flames of an immense conflagration. It was as if a new day were born after the setting of the sun. The illumination was so bright that half an hour after sunset, in the busy streets of the capital, all the passers-by had their attention arrested, believing that a real fire illumined the West. . . . Accounts from all parts of the world- Europe and America, Cape of Good Hope, Australia, Ceylon, Venezuela, Islands of the South Sea-tell of similar red skies or blue or green suns. The first record is from the Isle of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean, on August 27. For a general effect it is necessary to have a general cause. A series of small local causes could not have produced the observed results. Two explanations present themselves : First. The earth has encountered, in its celestial voyage, a crowd of cosmic particles, which envelop it as a light girdle floating in the upper regions of the atmosphere. Second. Terrestrial volcanoes have thrown out to an immense height in the atmosphere great quantities of vapor and of dust, which spread themselves out into a great zone covering the whole globe. One of these two causes, the cosmic or the terrestrial, must have happened on the 27th of August or a few days preceding it. Now it was on the 25th of August that the cataclysm of Java commenced. Thirty active volcanoes vomited towards the sky their mountains of fumes and of vapors, the temperature of the sea was raised through 20°; the waters boiled with violence; great detonations shook the interior of the land; the atmosphere was filled with cinders, and the obscurity became such that at midday at Batavia, 150 kilometres from Krakatoa, vehicles could not go about without being lighted by lanterns. Ships en route for the Straits of Sunda received on their decks a covering of a foot of cinders. All the elements were upturned. The island of Krakatoa sank, and the submarine commotion was such that a sea of 30 metres in height, stretching in sinister undulations, swept up the rivers, inundated the shore, destroyed whole cities and villages, and, propagating itself with such energy as to traverse the immensity of ocean, arrived at Rodrigues on the 27th after midday, and on the same day at the Isthmus of Panama, where it still measured a foot in height. On the 28th it had crossed the whole ocean and arrived at San Francisco. great quantities of watery vapor heated to a high temperature, water itself, and solid matter, so that they have been projected above the lower regions of the atmosphere into the upper currents. The lightest vapors would be raised the highest, and would spread about at a very great elevation. Java is situated almost on the equator, 105° of longitude to the east of Paris. After the preceding events the first observation of an abnormal twilight was seen at the Isle of the Reunion on the 27th, in the evening. This island is situated 53° of longitude to the east of Paris, and 52° from Krakatoa, a little more to the south, almost under the tropics. The distance is about 5,900 kilometres, which had been passed over in about two days, giving a velocity of 123 kilometres an hour. This velocity is nothing very extraordinary for the superior currents. The abnormal coloration of the sun was observed on the 2d of September in Colombia and on the Isle of Trinity. Colombia is about 75° to the west of Paris, and Trinity is almost at the centre of the hemisphere, opposite Krakatoa. This last distance, the half of the tour of the world, was passed over in seven or eight days; that is, with a velocity of 112 kilometres per hour. Mr. Ranjard and others oppose this explanation, objecting that the velocity of translation is impossible, and also that the matter and vapor ejected by the Java volcanoes should not be raised higher than those from Vesuvius, and should not spread so far around the globe, and they declare in favor of a cloud of cosmic matter encountered by the earth. This hypothesis is not unreasonable; but, 1st, the precise coincidence of dates; 2d, the spectroscope observations; 3d, the exceptional violence of the eruption; 4th, the gradual extension of the phenomena as far as to our country, render the other more probable and more simple. The velocity of 120 kilo. per hour is considerable, but it has precedents. It is the velocity of tornadoes on the surface of the earth, in spite of obstacles, and aeronautic excursions show that the velocity of winds increases as we go up. But that which gives the strongest confirmation to our opinion is that on the 27th of August men have at the same time heard the detonations of Krakatoa and seen the sun green. A letter from an English Admiral contains this passage:-"The noise of the explosions of Krakatoa resembled a distant cannonade, and The greatness of this cataclysm which has we heard distinctly on the 27th of August upturned the submarine reef of the Straits at the Isle of Bagney. The weather was much of Sunda is connected with the atmospheric disturbed. We noticed a curious cloud to the phenomena which we are explaining. These southwest, and during several days the sun volcanoes have projected vertically towards appeared greenish as it approached the horithe sky, and with an unheard-of violence, zon." Other observers record similar experiences. So that in spite of the apparent temerity of the proposed explanation, our readers will believe with us that it is the most simple and the most justified by the collection of observed facts. ALL things are engaged in writing their history. The plant, the pebble, goes attended by its shadow. The rolling rock leaves its scratches on the mountain; the river, its channel in the soil; the animal, its bones in the stratum; the fern and leaf, their modest epitaph in the coal. The falling drop makes its sculpture in the sand or the stone. Not a foot steps into the