p. 180 | THE COMING STORM

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 6, 1878

THE COMING STORM.

As S. D. Adventists have, in years past, expressed their convictions from the prophecies that a time of trouble was approaching which would bring distress of nations with perplexity and cause men's hearts to fail them for fear, culminating in the great destruction of the last day, they have been set down as alarmists, uttering their warnings and creating fears, without cause or occasion. But the indications of such approaching trouble are now too apparent to be ignored, and the staid religious and political papers of the land are becoming as intensely alarmists as ever we have been.

The country is becoming thoroughly aroused by the evils which already perplex, and the dangers which so alarmingly threaten us; and such leaders of thought as the Independent, Scribner's Monthly, Christian Union, Advance, Presbyterian, N. Y. Tribune, and other papers are loud in the utterance of their apprehensions of what may be experienced in this country, unless the storm can be averted.

Those who read the prophecies aright are not taken by surprise in this matter, and we have no occasion to act as though any new revelation had been made to us. There are those bearing the Advent name who have lost their message and have scarcely any other stock in trade but the “signs of the times.” The zeal of such rises with prodigious effervescence when some startling event transpires, or some great revolution is impending, but as readily subsides when the event becomes old, or the danger passes.

The true basis of our faith is the purpose of God as revealed in his word. But yet these signs have their place and are entitled to their share of consideration as corroborative evidence. The moral and political phases which the world now presents, would be no definite indication of the last days, had not prophecy connected this condition of things and the last days together. On the other hand, if, having the predictions, no such state of the world was evident, it would show that we had not yet reached the time for the fulfillment of the prophecy. But when we have them both together, all doubts, like metals in the mingling flames of a compound blow-pipe, instantly melt away.

All the baleful elements which led to the reign of terror in France in 1793 and 4, are now at work throughout all Europe and America, threatening to precipitate upon the world within a few weeks or months at most, the direst, because the most wide-spread, calamities the world has ever seen. In relation to the times and prospects we quote a few of the now extensively published opinions of the press.

Scribner's leading topic in the March number is entitled “An Epidemic of Dishonesty.” It calls for some concert of action to preach down or pray for “the removal of this awful epidemic of dishonesty.” It says that while the head is orthodox, the heart and life are heterodox, and until these are reached as they are not now, this epidemic will continue and become a national disease like the leprosy in Arabia.

The present Congress is characterized by such unwise and unsatisfactory legislation, that the Philadelphia Ledger declares that the country will keep an informal day of thanksgiving when its law-makers disband.

The Tilden-Potter resolution introduced in the House of Representatives, which looks to the ousting of Mr. Hayes from the presidential chair, the N. Y. Independent denounces as revolution, “and what that revolution would involve,” it says, “no one can tell until the facts themselves should become their own reporters.” Again, referring to the Congress by which the votes were counted it says:—

“The action of the latter settled the question and put it beyond controversy, except by a quo warranto proceeding under law; and, if the question thus settled is to be unsettled by a subsequent Congress, and thus this Government is to be Mexicanized by a defeated and revolutionary faction, then the people may as well understand first as last that the days of the Great Republic are numbered. We are not alarmists without an occasion; yet we cannot conceal from ourselves, and will not from our readers, the fact that there are immense possibilities of mischief in this new movement of the Democrats.”

The municipal debts of our cities are becoming a source of perplexity, increased taxation, and consequent distress. The twelve largest cities of the Union have more than doubled their municipal debts within the last ten years, thus swelling the annual taxation to $80,000,000, or about $16 per capita of their entire population.

Of the Communistic movement the Christian Statesman says:—

“That the Communists are drilling in various cities, and maintaining a semi-military organization, can no longer be denied. A call was issued last week in St. Louis, for all Internationals who had seen military service in this or other countries to meet for organization. Three or four hundred men assembled in response to the call, and the object was declared to be to organize military companies to maintain the rights of workingmen against the police. We are no alarmists. We have no fear that Communism will ever destroy American institutions. It did not destroy France, and probably never will, but it gave infinite trouble, and will again. It will do the same in America. It is no wiser to ignore social dangers than to exaggerate. The semi-military organization of Roman Catholics in their various societies, displayed occasionally in public processions, is another fact which, however inveterate optimists may flout it, their leaders are careful to maintain.”

