p. 68 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 43. (11/11/1913)

Earlier text: Did the Apostles Change the Sabbath?

Sample-Rooms

SAMPLES of wine and samples of beer, Samples of all kinds of liquor sold here,— Samples of whisky, samples of gin, Samples of all kinds of "bitters"—step in. Samples of ale, and porter, and brandy, Samples as large as you please, and quite handy. Our samples are pure, and also you'll find Our customers always genteel and refined; For gentlemen know when they've taken enough, And never partake of common stuff. Besides these samples within, you know, There are samples without of what they can do.— Samples of headache, samples of gout, Samples of coats with the elbows out, Samples of men in the gutter lying, Samples of men with delirium dying, Samples of men cursing and swearing, Samples of men all evil daring, Samples of lonely, tired men, Who long in vain for their freedom again; Samples of old men worn in the strife, Samples of young men tired of life, Samples of ruined hopes and lives, Samples of desolate homes and wives; Samples of aching hearts grown cold With anguish and misery untold; Samples of noble youth in disgrace, Who meet you with averted face; Samples of hungry little ones, Starving to death in their dreary homes. In fact, there is scarcely a wo on earth But our samples have nurtured or given them birth. O, all ye helpers to sorrow and crime, Who deal out death for a single dime, Know ye that the Lord, though He may delay, Has in reserve for the last great day The terrible "wo" of whose solemn weight No mortal can know, till the pearly gate Is closed, and all with one accord Acknowledge the justice of their reward. — Selected.

Advanced Shorthand Course

We have completed arrangements for giving an advanced course in shorthand. This will be especially helpful to stenographers desiring to become more proficient. After entering active work, many stenographers fail to apply properly to the work in hand the principles of abbreviation which they should. A little help at this point would be of great benefit to them. This advanced course will enable the writer to apply the principles of abbreviation in matter that is specially difficult to most stenographers who are beginning—the writing of phrases and proper names. There is also given a thorough review, by practical work, of word-signs, contractions, shorthand numerals, and the most helpful expedients which a stenographer should have who is determined to succeed. A special drill is also given in speed writing that is of great benefit to any stenographer, enabling him to do the best work of which he is capable. This course is conducted by H. E. Rogers, the veteran stenographer and statistical secretary of the General Conference. Matriculation fee, $1.00. Tuition for the course, 20 lessons, $7.00. If you are interested in such a course, or know of any stenographer who would be glad for the opportunity of taking it, please correspond with us at once, and further information will be furnished. Address “Fireside Correspondence School,” Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.

Wanted

By H. N. Lieberthal

Work on farm by a strong man and wife, where they can keep the Sabbath. Experience limited, but not afraid of hard work. H. N. Lieberthal, 260 Center St., Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Signs of the Times　　　　　　　　　Mountain View, California

“A Mad World.”

NOT many weeks ago Mr. Lloyd-George, in the House of Commons, made a strong speech in regard to the serious problem that had arisen through the expenditure of so much money for armaments. The London Daily Mail had a short editorial comment on his speech, in which were these significant sentences:

“Mr. Lloyd-George’s diatribe against armaments is one more reminder, if any were needed, that in the world of to-day force rules as brutally and nakedly as in the world of Charlemagne. The six leading powers of Europe are between them spending some $1,750,000,000 a year on naval and military preparations. And there is no prospect of this sum diminishing, but every prospect of its being increased.”

In speaking of the peace societies and the general conditions in the world, the Mail asks:

“What results have they produced? They influence all governments more or less, but they have not yet succeeded in converting one; and their effect on opinion at large is at present inappreciable.”

“So we jog along, heading carelessly for something like bankruptcy, with discontent growing everywhere more pronounced and more bitter, and the masses more conscious of their disabilities and less acquiescent in their fate, and the pent-up unrest releasing itself from time to time in floods of popular disorder which are no sooner driven back than statesmanship takes up once more its Sisyphean task. A mad world, my masters!”

