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Signs of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 14.

THE W. C. T. U. AND SPIRITUALISM
Earlier text: BARBARIANS NOT BARBAROUS

OUR GENERAL AGENTS.

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Dangers of Pork Eating

By Editor

PORK: or the Dangers of Pork Eating Exposed, is the title of a 16-page illustrated tract that is deserving of a large circulation. Get it, read it, and send it to your friends. Price, two cents per copy. Address PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal.

Religious Liberty Literature

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SENTINEL LIBRARY.

No. Price.
1. The National Reformed Constitution 3 cts.
3. Evils of Religious Legislation 1 "
4. The Blair Sunday-Rest Bill 7 "
5. The Blair Educational Amendment 3 "
6. Purity of National Religion 1 "
7. National Reform and Rights of Conscience 2 "
8. The American Papacy 2 "
9. The Salem Witchcraft 1 "
10. National Reform Is Church and State 2 "
11. What Think Ye of Christ? 1 "
12. Bold and Base Avowal 2 "
13. The National Reform Movement an Absurdity 2 "
14. The Republic of Israel 1 "
15. National Reformed Presbyterianism 4 "
16. A Lutheran View of the National Reform Movement 3 "
17. Religion and the Public Schools 4 "
19. Rev. W. F. Crafts against the Editors of the American Sentinel 10 "
20. Romantism and Civil Liberty 4 "
22. The American Sabbath Union and Human Rights 1 "
23. A Civil Sunday Holiday 1 "
24. Blair's Sunday Rest Bill and Joint Resolution 1 "
25. Civil Government and the Decalogue 1 "
26. National Reform Success Means Religious Persecution 1 "
27. The National Sunday Law, revised 25 "
28. A Religious Political Movement 1 "
29. Arguments on the Breckinridge Sunday Bill 10 "
32. Civil Government and Religion 25 "
33. The Edmunds' Resolution 2 "
35. A Dangerous League 2 "
36. The Churches and the Public Treasury 4 "
37. An Attempt to Christianize the Government 2 "
38. Congress and Sunday Legislation 2 "
39. God and Cæsar 1 "
42. Sunday Laws of the States and Territories 20 "
43. Should Church Property Be Taxed? 2 "
45. An Unbiased Arraignment 1 "
46. The Importance of Maintaining Our Principles 2 "
48. Religious Toleration vs. Religious Rights 1 "
49. The Prohibition Party and Freedom of Conscience 1 "
52. Jesus, the Church, and the World's Fair 2 "
53. The Union of Church and State in the United States 15 "
54. A Christian Nation ½ "
55. Why Adventists Work on Sunday ½ "
56. Sunday Closing of the Midwinter Fair 1 "
57. The Midwinter Fair—Petitions for Sunday Closing ½ "
Views of National Reform, pamphlet 15 "

AMERICAN SENTINEL

By Editor

Set for the defense of liberty of conscience, and therefore uncompromisingly opposed to anything tending toward a union of Church and State, either in name or in fact.
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CHURCH SERVICES.

All of our churches, especially on this coast, who desire their regular weekly services announced in this column, may have it done by reporting through the proper officers.
Oakland.—Church at corner of Twelfth and Brush Streets. Regular preaching services or Bible study. Sunday at 7:30 P.M., Friday at 7 P.M., and Sabbath at 11 A.M. Sabbath school at 9:30 A.M. Sabbath. Prayer and missionary meeting Wednesday at 7:30 P.M. All are cordially invited.
San Francisco.—Church at 914 Laguna Street. Regular preaching services at 7:30 P.M. Sunday and 11 A.M. Sabbath. Sabbath school at 9:45 A.M. Prayer meeting Wednesday 7:30 P.M. Missionary meeting Thursday 7:30 P.M. Seats free.
Los Angeles.—Church at 143 Carr Street. Preaching service Sunday evening 7:30. Missionary meeting Wednesday evening 7:30. Sabbath school on Sabbath at 9:45, and preaching service at 11 A.M. All are welcome.
East Portland, Oregon.—Church, No. 507 East Ankeny St Services every Sabbath 11:30 A.M. Sabbath school 10 A.M. Missionary meeting evening after Sabbath 7 P.M. Prayer meeting every Wednesday evening 7 o'clock. All welcome. Seats free.
Washington, D. C.—Church on Eighth Street between F and G Streets, N. E. Regular preaching service at 11 A. M. Sabbaths. Sabbath school 9:45 A. M. Sunday, 7:30 P. M., Bible study. Prayer meeting Friday at 7:30 P. M. All are welcome.
H. W. HERRELL, Clerk.

