Signs of the Times, Vol. 1, No. 11.
OUR PRESENT POSITION: or, the Waiting, Watching TimePage 1
Earlier text: OUR PRESENT POSITION: or, the Waiting, Watching TimeLucifer and the King of Tyre
In the above application it will be seen that all these points beautifully and aptly apply. With regard to this king of Tyre, Beecher says: 'In this address to the king of Tyre there are several expressions too high for merely a mortal sovereign. Hence the impression has extensively prevailed that the Holy Spirit regarded the king of Tyre as a kind of image of Satan, and in addressing him uttered things passing beyond the emblem, and applying directly to the reality. Such was the view of Augustine, Jerome, Tertullian, Ambrose, and other early fathers. Indeed, Fairbairn remarks, 'Most of the early commentators have supposed that verses 12–14 were not properly used of the king of Tyre, but mystically of Satan.' —Redeemer and Redeemed, p. 75. 'The cherub is the most exalted of all known emblems, nearest the throne of Jehovah, most vividly connected with his majesty, and identified with his administration. That such was the exalted station originally held by Lucifer, may be considered the established belief. Milton, a careful student of the theology of his own and preceding ages, speaks of Lucifer as 'Of the first,
If not the first archangel, great in power,
In favor, and pre-eminence.' President Edwards observes, 'Lucifer, before his fall, was the morning star, the covering cherub, the highest and brightest of all creatures.' Dr. Hopkins speaks of him as one 'who was at the head of all the angels, and the most noble creature God had made.' And Dr. Dwight calls him 'an angel of pre-eminent distinction in Heaven.'—Id. p. 81. In Isa. 14, we have a description of the same person, under the name of the king of Babylon. 'How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [Margin, day-star!] How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.' Verses 12–14. Who is this that has fallen from Heaven? Jesus uses almost the same words in Luke 10:18: 'And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven.' Isaiah says, 'How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer!' It is evident that they both refer to the same person. That person Jesus calls 'Satan.' This, then, was the original condition of Satan, this, the position which he once occupied—high and exalted, near the throne of God. The Lord created him and placed him there. He was wise, beautiful, holy, and happy. Alas! that sin should come in to destroy such a character! Alas! that rebellion should blot so fair a universe! But so it was. Even while we are contemplating this picture, the scene is changed, oh! how changed! Evil thoughts brood in Lucifer's mind. A dark cloud is gathering. Whispers of discontent are heard, insubordination is talked, till at length, oh! woeful day! rebellion, dark, deep, wicked rebellion, bursts upon the astonished inhabitants of Heaven! Thus we read: 'Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned; therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God; and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.' Then 'there was war in Heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven.' Rev. 12:7, 8. That Satan was once in Heaven, but apostatized and fell, with many other angels, is abundantly proved by the Bible. Isaiah exclaims, 'How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer!' Chap. 14:12. Ezekiel testifies: 'Thou hast sinned; therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God.' Chap. 28:16. Jesus says, 'I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven.' Luke 10:18. Peter bears record: 'God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell.' 2 Pet. 2:4. Jude also confirms this: 'And the angels which kept not their first estate,' &c. Verse 6. A very important question now to be determined is, When did this event occur? When did Lucifer fall? Though God has not seen fit to reveal to us definitely the time when this occurred, yet we may be able to get some light on this point by searching the scripture. When the serpent said to the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die,' he told a lie, which showed that he was fallen then. Gen. 3:4. This shows that Satan was fallen immediately after the work of creation was Morality of the Sabbath
By D. M. Canright
IV. Man's moral duty to love and obey God rests chiefly upon the fact that the Lord created all things, which fact the Sabbath was given to commemorate. God made me and all the blessings which surround me, hence it is my moral duty to love and serve him as the Author and Giver of them all. Those who do not believe that God created the world, feel under no obligation to obey him, even if they believe that there is a God at all, which they seldom do. Hence it becomes of the greatest importance morally, that the facts of creation be ever kept fresh in the memory of men. If these facts be disbelieved or forgotten, the Creator himself will also be forgotten. Man is constantly prone to forget his Creator and to deny his existence. To have, to preserve, and to teach the knowledge of the true God is