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Ferry's Seed Annual for 1908 is FREE. Address D. M. Ferry & Co., DETROIT, MICH.
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,
### Matthew Twenty-four
Second Coming of Christ
and the special signs of His second coming to reward His children. The facts of fulfilment given make this pamphlet worth many times its price. 94 pages, price 10c.
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WANTED ON A FARM
An honest S. D. A. chore-boy who can give good reference. Address P. O. Box No. 50, Vacaville, Cal.
The Parting Word
By Max Hill
THE man whose hopes grasp not the future state,
Whose eyes look not beyond this fleeting span,
Who sees not just before the hard-pressed van
A prize that towers high, a pearly gate
Whose pillars, strong and massive, wide and great,
Speak but of promised strength to puny man,—
He long the face of parting friends may scan,
For change may come, or death, their common fate.
But O the joy that thrills the hearts of those
Whose hopes are built on faith in Jesus' cross,
Whose eyes behold the land of promise nigh;
They part, but with no fear of earthly woes,
They part, nor count the tears of pain as loss,
Their parting word Farewell, and not Good-by.
MAX HILL.
A Stem of White Gilly-flowers---Its Teaching
By Emma Hildreth Adams
By Emma Hildreth Adams
ON a recent evening the writer sat alone in her room reading beneath the electric lights. Suddenly there swept thru the room a whiff of perfume, subtle, penetrating, arresting instant attention.
Looking around to ascertain whence came the fine odor, I was reminded that during the day I had placed upon a small stand at one side of the room several stems of gilly-flowers.
I had been attracted—in a friend's garden—simply by the beautiful coloring of the blossoms, a delicate pink shaded up to a rich, vivid crimson, and not by their odor, which, in the California variety of this hue, I had never found inviting.
I continued my reading, thinking that possibly my imagination had generated the fine scent. Presently a second wave of the appealing fragrance broke around me. My curiosity awakened now. I rose, went to the stand, lifted the vase in my hand, and looked for the source of this elevating pleasure.
There, hidden behind the taller stems, gleamed under the artificial light a short stem of the white variety of the pretty blossoms, exhaling sweetness inexpressible, sending out gentle comfort, awakening uplifting emotions, accomplishing its exquisite mission daintily, uttering no cruel word, incensed by no rivalry toward its more conspicuous, more showy kindred.
Instantly there flashed into mind the thought: What an object-lesson for human beings! Why may not men and women, young people, even children, truly trained, indeed, why may not I evoke pleasure so welcome, awaken rapture so rare, attract other hearts with power so keen, give comfort so unmixed, by simple sweetness of deeds, pure fragrance of character.
Why may not men and women, why may not I express as clearly, as impressively, by deeds, looks, and charming bearing, God's purpose in creating us—that of glorifying Him and of making every one around us as happy as possible?
The gilly-flower lives to gladden by its tints and hues, to breathe out entrancing sweetness; to win astonishment at the strange alchemy by which it extracts those tints and hues from the glowing sunlight, and that sweetness from the inert, homely, gray soil.
It never worries lest the ground shall withhold the singular elements from which it gathers odor, scent, perfume, lest the sun shall refuse the requisite light and fervor.
How blissful would be man's life on the earth did he but fulfil his mission as placidly, with as little display of envy, jealousy, greediness, and selfishness; were he as willing to be overlooked that others might shine and be admired.
That would be an almost ideal condition of being, akin to the future kingdom of Christ on the earth, wherein LOVE shall be the exclusive rule of action.
Each member of the race would concede to all others full right to life, to liberty, to exercise every fine inborn mental power in pursuits for which they were adapted. To every one room would be given to take root and develop.
Ownership to vast estates in land would no longer be claimed by a few men in any country, while thousands of the race possessed none at all. Great forces of men would not be toiling for a starvation wage while millions in fortunes were being accumulated by a few hundred financiers.
To live, to live to send a thrill of pleasure into a sad heart, a sense of companionship into a desolate soul, an emotion of joy into a mind stricken with grief, a spark of hope into a spirit faltering, irresolute, is to set before one's self a high aim and purpose. It is to render one's life sweet with perennial fragrance.
