p. 14 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 19. (5/6/1908)

Earlier text: The Tension among the Nations

Parties, Gatherings, and Associations

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

THERE was never a time in the history of earth, when the world presented so many pleasing allurements—everything calculated to distract and engage the attention, especially of the young—as at the present time. Parties, dances, theaters, ball games, races, beer-gardens, clubs, entertainments, societies,—anything to turn the mind and heart from the serious realities of life,—are the order, or rather the disorder, of the day. The multitudes are sick with constant excitement. No wonder nervous diseases are on the increase.

There are so many calls, by the people, for this kind of thing that caters to the public love of amusement are constantly on the outlook for anything fresh and new. No matter how atrocious, or how it smacks of the barbarous, only let it be unheard of, startling, unique. Said a friend of mine, whose business it was to cater to the fancies of the very rich, “Money is no object; just so the entertainment is out of the ordinary, they are willing to pay handsomely for it.”

The rich, however, are not alone in their feverish thirst for amusements. The poor are little better. Of course, the high-priced theaters and more expensive places of resort do not appeal so strongly to them. So, recognizing this fact, the cheap show, the ten-cent theater, and the vaudeville have arisen to extort the pennies from the poor—since they have no dollars to give.

“Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God!” is the solemn verdict written in the record books above, by the angel scribe as he looks up and down the length and breadth of this fair land, dotted with churches, whose thousand spires point solemnly heavenward.

“But,” says my optimistic friend, “surely you must exaggerate the condition of things. Surely the church of Christ is awake to her danger.” Would to God she were awake! but can that church be called awake, which is obliged to resort to the questionable methods of the world to support her ministers and to extend her missions? when she takes more time and thought to promote the grab-bag social than to fill her pews for an old-fashioned prayer-meeting? when her members can attend the theater two or three evenings in the week, but are too tired and full of business to attend church on the day of rest? when the horse-race or the ball game has more charms for them than the weekly sermon, in fact when the church vies with the world in the number and brilliancy of her entertainments, how can I be said to exaggerate when I affirm that Ephraim is as surely joined to his idols to-day, as in the days of old, when the solemn command went forth from the lips of the Almighty: “Let him alone”?

“But what are we going to do with the youth”? you question. “They must and will have amusements of some kind, and, indeed, it is only reasonable that they should. You can’t expect to put old heads onto young shoulders; so if you have any panacea which will affect a certain cure for these turbulent spirits, bring it forward at once, if you think it is needed.”

That the panacea is needed, my friend, is beyond question; and that it can be named and is right at hand is equally sure. But that those sin-sick souls who need its healing balm will “come to the fountain and drink and live,” is quite another question.

The other day a young man was taken sick. As the symptoms seemed serious his family proposed to call the physician. But the sick man objected; he could see no need. “I don’t need a doctor, why do you make yourselves so much trouble?” Others had died of the same malady, but surely he would not die; he was too young, too strong, too full of vitality and life. They waited an hour. Then they sent for the physician. Too late! The young man was gone.

It is just so with disease of the soul. The sufferer doesn’t see his danger, and even if urged by those who love him, he is very likely to refuse the services of the great Physician. Sin is like paralysis; it is benumbing; and, like darkness, it is blinding. But I will tell you the panacea: it is the living power of the Holy Spirit; it is the precious blood of the Crucified. But unless the Holy Spirit is claimed by faith, unless the blood is applied, the results are the same—only more terrible—as if we knew not of the remedy. “But are we to attend nothing but prayer-meetings and church?”—The heart which is truly right before God, will find no difficulty in answering. Whenever and wherever we can take Jesus with us, it is safe to go. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him.” Shall we ask the angel to pull down his tents, and encamp no more about us, so that we may be left free to follow the inclinations of our own evil hearts?—Ah, no; then let us shun those resorts and associations into which we can not expect the guardian angels to follow us. O how shall we dare to brave the powers of darkness in our own unaided strength! Stronger men and women than we, have fallen before him who caused even the downfall of myriads of mighty angels. Shall we invite him to exercise his seductive power upon us poor, puny, weak creatures? Shall we dare him by stepping wilfully upon his ground?—God forbid.