the very highest of all moral duties. Indeed, without this we could not serve God at all. How morally important, then, that God should give men something which would be a frequent and constant reminder of the Creator and of our obligation to him. For just this purpose God did give the Sabbath to man in the very beginning. Thus we read, “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; (why?) because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Gen. 2:3. A rest implies a work performed. God had just finished the wonderful work of creation for which the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Job. 38:7. As a monument for a memorial of this great work God there set apart the seventh day to a sacred rest. From that time on through all ages the observance of the Creator’s rest day was to be a weekly reminder, or memorial, of God’s work of creating the heavens and the earth. Every time a person intelligently keeps the Sabbath day it reminds him of God’s work of creating the earth at the beginning in six days and resting upon the seventh day. Thus it is an appropriate memorial of creation. When the Lord gives the reason for the observance of the Sabbath, he always points back to the facts of creation. Thus, when he gave the decalogue from mount Sinai, the Lord said, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work, (why? for what reason?) ***for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:8–11. Why was the Sabbath hallowed? Because God had rested upon it after his six days of labor at creation. A sign and a memorial are the same thing. The 4th chapter of Joshua proves this, while at the same time it gives us a beautiful illustration of the use of a memorial or sign. When the children of Israel crossed over Jordan the waters of the river were cut off and dried up. Then the Lord directed them to take twelve stones out of the bottom of Jordan and make an heap of them upon the bank of the river. “That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off; and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever.” Josh. 4:6, 7. The Lord says that these stones shall be a sign among you; and then he says they shall be a memorial, showing that sign and memorial were synonymous. When the Lord explains the object of the sign, or memorial, he says that when their children in days to come ask their fathers what these stones mean, then the fathers shall tell them the story about how the waters of Jordan were cut off, &c., when their fathers passed over Jordan. Thus in all coming generations, whenever men looked upon this pile of stones it would constantly remind them of that wonderful miracle which God wrought for his people, and thus keep it fresh in their memory. So God declares that the Sabbath is a sign of creation. “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; (how? and why?) for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Ex. 31:16, 17. Here the Lord directly says that the Sabbath is a sign. We have already shown that sign and memorial are synonymous. But why is it a sign? The reason is plainly stated. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested.” Thus the Sabbath is declared to be a divinely appointed memorial of God’s great work of creation. Its importance cannot be overestimated. God instituted it for a great moral purpose, namely, to preserve in the memory of men a knowledge of God’s work of creation. Had the human family carefully observed this sacred memorial, they never would have forgotten the living God and have become atheists or the worshipers of false gods. “Had all men properly kept the Sabbath, all would have known Jehovah and worshiped him from the creation of the world to the present time, and idolatry never would have been practiced on the earth.” Justin Edwards. The Sabbath, therefore, does have for its object the greatest of all moral principles, namely, the preservation in the earth of the knowledge of the true and living God, the Creator of the earth. The reader cannot fail to observe, that if this be so, the farther we come from creation the more important becomes the careful observance of the Sabbath. For the first few generations the facts of creation might have been handed down from father to son without any memorial. But now when all such traditional knowledge has been lost, and men are becoming skeptical with regard to God’s existence and the miraculous work of creation, how morally important becomes the preservation of the ancient and divinely-instituted memorial of creation, God’s holy rest day! V. God has a moral right to claim a certain part of our time as sacred to his worship. The Sabbath commandment is based upon this moral principle which shows it to be a moral precept. Man was not created simply to please himself and study his own convenience; but the great object of his creation was to please and glorify his Creator. Thus the Revelator says: “Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Rev. 4:11. And Paul says, “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6:19, 20. The chief object of man’s creation, then, is to serve God and glorify him. God has a perfect moral right to require