THE REVIEW AND THE SIGNS
By Editor
WE believe there is no other people of our numbers whose church papers are so widely circulated and thoroughly read, as are the Review and Herald, and the Signs of the Times. They are published under one general management, and although they look to the same body of people for patronage, the wide circulation of one should not lessen that of the other, as each has its distinct mission, and cannot properly fill the place of the other. Upon this point, Elder James White, who, since 1875, has been associated with Elders J. N. Andrews and U. Smith as editors of both papers, has said:— "We here repeat, what we have frequently stated, that the Review is our church paper. As such, all our people on the Pacific coast, who are able to take both papers, should subscribe for the Review. The Signs will be the leading paper for the coast, and yet will be our pioneer sheet wherever the English language is read. "No reading matter will do as much good for the money as the weekly visits of the Signs at $1.50 per year, post-paid. It was supposed that the Minnesota brethren overacted in the circulation of the Voice of Truth, which made a debt of $2,300, followed immediately by the grasshopper scourge. That was one of the best mistakes Minnesota ever made, as the wide circulation of the Voice resulted in preparing the minds of scores to receive the message. There are several ways by which to circulate the Signs:— "The Tract Societies can carry out their system of circulating periodicals and furnish the Signs to thousands. "Individuals can take several copies, from two to ten, and, as they enter upon missionary labor, furnish them to individuals who wish to read, and forward their names to the Signs Office as fast as they can obtain them. "Hundreds of young and active T. and M. workers should be canvassing for the Signs at the low price of $1.50 a year, post-paid, to those not in the faith. It may be an advantage in many cases to club the En-graving, Way of Life, at $2.00 for it and the Signs one year." Many of our readers are acquainted with the steady increase of patronage received by the Signs in response to this and similar appeals, and it is a pity that some who have an opportunity to read those Signs sent out at a reduced price to be gratuitously distributed, should, on that account, drop their subscription to the Review, which is the only paper that will keep them thoroughly posted on our denominational work. In the last Review, Eld. White says:— "One year since, the Review was enlarged about two-fifths, in expectation that our ministers, tract societies, and friends generally, would double the subscription lists. In this the publishers have been disappointed. The cost of the Review for 1880 has been $2,000 more than 1879, without increase of subscribers. We now call on all the friends of the cause to rally for the Review, and not compel us to return to the size for 1879. "It was not our design, in establishing the Signs of the Times upon the Pacific coast, to have it in a single case take the place of the Review. But it is a fact that while that paper has reached a circulation of 9,000 copies, as stated in its issue for November 25, 1880, the Review has not as many subscribers as it had in 1874, when that paper was started, having now only about 6,000 patrons." While the number of Reviews taken by our brethren in California is nearly double what it was a year ago, it is worthy of notice that the number of Signs used has largely increased also, so that, excepting New England, no other Conference uses half as many papers to its numbers. Thus it will ever be. An increase in the subscription list of the Review will work an increase in all branches of our missionary work. We hope that every family of Sabbath-keepers on the Pacific coast will be careful readers of the Review and Herald during 1881. W. C. WHITE. We ask for 5,000 new subscribers for the year, and 5,000 for four months at 50 cents. We shall remain at Battle Creek to take the supervision of the Review, and furnish matter for its columns, and shall not spare labor and care to make the Review the best paper published. JAMES WHITE. As ONE more number completes the present volume, there will be no paper next week. OUR readers will find an unusually instructive article, as well as one of absorbing interest, in the Sabbath-school department. It will be read with great profit by the thousands of scholars who are studying the lessons on New Testament history, published in the Youth's Instructor. AS PARENTS and children, brothers and friends, will be selecting choice presents during the next two weeks, it will be a busy time. Some will put it off too long, and then find that there is nothing so nice and appropriate as one of the excellent books recommended in the Signs of December 2. For a holiday gift there can be nothing more appropriate than a good book, and especially those books which give knowledge of Him in whose honor the Christmas is celebrated. The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan, in three volumes, which traces the ministry of Christ for man from his fall to his complete redemption will ever be an appropriate Christmas gift, but especially so this year when our Sabbath school lessons are the life of Christ. "OUR minister is a first-rate preacher," said a shrewd old farmer, "but somehow he always rakes with the teeth up." How much of that kind of preaching we have all listened to—preaching that seems to possess nearly every good quality, but yet never produces any marked result. It lacks the one indispensable quality of moving men's wills, though it may satisfy their intellects and pleasantly excite their emotions. No matter how vigorously the rake is used, small results will follow unless it is used teeth down. That runs may read the moral.—Examiner and Chronicle. "A NICE sense of honor," says a contemporary, "is an essential thing in the church, in society, in business. Each of these institutions—and together they comprehend the whole of man's life—is founded on the confidence which one man has in another. Destroy this confidence, there is no social intercourse, no Christian fellowship. And how can this confidence exist without a high sense of honor on the part of all? Let a person be marked as one whose honor is not to be depended on, and no merchant is willing to give him credit, no one likes to meet him in society, and no church faithful to itself and its Lord will retain him in its membership. There are merchants in this city who must be bound hand and foot by legal obligations before they can be trusted to stand by their word; no one does business with them if he can help it. There are others who would as soon lose their life as break their word, and they are implicitly trusted. The same nice sense of honor needs to be carried into every relation of life." Good Health for December comes laden with its usual amount of practical hints in regard to regaining and preserving health. Among other good advice is the following:— "We must not forget to remind our friends of the danger of holiday transgressions of the laws of health. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's are generally devoted to gormandizing. Don't do it, friends. If anything, let the meals be more wholesome on these holidays, which are also idle days, that the system really requires less nourishment than on other days and is less prepared to endure any sort of dietetic abuse. The mind may be feasted without detriment; but indulgence of the appetite injures both mind and body."