Signs of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 36. (9/17/1912)

Signs of the Times

Sep 17, 1912

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, Cal. · Sep 17, 1912

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

"WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? THE MORNING COMETH"

Question Corner

By Editor

"IF YE WILL INQUIRE, INQUIRE YE."

This Inquirers' Department is conducted for the purpose of helping those who are studying the Bible. The answers are oftentimes only suggestive. They are never to be considered infallible, only as they agree with the infallible Word. The writer who may answer them does not consider that his opinion is infallible. He will simply give the best that he has, and plead with the inquirer to search the Word. Such questions only will be answered as, to the editors, seem to minister to the good of the readers and to the mission of the paper. We can not answer repeatedly in the same volume questions upon the same scripture. The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable. No letters are answered which do not contain the name of the writer. It is well always to enclose stamp for reply.

3854—Good and Evil Angels

Do good and evil angels both follow a wicked person? R. T.

From their nature and work, we would gather that they do. The evil angels are angels of Satan. As it is Satan's object to go about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8), we may be sure that his messengers, or demons, will do everything in their power to destroy souls. That is his work, that must be the work of those who are under him. We know also that God does all that He can to win men to Him. The power and influence which does this is His Holy Spirit. John 16:8. By the Spirit the world is convinced of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; but God does this by placing His Spirit upon His angels and upon men, coöperating together. Consequently when the heart is touched and brought to repentance, it is God who gives the repentance. Acts 11:18. This is illustrated in the case of Cornelius. God's angel went to him, but the Lord must send His servant also, and the two coöperated in the salvation and enlightenment of Cornelius. So it was with the apostle Paul: angels and men coöperated in his salvation. We can not believe for one moment that God would give His only-begotten Son to save men, and then not use every means in His power to induce men to yield to that salvation. Certainly God calls every one. Isa. 45:22; Rev. 22:17; and other scriptures. Jesus declares that "no man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him." As God calls every one, He must draw every one; consequently His angels are used in this very work of drawing and saving men. But we may also believe that when men utterly refuse to listen to the still voice of the angel, to turn from their evil ways, good angels of God will leave them to themselves and to the buffetings of Satan. But on the other hand, we may also believe that when any soul turns from his sin toward God, God will send His good angels to succor and save. Ps. 34:7; Psalm 91.

3855—The Child Shall Die an Hundred Years Old, Isa. 65:20

By Editor

Will you please explain Isa. 65:20 in the "Question Corner"? The last clause reads, "For the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed." I didn't suppose there would be any death or sinners in the New Jerusalem. What does it mean? G. D. C.

The text and the context clearly refer to the end of sin and the entering upon the eternal inheritance. Now first, the great day of God's wrath begins with the close of probation and the pouring out of the seven last plagues of Revelation 15 and 16.

2. Under the pouring out of the seventh plague Christ comes, and all the living wicked that are left perish in the presence of His awful glory.

3. During one thousand years, the "many days" of Isa. 24:22, the earth is left desolate, the wicked are dead, the saints are in heaven with Christ.

4. At the close of the "many days," the wicked are raised, and vindicate God's infinite justice by yielding themselves once more to the deceptions of Satan, who organizes them into armies and attempts to take the city of God. See Rev. 20: 5-9; Isa. 54:15, 17. This is a little season as compared with the thousands of years of his existence, and will be about one hundred years in length, probably.

5. There will be among these wicked ones the young who have just passed the age of accountability and have rejected God, and there will also be the hardened sinner; but for that period of time, they will yield to Satan's control, demonstrating that God has justly rejected them. It is possible, for aught we know, that they may still beget and rear children.

Now in the light of these facts read Isa. 65: 17-21. Verses 17 to 19 present before us the new earth and its capital city, in which crying and sorrow nevermore enter. See also Rev. 21: 1-4. The next verse gives the reason,—for before that time all the former conditions will have passed away—the premature old man, the abnormally old infant—for at the close of that little season the child of wickedness will have died a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old will have met the curse of death; for when God's glory appears above that city, they shall all perish in His presence. Rev. 20:9. The age of each is expressed by that period; their resurrection life, their experiences in sin, by the terms "child" and "sinner."

