Signs of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 33. (8/24/1915)

Signs of the Times

Aug 24, 1915

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 24, 1915

TEMPERANCE LEGIONS MEET

By L. A. Hansen

Great Anti-Saloon Convention Ten Thousand Strong—Growth and Strength of the Foes of the Liquor Traffic—United Action Bringing Results

By L. A. HANSEN Special Correspondent for the Signs of the Times

SETTING a new record for attendance in numbers, and marking a growth in interest never before seen, the Anti-Saloon League of America held its sixteenth convention at Atlantic City, New Jersey, July 6-9.

This was a gathering of temperance forces such as has never before been known, calling together about ten thousand people from all parts of the country, and representing all walks of life. Besides the many leading platform speakers and other temperance workers, there were present men prominent in politics, business, education, philanthropy, medicine, science, literature, and other important callings.

A REVELATION OF STRENGTH

The convention disclosed a growth of temperance sentiment that was a revelation. While the enormity of the battle against the legalized traffic seemed to be fully realized, there was also seen a mustering of fighting forces, possessing a store of ammunition, that gives sure promise of victory.

National prohibition by 1920 was the sounding note of the convention. A statement holding prominent place was, "The Anti-Saloon League forces are working not merely for a law to create a condition, but rather for a condition which will support a law." That this condition is fast creating, seemed quite apparent from the reports given of progress already made, and from the program outlined of future movements.

PRESENT GROWTH

The report of the general superintendent, Dr. P. A. Baker, showed great progress in the last two years. The last eighteen months have broken all records for gains in the prohibition cause, not only in this country, but throughout the world.

"In this country," said Dr. Baker, "hundreds of towns, townships, and counties have abolished the saloon, and nine entire states have joined an equal number in the past ten months in the march toward a saloonless nation." The superintendents from almost all the states of the country also gave reports of conditions in their respective fields.

These reports were encouraging, though they did not in every instance claim victory. The fact that it is a case of hard fighting was apparent throughout; but it was also seen that steady gains are being made in almost every state, and that with the present rate of progress, it will not be long till the entire country is voted dry.

Nearly every speaker made reference to the changed conditions relative to the public consideration of the liquor question. Various ones told of the reinforcements that have come to the temperance cause from many quarters.

HARD FACTS

While oratory flowed freely in the hundred or so set speeches that were given, there were fact and argument in all, enough to carry conviction to any skeptic who might question whether the liquor traffic is an unmitigated evil. Every speaker seemed a specialist in his line, and demonstrated that he knew his ground. No ground was left for the liquor interests.

The value of prohibition as already demonstrated in various states and communities where it has been fully tested was presented as one of its strongest arguments, one that cannot be controverted by any of the representations of the liquor interests. With prohibition in so many places at present, and with it so long in some places, there is now seen a force in its favor that is cumulative, and that grows constantly more powerful in hurrying on nation-wide prohibition.

Facts from science, proving the unquestionable damaging nature of alcohol; facts from economic experts, showing the great wastes caused by the drink evil; facts from municipal reports, telling of the civic losses occasioned by the saloon; facts from political leaders, demonstrating the corrupting influence of the liquor traffic; facts from everywhere,—told the story of ruin and devastation in the wake of the arch destroyer, till the hearer could but wonder at the spell of the power that delays a moment in putting an end to the whole thing.

That the convention was an occasion worthy of special notice was seen in the fact that from thirty to forty metropolitan newspapers had special correspondents on the ground, and gave liberal space to reporting the proceedings. Newspaper accounts were singularly free from anything savoring of jest or ridicule, and gave publicity to the convention as a gathering of earnest men and women engaged in most serious consideration of a tremendous problem.

This attitude of the press was seen notwithstanding the fact that convention speakers gave free expression to the charge that the newspapers of the country have been largely representing the liquor interests, under liberal pay.

The enthusiasm displayed by the convention speakers and hearers was marked. Statements prophesying further triumphs received cheers that spoke victory. Financial help was pledged that would go far toward meeting the large amount of money used by the liquor people in their efforts to stay prohibition.

Photo by Baker Art Gallery
DR. P. A. BAKER
GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE
OF AMERICA — Photo by Baker Art Gallery DR. P. A. BAKER GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE OF AMERICA

BISHOP L. B. WILSON President Anti-Saloon League of America

The Catholic Prohibition League also held a convention at the same time, this being its first gathering since its organization a year ago. Leading speakers took part in the Anti-Saloon League program, as presiding officers and as speakers. A resolution was adopted pledging co-operation to the work of the Anti-Saloon League. This was received with great cheering.

The Catholic speakers stated that while that church had held itself aloof from organized temperance movements, there was no good reason for doing so. Strong appeal was made to the Catholic membership to join forces with the movement to abolish the saloon.

