p. 15 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 21. (5/31/1910)

Earlier text: The Men’s National Missionary Congress

THE Spirit World

By George W. Rine

By PROF. G. W. RINE

Prof. George W. Rine’s pamphlet “The Spirit World,” is a work of unusual interest. In support of his statement that there are really supernatural manifestations, he gives the following account, among many others, of the sitting of a noted medium in the laboratories of Naples and Genoa:

“Her sittings here were under the rigid, unsympathetic direction of Professor Bottazzi, head of the department of physics at the University of Naples. He was sneeringly skeptical of Paladino’s powers. He had scoffed at the reports of Crookes, of Lombroso, and of Richet. He compelled Eusapia to submit to having all her apparel thoroly examined before each sitting. He called in a coterie of cold-blooded scientists to assist him ‘in applying the screws.’ Every movable thing was nailed or screwed fast to the walls of the cabinet. He compelled ‘John,’ Eusapia’s spirit ‘control,’ to have all his movements automatically registered upon a cylinder of smoked glass, effected by the use of a metronome and a dynamometer. Bottazzi determined to secure a grave record so that no wiseacre could say, ‘O, you were all hypnotized, or were all the victims of “collective hallucination.”’”

“Yet under these scientifically rigorous conditions, the following supernormal wonders were observed: A great black hand and arm crept slowly out from the cabinet, and touched Bottazzi’s wife, who happened to be nearest, and then apparently dissolved into thin air. ‘We felt the sensation as of contact with a real hand,’ Bottazzi reported, ‘bony, nervous, often neither hot nor cold, but sometimes hot,—a hand, in fact, of flesh and bones and blood. To whom does this hand belong, which is generally encountered more than half a yard away from the medium’s head, and while her visible hands are rigorously controlled by her two neighbors?’ At a subsequent sitting the same black hand appeared and grasped Bottazzi by the nape of the neck. Bottazzi felt for this ghostly hand and clasped it. It was a left hand, neither hot nor cold, ‘with rough, bony fingers which dissolved under pressure—it dematerialized, melted.’ Again, etheric (spirit) hands and fists would hover over Eusapia’s head. These ghostly hands were actually photographed. Little twirling tongues of flame often floated across the curtains of the cabinet; sometimes they appeared above Eusapia’s head. A mandolin rose automatically into the air, floated there while being played by unseen hands. A table weighing seventeen pounds, at one of these sittings, floated high in the air, and turned itself over. When it had quieted down for a moment, Dr. Arullani, who was skeptical, approached the table to inspect it more closely, but the table ‘moved violently toward him and repulsed him.’ The medium announced quietly, ‘I am going to break the table.’ The table passed behind the curtain, where it was seen to turn over on one of its short sides, while one of the legs of the table came off violently. At this point the table came violently out of the cabinet and ‘continued to break up under the eyes of every one present; at first its different parts were torn off, then the boards themselves went to pieces. Two legs which still remained united by a thin slip of wood floated above us and placed themselves on the séance table.’ Examination showed that ‘the nails were torn out, the rivets and boards were broken. . . . The strength required literally to pull to pieces such a table is enormous, greater than any man could exert.’ The skeptical investigators admitted their complete mystification.”

If these manifestations are not fraud, what is the source of their power? Professor Rine’s pamphlet tells you. Price 10 cents.

Other Choice Books

In sending for the above-mentioned pamphlet, you may wish to include in your request copies of some of the following:

Christ Our Advocate

A comprehensive study of the sanctuary question. 112 pages, price 10 cents.

The Lord’s Day

A study of the Sabbath question in the light of the dispensations. 125 pages, price 10c.

The Sure Word of Prophecy

A verse-by-verse study of the book of Daniel. 96 pages, price 10 cents.

The Saints’ Inheritance

A beautiful study on the home of the saved. 88 pages, price 10 cents.

