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Signs of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 5.

THE SOCIAL VOLCANO
Earlier text: Congress on Nation-Wide Prohibition

“Over Against His Own House”

By Adelaide D. Wellman

A Story of Religious Inconsistency
By ADELAIDE D. WELLMAN
“ARE you going to church to-day, Howard?”
Since Mrs. Reynolds came, a widow, to her brother’s home, few were the Sunday mornings when she had not put that question to him, and fewer were the times when she had received other than an affirmative answer.
Mr. Finley’s sense of humor often prompted him to surprise his sister with an evasive or negative answer, but he was restrained by consideration for her peace of mind. Mrs. Reynolds felt—though perhaps she would not have so stated—that her brother was less religious than she.
His Christianity was not announced by a trumpet, yet no one who had close acquaintance with him, business or social, failed to recognize and respect his quiet adherence to Christian principles.
After the church services that day, Mrs. Reynolds said to her brother, “Howard, I wish you would go around by Wendall Lane on our way home.”
That implied a considerable lengthening of the distance; but Mr. Finley was an indulgent brother, and as requested, he headed for Wendall Lane, though his sister did not give a very intelligible reason for wishing to take that route.
Her purpose became apparent, however, when they came in view of a new residence, and she said: “O Howard, slow down! I want you to look at that house. Do notice those porches, and the coping on the east side. Aren’t they fine? I just wish you would have our place fixed like that.”
“I think not to-day, Agnes.”
“Why, of course not to-day, Howard.” If there was irony in her brother’s reply, she failed to observe it. Her mind was concentrated on the proposed alterations in “our” property.
Yet not so much preoccupied were her thoughts that she did not notice the unusual spectacle, after they had turned into Wendall Lane, of a man working in his garden on Sunday afternoon.
“Heathenish!” exclaimed the zealously religious soul. “There ought to be a law to prevent such desecration of Sunday.”
“I hope it won’t molest me for traveling about the country on Sunday to look up building designs and other devices for improving real estate.”
Mrs. Reynolds never could understand her brother’s mild raillery, and now she replied, “O, surely no one would think of dictating about the road one should take from church.”
“There’s no limit to the lengths people are likely to go when they set about legislating on other folks’ religious duty. You doubtless remember that some of the American colonies demonstrated that religious laws are dangerous tools to handle.”
“O, but those colonists were of course fanatics—punished a man once for kissing his wife on returning from a long sea voyage, didn’t they? People are not so bigoted now.”
“And the Jews of Christ’s time made complaint against His disciples for rubbing out a few heads of grain in their hands to eat one Sabbath day.”
“More bigots, to be sure! But here we are at home again finally. Why, those artichokes are large enough to eat, aren’t they? Bring in a few, Howard, and we’ll have some for dinner. And O, that dock! Do pull it up! I so dislike to see it growing in the yard.”
Mrs. Reynolds did not observe the quizzical expression on Mr. Finley’s face, nor guess that he was querying whether the law she proposed against Sunday gardening would exempt her and her family.
Presumably most of us have more rational ideas of Sabbath observance than had this would-be dictator; but doubtless we would become involved in as absurd inconsistencies if we were to direct our energies toward compelling other people to conform to our ideas. Good citizenship and good religion both imply recognition of individual rights in individual matters.

Eugene’s Growth After Prohibition

C. T. WHITTLESA Y, of Eugene, Oregon, says: “There were 150 vacant dwellings in Eugene when the city voted dry. Several hundred have since been built, and there are not more than twenty-five vacant buildings in the city at the present time. The tax rate is ten mills, the same as when the town was wet. Several hundred thousand dollars has been spent in street improvements and buildings. The city has doubled in population in the three years that it has been dry.”

