Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 6. (2/6/1907)

Signs of the Times

Feb 6, 1907

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Feb 6, 1907

CONTAINED IN THIS ISSUE.

By Editor

CONSOLATION WHICH ABIDES

DID CHRIST DIE?

THE GOLDEN RULE AND THE "CALIFORNIA CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE."

WHY RELIGIOUS LEGISLATION AND PERSECUTION?

QUESTIONS.

1991.—Observance of Sabbath; 1992.—Earth's Creation; 1993.—How Was Man Created? 1994.—Names of Revisers.

THE GREAT SALVATION. Divine Revelation.

SUPREMACY OF THE PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN WORD, AND CHRIST'S RELATION THERETO.

WORK FOR THE DEAD.

WHEN KNOWLEDGE IS NOT POWER.

FARMER BELL'S BARGAIN.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN CHILE.

EUROPEAN LETTER. Catholic Congress—Separation of Church and State in Switzerland.

PRICE OF THE WORLD'S PEACE. What It Means.

CALIFORNIA PRESS ON THE SUNDAY LAW.

SOUTH CAROLINA'S BENEFICENT SUNDAY LAW.

POETRY.

The Still, Small Voice. Losses and Gains. Compensation. Endurance. My All. His Appointment. Let Down Your Nets.

Grove's Life

GROVE'S

LIFE

CONSOLATION WHICH ABIDES.

DID CHRIST DIE?

THE GOLDEN RULE AND THE "CALIFORNIA CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE."

WHY RELIGIOUS LEGISLATION AND PERSECUTION?

QUESTIONS.

1991.—Observance of Sabbath; 1992.—Earth's Creation; 1993.—How Was Man Created? 1994.—Names of Revisers.

THE GREAT SALVATION.

Divine Revelation.

SUPREMACY OF THE PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN WORD, AND CHRIST'S RELATION THERETO.

WORK FOR THE DEAD.

WHEN KNOWLEDGE IS NOT POWER.

FARMER BELL'S BARGAIN.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN CHILE.

EUROPEAN LETTER.

Catholic Congress—Separation of Church and State in Switzerland.

PRICE OF THE WORLD'S PEACE.

What It Means.

CALIFORNIA PRESS ON THE SUNDAY LAW.

SOUTH CAROLINA'S BENEFICENT SUNDAY LAW.

POETRY.

The Still, Small Voice.

Losses and Gains.

Compensation.

Endurance.

My All.

His Appointment.

Let Down Your Nets.

A Special

By Editor

= Price =

THE Special Coming of the Lord number of the SIGNS, issued in November, is in many places still selling readily. The wonderful influence of the Earthquake Special, and other special issues has created a demand for the great truths presented in the striking article,—

WHEN WILL CHRIST COME?

Signs of the End

in this number.

¶ Here the reader is taken back to the very beginning of the world's history; ¶ The plan of salvation is simply and entertainingly unfolded; ¶ The history of the world in the light of prophecy briefly covered; ¶ The most apparent signs in the world that Christ is soon coming strikingly referred to; ¶ Closing with a study of God's Great Threefold Message.

¶ This is in addition to the other articles of value which make this one of the most important issues of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES ever published.

Thus you can see the importance of every copy being in circulation NOW.

¶ That this may be done quickly on the few still unsold, we offer the following special price:

1 1/2 cents each in lots of from 20 to 1,000 copies.

1 1/4 cents each in lots of 1,000 copies or more.

Address at once, # Signs of the Times Mountain View, California

School Text-Books

By Editor

We are glad to make the following announcement concerning text-books:

Church School Readers

The readers known as the "Christian Educator Reading Series," were adopted by the General Conference at its Educational convention held in College View, Neb., June 29 to July 10, 1906, and recommended for use in all our church and primary schools. The first edition of this series of readers has for some months been exhausted. A new edition is now in preparation. It is to be known as the "True Education Reader Series." The series consists of the following books:

Book One for grade one. Book Two for grade two. Book Three for grade three. Book Four for grade four. Book Five for grade five. Book Six for grade six. Book Seven for grades above six.

Books No.'s 1 and 2 are now ready. Price, 75 cents each. Book No. 3 we hope to have ready in March, and No. 5 will follow soon thereafter. Book No. 7 is being pushed along rapidly, but we can not promise exact date of publication.

The author of books No. 4 and No. 6 promises us copy in time to have these books on the market before the fall terms open.

