CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER
By Editor
We send no papers from this office without pay in advance unless by special arrangement. When persons receive copies without ordering them, they are sent by other parties, and we can give no information in regard to them. Persons thus receiving copies of the SIGNS are not indebted to the office, and will not be called upon for pay. Please read the papers and hand them to your friends to read. Editorial.—Notes and Comments—Our Purpose—The Next Step in Christianity—What a Secular Journal Says—England's Peril—The Modern Way to Preserve the Gospel—Make Yourself Understood (selected) 1-3 Doctrinal.—"Image of the Invisible" (poetry)—Man's Sin and Saviour—The Nature and Existence of Man, No. 1—Genealogy of Sabbath Observance—Man Perverted by Sin—Is There a Difference between Salvation and Reward?—A Colored Higher Critic 4-6 Miscellaneous.—Afterwards (poetry)—Christ's Use of Parables—Blessed are the Peacemakers—A Plague-Stricken City—Seventh-day Adventists—Church Follies—Unhallowed Diversions—The Blessing of Adversity—Take Ye Away the Stone—The Needed Preparation 7-9 The Home Circle.—Uncertainty (poetry)—Education and Motherhood—How People Sleep—A Thrilling Ghost Story—The Hen Hawk Deceived 10, 11 Health and Temperance.—Is Tobacco Using Sin?—A Universal Curse—What Rum Will Do for an Athlete—Cure for Cold in the Head—Leprosy in Russia 11 Mission Fields.—Good News from China—A Leper's Devotion 12 Our Work and Workers.—Missionary Work in Nebraska—Field Notes—The New College—Encouraging to the Workers 13 International S. S. Lesson.—Paul's Sermon at Antioch—Notes on the Lesson 14 News and Notes.—Religious—Secular 15 Editorial.—Various Notes and Comments—That "Christian Sentiment"—Who Will Gain by Sunday Closing?—Literary Notices 16 We begin in this issue a series of articles to which we ask special attention, as it deals with a most important subject. We refer to "Man's Sin and Saviour," by Elder Uriah Smith. THE paper entitled "Man Perverted by Sin," is an entirely independent article, which will be followed by others from the same writer. While independent of each other, they will also be connected. THE article on the "Nature and Existence of Man," from the pen of Elder G. C. Tenney, editor of the Bible Echo, of Australia, will be followed by three others. We bespeak for them a careful reading. A GENTLEMAN in Florida writes under date of October 23:— "By chance I picked up part of a copy of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, but it did not contain subscription rates, as the outside was torn off. I was much struck with the reading matter which it contained. Please send me terms of subscription." THE times are pregnant with matters which ought to enlist the interest and activities of every child of God. Christ is soon coming; the old earth is in the birth throes of a coming age. Satan is working as never before to deceive, if possible, the very elect of God. Only those will not be deceived whose trust is in the word of God. Reader, where do you stand? THE manager of our book department wishes us to state that orders for stencils illustrating Sabbath school lessons in the primary departments for the present quarter cannot be filled, for the reason that the manufacturer failed to make good his contract. Arrangements are being made with other parties to procure stencils for the lessons of the first quarter of 1893, which will be duly announced. WE have received the "Annual Report of the Board of State Viticultural Commissioners for 1891-92," with a request to notice. Well, it is a pamphlet of 280 large pages, compiled and printed at the expense of the State of California, in the interest of the grape-growing industries. While many tons of grapes are eaten in their natural state, and many tons more are made into raisins, there is one other item that is simply appalling, and that is the enormous amount of wine manufactured. The crop of 1891 yielded 14,600,000 gallons of wine, besides about 1,475,000 gallons of brandy. And it is claimed that there is a home and foreign market for at least 3,000,000 gallons more. If this vast use of the energies of the soil and labors of the people in the interest of human depravity and destruction can be called enterprise, then we are an enterprising people. It would certainly be discouraging from a moral standpoint were it not for the claim that "this is a Christian nation." BROTHER H. A. ST. JOHN contributes for this number a short article on the "Genealogy of Sabbath Keepers." In two previous papers he has given the genealogy of Sunday keepers and Sunday laws. The reader will notice the difference, that while Sunday, as a religious institution, and Sunday laws have been handed down from generation to generation, Sabbath keepers all trace their genealogy from the same universal common source, the word of the ever-living God. Reader, which will you choose?