p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 5. (2/4/1913)

Turkey and Its End

THE world's attention to-day is turned toward the Turk, and what is to become of his possessions. 50,000 copies of the 32-page tract entitled “Turkey and Its End,” which presents Turkey's history in the light of Scripture, have been called for since its announcement three weeks ago. The world is interested not only in the present movements in the Near East, but in their significance. Daniel's prophecy has clearly outlined this. The tract gives history and prophecy, and introduces a one-page map to show the original territories of the Kings of the North and of the South, together with a double page map showing Turkey a hundred years ago in contrast to its present reduced territory in Europe.

In quantities for circulation, $2.00 a hundred, post-paid. On orders for less than 10 cents worth, add 2 cents extra for postage. Address your tract society, or

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What Is Success?

“WHAT a foolish man!” exclaimed a lady on the train the other day, as a foolhardy fellow attempted to ride one horse and lead another in the face of a puffing locomotive. It was foolish, for it was unnecessary. It only increased the nervousness of the horses. After several attempts he succeeded, and the same lady who had condemned his folly, remarked, “Well, he is a courageous fellow.”

Such, thought we, is the way of the world. If the fellow had been defeated, he would have been foolish still. But success, in the eyes of the world, vindicated his act. The petty thief is caught, punished, and execrated. The railway king, the coal baron, the wheat broker, the gigantic swindler, carry to success their nefarious schemes, ruin hundreds financially, and rob the poor of their bread. But they are feted, flattered, and honored. If they had made a failure, they would have been considered fools or knaves, but success crowns them as heroes.

Such is the apparent, the human. The worldling sees only what is near. But God measures by a different rule. The apparent earthly issue is not always the real. In fact, it is seldom so. The earth-mission of Christ was a success when the Rome-sealed stone was rolled to His tomb. The life of John, His forerunner, was a success when he entered the prison of Herod, and his head fell at the axman’s block. And so was the life of Paul, when beheaded at Rome; of Peter, when crucified; and of James, and Philip, and Thomas, and Jude, who met death in various forms. They were victors. Their heroism was not the heroism stimulated by victory; but heroism developed by duty, by the love of the pure, the good, the true. Success in the eyes of the world is frequently the greatest failure; for that success has been purchased at the expense of honor, loyalty, truth, purity, and freedom. The man is successful in the eyes of the world, but in verity he is an absolute slave.

The only true way to view the issues of life is not from their apparent triumph or defeat, success or failure, but what is their effect upon eternal issues. Many a worldly success means eternal failure. If the light of eternity could be allowed to shine upon the enterprises of this world, what a change it would make!

We may not always know the far-reaching effect of our work here; but this we may know: Any work, enterprise, or scheme which, to engage in, compromises honor, integrity, truth, or purity, which leads us to think more of self, and of temporary gain, and of what the world may say, than of the approval of God and a good conscience, is an eternal failure, and only failure, whatever it may seem to be here.

Homesickness — No. 2

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Suttle

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Suttle

Somehow, as these memories come thronging into my mind, my heart grows tender. The cruel years, with their burdens and sorrows and sordid cares, melt away—and I am a child again. But when I wake from my reverie, I know that the old home has gone, and the winding path has grown up with weeds, and the old gray rock has long ago disappeared. The sugar-bush has been cut down by stranger hands, strange faces and forms flit about, and strange feet press the soil which fond memory deems almost sacred ground. Perhaps Time has dealt kindly with some of us. It may be our shoulders are not yet bent by his heavy hand, and cheek and brow are not yet furrowed by his cruel fingers. But we realize with sadness that we are no longer young. The halcyon days of youth are gone forever. The rosy tints of sunrise have given place to the fervid skies of noonday or to the somber hues of twilight. Every little while the news comes to us that another and another of the friends of our youth have laid down the armor and folded the precious hands in dreamless sleep. We vainly try to realize that we shall never see them again in this life—never! We must trudge along without their presence, without their kindly words of cheer, until we, too, falter and pause in the journey, and lie down to rest—until the morning. It is good for us to meditate; but it is blessed to remember that altho the night must come—the night of sorrow and parting and pain and death, to some of us—the morning is very, very near. Then, when we feel twinges of homesickness, let us think upon the resurrection day; this will calm our hearts unspeakably. O, if only we could get a faint glimpse of the many mansions! If only we might catch a little gleam of the glory from the rainbow-circled throne, if we might only hear one faintest strain of the music of the heavenly choir, it would forever cure us of all our longings after earth, and we should only be homesick for heaven.

