p. 688 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 43. (11/2/1915)

Earlier text: AUTUMN LEAVES

Our Representatives

By Editor

UNITED STATES AND CANADA

Alabama Tract Society, Room 316, Lyric Building, Birmingham, Ala.

Alberta Tract Society, 502 17th Ave. West, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Arizona Tract Society, 417 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, Cal.

Arkansas Tract Society, Box 14, Little Rock, Ark.

British Columbia Tract Society, 1708 Maple St., Vancouver, B. C., Canada.

California Bible House, 537 25th St., Oakland, Cal.

California-Nevada Missionary Society, 341 E. Lodi Ave., Lodi, Cal.

California Tract Society, Northwestern, 537 25th St., Oakland, Cal.

California Tract Society, Southeastern, 417 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, Cal.

California Tract Society, Southern, 417 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, Cal.

Central California Bible House, Box 1304, Fresno, Cal.

Chesapeake Tract Society, 1611 10th St., Baltimore, Md.

Colorado Tract Society, Eastern, 1112 Kalamath St., Denver, Colo.

Colorado Tract Society, Western, 122 S. 8th St., Grand Junction, Colo.

Connecticut (See New England, Southern).

Cumberland Tract Society (Eastern Tennessee), 404 Tremont St., N. Chattanooga, Tenn.

District of Columbia Tract Society, 708 McLachlan Bldg., Washington, D. C.

Florida Tract Society, Room 11, Yowell-Duckworth Block, Orlando, Fla.

Georgia Tract Society, 169 Bryan St., Atlanta, Ga.

Greater New York Tract Society (See New York).

Hawaiian Tract Society, 767 Kinau St., Honolulu, H. T.

Idaho, Northern (See Upper Columbia Tract Society).

Idaho Tract Society, Southern, Room 327, Sonna Bldg., Boise, Idaho.

Illinois Tract Society, Northern, 3645 Ogden Ave., Hawthorne Sts., Chicago, Ill.

Illinois Tract Society, Southern, 304 W. Allen St., Springfield, Ill.

Indiana Tract Society, 521 E. 23d St., Indianapolis, Ind.

Iowa Tract Society, Nevada, Iowa.

Kansas Tract Society, Room 615, Butts Bldg., cor. First St. and Lawrence Ave., Wichita, Kan.

Kentucky Tract Society, Box 398, Nicholasville, Ky.

Louisiana Tract Society, 810 Jackson Ave., New Orleans, La.

Maine Tract Society, 75 Grant St., Portland, Me.

Manitoba Tract Society, 418 Lansdowne Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Maritime Tract Society, Can. Pub. Assn., Oshawa, Ont., Canada.

Maryland (See Chesapeake Tract Society).

Massachusetts Tract Society, 607 Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass.

Michigan Tract Society, East, 426 Trumbull Ave., Detroit, Mich.

Michigan Tract Society, North, 510 Petoskey St., Petoskey, Mich.

Michigan Tract Society, West, 1214 Madison Ave., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Minnesota Tract Society, 336 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, Minn.

Mississippi Tract Society, 932 Union St., Jackson, Miss.

Missouri Tract Society, 203 Franklin St., Clinton, Mo.

Montana Tract Society, 411 S. Black Ave., Bozeman, Mont.

Nebraska Bible Supply House, 905 N. California Ave., Hastings, Neb.

Nevada (See California-Nevada Missionary Society).

New England Tract Society, Northern, 136 N. Main St., Concord, N. H.

New England Tract Society, Southern (Rhode Island and Connecticut), 51 Whitmore St., Hartford, Conn.

Newfoundland Tract Society, Box 217, St. Johns, Newfoundland.

New Hampshire (See Northern New England).

New Jersey Tract Society, 200 Columbus Ave., Trenton, N. J.

New Mexico Tract Society, Box 727, Clovis, New Mexico.

New York Tract Society (Greater), Room 902, 32 Union Square, New York, N. Y.

New York Tract Society, Eastern, 317 W. Bloomfield St., Rome, N. Y.

New York Tract Society, Western, 527 Garson Ave., Rochester, N. Y.

North Carolina Tract Society, 234 Summit Ave., Greensboro, N. C.

North Dakota Tract Society, Drawer N, Jamestown, N. Dak.

Ohio Tract Society, Box 8, Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Oklahoma Tract Society, Box 64, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Ontario Tract Society, Box 308, Oshawa, Ont., Canada.

Oregon Missionary Society, Western, 508 E. Everett St., Portland, Ore.

Oregon Missionary Society, Southern, 1164 Military St., Roseburg, Ore.

