p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 17. (4/29/1913)

Help Save the Young People

By Editor

Do you like a good story? The new home workers' booklet gives several intensely interesting true stories of children and young people who have been influenced by reading good books. "New Testament Primer," "Best Stories," "Steps to Christ," "Our Paradise Home," and the other beautiful small books shown in the handy prospectus and sold successfully by home workers, are wielding a mighty influence in saving boys and girls from evil. They cultivate an interest in the Bible.

The books shown by the prospectus are:

THE HOME WORKERS' PROSPECTUS. Price $1.00, post-paid

Advance Guard of Missions Best Stories Christ Our Saviour Elo the Eagle His Glorious Appearing House We Live In Little Folks' Bible Nature Making Home Happy Making Home Peaceful Mount of Blessing New Testament Primer Our Paradise Home Steps to Christ Story of Pitcairn Island Those Bible Readings Uncle Ben's Cobblestones

The prospectus, which contains samples of all the books, is so arranged that as many or as few samples may be carried at one time as you desire. The commission (40% or 50%, according to the book) is extended alike to the person who can put in only a small amount of time near home, and the one who can spend full time in this work. In either case the sales usually average at least $1.50 an hour. The work is pleasant and profitable, and one in which the possibilities for good are unlimited.

Ask your tract society (or the publishers) to send you free copy of the new home workers' booklet. It gives full particulars regarding prices, bindings, discounts, and contains descriptions, talking points, and canvasses, to assist you in successfully introducing these beautiful books into the homes of the people.

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION Mountain View, California

SUBSCRIPTION RATES

By Editor

N. B. 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.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES

Three months ........................................ $0.50 Six months .......................................... .90 One year (50 numbers) ............................... 1.75 With "Questions and Answers" ........................ 2.00

One new yearly subscription and one renewal, or two new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $3.00.
Two new yearly subscriptions and one renewal, or three new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $4.00.
Three new yearly subscriptions and one renewal, or four new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $5.00.

Sample copies sent on application. Weekly and Monthly SIGNS one year, combined, $2.25.

DATE OF EXPIRATION

The SIGNS wrapper bears date of last issue due on your subscription. Unless renewed in advance, paper stops with expiration date.

If herewith is an order-blank, you will know you have overlooked sending renewal. You will not wish to miss a single issue. Back numbers often can not be furnished.

G. C. Hoskin, Circulation Manager.

Time-Setting

By Editor

THE Broadhead News, of Wisconsin, in a recent issue, quotes the Rev. S. Samuel Clements, superintendent of the Wesleyan Methodist Society, as fixing the second coming of Christ in the year 1933. The Jews, we are told, will return to Jerusalem in 1915 in preparation for that coming. The decline of the Papacy will occur in 1923, and the battle of Armageddon will be fought in 1933. This is interesting only in showing the conclusions to which a lack of understanding of the prophetic periods of the Bible drive people. The longest definite prophetic period in the Bible — the 2,300 days of Dan. 8:14 — ended in 1844. We have no definite time period which closes after that. Holding this, Seventh-day Adventists have never set times, and according to their views of Scripture, they never can set times.

A Piece of Wood and Coal

By Editor

Referring to an answer to a correspondent in our "Question Corner" that mineral coal came from trees that had been deposited in the earth, a correspondent writes from Curtiss, Wisconsin, that in 1856, in St. Charles, Saginaw County, Michigan, he purchased some coal at a mine near Chesaning, where coal could be got by removing two or three feet of surface dirt; and in a load of coal that he purchased there, he found a piece of wood and coal, weighing about fifteen pounds, consisting of a large knot of a tree, about half of which had become coal, and the other half was still the natural wood. We do not recall having seen a specimen of this kind, but there ought to be in some of the museums.

