p. 24 | Review and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 4. (1/25/1906)

Earlier text: Report of the General Meeting at Guadalajara, Mexico

Politics and Sunday Laws

By W. M. ADAMS

THE following question was submitted to the two mayoralty candidates in Winnipeg, Manitoba, by the Lord’s Day Alliance: “Will you use your best efforts to enforce the Sunday legislation?” While both candidates answered in the affirmative, yet the one who was elected expressed himself thus: “I will use my best efforts to see it [Sunday legislation] carried out, and also use my influence to get more stringent laws enacted in this respect.”

The Methodist Municipal League submitted a similar question to the mayoralty and aldermanic candidates. It was, “If elected, will you support the best enforcement of the laws against Sunday trading?” Written replies were received in the affirmative from all those seeking office. Thus we see that every man who was elected to office in this large and rapidly growing city has given his written pledge to work for, support, and enforce Sunday legislation. And, too, we see that the active, aggressive parties in this matter are professed Christians. The churches are clamoring for the strong arm of civil law to enforce their religious belief. “The religious persecution of the Dark Ages began by the legislating on religious questions. Overzealous religionists believed that religious legislation was necessary to protect and advance the cause of Christ. They argued, just as people nowadays, that ‘God’s will ought to be made the law of the land.’ But it was ‘God’s will’ as interpreted and enforced by the majority that put to death the early Christians, as well as the untold millions of the Dark Ages.”

Now is the time to scatter broadcast religious liberty tracts and literature of all kinds. The people need to be enlightened, for many know not the meaning of these things.

W. M. ADAMS.

The Bible in College Work

By C. C. Lewis

THE greatest thing in education is moral character. The basis of moral character is responsibility. Every man is responsible to his fellow men and to society; and all are responsible to their common Creator. This sense of responsibility to God is recognized in the constitutions of many of the States, in the judicial oath, and by the overwhelming consensus of public opinion. Therefore whatever tends powerfully to strengthen the sense of moral obligation and responsibility in the human breast is worthy of a large place in education.

The mighty truth of moral responsibility is nowhere else so clearly and forcibly set forth as in the Bible. It is taught therein by precept and illustration. It is assumed from Genesis to Revelation. It exhales from every page of the sacred volume. Hence the Bible, embodying the best instruction and the best illustrations in regard to moral responsibility, should be and is the best text-book upon this most important subject.

And since this best book upon this most important subject is, and by the rights of religious liberty ought to be, excluded as a text-book from schools supported and conducted by the state, it follows that this book ought to hold a more prominent place in the private colleges of the land; for these colleges are nearly all of a denominational character. They exist largely to promote the ends of the denominations that establish and support them. These ends they find in the Bible. The Bible should therefore be prominently taught in these colleges. If it is not, if the subjects taught are practically the same as those taught in the schools of the state, these colleges become unnecessary rivals to the schools of the state. The only hope of the denominational colleges to excel the schools of the state lies in teaching well those religious subjects which it is their mission to teach, and which the schools of the state do not profess to teach. If these colleges can not excel in their own field, they can not be expected to excel in the field of secular education belonging especially to the schools of the state.

The chief reason why the colleges are not able to teach the Bible more and better is because their energies are largely exhausted in meeting the standard of the state in regard to secular education. When the curriculum regarded as the standard is met by the students, there is little time or place left for religious studies. Like Chaucer's physician, their study is and can be but little on the Bible.

But the Bible is worthy of a higher place in the college course. In the opinion of so eminent a scholar as Professor Moulton, of Chicago University, speaking particularly of Isaiah, 'It may be safely asserted that nowhere else in the literature of the world have so many colossally great ideas been brought together within the limits of a single work.'

