MILITARISM AND PATERNALISM.
Not long since, Andrew H. Green, "the father of Greater New York," said through the New York World, "We are tending, in my judgment, toward a surplusage of militarism and the halo of glory—a danger to be guarded against." What Mr. Green says about this country is true of every country in the world. Militarism is standing out most prominently everywhere to-day. And it is also true that this militarism will continue to be stronger and stronger as the days go by. We are living in the time when the prophecy is fulfilling which tells of the anger of the nations, and of the marshaling of the legions that are rapidly preparing to be gathered by the spirit of demons to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. How impressive is the thought that we are living in such thrilling times! In the same article Mr. Green says: "The tendency all over the country is to an increase of office-holders, and an increase in their compensation. The paternal system is increasing constantly, so that one can not keep a cow in the country without some inspector being appointed to look after her health. We are in many ways shifting the obligations and duties of private citizens upon our army of public officials." There can be no doubt but that not merely this country but the whole world is driving rapidly toward the extreme of paternalism, because such a condition is incident to the great wars that the Bible so strikingly predicts for these last days. And while this tendency toward paternalism will be marked everywhere, it yet remains that the world has some object lessons and teaching in the ways of freedom that will make it hard for the people to endure the grinding of paternal despots. Hence, there will follow rioting and furious revolutions that will outdo the bloodiest days of France's Reign of Terror. The Word of God tells of a time of trouble just ahead of us such as has never been since there was a nation. Dan. 12: 1. But let it ever be borne in mind that this dark picture is for those only who refuse to awaken enough to see the gleamings of the morning of eternal day. The second coming of Christ is right at hand. His glorious eternal reign is about to begin, at which time sin and all of its dreadful consequences will be forever destroyed. These evils that we see filling the world are but the malignant efforts of Satan to destroy all that he can in his last supreme effort against the Prince of Peace. The most soul-inspiring hour of all the ages is right at hand, and this threatening evil that is filling the world is not a subject for despair, except to those who see fit to cling to their sins. He who has accepted the robes of Christ's righteousness, places the true estimate upon that which is filling the minds of so many with dreadful forebodings of overhanging evil. He sees it simply as the cloud that the Lord has told us Satan would seek to cast as a mantle of gloom across the bursting glories of the resurrection morning that is even now at hand. T. SEVEN American missionaries, with their families, from Peking, China, arrived at a Russian outpost in Siberia on August 2, after having been chased 400 miles by the Chinese. They were rescued by Russian soldiers, after suffering fearful torture from the hot sand of the desert, exposure, and lack of food and water. They report that thousands of native Christians have been massacred, and that thousands more are doomed to die at the hands of the Boxers, unless powerful reinforcements are sent to China. They state that the Chinese troops have been ordered to kill all Christians and destroy their property. A local rebellion has broken out in the Ning Po district, and the worst is feared for all the workers there, comprising two married couples and four single ladies. The German mission at Namon has been destroyed. The governor of Moukden has issued a proclamation urging the people of Manchuria to massacre all Christians. Nearly all the missions in this district are said to be destroyed, and it is reported that the Chinese converts have organized for resistance. A report from Shanghai states that four more missionaries have been murdered near Hankow. The Catholic director of missions in the province of Chi-Li reports the devastation of forty-five Christian communities, but does not give the number put to death in these various mission stations. STEERING WITHOUT A COMPASS.
REPUBLICANISM in government stands for the recognition of a people's right to rule themselves as they shall elect to do. That principle must stand also for the right of a nation to choose its own form of government. In short, the spirit of Republicanism is simply the recognition of the equality of man, and consequently the natural rights of man. An invasion of these rights means monarchism, imperialism, in civil affairs, and popism in religious affairs. While we have perfect right to come under a Republican form of government, we have no right to force another people to do so—no right to enter another nation and overturn its form of government and establish another in conformity to our views. As soon as we attempt an act of that kind, we forsake the spirit of Republicanism, and make of ourselves dictators to another people, denying to them the right which we claim for ourselves of choosing our own form of government. Such an act is just as much an apostasy from Republicanism as a national religion, and the hunting and harrying of heretics is an apostasy from true Christianity. The one denies to our neighbor the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience; the other denies to our neighbor the right of choosing his own form of government. A government may be bad, but it is not the province of Republicanism to reform it with the sword, any more than it is the province of Christianity to reform Confucianism with the weapons of war. And yet, plain and righteous as is the principle, it is jeered by the rabble, frowned upon by the military, and abandoned by professed Christians. The following quotation from the New York Observer of July 19, speaks for itself:— "American interests demand that China shall be so governed as to be orderly and prosperous, and so long as the Manchu conservatives hold power it will not be so governed. That party, which includes the present empress, must, then, be deprived of authority, and a new native government set up. In this work, which will mean war with China, the United States must again act in concert, rather than concurrently, with the other powers, if its interests are to be adequately protected. It is wise, no doubt, to say that we are not at war with China, and to outline an independent policy, but we shall have to unite with the other powers in occupying Peking and establishing a rational government there just the same." It is because the Chinese have seen some of the kind of Christianity portrayed in this quotation that they have learned to hate "the religion of the foreigner." It is because some "missionaries" to China have misrepresented Christ and Christianity that they have brought suffering upon themselves and others. This is not true of all or of many, but many true Christian men and women have foreseen what must follow the course of some who were laboring there. The calamity has come, and God may even permit China to be completely closed to mission work until His people will learn that they are entitled to no other protection than that of His arm. Mauser rifles are neither an adequate nor proper protection for missionaries or mission buildings in China or anywhere else; and yet we learn of the defense of mission compounds by these weapons in the hands of "converts." Neither native governments nor home governments are the Christian's true refuge in time of trouble; but many missionaries in China have continually pressed their petitions at these earthly thrones. Christ everywhere and always sought heaven in place of the arm of flesh. While this work which the Observer says America must do "will mean war with China," yet "it is wise, no doubt, to say we are not at war with China." This is certainly not the wisdom of Christ. The leaders of the people are drifting away from Christianity as the nation is drifting away from Republicanism. C. M. S. "MEN'S HEARTS FAILING THEM FOR FEAR."