St. Helena Sanitarium Commencement Exercises

The commencement exercises for the class of 1913, at the St. Helena Sanitarium hospital, were held in the sanitarium chapel, the evening of April 8, 1913. The chapel, which was tastefully decorated throughout for the occasion, was crowded to its utmost capacity. Elder M. C. Wilcox, of Mountain View, delivered the commencement address, following which Dr. George Thomason made a few appropriate remarks upon the presentation of the diplomas. The graduating class was the largest in the history of the institution; namely, Miss Florence Lillard, Miss Margaret Gunn, Miss Grace Van Horne, Miss Inga Louise Larsen, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Wesner, Mr. Alfred Sargeant, Mr. Alfred Deans Fowler, Mr. Floyd Harris, Mr. Karl Murphy, and Mr. Charles Lindbloom. The violin solo by Miss Paap and the music rendered by the orchestra were greatly appreciated.

Spelling Reform.

By Editor

Generally the suggestions of spelling reform have been in the right lines, and in a conservative way the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has adopted some of these. Certainly 'tho' is better than 'though,' and 'plow' is a great deal better than 'plough.' There has been a new pamphlet issued by the Simplified Spelling Board, some of the suggestions of which are extreme, and to us they seem utterly inconsistent. H is dropped from such words as 'chameleon,' 'chaos,' 'character,' 'chasm,' etc., but retained before e, i, and y, as in 'chemist,' 'architect,' and 'monarchy.'

The board suggests the dropping of k in words like 'barrack,' 'bullock,' 'derrick,' 'haddock,' 'hammock,' etc. It is right here where it seems to us that the board is utterly inconsistent. We have k with a clear, distinct sound of its own. There can be no question regarding it. Why drop the k and leave the c? If there is a useless letter in the whole English alphabet, it is c. It is either stealing the place of k or that of s. Why not drop c entirely wherever it takes the place in a word which could be more properly spelled with s or k, and use it for the sound of ch alone, as in 'chamber,' 'chess,' 'church,' etc.? We would have no ch hard then in the language at all. K would take its place.

There could be no question about the spelling of b-a-k ('back'), or p-i-k ('pick'); but think of b-a-c for 'back,' p-i-c for 'pick,' and b-a-c-i-n-g for 'backing,' and b-l-a-c-i-n-g for 'blacking.' According to all our education of the past, why wouldn't b-l-a-c-i-n-g be 'blasing,' and b-a-c-i-n-g 'basing'? There could be no question if k were there, but c is misleading. We agree with the Springfield Republican that 'small and inadequate reforms merely prolong the agony, bringing new things to learn with no guarantee that the changes will bring permanence.'

Correcting Reports on Denver Sermons

By Editor

What we read in the papers is not always so. For instance, the Christian Herald and other papers have intimated that the sermons preached on the coming of Christ by twelve ministers of Denver October 6 of last year were inspired by events in Turkey. But we sent direct to Denver for the fullest reports of these sermons given in the Denver papers, and in not one instance do we recall even reference to the Turkish or Balkan question. This note has naught to do with that question, but merely to correct the wide-spread statement. Liberal excerpts from these sermons were given in the Signs of the Times of December 10 last. This is in line with the "newly discovered" temple in the Sphinx.

Liquor and Domestic Troubles

Chicago has a Court of Domestic Relations, and 3,699 cases were examined before that court last year. Before this tribunal where the wrecks of homes are examined, it was found that liquor was the direct cause of forty-two per cent of the domestic troubles. Figures of this character can be had in abundance and from the most unquestioned sources; and yet the liquor business is tolerated, and allowed to go on producing more and more misery.

Catholicism, Socialism, and Government

By Editor

An editorial paragraph in a Catholic paper states that the news has been confirmed that the British government will send the cruiser Syracuse to carry Cardinal Ferrata, the papal legate, to the international Eucharistic Congress on April 22. This is one among the many evidences of the growing strength of Catholic sentiment in old Protestant England. The nations of the Old World are in great perplexity to know how to meet the difficulties that confront them, and no one of their problems is any greater than that of Socialism. Socialism stands opposed to the militarism of the time, and in many other ways is standing in the road of what the governments want to do. The Catholics and the Socialists are very generally at enmity, and it is easy for those charged with the burdens of government to turn to the forces of Rome to assist them in meeting what they regard as the menace of Socialism. This courting of Rome will continue until she is again the supreme mistress of the Old World and a dominating power in the New. Some may regard this as fanciful, but the influences that are tending in that direction are tremendous.