Then in this matter let us remember that safety lies only in the firm resolve:—

I will go nowhere without the sacred and protecting presence of the guardian angel. I will attend no gathering into which I can not invite my Lord.

Luther Burbank's Opinion.

“Do you think that whisky and tobacco impair the faculty to work?” Mr. Burbank was asked recently, and he replied:

“If I answered your question simply by saying that I never use tobacco and alcohol in any form, and very rarely coffee or tea, you might say that was a personal preference and proved nothing. But I can prove to you most conclusively that even the mild use of these things is incompatible with work requiring accurate attention and definite concentration. To assist me in my work of budding, work that is as accurate and as exacting as watchmaking, I have a force of twenty men. I discharge from this force at the first show of incompetency. Sometime ago my foreman asked me if I took pains to inquire into the personal habits of my men. On being answered in the negative, he surprised me by saying that the men I found unable to do the delicate work of budding invariably turned out to be smokers and drinkers. These men, while able to do the rough work of farming, call budding and delicate work ‘put

tering,’ and have to give it up owing to an inability to concentrate their nerve force. Even men who smoke one cigar a day I can not entrust with some of my delicate work. Cigarets are even more damaging than cigars and their use by young boys is little short of criminal.”

The Blessed Bible.

By Charles Wesley

WHEN quiet in my house I sit, Thy Book be my companion still; My joy Thy sayings to repeat, Talk o’er the records of Thy will, And search the oracles divine, Till every heartfelt word be mine.

O may the gracious words divine Subject of all my converse be; So will the Lord His follower join, And walk and talk Himself with me; So shall my heart His presence prove, And burn with everlasting love.

Oft as I lay me down to rest, O may the reconciling word Sweetly compose my weary breast, While on the bosom of my Lord I sink in blissful dreams away And visions of eternal day.

Rising to sing my Saviour’s praise, Thee may I publish all day long; And let Thy precious word of grace Flow from my heart, and fill my tongue; Fill all my life with purest love, And join me to the church above. —Charles Wesley.

Insist on Your Best.

By Orison Swett Marden

It is only when we do our best, when we put joy, energy, enthusiasm, and zeal into our work, that we really grow; and this is the only way we can keep our highest self-respect.

We can not think much of ourselves when we are not honest in our work—when we are not doing our level best. There is nothing which will compensate you for a loss of faith in yourself, for the knowledge of your capacity for doing bungling, dishonest work.

You have something infinitely higher in you to satisfy than to make a mere living, to get thru your day's work as easily as possible. That is, your sense of the right, the demand in you to do your level best to call out the best thing in you, to be a man, to do the square thing; this should speak so loudly in you that the mere bread-and-butter question, the money-making question, should be absolutely insignificant in comparison.

Start out with the tacit understanding with yourself that you will be a man at all hazards; that your work shall express the highest and the best things in you; and that you can not afford to debase or demoralize yourself, by appealing to the lowest, the most despicable, mean side of yourself by deteriorating, by botching your work.

How often we see people working along without a purpose, half committed to their aim, only intending to pursue their vocation until they strike snags! They intend to keep at it as long as it is tolerable, or until they find something they like better. This is a cowardly way to face a life-work which determines our destiny.

A man ought to approach his life task, however humble, with the high ideals that characterize a greater master as he approaches the canvas upon which he is going to put his masterpiece—with a resolution to make no false moves that will mar the model that lives in his ideal.—Orison Swett Marden.

A Praying Mother.

AN evangelist, Dr. Wm. A. Spencer, writes of an incident which we give in his own words:

"On my first circuit there was an old woman who prayed in a ragged, broken voice that jarred on my nerves and affected me most unpleasantly. I had reason to believe she was a good woman, but her voice was broken all to bits, and I could not understand why she should be called on for public prayer. One day I asked one of my brethren why, and he said, 'If you knew the history of that voice and how it came to be in that condition, each chord would be like sweetest melody to you. Once it was sweet and melodious, and every note rang true and pure; but her boy went into the army and fell into prison, and was there taken sick. He was unconverted, and that woman prayed all winter for his salvation. Night and day she was on her knees crying out aloud for his salvation. The spring came and her boy died, but he died a happy Christian, praising God amid the prison horrors with his dying breath. But his mother's voice was gone—prayed to pieces that winter, that her boy might be saved!' From that moment there was no music in the church so sweet as that woman's broken voice, and my voice is crying, 'Lord, give us a race of praying mothers who can get their boys saved!'' —Anonymous.