A WORLD-MOLDING NATION

By M. C. Wilcox

Rising Quietly to Power — Its Territory Hitherto Historically Unknown

This is the third of a series of articles furnished by Elder M. C. Wilcox, on the general theme of “A Sevenfold Sign of the End,” as manifested in the fulfilment of the prophecy that pertains to the United States. It is one of the most important prophetic themes to be found in the Bible.
EDITOR.
Recall the prophecy, “I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth.” Rev. 13: 11. Recall that wild beasts symbolize, in prophetic language, nations, governments, sooner or later antagonistic to the government of God. The four beasts of Dan. 7: 2, 3 represented four world-dominant governments or empires. Verses 17, 18. The ram and he-goat of Dan. 8: 3-8 were symbols of Medo-Persia and Grecia. Verses 20, 21.
We learned, in our last study, that the two-horned beast of Rev. 13: 11 symbolized a power which should be entering upon the stage of the world’s great drama when the divided Roman Empire, under domination of the papacy, should lose the papal phase of its character, or in other words, the papal head as a dominating power should be wounded to death. This culminated in 1798, when Pope Pius VI was taken captive, and the power of the papacy as a dominator was broken by France. Then it was that the new power was to arise. It has also been shown that but one rising powerful government fitted the symbol, namely, the United States.

THE TERRITORY

But the prophecy not only notes the time of its rise, but the place where it shall be established, namely, the earth.
The four great world empires of the past are represented by wild beasts rising up out of the heaving, restless, storm-tossed sea. Dan. 7: 1, 2. The sea represents multitudes, nations, tongues, and kings. Rev. 17: 15. Through strife and war and revolution among the nations, successively rose the great empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. These were world-dominating powers. They ruled the eastern world. All other nations acknowledged their sway or were too insignificant to be noticed. There was no room left on the Eastern Continent, among the recognized nations of earth, for a new power to arise. We must look to the New World, and recall again the prophetic utterance of Bishop Berkeley:
“Westward the course of empire takes its way, The first four acts already past. The fifth shall close the drama with the day; Time’s noblest offspring is the last.”
But looking westward from the Old World of strife and commotion, we find but one nation rising to power on this great continent. All South America and Mexico were broken, at that time, into insignificant governments or colonies of Old World powers. The United States of America alone meets the prediction. She has, in her fulfilment of the prophecy in both time and place, not one to dispute the application of the prophecy to her.
She arose out of the earth, out of an unknown land, largely unknown even to the men who first found the government. The nation began with a narrow strip of land along the seaboard of the Atlantic, extending from Maine to Florida, with the great untrodden West in the background.
The nation did not rise among other nations. Its founders and fosterers were men who had fled from the persecutions and strife, from the intolerance and oppression, of the teeming Old World, preferring to risk the perils of an unknown land inhabited by widely scattered tribes of nomadic savages. But they found in the wilderness a home, and established, in hitherto unknown parts of the earth, a new and mighty nation.
Men were looking for this, notwithstanding the fact that what settlements there were in the New World were but weak colonies of strong European governments. Take the following as samples:
“An idea, strange as it is visionary, has entered into the minds of the generality of mankind that empire is traveling westward; and every one is looking forward with eager and impatient expectation to that distant moment when America is to give the law to the rest of the world.”—Burnaby’s “Travels Through the Middle Settlements of North America in 1759 and 1760.”
But the vision was of God, and the idea was born of His prophecy, as expressed by Bishop Berkeley. Here are others:
“Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this New World for conscience’ sake. Perhaps this apparently trivial incident may transfer the seat of empire to America.”—John Adams, October 12, 1775.
“The history of the United States was separated, by a beneficent providence, far from the wild and cruel history of the rest of the continent, and like a silent seed we grew into empire.”
“This hemisphere was laid away for no one race.”—George Alfred Townsend.
“It is only yesterday, as it were, in the calendar of earth’s existence, when the fact was first made known to modern men, that our planet was a globe, and that in the waters between the western coasts of Europe and Africa and the eastern coasts of Asia, there lay a vast continent teeming with life, wealth, and beauty. For generations after that discovery, the continent was wrapped in profound mystery, the subject of wild conjecture and tales of wonder. The newly awakened moral forces impelled brave and earnest men and women to venture across the Atlantic Ocean and establish homes in the virgin wilderness.”—Lessing, “History of the United States.”
Said the great Irishman and British statesman, Burke: “A great revolution has happened—a revolution made not by chopping and changing of power in any of the existing states, but in the appearance of a new state, of a new species, in a new part of the globe. It has made as great a change in all the relations and balances and gravitations of power as the appearance of a new planet would in the system of the solar world.”
Mr. G. A. Townsend, in his work entitled “The New World Compared with the Old,” page 452, says: “Since America was discovered, she has been a subject of revolutionary thought in Europe. The mystery of her coming forth from vacancy, the marvel of her wealth in gold and silver, the spectacle of her captives led through European capitals, filled the minds of men with unrest; and unrest is the first stage of revolution.”
And this specification of the prophecy has been abundantly met in the United States of America, and in no other. It is a prophecy of two millenniums ago; it is a living, throbbing, acting fulfilment to-day.
M. C. W.
The next specification is “A Nation Rising Rapidly to Power under Peaceful Conditions.”