snow or along the ground but prints, in characters more or less lasting, a map of its march. Every act of the man inscribes itself in the memories of his fellows and in his own manners and face. The air is full of sounds, the sky of tokens, the ground is all memoranda and signatures, and every object covered over with hints which speak to the intelligent-Emerson. THE scheme to turn the Desert of Sahara into an inland sea, such as it is believed to have once been, has the sanction of the Bey of Tunis. IT is announced that the Mexican Central Railroad will be completed by March 15th, when there will be an international railroad route from the Missouri river to the City of A NEW form of window is being introduced in London, Eng., for preventing accidents in cleaning and securing good ventilation. The two side-bars of each of a pair of ordinary sash-frames are divided into two parts vertically, and the part carrying the glass is swiv eled or pivoted in the side pieces at a point central to its height. The frame with the the top rail, which shoot into the side strips. glass is held in position by two small bolts in When this latter fastening is effected the two sashes may slide up and down in the ordinary way.. It will be seen that to clean this kind of window there is no necessity for servants to go outside. THERE has been terrible suffering and destitution in the flooded districts of the Ohio Valfeet higher than at this point last year. Shawley. At Cincinnati the river rose 71 feet, four neetown, Ill., has been under water to a depth of from 10 to 30 feet. In many places the water was at the top of the windows of second stories, and in some cases only chimneys and and Augusta, Ky., are wrecks; New Palestine, roofs marked the location of buildings. Rural Ohio, is nearly ruined, and many other of the towns on the river have suffered severely, Relief committees have been formed in various parts of the country, in addition to the relief afforded by the United States Government. The New York Herald of the 17th "The report from Portsmouth, Ohio, shows that the citizens there are feeding 4,000 people. Senator Pendleton informed Secretary Lincoln that he had information that 1,000 people in Newport, Ky., were actually suffering for food. The Secretary at once telegraphed General Mexico. Beckwith at Cincinnati to promptly investiPROF. S. WELLS WILLIAMS, of Yale Col-gate and report what was needed. The Mayor lege, probably the only American who could easily read, write and speak the Chinese language, died on the evening of the 16th inst., aged 72 years. DURING the recent fogs, which lasted quite ten days, the travel over the East River bridge between New York and Brooklyn was enormous. The record at the gateway showed that a total of nearly 80,000 made use of the bridge on one of the days. THE Swiss naturalist, Arnold H. Guyot, died at his residence in Princeton on the 8th inst., aged 76 years. He will be known to most of our readers as the author of "Earth and Man"-lectures, which were delivered in French, in Boston, and afterwards translated into English. It has been said that this book gave "a new impulse to geographical science in America." of Ripley, Ohio, telegraphs that more than three-quarters of the town is submerged, including the entire business portion and that occupied by tenants and small property own ers. Three hundred families are out of their homes. The Secretary sent $1,000 additional to Parkersburg. $2,000 additional was sent to Pomeroy, Ohio, and the same sum to Middleport, Ohio." NOTICES. A Conference on Temperance will be held at Race Street Meeting-house, on Sixth-day, Second mo. 29th, 1884, at 8 P. M., under the care of the Quarterly Meeting's Committee. Aaron M. Powell is expected to speak on "The Temperance Outlook Abroad and at Home." All are invited. FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER. "TAKE FAST HOLD OF INSTRUCTION; LET HER NOT GO; KEEP HER; FOR SHE IS THY LIFE." VOL. XLI. PHILADELPHIA, THIRD MONTH 1, 1884. No. 3. EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY AN ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDS. COMMUNICATIONS MUST BE ADDRESSED AND PAYMENTS MADE TO JOHN COMLY, AGENT, AT PUBLICATION OFFICE, No. 1020 ARCH STREET. TERMS:-TO BE PAID IN ADVANCE. The Paper is issued every week. The FORTY-FIRST Volume commenced on the 16th of Second month, 1884, at Two Dollars and Fifty Cents to subscribers receiving it through mail, postage prepaid. SINGLE NUMBERS SIX CENTS. It is desirable that all subscriptions should commence at the beginning of the volume. REMITTANCE3 by mail should be in CHECKS, DRAFTS, or P. O. MONEY-ORDERS; the latter preferred. MONEY sent by mail will be at the risk of the person so sending. AGENTS:-Edwin Blackburn, Baltimore, Md. Benj. Strattan, Richmond, Ind. Entered at the Post-Office at Philadelphia, Penna. as second-class matter For Friends' Intelligencer. THE BIBLE. That the Bible, at all times, has been a source of life and joy to devout minds, is no reason for neglecting a thoughtful attention to its sources, and due consideration to the relative standing of its various books as these have been successively recognized by the Jewish Church. Not to Israel alone have these more or less ancient writings been edifying, but to the Gentile world which has laid hold on their revelations of the Divine Wisdom with equal ardor, is the Bible forever precious. We offer here a brief review of the Bible canon, drawing the main points from Arnold and Geikie. In the 44th verse of the 24th chapter of Luke's Gospel we find these words attributed to Jesus after His resurrection: "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and in the psalms, concerning Me." In the Second Century B. C., the Greek translator of the Book of Ecclesiasticus speaks of the law, the prophecies, and the rest of the books. In