“LOOKING UNTO JESUS; OR CHRIST IN TYPE AND ANTITYPE.” By Uriah Smith, author of “Daniel and the Revelation,” “Here and Hereafter,” etc. 300 pp., illustrated; cloth, $1.00. Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.
This book is an entirely new treatment of an old subject, old as the fall and need of man. It presents in its thirty-three clearly-written chapters, Christ as Creator and Redeemer, His Incarnation, the Lesson of the Cross, the Great Central Theme of the Bible, the Sacrificial System, the Meaning of the Sanctuary Service in which that System centered, the Sanctuary of the New Covenant, the wonderful prophecy of Dan. 8:14, the Priesthood of Christ, the Finishing of the Mystery of God, the Atonement, the End of Sin, and other things of interest to Bible students. This little book throws great light on the plan of salvation, and makes plain many otherwise obscure passages. The book not only holds for the reader a wonderful sight of information, but it opens mines worthy of eternal working. It contains twenty-eight original illustrations, of which nine are full page. The book contains two indexes, of Bible texts, and of subjects treated or referred to. It is a worthy book.
“KRISTIGA SAHTIBA” (in English, “Christian Temperance”), by Mrs. E. G. White. International Tract Society, Hamburg, Germany.
This is a neatly-printed (in German text) and well bound (in cloth) translation of the English work in the Lettish or Lettonian language, the language spoken in one of the Baltic provinces of Western Russia, and we know not how much farther. We are glad to see the work so issued. May it open the hearts of many to the fulness of Gospel truth.
Advance sheets of a new life of Christ, entitled “THE DESIRE OF AGES,” have come to our table. It is a long-looked-for book from the pen of Mrs. E. G. White, and will appear early in October. It is safe to say it will not only not be a disappointment to those who are waiting for it, but the fulfilment of great expectation. In art and typography it is more than ordinary, and its matter is a message of life and hope.
Richard Realf was a poet worthy of a better fate. His works are mostly fugitive, the largest collection known to be in one’s possession being thirty-four. But the friend of the poet, Col. R. J. Hinton, has gathered 170 of these poems consisting of lyrics, and the Funk & Wagnalls Co. are about to put upon the market a book containing 60 of these gems, with a sketch of the life of the poet, who ended his sad career in this city, in 1878. They will be published by the Funk & Wagnalls Co., New York.
Hereafter the Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York and London, will be the sole publishers of the famous “Loisette Memory System,” presented in Prof. A. Loisette’s remarkable book, “ASSIMILATIVE MEMORY; OR, HOW TO ATTEND AND NEVER FORGET.” The book is 12mo, cloth, and will be sold at the reduced price of $2.50 net. The original price was $5.00. Special inducements are offered to schools.
“Studies in Sabbath Reform.” By Abram Hubert Lewis, D.D. 126 pages, paper covers; ten cents, post-paid. American Sabbath Tract Society, Plainfield, N. J. These studies, numbering 14, are helpful to any student who desires to investigate the true basis of Sabbath reform, Christ’s attitude respecting the Sabbath, and kindred questions. The author is a well-known Seventh-day Baptist editor and writer.
“The Handy War Book” is a neatly printed pamphlet, published by Mast, Crowell & Kirkpatrick, Springfield, Ohio, giving a vast deal of information and statistics respecting war matters, size, population, etc., of the islands involved, classification of ships, with fine war maps of Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Havana and harbor, West India Islands, and a map of the world. By Lieut. E. Hannaford. Illustrated by pictures of vessels. For sale by all news dealers. Price, 25 cents.
“What the Scientists Say against Flesh-eating,” “A Simple Guide to a Natural and Humane Diet,” “Is Flesh-eating Morally Defensible?” are the titles of three little booklets by Sidney H. Beard in advocacy and defense of a proper, wholesome diet for man, a vegetarian diet. Mr. Beard’s articles and arguments are sound and convincing, and written in an excellent spirit. Price, one penny each. Probably 5 cents each in America. Address, Herald of the Golden Age, The Beacon, Ilfracombe, England; or Marshall, Russell & Co., 6 Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row, London.
“What Shall Be Done for Our Sailors?” is a pamphlet of 32 pages, by J. C. Paulding, bearing the imprint of the Freytag Printing Co., 118-126 Walker Street, New York. It is written to reveal the past and present condition of our sailors physically and morally, the cruelties which they have been and still are made to suffer, and the need of reform in the laws regulating their relations with their employers. Surely they need help.
“A Summer’s Fishing on the Bowery” is the title of a little pamphlet by George D. Dowkontt, M.D., giving an account of medical mission work on the Bowery. It gives information regarding the Bowery and its inhabitants; it shows how medical work may be used to aid in mission work. Published by the Medical Missionary Record, 121 East Forty-fifth Street, New York. Price, 3 cents a copy; 48 pages.
