p. 15 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 9. (3/1/1905)

Earlier text: Encouraging Reports From China

Trial Offer of Flower Seeds

Pansies are best planted as seedlings raised

Did you ever see 5 straight or circular rows of Pansies side by side, each a different color? If so, you know that the effect is charming. Did you ever see Childs' Giant Pansies, marvels in beauty and true to color? If not, you have not seen the best.

As a Trial Offer we will for 10 cts., mail 5 Pkts. Giant Pansies, Snow White, Coal Black, Cardinal Red, Pure Yellow, Azure Blue; also Five Pkts. New Giant Sweet Peas for 10 cts., White, Pink, Scarlet, Blue, Yellow; also Five Pkts. new early flowering Carnation Pinks for 10 cts., Scarlet, White, Pink, Red and Striped—or All 15 Pkts. for 25 cts.

Our Catalogue for 1905—Greatest Book of Flower and Vegetable Seeds, Bulbs, Plants and New Fruits, 148 pages, 500 illustrations, many plates—will be mailed Free. Scores of Great Novelties.

JOHN LEWIS CHILDS, Floral Park, N.Y.

Devotional Songs

ONE-HALF NEW SONGS THAT WILL NEVER GROW OLD. ONE-HALF OLD SONGS THAT WILL ALWAYS BE NEW.

Devotional Songs

By three famous composers, Doane, Kirkpatrick and Main.

256 pages, cloth, $25 per 100; 30c. each by mail. A returnable copy for examination will be mailed on request. Published by the publishers of the famous "Gospel Hymns." THE BIGLOW & MAIN CO., New York and Chicago.

A Reader’s Appreciation

"I should feel very much lost without the dear old SIGNS, and I hope the Lord will bless the people with its valuable columns as long as the world stands."

C. J. GRAHAM, Suver, Oregon.

Government Indian Money for Catholics

By Editor

Government Indian Money for Catholics.—While the government claims that the Indian trust funds are being given to the Catholic schools on the petition of the Indians themselves, the agent of the Indian Rights Association cites a peculiar situation that is not satisfactorily explained. He refers to the fact that only about $15 per child of school age would be available for school purposes among the Sioux Indians, yet the contract price with the schools amounts to $108 per pupil. Therefore the excess must be taken from the funds due to those who have not asked for such use of their money, but are protesting against it.

Dr. Lyman Abbott, in the Outlook of January 28, says:

For the government, which is the guardian of the Indians, to expend their trust funds for sectarian purposes, is to apply to the Indians a policy which would not be applied in dealing with any other people; a policy which is un-American, which is in direct contravention of the constitutional provisions of many of our states, which violates the spirit of the Constitution of the United States, and introduces sectarian strife among the Indians by setting Protestant and Roman Catholic Indians signing antagonistic petitions. This is but to transfer the ecclesiastical lobby from Washington to the reservation; to jump from the frying-pan into the fire.

Persecution and Religious Authority

Persecution is the last resort where legitimate argument fails. So all laws for the punishment of dissenters from popular religious dogma spring from the spirit of persecution. The Jewish rulers wanted to put Jesus to death because He did not keep the Sabbath according to their traditions, instead of "according to the commandment." They could advance no argument to convict Him of sin or crime; therefore He must be put to death. Peter and John had been instrumental, in the name of Jesus, in healing a lame man at the gate of the temple. This carried with it the fact of Christ's resurrection, and the proclamation that in no other name was there salvation for any person. So the preaching of the apostles must be summarily stopped. No argument could refute their position, or it would have been willingly set forth. That a "notable miracle" had been done in the name of Jesus could not be denied, neither could the logical conclusion that Jesus had risen from the dead be refuted; therefore imprisonment and bodily punishment must be resorted to in order to carry out the purpose of the chief priests and rulers. And all enforcement of religious dogma, or squelching of scriptural truth by human authority, is of the same character.

ATHLETICISM A MENACE.

PRESIDENT WHEELER, of the University of California, has sounded a warning which the students of high schools and colleges would do well to heed. He says that, while athletics has brought much good health and confidence of strength to the college students, there is a danger that "monsters of professionalism and not healthy men will be the output of our athletic fields." He likens the football games between college teams to the sports of the Philistines over their captured Samson, and says, "This calling of Samsons, that they may make sport for us, is pretty poor use to make of a college man." President Eliot, of Harvard, in his annual report, also takes up the football game. Speaking of its detrimental influence upon the life of the young college man, he says:

The game of football has become seriously injurious to national academic life in American schools and colleges, and it is time the public, especially the educated public, should understand and take earnest consideration of the objections to this game. Some of the lesser objections to the game are its extreme publicity, the large proportion of injuries among the players, absorption of undergraduates' minds for two months, and a disproportionate exaltation of the football hero in the college world. The crude and vociferous criticism, blame, and praise which fall to the lot of a football player can be of no possible advantage to any young man at the opening of active life. On the contrary, they keep before him an untrustworthy and unwholesome standard of public approval or disapproval.

It is earnestly to be hoped that the words of these educators, who certainly know whereof they speak, will be given due consideration in the colleges of the land.

Delitch Discredited

Delitch Discredited.—Some time ago this German critic made the assertion that Moses borrowed the name Jehovah from the literature of the time of Hamurabi (the Amraphel of Genesis 14). Dr. Hilprecht, who knows more concerning such matters than perhaps any man living at the present time, has taken up the assertion, and declares that there is absolutely no ground for any such statement. He states that there is positively no cuneiform text published which contains the divine name Jehovah. All the weight of evidence gathered from the clay tablets and the stone temples is against the assertions of these destructive critics. The Word stands, and will stand forever.