LESSON VII.—SABBATH, FEBRUARY 17, 1894.

JESUS BAPTIZED BY JOHN.

Lesson Scripture, Luke 3:1-38.
1. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituræa and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
2. In the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
3. And he came into all the region round about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins;
4. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
5. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways smooth;
6. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
7. He said therefore to the multitudes that went out to be baptized of him, Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
9. And even now the ax also laid unto the root of the trees; every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
10. And the multitudes asked him, saying, What then must we do?
11. And he answered and said unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath food, let him do likewise.
12. And there came also publicans to be baptized, and they said unto him, Master, what must we do?
13. And he said unto them, Extort no more than that which is appointed you.
14. And soldiers also asked him, saying, And we, what must we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither exact anything wrongfully; and be content with your wages.
15. And as the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether haply he were the Christ;
16. John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but there cometh he that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire;
17. Whose fan is in his hand, thoroughly to cleanse his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.
18. With many other exhortations therefore preached he good tidings unto the people;
19. But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done,
20. Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.
21. Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
22. And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily form as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
23. And Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph.
NOTE.—The genealogy of Jesus traced backward through Joseph to Adam, the Son of God, is omitted to save space.
It would be well if all would read again before beginning this lesson, chapters 1 and 2. Try to recall the substance of chapter 1, according to the outline suggested in lesson 4. The following may serve as a topical outline of chapter 2: Birth of Jesus; announcement of the angels to the shepherds; visit of the shepherds; presentation of Jesus in the temple, and recognition by Simeon and Anna; Jesus in the temple, with the doctors. Try to group the contents of a chapter around as few points as possible, and you will be able to grasp and retain them much better. In this lesson we have the time when John began his work, and an account of his teaching, the chapter closing with the baptism of Jesus, and his genealogy.
  1. When did John begin to preach?
  2. Who were high priests?
  3. Where was John when the word of the Lord came to him?
  4. Where did he preach?
  5. What was the subject of his preaching?
  6. Of what prophecy was his preaching the fulfillment?
  7. What does the prophecy say that all flesh shall see?
  8. How many came to hear John’s preaching?
  9. How did he address the Sadducees and Pharisees? Luke 3:7; compare Matt. 3:7.
  10. To what did he exhort them?
  11. What did he tell them they must not think themselves to be?
  12. How did he show them that God was not obliged to recognize them as children of Abraham?
  13. How thoroughly did he say the work of rejecting the bad would be done?
  14. When the people asked him what they must do, what did he say?
  15. What did he reply to the question of the publicans?
  16. What did he say in response to the soldiers’ demands?
  17. When the people wondered whether he was Christ or not, what did he say?
  18. How much greater than he was the One who was to come after him?
  19. What did he say that that One should do?
  20. Which portion did he say should be burned with fire?
  21. While all the people came to be baptized, who came with them?
  22. What took place after Jesus was baptized?
  23. What did the voice from heaven say?
  24. How old was Jesus at that time?
  25. To whom does Luke trace his genealogy?
26. What was done to John because of his faithfulness?

NOTES.