Continuing the thought, Professor Moulton says: 'Even in literary form the world has produced nothing greater than Isaiah. . . . But when we proceed to the matter and thought of Isaiah,—the literary matter quite apart from the theology founded upon it,—how can we explain the neglect of such a masterpiece in our plans of liberal education? It is the boast of England and America that its higher education is religious in its spirit. Why is it, then, that our youth are taught to associate exquisiteness of expression, force of presentation, brilliance of imaginative picturing, only with literature in which the prevailing matter and thought is on a low moral plane? Such a paradox is part of the paganism which came in with the Renaissance, and which our higher education is still too conservative to shake off. The friends of literary education, who rebel against the thought of so one-sided culture, have a definite issue to contend for—that at least Isaiah and Job should take their place beside Plato and Homer in the curricula of our colleges and schools.'

How much more should the friends of Christian as well as literary education join in the plea that the study of great Christian authors like Isaiah and Job and Paul and Jesus Christ be granted equal credit in fulfilling the required standard with the study of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Cæsar, eminent pagans though they may have been?

C. C. LEWIS.

The Nashville Agricultural and Normal Institute

By M. BESSIE DEGRAW

We have now been in Tennessee one year, and that year has witnessed some growth in the Nashville Agricultural and Normal Institute. One year ago we had only the old plantation house and one small cottage, and in these and the

coach house we ate, slept, and kept school. During the past twelve months we have put up several cottages for students, and when class work began the sixth of December, we were in various ways better prepared for school work than last year.

I am often reminded of the words learned from an old school reader, “Great oaks from little acorns grow,” for the founding of this school has been like the planting of an acorn. The seed is very small compared with what we are told the full-grown plant should be; it is weak compared with the strength that must be exerted in the accomplishment of the task set for it.

When searching for a spot in which to lodge some new arrival, I ask myself if it is not better to have too many students for the rooms than too many rooms for students. We are still crowded, it is true; when, as was the case to-day, two young men came in rather unexpectedly, we had to make up the very last cot in the institution, and the matron is often perplexed to find bedding enough for the newcomers. But all are made welcome, and it is remarkable how soon these new ones catch the spirit of the place, don work suits, and take to the hammer and saw or assume control of the mule team.

I own we are getting along with meager facilities, but I do not see but that our family of thirty-five is as happy as any school family I ever saw, and I can not see but that the students are as eager to learn as any I ever taught.

Our class rooms are the small, low-ceiled rooms in the farmhouse; and when we gather for chapel, the question of ventilation is a perplexing one, but we look forward to better days when we shall have a chapel built with our own hands, and more commodious class rooms.

In the meantime we study and work. The forenoon is devoted to manual work. The men have just finished a four-room cottage which lady students will occupy; they are building a milk room and a small bath house, and they are repairing the barn for the cows, and building a barn for the mules.

We are milking about twelve cows, which daily average over a pound of butter apiece, and it is our purpose to increase the size of the herd, as the dairy is our most remunerative department at present. It affords work for a number of students, who in this way pay their school expenses.

Class work is conducted in the afternoon, and the chapel service closes the day. The Bible is one of the leading subjects in the school, and it is our constant effort to put into operation the principles of life and education given to the people of God.

The school has a definite purpose. That purpose is to train men and women to labor for souls throughout the South. They are to receive a training that will enable them to be self-supporting if necessary. The message to leave the cities, and to combine farm and missionary life as outlined in Sister White’s latest work, “Ministry of Healing,” is a characteristic feature of the school.

Several of our number have had considerable experience in canvassing. They thus meet the people, and there are books containing the truth in many homes about here. One young man in canvassing met a woman who had known something of the Sabbath, but who was not a Sabbath-keeper. She now attends our services regularly.

Hundreds, and even thousands, of workers are needed in the field upon whose borders we are located. “The Northern element must be brought into connection with the Southern element.” This school is bringing the two elements together, and it offers a place of training to men and women of the North who are called by the Lord to work in and for the South.

We have been pleased to receive visits from a number of brethren from the North who contemplate locating in the South. Such are always welcome.

We feel confident that the little seed that has been planted in Tennessee will grow, for we are conscious that God is shedding the sunshine of his love upon the place, and is watering it with the dews of heaven.

M. BESSIE DEGRAW.

A Sunday Crusade in Walla Walla, Wash.

