The Present Situation

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 25, 1909

The Present Situation

THE bloodless revolution in the world of thought which has brought such remarkable changes during the last quarter of a century is acknowledged by discriminating observers in every civilized land. As an illustration of the view now taken by many of the best thinkers, we quote the following paragraph from the Contemporary Review for January:—

The consideration formerly shown for authority—religious, political, social—is now undeniably on the wane, while disregard for things established and hallowed by wont and tradition is gradually affecting the views taken of private property. Even institutions which church and state still combine to preserve, such, for instance, as marriage, are no longer beyond the range either of criticism or of experiment. In the British empire the change in this respect may still be hardly noticeable. But in other countries it is manifest to the least observant. On the decay of religious fervor and its manifold causes it is needless now to dwell. It may be enough to say that this phenomenon also is at least real, however we may be inclined to explain it. Religion, as our forefathers understood it, is being transformed. Even when the ecclesiastical shell is preserved, the kernel has undergone a change. Ancient dogmas are ceasing to command belief; pious practises are discontinued as irksome or meaningless. Church discipline, in so far as it used to be felt as a real check, is now very often shaken off as a soul-fetter. And worst of all—if one can give ethical designations to laws of human development—no fresh revelation has yet been vouchsafed to numb the pain caused by blasted hopes, to kindle new and fruitful aspirations, or to restore balance and serenity to the disenchanted. For the aching unrest of unsatisfied souls the principal anodyne yet offered is beauty in art or symbolical truth in mysticism.

This is a fairly accurate description of the results which have thus far appeared from the rejection of the special light of truth offered to the world in the heavenly message of preparation for the coming of our Lord; but the end is not yet. The only way of recovery from this downfall will be by the acceptance of that regenerating truth which is designed to prepare a people for translation; and this will be an individual rather than a collective experience.