National Corruption and Decay
In the history of the great nations of the past, it was first a growth of power through self-denial and great energy and endurance; then, following power, wealth accumulated; then luxury followed, then corruption, and then—decay. Now the Word of God tells us that "the thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun." There is not a great nation to-day whose history—past, present, and future—is not written in the histories of the great nations that are past. Every one of them is in the corruption stage, following in the inevitable rut of human government. A straw comes in the form of a press despatch from Berlin: "A gambling case in the garrison town of Dienze, Lorraine, is up before court-martial. A number of Bavarian officers, including a son of an eminent duke, are said to be implicated in the affair. Balls were given by the club, at which the guests were practically unclothed, and at which, in cases of last resort, women gamblers were the stakes. The affair is said to be the cause of much excitement. It is doubtful if Belshazzar's feast, the last given in Great Babylon before its fall, descended to such a depth of immorality."