"True Education Reader Series" is the result of successful experience in teaching. An experimental edition of these books was issued during the year 1904. During the two succeeding years they have been used quite largely in our schools on the Pacific Coast. In many other conferences they have also been used to some extent. Almost without exception they have been welcomed by teachers as a blessing in their schools. Even from Australia and Africa have come words of the heartiest commendation.

These readers are no longer regarded as an experiment. The call has come for a new and larger edition. In preparing the present edition, the authors have counseled with a large number of our leading educators and our best teachers in different parts of the country. To these we owe many valuable criticisms and suggestions. We feel clear in saying that in every way the present edition greatly excels the former.

Most careful attention has been given to the subject-matter. No fairy tales or other objectionable matter has been admitted. Readings from the Word of God, readings on the works of God and His dealings with His people, occupy the chief place. All other matter has been measured by this standard. A pleasing variety of prose and poetry on a large number of subjects makes the books a delight with the pupil.

All the books are well illustrated, many of the master-pieces of art having been secured for this purpose. Every teacher knows the value of illustrations in the work of education.

Special attention has been given to developing the work in language, composition, and spelling. The lessons in these subjects, as well as the reading-matter itself, have been carefully graded. It is almost universally conceded by educators that language and spelling are greatly neglected in most schools. Experience has shown that this natural method of presenting these subjects not only saves the time of both teacher and pupil, but insures more thoro work, and, consequently, better results.

Prices on No. 1 and No. 2 will be 75 cents each post-paid. The prices on the other books are not yet decided upon.

As an evidence of the wide-spread interest in these readers, will say that we have just received an order from Australia for one hundred eighty copies to go to a school by mail.

McKibbin's Bible Lessons

Nearly all these books were destroyed in our fire. There are a limited number of No. 1, however, the post-paid price on which is 50 cents.

Bible Nature Studies

A few hundred signatures of these books were saved and are now being bound. Price, $1.00 post-paid.

Bible Nature Study Notebooks

These notebooks are now published in two ways,—the complete book bound in cloth at 85 cents post-paid,—in three paper-covered volumes containing about one hundred twelve pages each, at 40 cents each post-paid.

No. 1 is for fourth-grade work, No. 2 is for fifth-grade work, and No. 3 is for sixth-grade work. All the above books may be obtained by addressing your state tract society, or

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY

Mountain View, Cal. 285 Salmon Street Portland, Ore. 1109 East 12th Street Kansas City, Mo.

CONSOLATION WHICH ABIDES.

By Editor

The Only Consoler.

THE great world and its people are sick unto death, sick with the leprosy of sin, miserable with all its out-springing accompaniments and progeny,—vice and crime and disease,—doomed unto death. Yet even in these conditions "hope springs eternal in the human breast," false tho that hope often be; and many are happy for little times and enjoy "the pleasures of sin for a season." Some do not know that they are sick; that the virus of the leprosy of sin is in their veins, and they go on carelessly for years, consuming in pleasure or selfish pursuit the abundance of health and life, unmindful of the certain end.

BUT sooner or later crises come. The rosy cheek grows pale; the strong limbs totter; the stout heart beats feebly. Moral failure, open shame, sickness, the loss of property or friends or loved ones, afflict the soul, and it longs for consolation in some source of relief from poignant grief and agony, or keen and bitter disappointment. Where will the soul find it?

SHALL we seek consolation in the sources whence the world for ages has vainly sought to draw it? Why repeat the folly and reap its reward, disappointment? Shall we seek comfort or consolation in the light, the trivial, the foolish? So some recommend. Such things may divert us for a time, but they neither strengthen us nor fit us to strengthen others. They are like the heathen fetish which the pagan priest gives to the afflicted mother, and tells her that the spirit of her child inhabits it.

The poor woman talks to it, but it does not answer. She carries and fondles the ugly image, but there is no response to her caresses. Her heart is uncomforted, her grief unconsolable. Cicero, when his daughter died, sought consolation in writing a book on all the consoling things which a pagan philosophy offered, but his grief was not assuaged. He finally sought consolation in erecting to his beloved Tullia a monument in the gardens of Rome, but this merely ameliorated his grief; it did not comfort his heart.

SOME persons in affliction seek diversion in the beauties and bounties of nature, in the pleasure of travel and art and scenery, in conversation with the wise and witty and agreeable, in a thousand and one things which divert and cause to forget, but do not cure. The heart is just as weak when the next affliction comes, just as sore under the next sorrow, and grows in anguish equally under the next great grief. The old remedies are not sufficient for this sorrow, and new sources of relief must be sought. And, O, so many lives drift on and on, uncomforted, unconsoled, unto the great, dark, boundless night of death.