WRITING under date of December 12, Elder A. J. Breed says: “A movement is on foot to bring Sunday to the front here in the West. The city of Walla Walla has begun a crusade for Sunday enforcement. It began with a campaign against the ‘Sunday’ saloons. Last Sunday all the saloons of the place were closed. Next Sunday they expect to close the livery stables and the restaurants as far as possible. The question of religious liberty was presented to the College Place church, and over one hundred and twenty dollars was raised to place literature in the hands of the people. Thus the work is moving.”

Worthy of Emulation

“Whereas, The determined and systematic efforts of the enemies of personal liberty, as shown by recent developments, indicate clearly that a great crisis is just before the people of God, and,—

“Whereas, We as a people need a better knowledge of the principles underlying both civil and religious liberty, also a better supply of literature treating upon these principles, therefore,—

“Resolved, That we as workers and members of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference study carefully and circulate freely our religious liberty literature; and that we co-operate heartily with the Religious Liberty Bureau by carrying out its plans.”

Christian Education

Conducted by the Department of Education of the General Conference.

FREDERICK GRIGGS, Chairman, C. C. LEWIS, Secretary.

Current Mention

— The revolutions in Santo Domingo and Ecuador are reported to be at an end.

— A serious famine exists in three northern provinces of Japan, affecting a population of 2,700,000. Both the rice crop and the silk crop in this district have been failures.

— President Loubet has retired from office as the head of the French republic, and M. Clement Fallières, president of the French Senate, was elected by the National Assembly as his successor.

— The revolution in Russia is practically at an end, and an era of terrorism and assassination has been instituted in its place. The czar does not dare to participate in the annual ceremony of blessing the waters of the Neva in St. Petersburg, and for the first time since 1732 the Russian monarch will be absent from the ceremony.

— A great triumph for the papacy in Japan is reported from Rome. Bishop O’Connell, of Maine, who was sent as papal envoy to the mikado, has returned and reported to the pope the complete success of his mission, and reports that Japan will soon send a special mission to the pope. The mikado decorated the papal envoy with the Order of the Sacred Treasure, and according to the bishop’s testimony was greatly gratified that the first European envoy after the war should come from the pope.

— The remarkable development of the Argentine republic, in South America, is indicated by the fact that its capital, Buenos Ayres, has just passed the 1,000,000 mark in population, though thirty years ago it had less than half this number of inhabitants. Argentina has an area about equal to that portion of the United States east of the Mississippi River, yet its population is less than that of the State of Pennsylvania. In proportion to population its exports are much greater than those of the United States.

— The attitude of Morocco at the convention of the European powers which began at Algeciras January 16, is thus stated by the leader of the Moroccan delegates to the convention: “Morocco will submit to the united action of the congress, not because she recognizes that the powers have any moral or legal right to interfere with her internal affairs, but simply because she must bow to superior force. If any attempt, however, is made to interfere with or to insult our religion, Morocco, as the oldest independent Moslem government in the world, will repudiate the council and fight united Europe if necessary.”

— A commission from Porto Rico, including the mayor of San Juan, has arrived in Washington to petition President Roosevelt for a more liberal form of government in that island. They present a memorial prepared and adopted in a convention of the officers of the insular municipalities. It represents that the government established since the American occupation is not as liberal as that which existed before. They particularly object to the governor’s council, composed, on the majority side, of Americans who can veto everything that may be proposed by the so-called popular branch of the insular legislative body.

— The principle of the open shop has been adopted by the leading organization in the steel industry in this country, known as the National Association of Erectors of Structural Steel and Iron Work. This association does ninety-five per cent of the structural iron work in the country, both in shops and on buildings, and employs about 50,000 house-smiths on buildings and 150,000 men in the shops. The action taken, therefore, affects 200,000 men, and means that the labor union known as the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers and all the local unions in the various cities are no longer recognized.

— It now appears probable that the beef trust will escape from the legal net which the government has sought to draw around it in the federal court at Chicago, under the plea of immunity, which the trust claims was promised it at a previous investigation by government officials. The trust contends that it is being prosecuted on evidence which it previously gave under promise of immunity, and it is believed by those representing the government in the trial that this plea will be upheld by the courts. There is a dispute between Attorney-General Moody, and Commissioner Garfield of the Department of Commerce and Labor as to which one of them is responsible for the government’s defeat.

