Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 7. (2/13/1907)

Signs of the Times

Feb 13, 1907

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, Cal. · Feb 13, 1907

Contained in this Issue.

By Editor

THE FALL OF BABYLON.

"UNTO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY."

THE LORD'S COMING.

What It Is Not.

QUESTIONS.

1995.—Creature. 1 Tim. 4: 4; 1996.—Eating of Flesh; 1997.—Duty to Parents; 1998.—Feeling Contented.

THE GREAT SALVATION.

Creation and Nature.

OUR FIRST LOVE.

THE LOS ANGELES "TIMES" ON "A SANE SUNDAY."

WAS THE GOSPEL TAKEN FROM THE EARTH?

THOUGHTS ON TEMPTATION.

PILLARS OF HEALTH.

I. The Bible on Diet.

THE CALAMITY IN JAMAICA.

EUROPEAN LETTER.

Swiss Liberty Threatened; Germany and France versus the General Strike; Explosion of a Roburite Factory.

Poetry

By Day and by Night.

Counted Worthy.

Sympathy.

When Day Is Done.

We'll Be Gathered Home.

MOUNT OF BLESSING.

By Editor

We have a limited number of that grand book, "Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing," by Mrs. E. G. White, bound in paper covers, which we can sell at 30 cents net, post-paid.

It is printed on a fine grade of book paper, and nicely illustrated, but the printed sheets were rescued from our fire and were slightly damp and wrinkled. But the print is nice and clear, the books are neat and clean, bound in paper covers, and just splendid for missionary work, to loan to friends and neighbors, or to read and study in your own home.

It is a valuable, beautiful, and instructive present to give to the older children and youth, or to mail to a friend. While they last, we will send them, post-paid, for 30 cents net, or six for $1.50. Address, Pacific Press, Mountain View, Cal. "Do it now."

PROMPT ATTENTION.

By Editor

ALL orders for books, pamphlets, tracts, special SIGNS, or papers in quantities are filled the same day they are received by the Book and Periodical Department, provided the goods are in existence.

The following from Printer's Ink is right to the point:

"There are a good many business houses that think an order received to-day can be stored away in a refrigerator file and will be just as good to-morrow.

"Next morning they take it out and fill it, and wonder why business gets cold. They say, 'Trade is poor.'

"I see that every order goes out of my place by the next express.

"One of the members of our firm looks personally after every order.

"If your order comes in in the forenoon, it goes out in the forenoon; if it comes in in the afternoon, it goes out in the afternoon—that very afternoon, not the next one.

"We have a system that keeps an order so busy from the moment it comes in till the goods are shipped, that it doesn't have time to breathe."

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.

TRUE EDUCATION READERS.

What prominent educators say about the new series of readers.

Prof. H. G. Lucas, San Fernando College, writes: "I received a copy of your True Education Series, and was agreeably surprised with the way you had gotten it up. It is a credit to our work. We shall want a supply of the entire series."

Nettie Eaton, Secretary of the Southern Illinois Conference, says: "I have examined a copy of the True Education Reader and am highly pleased with it. It is just what our teachers have needed for so long, and I am sure it will be a great help to the educational work. I am sure, this Reader Series will fill a long-felt want."

Prof. J. E. Tenney, of Graysville (Tenn.) Academy, writes: "The copy of the new Educational Reader is at hand. I am very much pleased with it. I shall ask our Nashville house to keep these Readers in stock, and shall encourage their use in all the schools of the Southern Field. To my mind, they are the most perfectly adapted to our school work of any Readers that have been brought to my attention."

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

By Editor

Consider carefully the value of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES of Jan. 23 as an educator on the true principles of Religious Freedom.

"Christ or Diana," the first editorial, illustrated with the famous engraving by Edwin Long, beautifully sets forth the real meaning of freedom of conscience.

