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Signs of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 9.

Christ’s Mission
Earlier text: OUR GENERAL AGENTS

YOSEMITE VALLEY And Big Trees of California

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PILGRIM’S PROGRESS!

By John Bunyan

BY JOHN BUNYAN
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CHRIST OUR SAVIOUR

This work is written in clear, comprehensive, yet simple language. The narrative style is followed, thus making the story real, and the lessons practical. It is beautified by the use of

74 New and Appropriate Engravings

which help to impress the lessons of truth.
First, we enter our Saviour's home, and learn of his child-life. We see him in his early ministry, in his acts of mercy and love. His sufferings are recounted, and the closing work of our Saviour reveals through his death his wonderful love for man. His resurrection inspires faith and courage in the heart of every believer.

LARGE, CLEAR TYPE

The book contains 160 large octavo pages. It is printed in large, clear type, on heavy calendered paper, and substantially bound in the following styles:—
Presentation edition, two colors vellum cloth, embossed in jet, green, and gold, beveled edges, gilt-top . . . $1 25
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STEPS TO CHRIST.

The Pacific Press Publishing Co., Oakland, Cal., have received an entirely new stock of the latest edition of that excellent book entitled “Steps to Christ,” by Mrs. E. G. White. The price, postpaid, is only 75 cents. Address as above.

News and Notes

FOREIGN.

—Ten persons lost their lives as the result of a tenement fire in London, February 16.
—Of the 72,445 inhabitants of Iceland, 72,000 are Lutherans. There are 287 churches on the island, of which 12 are of stone, 246 of wood, and 29 of turf.
—Advices from Hawaii state that the ex-queen, Liliuokalani, has been granted full pardon by President Dole. She can not, however, leave the island.
—A despatch from Lisbon, dated February 19, says that nearly fifty people, nearly all women and girls, lost their lives at a fire the night before at Santarem. A ball was taking place, and on the alarm being given, a panic ensued.
—Modern inventions and discoveries surprise the traveler in most unlooked-for places. The great temple at Kockichaddie, Ceylon, is now lighted by electricity, and the same source of information states that other temples in that island and in India will follow its example.
—The editor of Punch, London, is a Roman Catholic, and complaint is made by a leading archbishop of the Anglican Church that since the present editor’s occupancy of the chair, there has been constant caricaturing of the bishops, clergy, and non-conforming ministers, representing them in some unmanly, cowardly, ridiculous or contemptible aspect.
—From last advices, Italy’s war with Abyssinia appears to be in a bad way. General Baratieri’s native allies are deserting, and King Menelik at present is on the aggressive, with a bright prospect of success. Added to the situation in Africa, there is widespread criticism at home of General Baratieri’s poor moves, and strained relations exist between the prime minister, Crispi, and the ministers of public works and finance. It is believed that Baratieri will be relieved of his command soon.
—A terrible explosion occurred on February 20 at Viedendorp, a suburb of Johannesburg, in the Transvaal. Eight trucks of dynamite exploded, wrecking every building within a radius of half a mile, and breaking windows all over Johannesburg. A hole 200 feet long, 80 wide and 30 deep was torn in the ground at the spot where the car stood. Over one hundred persons were killed, and about three hundred severely injured, while probably another hundred were more or less hurt. Only a few white persons were killed, the residents in the vicinity being mostly Kaffirs. Both Boers and Uitlanders are rendering assistance, and it may be that a common cause of helping the afflicted will patch up some of the ill feeling existing between them.
—According to Shanghai and Vladivostok papers, the late war with Japan has aroused the Government of China to a partial sense at least of her backwardness, and several reforms are in progress. One is a properly constructed highway to Peking from the south, an unheard-of thing in China. Along this will roll heavy wagons, as well as all kinds of vehicles. New railroads are to be built, and those now running made better. The most radical change, however, is the purpose to provide education on the European system. A new university is to be established at Tchan Tsin, in Manchuria, of which European professors will have charge, assisted by Chinese who have received an education in Europe. In these schools, besides usual branches, there will be taught architecture, mining, electrical science, and engineering. This is probably the surest way to effect the beginning of a change in the sleepy old nation.

DOMESTIC.

