p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 37. (9/22/1909)

Earlier text: Some Noteworthy Testimonials

What Others Think

By J. O. Corliss

SEPTEMBER 6, with Elders Wilcox and Tait, and Brother H. G. Childs, I had the privilege of a visit to the new conference school site, located on Howell Mountain, east of St. Helena. A minute description could not be expected from one who had but a few hours to spend at the place. Indeed, a full description of it, the beauty of the situation, the fine landscape view, the expanding fields of alfalfa, the various orchards of apples and pears, plums, and peaches, the sweet-flavored small fruits, to say nothing of the substantial buildings so well adapted for school purposes,— would be difficult to give in words. One should see it all,— the stately tall pines and redwoods, the majestic oaks, the countless springs of soft water bubbling from the hillsides and valleys,— to take in the value of the place as a retired spot, well calculated to stimulate mind-culture, especially in the knowledge of God’s manifestations in nature.

It is enough for the writer to say that his visit to the spot has given him confidence that the Lord has not left His people to wander aimlessly in seeking the place to which He would have them call the young people of the Pacific Coast for their preparatory training to enter the active service of earth’s closing message of salvation.

J. O. CORLISS.

Not the Crooked Road

SAID a dying man the other day, when asked what advice he would give to a boy, “I’d say to him, Take any road but the crooked one.” And the man who said this had traveled all his life in a crooked road. But he would advise the boy not to follow his example. No matter how far wrong one may go, he must, in his sober moments, pay tribute to the right. Even the rich man in hell would have his brothers warned against following in his steps. There are many crooked roads, but there is but one straight one.—The Word and Way.

The Guest-Chamber

By Delwin Rees Buckner

By Delwin Rees Buckner

SOME one hath rapped! the door is firmly locked, Or on its hinges doth it swing ajar? This day a Guest has traveled from afar, And stands without,— yea many times hath knocked. Thou hast arranged all things the very best Within the study, dining-room, and hall, But more attractive, cozier than all, Should be the chamber of thy Friend and Guest.

O, soul, each day arrange this room with care; Wash blots and stains and purple spots away; Admit the songs the happy linnet sings; Admit the sunshine, sweet with scented air. O, soul, thy heart is where this Guest must stay, And shed the rays of peace His presence brings.

Ambato, Ecuador.

Union College Opening Deferred

Word comes to us that the opening of Union College has been deferred for two weeks in order to give students who are working for their tuition time to come at the beginning. Registration will begin Tuesday, September 28, and will continue until October 3. During that time no registration fee will be charged; later, a registration fee of one dollar. Rooms will be reserved without charge till October 1. For fuller particulars write at once to Prof. C. C. Lewis, President, College View, Neb.

Periodicals Wanted

SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Youth’s Instructor, Life and Health, Liberty, and Watchman, for free distribution. Carriage charges should be prepaid and copies should be clean. Sincere thanks for past favors. A. M. Hardy, Box 155, Salida, Colo.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Watchman, and other papers suitable for missionary purposes, wanted by J. Reid, 1311 North 10th St., Tacoma, Wash.

A Girl’s Temptation

By Emma F. A. Drake

By Emma F. A. Drake, M. D.

MANY young girls in their love for what they call a good time are led down into the forbidden way, and before they are hardly aware of it they awake to find that there is only a step to ruin. “It was only for fun, and I did not think it was wrong,” many a young girl says too late for her good.

The books you read are shaping your life and thought, and for this reason you must be very wise in your choice. Books that make you want to be better, and that point you the way, are the only safe ones. Books that deal with a questionable side of life, and that make you desire what you should not have, and that give you mistaken notions of life, must be carefully avoided if you would not get on dangerous ground.

Your love of dress may be a snare to you. If you have not a wise mother to warn and guide you, this may be one great influence which leads you downward. Many of our girls in business places are assailed in this way, by a gentleman friend (but an enemy in the guise of friend) who makes fine presents in return for liberties which no self-respecting girl can grant, and which lead to the greatest liberties when once a girl is under his power.

