p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 8. (2/21/1911)

The Position of Seventh-Day Adventists

[The following note appeared in the Pacific Christian Advocate of January 25, the Methodist Episcopal organ for the Northwest, and the letter which follows was written to that paper in reply by Mr. Martin. Both note and letter will speak for themselves:]

The daily papers report Rev. W. F. Martin, the pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Portland, as being in Salem at the present, working against the bill which is being pushed by some of the other churches for the observance of the Sabbath. This is an incongruity that can hardly be reconciled. Brother Martin is regarded as a strong man and a Christian man, tho how it is defensible that a man should unite forces with the saloon-keepers, the managers of theaters, and other reprehensible characters, in working against the Christian forces, can hardly be understood. The difficulty is either a misapprehension of the influences of the observances of Sunday or of the righteousness of the claims of the Seventh-day Adventists. We have an idea that it is a misapprehension of the teachings of Jesus that causes this representative to the Seventh-day Adventists to endeavor to pull down the cause the rest of us are trying to build up. We shall have to examine carefully into the teachings and claims of the Adventist Church, and this we shall do soon.

January 31, 1911. Editor Christian Advocate, Portland, Oregon. Dear Sir:

I am a subscriber to your paper, and find many things in it that I enjoy; but I was, to say the least, surprised on looking over the issue of January 25, to find an item relating to myself, couched in language such as is there used. It is true I have been in Salem for some days looking after our church there, and have spent some time at the capitol in the interests of religious liberty. I had not before learned that the other churches had a Sunday bill to be introduced at this session of the legislature, but suspected they would.

I am opposed to a Sunday law, not because Sunday is not the Sabbath (however, after a careful study of the question, I am convinced it is not); but for the reason a Sunday law is a religious measure, and is a long step in the direction of a union of Church and State. A matter pertaining to religion is to be rendered to God, and the State should not interfere with it. It may appear to you a small thing to class a man who disagrees with you with saloon-keepers and "other reprehensible characters;" but, my brother, God will judge righteously in His own good time. You have a right to keep Sunday if you wish to do so; but you have no right to compel me, or any other man, to conform to your ideas of religious duty. A man's religion and his manner of discharging it are a matter pertaining alone to him and his God. That is a field that no man should invade. The history of the Dark Ages should be a warning to us not to invoke the arm of the civil law in matters pertaining to religion.

Now, my brother, this is my position, and the position of my church. That is a platform on which all can safely stand. Even if all the characters spoken of in your recent editorial should stand there, let us be thankful that they are that near to a conformity to the teachings of the Master. If the "Christian forces" mentioned by yourself were to attend better to their legitimate sphere, that of persuading men to be Christians, and not resort so much to carnal means to attain a reverence for their dogmas, there would be no need of my spending time at the capitol, endeavoring to offset the baneful influences that are sure to arise from a course such as you acknowledge is now being pursued by yourself and colaborers.

I may not have a true sense of the fulness of the teachings of the Master, but I do know this: the kingdom of Christ can never be forwarded by force of the civil power. Again, I remember the Master said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." You will pardon me, my brother, if I say plainly to you, in a spirit of love, that this course on which you and your co-workers have launched, that of invoking the civil law to enforce your religious views, is contrary to the principles of the kingdom of God, and if persisted in, and adopted by the Government, will overthrow the grand principles of religious liberty which have placed our Government at the head of the nations of the earth. Persecution of dissenters would follow, and naturally retrogression toward the condition of the Dark Ages. Benjamin Franklin well spoke the truth when he said, "If a religion is good, it will take care of itself." An appeal to the civil law for assistance by a body of religionists is an advertisement of weakness.

We invite you to inquire carefully into and examine the teachings of Seventh-day Adventists. With kindest regards, I am, Very respectfully, W. F. MARTIN.

Ship Zion

By A. E. Flint

ALMOST six thousand years ago, On time's relentless, storm-swept sea, A ship, with sails spread high and low, Set voyage for eternity.

She launched out on the raging deep Fully equipped to breast the storm; The foam-capped billows o'er her sweep, She mounts their roll with steady form.

While batt'ling bravely on her way Where mountain waves would angry roll, From o'er her bow a beacon ray Would show ahead the nearing goal.

'Midst lethal lightning's blinding glares, And crashing thunder's deaf'ning roar, She stems the tide, and buoyant bears Her precious burden nearer shore.

