p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 48. (11/27/1901)

Earlier text: The Enduring Power of Influence

Luther’s Lesson on Civil Power

On Sunday, November 10, Lutherans celebrated, by various services, the four hundred and eighteenth anniversary of Martin Luther’s birth. Would that they might recall one great truth held by the reformer, and which found strong emphasis in reformation times. Luther rejected the aid of the civil magistrate, contending that God could care for His own without interference by the civil magistrate. Zwingli united with the civil power to protect and promote the faith. The former found prosperity, the latter met defeat and death. Would to God that Protestants might heed the lesson.

The Apparent Motion of the Sun

A correspondent finds fault because the SIGNS says, “Apparently, the ‘sun revolves around the world from east to west’” (October 9, page 7, November 6, page 16); and says, “When I ask you to explain a question for me, ‘I want the truth. I do not want what it seems to be.’ But that is just what the SIGNS told the writer. ‘Apparently the sun revolves around the earth from east to west;’ really the earth revolves on its axis from west to east. The language of the Bible is often the language of appearance. It speaks of ‘the rising of the sun,’ ‘the going down of the sun,’ the sun’s ‘going forth,’ etc. A well-known and thoroughly up-to-date astronomer writes us:—

EDITOR SIGNS OF THE TIMES: I have just read on the last page of number 45 of the SIGNS concerning the motion of the sun and the earth, and the SIGNS is right! The sun does, apparently, move round the earth, and the Ptolemaic system, which was accepted for 1,400 years, and the system of Tycho, just as fully account for all the motions of the sun and some other celestial bodies as the true, or Copernican, system. Even practical astronomers speak of the celestial bodies rising and setting, and moving from east to west. B.

Surely there is no need for misunderstanding or criticism in any of this.

The Living Law and the Gospel

They would know in their own experience that that living law pointed out sin and condemned the sinner. They would see Christ crucified to release man, not from obedience to the law’s righteous demands, but from its condemnation by the obedience of Christ. They would see that same living law, “the law of life ‘in Christ Jesus,’” as the Gospel in its power to save. In the very nature of the case they would know that the law is living and eternal. Men do not know this, because they do not know the living, eternal God. They discuss Him and His religion as they do Buddha and his teachings. “But Jehovah is the true ‘God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King. ‘At His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation. ‘Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not ‘made the heavens and the earth, even they shall ‘perish from the earth, and from under these ‘heavens.’” “Thy righteousness is an everlasting ‘righteousness, and Thy law is the truth.” “All His ‘commandments are sure. They stand fast forever ‘and ever.” Reader, would you be so established? —Let God write that law in your heart.

Why They Do Not Understand

By very many the law of God is not understood, because it is to them a dead law. They look upon it as they do the statutes of an earthly government. It is simply words. They have not seen the great thought, it has not entered their souls, that the living, everlasting, unchangeable God must have a living, everlasting, unchangeable law, the expression of His own divine character. If once they could see this, if once they could know the power of this living law, they would never question its perpetuity again. They would not haggle over texts and seeming objections; would not try to get some scripture that, by unwarranted inference, seems to abolish the law. No; they would settle forever that God’s “righteousness ‘shall not be abolished;’” that “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law ‘to fail.’”

REMEMBER THAT SPLENDID OFFER.

By Editor

The SIGNS OF THE TIMES ($1.50 a year) and THE GOOD HEALTH ($1.00 a year) may both be secured by sending only $1.75 to this office. Now is the time to subscribe.

Jacob Riis on New York’s Corrupt Rule

It is a terrible indictment which the well-known writer, Jacob A. Riis, brings against the powers that rule in New York City, as given in a stirring article in The Outlook of October 26. Mr. Riis has made a close study of the slums of that great city, and is thoroughly familiar with its tenement-house problem. He shows, as only one who is familiar with his subject can show, how the administration of that municipality has become a game of profit in the hands of the most unscrupulous men. The article is an unanswerable testimony in rebuttal against the glowing generalities indulged in by many in the attempt to prove that the world is growing better. And New York is not alone in this work of ruling a city in the interests of a ring of conscienceless men. The slogan of a “good time coming,” and a “glorious future,” can only be shouted while men turn their backs and cover their eyes from such facts as Mr. Riis there places before the public.

The Carnal Mind and God's Law

There is one objection to God's law that no human argument can overcome, namely, the carnal mind; “because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” But the objection can be removed. Count the carnal mind crucified with Christ.

“THE SENTINEL OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY.”

By Editor

This is not the new name of a new periodical, but the new name of an old periodical. The American Sentinel was first published by the Pacific Press Publishing Company in 1886. Its object was to protest against anything and everything that tended toward a union of Church and State. It was set for the defense, in the field of thought, of the principles of human rights enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, and guaranteed by the Constitution. It met all Americans on common ground.

In May, 1900, the journal was moved to Chicago, and published under the name, The Sentinel of Liberty. America had committed itself, in its three co-ordinate branches of government, to the evils of religious legislation. It has repudiated the equality of man set forth in the Declaration of Independence. It professes (not yet in its fundamental law, which is practically set aside, but) in high and influential circles and Supreme Court decisions, to be a Christian nation. The Sentinel of Christian Liberty desires to meet them on this blessed and holy ground, and reason with all thoughtful people over the great issues pending in this nation, and in the world.

Once again it is published by the Pacific Press Publishing Company, from its office in New York City, 11 West Twentieth Street. It will be published monthly in magazine form; its first issue is November, 1901. It will contain 64 pages and cover. Its price is $1.00 a year. Its editor is John D. Bradley, one who understands thoroughly the principles of Christian liberty, and who for some time was editorially connected with it. There are announced the following editorial contributors:—

A. T. Jones, a former editor of the Sentinel and a well-known writer on the subject with which it deals; M. C. Wilcox, editor SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.; A. G. Daniells, President of the General Conference; C. P. Bollman, editor Gospel Herald, Nashville, Tenn., and a former editor of the Sentinel; L. A. Smith, assistant editor Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich., and also a former editor of the Sentinel.

It ought to, and we are sure will, be a strong journal, of great interest and mighty mission.

To those who subscribe now, the journal will be furnished to the close of 1902, including the November and December issues of 1901, for $1.00. It will be furnished with the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, the two for one year, for $2.00.

We hope that all friends of liberty will co-operate in giving the Sentinel a wide circulation.

God Disposes

God Disposes.—Contrary to all hypotheses of science, God works in His own way. The traditional way, as science has arranged it, to build a world, is evolution from nebular mist. One such mass of nebulous mist, sometime in the remote ages, evolved the star in Perseus, which blazed forth so brightly last spring, rivaling the brilliant Sirius in splendor. All at once it died away to a star of the sixth or seventh magnitude, discernible only to the more practical and keener eyes. Now Prof. Perrine of Lick Observatory tells us that the camera has discovered that Nova Persei is now a nebula. It has reverted, and it has not taken a million of ages for it either. There are still many things in heaven and earth that the evolutionist knoweth not.

The Way to Wickedness

The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in order to promote a social spirit among the students, is advocating the giving of informal suppers, in which students and teachers shall freely mingle, drink beer, and smoke. Such gatherings have been held in that institution, and have been pronounced a great success. Truly the way to wickedness is being made exceeding broad and easy of access.

You Cannot Get Along Without God

Reader, God can get along without you, if you so desire; but you can not get along without God. Therefore, never leave Him out of your reckoning.