Among your own set there are those whom you should shun, as you would the most evil thing. You know the reputation of these men; it is not good, but they are attractive and captivating to a class of girls who are innocent of their devices, and they easily engage the affections of the unsuspecting. Very pleasant attentions are shown you, and you are led step by step away from your highest ideals, until things that once seemed wrong and far from the path which you would tread are covered with a false attractiveness. Cherish your high ideals, dear girls, for they are your beacons, and if lowered will inevitably lead you downward.

In your own life of purity you have a double responsibility, and, considering this, there is a doubly high incentive to choose only those things in your daily life that will fit you for leadership among your companions.—Purity League.

Sorrows Turned Into Joy

By Theodore I. Cuyler

We often make sad mistakes as to what is best for us. We often hide our richest blessings under a pall, and decorate with garlands our temptations, or the sources of our spiritual sorrows and shame. The poor old patriarch Jacob was shrouded in gloom when he wailed out, “All these things are against me!” Joseph is gone; Simeon is gone; and they have carried away also Benjamin, who bore in his boyish face the photograph of the beautiful Rachel. He calls his lot a sad one. But the returning caravan is almost in sight which brings to him the full sacks from Egypt’s granaries, and the joyful invitation to go and see his long-lost Joseph as premier of Pharaoh’s kingdom. His dark hour is just before the day-dawn. What he regarded as a sorrow has grown into the greatest mercy of his life.

We have a striking illustration of the mistakes short-sighted people often make, by turning to a verse in the fourth chapter of the first book of Chronicles. There we read that “Jabez was more honorable than his brethren; and his mother called his name

Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.” For some reason or other she puts the mark of her grief on the brow of her child, and calls him “sorrowful.” Yet the very child that was born in tears and christened with a sad name grew up to be the ornament and glory of her household. He outstripped all his brethren! God honored him with so many blessings, and his career was so bright and beneficent, that people must have wondered how he ever came to have so doleful a name. His history was like the April shower, that begins with weeping clouds, but ends in brilliant sunbursts and in rainbows painted on the sky.

We are often as blind as that Hebrew mother, and make the same egregious mistakes. We persist in naming things sorrows which turn out to be rich blessings in disguise. Who ever congratulates a man on the loss of his fortunes, or the failure of his ambitious schemes? Yet, while his purse is being emptied, his soul may be filling full with God’s grace. More than one man has been bankrupted into spiritual wealth. Be careful how you tell a sick friend that his sickness is a great affliction — when it may be sent of God to soften his heart, to bring him to reflection and repentance. . . . If we wish to sympathize with any parent, let it rather be with her whose living children are fooling away life in frivolity, or are hardening into the sins that may yet break the heart of her who bore them. A thousand times over have I pitied more the mother of a living sorrow than I have pitied the mother of a departed joy. Parents, spare your tears from those who have gone; . . . spend them on those children who are yet alive, but are still untouched by repentance or unconverted to God. Don’t stop with weeping over their impenitence. Strive to win them, by kind counsels and prayers and by a holy example, to the Saviour; then your sorrow may be turned into joy.

The Bible is like a vast orchard, where precious fruit is often hidden behind the leaves. This story of Jabez — if you turn it out from under the leaves — has many a golden teaching. It teaches us not to be frightened by present troubles, or cast down by to-day’s discouragements. Every true, deep Christian life begins in griefs over sin and in sharp conflicts with temptation. A religion that has too easy a birth seldom grows into a strong, victorious Christ-likeness; he who never weeps over sin will never sing for joy or chant harvest-hymns over full sheaves of blessing. The enterprises also that cost us the most anxiety and toil and self-denial are those that, like Jabez, “enlarge their borders,” and yield the after-crops of large results. There may have been some wet eyes up in that prayer-room in Jerusalem, where the little band met after their Master had left them. They were sowing in tears, to reap with joy before the next day’s sun went down. Never despair of a good cause. Never despair of a great heaven-directed reform, even when the powers of hell are striving to strangle it. Never despair of a child. The one that fills you with most solicitude, and occasions your most fervent prayers, may yet gladden your life with joys beyond your highest hopes. Never despair of a soul so long as you can plead with God for that soul, or strive to bring it into a full view of Christ.

— Theodore I. Cuyler.