“The Fruit-filled Life” is a little tract on good, practical religion, largely based on Col. 5:22, 23, “the fruit of the Spirit.” While it contains a little erroneous theology concerning the punishment of the sinner, its general teaching is good. The author is Elizabeth Nelson McBride, Greenfield, Iowa.
“The Mormons of To-day” (a series of seven articles which first appeared in the Christian Herald). By Gen. John Eaton, LL.D., ex-United States Commissioner of Education. Worthy of careful reading. 34 pages; ten copies, 5 cents. Address John Eaton, Washington, D. C.
SATAN’S EDUCATIONAL TACTICS.
By H. R.
THERE is a poem entitled “Let’s Play,” and I thought as I read it that there will come a time to every one of our children when Satan will say to them, “Let’s play.”
I am reminded of the fable of the cunning old fox who, seeing some ducks swimming on a pond near a bank, rolled down stones into the water, until the ducks had become used to them, and then rolled down himself. So the prince of evil gets in his preliminary work with our children where we are looking for it the very least.
The boy whom he can induce to “play” smoke mullein cigarettes is ready to fall a prey to the first temptation to smoke real ones.
Our boys have been taught not to fight, so he says to them, “Let’s play,” and he teaches them such “innocent” (?) and “harmless” (?) games as marbles, dominoes, checkers, croquet, etc. There, upon a friendly and social basis, by mutual agreement to the rules governing the games, they consent to become, for the time, enemies—“only just in fun.” There he inculcates in their growing minds the rudiments of evil, the very opposite of the principles of the Spirit of Christ,—antagonism, retaliation, usurpation, vengeance, “emulation,” and too often “wrath” and “strife,” cheating and lying. In all games where chance is an element, the germ of gambling lurks.
In marbles the child is taught to say, “I’ll kill you,” and he “knocks out” his opponent, and takes his advantageous position for himself. Is not the spirit of all selfishness and strife the author of such games?
You would be horrified at the thought of your child’s putting out a life to gain some one’s position, money, or wife; but the principle is exactly the same, differing only in magnitude—the result of growth. The daily papers are full of the results of Satan’s plans in the early education of our children.
There may be hindering, healthful influences that will prevent your child from reaching a climax in vice; but if the germs are planted now in its infancy, Satan will attend to their cultivation, if he can keep you “blind” to his intentions.
Parents, teachers, shall we allow him to invade the realm of our children’s play, which should be purest pleasure, and train them in his devilish tactics until he has formed in their plastic minds the image of all evil—unscrupulous, aggressive selfishness—and until he has the “motions of sin” so habituated in our little ones that whenever circumstances are framed for a test on these principles, the “fun” image springs into life, and the child will do what he has “played.”
CALIFORNIA SCENERY, No. 25.—“Spanish Bayonet,” Yucca aloifolia. One of a numerous species of the Yucca plant, growing plentifully in California and southwestern part of North America. Remarkable for their stately appearance and magnificent inflorescence, sometimes attaining a height of 15 to 20 feet. The stem and foliage are woody and fibrous, and are used by Mexicans for a coarse cordage. The roots of some of the species make a fairly good soap. The leaves are generally stiff and sword-shaped, with a sharp point, whence the name. Some of the species bear a fruit resembling small bananas. It is a beautiful, hardy garden plant.
The child who has learned to play marbles or croquet, according to the usages of the popular game, will, in real life, use his friends for ladders to attain any desired end, just as he uses his little playfellows’ disadvantages, or causes those disadvantages, to accomplish his desire to win in the game.
Parents and teachers in Christ, is there not a grave responsibility here? Shall we not redouble our vigilance, unmask the designs of the enemy of purity, and test everything that is offered for our children’s instruction and amusement by the two great principles of righteousness? Matt. 22:37–40.
There are plays (I don’t like the word “game”) in which the Christian graces abound, and where the Golden Rule is not an unknown quantity, by means of which the children may be taught to see that selfishness is the root of all evil, and that it is hateful to God, and that love is the root of all good, and that only by loving-kindness and loving sacrifices, “in honor preferring one another,” we can ever hope to please Him or be accepted in His sight.
Happy is the mother whose little ones are still under her hand, and to whom the thought of her opportunity is a stirring and precious one.
May God give us wisdom and strength and grace sufficient for these things. H. R.
JACK’S FIDELITY.
By E. P. Hammond
It was in the days of Southern slavery, when Willie, the master’s son, brought home a spelling-book. A little slave boy, Jack, asked:—
“What’s dat, Willie?”
“That’s a spelling-book, Jack.”
“What’s de spellin’-book for?”
“To learn how to read.”
