p. 8 | HER DAYS NUMBERED by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 4, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 31.

HER DAYS NUMBERED.

By T.

It is very interesting to observe the matter-of-fact way in which China is being dealt with in the discussions of the Old World. Mr. R. S. Yorke in a recent Fortnightly Review says, “It is hardly possible to avoid the conclusion that the days of China, as an independent and integral power, are numbered.” Another sentence in his article reads, “The only reasonable course to pursue is to bury the remains and divide up the estate.”

The burden of the discussions, not only in England but on the Continent, show that the one thing that is absorbing the attention of the “Powers” in their efforts to divide up China is to secure the Chinese trade. Business and traffic are the one thing sought after. The moneyed men of the world are ever grasping after new fields for trade. And the moneyed men of the world are the great dominating power in the several nations. They see these openings for traffic, and soon succeed in convincing their governments that “patriotism” and “loyalty to home interests” require the securing of “additional outlets for their products.”

Poor old China seems now to be the next in order to be victimized by this policy. And it is too bad that a “heathen nation” should be thus broken down and divided among the “great Christian nations.” There are many Christians in these great nations, but they can not be called “Christian nations.” For if they were Christian indeed and not in name merely, they would not stand ready to pounce upon China for the sole purpose of sordid gain. The hollow sham of such Christianity should be apparent to any one.

And when the facts as they exist are looked at, rather than as they may appear from a superficial view, very much of what passes in the world to-day for Christianity is no Christianity at all. And the notion that the world is getting better and better is the greatest delusion that was ever cast upon the minds of men. The profession of Christianity is woven into a cloak to cover all manner of sin and crime. But the real wolf within the stolen garment is too clearly apparent to deceive any one who has a spark of discernment left. It may be pleasant to listen to the platitudes from platform and press about the “glorious goodness of this age,” but facts are facts. Just take time to look at the real actual facts.

Dangers, the like of which have never confronted the world, lie just before us and all around us. And your own observation forces you to acknowledge it. Do not be deceived. Study the situation just as it is and learn what it means. Moments now are more than golden. And mistakes and failures in correctly reading the significance of the absorbing events of to-day may result in eternal ruin.