p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 2. (1/9/1907)

WARNING WORDS.

In a recent speech at New Rochelle, N. Y., Justice Brewer, of the United States Supreme Court, spoke of the great size of America, and declared that Americans are in the habit of speaking of the big, material things—our crops, and railroads, and mines, and steel industries, and trusts, and navy, etc., and continued:

'These signs indicate a habit of extravagance. We are taking a course of running into debt. The nation, after the Civil War, owed about $3,000,000,000. At the beginning of the Spanish War that debt was about $1,000,000,000. Since then it has not been diminished. Most of our States are heavily in debt. The debt of New York City is an enormous one. Cities all over the country are deeply burdened with obligations. I do not rejoice to see this.

'Contrast the little red schoolhouse of the earlier days with the magnificent public buildings—city halls, schools, and so on—built by our enterprising cities of this time. If they were paid for it would be all right. They would attest the marvelous growth of our land. But they are built with borrowed money, and they are a mortgage upon the future.

'We cry, 'Peace, peace!' but we are all the time preparing for war. We have a navy fourth in power among the nations of the world. Two Congresses have paid more for our navy than the estimated cost of the Panama Canal. We played a neighborly, altruistic part in Cuba, but we rode roughshod over Colombia to gain the canal zone. We glory in the struggles of our fathers to free us from the evils of a colonial system, but we seize the Philippines.'

Mr. J. D. Rockefeller, who, however oil consumers may regard his grasping proclivities, must certainly be given credit for good judgment, and long and large experience, declared in a recent interview:

'We are spending too much money.' We are going entirely too fast. We are too prodigal of our money.' 'Don't you think we are going to be compelled to pay for all this?'

And the Kansas City "Star" quotes Secretary of State, Leslie M. Shaw, as saying in his speech at the dinner of the automobile manufacturers, in a Washington despatch of December 14:

'This country has grown as no country in the world has ever grown. It is advancing by leaps and bounds. I don't want to worry you with statistical data. Within the last ten years, however, the country has jumped to an appalling stature. I don't know what is going to become of us.

'It is all right to boast of our greatness, to herald our wonderful productive capacity to the world and set ourselves up on an eminence, but, gentlemen, we are going too fast. We have outgrown our swaddling clothes without preparing for ourselves a new wardrobe. Only complete disaster can follow a continuation of this unparalleled prosperity.

'Speaker Cannon has said that this country is 'a hell of a success' and well has he spoken. But do you gentlemen ever ponder and stop to think what success may lead to?

'Those of you who pray, get down on your knees to-night and pray God that there will be an abatement or no one can tell what will become of us—I am sure I can not.'

He is elsewhere quoted as saying:

'To those of you who pray, I say, Get down on your knees to-night and pray God to save this country from its prosperity.'

The history of all the nations has demonstrated the need of these notes of warning. It is an old and trite saying: 'Wise men learn by the experience of others; fools, from their own.' We may read the fate of the course we are pursuing in the ruin of the nations of old. We may read it also in the 'more sure word of prophecy.'

THE ARRAIGNMENT OF MORMONISM.

ON the Senate resolution to declare vacant the seat of Senator Reed Smoot, the Mormon, Senator Burroughs was the leading speaker. He said there was no proof submitted to show that Mr. Smoot was a polygamist, but based his argument on the fact that Senator Smoot represented the "twelve apostles," or hierarchy of the Mormon church. The following are excerpts from Mr. Burroughs' powerful arraignment:

"Smoot was nominated by the monarchy and the selection was ratified by the Legislature. No more cunningly devised scheme could possibly be concocted to put the church in politics and make it potential there than this. There has been no case in which a candidate for a high office in Utah has obtained the consent of the church to run and has been defeated.

"The evidence is complete and overwhelming that a majority of the members of this hierarchy have continually and persistently lived in polygamy, and are to-day openly and confessedly defying the laws of the land prohibiting such crimes. The record is so shocking as to challenge credulity.

"If the public press is to be credited, this number [of President Smith's (five) wives] has been augmented during the last year to forty-three, and while we are discussing the right of the representatives of the hierarchy to a seat in this body, we can imagine its saintly head sitting in the home of his fifth plural wife, rocking the cradle of the latest illegitimate offspring of his debauchery and crime, and with sanctimonious air singing the familiar hymn of his church:

"Now the Gentile reign is o'er, Darkness covers earth no more; Gentile tyrants sink to hell, Now's the day of Israel."

"The vital question is, Can one become a member of, and identify himself with, a band of law-breakers, knowing them to be such, participate in their counsels and sustain them in their conferences, and yet escape all responsibility for their unlawful acts? Such a contention will not stand the test of either law or reason.

"The Senator's complicity in encouraging polygamy and polygamous cohabitation does not consist wholly in the fact that he is one of the governing body of that church. By repeated acts he has, as a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles, given active aid and support to the hierarchy in its defiance of the statutes of this state and the laws of common decency, and in its encouragement of polygamous practises by both precept and example.