Pennsylvania Tract Society, Eastern, 4910 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Pennsylvania Tract Society, Western, 7155 Mt. Vernon St., Pittsburgh, Pa.

Rhode Island (See New England, Southern).

Saskatchewan Tract Society, Room 103, Willoughby-Sumner Block, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada.

South Carolina Tract Society, 1208 Calhoun St., Columbia, S. C.

South Dakota Tract Society, Drawer 586, Watertown, S. Dak.

Tennessee, Eastern (See Cumberland Tract Society).

Tennessee River Tract Society (Western Tennessee), 509 Cole Bldg., Nashville, Tenn.

Texas Tract Society, North, Box 15, Keene, Texas.

Texas Tract Society, South, Box 755, San Antonio, Texas.

Texas Tract Society, West, Amarillo, Texas.

Upper Columbia Tract Society, College Place, Wash.

Utah Tract and Bible Society, 776 E. 6th South, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Vermont (See Northern New England).

Virginia Tract Society, 2705 W. Main St., Richmond, Va.

Washington Missionary Society, Western, 228 S. Brennan St., Auburn, Wash.

West Virginia Tract Society, 124 Marion St., Fairmont, W. Va.

Wisconsin Tract Society, 305 Ruh Bldg., Fond du Lac, Wis.

Wyoming Tract Society, Crawford, Neb.

Above is a list of our authorized agencies and depositories, and we invite you to communicate with them if you wish to secure any books or periodicals advertised in this journal.

Our foreign tracts are put up in envelopes, price 25c each. They are obtainable in Arabic, Armenian, Bohemian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Danish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and many other languages. Address your Tract Society.

No Longer Divided

SOME weeks ago, the “Interdenominational Ministers’ Association” of Oregon voted to “recommend that the high schools give a credit for Bible study outside of school.” And in their discussion they said:

“The churches in recent years have progressed. They no longer divide on old-time questions of doctrine. Most of them agree that religion seeks results for the common good rather than methods; that men, women, and children have the option of believing many things which were once thought essential.”

One of the things for thinking people to consider is that when great theological bodies are “no longer divided,” they become more and more intolerant. Men get intoxicated with the vastness of their numbers and the fact that they are standing together on some propositions that to them are great, and the tendency is to be very impatient with those who would oppose them.

The war now raging among so-called Christian nations, and which is so indescribable in its barbarities, is convincing many that this age gives no exception to the Bible statement that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jer. 17:9. And it will yet be seen that regardless of our great “enlightenment,” and “civilization,” and “brotherhood of man,” this age will also demonstrate the accuracy of the prophetic predictions which have foretold that this age will produce the worst and the most completely universal religious despotism that the world has ever known anything about.

The evidence is beyond question that appearances are very deceiving. We must place our confidence and trust in the living Word, and in the living God, who searches the heart and tries the reins (Jer. 17:10), and who alone knows how to enlighten the human family in regard to their tendencies and what they will so blindly do.

“Dark Days for Ideals”

THE Christian Herald says:

“These are rather dark and discouraging days to talk about world ideals. It is a particularly discouraging time to talk about the power of Christianity to lead the world to the highest ideals. For just now the greatest of the Christian nations seem bent upon turning the world into a slaughterhouse instead of into a Paradise.

“The fact needs to be emphasized again and again that although the warring nations are called Christian, yet the war came, not because they were Christians, but because they were false to the principles of the faith they profess.”

It has been our contention, all the years, that there is no such thing as a Christian nation. Nor has there ever been such a thing, in all the history of this world, as a Christian nation. And furthermore, there will not be such a thing as a Christian nation in this world until Christ comes the second time and establishes His government in person, as He has predicted through all the prophets that He would do.

We have great nations like the United States, England, Germany, and others that might be named, that have been mightily influenced by the power of Christianity; and there has been manifested in these nations a degree of civilization that has never obtained where Christianity has not been allowed to work as it has in these countries. But while Christian men and women and Christian principles have mightily influenced the peoples of many of the nations of western Europe and of the New World, yet at no time can these nations be said to be Christian. The very fact that two of the leading Protestant nations of the Old World are also the leaders in the death struggle that is in progress there, shows that the thought of a Christian nation as such is a delusion and a snare.

One of the greatest delusions yet to sweep over this world will be the false ideals of Christian nations and what may be done by them. Without any question, this deceptive Christian nation idea will spring up like a mushroom after this great European war.

According to the prophecies of the Bible, the greatest ecclesiastical despotism that the world has ever seen is one of the very next numbers on the prophetic program. Those who are not following the Bible closely will think it to be not only a great Christian nation, but that we have really a great Christian world; and to use the language of the apostle Paul, “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them; . . . and they shall not escape.”

