FOR THE CLOSING OF THE CENTURY.
By Editor
ANY person who has traveled through a country strange and unknown to him knows with what diligence the traveler inquires for information concerning his journey and the land he desires to reach. He procures maps of the country and charts of the road, and studies them with great care. He seeks knowledge from every available source. So deeply concerned in the matter is he that his eyes often refuse to close in sleep. He parts with his possessions and is willing to spend his money and run the risk of losing health and even life itself, to reach the place of which he has only heard that wealth may be gathered there, or where he, perhaps, may “better his condition.” With what joy he hails the presence of signs posted up here and there by the wayside, warning him of dangers ahead and advising him how to escape them! How he is comforted to learn where necessary supplies may be obtained and where shelter may be found! How he is relieved by the sight of a sign-board, directing him aright, where the road forks and every branch is confusingly plain, and with what special interest he watches for those signs which tell him of his whereabouts, and how near he is to the place he seeks! And when these signs of the way show that he is nearing his journey’s end, his interest is still deepened, and how anxiously he watches for the appearance of anything which will more certainly assure him that he is almost there! The reader and the writer are fellow-travelers on the highway of time. Many are the dangers that beset our way; many the quicksands of sin into which we are liable to fall; many the by-paths where we are exposed to the danger of losing our way. Are we seeking for information regarding our way, and the heavenly country which we hope to reach, as anxiously as the man who desires to reach a better country in this world? Our interest and anxiety should be as much greater than his as the country we seek is better than the one he seeks. God in mercy has given us His Word, which is a light to our feet and a lamp to our path. It is the great road-book of our journey, and the unerring map of futurity. It tells where all necessary supplies may be obtained, and where shelter is to be found. It tells of certain signs which we are to see, and by which we may know that the journey’s end is near, and says, “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Have we been passing these signs? Are we passing them now? Are we living in the time “when ye shall see all these things”? And is it true that “it [or “He,” margin] is near, even at the doors”? These are interesting questions. True and plain answers will be sought by every candid person. As the only source whence accurate answers will come, we recommend the reader to study the “sure word of prophecy,” “the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” As an assistant in this study, we recommend the reading of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. This paper will still continue its work of warning of a soon-coming judgment and of the necessity of a speedy preparation for that solemn event. In its general department will appear deeply interesting articles on the Prophecies, the Sanctuary, the Lord’s Day, God’s Purpose Concerning Man, Man’s Relation to God, Man’s Nature, Whether Mortal or Immortal, His Future State, etc. The Outlook department will call attention to and consider the unusual disturbances in the physical world, the general trend of matters in and among the nations, in the political field, in the church, and in society, and point out the signs of the times as seen in them. The other several departments,—Missions, the Home, the Sabbath-school, and Editorial,—will each in its own sphere be interesting, instructive, and beneficial. For the year 1900 several extra numbers are already planned. An Educational issue will discuss the eternal principles of education, which subject, as many others, is breaking away from its old moorings and beginning to drift out into the ocean of uncertainty. A Fourth of July number will consider our nation’s past history, its present course, and its future destiny. On these the search-light of prophecy will be turned, and in them will be found startling signs of the times. For these issues nothing extra is asked of our subscribers. At the close of the century will be issued the Outlook number. This will review the past and hold up the future to view in the light of God’s Word. It will be even better, if possible, than our World’s Harvest number, and important in proportion to the momentous and stirring times in which it will be published, and the proximity of the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. PUBLISHERS OF THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.