Our Allegiance to the State

The article, "Our Allegiance to the State," from the text, "Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's," definitely defines every man's obligation to civil authority. It states, "God has ordained civil authority." "The powers that be are ordained of God." Rom. 13:1. Further, by interesting examples it emphasizes the priceless value of religious freedom over which civil authority should have no control.

The Man, the Person, the Individual

By Editor

"The Man, the Person, the Individual," states the position of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES on the question of religious legislation.

Moral Freedom

By Editor

"Moral Freedom," an editorial from the Independent, a ringing appeal for moral and religious freedom, also appears.

Quotations from the Senate, and from statesmen on this subject are given.

France and the Vatican

By Editor

"France and the Vatican," an article in the Outlook Department, explains the Church and State situation in France.

Religious Liberty

By Editor

Another article presents some interesting and startling truths showing the attitude of organized labor toward Sunday legislation. These are a few of the valuable articles this issue contains. It is given largely to Religious Liberty.

To anticipate the demand for such a number, we have printed 5,000 copies more than required to fill regular orders.

Ordering Religious Liberty Signs

By Editor

Here is a copy of the very first order for a quantity:

GRANTS PASS, ORE., Jan. 22, 1907.

"Please send 100 copies of the Religious Liberty SIGNS dated January 23. Yours of the 19th received last night, and as I live out a ways I could not answer sooner. I did feel when I received my copy from the club that this number should be scattered freely that all might know what these things mean. I will not have a chance to see any of the others, but will venture to take the one hundred copies, trusting God for health to sell them."

When many others likewise appreciate the value of this number, the 5,000 extra will go quickly. If the demand continues, more can be printed.

Price, 2 cts. each in quantities of more than five copies. Order thru your tract society, or from the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, Cal.

Attractive Books

For Children and Young People

The following five books are printed in colors, and are very interesting and instructive.

Best Stories from the Best Book, ...paper, $0.25; board, $0.50 Gospel Primer, ....................board, .25; cloth, .50 New Testament Primer, ............“ .25; “ .50 Our Little Folks, ................“ .25; “ .50 Story of Joseph, .................“ .25; “ .50 Wild Animals at Home, Alphabet Book, ...........board, .50 Home and Church School Reader No. 1, ............cloth, .75 Home and Church School Reader No. 2, ............“ .75

And for those ten years of age and older:

Our Paradise Home, ................board, $0.25; cloth, .50 Left With a Trust, ................................. “ .50 Steps to Christ, ................................... “ .50 Christ Our Saviour, ................board, $0.50; “ .75 Beasts, Birds, and Reptiles, ........................ “ .75 Home, Haunts, and Habits of Animals, ............... “ .75 A Little Girl's Visit to Africa, .................... “ 1.00 My Garden Neighbors, ............................... “ 1.00 Uncle Ben's Cobblestones, ....................board, 1.00 The House We Live In, .......................cloth, 1.00 In Africa's Forest Jungle, ......................... “ 1.00 Minute Men on the Frontier, ........................ “ 1.00

Sent post-paid at above prices. Address your State Tract Society, or # Pacific Press Publishing Company Mountain View, Cal. 285 Salmon St., 1109 East 12th St., Portland, Ore. Kansas City, Mo.

THE FALL OF BABYLON.

Numbered—Weighed—Divided.

BABYLON the Great! Babylon, the beginning of kingdoms! Babylon, the mightiest and grandest city of earth, "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency"! Babylon, the greatest religio-political conglomeration the world has ever known! Babylon, in whose lap has been poured riches and magnificence without stint! Babylon, the mighty tree in whose branches gather fowl of every kind! Babylon, the great drag net which gathers of every kind of fishes! Babylon, the mother of confusion! Babylon, who has made "all the earth drunken," "the nations have drunk of her wine" of fornication! Babylon, in whose merchandise is found "the bodies and souls of men"!