Don't Marry a Man to Reform Him.
By Beatrice Fairfax
HUNDREDS of women have married drunkards with the idea that they could help them reform. The plan does not succeed once in a hundred times.
If a man has the moral strength to reform he can do it before marriage, instead of running the risk of dragging a woman down to want and misery.
The man who says to a girl, "Marry me, and I am sure that with your help I can reform," is a coward.
He has no right to shift the responsibility of his reformation to other shoulders. That is a burden and a fight that he must carry alone. Thru his own moral stamina and strength of will he must win the battle.
When a girl finds that the man whom she has grown to love is addicted to drink, she can help him with love and sympathy, but she commits a grave error if she marries him unless his reformation is complete. She has no right to marry and bring children into the world handicapped by the curse of a drunken father.
If the girl who contemplates marrying a man to reform him could look into some of the homes ruined by drink she would be entirely cured of her philanthropical tendencies.
Where the head of the home is a drunkard there is squalor, want, misery. The wife and children are neglected and wretched. . . .
A girl's influence over a man is great as long as she stands for all that is good and pure. . . .
Don't be foolish and spoil your whole life thru a quixotic idea of saving a man. You owe a duty to yourself, and it would be most wrong to marry a drunkard. There are many sober, worthy young men among your acquaintances—bestow your affections on them. The man who has conquered temptation is safe, but not the one who has yet to conquer it.—Beatrice Fairfax.
A Husband's Honorable Ambition
“T<small>H</small>E live husband will try to be worthy of his wife by an ambition to make a success of his calling. He will want to take an honorable standing among men.”
The Saloon-Keeper's Tax Burden
The saloon-keeper taxes the town ten times as much as the assessor.—Searchlight.
The First Time
This is the list of Bible lessons or talks outlined by the General Conference Educational Department to be presented during each of the first three school years.
The reading lessons in True Education Reader Series Nos. One, Two, and Three run parallel to these talks—each book covering the entire course.
These readers contain the memory verse designed to accompany each talk; also the story upon which the talk itself is based.
With these readers the parent or teacher will find the task of interesting the child in Bible stories and of teaching him to read an easy one.
HILE the special purpose of True Education Readers Nos. One, Two, and Three is to put the child in possession of a complete key to English reading, they also familiarize him with the most important Bible truths. Three times over they tell of God's plan for the earth in the beginning, the successive steps in the work of Creation, something about each of these steps, a sketch of certain selected Bible child biographies, including the life of the perfect Child, Jesus, His work, His sacrifice, the plan of salvation finished, and the new earth.
The First Time
In simple language, by attractive pictures and the best methods of teaching reading, True Education Reader No. 1 fixes upon the child's mind in his first school year an outline of the beautiful Gospel story from Creation to Redemption.
The Second Time
Enriched by many illustrations, enlarged by additional topics, made more interesting by sketches from the lives of insects, birds, and animals, the incidents of the Gospel story are given the second time in True Education Reader No. 2.
The Third Time
True Education Reader No. 3 tells it again, and in connection with it brings in a variety of other matter, such as poems, biographical sketches, Bible selections, our Saviour's parables, simple lessons on physiology, geography, and botany, and adapts it all to the growing intelligence of the child in his third school year for whose use it is intended.
How the Mind Is Prepared for This Thrice-Told Story
The oral Bible lessons which follow the same outline as the readers are given by the teacher or parent before (perhaps one or two weeks) the child comes to the subject in his reading, so when he does come to the lesson in his reading, he recognizes it and reads with greater interest and understanding.
And Then the Story Is Reviewed
The regular text-book for Bible study which is now being prepared for grades or school years four, five, and six, is developed from this same outline. Hence, the child's fourth, fifth, and sixth year's work in Bible will be in the nature of a review of the lessons, the general features of which he has been made familiar with during the preceding three years.
An Illustration
Suppose a child with his parents takes a trip across the continent. Before he reaches each point of special interest, he is told a story concerning it by his parents. When the point is reached he has developed an interest in it and is likely to remember something about it.
The next year the trip is taken again. The same method is followed by the parents. More points are visited and much more is learned about those seen the first time.
