Signs of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 9. (9/30/1908)

Signs of the Times

Sep 30, 1908

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Sep 30, 1908

The Answered Prayer.

No prayer to God need go unanswered. It all depends on the asker and the asking. The sure promise of God is, “If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5: 14, 15.

Precious promise indeed, and a most reasonable condition. Why should we not ask according to His will? Is not His will always best? He is infinite in His love for us; therefore He will ever seek only our good. He is infinite in wisdom and knowledge; therefore He understands what is best for us, and He knows how to accomplish it. He is infinite in power; therefore He can do what His wisdom and love dictate should be done. Is not His will therefore best? And should we not make the first petition of our prayer that His will may be wrought in us and by us and through us?

We may desire other things which to us seem good and wise; we may wish to tread some other path not so difficult, bear some other cross not so heavy, take some other yoke, be saved from some great trial, but none of these may seem best to the all-wise, loving Father. If we ask for them and do not receive them, is our prayer answered? —Most assuredly, “if we ask according to His will.”

The Experience of Our Example.

Read the experience of Jesus our Lord and Example. The awful baptism of suffering rose before Him. The human Jesus saw the cross, its darkness, the awful consciousness of separation from the Father, as He died in the sinner’s stead. And three times over He bows before God in the agony of Gethsemane and pleads that He might not drink the awful cup. Did God hear that petition?—He did. He always hears. Did He remove the cup?—He did not. How then was the prayer of Jesus answered? Ah! there was another petition in that prayer. Listen:

“Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; take away this cup from Me; nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” Mark 14: 36.

His chief petition was that God’s will might be wrought. “Nevertheless,” whatever may come, let Thy will be done. The great petition of the prayer was answered. God’s will was wrought out in Christ; the bitter cup was quaffed, and human salvation and the greater glory of Christ were assured.

Even so let Christians pray. Above whatever we desire, let the petition that God’s will may be done be paramount, and no prayer can remain unanswered of God; and it will always be well.

Reasons Why.

HERE are two reasons why people seek Christian Science. One is for relief from disease and pain; the other for surcease from care and worry. And there is no question but that both of these are obtained, temporarily at least.

The modus operandi is simple. Most diseases are caused by the mind, and many others are aggravated by care and worry. The one thing needful to effect a cure is rest. If the mind is at rest, every bodily function is helped, all nervous and physical energy can be used to build up the waste and worn tissues, and the physical healing of organic troubles is greatly helped. The soul is made to rest, and the law of rest in the very nature of the case is bound to assist in restoring the equilibrium of the body, even tho the object relieved be most weak and unworthy. In most cases, especially if the patient be sensitive, anxious, nervous, the taking of a drug becomes greatly beneficial if the patient has faith in it, but powerless if the faith be wanting. It is not the drug, but the rest which gives the body opportunity to build again through normal functions the diseased part.

Of course such help is but temporary in serious cases. The only real strength or power gained is the better use of that within through the law of rest. Often when the weakness of the object upon which the mind rested is revealed, the mind immediately reverts to its former condition of worry, and physical ill-health returns.

Christian Science has persuaded its devotees to base their hope on the sayings of Mrs. Eddy. In her they find rest, and healing, and peace, for a time supreme. They are taught to believe there is no ill, no sin, no evil, no disease, no death, save in perverted human thought; and believing this, all that comes is good, and naught is ill. Herein lies its secret of success. Yet it is the counterfeit, not the genuine; it is a self-salvation, a human salvation, which will fail in the ultimate.

Better, infinitely better, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It does not deceive you. You are a sinner; you are diseased; there is evil; death is a terrible reality. All these conditions it recognizes; but Jesus Christ helps you in the very death-grip of all. He is the Saviour from sin. He is the Healer from disease. He is the Shield from all evil. He has conquered death by dying. He stoops to the lowest depths of human misery and wo, and cheerily, heartily says, "I will

help you, I will make all the afflictions work for good if you will but trust Me."

With infinite pleading Christ calls, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Trusting in Him, the soul can find rest in calm trust and submission to His holy knowledge, love, and almighty power, and can say with the apostle: "We know that to them that love God, God worketh all things with them for good." Eternal triumph over all things evil is assured in Christ Jesus, and in Him only.