Tho surging swells on every side Have fiercely beat her sea-worn prow, Yet, gallantly 'gainst wind and tide She almost touches haven now.

Long years she's braved the raging main Whose fury fain would her o'erwhelm; To chart and compass, true and plain, The Pilot guides with steady helm.

Then let the tossing billows roll And closely press her all around; The storm we'll smilingly defy With joyous shout, "We're homeward bound!"

Along the heavenly coast we spy The highland heights in grandeur rise Where scintillating wavelets vie With sunbeams in ethereal skies.

Soon she'll be anchored in the bay, Beneath the calm of heaven's dome, And tranquil rest through endless day Within the sheltered haven home.

Granger, Washington.

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A Boon to the Housewife

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Life and Health

By Editor

A PRACTICAL health journal, published with a view of meeting hygienic needs in every home; teaching how to care for the health and how to preserve life; prescribing simple home treatments to assist nature in throwing off diseases rather than adding more poison by using drugs or unnatural stimulants as remedies; teaching how to avoid disease as far as possible, how to manage in the home when sickness does come, and how to combat the disease by simple remedies which nature provides.

Send for sample copy and special rates to agents. Price 10 cents per copy or $1.00 per year.

Address, LIFE & HEALTH, Takoma Park, D.C.

50-Acre Home for Sale on Payments

By D. Jones

I own several thousand acres of Northeast Texas farm and fruit land. Will cut up in 50-acre blocks and set our new orchard of figs, peaches, pears, apples, and grapes, for worthy families. Will fence, and build new houses, and accept payments either monthly or yearly, and we will care for same until parties can move.

This plan to deliver good homes to worthy families on their terms of payment.

We raise corn, cotton, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, melons, peas, peanuts, grasses. Good water and plenty of timber. Fine dairy land. Healthy. Mild winters. Sandy loam, clay subsoil. Well located. Bank references furnished and required.

D. JONES, Jefferson, Marion County, Texas.

Notice

THE fourteenth annual meeting of the California Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, for the purpose of electing four or more members of the Board of Directors, and transacting any other business that may properly come before the meeting, will be held at Sanitarium, Napa County, California, on Wednesday, March 8, 1911, at twelve o'clock M.

H. W. COTTRELL, President. H. E. RANDALL, Secretary.

HEAR YE what others have to say

By Editor

"Portland, Ore. "I will send in my second order for 400 copies of the February number of the magazine. The February number is beautiful and sells well."

"San Fernando, Cal. "Father and mother thought it would be well if I got some of the Signs to sell. Send 10 copies for the money enclosed." Later: "I want 10 more. I sold the others in no time."

"Allegheny, Pa. "Don't you think I am doing well? Last week one day I sold 74 copies in one of the large buildings in Pittsburg. One gentleman, when I told him it was a Seventh-day Adventist paper, took it gladly. The people like to buy our literature."

The March Number

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DATE OF EXPIRATION

By C. H. Jones, Circulation Manager

The SIGNS wrapper bears date of last issue due on your subscription. Unless renewed in advance, paper stops with expiration date.

If herewith is an order-blank, you will know you have overlooked sending renewal. You will not wish to miss a single issue. Back numbers often can not be furnished.

C. H. Jones, Circulation Manager.

Our Mission Funds

By Editor

Our donations were not great the last month; but we thank God for the scattered contributions, and in behalf of our missionaries in the great heathen fields of earth we thank our contributors. We can assure them that the money is used in a good cause by devoted, conscientious men. But we know that these amounts have been contributed not for the sake of men, but for the sake of the Master. May these sacrifices bear fruit in the kingdom of God, and may each donor be there to share in the harvest home.

January 1911 Mission Contributions

January, 1911

	CHINA	INDIA	TOKYO
Previously Reported	$700.62	$309.86	$171.16
William Fellon	2.00
Mrs. Lydia L. Mason	5.00
Mrs. J. C. Edwards	.50
Margaret Barrett	1.05
Katherine Weiger	1.00
Mrs. Myrta Boynton	1.00
Earl E. Smith	4.00
Clifford Jennings	1.00
Mrs. Helen Prewer	1.15
X. Z.	10.50
Lester Quade, per Our Little Friend	.50
J. P.	20.00	2.50	7.50
Mrs. C. Miller	1.00	.50	.50
A. Nelson	15.00		2.50
S. S.	100.00	25.00
N. Miller		.25
Total	$864.32	$338.11	$181.66

