THE EARTH FILLED WITH VIOLENCE.
By L. A. P.
SELFISHNESS and all its attendant evils have been manifested in the world from the beginning, and in the time of Noah men had become so wicked that the record states that the world was filled with violence, for which cause God destroyed the evil works by a flood. As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be just before the coming of the Lord. (Matt. 24:37.) Because of universal abandonment to selfish impulses the same evils will be prevalent, and indeed if possible by reason of added ages, the wickedness of mankind will be greater. Certain it is that at the time of the Master's second coming the world will have filled to the brim its cup of iniquity. Special attention is called to such a condition of the world as a sign of the last days by the apostle Paul in 2 Tim. 3:1-5. Selfishness, covetousness, fierceness, the love of pleasure, together with the other characteristics mentioned, are productive of every wicked deed in the whole category of sins, and when times become “perilous” by reason of such widespread wickedness, then let it be known that the last days have been reached. While such perils have always existed, the time given this special prominence is a time of peril unprecedented in the history of the world as it now stands. And what do we see in the world to-day? Let the chronicles of the life of the world, the mirrors of daily events and happenings, the newspapers, tell. We shall not attempt to present any overwhelming statistics, but such in plenty may be had. From the columns of a few only of the dailies that come to our table, we have made a count of various criminal and other items for the week just ended. Of murders there were 35; suicides, 12; deaths by accidents, 69; assaults, shootings, stabbings, etc., 16; robberies, 22; embezzlings, 5; lynchings, 1; losses by fire, $2,000,000, to say nothing of strikes, wrecks, earthquakes, floods, storms, and the mass of divorce cases, bigamy, and other criminal cases, and “civil” suits now on file in the courts. Nearly all the above occurred in this country, and the figures given must of necessity be vastly below the real facts; indeed, the records of the seven days specially observed appear to us to be small in comparison with other weeks. But could not all these items be told in a few words in the dailies, and given inferior positions as compared with other and more peaceable news?—Yes, but they are not. Column after column, page after page, with bold headlines, are devoted to these things, to wars and to national disputes with threatenings of wars, to massacres by thousands, cruelty and oppression, and nameless iniquity, the world over, to scandals, and to “pleasures,”—games, sports, etc.—for the lovers thereof. These are not the minor items presented to a reading world; they comprise the great mass of news, and must reveal but a portion of the evil and woe of the world, for the press is limited, after all. It has been often said, and it is true, as multitudes can witness, that the black crimes and fiendish atrocities whose recital occasions but a passing notice now would have been the topic for months and years of comment to the readers of one such event a generation ago. What do these things mean? Is it time to cry, “Peace and safety,” or are we indeed in the “perilous times” that betoken the “last days”?