OUR NEXT TWO ISSUES by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 22, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 21.

OUR NEXT TWO ISSUES

By Editor

We have been having for some weeks more matter than we can possibly find room for in our Outlook Department. We thank our friends for their contributions and facts. We will endeavor to give our readers the cream. In the next three issues will be presented the history and present relations of the Vatican and French Government. We are sure that our readers may rely on the statement of the case, whether they agree with our contributor's views or not.

The strike and other troubles in San Francisco and other cities are ominous. They grow out of conditions which, in the light of Bible and history, are striking signs of the times. "Lawlessness" sums up the whole. Graft, perjury, blackmail, tyranny, crime of all sorts, are but different manifestations of lawlessness. When men disregard God's law, human law is of little worth. Fashion, pride, conventionalism, self-interest may demand its observance, but if it bar the way to self-interest, human law is set aside, overridden, mocked. Jesus, in speaking of the last days, declares that "iniquity [lawlessness] shall be multiplied," and Paul declares: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous."

Why?—Our esteemed contemporary, the Watchword and Truth, which stands for "the old Gospel," complains and laments the disregard of Sunday in the United States, that "holy" is no longer applied to the "sabbath-day," etc., etc. If the editor were not bound by Catholic tradition, he would see the reason for it all. First, men do not believe in Sunday sacredness. It does not have any; it never had any. As a religious day in origin, it is pagan pure and simple. Secondly, It has no more Biblical right to the titles "Sabbath," or "Lord's Day," than has Monday or Wednesday, and the people know it. Why continue to uphold the old counterfeit, when its falsity has been demonstrated thousands of times, and its unscripturalness admitted by scholars of all denominations? Is not God's word worth as much as regards the day as it is concerning the proportion of time. Are not His eternal law and the example of Christ sufficient?

Man's Personal Responsibility to God.—Daniel Webster once said that the greatest thought which ever came to him was that of man's personal responsibility to God. To God we owe life, intelligence, existence, aye, all that we have. To Him we are responsible for the use of His gifts. Men may do what they will; they may seek to tie us up in organizations, brand us as traitor and heretic; this should not affect us. "Ye were bought with a price; become not bondservants of men." "For we are debtors not to the flesh [of ourselves or others] to live after the flesh;" our duty is to God. Therefore "we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God." And we shall not stand then as a fraction of a race, or in our nationalism, or in church, or society, or family capacity. How the particular organization to which we belonged was regarded by men, or how highly our family was esteemed, will not be a question in that Court of Last Resort. Naked and alone must every soul stand before the Throne, for "each one of us shall give account of himself to God." Rom. 14:10-12. It is important, isn't it, to have the Judge as our Friend? But that means harmony with the Judge, love of Him and the law which is the standard of His court. Do you love Him?—love Him so much that the keeping of His commandments is a delight? Then, indeed, you may "have boldness in the day of judgment;" then, indeed, you shall welcome the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes to reward His people according to their works. 1 John 4:17 to 5:3.

OUR NEXT TWO ISSUES.

Numbers 5 and 6 of our Special Issues will be on the signs of the times. What mean the abnormal conditions seen in the political world, in the religious world, in the social world? What mean the increasing frequency of earthquakes and seismic disturbances, the great federations, the immense war preparations, the tremendous increase of wealth? What does Jesus say about these things? What does the Bible teach? Among the subjects discussed will be The Physical World. The Religious World. The Social World. The Political World. These two issues will be of great interest and importance, as will each one of the twenty-six numbers. A superior-court judge in California wrote the other day on examining a copy: "It is one of the finest publications I have seen in many a day, and should be read by every citizen of the State." It is not too late to obtain all of the twenty-six special numbers, but subscriptions must be in soon. Seventy-five cents for six months.

The Bible in Cuba.—The American Bible Society's agent in Cuba reports that "the island is freer of access than ever before to the circulation of the Bible. Colporteurs do not meet the bitter opposition that they once did, and the Bible is gradually finding its way into the most remote corners of the land. The Protestant evangelical churches are making rapid and substantial progress. We are entering upon an era of spiritual awakening that promises to be of incalculable benefit to the people. The most important events that are occurring on the island are not of a political character. They have nothing to do with the pulling down of this man or the setting up of that other. The events of the deepest significance and of the most far-reaching results are the conversions that are taking place as the result of the entrance of the Bible into the heart. These are the events that will have the most direct bearing upon the future history of the 'Pearl of the Antilles;' and it is a more glorious work to be engaged in disseminating the Bible than it is to be building railroads, tunneling mountains, bridging rivers, or even directing the political affairs of the island."