Finnish work in Idaho . . . $1.40

A Roman Catholic Congress

At an archdiocesan federation congress held in Boston, Jan. 29, 1911, the platform contained among other things the following:

1. A demand for "the independence of the Holy See, which the holy father himself deems necessary for the free exercise of his spiritual world-wide dominion;"

2. Affirmation of freedom in education, and a request that the State "recognize all schools contributing to the formation of good citizenship and deserving of its approval and support;"

3. The demand for the absolute prohibition of divorce by the State;

4. A stricter supervision and censorship of theaters, moving-picture shows, etc., "in the interests of public decency" was demanded;

5. While not "interfering with the legitimate freedom of the press," the elimination of reports of "nauseating details of criminal and divorce trials" was demanded;

6. "We are unalterably opposed to any desecration of the Sunday. It is a day set apart for worship and rest. But, while not opposing legitimate recreation, we deplore any tendency that tends to lower in the mind of the people the proper respect and reverence due to Sunday observance."

7. Sympathy with the laborer in his efforts to better his condition.

The above principles are in perfect harmony with National Reform principles, tho the two bodies would divide over controlling and directing centers.

Austria’s Naval Preparations

It is stated on what seems good authority that the Austrian government will lay before the parliament of that country a naval scheme calling for an expenditure of $60,000,000 in addition to the ordinary yearly expenses of $13,300,000. Of this sum $49,000,000 will be invested in Dreadnoughts. The program includes three turbine cruisers, submarines, and torpedo craft. "Prepare war," says the prophet of old; and all the world is responding.

Revelations from God Do Not Self-Exalt

Much has been said of a girl blind from birth in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, who has been in trance more or less for some weeks, and who was fasting with the assurance by revelation from somewhere that she would see on completion of her fast. The papers report that great throngs have visited her, and believed that she went to heaven while in trance or received messages from heaven. Among the things she is reported as saying is, "Jesus Christ was the Saviour of the Jews, I will be the saviour of the Gentiles." The girl is either insane or under the power of evil spirits or both. When the fast terminated she did not see. Revelations from God do not lead to self-exaltation.

George Washington and Religious Liberty

THERE is no one characteristic which will give one a just conception of the character of George Washington. A British writer declared him to be "the pride of every model and the perfection of every master,"—terms perhaps too extravagant of any poor mortal. But among his many virtues and excellencies of character there shines out that of love of liberty for all; and we feel that we can do him no greater honor at this anniversary of his birth, February 22, or our readers no greater service, than to quote the sentiment below from a letter that he wrote to the Ephrata Community, August 4, 1789. That God-fearing community were seventh-day observers, and they wrote to Washington expressing the fear that religious liberty might not be assured and guarded by the Constitution, and this was his reply:

If I had had the least idea of any difficulty resulting from the Constitution adopted by the convention of which I had the honor to be president when it was formed, so as to endanger the rights of any religious denomination, then I never should have attached my name to the instrument. If I had any idea that the general Government was so administered that the liberty of conscience was endangered, I pray you be assured that no man would be more willing than myself to revise and alter that part of it, so as to avoid all religious persecution. You can, without any doubt, remember that I have often expressed as my opinion, that every man who conducts himself as a good citizen is accountable alone to God for his religious faith, and should be protected in worshiping God according to the dictates of his conscience.

The old letter is preserved as a memento by the Community near Philadelphia now. Its sentiments should be written in the heart of every American patriot.

Freedom from Sin

In Christ our Lord is freedom from sin. How many politically free men walk about among their fellows daily loaded with chains! The chains are invisible, oftentimes, to human eyes. Sometimes they have been worn so long that they seem necessary. Sometimes the wearer boasts in the tokens of his slavery. Every wrong habit is a galling chain which will if held reach at last the vitals, and destroy the soul. O friend, let Christ Jesus break the chains and set you free.

Japan’s Naval Ambitions

The "Oregonian" of February 3 cites Mr. Oishi, the leader of the popular party in Japan, as declaring that Japan had obtained command of the Pacific by two great wars, but now has lost it. He calls upon the government for a larger navy, declares that the safety of Japan is jeopardized, and says that in 1917 America would have twenty-seven battle-ships in the Pacific to Japan's fourteen.