Training for Service

By Ellen G. White

By Mrs. E. G. White

TRUE education is missionary training. Every son and daughter of God is called to be a missionary; we are called to the service of God and our fellow men; and to fit ourselves for this service should be the object of our education.

This object should ever be kept in view by Christian parents and teachers. We know not in what line our children may serve. They may spend their lives within the circle of the home; they may engage in life's common vocations, or go as teachers of the Gospel to heathen lands; but all are alike called to be missionaries for God, ministers of mercy to the world.

The children and youth, with their fresh talent, energy, and courage, their quick susceptibilities, are loved of God, and He desires to bring them into harmony with divine agencies. They are to obtain an education that will help them to stand by the side of Christ in unselfish service.

Of all His children to the close of time, no less than of the first disciples, Christ said, "As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world," to be representatives of God, to reveal His Spirit, to manifest His character, to do His work.

Our children stand, as it were, at the parting of the ways. On every hand the world's enticements to self-seeking and self-indulgence call them away from the path cast up for the ransomed of the Lord. Whether their lives shall be a blessing or a curse depends upon the choice they make. Overflowing with energy, eager to test their untried capabilities, they must find some outlet for their superabounding life. Active they will be for good or for evil.

God's word does not repress activity, but guides it aright. God does not bid the youth to be less aspiring. The elements of character that make a man truly successful and honored among men—the irrepressible desire for some greater good, the indomitable will, the strenuous application, the untiring perseverance—are not to be discouraged. By the grace of God they are to be directed to the attainment of objects as much higher than mere selfish and worldly interests as the heavens are higher than the earth.

With us as parents and as Christians it rests to give our children right direction. They are to be carefully, wisely, tenderly guided into paths of Christlike ministry. We are under sacred covenant with God to rear our children for His service. To surround them with such influences as shall lead them to choose a life of service and to give them the training needed is our first duty.

"God so loved . . . that He gave,"—"gave His only begotten Son," that we "should not perish, but have everlasting life." "Christ . . . hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us." If we love, we shall give. "Not to be ministered unto, but to minister," is the great lesson which we are to learn and to teach.

Let the youth be impressed with the thought that they are not their own. They belong to Christ. They are the purchase of His blood, the claim of His love. They live because He keeps them by His power. Their time, their strength, their capabilities are His, to be developed, to be trained, to be used for Him.

God looks into the tiny seed that He Himself has formed, and sees wrapped within it the beautiful flower, the shrub, or the lofty, wide-spreading tree. So does He see the possibilities in every human being. We are here for a purpose. God has given us His plan for our life, and He desires us to reach the highest standard of development.

He desires that we shall be constantly growing in holiness, in happiness, in usefulness. All have capabilities which they must be taught to regard as sacred endowments, to appreciate as the Lord's gifts, and rightly to employ. He desires the youth to cultivate every power of their being, and to bring every faculty into active exercise. He desires them to enjoy all that is useful and precious in this life, to be good, and to do good, laying up a heavenly treasure for the future life.

It should be their ambition to excel in all things that are unselfish, high, and noble. Let them look to Christ as the pattern after which they are to be fashioned. The holy ambition which He revealed in His life they are to cherish—an ambition to make the world better for their having lived in it. This is the work to which they are called.

Martha’s Work and Mary’s Secret

By Richard H. Thomas

SHE who has chosen Martha's part, The planning ahead, the steady heart, So full of household work and care, Intent on serving everywhere, May also Mary's secret know, Nor yet her household cares forego;— May sit and learn at Jesus' feet, Nor leave her service incomplete. —Richard H. Thomas.

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The Best Way.

By C. L. Taylor

By C. L. Taylor.

WOULD you bring men to the Lord Jesus Christ?—Win them. "He that winneth souls is wise."

Men are very much like certain kinds of dumb animals. They like to be coaxed, but not driven.

A few days ago a friend related his experience in trying to corral some of his animals. No amount of effort enabled him to drive them into the enclosure. Tho all the time apparently trying to find the entrance, they simply could not see it until the trough had been filled.

Coercion ofttimes blinds men to duty, making them unwilling to do even those things which normally would be a pleasure to them.

The plan of the Gospel is that of drawing. Said Jesus, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself."—Douay Bible. By this same plan will His followers succeed. The love of Christ which makes one willing, yea, anxious to die that others may live is so beautiful, so unselfish, so overpowering withal that even unwilling spirits are compelled to yield.