Christian Science

A consideration of this “science” in the light of reason and revelation. 50 pages, price 10 cents.

Matthew Twenty-four

Christ’s answer to the disciples’ question, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” and the history connected with the fulfilment of this prophecy. 94 pages, price 10 cents.

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It Need Not Be

ONE publishing company states that three million years of life are wasted every year in the United States through serious illness, half of which is preventable; that the average cost of ill health to each family per year is $57.00, half of which is unnecessary; and that the average loss of time to each individual through serious illness—minor ailments are not included—is thirteen days, half of which can be saved.

These statements are preliminary to the sale of a set of medical books; and yet there are simple laws which every one might observe that would save doctors’ bills, prevent serious illness, and save time. Plenty of exercise, deep breathing of pure air, and abundant drinking of pure water at proper times, normal, easy clothing, and a clear conscience, are the desiderata preliminary to good health.

The curse of the world lies in intemperance. The use of alcohol in its various forms, of tobacco and kindred intoxicants and narcotics, the overindulgence in eating, and in the eating of unwholesome articles, the wearing of improper dress, and the lack of pure air and sunshine, do more to keep people sick than all other things combined.

Sketches of the Metropolis of Japan

By F. W. Field

III. Recent Changes in Tokyo

“WELL, this looks quite civilized,” was the candid remark of an American lad upon landing in Japan. Oriental civilization differs from the Western variety in many respects. But with a civilization of their own, the Japanese are rapidly adopting and adapting that of the West.

In Tokyo the most noticeable of recent changes has been in the matter of local travel. Eight years ago, when the writer first came to Tokyo, there was only one line of horse-cars running along the main business street. And those were the only street-cars in the city. If we wished to visit our friends, or to do business, in the southern part of the city, we had choice between walking and going by jinrikisha. These overgrown baby cabs are not to be despised as means of conveyance; but the cost of riding in one, while it may seem like pitifully small wages for the man who pulls it, is many times the cost of a street-car fare, especially for a ride of several miles.

But about six or possibly seven years ago, the old horse-car line was replaced by an up-to-date trolley system. That was the beginning, and the end is not yet. In course of time two more electric street-car companies were organized; and all three prosecuted their work with vigor, till to-day Tokyo has fully one hundred miles of electric street-car lines, and projected lines will swell this to 140 miles. About two years ago the three companies were united; and now you can ride from one end of the city to the other, with transfers to any line, for just half the ordinary fare in America. And morning and evening, during certain hours, a reduction of one half is made as a concession to the laboring classes who patronize the cars. During these hours the cars are crowded to their utmost capacity, till there is often not even standing room. Of course thousands of jinrikisha men have had to throw up their jobs since the coming of the trolley-cars. But “the greatest good to the greatest number” seems to be the motto of modern civilization; so the car of progress rolls on, even tho some are crushed beneath its wheels.

With the coming of the electric cars came also the work of widening the streets. Many busy streets were too narrow to allow a double line of tracks to be laid. On some streets only a single line was laid, with switches at intervals where the cars could pass. But in nearly all these cases the streets have been widened to allow for room for two tracks. And even where no car lines are projected, quite a number of streets have been widened to allow more room for the ever increasing traffic. The view here given is of the principal business street of the city. A little farther north this street was considerably narrower; but recently it has been widened to equal the width here shown. For a distance of about three miles all the buildings on the west side of the street were torn down or removed, and replaced by new ones set farther back. And a fine new bridge across one of the canals is now being built. This is called Nihombashi—Japan Bridge—and is the place from which all distances from Yedo were measured, in the olden days.

Recent years have seen some fine new buildings erected in Tokyo. Among these may be mentioned the Department of Communications building, near the terminal railway station; a new building for the metropolitan police headquarters; and the Imperial Theater. Last but by no means least must be mentioned the magnificent palace of the crown prince, who plainly shows, in many ways, his liking for things and ways modern.