War’s Hindrance to Christian Missions

The effect of war on Christian mission work is emphasized by Rev. A. B. Hutchinson in the following terse manner: "The fact that Japan is fighting with a professedly-Christian foe, whose conduct contradicts all that the Japanese have been learning to connect with the sacred name of Christ, is a serious hindrance to our work. Duplicity, greed, cruelty, deliberate massacre of hundreds of helpless victims, with repeated disregard of most solemn promises, are constantly referred to as inevitable fruits of Greek Christianity, and it is difficult to cause them to understand that that kind of Christianity is something very different from the teaching of the Saviour and His apostles."

Tokio and Tokyo.

The Christian Advocate says: "The name of this great city is in two syllables: (1) To, meaning East, Eastern; and (2) Kyo, which means capital. The divergence in spelling of the last syllable is due to the fact that to some ears it sounds Kee-o, hence in the earlier days men like Satow and others wrote it Kiyo, or Tokiyo; to others, however, the sound is K-yo and it is written Kyo. It is now generally agreed that the latter is correct, but the old error persists. Also it is easier to write Kio than Kyo, so the first is very popular, but the latter is more correct and will finally prevail."

The Christ the World Needs

By Editor

An exchange asks the question, "What kind of a Christ does the world need?" It would seem that such questions might better be left to the Father and Son who have already provided the Christ which they considered the world needed. The Christ who came was God's answer to that question. For man to discuss it is to question the wisdom of God and the adequateness of the Gift of God. The more of Christ we have in our hearts the less inclination will we have to raise such queries. The Saviour given is sufficient for every need of every individual in the world.

Life of Christ for Children

By Editor

In our issue of February 1 there was notice of a "Life of Christ" for children, beautifully illuminated and illustrated. At that time we neglected to state the price. It is in vellum, gold front and cover stamp, $1.75; in cloth $1.25. The publishers are A. J. Holman & Co., Philadelphia, Pa.

Every Precept an Implied Promise

Every precept of God is an implied promise. He never commands what He will not give strength to perform.

Nature and the Revelation of God

"Through nature to nature's God," has become a pet phrase with many. If it were true that nature as we see it is a true interpreter of its Creator, we might have reason to question His wisdom and His love. The very highest order of creation—man—is not now a lucid exposition of God. If he were, we might then accuse God of being all that man is. His vagaries, his cruelties, and his sins could then be looked upon as a reflection of the character of his Maker. But this is not true—it never has been true since the day that man sinned. It never will be true until man is again in perfect harmony with his Creator. The curse of sin has blighted nature as it has blighted the character of the one who was to have been the prince of this world. There are many beautiful things in nature; there are also many beautiful things in the souls of many men and women; but neither class exhibits the beauty it would have exhibited, if sin had not been allowed to come in with all its disfiguring effects. If we depend upon nature to lead us to God, we will be led in a very round-about way, if we are truly led toward or to Him at all. The written Word, and the Word spelled out in the living character of Jesus Christ, are the best and truest leaders—the only safe ones.

Excitement Versus Reason

When people of any class come together under excitement they are pretty sure to do that which very few of them would do as individuals in cooler mood. So the Christian Advocate says: "Were all the resolutions passed under the influence of excitement, that are proved to be ridiculous by subsequent events, to be published, they would make more amusing reading than the writings of Artemus Ward or Petroleum V. Nasby." And they would illustrate the fickleness of humanity when acting on impulse rather than on reason and rational deliberation.

Dying to Sin

It is much better to die to sin than to die because of sin. The first is the death of the Christian, who lives again through Christ. The second is the death of the impenitent, from which there is no resurrection.

Lifted Above Human Slights

That soul who has given himself to God, who holds communion with Christ, will not be affected by the little slights of men. He is lifted above them by divine power.

Our Words

By Editor

"Our Words," the second article on this subject from the pen of Mrs. E. G. White, will be found in our Home department. It should be read and heeded.

CONTAINED IN THIS NUMBER.

Poetry.

The Angel of Patience . . . . . 1
The Reformer . . . . . 9
Not Always the Highway . . . . . 14

Editorial.—Which Sorrow Shall It Be?—"Never Alone"—"The Two Covenants"—Only "an Ordinary Mortal" . . . . . 3-5

Question Corner.—Nos. 1626, 1627 . . . . . 5

Outlook.—Rome's Hand in the Public Treasury—A Sign of the Times—Concerning Sunday Observance, JOHN D. BRADLEY—China Waking Up—Affairs in Russia . . . . . 6, 7

General.

The Successive Ages, GEO. McCREADY PRICE . . . . . 8
Patience, AUGUSTA W. HEALD . . . . . 9
Prophecy an Evidence of Bible Truth, DANIEL NETTLETON . . . . . 9
The Death of the Testator, L. A. PHIPPENY . . . . . 10
A Sabbath-school Before the Time of Robert Raikes, G. W. CAVINESS . . . . . 11
How They Became Convinced (A Sabbath Symposium) . . . . . 11

Missions.—The Problems of Confucianism . . . . . 12

The Home.—Our Words, MRS. E. G. WHITE—Can't Afford It . . . . . 14

International Sunday-School Lesson.—The Slavery of Sin . . . . . 15

Publishers . . . . . 2