We do not gather from the scripture that every responsible wicked child shall live to be just one hundred years old, nor do we believe that the reference is to antediluvian children, some of whom were reputable fathers at sixty-five; but the hundred years cover that period in which God's plan of justice will receive final vindication from all the universe, and every false theory shall be determined in its true worth, in utter emptiness and falsity.

For more upon this question, see "Questions and Answers," page 228, question No. 238.

3857 — Roosevelt and a Catholic President

The question was asked, "Did Roosevelt say he would be glad to see the time when we would have a Catholic President?" and the answer was that he had so expressed himself. I am sending you a clipping from the Burlington "Hawk-Eye" of 1908, showing that the President has fully expressed himself.

A Sister.

This letter from Mr. Roosevelt, dated November 6, 1908, is in reply to another letter to Mr. Roosevelt, saying that the people would not support a man for President who was a Catholic. Mr. Roosevelt states that he had received many such letters during the campaign which he did not answer at that time because he regarded it as an outrage even to "agitate such a question as a man's religious convictions, with the purpose of influencing a political election;" that Mr. Taft's religious belief is "purely his own private concern, and it is a matter between him and his Maker, a matter for his own conscience." Mr. Roosevelt declares that if Mr. Taft's wife and brother were Roman Catholics, as charged, "or if he were a Roman Catholic himself, it ought not to affect in the slightest degree any one's voting for him for the position of President." He declares also that "I should reprobate in the severest terms the Catholics who . . . refused to vote for the most fit man because he happened to be a Protestant; and my condemnation would be exactly as severe for Protestants who, under reversed circumstances, refused to vote for a Catholic." Again: "I believe that this republic will endure for many centuries. If so, there will doubtless be among its Presidents Protestants and Catholics, and very probably, at some times, Jews." Regarding this letter the same paper prints the comments of Cardinal Gibbons spoken in Baltimore, November 9, as follows: "I would like to say two things about the letter: (1) It is well worth reading and pondering; and (2) I knew it was coming out."

3856—The Power of Satan

By Editor

Is there any Biblical reference made which will explain to what extent Satan has the power of life and death over us? In short, has he the power, under any conditions, of cutting human life off at his will?

The following references may help (doubtless there are others): Job chapters 1 and 2. In this record we have Satan tempting God to afflict Job, declaring that the only reason why Job served God was for a selfish purpose, that the Lord had blessed him and surrounded him with all that he had, and had built a hedge around him; consequently Job had no reason to do other than to serve the Lord. In response to this, the Lord permitted Satan to try Job, but on the express condition that he should not take his life. We would gather, from these chapters, that all the power that Satan exercises over the saints of God is simply permissible—God permits it—but always with the limitation expressed in 1 Cor. 10:13: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape ["the way to escape," literally], that ye may be able to bear it." From 1 Peter 5:8 we learn that Satan goes about seeking those whom he may devour. He destroys and devours through deception, for he works with all power and signs and lying wonders. 2 Thess. 2:9, 10; Rev. 12:9. But his power is limited, for the next verse declares that Christ had one salvation for all His children. The only way in which Satan obtains power over humanity is for humanity themselves to yield to that power. Satan may move other men to slay, and God's children may be slain because of it; but we may know in this—because God has given us individual instances to show us—that God has all the care, and helps in every way He can those who are slain. But preeminently of the children of God there is no power that can take them out of the Father's hand. John 10:28 and Heb. 2:14, 15 are assurances, to all the children of God, that Christ the Lord will keep all those who trust in Him, and that He will preserve every one who does not yield himself to the power of the devil. There was a pamphlet published a few years ago, which may be obtained at some of our branch offices or tract depositories, entitled "Ministration of Angels," but now out of print, which will offer some good suggestions. We have not space in this department to answer the questions fully.

3858—"Beyond the Rivers of Ethiopia"

By Editor

Will you please tell us to what country or land Isa. 18: 1 applies?

