THOSE who have watched the drift of events, and have kept in sympathetic touch with the moods and tendencies of public feeling during the past few years, have doubtless realized that there has been an undoubted change in the situation, although they might find it difficult to define this change in exact terms. An increasing intensity has seemed to take possession of men and nations. In the mad race for wealth there has been a growing disregard for the principles of justice and righteousness. In the struggle for position and power there has been less and less attention paid to moral considerations in the determined effort to gratify ambition. In religious circles the departure from the old faith has been marked and rapid, and there has been an almost wholesale rejection of doctrines which for many centuries have been regarded as fundamental to Christianity. The number and the character of the crimes committed are such as to arrest the attention of many serious people, and to disturb the orthodox belief in a soon-coming millennium of peace and righteousness. There are exhibitions of satanic ingenuity in inventing new methods of evil-doing and of reckless daring in criminal operations which were not dreamed of by the most depraved of the lawless class a few years ago. And so many and so shocking are the revelations concerning the shameless corruption of city and state governments and the lawless greed of powerful corporations that the public conscience seems to be in danger of being hardened by the very familiarity with abounding iniquity. It is certain that things are perceptibly different from what they were even a few years ago. What does all this mean?—It means that we have reached those times of peril and perplexity which indicate the nearness of the second advent and the end of the present order of things. In the light of the prophetic scriptures there is no other possible explanation of the present situation. Surely the time is short, and yet under all this pressure of evil there is a great work to be done. The intensity of sin must be met by the intensity of righteousness. The last warning and saving message must be given speedily, and the end must come quickly. The perils and perplexities of the time ought to stimulate us to more earnest and loyal service in hastening the coming of the kingdom.