THE CULMINATING BATTLE OF THE AGES.
By T.
THESE are days of rumors of war and of war preparations. Ponderous and powerful battleships, and cruisers, and torpedo boats, and torpedo-boat destroyers, are being built to fight on the seas, and great and terrible cannon, and machine guns, and rapid-fire guns, are being forged for both sea and land. Great forts line the coasts of all nations, and armies are being increased, and the call grows louder for more and more marines to man the fighting ships. The facts, yes, the terrible facts, in regard to the destructive powers of modern weapons of war, are kept constantly before the people through the discussion of the subject that is incessantly kept up. There are few, if any, who do not know of the great cannons that will throw shells weighing 2,300 pounds to a distance of twenty miles. There is scarcely a person who has not heard of the rapid-fire guns that will throw their 200-pound projectiles at the rate of eight a minute. Perhaps there is no one but has heard more or less of the machine gun that will throw from 600 to 1200 bullets a minute, keeping a steady stream of steel missiles of death pouring from its muzzle. And as these things are mentioned, the mind will run on to think of the smokeless, slow-burning, but powerful powder, of the terrific high-explosive shells, and so on to the end of the awful list. The standing armies of the nations are being increased, and the war-tax is becoming more and more difficult to bear. A great peace conference of the nations has been held, but the war spirit continues to increase in its restless, turbulent fury. We have been told that the millennium morning has dawned, but every nation has a quarrel on hand with some other nation; and while the dream is for peace, the sweeping currents of preparation are all in the direction of war. The state has its military and naval training-schools; the public schools in many sections have their military companies to which the arts of war are being taught; and even some of the churches are training companies of boy soldiers to fight with sword and gun, thus attempting the impossible task of harmonizing the horribly murderous butcheries and destructions of war with the gentle and tender love of the Prince of Peace. All these things are prominently before the world. It would be a waste of time to give any detailed description or statistics concerning that which is already making such an impression upon the public that10it is painful. Many are anxiously and earnestly asking, What will be the end of it? How will it finally result? There is a source of unmistakably correct information from which we may draw. Every question in regard to the outcome of this war-spirit that pervades the world is accurately and clearly answered. The god of war is full brother to the god of selfish, grasping greed. The two work hand in hand. This age is the most remarkable of the centuries for its greed. Men are all absorbed in the amassing of millions, and to possess even billions is the goal for which some are feverishly struggling. The present struggle in the field of commerce can not help creating animosities that must be settled on the bloody field of battle. Every item of human experience as recorded in human history goes to prove it. Wars of the past that have been fought in the interest of greed have been brought on by men whose covetous grasp had only reached to hundreds of thousands, with here and there a millionaire. But in the struggle that is upon us to-day, a few iron hands have laid hold of the multiplied millions and combined them into multiplied billions. Islands are despoiled, and nations are trampled upon, that the bursting coffers of wealth may be filled to still greater overflowing. The magnitude of the greed is so colossal that it could result in nothing short of a world-wide war—a war in which every nation and tribe on the face of the whole earth will enter the death-struggle. In the latter times of this world’s history the prophetic book tells of but one battle that shall involve the whole world. But it does tell of that one minutely and clearly. The record is, “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: ‘for they are spirits of devils, working signs; which ‘go forth unto the kings of the whole world, ‘to gather them together unto the war of the great ‘day of God, the Almighty.” Rev. 16: 13, 14, R.V. Observe that it is “the kings of the whole world” that are to be gathered to the “war of the great day of God.” The means of travel and thought communication make it possible to-day for a speedy world-wide gathering to war. Such a thing could not have been accomplished so rapidly at any time in the past. But now everything is in readiness for whole nations of men to be quickly whirled onto that great and final battle-field. And it is the working of demons that is turning the expressed sentiments of peace into acts of war, even while men are uttering their hopes for world-wide tranquility. Men talk beautifully of peace, only to turn about and fervently orate on the glories and heroism of war. The religion of the Messiah, the Hero of peace, is held as a theory; but the sermon on the mount and the Decalogue are not made the text-books of practise. The heroes of faith and of Gospel labor are but little known, while the Scipios, and the Caesars, and the Napoleons are minutely and enthusiastically studied. And yet men would dream of peace. They might as well sow seeds of thistles and expect to reap a harvest of wheat. The multitude may be feebly asking their standard-bearers to keep the banners of peace unfurled, but they are marching the quickstep of Mars, the war-god. Every prophecy shows that the end of time is right at hand. And this marshalling of the nations to the battle of the great day of God is one of the incidents in the closing scenes. God’s Word foretells it, and the events of the passing days show that the divine predictions are fulfilling right before us. The mere thought of such things is thrilling. And while the spirits of devils are working their signs to lead men to war, God is calling for volunteers who will enter His great school quickly to learn the ways of peace, and then hasten forth to the children of men, to warn them of the dangers that are impending. Where will you stand? It is a vital question. T.