A despatch from Pittsburg of August 6 states that the Rev. Mr. Fikes, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Franklin, declares, “I would just as soon hear the click of billiard-balls in church as the reading of the Bible, provided it won a man to the cause of Christianity,” and further declares, “I know the idea of a billiard-room on church property will shock trustees and deacons, but they must come to it or their church will lose its influence.” All of which is arrant nonsense. God saves men by the preaching of the word and not thru billiards, and that church which hopes to keep its influence for God and salvation will stick to the word and convert men that can get along without any of these things, because it will give them vastly more important and profitable things to think about.
Wealth and Pleasure in the Last Days
An American actor, according to press despatches, has just refused an offer of $1,000,000 a year for his services on the stage. The press despatches of the week also tell of a Mr. Ford who recently died in Los Angeles, Cal., leaving behind him a fortune of $40,000,000. It has not been many decades since there were no people in the country that could boast of being millionaires. But now we have quite a number of persons who have incomes that run up into the millions every year. And the craze for pleasure that comes with this unparalleled amassing of wealth is shown by the fact that an actor can be profitably offered a million a year for a salary. To carefully keep in mind the fifth chapter of James and other prophecies that tell of this amassing of wealth in the last days, and what will be the outcome of it, is a matter that should engage the studious attention of all.
The Improving Financial Situation
The financial situation is growing better slowly. The efforts of the government are not bringing relief as rapidly as was designed. The banks have taken advantage of the liberality of the government and have used the greater part of the $100,000,000 issued for the purpose of increasing their reserves and also asking the government for interest on these certificates, which they themselves have deposited. As one report puts it, the government pays about $3,000,000 on the whole issue of $100,000,000, a unique spectacle of a government paying interest on its own funds. It was reported that this has made President Roosevelt indignant, and he and his friends will favor a government bank; but inasmuch as a good deal of money is coming in from abroad it is stated that the financial flurry is practically over.
Dedication of the Mountain Mission Rest Home
By J. L. Shaw
LAST Sabbath, October the 12th, the dedication service of the Mountain Mission Rest Home was held and it was a good occasion to all present. Previously, invitation cards had been sent out to different people in Mussoorie both English and native, and a notice was also placed in the Mussoorie Times, our weekly paper. As a result a goodly number of people were present.
The occasion afforded a splendid opportunity of placing before the more intelligent people of this place the extensive missionary operations of the Seventh-day Adventists in different parts of the earth. By means of a large missionary map of the world, the location of our missionaries was pointed out, showing that we have entered every continent and many islands in the Pacific and Atlantic. From Iceland in the far north to Cape Horn in the extreme south; from the day line in the east to its opposite in the west, is our field of efforts. The advent message of the near-coming of Christ is being sounded in every country in Europe, and is fast making its way in India, China, Japan, Africa, and the islands of the sea. From a small beginning over half a century ago, the glorious tidings of the coming Saviour have traveled on and on until they have encircled the globe.
Humble men and women, from a careful study of the prophecies, especially Daniel and the Revelation, became profoundly impressed that we are in the time of the end. They saw clearly that Christ is soon coming, and began in poverty and weakness to tell others, until now we behold a world-wide movement, well-organized, reaching into the darkest corners of idolatry. In India, which may be called the cradle of false religions, the Gibraltar of heathenism, there are forty Seventh-day Adventist missionaries working in different languages, preaching the Gospel and its glorious termination,—the coming of Christ. Tho but few among the many, the seed is germinating, literature is being widely scattered and souls are accepting the truth.
It was a pleasant privilege to tell what the publishers and readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES had done in raising funds to buy the Mountain Mission Rest Home. Several instances were cited in which real sacrifice had been made by those who chose to deny themselves to advance the work in India. The cablegram received a few days previous from Elder Wilcox, editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, was read containing these words, "Thousand raised," intimating that every dollar of the purchase money had been received. This was good news to all and enabled our workers to dedicate the Mountain Mission Rest Home to the Lord's work free of all indebtedness, knowing that the readers of the SIGNS had given the funds necessary. As we have told the readers of this paper before, this is the first property owned by us in India, and how thankful all our people are that it could be dedicated free of debt. We sang the jubilee song of freedom from debt and hope to continue to sing it. We praise God for this property and send a thousand thanks to the large SIGNS family for their many generous gifts.
The closing address was by Doctor Menkel who gave a stirring talk on the principles of health reform and the great work of healing the sick which is being carried on by our people in different parts of the world. The service concluded with an appropriate dedicatory prayer by Brother L. F. Hansen.
