p. 258 | A Sign of the Times by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 7, 1883

A Sign of the Times.

By Editor

THE world is full of strange contradictions. The most thoughtful and observing in nearly all the churches are united in the opinion that genuine piety is at a low ebb in the Christian world, while the mass of professors confidently predict that the world must soon be evangelized under their zealous missionary efforts. Crime is greatly on the increase, and human life seems to have lost its value throughout the world, yet the great majority of preachers assure their hearers that a millennium of peace and good will must soon be ushered in. The nations of the earth are bankrupting themselves in the effort to keep pace with each other in preparing for war, and alienating the hearts of their subjects by imposing on them the most grievous burdens in order to keep on a strong war footing; and still the body of the clergy, especially of the Protestant denominations, are complacently teaching that the nations are becoming converted to the principles of peace, and that war will soon be a thing unknown. If any compare the statements of the prophets with the actual condition of the world, and point out the result as given in the words of the Bible, they are denounced as "alarmists," and the secular and religious press unite in heaping ridicule on what they call "fanaticism." But all this fulfills the Scriptures. Speaking of the days immediately preceding the coming of "the Lord himself" in the clouds of heaven, Paul says: "For when they shall say Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall not escape." 1 Thess. 5:3. While the mass sing the popular song, "There's a good time coming," there is nothing to indicate a peaceful future for this world.

We are opposed to fanaticism in any and every form; we have always feared its influence upon the cause of truth. But we fear formalism much more. This is declared to be the ruling characteristic of religionists in the last days: "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." See 2 Tim. 3:1-5. The prominent sin of the last church, and the subject of the most impressive warning, is lukewarmness. Rev. 3:14-18. Where fanaticism has slain its thousands, formalism has slain its tens of thousands.

We are willing to be called an alarmist; nay, we are even anxious to earn the title. We believe we are in the last days, when the Lord is near to come; when the day of the Lord is at hand. Of this time the Lord speaks by the prophet Joel, saying: "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land [Heb., the earth] tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, it is nigh at hand." Joel 2:1.

Speaking of the coming of this day the Lord Jesus said that men's hearts should fail them for fear, and for looking after [Revision—expectation of] those things which are coming on the earth. See Luke 21:25-36. It is no use to deny that perils are greatly increasing on the earth. Besides the perils of which Paul spoke in 2 Tim. 3:1-5, which relate to the declension of piety in the churches, and their preference of fables and traditions to the sound doctrines of the word, 2 Tim. 4:1-4, there are perils of another nature multiplying on every hand. The very elements are disturbed to a degree never before known. A few years ago the destruction by fire was truly appalling; many who observed the fires in Chicago, and in Michigan, firmly believed and still believe that there was something unnatural in their spread and havoc. The atmosphere is charged with destruction, so that multitudes tremble at the sight of every rising cloud. Who shall explain the unprecedented frequency of tornadoes or cyclones? A new business is now coming to the front; insuring against damage by wind-storms, and the prospect is fair that it will become the most popular of all insurance enterprises. Is this a matter of chance?

Society is overcharged with elements of danger, as it has never been before. A few years ago the restless, dissatisfied, agrarian element held commerce in check for a short time, by stopping railroad traveling and destroying railroad property. Had this state of things continued a few weeks the consequences to the inhabitants of our overgrown cities could not be imagined. They are dependent upon these lines of traffic for their daily bread. But the peril was brief in its continuance—just long enough to show us what may be at any time. Under the various names of nihilists, socialists, communists, land-leagues, the black hand, etc., the dangerous classes hold every nation in Europe in fear. Crowned heads tremble, and rulers fear to take their crowns. Men of wealth grow anxious for their treasures, and Government property is in constant danger. To free themselves of these dangers the Governments of Europe ship their criminals and "suspects" to the United States, where the leniency of our laws permit them to prepare the means of destroying life and property as they would not be permitted in any monarchy, whence these means are shipped back to the lands of their nativity to work ruin to the hated classes,—the rulers and the wealthy. By this unwise course on the part of European nations, and by errors in our immigration laws, our country is literally infested with hordes of desperate men who glory in evil, who rejoice in iniquity, and in whose eyes human life has no value whatever.

