p. 8 | Abounding Iniquity

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 25, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 52.

Abounding Iniquity.

[From the Present Truth, London, England.]

The Saviour mentioned abounding iniquity as one of the signs of the last days; the following item from Germany is a slight indication of how the sign is being fulfilled:—

At a conference of German associations for combating immorality, held in Leipzig, the speakers all seemed unanimous in believing that Germany is rapidly growing more immoral. Doctor Stöcker, the well-known ex-court chaplain, especially drew attention to some startling statistics. During the last eight years, he said, crimes against morality have doubled, rising from 7,400 to 14,700. During the same period offenses against girls under fourteen years have trebled, and rape also increases at an alarming rate. He stated that in Cologne and Aachen forty-three persons have been lately imprisoned for crimes against girls under fourteen. Summing up, he declared that such a state of affairs existed that there must be something rotten among the people.

A writer in The Echo states that on the 12th of last month he and a friend watched a public-house [a saloon] for an hour and a half, and saw during that time 876 persons enter—290 men, 380 women, 83 youths and girls, and 123 very young children and babies in arms. Seven perambulators were taken in. On the same evening, during an hour and a half, the watchers counted 591 persons enter another house—240 men, 267 women, 16 youths and girls, and 68 children and babies!