p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 41. (10/13/1898)

Our Million Copy Issue.

By Editor

We are grateful indeed for the many words and only good words which come to us from every quarter regarding our quarter-centennial issue of the first week in January. And we feel sure that our friends will do much more than express appreciative words of our efforts; we count on their co-operation for the circulation of a million copies. But why should it stop at a million? Is there any reason why it should?

WHAT OUGHT WE TO URGE?

By Editor

HERE is something so good that we can not resist the impulse to publish it. It is from a Canadian paper, the Shawville Equity of July 24:—

“DEAR SIR: There is a peculiar-looking man, claiming to be deaf, going around the village and country soliciting subscriptions for papers, pamphlets, and books. I would advise the public to have nothing to do with his papers, etc. The paper which he is seeking to introduce is SIGNS OF THE TIMES, published in Oakland, California. Among the evils which it seeks to advance is the overthrow of the Christian sabbath. For this purpose they urge the complete freedom of all religious belief and practise from State control or restriction, thus making it an easy matter for sabbath-breakers and all enemies of Christianity to spread their pernicious teachings and practises, which would be a curse to our land. W. KNOX.”

Of course it is not all true, but we presume the writer meant to tell the truth. The “man” was probably “deaf,” for there is no proof presented to the contrary, and deafness per se is neither crime nor sin. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES most emphatically does not seek “to overthrow the Christian Sabbath.” The Christian Sabbath must be the Sabbath which Christ the Creator made (Gen. 2:2, 3; Col. 1:16), and which Christ the Teacher and Example affirmed and kept (Matt. 5:17–20; 12:1–12; Luke 4:16; John 15:10). This is the seventh day, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Ex. 20:8–11. What is there wrong about this? Yes, the SIGNS OF THE TIMES urges “the complete freedom of all religious belief and practise from State control or restriction.” The Lord never demanded a greater privilege for Himself than He was willing to grant to others. All that Christianity or truth desires is “a fair field and no favor.” Let the believers, and the friends of truth and Christianity, live their religion, and follow the Word of God, if they would have power over the ungodly. Truly then, as of old, God would put His fear upon all the nations round about. He who is not willing to grant “complete freedom of all religious belief and practise from State control or restriction,” either does not believe the truth or has no faith in the promises of God. The truth is of God, and God is almighty. The effort to suppress error by error’s methods, will ever result in the spread of error and increase of sin and the exaltation of those thus oppressed. True Protestantism looks to God and persuasion. The opposite trusts in force.

The Cause of It.

—The people of the eastern part of this country have been suffering greatly from the heat in recent weeks. From Japan we learn that such has been the case there. The heat in the East, we learn from private letter, has been unprecedented. The cause?—Well, the Thrice-a-week World says: “Even the weather sharps at Washington give it up. They declare that in the absence of balloon stations high in air they can not find out what has caused the present remarkable hot wave. One of them does indeed venture the suggestion that it has resulted from the excessive heating of the atmosphere to a great height above the earth. After carefully weighing this suggestion we incline to accept it. It is in line with the explanation once given by a young professor concerning a period of excessive cold. ‘I am disposed to attribute it,’ he said, ‘to a deficiency of caloric in the atmosphere.’” From the standpoint of the “Word of prophecy” we may say that extreme heat and cold are just what may be expected. “The earth is waxed old as doth a garment.” In many places it is normal; in others, thin and threadbare. It is gouty, rheumatic, subject to chills and inflammations, and will so continue till its Lord changes it; and it shall be changed.

Giving Credit to the Author

By Editor

A correspondent writes us that the poem “Thou Art, O God,” credited “Mrs. Lombard,” in SIGNS No. 35, present volume, is an old hymn, credited to Moore. We thank him. It is impossible in these days of multiplied writers, books, and papers, for one person to read all poetry, or to keep in mind all that he has read. There are many who take advantage of this to palm off articles and poems written many years before on editors and publishers as original matter, and many times receive compensation therefor. Of course it is stealing. Sometimes a good poem is copied by some one of its admirers and sent to a publisher, the writer not quoting the poem or giving the author’s name, not designedly, but unwittingly, not understanding what quotation marks are for or the ethics of the question involved. This may have been the case with the above, but, if so, after the poem was published over the name of Mrs. Lombard, and Mrs. Lombard saw it, Mrs. Lombard ought to have disowned its authorship. We desire to “render to all their dues.”

A Meat Famine.

By Editor

Our News columns announce a meat famine in Germany, so that horses, dogs, cats, etc., are sold readily for the slaughter-house and the fragrant sausage. We frequently see accounts given of some poor family, and it is pathetically stated that the family has had no meat for weeks or months. Well, what of it?—Simply this; meat is not needed. There are many families the members of which are doing hard work in the spheres of brain and brawn who have not for years eaten meat. And they will all contend that they have better health. Why should the dog and the cat and the noble horse be forced to pay tribute to man's merciless maw?

The Moki Snake Dance

“The Moki Snake Dance” is the title of a neatly printed and beautifully-illustrated pamphlet by Walter Hough, Ph.D., published by the Passenger Department of the Santa Fe Route. The nearest way to reach this interesting tribe of Indians, with their curious ceremonies, is from several stations on the Santa Fe Railway, Flagstaff, Cañon Diablo, Winslow, and Holbrook. For further particulars address W. J. Black, General Passenger Agent, Topeka, Kan., or C. A. Higgins, Asst. G. P. A., Chicago, or John L. Truslow, General Agent, San Francisco, or any local agent of the road. According to Mr. Hough, such a visit would be of interest.

Who Spoke the Ten Commandments?

Mr. Henry Varley says: “The Lord Jesus Christ never gave the fourth commandment to His disciples to keep or observe. Where no law exists, there can be no transgression.” Will Mr. Varley tell us, in the light of John 1:1–3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Acts 7:38, and other scriptures, who did speak the Ten Commandments? Will he dare say that Christ did not affirm them in Matt. 5:17–20 and Luke 16:17? And will he also tell us where any law exists for Sunday sacredness?