SPIRITUALLY, Babylon stands for organized perversion and corruption of the truth and work of God. It is not unreligious, but religious; but Babylon's religion is perverted and apostate, and therefore confuses. We find Babylon in the first book of the Bible and in the last book,—her earthly beginning and doom. Over and over are we told in the Bible of her power and the tremendous extent of her influence. Frequently is she symbolized as a woman, and designated as "the lady ["the mistress,"] of kingdoms." She is a seemingly successful rival of the "daughter of Jerusalem."

THE origin of Babylon is suggested by the prophet Isaiah in the fourteenth chapter. He there calls Lucifer, the apostate angel, "the king of Babylon." Verses 4-14. How he became the king of Babylon is revealed in his unholy ambition to dispossess God of His throne, and himself reign universally. In this he introduced a wrong standard into God's universe. That standard was not against worship; it set up the worship of itself. It put force in the place of love; expediency in the place of right; "might-is-right" in the place of "right-is-might." Had he succeeded, confusion and chaos and destruction would have reigned, and the universe would have become an eternal void. Many followed the false standard; many held to the true; and in the mixture, confusion — Babylon — has continued and grown apace to the present.

BABYLON'S first organized perversion of truth and right is recorded in Genesis 11, and there it is of politico-religious character, as it has ever been since, endeavoring to control both bodies and souls of men. God directed Noah and his descendants to scatter abroad, and "multiply, and replenish the earth." The followers of "the king of Babylon" said: "Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." It was organized

perversion of God's plan; it was self-salvation and self-exaltation. And then they named it, as their very bricks of which they builded it read, Bab-Il, the "Gate of God," or the "Gate of Heaven." But Jehovah looked upon the whole selfish scheme and called it what it truly was, Babylon—confusion.

THERE began the Empire of Nimrod in the building of Babylon. Diversified indeed is her career, overthrown, humiliated, conquered, by rival kingdoms, yet her principles, her religion of self-exaltation and self-salvation, her purpose of overweening ambition to control Church and State, her perversion of truth, corrupted all the kingdoms of earth from that day to the present with the wine of her fornication. Thus she became the mother of all later schemes and organizations of like kind. That first great Babylon reached her acme of glory under one of earth's truly great rulers, Nebuchadnezzar. But even before that, God had declared by His prophet that "Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." Isa. 13:19. Time went on, and the city increased in riches and magnificence. God warned her mighty ruler by a dream of an image in which Babylon, the head of gold, should be succeeded by inferior kingdoms symbolized by silver, brass, and iron, and iron and clay. Nebuchadnezzar denied the prophecy and warning by building an image to Babylon all of gold, and demanding universal homage to Babylon's greatness, magnificence, power, perpetuity.

WAS Babylon true? or God? Would her perverted principles of right stand and she endure upon them? or would God's truth abide, and she find in her confusion of error her destruction? Twoscore years pass. Babylon has upon her throne Belshazzar the weak, the dissolute, the riotous, the idolatrous blasphemer of God, the worshiper of Babylon and her deities. He holds high festivals over her greatness. He demands the choicest libations of the costliest vintage in the rarest chalices. He calls for the sacred vessels of gold and silver of which Babylonian cupidity had plundered the holy temple at Jerusalem. He drinks from them to Babylon's gods of gold and wood and stone. But even while he drinks, a shining hand writes upon the wall of the banqueting room the mystical and awful words, Numbered, numbered; Weighed; Divisions. God's prophet makes known the fulfilment of God's predictions, and the fruitage of Babylon's sowing: "GOD HATH NUMBERED THY KINGDOM AND FINISHED IT. "THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES, AND ART FOUND WANTING. "THY KINGDOM IS DIVIDED, AND GIVEN TO THE MEDES AND PERSIANS." And before the frightened king had risen from the banquet, half-crazed messengers were speeding to him with the cry, "Babylon is taken on every quarter," and the frightened populace raise the frantic recital, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen." No might or scheme or power or wealth of man could save a city or nation from destruction which sowed within herself the seeds of error, confusion, destruction, death. See Daniel 5; Jeremiah 50 and 51; Isaiah 47.