—Edgar Wilson Nye (“Bill Nye”), the well-known humorist, died at his home, Buck Shoals, near Asheville, N. C., on February 22.
—An explosion of fire-damp in the Vulcan mine at Newcastle, Colo., caused the death of forty-eight miners. Only eight had families.
—The school board of Baltimore, Md., will adopt civil service rules in the public-school system, that is, teachers will hold their position during good behavior and efficiency. They will stand in order of promotion, and vacancies or appointments will be made from high grades, or according to some fixed rule.
—An exchange says that over twenty million copies of “Gospel Hymns” have been sold. Mr. Moody receives twenty per cent of all receipts, and his share has been $1,250,000 already. With this money he sustains much of his school work. He has a board of trustees, who receive and disburse all the money. “Gospel Hymns” No. 1 is still the best seller.
—The first electric engine to be produced by the combination between the Baldwin Locomotive Works and the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, is now about completed. The motor looks somewhat like an ordinary box car, will weigh sixty tons, and will be used to pull freight trains at a speed of forty miles an hour. By a simple change of gear the machine can make eighty miles an hour, it is said.
—A line of work is to be entered upon next year in the new Veterinary College at Cornell University, N. Y. The most elaborate work will be done in bacteriology, heretofore a somewhat neglected branch at Cornell. Probably the undertaking of the most immediate practical benefit, however, will be the preparation of tuberculin (the test for tuberculosis in cows, etc.), to be supplied at cost to veterinarians of that state. It is something which must be constantly used now, and the high price has been a great inconvenience to veterinary practitioners. Tuition will be free to students from that state.
—A few days since eleven young men making a pleasure trip through Florida on foot, were arrested at Ocala as tramps and sentenced to the convict camp. There they were chained to negroes, forced to hard labor, and because the work was more than they could accomplish, were whipped until blood came. Besides being otherwise tortured, only half enough food was allowed them. They were released finally on writs of habeas corpus, the proceedings being brought by citizens of the place. It is announced that heavy damage suits will be brought by the men. This is neither Russia nor Armenia.
—There is no question but that compulsory means should be taken if necessary to prevent spreading of tuberculosis in cattle. But an exchange doubts the efficiency of the law in Massachusetts and Connecticut, where the state must pay farmers for every cow condemned to be killed. Legislation on the subject is largely controlled by the farmers, and it has been asserted that in many cases the prices paid have been twice as much as the cows were worth. Hence there will not fail to be a supply of diseased cows, and especially as the testimony of experienced farmers is that in the midst of unsanitary surroundings the disease can be developed in three months. A change in the law whereby the farmer could make no profit might deter the dishonest from pursuing such a nefarious business.
—The House of Delegates of the Virginia Legislature is astonished and dumbfounded at the refusal of a minister of Richmond to act as chaplain of that body for a certain week. The astonishment seems to be as much because of the principles set forth by the gentleman in his refusal as because of the refusal itself, it having apparently never suggested itself to the members of that body that there is anything incongruous in the common employment of chaplains by legislative bodies. The reply of Mr. Oelschlaeger, which clearly defines the principle involved, is as follows: “I do not believe in opening a promiscuous political body with prayer. The promiscuous character of the body makes it an abuse of prayer, and the political character of the body makes it an unnatural union of church and state. I, as a Christian, and any member of the body, as a Christian, can privately pray for the session, but the state which that body represents has nothing to do with prayer.” Mr. Oelschlaeger is a Lutheran minister. Such a statement will doubtless be looked upon as a curiosity by those who are bending all their energies to introducing the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ through the gateway of politics. Nevertheless, it is forever true that the spheres of religion and the state have nothing to do with each other, as dependent one upon the other.

THE SPIRIT OF GOD

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

ITS OFFICES AND MANIFESTATIONS TO THE END OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
By Eld. J. H. Waggoner.
THIS is a brief but comprehensive argument on the solemn and important subject of the Spirit of God. Its chapters embrace the following heads: The Holy Spirit of Promise; The Power from on High; Circumcision of the heart; The Unity of the Faith; The Law and the Testimony; Try the Spirits; The Great Commission; Gifts in the Reformation; In the Present Century; Spirit of Prophecy Restored. These are subjects of vital importance to all and especially to those who are looking for the return of their Lord. 144 pp. Price, 15 cents.
Address. PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.