YET there is a Consoler who is able to comfort. He can comfort the soul who awakes to the despairing consciousness that he is afflicted with the

deadly virus of the leprosy of sin, and is therefore under the just wrath of God and is doomed to death. The divine Consoler, Christ Jesus, does not comfort you by telling you that you have not the leprosy badly; that there is no serious outbreaking symptom; that you need not be worried for a long time, etc., etc. He does not say that your sin is small; that your case is not comparable to the thief, or the adulterer, or the murderer. All such comfort is futile and deceptive, and dooms to disappointment. The divine Consoler does not falsify your case. He does not minimize your diseased condition. He knows that the human "heart is deceitful above all things, and it is desperately sick." But His remedy is efficacious. It can cure the sin-sick heart. It can cleanse the sin-sick soul. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." He receives the soul who comes to Him, and stands before the throne of God in his place. He reaches down to the crimson-dyed, scarlet-stained sinner, and in tones divinely heartening says: "Come on now, and let us plead together." Isa. 1:18 (Lowth's rendering). "Tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." There is consolation in this; for He who cleanses by His word is able to keep by His word, even to the end. John 15:3; Rev. 3:10.

THERE is consolation to the sorrowing. Have you lost the sordid wealth of earth? There was no comfort in it anyway; and He will give you the riches of His grace, and access to the divine storehouse in their stead. Rom. 5:2. Have you lost friends and loved ones?—He will prove to you a Friend, such as no earthly friends you ever knew. He suffered the vacancy to come into your life that He might fill it with His own fragrant presence. He has suffered you to know disappointment that you might learn His appointment. There is but a change of letter in the two terms, but that represents a change of infinite importance. He assures you that "to them that love God, God worketh all things with them for good." He does not want you to go on in mere selfish enjoyment, for that, too, will end in death. He longs that your enjoyment shall be larger, and therefore you must have fellowship in Christ's sufferings, that you may be partakers in His joy. Then you can say: "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort: who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ."

"Who is among you that feareth Jehovah? That obeyeth the voice of His servant? He that walketh in darkness, and hath no light, Let him trust in the name of Jehovah, And rely upon his God." "For tho the fig-tree shall not flourish, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flocks shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls; Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength."

DID HE DIE?

DID Jesus the son of the living God die? Was it possible for Divinity to die? for the Eternal Word to lay down His life?

There are those who tell us that the body died; the physical man died; but the real Christ did not die, and that it is repulsive so to believe.

Did the Christ die?—At least some have so believed. One hymn, which has been sung by many thousands of Christians for scores of years, reads:

“The Incarnate God hath died for me.”

Another sings:

“When Christ the mighty Maker died For man the creature's sin.”

But hymnology has taught many errors. What does the Bible say?

1. Of the Son of God before He came to this world it was said: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1-4.

Of this exalted Being the Scriptures further bear witness: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth.” Verse 14. “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Gal. 4:4.

Yet again, it is written: “Him [the Son] who knew no sin He [the Father] made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Cor. 5:21. As sinners, we are guilty of death; for “the wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. When He bore our sins, He bore our death, and died in our behalf. “He was wounded for our transgressions; . . . with His stripes we are healed. . . . He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of My people to whom the stroke was due. . . . He poured out His soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.” Isa. 53:5-12, A.R.V.

Therefore, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” a death which, that He might live again, demanded a resurrection; for “if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain. . . . If Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” 1 Cor. 15:1-19.

Christ, the Son of God, died “that thru death He might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Heb. 2:14. On the enemy's own ground, in all the weakness of humanity, the Incarnate Son of God met the enemy, and conquered him. The resurrection of Christ from the dead demonstrated that Jesus, who walked a man upon this earth, was the veritable “Son of God.” “Concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 1:3, 4.

One more testimony from the other side of the grave by the glorified Christ to His servant John: “Fear not; I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” Rev. 1:17, 18.

Praise God for a Saviour who came from the highest heaven, who sounded the lowest depths of sin and wo and death, Conqueror in all; and who lives forevermore, able to save to the uttermost. We may not understand how He did all this; but He has revealed the wondrous fact that for us He died. O, the wonderful love of God! He gave His Son, and gave Him wholly. Christ gave Himself; but in dying, He conquered for us. In Him we are complete.

