p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 26. (7/2/1896)

Earlier text: News and Notes

BIBLE OBJECT LESSONS AND SONGS FOR LITTLE ONES.

By Lillie E. Affolter; F. E. Belden

FOR THE HOME AND SCHOOL.

With Illustrations and Special Instruction for Mothers and Teachers.

BY LILLIE E. AFFOLTER AND F. E. BELDEN.

BOOK 1.

THE LIFE AND WORDS OF CHRIST

The first of a Series of Three Books covering a Three Years’ Course of Graded Scriptural Instruction for Children.

“BIBLE OBJECT LESSONS,” NO. 1, CONTAINS 160 PAGES, EMBRACING

52 Lessons—one for each Sabbath in the Year.

30 Original Hymns and Songs, Written for the Lessons.

36 Beautiful Full-page Illustrations, with Colored Plate.

52 Original Pen Drawings, showing how to use the Kindergarten Material when Teaching the Lessons.

Sold by Subscription

In the following styles of binding. Orders by mail will be filled postpaid at prices given below.

ROYAL EDITION, 9x11½ inches, with Colored Plate.

EXTRA CLOTH, panel sides, green and gold, printed on enameled paper, gilt edges — $3 75

COMMON CLOTH, aluminum and brown, calendered paper, lemon edges — 2 75

PLAIN EDITION, 1½x10 inches without Colored Plate, plain edges, ink titles — 2 00

BOARD COVERS, paper sides, $1 50

When the Kindergarten Material (set of three boxes) is ordered with the book in either style of binding, purchaser will receive a beautiful premium “Portfolio of Blackboard Sketches on the life of Christ,” to aid mothers, teachers and children in drawing.

Special Kindergarten Material

To Accompany “Bible Object Lessons and Songs for Little Ones.”

Book 1.—The Life and Words of Christ.

The material for this book consists of three boxes: (1) Cubes and Triangles; (2) Squares and Oblongs; (3) Miscellaneous Supplies; two Cones and two Domes; ten 1-inch and twenty 2-inch Mounted Orange Sticks, to represent people; thirty-six 2-inch and twenty-four 1-inch Unmounted Green Sticks for Outline and Tree Building; ten Miniature Sheep; and Crumpled Green French Tissue Paper, to represent water.

Boxes 1 and 2 are made of finished cherry, 3x3x3 inches, with locked corners and sliding top. The blocks are of hard maple. Box 3 is of pasteboard with double sides.

Price of the three boxes, by mail — $1 75

Discount to schools when ordered in quantities.

Prices on Special Round Kindergarten Tables and Small Chairs on application.

AGENTS WANTED.

Parties in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Arizona and New Mexico, address Oakland House.

Those in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Long Island and New York City, address New York House.

PACIFIC PRESS PUB. CO.,

OAKLAND, CAL.

Or 43 Bond St., New York.

Those Tent Meetings

By Editor

THOSE TENT MEETINGS.—We have a few more copies of “Those Tent Meetings,” a rhyming recital, by M. B. Duffie. Price, 25 cents, postpaid. Address this office.

MUST CHOOSE.

The Lord by the prophet Joel declares that in the last days there will be “multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:14. We are now in that hour, and multitudes are weighing for eternity, truth, and unpopularity on the one side, and error, tradition, and popularity on the other.

Concerning no question is this more evident than that of the Sabbath. Whether men shall accept God’s word or man’s tradition, divine law or civil law, is a question agitating the millions, and to blind men to the true issue almost every effort is put forth. We have an instance of this in an editorial in the New York Observer (Presbyterian) of June 11:—

“The American people have come to a point where they must choose between Sunday and Sabbath. We do not mean by this statement to imply any indorsement of the narrow and essentially Judaizing views of those good brethren who argue for seventh-day observance. Such historical considerations as seem to support their contention can be met argument for argument, with a preponderating presumption and pressure in favor of the observance of that day in the week as our Sabbath on which the Lord shed a perpetual resurrection glory. Christianity does not go by calendar. As Christians we are not the slaves of Judaistic programs or time bills.”

All of which would be very good if back of it were the truth of God. And yet the question is indeed between Sunday and Sabbath. Not, as the Observer would put it, between Sunday a holiday, and the same day a holy day; for the simple fact is that Sunday was never made a holy day by Him alone who can make days holy. The scriptural “argument” for Sunday is, at its very best, purely presumption but it has been shown to be fallacious, times without number. It not only lacks positive evidence, but it has positive evidence against it, in precept, prophecy, history, and the perfect example of Jesus Christ. It is because of this and this alone that the “pressure” argument of civil law is used. It is that argument that many Sunday people hope to make preponderatingly strong. And yet while ridiculing the idea of the seventh day, and declaring that “Christianity does not go by calendar,” the Observer shows the usual consistency(?) of Sunday advocates, by contending for a particular day in the “calendar,” and the “time bills” of Roman tradition.

Nevertheless, the truth of God stands. The issue is between the Sunday and the Sabbath,—the Sunday of paganism, of the Papacy, of hoary tradition,—and the Sabbath of the Lord our God, the seventh day, the Lord’s day, the memorial and sign of the power of Jesus Christ, Creator and Redeemer. The decision is between God and man, between the word and tradition, between the law of God and civil law, between Christ and anti-christ, between love and force. Men may seek to obscure the issue, but they can not extinguish it. The Observer gives an illustration of this in a note in the very issue from which the above is taken. It says:—

“Truth is indestructible. There is never any the less of it, tho it be disregarded. The commandments of God, which are founded upon his immutably righteous character, partake of this lasting quality of truth. Therefore, the little boy was wrong who thought that if he broke one of the ten commandments then ‘there’d be nine.’ Truth may be dislocated from its position of regency over man’s affections, but it can not be destroyed.”

