p. 15 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 48. (12/7/1904)

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"The Home Over There"

By Editor

We have sung about it, but do we all know where it is to be? See what page seven of the "Scripture References" says about it.

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The Proper Setting.

By Editor

He who separates the Gospel from its proper setting loses the blessing and life of the Gospel and obtains little more than a form of words. The great power of the Good Tidings of God comes in the setting God has given it. For instance, the mighty saving message in Noah's day was the Gospel set in the warning of a coming flood. The saving message of Moses to Israel was the Gospel in the setting of the call out of Egypt. The saving, justifying message in John's day was to believe in a Christ about to be manifested. A little later the Gospel message took on a new setting of a Saviour crucified and risen. In none of these cases would it do for men to excuse themselves and say, "I will believe as my forefathers believed." God's message had advanced into new duties, and clearer light, but with the same infinite power to save from new delusions. So God's message for this day and this generation is the same "everlasting Gospel" in a setting appropriate to the time. Innumerable dangers threaten to engulf the world; every wind of doctrine is blowing. Spiritualism under various names is spreading like a pall its darkening, soul-destroying doctrines over the earth. Apostasy and infidelity stalk forth in popular garb under learned and pious titles. Calamity in various forms is coming on the earth. The great popular churches, rich, proud, and lifted up, ignoring the truth of God that makes for humility and the power of godliness, have, in following their own way, become Babylon, and in turning from God's healing message, have become Babylon fallen. But in importance, transcending all other events, Christ is coming, and the kingdoms of earth are to pass to their rightful Lord. God's truth, buried in error, is to be restored in its pristine purity. The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are to be emblazoned on the banner of the hosts of God in contradistinction to the worship of the beast and his image. And this is the true setting of the Gospel message for this time. This is the setting God has given it in Revelation 14. He who ignores the warnings, the dangers, the great central theme, of Christ's coming, misses a mighty part of the Gospel, and will know but a form of truth with little of its power. As long as the churches neglect the Gospel setting, so long will division, strife, weakness, inefficiency, and defeat mark her course. The fulness and power of the Gospel lies in the form that God has given it, in the setting where He has placed it. "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

Practical Godliness and Self-Sacrifice

The need of the world is not more theory, but more practical Godliness; not more theology, but more willingness to listen to what God has declared and do what He has commanded. The world is full of expert duty-dodgers; what it needs is more burden-bearers. The world is full of self-seeking; what it needs is more self-sacrifice and obedience to the higher law of service. Who serves self is the slave of sin; who serves his fellow-men is in line for joint inheritance with the King of kings and Lord of lords. There is an immediate gain that means eternal loss; there is an immediate loss that means everlasting gain, a gain that is "incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." It is more important that we do what God commands than that we invent the most skilful scheme for doing something that He has never commanded or authorized, while we leave undone the great duty He sets before us. Is it unpopular to be in the minority? He who stands with God alone has a majority the strongest can never overthrow. He who would be disloyal to God in order to be in the majority will one day find himself in a minority he would gladly shun, and with a record he would give the world to hide.

Missing Article on Church and State

By Editor

We greatly regret that we are forced to go to press without Mr. Colcord's third article on "Church and State," and we are sure our readers will regret the omission also. For some unknown reason it failed to reach us in time.

Signs of the Times

By Editor

The "Signs of the Times" does not boast of great human names or titles, but it does present great and vital questions, great facts, great truths, and a great Saviour from sin and wo. Read its pages, accept the warnings, believe its promises, and reap its glad fruition.

We Wish There Were More

By Editor

We Wish There Were More.— We wanted to say very much more than we have said in these special issues of the SIGNS. We wanted to present a little of the teaching of the Bible on Spiritual Gifts, or the gifts of the Spirit, as set forth in Rom. 12:3-6; 1 Corinthians 12, and Eph. 4:1-13. We wanted to show you, as the Bible clearly teaches, that these gifts were bestowed upon the church till Christ came; that many of them have been lost through apostasy; but that prophecy declares that all these gifts will be restored, so that the church will "come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." This is evidently the Lord's intention, as His apostle James counsels us to "let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." The church was not perfect in its early history, but the design was that it should be perfected (Col. 1:22); "that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27); "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" (Song of Solomon 6:10).

OUR NEXT NUMBER.

By Editor

OUR next issue will not in any way in our judgment be behind our special issues in the important matter which it will contain. For instance, here are a number of the articles which will be printed in that number.

1. There will be the second of the series of articles on "Evolution and Geology," entitled, "A Sure Guide to Truth," by Professor Price.