THAT history God has given as a lesson for all the nations and peoples which would follow Babylon. It is a lesson for rulers and statesmen and politicians. It is a lesson for popes and prelates and preachers and teachers. It tells the mighty truth, burke it as we may, that the nation, the city, the church, that is not builded on the principles of God's righteousness, be the greatness and power and wealth what they may, is doomed to fall.

THE endurance, the safety, the worth, of a church, is not to be measured by numbers, or wealth, or ornate service, or priestly succession, or great claims, or hoary traditions, or sacred places, or multitudinous shrines, or lists of canonized saints, or connection with the State; but by her life-union with God, as manifest in fruits of righteousness, by her living witness to His word, by separation from the principles which mold the world, by repudiation of all union with the State, by a humble walk with God at all times, holding forth the word of life in all places. The worth, the endurance, of a State is not her extent, her wealth, her power in battle-ship or army, her world influence, her great scholars and universities, but in the principles of righteousness fostered in public and private life by her sons and daughters. The endurance and worth of a city is not to be measured by her great public buildings, her banks, her commerce, her schools, her boulevards and parks, her public libraries; all these are mere shams, hollow machines when the ulcers and cancers of dishonest officials, of intemperance and dissipation, of robbery and oppression, of dens of vice and infamy, are eating at her very heart and sapping her very life blood. And all the above principles have their application to the individual soul.

THE great Judge of all is weighing worth and character. Who is fittest to survive? Who is worthy of eternal existence? He sees not as man sees. No earthly glamor binds to the rottenness beneath. No surface plating shuts from His all-piercing eye the base metal. No whited sepulcher hides the corruption. No mass or ceremony or official robes can hide the base and selfish heart. According to deeds, secret or heart-cherished, will the judgment be. To-day men go on in their pleasure, lust, and pride, to-morrow they may read their doom, "Weighed in the balances and found wanting." Nor England's nor America's greatness will save them any more than did Babylon's. The profession, nor the power, nor the wealth, nor the ritual, nor the priestly succession, nor one nor all of great churches will save them unless the garments be white, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and the heart be wholly obedient to God. "We would have healed Babylon" was God's desire; but the sad truth is, "she is not healed." "Forsake her," flee unto God. There is refuge in Him. "What then shall one answer the messengers of the nations? That God hath founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of His people take refuge."

"UNTO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY."

THREE times is the thought expressed in the first chapter of Ephesians—"to the praise of the glory of His grace," "unto the praise of His glory." Verses 6, 12, 14.

A fine work of art is to the praise of the vision and skill of the artist. He has taken the common colors and blended them into a picture of meaning. Men look upon it and praise him.

A notable book, or a beautiful poem, is to the praise of the author. Men read the book or the poem and honor the author.

A majestic, harmonious building, such as the Congressional Library, is to the praise of the glory of architect and builder. The thoughtful think of the piles of rough stone and concrete, of brick and mortar, of timber and boards, in unsightly piles all of them, but now a glorious building, harmonious in design, perfectly adapted to its use.

The more unsightly and unpromising the raw material, the greater is the finished product to the praise of its maker. Men see the building and praise the builder.

When man has once achieved fame for great work, he must do mediocre work no longer, or blame, not praise, shall be his portion. Yet it is generally the case that men do not do their best work last. It is a common complaint that artists and authors "fall down" on their later works.

But the expressions we have quoted above do not refer to man, but to the great God of the universe, perfect in knowledge, power, and wisdom, in infinity of years. He also is doing a work which will be "unto the praise of His glory," "unto the praise of the glory of His grace." He is taking the most unpromising material in the universe upon which to stamp His marvelous skill and glorious workmanship. He is taking man, poor, wretched, fallen, sinful, corrupt man. Conscious subjects are they to submit to the fierce flame of the furnace fire, to the heavy blows of the Master's hammer, to the crushing weight of affliction's press, to all the needed discipline and changes which the wise Architect, Artist, Builder, sees necessary.