J. O. C

By J. O. C.

ONE can learn to live nobly only by acting nobly on every occasion, and under all circumstances. If at any time a compromise of principle is indulged because present company is not favorable to rectitude, a soul weakness is at once developed that will not only produce instability at a later similar trial, but will in time break down confidence in one’s power to succeed in any position of trust. On this point one should ever be fortified by the apostolic exhortation, “Add to your faith virtue.” Virtue, being eminently the display of courage in doing that which one believes to be right, constitutes an essential in every walk of life. It should then be assiduously cultivated, even at the sacrifice of associates who may consider it but a prudish attribute.

J. O. C

Question Corner

By Milton C. Wilcox

Conducted by MILTON C. WILCOX
Mountain View, California
NOTE.—This department is for the purpose of helping Bible students. Answers must of necessity be brief, often only suggestive, never exhaustive, never infallible only as they agree with the infallible Word. Such questions only will be answered as seem to the editors to minister to the mission of the paper. Questions of the same import can not be answered repeatedly in the same volume. Name and address must be given, not for publication, but as evidence of good faith and to insure reply by letter if thought best. It is well always to inclose stamp, not stamped envelope, unless answer is desired by letter alone.

80—AGE OF JESUS AT THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN

Will you please inform me how old Jesus was when the wise men visited Him? L. J. A.
It is impossible to tell the exact age of our Lord at that time. It can only be approximated. The star that the wise men saw before they started to visit our Lord was probably the glory of the angels who announced His birth to the shepherds. These wise men lived in the east—a very elastic term—which may have been Persia, or may have been Babylon, or may have been the country of Padan-aram, where Jacob went to obtain a wife, and which is called the east. See Gen. 29:1. “Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.” And this seems to have been the home of Balaam also, for he dwelt “by the river,” which usually refers to the river Euphrates. See Num. 22:5.
The investigations of the wise men and their journey to Jerusalem would depend, of course, on the speed with which they traveled. If they had swift dromedaries, these would have carried them there in twenty-five or thirty days. This, however, is very indefinite. Looking at it from the family side of the question, it is clearer. Certainly the presentation of Jesus in the temple, and the offering made by the mother, could not have been made after the visit of the wise men. The law of the offering is given in Lev. 12:2-4. After the birth of the child to the time when the offering was made, was certainly thirty-three days. This came after the circumcision of the child—the eighth day. So taking it all together, after the birth of Jesus to the time when Mary made her offering in the temple was at least forty days. It may have been, of course, a longer time than this before the wise men reached there. Joseph and his family moved from the inn in Bethlehem to a house, for there the wise men found them, according to the record in Matthew 2. If the wise men had preceded the visit to the temple, the liberal gifts they bestowed would have enabled Mary to offer another offering than what she did. The doves and the pigeons show the poverty of the family.
When Herod learned from the wise men that Jesus had been born, of course he was aroused to wrath because of a possible rival, and seemingly his decree soon followed. Therefore we would naturally conclude that after the visit of the wise men, Joseph took the young child and the mother and went to Egypt. Herod died in a few months after this, and Archelaus his son came to the throne. The stay of the holy family in Egypt, then, was doubtless short, Jesus immediately returning to the Holy Land.
From the data given in the Scriptures, we could say that Jesus, at the time of the visit of the wise men, was at least forty days old, and He may have been considerably older, although it would seem very reasonable to believe that the wise men could have come the distance between the time when they first saw the star in their own land and their visit to Jerusalem.