The prophecy includes the whole chapter. It has been suggested that the land "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia" is the United States. It may have a broader application, and take in the whole Anglo-Saxon race, which God has greatly used in giving His gospel to the world, and in protecting small and trodden-down peoples. The shadowing of wings would apply to the extension of protection over subject powers, symbolized perhaps in the spreading wings of the American eagle. A world power, its ambassadors are sent all over the earth. The nation scattered and peeled may refer to China. Certainly it is a land "divided" and also "spoiled" by its rivers. (See both versions.) The "ensign" is the last message, originating, in God's providence, in this nation. Compare with Isa. 62: 10, 11. Those who accept that message, choose that ensign, will be like refreshing dew in the spiritual barrenness of the last days. Compare with Micah 5:7. This message will go "before the harvest," when the wicked, the worthless branches, shall be cut away, when the plagues come, lasting a year, summer and winter, and then God's children gathered home. These are suggestions worthy of study.

3859 — Summer and Winter

By Editor

3859 — Summer and Winter

Does the Bible indicate or reveal whether we shall know the winter from the summer only by the falling of the leaves? J. F.

We know of no such passage. There are many evidences by which summer may be distinguished from winter. In the earth made new there will be neither falling nor dying leaf.

Bible Reading Schedule September 22–28

Schedule for Week Ending September 28, 1912

Sunday	September 22	John 6
Monday	" 23	" 7
Tuesday	" 24	" 8
Wednesday	" 25	" 9
Thursday	" 26	" 10
Friday	" 27	" 11
Sabbath	" 28	Psalms 102, 103

Life Comes From Christ

The readings include John 6 to 11, Psalms 102, 103. Wonderful in its depth of meaning is John 6, and it will bear very much thought and study. May it impress its lesson of the necessity of eating of the bread from heaven if we would live. And yet that other wonderful lesson, that it is not in the mere materials which we eat, for it is from the living, eternal Word of God that we receive the life, and thus Jesus impresses the great lesson of the chapter in verse 63, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." And the one great lesson of all the scriptures of this week is that life comes from Him, closing with the story of the resurrection of Lazarus, and containing those words of comfort, which have been repeated over the dead so many thousand times since: "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, tho he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die."

EDITORIAL

By Editor

The Root of All Evil

IN his first letter to Timothy Paul says: "Godliness with contentment is great gain: for we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out; but having food and covering we shall be therewith content. But they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1 Tim. 6: 6-10.

Money in and of itself may do neither good nor evil. But when men learn to love money, they are planting within themselves the roots that will bring every other evil in their train.

"One came to Him and said, Teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And He said unto him, Why askest thou Me concerning that which is good? One there is who is good: but if thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto Him, Which? And Jesus said, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto Him, All these things have I observed: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wouldest be perfect, go, sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow Me. But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sorrowful; for he was one that had great possessions."

"And Jesus said unto His disciples, Verily I say unto you, It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And when the disciples heard it, they were astonished exceedingly, saying, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them said to them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Lo, we have left all, and followed Thee; what then shall we have? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life." Matt. 19:16-29.

Connect with the foregoing text the following words of the Messiah: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye can not serve God and mammon." Matt. 6:24. The Twentieth Century New Testament translates this latter clause, "You can not serve both God and Gold."

Evidently the young man was trying to do the impossible thing of serving "both God and Gold." But the Master plainly says that this can not be done. Men have tried it all through the ages. That young man was trying it in Christ's time. But the Master showed that it can not be done. The man who is giving himself to the service of Gold can not realize how far he is missing the standard of character that the Nazarene has set for us. He can not serve the god Gold and be ever grasping for more and more money, and still know how to love his neighbor as himself.

“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Men will take the name of Christ and claim to be Christians. But when at the same time they attempt to become rich and worship at the shrine of Gold, they will find there is danger that they unconsciously set for themselves a different standard from the one that was given by Christ in the Golden Rule. As they see the suffering on every hand, they will find themselves saying that they have no obligation to help certain people, because they are "shiftless" and "lazy." And in this way they soon reach the place where they regard all poor people as worthless, not remembering that Christ Himself has said, "For ye have the poor always with you; but Me ye have not always." Matt. 26:11. The Master has left the poor with us as a continual legacy; they are a constant test of character. The rich man has the test ever before him whether he will take an interest in suffering humanity, or whether he will give himself to the service of Gold.