us to give all our time wholly to his service. None will deny this. But man must have food and raiment, houses and other necessaries of life; hence God has given him six days out of every seven in which to provide for all these wants of his nature; but the seventh day God has reserved to himself. This he has never given to man to be used in secular, worldly affairs, but it is to be used wholly in religious services and the worship of our Creator. Who will say that this is unreasonable? We affirm that God never made a requirement of men which was more reasonable, just, and morally right than the Sabbath commandment. Reason itself would teach us to expect that God would make just such a requirement. Man is naturally prone to forget his God, and his obligation to his Creator, and to become wholly absorbed in his worldly affairs. As he engages in his necessary business for a subsistence, the cares of life are apt to press upon him till there is great danger that he will give his time up wholly to this, and forget his duty to God. Hence the Lord has wisely interposed the Sabbath day to break up this tide of worldliness, and to remind man of his duty to his Creator. Men are allowed to engage in their worldly pursuits for six days continuously. Then the Lord says, “Now stop, lay this all aside, shut up your shop, close your store, put up your tools, let your fields rest, lay aside your books, and take one day to meditate upon the works of God; to study his word, to go to the house of God, to offer praise and worship before the Lord.” If there is a living God to whom we owe all things and whom it is our duty to remember and worship, then of all moral precepts the Sabbath is pre-eminently the most reasonable and morally important. We must bear in mind constantly that the first duty of man, his highest moral obligation, is to love God with all his heart. Nothing is designed to promote this so directly as the proper observance of the Sabbath. KEEP yourself innocent, if you would be happy. The Cost of Earnest Living
It costs us much to live an earnest and manly life, but it costs a great deal more not to do so. There Cannot Be a Secret Christian
THERE cannot be a secret Christian. Grace is like ointment hid in the hand—it betrayeth itself. Consider Criticism and Reform
If any one speaks ill of thee, consider whether he has truth on his side: and if so, reform thyself, that his censures may not affect thee. The Seventh-day Adventists.
By Uriah Smith
A BRIEF SKETCH OF THEIR ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND PRINCIPLES.
THIS, as already stated, originated through the instrumentality of Eld. James White. Eld. W. was born in Palmyra, Me., in 1821. Commencing at the age of 20, he labored with much success as a public speaker in the great Advent movement of 1840–4; and when the claims of the Sabbath were brought to his notice, he entered as heartily into the work of its defense and promulgation. He began the work of publishing in 1849. In November, 1850, he commenced the publication of the ADVENT REVIEW AND HERALD OF THE SABBATH, the organ of the S. D. Adventists. To accommodate his publishing work to the field of his operations as a traveling evangelist, the paper was issued first at Paris, Me., till June, 1851, then at Saratoga Springs till March, 1852. It was then removed to Rochester, N. Y., where it continued nearly four years. Then the cause of Sabbath reform rapidly advancing westward, its present location, Battle Creek, Mich., was selected as a more central position, and the paper was moved to this place in November, 1855. Up to this time Eld. White was publisher and sole editor. Some of the time since then, others have been associated with him on the editorial board. The wants of the cause demanding an enlargement of operations, and the employment of more capital in the publishing business, an Act of the Legislature of Michigan, for the incorporation of associations for publishing purposes, was secured, and approved March 7, 1861. Under that Act a legally incorporated Association, under the name of The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, was organized in Battle Creek, May 3, 1861. They immediately erected a two-story brick building, in the form of a Greek cross, the main portion 26x66 the transverse section, 26x44, for the publishing work. In 1871 a second building of the same size and form was erected to meet the necessities of the increasing business. And in 1873 a third building of the same kind was built for the same reason. These all stand side by side, opposite the public square, at the corner of Main and Washington Sts. A two-story wooden building used as the sole printing office of the REVIEW & HERALD, before the formation of the Association, but now moved to the rear and used as a book-bindery, completes the list of buildings at present employed in the publishing department. The titles of the different periodicals issued by the Association, and their circulation at present writing, Nov., 1874, stand as follows:—
ADVENT REVIEW AND HERALD OF THE SABBATH, weekly, 5700
Youth's Instructor, monthly, 5200
True Missionary, monthly, 4800
Health Reformer, monthly, 7800
