What is more highly prized as a holiday gift than a beautiful book?
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Advance Guard
Any young man or woman will appreciate "Advance Guard of Missions." Its thrilling stories of the experiences of the men and women who first carried the gospel to far-away fields are educational, and of inspiration to every one who reads them. The leading points in the lives of more than fifty of these missionaries are given. 347 pages.
Plain cloth edition.........$1.00
Marbled .................... 1.50
Steps to Christ
"What to Do with Doubt" is one chapter in this little gem of Christian help worth everything to the youth. All the way through, "Steps" draws the reader to Christ, and outlines so simply, systematically, and beautifully the principles of Christianity, as to have become a constant, helpful companion to thousands. It is published in 23 different languages.
Gilt edge presentation edition...$1.00
Plain cloth ........................ .60
Story of Pitcairn
One of the most interesting missionary stories ever written. The author was a native of the island, where practically the entire population accepted Christianity. How it came about, and the blessings that followed, make a thrilling narrative, one that is of great help to the reader.
Cloth bound .....................$1.00
House We Live In
This beautiful book is having a larger sale for holiday use this year than ever before. Parents recognize it as one that will deepen the interest of the children and youth in caring for their health. It is a fascinating conversation between a mother and her children, in which she tactfully teaches them the principles of health and hygiene by comparing the parts of the body and their uses and care to the parts of a building. Even the grown-ups get much from its practical help.
Cloth binding .....................$1.00
FOR THE CHILDREN
New Testament Primer
Is an attractively illustrated book for the little folks. Opens with ornamental alphabet, followed by simple nature lessons, and later come beautiful little stories of Jesus, His disciples, and New Testament incidents.
Cloth binding .............50 cents
Board binding .............25 cents
Best Stories from the Best Book
A most popular book for children ranging from seven years to fifteen. First part has alphabet, beautiful little nature studies and writing lessons. Second part contains stories of Bible characters, of Bible history, and much of real educational value for all.
Cloth binding .............75 cents
Board binding .............50 cents
Uncle Ben's Cobblestones
This book appeals to boys and girls. They at once become interested in Tom and his Uncle Ben, and learn much in following their conversations, in which Uncle Ben tells Tom how many of the common things of life are made. His frequent reference to his old cobblestone fence makes it the more interesting to the children. The book has many illustrations, and is one the children greatly enjoy.
Price ...........................$1.00
Elo the Eagle
This collection of stories of ten pets or wild animals known by the author deepens the child's interest in nature study and kindness to the animals. Each chapter is introduced by a full-page luxotype engraving of the animal told about in the chapter. It tells of
Elo the Eagle,
Frank the Collie,
Dick the Black Bear,
Jonah the Barred Owl, and
six other animals and birds
equally interesting.
Red cloth binding .............$1.00
Prices 10 per cent higher in Canada. Your tract society handles these books, and will supply you promptly. Order of them at once or of
Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, California
The Dollar Tract Package
By Editor
"Gospel seed sowing" has never yielded greater fruits in interesting persons in Bible study than now. We feel to urge our Signs of the Times family to use every opportunity to pass on the tracts at this season of the year, when people are glad to read. The dollar package contains an assortment especially designed for the individual or the family doing tract work. In it there are 120 tracts treating twelve different subjects—in all 1,896 pages. These touch Gospel stories, Bible study, health and temperance, Spiritualism, the millennium, prophecy, the law, second coming of Christ, the immortality question, and the Sabbath question.
Send $1.25 for The Dollar Tract Package
The 25 cents covers postage.
Address your tract society or the Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, California.
The Holiday Number
By Editor
of
"Our Little Friend"
The Children's Eight-Page Weekly
The bright, cheering, uplifting little paper that carries strong influences for good, and implants right principles in the minds of our little men and women. A real Christian paper for the children.
Only 60 Cents a Year
OUR LITTLE FRIEND
Mountain View, California
A postal card will bring you this special number for examination
PAMPHLETS
By Editor
That you may be familiar with what is obtainable in the way of Bible helps in pamphlet form, we give the following list and descriptions:
Change of the Sabbath 25 Cents
By Geo. I. Butler. Illustrated. 200 pages.
Christian Science and Divine Healing 15 Cents
Every missionary worker should have a quantity of this pamphlet to circulate.