These are not the hysterical utterances of some one who would like to make out conditions as bad as possible, regardless of fact. The editor of the Mail would be glad to have us think that conditions are not so bad as they are; but when he sees the enormous war budgets that are piling higher and higher every year, the facts compel him, as they should compel every one, to say that the world is mad with the spirit of war. Some men may try to minimize it, some may try to make light of it; but there stand the stupendous facts, and they can not be put down.

And right alongside these stupendous facts, let the clear prophetic utterance also stand out which tells us when the judgment-day is impending and the second coming of Christ is right at hand, that:

“The nations were wroth, and Thy wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear Thy name, the small and the great; and to destroy them that destroy the earth.”

This is only one of the many prophecies that foretell these conditions. But observe that the prophecy says that “the nations were wroth.” And leading editors, who would gladly speak in a different vein, are forced by the conditions to say, almost in the very words of the prophet, “A mad world, my masters!”

And this statement by the editor of the Mail is not an isolated utterance of this character; for Sir Edward Grey, England’s great statesman, in addressing the House something over a year ago, on the subject of “the relations of Great Britain and Germany,” said:

“It is really as if, in the atmosphere of the world, there were some mischievous influence at work which troubles and excites every part of it. We are passing, this year, through a period of great excitement; it is so still. Some countries are in revolution, others are at war; and in several countries which are neither in revolution nor at war, there are people who seem to delight in discussing how near they have been, or are, or are likely to be, either to revolution or to war in the past, the present, or the future. Really it is as if the world were indulging in a fit of political alcoholism, and the best that can be done by those of us who are in positions of responsibility is to keep cool and sober.”

Sir Edward feels the pressure of the war spirit so strongly that it seems to him “as if, in the atmosphere of the world, there were some mischievous influence at work which troubles and excites every part of it.” Place by the side of the statesman’s utterance the words of the great prophet of Patmos, written nearly two thousand years ago, as recorded in the twelfth to the fourteenth verses of the sixteenth chapter of Revelation. The prophet foresaw “the spirits of devils, working signs, and going to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to stir them to the war of the great day of God the almighty.”

The evidence is overwhelming. The great day is approaching with intense rapidity. Joys that are indescribable fill the soul of any one who knows the Master, and who knows that the events of this time are all pointing with unmistakable clearness to the great day of His second advent.

Disaster Following Disaster

By Editor

WE have made mention of the tornado that visited Nome, Alaska, on October 25, destroying more than 500 buildings, and completely destroying the little town of Solomon.

Friday, October 10, occurred the burning of the Volturno, and something like 136 lives were lost.

A violent wind-storm, in the form of a small tornado, visited the southern part of Wisconsin on October 11. There was heavy property damage, and a number of deaths. The town of Tomah was practically wiped out.

On October 14 came the great explosion in a mine at Cardiff, Wales. Shortly after the explosion, the mine took fire. Heroic efforts were put forth to extinguish the flames, and at latest reports 49 bodies had been recovered, and 368 miners were still entombed.

On October 17 a tornado was seen at sea something like 300 miles east of Sandy Hook. No damage has yet been reported from this storm.

On October 17 the German military department were making some important experiments with the largest and newest of the Zeppelin air-ships. The huge structure was some 700 feet long, and it carried 28 men, practically all of whom were important personages in connection with the army, or in the operation of the dirigible air-ships. When about 500 feet high, the great gas-bag exploded, and every individual was killed.

On October 19 there was a wreck of a train loaded with soldiers, on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, in Mississippi, in which 50 soldiers were injured, 17 of whom have died.

On October 22 there was an explosion in the Stag Canyon mine, near Dawson, New Mexico. The government rescue experts say that the explosion, in point of violence, was the greatest in the history of the country, and it ranks third in its appalling loss of life. 140 bodies have been recovered of the 263 that were entombed by the catastrophe.

On October 25 there was a wreck on the New Haven Railroad near Westerly, Rhode Island, in which 25 persons were injured.

October 27 a storm swept southern Wales. Two are reported to have been killed, and “hundreds injured.” “Churches were razed and many houses demolished. In several villages, whole streets were practically destroyed, houses were unroofed, and the walls carried away.”

In this list, we are only mentioning some of the greatest disasters that occurred within three weeks. What do they signify? Can they all be attributed to mere accident?