But the Creator always intended us to love our home—even our earthly home. And I am sure that He is not only willing for us to beautify it, and make it sweet, inviting, and attractive, but He desires us to do so; else He would never have planted the bowers of Eden, with its bewildering array of bright colors, beautiful forms, and satisfying fruits and flowers. Why did not the Almighty place a carpet of inky blackness beneath Adam’s feet, instead of a soft and luxurious blanket of living green? Why draped He not the bowers of Eden with melancholy gray, or somberest brown? Why did He plant the choicest flowers—the rarest fruits? Why does He spread out to our enraptured gaze the varied beauties of hill and valley and sky and plain?—There is but one answer: He delights in beauty, and He has made us to delight in it; otherwise we should not be able to appreciate the glories and the superlative beauties of the “many mansions.”

There is no question but that the man and the woman delighted in their Eden home; neither is there any doubt that, after having been driven, by the flaming sword, from its dear, familiar shades and its sweet-scented bowers, they suffered all the miseries of homesickness.

For the man, there was appointed the thorn and the thistle instead of the fruit and the flower; the sweat drops of exhausting labor instead of the pleasant tasks of his one time bowers of delight.

For the woman were left soul-racking memories of a life of blissful innocence,—memories of face-to-face communion with the sinless inhabitants of heaven. But now, amid the gripping pangs of sorrow, must she people an accursed and outcast world. Ah, how piercing must have been her regret! How must she have turned her tear-dimmed eyes past the thorn and the thistle and the fading leaf and the worm-eaten branch,—aye, past the flaming sword of the angel, toward the beautiful bowers of her Eden home! Homesick?—Yes; such homesickness as you and I can not understand. Ah, nothing less than the shining sword with its multitude of gleaming edges, which gyrated and flashed and “turned every way,” as the mighty sentinel waved it above the familiar gateway, could have prevented the return of the home-hungry and disconsolate pair.

The Chinese character for the word “home” is a rude picture of a roof, a chimney, and a pig; and the missionary says that the chief topic of conversation is the pig—always the pig!

Well, I am glad to say that the Chinese are busy coining another character to represent the home. This time it is to be a man, a woman, and a heart. I am also glad that the Christian idea of what home ought to be, has been in a great measure responsible for this happy change in sentiment.

This feeling of homesickness has afflicted the sons and daughters of earth, betimes, ever since the days of Adam. Do you suppose that Abraham ever knew the sickening pangs of home-hunger? We calmly read the simple account of his wanderings. It does not affect us very much; and I am a trifle afraid that we read it carelessly; it all happened so many years ago. But it is a remarkable story. If we read between the lines we will be astonished to see how plainly is revealed the inner life and the real heart-throbbings of a wonderful man.

More than forty centuries have rolled away since the Almighty gave to this man of faith his great commission,—such a commission as was never given before nor since to any son or daughter of Adam.

The Devil’s Mirth

By Margaret E. Sangster, Jr.

When the lights are shaded and glowing, And the gold and diamonds shine; When the dancing feet are slowing ’Neath the weight of the foaming wine; Then the people toil in the dark and cold (For they have no time to grieve): ’Tis the same sad story, never old; And the devil laughs in his sleeve.

When the snow is drifting in crystals gay, That fall on velvet and fur; In the light of lamps that mark the way Through the night’s dark, gloomy blur, There are other streets where people sigh, That are dusky and round about; Where the women faint and the children die, While the devil’s laugh rings out.

For the devil laughs at sorrow, And the devil smiles at wo; When there can be no to-morrow, And there is no place to go. Ah, if there is heaven o’er us (And we know that it is on high), Will the good Lord look down for us, And hark to His children’s cry?

— Margaret E. Sangster, Jr., in “The Christian Herald.”

Recreation

“An Appeal to Students and Teachers in Our Schools and Employees in Our Sanitariums, Regarding Their Responsibilities before God, as Lights in the World—Selections from the Manuscripts and Published Writings of Mrs. E. G. White.”

This forty-page tract is made up of twenty-two articles, and includes the following subjects: Dangerous Amusements for the Young; Innocent Pleasures for the Youth; Holidays unto God; Firmness in Resisting Temptation; How to Spend Holidays; Symmetrical Education; Christian Recreation; Manual Labor Not Degrading; The True Dignity of Labor; Duties and Dangers of the Youth; Joy in Christianity; Entertainments and Amusements in Our Sanitariums; Physical Exercise as a Remedial Agency; Physical Labor an Aid to Recovery; Substitutes for Amusements; Separate from the World; As Lights in the World.

Price Five Cents.

Can be obtained from Pacific Press, Mountain View, California, or through tract societies.

