We send no papers from this office to individuals without pay in advance. When persons receive copies without ordering them, they are sent by other parties, and we can give no information in regard to them. Persons thus receiving copies of the Signs are not indebted to the office, and will not be called upon to pay for them. Please read the papers you may receive, and hand them to your friends to read.
Our authority is the Bible, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. When the Common ("King James" or "Authorized") Version, or the American Standard Revised Version is used, quotations will not be designated in reference. Any Bible quotation in this paper, therefore, differing from the Common Version, unless otherwise indicated, will be almost invariably from the American Standard edition of the Revised Bible, copyright 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons.
Living the New Year
It has been said that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." It is tritely put. Most men or all intend to do right some time. Let the intention become a purpose, the purpose a resolution, the resolution a living principle backed by the grace of Christ. So let us live the new year.
Drunkenness and Crime; Their Significance
"Drunkenness and Crime; Their Significance."—The articles with the above title which were published a short time ago in the Signs are now published as a tract. They are by Mrs. E. G. White. This tract certainly ought to have a very large circulation. It presents thoughts which should be considered by all citizens.
Higher Critics and the Feeding Miracle
Higher critics have to stoop to what seems to us would be a tremendous wrenching of conscience, in order to make believe that they believe the word, by putting upon it a construction which suits their unfaith. For instance, the Rev. R. J. Campbell, pastor of City Temple, London, explains the feeding of the multitude by Christ as not a feeding of the bodies but a feeding of the souls with the bread of life.
The Contents of This Paper
By Editor
We earnestly hope that the good things in this paper may be thoughtfully read. The first article by Mrs. E. G. White is a most excellent, hopeful, helpful article to the despairing soul. The article on Christian Science presents thoughts for study and consideration. The report of our correspondent who attended the International Socialist Congress at Stuttgart will be of interest, we are sure, to all. All may not accept his conclusions but every one who knows man and knows Christ will see their logic. The Gospel is preeminently set forth in this paper in the article on Romans, the Bible-reading, and ''God the Revealer.'' The Bible-reading for the next issue is ''The Everlasting Covenant'' question.
The Cheapest Commodity
By E. G.
The Cheapest Commodity.—The Portland Oregonian says that "the cheapest commodity in the United States to-day is human life. It is protected by no tariff; it is monopolized by no trust. Even the courts which are instituted primarily to safeguard life make it of less account than property. Mr. Justice Brewer says very frequently that the chief duty of the Supreme Court is to protect property, but it is difficult to recall anything he has ever said about its obligation to protect life. . . . The wholesale murder and holocaust of a family excites a little passing attention even in Marion County, where murder is one of the common pastimes of excitable citizens." And so the article goes on; tells us that the death of a child under painfully suspicious circumstances is not worth investigating, and asks, "Are we returning to savagery? Not even Italy, the land of brigandage, where the knife is thrust into the enemy's back on the slightest provocation, can compare with our record of homicides." Referring to suggested causes, the Oregonian admits that it looks as tho inherent "cussedness" had a good deal to do with it. "We like to praise our national good temper, but a country which can show more murders to the thousand than any other in the world must shelter a certain amount of temper which is not so good." And this charge of the Oregonian in the Northwest is in harmony with that of the Atlanta Constitution from the Southeast which we quoted in our last issue, under the heading, "Our National Shame." The word of God bares the secret of it all when it declares that in the last days lawlessness (disregard of God's law) shall abound; and when men lose regard for God's law we may expect a harvest of crime against human law. E. G.
Women Smoking
Women Smoking.—A news item from New York under date of January 2 declares that permission to allow women to smoke in public dining rooms, introduced at one of the prominent Broadway restaurants on New Year's Eve, is so successful that another large restaurant has immediately followed suit, and it is expected that several more will do the same. It is a horrible thing to think of. It is bad enough to see men smoking, but to see women degrade themselves to the coarsening, benumbing habit is monstrous.
Earthquakes in Alaska and Jamaica
The great earthquake noted last week, supposed to be wholly marine, had its effect up in Alaska, which was violently shaken by an earthquake of two minutes' duration. Great embankments of rock and projecting cliffs were precipitated into the sea. The seismic convulsions in that section have been greater than ever before recorded or remembered. On Friday, January 3, Jamaica was greatly shaken.
Death, Resurrection, and Immortality
Alexander H. Peacock, one of the multi-millionaires of Pittsburg, offered the physicians of that city one million dollars if they could save the life of his friend, Dr. Ridgeway. He is worth fifteen millions, and declared he would have given every penny in the world. “I loved him,” he tells us, “as a brother, and it was awful to think of him having to die.” Death is awful, and there is no power in the human to stay its hand in the ultimate; only One can do it, and He is the Lifegiver who has passed thru the grave. We can not buy it of Him; we must get it of Him by simple faith in His great love and mercy. To those who trust Him it will be given without money and without price. Death is “the last enemy” that “shall be destroyed,” and the grave will give back its prey, and those who go down clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ will come up clothed with His immortality.
Wireless Communication at Sea
What a great change has taken place in this old earth the last few years thru mechanical inventions! It was but a short time ago that when a ship left the coast of any country for the wide ocean it was lost until it touched again at some port or happened to meet some other ship on its way; but now thru wireless telegraphy and wireless telephony the ocean is "trackless" no longer. For instance, Admiral Evans' fleet a few years ago would not have been heard from for weeks, and the vessels of the fleet themselves would very likely be separated in a very short time. Now, however, they ring each other up by telephone, and their wireless telegraph operations are quite sufficient to pick up a ship with a day's run between them.
St. Helena Sanitarium Souvenir Booklet
A souvenir booklet of the St. Helena Sanitarium, at Sanitarium, Napa County, Cal., comes to hand. This is a fine institution, in a beautiful place. During the last year it has added greatly to the beautifying of its surroundings and also erected a fine, new hospital; it is constantly gaining in patronage. This booklet is a beautiful thing, well gotten up and neatly printed, full of particulars, and may be obtained by addressing Howard F. Rand, M.D., medical superintendent, or L. M. Bowen, business manager.
Epsom Salts as Anesthetic and Tetanus Cure
A new medical discovery is reported from the Rockefeller Institute, which, if all that the sensational dailies indicate is true, will be of immense value, and that is that one of the most wonderful anesthetics discovered is epsom salts, leaving no evil heart effects like ether and chloroform. And it is also indicated that so far as experiments have gone it may probably prove a certain cure for the dreaded tetanus or lockjaw.
Professor Davidson Honored by Norway
The king of Norway has recently conferred upon Prof. George Davidson of the University of California the great honor of the Cross of the first class of the Royal Order of St. Olav, a distinction that can only be obtained by the sanction of the king's ministers, and for valuable services rendered to Norway. Professor Davidson's specialties lie along the line of geography, astronomy, the aiding of expeditions, navigation, and the mapping of lands little known.
Correction in India Mission Donations
In the donations to our India Mountain Mission Home there was $96.10 credited to the Sanitarium (Cal.) Church. We have since learned that this was a mistake; it should have been credited to the Sanitarium Young People's Society. We gladly make this correction.
American Bible Society Opens Southern Agency
The American Bible Society has recently established its sixth new domestic agency, covering the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and has appointed the Rev. Glenn Flinn of the M. E. Church South as the agency secretary.