1. NOTE the exactness of the inspired history. It was in the year 12 A.D. that Augustus associated Tiberius with him in the empire, and in the year 14 that Tiberius began to reign as sole emperor; but his reign is properly computed from the earlier date, since that is when he really began to reign. The fifteenth year of Tiberius would, therefore, be A.D. 27. For a full discussion of this matter, see “The Life of Our Lord,” by Andrews, pp. 22-25.
2. JOHN came “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” He preached remission of sins through faith in Christ (Acts 19:4), therefore his baptism was “Christian baptism” in the fullest sense. That everybody who was baptized by him fully understood the significance of the rite, cannot be supposed, judging from the great numbers of people who are baptized in these days, without any real knowledge of Christ.
3. THE prophecy in the fortieth of Isaiah shows that the one crying in the wilderness is preparing the way for a King. A straight and level road must be prepared for him. “Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him; behold his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Isa. 40:10, 11. This evidently reaches to the second coming of Christ, when his reward is with him, to give every man according as his work shall be (Rev. 22:12), showing that the work that John the Baptist begun is to be continued till the Lord comes in glory. The lesson to be learned from the prophecy is that Christ’s power and glory, when he comes the second time, are the measure of his power now to save those from sin who trust in him. He saves and comforts, as priest, with all the power and authority of a king. And his kingly, priestly power is that of One who created the heavens and the earth, who calls the stars by name, and who, by the greatness of his might, keeps every portion of the universe in its appointed place. See Isa. 40:25, 26; Col. 1:11-19.
4. “BEGIN not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our Father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” The Pharisees would begin to say, “We are Abraham’s children,” as the Jews did afterwards to Christ, meaning by that that they were all right. They thought that their position as children of Abraham—birthright members of the church of Christ—made it unnecessary for them to repent. They considered themselves above all danger. God had made promises to Abraham and to his seed, and so of course they were sure of everything. But John told them that they could hope for nothing on the ground of birth and position. “The promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham and his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Rom. 4:13. “They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Gal. 3:7. Rather than acknowledge them in their bigoted self-righteousness as children of Abraham, God would make from the stones men who would accept the righteousness of God by faith in Christ, and thus be true children of Abraham. Here again we find ample evidence that God is no respecter of persons, and that he never shut himself up exclusively to the Jewish nation. The fact that the Jews were not God’s peculiar people, except as their righteousness through faith made them so, is clearly set forth. Read Rom. 4:11-14.
5. “WHOSE fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.” Chaff is very combustible, and quickly consumed by fire. If it were thrown into the fire, the fire could scarcely be quenched quickly enough to keep it from destruction. Even a much more enduring substance than chaff will be utterly consumed when fire breaks out in it, if the fire is not quenched. But here we have chaff, a most inflammable substance, cast into unquenchable fire. How could the utter destruction of the wicked be more strongly stated? “But must not unquenchable fire always continue to burn?”—Not by any means. Many a man has found to his sorrow that the fire which broke out in his house was unquenchable, notwithstanding the strongest efforts of the firemen. The result was that the building was de-stroyed, when the fire went out of itself, because there was nothing left to burn. This burning up of the chaff with fire unquenchable is the baptism of fire spoken of in the preceding verse. Not all men are to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, neither will all receive the baptism of fire. Those who will not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit are counted as the chaff, and will at last be consumed, by immersion in "the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Rev. 21:8. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. 13:41-43.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 29.

RELIGIOUS.

