The Review and Signs by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 30, 1874

The Review and Signs.

By James White

1. They are by no means rivals, but are lifting at the same great wheel of reform, in the advocacy of truth against error, and in teaching redemption from sin, and from the grave to immortality, alone through the Redeemer.

2. It is recommended that all our people who are able to do so, and have an interest in what is going on among our people, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, take both papers.

3. Those of our people who decide to take but one paper, especially those east of the Plains, should take the REVIEW. That will communicate more directly with the eastern brethren in matters of local importance and interest than the Signs will.

4. The Signs will be especially adapted to the local interests of the cause on the Pacific Coast, and to go out into all the world wherever the English language is read. If the friends inquire, Which of the two papers shall I send to my friends? we unhesitatingly answer, The Signs of the Times. We shall give very much excellent matter that appeared in the REVIEW five, ten, fifteen, and twenty years since, from the pens of those who have since grown more controversial, minute, and tedious. And we shall gather from the REVIEW and from other sources that which will meet the wants of the cause in all new fields, adapted to minds uneducated in the views of our people.

5. Neither the California Conference, nor the friends on this coast, nor the General Conference, are responsible for the support of the Signs of the Times. We alone are responsible. We send it, without money or price, to those who do not object to receiving the paper on such terms. We invite all the friends of the cause everywhere to assist us with their means in its publication.

6. The greatest object of the existence of the Signs is that the friends of the cause may send thousands of copies to their relatives and friends all through the “Pacific Coast States and Territories.” But such circulation is by no means confined to these States and Territories. The Signs is designed to go wherever the English language is read. But we did expect that our friends, particularly those on this coast, would at once respond to our call for names, money or no money. We have 2000 copies of the Signs, numbers one and two, waiting for names. The stated terms upon which the paper is sent, are: (1) Free to all, with an invitation to all who are able to donate toward its support. (2) Send the names and addresses of as many as you please who would read the Signs with interest and profit. (3) Provided that you see them, or write to them, and get their consent to take the paper, pay postage, and read it. This invitation is extended to all branches of the Tract and Missionary Societies in existence. What will the T. and M. Society on this coast do in this matter? There should be fifty canvassers at work by this time.

7. We have been happily disappointed at the more than hearty response from across the Plains. Eld. Butler writes that when he stated upon the Iowa Camp-ground that he had copies of our new paper, published in California, the one hundred copies were gobbled up at once; and that there were $3000 pledged on that camp-ground to establish the press in California, and $300 donated from the State treasury for the support of the Signs of the Times.

We forwarded twenty-five copies of the first number to the REVIEW AND HERALD Office. Bro. Smith acknowledges the receipt of them at 2 P. M. By the next morning thirty-one subscribers were obtained right on our old battlefield, in hearing of the groaning of the press of the REVIEW AND HERALD, and a Draft for sixty dollars on its way back to the Office of the Signs of the Times. Men are awake on the other side of the Plains, and are anxious to co-operate in confidence.

8. At present we are much more in need of a large and well-selected list of names than of money. We want to reach honest minds with the light. We want to do it now. Who will help us? We do not ask for long strings of names of ministers indiscriminately gathered up. This is a very doubtful class of men. Neither do we call for lists of first-day Adventists in particular. Those who have more recently become such are more hopeful cases than those who have longer been under the lax influence that attends the heresy that the moral code has been abolished. There are excellent people who will receive the truth in all the churches. And there are thousands out of the churches yet to be reached by our message. Let the missionary workers be active, and let the names come in. In God we trust. The cattle upon a thousand hills are his. If his cause needs it, and those who profess to believe the present truth withhold the needed means, God can convert men and means into the cause to be used to his glory. J. W.