p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 11. (3/18/1897)

Earlier text: The Sabbath School

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Two Months Longer

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Scripture Answers to Worldly Objections

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The Hope Set Before Us

The True Church

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THE SPIRIT OF GOD

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ITS OFFICES AND MANIFESTATIONS TO THE END OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA.

By ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

This is a brief but comprehensive argument on the solemn and important subject of the Spirit of God. Its chapters embrace the following heads: The Holy Spirit of Promise; The Power from on High; Circumcision of the heart; The Unity of the Faith; The Law and the Testimony; Try the Spirits; The Great Commission; Gifts in the Reformation; In the Present Century; Spirit of Prophecy Restored. These are subjects of vital importance to all and especially to those who are looking for the return of their Lord. 144 pp. Price, 15 cents.

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The Crown of Life

The “championship of the world,” from a pugilistic point of view, is just now attracting much attention. To use a world’s expression, this is “much ado about nothing.” At best it is but a “corruptible crown,” which only one man at a time can wear, and that a very uncertain length of time. A far better trophy is the “prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14); for “when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:4). The champion athlete wins his temporary corruptible laurels through skill and endurance; so the candidate for heavenly honors must be skilful and diligent and enduring: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2:15. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” James 1:12.

AGAIN DEMONSTRATED.

By W. N. G.

The anti-saloon campaign in this city is over, and the result is a defeat of temperance principles. The total vote cast was 9,928; of these 3,732 were for saloon closing, and 5,103 against the closing proposition. Consequently there were 1,093 persons who voted for candidates for office but did not vote on the saloon issue at all. In this election it has been demonstrated again, as it was in previous movements, that Sunday closing of saloons is not a temperance issue. The advocates of Sunday closing persistently claimed before the election that had the issue been for Sunday closing it could be carried; and now they are equally sure that it could have been carried, while the true temperance issue of closing saloons all the time was defeated. Thus they virtually concede that it was the Sunday-closing element that defeated the true temperance proposition. A committee of ladies canvassed the city before the election, and reported that over 5,000 voters were pledged to vote in favor of the proposition to close all the time; but the count of votes after the election shows that at least 1,300 of them either voted against closing or did not vote on that proposition at all.

The campaign was carried on quite enthusiastically, yet with a stultifying reluctance expressed by every prominent speaker in the sentiment, “This fight was forced upon us.” They all admitted that they were prepared for a Sunday-closing campaign, and were chagrined at being obliged to contend for closing up the evil places all the time. From first to last they held up the dire results of the open saloon, yet were unsparing in their censure of the men whom they charged with having forced them to contend for its entire abolition. Bad as the saloon was represented to be, these professed temperance advocates emphasized their regret that the issue had not been one of compromise with the evil thing by allowing it to operate six days in the week. Thus they stultified their otherwise able efforts from beginning to end.

The Tribune, which gave liberal support to the temperance cause, sums up the situation in a very logical manner, from which we take the following:—

“The fight was by no means an equal one. The liquor dealers are a strong and active body of men and have been organized for years. They have studied the art of politics and are familiar with all its methods. . . . The church people, on the other hand, did not organize their vote. Less than two weeks ago the matter of entirely closing the saloons was forced upon them. For four years, sustained part of the time by a sabbath closing association of which the active Dr. Rader was the head, they have made an aggressive campaign in favor of Sunday closing. Toward this end they had labored and felt certain of success. They had thoroughly canvassed the city and a large majority were in favor of closing the open saloons on the sabbath. All the church people and the Christian Endeavors, who represent a large body of the voters, are confident that Sunday closing would have carried by a big majority.”

Who, then, we ask, is responsible for the defeat of true temperance in Oakland?—Clearly it is the men who favor Sunday-closing of saloons, and of every other place of business as soon as they can stir up the intolerant sentiment to that extent. They have again demonstrated that their anti-saloon cry in the past was simply using the saloon as a fulcrum over which they could rest their lever for prying enforced Sunday observance into public favor. Our estimate of the Sunday-closing movement has been again verified, and we trust that the people who have been deceived by it heretofore will hereafter be able to view it in its true light.

And now comes “a prominent official of the Liquor Dealers’ Association,” and says, as quoted in the Tribune:—

“Let me tell you, that I believe more than one-half of the saloon-keepers would like to see their places closed one day in seven. Oakland is not a city where men drink largely on Sunday, and the large saloons in the center of business and official life are almost entirely deserted on Sunday by their regular patrons.”