Those who will submit to Him, He will make "to the praise of the glory of His grace." His blood will cleanse away the sin. His presence will refine, remold, recreate, the erstwhile stubborn and rebellious heart. The wrinkling dross of sin which the fires reveal will be wiped away in the tenderness of infinite love, and upon the plastic, submissive soul God will impress His own divine image, will transfer the beauty of His glory.

Are you discouraged, soul? Then read the book of Ephesians. Over and over read that first chapter. Are you one of God's children? Have you given yourself to Him? Then know that unless you remove yourself from His workshop He has pledged the trinity

of the power of Deity to make you "to the praise of His glory." His own mighty power, the death and sacrifice of His Son, the power of His indwelling, regenerating Spirit will accomplish the work.

Then, thruout all eternity's endless cycles, as often as angels of God or inhabitants of other worlds look upon His redeemed ones, they will wonder and praise at the marvelous work which Infinite Love has wrought in man. Will you let Him do that work for you?

THE LORD'S COMING.

What His Coming Is Not.

It is ever a help in the study of any subject to get correct bearings, to know what we are after.

The coming of the Lord is one of the vitally important topics of God’s word. It is a frequent matter of prophecy in both Old and New Testaments. It is connected with the judgment, with the reward of the people of God, with the consummation of the hopes of the Christian.

There are various conceptions of Christ’s coming. Before we consider what it is, let us learn what it is not.

1. Christ’s coming is not death, nor is it at death. When Lazarus died, Jesus was not there. When He came, the sister said, “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” John 11:21, 32. Shortly after, Jesus raised him from the dead. Note that Jesus’ absence meant death to Lazarus; His coming brought life.

After the resurrection of the Christ, Peter asked Jesus of John: “Lord, and what shall this man do?” Jesus replied, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” Now what idea did the disciples who had been with the great Leader for three years obtain from the reply? Did they understand by that coming death?—Not at all. “This saying, therefore, went forth among the brethren that that disciple should not die.” If he tarried till Christ came, he could not die; for Christ’s coming meant life, not death.

2. Christ’s coming is not the outpouring of the Spirit. Listen: “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send Him unto you.” John 16:7. Therefore Christ’s coming is not the coming, or the outpouring, of the Holy Spirit.

3. It is not a local or a secret coming. One passage from the great discourse on this very subject will make clear this point: “Then [in the last days] if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the wilderness [desert]; go not forth: Behold, He is in the secret chambers, believe it not.” Matt. 24:23-26.

Let Mormonism or Sanfordism or Dowieism call to the desert or some wilderness; go not forth. Let Spiritism, Christian Science, or any other ism call to secret chambers, cabinet, or heart or soul, and declare that Christ’s second coming is in this or that secret place, “believe it not.” Not one or any of all those are the Lord’s coming, and where one tells us that any one of them is, “believe it not.” What His coming is we will consider later.

1995.—Creature. 1 Tim. 4:4.

By Editor

Will you please tell me what you think the word "creature" means in 1 Tim. 4:4, where it says, "Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving"?

The word "creature" there means anything created, whether mineral or animal or vegetable. It seems to us to be limited by the expression, "For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." That is, the things which the Lord has given us to eat are those things which He has sanctified, or set apart, for that purpose. Such, of course, we ought to receive with thanksgiving.

1996.—Eating of Flesh.

Do you think that eating of flesh is wicked? We have eaten pork and other meat, supposing that the law given in the Bible, as recorded in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, was especially for the children of Israel. After mentioning various other unclean animals, it says, "Whosoever toucheth the carcass of them shall be unclean until the even." Then, too, if the law is given to us, why are the locust and beetle and other things offensive to us? I do not think we would like to eat them. We think beef is bad enough in these days.