—The Methodists of Kansas are reported to have instituted a boycott on Baker University because it tolerates football.
—Rev. William Reany (Catholic), chaplain with the U. S. fleet at Rio Janeiro, has organized among the sailors a Society of the Holy Name.
—A correspondent of the New York Observer says "it is not true that polygamy has been given up in Utah,—it prevails extensively all over the Territory."
—A High Church Episcopal minister of Philadelphia, named Manifold, an assistant at St. Clements, has resigned his position to unite with the Catholic Church.
—The Christian-nation theorist will claim Florida as a Christian State; but the people, even to the courts, have gone against the governor in his efforts to prevent a prize fight.
—Rev. Mr. Bechger, one of Dr. McGlynn's old assistants in St. Stephen's, in New York, has renounced Roman Catholicism, and is now engaged in mission work among Catholics.
—The Boards of Home and Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church have purchased a lot at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Twentieth Street, New York City, on which they are to erect a building at a cost of $1,000,000.
—About thirty Catholic students at the University of Minnesota have recently "followed the example of Catholic students at other non-Catholic colleges," and formed themselves into a club, to meet every two weeks, and purpose to secure a course of lectures by distinguished Catholic speakers.
—New York City now has two Orthodox Greek Churches, a second having been instituted on the 7th inst. It was organized by a minister who came direct from Constantinople. The Judson Memorial Baptist Church was used for the purpose, and the new congregation is said to number 400.
—At the dedication of a new chapel at Dandridge, England, a short time ago, Rev. Father Hamilton is reported to have stated that there are 1,735 Roman Catholic Churches in Great Britain, and that 1,500 of these have been built during the last fifty years. This is certainly a remarkable increase in the face of a State church,—a rate of thirty per annum.
—There has been considerable query as to why certain nations are called "Christian nations." Perhaps this item from the California Prohibitionist gives the true reason: "Did you ever think of it, friend, the legalized saloon is a distinctly Christian institution, indigenous only to Christian countries, and found nowhere else?" Inasmuch as we know of no other reason for calling them "Christian nations," we are inclined to accept this as the origin of the delusive idea.
—The Jewish Church seems to have fallen a victim, to a limited extent, at least, of the church society epidemic. We read of a meeting recently held in New York to organize a society for securing a better observance of the Jewish Sabbath. About forty prominent rabbis and laymen manifested a desire to move in some special manner for a better Sabbath observance, which has become sadly neglected. The question arises, For what do they maintain a Jewish Church organization, if a separate society is necessary in order to encourage Sabbath observance? Or has the church as a body given up the Sabbath?
—The Catholic Mirror credits the following to "a Protestant paper:" "The Rev. H. R. Haweis, who has hitherto adhered to the black gown in the pulpit, has announced his intention of adopting the surplice in the future. 'Twenty years ago,' he remarks, 'the surplice of the pulpit was the badge of popery, and the black gown of orthodoxy. Now the black gown is the badge of Nonconformity and the surplice is the sign of orthodoxy.' This seems to mean that what was popery twenty years ago is orthodoxy now in the Church of England. In other words, that church has abjured Protestantism, which is now branded as Nonconformity, and gone in for Catholicism as far as the law allows."
—The new Catholic bishop of Dallas, Texas, was recently installed with elaborate ceremony. He was a Chicago priest prior to his elevation, and proceeded to his new field in company with seventeen other Chicago priests. There was a very large congregation, "made up of all denominations, and included a large number of business men." The address of welcome included an apology for the smallness of the "pro cathedral," as the church was called, and a comparison with the humble surroundings in Bethlehem, which was "made glorious by the possession of the King of all riches." Said the speaker, "This little church, though poor in appearance, is already rich by the real presence of God Almighty."

SECULAR.