A Misrepresentation.—An article in the Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune of May 4 tells a story of certain persons setting time for the world to end, selling furniture, etc. Some of these persons, it is said, left the Seventh-day Adventist Church because they "have figured a time for the last trump some time between the date set by the — and that set by the present members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church." No Seventh-day Adventist sets the time for the last trump. In the very nature of the case he can not do it. The very fundamentals of the Biblical testimony on which their faith is based forbids it. Whenever one who sets time for the Lord to come declares himself a Seventh-day Adventist, or is declared to be, the declaration is not true.

The great editor of the Hearst papers, Mr. Arthur McEwen, is dead. McEwen, in a worldly sense, was a great journalist. His death will be a decided loss to the whole Hearst syndicate.

We have received from the Government Department of Agriculture the "Statistics of Forest Products of the United States," by R. S. Kellogg, Forest Inspector, and H. M. Hale, Forest Assistant. It is certainly not an encouraging report. Statistics clearly show that the cutting of lumber is far in excess of the growth of lumber in the United States. It was remarked by Samuel Bowles, of the Springfield Republican, in 1866, after viewing the great forests of the Northwest, "It is impossible to calculate the time when, cut and saw as we may, all these forests shall be used up." But the country is using every year between three and four times as much wood as the forest area can reproduce by growth. This is certainly a serious condition, which may be overcome in part by using concrete and steel, and steel and glass in the construction of buildings. The railroads use an immense amount of timber for railroad ties. It is suggested that steel be further experimented with so as to be used for ties. Very much lumber is used for cooperage in the production of barrels and casks. As the forests have disappeared spring floods have increased. It certainly is a question that ought to be wisely but decisively and vigorously handled, even to the admission of foreign lumber and wood in raw materials, tariff free.

The General Passenger Department of the Southern Pacific Railway Company is putting forth earnest efforts, as it has been doing for months past, for the rejuvenation of San Francisco. Beginning with March, they are publishing a monthly magazine, entitled, "San Francisco's Hotels and Reconstruction." The one of April contains several fine photo-engravings showing what is being done in the rebuilding of immense properties, and giving also a list of the hotels which are open to the public, with the prices asked. Some of these are immense structures. For instance, the Fairmont Hotel, burned as to the woodwork but with walls unharmed, has since the fire had $1,800,000 expended upon it in the repairing and decorating. The new Palace Hotel will cost $3,500,000, in addition to $700,000 more for furnishings. Any one desiring to secure this monthly publication can address Mr. Chas. S. Fee, Passenger and Traffic Manager Southern Pacific, San Francisco.

The Youth's Instructor, of Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C., issues a special number, its first special, in fact, on May 14, 1907. This certainly will be one which ought to appeal to the subscribers and friends of the journal. It is on a very much needed subject, that of temperance. Some of the questions which will be discussed in that paper are, Why Not Use Alcoholic Drinks? Connection of Crime and Liquor, Degradation Following Alcohol, Is Alcohol a Food or a Poison? Vegetarianism and Alcohol, Tobacco and Liquor, Students and Tobacco Using, What Has Been Said About Boys and Tobacco and other phases of the great question. Its retail price will be five cents a copy, twenty-five copies to one address, two cents each. Less than twenty-five copies, two and one-half cents. Address, Youth's Instructor, Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C.

The Life Boat for May, 1907, is the eighth annual Prisoners' Number, containing some very striking, hopeful articles to those who may be in durance vile, articles which will help to a life of spiritual freedom if it does not to the freedom of the physical man. The publishers plead that each state society may place it in the prisons of the state. Single copies, five cents, in quantities, less; address, Hinsdale, Ill.

Our thanks are due Hon. E. A. Hayes for a copy of the Congressional Directory, fifty-ninth Congress, second edition. It gives a biographical note of all the various senators and congressmen, with the various departments of the government, and the officers and minor officers connected therewith, besides much other information.