This was the first time that Catholics and Protestants had thus united on a temperance platform, and the occasion was regarded as promising a speedier victory. The state superintendent of Louisiana, in giving his report, declared that if the Catholic clergy would throw its influence against intemperance, and would rally its membership to a fight against the saloon, the liquor problem would find much readier solution.

POLITICS VERSUS THE SALOON

"In order to get clean politics, let us get rid of the saloon," was the proposal of J. Denny O'Niel, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a man who has been in active politics for about twenty years. Giving force to his remarks by recital of experiences, he arraigned the liquor interests as corrupters of politics and politicians. He stated that all "ballot box stuffing," "repeating," and all attempts to bribe and debauch public officials, originate in the saloons.

That the saloon has been the dominant issue in American politics was asserted by other speakers. That the game of politics is to be played by the temperance forces was made clear—not that the Anti-Liquor League is to be partisan in its political adherence, but that candidates for public office, from the presidency down, must show themselves as opposed to the legalized liquor traffic before they can count on the support of the temperance people.

This significant statement was quoted: "No presidential bee can live in alcohol." The rumored candidacy of certain men who are known to be liquor supporters, received attention; and notice was served that, regardless of party affiliations, Anti-Liquor Leaguers would oppose them. Richmond P. Hobson stated that if necessary a new party should be formed.

VOTES FOR WOMEN

That the question of woman's suffrage is to play a telling part in the liquor fight appeared quite evident from the attitude of almost every speaker. Tribute of praise and acknowledgment of help were freely rendered, being loudly echoed by the rousing cheers of the audiences.

Men of prominent position argued for the ballot in the hands of women as a mighty factor in settling an issue that so vitally affects women and children.

The W. C. T. U. membership received a good share of credit for having greatly helped in bringing about the present success of the temperance movement. Although other and perhaps stronger organizations are now in the fight, these workers will still continue their efforts as a body.

RESOLUTIONS

The convention unanimously adopted a number of resolutions submitted to it by the board of directors, covering among other things the following:

Appreciation of the changing attitude of some newspapers and magazines in refusing to accept advertisements and in giving larger space to instructive consideration of the liquor question.

Recognition of the assistance rendered by medical science in propagating scientific truth concerning alcohol; also of the entry, in the prohibition arena, of manufacturing and business interests.

Urging upon temperance forces everywhere the importance of securing action by state and local boards of health warning the people against the use of liquor as against every other disease-breeding pestilence that preys upon the public health.

Modification of civil service laws to permit government employees to take part in local option and prohibition campaigns.

Barring all intoxicating beverages from interstate commerce.

Prohibiting the use of the mails by newspapers and periodicals carrying liquor advertisements.

Prohibition for the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Alaska, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, by congressional enactment.

Submission of a national prohibition amendment to the people.

History Repeating Itself

By E. W. Farnsworth

IT has been said that like causes produce like results. This is doubtless true. About the only use the study of history can be to us is that we may see the effects certain causes have produced in the past, and thus learn to discard those which produce evil results.

God's seers of old saw the judgments that were sure to come upon the people, long before those judgments were visible to the natural eye. The sins of the people were pointed out, the judgments that were coming were described, and a call to repentance was heard throughout the land. The ancient prophets saw more than their own people and time. They spoke to their own generation, but also for those who would live in the future. Therefore the truths they taught are for us. "They are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."

HE DESCRIBES OUR TIMES TOO

Fifty-seven years before the northern kingdom of Israel was carried away and destroyed, the prophet Amos described conditions existing at that time, and we have in his words a complete picture of things as they now exist. He says: "Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes." Amos 2: 6. To sell a man, in one sense, is to take the products of his labor and sell them, and by fraud deprive the laborer of his just due.

"That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor." Verse 7. What stronger language could be used to describe "earth hunger"? And what sarcasm is used in describing it! The monopolist is represented as actually "panting" after the dust on the head of the laboring man, or on the neck of an untidy schoolboy. What a picture of our own time! Individuals, nations, corporations, are all earth hungry. See the "spheres of influence" in Africa, the scramble of the nations leading to war and bloodshed, the consuming desire for a foothold in Turkey! The earth is literally searched over and over by the nations for some little corner of which they can get possession. Corporations and syndicates are all anxious for more land. The insatiable "earth hunger" has seized all men.

THE OPPRESSION OF THE POOR

In connection with this exhibition of covetousness is also seen the oppression of the poor, and they are deprived of their rights. "Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from his burdens of wheat. . . . For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right." Amos 5: 11, 12. All can see the nature of this oppression. The poor are defrauded. Bribes are taken by him who sits in "the gate"—the place of judgment; and fraud and violence prevail.

The prophet continues: "Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?" Amos 8: 4, 5.

No truer picture of our social and commercial world was ever drawn than this. It

is not confined to one nation or people, but it is the spirit of the age the world over. And as that was the presage of the downfall of the kingdom of Israel, so now the same conditions are prophetic of the downfall and destruction of all the nations of the earth.