"It is submitted that the Senator, by becoming a member of, and identifying himself with, such an organization and participating in its functions, has disqualified himself for membership in this body; an organization that fosters and encourages crime; tramples upon all law, human and divine; practises polygamy and polygamous cohabitation; desecrates the home; degrades womanhood; debauches public morals; strikes at the Christian civilization of this age; undermines and shakes the foundations of human society and government; destroys the sanctity of the marriage relation; defies the authority of the State and national government; registers an oath of hostility to the American nation, and brings the name and fame of the good people of Utah into disrepute and shame and humiliation to the American people. I submit that such an organization is not entitled to have its representative in the Senate of the United States, and I therefore move the adoption of the resolution."

Mr. Burroughs criticised those who have given the Mormons political aid. Altho making no direct reference to the President sending Secretary Taft to Idaho in the last campaign he said: "The purposes and aims of the great Republican Party have been entirely misrepresented by its leaders in their political dealings with the Mormon Church."

ANOTHER SOUTH AMERICAN EARTHQUAKE.

By Editor

Just as we are putting the previous article in type the cable brings us news of another earthquake in the Chilean republic. This time it is in the extreme north, in the Department of Tacna, seemingly centering in the seaport town of Arica, half of which is reported destroyed. The population of the town is between 4,000 and 5,000. How far it has extended back into the interior, or to the northward, reports do not say. Many smaller surrounding towns were destroyed; and the people are fleeing from the shaken district in alarm. Iquique, 120 miles to the south felt the shock but slightly. The date was December 26.

Men may laugh, skeptics may ridicule, yet more and more will we see of these destructive temblors. God in His mercy is warning men of the ultimate disasters.

NEW VOLCANIC ISLAND.

Robert Dunne, a writer in "Outing," tells us that for six weeks he has been hunting volcanoes in Bering Sea, and that he climbed the new island in the Bogoslov group which was thrown up at the time of the California earthquake. In fact, he is the first one who has climbed or explored the island. He tells us that it is still an ash cone, the active core of the submerged crater in a state of wild activity. His native assistants refused to follow him, and he had to visit the island alone, burning all the hair off his hands and some off his face in ascending it. It has a crater from five to six miles in diameter containing seven cones, and the volcano is one of the greatest in the world.

The Papacy in Spain

THE ONE THING which seems to save the Papacy in Spain is reported to be the strong antagonism between the various liberal factions, and these differences seem to consist largely of personal animosities.

A RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ISSUE.

By Editor

Our next issue but one will give special attention to religious liberty. There will be several articles on Sunday laws and their character, right relations of Church and State, and present conditions in the world. It will be well illustrated, and a good number to sell. Prices: Single copies, five cents; 25 to 75 copies, three cents each; 100 copies or more at the rate of two and one-half cents each.

A WICKED SENTENCE.

One noted translation of the Scriptures is called the "Wicked Bible," because a "not" was left out of one of the Ten Commandments. A sentence in the article on "The Great Salvation," in the SIGNS of December 5, 1906, third column, beginning of the third paragraph from the end, became a wicked sentence by the insertion of "not" in some way unexplainable. The sentence should read: "It was the Spirit which inspired the thoughts contained in the Book of books." There should be no negative after "was."

A MISTAKE.

There appeared in the SIGNS of November 28, a short selection entitled, "To Be Seen of Men." It was handed the editor by one of his associates, supposedly for printing, and was handed out for copy, put into type, and was printed before the editor read it. It should have been questioned by those who did read it, but they supposed that it had been passed upon. There is a good thought in the principle set forth, but we do not believe in its application. To us it seems an eminently proper thing for a preacher to acknowledge his dependence upon God before he begins his service, by kneeling in silent prayer, and a proper thing for the worshiper to do to bow his head in silent prayer on entering church. We should not condemn, however, either the preacher or the hearer who does not do this.

A NEGATIVE LIFE is at the best an unsatisfactory existence, and is bound to result in death. In God's providence every man has within him certain spiritual faculties, which, if improved, will prove a blessing to the user. If neglected, they will atrophy, and the man lives on, a mere physical and intellectual life, the life of the flesh, with the mind of the flesh, to the end of the flesh. Thus speaks the apostle: "For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be." The failure or success of others is no reason for any one's failure; it is only an excuse; the failure is in the mind of the flesh which hates God's requirements, and loves sin. O reader, if this be your case, meet it like a man, and let the mind of the flesh die.

MARCONI A SPIRITUALIST.

A despatch from Rome, dated December 18, informs us that Signor Marconi has been converted to Spiritualism by Princess d'Antuni del Drago, a noted medium, who says that Mr. Marconi "has held seances in her own palace, and has been favored with extraordinary phenomena. That the King of Italy is also a believer in Spiritism seems evident from the following from the princess: 'So far as my knowledge goes, I can not speak of what the king knows of Marconi's conversion, or that his majesty ever assisted or took part in a spiritualistic seance with Marconi.'" The Czar of Russia is known to be a confirmed Spiritualist. See Rev. 16: 14.

THE REJECTED REASON AND ANCESTRY.