True, men may disregard the fourth commandment, but it is there forever, confirmed by the eternal word and the holy example of Jesus Christ. Besides, you must choose; why not choose for God and life everlasting?

Fourth of July Number

By Editor

EXTRA copies will be printed of this “Fourth of July number,” containing the speech of Alonzo T. Jones on “What Is Patriotism in America?” It should have a large circulation among those who desire to see a better condition of things. Extra copies will be furnished from the office at two cents each.

A Timely Lecture on Patriotism

By Editor

We regret this week that our paper is not larger. The promised articles by Professor Prescott on the “Law in Christ,” and “Who Are Israelites?” by E. J. W., and others, have been crowded out by the lecture on “What Is Patriotism?” But we do not begrudge the space, and we are sure the one who reads it will not begrudge the time, taken by it. The vitally important facts presented ought to stir every true patriot and Christian.

Proposed Religious Amendment Before Congress

By Editor

OUR thanks are due the Hon. S. G. Hilborn, of California, and the Hon. William S. Linton, of Michigan, for copies of the "Hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, March 11, 1896, on House Resolution 28 (Joint Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the United States)." This amendment is that which the National Reform Association has been pushing for the purpose of acknowledging God "as the source of all power and authority in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler of nations, and his revealed will as of supreme authority in civil affairs," etc. This amendment is still before Congress. Would that all our congressmen were as fully awake to the situation as is Mr. Linton.

An Important Principle.

By Editor

In a discussion of the contempt case in which it is involved, the Sacramento Bee recalls a principle—a great truth—to which we have often called attention:—

“A wrong to the constitutional rights of one individual, however humble, is a blow at the rights of all, and must in self-protection be treated as such.”

And this principle is just as true and applicable in religious legislation and judicial decision as in the case in question. When one man’s religious liberty is infringed upon, a blow is struck at the religious liberty of every other man. But in many states it has been thought by courts that this principle did not cover Sunday-law persecution. Freedom of the press may be set aside, as freedom of conscience has been.

Rights of the People

“Rights of the People.”—If there are those who desire fuller, ampler confirmation of the position taken in Mr. Jones’ speech, it will be found in his book entitled “Rights of the People.” Nearly 400 pages; cloth, $1.00; paper covers, 40 cents. The question is in that work most ably set forth. The book may be obtained at this office. “Two Republics” is a still larger work, setting forth the same great principles and facts, and much other valuable matter pertaining to the republics of Rome and America.

The Sacramento Bee Contempt Case

The Sacramento Bee contempt case is now before the Supreme Court of the state. The facts appear simply these: In a case before Judge G. P. Catlin in the Superior Court of Sacramento County, May 27, the Bee reporter published the testimony. The judge declared it to be a “grossly false statement,” etc. Editor McClatchy retorted that the report was true and that the judge was not. Whereupon the judge fined him $500 for contempt. The court would not allow the Bee to prove the report true, or the court reporter’s notes incorrect, even by the court reporter himself. The Bee has an array of able legal counsel: Hon. P. Reddy, Hon. D. M. Delmas, Garrett W. McEnerney, Samuel M. Shortridge, and John E. Richards, and the case will be a noted one, involving not only the principle of the freedom of the press, but the limit of the power of courts.

An Instructive and Important Lesson.

Our Sunday school lesson for this week contains most important lessons relative to the necessity of being particular in obedience to God, and the holiness of God's law. It is well not to overlook the great fact that the sin of Uzzah did not begin in the mere putting forth of the hand and steadying the ark when the oxen stumbled. This, on the face of it, would show care and caution. The real root of it was when man's invention was substituted for God's express command. The new cart was doubtless thought to be a fine thing, a labor-saving device, and much better than the old way of carrying the ark by hand. This was the first step in transgression. The second was laying the unconsecrated hands of an unconsecrated heart on the ark of God. Beware of the first step. All God's ways are right. Human inventions and traditions make void his commandments.

A Sample of Political Religion.—

It appears now that it was at first designed that a Roman Catholic archbishop should open the recent National Republican Convention at St. Louis, with prayer; but the A. P. A. men offered so much opposition, threatening even to bring the matter into open convention, that the Roman Catholic prayer was abandoned. Then it was thought that some Protestant minister might be selected, but to this the Roman Catholics objected. The result was that the Herod of A. P. A.-ism and the Pilate of Romanism were pacified by the offering of a Jew. An “unchristian” rabbi was chosen to make the prayer. The Christian Statesman stands aghast at this, and wonders if the Republican party has rejected Christ. The fact is that the Republican party as such, or any other political party, never accepted Christ. Men do not accept Christ by parties, but as individuals. The unseemly squabble at St. Louis is an indication of what will be much more frequent as the present state and church régime, on which this nation has just entered, develops. America is living the life of Rome over again.

A Warning for National Reformers.

—God said that his ark should be touched only by the priests and carried only upon the shoulders of the Levites. In later years the Levites thought that the Philistine mode of carrying the ark was a fine idea, which they would improve upon and use instead of carrying it on their own shoulders. They did so; their method was faulty, their invention defective, and by trying to correct the one and remedy the other, they touched the ark of God, and brought upon themselves swift destruction. So also God set apart the Sabbath day and commanded it to be kept. But his professed people think that it will be an improvement to adopt the invention of the sun-worshipers’ day, and enforce its observance by human law. In thus doing they finally come to persecute Christ in the person of his saints, and lay violent hands on the Lord’s anointed. What shall be the end?—Read it in God’s word. He does not change.