81—OUR MEDIATOR

I understand that Christ has been man's Mediator in the heavenly sanctuary since sin first entered the world, and will be till probation ends. If so, was there not a period of thirty-four years during Christ's life on earth when mankind was without a Mediator? P. J. W.
There are some things in God's plan which are revealed fully to His people. There are many other things which are not so revealed. It was not the mere fact that Jesus was upon earth or in heaven that made Him a Mediator, but the great fact was that He gave Himself for man. During the time previous to His coming to the earth, He was an angel among the angels. He is called “the Angel of Jehovah” repeatedly in the Old Testament. He is called “Michael the Archangel”; but the offering that He had made in purpose in the beginning, and had fulfilled in part in stepping down as He did to be a servant with the angels, was recognized in heaven, and whoever came to God was received.
We must not think that every soul which was heard of the Father necessarily came in the same way or through a certain form. We must not think that the Son of God was willing to hear prayer while the Father was not. We read in 2 Chron. 16:9 that “the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.”
Those who lived in the former ages did not know Jesus by that name. Many of them did not understand God's great plan of redemption or its theory or philosophy at all. They simply knew this,—that God was merciful; and to the merciful God they went confessing their sins, believing that He would forgive and that He would save. And following the light that they had, and yielding to the truth that they saw, they were accepted.
To His own people in their organized work He gave greater light and clear object lessons, as in the sanctuary of old; but He just as truly accepted those who came with all their heart to Him, as He did those who understood vastly more. The great loving God was just as willing to hear when His Son slept in Joseph's sepulcher as He was after our Lord ascended to His right hand. It is a heart that follows the light given, more than a mind that knows light and does not follow it, that God regards.

82—THE CEREMONIAL LAW

Did all God's people prior to Christ observe the ceremonial law of sacrifice and offerings, or could men pray to God through Christ for pardon then as now? As witness, the prayers of David, Daniel, Hezekiah, and others. F. J. W.
It is very clear that all those who understood the law of sacrifice and were devoted followers of Christ, followed the custom, though they may not have understood the law as it was developed in Levitical times. In fact, when we go back to the days of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, we find the law of sacrifice very much simpler than it was in later days. Under the Mosaic system, it was developed into a very elaborate ceremonial. The whole nation itself was involved in it, and these ceremonials were object lessons to the people. But previous to that time, when the work was more individual, or pertained more exclusively to the family, the ceremonies were very simple indeed. The principle was recognized, doubtless, by all, that God had made sacrifice in order to save men, and men responded to it.
They did not come in the name of the word Jesus then, because they did not know any such name; but they did come through the great mercy of God. And therefore we have such expressions as we find in the beginning of the fifty-first psalm:
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness: According to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
It is also expressed in the very name of Jehovah itself, as indicated by Ex. 34:6, 7. There are truths that lie far deeper than the mere surface terms. The New Testament enjoins that we should ask in the name of Jesus, but the name of our Lord stood for self-emptying. “Let this mind be in you,” says the apostle, “which was also in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2:5. And then he tells us the mind that was in Christ Jesus,—that He emptied Himself, gave all, in order that He might save man. And the man who empties himself, and asks God wholly and solely for His mercy's sake to forgive, comes in the name of Jesus, though he may never know the name. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” But where clearer light has revealed to us more fully the plan of God, simple faith demands that we should follow the clear light.
It is Jesus Himself who said: “In that day ye shall ask in My name; and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loveth you.” John 16:26, 27.

