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HE HOED CORN ON SUNDAY

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jan 17, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 3.

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HE HOED CORN ON SUNDAY.

By T.

"In the Rome, Ga., city court Friday, J. F. Eaton, a Seventh-day Adventist, was found guilty of working on the sabbath. The evidence showed Eaton hoed and worked a corn patch one Sunday, months ago.
"The defendant justified his act by scriptural authority, contending that Saturday, and not Sunday, is the holy day. Sentence was suspended until January.
"The case will probably be taken to the Supreme Court."—Gadsden (Ala.) Tribune, Dec. 21, 1899.
The Seventh-day Adventists have taught for about half a century that this country of freedom would yet become a persecuting power. They have taught this because they believed that the prophecy of Revelation, chapter 13, verses 11 to 18, were their clear authority for it. The case mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs from the Gadsden Tribune is only one of many similar cases that have been brought to trial in different parts of the country.
Men must never forget that when religious liberty is taken from a people, their civil and political liberty always goes with it. The sentiments that now find such ready expression in this country in favor of imperialism, are simply an index to the fact that true religious freedom is leaking out of the souls of men, so that they are willing to subjugate their fellows in the distant islands.
The bitterest conflict upon the subject of both religious and civil liberty that the world has ever seen, is just before us. The principles of true liberty in Christ Jesus should be studied now as never before. Compromise and surrender will mark every one who does not take an intelligent and God-fearing stand for the right.
THE article in another column in regard to the "Drink Curse at Princeton" is most striking and significant in showing the depraved conditions of these times. Princeton is no worse (and perhaps not nearly so bad) than thousands of other places. And now how much longer do you think that a righteous God can permit such a condition of things to continue? He destroyed the world in Noah's time because of the gross wickedness; He destroyed the cities of the plain for a like cause. God's Word says that these were made "an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly." Then the destruction that God worked then will be wrought over again when the world reaches a like evil condition. All the prophecies show that this evil world is about to go down. Are you in the ark of safety, or are you still clinging to your life of sin, to be swallowed up in the coming destruction?
A RECENT New York World contains the following sentences, " 'Hark! the herald angels sing!' What a pity that their Christmas message of, 'Peace on earth, good-will toward men,' should be like 'sweet bells jangled, out of tune,' through the horrid discords of war!" And all who will receive God's Word may know that these "horrid discords of war" will wax louder and louder until their noisy din marks the assembling of all the armies of earth on the great battle-field of Armageddon. Men will continue to talk "peace and safety," just as the Bible says they will, but there is no more peace for this old earth. Every one should know this, and turn his affections from this world, which is passing away, and fasten them upon that world that shall abide forever.
A LITTLE three-year-old girl living in San Francisco, recently drank nearly a pint of whisky that she found in a room where she was playing, during her mother's brief absence. The child suffered indescribable agonies, and died in a few hours. The family were in the habit of drinking the whisky at their meals. Anything that has such a deadly effect can not be food, nor fit to be taken with food, or, for that matter, to be used at any time. If men would only adhere to the natural and happiness-producing laws of temperance that our heavenly Father has given, how much misery would be avoided!
It is reported that large numbers of men are constantly going from New York to The Hague, from which point they go to the Transvaal to join the Boers in their fight against the British. They reach the Transvaal via Delagoa Bay, passing through the adjacent territory that belongs to Portugal.
ON October 11 President Kreuger, of the Transvaal, cabled the New York World, in response to a communication from the editor, that "the republics are determined that if they must belong to England a price will have to be paid which will stagger humanity." About three months, only, have passed since Mr. Kreuger made the foregoing remark, and certainly England, as well as humanity in general, has been staggered at the price that is being paid. And that is what war means in these times. Men try to have us think that the implements of modern warfare have become so horribly destructive that armies will no longer face them, and, consequently, war must cease. But the Transvaal army, as well as the English, is armed with the best of the most modern equipments, and there seems to be no lack of courage on either side in facing them. When men go to war, they have already taken into account the strong probability of being killed. And then there is always the thought that if the enemy has destructive weapons, they, too, have weapons that are equally deadly, and so they madly venture on. This world will not have any more permanent peace. It will be wars and rumors of wars until the angry nations are driven by satanic fury upon the great and final battle-field of Armageddon. Men should be sure to stand with God now, so as to make no failure in avoiding the destruction of that awful time.
FOR the last few weeks much space has been given by the press to the evidence that an understanding amounting to an alliance has been reached between the United States, England, and Germany. But right in the midst of it a British cruiser seizes a German merchant steamer, under the charge that she is carrying supplies of food, men, etc., to the aid of the Boers. Such things are customary in war times, and the various nations expect that if any of their merchants undertake to send aid to a warring country, it is liable to seizure. And the merchant who takes the risk is the loser, and, except in some rare and special cases, the government to which he belongs has nothing to do with it. And even if the matter is taken up by his government, it is supposed to be in a friendly way, before a properly constituted court. But despatches from Berlin say that Germany has despatched two cruisers to Delagoa Bay to look into the difficulty. This does not look very much like an alliance. And if one has been seriously talked of, it shows that not very much is required to unsettle things again. The words of Scripture concerning this time are: "The nations were angry." Hence permanent and effectual alliances will be an impossibility.
DESPATCHES from London say that the Delagoa Bay question is liable to become acute. The British would like to blockade that port, and thus cut off all supplies of food and ammunition from reaching the Boers. But Portugal seems unwilling to do it so far, and, hence, England is confronted with the proposition of either allowing unlimited supplies to reach her enemy or else forcibly seize the bay. If Portugal was the only power England would have to reckon with in taking such a step of seizure, she would not be so fearful; but this might lead other nations to come in to take a hand, and no one would dare prophecy where the trouble would end. Peace has departed from this earth, and everybody ought to be able to see it. The world can not possibly stand much longer under existing conditions.
A GERMAN war ship has appeared on the scene at Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The authorities at Haiti are involved in a dispute with the German consul, and the people there are greatly alarmed over what is thought to be Germany's second attempt within two years to force the hand of the Haitian Government. The present contention is believed by the patriots of the island to involve the very existence of their right to self-government.
EVERY problem that is now confronting the world, whether it be social or political, will soon be forever settled. The glorious dawn of the eternal day is breaking. The second coming of Christ is right at hand. And when the Lord of glory comes, all evil will be forever destroyed. Are you ready for that glad time?
It is asserted that it will take the island of Jamaica fully one year to recover from the effects of the severe hurricane that swept her northern slopes on November 8. The storm raged for four hours, destroying most of the cultivation and property in its course.