The average daily sale of the Apples of Gold Library is about 15,000 pages.
Have You Ever Read
By Editor
Have you ever read “Empires of the Bible,” by Elder A. T. Jones? See our advertisement of it in another column.
The Cost of War’s Triumphs
In two and a half months we have destroyed two Spanish fleets, taken possession of parts of three Spanish colonies, raised the army to more than a quarter of a million men, and the navy to two hundred and ninety-five vessels. These triumphs should not make us forget that the main business of the nation during that time has been getting ready to kill, killing, and risking the lives of its citizens. Great must be the good to justify so great evil.—Christian Advocate.
Uncertainty of Life.
Those accepted as soldiers the United States Army are supposed to be exceptionally sound and healthy men; yet in what would naturally seem to be a healthy place, in very few days 19 died, 11 of pneumonia, 6 of cerebro-spinal meningitis, and one each of typhoid and enteritis. Most of these doubtless left home with the sure hope of returning. They found the great enemy, Death, and were conquered—a peaceful land. Blessed are those whose hopes lie beyond, and who, losing this life, can never lose His life, life eternal.
Bromine Water Sterilization
A new method of sterilization is by the use of bromine, afterward neutralizing it with ammonia. The river water of Berlin, the Medical Record tells has been tested 200 times, and, after being treated with bromine and ammonia, all germs of disease were destroyed, including those of typhoid and cholera. “In thus sterilizing a gallon of water, there are first added three drops of a solution of one hundred parts water, twenty parts bromine, ten parts potassium bromide, there being added after five minutes three drops of a weak solution of ammonia.” Why would not this be better to use in Cuba, rather than to ship millions of gallons by sea?
Not the Pacific Coast.
By Editor
The Evangel, of Buffalo, New York, affects great surprise that a few lines of Tennyson’s “Passing of Arthur” should be published in this paper and credited to Rev. Henry Elliott Mott. They would not have been if Mr. Mott, or the Evangel, or both, had published them with proper credit, or with quotation marks. If we remember correctly, neither was done. The one who selected them had read the “Idylls of the King,” and the lines sounded strangely familiar, but it was not thought worth while to question the Evangel’s honesty or correctness in punctuation. But we now see that we made a mistake, especially when the Evangel writes a proper name—the same paragraph once with initial capitals and once without. After all, dear Evangel, is it not our chief aim to read, and preach, and rightly divide, the blessed Christ, even tho we do fail to remember any quotation of the abundance of good, bad, and indifferent poetry of earth? And then all the people of the Pacific Coast are not responsible for the mistakes of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
Temperance and Old Age.
A New York paper tells us that at ninety-nine years of age Barney Morris became a day laborer in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Recently he reached his one hundred and sixth birthday. He is very proud of the fact that during the seven years he has held his present position he has not lost a day from his work. He does not look over sixty or seventy years old. He is healthy, and his thick gray hair is what men many years his junior might envy. He was born in Ireland in 1792. He accounts for the wonderful preservation of his faculties and health at an age few men reach at all, much less in this splendid state, from the fact he has never smoked, and only tasted an alcoholic beverage once, just for curiosity. So temperance treats her devotees.
Not Roman Catholics but Roman Catholicism.—
By Editor
“We war with principle, not with men.” The article on another page, entitled “An Object Lesson to America,” is not aimed against Roman Catholics. The writer has not one feeling of enmity against any Roman Catholic in the world, from Pope Leo XIII. to the last Philippine islander who said his first paternoster. Roman Catholics, as others, are brother men, the purchase of the blood of Jesus Christ. They number in their ranks many devoted, earnest, consecrated souls, many respected, noble men and women,—all of whom are so, we believe, not because of Roman Catholicism, but in spite of it. They are better than their creed. Living up to all the light they possess, God accepts them. Many noble souls have come up amid surroundings that are not Roman Catholic, and they have been molded in their manners, their tolerant ideas, their love of liberty, by their environments, not by their creed. We are sure that every true lover of liberty among Roman Catholics will be willing to grant to others the same freedom to examine and discuss Roman Catholicism which he claims for himself and freely uses in discussing Protestantism. The truth harms no one. If Roman Catholicism is evil in its fruits, every one of its adherents ought to lay the ax at the root of the tree or flee its baneful shelter. The object of this paper is to save men, irrespective of race or creed, and to save them by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It will also, as God has commanded in His Word, ‘sound an alarm’ against the evils which are sweeping men away and blinding them to the Gospel. Among these evils, we believe—and we believe it because it is in the Word—is that of Roman Catholicism. Its adherents when intolerant are intolerant because of their religion, not because they are different from other men. Will they consider this?
BISMARCK'S LIFE IS ENDED.
Bismarck, the “iron chancellor” of Germany, died July 30. His public life began to attract attention when he was elected to the Prussian House of Burgesses in 1847. And by successive and eminently successful steps in political life, and particularly by his bold opposition to all revolutionary methods, he gained the confidence of his government so fully that he was intrusted with the responsibilities of minister to Russia in 1859. In the spring of 1862 he was sent as minister to France, so that he might get a clear insight into French politics. In the fall of the same year he was called home and made minister of foreign affairs, and president of the Cabinet. His mind was then centered on the reorganization of the army, and, after a long conflict with the Parliament, he accomplished his object. His successful conduct of the war with Austria in 1866 gave him great popularity at home, something that he had not possessed very fully previous to that time. His dash in the war with France, 1870–71, the suddenness with which France was brought to surrender, and the terms that he imposed upon her, added to his popularity among the German people.
Bismarck, who had been made count in 1866, was now created prince and chancellor of the German Empire. His next aim was to secure a prolonged term of peace. To this end the triple alliance between Germany, Austria, and Italy was formed. He entered into quite a bitter struggle with the pope, believing that the powers sought to be exercised by the Vatican were dangerous to the government. But after a prolonged controversy he materially modified his policy toward the Church of Rome.
In 1890 the “iron chancellor” retired from public life because of a difference that arose between him and the emperor, William II.
Altho he was an ardent supporter of and indefatigable worker for peace for Germany, yet he was till the close of his life a most enthusiastic soldier. He cared more for his honors as a soldier than for anything else.
He was a great devotee to the pipe and bowl. But at the same time he had, through heredity and persistent physical culture and training, built up a strong athletic body. Had he been educated to the point where he would have in early life thrown away his pipe, beer, and wine, or, what is far better, never have used them at all, there is no knowing but he might have had added to his life the seven years that would have brought him to 90, a thing that he very much coveted.
Don't Swear, Fight
“Don't Swear, Fight,” is the quoted heading of an editorial in a late Catholic Mirror. It speaks of the prevalence, the evil, and the senselessness of swearing, and says that the Catholic Church has adopted “excellent plan to diminish it,” namely, the institution of the Holy Name Societies.” But why is not—and if she is not, why?—the church the best and only thing to correct the swearing habit? The fact that an extra society must be formed is proof positive that the church is not doing her duty, nor does she expect to. The Mirror thus closes: “‘Swear not at all,’ says Shakespeare, altho he was thinking only of lovers’ vows; but it is good advice in every sense.” But does not the Mirror know that these words were spoken by Jesus (Matt. 5: 34): “But I say unto you, Swear not at all”? And Christ’s words apply to every-day life.
We Do Not Work for God
We do not work for God. God in us works through us for Himself. The flume does not do the work of the mill, but the water which runs through it.—The Evangel.
When you write, please mention the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
When you write, please mention the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
