Warnings, Peace, and Sabbath Duty
By Editor
Do NOT fail to read "Sodom's Last Warning." Another will follow on the same subject. We have received a copy of the Fiji Times, published at Suva, dated August 19, containing an article by Dr. M. G. Kellogg, one of the Pitcairn missionaries, descriptive of the island of Niue, or Savage Island. This article, or extracts from it, will be given in a future issue of this paper. SINNER, reader, have you peace, the peace of Christ? If not, why not? Read the article in another column entitled "The Reign of Peace," and right in this connection the article by Elder Durland, "The Struggle of Sin Within." The King of peace will overcome all sin, and in the place of the struggle and conflict will give you the restfulness of peace, —"quietness and assurance forever." We sometimes hear or read in private correspondence expressions something like this: "I believe that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and I would keep it if I were where others were who kept it, or if I could get work to do among those who kept the day. But as I cannot, I shall have to work on Saturday." We pity these souls. They see duty, but they look upon duty wholly from a worldly standpoint, that of policy or expediency. They have never really given themselves to God, have never really tasted of the love of Christ; they do not know his Spirit. Those who do will know that he will care for those who do his will. OUR readers are reminded that we printed an extra edition of last week's issue (October 2), on account of the editorial article on "The Sunday Closing of the Midwinter Fair," and other important matters which ought to be presented to the public at this time. We confidently expect that our brethren, especially on the Pacific Coast, will see the importance of giving this number more than the ordinary circulation. Another article on the same subject will appear next week (October 16), and we expect to issue an extra edition of that number also. The price of these extra copies is $1.50 per hundred, just one-half the ordinary subscription price. It would seem that every tract society, and every individual, for that matter, could afford to make use of a good number at so low a rate. We would like to ask two questions of that class of Sunday advocates who seem to think the closing of a public exhibition the acme of Sabbath observance: 1. Do they indorse the actions of all the people in Chicago on Sunday who do not attend the Fair? 2. Will they indorse the Sunday doings of the people in San Francisco who will remain outside on that day? Their lauding of the virtues of national, State, or communal religion, as expressed in the simple act of closing the gates of a fair on Sunday, would indicate that staying outside on that day would entitle one to an indulgence in any other pastime he might choose. The "Christian sentiment" of the whole people is sufficiently expressed by the closed gates! Such is only one of the vagaries of lump religion. THERE may be those among our readers who have struggled in their own strength against some evil habit, like the use of tobacco, of alcoholic liquors, or some other thraldom, and have struggled in vain. Such may find help in the article "My Last Cigar." The real secret lies right here: Are they willing, yea, anxious, to give up the habit? are they willing that God should do the work, so that the glory should be all his own? If they are, whether the desire of the flesh be taken away at once or not, God, through them, will conquer. When we would prefer to die physically for Christ's sake rather than yield to what we know to be sin, God will help. His victory will be ours. BUNYAN represents the prisoner of Doubting Castle as finding in his own bosom the key called Promise, which opened every door in that gloomy prison house. We often lie in durance vile when the means of obtaining fullest liberty proffers itself to us. Christ is ever near to us in his word, and in him we have all needed blessings. Only believe.