The Interior tells of a Protestant lady who "not long since called upon her pastor, and said she had attended worship in a Catholic cathedral, and wished to say that she was favorably impressed. The priest, in his discourse, had quoted a text of Scripture, and he did it in a way to convey the impression that he was quoting final authority—that the truth, having been found in Scripture, was indisputable. That, she thought, was the secret of the priest's power over the people. He did not doubt, and therefore they did not."
Of course we are not to understand that Catholics as a rule follow the Bible any more closely than do Protestants, but upon this occasion when the priest did refer to the Scripture his manner was such as to impress this woman, who was evidently not accustomed to hearing texts of Scripture quoted as "final authority." The principal business of many of the pulpits of to-day is to "explain away" the plain words of Scripture, and to tone down the more plain and cutting truths, so that they may not be offensive to "ears polite." The Interior well says: "Making apologies for the Bible is about the weakest and poorest talk a man can indulge in."
Wages Lost by Strikes
BRADSTREET'S says that the grand total of wages sacrificed by strikes since January 1, is $3,000,000.
Congressional Appropriations for Defense
In the session of Congress, which has just closed, appropriations for coast and naval defenses have been made to the following amounts: Steel for ordnance and armor, and a gun factory, $8,000,000; coast fortifications, $5,000,000; ordnance for naval purposes, $8,000,000; ten steel cruisers, $21,800,000; floating batteries for coast defense, and torpedoes, $15,000,000.
Tennessee Sunday Law Relief
By Editor
Elder J. M. Rees, President of the Tennessee Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, writes us from Nashville that he has good prospect of success in securing the passage of a bill which will relieve Sabbath-keepers of the persecution to which they are subject because of the present unjust Sunday law. We believe that the bill will pass at this time, and that those in Tennessee who keep the commandments, will yet have a little season for unmolested work.
The Sunday Law Address
By Editor
IMMEDIATELY after the Sunday law meeting of which we gave a brief review in the SIGNS last week, we published a somewhat extended review of the main points considered, under the heading, "The Sunday Law.—An Address to Thinking People." In the address we quoted Senator Crockett's speech as it appeared in the SIGNS last week. This little document was gotten out principally for circulation here in Oakland, where the meeting was held; but friends of the truth in other places have called for it, so that although it has been printed less than two weeks, more than thirty thousand copies have been distributed. Thus the matter of the Sunday law is being agitated.
Renting Property for Liquor Sales
"Is it right for a Seventh-day Adventist, who is the owner of a house, to let it for a grocery store where liquors are sold and cards are played in open day?"
V. S. N.
Responsibility for Immoral Use of Buildings
By Editor
A person undoubtedly does wrong to let a building with the knowledge that it will be used for immoral purposes, such as our questioner describes; but if the person hiring the building gave the owner to understand that it was to be used for legitimate business purposes, and after getting possession went to selling liquor, the owner cannot be held responsible for the deception, neither has he power over the building until the time expires for which the building was rented. Then of course the owner can and should refuse to let his house any longer for such purposes. We would add, also, that liquor-selling and card-playing are no worse in open day than under cover of darkness.
The McGlynn Affair
By Editor
The hope that was expressed by some that the Dr. McGlynn affair in New York would result in a considerable defection among Catholics in that city, has proved to be vain. The rebellious priest has refused to go to Rome, but he has not, and probably will not, be excommunicated for his disobedience. And now we are told that the Pope has sent him his blessing, and that the Doctor was very much pleased and affected to be thus noticed by "his holiness." All of which indicates very clearly that McGlynn will not withdraw from the communion of "the church." If he did, it is by no means certain that he could take with him a single follower. About the only way to rescue a Roman Catholic from the chains of error which the Papacy has cast about him, is to get him converted; and that is not accomplished by partisan feuds or socialistic theories. Those who expect to see the Catholic Church, even in a single city, wrecked upon such a rock as the McGlynn trouble, read history and prophecy to very little purpose.