Christ Our Advocate 10 Cents
Fully illustrated.
This thoroly explains the sanctuary question, the 2300-day period, and other vital points.
Helps to Bible Study 25 Cents
A series of Bible readings to aid in study, and in teaching on Bible subjects.
The Lord's Day the Test of the Ages 10 Cents
Traces the Sabbath through every dispensation.
Matthew 24 10 Cents
Exposition of Christ's prophecy in the 24th of Matthew.
Prophetic Gift in the Gospel Church 15 Cents
Saints' Inheritance 10 Cents
Description of the home of the saved.
The Sure Word of Prophecy 10 Cents
Comprehensive study of the book of Daniel.
The Spirit World and the Future Life 10 Cents
Wonderful manifestations of Spiritualism from a Bible standpoint.
Above prices are post-paid.
Order of your tract society or the Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, California.
IN THREE DAYS
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To Chicago
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HIGH SIERRA BY DAYLIGHT
Luxurious High-class Equipment
Electric Lighted Throughout
Pullman Drawing-room
Stateroom
Vestibuled Sleeping-cars
Careful and Attentive Dining Service
Parlor Observation-car with
Library and Cafe
Ladies' Reading-room
Gentlemen's Smoking-room
Daily News Bulletins
Latest Papers and Magazines
Southern Pacific
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
By Editor
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
(Entered Sept. 15, 1904, as second-class matter at the Mountain View, Cal., post-office, under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.)
Manuscripts should be addressed to the editor. Address all business and make all money-orders, etc., payable to the Signs of the Times, Mountain View, Cal.
N. B. We send no papers from this office to individuals without pay in advance. When persons receive copies without ordering them, they are sent by other parties, and we can give no information in regard to them. Persons thus receiving copies of the "Signs" are not indebted to the office, and will not be called upon to pay for them. Please read the papers you may receive, and hand them to your friends to read.
One new yearly subscription and one renewal, or two new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $3.00.
Two new yearly subscriptions and one renewal, or three new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $4.00.
Three new yearly subscriptions and one renewal, or four new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $5.00.
Sample copies sent on application.
Weekly and Monthly SIGNS one year, combined, $2.25.
DATE OF EXPIRATION
The SIGNS wrapper bears date of last issue due on your subscription. Unless renewed in advance, paper stops with expiration date.
If herewith is an order-blank, you will know you have overlooked sending renewal. You will not wish to miss a single issue. Back numbers often can not be furnished.
G. C. Hoskin, Circulation Manager.
SANITARIUM COOKING OIL
Refined Cotton Seed Oil direct from refinery. Pure, wholesome, and delicious.
3 1-gallon cans, $7.50; 5-gallon can, $4.20; 10 gallons, $8.20; 30-gallon barrel, $22.00; 50-gallon barrel, $36.00. Cash with order.
Sanitarium Cooking Oil Co.,
Louisville, Ky.
STANDARD HOUSEHOLD LUBRICANT
For bicycles, lawn-mowers, go-carts—anything you want to run smoothly and easily—the best oil you can find is Standard Household Lubricant.
In the Handy Oiling Can
Standard Household Lubricant is guaranteed not to gum or corrode.
This makes it splendid for every kind of household use, and the can in which it comes, with patented nozzle attached, prevents leakage and loss by breaking.
Dealers Everywhere
STANDARD OIL COMPANY
(Incorporated)
461 Market Street San Francisco
A New Bible
By Editor
YOU may be planning to have a new Bible for yourself, or to make a present of one to a member of your family, or to a friend. Our carefully selected stock of Bibles, the result of more than twenty-five years of supplying good Bibles by wholesale and retail, is almost ideally described in our "Good Service Bibles" catalog. It so clearly explains the bindings, illustrates the types, and groups the classes of Bibles, that you can feel safe in making selection without seeing the Bible itself. It describes that most popular Bible, "The Sealskin," No. 03248x. You will want to see this, and also descriptions of its many others. Send card for Bible catalog, and if you are unable to make selection from it, write description to us, and we will gladly assist you.
Pacific Press Publishing Association
Mountain View, California
Kansas City, Mo. Calgary, Alberta, Canada Portland, Ore.