—Report says a very rich vein of gold ore has been discovered near Gila City, Arizona.
—The Province of Ontario, Canada, has cast a large majority vote in favor of the prohibition of the liquor traffic.
—It is reported that every business place in Courtland, Ala., was recently raided by burglars, and the plunder carried off in wagons.
—The woolen mills at Oregon City, Ore., have been shut down because the employees refused to accept a ten per cent. cut in wages.
—Murderer John McNulty, for whom the gallows have been made ready five times in Sacramento, has had his sentence commuted to imprisonment for life.
—A bill is now pending in the U. S. Senate which provides for the exemption from taxation of property belonging to the Y. M. C. A. in the District of Columbia.
—It is announced from Washington, D. C., that the Secretary of the Interior has ordered that there shall be no more smoking in that department during office hours.
—Bullfighting is to be revived in the City of Mexico, under the authority of the government, and the city council will contract for its conduct for a percentage of the profit.
—The German revenue returns for 1893 show that the expenditures exceed the grants by 40,000,000 marks (about $10,000,000). The excess is mostly for military expenditures.
—A snowslide in White Bird Gulch, Idaho County, Idaho, last week, destroyed the house of a man named Thompson, and killed four of his daughters. The parents and an infant escaped.
—The Old Dominion silver mine, at Colville, Wash., which has run continuously for about nine years, paying to employees an average of $10,000 a month, has been closed on account of the low price of silver.
—Bismarck and Emperor William have become at least outwardly reconciled, and the old "Iron Chancellor" last week paid a visit to Berlin, where he was received with great enthusiasm and made the guest of the royal family.
—The Provincial Parliament of British Columbia has resolved to memorialize the Dominion Government, asking that the present Chinese poll tax of $50 be raised to $100, three-fourths of the amount to be retained by the province.
—Gunpowder and alcohol are the most prominent agents used in the celebration of Christmas by this so-called "Christian nation." Statistics foot up ten violent deaths as California's record for the last celebration of the bogus anniversary.
—Advices from Shanghai announce that Russian agents are seeking permission to settle a colony of 100 families in Corea. The Chinese minister in Corea opposes the concession, as the region desired by the Russians is deemed of strategic importance.
—St. Agnes' Church (Catholic) at South Omaha was recently entered at night by some unknown enemy, who smashed a fine piano, destroyed the altar rail, tore up the vestments, and stole the sacred vessels. The whole damage is said to be $3,000.
—A receiver has discovered that the Guarantee Investment Company, of Chicago, which has outstanding bonds to the amount of $35,000,000, has just $449 with which to redeem its paper. Many workingmen, women, and girls lose their savings through the gigantic fraud.
—Two murderers and four other prisoners escaped from the county jail at Santa Rosa, Cal., on the 23d inst., this being the second escape of murderer Bruggy. As in the case of Chris. Evans' escape from Fresno jail, Bruggy's wife had paid him a prolonged visit just previous to the break.
—The San Francisco Midwinter Fair was formally opened on the 27th inst. If an immense crowd of people, which even the intrepid newspaper reporters hardly presumed to estimate, means success, then the opening was a success. The number admitted through the gates was reported at 72,000.
—A bill has been introduced in the Kentucky Legislature prohibiting the organization or continuance of societies whose object is to discriminate between Christians on account of their religion. The bill is supposed to be specially aimed at the American Protective Association, an anti-Catholic society.
—At midnight of January 23, although the coldest night of the winter, 1,000 citizens of Pueblo, Colo., swarmed around the Colorado Smelting Company's works to catch the glimpse of a ghost that superstitious workmen had reported as making periodical appearances. But it didn't make its appearance.