The succeeding year he takes the same journey but with various side trips and spends more time at each point. Old memories are revived and strengthened, new facts concerning familiar places are learned, and all is vividly impressed upon his mind by the thrice-told story to which he has listened and the threefold view he has enjoyed.
The Application
This is the kind of trip and the method of instruction enjoyed by the child who learns to read by use of the True Education Reader Series, books One, Two, and Three.
The Harmony of This Plan
So you see the True Education Reader Series harmonizes with the plans and methods adopted by the Educational Department of the General Conference in behalf of our church schools
Sample pages sent free. Address your tract society, or,
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SIGNS OF THE TIMES
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
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Cooperation Corner.
By Editor
We have a very interesting letter from one who is keeping up a public reading-rack in a Southern city, and it seems to us we will be able to help in supplying some good literature thru our cooperation corner. Those who have donated toward the cooperation corner in the past can heartily appreciate what a blessing this fund has always proved. It has assisted many in the circulation of the SIGNS; it has brightened the lives of prisoners; and it has enabled us to meet calls which have come to us from foreign countries. Here are just a few lines from the letter to which reference is made:
"I wish to say that I am at present, and have been for three years, an employee in a railway station. For six months or more I have been a Sabbath-keeper and am stronger in the faith now than ever before. For one month I have been trying to keep up a reading-rack in the station waiting-room. A great many people visit this place and a reading-rack, in my opinion, will do much good. I am right here to look after it and take care of the literature. My means are limited; therefore if you can place my name in some of your publications in the way to get good literature I will appreciate it very much."
Shall we send this brother some copies of the SIGNS which will be suitable for placing in the reading-rack? We are now offering to send a collection of back numbers taken from our Gospel series at the rate of fifty cents a hundred. Address, Cooperation Corner, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, Cal.
A GREAT WINTER RESORT.
Do you know that Colorado, and especially the valley in which is situated the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium, is a most delightful winter climate, equal in every respect to that of California or the sunny South?
The Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium is a well-equipped medical institution, employing the very best and most approved methods of treatment.
The medical staff comprises four physicians—two men and two women—graduates of leading medical schools, together with a large corps of nurses of both sexes.
No tubercular or consumptive patients received. Special reduced rates are afforded during the winter months. Write to-day for large illustrated catalog, with card of rates. Address, Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium, Boulder, Colorado.
Our Bible Band.
It is well to remember the fact that Israel was surrounded by nations sunken in the grossest idolatry. Many of the degenerate Canaanites remained in the land. Various prohibitions and laws given to Israel can be better understood in the light of these facts. Some of these idolatrous religions taught unlawful intercourse between the sexes as the highest acts of devotion. It was a woman devoted to corrupt worship, that Judah supposed Tamar to be. Gen. 38: 21. The heathen priests shaved their heads and trimmed the corners of their beards; God's priests were forbidden to do this lest they should seem to be like them. Many other customs were prohibited for the sole reason that they were heathen customs.
While Israel abode at Kadesh, Miriam died (Numbers 20), and was there buried, like the hopes of the people. There they stood on the very borders of the land of Canaan, and all that prevented their entering was unbelief. Then comes the murmuring for water, provoking Moses for their sake till he spake rashly with his mouth and took glory to himself rather than giving glory to God; the heartless refusal of the Edomites of a passage to Israel thru their land; and the death of Aaron at Mount Hor. A fruitful chapter for thought and meditation.
In chapter 21 are the stories of Israel's victory over the king of Arad, the deaths by fiery serpents and God's means of healing by faith; several interesting stages in their journey; the victories over Sihon, the Amorite king, and Og, the king of Bashan. Fragments of poetry also enliven the chapter.
Chapters 22 to 24 are of wonderful interest. Balak, the idolatrous king of Moab, together with the Midianites, endeavors to hire an apostate, but, evidently, a once-famous prophet, Balaam, to curse Israel. They send 400 miles to the land of their forefathers to secure Balaam, who, like many later examples, is willing to prostitute his high office for gain. God finally permits him to go, but on condition that he speak the truth as revealed. Three times does Balak seek to secure a curse; three times God turns it into a blessing, delivering most beautiful prophecies of Israel and God's dealings with His children. The next chapter shows how Balak brought the curse upon Israel in inducing them to sin after the counsel of Balaam, who was afterward slain. Chapter 31: 8. How unlike the character of Phinehas!
