OUTRAGED JUSTICE | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 4, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 40.

OUTRAGED JUSTICE.

THE trial of Dreyfus has resulted in his conviction and sentence to ten years' imprisonment. This has been widely commented upon all through the world. And there seems to be a general opinion that the man is innocent, and that the conviction and sentence to imprisonment are a gross outrage on justice.

There are thousands of cases being tried every day where justice is being scandalously outraged. But they are not thought so much of because they have not come so prominently before the world. But it is a well-known fact that money can purchase court decisions freely in many places, and because of this failure of justice in the courts, mobs and riotous violence are becoming more and more common.

Consider the following words of the prophet Isaiah, and see if you do not find in them a vivid description of these times: "None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth; they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. . . . Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings; they have made them crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us; we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves; we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; and the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment. And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, an helmet of salvation upon His head; and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak." Isaiah 59:4-17.

The foregoing scripture speaks of a time when judgment shall be turned away backward because of the great evil in the world. And this wickedness becomes so great that it is finally necessary for God to clothe Himself with His garments of righteousness and come forth to take vengeance upon the unjust deeds of mankind. Does not the Spirit of God bring home the conviction to your heart that the foregoing words of the prophet are being literally fulfilled in the world to-day? And how long can things go at the present rate before the great Judge of heaven and earth will be required to destroy this malignant evil? If men will take the time to think of the prophecies of the Bible, they can not fail to see that the moral condition of the world to-day has an ominous portent.

ON September 17, the "Monastery and College of the Holy Land" was dedicated, with "imposing ceremonies," in Washington, D. C. This institution is built by the "Franciscan Friars of the Holy Land," an order of monks belonging to the Franciscans, who have the special object in view of preserving the so-called sacred relics of the sepulcher of Christ, the stables of Bethlehem, etc. It seems too bad that people should turn away from the living Christ to busy themselves in caring for some relic that has neither life nor power. The life and power of Christ are in His Word, and not in some supposed relic of His cross or His tomb. O, that men would come to the living Word and taste of its real, life-giving power!

RESERVED UNTO FIRE.

"As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." These are the words of the Saviour, as recorded in Luke 17:26.

Three Burning Oil Wells in the Fields of Bibi Eybat. (By courtesy of Scientific American Supplement.)

"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." This is almost the same language, and is found in Matt. 24:37.

Then it will be ever interesting to study the days of Noah, for the scenes of that time were similar to what we will have in these last days.

The apostle Peter speaks of the "days of Noah," as follows:—

"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water; whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:3-7.

"The world that then was"—the world of Noah's time—was "overflowed with water" and "perished." In the overflowing of the earth with water in that time the record says, "All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." Gen. 7:11. Thus not only did the water pour down from above, but the "fountains of the great deep" were broken up. Before the flood the waters that now overflow such a large portion of the earth's surface were evidently in the heart of the earth. "The great deep" was a sea inside of the earth instead of seas on its surface, as at present. And when the flood came, the water from within united with the water from above, and the mighty deluge was soon over all the world.

Now note again more carefully the words of Peter: "The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word [of the Lord] are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Then just as the waters in that time burst forth from the earth to meet the waters from the sky, even so in the great day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men the fire from within the earth will leap forth to meet the fire that shall come down from above. Then it was a deluge of water, but soon it will be a deluge of fire.

The waters that were originally in the heart of the earth have been supplanted by the most combustible materials. Natural gas and petroleum are found in many parts of the world. Smoking volcanoes and spouting geysers tell of the heat and combustible materials that are in the earth. The illustration on this page is a miniature representation of the mighty fires that may be started from the gases and oils that are in the bosom of the earth. Thus may we see that the forces are being prepared that will fulfil God's Word in the great judgment day.

There are many speculations in regard to the heat that is in the center of the earth, and also in regard to these combustible materials that are found in so many places. But none of these speculations will stand. The Word of God tells the truth, and opens before us the real situation.

Any one can see that the great forces are all prepared, and when the proper time is reached, Divine Justice will speak the word that will loosen these elements of fire, and again will the fountains of the great deep be broken up. And against that day of the destruction of evil, along with all evil men, the Lord has provided a secure refuge. No one who will accept His mercy can be left out.