—A seven-year-old boy named Lenox died at Muncie, Ind., last week, and a post-mortem examination showed that an insect had eaten into his heart. About a year ago, it is said, the boy drank water from a brook and swallowed a bug, and the insect, having eaten its way through the stomach, had reached the heart.
—A dynamite explosion in the harbor works of Barcelona, Spain, on the 25th ult., resulted in the death of two persons and the serious injury of several others. On the same day the civil governor was wounded by a pistol shot as he was entering his carriage. The governor's secretary seized the assailant, who loudly proclaimed himself to be an Anarchist. An accomplice escaped.
—Cremation as a means of disposing of the dead is fast gaining favor. The Alameda County Cremation Society has just been incorporated in this city, and it is expected that 1,000 people will take stock. The city health officer is one of the incorporators. A movement is also said to be on foot for the erection of a crematory at Mountain View Cemetery.
—The world's great educational institutions seem to be descending in the scale of moral dignity, as well as the rest of our much-lauded civilization. The latest illustration is the spectacle of 500 Yale students chasing a painted and greased pig on the college campus. The most appropriate feature of the game was that the pig was labeled "Yale" in large letters.
—A Chinese Sunday school in Trinity M. E. Church, Denver, Colo., was attacked by highbinders on the 23d inst., and a free fight ensued. The interpreter and his brother were the main objects of attack, and were roughly handled. A leader of the highbinders had asked and was granted permission to address the school in Chinese, and during his remarks suddenly precipitated the fight.
—A correspondent writing from the Bahama Islands says of the times there that the highest wages paid are 75 cents per day, and 30 cents are the regular wages. Flour is 5 cents a pound, oatmeal 12 cents, soda crackers 12 to 15 cents, butter 40 cents, meat 20 cents, and milk 20 cents a quart. So that people in this country who work half time on the lowest wages are as well off as the average full workers there.
—A Yokohama dispatch says the Government of Japan will resist all anti-foreign bills presented by any diet that may be chosen. It is further alleged that the streets of Tokio are still unsafe for foreigners, especially ladies and children. The police have closed the headquarters of all political and foreign societies. It is evident that the people of Japan and their representatives have not advanced as rapidly in the adoption of foreign progressive ideas as the government would fain have them.
—On the Pacific Ocean side of Marin County, Cal., on the night of the 20th ult., a series of landslides occurred as a result of the prolonged rainstorms. The little town of Bolinas, situated on a picturesque promontory, was almost entirely destroyed, but a few vestiges being left. Several ranches in the adjacent valleys were also seriously damaged. Strange as it may seem, no lives were lost, but there was much suffering amongst the families suddenly thrown out in the night's storm of water and mud.
—The Methodist ministers of San Francisco undertook to stop the theatrical performance of Evans and Sontag, in which Mrs. Evans and family hold up the noted bandits bearing those names as exemplary heroes. Sontag being dead, and Evans having escaped from jail after his conviction, the latter comes in for the greater share of heroism. But the district attorney announces that there is no law to stop the play, not even to keep the babies off the stage. In the meantime crowds patronize the play. In this "Christian nation" the man who beats the law—be he financier, prize fighter, or bandit—is deemed the hero of the hour.
—There is great difficulty in the matter of getting a jury to try Dr. West, in a San Francisco court, charged with the murder of a young woman named Ada Gilmore. The trouble is that men who have sense enough to read a newspaper and have opinions of their own are not competent as jurors. According to the usual practice, the quickest and surest way to secure a "competent" jury would be to draw upon the insane asylums. The curious feature of the subject is that a judge who decides a case tried without a jury is expected to be a wise and well-informed individual; but if the case be given to a jury to decide, that body must be composed of ignoramuses.

