p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 35. (9/1/1898)

Earlier text: Lesson XII.—Sunday, Sept. 18, 1898

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“The Desire of Ages” is the title of a forthcoming volume by Mrs. E. G. White. It is intensely interesting and beautifully illustrated, and is devoted to the consideration of the great truth that in Christ the love of the Father is revealed—that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.”

Although the complete book will not be ready until about October 15th, the Prospectus has been published thus early to enable agents to make a full delivery.

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A. CAMPBELL ON MORAL SOCIETIES.

In West Middletown, Pa., in 1820, a society was organized to enforce the observance of Sunday by civil law. Alexander Campbell opposed the society in a series of articles in the Reporter of Washington, Pa. The arguments of Mr. Campbell in showing that it is inconsistent and despotic for us to use force in attempting to propagate our religious ideas are sparkling with clearness, and can not fail to interest and instruct you.

The International Religious Liberty Association, of 39 Bond Street, New York, has recently published these articles as a number of the Religious Liberty Library. You should not only read the tract, but should do all you can to circulate it. The price is 25 cents per hundred, or 1½ cents per copy.

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“WE SEEK A CITY OUT OF SIGHT.”

By W. N. G.

In course of a recent patriotic Sunday service in Los Angeles, Cal., the minister is credited with the remark that “he who is most loyal to his God will be most loyal to his country.” If this sentiment be true, it is just as true in one country as another. So the Spaniard who is “most loyal to his God” and the American who is “most loyal to his God” will just now be the most eager to kill each other. Such, however, is the logic of the popular delusion that patriotism and Christianity are synonymous terms.

Abraham is called the father of the faithful, heir of the promised eternal inheritance, and any one who will be a partaker of that inheritance must come in as the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:29); yet in this life God called Abraham to come out from his country, and he was a pilgrim and sojourner in this world. He died without realizing the actual fulfilment of the promises, but he saw them by faith “afar off,” and embraced them; “for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” See Heb. 11:8–16. The words of Christ to the Jews apply also to those who profess Christianity to-day: “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.” John 8:39.

“We’ve no abiding city here; Sad truth were this to be our home; But let this thought our spirits cheer, We seek a city yet to come.” W. N. G.

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After the Next Week

By Editor

N. B.—After the next week the Sabbath-school lessons will probably be discontinued in the SIGNS. We have three times in succession asked in connection with these lessons if there were any objection to this, and find so little, up to present date, that it hardly seems best to publish them further.

The United States as a Christian Nation

“The United States as a Christian Nation” is the title of No. 54 of the International Religious Library. It is written by L. A. Smith, the editor of the American Sentinel. We need not multiply words; the tract is splendid. It ought to be circulated by millions. Every one ought to read it. Its price is only one-half cent. It may be obtained at this office, or from any of our branch offices or tract societies.

Napoleon’s Autobiography

Many obscure things are being illuminated in these days. It has been strenuously denied by scholars that Napoleon ever wrote it; while others have contended that he did, yet lacking the external proof to make their claim good. The August Cosmopolitan throws light upon the mystery by evidence from this side the water. The memoirs of Napoleon now running in the Cosmopolitan will be of added interest in the light which the editor’s research has thrown upon this question.

Charges Against the Ben Oliel Mission

Mr. T. J. Alley, a religious worker in Jerusalem, a Methodist, sends out a pamphlet of twelve pages under date of February 18, 1895, addressed to a lady in Boston, setting forth that the “mission” of “the Rev. A. Ben Oliel” in Jerusalem is a snare to catch the dollars of the unwary, and that its manager is a “shrewd, insatiable money-getter.” It is said that he has money loaned out on usury, and is known among the Jews as “The Usurer.” Mr. Alley writes the more earnestly, because he was himself deceived, and he desires to save others from the trap. The U. S. Consul declares that the tract expresses “the general opinion of Christian workers in Jerusalem.”

The Burden of Usurious Interest

The way of the money power is illustrated in the statement of the Alameda (Cal.) Encinal that “six mortgages were recently filed in San Bernardino County in which the rate of interest was twelve to fifteen per cent. There is no real estate in this State that can stand such a tax as that.” The writer might have added that no legitimate business can stand such interest, except it be an occasional mining venture, or similar rare exception. But the Encinal might have found a better illustration nearer home, for a contemporary journal mentions a notable instance in an Alameda County court but recently, where foreclosure was commenced on property secured by a note bearing five per cent. per month interest, compounded monthly.

“A PRESENT-DAY DELUSION.”