83—ONE IN CHRIST JESUS

Will you kindly explain Gal. 3:28? Some claim there is neither male nor female in heaven. L. A. B.
This scripture has nothing to do with what is in heaven in regard to sex or nationality there. It does have to do with the Christian church, and with those who are in Christ Jesus. Outside of Christ, in the apostle's day, even as in our day, there were distinctions made because of nationality, because of social conditions, because of sex. The Jew was considered better than the Greek. A freeman was considered better than a bondman. The male was considered better than the female.
That was true to some extent with the Jews. It was true with Gentiles. Of course the Jew considered that the Jew was far superior to the Greek, and the Greek considered that the male was far superior to the female. In many of the nations where Christianity went, the female was considered no more than the beasts.
The apostle Paul wanted to teach the Galatians and others who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ that every human soul was precious in God's sight. It mattered not whether he were Jew or whether he were Greek, whether he were bond or whether he were free, whether male or female. They had all received a new birth. They were all members of the family of God, and they were all equally precious in His sight. That does not mean that the Jew was changed over to a Greek. It did not necessarily mean that a bondman's chains would drop off in his worldly social condition. The same apostle even sent Onesimus back to his master after he had become a Christian, and the master himself was a Christian—Philemon. But it does mean that in God's regard—and that ought to be true in His children's regard—they were all one in Christ Jesus.

84—THE TRUE WORSHERS, ZECH. 14:16

Please explain Zech. 14:16. A. L. B.
It is impossible to give the clearest explanation of any verse in a prophecy like this, without taking into consideration the whole prophecy; and the whole prophecy does not refer to a particular time or occasion, but it rather covers a period of time. And this period of time is the great day of the Lord, when God will deal with both wicked and righteous.
The prophet also speaks in the language of his own day; and in his time the Lord's people, when faithful, came up to Jerusalem from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. That is used as a type of the Lord's people who are saved. They will be equally faithful to God. They have been even before they are saved; and it is their faithfulness to God in worship and service, that insures their salvation. The prophet is simply speaking in the language of his own time regarding the souls that will be saved to the new earth. In that glorious time, there will be no sacrifices. There may be feasts of tabernacles kept, in which God's children will commemorate their wonderful salvation from the things of earth. However that may be, this prophecy simply indicates that God's children in that land will regard with real joy all that He asks of them and whatsoever is required in their worship.

Jonah Struggled Against Duty

By Wm. Covert

A Fish Prepared to Swallow Him — The Master Indorses the Story — A Test of Our Faith
By WM. COVERT
The little book of the prophet Jonah is made a subject of much ridicule by infidels, because they say its story is absurd. Indeed, if we should undertake to defend it as a narrative entirely in harmony with what might occur in the natural course of things, we would find the task a difficult one. But if the truthfulness of the story is to depend upon the ability of some great fish to swallow a man, the task is easy; for there have been many white sharks found with mouths, gullets, and stomachs large enough to swallow big men. And the disposition of these great sea monsters is, to do just such a thing as that of swallowing a man if he should be thrown overboard into the sea.

Quite Able to Swallow a Man

Mr. Smith, in his dictionary of the Bible, in commenting upon the book of Jonah, says: “The white shark, which sometimes attains the length of thirty feet, is quite able to swallow a man whole. The whole body of a man in armor has been found in the stomach of a white shark; and Captain King, in his survey of Australia, says he had caught one which could have swallowed a man with the greatest ease. Blumenbach mentions that a whole horse has been found in a shark; and Capt. Basil Hall reports the taking of one in which, besides other things, he found the whole skin of a buffalo, which a short time before had been thrown overboard from the ship. The white shark is not uncommon in the Mediterranean.”
Now, since Joppa, the place where Jonah embarked for Tarshish, is located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, it follows that his attempted voyage was on that sea. It was on that sea that the mariners prayed and cast lots to determine who was responsible for the raging storm that was threatening the lives of all on board. And into that sea Jonah was thrown when the lot fell upon him.