All around us are those upon whose ears our words of invitation and counsel fall as nagging twits. Not thus can they be reached. They are to be persuaded, and will be persuaded, only by the silence of love; not by preaching for them, but by pictures—character pictures painted in your life and mine by the divine Artist—by beholding which they become changed.

The love of God beautifies every life in which it dwells. And beauty always attracts. A beautiful character is heaven's greatest argument against sin. Where words fail and logic is defeated, there beauty of character wins its greatest victories.

The best way to bring men to Christ is the only way. Only by being "lifted up" can we truly win men, and God will lift up only those who, like His Son, reflect the image of the divine.

In all the earnestness and simplicity of our souls we need to submit to God, and while submitting pray, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us."

A Time of Precious Privilege

The future is hopeful according to the word of God and the events predicted in that word which are every day fulfilling around us. "The coming of the Lord draweth nigh." "The Judge standeth at the door." How should we look at this little period before us? How at the perils thickening around us? Not in alarm, but with rejoicing. We should look upon it as a time of precious privilege, when zeal should be renewed, and loyalty to the Master deepened. Let us work as never before; hold up Christ, the world's Redeemer. Christ the Light of the world, the Saviour of sinners, the Hope of His people; the Comforter in sorrow, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This is the work of Christians.

The Earth Desolate

By Allen Moon

By Allen Moon

GOD made the earth for the habitation of man. He beautified it for man's joy and happiness, and provided it with both the means of temporal sustenance and eternal existence. He filled the earth and sea and air with living creatures for man's delight and development in the exercise of dominion. The curse came upon all because of man's sin in yielding to the voice of the tempter.

The Lord revealed to His servants the prophets that the curse would finally result in the complete desolation of the earth; for it is written: "For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be a desolation." Jer. 4:27 (R. V.). And by "land" in the text, we understand the whole earth, and not any particular land. When this state of desolation is reached, it will be said, "The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly." Isa. 24:19.

The Earth Emptied.

Without divine revelation man can have but dim conception of the enormity of his sin or the ultimate calamity; but the language of Inspiration assures us that "the earth shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word." Isa. 24:3. How great this emptiness will be is described by another writer on the same subject. Looking forward prophetically, he said, "I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger." Jer. 4:25, 26. The means of subsistence provided by the Creator is cut off; the earth is no longer inhabitable by man or beast; for still another of God's messengers in speaking of this same event, and speaking for the Creator, said, "I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord." Zeph. 1:3.

Other testimonies to the utter destruction of every being on the face of the earth, in whose nostrils is the breath of life, are to be found in the word of the Lord. This is the culmination of that which came upon man and his inheritance by reason of his transgression of the law of his Maker; not for the original transgression alone, but because he continues in the way of disobedience, and the Lord is compelled to fight against him lest he destroy the faithful ones.

Eternal Destruction of Sin.

The prophetic word informs us, "I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that had worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." Rev. 19:19-21. (Not the fire of eternal torment, but the fire of destruction.)

This is a vivid description of the destruction of the rebellious in the last days, and it agrees with another record of the same event. After relating the condition in the last generation, the prophet says: "Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." Isa. 24:6. It is evident that the destruction foretold in these scriptures can not be disposed of by any figurative interpretation; but on the contrary, we find that New Testament writers, under the Spirit of Inspiration, treat these prophetic utterances as relating to impending events, and these may be regarded the true interpreters of the prophetic word. One of the writers said, "The heavens [atmospheric] and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:7.

At Christ's Coming.

The apostle had been speaking of the destruction of the earth by a flood of waters, which came according to the word of the Lord. And by the same word, he says, the earth is reserved unto fire. Another apostle, writing of the same event, in point of time, says it will be "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 1:7, 8.

How perfectly these testimonies of Christian writers agree with the words of the prophets, "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1. And again, "For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many." Isa. 66:15, 16. And since the curse came upon the earth in consequence of man's sin, the fire that destroys the cause of the curse will likewise obliterate the curse, and God will again have a clean universe. Man might have been rescued from the wreck he had caused by the exercise of faith in the adorable One, but he has refused deliverance, the few excepted.

How fearful, then, are the consequences of man's having corrupted his way upon the earth; and still more dire the prospects, were it not that the divine Father extends mercy; and in connection with each of the predictions of judgment, the promise is made to those that accept, "But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day when I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. 4:2, 3. And it is said of the Redeemer, "He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day." 2 Thess. 1:10.