Of the threatening dangers of Communism, and their immediate cause, the Presbyterian says:—

“We have mutterings of a storm in our political and social sky. Angry flashes are shot athwart the land, ominous enough to awake the stolid and heartless, were it not that many may be deceived by names. It is called Communism, Internationalism, Workingmen's Associations, Red Republicanism, which in themselves are bad enough, but under these are concealed real want, which is more to be dreaded than deviltry. The desperate in purpose are leading the desperate in condition, and when combined they are fearful; and if a divorce is not obtained between honest need and organized conspiracy, and the former relieved soon, and the latter stamped out, we may have a fearful crisis, to meet perhaps in blood. There is no time for trifling. The extremes of need and of diabolism are making a junction, and like two charged clouds, when brought in contact, a tempest will ensue.”

“In the cities, where Communism is now growing so rapidly, untold and indescribable sufferings exist among those who would toil if they had any opportunity. And we are not guessing at this state of things. As pastors, we know it, until our hearts feel at times as if they were leaden, over the greatness of their privations, and our utter impotence to help. It is said in the last stages of hunger the stomach itself begins a kind of self-digestion, and then the victims see phantoms of devils. And if this starving process goes on much longer men who, with the most ordinary provisions for sustenance, are peaceful and well-disposed members of society, will not only see phantoms of devils, but will make society see them before long.”

The Sabbath Recorder in an article headed, “What are We Coming to?” says:—

“We are not an alarmist, but confess to an uneasy state of feeling. We are not among those, if any such there be, who think that there were no occasions for fear in the past, and that only evil exists at the present time. Nevertheless, we believe that the society of to-day is thoroughly honey-combed with evil of the most threatening character. Nor is this evil confined to the outside world, but in many instances those at one time standing high in the confidence of the churches have proved rotten through and through.”

“But this is only a drop in the bucket. Society, to its center, is corrupt, and doctrines the most destructive are everywhere prevailing.”

“Nor is this all. The foundation of the social fabric is assailed, and society is threatened with total disruption. Communism, that foe of the Old World, in many places is here an organized force, having its center in the great cities, but spread widely through the land, and at present is growing rapidly. This is not simply an idle, foolish sentiment, but is an organized, unlawful, brutal force, with sword, gun, and saber in hand. Nor is this organization committed to the defense of the country, but it is the drilled enemy of law as ordained for the protection of our social system. If it be said this evil is of too diminutive a character to excite fear, only numbering as its adherents those in the humbler walks of life—that no one should argue from this cause the general corruption, then we call attention to the political condition of our country. We know that from the organization of our government, political corruption has existed in many forms, but yearly this corruption has increased, until the doctrine that might makes right, if not openly professed, is boldly and shamelessly acted out. Peculation and gross dishonesty, not only here and there, but almost everywhere appear. But this is an organized evil. Rings are everywhere formed for plunder or its equivalent, and it is next to impossible to break them up, as witness the gigantic struggle in the city of New York a few years since. There is, however, another form in which this evil is working, which is worthy of the most serious and thoughtful attention of every citizen, and that is the corrupt management of the politics of the government, especially in the planning and conducting of our political campaigns. This is a growing evil, and we should awake to the fact.”

“Reader, are there not things transpiring in this country at the present time that suggest to us that we are on the verge of revolution? It is not in the province of this paper to advocate mere party measures as such, but may we not speak out when rash and destructive measures are violently pressed against the protests and remonstrances of the more thoughtful, sober, and experienced? Or, when vagabonds and the unthinking masses, who congregate at groggeries and other schools of vice, organize, and with the implements of death, thread the streets of our cities, is it not time to speak out? We warn our citizens, declaring there is danger, and to shut our eyes to this is not wise.”

The N. Y. Tribune, in an article headed, “The Danger Ahead,” calls attention to the fact that the Communists are securing control of the powerful “Trades Unions,” and thus becoming strongly fortified for the carrying out of their aims. It says:—

“In Chicago secret labor organizations, numbering three or four thousand men, have been armed, and for some weeks have been drilling in that city. There is little attempt to disguise the purposes of these organizations in this country. Sheltered by freedom, they are here to destroy freedom. They are preparing ‘for open warfare against social order and civilized society. It is high time to give this matter serious attention. Men who love order, or have property to lose, cannot afford to treat with indifference the steady advances of Communism in this country.”

Add to all this the exceptional atmospheric disturbances of these days, the cyclones, tornadoes, tidal waves, the terrible famines in Asia, and the political unrest of all Europe, the eastern difficulties still unsettled, and the nations putting themselves to the last degree of exertion to prepare for impending strife, and who dare prophesy peace and safety? and who can fail to see that we have reached the preliminary movements of the great battle of Armageddon?