Please Take That Back!
By Editor
The West Oakland Press contains the following notice which we suppose refers to us:— “WILL SELL OUT CHEAP. A rumor is on the streets that the Seventh Day Advents are beginning to dispose of their property and printing material, upon the grounds that in five years there will be no more use for them as the advent of the second coming of Christ will then have taken place. Taking this in consideration with the prediction that the world is coming to an end in 1881, we think it is eminently fitting that they sell out before the second coming of Christ.” We can assure our neighbor that there is a cheap sell about this matter somewhere, but it is not on our side. He has evidently been sold this time. 1. We are not disposing of our property or material. We are manufacturing printers’ material; this, and this only, we are disposing of on reasonable terms. If our neighbor of the Press wishes to dress up with new type, or rule, we shall be glad to furnish him. Or if he wishes a supply of paper, cards, or any thing of that kind, he will find it here. We are ready to take large orders for such material, but that will not by any means interfere with our business, which is constantly increasing instead of decreasing. There is no better place on the Pacific coast to get a first-class job of book or music printing than at our Office. 2. We have never said, or hinted, or thought that the Lord will come in 1881. We must confess that there is a great deal of folly manifested in time-setting, but this confession is not for ourselves. We have never fallen so deeply in error as that. It is our enemies, not ourselves, which do that kind of work. We stand ready to prove by “the sure word of prophecy,” and by the signs which our Saviour gave and commanded us to understand, that the second advent is near, but with the time we have nothing to do. That is not revealed. We do not wish to be understood as classing the Press among our enemies. It confesses to follow only “a rumor on the streets.” But there is a slur in the item which we do not deserve. We have treated all our neighbors with the utmost courtesy, and for the sake of the cause which we represent we ask them to treat us accordingly.