The Christian Life.

By Harriet McEwen Kimball

A LITTLE effort day by day The path of life to know; To learn detachment from the world With all its glittering show;

A little holy diligence At morning, noon, and night, To train the tongue to praise the Lord And pray to Him aright;

The nearest duty gladly done For Him who asks no more; Some little self-denying deed Before the day is o'er;

A little toil that we may learn Where heavenly treasure lies; A little study of His word To make us truly wise;

Obedience in little things His blessing to obtain, That service, prayer, and sacrament Be not for us in vain;

A little fasting for His sake To keep the body down; A little silence lest the strife Of tongues His voice should drown;

A little daily act of faith, Of love, or penitence, To bind us to His saving cross Lest pride should draw us thence;

A little sharing of His pain The soul to sanctify; To learn that life is only won By those who daily die;

A little here, a little there, How small the measure is! Yet so His molding grace conforms This little life to His. —Harriet McEwen Kimball.

Licensing Makers of Criminals

By American Issue

We hang the murderer, jail the thief and the drunkard, but license the manufacturer of murderers, the maker of thieves and drunkards, and furnish the raw material from our homes out of which the murderer, thief, and drunkard are made.—American Issue.

Bacteria Harboring Trailing Skirts

In a recent lecture, Professor Bottomley, of London, said that a piece of cloth cut from a trailing skirt worn by a woman walking about the West End streets was found to harbor 16,500,000 bacteria, including many tubercle-bacilli.—Medical Record.

Signs of the Second Coming of Christ

By Prof. G. W. Rine

Signs in the Social World

In one of His last discourses while on earth, our Lord affirmed: "Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; . . . after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed." Luke 17: 28-30.

The following inspired words afford additional light respecting the sins peculiar to the people of Sodom just before its destruction: "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before Me: therefore I took them away as I saw good." Eze. 16: 49, 50.

Again, note 2 Peter 2: 6-8: God turned "the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, . . . and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds)."

The inspired apostle distinctly characterizes the people of Sodom as lascivious. That is, they were a people abandoned to licentiousness, to lechery. The commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," was wantonly trampled under foot. Adultery, then, was the all-pervading crime of the society of Lot's day. So acute and so deep-rooted had this and kindred sins become that the only thing which even infinite Love could do for that people was to sweep them out of existence.

Recall now the Master's declaration: "As it came to pass in the days of Lot; . . . after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed."

Prevalence of Licentiousness To-day.

The most trustworthy statistics attest the deplorable fact that our cities have become vast caldrons of sexual vice. Greater New York herself acknowledges that she harbors within her confines between 50,000 and 60,000 abandoned women. Men and women who devote their lives to social reform testify that Chicago, since the Columbian Exposition in 1893, is burdened with an army of fallen women nearly twice as large as that of New York. In Philadelphia there are probably 25,000 of these unfortunate women. In proportion to population, San Francisco supports more prostitutes than any other city between the two oceans. Paris alone is supporting 100,000, according to the testimony of her public officers. Berlin estimates her army at 50,000; while London's army is slightly smaller.

Of these harlots nearly one half are under twenty years of age. "Child-vice is anything but a myth." No large city is free from "pimps," agents for the houses of prostitution, who are relentless in their hellish quest for the young girls who fill the rapidly decimating ranks of the army of sorrow. The Massachusetts commission has shown that the large majority of these doomed girls come directly from their homes.

Incredible as it may seem, I have been reliably informed that not fewer than five hundred innocent girls, each month, from San Francisco alone, are lured into this damnable traffic. The same hideous truth is duplicated in Portland, Ore., and in Seattle. Half as many innocents are drawn into the same horrible abyss from Los Angeles. Imagine the awful magnitude of this loathsome traffic throughout the civilized world!

Of this mighty host of moral lepers, 50,000 die annually—a mortality-rate five times as great as obtains among a like number of persons who live virtuous lives. Again, it must not be forgotten that for every dissolute woman there are from four to six dissolute men.

Marital Infidelity.

Marital infidelity, too, is alarmingly rife in these latter days. Apart from the church, the home is the most sacred and conserving institution of human society. During the past twenty years not fewer than 400,000 American homes have been disrupted in the divorce court. At least one fourth of these domestic tragedies have been openly laid at the threshold of adultery. Four hundred thousand divorces in twenty years means that the morals of domestic life "are on a gallop down hill." A noted social worker recently averred that one marriage of every seven is dissolved in the divorce court.

