The past, with its conflicts, its failures, and its successes, we leave with God. The question which most concerns us now is the future as unrolled in the ever-living present.
One writer has well said that "intensity is taking possession of every earthly element." Old controversies are being revived. New controversies are springing up. In this generation is being waged anew the conflicts of all past ages.
Uncertainty is a manifest factor everywhere,—in politics, in science, in the great social questions agitating the world; and nowhere else as in religion. An unbelieving and inconsistent hypothetical "science" boasts that it has overthrown and undermined the Bible. Ancient heathen cults rear their heads aloft, demanding attention. Men who have seemed to be pillars in Christianity have patronizingly bent the knee to the advocates of these ancient religions, and have drawn before their Christian hearers beautiful pictures of moral theories, which are as destitute of life as painted canvas or chiseled marble. To the blurred vision of many the foundations of Christianity seem to be shaking. Professed believers are reeling in their faith. The trumpets of many of the professed watchmen give an uncertain sound. The cry arises from many an anxious heart, "Watchman, what of the night?" The answer, if answer at all, is incoherent; and the questioner stumbles on in darkness or sinks in despair.
The church at large is partaking of the spirit of the world. More than this, she is appealing to the weak, vacillating, ineffective arm of civil power to assist her in religious matters, forgetting that the Egypt or Assyria of earth will, as a staff to Jerusalem, ever prove a broken reed which will pierce her heart with fatal wound.
Is it God's plan that His church, the children of Him who is light, shall remain in darkness and uncertainty?—It is not. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." "The wise shall understand." "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord." "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant."
God has in the earth, and ever has had, His servants who know Him, who know His mercy, who know the power of Christ's resurrection, who know the knowledge of His will, and who know the message for the time. They are men who have "understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do;" they are watchmen who can tell when the night of sin is about to close, and when "the morning cometh;" they are householders who will give to those in need their "portion of meat in due season;" they are faithful men who will "cry aloud and spare not;" they are faithful ambassadors, lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Coming One, as the world's only hope.
"And this will we do, if God permit," in The Signs of the Times. We will, in the strength and wisdom given of Christ, be true to our motto: "As we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts;" because the only way by which the world of humanity can be truly benefited is the way which is pleasing to God. That way is the way of the Gospel, "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," the sole remedy for all earth's ills.
As God in Jesus Christ is Creator and Saviour of all, The Signs of the Times will preach the Gospel to all, whether rich or poor, high or low, of whatever race, or nation, or religion, or creed. That Gospel is able to convert and save the sinner to the uttermost, and to comfort and build up the child of God. It is a complete Gospel, which takes cognizance of the body as well as the soul, the physical and mental needs as well as the moral and spiritual necessities; which sets men free in Christ Jesus from every form of bondage and slavery. It is able to restore in the lowest the lost image of God.
Amid the uncertainties in politics and society, in State and Church, in science and religion, The Signs of the Times will give, as God gives wisdom, the certain sound of the divine message to the world. It will show from that Word where we are in the great stream of time; what mean the wonderful developments in every phase of life, the deep intensity taking possession of every earthly element, the perplexing conditions among all the nations of earth, the increasing perils in the moral, ecclesiastical, spiritual, and physical worlds.
But the Signs will not be sensational. While it believes that we are rapidly nearing the end of the Gospel age, we are not "time-setters." In faithfulness to God's Word we can never be. But we do know and will demonstrate from a multitude of predicted omens and the living facts before the eyes of all, that the coming of our King draweth nigh. Certainly, if this be true, it is a matter, not of mere sensation, but of the profoundest thought, the maturest deliberation, and the wisest decision on the part of every soul. There is world-wide agitation over the Sabbath question in both Church and State, which "will not down." The true Christian will desire above all things to know God's mind with reference to the question; and this we shall endeavor to present in all its varied phases, as related to the State, the church, the29individual.
In brief, The Signs of the Times will stand for every true reform embodied in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It will be a true religious home paper for all classes. It will endeavor to bridge the chasm between men by uniting them at the Cross.
In all these reforms, in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in lifting by the power of the Cross fallen men to the throne of God, in driving away moral darkness by the beautiful light of truth, in making souls everywhere stronger, better, happier, in the only way by which true happiness ever comes, we ask, kind reader, your coöperation. May we not count you our co-laborer in Christ Jesus?