p. 32 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 2. (1/20/1914)

Earlier text: THIS EARTH TO BE REDEEMED AND RESTORED

Religion in the Home

By Eliza H. Morton

Is It Dying Out? Why Is This So?

THE decadence of “old-time religion” in the home is very noticeable. The time was when the family altar and grace said at the table were established customs in the home of nearly every church-member, but now one may visit hundreds of professed Christian homes and never hear the voice of prayer.

The reason for this decline in spirituality is stated in 2 Tim. 3: 1-5. That certainly is a time of peril for any church when its members go through her courts with a “form of godliness,” while at home and in the world they are “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” When card-playing, theater-going, the dance, and all the exciting follies of fashionable life, are practised by professed Christians, how can the standard of righteousness be maintained? When the church and the world clasp hands, the religious atmosphere becomes chilled, the children become “disobedient,” “unthankful,” and “unholy,” and one can not read, in the individual lives of the church-members, the sanctifying, uplifting, purifying power of the Holy Spirit.

The study of the Bible in the home circle is an old-fashioned method of cultivating the minds and hearts of the children, which has fallen into disrepute. There is a great cry, among some reformers, that the Bible should be taught in the public school; but the greater need is that it be studied in the home. Its blessed truths may be made more fascinating to young minds than the pages of the latest novel. Enthusiasm is contagious; and when father and mother take time to open the treasures of God’s word to their children, there will be a ready response, and great will be the reward.

The plea may be want of time, but time is found for other things far less important. An artist once said to a pupil who was painting the shingles of a barn in a landscape scene, “If you spend all your time doing that, you will have no time to paint the sunset.” And so also those who spend all their time on temporal matters will find no time for eternal things.

If there is genuine Christian religion in the home, it will be manifest to visitors and transient callers. The influence of Spirit-filled lives, like the aroma of flowers, can not be concealed. It often happens that God directs an individual to a home where, if the opportunity is improved, he may receive light and spiritual strength. But sad to say, the individual thus directed often goes away without the uplift God designed he should obtain.

A woman once said to a preacher: “My husband was impressed with your sermon last night, and he promised me that he would call to see you. Did he do so?” “Yes,” replied the minister, “he called and asked the price of brass.” “That was an excuse,” said the wife. “What did you say?” “I am sorry to say,” replied the minister, “that I talked brass too.”

The conversation of too many, if not actually about “brass,” is like sounding brass, when God would have it concerning the riches of His grace and the glory of His kingdom.

In these latter days, these days of reform on downtrodden truths, these days when the Holy Spirit speaks through the lips of men and women, it is meet that the home should become the very center of spiritual life.

“By the fireside read the Bible, Lift the voice in prayer, Teach the children of the Saviour, Praise Him everywhere.” ELIZA H. MORTON.

Notice of the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Press Publishing Association

Notice is hereby given, to all whom it may concern, that the annual meeting of the members of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, a corporation, organized and existing under, and by virtue of, the laws of the state of California, will be held at the office of the association on Villa Street, in the town of Mountain View, county of Santa Clara, state of California, on Monday, the 26th day of January, A.D. 1914, at 10 o'clock A.M.

The election of directors, repealing or adopting new by-laws, or such other business as may be necessary or proper to be transacted, will come before the members of the association.

By order of the directors.

C. H. JONES, President. H. G. CHILDS, Secretary.

Questions and Answers

By Editor

The Premium of This Journal

Practical and comprehensive exposition of difficult, perplexing, or hard texts in the Bible.

Recognized and accepted by leading Bible students.

You can not purchase a copy. It is given only as a premium of the Signs of the Times weekly at these terms: The journal one year . . . . . . $1.75 Value of the book . . . . . . 1.25 Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3.00

SPECIAL,— the journal one year and the book, $2.00, or the book free with two yearly subscriptions at $1.75 each.

Over 250 pages. Almost 300 Questions and Answers. Topical and Textual Indexes. Full Cloth Binding.

Paper and book to separate addresses if desired. You will find both a great help to you in your study. Address our depositories, or Signs of the Times Mountain View, California

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Notice

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

"SHILOH, THE MAN OF SORROWS," published three years ago in the SIGNS, will soon be published in book form, if enough additional advance subscribers can be obtained to warrant it. I wish to thank those who have already sent in orders. The book will be neatly bound in cloth, 350-400 pages. Price, from $1.00 to $1.50. Agents wanted. Send no money, but address the author, quick.

Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle, 1215 Vermont Ave., Lansing, Mich.

FOR YOUR GENERAL STUDY

By Editor

For twenty-five cents, you can supply yourself with a set of thirteen of the very best Bible tracts published, covering the general vital topics of Scripture. These are enclosed in a strong manila envelope, which contains also eleven extra copies — twenty-four in all — to pass on to others. Call for Pocket Package No. 1.