Well, why do they not close, if they want to? There is nothing to hinder them but their own wills. They would not lose any more than they would if all the others closed. No one will claim that these men are actuated by temperance principles in their desire to close on Sunday; yet why not so reckon them as well as others? But in the light of the foregoing expression from an official who ought to know, what becomes of the oft-repeated Sunday-closing argument that there is so much more liquor sold in the saloons on Sunday than on other days? The argument is usually based on the fact that there are generally more cases of drunkenness in the Police Court Monday morning than on other days; but this is accounted for in the fact that on Monday morning there are the accumulations of two days’ cases, there being no Police Court session Sunday morning. W. N. G.

A Millionaire Brother’s Loan

THE way of the world is illustrated in the statement that a poor man who lives in the village of Channahan, Ill., being in need of fifty dollars, got the loan from a millionaire brother in New York, who charged him six per cent. interest and took a mortgage on his humble home. It is said the mortgage was recently recorded at the county seat of Will County, and the poor man’s name is Elias Sage.

The Turkish-Armenian Question

By Editor

We call special attention to the editorial article entitled “The Turkish-Armenian Question,” beginning on the second page of this paper. It is by our London editor, who but recently returned from Constantinople, where he spent considerable time holding a Biblical institute and studying the subjects that are now agitating that much-disturbed country. The conclusions are not hastily drawn, but are the result of personal observation and deep Biblical and historical research.

Christian Work for the Church

From an article in the Wisconsin Reporter by Elder Wm. Covert, we take this expression: “Work is what is needed to make our churches and people a light to the world. Working for Christ will solve the problem of finances for the cause. Laboring together with God will drive away the darkness and settle all trials among the brethren. Christian work will make the church just what our Saviour designed it should be, a light unto the world. Christ is by the side of every one, ready to lead him into the work, and there to remain until the work is done.”

The Sunday Bill Amended.

The Judiciary Committee of the California Assembly, to which was referred the proposed Sunday law, reported it back with an amendment providing that every employer be compelled to recognize at least one day of every week as a day of rest. This was probably a scheme by which the committee (or a majority of them) could “kill two birds with one stone.” They could keep their promise not to smother the bill in committee, and at the same time insure its defeat. A member of the Legislature advised the friends of the bill to have it referred to the Judiciary Committee, because the Committee on Public Morals, to which such bills are usually referred, was composed of men who would not favor it. He was sure the Judiciary Committee would report it favorably. True enough, this committee fulfilled expectations to the extent of bringing the bill before the Assembly, but in the amended form which we have mentioned. Being a prominent lawyer, the chairman of that committee must have known that a law (known as the “bakers’ law”) containing the same principle was stranded in the courts not a great while ago. As a scheme to keep a promise, expressed or implied, and at the same time void the proposed measure, the amendment was a success. It would have been more statesmanlike, however, to have ignored the proposed measure on the broad ground that it was religious legislation, and outside the legitimate sphere of the Legislature. The amended bill would not satisfy those who clamor for a Sunday law, even if it were tenable, altho they claim to be actuated by a solicitude for the laboring man’s rest. Their aim is the exaltation of Sunday, and nothing else will satisfy them.

Europe’s Great Powers and Their Weakness

The expressions, “the powers,” “the great powers,” etc., as applied to the nations of Europe, sound somewhat ironical in the light of the present condition of affairs in that part of the world. The “sick man,” as Turkey has been called for the last half century, has been for years really the master of the situation. Notwithstanding the great war preparations of the “great powers,” little Greece, a mere relic of former greatness, is the only European “power” that has dared to fire a gun at the proverbial invalid. When the “great powers”—the “great Christian powers”—finally decided to throw a few shells, they were all aimed at a handful of nominal Christians huddled under the banner of little Greece. The much-boasted power of these European nations is proving to be their weakness, and their great war preparations will in the end prove their destruction. The more they prepare for war, the more fearful they are of war, and their resources are so absorbed in military and naval munitions that they are confessedly short of means for carrying on war. “There is no power but of God,” and the limit to which he allows mankind to use power is man’s power limit. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” Let those who proclaim the message of salvation go forth in the name and under the banner of Him who can say, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.”

The Coming of the Lord Draweth Nigh

“THE coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”