The Evening Guest

How would you like the thoughts of a day To take visible shape, and in formal array Come in for a sociable chat at night, As you sit by the evening’s genial light?

Would you welcome the thoughts with clothing foul, Which seek the dark, like the hooting owl? Would it gladden your heart, do you think, to see The thoughts of hate and of enmity?

Would the envious thought, in dress of green, Be one you’d wish your friends had seen? Would the angry thought, with scowling face, In the evening hour find welcome place?

Would you wish to see, in the twilight hush, The unholy thought at whose sight you’d blush? Would you welcome, to sit at the evening fire, The jealous wish, the impure desire?

Ah, no; but you’d gladly sit down at night With your holy thoughts all pure and white, And welcome the sweet, pure thoughts of love For your fellow man — for your God above.

Then think these thoughts through the busy day, And by frequent prayer drive those away; So all through the day will your path be bright, And a grateful heart will be yours at night.

— Anon.

The Family Circle the School of Christ

By Ellen G. White

By Mrs. E. G. White

The family institution is a divine ordinance. Parents stand in the place of God to their children. How grievous in the sight of Heaven is the neglect of parents to train their children for the future immortal life. Christians should look upon children as the younger members of the Lord’s family, intrusted to the parents and to the church to be trained up as children of God, to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Christian family is to be a school of Christ, where parents are to be the visible teachers, but Christ Himself the great invisible Teacher. The lessons which Christ imparts to the parents they are to repeat to their children line upon line and precept upon precept. Patiently, tenderly, and lovingly their steps are to be guided in the narrow path of holiness. Parents are not to compel their children to have a form of religion, but they are to place eternal principles before them in an attractive light.

The mother is to teach the children through their earlier years, and in order to fulfil her great responsibility, she needs to be molded and fashioned after the similitude of the character of Christ. She is never to use her influence fitfully, unwisely, or arbitrarily, simply because it is in her power to do so. She must ever remember that she must render up an account to God for the way she has done her intrusted work. The father should see to it that the mother is not overburdened with the care of many children. Children are not to be crowded upon her so that her physical strength and training capabilities are taxed. Men and women should carefully, conscientiously consider, with an eye single to the glory of God, what is involved in bringing children into the world.

How to Meet an Emergency

WHAT you do to-day is going to have a part in determining what you will do in the next great crisis of your life. It may be that to-day, commonplace tho it seems, is the time of real crisis, while the so-called crisis, later on, will only evidence the way in which you met the present, unsuspected, critical test. As Dean Bosworth, of Oberlin, has said: “No man gets ready for an emergency in a moment. What he is in an emergency is determined by what he has regularly been doing for a long time.” Whether or not the high-jumper clears the bar at six feet four, when the contest has narrowed down to himself and one other man, and the intercollegiate championship now depends upon his ability to keep his feet and knees an eighth of an inch clear of the bar as he goes over it for his third and last trial, depends no more upon what he does in that tense last moment of his effort than upon what he has been doing in the entire college year preceding this climax. The man who has a habit of measuring up to the needs of a crucial test has, long before, deliberately begun and built up the habit of every-day victory in that same kind of test. One day's training is shirked at fearful risk.—S. S. Times.

“The Grumble Family”

By Observer

DID you ever hear of this family? O, so many belong to it! They are all over the world, and you can tell them just as soon as you see them.

They travel a good deal, too, on steamboats and cars; yes, and they stop in hotels.

The big family are all the time on the watch for something to grumble about. You can’t suit them any way, no matter how hard you try.

Don’t grow up to be grumbly, children; you will never be liked if you do, and the family is too large already.

Look bright and cheerful and happy, satisfied with everything that is done for you. Join that other large company, the “happy family,” and so bring comfort and cheer to everybody about you.—Observer.

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Daily News Bulletins

LIBERTY

THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY BUREAU

An illustrated, 48-page, quarterly magazine, published as an exponent and advocate of true religious liberty; defending Christianity and the rights of conscience; upholding the Bible as the infallible word of God; recognizing the church and state as ordained of Heaven for specific and distinct purposes, but vigorously protesting against the alliance of the church with the state in the attempt to advance religion and to promote the state.

