Aerial Cruisers

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 14, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 36.

WHEN the big war in Europe started, a little over a year ago, there were two modern weapons that had not been tested out to any great extent in actual battle,— the submarine and the various types of airships. But since the war has been in progress, there has been a feverish haste to develop both of these.

Recent dispatches tell of these aëro-cruisers that have been going in fleets across the enemies' countries, dropping bombs charged with asphyxiating gases, and spreading not only terror but destruction. The exploits with this class of death-dealing equipment were not so great during the early part of the war. They were used then more for scouting purposes. But there seems to have been time for quite a number of additional ones to be built, so that now they can be grouped in fleets, and sent on invading and destructive trips as well as on scouting duty.

ONE OF THE NEW ENGLISH GUNS IN ACTION ON THE GALLIPOLI PENINSULA. NOTE THE “RECOIL CYLINDERS.”

When one stops to think of the developments that have placed such weapons in the hands of men, so that they can rain great bombs of destruction from the air, how vividly does it bring to mind the language of the prophet Jeremiah, who was evidently viewing these very times in which we live, when he said:

“My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet; the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.” Jer. 4:19, 20, A. R. V.

“Destruction upon destruction is cried,” says the prophet. “The whole land is laid waste.” How does this graphic language describe the waste and the destruction that are widespread in the war regions of devastated and bleeding Europe!

Following the verses quoted above, if the reader will take pains to turn to his Bible, he will find that the prophet is describing, in very vivid language, further scenes connected with the closing hours of time, when “the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, and before His fierce anger.”

Not only do we have such scriptures as the foregoing that are descriptive of this time, but there is a deepening impression upon the minds of men everywhere that the world is standing in the presence of some sublime though awful climax. This impression is from the Spirit of God working upon the minds of men, to get them to realize the meaning of the prophetic Word, and to prepare for the great event that lies just before us.