p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 51. (12/20/1899)

Earlier text: DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE

WE WISH YOU TO KNOW

By Editor

that we have arranged with

BATTLE CREEK COLLEGE

to give you...

Free Scholarship of one year, including board, room and tuition

Read the statement below

THE BATTLE CREEK COLLEGE

A Training School for Christian Workers

Battle Creek, Mich.

"Come thou with us, and we will do thee good."

This institution is devoted exclusively to the spiritual, physical, mental and moral training of young men and women, that they may be prepared to go out to service for God. Practical courses are given in every line of study necessary for this work. Special attention is given to training for the ministry, missionary teaching, house-to-house Bible work, colporter work, and for foreign mission service. Students have abundant opportunity each day to put into practice what they have learned.

A prominent feature in the educational work of this College is the instruction and practice given in manual training, including farming, carpentry, broom making, shoe making, tailoring, dressmaking, cooking and nursing.

Board is offered in the College boarding hall on the European plan, which enables the student to control and greatly curtail his expense on this item.

To those who solicit subscriptions for the "SIGNS," Special inducements are offered at rates far below the regular fees.

For further particulars on this offer, write to "SIGNS OF THE TIMES," Oakland, Cal.

For further information concerning the School, address BATTLE CREEK COLLEGE, Battle Creek, Mich.

REDUCTION

By Editor

IN PRICE

The price of the cloth volumes of the Young People's Library has been reduced from 60c to 50c per volume. The paper-covered volumes remaining at 25c each — The titles are as follows:

Jack the Conqueror

Three uplifting stories, "Jack the Conqueror," "Gilbert Henshaw," and "Bessie's Whatsoevers," in which the actors carry out the motto, "Resolve well and persevere." 160 pages, 12 illustrations.

Fiji and Samoa

An interesting description of these two important island groups of the Pacific, to which is added a collection of native stories and traditions. It also gives a short account of the terrible shipping disaster which occurred at Samoa in 1889. 160 pages, illustrated.

Life on the Kongo

A comprehensive history of that portion of Africa drained by the Kongo and its tributaries, together with numerous missionary incidents and experiences. 160 pages, illustrated.

Martin Luther

A most readable story of the life of this greatest reformer, at home, at the University, as a monk, as a priest, at Rome, at the Diet of Worms, and the closing scenes of his career. 160 pages, illustrated.

Left with a Trust

Two stories, the first of which recounts the efforts of a family to economize that they might help father and mother. The second is entitled "The Cousins," and well illustrates the folly of looking upon wealth and social standing as an index to true worth of character. It reveals the brighter side of youth where there is a will to be kind and affectionate. 160 pages, illustrated.

Among the

Northern Icebergs

A brief sketch of the expeditions sent in search of the north pole by England and the United States. 160 pages, illustrated.

Tonga Islands

The customs, religions, and superstitions of the natives of Tonga and neighboring islands; also an account of their tribal wars, how the Gospel was first introduced, etc., etc. 160 pages, illustrated.

Native Life in India

Contains the fruit of the author's eighteen years' travel and study in India. It is especially devoted to sketches of the social and religious characteristics of this caste-ridden country. It is thoroughly reliable and very interesting. Illustrated with 12 native drawings. 160 pages.

Savonarola

A graphic account of the life and martyrdom of this wonderful preacher of Florence. An inspiring book for young readers, and one that will be read again and again. 160 pages.

John of Wycliffe

The life of this "greatest reformer before the Reformation" is one of intense interest, and is here told in a way that will inspire the reader to cultivate his opportunities and economize his time. 160 pages, illustrated.

Letters from the Holy Land

A series of letters from Mr. Henry A. Harper, while in Palestine, to his children at home. Each letter is accompanied by a picture of some occurrence illustrating Bible statements and parables in a way that will forcibly impress themselves upon the reader's mind. It also contains one chapter on "Geography of the Bible," illustrated by a good map. 160 pages, fully illustrated.

Two Cannibal

Archipelagoes

Explorations and missionary efforts in the cannibal islands of the Pacific. A volume of thrilling interest. 160 pages, illustrated.

The above books are all bound attractively in cloth at 50c per volume or the twelve for $6.00 — They are also published in paper covers at 25c per volume or $3.00 for the full set.

Address your TRACT SOCIETY or

Pacific Press Publishing Company

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

PUBLISHED WEEKLY

By Editor

By the Pacific Press Publishing Co. (Entered at the Post-office in Oakland.)