Under the head of "The Dynamite Peril," the Christian Statesman furnishes the following article. We invite the reader's careful attention to its statements, not only to learn what is now going on in the land, but to understand what is possible, and what it is highly probable will take place not many years hence. Religious and non-religious papers may join in scoffing at the folly of Adventists for taking such a gloomy view of the future of this world, but we do not envy them their position. Their own folly, in hiding their eyes, and turning away the eyes of the people from these dangers, will be manifest only too soon. For ourselves, with unwavering confidence in the "sure word of prophecy," we shall not cease to "sound an alarm," and clear ourselves from the blood of souls, "whether they will hear or whether they will forbear." Eze. 2.

"Modern science has exposed society to a grave danger. The materials for nitrous compounds of terrific explosive energy can be cheaply purchased and easily and secretly combined. Life and property are, by these means, as never before, placed at the mercy of the dangerous classes of society. A speech was made in New York on the 7th inst., by a man by the name of 'Mezzeroff,' at an ostensible meeting of tenants, but what was really a gathering of one of the branches of the dynamite school. He said: 'I will show you some day what I can do with ten pounds of pure tri-nitro-glycerine, of whose composition England knows nothing, because the only men there who knew about it were blown up by it. I take it through the street in my pocket; carry it about in the horse-cars. Not long ago I was traveling with some friends in a car, and an old woman came and sat down on the two bombs I had with me. A little good nitric and sulphuric acid, with pure glycerine, such as ladies use, mixed in the proper proportions, and five or six pounds of it, such as could easily be carried in the pocket, would destroy the big post-office down town. (A voice—How much would it take to blow up the bridge?) No confinement is necessary for tri-nitro-glycerine. In the open air it will expand to 1,300 times its own size at the rate of 200,000 feet a minute. When I went to Boston the other day, three detectives, one a woman, followed me and tried to trade to find out where my college is where I teach how explosives are compounded, in order to put a stop to my career. Now, I have the same right to educate men in chemistry as Professor Chandler has, and I won't stop until every workingman in Europe and America knows how to use explosives against autocratic governments and grasping monopolies. I have the recipes for forty-two explosives in a burglar-proof safe, and should I die, they will be published to the world in order that all may know how to deliver themselves from tyrants and those who wrong them. I can take tea and similar articles of food from the family table and make explosives with them more powerful than Italian gunpowder, the strongest gunpowder there is.'"

"The fiendish glee with which this man prates of his deadly power and reckless purpose is blood-curdling, like that of a man 'who scattereth fire-brands, arrows and death, and saith, Am I not in sport?' Never had the world a clearer illustration of the principle that great power, unless controlled by conscience and love, is a great peril to all around. This is the ground of our protest against an education which sharpens and strengthens the intellect while it neglects the regulating faculties. 'Why,' exclaimed Rufus King, counsel for the friends of the Bible in the Cincinnati School Case, 'why should I be taxed to educate my neighbor's child, if that education only makes the little rascal twice as sharp without any additional protection to my throat?'"

There is danger impending in California. We have noticed its growth for some time, but have refrained from mentioning it; but it will not remain concealed. It will be most fortunate for the "railroad magnates" to heed the warning. We sincerely wish they would, and so put off the evil day which is sure to come unless steps are speedily taken to avert it. We fear that California will be the first to enter upon a crusade of force against monopolies, as it was the first to endeavor to unreasonably enforce an unjust Sunday Law. But we have little hope that either class—monopolists or their opposers—will act wisely. He who knows the end from the beginning said: "In the last days perilous times shall come;" and, "There shall be a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation." Dan. 12:1. We have not space in this article to offer proof that we are living in the age of the fulfillment of these prophecies; but the proof can be given.

We may be asked if we are not dismayed at the prospect as we view it. We are not; for the word of the Lord also says: "And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Dismay belongs to those who scoff; to those who will not heed the warning given by the prophets, nor tremble at the word of the Lord.