Abiding Sabbath and Lord’s Day

By Alonzo T. Jones

By ALONZO T. JONES
A pointed review of two prize essays which are, without doubt, the best contributions to the defense of Sunday as the Sabbath. Those desiring to find some $1,000 reasons for keeping the first day of the week will find them in this work. Bible Students’ Library No. 2. 173 pages. Paper covers. Price, 20 cents. Address
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Kansas City, Mo.  OAKLAND, CAL. New York City, N. Y.

THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE

By Alonzo T. Jones

Or Civil Government and Religion
BY ALONZO T. JONES
An Up-to-Date Pamphlet on the Principles of Religious Liberty.
This book can not fail to be of great value to all in the study of the series of S. S. Lessons on Religious Liberty for the last three months of 1895. It was not written to go with these lessons, but it is fortunate and timely that it should be published at this time.
“THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE” contains fifteen chapters, the following being a portion of the chapter headings:—
Christianity and the Roman Empire—What Is Due to God and What to Cæsar—The Powers That Be—How the United States Became a Nation—What Is the Nation?—Who Made the Nation?—Religious Right in the United States—Religious Rights Invaded—The People’s Right of Appeal—National Precedent on Right of Appeal—Sunday-law Movement in the Fourth Century and Its Parallel in the Nineteenth—Will the People Assert and Maintain Their Rights?—Religious Rights in the States.
In the four appendixes to the book are given the Declaration of Independence—The Constitution of the United States—The Dred Scott Decision, and the “Christian Nation” Decision.
This is a book of permanent value for reference and study and one that all should possess. It contains 384 pages, with several illustrations, is issued as No. 2 of the Religious Liberty Library, and is bound in paper covers. Price 40 Cents.
A FINER EDITION on laid paper is also ready. It is neatly bound in cloth. Price One Dollar.
Address orders to
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO., Oakland, California.
18 West Fifth Street, Kansas City, Mo.
43 Bond Street, New York City.

THREE MESSAGES

OF REVELATION XIV.

This is a pamphlet of 140 pages, giving in a brief and concise manner the character and importance of the warning messages now going to the world. Price, 15c.
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.,
Kansas City, Mo. Oakland, Cal. New York City, N. Y.

TEACHERS' BIBLES

GENUINE OXFORD EDITIONS
From $1.25 to $20.00 in price. Send for price list.
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.
Kansas City, Mo. New York City, N. Y.

ANGELS, Their Nature and Ministry.

Revised by the late J.H. Waggoner. In two parts. Part Two considers some hints on the Origin, History and Destiny of Satan, as gleaned from the Scriptures. Bible Students’ Library No. 83. 140 pages. Paper covers. Price, 20 cents.
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.
Kansas City, Mo. New York City, N. Y.

TEACHING TRUTH

By Mary Wood Allen

By Mary Wood Allen, M. D.
National Lecturer W. C. T. U.
A little brochure brimful of helpful suggestions to parents who wish to teach their children the truth in regard to the mystery of life.
PACIFIC PRESS PUB. CO.
Price, 25c. . . . Oakland, Cal.

Your Life Work

Is it of Men or of God? A new tract in the Apples of Gold Library. Order A. G. L. No. 20. Price, 50 cents per 100 or one cent each in small quantities. Address, PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO., Oakland, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; or New York City, N. Y.

Acceptable Service

What kind of service God accepts and how we may render it. Order Apples of Gold Library, No. 21. Price 50 cents per hundred or one cent each in small quantities. Address PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO., Oakland, Cal.; Kansas City, Mo.; or New York City, N. Y.

CHRIST, OUR ADVOCATE

His Ministry in the True Tabernacle
An up-to-date pamphlet on the work of Christ in the sanctuary in Heaven. Bible Students' Library No. 128, Fully illustrated. Paper covers. Price, 10 cents.
Address,
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.
Kansas City, Mo.                                     New York City, N. Y.

THE GREAT DAY OF THE LORD.

By M. C. Wilcox

By M. C. Wilcox. This tract of 40 pages sets forth in brief some of the more important events of the Great Day of God Almighty. It discusses the character of that day, shows when it begins, the coming of the Lord, the events in connection with that coming, the Millennium, the Saints in Judgment, when the Day of the Lord Ends, and the Eternal Home of the Redeemed. Bible Students' Library No. 65. Price, 5 cents.
Kansas City, Mo. New York City, N. Y.