Terms of Subscription.

Per Year (52 numbers), post-paid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.00 Six Months, 50 cts. Three Months, 25 cts. In Foreign Countries, per year, $1.50.

SPECIAL TERMS.

On one new yearly subscription and one renewal, or two new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $1.75.
Two new yearly subscriptions and one renewal, or three new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $2.50.
Three new yearly subscriptions and one renewal, or four new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $3.00.

Sample copies sent on application. All orders sent direct to the publishers, either for single subscription or for clubs, must be accompanied by cash. If credit is desired, please order through your State Tract Society, and terms to agents sent on application. Signs of the Times, Oakland, Cal.

Instructions for Ordering.

Remit by P. O. Money Order, Express Order, or Bank Draft on New York, Chicago, or San Francisco. If paper money or silver is sent, register the letter. P. O. Orders and Drafts should be made payable to the PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO., or to SIGNS OF THE TIMES. Postage-stamps.—Please do not send postage-stamps, as they are liable to stick together, and are useless in this condition. P. O. Money.—Do not send any. Receipts.—No formal receipt is sent unless by special request, but the address label on your paper will indicate the time to which your subscription is paid. In case of non-receipt of papers, or any other irregularity, please notify us immediately. Expiration of Subscription.—All papers are discontinued at the expiration of the time paid for. Notification will be sent several weeks before date of expiration, thus enabling you to renew in ample time to secure unbroken files. Please be prompt, as we can not always furnish back numbers. Change of Address.—When ordering change of address, please give both the old and the new address. Important.—Use a separate sheet for SIGNS orders, separate for other papers, separate for books, for tracts, etc., and if you address the editor, use a separate sheet. All can be sent in one envelope, and the money all sent in one order, but write each kind of business on a separate sheet. In this way each order can be handed to the proper clerk and filled at once.

TO CONTRIBUTORS.

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES is a purely missionary enterprise. For this reason it has felt free to ask for contributions from its friends. It pays nothing for contributions, either prose or poetry, unless solicited by the editor, and then the fact is stated when the articles are asked for. This is a plan rarely followed, but none-the-less deemed expedient.

Articles Desired.—Those which set forth in the Spirit of Christ the great saving truths of God, short and to the point. It is better to treat one important truth clearly, in a short article, than many points vaguely in a long one. We desire no caustic, critical productions, which might minister to personal pride or strife, but can not save souls.

Prepared.—Write plainly, with typewriter or ink, with space between the lines, to freely admit of editing, writing of subheads, etc. Write on one side of the sheet only. Sign your name to the manuscript, as it becomes oftentimes separated from an accompanying letter. Anonymous contributions are not used, whatever their merit. If the writer does not wish his name to appear, let him furnish a pseudonym for the public. But we wish your name.

Manuscript Returned.—We will return all unused manuscript desired if stamp and directions are inclosed. We are compelled sometimes to return good manuscript mainly for three reasons: (a) Sometimes the articles are too long; (b) sometimes we have a number on the same subject; (c) sometimes our plans are such that an article can not be used till it is out of date. We therefore hope that no offense will be taken by those who have so contributed their best thought if their productions are returned. When we receive so much matter, we can not use all.

We wish those who ask questions to take particular notice. Our such questions will be answered here as we believe of general interest and information. (a) We can not understand this from four to a dozen scriptures, as in one sentence when requested to do. (b) Do not ask to “explain” a certain passage. State clearly the point in question. (c) Same name and address, not for publication unless desired, evidence of good faith, and to give us the privilege of receiving if deemed best. (d) Unsigned communications of the quickest way to the waste-basket. (e) It is all the inclose stamp. (f) “Foolish and unlearned questions” also those that minister to mere curiosity. (g) Scriptures yourselves.

WONDERS OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Is a 32-page tract. Its object is to recount and describe some of the principal inventions of this closing century, and to show their significance. It contains fifteen illustrations. Is an easy seller. Price, 5c each or $2.00 per 100. PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO., Oakland, Cal. New York City Kansas City, Mo.