Editorial Notes and Items of Interest

By Editor

WE regret to chronicle a break in the articles "Review of Sunday Legislation in Century Nineteen." By some mishap it failed to reach us. It will doubtless appear in the next number.
IN our Home department will be found a "Dream Story," which should not, in the truths it teaches, be a dream to our readers. It presents a similitude of hard, cold facts in the world of poverty, and presents wholesome principles which should mould the lives of all Christians.
THE Midwinter Fair of San Francisco opened in a blaze of glory, in true California style. It is said that no great exposition of its kind was ever before so fully completed at the time of its formal opening as was this. It presents many attractive and interesting sights, and is in itself a miniature world.
MANY of our correspondents have asked explanation of 2 Corinthians 3. We have not space for an explanation of that scripture at present. We hope soon to give an article on that chapter, which we believe will be helpful to all who desire to know the truth. Let those who have asked for such keep watch. In the meantime let them study God's word, by the aid of his Spirit.
THE Literary Digest of January 20 has the following note:—
The observance of the Jewish Sabbath is threatened. The movement against it, among the Hebrews of London, began several years ago, and that feelings have been quietly gathering force is shown by a letter of "A Jew," to which the Pall Mall Gazette, London, gave prominence the other day. The writer enforces his plea for a transference of the Jewish Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, with great force and eloquence.
All this is to be expected. The true Sabbath keeper is the one who acknowledges God as supreme in all things. By faith he accepts God's ways, God's wisdom, God's commandments; but these are revealed through Jesus Christ, and for all these the Sabbath stands. All who will not accept Christ will give up the seventh-day Sabbath. And the time is not far distant when the Jews who reject Christ will have repudiated his day, and yet be deceived by their own wisdom in accepting a pseudo-Sabbath of the Lord, the first day of the week. When men's minds are blinded, by expediency or profit, to the plain commands of God, it is easy to lose all discrimination between the common and holy, the unclean and the clean. The Jews among others are becoming drunken with the wine of Babylon's fornication, and, like Nadab and Abihu of old, are offering "strange fire" on God's altar.
THE little sketch of "Remarkable Thunder and Hail Storms" in another column is suggestive of that time when the "treasures of the hail," which God has "reserved against the time of trouble," fall upon a guilty world. Of that hailstorm it is said that every stone is "about the weight of a talent." Rev. 16:21.
ATTENTION is called to the article on "The National Christianity Question," which will be finished in our next number. This number of the SIGNS and the next should be placed in the hands of those who have become imbued with the "Christian nation" idea. Read also in this connection the article—also concluded next week—entitled "Religious Liberty versus Religious Tyranny."
THE latest report is that Joan of Arc will not be made a saint. The esteem in which she is held is said to be only a consequence of the patriotic part she played in France, and that has been greatly overestimated; while, on the other hand, no single miracle was accomplished by her prayers or intercessions. She therefore lacks the qualifications, and cannot be canonized. Some we presume will be disappointed, but it will be no loss to Joan of Arc.

A NOTEWORTHY ADMISSION.

According to the Bible, the angels are a distinct order of beings, created before man had an existence, and were placed on probation. Some kept not their "first estate," but, led by their great leader, Lucifer, now Satan, they fell. Since then the good angels have been "ministering spirits" to those who love God and desire to know his truth. Those who followed Satan have been "lying spirits," claiming to be disembodied spirits of dead human beings, of whom the Bible says they "know not anything," that their love, hatred, and envy are perished, and that their thoughts perish the day they die.
When a spirit comes to us from God, it will not come as representing some dead person, and its teaching will always be in harmony with God and his word. When a spirit comes to us teaching contrary to God's word, and claiming to be the spirit of one dead, we may know by God's word that it is a "lying spirit," for "the dead know not anything." And the untrustworthiness of these spirits is admitted by Spiritualists themselves. In an article on "The Two Johns," in the Progressive Thinker of the 27th ultimo, the writer says that there was formerly a spirit, of Rev. John Pierpont, in Boston, Mass., which spoke through the Banner of Light, using Mrs. Longley as medium. After a time Mrs. Longley left for the Pacific Coast, and "John Pierpont" went with her, stating that both had given up connection with the Boston circle. More recently the Banner of Light claims to have as its controlling spirit "John Pierpont," while Mrs. Longley, on the Pacific Coast, speaks through the Pacific Coast Spiritualist as the medium of the same "John Pierpont," whereupon the writer in the Progressive Thinker concludes that one of the "Johns" is a liar. He says:—
As we have here the all-important question of spirit identity, every student of the spirit philosophy should make a careful study of this case. For, unless we have some reasonable certainty that spirits who return are just what they purport to be, we may be the sport of intelligences who have never even been human, and the whole question of spirit return must once again become a subject of theological faith.
And he who would know the truth in the matter must make it a matter of faith,—faith in God and his word. There are none so deceived as those who follow the guidance of the lying spirits of evil, the demons of Scripture; and the worst of the deceptions are not the mere identity of the spirits which speak, but the damnable doctrines which they inculcate. A structure based on a lie is and must prove false; and Spiritualism is based on Satan's falsehood, "Ye shall not surely die," "Ye shall be as God."
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