A Proper Step.

By Editor

After the death of Charles Spurgeon, Dr. A. T. Pierson, the noted Presbyterian minister, supplied the Tabernacle pulpit for two years. Many of the congregation desired him to remain, Presbyterian tho he was; and it was then reported that he was about to be baptized. This Dr. Pierson denied, and declared that he would live and die in the Presbyterian Church. Even then many desired him to act, among them James A. Spurgeon. However, Thomas Spurgeon was chosen pastor. Now the news comes that Dr. Pierson has been baptized, and that James A. Spurgeon administered the ordinance. This is good. It is just such a step as we should expect Dr. Pierson to take, when the light came to him. The next step, we hope he will sometime take, will be to turn from the Sunday of tradition to the Sabbath of the Lord.

“NOT OF THIS WORLD.”

Dr. K. KOHLER, a learned Jewish rabbi, in discussing the differences between Christianity and Judaism, in a criticism of the work of Miss Lazarus, says, as quoted by the Literary Digest, in the December Menorah:—
“A human society, nation, or state built upon the sermon on the mount must inevitably collapse. Men with human ambition and passion must be governed by law and justice. Love often thwarts justice. How was it possible for the religion of love to sow so much hatred and discord, to fill the world with so much war and bloodshed, to consign the millions of unbelievers to the lurid fires of the auto da fé on earth, and of hell hereafter, unless there is something radically wrong with that exclusive principle of love? . . . Judaism stands for justice, which is the life of the nations. Christianity stands for love, which is the concern only of individuals.”
But the sermon on the mount was not designed for mere organization, such as everywhere exists in human society. That was not its object, to make bottles, or shells, or skins, the mere outward shape or form; Christianity is a life to fill the forms prepared for it, that are ready to receive it. It possesses justice, but to implant within the soul, and to be exercised by the man who will receive it. It will not—in its very nature it can not—compel law or justice. Jesus truly said, “My kingdom is not of this world,” and the learned rabbi bears witness that he spake the truth. Christianity gives promise to all who receive it, not of a mere temporal national life, but of the eternal life and existence of a people whose God is Jehovah our Righteousness, whose reign is spiritual, and whose law is love. This Judaism rejected eighteen centuries ago, and modern Christianity is doing the same thing. The Jews looked for temporal reign and justice through them, and lost and are losing both temporal and eternal. Christianity is asking the spiritual Christ—or, rather, endeavoring to force him—to reign over the present temporal kingdoms of earth, and, as of old, he is departing from them. See John 6: 15. It was not the religion of love that was responsible for the wrongs alleged by Dr. Kohler; it was the hatred of that religion, the same that crucified its Author.

CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.

Editorial.

“Peace Be unto You” (Notes) … 1, 2
The Surety of the Promise (Rom. 4:16-25), E. J. W. … 2, 3
Question Corner.—No. 268, Forbidden Food—No. 269, Civil Power and Human Life—No. 270, 1 Cor. 4:5—No. 271, The Bible, Its Compilation—No. 272, Catholic Church, Its Foundation—No. 273, Baptism, Its Mode—No. 274, Hygiene and House Plants—No. 275, Spirits of the Wicked—No. 276, Was Christ a Priest? … 4

Poetry.

The Home Coming, PAULINA M. ALWAY-ANDERSON … 4
A Picture of the Last Days, CLYDE SCOTT CHASE … 6
“Peace I Leave with You” … 9
Influence … 9
Christ Thy Fullness, CHARLES MILES SNOW … 11

General Articles.

The Time of Thy Visitation, MRS. E. G. WHITE … 4
Chosen Ones Qualified by the Spirit, WM. COVERT … 6
Infinity of the Word of God, H. F. PHELPS … 7
The Principle Applies Both Ways, L. A. PHIPPENY … 7
Character Shown in the Use of Time … 8
Receiving Reproof … 8
The Outlook.—The Practical Duty of the Pulpit, W. N. G.—Pastors and Politics—Pope Fawning … 9
The Fireside.—“Young Mrs. Bolton’s Husband”—An Unexpected Meeting—Our Girls—Do Birds Reason? … 9, 10
Missions.—The Church of Abyssinia—Our Work and Workers … 11, 12
International Sabbath School Lesson.—The Image and Mark (Lesson 11, Sabbath, March 14, 1896) … 13
International Sunday School Lesson.—Teaching about Prayer (Lesson 11, Sunday, March 15, 1896) … 13
Publishers … 14, 15
News and Notes … 15

National Reform Association Petitions on Constitutional Amendment

By Editor

We have received from the National Reform Association various tracts, and petitions to be presented to Congress on the constitutional amendment now before that body, to make this by fundamental law a Christian nation. Every enlightened, liberty-loving Christian patriot ought to pray most earnestly that the wicked thing may not succeed. We may notice it further in our next.