Again the Lord has given us these words: "But when thou makest a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; because they have not wherewith to recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:13, 14. And, showing still further how the poor were neglected in His time, the Master gives to John as one of the strong evidences of His Messiahship that "the poor have the gospel preached to them." Matt. 11:5.

It would never be wise or right for wealthy men and women to hand out money indiscriminately to poor people, for often it would do them more harm than good. But if they would take the same interest in the poor that they now take in their god Gold, they would find that many of them were susceptible of remarkable development. Many poor people have not had the training necessary to give them success; and, furthermore, they are not in a position to get this training, because it does not suggest itself to their minds, and they would not be likely to appreciate the value of it even if some one merely suggested it without opening some way for them to get it.

If ever there was a time in the history of the world when men should heed the instruction that God has given on the subject of wealth, that time is right now. As a general rule, the man who has great wealth is a man of excellent faculties. If he can gather large hoards of gold, he could do other large things, and that, too, for the cause of God and humanity. The world's history fails to furnish a time when there was such a general heaping together of wealth as we find in these days. It is not merely nation-wide, but it is world-wide. And this heaping together of wealth is the

result of a selfishness that is going to make untold perils in this generation. God's Word says of this time: "Know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money." 2 Tim. 3:1, 2. Note that the text says self-love and money-love will make the last days grievous. We see the great amassing of wealth in this time. We see the grievous struggles into which the world is plunging because of it. And we ought to know what it signifies. And instead of giving the precious hours of this time to the mere work of getting money, we ought to be wide-awake to the work of rescuing humanity from the wreck to which this world is surely doomed.

Immediately following the foregoing text quoted from Timothy is this significant utterance, and the Twentieth Century translation is given because of its striking setting forth of the thought that is in the original: "They will love pleasure more than they love God; and while they retain the outward form of religion, they will refuse to allow it to influence them." 2 Tim. 3:4, 5. Thus do we see that the Lord foretells that those who will make the last days grievous because of their love of self and love of money, will also be professors of religion. They will "retain the outward form," but will refuse to allow their religion to influence them. In other words, they fear to meet death without some form of religion; but they are so determined in their pursuit for gold, that their religion is kept where it does not influence them. They actually "refuse" its influence.

Why will men attempt the impossible? Why will they insist on trying to serve both God and Gold? The infinite, the all-powerful Christ, has said that it is impossible. Why not recognize that He knows, and that it is useless to deceive ourselves by trying to deceive Him?

Again let it be said, If ever there was one time more than another when men and women should study what God has said to the rich, that time is right now.

"His Eternal Power"

By R.

"The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." Rom. 1:20.

"Worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:7.

The psalmist declares that "power belongeth unto God." The energies of the universe that sweep in tides of power, originate in the Creator. If we go back of the creation for the source and origin of its myriad pulsatings of force, all is mystery unless we accept the words of the inspired penman, "In the beginning God."

And coming to the inspired writings of the New Testament, we hear the triumphant Christ declare, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth."

Nature testifies of her Maker. When we gaze at hill and cloud, at valley and sky, it should cause us to look beyond into the unseen yet apparent truth that these all exist because of the creative energy of the Mighty One.

In fact, the Word declares just this: "Worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." We are to look deeper than the surface of material things, into the invisible spiritual cause of them all — behold the earth as the hand-work of God, and look from earthly gifts and delights up in gratitude and reverence to Him who made, who gave them.

Something like three thousand years ago, the singer exclaimed, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork." The light of the sky is but a reflection of the glory of God. Christ calls the sun His sun: "Maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." He plainly tells us that these things are caused by God, and that they express His goodness, His kindness to His creatures.

In one of the psalms we read that "His tender mercies are over all His works." If we study nature, we find this is true. Even the sparrow's fall is noted by Him, and the raven finds food under the Creator's thoughtful providence.

Even the weeds evidence the thought of One greater than they. Watch plants and animals, and you will be startled by the fact that there is a power guiding them that is infinitely greater and wiser and better than the creature that manifests it.

It is just this that the text declares: Ever since the creation of the world the invisible things of Him are seen, His eternal power and His character being understood by the things that are made.