The Manna
By Editor
The Manna.—A "Christian" paper in the East says: "It is supposed that the manna of the Israelites was a saccharine exudation of a species of tamarisk, the sap of which was set flowing by an insect." It seems to us that it is easier to deny the entire Mosaic record. Think of it!—exudation of tamarisk-trees on that Arabian peninsula, feeding three millions of people daily, six times a week, winter and summer, for forty years, an exudation which could be boiled or baked, but which melted in the sun! Read Exodus 16 and Num. 11:1-9. We prefer to believe with the psalmist:
"He commanded the skies above,
And opened the doors of heaven;
And He rained down manna upon them to eat,
And gave them food [margin, "grain"] from heaven.
Man did eat the bread of the mighty:
He sent them food to the full."
It is a great deal easier for him who knows God to believe this, than to believe that there were tamarisk-trees enough in all Asia to furnish such food for so long a time.
Mother Love and Christ’s Sacrifice
A mother in New Jersey, the other day, deserted by her husband, forced to go to Johns Hopkins for the birth of another child, sold $25.00 worth of blood, for transfusion, to save the life of another woman in the hospital. She did this to get money to support her own children. This is mother love; but one who loves us above a mother poured out His very life for us, for you, reader, for me. He died to save us from sin and death. We honor the mother; how much more should we love and honor Him!
Thanksgiving Mass and Pan-American Unity
President Taft and eight members of his Cabinet attended the annual Thanksgiving mass sung by Cardinal Gibbons. There were also present members of the United States Supreme Court, and representatives of the twenty-one republics of the Western Hemisphere. The object was to commemorate Pan-American unity. Held in St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Cardinal Gibbons occupying a scarlet throne on the right of the altar, the ceremony was one of almost pontifical grandeur. The cardinal's train was carried by pages dressed in rich red velvet. President Taft was met at the door and escorted to a seat at the front of the church, and attended while there by a white-laced "messenger of peace," the Rev. Smythz, an assistant at St. Patrick's. Pillars of the church were wreathed in United States flags and the dark blue and white of the Pan-American Union. Most Reverend James J. Keene, Archbishop of Dubuque, delivered the sermon. Cardinal Gibbons "blessed the assemblage, and prayed for the prosperity of all the nations represented." It was a Roman Catholic international function. At the close of the mass, the President, accompanied by Mrs. Taft and Secretary Hillis, went to All Souls Unitarian Church, where they listened to the "official" Thanksgiving sermon, preached by the Chaplain of the Senate, Rev. E. G. D. Pearce.
The Twelve Lines of Prophecy
There are twelve great lines of prophecy beginning at different epochs or events in the past, and reaching down through earth's checkered history to Christ's coming, or to the close of earth's probation. In none of them do we have a time set for the closing event; but all of them together show—clearly, emphatically show—that we are nearing the end. An apostle truly said, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, . . . until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts."
Periodicals From India
By Editor
We have received five copies of different periodicals from our printing-office in India. There are one or two more that are yet to be issued. Those received are: the Present Truth, published in Tamil, a quarterly; the Signs of the Times, pub-
India’s New Missionary Periodicals
By Editor
lished in Bengali, monthly; the Watchman, a quarterly printed in the Burmese; the Herald of Health and the Oriental Watchman, published in English. We are glad, indeed, to see these advance steps taken in India. We learn that these neat periodicals have good circulation, and the prospects are that this circulation will constantly increase as colporteurs can carry them to the people. They are filled, we are sure, with God's precious truth for this time. May He bless them on their mission.
Socialism and Eternal Hope
Socialism as a religion is not particularly hopeful. Mr. Wayland, who has made a tremendous struggle in pushing Appeal to Reason, and who committed suicide the other day, is reported to have said, "The struggle under the competitive system is not worth the effort." Yet he had about one million who stood with him in this country. What he said is true "if in this life only we have hope." But the man who knows that eternity with all its glorious possibilities lies before, has an inspiration for his struggle for right here that one believing otherwise can not have. He may fail here; but there is better hope beyond. "The true gain is the long gain."
Moral Teaching in Secular Papers
By Editor
Sometimes we get better moral teaching from a purely secular paper than we do from religious. For instance, Dr. Lyman Abbott, the editor of the Outlook, at a recent club dinner, quoted a Golden Rule of official conduct, "Never retract; never explain; get it done; let them howl." And a secular paper remarks, "This is precisely what Becker did; he got it done and let them howl. Dr. Abbott's code of ethics may be all right for the Outlook, but we hope he never becomes a chaplain of the police department."
