AWAY FROM ROME | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 24, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 43.

"AWAY FROM ROME."

THE movement away from Rome in Catholic Austria, tho strongly political in character, tho lacking in the elements of true Protestantism, is, nevertheless, of no mean proportion. Not less than 15,000, it is said, had left the Roman Churches as early as the 1st of May this present year, and the movement is gaining momentum. Earnest appeals are made in all quarters for means to build Protestant churches.

At first the Catholic Church ignored the movement, but now it is actively engaged against it. The government, which is Catholic, has been opposed all along, and has done all it could to hamper and restrict the work, by punishment, arrest of its servants, and even discharge of military men who have circulated Protestant literature. One society in Germany has distributed in Protestant literature not less than 8,800 pounds of Bibles and other literature. The conversions in Vienna the last year amount to 1,382.

This will be a decided loss to the Roman Church, at least for a time.

It is not as great a gain to Christianity as might at first appear. In most cases it is but a change of creed, not of heart. It does not bear the essentials of true Protestantism, the Bible and Bible alone, and absolute divorce from all State aid. But it does this,—it presents an excellent missionary field, we should judge, for the presentation of true Bible Protestantism, the preaching of the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. Unless those who leave the Roman communion come to know that, they will either return to Rome or become infidel, either of which is deplorable.

THE DRIFT TOWARD MONARCHISM.

IT is not generally known that there exists in this country to-day an element whose purpose it is to turn the republic into a monarchy. Nevertheless, the existence of such an element is a reality. It was first openly manifest in the demand, on the part of many people, for an expanded constitution, and an expanded interpretation of the Declaration of Independence, such as would comport with the course upon which the republic had entered. The law must be altered that the act might be legal.

So far has this monarchical sentiment advanced that the open denunciation of those time-honored documents is heard again and again in public assemblies by prominent speakers; and influential journals are supporting the movement in the most outspoken manner. The doctrine of the equal rights of men is made a laughing stock by many a learned speaker, and the "divine right" of king and master is finding favor with some. The oppressed of the Old World sought liberty in the New; but their children are holding under military subjection three times as many inhabitants of the Old World as fought for liberty in the New. That such an act was out of harmony with the spirit of both the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, was denied by some. Others—and they are coming to be the majority—admit what is known to be a fact, and declare those documents "out of date." The bolder ones declare these sublime principles "absurd maxims," "an absurdity," and "an insult to the intelligence of the people." The following is a portion of what the Des Moines Globe has to say on the subject:—

"For a long time thinking people who have large commercial interests have felt unsafe with our present form of government. Now is a good time to do away with our obsolete Constitution, and adopt a form of government that will be logical, with expansion ideas, and will give ample protection to capital.

"A constitutional monarchy is probably the most desirable plan that we could now adopt. Everything is ripe for the change. . . . We believe that history and experience have proven beyond cavil that a republican form of government can not subsist beyond a certain stage; that as soon as a people become rich, strong, and great, the republic droops and dies. We believe this is so of necessity, and not by chance. We believe that there is not a single case on record where the masses of a great nation possessed the intelligence to initiate laws, and were intelligent to compel enforcement of such good laws as they might pass. It would seem as if science teaches that men were created to follow their masters,—the inspired minds of the world. History shows that a king must be and is found in every nation, to guide its people in every great crisis. Neither is the change to be dreaded or looked forward to with foreboding. While we are in fact largely under the conditions of a monarchy, we have the evils without the benefit of the same."

The position of the Army and Navy Journal, of Washington, D. C., is set forth in the following extract from that paper:—

"Fate has decreed for us a destiny in which an imperial executive, free from the restraints of a written constitution, will govern the colonies according to his own ideas."

The following, in the same line, is from the Investors' Review, published at Boston, Mass.:—

"It is folly to assert that the policy of this country shall be governed by absurd maxims uttered more than a hundred years ago. The greatest evil which now confronts us is the clamor about the old Declaration of Independence, to the effect that all men ought to be free and equal. This is merely generalization of the doctrines of Voltaire and the encyclopedists. It is a dictum absolutely lacking foundation in history, and incapable of syllogistic justification. It suited our purpose in 1776, when we were breaking away from the mother country, but it was only a bit of sublimated demagogism. To bring forward this declaration in this year 1900 is as gross an absurdity as ever was practised, and an insult to the intelligence of the people."

These quotations are not given for the purpose of showing how blind to the rights of man and the principles of justice are they who could in seriousness pen them, but rather to show the drift of a current which is growing stronger every day,—a current in which is being drowned the liberty-loving, justice-loving spirit of the people. It was necessary that this spirit should be overwhelmed if this government, which had eschewed and denounced the dragonic principle of force, should itself one day "speak as a dragon;" and the movement toward that end is sufficiently rapid to astonish any who will pause to consider it.

This government, which arose, as it were, out of the earth—not out of the wars and strifes of nations—and incorporated in its fundamental law those lamb-like principles of peace, must revoke those principles and adopt the harsher principles of the Old World governments. See Rev. 13: 11. The prophecy will be fulfilled; the lamb-like principles will be revoked; and the nation will "speak as a dragon." The rapidity of present movements toward that end compels the belief that that time is not far distant; and then will follow the ushering in of the great day of God, and that "everlasting kingdom" which shall be given to the "saints of the Most High." "Be ye also ready." C. M. S.

THE VOICE OF THE ELEMENTS.

MEN are compelled by every-day occurrences to recognize the increasing destructiveness of the elements. Tornadoes are increasing in frequency and in the fury with which they sweep over the earth; and the commotions of "the great deep" by tidal waves and submerged volcanoes are reported from all parts of the world, while earthquakes are practically continuous.

A long series of investigations was recently completed from the statistics of German insurance companies and given to the press. These investigations show a remarkable increase in the frequence and violence of lightning strokes. Several authorities have been convinced that "the intensity of thunderstorms has been steadily increasing during recent years, and that the annual number of lightning strokes and that of injuries to buildings from the same cause are also growing rapidly." The Literary Digest translates the following on this subject from the Revue Scientifique:—

"For the central part of the empire [Germany] the number of buildings struck by lightning was on an average 110.8 to the million during the years 1864 to 1876, while from 1877 to 1889 the figure rose to 223.1. For Germany in general, the proportion was 164.2 for the years 1876 to 1883, 258.4 for 1884 to 1891. During the period 1883 to 1897 the increase continued to take place. In sixty-five years the average of accidents was sextupled. From 1833 to 1842 the proportion was 31 in each million of buildings insured, and it rose to 190 for the period 1888 to 1897.

"The statistics studied show also that thunderstorms have gained in intensity; for shattering lightning strokes have increased, while those causing fire have diminished. It is well known, as a result of laboratory experiments, that the most violent electrical discharges have a shattering effect, while the weaker ones cause fire.

"In the monthly Weather Review [March, 1900], Henry shows that during the year 1899 the number of deaths from lightning was greater than in any preceding year."

These statistics, from one of the most reliable authorities in the world, taken in connection with what we can see from day to day of the increased violence of the elements, must convince all who will give the matter thought that the prophecies in reference to the final consummation of this earth's history are faithfully and rapidly fulfilling. We feel the trembling of the old earth; we see the terrible tornado and cyclone; we hear the "sea and the waves roaring;" we see the miseries of mankind, the "distress of nations with perplexity," "men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth;" and soon we shall see "the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." The voice of the elements is a warning voice. Let all give heed. C. M. S.