The Day of the Lord as a Thief
An error which is clung to most persistently by a great many people, is that the coming of the Lord will overtake all "as a thief in the night." It is true that the apostle does say (1 Thess. 5:2) "that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night;" but he immediately adds (verse 4): "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness." So it is only those who are in darkness that will be overtaken as a thief; and of them the apostle says (verse 3), that "sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape."
Shame and Genuine Religious Revivals
In his description of the recent revival in Boston, the Rev. M. C. Ayers says:—
"At any meeting one might see silk hats and silk dresses in close contact with homespun and overalls; and the wearers of the different grades of apparel manifested absolute consciousness of equality in the one great fact that they were sinners, and thus they were heartily ashamed of their sins."
"The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all." Prov. 22:2. The rich are no better than the poor, and there is no reason why they should not meet on common ground, when they are common sinners. But if they are simply "ashamed of their sins," they will not long keep on that common ground. The frequent use of similar expressions of late, in connection with great revivals, convinces us that we need not hope for any real religious awakening. The man who has no deeper feeling than shame for his sins, may either cover them up and hide them from even his own sight, or he may become lost to shame for them. When Michael stands up, and "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake," some of them will awake to shame, and everlasting contempt; while those only who have felt godly sorrow for sin, because they have violated God's holy law, will awake to everlasting life. Genuine revivals are always connected with something else than shame because of meanness.
Unconcealed Infidelity
By Editor
While reading the article from the Christian Union, extracts from which are made in the article in this number of the SIGNS, entitled "Unconcealed Infidelity," one thought forced itself upon our mind. It was, Why is the Bible used at all by those who so utterly ignore its plain statements? When a writer will take the simple narrative of the call of Abraham, and will say that in dealing with the subject he is almost wholly in the field of conjecture, and will then add, out of his own fancy, things directly subversive of the Bible narrative, we cannot see why he might not as well make up an entire story, and comment upon that. Indeed it would be far better, for then those who want the original Bible could have it unadulterated by theological fancy, and those who want the conjectural Bible could take it. But this will not be done; no man could get up anything that would compete with the Bible, and they would soon lose their prestige; so they keep close enough to the Bible to lean upon it when their imagination fails,—close enough to seduce our unthinking people into unconscious infidelity.
The Disease of Itching Ears
By Editor
In a late number of the Occident, there is a good, homely article by "Rusticus," about hearing. The closing paragraphs speak of so crying an evil of this time, and contain so much wholesome truth in relation to it, that we give them here:—
"There are a great many new things in this world and a great many true things. But it must not be taken for granted that all the new things are true things, and that all the true things are new things. There is a good deal of old-fashioned truth—of truth that will never become obsolete. This truth is like daily bread. It is revealed for the permanent nourishment of our souls. We eat it with our ears. And if we refuse to seek it, and prefer unhealthy condiments and stimulants, we must expect to be feeble in faith.
"If any of my readers are troubled with itching ears, I advise them to go at once to the Great Physician and ask him to heal them. I have known the disease to prove fatal in some cases. I do not believe that anyone who is afflicted with it can be happy in the Lord. But alas, in these days it is a fearful epidemic. There are whole churches that suffer from it, and yet don't seem to know why they have no revivals of religion."
Pardons Distributed by Geography
By Editor
At the National Conference of Charities and Correction, Governor Hoadly of Ohio, related the following, the truth of which he vouched for, having himself inspected the letter referred to: "There is in a certain governor's office, I shall not say where, the letter press, books, and correspondence of a certain governor, I shall not say who. A friend sought from this governor the pardon of two criminals. The governor gave his correspondent the choice, but refused to pardon both, because, as he said, that county's quota was exhausted! This was no joke, but the reason seriously given by an earnest governor who distributed pardons by geography." Such a travesty on justice needs no comment; we note it as a sign of the times.
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
By Editor
PUBLISHED WEEKLY, AT OAKLAND, CAL., FOR THE
International Tract and Missionary Society.
A sixteen-page Religious Family Paper, devoted to a discussion of the Prophecies, Signs of the Times, Second Coming of Christ, Harmony of the Law and Gospel; with Departments devoted to Health and Temperance, the Home Circle, the Missionary Work, and the Sabbath-school.
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Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES,
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