2. An article on the Book of Jeremiah by F. D. Starr.

3. "Will the Wicked Be Annihilated?" by L. D. Santee.

4. "Some of the Events of the Last Year of Probation," by B. F. Richards, M. D.

5. An article on the St. Louis Exposition, by R. S. Porter. The title of the article is "A Century of Progress."

6. "Recent Religious Tendencies in England," by our well-known correspondent, M. Ellsworth Olsen. This is a striking article on the signs of the times.

7. An excellent practical article by Mrs. E. G. White, entitled, "An All-Sufficient Saviour."

8. The conclusion of the story, "Heber the First-born," by Hart Hall.

9. Another of the excellent home articles by Mrs. Avery-Stuttle, "The Golden Rule in the Home."

And it shall be our effort to make each and every number better in the coming days.

Enabling Acts

Enabling Acts.—God's precepts and invitations are enabling acts to him who believes. Yielded to with all the heart, in faith in Christ Jesus, the precept becomes a promise filled with all the potency of God. It is no longer, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," but, Thou dost have no other gods before Me. He who accepts Christ's invitation with all his heart will find in the invitation the power to reach the Master. In God's word is all the power and might of omnipotence. Use it, soul, on the Godward side, or, resisted, you will be crushed by it. He doeth according to His will; make His will thine own.

The Limit of the Fire.

The fires under the smelter have a limit. They burn the dross; they refine the gold. The heat of God's last great fiery test has a limit. It burns up that which is combustible. Righteousness is non-combustible. The fires of the last day can not consume it. Righteousness is more than a robe—it is a life, a character. It enters into the fibers of the being. Asbestos will glow, but will not burn. The soul that has in it the righteousness of Christ is only brightened by the test. Everything that can be burned in the purifying fires of the last day will be destroyed forever. That which can not be burned will remain forever. The combustibility of men and things is the result of sin. It is the dead tree and the withered grass that burn so readily. The more sin there is in us, the nearer ripe we are for the burning of that day. God declares that He will shake heaven and earth, so that those things which can not be shaken may remain. What the earthquake can not shake and the fire can not burn will be worthy of perpetuation through all eternity.

Greatness

Greatness.—Men measure greatness by power to sway, to command, to lead; by wealth, by fame, by learning, by scientific attainment, by mechanical ability. Some of these "great" men have been the greatest tyrants. Not so does God measure greatness. He measures for eternity as well as time. Character with Him is more than claim or coin. The world's great men may have a wide career, but it is exceeding brief. The man of character may seem to have a narrow career, but it is as long as eternity. Two multiplied by eternity is infinitely more than 10,000 multiplied by forty. All of the world's greatness, apart from God, is nothing, and will be reckoned a thing of naught. But "in the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death." The capability of enduring right is greater than to shine for a time as a meteor, and then go out into darkness. The poet truly has said of God, "That Thy greatness goodness is," and it truly follows that, in God's estimation the good alone are great.

Sin’s Natural Consequences

God's penalties against sin are not the execution of arbitrary sentences. They are the fruit of the seed-sowing. Death is the "wages of sin," a necessity for the best good of the incorrigibly sinful and the safety of God's universe. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death," and vindicates the righteousness of God. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

Where? How?

One of the greatest questions which can be asked should come home to every mortal soul, "Where will you spend eternity?" It will be answered. You may seek to put it off, but it must be answered. How you spend your time here will tell where you will spend eternity, whether in the oblivion of "everlasting destruction" or in the everlasting glories and joys of God's presence.

Creed Versus Righteousness

Creed is a cold hand reaching out of the grave of the past to fetter the brain and chill the soul of the living. It puts form in the place of spirit and ritual in the place of righteousness.

During the Year 1905

By Editor

Publishers' Note You have just finished reading our "Gospel Series" of the SIGNS. The public interest in these papers was such that an edition of 400,000 copies was printed and sold. We thank you for your co-operation in making such a result possible. During the past six years we have issued special numbers as follows:

In 1898 The Quarter-Centennial Number . . . 425,000 copies. July, 1899, Independence Number . . . 85,000 copies. 1900, The World's Harvest Number . . . 258,000 copies. 1901, The World's Outlook Number . . . 247,000 copies. 1901, The War and Wealth Number . . . 100,000 copies. 1902, The Coronation Number . . . 85,000 copies. 1903, The Capital and Labor Number . . . 600,000 copies. 1904, The Gospel Series . . . 400,000 copies.