Warnings About Imperial Expansion

A Warning.—The London (England) Economist utters this note of warning to the English people: “The general unfriendliness of Europe will, if we are wise, teach us moderation, and a more careful consideration both of our resources and of the objects we are seriously desirous to secure. We are spending vast sums without reflecting that by and by we shall pass through a period, possibly a long period, of economic distress. We are largely increasing our army and navy without remembering that when enthusiasm has died away, or ambition has been satiated, it may be most difficult to keep them up without an expenditure which the great body of the people will resent.” Then, mentioning the increasing territory, which may be a burden, and deprecating the unhealthy unanimity in the present situation, which shuts out discussion and deliberation, it concludes: “The country is, therefore, rushing forward on a course which may be expedient or otherwise—we are not discussing that just now—but which involves large consequences, that the public, at all events, have never fully thought out. They will, in any event, lose nothing by counsel to be moderate, and to remember that the successes in which they naturally and properly exult will excite a fury of jealousy and annoyance throughout the European world.”

DID THE PAPACY PERSECUTE?

What Roman Catholics Say.

IN "The Faith of Our Fathers," by Archbishop (now Cardinal) James Gibbons, the writer denounces "every species of violence, and injustice, and persecution of which the Spanish Inquisition may have been guilty. And in raising my voice against coercion for conscience' sake, I am expressing not only my own sentiments, but those of every Catholic priest and layman in the land.

"Our Catholic ancestors, for the last three hundred years, have suffered so much for freedom of conscience that they would rise up in judgment against us, were we to become the advocates and defenders of religious persecution."—Pp. 284, 285.

He afterward admits that there was persecution, but tells us:—

"It must be remembered that in those days heresy, especially if outspoken, was regarded not only as an offense against religion, but also as a crime against the State, and was punished accordingly."—Id., p. 293.

"It [the Inquisition] was, therefore, rather a royal and political than an ecclesiastical institution."—Id., p. 297.

"I most emphatically assert that the church had no act or part in this atrocious butchery [massacre of St. Bartholomew], except to deplore the event and weep over its unhappy victims."—Id., p. 297.

"Religion had nothing to do with the massacre. Coligny and his fellow Huguenots were slain, not on account of their creed, but exclusively on account of their alleged treasonable designs."—Id., p. 298.

Thus much for Cardinal Gibbons on persecution. We wish that all in the church to which he belongs stood for liberty. But in an article in another column, taken from the Catholic Review, the chief organ of the Roman Catholic Church in America, the writer deprecates the course of apologetics in Cardinal Gibbons, throwing the blame on the State, and declares:—

"The church claims, and has always claimed, the right of punishing heresy, as is evident from the teaching of the greatest of theologians, St. Thomas, and from her canonical legislation, such as the decrees of popes and the acts of councils, all of which prove that the church believed it her duty to repress heresy and impressed the civil authorities with the same duty, boldly holding herself responsible for whatever wrong or right was in such repression.

"The church took this stand against heresy because the chief heresies of the Middle Ages were subversive of society, and, therefore, the church in destroying them saved society from anarchy and destruction."

And then are mentioned the Albigenses, Cathari, Vaudois, Wycliffe, Huss, and others as examples of fostering heresies which must be crushed. He further says:—

"The church in the Middle Ages did punish heresy often with extreme severity. The church saved society by repressing heresy in the Middle Ages, and she has, therefore, no apology to offer for her action beyond an occasional ill-directed zeal of her officers."

THE "SIGNS OF THE TIMES."

By Editor

We can not read the details of the future; we can not, therefore, tell to our readers just what will be presented in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES for 1900. There are certain great truths which God desires the world to know; those we hope to present according to the wisdom and ability which He gives us.

We have no great names of men to present before the world, but we present great truths in the name of Him who is King of kings.

The SIGNS OF THE TIMES is not an "organ" of a denomination. It is not published to exploit any human organization before the world. It does not, nor will it, boast in numbers, howsoever many its friends may be; nor in wealth, howsoever much it may have; nor in "learning" or titles, however much its writers have delved in the lore of the world. It has one object, to present Christ and Him crucified; to herald His glad tidings to the world; to present His warnings concerning the dangers which beset men and nations and the world; to clearly show the way of escape from all danger and evil. And "as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts."

For these reasons we ask the aid of all Christian believers to help us in the circulation of the truth; and the candid consideration of these truths by all judgment-bound souls.

Praise for the World's Harvest Number

By Editor

Good words come to us from all parts of the United States concerning the World's Harvest number of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. We are grateful for them, but all the glory of this paper's goodness is God's. Let us push it, friends, now.