Meat-eating may be wrong and it may not. The one principle which ought to guide Christians is stated in 1 Cor. 10:31: "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." One might be in such circumstances that the very best food that was placed before him was meat. It is said that in one of the eating-houses of the plains, before railroads crossed the great desert, a solitary traveler came along the next day after a caravan had passed thru. That caravan had eaten the caravansary out of house and home, so to speak, and the only articles of diet left were pork and mustard. That was all the host could place before the solitary traveler. When he passed the pork, the traveler said, "Thank you, I don't eat pork." "Very well," said that genial host, "help yourself to the mustard." If there was no reasonable prospect for that traveler to get any better food within a proper length of time, it seems to us he would be justified in eating the pork. And yet pork is not good, and no Christian, or it seems to us, any one else, who wants to live on good food, and pure food, and the best food for the proper building of the best manhood and womanhood physically, would want to use it at all.

The law which God gave to Israel is not, as a statutory enactment, binding upon us now, but God gave that law for a reason. The animals were unclean to the Israelites not because of that law, but in their very nature. They were clean not because of that law, but because they were clean by nature. That law simply designated what was allowable for food and what was unfit for food. We do not know when or where any change has taken place in the nature of the prohibited animals. As to the locusts and grasshoppers, they have been used as an article of diet, and still are, by the poor of the eastern countries, and seem to them probably no more repulsive than pork does to those who use it in western lands. Our customs have much to do with this. They are probably a great deal more wholesome. Beetles, of course, are not among the permitted articles of food. We therefore say to our querist and to all others, become intelligent in regard to the food question, live the simple life, choose the best and purest food. It is a patent fact that all animal life is becoming more and more diseased. The simple, cheaper food is the vegetable food. Learn how to prepare that in the very best ways. Personally, the writer can say that after a test of years it is better for him, and he has no longing nor desire to go back to the flesh-eating which he once loved.

1997.—Duty to Parents.

Has a child a moral or Scriptural right to claim any part of the parents' property, accumulated after the child has left home and gone to make a home for himself, and therefore had no part in accumulating the parents' property. To illustrate: An aged couple own a home worth $400; one of them dies; the survivor desires to sell the home. To make a legal deed, the signatures of the children are needed. Have they any moral right to demand a part of the money before they are willing to sign the deed?

There is no question in regard to the legal status of the matter. Of course, legally a part of the property belongs to the children. Some State laws give the wife one-half, some one-third. But morally it would seem to us that children who are able-bodied and well would be only too glad to give the survivor the whole of such a small amount of property. The first duty of the child is to honor the father and the mother, and if an aged father or mother has only a small amount of property for their last days, they certainly ought to be permitted to enjoy it without covetous eyes cast upon it or covetous plans used to divide it up.

1998.—Feeling Contented.

Will you please tell me if it is wrong for one not to feel perfectly contented when she desires companionship of those who are of "like precious faith" and is deprived of that companionship? In other words, is it wrong to feel the longing for that companionship?

Perfect contentment will never be found here. No longing for good will ever be satisfied to its fullest extent in this life. God has created these longings in the human heart because He does not want His children to be contented in their low estate. Contentment and satisfaction with the poor things which this world gives at the best is not a desirable condition. God would have us continually longing and reaching out for the better things, and communion with others of like precious faith is one of the good things; but if we can not have that, if we know that that is impossible, let us be content. In other words, leave it all with God and know that in some way it will work out for our best good. To be discouraged when our selfish desires are not satisfied, is not Christian. Paul says he had learned that in whatsoever state he was to be content. That is, when he could not change matters, and he knew that the Lord had permitted those things to come to him, he just simply left them with the Lord and did not worry over them. So we should do. Bring all your desires, all your longings to God, let them be sanctified by His presence. Sometimes He removes from us the earthly companions we long for in order that we may press nearer to Him and get more of the heavenly companionship.

Continue reading: THE GREAT SALVATION