Chapter 26 records the second census of Israel. It would be well to compare this chapter with chapter 1, and note how some tribes gained and some lost during the wilderness journeying. Chapters 27 to 30 relate to various laws and ceremonies which may be quite readily understood. Note how the rights of women are guarded in the 27th chapter.
Chapter 31 is an account of war with the Midianites and regulations regarding the division of spoil. Chapter 32 relates to the settlement of the two and one-half tribes beyond the Jordan. Chapters 33 and 34 tell us of the many journeys, and directions for the boundaries of Israel.
Psalms 62 to 68 are especially rich in supplication, in praise, in exaltation of the power and goodness of God. The last of these recalls God's coming again, and in connection with the preparation for that event recounts God's power and work in mighty movements of the past.
Publication and Bible Quotation Policy
We send no papers from this office to individuals without pay in advance. When persons receive copies without ordering them, they are sent by other parties, and we can give no information in regard to them. Persons thus receiving copies of the SIGNS are not indebted to the office, and will not be called upon to pay for them. Please read the papers you may receive, and hand them to your friends to read.
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, quotations will not 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 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons.
Contained in This Issue.
With Our Inquirers
Questions Nos. 2398 to 2404 - - - - - - - - - - 2
General
Christ the Teacher and Healer - - - - - - - - - - - 3
The Law of Rest in the Healing of Disease - - - 4
High Treason - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5
Next week the study of Daniel 6, "God the Preserver."
Four Tons of Publications Sent Out
Four tons of publications have been sent out from this office the last two weeks.
A New Opium Cure
A New Opium Cure.—Some time ago the SIGNS OF THE TIMES noticed a new opium cure discovered in Malaysia. A news item from the New York World under date of February 6 declares that the National Aid Society of that city has secured a supply of the new combretum plant, and that they will furnish it free with full instructions for its use to any sufferer. Genuine cases would doubtless have to be vouched for. Address Rev. J. C. Ives, Secretary National Aid Society, Branch 22, 134 East 35th St., New York City.
The Moral Purpose of Life
Every noble soul admires a purpose, even in a little boy. A little fellow was killed in San Francisco not long ago by falling from a high fence in his hurry after the school bell had rung. His skull was fractured by the fall. One of his purposes was never to be late to school, and his last words were, "Am I in time for school?" Of what far greater importance is it that men shall make the great moral questions of life their purpose; the great soul-absorbing principles that shall control them in all their actions and all their plans. We may fail in earth's enterprises from one end of life to the other and still make moral success.
Sometimes in the wrestle with greed honest men are bound to fail, but we can so hold to the moral purpose of serving God, being true to Him, that in that last great reckoning day the purpose thru Him will have triumphed and eternal success will be achieved.
Crime in the Newspapers
Of eleven news articles on the first page of a newspaper taken at random, eight refer to crimes committed, prosecution of criminals, or the denunciation of crime and evil. It
God's Rules Are Positive
A railway signalman, writing in the Atlantic Monthly, declares that the blame for the numerous railway accidents should not be charged to the railway officials or management, but to the men themselves, who ignore plain rules and "take chances." They regard the rules as "permissive" rather than as "positive," and therefore use their own judgment as to whether they shall regard them or not. But why do not the railway managements deal with such men? When 5,000 deaths and 76,286 injuries occur within a year, some one ought to act decisively. Men ought to be compelled to abide by rules. But this same sort of carelessness is manifest in the moral world as well. God's rules are considered permissive rather than positive, and human expediency overrules divine right.
Man's Nature and Destiny.
One of the striking signs of the present day is the recrudescence, the revamping of the old heathen cults, calling them by new names, as well as the persistence of the other old beliefs, upon which have been built the doctrines of purgatory, spiritism, universalism, eternal torment, etc. All these can not be true. Are any of them? Is the foundation true? Has man an immortal soul, a deathless spirit, something which survives all the ravages of sin and time? Our Bible-reading next week is on the nature of man and his condition in death.