A member of the Educational Alliance, who is devoting himself to the work of ameliorating the unhappy conditions peculiar to the factory and laboring population in the great industrial centers, recently gave out for publication the following statement among many others: "We are called upon every evening by deserted wives; and a noticeable element common to most of these cases is that the women are about to become mothers." He goes on to show that this results in many bigamy cases, "the woman living with the first man who offers immediate support, with or without the form of marriage."

As a result of this world-wide plague of social and domestic vice, society is stricken with multiform venereal diseases. It is estimated that New York City to-day harbors 225,000 persons infected with the most loathsome of unmentionable diseases, and 800,000 persons who are the victims of a slightly less virulent form of such maladies. Dr. Sturgis estimates that 50,000 new victims are yearly added to the first army mentioned above, "each of which at once becomes a new focus for the spread of the disease."

Think of the awful danger to which innocent wives and mothers are exposed! An eminent physician declares that seventy-five per cent of all cases of venereal diseases among American women originate with the infidelity of the husband. Statistics show that more than fifty per cent of the young men of this country are infected with some form of venereal disease before their thirtieth year.

In France, where such statistics are recorded, we find that about 25,000 children die yearly of the worst form of hereditary venereal disease. "A far greater number never live to die."

Dr. R. N. Wilson, of the University of Pennsylvania, who has made an extended and methodical study of the social evil, asks the following question, to which he appends his own answer: "Is the social evil incurable at the present time? I think we must answer, 'Yes, under existing circumstances, and as long as it enjoys the sleek, contented, participating activity of the people!'" He asks further: "Is there any prospect of its disappearance in our children's time?" His answer is: "Probably not, owing largely to the indifference or positively bad influence of many fathers and mothers, and of much of the literature of the day."

That the infraction of the seventh commandment is growing from year to year is further attested by the following census figures: In 1880, of every 1,000 births in our country, fifty were illegitimate; in 1900, eighty out of every 1,000 were illegitimate. In Germany the illegitimate birth-rate grew from sixty to ninety-one per thousand, between 1880 and 1896. In both Scandinavia and France the rate of increase of illegitimate births is far higher. Then, too, this tremendous rate of increase during the last quarter-century took place in spite of the fact that the practise of "criminal operations" became fearfully common during the same period.

City Slums.

Another foul blot upon the social escutcheon of to-day is the city slum. The slum is the vortex of the city whirlpool, "where is gathered the wreckage of society." It is here where one finds overcrowding, illiteracy, the maximum of saloons and brothels, of vice and crime, of squalor, misery, disease and death. In one of the slums of Chicago there are 35,000 people; in another, 30,000. "The inhabitants neither labor regularly nor marry. Half the men are beggars, criminals, or floating laborers; a fourth of them are engaged in the sale of dissipation; and a third of the women are prostitutes. . . . Society here has lapsed back into a condition more primitive than the jungle."

The slums of Chicago are typical of those in other cities. Not long before his death, Huxley wrote regarding an East End slum in London: "In my experience of all kinds of savagery all over the world, I found nothing worse, nothing more degraded, nothing more helpless, nothing so intolerably dull and miserable, as the life I had left behind me in the East End of London. Nothing would please me more than to contribute

to the bettering of that state of things, which, unless wise and benevolent men take it in hand, will tend to become worse and worse, and to create something worse than savagery—a great Serbonian bog, which in the long run will swallow up the surface-crust of civilization. . . . Unless this is effectively dealt with, the hordes of vice and pauperism will destroy modern civilization as effectively as uncivilized tribes of another kind destroyed the great social organization which preceded ours."

It should be remembered that the city slum is a recent phenomenon; it was unknown a hundred years ago.

Nothing but the power of God, in the Gospel, can purge society of its festering uncleanness. But even infinite Power, Wisdom, and Love can not save society except through its individual units. "In the last days . . . evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." 2 Tim. 3: 1-13. Can we escape the conclusion that the "days of Lot" are repeating themselves in this very time in which you and I, dear reader, are living? Are we not, then, living in the days when the Son of Man is about to be revealed,—revealed to save His believing children, and "to destroy the works of the devil"?

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