Man and Woman.

IN the beginning God made the heavens and the earth. He lit up the heavens with the sun by day and the stars by night. He created the birds of the air, the beasts of the forest, and the fish of the sea. He made the beautiful hills and the smiling valleys, the shady groves and the babbling brooks, the gorgeous rainbow and the warbling birds, in short, a beautiful and plenteous world, a garden of Eden.

Then He created man, and made him ruler over all. He surveyed the picture and was not satisfied. There was something missing, something without which all else was nothing. He saw the sun was king of the day, the moon queen of the night, the stars like a great family of bright-eyed children. In all nature was sex and companionship; but man was alone. Then God made woman, and gave her to man as a companion, friend, wife, the last, but best, of His creations, as the connecting link between heaven and earth, between man and his God.

From that day to this, she has been his guardian angel. From the cradle to the grave—

"She sits by his heart, when it sinks in sorrow, Singing out the dark night, singing in the bright morrow."

She says unto him, as Ruth said to Naomi: "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."

—Jewish Ledger.

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By Editor

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Bible-Readings for the Home Circle

By Editor

Bible-Readings for the Home Circle. This book comprises 162 readings for public and private study, and answers nearly 3,000 questions on religious topics—practical, historical, and prophetical. It contains 600 octavo pages, printed on a superior quality of tinted paper, embellished with 57 full-page engravings and 170 ornamental headings, together with 10 full-page Scriptural and prophetic diagrams, 3 colored plates, and other attractive features. The bindings are elegant and substantial, the styles and prices being as follows: Cloth, gilt side title, marbled edges, $2.75; library, marbled edges, $3.75; full leather, marbled edges, $4.75. Cheap edition, 400 pages, solid type, no illustrations or colored plates, no poetry, thin paper, brown cloth, plain edges, $1.25. Address this office.

Bibles

By Editor

Bibles.—Remember that we are headquarters for anything in the Bible line. We shall be pleased to send you our catalog of Bible selections on application. Pacific Press Publishing Co., Mountain View, Cal.

Matthew Twenty-four

An exposition, verse by verse, of one of the most striking chapters in the New Testament; covering our Lord's great discourse on the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the world, and the special signs of His second coming to reward His children. The facts of fulfilment given make this pamphlet worth many times its price. 94 pages, price 10c.

Matthew Twenty-four

Second Coming of Christ

PACIFIC PRESS Mountain View, Cal.

The Lord's Day

A Brief but Comprehensive Treatise covering the History and Doctrine of the Sabbath and Sunday Controversy from Creation to the Present. Truth supported by Scripture, Historical fact, and Argument. A Multum in Parvo on the Sabbath Question. Illustrated; 128 pp; price, 10 cents post-paid.

The LORD'S DAY The Test of the Ages

PACIFIC PRESS Mountain View, Cal.

Why Not Be Happy?

By Editor

Just as we go to press, news comes of fearful storms and tornadoes which have swept portions of the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Arkansas. Untold damage has been done. Whole towns were swept out of existence, and five hundred or more persons killed. So run the reports. We sincerely hope that later reports will reduce these awful tidings.

Too Much of It.—From an artistic view, one of the prettiest things which has been gotten out as a souvenir of the great armada's visit to this coast is a 7 x 10 card, near the top of which is a picture of Admiral Evans, encircled by a laurel wreath. Below is an outline map of North and South America, with a double red line extending from Hampton Roads around the Horn to the Pacific Coast ports. On the right is a hand holding aloft a glass of red wine, with the toast inscription, "Gentlemen, the Admiral." This is bright and hospitable for the world, but the admiral and his fellows have had altogether too much of it. Red wine, toasts, sumptuous fare, feasting, banqueting, smoking, and all the unhealthful, unwholesome accompaniments are worse than actual campaigning in aging men, writing wrinkles on faces, generating and fostering rheumatism and gout, and making men miserable all the latter years of their life. How weary they must get of it all! How unnatural is such a life!

