p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 4. (1/23/1901)

It Refers to Some Other Party.

A Gospel Trumpet publication, sent, we suppose, by a Gospel Trumpet blower, presents a list of “questions for Saturday-keepers,” with this introduction: “Now, Mr. Saturday-keeper, we will give you something to do. . . . ‘Tell us ye who desire to be under the law.’” Now this demand does not pertain to us. We know this for two reasons: (1) We are not “Saturday-keepers.” Not only do we not keep the time of Saturday except in part, but we keep a different institution altogether. We keep the Sabbath, the Creator’s holy rest day, containing in itself the rest which Jesus Christ alone can give, and His pledge of the eternal rest. It is not Saturday, it is Sabbath, measured by God’s time, hallowed by God’s presence, confirmed by His precept and example in Christ as Creator and Redeemer.

(2) We do not “desire to be under the law.” We desired not to be under it so much that we yielded to its holy claims, acknowledged our sin, counted ourselves as dead in Christ, and accepted His perfect life of harmony with that law for ours, and thus by His obedience to that law were made righteous. The law, under the condemnation of which we formerly were, now comes forward a blessed witness of the effectiveness of our righteousness by faith. It is no longer over us, but with us and in us, because Christ is there. Only those are “under the law” who are transgressing it. We conclude, therefore, that this trumpeter wants reply from some other source.

The Great Railway Combine

One of the latest and greatest things in imperialism is the reported ownership by a combine of railway capitalists of the great thru trunk lines of America, as well as lines of trans-ocean steamers on the Atlantic and Pacific. The head of this gigantic combine is a triumvirate consisting of John D. Rockefeller, J. Pierpont Morgan, and James J. Hill. Connected with them are W. K. Vanderbilt, E. H. Harriman, Russell Sage, George J. Gould, E. J. Berwind, Anson R. Flower, the Seligmans, and D. O. Mills. The railways involved are New York Central; Lackawanna; Pennsylvania; Norfolk and Western; Chesapeake and Ohio; New York, New Haven and Hartford; Southern Railway; Erie; Reading; New Jersey Central; Baltimore and Ohio; Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; Northern Pacific; Great Northern; Missouri Pacific; Missouri, Kansas and Texas; Rock Island; Atchison; Southern Pacific; St. Louis Southwestern; St. Louis and San Francisco; Union Pacific; Chicago and Northwestern; Burlington; Chicago and Great Western. In the Wall Street transactions of January 7, the official announcement was that on that day alone 2,164,650 shares were dealt in, involving over one billion dollars. The aim is to “harmonize” interests by creating “joint national control.” Of course it will destroy competition and raise rates. Before it, the Interstate Commerce Commission is powerless, and calls for greater powers. This great Triumvirate of Plutocracy is paving the way for the Caesar to come. In the affairs of men, money seems king; but it is well for all to remember that the Most High still rules.

Tokens of the Master's Appearing

By Editor

The gloom clouds of war are hovering over the world, but even these are tokens of the appearing of the Master.

Parents, read the article on “Child Training,” in another column. It is worth more than some volumes on the subject.

“Under the Law.”—Next week the SIGNS will publish an article in which every text in the New Testament containing the expression “under the law,” is considered. It is worth more than the price of the paper.

A revival is called for, and a revival is needed; but, O brethren, to be true, genuine, deep, effective, it must come in God’s way! It must be based upon His Word. His Spirit must convict thru the law. His truth for this time must come into the life.

If it takes years for a man like Professor Garner to learn such a little bit of the language of the monkey, living in the midst of them as he does, what can be expected of the poor simian in his progress manward? Perhaps Professor Garner has not found a good professor, one well up in his teaching of the anthropoidal languages or dialects. But his zeal ought to supplement this. Yet up to this time he has made “only a beginning.”

Dr. Parker on Christian Weakness

After a week's experience as editor of a London daily paper, somewhat after the Sheldon idea, Dr. Joseph Parker, of London City Temple fame, writes: “The letters I received from nominal Christians during my editorship disgusted me. Christians are becoming invalid, and the church is a hospital. Nurses are wanted. Manliness is dead.” This is, doubtless, too severe a criticism, but there is some ground for it.

“The Tribe of Beasts.”

The papers give an account of a new religion started in Chicago, the first nucleus numbering thirty, mostly professional men. They proclaim a brotherhood of all animals, and will be called the “Tribe of Beasts.” Their teaching is that the human animal has arrogated to himself an undeserved superiority, and is wrongfully enslaving its brothers, the ox, the horse, the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea. Ps. 49 : 20 may be profitably read in this connection. The man who descends to the brute will degrade the brute. But he who thru Christ takes hold on divine sonship, will elevate even the brute creation.

