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Signs of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 49.

Editorial
Earlier text: THE ONE TALENT

THE MEDICAL MISSIONARY.

(J. H. KELLOGG, M. D., EDITOR.)
A TWENTY-FOUR page monthly journal, devoted to the various phases of medical missionary and benevolent work. It contains each month also articles of general interest on mission fields, and items of missionary intelligence. Each number is illustrated.
Published by S. D. A. Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association.
Price, 25 cents per year. Address Medical Missionary, Battle Creek, Mich.

Editorial Notes

THE article by Dr. M. G. Kellogg, in the Mission Fields department, is taken from the Fiji Times of August 19. It shows both the good and evil of mission work. When will Christians learn that Christianity cannot be propagated by law?
NEXT week is the last number of the present volume of the Signs of the Times. The paper will be omitted one week after that. The first number of the new volume will bear date of November 6. Upon this we will have more to say next week.
IN a census of the religious life of Waldo County, Maine, which we suppose to be about the average, out of 6,987 families 4,850 reported that they were not attendants upon any church. This is not in the "wild and woolly West," where there are no Sunday laws, but in prohibition Maine. It certainly does not argue for a "Christian nation" when two-thirds of the inhabitants are not attendants upon Sunday services.
It is in this way that the Argonaut, a secular weekly, scores the press of San Francisco:—
We have asserted before and now repeat that San Francisco is literally accursed of its press. There is no other institution on this coast so utterly debauched, so thoroughly licentious, and so absolutely demoralized as the newspapers of this city. Heretofore we have denounced these publications for their mercenary character, their selfishness, their cowardice, their personal jealousies, their vindictive quarrels. We have demonstrated their mendacity, and exposed their hypocrisy. We believe they are utterly unprincipled, and in pursuit of unlawful gains will stick at nothing.
And we do not know but that it is all true; and the press is the index of the age.
SAYS the Occident (Presbyterian):—
The directors of the World's Fair defied Christian sentiment and opened the gates on the Sabbath day. The result was immense financial loss, as well as shame and confusion of face, to the perpetrators of this outrage against God and man.
And how was it against God, pray? And what right has Sunday to be called "the Sabbath day"? And what did the church gain in spiritual things in the struggle? She won notoriety, earthly power, and prestige in cajoling and browbeating politicians. She won and lost in coming down from spiritual things to the use of the weapons carnal. But how much has she won for Christ and his cause? How many souls have been saved? Woe is to the church when temporal success politically is bought at the price of spiritual power!
THE Pacific Press Publishing Company, Oakland, Cal., now have the tract for sale containing Professor Prescott's sermons on "Christ and the Sabbath." Price, 5 cents. They are issued as No. 14 of the Religious Liberty Library. Address as the above.
THE great Buddhist, H. Dharmapala, says, as reported in the Examiner of October 6:—
Nothing should be taken on faith. People should study and think deeply before deciding upon what they shall believe. It was upon such broad principles that Buddhism is based.
And herein is the difference between the religion of Jesus Christ and the nature religions of the world. They declare a religion of faith foolishness, yet they demand the most senseless credulity. Men take all things on belief. Who has searched out the wisdom professed by Buddhists? Faith in God and his word is the truest reason and involves the broadest, deepest thinking and truest knowledge the world has ever known. "By faith we understand."
Is It Not Time?—One minister, Rev. R. L. Lotz, of Pomeroy, Wash., in writing to the Harbinger (Christian), asks the following pertinent questions:—
Why are we continually having to petition those in power? Why do we permit ourselves to be thrown into such a humiliating position? Why do men put the devil in power and then have to petition him to act like a Christian? Who are these men whom we petitioned to close the World's Fair on Sunday? How did these men who are opposed to closing the Fair get into power? Who is responsible for their appointment? Who elected the men who appointed such men to their places? We, the people of the United States, is our answer. Again, I see a set of resolutions passed by the ministers of San Francisco, asking those in charge of the Midwinter Exposition to close the same on Sunday. How does it come that the good people of the cities are continually on their knees to those who are in power? Has it come to pass in this progressive age that God has to petition the devil to help him out? Have we reached the time when the children of God are simply petitioners at the throne of Satan?
And if the people of these United States put these men in office, is it not probable that they are the very men who are wanted there? And is it not also true that the men elected to office should have nothing to do with legislation on religious questions? The fact that "the good people" "are continually on their knees to those who are in power" ought to be proof sufficient that they have not faith in Christ. They do not believe that he can care for his own cause, or else that Sunday is no part of his cause. Which is it? We are glad that one minister is stirred up; is it not time?

"BIBLE STUDENTS' LIBRARY."

The last four numbers of the Bible Students' Library are as follows:—
No. 107, "Who Changed the Sabbath?" This bears the same title as the old tract, No. 19, but it has been entirely rewritten, and is as much better as can be imagined. It gives the Bible testimony on Christ's relation to the law, prophetic and historic; the testimony of prophecy regarding the power that thought to change the Sabbath, and the confession of that power to the change, and also the testimony of Protestant authorities. It should be circulated by the ten thousand. Price, 3 cents.
No. 108 is "Life; Its Source and Purpose," a pamphlet, price 10 cents, by Elder Wm. Covert. This little work shows from the unobjectionable side that man's future life is dependent upon his character and relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. It does not present the conditional immortality question in a negative or apologetic manner, but from the positive side, in a way to inspire hope.
No. 109 is the Sabbath school lessons on the First Epistle of John.
No. 110 is an "Appeal to Methodists," on the basis of their own teachings and on the word of God. Price, 1 cent.
Address Pacific Press Publishing Company, Oakland, Cal.

CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.

Editorial.—Notes and Comments—His Mercy Endureth Forever—The Effort for Sunday Closing (What Does It Mean?)—Our Position Misapprehended—Patience in Trial (Bible Texts)—"Bible Students' Library"—"Religious Liberty Library"—Christ and the Sabbath—Literary Notices..................769-771, 784
Doctrinal.—At Eventide (poetry)—The Last Great Apostasy—Power in the Heart—Past Sins—They Have Not Solved It....................................................................772-774
Miscellaneous.—God Speaks (poetry)—The Doom of Sodom a Warning for the Last Days—God Is with Us—Yielding to God—Spiritual Growth—The Practical Study of the Scriptures—Let Your Life Talk—Christ in the Flesh—The High Atmosphere.........774-777
Home and Health.—My Choice (poetry)—An Unexpected Prize (chapter 4, Hope's Sorrow)—Beecher's Advice to His Son—Three Mighty Men—Can See in Daylight—For Coughing........................................................777, 778
Mission Fields.—Hast Thou Done Thy Best? (poetry)—Niue or Savage Island—The Supernatural Factor in Missions—Upper Burmah—Attempt to Close American Mission Schools in Turkey...........................................779, 780
Our Work and Workers.—The One Talent (poetry)—Field Notes—The Santa Ana Camp Meeting—The Birds of North America....................................................................780, 781
International S. S. Lessons.—Abstinence for the Sake of Others (Lesson 5, Sunday, October 29)—Antichrists (Lesson 4, Sabbath, October 28)........................................................................782
News and Notes.—Religious—Secular....................................................................................783

"RELIGIOUS LIBERTY LIBRARY."

The International Religious Liberty Association, 271 West Main Street, Battle Creek, Mich., have recently issued the following numbers of their vitally important Library:—
No. 12, "The Columbian Year, and the Meaning of the Four Centuries." This tract is an address by Alonzo T. Jones on Columbus day, 1893. It is revised to date. It is all that its name implies. It shows the grandest triumph of liberty in the history of nations, as well as most shameful fall. 44 pages; price, 5½ cents.
No. 13 is "The Limits of Civil Authority" from the view point of natural rights and divine obligations. 12 pages; price, 1½ cents.
No. 14 is entitled "Christ and the Sabbath," by Professor Prescott. This is in substance the sermons preached on the Oakland camp ground, and published in the SIGNS. 40 pages; price, 5 cents.
The above are important numbers, and Nos. 12 and 14 should have enormous circulation.

LITERARY NOTICES.

BEFORE US lie three neatly printed and beautifully illustrated pamphlets. One is entitled "The Grand Cañon of the Colorado River," a description of one of the sublimest pictures which nature has to exhibit. There is but the one grand cañon in existence. This pamphlet tells the cost of a trip to the cañon, and how it may be reached from the nearest railway station, Flagstaff, on the Atlantic and Pacific, a branch of the through system of the well-known Santa Fe Railway.
Another is a fine souvenir of the World's Columbian Exposition, containing illustrations of various buildings, reproduced from water-color drawings. It also contains a map of the Santa Fe route.
The third booklet is a substantial volume of over 150 pages, entitled "To CALIFORNIA AND BACK." It is especially descriptive of New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California—sections of country unknown to many in the East. Profusely illustrated by pen sketches of interesting objects to be seen along the route of the well-known and most accommodating railway route to the West, the Santa Fe. We have been east and west over various routes, and we do not know of any which presents any better accommodations than the Santa Fe. Ticket office 650 Market Street, San Francisco; corner 10th and Broadway, Oakland.
"THE TEACHERS' TOOL CHEST" is a little pamphlet of 40 pages, giving many good suggestions to the Sabbath school teacher. Illustrated; price, postpaid, 6 cents. Address Silas Farmer Co., 31 Monroe Avenue, corner Farmer Street, Detroit, Mich.
John B. Alden is now publishing "Alden's Cyclopedia of Natural History," profusely illustrated, in two volumes, of 1,000 pages each, nonpareil type. The price for the set is low, in cloth $1.50, in half morocco $2.00, postage 20 cents. Volume 1 is now ready. Catalogue of 128 pages sent for a 2-cent stamp. The Elzevir Company, 57 Rose Street, New York.
The October Californian is a fine number, rich in its illustrations and good in matter. Among the most interesting articles are "Around the Garden of the Gods," by J. J. Peatfield; "The Wild Woman of San Nicolas Island," by James M. Gibbons; "California as a Health Resort," by P. C. Remondino; "Fra Diavolo of El Dorado," a descriptive sketch of Joaquin Murietta, by Neith Boyce, and the "Currency Question," by E. R. Endus. For sale at all book stands. Price, 25 cents.
Thanks are due for the Abstract of the Fifty-first Annual Report of the Board of the Seventh-day Baptist Missionary Society.
"MINNESOTA," a Brief Sketch of Its History, Resources, and Advantages, is the title of a pamphlet issued by the Minnesota Board of World's Fair Managers. Well printed and nicely illustrated, and gives a large amount of information regarding this great and resourceful State. Copies can be had of George N. Lamphere, Moorehead, Minn.
The October number of the Cosmopolitan is an immense number, at a small price, 12½ cents. The September number reached a sale of 211,000 copies. "Some Rejected Princesses," "Private Schools for Boys," "The Papyrus Plant," "Notes on Ancient Rome," are a few of the many interesting articles.

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Signs of the Times · Oct 16, 1893