THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 18, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 25.

“THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.”

Not this paper, but the signs or omens of some portentous change. Some of these signs are being felt by the most optimistic journals and men. One such, prominent among periodicals, is the Independent of New York. It summarizes some of the more prominent of these omens in its issue of May 22. It thus speaks:—

Chief among signs of the times is a general feeling of apprehension.

When the world is at peace, when industry is rewarded with abundance, when no great iniquity shocks the moral sense, when skies are serene and the heart of man is glad, all signs become a contradiction in terms, they cease to signify. If men linger and dream at the crater’s edge, we know that the volcano slumbers. Its steam and sulphurous fumes do not alarm. If while yet the years are fat none remember that once upon a time the seven lean years did come, we know that the works of drought and the unseasonable frosts are not portentous. If the name of war awakens only smiles of incredulity, we know that the growing pains of nations are as yet but twinges.

It is when men look anxiously in one another’s faces and talk about strange rumblings which have been heard that signs have meaning. We know that the dreamers would not have awakened, and that the light-hearted would not have grown serious, unless a thousand trifling reminders of some possible change in the aspect of nature or in the affairs of man had all at once become the mutterings of a change impending.

There is no denying that such apprehension, a general and deepening feeling of disquiet, a shivering and mysterious dread, is at this moment creeping over mankind.

Outwardly all is peace in international affairs. The convulsions in China have ceased. The troops have retired. Russia does not press her more radical demands. The German emperor is making himself persona grata to those who not long since regarded him with detestation. Domestic insurrections and civil wars have nearly subsided. The Filipinos are surrendering. The Boers talk of terms. In business such prosperity was never known as that which overwhelms the power of conception to-day.

Is this peace a portentous stillness before the dread rush of the hurricane? Is this prosperity the storing up of titanic and demoniac forces which will presently explode, like steam in the bowels of Pelée. Who knows?

Who knows? But why do we ask the question? It is the question itself that reveals a fear. Everywhere, in one or another form, men are asking it, and the asking is the sign that mutterings are heard, that the world is unquiet, that ambitious nations are restive, that oppressions are felt, that injustice is creating resentment, that business methods are creating distrust.

When this chief sign of impending change appears, it is well for the wise and the cool man to study other signs of the times, and to ask how far apprehension is justified. Should we allay fear, or should we warn men to flee?

Apprehension is feeling. It must be interpreted by signs that are disclosed in human conduct. Are governments by their behavior indicating a policy of outreaching, of aggression? That behavior is a sign of war, and the only further question is, When? Had Wilhelmina died, would the world by this time have been asking, “When will the first blow be struck?” Do great masses of human beings rise in insurrection or revolt? That behavior is a sign of an oppression or of an injustice that will have to cease, and the only further question is, When? Did the bread riots in Russia and the suffrage riots in Belgium help the social prognosticator to answer when? Do thousands of wage-earners refuse to work? That behavior is a sign that sooner or later the public will insist upon knowing the exact truth about the relations of employers to employed and upon disabusing the employers’ mind of his anti-social notion that he may conduct his business exactly as he pleases. The only further question is, When? Does the great strike of the coal-miners help us to say when? Do great operators in the stock market increase their liabilities in a geometrical progression, and do the banks progressively convert reserves into book credits and call loans? That behavior is a sign that the financial balloon will burst, and the only further question is, When? Do the Louisville and Nashville episode, the Northern Securities merger, and the proposition of the Steel Company syndicate to convert preferred stock into a $200,000,000 junior mortgage help us to say when?

Signs like these have been multiplying of late, multiplying rapidly. Can we wonder that the general sign of apprehension is day by day growing more ominous? It is not yet so ominous as to presage panic; but it warns the wise man to be conservative in his transactions, to scrutinize the quality of his securities, to deal justly by his employees and honorably by all men, to study great civic problems, and as a good citizen to help to remedy all wrong. He who heeds this warning will know where to find safety and will be able to help others to safety when the storm breaks—when the knaves and the fools suddenly awaken to “a certain fearful looking for of judgment.”

But these very signs are foretold by Jesus as signs of His second coming. Listen to what He says: “And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Luke 21:25–27.

All these occurrences are tokens of warning mercy from God. The wise man is he who fears God. Well does the prophet say of these days: “None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Dan. 12:10. God warned St. Pierre, but the people would not heed. He is warning the world; how many will heed the warning?