— A report from a colporteur of the American Tract Society, states that in Ponce, Porto Rico, a false prophet has appeared, representing himself as the re-embodied spirit of St. John the Evangelist, preaching in the villages of the district, and that a great many people follow him. The report states that “at times he preaches some Bible truth, at other times the contrary. He commands people to follow him and to wear three crosses hanging from their necks, so that Satan may not carry them away. In this manner a great number of the country people follow him, something like 3,000, leaving their houses and their labor. He announced a service, and there met to hear him about 10,000 people.”

Pacific Union Conference

By W. B. WHITE; J. J. IRELAND

THE third biennial session of the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is called to convene in the Seventh-day Adventist church at Portland, Ore., 9 A. M., Thursday, Feb. 15, 1906, and will continue until the twenty-fifth, for the purpose of electing the officers and executive committee of the Pacific Union Conference for the ensuing biennial term, and transacting such other business as may properly come before the meeting. Each local conference and mission field is entitled to one delegate in the sessions of the conference, without regard to numbers, and one additional delegate for every three hundred church-members.

W. B. WHITE, President,

J. J. IRELAND, Secretary.

Northern Union Conference

By R. A. UNDERWOOD

The second biennial session of the Northern Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists will convene at the Lake Street church, corner Fourth Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., March 1-11, 1906. In addition to the usual business of the conference, important Bible studies and institute work will be conducted throughout the entire conference.

Each conference and mission field in the territory of the Northern Union Conference, is entitled to one delegate for the conference or mission, and an additional delegate for each one hundred and fifty Seventh-day Adventists in its borders. The credentials of the delegates should be sent at once to Mrs. A. H. Robinson, Box 285, Fargo, N. D.

Elders A. G. Daniells and G. A. Irwin, and others from the General Conference will be present. We hope to see a full attendance of ministers and laborers in the Northern Union.

Owing to the fact that most of those attending will come on half-fare annual railroad permits, we shall not be able to secure reduced railroad rates for those not having clerical permits. Any who may come not having half-fare rates would do well to buy round-trip tickets.

The Minnesota Conference will furnish rooms, bedsteads, springs, and straw for beds, free of charge, to the delegates and conference laborers who attend. Each one attending, whether conference laborer, delegate, or otherwise, must supply himself with bedtick, and sufficient bedding for comfort should the weather be cold, as it is more than liable to be. Rooms in this vicinity are very scarce, especially at this time of the year; hence it will be positively necessary for all persons planning to attend the conference to make definite arrangements with the locating committee before coming. Meals will be served at reasonable cost. Trains will be met Wednesday and Thursday, February 28 and March 1. All, upon arriving, should go immediately to the church, corner Fourth Avenue S. and Lake Street, deliver their baggage checks to our agents at the depot or at the tract society office, and we will attend to all baggage. Address all communications concerning rooms, etc., to P. E. Sanford, Box 989, Minneapolis, Minn.

R. A. UNDERWOOD, President.

Publications Wanted

By Editor

[SPECIAL NOTE.—All who receive periodicals in answer to these calls are advised to examine them carefully before distributing them.—Ed.]

The following persons desire late, clean copies of our publications, post-paid:—

E. A. Kingman, Tallapoosa, Ga., periodicals and tracts.

Mrs. Wm. H. Hussman, 139 N. Florence St., El Paso, Tex.

H. A. Dike, Excelsior Springs, Mo., Review, Signs, and health magazines.

Mrs. Lizzie Valentine, Greenfield, Iowa, Signs, Life and Health, and missionary leaflets.

Esther Levy, Cornwall Landing, Orange Co., N. Y., periodicals and tracts in all languages.

Mrs. E. Grosjean, 536 Hamilton St., Albany, N. Y., Signs; could use seventy-five copies of the Life Boat each month.

Notice!