Ready for Christ’s Coming
Christ is coming sometime, reader. Do you know that His coming will not be in your day? If it is, are you ready to welcome Him? Can you look up and say, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us"? This is what some will say. Isa. 25:9. If we are not ready for Him now, will we be then? And if we are not ready now, ought we not seek for that preparation in Him? Let Him into the heart with all His cleansing, sanctifying power.
Dishonesty in Weights and Measures
There has been a recent crusade in Pittsburg against short weights, and it is said that the result of it will save the consumers of that city $1,575,000 a year. To illustrate, a city official declares that out of 800 hucksters in the greater city, 40 per cent were using a fake peck in selling potatoes, painted and made similar to the standard peck, but containing 76 cubic inches less. 9,657 crooked scales were confiscated. These are samples of the prevalent dishonesty.
God’s Approved Worthies
The great worthies of God whose biography comes down to us through the Bible, never boasted of their holiness, never called themselves saints or sinless, yet God approved of them. In Christ only they were complete.
Germany Orders Zeppelin Airships
A despatch from Berlin states that the German kaiser has ordered 100 Zeppelin air-ships for military service. This is Germany's response to the offer, by an Indian prince, of twelve war-ships for the British navy.
Contained in This Issue
By Editor
Question Corner
3938—The Tithe; 3939—Reasons for Keeping Saturday; 3940—Melchizedek; 3941—Putting Away and Marrying; 3942—What Kind of Stars? 3943—The Different Races . . . . 2
Our Bible Band . . . . 2
General
A Lesson from the Experience of Judas . . . . 3
The Levites: Garments of the Priests . . . . 4
God's Message for To-Day . . . . 5
Empowered to Answer . . . . 6
The Coming of the Master . . . . 6
Marriage and Sabbath Institutions . . . . 7
Never Retrograde . . . . 8
The Safe Choice . . . . 8
Our Bible Reading
A Godly Life . . . . 7
Editorial
An Intimate Friend—A Message for To-Day—An Age-Long Curse—In Justice as Well as Mercy . . . . 9
The Outlook
Conditions in the Balkans . . . . 10
Notes . . . . 10, 11, 13, 16
Home and Fireside
Home Studies . . . . 12
Friction . . . . 12
Poetry
Signs of the Times—The World To-Day—Christ's Appeal—The Glories to Be—The Crown of Thorn—Boys That Are Wanted . . . . 8
Bible Version Policy
By Editor
Our authority is the Bible, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. When the Common (“King James” or “Authorized”) Version or the American Standard Revised Version is used, the version will not generally be designated in reference. Any Bible quotation in this paper, therefore, differing from the Common Version, unless otherwise indicated, will be almost invariably from the American Standard edition of the Revised Bible, copyright 1910, by Thomas Nelson & Sons.
For further particulars, subscription rates, etc., see page 15.
Responsibility for Unsigned Articles
By Editor
For all articles not signed, the editor is to be held personally responsible.
Federal Council Meeting in Chicago
By Editor
There is now in session in Chicago the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. We shall have reports from that great meeting by our own correspondents, and we are sure the reports will be of interest.
Bible Band Schedules
By Editor
Our Bible Band Schedules are ready. They present this year a shorter course than the whole Bible, including most of those portions omitted last year. But they do not preclude the reading of the whole Bible, and this is what some did last year. Our little pamphlet, "Facts Regarding the Bible," gives three schedules, two shorter courses, and the Bible in chronological order. If you already have this for 1912, send only two-cent stamp for the schedule. If you do not have it, we would advise you to send 10 cents, and get it up to date, with 1913 calendar.
Sin’s Touch Upon All Creation
Metals and stones die, as well as humanity. San Francisco wanted the Liberty Bell at its great celebration; but a distinguished metallurgist tells us that it has an organic disease, and it is unsafe to move it from its present resting-place in Independence Hall. He declares that the bell requires the nicest nursing and the most tranquil existence, to prevent its destruction. That is true of everything that has been touched by sin. Sometime it will be seen in the light of the better day, that everything in earth has been thus affected by sin, that there are no absolutely normal conditions, that perverted law throughout earth's dominion has brought death, and death has touched everything, from metal to man.
