Modern Weapons and the Spirit of War
A FEW days since the United States Government let the contract for 50 six-pounder guns of a new semi-automatic type. The gun has a capacity for firing 75 of these six-pound shells a minute. This is more than double the best record that has ever been made on any similar gun. We have been told that these terrible weapons of death would finally become so destructive that war would come to an end because no one would face them. But the facts are all to the contrary. The training of the soldier is that he must face death at any time that he is called upon to do so. And the greater the danger the greater hero he becomes. Such a training as this is calculated for nothing else than to prepare men to face anything—even to the most terrible instrument of death that this inventive age can produce. And, aside from all this, the prophecies tell us that the end of time is to be marked by a fearful spirit of war that will be stirred up in all the earth. One of these prophetic utterances is in the following graphic language: "My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I can not hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled; suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment." Jer. 4: 19, 20. The context of the foregoing scripture plainly shows that the divine seer was viewing the scenes of war that would mark these last days in which we live when he received the inspiration that caused him to pen such thrilling words. It is inexpressibly sublime to be living in the very times and viewing the very scenes that the Lord caused to pass before the prophets so many hundred years ago. A DESPATCH from San Jacinto dated March 19 states that it had just been discovered that a part of Mount San Jacinto had slipped into a subterranean cavern. An earthquake on last Christmas day dislodged a territory covering 600 acres, at an elevation of 4,000 feet, and it slipped 150 feet lower than it had previously stood. The face of this newly-formed valley is thickly traversed with fissures and cracks, varying in width from an inch to six feet across, and it is not possible to see the bottom nor to sound the depth by throwing in stones. A young man was lowered 40 feet into one crevasse, and the bottom could not be seen by the venturesome youth. The great earthquake of December 25 has been succeeded by dozens of lighter ones, quite a severe shock having been felt there on the date of this despatch. Things like the foregoing are but the beginnings of the fulfilment of such words of the prophets as the following, "I behold the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly." Jer. 4: 24. And if men are terrified as they see these things now, what will it be when they reach that near day that Isaiah describes as a time when "the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage"? But, amid it all, every one that trusts in the Lord will have a sure foundation. The promise is: "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee." Ps. 91: 5-7. IN diplomatic circles the suggestion has been thrown out that the Hague Peace Congress has resulted so far in failure, and that even the limited program agreed upon will never be carried out. The basis for this view is the fact that up to this time it is not known officially that a single one of the powers represented in the conference has ratified the three conventions agreed upon there. The treaties themselves require that each of the participants in the conference shall be notified whenever the other parties ratify the conventions. No such notice has yet reached this country, and, so far as this government is concerned, only one of the treaties has been ratified by the Senate, and even in that case the formalities have not been carried to completion. THE dowager empress of China is still making the strongest resistance she knows how to put forth against the encroachments of any foreign influences that are out of harmony with Chinese civilization. She is conferring honors upon her most active supporters that have not been conferred before for eighty years, and men who have been dismissed from office out of deference to foreign powers are being recalled. There is an intensity taking hold of the very weakest and most crumbling powers of earth that is truly phenomenal. God has revealed the meaning of it all in His Word. You should be studying the inspired Book closely, for momentous issues are before the world to-day. DESPATCHES under date of March 14 state that another death from bubonic plague has occurred at Sydney, N. S. W., and two new cases of the disease have developed. And there have been twenty-three deaths from the plague in Buenos Ayres during the last two months. THE British war loan is said to be very popular among the Britons who have some ready money to them, and already £335,500,000 have been subscribed. THE labor organizations of Chicago propose to enforce the placing of the union label on all the coffins that are used in the cemeteries of that city. It is proposed to organize the grave-diggers and place them under the labor unions, and to require that they shall absolutely enforce this rule or decree. The grasping greed of wealth on the one hand, and the despotic rule of the labor organizations on the other, will soon place this world in a condition where it will be very difficult to live in it. Then how earnestly should every follower of Christ work and pray for the time to soon come when the Lord shall come to redeem the world from every form of tyranny and oppression! NOTWITHSTANDING the evil has been going on for a number of years, it still seems strange, from the standpoint of the Federal Constitution, that men should be made criminals in the United States on account of their faith. But it is so. Brethren Rodney S. Owen and R. T. Nash have been arrested again at Amory, Miss., ostensibly for violating the Sunday law, but really because they observe the seventh day, the "Sabbath of the Lord." Were it not for the latter fact they would not have been arrested, the charges being the same on which they were previously arrested and acquitted. A ST. PETERSBURG correspondent of a Berlin paper states that Russia is favoring the champions of Bulgarian independence so that she can the more effectually bring pressure to bear upon Turkey, to give the Russian Government exclusive railroad privileges in Asia Minor. The great effort that Russia is making to build railroads all through Asia is significant. It should be watched with interest by every one who is a close student of the events of these times. MORE than $100,000,000 worth of paper is produced in the United States annually. A third of this is used by the newspapers, and the wrapping paper used amounts to two-thirds as much as that consumed by the newspapers. About half as much is used to manufacture books as to print newspapers. Paper boards amount to 300,000 tons a year. Builders use 60,000 tons of paper, and 45,000 tons of wall paper is produced annually. A REVOLUTION has broken out in Entre Rios, Argentine. The insurgents have already occupied three of the principal towns of the province. This is the field of Brother F. H. Westphal's labors, as will be seen by an illustrated article that will appear from him in our Missions department soon. In these trying times he, with all his associate laborers, will need our earnest prayers. THE HOUSE Committee on Appropriations has reported a bill favoring the appropriation of $7,093,488 for the purpose of carrying forward the plans of sea-coast defenses begun in this country in 1888. The report of the committee says that the scheme when finished will have cost $112,197,267, and of this sum, $46,971,013 have already been appropriated. EXPERIMENTS are now being made at Sandy Hook proving grounds with a shell that is to do away with the necessity of the search-light. The shell is made to explode at a given distance and produce a great light, thus enabling objects to be seen without disclosing the exact location of the one discharging the shell. PRESIDENT KRUGER, notwithstanding the many recent British victories, announces that the Boers will fight to the death. They will not yield, so he says, but must have their absolute independence or they will die in the struggle. A CABLE despatch to the Sun says: "The distress caused by the famine [in India] is increasing in extent and severity. . . . There are now employed on the relief works in the famine-stricken districts, 4,810,000 persons." THE Filipinos are reorganizing to renew their attacks on the United States authorities, and the indications are quite strong that there is some very serious trouble ahead there. THE annual reports of the Indian agents show that there were more deaths than births among these aborigines of America for the past year.