“How’s you do it?”
“We learn those things first.”
And so Jack learned A B C, etc., mastered the spelling-book, and then learned to read a little, tho the law forbade any colored person to do it.
One day Willie brought home a little black book, and Jack said, “What’s dat, Willie?”
“That is the New Testament; that tells about Jesus.”
And ere long Jack learned to read the New Testament, and when he read that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” and that He really loved us and died for us, and that “if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,” his heart went out in love to Jesus. He believed in Him; his sins were forgiven, his heart changed, and he became a happy Christian.
Tho a mere child, he at once began to tell others of Jesus’ love. When he became a young man, he was still at work for the Lord. He used to go to the neighboring plantation, read his Bible, and explain it to the people.
One day the master said to him, “Jack, I hear you go off preaching on Sunday.”
“Yes, mas’r, I must tell sinners how Jesus died on de cross for dem.”
“Jack, if you go off preaching on Sunday, I’ll tell you what I’ll do on Monday.”
“What will you do on Monday, mas’r?”13
“I’ll tie you to that tree, take this whip, and flog all the religion out of you.”
Jack knew his master was a determined man, but when he thought of Christ’s sufferings for us, and heard his Lord saying unto him, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life,” he resolved to continue his work for the Lord the next Sunday.
With his New Testament in hand, he went down to the plantation and told them his master might whip him half to death the next day, but if he did he would not suffer more than Christ had suffered for us.
The next morning his master said, “Jack, I hear you were preaching again yesterday.”
“Yes, mas’r, I must go and tell sinners how Jesus was whipped that we might go free.”
“But, Jack, I told you if you went off preaching Sunday, I should whip you on Monday, and now I will do it.”
Blow after blow fell upon Jack’s back, while oaths fell from the master’s lips, and he said: “There, Jack, I don’t believe you will preach next Sunday. Now go down to the cotton field and go to work.”
When the next Sunday came, Jack could not stand straight, his back was so covered with scars and sores. But with his Testament in hand, he stood before the people of the plantation and said, “Mas’r whip me mose ter death last Monday, an’ I don’t know but he will kill me to-morrow, but if he does I shall not suffer more than Jesus did, when He died on the cross for us.”
Monday morning the master called him and said, “Jack, I hear you have been preaching again.”
“Yes, mas’r, I must go an’ tell sinners how Christ was wounded for our transgressions, how He sweat drops of blood for us in the garden, an’ wore that cruel crown of thorns that we might wear a crown of joy in heaven.”
“But I don’t want to hear your preaching. Now bare your back and take the flogging I told you I should give you if you went off preaching.”
Fast flew the cruel lashes, until Jack’s back was covered with wounds and blood.
“Now, Jack, go down to the cotton field and go to work. I reckon you’ll never want to preach again.”
When the next Sunday came, Jack’s back was in a terrible condition. But, hobbling along, he found his way to his friends in the neighboring plantation, and said:—
“Mas’r whip me almose ter death last Monday, but if I can only get you to come to Jesus and love Him, I am willing to die for your sake, to-morrow.”
If there were scoffers there, do you not think that they were led to believe there was a reality in religion? If any were there who were inclined to think that ministers preach only when they get money for it, don’t you think they changed their minds when they saw what wages Jack got?
Many were in tears, and no doubt some gave themselves to that Saviour for whose sake Jack was willing, if need be, to die the death of a martyr.
Next morning the master called Jack and said, “Make bare your back again, for I told you that just as sure as you went off preaching I would whip you till you gave it up.”
The master raised the ugly whip, but as he looked at Jack’s back, all lacerated, he could find no new place to strike, and said: “What do you do it for, Jack? You know that as surely as you go off preaching on Sunday I will whip you most to death the next day. No one pays you anything for it. All you get is a terrible flogging, which is taking your life away from you.”
“Yer ax me, mas’r, what I’se doin’ it for. I’ll tell yer, mas’r. I’se goin’ ter tak all dos scars, mas’r, up to Jesus, by an’ by, to show Him how faithful I’se been, ’cause He loved you an’ me, mas’r, an’ bled an’ died on the cross for you an’ me, mas’r.”
The whip dropped, and that master could not strike another blow. In a subdued tone he said, “Go down in the cotton field.”
Do you think Jack went away cursing his master, saying, “O Lord, send him down to hell for all his cruelty to me!”?
No! no! His prayer was, “Lord, forgive him, for Jesus Christ’s sake.”
About 3 o’clock a messenger came down to the cotton field crying: “Mas’r’s dyin’! Mas’r’s dyin’! Come quick, Jack! Mas’r’s dyin’!”
There, in his private room, Jack found his master on the floor in agony, crying: “O Jack, I’m sinking down to hell! Pray for me. Pray for me.”