More and more in every form of literature we are harked back to man's brute ancestry. We are told that when he is hungry, there gapes thru his veneer the hungry maw of the animal; when angry, you see the glare of the tiger, or hear the snarl of the cat, and so on ad infinitum. All the depravity of man is laid at the door of his brute ancestry, the outcroppings of the beast in the jungle. This is the only way that unbelief can explain man's inherent wickedness, depravity, and bestiality. The true reason, the one reason given in the word of God is rejected. That malign master and agency of evil—the devil—is banished. The fall of man from purity and innocence is set aside, and, consequently, all that came as the result of the fall. Man, the king of God's earth, under his Maker, fell; and when he fell all the creation under him was marred. Sin became incarnate, infleshed. When man yielded to the devil, the devil became king de facto, tho not de jure, and the whole creation of earth became subject to his rule. And from "the god of this world" comes the savagery, the brutality, the cruelty, the bestiality. Man's ancestry was divine. He chose the realm of the flesh, and became a beast. The Son of God gave Himself, conquered, died, to restore man to his first dominion. Those who prefer the brute ancestry, will find the brute's end. Man who rejects his divine ancestry, "abideth not; he is like the beasts that perish." Those who, finding themselves on the low level of sin, choose the divine ancestry, may thru Christ attain to it. To them who receive Him, "to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1: 12.

HOW CATHOLICS REGARD PROTESTANTS.

The following from the Catholic "Western Watchman," one of the leading Catholic papers of America, on the educational question in England, shows that Catholics regard Protestantism as worse than no religion at all:

"If we would safeguard our Christian heritage we shall have to support our schools as we support our churches. It must come to that in the end. Many of the bishops in pastorals are praying that the Catholics of the British Empire may not be compelled to adopt the American system of education, which would compel them to build and support their own schools. They might meet a far worse fate. A government grant for religious education in England would mean one Catholic school for twenty Protestant. For the money necessary to support that one Catholic school, could the Catholics, should the Catholics, consent to the existence of TWENTY CENTERS OF STATE-TAUGHT HERESY; TWENTY NUCLEI OF BLASPHEMY AGAINST CHRIST AND CHRIST'S CHURCH? The theory that Protestantism is better than no religion has received so many stunning knocks of late years, that he would be a bold man who would defend it now."

How long will Protestants go blindly on?

CATHOLICISM AND SPIRITUALISM.

There is an interesting article in the "Literary Digest" of December 15 by a Jesuit father on Spiritualism, the sum of which is this: While the priest in question, Father G. Franco, discourages investigation into Spiritualism, still he believes it to be a reality and a fact, even its materialization, so-called. But he tells us that we are very likely to be deceived (and that is true), because evil spirits know and profess to be good (and that is true); but he admits the very thing which will inevitably bring the whole Catholic Church into the ranks of Spiritualism, if it is not there already; and that is that these spirits are the spirits of the dead, or, in other words, that spirits of the dead do manifest themselves.

That being true, how does the learned priest know that all these various stories concerning the appearances of saints and their communications with mortals, are not, after all, the evil spirits coming in the guise of saints? How would we expect Satan to come if not to deceive? and how could he deceive any better than to come to the thousands and millions of souls who profess to believe in the presence and existence of saints, having connection with mortals, than to come in the guise of these very saints? Certainly, it is true that the devil has his angels—fallen spirits; and that he has used this army to deceive souls throughout all the ages; and that all demon worship and supernatural manifestation connected with it are the result of these agents.

We are also told that those who worship the dead, worship demons, or devils (Ps. 106: 28, 37; 1 Cor. 10: 20); while on the other hand, "the dead know not anything" (Eccl. 9: 5; Ps. 146: 3, 4). Where, then, according to this testimony shall we place all the saint worship or the intercession of saints which the Catholic Church holds and believes? What is there to hinder them being deceived by the army of evil angels? Ps. 78: 49.

TO THOSE OF OUR COUNTRY READERS who are anxious to obtain information in agricultural science, we would say that the University of California offers four short courses in agriculture, horticulture, entomology, poultry, etc., three of which are still open, beginning the last of December and ending February 28,—at Fresno, December 26 to 29; Los Angeles, January 7 to 12; Sacramento, January 14 to 19; Berkeley, January 21 to February 1, continuing the course in the chemical laboratory until the last of February. These courses are open to all persons of good moral character who have had sufficient common school training to enable them to take notes on lectures, etc. No charge is made for tuition, but to those who attend the schools, tickets of admission must be applied for in advance. Terms, lectures, etc., may be obtained by addressing the University of California, Agricultural Section, Berkeley, California.

"SAN FRANCISCO DESTROYED." — We have received from C. N. Caspar Co. Book Emporium, publishers, Milwaukee, Wis., one of the finest souvenir albums which has been published on San Francisco. It is entitled, "San Francisco Destroyed." It is magnificently printed. The illustrations stand out as clear as actual photographs, and information sufficient to know what the picture means is given. The scenes also are not fancy scenes, as were many of the eastern illustrations that were given, but are from actual photographs of the things pictured. Among the views are portraits of Governor Pardee, General Funston, and Mayor Schmitz. The retail price of this souvenir album, embracing fifty-five pictures, among which are two double-page panoramas, with cover, ready for mailing, is fifty cents, and it is certainly worth it.