By Wm. Covert

The first annual meeting of the Northern Illinois Medical Missionary and Sanitarium Association will be held Friday, Feb. 9, 1906, at 11 A. M., in the Forty-sixth Street Seventh-day Adventist church, Chicago, Ill., for the election of a board of nine trustees, three to serve one year, three two years, and three three years, and to transact any other business that may legally come before the meeting. WM. COVERT, President.

Business Notices

FOR SALE.—I handle hardwood and hemlock lumber. Let me make you a price on any barn or house bill you may be in need of. Address H. Mesick, Mesick, Mich.

WANTED.—April 1, a young man, single or married; Sabbath-keeper; by the season or year, in the dairy and gardening. Will furnish board or house. Address, with stamp, Percy T. Vogle, Box 91, Parksburg, Pa.

FOR SALE.—The purest, sweetest, best vegetable oil for cooking or salads; no odor; keeps indefinitely. 1-gal. can, $.90; 5-gal. can, $3.50. Send for sample. Address E. W. Coates, 535 W. 110th St., New York, N. Y.

EVERY reader should try our absolutely pure and rancid-proof peanut butter, only 10 cents a pound. We pay freight on 100 pounds or more east of Rocky Mountains, at 12 cents a pound. Address Vegetarian Meat Company, 309 Bond Building, Washington, D. C.

WANTED.—Adventist renter for half-section farm near New Hampton, Iowa. One hundred acres timothy to cut for seed; eighty acres to farm; rest meadow and pasture. All fenced. Running water. A splendid stock-farm. Address C. Pelmulder, Grant City, Iowa.

WANTED.—A good, experienced Seventh-day Adventist business man, with one to three thousand dollars capital, to take stock in a custom saw- and planing-mill and retail lumber- and wood-yard. This is a good, permanent, growing, paying business. Party wanted to act as bookkeeper and salesman. References required and given. Address H. Mesick, Mesick, Mich.

STEAM BOILERS FOR SALE.—We have two 85 H. P. Lansing steam boilers which have just been thoroughly overhauled, tubes re-welded, and all put into first-class condition for our own use, but which we shall not need because we have decided to purchase a gas engine. We offer these for sale at a very reasonable price. We also have a 110 H. P. Chicago boiler for sale. For full information and prices, address Review and Herald Publishing Association, Battle Creek, Mich.

FOR SALE.—We have a quantity of pure extracted honey from our own apiary, in 60-lb. cans, at following prices: white sage, 7½ cents; dark sage (fine flavor also), 7 cents; orange (granulated), 6¾ cents. We can send part olives, also in 5-gal. cans, at 40 to 70 cents a gallon, as to size. Pure olive-oil, white refined cotton oil, yellow corn oil. Low freight to East ($1.25 per 100) when olives preponderate. Samples, labels, paraffined bags for retailing honey and olives, canning directions, circulars. Address W. S. Ritchie, Corona, Cal.

Obituaries

Davis.—Died at Carpinteria, Cal., Nov. 28, 1905, after a few hours' illness, Mrs. Ann Davis, aged 42 years and 8 days. Mother is survived by nine children, the youngest being a girl fourteen months old. Julia Davis.

Van Deusen.—Died at Leroy, Mich., Dec. 24, 1905, Mrs. Mary J. Van Deusen, aged 64 years, 5 months, and 17 days. She loved the third angel's message, and was loved and respected by all who knew her. Words of comfort were spoken by the writer from Rev. 14:13. M. C. Guild.

Kirk.—Died at Topeka, Kan., Dec. 17, 1905, Margureet Kirk, aged 7 years and 9 months. Her death was occasioned by heart failure brought on by a severe attack of diphtheria, from which she was recovering, and was thought to be entirely out of danger. A short funeral service was conducted in the yard by the writer. The sorrowing friends find comfort in the blessed hope. C. F. Parmell.

Georlitz.—Died in Calgary, Alberta, Oct. 10, 1905, Katherine Elizabeth Georlitz, aged 60 years, 5 months, and 27 days. She was born in Yakodna, Russia, and with her family came to this country in 1900. Brother and Sister Georlitz and part of their family accepted present truth two years ago. She died in hope of a part in the first resurrection. The funeral sermon was preached by the writer. Henry Block.