The Fish Was Prepared

When the story has led up to the point where the fleeing prophet was cast into the sea, it says: “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly. . . . And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” Jonah 1:17; 2:1, 10.
Jonah was the Lord’s prophet for Israel; and he had been told to go to Nineveh and cry against it, because its inhabitants were so very wicked. But Jonah dreaded to undertake such a mission, so he went to Joppa. There he found a ship’s crew about to start for Tarshish; and they accepted his fare, and agreed to take him to Tarshish with them.
He may have thought that if he would go to Tarshish and do missionary work there, the Lord would accept that service instead of the work he had been asked to do in the great city of Nineveh. He may have reasoned with himself that there was need of missionary work to be done at Tarshish, and, too, that it would be more convenient to make the journey to Tarshish than to go to Nineveh. The ship was going to Tarshish, and he could go on board, go to sleep, and ride across the sea to that place. It probably seemed to him that the journey would be easier and the work not so embarrassing and that the Lord would consent to this change in the missionary plans.

The Storm Frustrated Jonah’s Plans

But Jonah’s attempt to change the Lord’s plans was not approved, and hence the storm frustrated the prophet’s self-appointed plans for missionary work. Then the great fish was ready to swallow up Jonah as soon as he was cast overboard. And it started back with him to the place whence he started. Now, as soon as he was on dry land again, “the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.” This time, Jonah did as he was bidden, and he preached with such power that the whole city was mightily affected.

His Earnest Work Was Convincing

Such preaching as this by the intensely earnest man upon the streets of the city, convinced the Ninevites of their great danger. “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not.” Jonah 3:5-10.
But Jonah was greatly displeased because the Lord did not destroy the city. He said: “Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil.” But God wanted to bring the people to repentance; and so He enacted this great drama to bring them to repentance, and to save as many of them as possible.

The Key to the Lesson

The marvelous part in this story is not that the great fish could swallow up the prophet, but the wonder is that the prophet could live through the ordeal. But when we actually believe that it was God who was manifesting His power because of His kindness to men whom He would have repent of their sins, and also because He was enacting a parable that should be used as an object lesson to show His ability to do whatever He might wish to perform in heaven or in earth, in the seas or elsewhere (see Ps. 135:6), we have the key to the lesson.
When the Lord wanted Jonah swallowed, He had the fish ready to do His bidding. And when He wanted the prophet liberated, He spoke to the fish, and had him put out on the dry ground again, so he could and would do the work he had been bidden to do.

Christ Indorsed It

The lesson was indorsed and explained by Christ as follows: “Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from Thee. But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Matt. 12:38-41.
In the margin of the Revised Version, the term for the word “whale” is “sea monster.” It was some great sea monster that God used as an agent in the return of the fleeing prophet. By this means, the people of Nineveh were made to repent of their sins, thus saving the city for a time from an overthrow; and also in this way a great object lesson was given to mankind, illustrating the power of God and the willingness of God to save men.

Child Training

By Mrs. H. E. Sawyer-Hopkins

“ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” and in it we are instructed to “train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Did the Author make a mistake when He inspired the prophet to indite these words? Says one, “Evil traits of character are born in a child, and it is impossible to get them out.” Maybe they were not born in it. They may have come through the parents’ ignorance of proper training. From the very beginning, some humor the children in every little whim. “The little dears must not have their wishes crossed. O, no! When they get older, they will learn better.”
Such need to be reminded of the fate of Eli’s sons, because he “restrained them not.” “As the twig is bent, so the tree is inclined.” “Habits grow with the growth, and strengthen with the strength.”
But few seem to realize the importance of gaining knowledge of child training. This is as necessary as any education one can obtain.
If the Lord says a child can be taught the way he should go, why not take Him at His word—seek Him for wisdom?
Mrs. H. E. Sawyer-Hopkins.

The Telephone

By J. O. C.