Reader, you mean to serve God some day; why not to-day? You mean to make peace with God, whom you have sinned against many times. Why not now? Yield to Him before your heart hardens forever. His mercy will still endure, but your hard heart will have none of it. You have stilled the voice till you know it no more.

"We mean to do it, some day, some day We mean to slacken the fevered rush That is wearing our very souls away, And grant to our goaded hearts a hush That is holy enough to let them hear The footsteps of angels drawing near.

"But the day that we dreamed of comes at length, When, tired of every mocking quest, And broken in spirit and shorn of strength, We drop at last to our door of rest, And wait and watch while the day wanes on, But the angels we meant to call are gone."

Is your peace made with God? If not, seek Him to-day. Lay down your arms of rebellion, and receive the peace of Jesus Christ before it is too late.

Why Not Be Happy?

REV. D. S. PHELAN, editor of the St. Louis Western Watchman, thus preaches to his people in his paper of April 9, 1908, under the topical head, "Christianity Is a Religion of Joy:"

"Why are not Catholics all happy? No, you are not happy. You do what you do for God and your souls thru impulsion. You go to church on Sunday because you must. You go to confession because you must. You go down on your knees in the morning and again at night to say your prayers because you must. You abstain from meat on Friday because you must. But I don't see that you are very happy in all that. You come to the confessional with sour faces and you go away with faces sometimes a little sourer. And you come to the Holy Table sometimes as slaves driven thither. I don't see happiness depicted in your faces. You are very much like people going to pay their taxes. Go down to the collector's office on days when taxes are due; you see people pressing up to pay their taxes. There are no particularly happy people there. They come because they must. They are like people standing around in a dentist's office, who come to have teeth extracted. You come here on Sunday and look like people who are going to have their teeth pulled out. You don't find any particular happiness in your religion."

Now, reader, we did not say that. It was said by a Catholic of Catholics to Catholics. Yet Father Phelan's picture is true of every ritualistic, traditional religion. It has the form, and its ornate services impress many; its early teachings superstitiously hold many more, but it lacks in personal, joyful, life-union with Christ. No wonder that it looks to its festival days for happiness and joy; yet such joys are purely sensuous, not spiritual, and without the sense impressions they never hold the soul. We wish to say to them that there is a happier experience found in simple, personal relationship thru faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Surely if Christianity is "a religion of joy," and Catholics are not joyful, the religion of Catholics is not Christianity. Bible religion is.

"Those Bible Readings."

By Editor

Several years ago Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle contributed to this journal a series of articles, in the form of a story, giving an account of family Bible-readings, held by a father, which became so interesting that several of the neighbors came in and joined the Bible studies. Requests came in repeatedly that these should be placed in book form, and this has at last been done by the Pacific Press, in a neat volume of twenty-five chapters, and over 200 pages. These Bible studies include the inspiration of the Bible, the second coming of our Lord, the prophetic field, the law of the Most High, the Sabbath commandment, the voice of conscience, the grandmother's story, spiritualism, the wages of sin, justification by faith, etc., etc. It is an interesting and instructive little book, which ought to duplicate itself in the experience of many families. The price is postpaid 75 cents. Address, Pacific Press, Mountain View, Cal., or any of its branch or state depositories.

The "American Prohibition Year Book" for 1908 comes to our table from the Lincoln Temperance Press, 92 La Salle Street, Chicago, Ill. It certainly should be consulted in these days of Prohibition booming. It is double the usual size and contains thirteen departments: "Almanac," "Total Abstinence," "Consumption and Cost of Drink," "Economics," "Criminology," "Legislation," "Results of Legislation," "The Liquor Trade," "A National Problem," "Political Action and Methods," "Party Records," "Religious Bodies," "Courts and Decisions," "Election Returns," "Organization and Lists." We especially commend to statesmen and politicians the departments on "Cost of Drink," and "Economics." If people could see this question aright, all, including the liquor men, would be prohibitionists. The editor of the Year Book is Alonzo E. Nelson, and the associate editor, Alfred R. Heath. The price is 50 cents cloth, and 25 cents paper covered. Address as above.