By Editor

This is the general title of a pamphlet by Henry Varley, the well-known English preacher. Its special title is “The Seventh-day Adventists and Sabbath Observance. Is the Seventh Day Binding on Christians?” Mr. Varley has rightly named his book “A Present-day Delusion;” for there was never any greater delusion than to suppose that Seventh-day Adventists have anything whatever to do with the binding obligation of the seventh day, or are responsible for the present agitation. They simply go to the Word of God. They find the sacred seventh day in the beginning of the Book; they find it commanded by God’s own voice and written with His own finger on tables of stone in the very heart of His holy, unchangeable law; they find it affirmed and observed by Jesus Christ Himself, than whom there is no other perfect example. All this is in the Word. It is the one Sabbath, the seventh day. All Sabbath commandments and instructions of the Word pertain to that day. There is no record of a change or a contemplated change to any other day. That day speaks of Jesus Christ as the Creator and Redeemer; of His power to redeem because of His power to create. All this Seventh-day Adventists find in the Word of God, and believe; and because they so believe, they do, and find blessing in doing. And because God has commanded it, and because there is blessing in obeying, and because Christ has in that Word commanded them to preach that Word, they do this that others may know the Word, know Christ’s power to create and save, and know the blessings of obedience.

It is all in the Word as the Word is in Jesus, and therefore Mr. Varley is mistaken, nay, greatly deluded, in endeavoring to attach any blame of seventh-day observance to Seventh-day Adventists. He is not fighting them; he is fighting against God. Every Seventh-day Adventist in the world might apostatize and go back to the husks of a pago-papal Sunday next week, but that would not affect this Sabbath agitation. “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” and the agitation WILL GO ON until every child of God, and every one who wants to be a child of God, knows it, and knows the blessing of observing God’s Sabbath just where the Lord has put it, in the seventh day. It can not be put down. Men may write ten thousand books against it; they may utter with ponderous voice their self-devouring propositions; nations and governments, kings and rulers, may endeavor to crush the Lord’s Sabbath and support the counterfeit by human laws, decrees, and penalties, but the Sabbath of the Lord will still stand. The Word of the Lord endureth forever; and it is the worst of all “present-day delusions” to think that puny man can change it or substitute for it his own. We are sorry that Mr. Henry Varley can not see this blessed truth. “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”

The Condition of France as Shown by the Press.—

The secular newspapers are a fairly good index of the character and condition of a people religiously and morally. This is the condition of France, as read in her journals, according to the Revue Bleue of Dec. 4, 1897 (and is America far behind?):—

“If you consider our French press, it seems to us that the second series of questions must be answered in the affirmative. If you ask where can be found an independent newspaper which does not live by scandals, or defamation, or bribes from rich bankers and brokers, a newspaper of which the speech and the silence are not in turn for sale, a newspaper which is equally free from pornography and greed for money, we are unhappily obliged to say that we do not know of even a single one such in France. The accounts of Panama and the affairs of Armenia destroyed our last illusions. It is incontestable that at present the French press is in the hands of sharpers. What would you think of an instructor who, in order to increase the number of his pupils, should add to his school a squad of rascals, or a company of loose characters? It is a little after this fashion that our French press plays its part of instructor of the democracy. The examples which could be cited in support of what we have said are so numerous that we should be laughed at for attempting to cite any. The whole mass forms a dung heap which it would not be wise to stir up.”

Purifying the Elective Franchise

One of the set purposes of the National Christian Citizenship League is “to purify the elective franchise.” The only elective franchise which the Christian is enjoined by the Scriptures to purify is his own. This is done by being “purged from his old sins.” So Peter gives, by the Spirit, this advice on the election question: “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; . . . for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10, 11. The purpose of Christ in giving Himself for us was “that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14. There is nothing here about purifying the world’s elections; and there is nothing “peculiar” about a people’s mingling in the world’s political strifes. When one is purified unto Christ he is purified unto His kingdom, which “is not of this world.” John 18:36.

To the Point.—

A fine specimen of telling sarcasm is reported on the part of the Chinese consul-general in San Francisco. Somebody asked him if he thought the reports were true regarding the intention of the European powers to partition China, and he answered suavely: “No, it can not be—of course not. Why, these are Christian nations! Germany is a Christian nation, Russia is a Christian nation, and France is a Christian nation. They would not do what is attributed to them, because the rule of Christianity is to do unto others as you would be done by.” And all this would be true if these were Christian nations. But all past history has shown and all future history will show that they are not Christian nations.

Why Not the Law of God?

—The Pacific Ensign, the W. C. T. U. organ for California, in its column of Department Reports gives the following:—

“The superintendent of sabbath observance has presented her work at five meetings, her special effort now being to unite with the Young People’s Societies in a supreme effort to secure the enactment of a civil law by the State; also public education by literature on the subject.”

O, why will not our dear good sisters, so earnest and devoted in many noble works, be satisfied with God’s law? Of course that refers to a different day, not Sunday, but the Sabbath; but why not take that Sabbath? It is the Lord’s and is good. They will not lose by the exchange, but make a great gain.