Women in the Trenches

ACCORDING to a news dispatch, 250,000 Serbian women will soon be fighting in the trenches as common soldiers. They say that “will not stay at home and see their sons and husbands slaughtered and their homes destroyed.” The same dispatch says that the Serbian women are very courageous and many of them have already been killed while fighting at the front.

And this is in the great age of boasted “Christian nations,” boasted “civilization,” and a time for “universal peace.” Yet even the women of not only Serbia but practically all the nations of Europe and Asia are in one way and another drawn into the war struggle. It is well to keep in mind that the actual conditions of this time and the theories of the age are very much out of joint; but the conditions as they exist and the Bible forecast make a perfect fit.

Both Peace and War

SEVERAL popular writers are busying themselves, in these days, writing stories for the magazines, as well as the daily papers, in which they picture invasions of this country by great victorious armies. Of course the only object in such writing would be to stir the nation to a vigorous preparation for war, so that they might repel any such attacks.

There are also notes of peace sounding. The voices on both sides are waxing louder and louder and stronger and stronger.

Without question, there are true patriots and very honest men among those who are urging so strongly these war preparations; and on the other hand, those who are advocating peace, doubtless have the conviction that they will be able to establish perpetual immunity from war. But lest we be confused by these conflicting voices, we should carefully study the prophecies of the divine Book, so that we may know what will be the outcome.

Shut Down the Plant and Went Out

By James Cochran

NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that our plant has been running night and day for some time in order to produce literature to supply the demands, the factory closed all day, Wednesday, October 13, and practically the entire force spent the day placing the beautiful Harvest Ingathering SIGNS in the homes of the people and soliciting donations for mission purposes. The managers, editors, and all connected with the institution took part in the work. Most gratifying results came from the day's effort. A number who did not accomplish all they hoped for, are planning to spend another day in the work. Four or five connected with the institution, found it necessary to work, repairing machinery. Most of these gave their day's wages to missions.

The total orders received to date for the Harvest Ingathering SIGNS amount to 706,091, or 23,028 more than were used, all told, last season. Inasmuch as the campaign will not close until January 1, and judging from the way orders are coming in, it seems quite evident we will have to print many more than 800,000 copies, which is our printing order to date.

JAMES COCHRAN, Circulation Manager

Striking in His Weakest Spot

THE “United News Writers,” according to their letterheads, represent an association in New York City “organized to furnish the news of every revolt and strike center, on the principle that ‘the fight center is the news center.’” A few quotations from one of their circulars shows the determination and the spirit with which an increasingly large number of men are taking hold of the proposition of “righting things.” Some sentences from this circular are:

“To hit our biggest enemy in the weakest spot is war tactics. Now we’ll name him, it’s Rockefeller. That’s his name to-day—it may be another name to-morrow—the name that stands for Standard Oil and the biggest bunch of gold ever gotten together in the history of the world. He eats us alive. . . .

“Wake up! All together, now! Let’s hit Rockefeller and all that he stands for. Let’s hit him with publicity first, and then, afterwards—with anything that we can lay our hands on. . . .

“We’ve had enough! enough! enough! and we’re going to strike back!”

Many may desire, in commenting upon such utterances, to confine themselves to the moral wrong of statements of that character; but we would like to call the attention of our readers to the fact that such statements are made broadcast in this time; that thousands of men are uttering them. The facts of the time show that a very few men have cornered the wealth of the world, and they are heaping it together in increasingly large amounts. And on the other hand, this grasping of wealth by the few is not only creating murmurs of dissatisfaction among the people, but men really feel called upon, in self-protection, to make just such violent utterances as these quoted from the United News Writers.

These conditions of discontentment are worldwide. They have honeycombed the very vitals of society everywhere. Intensity upon the subject is taking possession of the minds of men; and to dam up the waters of the Niagara or the Zambesi, or to stop the ebb and flow of the tides, would be as hopeless an undertaking as to endeavor to keep the pent-up sentiments of this time from breaking out into violence and revolution.

The self-centered and blind greed of the age refuses either to be reformed or to observe the approaching smash. Remedy after remedy has been suggested for more than a quarter of a century. Reform organizations one after another have arisen, and with intense earnestness pointed out the dangers, and suggested what ought to be done, but the conditions grow worse and worse. The only hope before the world, in which any individual can safely trust, is that blessed hope of the soon coming of Christ. As the prophets have so abundantly told, this will be the climax that will deliver men from these conditions, and that will bring to those who are prepared, the rewards of everlasting joy in the eternity of peace which the Prince of peace alone can provide.