Price 25 cents per year. Liberal terms to agents.

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Baby Chicks for Sale

Baby chicks, 8 cents each. Shipped safely anywhere. Culver Poultry Farm, 1035 Reed, Benson, Neb.

Our Little Friend

An Illustrated Paper for the Smaller Men and Women, for the Children and Little Ones

Instructive and entertaining, clean, wholesome, sensible. It is a character builder, a helper to father and mother. Our Little Friend would plant seed in the joyous life of the children in the Present, that it may bear blessed fruitage in the Harvest of the Future. Respect your child's individuality. Take the paper for him or her. Only 50 cents a year.

Address; OUR LITTLE FRIEND, Mountain View, Cal.

Matthew Twenty-four Second Coming of Christ

An exposition, verse by verse, of one of the most striking chapters in the New Testament; covering our Lord's great discourse on the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the world, and the special signs of His second coming to reward His children.

Matthew Twenty-four Second Coming of Christ

The facts of fulfilment given make this pamphlet worth many times its price. 94 pages, price 10c.

PACIFIC PRESS Mountain View, Cal.

Steps to Christ.—

This little work, by Mrs. E. G. White, presents in a simple and attractive manner the steps by which the sinner may be made complete in Christ. While the book is an excellent guide for inquirers and young converts, it also contains a wealth of counsel and encouragement for those who are laboring with the difficulties that beset a growing experience. Paper covers, 30 cents; cloth, plain edges, 60 cents; cloth, gilt edges, $1.00. Address this office.

Devastating Floods in Northeast Mexico

By Editor

We hope to present next week a little fuller account, with some reproductions of photographs, from the awful floods in northeast Mexico. The damage has been very great and the calamity from the standpoint of the destruction of human life is simply awful.

Testimonials from Disinterested Persons

By Editor

We wish our readers to note that the articles on pages 12 and 13 were written by men who are not in any wise officially connected with the Pacific College. They are candid statements and unsolicited testimonials from disinterested persons. Each statement was written without the knowledge of the others.

Rome's Seat of Authority in Jerusalem

There has been a suggestion made that the rocks which form the cave supposed to be the Holy Sepulcher, be taken away from Jerusalem and carried to Rome, but it is argued that the sepulcher would remain in Jerusalem just the same. Then, too, the Greek Church and the Mohammedans would have serious objections, so the general conclusion is that it would be impossible to move it. The probable thing which will occur is that Rome will place her seat of authority in Jerusalem, and will then possess the Holy Sepulcher.

It Is Never Justifiable.

A recent writer in a daily paper in listing the characteristics of a gentleman declares that in his attitude toward a woman, “if need arise, and he may thereby spare her hurt, he will gladly lie in her cause.” It is wicked advice. A lie is never justifiable. It blackens and weakens the character of him who utters it, and does no good to others. A Christian who uses it denies faith in God. This does not mean that the truth should always be spoken or facts told. Silence is sometimes golden.

The Death of Edward Harriman

Edward Harriman, the railroad king, died at his home in Arden, N. Y., September 9. There is an overruling God who does not permit one man to possess, and to perpetuate in himself, too great power. This is a lesson which it would be well for men in both church and state to learn.

A Six Months’ Symposium

By Editor

Two weeks ago, our issue of September 8, we gave a two-page notice of what we propose to give to our readers in part, for the six months beginning October 6. It is impossible in this note to give anything like a repetition of the matter presented there.

Surely all devout Christians feel the great need of a clear, definite message for this time. “Unless the trumpet give a certain sound, who shall prepare for the battle?” But there lies before us a conflict such as the world has never before seen; in fact, the closing conflict, the closing battle of the great conflict of the ages. Whittier has splendidly expressed it: “A moral warfare with the crime and folly of an evil time;” and he who wins in this conflict must have the girdle of God’s truth and the shield of the faith of Christ Jesus. These He has furnished, to the heart of faith, in His word.