Notice the variety and subjects:

2 Topical Bible Studies .................... (B. S. L. 185) 2 Spiritualism ................................. (B. S. L. 112) 2 The Temporal Millennium ........... (B. S. L. 121) 2 Waymarks to the Holy City ......... (B. S. L. 189) 2 Relation of the Law to the Gospel (B. S. L. 166) 2 How Esther Read Her Bible ........... (A. G. L. 7) 2 Is Man Immortal? ......................... (A. G. L. 86) 2 New Testament Sabbath ............... (B. S. L. 137) 2 The Seventh, or One Seventh? .... (A. G. L. 39) 2 We Would See Jesus .................... (B. S. L. 173) 2 Bible Baptism ............................... (B. S. L. 204) 1 Turkey and Its End ....................... (B. S. L. 207) 1 The Name ..................................... (A. G. L. 72)

Address your tract society, or this office.

Ripe Olives for Sale

By A. E. Crist

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For Sale

By C. F. Marvin

I have two new cottages of the Swiss chalet style in a rapidly growing part of Los Angeles, which should bring, in the regular way, $3,500 and $4,000. They rent continually for $26 and $28 a month. I will cut the price heavily to obtain what I have in them to use in the message. If you are interested, write for particulars. C. F. Marvin, care Sanitarium, Glendale, California.

The Growth and Menace of Socialism

By Editor

The mayoralty of Schenectady was held by a Socialist during the past term; but at the late election, by the Republicans and Democrats uniting, they were able to defeat the Socialist candidate. Nevertheless, he polled one thousand more votes than he did when elected mayor of the city. The Socialists made a slight gain in New York City also, as shown by the recent elections. Mr. Debs, Socialist candidate for president a year ago, had a greatly increased vote throughout the country over the vote of four years previous.

The statistics are abundant in showing the remarkable increase of the Socialists in all parts of the world. Many people look at the growth in Socialism as a great menace. However that may be, we certainly ought all to see that it is a strong indication of the deep-seated discontent and unrest among the masses. Wherever you see these Socialistic gatherings, you will find an earnest group of men who are vigorously applauding the utterances of their speakers when they are denouncing the present social order and demanding a change. And one of the most foreboding conditions of this time is the demand that is now made by so many, that these changes, in the place of being brought about peaceably, must be secured by force and bloodshed.

Cigarettes and Race Hatred

By Editor

A NOTORIOUS outlaw who is under death sentence for a murder committed in a train robbery said: "I started wrong when I was a kid. I smoked cigarettes, the habit increasing on me all the time. I smoke more than thirty a day now. I ran with tough boys and bad women." Some of the best authorities on the depravity of boys and young men say that the cigarette is one of the chief elements in the process of degradation. Physicians tell us of the irritating effect that tobacco smoke has upon the system, and the cigarette is the worst form in which tobacco can be used, because of the almost universal practise of drawing the smoke into the lungs. There should be as wide-spread a campaign against the use of tobacco, and particularly against the use of the cigarette, as there is against the use of alcoholic drinks. They are twin evils that should be fought to the finish.

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON gives out the statement that forty-five Negroes have been lynched during the first ten months of this year. This is a reduction of four as compared with the same period last year. Of the forty-five, only seven were charged with assaults on women. Some people have thought that practically all these lynchings were occasioned by the outraged feelings in communities where Negroes had mistreated women. The facts would seem to indicate that only a small part of the victims have been lynched for that crime. Race hatred is, without question, the foundation cause of most of this mob rule, and this fact ought to show us that our civilization has not advanced to perfection, by any manner of means.

THE anti-liquor law in Little Rock, Arkansas, went into effect at midnight, December 31. That night the saloons offered bargain sales on liquor, and many were giving away packages to old customers. We are glad to see this territory added to the ranks of the prohibition states. But notwithstanding our successes in prohibitory lines, the per capita consumption of spirituous liquors is increasing year by year. What would the condition of the world be without the restraining influence of the moral power represented in our noble army of temperance workers?

THE management of a big manufacturing company in New Brooklyn, Connecticut, has informed their female employees that they must discard hobbled and slashed skirts and all other forms of immodest dress, and attire themselves in a manner more becoming to modesty and more businesslike. It would be well if a similar sentiment could prevail in all business establishments throughout the country.

THE postal savings banks have proved themselves very popular. California, which ranks as fifth in its postal savings deposits, has placed in these banks $5,704,636. 71,443 people in the state have availed themselves of the security afforded by the government to its depositors.

AN item showing the great advancement made with the aeroplane is furnished by the plan that has been completed by the Aerial League of Paris to cross the Sahara Desert with a flotilla of aeroplanes. The distance to be traveled is approximately 1,400 miles.

THE bubonic plague is spreading in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Fifty-two new cases were reported on a single day in November. The city is making vigorous efforts to place itself in a proper sanitary condition, with the hope of staying the plague.

UNDER the new initiative and referendum law, the state of California has initiated a prohibitory liquor measure, to be voted on in the election next fall. She has also initiated a universal eight hour labor law.

THE pipe factories in Missouri use more than 150,000 bushels of corn-cobs in making their corn-cob pipes, which are sent into all parts of the world.

A YOUNG French aviator flew 13,000 miles in 39 days, and thereby won an $8,000 prize for distance flying.