A REQUEST FOR HEARERS

By K. C. Russell

It has recently been decided by the Northern Illinois Conference Committee to have a series of evangelistic meetings held every evening during the week, except Saturday, conducted in a large and commodious church building located at the corner of Ashland Boulevard and Monroe Street. The meetings will begin immediately following the holidays, and will continue at least during the months of January and February. This church is very centrally located in the city of Chicago, being only about twenty minutes' walk from the business center of the city on the west side. It can be reached from all parts of the city for a five-cent fare.

We would most earnestly request that those who have relatives and friends residing here in the city of Chicago write them at once, giving them the location of the church, and urging them to attend these meetings. These services will be in charge of the writer and his coworkers.

K. C. Russell.

3645 Ogden Avenue, Chicago.

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Bibles and Bible Supplies

By Editor

Bibles.—Remember that we are headquarters for anything in the Bible line. Address this office.

Helping Together

By Editor

THERE are constantly coming to this office requests for this paper for (1) those who are poor and unable to take the paper; (2) for mission work among prisoners and others otherwise confined or secluded; (3) for public reading-rooms; (4) for general missionary work in foreign fields by our missionaries; (5) for general missionary work in various phases. Sometimes there are calls for tracts in foreign languages as well as English. It is not possible for the publishing house to meet all these requests. Publications are sometimes published at a loss to the house. We felt sure that many more of our readers would be glad to help us in this work. Thus may we bring together those who have no time or opportunity to do missionary work, but who are able to help others who have the time and opportunity, but not the means. Who will contribute to our Coöperation Fund?

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Our Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the Pacific Press Publishing Association was held January 20, in our new assembly hall on the premises in Mountain View, with a very large attendance of our constituents from all states west of the Mississippi. These were,—the presidents of the union conferences, several conference presidents, various ministerial brethren, the managers of our own branches, state conference and missionary secretaries, and many other brethren and sisters from a distance and locally. The meeting was a most encouraging one, indeed, filled with good things from beginning to end. The amount of business transacted during the past year is $460,000; a gain of more than $33,000 over that of the preceding year; and the net gain for the year, including branch offices, was $37,304.22. All of our branch offices made a good showing this year, and the interest-bearing debt has been reduced $14,000.

We have added two buildings of our own for our branch offices during the past year, at Kansas City, Missouri, and Portland, Oregon; so that our assets,—real estate, plant, equipment, supplies, etc.—at the branch offices and the home office, now amount to $287,401.68; the liabilities to $105,320.63; leaving our present worth at $182,081.05.

Our new building in Kansas City is 32 x 70 feet, one story with basement, on the corner of Euclid Avenue and Thirteenth Street. Total cost, including land, $8,213.64. This was dedicated Wednesday, October 9, 1912. The one in charge of our office there is Mr. S. N. Curtiss, who takes the place of Mr. James Cochran, who is now connected with the home office.

The manager of our Portland Branch is Mr. J. F. Beatty. Our new building in Portland was dedicated July 21, 1912. It is 28 x 45 feet, corner Twenty-first and East Flanders streets.

The manager, in his report, besides these items which we here record, noted the fact of our Pacific Press training school and evening school for the benefit of our employees, and also our neat, new assembly hall, consisting of chapel and schoolroom, which can be thrown into one for larger congregation.

Our foreign business during the last year showed a healthy growth, amounting to $55,555.59.

All these improvements, together with substantial walks, etc., were approved by the constituency. In fact, the whole meeting was very harmonious.

The new board is not organized at this writing, but the directors are as follows: C. H. Jones, H. G. Childs, M. C. Wilcox, H. H. Hall, E. E. Andross, B. M. Shull, James Cochran.

The Advisory Board consists of the presidents of the following Seventh-day Adventist union and local conferences: Central Union Conference, Northern Union Conference, North Pacific Union Conference, West Canadian Union Conference, California Conference, Central California Conference, Northern California-Nevada Conference, Southern California Conference.

A feature of the day was the annual dinner, given in connection with the meeting, in the folding room of the factory. More than 300 sat down to a very substantial meal provided by the sisters of the church, and all enjoyed it immensely. We are glad to record such a meeting, so filled with helpful and interesting incidents.

We were also glad to meet at our annual gathering various officers of the General Conference,—Pastors A. G. Daniells, the president; W. A. Spicer, secretary; W. T. Knox, treasurer, an old resident of Mountain View; George B. Thompson, head of the Sabbath-school Department. The editor-in-chief of the denominational paper, Pastor F. M. Wilcox, was also present. There are many other names that we would be only too glad to mention, but they are so numerous that it would take more space than we can possibly spare in this issue.

