A VOLUME of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES consists of forty-eight numbers, and accordingly this should be the last number in the present volume. But as there is an extra publication day in this year, we furnish an extra paper, so that there may not be an intermission of two weeks. The next number will close volume 11.
General Conference Session Report
By Editor
Private letters from Battle Creek, Mich., dated December 6, say that the Conference session was to close that day. It is said that the amount of business transacted has been much greater than at any previous session. This is evidence that our work is growing rapidly. We hope to be able next week to give our readers some items of general interest from the Conference.
The Encyclical Letter of Leo XIII
By Editor
WE have given the encyclical letter of Leo XIII. a careful reading. With the exception of those passages which directly mention the Catholic Church, it is just such a document as might have been issued by the so-called “National Reform Association;” but it is not a document that could be indorsed by any true Protestant. It exhibits the old spirit of popery in every line. In a week or two we shall pay our respects to it somewhat in detail.
There Is No Christian Nation
By Editor
A FEW weeks ago we made the statement that, if we compare any "Christian nation" with a heathen nation, it will be seen that the difference between them is only in the kind of sins committed, and not in the quantity or quality. An atheistic paper in the East notices this, and jumps to the conclusion that "Christianity is at best only changing the kind of sins heathens commit." We intimated nothing of the kind. The fact is, there is no such thing as a "Christian nation" on the earth, and never has been. In the so-called "Christian nations," Christians are in the minority. It is the lack of Christianity that makes them so much like the heathen nations.
Useful for Everybody.
By Editor
THE fact that three editions of "Parsons' Hand-Book of Social and Business Forms" have been issued within three years, speaks well for the book. The latest edition is revised and enlarged, and is in every way a presentable book. Much new and valuable matter has been added. The book now contains over 700 pages; yet it is sold for less than other books of a similar class, which have not more than two-thirds as much matter. There are twenty-eight distinct subjects presented, and each one is treated in all the minuteness of detail that could be desired. Eighty-two pages are devoted to practical grammar, and as this department is contributed by one whose life-work has been largely the teaching of this branch, it forms a valuable text book. From personal acquaintance with the author's methods, we can recommend the grammatical department as first class. It is not a dry treatise on the subject, but something which any one can study with interest, and master by himself.
A Valuable Educational Work
The department on parliamentary practice, by the editor of the Review and Herald, is very valuable. The main points of this somewhat intricate branch are given with such simplicity and clearness that they cannot fail to be comprehended by the dullest brain. Fifty-three pages are devoted to penmanship, sixty to book-keeping and commercial arithmetic, eighty-two to commercial law, and a proportionate space to other branches, each of which is contributed by a specialist in that department. Sold only by subscription. See advertisement on preceding page.
The Christian Advocate’s Slander
By Editor
OUR neighbor across the bay, the Christian Advocate, has once more demonstrated its right to the first portion of its name, by publishing as its leading article a slanderous tirade on Adventists. We have had occasion several times to point out some glaring errors in the Advocate, and we accept this as its reply. In our strictures we have used only the word of God; but as that is "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword," it has doubtless made a severe wound. We have no disposition to find fault with the Advocate because it has retorted with slander instead of with argument. We can do no otherwise than be thankful when people give us the best they have.