Nature is a screen upon which the invisible things of God are pictured. As we look upon material things, in faith we see, in manifestation we behold, tokens of the power and character of God.

Already we have learned something of the vastness of that power. The forces of this universe are incalculable, immeasurable, inconceivable. But God is greater, more powerful, than anything or all the things that He has created.

This power that moves in the earth and universe is not only infinitely great, but the Word declares that it is eternal. Like its origin and source, power is everlasting.

Do we see any evidences of this in nature? — Indeed we do.

It is not necessary for us to go into the arguments that show the conservation of energy; but all scientists have come, after the most exhaustive study, scrutiny, and examination of the forces of nature, to the fact that —

"No portion of energy is ever lost or destroyed. The total quantity of energy in the universe appears to be constant." — Appleton's Physics.

"Energy can in no way [by us] be either created or destroyed; the total amount of energy never changes; it is always conserved. This is a fundamental principle of all science, and is known as the conservation of energy." — Andrews and Howland's Physics.

"When one form of energy disappears, an exact equivalent of another form takes its place, so that the sum total of energy is unchanged." — Gage's Physics.

"All natural phenomena are the manifestations of the same omnipresent energy, which is transferred from one portion of matter to another without loss. The sum total of all the active and latent energies in the universe is constant and invariable. In other words, power is indestructible." — Prof. Josiah P. Cook.

"Energy may be transformed, but it can never be created or destroyed." — Millikan and Gale's Physics.

That ought to settle it. All these statements are equivalent to saying that power is eternal. If "power is indestructible," if it is never "lost," if "it is always conserved," if it can never be "destroyed," then manifestly it is eternal.

Thus says the Word. It is "His eternal power." It is "the power of an endless life." It is exhaustless.

The earth rotates on its axis night and day. It has thus been spinning through the ages. Astronomers find the motion is absolutely constant. It does not vary from day to day or from age to age by the fraction of a thousandth of a second.

When you spin a top, much of the energy you put into that spinning is soon transformed into other kinds of energy than that of the spinning motion, by the friction of the floor and the air; and the top soon wobbles and falls. The energy is not lost, but it is dissipated in other forms. Some appears as heat at the point of the top, to be dissipated soon into the air. Some appears as motion in the air about the top. And hence the motion of the top ceases, the power that passed through it for a time is eternal, and appears somewhere else in heat or motion. But the top wobbles in time, and falls.

But the earth is so supplied with the power of motion, that the energy, if dissipated, comes flowing on in an uninterrupted tide, and the earth does not gradually slow its motion, and go tumbling, wabbling through the universe, like a run-down top. On and on, never ceasing, never varying, it whirls and whirls, without an iota of change. Ages do not affect it. Climate or location or the human tramp upon its surface does not change it.

And there are thousands and millions of other heavenly bodies all doing a like thing. They are all agents of the eternal power, and that power is of God.

Light travels at the marvelous rate of

about 186,000 miles a second. There is light streaming down to us to-night from stars so far away that it takes a thousand years for it to reach us. Yet that light, speeding all those years, does not for an instant slacken its speed. It comes into the depot of the human eye running absolutely on schedule time, 186,000 miles a second. It starts with this velocity, it maintains it through all the vast measures of space for all the years it moves, and it comes to the eye, speeding at the same unvarying rate.

We can not explain it unless we look back of the phenomenon to the One who produced it.

As the Word declares, the things that are seen were not made of phenomena. No, they are not the cause, but the caused. God is the cause. He is the one who works, and the heavens and the earth are the manifestations of His works.

The heavens declare His glory, the firmament shows His handiwork. His invisible things, eternal power and glory, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.

Therefore “worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

As you look at nature, see beyond it, and “behold your God!”

Nature is not God. Such teaching is pantheism. But nature is God’s handicraft. As we view it, we find all over it the marks of its Maker.

Logically, then, our next thought should be of Him.

Lift Up Your Eyes, and Look on the Fields

By Jesus

LIFT up your eyes, and look on the fields.

