The Signs of the Times was originally published in 1885 by J. J. Lambeth, an Old Baptist preacher. This work is essentially a collection of his sermons, revealing his beliefs about predestination and how God directs the events of this world and the people in it, from biblical times to the times in which he lived.

This republication was undertaken by J. J. Lambeth's great-great grandson, M. A. Lambeth, who lives in the same community in which the author lived and is a member of the church he founded in the 1800s. In addition to making his great-great-grandfather's work available to a new generation of readers, M. A. desired to preserve The Signs of the Times, old church records (articles of faith, church covenant, etc.), and the Lambeth's family history, all in one volume. This collection includes pictures, maps, and charts for clarification and historical illumination.

The Signs of the Times provides a look into an Old Baptist's mind, into a different time and place. This collection of work was printed with the express purpose of preserving our past, that it might guide us through the present and give a hope for the future.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be;

and that which is done is that which shall be done:

and there is no new thing under the sun.

Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new?

It hath been already of old time, which was before us.

-Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

from The Signs of the Times, p. 276