IN presenting the signs that would immediately precede His coming, the Master tells us that "there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Luke 21: 25, 26. You may talk with men where you will to-day and you will find that their minds are filled with fear because of what they see coming on the earth. How wonderful is it that the Lord could tell these conditions so accurately, and so many hundreds of years before they would come to pass! And when we see them so literally fulfilled before us, we should understand where we are in the world's history. We should know that we are living in the very dawnings of the day of the coming of the Son of man. The conditions may look dark as we see them in the world to-day; but if they do, it is all because we do not look at them in the clear light that God's Word casts upon them. The Word of the Lord clearly shows that the resurrection day is at hand. It shows us that the second coming of Christ is immediately before us. The Lord's glorious reign of eternal righteousness is about to be ushered in. All of these things should fill us with inexpressible joy. It is sad to think of the great number who will not receive the light of the Word of the Lord, and who will go down in the destruction that is breaking in upon the world. But it is glorious to think that all this evil is soon to be brought to an end by the coming of Christ, and that every one who desires it may be prepared to meet Him, and go with Him into the pleasures and occupations of eternity. And the day is at hand. If you are not ready, hasten. T. THE recent assassination of the king of Italy and the attempted murder of the shah of Persia at Paris, have turned the attention of the world again to Anarchism, as both were the work of Anarchists. This society, which numbers its adherents in every country, is holding services of exultation over the death of Humbert, and is planning an Anarchist congress for the furtherance of its secret designs. The boldness and audacity of the members of this organization were well illustrated on the occasion of the recent visit of the new king and queen to the city in which Humbert met his death, when shouts of, "Long live Anarchy," were given by Anarchists in the presence of the king. At a meeting of Pennsylvania Anarchists, held on August 1, the following message was drafted and sent to the prime minister of Italy: "We are exultant over the death of the king, who massacred the people. Hurrah for our comrade, Bresci! The Anarchist Group, Yohoghany, Penn." The zeal of these blind, misguided men and women is worthy of a better cause. The Anarchist who attempts the murder of a ruler, well knows that his chances of escape are insignificant; but such is his mad devotion to his impossible plan for the lessening of human woe, that no personal fear deters him from the commission of the terrible crime. So firm a control does Satan secure over the souls of men who refuse to yield to God, that to them sin and righteousness have changed places, and evil is done that good may come. Thus is illustrated the deep design of Satan for the subversion of truth and the destruction of souls. God tells us that in the last days Satan would work "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." 2 Thess. 2: 10. Having refused to receive "the love of the truth," the "strong delusion" has come to them, and they have believed "a lie." Verses 11, 12. The building up of this massive organization, with its creed of blood, is but one of the manifestations of Satan's power over those who will not receive the "love of the truth." It is a fearful thing to refuse to yield to the plain precepts of the Word; it is a fearful9thing to have such a love for our own way that the requirements of God's truth are distasteful to us. It blinds our perception of truth, and makes it impossible for us to distinguish and resist the deceptions of these last days. The Gospel of peace to this world can not be carried by the hand of Cain; and yet the doctrine of Anarchy is the drowning of human misery in the blood of men. With such a will-o'-the-wisp are men rushing on to their own eternal ruin, while even religious teachers seek to explain away the requirements of God that are distasteful to them. The only safety in these times is in a glad submission to the will of God, and a cultivation of the "love of the truth." Then may we share in the triumph of the truth. Otherwise we shall go down to destruction with those who "had pleasure in unrighteousness." The lesson in the creed of Cain is one that each should take to heart, that we may not be overwhelmed in the destruction of those who will fill the earth with violence. C. M. S.