In the afternoon of the same day of the dedication, a baptismal service was held and three dear souls were buried with their Lord in baptism. The day, therefore, in a double sense was one of dedication: in the morning it was the dedication of property and in the afternoon the dedication of that which is of still greater value, the dedication of hearts. Elder Owen had been working with a number of men for several days to prepare a baptistry in a running stream upon the estate at the foot of the mountain, and it was here the baptism was held. Quite a large number of people from Mussoorie were in attendance, and we all appreciated the presence of God with us at the time. This makes six people who have accepted the truth and received baptism since the property was purchased in Mussoorie, and others are studying.
One lady from Siam was present who rode on the backs of elephants for one month on route to Mussoorie. She came from that malaria-stricken country to regain her health, and while getting that has received something even more precious—a knowledge of the truth. She has been a regular attendant of our Bible studies at the Mission Home, and is now keeping all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. In a few months she will return to her distant home in Siam to be probably the first representative in that unentered field. Pray for her.
Dear readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, you can not do better than invest your means in mission work. You are investing your money in souls whose worth is beyond earthly calculation. We must work rapidly in India; unrest among the people is apparent. Week before last a number of riots took place in Calcutta and one European was injured. Bengal seems to be the hot-bed of sedition and strife. A number of English-speaking people have been assaulted, and some killed. We do not know what the future has in store for us. We are certain, however, that a power stronger than that of man will need13to hold the elements in check or the mutiny of 1857 will again be upon us. The peace and quietness of the last two decades have been marvelous. For a people numbering three hundred millions to remain in quiet subjection to a nation seven thousand miles away with comparatively few representatives in the country is altogether out of the ordinary. It is probably one of the strongest evidences of our times that the angels are holding the winds until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads.
We can not move too quickly in getting substantial help into the field to take up the various languages and give the warning message to the many different people in this country.
J. L. SHAW.
From a Letter from Professor Shaw.
We take the following extracts from a letter accompanying the above article, which we are sure will be of interest to our readers:
"We received your cablegram just a few days before the dedication, and I can not tell you how thankful we were to be able to tell our people at the time of the dedication of the Mountain Mission Rest Home that all the purchase money had been raised, and that we could call ourselves free from debt. Thank God a hundred times, yea, a thousand, for His goodness and for this pleasant home in the cool mountains of the Himalayas.
"We find that the work is steadily opening before us and yet by God's help we hope to see even more accomplished in the future than in the past. While this is a rest home, I want to assure you that it affords a large field of missionary effort both among the native and English-speaking people. Just now the climate is delightful. The rainy season is finished and an unclouded blue sky may be seen from day to day. The air is cool, crisp, and invigorating. Doctor Menkel, of the Calcutta Sanitarium, was up at the dedication and was delighted and charmed with the place.
"Next week we are planning to go down to Calcutta for the cool season, and after remaining there a few weeks for the council of the advisory board, I am planning to go to South India in company with Brother James and visit the Sabbath-keepers in the Tinnevelly district. You have probably heard that there are several hundred Christians in the southernmost part of India who are Sabbath-keepers. From there I expect to go across to Burma and spend some time there. We shall not be back to the Mountain Mission Home for four or five months.
"During the cool weather all the workers will go down to the plains and improve the time working there while it is cold. From the first of November until the middle or latter part of March the climate on the plains is very pleasant, and during that time I hope to visit our mission stations and get more fully in touch with the work as it is being carried on in different places. May God greatly bless the work in poor India."
Not Too Late for School
Not Too Late for School.—The school work is quite thoroly started in most of our schools and colleges, it is not too late to enter. We have announcements for the following schools, and those in the territory of any of them would do well to write for information. Every young person should plan for some time in school.
The Manson Industrial Academy, Port Hammond, B. C., twelve grades.
Southern Training School, Graysville, Tenn., twelve grades.
Tunessasa Intermediate School, Tunessasa, N. Y., ten grades.
Loma Linda College of Evangelists, Loma Linda, Cal., Evangelistic-Medical.
Adelphian Academy, Holly, Mich., twelve grades.
Cheyenne River Academy, Harvey, N. Dak., twelve grades, English and German.
Our Work and Workers.
NINE have been added to the church at Elizabeth, N. J., during the past summer’s tent-effort.
BROTHER E. L. MAXWELL organized a church of ten members at Hammond, La., November 2.