Advent Tidende, Danish, monthly, 1900
Advent Harold, Swedish, monthly, 1900 Books on the prophecies, and other Bible subjects have been issued largely from the beginning, and have now reached an aggregate of about one hundred millions of pages. Sixty-six hands are regularly employed in the work, and the capital invested is over one hundred thousand dollars. These results, wrought out in so short a time, are the only compliment that need be paid to him under whose management this degree of prosperity has been attained. Those acquainted with the business career of Eld. White, have observed two strongly developed traits of character;—zeal to push forward in the formation and execution of plans for the advancement of the work, and caution to avoid injudicious and reckless ventures. The union of these two qualities, regulating at once the amount of steam and the application of the brakes, has made him the master of the situation in the publishing line, and has given to the enterprise, though moving forward rapidly, a healthy and permanent growth. This is exceedingly simple. A body of believers associate together, taking the name of Seventh-day Adventists, and attaching their names to a covenant simply to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The Bible is their only creed. A clerk is chosen to keep the records of the church, and an elder, elected by vote of the church, is ordained to look after its spiritual interests. If the church is large, its temporal affairs are assigned to one or more deacons chosen by vote of the church for this purpose. Elder, bishop and pastor, Greek, (presbuteros, episcopos, and poimen,) signify in their vocabulary, the same officer and that a local officer confined to a particular church. These need not be ordained ministers. Evangelists are ordained ministers, who travel from place to place to preach the gospel, and are the only ones competent to ordain local elders and deacons. They now number 291 churches with an enrollment of about 7500 members. But owing to the scattered condition of this people, a large proportion of them are not so situated as to belong to any of the church organizations, single families being scattered all the way from Maine to California and Oregon, in all the northern States, and in many of the Southern. The whole number is estimated at from twelve to fifteen thousand.. The number of ordained ministers is 60, and licentiates 67. None of the churches have pastors established with them. They maintain their worship without the aid of a preacher, only as one may occasionally visit them, leaving the ministers free to devote almost their whole time to carrying these views to those who have never heard upon them. During the summer months they carry forward their work by means of large tents 40 to 60 feet in diameter. Thirty-four of these have been in use in all the States the past season. The next advance in organization from single churches, is the State Conference. The churches in a State combine to form a State Conference, adopting a constitution to regulate their action. Each church is entitled to delegates according to its membership. At each annual meeting an executive committee of three is elected by vote of the delegates of whom the President of the Conference is chairman. This committee have supervision of all the ministerial and religious work of the Conference between the yearly meetings. S. D. Adventists now have thirteen State Conferences as follows: Maine, New England (including only New Hampshire), Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut), Vermont, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri & Nebraska, and California. The next outward sweep from the State Conferences is the General Conference. This Conference also annually elects its executive committee of three to have charge of the doings of the denomination in all parts of the field. The President of the General Conference is the highest officer in the body. The object of the General Conference is to unify the work in all localities, equalize labor, and supply destitute fields with help. The meeting of the General Conference held in Battle Creek, Aug. 10, 1874, was its thirteenth annual session. Means to sustain the work are raised by a plan denominated Systematic Benevolence, founded on the instructions of Paul in 1 Cor. 16:2. By this system it is designed that every one shall upon each first day of the week, lay by a sum equal, as near as may be, to one-tenth the increase of their property from whatever source of income. There is nothing compulsory in this matter; yet all this people with few exceptions have adopted and are acting upon this plan. According to this system, contributions being proportioned to the amount of property one possesses, or the strength and ability with which he is blessed for acquiring, none are burdened. It treats the rich and poor alike in proportion to their ability, while a steady stream is thus poured into the treasury. For the year 1874, the amount raised in this manner in all the Conferences, was $37,181.56. Each church appoints its collector and treasurer, who once a month, or in rural districts once a