Earnestness

Earnestness.—God needs earnest men, not impetuous, hot-blooded, passionate men, but men who have so much of the love of God in their souls, so much of the meaning of life in their hearts, such a sense of responsibility to Him, that they shall be deeply in earnest. The following stanzas from Ella Wheeler Wilcox are to the point:—

“The hurry of the times affects us so In this swift, rushing hour, we crowd, and press, And thrust each other backward, as we go, And do not pause to lay sufficient stress Upon that good, strong, true word, earnestness, In our impetuous haste, could we but know Its full, deep meaning, its vast import, O, Then might we grasp the secret of success!

“In that receding age when men were great, The bone and sinew of their purpose lay In this one word. God likes an earnest soul— Too earnest to be eager. Soon or late It leaves the spent horde breathless by the way, And stands serene, triumphant at the goal.”

Not the impulsive flashing meteor, but the steady shining star is what men in darkness need.

Above Petty Animosities

The great soul is above petty animosities. The arrows of detraction leave it unharmed, and the roots of envy find in it no congenial soil. This is illustrated in the case of Robert E. Lee, before he had proved his real worth as a general. General Whiting, who had stood at the head of his class at West Point, severely criticized Lee on different occasions. But his criticism left no resentment in the breast of Lee, as subsequent events proved. One day President Davis asked Lee’s advice as to what he thought of Whiting’s being capable of taking an important command. Lee in reply commended Whiting as one of the ablest men in the army, well qualified in every way. One officer was greatly surprised at this, and, taking Lee aside, asked him if he knew what unkind things Whiting had been saying about him. Lee replied, “I understood that the president desired to know my opinion of Whiting, not Whiting’s opinion of me.” Certainly all who have access to the riches of the grace of Christ ought to be equally great-souled. And, reader, do you know what will enlarge the heart as nothing else?—Let Christ come in and dwell there.

A Decided Trend

The Congregationalist of January 5 has a symposium of Twentieth-Century prophecies. For its representative forecaster of “what may be” “in the Protestant church,” it chooses Rev. Amory H. Bradford, D.D., of the First Congregational Church, Montclair, N. J. Mr. Bradford’s first prediction is as follows:—

“Christian thought will make large discoveries in the sphere of the spirit. The veil which separates the seen from the unseen is getting thinner every year, and what is now only a vague hope, during the next century, very likely, will be scientifically demonstrated, and the ‘spiritual universe’ will be as evident as the material.”

Now all this is in the line of Spiritism, or old-fashioned necromancy; for by “the spirit” is not meant the Spirit of God, but the spirit as opposed to the body, the unseen. Instead of accepting God’s Word as the revelation of man’s nature, as disclosing the spirit world, a “science”-slaughtered Christianity, as represented by men like the above and Dr. Charles Brown, of this city, is waiting for such scientific demonstration as Professors Hudson, Hyslop, and others are furnishing. And all this means the rejection of the Word and the exaltation of Spiritism.

A Slim Basis.—

William T. Harris, U. S. Commissioner of Education, predicts thru the Congregationalist in the coming half century a high-school enrolment of 20,000 in the million population as against 8,000 in the million population at present. He hopes for this thru the increase in the production of wealth, which is about at the rate of 60 cents a day now. At the end of the twentieth century he expects it to be at the rate of $2.50 a day. “This,” he tells us, “means wealth for the average of the people.” But what hope is there that the average of the people will get it? According to more rapidly increasing tendencies, the wealth is flowing into the hands of the few away from “the average of the people.” More than this, city growth at the beginning of the century was but 3 per cent. of the population; in 1900 it is 33 per cent., and with the city comes vast increase of slum and hoodlum population. It is all well to talk of educating these elements out of themselves, but it requires more than education to do it. The education to be effective in reform must have more than wealth behind it; it must be in the truest sense Christian.

American Delegates to Sunday Rest Congress

The official United States delegates to the late International Congress of Sunday Rest at Paris were the Rev. W. W. Attebury, D.D., the Rev. Edward G. Thurber, D.D., and the Rev. C. A. Stoddard, D.D. Dr. Attebury also represented the New York “Sabbath Committee,” the oldest Sunday promotion body organized, and associated with him in this was the Rev. I. W. Hathaway. The same men were representatives of both Church and State.

Readers for Children Pamphlet

A little pamphlet, entitled “Readers for Children,” in which this important question is quite fully discussed, has come to our table. It should be read by all parents and educators. It is “Advocate Series” No. 5, and may be obtained by addressing Battle Creek College, Battle Creek, Mich. The price is three cents each; two for five cents; $2.00 a hundred.

A Good Washing Machine

Much of the dread of wash day is lost when a good washing-machine is in the house. That the machine advertised in this paper is a good one, many of our friends testify.