THE GOLDEN RULE.

By Editor

Another Word to the “California Christian Advocate.”

As quoted last week, the California Christian Advocate says of us: “Of course, they think the first thing to do is to break down all legal supports of the Christian Sunday.”

Sunday has no “legal supports” in this State, tho it has in others. Why should the Advocate ask for such supports? It claims to be a Christian paper. Dr. Bovard, its editor, is, we presume, a Christian man. Why, as a Christian, should he ask or demand legal support for what he deems a “Christian” institution? Suppose the Mohammedans should demand legal support for Friday; would the Advocate be willing to grant it?—Hardly. But why not, according to the Golden Rule? Suppose that the Jews, the Seventh-day Baptists, and the Seventh-day Adventists should demand legal support for the seventh day, from Friday night at sunset to Saturday night at sunset; would the Advocate be willing to grant it? If not, why not? The Golden Rule reads: “All things whatsoever YE would that men should do unto YOU, do YE even so to THEM.”

Now the Advocate would that men should give legal support to the day it calls the “Christian Sunday.” This means that a law should be passed enforcing it as a day of rest. It wants the Mohammedan and the Seventh-day man to help in this. According to the Christian Golden Rule, ought not the Advocate to support a similar demand from the classes above named?

If it be said that there are more who keep Sunday, it is sufficient reply to say that the true province of civil law is to support and protect the weak and the inferior; and that right and wrong are not questions of majorities.

The Advocate believes, and we are willing to concede its sincerity, that Sunday is a Christian institution which ought to be observed. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES does not believe in Sunday sacredness, but does believe

that the seventh day ought to be kept as commanded of God and observed by Jesus Christ. Each of us, we suppose, is “fully persuaded in his own mind.” Each one has a right to his own opinion. Why not leave this matter with God? Why not let all men and women in the light of God's word and conscience decide between the respective days, and the respective arguments presented to sustain them, without let or hindrance from civil power? Leave the arbitrament of the question with God.

“The evil can not brook delay; The good can well afford to wait.”

Is not this reasonable, neighbor Advocate? Why, then, should not you, as well as we, strenuously oppose all Sunday-law measures?

WHY RELIGIOUS LEGISLATION AND PERSECUTION?

The Real Cause.

WHY should ministers of the Gospel of Christ demand religious legislation? Why do they demand that religious dogmas should be enforced by law? Why do they work for Sunday laws? Why do politics to secure Sunday laws?

They are ministers of the Gospel, not of the law. "The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation." Rom. 1:16, 17. When the Son of God commissioned His servants to do their work, it was not to execute law, but to "preach the Gospel," with the assurance that "all power" was at their command. Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:18-20. The condemning did not rest with them; he who did not believe condemned himself by his unbelief. Nay, more: "He that believeth not is condemned already." "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23. All, therefore, are under condemnation. To lift men from that condemnation, Jesus Christ came into the world. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved thru Him." John 3:16, 17. "If any man hear My words and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." John 12:47.

Of His servants, Jesus says: "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." "As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world." John 17:14, 18. The ministers of Christ have no higher or different commission than the Master. They are in Christ's stead to beseech souls to be reconciled to God, to persuade men to turn from the judgment to come. 2 Cor. 5:20, 14.

Why, then, do professed ministers of Christ turn from the heralding of the glad tidings of God to be ministers of law and lobbyists in politics? Our Lord has revealed one great secret of it in the following words of comfort: "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be caused to stumble. They shall put you out of the synagogs; yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God. [And so the persecutors thought all thru the Dark Ages.] And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father nor Me." John 16:1-3.

No man who knows Christ and the power of His Gospel will ever seek to enforce religion by law.

1991.—Observance of the Sabbath Day.

By Editor

Is it right to play instrumental music on the piano or graphophone on the Sabbath, such as opera music, anvil chorus, etc.?