Tract on the Downfall of the Turkish Empire

A TRACT has been laid upon our table entitled “The Downfall of the Turkish Empire Is the Immediate Sign for the Coming of Christ.” The tract is written in a devout spirit, containing some truth, and also, to our mind, much error, based on the belief of a literal return of the Jews to Palestine. While the downfall of the Turkish nation is not far distant, it may be safely asserted that those who build their hope of the Lord’s soon coming on that or any other one sign will be likely to be disappointed.

Abyssinia and the Sabbath in the Fifth Century

By Editor

Abyssinia

An interesting article will be found in our Missions department this week. It is said by the writer that the Abyssinian people hold Jewish traditions. That is what is said of Christians now who keep the Sabbath which the Lord kept. The simple fact is that when the Abyssinians were converted, in the fifth century, both days—Sabbath and Sunday—were observed in the church. The Abyssinians are living witnesses to what the Sunday and the Sabbath were in the fifth century, before the “wild solar holiday of all pagan times” had quite usurped the rightful place of the Sabbath of the Lord. May the Lord roll upon Sabbath-keeping Christians the burden of Abyssinia.

The Health Reform Library

The Health Reform Library.—In our issue of February 6 it was stated that the Health Reform Library, of which we then noticed the first number, a new quarterly publication, was 25 cents a year. We have learned from the publishers that this is a mistake. It is but 15 cents a year. This Library will contain excellent and practical matter in the line of health, hygiene, and purity. Address the International Tract Society, Battle Creek, Mich., or any of our state tract societies.

A Strange Consistency.

By Editor

Prize-fighting is a brutal practice at its best, and its associations are degrading. But in the evil results following we would like to know what better is football as played by our crack college and university teams. Often a football game is characterized as a “slugging match,” and quite frequently men are “knocked out,” rendered insensible, arms, legs, and heads are broken, and not infrequently lives are lost. Of course no one meant to kill another. The great desire is to win the game of skill, science, and brute strength. But all this is true of the “manly art” of pugilism. The bull-fights of “Christian” Mexico and France are worse still, yet the forum prohibits pugilism. In a recent Sunday bull-fight at Juarez, at which all classes of society from both sides of the national boundary line were present, there were four bulls and five horses tortured and killed. When men fight, they do it voluntarily, knowing all the risks, and are wholly responsible, brutal and degrading tho the practice is, but the torturing, goading, disemboweling of innocent cattle and horses are quite another matter. In France last year there were 3,657 bulls killed, and more than six thousand horses ripped up. It is a strange sort of consistency which will permit the brutal football, prevalent of late, the wicked hazing of boys in our colleges and universities, and the cruel bull-fights to continue almost without protest, while prohibiting or anathematizing pugilism, brutal tho it may be. If these moral spasms were somewhat more chronic in nature, and more widespread and equable in application, even to the control of gigantic trusts and syndicates which oppress the poor, rob the state, and debauch Legislatures, there would be some hope of the body politic. True morality takes hold of individual life in a community first. So much pretension is not then needed in public life.

What Is Your Idea?

This is an important question in these days. The Roman Catholic definition of faith is “body of doctrine” as held or defined by the “church.” The Bible idea of faith is personal, living belief in God, that which connects man with God. It is personal or it is nothing. Rome, holding the idea she does of faith, logically believes that the Bible is a dead book without the church, that it receives its life from the church, which holds the faith, or “body of doctrine.” The Bible idea of the word of God is that it is “quick [living] and powerful” in itself, and that faith, personal faith, appropriates this power direct. From the living word in the beginning the soul and the church of souls is born, and by that word life is maintained. Rome reverses the Bible order. The Bible idea is the Protestant idea. Which idea is yours?
Continue reading: Oppressed Nations and the Spread of Religious Liberty