Dixon.—Died of heart trouble at Malden, Mass., Dec. 8, 1905, Letitia Dixon. After living a Christian life for many years in the Episcopal Church, she heard and accepted the third angel's message through the preaching of Elder K. C. Russell about three years ago, and became a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Boston, Mass. Two sons are left to honor her memory. The funeral service was conducted by her pastor. Lee S. Wheeler.

Evert.—Died at her home in Fresno, Cal., Nov. 22, 1905, of consumption, Sister Samantha Evert, aged 68 years. For years she loved and kept the faith. Much might be written of her helpful, self-sacrificing life, of her service as nurse for eighteen months in the Civil War, and of her thoughtfulness of those around her, but God knows all, and we believe that a faithful record is kept, which will some day give her lasting joy. The funeral was held from our church in Fresno, and was conducted by the writer; text, Rev. 1:18. H. G. Thurston.

Hammond.—Died in Tropico, Cal., Oct. 22, 1905, of typhoid fever, Dorothy D. Hammond, only daughter of Brother R. W. and Elizabeth Hammond, aged 3 years and 1 month. Little Dorothy was a bright and promising child, a lover of music, and the joy of the neighborhood. After words of comfort had been spoken by Elder J. W. Adams, four lady nurses from the Glendale Sanitarium, in their uniform, bore the little one away and laid it to rest until the glad morning when this little bud, so rudely plucked, shall bloom again. C. F. Marvin.

Rice.—Died at the home of his nephew, Edward Rice, near Cloverland, Wash., Sept. 27, 1905, Isaac Rice, aged 83 years, 11 months, and 17 days. In early life he was converted, and joined the Methodist Church. A Catholic catechism fell into his hands, which he read, and was thus led to investigate the Sabbath question. Being convinced that the seventh day is the Sabbath, he began its observance, and was the instrument in God's hands of bringing some souls into the light; and though his lips are sealed till the resurrection morn, many will remember how he pleaded with them to search for the truth for themselves. Hannah E. Chambers.

Spicer’s Journey and Divorce Congress

In harmony with the counsel of his associates, Elder W. A. Spicer, the secretary of the General Conference Committee, was expecting to leave America on Wednesday of this week for an absence of several months. Brother Spicer will spend a short time in England, and will then go on to South America, where he will attend general meetings in Argentina and Brazil, and possibly in Chile. During his stay it is expected that the South American field will be organized into a union conference. We hope our readers will pray that Brother Spicer may have a safe journey and be greatly blessed in his work. They may expect to hear from him from time to time through the columns of the REVIEW.

A NATIONAL congress to discuss the divorce evil is to be held in Washington, February 19, at which a prominent subject for consideration will be the enactment of a uniform divorce law, to be general throughout the country. Nearly 150 delegates, representing all but a few of the States, will attend the congress, armed with data concerning divorce litigation, its causes and effects. The step taken by the Pennsylvania Legislature a year ago, calling attention to the growing menace, and President Roosevelt's action in calling the attention of Congress to the magnitude of the evil, gave the congress its origin, and the governors of each State and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia were asked to appoint delegates. Among those who will attend are women, theologians, lawyers, and in some cases governors.

Addresses for Young People

IN a volume entitled “Addresses for Young People,” Prof. C. C. Lewis, the president of Union College, has gathered together some of the papers and addresses prepared by him during the past twenty-five years. They include commencement addresses, baccalaureate sermons, educational papers, etc., and cover a wide range of topics. In the preface Professor Lewis says: “These summer addresses have naturally grown out of my experiences as a teacher. From these addresses I have selected a few best adapted to influence young people in right directions, and now print them with the hope that under God they may do good.” From the nature of the addresses it seems reasonable to expect that this hope may be realized. The price of this book is one dollar a copy, or five copies for four dollars, post-paid, and it can be ordered of the Union College Press, College View, Neb.

Primitive Religion Appeal Printed in France

The appeal from the General Conference Committee for a revival of primitive religion, which appeared on the first page of the REVIEW of Dec. 7, 1905, was printed in the January issue of Le Messager, the French workers' monthly paper published at Gland, Switzerland.