The Contradictions of Papal Infallibility

One day the news despatches tell us that the pope is very ill, and the next day they will tell us that he is much better. We would gather, from a summing up of the evidence, that he is in a very critical condition, and that in all probability it will be only a few days till the cardinals of the Roman Church will be summoned to elect a new pope. When they are called to such a work, be the time long or short, they will go as fallible men, having very much the same propensities and weaknesses as the rest of defective fallen humanity. From one of their number of fallible they will elect a pope; and when he is elected, he becomes infallible, or incapable of error when he speaks "ex cathedra." If everything that all the popes have said were a consistent story right through, this would not be such a hard thing to believe. But when one pope will so directly contradict another, how can we believe the assertion of infallibility? What inconsistencies will prejudice compel us to hold!

Flood Control for the Mississippi Valley

President Wilson has proposed to Congress that as soon as the Panama Canal is finished, the machinery be brought to the Mississippi and Ohio valleys to build great embankments that will control the floods that do so much damage in those sections almost every year. It is proposed to meet the immense cost of the plan by appropriations from Congress and by the floating of what will be known as "flood bonds."

A Wonderful Growth.

From an English dictionary of 5,080 words by John Bullokar in 1616, to Samuel Johnson's of 50,000 words of 1775, was a great expansion. It was another great step to Webster's 160,000-word dictionary; but the new 1913 "Standard Dictionary" will have a vocabulary of 450,000 words and terms. That work will stand as the climax of dictionary-making up to the present.

America’s Aerial Military Equipment

America stands fourteenth in aerial military equipment, and Germany stands at the head. Germany has some 400 military air-ships, on which she has already expended about $28,000,000. Brazil and Chile are ahead of this country in aerial fighting craft. Facts of this character are made the text, on the part of many, for urging Uncle Sam to quicken his pace in building a sky navy.

Billy Sunday’s Wilkesbarre Meetings

"Billy" Sunday closed a series of evangelistic meetings recently in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, and he says he thinks many persons were converted as the result. The people of the town made him a "free-will" offering of $23,000, which sum he carried with him when he left the town.

Belgian Strike for Universal Suffrage

Two hundred thousand men went on strike in Belgium on April 14 for the purpose of securing suffrage for all the male population. Business in that country is said to be largely paralyzed as the result of it.

Contained in This Issue

By Editor

Question Corner

4054—Repenting; 4055—Seeing God; 4056—A Double Prophecy, Ezekiel 38 and 39; 4057—Foods Lawful and Unlawful; 4058—Obeying the Laws of the Land; 4059—Amazement, 1 Peter 3:6 ... 2

Our Bible Band

General

The All-Important Lesson ... 3

The Heavenly Sanctuary; Its Cleansing and the Judgment ... 4

Sunday in Scripture ... 6

In the Secret Place ... 7

Our Bible Reading

What Will Occur at His Coming? ... 7

Editorial

Envy ... 8

Church Union ... 8

Studies in Ephesians

Gifts for Service ... 8

The Outlook

A Charity Ball ... 10

The White Slave and Low Wages ... 10

"An Unusual Church" ... 11

Spiritistic Manifestations ... 11

Notes ... 11, 16

Home and Fireside

Power of Prayer ... 12

Sleeplessness ... 12

An Infidel More than Answered ... 12

Aged Man's Advice ... 12

A Kind Voice ... 12

Missions

In the Far Orient ... 13

Our Work and Workers ... 14

Poetry

Union Complete ... 1

Pearls Before Swine ... 7

"The Seventh Day Is the Sabbath" ... 7

"If We Had but a Day" ... 7

Homeward Bound ... 7

Bible Versions and Subscription Information

By Editor

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, the version will not generally 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 1910, by Thomas Nelson & Sons.

For further particulars, subscription rates, etc., see page 15.