ONE of the marvelous inventions of the last days is the telephone, by means of which the world has become a whispering-gallery. The sight is so common that one scarcely thinks of the magnitude of the equipment necessary to make its work effective. In a recent advertisement of the Bell system alone, they claim that to carry their wires throughout the country, 12,480,000 poles are necessary, worth $40,000,000, and sufficient, they state, to build a stockade around California. Enough wire is used to coil around the earth 621 times, and it is worth about $100,000,000, and contains $88,000,000 worth of copper. They also require $37,000,000 worth of lead and tin; enough conduits to go five times through the earth from pole to pole, worth in the warehouse $9,000,000. The value of their telephones is something like $45,000,000; the switchboards, $90,000,000; and buildings sufficient to house a city of 150,000 are required, which, unfurnished and without land, cost approximately $44,000,000. J. O. C.

“Banish the Bar”

“BANISH the bar” is the slogan of our Canadian temperance friends. They will have to do strong work to accomplish it, for liquor drinking is prevalent in Canada. Its results are the same in Canada as here. It worse than widows wives, and worse than orphans children, in Canada as here. Its prohibition would be a blessing there as here. “Banish the bar” in Canada; “close the saloons,” “down with the liquor traffic,” in the United States. They both spell the same thing. May the bar be banished!

New Law Against Premature Marriage in Turkey

By W. C. Ising

The Department of Public Health of the Ottoman empire has just decided that hereafter the marriageable age for residents in European and Asiatic Turkey shall be eighteen years for boys and fourteen years for girls. For the warmer regions of Arabia and Syria the limit is two years younger in each case. The sheriat, or sacred law, fixes the limit for girls at nine years. In view of this fact, the new law is a decided step in the right direction. W. C. Ising.

The Importance of Voice Culture

“Those who gain correct ideas on the subject of voice culture will see the necessity of educating and training themselves so that they may honor God and bless others. They will put themselves under patient, efficient teachers, and learn to read in a way that will preserve the melody of the voice. With an eye single to the glory of God they will make the most of their natural abilities. Commanding their own powers, they will not be embarrassed by defects of speech, and their usefulness in the cause of God will be increased.”

The Best Route to and from California

Two Great 1915 Expositions

At San Francisco February 20 to December 4, 1915
At San Diego January 1 to December 31, 1915
There will be no postponement for any reason
INQUIRE OF ANY AGENT, OR
MR. C. S. FEE
Passenger Traffic Manager Flood Building San Francisco, California
SOUTHERN PACIFIC

Scientific American

Anyone sending a sketch and description may quickly ascertain our opinion free whether an invention is probably patentable. Communications strictly confidential. HANDBOOK on Patents sent free. Oldest agency for securing patents. Patents taken through Munn & Co. receive special notice, without charge, in the

Scientific American.

A handsomely illustrated weekly. Largest circulation of any scientific journal. Terms, $3 a year; four months, $1. Sold by all newsdealers.
MUNN & Co. 361 Broadway, New York
Branch Office, 625 F St., Washington, D. C.

COLDS: Their Cause, Prevention, and Cure.

A little 25c book that tells how to treat colds successfully without drugs. Better yet, it tells how to live so as not to “catch” colds. Address our depository (see list on page 15) in your state or
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION Mountain View, California

Dark Valley Railroad Folder

A powerful 8-page temperance document. Printed in two colors, in the form and appearance of a railroad time-table, with names of stations, time of trains, and map of the route. Begins at Cigaretteville and ends at Perdition. $1.50 a hundred, post-paid. Address our depository in your state or
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION Mountain View, California

“IN TEN YEARS THE BIBLE WILL NOT BE READ”

By Editor

25 years ago Robert Ingersoll made the above statement.
Voltaire said, “The Bible is an exploded book.”
No doubt they were sincere, but it is interesting to note that they were failures as prophets.
Why, more copies of the Bible are sold annually than any other 100 books combined!
Ten million Bibles in English are distributed every year; 7,000,000 in other languages.
“The word of the Lord endureth forever.”
This article and twelve others, together with seventeen shorter ones on current events in the light of Bible prophecy, appear in the February number of the Signs of the Times Magazine.
In your mail box every month for $1.00 a year.
Can you give part or all of your time to selling this magazine? If so, it will be worth your while to look into our proposition for agents.
Signs of the Times Magazine Mountain View, Cal.
Continue reading: Deliberate Poisoning