the second Book of Maccabees, of about the same date, the writer, addressing the Egyptian Jews, and alluding to the purification of the Temple after the Maccabean victories, says that Nehemiah, some three centuries before, "founded a library, brought to gether in addition the things concerning the kings and the prophets, and David's things, and the letters of kings about offerings." These friendly letters of kings concerning offerings to the Temple soon dropped out of the sacred literature of the Jews, and the remaining books of the ancient Bible, from Nehemiah's time onward, comprised the books of Judges, Samuel and Kings, for the things concerning the kings; the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the twelve minor prophets, for the prophets, and the Psalms for David's things. The books of Daniel and of Job were received and authorized at the same time. Daniel was then of recent date, but the book of Job is probably of high antiquity. First in order of these Sacred Scriptures stood the Law itself (Nehemiah viii, 1, 2, 3, 13). This book, read from his high place in the street by Ezra, the scribe and priest, was, says Arnold, "Israel s history from its first beginning down to the conquest of the Promised Land, as this history stands written in the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua. To that collection many an old book had given up its treasures, and then vanished forever. Many voices were blended there-unknown voices, speaking out of the early dawn. In the strain there were many passages familiar as household words, yet the whole strain, in its continuity and connection, was to the mass of the people at that time new and affecting. All the people wept when they heard the 6 words of the law,' and the Levites, in stilling them, gave in one short sentence the secret of Israel's religion and of the religion of the Bible: Mourn not, nor weep,' they said; the joy of the Eternal is your strength.' The book read to the people at this time was probably Deuteronomy, discovered in the Temple and solemnly published to the people by King Josiah two centuries earlier. This devout and energetic prince was a resolute iconoclast, and even in his youth he purged his kingdom of its idolatries so far as lay in his power, casting down the altars and images of Baal in his dominions. The repairing and purification of the Temple led to the discovery by Hilkiah, the priest of the Book of the Law, long neglected and forgotten. This event, with all its pathetic surroundings, is recorded 2 Chronicles xxxiv and xxxv. The reformation had been some years in progress when Jeremiah startled Jerusalem by an awful prophecy of the coming of a day of judgment upon Israel. The moral and religious condition of the people, notwithstanding the efforts of an upright and devout prince, was very dark. Judah was rich and prosperous, but superstition and moral corruption flourished in proportion. The tender and sensitive nature of Jeremiah shrank from his commission, but the Divine word glowed like a burning fire in his heart, and he could not be silent (Jer. xx, 9). His special mission opened before him about the 13th year of King Josiah, and continued through 40 years of national misfortune, gradually darkening into utter ruin and exile. The Captivity of Israel followed, and among the devout Jews in Babylon, this first instalment of the Bible is doubtless the "volume of the book" spoken of by a Psalmist of the exile (Psalm xl, 7). It was brought back in the next century by Ezra, and became the nucleus of the Jewish sacred literature. The second instalment of the Bible was the eight books of the Prophets. The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings were prized as the records of many a word and deed of early prophets who left no literary compositions. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the books of the minor prophets were called the Later Prophets. The third division had the name "Ketubein," which means Writings. They were nine. At their head stood the "things of David," the Psalms. The ancient book of Job, and the ethical book of Proverbs, the contemporary book of Ezra, which glorified Jerusalem, were also included, as were Esther, Nehemiah and Chronicles. During the two centuries which elapsed between Judas Maccabeus and the fall of Jerusalem, accumulated another instalment of valued writings, edifying to the devout and thoughtful. The book of Baruch, of Tobit, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, the additions to Daniel and Esther, and other works, were of this class. They were written in Greek, then the universal language, and were known extensively in the then civilized world, but they were not pronounced canonical by the Temple hierarchy at Jerusalem. It is said of these that they answered the wants of their time, and spoke its language. Resurrection, the new promise of the New Testament, never occurs in the canonical books of the Old, but it appears in the Apocrypha. Arnold remarks that "at the Christian Era these books were knocking for admission into the Hebrew Canon. And, undoubtedly, if Christianity had not come when it did, and if the Jewish state had endured, the best of them would have been (and with good reason admitted. But there came the end of the Jewish state, the destruction of Jerusalem; and the door was shut." Christianity preserved the Bible, with its Greek additions, and the mass of the people knew no difference in the authority of the books included. All were stamped by the Church as having one and the same canonical authority, through the African Synods, at the end of the fourth century. At the Reformation the Hebrew Canon was returned to, and our Old Testament ends with the last of the poetical books, Malachi. Says Matthew Arnold, in his deeply interesting book (God and the Bible): "We know