The Value of Sanitation

PERHAPS there is no better modern object-lesson on the real value of observing sanitary law than what has been accomplished in the Panama Canal Zone under the direction and efforts of Colonel Gorgas. The Journal of the American Medical Association is authority for the statement that the month of August, 1913, which marked the high tide of American occupancy of the Canal Zone, passed without a single death of disease in the American colony. Two Americans were killed by accident.

When there was talk of cutting the great canal across the isthmus, much was said in regard to the impossibility of any but natives living there. It was thought that men could not be taken from this country who could live there any length of time. But the sanitary laws that are well understood by the up-to-date physicians of this time were rigidly enforced, and these marked results have followed.

And in this connection, it is worthy of note that the laws of sanitation promulgated by Moses still stand at the head, which is, incidentally, a conclusive evidence of the divine inspiration that guided that great man of antiquity.

The Decline of Civilization

THE national council on race betterment is said to be an association of scientists and sociologists. They are to hold their next meeting at Battle Creek, Michigan, June 8, to discuss ways and means of "lessening the appalling tax that civilization has left upon mankind in the way of degeneracy." In the prospectus of subjects to be discussed in this meeting, it is affirmed that "man is losing his teeth; his sight is dim; is losing his sense of smell; he is increasingly subject to cancer, insanity, Bright's disease, heart weakness—all maladies of circulation; his expectation of life is growing smaller; his crime record is increasing at an extraordinary pace." The fallacious teachers of evolution, who have been trying to make us believe that the race is getting stronger and better, and fallacious teachers among the sociologists, who have been trying to persuade us that morality is strengthened in mankind, ought to be paralyzed by the overwhelming facts that show to the contrary. Superficial thinkers may content themselves with following some of the popular fads in the prevalent but absurd styles of thought. Serious and reflective minds, however, will recognize existing fact as it presents itself so palpably on every side of us.

War Appropriations and Universal Peace

By Editor

Secretary-of-War Garrison has presented to the House his estimate for the army for the next fiscal year. He requests $106,000,000, which is about ten million greater than the figures submitted a year ago. The armies and navies of the world are seeking constantly for increasing appropriations. How good it would be if that $106,000,000, instead of being appropriated for the destruction of mankind, could be used to relieve the wants of the ten million people in the United States who are said to be living below the bread line! Some great, good, and true men and women in these times have high ideals for universal peace and for relieving the sufferings of humanity; but the pressing majority crowd them into the background, and the great war-god ruthlessly demands his sacrifice year by year. Some men think that universal peace lies just ahead of us, but the prophecies and the facts point to the universal war of Armageddon instead.

5,000 Miles of Children

THE National Child Labor Committee, with its headquarters in New York City, has recently sent out the announcement that the factories and similar industries of the United States contain such a host of children that if they were placed in a procession twelve feet apart, the line would reach from San Francisco to Boston, and thence to New Orleans, a distance of about 5,000 miles.

It may appear that each one of these children is under the necessity of being put to labor in this way in order to assist in supporting the family; but throwing that question to one side, what does such a procession of children wearing their lives out in factories, cut off from the usual joys of childhood, and shut away from the opportunities of education, speak concerning the greed and the heartless, grinding power of wealth?

There is an abundance in this great nation to supply the needs of all; and were it not for the selfishness of the time, these children would not be forced in their tender years to a life of grinding toil.

Facts like these lay the foundation for the appeals and agitations of the Socialist, of the Syndicalist, and various other organizations that believe that the "existing conditions of society should be overthrown and a different order established."

There is no question but that the existing order will be overthrown. Men are looking this way and that, and are proposing all sorts and kinds of solutions to these difficulties. But God's word has said that "the last days" shall be made perilous because grievous times will come through the love of self and the love of money. Please read carefully the first part of the third chapter of 2 Timothy.

Oppression, greed, and debauchery, according to this prophetic utterance and many similar utterances in the divine Book, will characterize the last days of the reign of sin. And just as God overthrew the old world by a flood because of its wickedness, and just as He overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness, and just as Tyre and Sidon were providentially destroyed, so will God destroy the greed, the luxurious wickedness, and the crimes of this time by the second coming of Christ.

That event of Christ's coming is hanging by a brittle thread over the world at the present time. God is graciously waiting for men to hear the call and to get ready to participate in the joys of the great occasion. But those who are not ready will find that the last days mean everlasting ruin, in the place of the everlasting joy God intends.

Commercial Rivalries and War Preparations

Recent despatches say that an agreement has been entered into between the Chinese foreign minister and the German minister at Peking for extensive railway construction in China. German engineers are to be employed, who will utilize purely German materials and German capital. Present plans embrace the expenditure of about twenty millions. Commercialism is one of the strongest passions of this age; and while this deal between China and Germany is on the face of it a very commendable and proper thing, yet it is just such innocent and perfectly proper transactions that lay the foundation for misunderstandings in commercial lines, and create jealousies on the part of other nations, and furnish the excuses with this commercially mad age to urge on the unprecedented preparations for war.