The Tempter and the Tempted

By James White

THE object of the one who tempts is not the object which is set before the one who is tempted. For instance, when the Pharisees tempted Christ by asking of Him a sign from heaven, their object, or, rather, the object of Satan through them, was to turn Him aside from the work He came to do, to thwart the plan of salvation through Him. But the object which they presented before Him was worldly fame and glory. They would say, "Do a sign, show that You are great, that the people may believe in You and honor You." With perfect spiritual discernment, Jesus looked beyond the object held out before Him, to the evil result which was sure to follow. Man is tempted to drink by presenting before him present enjoyment; the object of Satan is, however, to ruin him eventually, body and soul. Does temptation come? Look at it not in the light of the present, but in the light of eternity. W.

“The Political Trust That Owns America”

By Editor

UNDER the heading, “The Political Trust That Owns America,” one of the leading Prohibition papers of the country contains the following paragraphs:

“One hundred men rule America! The entire control of the United States, financial, industrial, and political, is at present gripped in the relentless grasp of a money oligarchy—a star-chamber coterie of about one hundred men who rule prices up and wages down, who stifle legitimate business that they may have gold for their own mad speculations.

“How They Do It”

“These men control the nation by controlling the source of your bread and meat, your clothing, your means of transportation, and practically all the essentials of your life and labor.

“Most important of all, they control absolutely the country’s credit—its money.

“The Gambling Hells of High Finance”

“They are hard taskmasters. They wring the life from despairing men and women, even from little children, by artificially inflating the profits upon their industrial enterprises, by wantonly wasting the nation’s capital in the gambling hells of Wall Street, and by diverting hundreds of millions in gold from its God-given mission of financing productive industry, to the promotion of speculative undertakings.

“These men have grouped themselves in a center of operations. They have gathered their power around two great New York banks, and through these institutions they aid each other in controlling the entire banking system of the country, its great transportation lines, its manufactories of food and clothing, and the materials which have become essential to the continuance of our daily existence.”

Observe that we said that the foregoing is taken from a Prohibitionist paper, and not a Socialist. For years the Socialists have been saying such things as the foregoing, and any one who said anything like that was accused of “Socialism.” But now all the parties, and many of the people, in all the walks of life, are saying just such things. It is not uncommon to find such statements in any magazine or paper that is published, no matter what may be either its political or religious complexion.

It is true that the paper from which the paragraphs were taken gave a political turn to the statements made. But there is a conviction that the people generally believe the statements to be true, otherwise the proof would have been given along with the statements.

The object we have in quoting these statements concerning the “political trust that owns America,” is to call attention to the discussion that is becoming so general. And discussion of this class is laying the foundation for rioting and violence through the unrest and discontent that is created. Many are fondly hoping that a “peaceful revolution” will clear the social and political atmosphere of all the difficulties that confront us. But men ought to be able to see that the conditions that already exist have gone beyond the stages of peaceful revolutions. There is too much intensity of feeling.

There is, however, in reality a peaceful revolution before the world. It is to be ushered in by the coming of the Prince of Peace. It will be a peaceful revolution for those who are ready for it. But it will be a time of indescribable awfulness for those who are not ready. Think seriously on these things. The evidence is superabundant that the coming of Christ is the one thing that will solve all the social and political evils and problems of the time. T.

Earthquakes in Divers Places.

By T.

On August 30, three distinct earthquake shocks were felt at Reno, Nevada. Chandeliers were rocked and dishes shaken. The direction of the quake was from east to west. At the same time, slight shocks were felt in various parts of Northern California.

On August 31, Guadalajara, Mexico, was violently shaken; the shock lasting for several seconds. This quake followed a warning that had been given out the day before that Guadalajara was resting over a volcano that is liable to break forth at any moment and disrupt the whole of the surrounding country and destroy the city.

We should make serious note of these increasing disturbances, and the storms that are sweeping over so many parts of the world. They are strikingly fulfilling the predictions concerning the conditions that will exist just before the second coming of Christ. And we may know that we have only seen the beginning of what lies before us. These things will increase in frequency and violence. But if you know what they signify, and are resting in the power of Him who is overruling it all, you have not a single terror. How glorious it is to know the real meaning of the conditions of this time, and not have to be distressed by the despair of uncertainty!

Continue reading: Warning of Another Revolution