainly gone far enough with Bazaars, Candy Sales, and the other many cunning and successful methods of extracting money from unwilling hearts, but as far as we are aware it was reserved for Latheron U.F. Church to resort to the device of an Auction Sale to get rid of the remnants of its Sale of Work. We must give credit to the organisers of these schemes for a very large share of worldly ingenuity.
Sad Calamities.—Last month has witnessed not a few serious disasters in various parts of the country. On Wednesday, the 21st, there was a terrible explosion in a mine situated four miles from Bolton in England, resulting in the entombment and death of over 350 men and boys. Many of the bodies have been recovered. On Saturday morning, the 24th, an express train from St. Pancras, London, to Glasgow, was wrecked by collision with two light engines which were proceeding in front, with the result that ten persons were killed and a number injured. The train also caught fire and was almost wholly burnt. The stormy weather has also occasioned losses at sea. One of these disasters took place on the north coast of Sutherlandshire, at Kirtomy, two miles from Bettyhill. Three boats were out lobster fishing, when a sudden gale came on. Two of them succeeded in reaching a
place of shelter, but the third was swamped, and five young men lost their lives. Several of them have left widows and children to mourn their sad bereavement. All these events have a message—a reminder of the uncertainty of time, and of the necessity of being prepared for eternity.