Words to Our Readers by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 23, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 25.

Words to Our Readers

By Editor

Read the "School of Christ." Do you not want to be a disciple in that school?

The sermon by Mrs. White, "Christ Came to Break Sin’s Chain," concludes in this number. We hope that those bound by sin and iniquity will take home to their hearts its precious truths, and go free in the Lord.

In this issue we begin a series of five articles on "The Perfection of the Law," God’s law, of course, for no other law is perfection. We again ask for them a careful reading, and a suspense of judgment till the series is finished.

We begin next week a series of independent historical notes on the great apostasy. It will, we are sure, be of interest to our readers and workers to know how the simplicity of the gospel was corrupted by the mystery of iniquity.

To Our Correspondents.—Several who have asked for an explanation of Heb. 6: 4-6 will find a brief consideration of the text in our Question Corner. Others whose questions may not be answered directly will frequently find satisfactory replies in various articles. There are still others of our correspondents who have written us by mail, some of which have long waited. This we regret. We will reply as soon as possible, and we ask them to kindly have patience.

To Our Many Friends.—We have received many letters of late, speaking words of approval for the SIGNS and for the truth it contains. We would be glad to print these letters, or reply to each one separately, but lack of space forbids the former, and lack of time forbids the latter. We are thankful for all these unsolicited words of encouragement. They are among the visible evidences of the to us invisible work which the Lord is doing through his truth. It cheers us in the office of publication to know that there are hearts responding to God’s truth for this time. Some one or more of these letters we may publish once in a while, not because they are particularly better, but as a sample of many. May God’s blessing rest upon the labors of all connected with our paper, not only the editor, contributors, and publishers, but upon our large and increasing circle of friends and supporters throughout the world. For all the good it has done, or may do, to the God of all grace be all the praise. The work is his, and his the power and glory.

We have received from Brother Elliot C. Chapman, of Tahiti, a neatly printed and illustrated pamphlet, entitled “Te Huru e te Haapaoraa o te Sabati no te Faaueraa Maha.” Published at Hamuta, Tahiti. It is, we judge, a translation in the Tahitian language of Bible Students’ Library No. 54, “The Nature and Obligation of the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment,” by J. H. Waggoner, abridged and revised, with some illustrations and diagrams added. May the Lord bless it to the good of the island work.

The strong and proper argument for the prohibition of the liquor traffic is not to remove temptation from the drunkard; it is to protect the civil rights of the widow, the orphan, the tax payers, and to save expense to the State in the prosecution of criminals, and the support of the paupers and insane, for which the drink traffic is largely responsible. If there is not reason enough here to prohibit the liquor traffic, it ought not to be prohibited; but there is more than sufficient ground. The moral and religious questions lie outside of politics.

Parents and Their Responsibilities.—The responsibilities are great, and we know it. Would to God that all parents realized the fact. Many do, but do not know how to meet these responsibilities. We say, for the benefit of all parents who desire instruction, that, beginning with next week, we will publish from the pen of Mrs. E. G. White the following articles, which will be especially helpful to parents: "Parents Should Be Christlike," "Self-discipline Necessary to Parents," "The Family Circle the School of Christ." We hope they may be a blessing to many homes.

The organ of the Advent Christian denomination on this coast, Messiah’s Advocate, in its issue of April 15, contains a report of "The Debate at Napa" between "a S. D. Adventist brother" who "challenged Elder H. W. Bowman to debate the question whether the two-horned beast of the thirteenth chapter of Revelation was a symbolic prefiguration of the United States of America in its religio-political aspect." Elder Bowman reports the "debate" in the above issue. All we have to say about it is this, that either the report misstates the positions taken on the affirmative, or else the "S. D. Adventist brother" did not rightly represent Seventh-day Adventists.

War No More.—Hon. Frederick R. Coudert, the eminent Catholic lawyer, discusses in the Catholic Mirror of April 7 the question of arbitration under the heading "War No More." But the only hope he holds out is the following: "The best preserver of peace is the cost of war." But he thinks that out of the "senseless methods of war" this country will, by "the example that we have set," "lead mankind to better and greater things than it has yet known." But there has not been a time in this nation’s history since the Civil War that there was more of the war spirit among the masses than now. War will be no more when sin and selfishness are no more. This is not our opinion, it is God’s truth.

The Church All That Is Needed.—The church of Christ is nothing if not a missionary society. That is one of the prime objects of her existence. "But ye," says the apostle Peter, "are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises [margin, "virtues"] of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." At the present time the church is a new recruiting ground for extra or intra church societies, associations, clubs, guilds, sisterhoods, etc., to do the work, at a vast expense of time, talent, and multiplied machinery, which God ordained the church itself to do, and which she is abundantly able and fitted to do, through the grace of God. When will we learn the simplicity of the gospel?

Present Truth and Present Duty.—Our esteemed contemporary, the Sabbath Recorder, says: "The term ‘present truth’ is often used, especially by our Adventist friends, in a way somewhat significant of their own peculiar interpretation of the Scriptures. But there is another phase, at least of equal importance, and should be kept constantly in mind by every person, and that is ‘present duty.’ We do not so much need a prophet’s vision to reveal to us future events as we do an ever present sense of present duty. Or, as Carlyle aptly says, ‘That grand business is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.’"

To all which we say, Amen. But we need "present truth" to show us "present duty." Let it be "present truth" and "present duty," for which God is always a "present help."