What bearing have these changes upon missionary work in Tokyo? The improved facilities for travel have quite a direct bearing. By being able to get about more rapidly we are able to accomplish more. Besides this, it has become possible for the people to assemble from all parts of the city to hear the Gospel preached. And so, if we had a neat church building in a central location, near some one or more of the main car lines, it would provide one very important means for presenting the closing Gospel messages to the people of this great city. We have found a very suitable location, near two of the main street-car lines, and but a little farther from a much-used suburban line. Further, it is directly in front of the Government Military Academy, and hence easily found. We have already bargained for this land, and have the money to pay for it. But that is about all we do have. The Lord’s business requires haste in these days. But if we are left entirely to ourselves to erect the church building we ought to have on this ground, the work will be delayed. We trust that this statement of our need will appeal to the liberal hearted.

F. W. FIELD.

Need of Missionary Work

MR. ROBERT SPEER thinks that there is ten times as great moral need for missionary work in the Catholic countries of South America as in China. He quotes the following lament from a letter of the Pope to the clergy of Chili:

“In every diocese, ecclesiastics break all bounds, and deliver themselves up to manifold sensuality; but no voice is lifted to imperiously summon the pastors to their duty. It is sad to reflect that prelates, priests, and other clergy are never to be found doing service among the poor, never in the hospital, never in the dwellings of the afflicted or the distressed, or engaged in works of beneficence; that they are always absent where human misery is, unless paid as chaplains or a fee is given. You, as clergy, are always to be found in the house of the rich, where gluttony is to be engaged in and where good wines are to be obtained.”

One of the ecclesiastics of the country, the bishop of Caracas, writes in the same strain: “The scandals in the parish or town take on unmeasured proportions. The enemies of the church triumph because of the shameful evils of the parochial priests, and good souls retire to groan in secret. It is revealed in the deserted churches. We should know that the one cause of this humiliating decay is none else than the hidden corruption of the heart and life of the priests.”—Present Truth (London).

Degeneracy of the Race

By Editor

Cost of Europe’s Next Great War

“Watchman, What of the Night?”

Why International War Is Delayed

These are titles of four of the eleven general articles appearing in the JUNE Signs of the Times Monthly.

This is a reduced facsimile of the June cover. Pretty, isn’t it? Imagine how good it will look to tired, perspiring city dwellers on a warm day!

Agents Wanted Everywhere

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Acid Stomach

Dr. Leadsworth tells how to cure it, in the June number of

LIFE AND HEALTH

The National Health Magazine

Senator Robert L. Owen, author of the Senate bill for a national department of health, writes on "The Conservation of Life and Health."

George Wharton James has an article on "With God in His Great Out-of-Doors."

Wm. J. Cromie, of the University of Pennsylvania, tells about "The Results of Physical Training."

There are features in this one issue worth the whole subscription price. $1.00 a year; 10 cents a copy.

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LIFE AND HEALTH, Washington, D. C.

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Southern Pacific

New Nurses’ Class at Glendale Sanitarium

Los Angeles, Cal.

A new class for the training of medical missionary nurses will be started at Glendale Sanitarium on the 1st day of June. This school is affiliated with San Fernando Academy, where a year of preparatory work is given. Term at Glendale, two years. If desired, advanced medical work can be arranged for at Loma Linda after graduation.

Arrangements are such that students can work their whole way, as allowances are liberal. Full particulars upon application. Intending students please apply at once to Dr. Belle Wood-Comstock, Glendale Sanitarium, Glendale, Cal.

The Johnston Sunday Bill

The current issue of LIBERTY gives the most complete published account of the recent hearing upon the Johnston Sunday Bill, the most important Sunday bill that has ever been before Congress. Every one who is interested in the subject of religious liberty should get a copy and read it thoroly. Contains the complete addresses of Professors W. W. Prescott and A. T. Jones.