how the Scriptures of the Old Testa ment are appealed to in the New. They are appealed to as an authority established and recognized, just as the Bible is now appealed to by us." This is the reason why they have ever been held sacred by the Christian Church. But our own religious body has ever held that the Divine Voice has never ceased to warn, to guide and to comfort humble seeking souls among the children of men. Neither have Friends seen reason to doubt that writers have sent forth books with divine authority in every age of the world. test appears to be their influence for good to mankind, and their continued acceptance by the wise and good for many generations. The John Milton, the great poet of the English Commonwealth, thus solemnly justifies some of his bold utterances which startled the easy-going world of that day: "When God commands to take a trumpet and blow a dolorous and a jarring blast, it rests not with man's will what he shall say or what he shall forbear." But the continuance of the Divine Illumi 1 The path of a right life opens before the little child. Forms of conduct he must slowly learn, but he is quick to see that there is a right and a wrong. He soon discovers that He soon discovers that duty and happiness are one. The whole expanding circle of his experiences seems like an intended lesson of faith and faithfulness: "So close is grandeur to our dust, When Duty whispers low, Thou must! There is light, and there is an open road. Moral rectitude knows its path, and moves in a straight line. Here is our nearest approach to infallibility, for here is the form of revelation which we are least liable to misunderstand. "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Virtue in its highest sense-a quality which man feels to be godlike- is thus within the reach of great and small, wise and ignorant. He hath shown thee, O man, what is good." But, in respect to religious doctrines, that is, in respect to theology,-we have not been shown what is true; at least, it is not made known to us in any such clear way as to warrant us in forcing upon ourselves or others any doctrinal system as final and binding. science, literature, politics, and trade-are probably doing more than organized religion to give shape and color and impulse to the modern world. This relative loss of power and leadership on the part of the Church is partly to be accounted for by her own loss of spirituality,-her substitution of external forms, professions, and doctrines for those internal principles and powers which unite humanity with divinity. The present "suspense of faith" will continue and grow more painful, unless religion can be simplified by disentanglement from theories which are questionable, histories which are obscure, and authorities which find no response or support in the nature of man.-C. G. Ames. THE MUSIC OF PRAYER. A French writer gives an account of one of that class of persons who are thought to be peculiarly exposed to materialism or atheistic doctrine. A great French surgeon carried on his work in the most noble, beneficent, and self-sacrificing way. In the saine hospital was a young and beautiful woman, very dear to him, his niece. She saw him perform most difficult operations, and carried about after him the bandages and the ointments. She was religious, and she said to him one day, "My dear uncle, what do you look for and think of beyond the grave?" He shook his head, and said, "My child, rien, rien, rien." One day afterward, he said to her: "I am touched by a mortal disease. I shall die in three months. When I am on my deathbed, I shall send for you to come and see me." Accordingly, he did send. She went, and found the ante-room crowded, and a Roman priest striving in vain to force his passage to the death-bed. The niece was admitted. She took his hand, and then of her own motionno, it is never of one's own motion: it is of the motion of God-dropped on her knees at the bedside, and prayed: "O Lord, bless him. You promised-did you not that-that you would bless those who visited the sick, that fed the hungry, that clothed the naked, that went to those in prison. That is just what he has done all his life. Now, O Lord, fulfill More than half a century ago, Carlyle thy promise, and bless him." And the old began to warn the Church of England that man muttered: "It is not necessary for you she was in danger of being superseded by to over do it. I have done nothing but disother forces in modern society; that, while charge my professional duties." She stopped she might continue to draw her mighty rev- her praying, and there was a little pause, enues and keep up the motions of religious when he, just about to expire, turned to her administration, the direction of the human and said-showing the secret surmise, the mind was passing to other hands. In the apprehension, the suspicion that there is more judgment of many shrewd observers, such a than matter, more than earth, more than revolution is accomplishing itself through- time, and there is something latent in every out Christendom. Never was there greater soul that can be awakened to it, he turned church activity; but, all the while, com- to her and said, " Pray again, pray again: binations of the forces called worldly-of it is music that pleases me."-Bartol. If we would mark the separation between human and divine guidance, we must make much of this distinction between religion and theology. A reasonable inquirer may easily be satisfied of the validity and authority of the moral sense and the spiritual instincts, for they belong to his nature: they put in their own evidence, like our bodily appetites. But it is not so easy to establish in the court of our faculties the validity and authority of any body of doctrines, and no end of confusion and mischief comes from putting these on the same footing with those. |