quarter, gathers up these contributions. With the exception of a small percentage retained by some of the churches for their own use, these funds are sent by the church treasurers to the State Conference Treasurer. At each yearly meeting of the Conference, an auditing committee is appointed which examines the accounts of all the ministers in the employ of the Conference, and settles with each one according to the amount of labor performed. Of the funds remaining in the State treasury after such settlement, the Conference votes such amount as it sees proper to the General Conference, which is then put into the hands of the Gen. Conf. Treasurer, to be expended under the direction of the Gen. Conf. Committee. The attention of S. D. Adventists was called to the subject of Christian temperance by the writings of Mrs. E. G. White, wife of Eld. James White, about the year 1862. The importance of this subject was at once seen and confessed, from the well-ascertained, and now generally acknowledged, connection between the body and the mind. A person's moral and spiritual nature is largely affected by his physical condition. It was therefore seen that success in appealing to men's higher and spiritual nature, is much more certain if they can be turned from wrong habits of life, which undermine the physical, and benumb the moral, powers. In this sense the health reform lies at the foundation of all reform. The system as at present advocated and practiced among this people, banishes the use of tobacco, in any and all of its forms, none addicted to its use being received into the churches except upon the promise and expectation of its immediate abandonment. The result is that, as a denomination, the sight and scent of tobacco is not found among this people. It excludes from the dietary, pork, tea, coffee, and rich and highly seasoned food. Grease and spices take a back seat in the culinary department. Meat of any kind is but rarely used. Two meals only a day are considered preferable for most people, those to be composed of grains, fruits, and vegetables, served up, however, in any of the great variety of their palatable forms. But the health reform embraces not only right methods of living, but the right means of recovery from sickness. Being impressed with the great evils of the drug system, the friends of this movement felt so great an interest in the matter that steps were taken in 1866 for the establishment of an Institute, to which persons might resort, not only to learn more fully the principles of the hygienic system, but also for the recovery of health. A high and beautiful site of eight acres about sixty rods north of the publishing buildings, was purchased, buildings were added to those already on the ground, and the "HEALTH REFORM INSTITUTE" was opened for the reception of patients and boarders, Sept. 5, 1866. An act of the Michigan Legislature was procured, and a legally incorporated Association was formed, April 6, 1867. A subscription of twenty-six thousand dollars was raised, which has since increased by additional subscriptions and the workings of the institution to forty-two thousand. The Health Reformer published in the interest of this institution, and in advocacy of health reform principles, was started in August, 1866. It has now attained to a circulation, as noted above, of 7800 copies monthly. The Health Reform Institute, though founded and managed by S. D. Adventists, is not conducted on a denominational basis. All believers in the Bible, to whatever denomination they belong, are made equally welcome, and made to feel equally at home, their religious belief being in no way interfered with. The health reform ends not with diet alone, but extends to all the habits of life, and to that which has a great bearing on the health of the body; that is, the manner in which it is clothed. The fashionable female attire of the present day is held to be chargeable with at least three leading evils as related to health; First, hanging burdens in an unnatural manner upon the body; secondly, hindering the full play of the vital organs; thirdly, insufficiently protecting the extremities. A style of dress is proposed, and to a large extent adopted among this people, designed to remedy these evils. It consists of shortening the skirt till it fully clears the filth and obstructions of the street, fitting the garments loosely around the waist, suspending the garments from the shoulders, and thoroughly protecting the limbs with a covering of the same material as the dress. However the appearance of this dress may strike the beholder, all thoughtful people must be in sympathy with the ends which it is proposed to secure. Excepting only the grosser indulgence of tobacco-using, the principles of the health reform are not regarded as determining the question of church fellowship. It is recommended as that without which it is impossible to secure the best condition of bodily health; and it is supposed that all who are conscientiously endeavoring to serve God, desiring to glorify him in their bodies, as well as their spirits which are equally his, will for this reason, adopt and live out its principles. Thanksgiving.