BROTHER W. F. SCHWARTZ writes of organizing a church of seventeen members at Lock Have, Pa.
BROTHER J. W. BOYNTON reports the baptism of over thirty in different parts of Alberta as the result of his labors during the past summer.
FOURTEEN have been baptized in the new church at Mountain View recently. The church uses over six hundred copies of the SIGNS each week.
AT the close of the Quebec conference, held late in September, twenty-three were baptized. The president, W. H. Thurston, makes the report.
THE MONTANA BIVOUAC says: “The students of Mt. Ellis took five hundred copies of the Missions SIGNS and have disposed of the entire number.”
BROTHER G. W. ANGLEBARGER writes: “Souls are continually embracing the truth. Sabbath, November 9, eight more were buried with Christ in baptism.”
AT the close of a series of meetings in Omaha, Neb., the latter part of October, twenty-four were baptized. Brother Luther Warren conducted the meetings.
THE third number of Te Karere o te Pono, a four-page paper for the Maori people of New Zealand, comes to our attention. One by one the natives of earth are reading the Gospel in their own language.
OF the results of a tent-effort at Cherokee, S. C., Brother R. T. Nash writes in Report and Progress: “Five families at this place are taking hold of the truth and are laying aside their tobacco and getting ready to rightly represent the truth in this community.”
A NEW union conference has been organized in Canada, comprising British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The organization was effected in October, with the following officers: President, E. L. Stewart; vice-president, H. S. Shaw; secretary and treasurer, Mrs. H. S. Shaw.
Wanted for Missionary Work.
THOUSANDS of copies of any of our denominational papers can be used by James Harvey, 763 Jackson St., Station D, Oakland, Cal., in reading-racks of the city. Send only clean papers.
MRS. JAS. T. WOODS, 322 S. Detroit St., Warsaw, Ind., desires SIGNS OF THE TIMES and Watchman for city work.
MRS. A. E. MALONY, 2219 S. Elm St., Muncie, Ind., desires periodicals and tracts for missionary work.
For Sale
For Sale.—A country home, three acres of choice land, with six-room house, chicken house and shed. Family orchard, and close to church school. Price, $1,600. Two-thirds cash. Address J. E. Jensen, Lodi, Cal.
The Reading Habit
By Maude Macomber
By Maude Macomber
“Knowledge is power,” and in no other way can we gather greater stores of knowledge than by reading.
By this means we travel thru countries we have never seen, and become acquainted with strange peoples we have never met. The wonderful inventions of this the time of the end have made it possible for us to read the news of the world in a few hours after events have occurred.
Not so many years ago there were no daily newspapers, and books were found only in the homes of the wealthy but to-day they are within the reach of all.
What a debt of gratitude we owe to those noble men who, at the risk of their own lives, sometimes, translated the Bible into the language of the common people, thus lifting the dark curtain of ignorance and superstition and letting in the light of God's eternal truth. From the days of the early reformers, God's servants have been at work giving to the people many valuable books explaining the Scriptures and seeking to lead men to investigate for themselves its rich mines of truth.
In the meantime Satan has not been idle, but has set his agents at work to pour into the world a flood of literature that would corrupt men's minds and turn them away from God. Thus that which God designed should be only a blessing has, to many, become a curse.
The world is full of books, and the question, What shall I read? is one that confronts every young person. The proper solving of this question has much to do in determining our character, for the books we read as well as the people with whom we associate have a tremendous influence upon us.
Let us listen for a few moments to the testimony of some of the world's great men concerning the value and importance of good reading:
Napoleon: “Show me the man that reads good books and I will show you the man who moves the world.”
Clay: “When I was a boy, I was very poor and my mother was very poor, but she was never too poor to buy her boy a good book, and to this more than to anything else I owe my success in life.”
Franklin: “A dollar in the head is worth five in the pocket and you might say fifty on the back; because that in the pocket will get out, that on the back will wear off, but that in the head grows sharper with constant use.”
It is a noticeable fact in reading the lives of missionaries that many of them received their first inspiration from reading of others who had devoted their lives to God's service. Another thing to be noticed is that this inspiration came to most of them in their youth. This should not be lost sight of in the education of our children.
We read of David Livingstone, the noted explorer and missionary who did so much for the Dark Continent of Africa, that he formed the ambition to be a missionary after reading an appeal to the churches of Britain and America on behalf of China.
