GOD'S CURE FOR ANARCHY by S.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 20, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 47.

GOD'S CURE FOR ANARCHY.

By S.

Austria, Russia, and Italy are laying upon England and America the blame for the spread of Anarchy, because of the greater liberty granted to men in England and America, and because Anarchists have found shelter in these countries when they have been outlawed in their own.

Anglo-Saxon writers, in turn, put the blame upon those countries in which Anarchy or Nihilism was first organized, viz., Russia, Italy, and Austria, and declare the cause to be the lack of liberty, the oppression, under which the subjects of those nations suffer.

Italy, Austria, and Russia are supposed to be responsible because of the harsh laws which they maintain, and the rigorous punishments inflicted for their infraction. America and England are supposed to be responsible, because hunted Anarchists flee to their shores, and are thus beyond the reach of punishment for being Anarchists.

Canadian papers lay upon capitalists the blame for Anarchy's presence in America, the capitalists having imported the Anarchists among the cheap laborers brought over to America from the hot-beds of Anarchy.

Certain English papers regard Anarchy as the outgrowth of the present unsatisfactory social conditions that exist throughout the world, and propose that the various governments begin at once to remedy these conditions, and thus effectually snuff out Anarchy.

The pope is reported to have declared, in effect, that upon American liberty rests the blame for the crime of Czolgosz.

The remedy of some is, better the condition of the oppressed; of others, arrest, fine, whip, imprison, banish, all who give vent to their feelings of discontent; of others, restrict the liberties of the people—the freedom of the press, the liberty of speech, the liberty of opinion.

Now, in the countries where liberty has been most restricted, Anarchy was organized; in the countries

where punishments have been most severe, Anarchy has honey-combed every part of the nation, and has often stalked into the chambers of royalty; and in the countries where liberty has been greatest, Anarchy storms, and fumes, and raves, and it finds its victim in the representative of the nation that had given the most liberty.

What is there left then, to which we can look for the cure of Anarchy? We are told that the nations must better the conditions of the depressed and down-trodden and poverty-stricken; that in that they will lay bare the root of Anarchy and pluck it out of the world. Let us examine the prospect along this line. What are Italy, Hungary, and Russia doing to alleviate the distress and poverty of the discontented who swell the ranks of Anarchy?—Heaping on taxes, and banishing, whipping, and imprisoning the discontented, thereby increasing the discontent and the occasion for punishment. What is being done by the legislative departments of other nations to alleviate the suffering of the masses?—Enacting legislation in the interests of the powerful—legislation which makes it possible for great monopolies, or syndicates, to grasp and control the wealth-producing industries of the countries, and thus increase the cost of living for the purpose of piling millions on millions. This certainly does not better the condition of the poverty-stricken and down-trodden, but heaps upon their backs a load heavier than the one which they had been bearing before. Look over the legislative acts of Congress and the Legislatures, and you may be surprised to see how few of them are in the interests of the unfortunate and depressed. Great affairs of finance, and great state, national, and international affairs consume almost the entire attention of the law-making bodies. The legislative bodies of the world will furnish no lotion capable of healing the raw sore of Anarchy. It is useless to look to them for any such soothing balm.

Is there, then, no hope for the cure of Anarchy?—None in the way in which the world is looking for it. Nations can not legislate hate out of the heart, nor love and contentment into it; neither can men drive out hate by the sting of the whip and the fear of banishment and death; and while nations and individuals are striving for mastery and for gold, the cry of distress and oppression will continue to go up unheard or unheeded. Hasty and unwise laws may be passed against Anarchy, out of pure personal fear for what the Anarchist may do, and in the hope that the law may deter him; but legislation will never reach and eradicate the root of that perennial and pernicious weed.

Anarchy means against law, without law—law-less. It began with Lucifer in heaven; it will end with Lucifer in the consuming fires of God's judgment. Rev. 20:7-10. Anarchy will come to its end, but that end will be only when the twin sisters, selfishness and sin, are burned out of the world with all the results which they have brought into it. That burning will be the burning of the great day of God. 2 Thess. 2:8; 2 Peter 3:10-12; Mal. 4:1-3. Then Anarchy, the revolt against law, will have compassed its own destruction, will have suffered the result of its own misguided course.

But there is a cure for Anarchy. It is not a human cure; it is not brought about by legislation. It comes through the great Physician and through Him alone. It will not only cure Anarchy, but it will save the Anarchist. It will do this in the individual; but only in the individual who allows it to be done for him. There will be no compulsion about it; there will be no salvation of Anarchy in mass, or as a society. That work of cure must go on in the heart until every root of bitterness is eradicated, until every selfish impulse is banished, and submission to the will of God is complete. Satan was the first Anarchist. He revolted against the law of God. He sought the overthrow of government. He sought the exaltation of self. Now the cure for Anarchy must be the very opposite of that, and we find it in Christ Jesus. This is the all-important admonition: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” That mind which was in Christ Jesus led Him to lay down his life for those who had merited death through the breaking of God's law. Thus was the majesty of the law upheld, and at the same time a way opened that men might be saved from the results of their own anarchistic course.

The heart of the carnal man is the heart of Anarchy; for we read: “The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God.” Then, in the regeneration of the heart of man, is the cure for Anarchy; that is, letting the mind of Christ displace the carnal mind. That takes Anarchy out of the individual; that saves the individual; and it is the only thing that can. That is Anarchy's only cure. And in the application of that cure, submission to the will of God is the only true and perfect liberty. S.