“I’se been prayin’ for you all de time, mas’r. You must pray for yourself.”
“I don’t know how to pray, Jack. I know how to swear, but I don’t know how to pray.”
“You mus’ pray, mas’r.”
And finally they both prayed, and God revealed Christ on the cross to him, and then and there he became a changed man.
A few days after he called Jack to him and said: “Jack, here are your freedom papers. They give you your liberty. Go and preach the Gospel wherever you will, and may the Lord’s blessing go with you.”—E. P. Hammond.
HARSH WORDS.
By Verbena Hawthorn
I HARSHLY spoke to my child one day,
And he independently turned away,
As if he cared naught for the worst I might say.
I thought him hard indeed.
When the night shades fell and his prayer was said,
I tucked him up in his little bed,
With a good-night kiss, and a pat on his head,
And “pleasant dreams” decreed.
But just as the midnight spread her wings
O’er this land of dead and living things,
I heard a sound—e’en yet it stings—
That from my boy’s room crept.
In those “pleasant dreams” did he declare,
“You’re cross, mama, as a cross, cross bear
For me I know you do not care.”
O, bitterly he wept!
The pangs that pierced my heart just then
Have never been writ by tongue or pen;
But I felt as the robin must feel when
She finds in her cozy nest
The mangled form of her downy child,
The victim of some ruffian wild.
O, could I make those harsh words mild,
And ease that heaving breast!
But words can never be unsaid
When from the lips they once have sped;
How oft like a smouldering fire they spread,
And ruin as they run!
The child awoke. I confessed my sin;
I healed, as it were, the broken wing.
Yet ’twas never as strong as it would have been
Had the wounding not been done.
VERBENA HAWTHORN.
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WHAT SHOULD CHILDREN READ?
Opinions of Prominent Ladies.
“Parents should oversee their children's reading with the same solicitude that they feel in other matters. Very little present-day literature is conducive to the formation of character. The General and I have tried to supervise the education of our children in this respect, and even now, when my daughter has attained womanhood, she seldom takes up a book without consulting our wishes. On the overcrowded counters of cheap literature, poison abounds. We see this especially at summer resorts, where, rather than be idle, one will seize upon the most attractive paper-backed novel at hand, without regard to its influence.”—Mrs. Nelson A. Miles.
“Indiscriminate reading drains and enervates the mind, unfitting it for solid food, while in no way conducing to cultivation. No young girl should be allowed to have free access to books until she is at least eighteen. Interest yourselves, fathers and mothers, in the leisure hours of your boys and girls, since upon a wise selection of amusement largely depend their after actions. Try by gentle counsel to lead them to appreciate pure literature. Neglecting this, you will realize too late the results of indifference.”—Mrs. Phil. Sheridan.
Here are the opinions of society ladies, and yet there are Christians who allow their children to devour indiscriminately whatever trash comes to hand. It is like permitting them to eat poison. By all means read the Bible with your children.
Who Is My Neighbor?
How NEAR must a person live to be my neighbor? Every person is near to you whom you can bless. He is nearest whom you can bless most.—William Ellery Channing.
Kindness Without Seeking Reward
By Marcus Aurelius
WHEN you have done a kindness and your neighbor is the better for it, why need you be so foolish as to look any farther and gape for reputation and requital.—Marcus Aurelius.
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Fairbanks Galvanized Steel Windmills
Fairbanks Standard Scales
Send for Illustrated Catalogues to
Fairbanks, Morse & Co.
310 MARKET STREET
San Francisco, Cal.
When you write, please mention the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
Interlinear Scriptures
To Clergymen and Bible Students the most important announcement of this last decade of the expiring century.
Interlinear Scriptures
New Testament, Complete. The standard Greek text, with a new Literal Translation interlined; the King James Version in the margins; and with Footnotes on the various disputed readings of the originals. New edition, with a complete and entirely new Greek-English NEW TESTAMENT LEXICON
Old Testament, Volume I.,
Genesis and Exodus. The Hebrew text with Literal Translation interlined; the King James Version in left-hand margin; Revised Version in right-hand margin; and with Footnotes on the various disputed readings of the originals.
ROYAL OCTAVO, UNIFORM IN STYLE AND PRICE
Plain Cloth . . . . each. $4.00
Half Leather . . . each. 5.00
Divinity Circuit . . . each. 6.00
Published by Hinds & Noble
4 Cooper Institute, New York City
Schoolbooks of all publishers at one store
When you write, please mention the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
Political Speeches AND Debates OF LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS 1854–1861
.... MEN act as if they had a foreknowledge that in the creeds of the political sky of the future, portentous events were hanging which would demand from them an armament of Lincoln argument. They will find it, and find it easily, in this new collection.
