SIGNS OF THE COMING KING.
By Augusta W. Heald
THE Saviour's prophecy declares that the signs preceding His second advent are not limited to manifestations in the celestial world, but upon this terrestrial sphere a greatly disturbed condition of things will exist. These are His words, "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." Luke 21:25, 26. Again: "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." Matt. 24:7. These three terrible scourges, war, famine, and pestilence, have appeared in all ages of the world, and have claimed vast numbers of victims, and yet it is apparent that these calamities are of more and more frequent occurrence. The earth has been shaken by earthquakes at intervals from the giving of the law on Sinai, when "the whole mount quaked greatly," even to latest years; and yet carefully prepared statistics show their number to be alarmingly on the increase. According to these tables, from A. D. 1 to the end of the ninth century the average number of recorded earthquakes is one in four years, while from 1850 to 1868 the average is 277 in one year, and in 1868 alone over 100,000 persons perished by earthquakes. And witness the appalling catastrophes in this year of grace. It is also true that during the last century, deadly diseases have greatly increased. Cholera, yellow fever, and plague claim their yearly victims, and the fatal diphtheria, scarcely known in this country thirty years ago, cuts off with relentless hand the darlings of tender years, till whole families are swept away, the hearthstone is desolate, and bereaved parents are left to finish life's journey in loneliness and grief. There is the strange epidemic "la grippe," which has so recently swept indiscriminately over the whole world, many a hapless one perishing from its baneful effects. And again, there are insidious diseases which prey in secret upon the human system until it is steathily undermined, and at last the fell destroyer claims his unsuspecting victims, and they drop suddenly out from the busy life around them, with scarcely a moment in which to breathe a dying prayer, and consign the departing spirit into the hands of the faithful Creator. There are also in the natural world many disturbances formerly unknown. For instance, the immense tidal waves, which have inundated many populous islands, sweeping away whole villages in an instant of time, and consigning to a watery grave thousands of human beings. There is the deadly cyclone, almost unknown till recent years. The daily papers contain frequent accounts of its devastating work, and so common have these ravages become that the cloudy pillar in the western horizon creates alarm; for it and the gentle summer breeze may become in a moment the occasion of destruction and death. Consider also the terrible devastations of famine in China, Russia, and other countries. Again and again have overwhelming floods submerged those countries, cutting off the usual crops, leaving thousands upon thousands to perish from starvation. Who shall say there is not "upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring"? Luke 21:25. These marks of general derangement are not exhibited in the material world alone, but society also is greatly disturbed; the world is distracted with "rumors of wars;" monarchs tremble on their thrones, knowing well the growing insecurity of the whole social fabric. The wealthy indulge in unbounded extravagance, while in many situations the poor are grievously oppressed. "The rich grow richer, and the poor grow poorer;" thus the chasm between these two classes is constantly widening. An address by H. P. Holser contains the following in regard to the state of Europe, and may describe the position of other countries also:— The state of affairs to-day is just what we might expect from the study of the prophecies which describe the condition of the world in the last days. Never were there so many monopolies and trusts for increasing wealth; never were there so many rich men; never so many laborers crying for more hire, and never were men's hearts so literally failing them for fear of what is coming on the earth. Who, then, are the fearful?—Not only the oppressed, but the oppressors also; for well they know that this state of things can not always continue. The down-trodden will one day rise and assert their rights; the wealth of the rich will be snatched by starving men driven to desperation; anarchy will reign, and "society will be broken up in the great time of trouble that ushers in the day of the Lord." The apostle, looking forward to this day of vengeance, says:— "Ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." James 5:1-4. Riches in themselves are not always a curse; properly applied, they may prove a blessing to many souls. It is only the hoarded gold that is cankered, the treasured garment that becomes a prey to the consuming moths; and yet the compassionate Saviour said, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God." Luke 18:24. Having described the condition of the world ripening for the hour of God's vengeance, the apostle adds: "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. . . . Behold, the Judge standeth before the door." James 5:7-9.