THE awful moving picture of a distracted world is before us in some phase every hour of our wakeful lives. Journalism has exhausted itself of adjectives and similes by means of which to describe the days in which we live. A Jewish rabbi sums up our whole existence in the one word “godless”; a world-famed journalist resorts to such phrases as “the dominion of darkness has spread over Europe, and a slimy progeny of cruelty, of bestiality, of insensibility, of egoism, of violence, of materiality, has crawled into the light of day,” of which “noisome brood,” he concludes, “it will be long before we can dispossess ourselves.” These are the words of Sisley Huddleston, in the Atlantic Monthly of May, 1920, in an article entitled, “The Menace of the World.” Is it, then, any wonder that a religious journal such as the Bible in the World sums it up thus:—
Once more we look out on a world convulsed with more appalling evils—lawless savagery and the negation of all that is righteous—than history has ever known on so vast a surface of the globe. Among ourselves, too, beside the sorrow and suffering of multitudes of men, women, and little children, we witness the still more grievous spectacle of thousands who ask, in their loss of faith in an ever ruling Providence: “Was the heavenly fatherhood a dream? Is there any God?” On all sides there is evidence of reckless folly and of the wild gayety which makes merry, for tomorrow there is death; and amid the revelry is heard the cry, “The churches have failed; let us try Endor for proof that man survives and for assurance—of the resurrection!”
In the conditions so graphically described the man of the world sees nothing but despair; to him this dark cloud of trouble has no silver lining. But the child of God sees in it all a wonderful fulfilment of prophecy—a hope-inspiring sign of the coming Christ. He remembers the words of the prophet in 2 Tim. 3:1-5; he reads the descriptions of these days written by earth’s greatest men; and he knows that we live today in the historical counterpart of the prophetic picture.
God has promised to redeem His faithful—and that shortly; so let us press on in faith and courage until the Christ shall come.
The Divorce Tide Rising
THERE are some—nay many—people in this world who live in such a realm of optimism that they refuse to see facts as they are, or, seeing them, utterly refuse to admit them. The Word declares, “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear”; and we must also say, with due reverence, “He that hath eyes to see, let him see!” There is no honest man who will deny, however, that we are living in a time when the morals of the world are, to say the very least, decidedly lax; when the seventh precept of the decalogue is looked upon as completely out of date; and when, consequently, the marriage tie is being lamentably loosened.
To quote a concrete and recent example, The London Times for April 9, 1920, contained a report that Judge Joseph B. David, of the Superior Court of Illinois, had requested to be transferred to another court because he was “tired of hearing divorce cases.” Note carefully the judge’s remarkable reason:—
The marriage laws are fast becoming meaningless, because the more divorces a woman has to her credit—or, rather, discredit—the more men she is able to get. Something must be done to prevent rich couples from slipping from one State to another in search of an easy and expeditious way of untying the marriage knot. . . .
I have reached the decision to apply for transfer because I am convinced that marriage does not mean anything any more. I have reached this conclusion after sitting here, day after day, for many years. Perhaps my ideas are old-fashioned, but if they are, I believe in them, and I am glad I am getting out of this court.
Nor is this condition confined to America. It is world-wide. The London correspondent of the Australian Christian World said this in the issue of June 18 about the divorce tide in England: “At the time of writing there is a terrifying list of cases waiting for the operations of the Divorce Court, cases representing all degrees of educational and social life.” And we need only to refer to our daily papers to see that Australia is not behind the other countries of the world in this matter.
There was a time when civilisation looked upon the marriage tie as binding, as a religious as well as a civil contract. But today—things are different. We have come to the time when, in the general run of things, “marriage does not mean anything.” We have certainly reached the period in this world’s history when men and women are “lovers of their own selves,” “covetous,” “incontinent,” “headstrong,” and “unholy.” That period the Book calls “the last days,” the generation in which Christ should come.
His Glorious Appearing
“Just before the end the world will be hardened in sin and indifferent to the claims of God. Men will be careless in regard to the warnings of danger, and blinded by cares, pleasures, and riches . . . so that they have no time to think of God, heaven, Christ’s coming, and the judgment.”
This extract from a volume entitled
His Glorious Appearing
proves without question that we are living in the closing days of this world’s history. The author conducts a verse by verse study of Matthew twenty-four which takes up Christ’s great prophecy of His own second coming. Just the book you should read.
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