p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 2. (1/10/1911)

Earlier text: Shiloh: the Man of Sorrows

LIBERTY

By Editor

THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF

THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY BUREAU

AN illustrated, 48-page, quarterly magazine, published as an exponent and advocate of true religious liberty; defending Christianity and the rights of conscience; upholding the Bible as the infallible word of God; recognizing the church and state as ordained of Heaven for specific and distinct purposes, but vigorously protesting against the alliance of the church with the state in the attempt to advance religion and to promote the state.

Price 25 cents per year. Liberal terms to agents.

Address, LIBERTY, Takoma Park, D. C.

It Makes Us Feel

By Editor

Pretty Good

When a person writes: "Enclosed find check for $4.00 for which send me 100 of the Christmas number of the SIGNS MONTHLY. Our last order for fifty copies came yesterday and was sold this morning in less than three hours."

Not Only Because

The writer instructs us to "Find enclosed $4.00," nor because he ordered "100 of the Christmas number," but chiefly because "50 were sold in less than three hours," thus demonstrating the fact that the SIGNS MONTHLY magazine sells easily.

The January number is now ready. 5 to 40 copies 5 cents each; 50 or more 4 cents each.

Signs of the Times

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IN THREE DAYS

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Daily News Bulletins

Southern Pacific

Bearing Burdens and—More Burdens

By Editor

Bearing Burdens and—More Burdens.—Not always beyond the burden-bearing of this day or this year lies rest. Oftentimes, yes, generally, the burden which God gives His child to-day is to fit him for a greater burden to-morrow. A private letter, written by one of our missionaries in India to a relative, illustrates this thought, and shows the true spirit of the soldier of Christ. Speaking of the many, many perplexities of the field, and the fearfully trying climate to the Occidental northerners, and the tendency to make one homesick, he continues:

"I have always been thankful that I had a good period of testing in the West Indies before coming to this part. It weaned me from much of the tendency to long for the comforts of home, and helps me to be content with whatever fare I can obtain while on the line of service. . . . It has taught me to wait patiently till there can be home with no neglected duties in the shadows."

This brother has already had a run of fever, but he is looking forward to service as soon as he is strong, in "the great Gangetic plain." Burdens and more burdens! Do not complain of the burden, the harder, heavier duty; thank God for the added grace.

We have another article this week on the World's Christian Citizenship Conference and its meaning. We may ignore its work now, but we will not ignore the results of that work by and by. The true way to kill the evil fruit is to destroy it in the bud. Americans are asleep. Protestants by the thousands are drunken on the wine of Babylonian fornication of Church and State union. We shall have more to say next week.

Tea and Coffee Habits

The following is a comment on tea and coffee, taken from a recent number of the Literary Digest: "A warning against the evils of tea and coffee looks odd in the pages of The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal; yet such an article, from the pen of the famous Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry of the United States Department of Agriculture, appears in that paper. Dr. Wiley believes it to be the duty of the trade to see that tea and coffee are not used to excess; if not, he says, prohibitionists may tackle these drinks next, after drowning old King Alcohol."

Dr. Wiley states in the article mentioned that many parents forbid the use of tea and coffee to their children, and he thinks it is a wise precaution. "I do not think," he writes, "there is any danger of interfering with the health or nutrition of the child by abstinence from drinks of this kind; on the other hand, it appears to me there is danger of permitting the child to form a habit, because coffee and tea drinking are to a certain extent habits, and I think caffein is recognized as one of the habit-forming drugs." As to a grown person, he believes that the moment a man feels he is becoming a slave to either he should call a halt, and that if giving up tea or coffee produces malaise, headache, incapacity for work, and a general disturbance of the health, the victim may know that he has gone too far. A still wiser plan would be to banish these beverages entirely. Neither tea nor coffee is needed, and the use of both is harmful.

Bible Band Booklet Orders

By Editor

Orders for Our Bible Band Booklet, "Facts Regarding the Bible," are coming in quite rapidly. One of our old and highly prized readers, the manager of the Review and Herald Publishing Office, Washington, D. C., sent in an order for eighty-two. Another order came from two men who are in a State penitentiary. A young old lady eighty years of age sends her order, and tells us how much good it has done her the last three years. She sometimes walks three miles to church on a Sabbath. Many tell us of the great help it has been in spiritual life. May God bless every member of our Band. We have been a little late in getting the little booklet out, but we hope to mail nearly all orders this week. It is filled with valuable facts, and it contains the schedule.

No Divine Command

A Military Order Is Used in Its Start

NEWSPAPER reports say that the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, through Mrs. Christine Armstrong, superintendent of Sunday observance, has sent a letter to the aviation committee protesting against holding flying exhibitions on Sunday, and quoting army regulations issued by Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt to support the contention that such exhibitions are in violation of military duty if participated in by United States army officers.