The Lord continues: "Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; . . . and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentations; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day." Verses 7-10.

Then is given a description of the great world-wide famine that is to come: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." Verses 11, 12.

When that time comes, God's Spirit will have ceased to strive with men. Probation will be past, the end will have come. That great famine is just before us.

E. W. FARNSWORTH.

Christian Science and the Coming of Christ

By J. L. McElhany

The Prophecies of the First Advent Are Plain—Christ Upbraided His Own Disciples for Not Heeding Them—The Prophecies of His Second Advent Also Abundant and Clear—No Occasion for Making Mistakes

By J. L. McElhany

IN turning over the pages of a copy of the Christian Science Journal, the writer noticed an article entitled "The Fulfillment of Prophecy." Being especially interested in the subject of prophecy and its fulfillment, I read the article with more than ordinary interest.

THE CLAIM THAT IS MADE

A few sentences from this article will show how far some will go in setting aside the plain teaching of Scripture:

"Just before coming into Christian Science, the writer was greatly stirred up over the second coming of Christ; had read a book and heard numerous sermons on the subject, and was convinced that the second advent was near at hand; but somehow this reflection did not afford any great satisfaction. On the contrary, there was the fear of not being ready; but being healed by Christian Science, . . . almost the first thought that presented itself was, This is the 'second coming of Christ.' The Messiah did not come at first in the way He was expected, and it is not strange if people should now have a wrong conception of the reappearing of the Christ."

That Christ's first coming was different from the popular expectation, is perfectly true. The religious teachers of that day were looking for a Messiah who would assert His power as a mighty conqueror. Instead of the Lamb of God, who would deliver them from their sins, they looked for a deliverer from the Roman power. The Messiah for whom they looked was one of their own imaginations, but not the Messiah foretold in Scripture.

PROPHECIES OF HIS FIRST ADVENT PLAIN

How did He come? — In exactly the way every prophetic writer declared He would come. Centuries before He appeared, prophets had written, telling the very time He would come. They had traced out the manner of His conception and birth. They had foretold the place where He would be born, and many of the events that would occur during His life on earth. In the prophets, we read the inspired predictions of His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.

SLOW TO BELIEVE THE PROPHETS

After His resurrection, we read of His summing up the meaning of all these prophecies, for the benefit of two unbelieving disciples, in the following words: "Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Luke 24: 25-27.

On the same day, He appeared to all the disciples, and spoke to them as follows: "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day." Verses 44-46.

Christ's first advent was not in harmony with popular ideas; but it was in harmony, in every particular, with the statements of Scripture.

HOW WILL HE COME THE SECOND TIME?

Will it be according to the teaching of Christian Science, or will it be in harmony with all the predictions of Holy Scripture? Is Christian Science the second coming of Christ, or shall we look for His glorious appearing in the clouds of heaven? These questions are worthy of our earnest consideration.

The writer quoted in the beginning of this article is right in saying that "it is not strange if people should now have a wrong conception of the reappearing of the Christ." He then proceeds to demonstrate it by assuming that Christian Science is the second coming of Christ. Unmask this assumption before the word of God, and how strikingly are the words of Christ fulfilled: "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt. 24: 23, 24.

HIS COMING DESCRIBED IN THE PROPHECIES

Christ recognized that there would be many attempts to deceive His people by false manifestations of His coming. Therefore He was very particular to describe the exact manner of His appearing. "Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. . . . And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Verses 26, 27, 30, 31.

Angels of God also have added their testimony on this subject; for we read: "And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1: 9-11.

The apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4: 15-17.

The prophet John, in vision on the isle of Patmos, saw the closing events of this world's history, and thus describes the Lord's coming: "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." Rev. 1: 7.

HE IS NOT AFRAID

These prophetic statements concerning the second coming of Christ will be literally fulfilled, just as the prophets have declared. The child of God does not look forward to that great event with fear, but with glad anticipation; for "unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. 9: 28.

Every Christian should be "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus 2: 13.

The closing words of the Bible contain His promise, "Surely I come quickly." Let every loyal heart join with the prophet in praying, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Is It Unreasonable or Unjust?

By T. E. Bowen

By one man sin entered this world. Death passed upon all men because this one man sinned. This seems in a way unreasonable and unjust.

By one Man righteousness entered our world. And life is passed on to all men who by faith take this one righteous life in place of their own. From the ranks of the enemy the accusation comes that this also is unreasonable and unjust.

But it is as reasonable and just that life should be bestowed upon every one who by faith accepts it from the Son of God, as for all to pass under the domain of sin — of death, Satan's realm — because of one man's offense. Therefore God is justified in justifying all who forsake their sins and believe in Jesus.

"For as through the one man's disobedience," He pleads, "the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous."

The only condition is that the sinner shall renounce his sins; for God cannot under any circumstances justify him who cherishes sin. And what is the sin detector? See Ex. 20: 1-17. T. E. BOWEN.

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