By J. N. Loughborough
When our forefathers, in New England, appointed a day of thanksgiving, it was to pour forth devout feelings of gratitude to God that they had been prospered in securing their crops, and had been preserved from the ruthless hand of the savages. Thanksgiving to God is right. The command of Paul is, "In every thing give thanks." I discover in many of the thanksgiving sermons now-a-days, however, a spirit of self laudation, a "peace and safety" cry, and a disposition to ridicule those, who, holding to the true literalism of God's word, see evident tokens of the consummation of earth's history, and the bringing in of the better kingdom. Especially was this the case on the thanksgiving occasion just past in San Francisco. I will quote a few statements from Dr. Patterson's discourse at the first Presbyterian church. They are impressive. "The people of the generation which beheld our Lord's miracles and heard his discourses, were by no means impressed with their sublimity, and even the kings and prophets and leaders of thought in Church and State regarded them with indifference. Only a few hundred of the common people were at all impressed with the significance of Jesus' words and works of wisdom and of love; and their emotions by no means corresponded to the sublimity of the crisis, or to the grandeur of their privileges as witnesses of the salvation of the world. Like their predecessors, they were earnestly expectant of future blessings, but they were almost stupidly neglectful of the great miracle of salvation actually existing among them in the incarnation of the Son of God. This indifference to the sublimities of which we ourselves form a part, is one of the characteristics of the fallen divinity of human nature. We read and admire the sublimity of the heroisms of the distant and of the past; and the prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his father's house." May the above not be just as true when applied to the great proclamations the Lord is sending in this time to prepare a people for the coming of his Son? He says of the work of the gospel: "It is true that as yet no nation has adopted the Christian standard of morals, nor does any individual Christian live up to the profession which he makes. Nevertheless it is true that society has been leavened with gospel influences to such an extent as to warrant the expectation of further progress and to warrant also the expectation that such a renewal of its original powers as is predicted by the prophecies and bring the world into the enjoyment of the blessings of the kingdom of Christ." He thinks, as above intimated, that the world is to be converted. Mr. Ijams, Congregational minister, said, "The past year has served not to lessen, but, rather to augment our confidence in the existence on earth of at least the germ of that which patriarchs, prophets, apostles and saints have rejoiced to describe as the kingdom of God. Surely the conception of something like a principle of moral evolution was present to the mind of the evangelic Isaiah when he recorded85 the magnificent sentiment of my text: 'Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.' "I sincerely, then, call upon you all to rejoice with me this day, and give most humble and hearty thanks that the departing year has brought us new evidence of the glorious threefold truth; that over us and over all things there exists a benignant mind; that He presides over all the commotions and revolutions of history; and that He has an increasing kingdom, which he is evolving out of the very evils of the present, as a lily springs, white and beautiful, out of the quagmire. Tennyson, in his own rare way, sings a deep Christian truth in these words: 'Yet, I doubt not, through the ages one unchanging purpose runs. And the thoughts of men are widened with the progress of the suns.' "Christianity invites us to a wide survey. Its visions and vistas are not those of an hour, or a day, or a century, but rather those of immeasurable ages. God is in no hurry. He rests not, hastes not. He employed untold ages [The Scripture says he created it in six day. J. N. L.] to complete the solid earth we now inhabit, and He may employ even a longer period to carry to its final stages the grander process of the moral world. "The mythology of Greece and Rome placed the Golden Age back in the distant past. Christianity, on the other hand, places the Golden Age forward in a distant future. Their religion was a bright memory, ours a glorious hope. They adored the Saturn that had reigned. We hail the Lord 'that is to be,' of whom it is written, 'I am the first and the last.' 'I am he that liveth and was dead; behold I am alive for ever more; amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.' "Failing to consider this law of moral evolution, two serious errors have been committed. The first is the error of those that are in hourly expectation of a catastrophe, warning us to make ready our ascension robes, for the end of all things is at hand. Modern Christianity has outgrown the literalism that led early saints to expect a catastrophe, and the men who now preach a theatrical dynamic close of human history are guilty of an anachronism. They belong to a past age and might as well strike their tent and erect a permanent temple. The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." The above was designed to teach the temporal millennium, "Golden Age" theory. It seems to us, however, that it