We propose to give just as much of this message as we can during the next six months,—the great moral questions which make men; the great doctrinal questions which prove the truthfulness of God’s word; the great saving truths which will keep His children from the many delusions of the last days; which will call out a people prepared for His coming. The subjects considered will be:

The Holy Scriptures;

The Prophecies;

The Conditions of the Times in which we are living;

The great Culmination of the Hope of all the Centuries;

Man: his Nature; his Condition;

The Hope that is set before him;

The Certain Doom that must follow Transgression;

Man’s Future Home;

The Ministry of Spirits, both good and evil;

The great Plan of Salvation as set forth in God’s Word from the Light of former Dispensations and the great Antitypes.

The great Threefold Message presented in Rev. 14: 6-14;

The true Church of God and where we shall find that Church;

Religious Liberty;

The Spirit of God, and its Outpouring in the last Days.

These are some of the great topics which will be considered during the next six months. We plead with our readers to study them. We ask them to cooperate with us in giving the papers the widest circulation possible. Your neighbors, your friends, your acquaintances, are in danger. What are you doing to save their souls, to bring them to the light of a constantly developing truth in which the soul may continually rejoice, and in the spread of which you may be coworkers with God?

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The North Pole.—

It is a wonderful coincidence that there should be two announcements within five days of each other that two Americans had discovered the North Pole. We noted in our last that Dr. Frederick Cook reached the North Pole April 21, 1908. The last announcement is from Commander Robert E. Peary, who reached the Pole April 6, 1909, almost a year later. Dr. Cook seems to have started out on a hunting trip, with the idea of making a dash for the Pole if it were possible. Commander Peary went out fully equipped, the seventh expedition which he had undertaken in exploration of the North. Most scientists believed that Peary would reach the Pole this time, but the announcement made by Dr. Cook came as a wonderful surprise. The fact that he was not so thoroly equipped, or did not have that as an object, has caused many to doubt his story, but scientists generally, believing him to be a man of his word, have accepted his statement. The next thing in order when both men reach civilization will be a comparison of notes. Commander Peary reports no details. Those which have reached us from Dr. Cook would indicate that he found drift ice at the Pole. The detailed scientific accounts of observations will be diligently studied. It has set the world to talking during the last week, and has in that way kept them out of mischievous gossip. Very little profit will come to the world, however, from the discovery of the central northern spot. The principal thing is to show the bravery and diligent endeavor of the men engaged in the expeditions. The ship in which Commander Peary sailed was named the “Roosevelt.”

Knowledge Puffs Up, Love Builds Up

“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth,” reads the Common Version 1 Cor. 8:1. Clearer, stronger, and sweeter reads the American Standard Revised, margin, “Knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up.” Yet men care more for knowledge than love. Knowledge, good, bad, and indifferent, may be gotten by human effort. Much of it is not so, but it passes as current money. Genuine, unselfish love can come into the human heart only by the Spirit of God, by whose presence His love is shed abroad. Rom. 5:5. Knowledge boasts, love builds. One is empty; the other solid. The difference between knowledge and love is the difference between an inflated balloon and a well-built house, between a soap-bubble and a polished jewel. The knowledge of this world passes; love is eternal.

Records Broken at the Rheims Air Tournament

The men in the air-ships are continually breaking records. In the great tournament at Rheims, record after record has been broken in time, in height, in speed. Latham, Bleriot, Paulhan, Lefebre, Brenan-Varilla, and Curtiss were among the noted aviators. The $5,000 prize was won by Curtiss, an American, with an American machine which the Wrights claim has infringed upon their patents. Farman, the Englishman, made a great record in time and distance.

Divine Protection in Antarctic Perils

It is worthy of note that while British theologians are rejecting the Bible and its miracles, Lieutenant Shackleton, who returns from a voyage of exploration in the Antarctic regions, states his belief that they had been throughout constantly guarded by a supreme power who had delivered them time and again out of perils that, humanly speaking, seemed certain to overwhelm them.

The California Way.

On September 9, 30,000 oranges, 10,000 individual bags of beans and sugar, a ton of grapes, a ton of mixed fruits and nuts, were distributed to the crowds on the grounds of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The reason: It was California day and it was done in California bigness.

Brevity of Life

“IN THE shock and conflagration, In the pestilence and strife, God is speaking to the nations Of the brevity of life.”