The Signs of the Times by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 1, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 13.

The Signs of the Times.

By Editor

OAKLAND, CAL., SECOND-DAY, APRIL 1, 1889.

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We sincerely hope that our readers will not pass by or read carelessly the article of Sister White on the first page. There is instruction in it which will prove a help to all if they will apply it. May it help some to realize their responsibility.

BROTHER LA RUE writes from Hongkong, China, that the Lord is opening up the way for the work there in a wonderful manner. He says: "God has a care over us and our work; and we know that all is well. We are of good courage, and are doing what we can to spread the truth." He also speaks of the great activity of the friends of the Sunday and of their efforts to secure a Sunday law for Hongkong harbor. It is certainly not without significance that in almost every quarter of the globe the question of a better observance of the Sunday is being agitated.

THE Golden Gate expresses the belief that "it is in the power of Spiritualists to make their mediums honest." "This they can surely do," says that paper, "if they will encourage none others." But what, we would ask, would be gained if mediums were made honest? It is generally, if not universally, acknowledged by Spiritualists that the spirits themselves are not honest, that they impersonate each other and practice all sorts of deception; what then is to be gained by having honest mediums of communication between them and those who stand ready to be deceived by them?

THE Christian Register (Unitarian) says:— "It is pretty hard to find a thoroughly consistent Sabbatarian. Consciously or unconsciously, our more strait-laced brethren yield their logic or their practice under the influence of the spirit of the age."

No wonder it is hard for the Register to find a "consistent Sabbatarian," for the very next sentence in the editorial note from which we quote, reveals the fact that it looks only among Sunday keepers, and, as applied to such, the term "Sabbatarian" is a misnomer. If the editor of the Register really wants to find a consistent Sabbatarian, we can tell him where he can find a goodly number of them, but it will not be in the ranks of those who observe Sunday. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord," and, though the name has been stolen, and is by many applied to the first day, the appellation "Sabbatarian" belongs, according to lexicographers, only to those who observe the day specified in the fourth commandment.

The following item from a late Honolulu paper will be of interest to the readers of the SIGNS:— "The bark Kalakaua will sail for Hongkong tomorrow in command of Captain Duncan. She will call at Johnson's, Wake's, Week's, and Kalo Deparages Islands in search of the schooner Phoebe Chapman, Captain Lovell, which left here July 31st for Tahiti and other islands, but has not since been heard of. It is thought by some experienced navigators that the schooner got out of her course and was caught on one of those islands that are grouped about 15 degrees N. and 176 degrees W. The missing vessel belongs to the Seventh-day Adventists, and had on board, besides Mr. Cudney, a missionary of that denomination, several passengers for different points in the Pacific. Her whole voyage, including a trip to San Francisco, was calculated to take six months. She is about seven months out now and two or three reports of her having been at Tahiti have turned out to be without foundation. It will be remembered that the schooner General Sigel was given up as lost with all hands for about a year, when her fate was discovered and her company rescued by the schooner Mana from the lonely island on which they had been cast away."

We hope to be able erelong to chronicle the news of the rescue of Brother Cudney and those with whom he sailed, even should their vessel prove to have been lost.

TWELVE years ago the Modoc Indians were uncivilized heathen. Now they are a community of industrious farmers, with half their number professing Christians. It cost the United States Government $1,848,000 to care for 2,200,000 Dakota Indians seven years, while they were savages. After they were Christianized it cost, for seven years, $120,000, a saving of $1,728,000.—Public Opinion.

It is stated that the President is quite a strict observer of Sunday, and that it is very quiet at the White House upon that day. Not a stroke of work is done in the executive offices, and the family rooms are as quiet as the Harrison home at Indianapolis used to be of a Sunday. Few people call, and not one of these on anything approaching business or politics. So strict is the observance that the President's mail is not opened upon that day.

This is, however, nothing more than is to be expected. Mr. Harrison is a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, and has, of course, been accustomed to strict Sunday observance. We fancy, however, that, though a great man, he would, were he inquired of on the subject, be compelled to give a very small reason for regarding the first day of the week as sacred. All, high and low, rich and poor, fail to find in the Scriptures any authority for Sunday keeping. However, so far as men are concerned, the President has a perfect right to keep that day as strictly as he desires.