The need of the heathen world was impressed deeply on the heart and mind of William Carey by reading “Cook's Voyages Around the World.” Henry Martyn had designed to fit himself for the law, but the influence of William Carey in India and David Brainerd, the Indian missionary of America, led him to devote his life to the work of Christian missions.
It is the hope of our people to see the world evangelized in this generation. Think what a host of young people are needed out on the “firing line” to herald this message to the world. Only the young and strong are fitted to endure the hardships and overcome the obstacles that present themselves in the foreign field.
We have within our ranks an army of about 50,000 young people. Let us educate and inspire their hearts and minds to enter the open doors and answer the calls that are continually coming. It has been said that the amount of energy necessary to secure the active cooperation of one adult Christian will kindle the enthusiasm of twenty young people.
Every year there is a stream of young people passing from the church and Sabbath-school out into the world, not to enter the work of the Lord, but to follow some worldly ambition. This is a sad condition of affairs, but it has its causes, and it is for us to find them out and remedy them. It should enlist the attention of every father, mother, and teacher; for what is so precious as our children? They are not leaving us for lack of interest, but because we have failed to enlist their interest in the right direction.
O, if we could only understand our great responsibility! If we worked half as hard to train the minds of our children as we do to provide for their physical necessities, what a change there would be. How many mothers drive their children out of doors to amuse themselves or play with questionable companions that they may have time to fashion dainty garments or cook indigestible dishes!
These same mothers, weary with their many cares, have no time for the bed-time stories, or for the heart-to-heart talks that every child needs. What our child puts into his mind ought certainly to give us as much concern as what he puts into his stomach.
Both are important, for the perfect child must have a sound mind in a sound body.
Every mother should have time to select for her child those things that he should read, and to read with him and to him.
In how many Christian homes are there children greedily devouring the jokes in the comic papers and the “funny” pictures that are cheap and belittling in their effect upon the mind. By them the most sacred relations in life are brought down to a vulgar plane. The good are ridiculed and wrong conduct considered as a good joke. Many are fascinated with love stories and novels, which, tho they may be considered high class, destroy the taste for solid reading. The mind benumbed by these things demands constant stimulation and can not be brought to enjoy the word of God.
The appetite of such victims for reading must be changed, but we must not work from the negative side. It is not enough to say, Do not read this, and Do not read that. We must provide them something they can read. Their appetite for the wholesome and good needs stimulating, and we must tempt them with dainty morsels just as we tempt the invalid to eat. We should not wait until the reading habit has been formed, but begin as soon as they show any inclination to read. God pity those of us who have neglected our opportunities and must now reap the bitter fruits of our own sowing. Perhaps it is not yet too late if we put forth earnest effort. Surely no sacrifice will be counted too great to save our boys and girls.
Those who have made careful investigations estimate that the normal child begins to read intelligently and with pleasure at the age of eight and one-half years. From this age on they are omnivorous readers. If nothing else presents itself they will read the almanac.
This is a God-given instinct, and if we only take wise advantage of it we may train their minds to read the best of all books before their minds have received impressions that will cause them to have a distaste for the Bible.
Childhood and youth are the habit-forming period, and how careful we should be of the character building of our children. We need to give them every advantage that they may have real, true ideas of virtue and morality. We want to forestall the bad by filling the mind with the good.
If the child receives from its parents and from the books it reads definite ideas of right and wrong, and of its own relations to life, it will give little heed to the stories it may hear from impure associates. “I guess my mother knows,” is the child's unanswerable argument. It is the child who is ignorant, or at best has vague ideas, that is most susceptible to evil.
Between the ages of eight and fourteen, the child enjoys reading about people who have done real things,15and now is the time to present to them biographies of missionary heroes and heroines who have done valiant service for the Lord. The children are now studying history and geography in school, so this is also the opportune time to make them acquainted with Bible history.
With what interest will they follow the wanderings of the children of Israel and their conquests under their noble leader Joshua.
As they study geography let them think of the vast countries beyond with their strange foreign people as so many open doors which they must hasten to enter with the Gospel message.
We read of Robert Moffat, a Scotch missionary to South Africa, that his mother saturated him while young with a knowledge of the Bible and stories of the early Moravian brethren. The result was that at the age of nineteen he offered himself to the London Missionary Society and was accepted.
Our children should become familiar with the struggles of the early pioneers in this third angel's message. It will touch their hearts and cause them to value the precious truths which have been given to us.