turns Daniel's image "upside down." As far as the thrust at Seventh-day Adventists, and the tent is concerned, no one in that tent has asked any one, or taught any one, to prepare a robe with which to meet Christ. That statement is wholly the manufacture of one who is "smiting his fellow servants," and saying "my Lord delays his coming." While we have claimed that fulfilling signs show, in harmony with the words of our Saviour, that we are in "the generation" that will witness his coming, we have not said he may come any hour, but have taught rather that there is a work of preparation for the event, a warning to the world, ere it comes. Another material evidence, as he called it, of Christ's kingdom being now set up, and the "Golden Age coming in," was, "Pagans are beginning to laugh at their idols, and so the work of destruction is advancing with amazing rapidity. The work of construction shall certainly follow. 'Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end.' In our own beloved land, too, religion seems to be growing sweeter and more Christly." I don't see as the Pagans laugh much at their idols, or idol service in San Francisco, where heathen Chinese can find already about half a dozen of their temples, and their gods. As for the increasing power of Christianity, evils are certainly on the increase. The Chicago Tribune of Nov. 19th, contains the following: "The wires are loaded down every night with details of the criminal deeds of the preceding twenty-four hours. We are apparently living amid a contagion of crime. The Tribune of yesterday recorded on one page about twenty recent murders, any number of old ones." That is the way a secular paper views the state of things, but what does the Rev. Dr. say about it? Listen: "What has this year told us of the growing dawn of our golden age? Is the world growing worse or better? Is there a law of progress? Is His government indeed increasing? Has the germ expanded, however little? Yes, thanks be to God." What is one of the tokens that the millennium is commencing? "It is a pleasing and a grateful thought that our mere physical well-being is not overlooked as an incident of the development of the Divine Kingdom." Here is the coming of a secret kingdom, "Lo! here or lo! there is Christ." But Christ's own words are that his coming will be as literal, and visible as the lightning which shineth from the one part of heaven to the other. "Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him." May we be ready to meet, and hail with joy his glorious coming. Amen. Editors of the Signs.
By Cal. Conf. Com.
By the action of our California Conference, at its session in October last, it assumed the management and publication of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES; and, by vote of the Conference, the matter was placed in the hands of the Cal. Conf. Committee, until an Association is legally formed to control the property. It has necessarily occasioned some delay, for those of as little experience as our committee to plan for the management of the paper. Three numbers have appeared with no designated editor. It has been our desire from the first, that, if possible, Bro. White should have, at least, the editorial charge of the SIGNS. We still have hopes that it may be possible for him to come to this coast, and the cause have the benefit of his experience in establishing the SIGNS and its proposed publication office on a permanent basis. As the Voice of Truth is soon to be published in the East for new fields, and the major portion of that paper will be just what we need for our paper here, it has seemed feasible to us to choose as editors of our paper, the editors of the Review and Voice of Truth; so we have taken the liberty to choose as editors of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Elder James White and Elder Uriah Smith, and accordingly place their names at the head of our editorial columns. The Signs of the Times
By Editor
"Can ye not discern the signs of the times?" OAKLAND, CAL., FIFTH-DAY, DEC. 17, 1874. ELD. JAMES WHITE, ELD. URIAH SMITH, . . . EDITORS. The San Francisco Tent Meeting.
By John Norton Loughborough
THIS meeting is still in progress although a few sharp frosty nights have caused us to talk quite seriously of taking down our tent. This meeting which commenced Oct. 16th, has now continued near nine weeks. It has proved a great-er success than we anticipated when we erected our tent. The meetings have been well attended from the first. We now have the names and addresses of seventy-five in San Francisco who are keeping the Lord's Sabbath, and over one-third of these have come out since our tent meeting commenced. There are now over fifty in Oakland keeping the Sabbath. It is beginning to be a pretty "strong point" for our cause "around the bay." During this San Francisco meeting we have disposed of about $125.00 of books; obtained about a score of paid subscribers to the Signs, and thirteen subscribers to the Reformer. Sabbath and first day, Dec. 12 and 13, were good days for San Francisco. On the 12th, ten more united with the church. Of these five were baptized on first-day the 13th. Our tents have now been on the move in California about eight months, we shall probably lay them up next week. We shall endeavor to be active during the rainy season, and, if the Lord will, strike out as early in the spring as the weather will possibly admit. The Lord direct, and speed on the work is our daily prayer. J. N. L.