Above all things else, we had during the year the gracious presence and blessing of our God. The work is His, and all the glory of all the success be to His name.

Proposed California Legislation

Legislation of all sorts, as usual, is creeping into our various legislatures for the new year. For instance, one of the bills before the legislature in Sacramento is that marriages can only be performed by a justice of the Supreme Court, a justice of the District Court of Appeals, a superior judge, a priest, or a minister; that no girl less than sixteen years old, or man less than eighteen, can marry, even with the consent of their parents. All common-law marriages are forbidden by the bill, and all marriage licenses are illegal unless accompanied with a certificate that neither party is afflicted with infectious diseases, including tuberculosis. Another bill before the legislature is to exempt all colleges in California from taxation. This is an amendment to the Constitution. Property to be exempted includes the buildings, equipments, and grounds not to exceed 160 acres, the bonds and securities. Still another is for the abolition of the death penalty, and the substitution of life imprisonment, with one day each year in solitary confinement, the anniversary of the person's crime.

A Thief’s Repentance

The right kind of repentance and religion seems to have got hold of a Negro thief who was recently sent back to Georgia to serve a prison sentence for stealing. He had stolen many things, but he has returned some, paid for others, and is now voluntarily returning to Georgia to serve his sentence. He ought to be paroled or pardoned.

God’s Word, Not Man’s Opinion

The truth is not to be determined by our mortal picture of what we think ought to be, expecting that God's Word must be interpreted to fill out that picture. Such will ever lead to the misunderstanding and perversion of His Word. Our business is to form our conception from the portrayal of the divine Word. God's Word, not man's opinion, is what we should seek after.

Turkey Yields Adrianople

In the Balkans.— Perhaps we ought to say, beyond the Balkans; for Turkey has submitted to the demands of the allies and yields Adrianople. The Grand Council of the Ottoman Empire considered the war hopeless, and will trust to the great dominant powers of Europe to save all she can in the little territory left in Europe and of the islands in the Aegean Sea. The allies are yet demanding from the defeated Turk an indemnity equal at least to the Turkish debts attached to the territories which they will annex under the treaties. The Turks have a potent argument against this, but this will probably be settled by the powers, who are the largest creditors. But this peace will not last long. There are many Christians in Asia Minor, and the cry will be, “Drive the Turk from Asia Minor.” Of course, this is not Christian; it is human, not humane, but belligerently, brutally, human. That is what war always is, and Armageddon waits the final struggle.

Young Turks Seize Power in Constantinople

Our latest news from Constantinople is that the Young Turks have slain Nazim Pasha, commander-in-chief of the Turkish army, forced the resignation of Kiamil Pasha, the grand vizier, seized the sultan, and appointed Mahmoud Sherket Pasha in his stead. They are determined to hold Adrianople at any cost. The next step will probably be the armed intervention of the powers.

An Arson Trust.

By Editor

A “firebug” in New York City who had been sent to Sing Sing is brought back to confess. He declares that firing buildings was a recreation for him; he enjoyed it; and tells how 300 fires were set, those fires netting $300,000. It involves not only the men who did the immediate crime, but twelve insurance adjusters and insurance agents, a sort of arson trust, men who were joined together to fire buildings for profit. We see but very little difference between this and the dynamiting organization. In fact, we are inclined to look upon the dynamiters as less criminal, because with them there was revenge. They feel that they are doing their work for the good of a cause, utterly unjustifiable as such things are. But the arson trust is doing it for purely selfish purposes. The destruction of property, and possibly of life, is involved in it, as in the dynamite conspiracy. Truly God’s Word, in referring to this time, foretold the moral condition of things,—“Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”

Poincare Elected President of France

M. Raymond Poincare, famous prime minister of France, was elected president of that country January 17, for the term of seven years. He had 483 votes as against 296 cast for his opponent. He was insulted by M. Clemenceau at the opening of the National Assembly for the election of the president, and at once challenged him to a duel, but it was said an explanation followed and the duel was averted.

Governor Marshall on Religious Liberty

By Editor

One of the best speeches before the recent Federal Council of Churches in Chicago was by the vice-president elect, Governor Marshall of Indiana. We propose to give extracts from that speech in future issues. It rang true to vital Christianity and to religious liberty, and our workers will be glad to read it.

Long Beach Saloon Closing Law

We are glad to know that Long Beach has passed a saloon closing law. Table license is allowed in hotels with 200 rooms. People can drink in their own homes.

The Bible, the Only Test

The test, the only test, of doctrine and character is the Word of God, by which we mean “the Bible, and the Bible only.”

A World Radium Trust

And now a radium trust is being formed in London to control the radium output of the world.