The boy always has an ideal, a definite standard of life before him. He is naturally a hero-worshiper, and whether that hero is a cowboy, pirate, desperado, soldier, missionary, or the Missionary, depends very largely on the books he reads. A sad picture of Christian homes there is where may be found concealed from parents stories of detectives, highway robbers, and fiction. These the boys read in secret while the parents are blissfully unconscious of the fact and later find themselves helpless to avert the consequences of it. The boy thinks he can do anything anybody else has done, and we have all read of youthful criminals who had been fired with an ambition to wreck trains and commit other depredations just by reading stories of that character.
In like manner our boys who read of noble men and women whom God has used to do a great work for Him, will be filled with an earnest desire to go and do likewise.
As the boy reaches the critical period of life—from thirteen to twenty—a mind well stored with noble examples will be of the greatest value to him. A great change comes into his life. All the powers of mind and body are waking up. He is buffeted with strange and conflicting emotions. A spirit of unrest takes possession of him, his mind is filled with doubt and uncertainty. He questions the faith of his childhood, and unless he has had careful religious training he is liable to make shipwreck and be lost for time and eternity. What an encouragement in his hour of temptation will be the thought of Joseph in Egypt, and Daniel at the court of Nebuchadnezzar. They were young men tempted like himself, but they fought and won.
Many of our youth are hampered in their efforts to obtain an education, and a knowledge of others who have struggled with poverty and yet reached the top of the ladder will help them to persevere and fit themselves for a life of usefulness.
“The heights by great men reached and kept,
Were not attained by sudden flight;
But they while their companions slept
Were toiling upward in the night.”
In nothing has the Christian church shown her folly so much as in neglecting the youth. Our hearts ache when we think of the many who have gone never to return, but let us lose no time in getting to work for those who remain.
We want our young people to have broad, well-balanced minds, and for this reason we must use all our influence to turn them away from the reading of books that pervert taste and destroy the soul.
There has been organized for our young people a reading course the outline of which is found in the Youth's Instructor from week to week. We would recommend all our young people to take up this study.
We must never allow our enthusiasm to grow cold, but remember—
“There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”
D. M. FERRY & CO., Detroit, Mich
Ferry's Seeds
are the best known and the most reliable seeds grown. Every package has behind it the reputation of a house whose business standards are the highest in the trade.
Perry's 1908 Seed Annual will be mailed FREE to all applicants. It contains colored plates, many engravings, and full descriptions, prices and directions for planting over 1200 varieties of Vegetable and Flower Seeds. Invaluable to all. Send for it.
D. M. FERRY & CO., Detroit, Mich
Hand-Made and Oil-Painted Prophetic Charts
¶ There is an opportunity now given for ministers in the field to secure one of the finest sets of prophetic charts ever put out. The set consists of fifteen charts —linen, hand-painted in colors. It includes all of the prophetic beasts and symbols mentioned in Daniel and Revelation, as well as the Sanctuary after Professor Kelschner's model.
¶ This shows the great image standing on the globe. It is four feet high. Other charts are in the same proportion, so that they can be used to advantage in a good sized room, as well as the largest hall or pavilion.
¶ At present a complete set without rollers can be secured for $30.00; with rollers $35.00. Full particulars will be given on request.
W., care of SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, California
DON'T
decide on the new hymn-book for your CHURCH or SUNDAY-SCHOOL until you have seen
HALLOWED HYMNS
By I. ALLEN SANKEY, son of IRA D. SANKEY
256 Pages JUST PUBLISHED Over 100 New Songs
THE VERY BEST—SEE AND BE CONVINCED
$25 per hundred Returnable samples mailed to "earnest inquirers" 35c each by mail
THE BIGLOW & MAIN CO., New York or Chicago
A GREAT WINTER RESORT.
Do you know that Colorado, and especially the valley in which is situated the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium, is a most delightful winter climate, equal in every respect to that of California or the sunny South?
The Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium is a well-equipped medical institution, employing the very best and most approved methods of treatment.
The medical staff comprises four physicians—two men and two women—graduates of leading medical schools, together with a large corps of nurses of both sexes.
No tubercular or consumptive patients received.
Special reduced rates are afforded during the winter months. Write to-day for large illustrated catalog, with card of rates. Address, Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium, Boulder, Colorado.
DATE OF EXPIRATION.
THE SIGNS wrapper bears date of last issue due on your subscription. Unless renewed in advance, paper stops with expiration date. If herewith is an order-blank, you will know you have overlooked sending renewal. You will not wish to miss a single issue. Back numbers often can not be furnished.
