Demand This Label by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 24, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 30.

“Demand This Label.”

By Editor

WE have recently been admonished by a well-meaning friend to demand the “union label” on our printed matter, as it will insure a great many blessings that the friend proceeds to enumerate.

We stand for unity. We stand for the exalted unity demanded and taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. And all the workers in this office are united, and happily united, too, in the great work before them, of spreading the news as rapidly as possible that the Lord Jesus is soon coming. He has told it in His prophecies in such a way that there can be no mistake about it. He is coming again, and He is coming very soon; and the employees in this office are a unit in devoting their lives to the spread of this soul-inspiring, and soul-rejoicing truth.

This printing and publishing-house does no printing whatever outside of its own books, pamphlets, tracts, and papers. It does none of the commercial work that printing-houses usually compete for. It is devoted to the one pleasurable task of printing literature that tells of the Lord’s soon coming, and of the preparation necessary to stand ready to meet Him at His coming.

We have a union for the carrying forward of this work, but it is the happy union that is produced by fellowship with Christ Jesus. We see the distress and the turmoil that is in the world, and we know what it means, for we have been reading it from the pages of prophecy for more than a fourth of a century. We have been saying all this time that the prophecies foretell that we are now in the last days, and because of the selfishness of men, manifested in their greed for wealth and their successes in amassing stupendous hoards, there would be brought on industrial conditions that will fill the world with terror. All this we see in the world to-day, and as already stated, we know what it means because the God of Heaven has caused His prophets to write it in His Book so that we might read and understand.

We have no quarrel with the labor unions. From the standpoint of this world, they have the same natural right to combine that is manifested in the great combines of capital. But the work of this office and of the employees of this office is not in the direction of becoming a party to any of these disputes between labor and capital that have become so distressing, and in many instances so bitter, and that we know from the sure word of God will continue to become more and more distressing and bitter till the end of time.

We know what is coming on this world, and know what it means. And we know that there are thousands of distressed souls who are full of dread because of the outlook. The unprecedented corruption, the clamorous wars between fabulously wealthy corporations, trusts, and combines, and the laboring people; the constant threatenings of war that have every promise of involving the whole world; the storms, earthquakes, and the like that are visiting so many places with destruction; and all the rest of the things of this character that we see so plainly everywhere to-day, are compelling men to be anxious about the future. Now we know from the plain prophecies of the Bible what these things mean, and knowing them, we must give ourselves to the one work of telling it to the world.

God has a shelter in the storm and also from the storm. We are all absorbed in the one work of telling about this Shelter, and pointing men to the Harbor of safety. And being absorbed and united in this one great work, any fair-minded person, we believe, will see that it would be both inconsistent and wrong for us to be entangled with the warring elements that are in heated combat in the strifes in this world.

“And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who enrolled him as a soldier.” 2 Tim. 2:2-4.

These words inspired by our Lord and Teacher form the basis of the commission under which we act. Our Lord is the Prince of Peace, and we are ambassadors of peace. And how could we act as ambassadors of peace if we allied ourselves with one of the warring factions and became a partisan? We believe that in stating things in this way we are not promulgating sectarian dogma that is narrow and warped into one-sidedness. We are stating fundamental Christian principle, and believe that it is a substantial platform on which every follower of the Nazarene should stand. T.