Bible Versions Used in This Paper

By Editor

Our authority is the Bible, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. When the Common ("King James" or "Authorized") Version or the American Standard Revised Version is used, the version will not generally be designated in reference. Any Bible quotation in this paper, therefore, differing from the Common Version, unless otherwise indicated, will be almost invariably from the American Standard edition of the Revised Bible, copyright 1910, by Thomas Nelson & Sons.

For further particulars, subscription rates, etc., see page 15.

Questions and Answers Premium Book

By Editor

Read the advertisement of our premium book, "Questions and Answers," on page 13.

The Struggle in Germany

By Editor

Read "For Conscience' Sake" on page 14, and also the articles following. On which side of the struggle in Germany would you rather be?

Rail-road over the Rockies

By Editor

Both boys and parents will find profit in reading Mrs. Adams's little sketch of the "Rail-road over the Rockies." It contains a lesson that can not be too strongly emphasized.

Freedom in Christ Jesus

In Christ Jesus there is freedom. Better a habitation in the old Mamertine prison of Rome with Him than a seat on the throne of the Cæsars without Him. The cell is but an incident on the pathway to eternal glory, the other to eternal oblivion.

Man as Created

By Editor

We call especial attention to the article from Professor Rine on "Man as Created." We appeal to our readers who may be troubled over Spiritualism, Christian Science, Esoteric Buddhism, future rewards and punishments, etc., to study this article, and those which will follow on the same subject. This is fundamental, and with fundamentals correct it is less difficult to build aright.

It Is Well to Be Thoughtful

By Editor

It Is Well to Be Thoughtful.— Very many of our correspondents are. It is the general rule that if information is wanted postage is enclosed, very frequently ten cents; but on the other hand there are quite a number in the aggregate who ask for information, to give which means time and expense, and use only a postal card in seeking it. For instance, before us lies a post-card asking for information concerning relatives in another town. To give the information desired, we must write to another party, who might be able to give the information without looking it up, and who might not; but we must use stationery and postage to ask him, and he must use the same to reply. This is largely a matter of thoughtlessness.

Suffering China

Suffering China.— United States Consul Gracey at Nanking, China, according to the Oregonian, reports pitiful conditions in Nanking and other refuge centers. "Fifty thousand to 100,000 famine refugees in hovels on swampy lands are practically foodless, clothingless, and sleeping in mud and water. Epidemic is feared. Consul and strong American relief committee request special Red Cross appropriations." The society announces that it will forward contributions sent to it at Washington. News despatches also declare that in the province of Tien-Tsin and thereabouts there are 500 dying daily of the plague. It is said that Russia, China, and Japan feel their inability to check the plague in Manchuria. For weeks Mukden's daily toll of plague victims numbered 175. Of those attacked, 98 per cent die. It has been the greatest calamity for generations. Many missionaries are doing heroic work in the fated districts.

The Idaho Sunday Law

By Editor

Unintelligible, Inoperative, Inequitable.— The Idaho Sunday law, proclaimed by Mr. Tufts, a Sunday-law advocate, to be one of the best, is pronounced by Governor Hawley, in his message to the Legislature, to be "unintelligible," and its repeal recommended. A despatch from Boise, dated February 1, says that the "liberals" of the House passed a bill "amending the Sunday rest law by which bakeries, fruit and shoe-shining stands, may keep open on the sabbath. The Representatives supported the measure unanimously. The Senate passed and sent to the House a bill allowing city councils and village boards the right to permit moving-picture shows and theaters to remain open on Sunday when petitioned by a majority of the electors." A few more such amendments and the Sunday law men would doubtless pronounce the law inoperative. Whatever form it takes, a Sunday law can never be made equitable or consistent.

The Plague in England

The Plague in England.— Under date of January 30 a despatch from Washington to the Woman's National Daily declares that advices from London state that the dreaded bubonic plague is decidedly established in that country. Rats all over the island are believed to be infected, but it is thought that many men, women, and children have died of the dread malady since as far back as 1896, supposed at the time to be pneumonia, and cases among human beings are increasing steadily. One correspondent, vouched for by the London Times, declares, "We shall never entirely succeed in ridding England of this plague." One of the most serious features is that it has assumed a pneumonic form, by which the plague is carried on the breath, even at a considerable distance.

One of the high flights of Latham in his Antoinette monoplane before it was wrecked near San Francisco.