Notes on Current Events
By Editor
WE begin next week a series of articles on the "Millennium, or the Millennial Reign of Christ," by Elder J. H. Durland. We hope they will be read with care. A SERIES of articles on the "Coming of the Lord" will shortly appear in the Signs. They will show the fallacies of some of the erroneous views now afloat by presenting what we believe to be the scriptural view. WE call attention in another column to a candid statement of belief on "The Fate of the Wicked." In a general way we believe that it states the scriptural side of the question, which is also the side of justice and mercy. QUITE a change has taken place the last few years in Imperial Germany, when one of the pet measures of the emperor is defeated in the Reichstag; and in a new election, with all the resources of the empire at his back, the emperor barely gets a majority. Socialism is growing and spreading. The clay is becoming more potent than the iron. WE understand that our general Year Book of 1893 is out, though we cannot positively testify personally to that fact, but the Review of May 16 has so stated, and we believe the Review. We would have ordered personally, but expected that the usual courtesy would be extended of sending a copy for notice. Our house has had an order in for some time, but no Year Books have yet come to hand. Was the Review mistaken? or what was the matter? MANY are the curses which have been uttered against the World's Fair directory because of their action of opening the Fair on Sunday. One minister is said to have expressed himself as preferring to have cholera sweep over this country rather than hear of the decision of the Appellate Court that the Fair remain open. Cyclones, earthquakes, and various other destructive agencies have been invoked and threatened by the professed followers of the merciful Redeemer, because the Fair has been opened Sundays. But the breach of contract with Congress is not what hurts these prophets of evil. It is because Sunday, the usurper of the Sabbath of the Lord, is "desecrated." The violation of the Constitution by Congress does not even affect their moral stomach. The violation of God's law in substituting Sunday for the Sabbath is not even deplored. But the Sunday Fair is a crime against morality too great to be pardoned. Well, we are glad that God has "committed all judgment unto the Son," and that he has declared that the "curse causeless shall not come." "Christ and the Sabbath."—The sermons by Prof. W. W. Prescott on the above subject, which have lately appeared in the Signs, will soon be published in tract form as a number of the Bible Students' Library. We say this for the benefit of those who have asked for this. Action was taken in this respect before the sermons were published. We felt sure that all who read the sermons would wish the tract, and that many would get the tract who did not read the sermon, therefore we decided to publish in both forms. GLAD are we that there is once in a while a minister of the gospel who sees the true bearing of the present clamoring of the church for Sunday laws. Rev. N. S. Haynes, in the Christian Oracle of the 15th ultimo, truly says:— If the church has the right to compel the people not to go to the Fair on Sunday, it clearly has the right to compel them to go to church on Sunday. Compulsion was not Christ's method. He taught, helped, and thus won the people. The great cry of the church for compulsory Sunday observance is a pitiable confession of the inefficiency of the church to win people. It seems to rely no longer on God, truth, or good living, but appeals to an arm of flesh. 2 Cor. 10: 4. And this is the melancholy fact. The opening of the World's Fair on Sunday is now definitely settled. The Tennessee persecutions of Sabbath keepers have ceased, and the prisoners discharged. What about the United States being the two-horned beast and the image already formed? Has the Supreme Court rendered a decision in favor of Sunday, thus compelling individuals to pay religious regard to that day? Evidently in the transpiring events of the past few days this imaginary two-horned beast has been deformed, and in that condition will do no one much harm. No, the persecution of Sabbath keepers in Tennessee has not ceased, and it is now more bitter in Maryland than it ever was in Tennessee. The Supreme Court has not passed on the Sunday question as such, but it was all involved in its decision that "this is a Christian nation," February 29, 1892, and the Supreme Court will never reverse that decision. The opening or closing of the World's Fair has nothing to do with it; the government recorded its sentiments when it passed the Sunday-closing condition. The writer of the above does not comprehend the first principles of the question. The prophecy still stands and is rapidly fulfilling.