In her letter to Lieutenant Paul W. Beck, U. S. A., who has been detailed by the Government to conduct military tests during the meet at Tanforan, Mrs. Armstrong says:

Since you are to assist at the aviation meet in San Francisco by order of the Secretary of War, your attention is called to "Army Regulations," paragraph 202, issued by President McKinley, which is as follows:

"An orderly observance of the sabbath by the officers and men in the service is enjoined. Military duty and labor on Sunday will be reduced to the measure of strict necessity."

President Roosevelt issued the same near the close of his administration, and it is the substance of Washington's, Lincoln's, and others down through our history.

Lieutenant Beck's response reads:

Replying to your communication of the 13th instant, I am instructed by the committee to inform you that we appreciate your writing us on the subject of sabbath observance, and we are heartily in accord with the views expressed—that is, that the sabbath is a day for rest and recreation.

We add "recreation" advisedly, based on the familiar line, "Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do." On this account our desire is, to entertain the general public and prevent the mischief which these "idle hands" might otherwise "find to do."

It is to provide for the continuance of "clean hands" among such as the employees of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway and the United States Steel Corporation, etc., of which you so wisely speak in your letter, that this committee has arranged to hold meets on the only day of the week on which they could obtain such opportunity—that is, Sunday—and for which reason the price of admission is made very low. We should be very glad to have you with us on one of these sabbaths to show how happy, orderly, and contented the working people may be made by rational, clean, healthful, out-of-doors amusement.

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A Commendable Act

By Editor

A Commendable Act.—Mr. William A. Brown, an old soldier in the Soldier's Home at Sawtelle, California, tells us under date of November 28 that a very proper and just order, one highly commendable indeed, has been issued regarding that old soldier's home. The order is as follows: "Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers pursuant to authority of the president of the board of managers dated November 10, 1910. Members of the Pacific Branch desiring to observe Saturday as a Sabbath who are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church are relieved from all duty that conflicts with this observance." The order goes on to say that all who avail themselves of this privilege will be required to be prepared for the Sabbaths and have inspection of the rooms in advance so as not to conflict with their observance of that day. They must report at headquarters for the inspection Friday at nine A.M., and would be treated in all respects as those who observed the next day of the week, Sunday. There are several in the home who observe the Sabbath, and they feel very grateful indeed to the president and board of managers, and to all others who have taken this matter into consideration and have taken the final just and considerate action they have. Such consideration regarding religious convictions ought to be world-wide.

A Widow’s Gift for Missions

By Editor

One of our correspondents, a widow who has passed the half hundred mark by four years, sends us ten dollars for missions, and writes a good letter in connection with it. She exhorts all to pray daily for God's grace, and to pray that God may unite every one of us "link by link around the Rock Christ Jesus, and then our strength will all be united." This is in harmony with the thought expressed by Abigail to David that we may be bound up in "the bundle of His life." May God's blessing rest on this dear sister, and on others who, like her, have given themselves to His cause for the giving of His message.

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Holiday Number of the San Francisco News-Letter

The Holiday number of the San Francisco News-Letter is a great magazine. It has a score or more of reproductions of California artists, painted especially for this issue, and numerous half-tones from photos and drawings. It is printed partly in tint and partly in white and black. It is a decidedly California number. A large plate engraving 23x32 inches goes with the number, upon which are printed half-tones of 113 great buildings erected in San Francisco since the earthquake and fire. The price is twenty-five cents.

Growth of the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is now third among the great libraries of the world, and at its present rate of increase will soon rank first. It is but little more than half as old as the British Museum Library, and six centuries behind the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris. The Library of Congress now numbers 1,793,158 volumes; and the public, society, and school libraries of the country, 54,000,000 volumes,—an increase, the World tells us, of nearly 500 per cent in 30 years.

Contained in This Issue

By Editor

General	PAGE
The Character of the Law of God	3
Signs of His Coming.—III. The Falling Stars	4
Studies on the Sabbath	5
The Revelation.—X. Laodicea	6, 7
Lessons in Liberty	8
Where Is the Kingdom of Christ to Exist?	9

Question Corner
Questions Nos. 3316-3319	2
Our Bible Band	2

Our Bible Reading
A Literal and Visible Coming	8

The Outlook
The World's Christian Citizenship Conference	10
Rome the Center	11
A Not Optimistic Report	11
Remarkable Surgical Work	11

The Story
Shiloh: the Man of Sorrows.—Chapters XLVII, XLVIII	13, 14
Book Notices	14

Poetry
A Dead Enemy	5
We Wait	9

A New Beginning Every Day

Make every day the beginning of a new year, of a new life. Only so shall we make progress. Hold God's blessings by using them for others. We lose in spiritual life what we keep, we retain what we use unselfishly.

The Law of God

By Editor

Read the article on the Law of God, page 3. God's law and government are of infinite importance to every soul. Surely, all ought to know the requirements of the great moral Governor of the universe.

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Studies on the Sabbath Question

By Editor

We begin in this number a series of studies on the Sabbath question. The first article is on the origin and making of the Sabbath. These articles will be found to be pre-eminently Biblical.