Those Who Live the Longest

THE Journal of the American Medical Association has made a very interesting summary of the statistics published by Dr. Jacques Bertillon, formerly chief of the Paris Department of Statistics. From this summary we learn that the most healthful vocations are those which are carried on in the open air, provided they permit of movement, while those restricting freedom of movement, even though carried on in the open air, are harmful. Trades exposing the workmen to alcohol and to lead-poisoning are the most dangerous.

Referring to suicides, the summary shows that clergymen, officers, railway, mail, and telegraph employees, ship-builders, sawyers, employees in gas works, and booksellers very rarely commit suicide. They head the list for being free from this increasing modern disease. The highest suicide rate is found among saloon-keepers, the servants of retail storekeepers, chimney-sweeps, butchers, fruiterers, and musicians. These facts are interesting to study.

To Secure Sunday Laws

On other pages in this issue, mention is made of the efforts to secure and enforce Sunday closing in Cincinnati, to enact Sunday laws in each village and city in California, and the suggestions of the desire for such laws in the District of Columbia. The federated bodies of the churches are quite united in working to produce sentiment that will secure and enforce Sunday legislation, not only in every part of this nation, but throughout the world. Without any difficulty, we should be able to see that this is ecclesiastical legislation. The Sunday institution is purely a church regulation. To be sure, there are many who would like to have a Sunday holiday, but the church will never be satisfied with that. When this controversy over the Sunday institution comes to its climax, the demand will be for each individual to observe Sunday as a religious institution, and the effort will be made, regardless of faith and belief to the contrary, to compel every individual to bow before this institution of the church.

We have often presented the prophecies of the book of Revelation that make this question clear. A world-wide ecclesiastical despotism is being formed right before our eyes. In the place of seeing the menace that it presents, the majority of individuals are looking to it as one of the bright stars of hope. Ecclesiastical despotisms never have been and never will be a source of help to this world, and the one that is now forming will produce a climax that men do not realize, and that they are not looking for.

Missionaries Sail for Burma and Other Fields

The church at Mountain View was favored by a visit from Elder R. A. Beckner on October 25 and 26. Elder Beckner and wife, who attended our General Conference in May, and who have been enjoying a short furlough since, sailed on the Korea October 29 for their field in Burma. This makes thirty-six of our missionaries who have sailed to foreign fields from San Francisco during the last two months. A few of these were returning to their fields, but most of them were going for the first time. It is very encouraging to see the large number of recruits that are being added to our forces in foreign fields. It gives strong promise that the great gospel of the soon coming of Christ will quickly be heralded to all parts of the world.

President Wilson's Kindness to an Injured Boy

THE despatches have told, of late, of President Wilson's accidentally hitting a messenger boy with his automobile. The president saw that the boy was placed in one of the best hospitals, and then called on him afterward to see that he was getting along all right. When the lad was dismissed in perfect condition, the president made good his promise to furnish him a new bicycle. Things of this character show the Christian gentlemanliness of our chief executive.

Seeking Relatives of F. B. Kellogg

If any of our readers know the whereabouts of the relatives of Mr. F. B. Kellogg, of 22 East Thirty-ninth Street, Bayonne, New Jersey, will they kindly communicate with Mrs. F. B. Kellogg at the above address? He formerly lived at Battle Creek, but is now in a hospital in a critical condition, and his wife wishes to get in touch with members of his family and his friends.

Arkansas Upholds New Prohibition Law

A DECISION of the Supreme Court of Arkansas sustains the validity of their new prohibition law. After January 1, according to this law, it will require a petition containing the names of a majority of white adults of any community under local option before the county judge may grant a liquor license.

Prince William Nominated King of Albania

PRINCE WILLIAM FREDERICK, who is the head of the princely house of Wied, Germany, has accepted the nomination to the throne of the independent state of Albania. This was decided upon after an interview with King Charles of Rumania.

New Land North of Siberia

CAPTAINS of Russian government steamers claim to have discovered north of Siberia a body of land as large as Greenland, but the reports up to the present are quite vague.