Adventist Leaders Attend Union Conferences

Elders G. A. Irwin, I. H. Evans, and G. B. Thompson returned to Washington last week. Elder Irwin left again on Sunday to attend the Central Union Conference at Kansas City, Mo. He expects to attend other union conferences, and will probably be away two or three months.

Help for the Blind

In his article on page eleven, Brother L. N. Muck makes an earnest appeal in behalf of those who are unable to read our ordinary literature, asking for assistance in his efforts to place the third angel's message before the blind. The cause is a worthy one, and we hope there will be a liberal response.

Northern Union Conference Program

The program of the Northern Union Conference, which will be held at Minneapolis, Minn., March 1-11, shows that thoughtful preparation is being made for a good meeting. Bible study, institute work, and public preaching are prominent features of the conference, at which it is expected that “not less than one hundred and fifty delegates and representatives will be present from a distance, and from the States of Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Canada.”

Battle Creek — A City Warlike Only in Name

In the January number of The Four-Track News, “an illustrated magazine of travel and education,” published in New York City, there appeared an article on “Battle Creek — A City Warlike Only in Name,” in which mention is made of this denomination. We quote the following paragraphs:—

In 1855 came a colony of Seventh-day Adventists from Maine. They erected a printing house, a tabernacle, and other buildings, and soon became an important factor in the town’s growth.

The organization of this sect is very simple. They attach their names to a covenant to keep the commandments and the faith of Jesus Christ. The Bible, and especially the prophetic books, is their creed. Their distinctive principles are: to honor the seventh day (Saturday) and keep it holy, and to await the second coming of Christ, when the righteous shall reign with him, and the wicked be destroyed. They often maintain their worship without the aid of a preacher, only as one may occasionally visit them (like the Friends), leaving the ministers free to devote their time to missionary work. They believe in health reform and the curing of the sick, and banish the use of flesh foods, tea and coffee, tobacco and spirits.

Among the illustrations is a very good one of “The Seventh-day Adventist Tabernacle.”

On Holy Ground

We welcome the publication of books which will encourage the reading of the Bible. Of this class is “On Holy Ground,” by William L. Worcester, published by the J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and London. The general purpose of this book is to cover the whole period of Bible history with a series of Bible stories in which the actual text of the Holy Scriptures is given a prominent place. The historical connection and the outline of the stories are presented in a simple and attractive way as introductory to the Bible text in which the story is told. The book is therefore not a paraphrase of the Bible, but rather selections from the text of the Scriptures covering the leading features of the sacred history, the thread of the narrative being preserved in the introductions.

The book is a good sample of high-class printing. The paper is heavy enameled stock, the cover design is striking and attractive, the hundreds of half-tone illustrations are clearly brought out, and the mechanical execution is excellent throughout.

While commending this book for general excellence, we regret to say that it treats the first chapters of Genesis as unhistorical, and presents them as “heavenly parables.” In the opinion of the author genuine history began with the call of Abram. We regard this as a serious defect in what is otherwise a very satisfactory book. Price, $3. To be obtained of the publishers, or at book stores throughout the country.

Quick Work

By A. O. Tait

A FRIEND in Illinois writes the Signs office, enclosing stamps to pay for The Signs of the Times to be sent to a friend in Tennessee. The individual who wrote the letter states that this friend has begun keeping the Sabbath as a result of reading the four special numbers of the Signs that were sent to him in November.

That was quick work. Evidences are coming to us constantly showing the work of this kind which the Signs is doing.

We find also, in comparing our list with the places where Sabbath-keepers are located in the United States, that there are very few comparatively who are doing anything to circulate our great pioneer missionary paper. Why is this, brethren and sisters? Are not these times in which we live sufficiently thrilling to cause us to spring into action? And when we see what may be accomplished by the circulation of a few numbers of one of our good papers, should not this encourage every one of us to go to fishing for the souls that the Lord may be able to gather in this harvest-time of earth?

The undersigned would be glad to correspond with any of our people who may be interested in circulating The Signs of the Times, and give them the benefit of special plans and suggestions. A. O. TAIT.