Herald It On.

Some years ago this journal published a specially decorated page of the Decalogue, with many testimonies from the Old and New Testaments relating thereto. Twice since then it has presented the law in the same striking form. The Watchman (Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, Tenn.) has embodied the idea in a page, with a picture of Sinai at the top, and a quotation from Rev. Geo. Elliot at the bottom. It has of necessity a less number of scriptures in the margin. It is printed in three colors, on plate paper, and makes an excellent wall chart. Price, single copies, five cents. Address as above.

It would not seem that the automobile with its rubber tires would be a menace to good roads. But the claim is now made that the whizzing of these machines over the roads stirs up the rock dust that helps to make the roads smooth, and the winds carry it away. During recent years it is claimed that there has been a deterioration of 40 per cent in the roads where there is much travel by the automobile, and an international congress is proposed to study the matter.

Commercialism to Dominate.

It is a sad thing to see a professedly Christian man or firm dominated by commercialism. It is a canker which eats out all elements of manhood and character. "They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." Thus speaks the apostle; and the axiomatic statement is as true of nations as of men. Religion enthroned in the statute laws of a nation and dominating its policies invariably leads to evil. Commercialism has the same effect in a different way. It is one of the mighty elements which will be likely to open the flood-gates of war upon the world. It has stayed war when the interest of the money power of the world demanded it; it will not hesitate to compel war when the same interests call for it. Witness the words of Governor Gillett, spoken at Coronado, and reported in the Examiner of April 16:

"In fact, it is a great commercial question, and not merely a question of armament. We have our share of Atlantic trade now, but a new nation has arisen in the Far East, a great dominating power, and just as surely as we had to fight in the Atlantic for trade equality, just so we will have to fight in the Pacific for the same thing."

"The fleet that stays in the Pacific must be as large, if not larger, than that which guards the Atlantic. For here, as I have said to you, is to be fought out the great battle of commercial supremacy in waters heretofore neglected. . . ."

"We must not be the third naval power. We must be the first, and not because of any false pride in the matter, but because our possessions and our vast sea-coast demand it. . . . The sun must never go down on any ocean where the American flag is not flying from the top of cruiser or battle-ship squadron."

And this will stir up the same spirit among others seeking greater possessions or commerce. The result will be, what God has foretold, Armageddon.

Contained in This Issue.

By Editor

With Our Inquirers Questions, Nos. 2489 to 2497 . . . 2

General "Follow Me, and I Will Make You Fishers of Men" . . . 3 Were the Christians of Past Centuries Sealed without the Sabbath? . . . 4 Serving from Principle—a Parable . . . 5 A Personal, Intelligent God . . . 6 The Winning of Zacchaeus . . . 6 Praying for More Faith . . . 7 Sin and Death . . . 7 Hopelessness of a Good Example . . . 7 Are You Sowing to the Flesh? (a Bible-Reading) . . . 7

Editorial The Eternal Word: Its Witnesses . . . 8 Studies in Romans . . . 8 Is It, and Is It Not Strange? . . . 9 Our Bible Band . . . 9

Outlook The Tension among the Nations . . . 10 Tall Buildings in New York City . . . 10 A Japanese War-Ship Cruise . . . 11

Missions Porto Rico: Its Climate and Productions . . . 12

The Home Parties, Gatherings, and Associations . . . 14 Luther Burbank's Opinion . . . 14 A Praying Mother . . . 15 Insist on Your Best . . . 15 Man and Woman . . . 15

Poetry Armed Peace . . . 1 Up to Jerusalem . . . 4 The Days in Which We Live . . . 5 The Star of Bethlehem . . . 6 Some Blessed Day . . . 7 The Blessed Bible . . . 14