p. 20 | THE PRESENT TIME by George B. Wheeler

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 9, 1900

THE PRESENT TIME.

By George B. Wheeler

GEORGE B. WHEELER.

(South Lancaster, Mass.)

“A CRISIS is to be revealed in the great and prolonged controversy in the government of God on earth. Something great and decisive is to take place, and that right early. Every movement in the universe of heaven is to prepare the world for the great crisis.”

These statements are startling enough to awaken any who are asleep. The conditions that are declared to hasten the crisis are already upon us in so marked a manner as to excite comment by those who do not understand their meaning. “Intensity is taking possession of every earthly element.” In proof of this, I quote the following from the Paris Temps:—

America is fast becoming a nation of hysterics. Everything is done on the spur of the moment, and under stress of the greatest excitement. This same hysteria brought on the war against Spain. It is responsible for the horrible lynchings. The people have evidently adopted the policy of acting in haste and repenting at leisure. Popular excitement is mistaken for public sentiment, and the national lawmakers frequently allow themselves to be frightened into action which their calm judgment condemns.

The Boston Herald, in replying to this, declares that the same conditions are true of France and also of other nations.

This state of intensity, which is moving the world, accounts for the rapid development of the sentiments that now move the nation, which would not have seemed possible a short time ago; for instance, the repudiation of the principles of a republic, and the toleration of the extreme cruelty and brutality shown in the lynchings in various parts of the country. The cause of all this is that “a new life is being diffused, and is springing up from beneath, and taking fast hold of all Satan’s agencies, preparatory to the last great conflict and struggle.”

This is seen in the character of the sentiment that is now moving this country and the world. It is antagonistic to every principle of liberty, justice, and truth. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the most perfect guardians of liberty and human rights that were ever framed, are now derided, and are declared to belong to a past age; and prominent religious journals and clergymen are now publicly declaring, without rebuke, that measures ought to be taken to suppress those who oppose Sunday observance; and that those who will not keep Sunday sacred ought to be put to death.

Under these rapidly changing sentiments for the worse, how long will it take to bring about the fulfillment of the prophecy “that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed”? Rev. 13 : 15.

Surely, a great crisis is just before the people of God, and “while a new life is springing up from beneath,” it is also true that “a new light, and life, and power is descending from on high, and taking possession of God’s people who are not dead, as many now are, in trespasses and sins.” And as “every movement in the universe of heaven is to prepare the world for the great crisis,” it follows that all heaven is ready to assist those who are awake to the duties that now rest upon them. In the light of this let us take courage.