Fallen at His Post

By Editor

Fallen at His Post.—"God buries His workmen, but carries on His work." Another soldier has fallen at his post, not in the Philippines nor in South Africa, tho he might have been in either place, but in Japan, a country with which this government is not at war. But there are men there at war with God; and as an ambassador of the Prince of Peace, Prof. W. C. Grainger went there two years ago, to offer peace to every soul he could, and teach all he could reach the blessed law of the kingdom of Christ. After an illness of three weeks, he fell at his post, in Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 31, 1899. Full particulars have not yet come to hand. This we know, that the Japanese have lost a noble friend, his wife a true and faithful husband, his children a loving and wise father, and his fellow-workers a loyal friend, a genial, equable, helpful brother. Our sympathies are herewith extended to his bereaved family. We mourn with them. But our brother is at rest, waiting the coming of the Life-giver.

Tolstoi Warns of Rich-Poor Divide

The famous Russian writer, Count Leo Tolstoi, says that "few people are aware of the terrible danger in store for the world on account of the ever-widening chasm between rich and poor. The rich would not hoard another ruble to their wealth were they conscious of the peril that threatens them." But they might know it from the Bible if they would but believe it.

Men or God.

By Editor

It seems too bad to have such a splendid teacher of spiritual truth as is Dr. Alexander MacLaren, of England, close an especially forceful, practical paragraph on Mal. 3:13, with the expression, "So thinks Malachi." Malachi probably thought in harmony with the message he bore; we will not dispute that. But what he brought was not his thoughts, but God's message. It is true that Malachi wrote, and so did Isaiah, and Paul, and others; but the word—and this is vital to the individual soul, vital to vigorous, growing faith—is God's word; the message is God's message. It need not concern us what Paul thought, or what Malachi thought, but what does God say?

Name or Character?

Consistency is a jewel, and most people like to see it. But there are sad perversions of it. For instance, before us is a neatly-printed paper with colored cover, The Gentlewoman; but the illustration belies the name. In the background of the picture a buck stands in the edge of a lake, and in the foreground a female in a loud dress stands with gun at her shoulder just ready to fire upon the deer. Evidently, "gentlewoman" is used as belonging to a certain "class" in "society," some exclusive set; it does not mean a gentle woman.

"Hot meat pies, hot meat pies," shouted the old colored man on a cold winter's day in Boston. A stranger, cold and shivering, thought one of the hot pastries would warm him up, and purchased, set his teeth into it, and found it frozen. He remonstrated with the man for his falsehood; and the old man replied, "That's the name ob 'em, boss; that's the name ob 'em." And so we conclude The Gentlewoman to be the name, not necessarily the character.

There are many Christians in name. Jesus says to such, "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." Be consistent. Let the character match the name; do not attempt to assume character by adopting a name. For all the women we love to see a gentle woman; for the pies we wish to get meat pies that are hot; for Christians we wish to find persons having Christlikeness.

Political Corruption in Philadelphia

By Editor

One of the most “Christian” cities of the world is the “City of Brotherly Love;” but this is what the Hon. John Wanamaker says, in the New York World concerning it: “In Philadelphia we have no honest election for many years, and the debasement of the ballot has acquired the system and precision of a science. . . . This has not been the growth of a day or a year, but has been perfected by steady, systematic development of the most minute details of original ingenuity. The machine has educated its followers in election crime, rewarded them according to their perfection in fraudulent arts, and extolled and honored the leadership which has known how to devise and avail itself of corrupt practices and protect and promote its debased principles.” Is Philadelphia alone in this p-

What For?

A celebration is a general event. The Freemasons of America, we are told, propose to celebrate, or hold memorial observance of the Centennial anniversary of "Worshipful Washington." Why celebrate that day? He should be a matter of rejoicing, his death of mourning. A letter from Washington, however, to the Christian Cynosure, shows that he never served as "Worshipful" Master, and had almost nothing to do with Masonry during his later years.

The Gospel for Hardened Criminals

By Editor

A minister in the East, according to a newspaper, believes that criminals, second offenders in crime, ought to be put to death, chloroforming not being best even to imprison, he says, and put to the expense of supporting them. Put to death. All that we have to say about this, is that this preacher is not a minister of the Gospel. That is "the power of God unto salvation." It is a cure for all, even hardened criminals. All that he advocates is a mere worldly philosophy.

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