Religious liberty advocates will do well to circulate this number of LIBERTY as widely as possible. LIBERTY is a live, progressive quarterly published at Washington, D. C., as the organ of the Religious Liberty Association. Ten cents a copy. Twenty-five cents a year.

LIBERTY, Washington, D. C.

Photography by Telegraph

Photography by telegraph is said to have been successfully demonstrated between two newspaper offices in Boston and New York. It required about six minutes to transmit a photograph.

He Can Not Do It.

In a little tract sent to us the writer says:

“If it is the will of God, and I believe it is, that I should observe the Sabbath on the first day of the week, I am going to do it. It is not written that no Sabbath-breaker shall enter the kingdom of God.”

Now God has clearly, unchangeably, and consistently identified the Sabbath—His Sabbath—with the seventh day of the week. It can not be changed. That is the day upon which He rested, which He blessed, which He sanctified, or set apart, holy to Himself. Gen. 2:2, 3; Ex. 20:8-11. It can therefore be observed only on the day of God’s appointment. To seek to observe it on any other day in the light of God’s law is to exalt one’s self as higher authority than God. God is one, unchangeable. “I am Jehovah; I change not,” are His own words. He has made the Sabbath a part of His law; and the transgression of His law is sin; and “the wages of sin is death.” Rom. 7:7; 1 John 3:4; Rom. 6:23; Ex. 31:14, 15. From that sin Christ will save the honest, the obedient. “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” Isa. 1:19.

Halley’s Comet and Divine Providence

Before this paper reaches our readers Halley's Comet will have saluted the earth and passed on and injured no one. “The Most High ruleth.” Under His wise direction move the heavenly bodies. The sin has perverted the perfect working of God's laws in the universe, still He controls, and will control to His glory and the best good of His children till sin shall be no more.

Pleasant Visits

We are glad to note our red-letter days, and we have had several lately. After attending the meeting for the Medical Missionary College at Loma Linda, Cal., Brethren A. G. Daniells (president of the General Conference), H. R. Salisbury (general educational secretary), and R. A. Underwood and Allen Moon (presidents respectively of the Northern and Lake Union Conferences), and W. C. White and C. C. Crisler, visited us on their way back east. On Sabbath, May 14, the first-named preached a most encouraging and comprehensive sermon in the forenoon, and Professor Salisbury gave an inspiring talk to the young people on missions in the afternoon. Several sessions were spent in earnest Bible study and counsel, and we felt for several reasons the visits were profitable. Brethren Daniells and Salisbury will attend the California camp-meeting at Sacramento.

A Rare Bird.—

On May 14 the Mongolia landed at San Francisco as part of its cargo a rare specimen of the cassowary, a bird found in the East Indies. “The strange creature is smaller and stouter than the ostrich, and has a sort of helmet of horny substance which consists of plates overlapping each other. A group of long, sharp spines on each wing are used as weapons of defense.”

Practical Joking.

Six girls and six boys, between the ages of 16 and 18, of a graduating class of the high school at Huntington Mills, Pa., went for a little boat ride on a mill-pond at lunch hour, May 12. Some smart fellows began to rock the boat to frighten the girls. The result: two overturned boats, six dead girls, and two dead boys. It does not require much brains to be a practical joker. One does not have to know much to pull a chair from under one about to sit down, rock a boat, shoot a pistol supposed to be not loaded, and do many other foolish things resulting oftentimes seriously and fatally.

For the Little Men and Women.—

Do you have growing children, little boys and girls with expanding minds, continually absorbing what they see and hear and read? Then you ought to do all on your part to furnish good food for their mental and moral natures. Many times the children imagine themselves to be like grown folks, and there is not so much difference; for grown folks are only children grown tall. Well, grown folks like a weekly paper at least. The little boys and girls would like one, too—a paper addressed to the very boy or girl, his or her very own. Our Little Friend would be a blessing to every child that reads it. Send for it for your child if you have not already.