The divine commentary of the Sabbath commandment is found in Isa. 58:13: "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing THY PLEASURE on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor HIM, not doing THINE OWN ways, nor finding THINE OWN pleasure, nor speaking THINE OWN words; then shalt thou DELIGHT THYSELF IN THE LORD." We think that it is invariably true that conscientious Christians feel themselves condemned when they use the Sabbath for such things as above. To us these things have no place on the Sabbath day. The very associations with such music leads the mind away from God, and when there is so much music that is soul-inspiring, spiritually elevating, which will tend to lift the heart and the meditations into higher, holier atmosphere, we do not see how one can use the time for music or reading which will tend to degrade, debase, or at the very least be utterly unprofitable. We fully grant that some of these practises may be pleasing to the natural heart, but Christianity is a life of discipline. It means not simply the receiving of the wonderfully good things which God gives, but it means the denying ourselves of those things which do not profit, and so the passage which we have quoted above includes the denying, the not-doing; and if that lies at the base of Sabbath-keeping, there will grow in the heart and life a true delight in the Lord and in His institutions.

1992.—Earth's Creation.

Does not science and also tradition of ancient people seem to indicate that the earth was created in six periods rather than six days of twenty-four hours each?

Science generally, so far as we know, does not divide it up into any kind of definite periods. There have been those who have tried to reconcile the Bible and science, who have attempted to interpret the record of Genesis as six long periods of time, and have claimed that science taught this. How long God was in CREATING the earth we do not know. If our querist will note the different terms which the Bible uses it may help in the matter. The first verse of the Bible declares, "In the beginning God CREATED the heaven and the earth." How long a period is covered by the expression "in the beginning," we do not know, nor shall we in any wise attempt to answer. We believe in a personal God; that He has His throne in the heavens; that He has angels which excel in strength, messengers of His to all parts of His universe. Some of these, at least, were in existence when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth, when the "morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:4-7. But the bringing of the earth from the state of chaos, indicated in Gen. 1:2, to that of cosmos, or arrangement, in verse 31, which God pronounced very good, took place in six days according to the express statement of the word made over and over. Of that we have no question, nor does it seem to us that a believer in the word can have question, if language means anything and is designed to express the thought of God's transformation of the earth from darkness and wasteness to glory and beauty. "In six days the Lord MADE heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." That is one of the grand assurances to the poor sinner who is in the confusion of chaos and darkness, that just as God spoke light into darkness and changed the earth, so the light of God can shine into his heart and place there the beauty of the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6.

1993.—How Was Man Created?

In an article in your issue of December 26, on "The Abundant Life," it is said: "Man is not mortal or he would have died, even if he did partake of the tree of life. He is not immortal or he never would have died. He is simply a perfect physical being, possessing eternal life." Will you please make that plain? How can a man be mortal and immortal?

Our querist has not quoted correctly from the article. The article reads: "He WAS not mortal, for in that case he was subject to death, whether he partook of the tree of life or not. He was not immortal, or he never would have died. He was simply a perfect physical being, possessing eternal life, which connected him with the Source of all life. He, too, possessed this life by faith. Had he believed God he would have continued to live eternally, and when his character had become fixed, his whole being would have been made immortal, not subject to death. Man sinned, and cut himself off from eternal life, and became a dying creature. Man was a candidate either for mortality or immortality." It does not seem to us that this is hard to understand; it would not be were it not for the theological fog which has hung around the question of man's existence for centuries. He was a perfect physical being. The choice of mortality or immortality lay with him, in his choice of sin or righteousness. It was God's design that he should live forever. Consequently he possessed the eternal life of God, but when man sinned, he interposed his carnal heart between himself and God and cut himself off from eternal life. Man must have eternal life; it takes the "power of the endless life," in order to form a righteous character. That comes by faith in Jesus Christ. John 3:16; 1 John 5:11. When the righteous character is formed, then will be placed upon the physical man at Christ's coming the eternal stamp of a righteous character, physical immortality, absolute deathlessness. Eternal life man holds by faith in Jesus Christ; that is the power which enables him to live for God. Read the Gospel by John in the light of these thoughts and we are sure that it will help you to see the life question more fully and beautifully than before.

1994.—Names of the Revisers.

For the benefit of your subscribers, would you be pleased to give in the Signs the names and positions or qualifications of those responsible for the American Standard Revision of the Bible? By this means we can better judge as to the merits of the revision.

We have not the names at present. Our history and statistics of the great work were burned in our recent fire, and we can not try to recall all the names. The secretary of the committee, and also member of the Old Testament company, was Dr. George E. Day; secretary of the New Testament company, Dr. J. Henry Thayer. If either of these gentlemen should be written to, care Thomas Nelson & Sons, New York City, with return stamped envelope enclosed, correct information would doubtless be obtained. We can assure our correspondent that these Revisers were competent scholars. But does our correspondent know the "qualifications," etc., of the translators of the King James Version? Can he give us the name of one of them?

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