THE HOE DOUBLE The largest printing press in the world. Length, 48 feet; height, 19% feet; weight, 175 tons; number of parts, 65,000; revolutions, 300 per minute; paper used per hour, 18 tons, or 216 miles of paper three feet wide; production per hour, 300,000 eight-page folded newspapers. The Mighty Press "When old Gutenberg, inventor Of the printing press, and mentor In a sleepy German town, As he pressed the platen down, He had not the faintest notion Of the rhythmical commotion, Of the brabble and the clamor And the unremitting roar Of the mighty triple decker, While the steel rods flicker, And the papers, ready folded, Fall in thousands to the floor." ness borne to the truth of God in some obscure corner of the earth: - Some years ago a young man in Europe-a Seventh-day Adventist was giving answer for his faith. His conscience would not allow him to do ordinary labor on God's holy Sabbath. He had declared to the court that the oath of loyalty which had been required of him forbade his breaking the Sabbath. "How is that?" asked the judge. The young man replied: "I was sworn in with a Christian oath, and therefore cannot be under an obligation to violate the commandments of God and work on the Sabbath. One must regard God as the highest authority, and obey Him in the first place." This witness was borne in a little courtroom, before a small group of men; but the press dispatches took it up, and the description of the scene and report of the words spoken were carried by electric telegraph to the press of at least four continents, and millions read the testimony of the young man to the faith that was in him. In the days to come, with great events taking place and solemn issues calling upon men to make decision for God and His truth, how quickly, in some great crisis, all the world may be warned, and the last individual decisions be made for eternity! Modern Printing The invention of the printer's art had come just in time to give wings to Reformation truth. Luther said of it: "Printing is the latest and greatest gift by which God enables us to advance the things of the gospel. It is the last bright flame, manifesting itself just previous to the extinction of the world. Thanks be to God, it came before the last day came."— Michelet's "Life of Luther," p. 291. While improvements in the art were made through the centuries, it was a slow process, even up to the opening of our generation. During our day, however, inventions have revolutionized the printing process. In this, as in other things, the methods have been speeded up to meet the necessities of this time of rapid accomplishment. The printing press is one of the chief of the marvelous enlightening agencies of this time of the end. By it the printed pages of truth are set falling over the earth "like the leaves of autumn." Time fails us to speak of all the wonderful material developments of our day, when knowledge has been increased, and when men are not only searching to and fro, but literally running to and fro. The whole earth is brought within the range of human knowledge, and the light of saving truth is streaming out toward every dark place where the children of men dwell. Nearly twenty-five hundred years ago it was written upon the prophetic page, "Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." There the word stood on the scroll of prophecy through more than two millenniums. Then, as the time of the end came, lo, the book of prophecy was unsealed, and the new era of increasing knowledge began to spread in wondrous blessing over the earth. So surely, also, the prophecies of the last events will be accomplished. In the occurrences taking place before our eyes, we see that God is indeed finishing His work in the earth, and cutting it short in righteousness. |