p. 6 | The World on Fire by G. B. T.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 10, 1916

“The World on Fire”

By G. B. T.

THE evening of Jan. 29, 1916, the President of the United States, speaking at Cleveland, Ohio, uttered what we believe to be the most solemn warning and startling statements regarding the critical times in which we find ourselves that have fallen from the lips of any ruler. From a summary given in the Washington Post of January 30, under the heading “Nation on Brink of Crisis,” we take the following:—

The world is on fire.

Sparks are likely to drop anywhere.

Things are getting more and more difficult to handle.

If all could see the dispatches I read every hour, they would know how difficult it has been to maintain peace.

New circumstances have arisen for which the country must prepare itself.

There are men all over the United States prepared, equipped and ready, to go out at the call of the national government upon the shortest possible notice.

You will ask me, Why do you say the shortest possible notice?

Because, gentlemen, let me tell you very solemnly you cannot afford to postpone this thing. I do not know what a single day may bring forth.

I do not wish to leave you with the impression that I am thinking of some particular danger. I merely want to leave you with this solemn impression that I know that we are daily treading amidst the most intricate dangers, and that the dangers that we are treading amongst are not of our making and are not under our control; and that no man in the United States knows what a single week or a single day or a single hour may bring forth.

These are solemn things to say to you, but I would be unworthy of my office if I did not come out and tell you with absolute frankness just exactly what I understand the situation to be.

Such solemn statements spoken by the nation’s chief executive, spoken by a man who knows what he is talking about and who is taking the people into his confidence, are worthy of the most sober consideration by the nation and the world. Solemnly and earnestly he tells us that the world is in a blaze of war, the sparks of which may fall on our land at any time.

Bishop Newman in 1898 was reported to have said:—

We are now passing through the most unsettled condition of the whole world since the crucifixion of Christ.

And whatever cause it is that touches the first match to the fuse, no human power can foretell in what countries that fuse may lead to an international explosion.

We are surely living amid perilous times. We know not when there will be an international explosion involving this country. The day of trouble is upon us; the great day of God hasteth greatly. We must send forth the warning, and prepare our hearts for that day.

G. B. T.