During the Year 1905

The Signs of the Times

You may look for a feast of good things in

Its fifty-two issues, in an entirely new and attractive dress, will be brimful of up-to-date articles written by its editors and talented contributors located in all parts of this great, teeming, throbbing world.

Our foreign correspondents will tell you of notable signs of our times as seen from Paris, France; London, England; Hamburg, Germany; Rome, Italy; Russia, Japan, India, Turkey, Egypt, Scandinavia, Canada. Australia, South Africa, The Fiji Islands, etc. Our home correspondents will discuss the signs apparent to observers in America.

Evolution and Geology

Their Bearings on Vital Religions. By Geo. McCready Price, Author of "Outlines of Modern Science and Modern Christianity."

Church and State

Religious Legislation in Europe. Creed Power and State Aid. What Is Religious Liberty? Religious Legislation in Australia. Is the United States a Christian Nation? Religious Legislation in Canada. The Principles of National Reformism. Religious Legislation in England. The Romeward Trend of Protestantism. The Oxford Movement in England—Its Meaning. Religious Legislation in the United States. Written by the following contributors: Alonzo T. Jones, Author of "Rights of the People," "The Two Republics," "Ecclesiastical Empires," "Christian Patriotism," "The National Sunday Law." Prof. W. A. Colcord, Washington, D. C. Pastor Chas. T. Everson, Rome, Italy. Prof. M. Ellsworth Olsen, London, England. Leon A. Smith, Washington, D. C., assistant editor Review and Herald. Pastor E. W. Farnsworth, of England. Pastor Geo. A. Irwin, Melbourne, Australia, President Australian Union Conference, S. D. A. Pastor Geo. B. Thompson, Washington, D. C. Pastor L. R. Conradi, President European Union Conference, S. D. A., Hamburg, Germany. Guy C. Dail, Hamburg, Germany. L. A. Phippeny. Pastor W. H. Thurston, President Canadian Union Conference, S. D. A., Montreal, Canada. A. J. Saxby Bourdeau, and other competent observers of present-day occurrences.

Thrilling, Present-Day Prophecies

Will be made plain and easy to understand. Stirring, scholarly articles will deal with the following themes: The Prophecies of Daniel. The Prophecies of Revelation. The Response of History to the Voice of Prophecy. The Great Nations in Prophecy. The United States in Prophecy. By the Editor-in-chief, Milton C. Wilcox; Alonzo T. Jones, Author of "Empires of the Bible," "The Great Empires of Prophecy," etc.; also other competent writers.

(Continued on next page.)

During the Year 1905—Continued

By Editor

The Capital and Labor Struggle

One-man Power and the Spirit of Combine. Wealth and Wage in the Light of Prophecy. Individualism versus the Corporate Trust. Individualism versus the Labor Trust. The Final Outcome of the Great Struggle. By Prof. Geo. W. Rine, Author of "Labor and the Money Power," "Essentials of Our Language." Alonzo T. Jones, of the American Missionary College. A. J. Saxby Bourdeau and other writers.

Spiritism

And Other Forms of Occultism in the Light of Prophecy.

The Life of Jesus

His Teachings, Parables, and Miracles. By Ellen G. White, Author of "Steps to Christ," "Desire of Ages," "Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing," "The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan," "Patriarchs and Prophets," etc., etc.

The World-Wide Mission Field

By our correspondents located in every clime—ringing missionary war-cries. "From Greenland's icy mountains, From India's coral strand;

From many an ancient river, From many a palmy plain."

Second Coming of the Lord

By Pastor A. G. Daniells, President S. D. A. General Conference, Washington, D. C. Pastor W. A. Spicer, Secretary S. D. A. Mission Board, Washington, D. C. Dr. David Paulson and W. S. Sadler, Editors The Life Boat, Chicago, Ill.

The World's Conversion

What is the Prospect? By the Editors and other careful observers of the times.

Life and Immortality

From Whom Received, and When Restored. By the Editors, Pastor Geo. B. Thompson, and other well-known Bible students.

The Sabbath

Which Day Shall We Observe? What is True Sabbath-keeping? The True and False Sabbath. Jesus and the Sabbath. By L. A. Phippeny and others.

The Home

The Home Life. Health and Temperance. By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle, Author of "Making Home Happy," "Making Home Peaceful," etc. Also Mrs. M. C. Wilcox and other writers on home topics.

Question Box

An "Inquiry and Answer Department," for the benefit of those who, having read our "Gospel Series," have questions to ask regarding the topics discussed.

These and other features promised will surely lead you to become a permanent member of our large SIGNS family. One year (52 issues), $1.50; six months, 75 cents; three months, 40 cents.

The Signs of the Times

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