*It is only sixty cents a year, just a little more than one cent a number. Send for sample copy. Address Our Little Friend, Mountain View, Cal.

The Spurious Letter of Christ

We received the other day a well written letter from Texas from one who certainly has some education, enclosing a printed copy of what is said to be a “Letter Written by Christ.” This letter goes on to say that whoever publishes it to the world will have good fortune, but whoever fails to do that will receive all sorts of plagues and be followed with all sorts of troubles; and then it gives instances of certain ones who were followed by misfortune because they refused to publish it. We would like to say to all our readers who may have read this letter or to whom such requests come, that it is superstition boiled down. There is no authentic letter in existence written by Jesus Christ. We have no record whatsoever that He ever wrote anything except upon the sand in the presence of those who brought before Him the sinning woman. We have His words left us in the Bible. Whatsoever is in harmony with those words is truth; whatsoever is not in harmony with them, as are some things in this letter, is not truth. The “letter” is a mixture of truth and error, and one may, if he doesn’t publish it, safely rest in the assurance given in the good Book that “the curse causeless shall not come.”

Where Crime Decreases

THE Canadian criminal statistics for the year 1908 have just been published. It is not very inspiring to learn that crime in the dominion has increased by 180 per cent during the last ten years. However, it must give the temperance people of the dominion encouragement to find that while crime has been thus rapidly increasing throughout the country as a whole, the statistics for the only prohibition province in the dominion (Prince Edward Island) show a decline of forty-two per cent. While the isolated position of this province may help to explain this difference, the main cause of its comparative freedom from crime must be found in the banishment of the liquor traffic. The number of convictions for serious crimes was over seventeen for every 10,000 of population throughout the dominion, but was less than one and a half for every 10,000 in Prince Edward Island.—New York Weekly Witness.

World-Wide Unrest

UNDER this heading the Missionary Review of the World for May, 1910, has a brief article in which it surveys the whole world, and declares that one of the signs of the times, and very conspicuous, is the world-wide unrest. Never has this been more general if not universal. The reader will find very much to demonstrate the truthfulness of the statement of the Missionary Review in the Signs of the Times Monthly for June, 1910, the price of which is ten cents. This number deals with some of the world's great problems. It especially deals with the tremendous preparation for war, and what it means to the world.

A Great Movement.

In our Outlook department will be found a report of the recent Laymen’s Missionary Congress at Chicago. It is indeed a great movement. It ought to stir the Protestant churches to new vigor. “The National Missionary Policy” adopted at the Chicago meeting calls for a recognition of right principles in missionary work. The appeal to church-members to cooperate in a great mutual obligation is truly evangelical. Yet there is danger before the movement. If it swings into the great church-federation policy, it will soon find itself in politics; it will become autocratic, and will die spiritually. Would that it might see the fulness of the message of the everlasting Gospel.

“The Life Boat.”

The eleventh annual “Prisoners’ Number” of the Life Boat has come to hand. This little magazine has blessed many a hopeless heart, and shed rays of light in darkened cells and minds. This issue is one half larger than usual, and the price is ten cents. It has in it a message from the sweet singer, Fanny Crosby, who in her blindness sees many rays of light from the throne, an article from Maud Ballington Booth, on the “Prisoner as a Man;” and other helpful articles for men who are down, cheer for the “shut-ins,” and appeals for homeless little ones. The magazine may be obtained in quantities at reduced rates. Write The Life Boat, Hinsdale, Ill.

The Accession Oath

By Editor

George V objects to a part of the accession oath, and Protestant tho we are we do not blame him. In fact it is because we are Christian and Protestant that we object to such an oath. It is no sort of an oath for a civil ruler to take. Catholics ought not seriously to object, for they would accept it if it reversed the situations of the Roman and Protestant faiths. We do not blame English Protestants for wanting a Protestant ruler; but let him leave religion to the church, and swear to regard and conserve the equal rights of each and all of his subjects.