TRAINED IN THE SCHOOL OF VIOLENCE
By L. E. F.
*From the seeds of violence that have been
sown, earth will reap a harvest of lawlessness* FOR more than two years, the viciously inclined have been schooled into familiarity with deeds of violence, arson, riot, and carnage. The horrid details of the most diabolically successful methods of bloodletting pursued in the mighty European imbroglio have been reiterated by the daily press. Nor have all the sinister items concerning the latest high explosives, bombs, and other infernal machines been lacking. Experts have told, in sickening detail, all the pros and cons in the art of hurling men into eternity. The human heart has become calloused by the incessant repetition of the tales of blood. Conscience has been hardened. The seeds of violence that have been sown are beginning to ripen into a harvest of lawlessness. The Scriptures declare that if we sow to the wind, we shall reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7); and we see the truthfulness of this statement vindicated before our eyes. Bloodthirsty instincts have been developed that halt not at bloodshed, shrink not from carnage. The Firebrands of Anarchy
THE example of nations has left its impress upon the individuals composing them. By constantly dwelling upon all the gruesome details of wholesale murder, and the deadly slaughter weapons used in this suicide of nations, the imagination has been led to run riot. The awful hatred, the merciless cruelty, the undenied trickery and treachery, daily recorded in dispatches, have left their indelible imprint upon the minds of those with a vicious bent. What lies before us when men skilled in killing, proficient in acts of most terrible violence, return to civilian life, and face the peculiar and distressing conditions that will inevitably follow this war? Will arson, riot, murder, rapine, and lust reign triumphant? There are and will be wrongs to be righted, but these great wrongs will never be remedied by the commission of greater wrongs. Force will never correct the situation. God has never blessed murder. He gave life, and He only has the right to take it away. We live in troublous times. Rash cures are constantly advocated. With increasing regularity, men resort to might to obtain their "rights." Manifestations of mob law are alarmingly frequent. The very air is surcharged with the spirit of violence. Taking fanaticism for its guide, and dynamite for its weapon, the lawless element of society continues to scatter the firebrands of anarchy. THE most cursory observation would substantiate these statements. There is a steady increase in determined wickedness. Heart-sickening deeds of fiendish violence are of almost daily occurrence. Contending elements and factions of society seek for the mastery, and the strife between them is becoming more pronounced. Smoldering malice bursts forth continuously into acts of open violence. During the past ten years, incomplete press reports record a hundred and twenty-four serious bomb and dynamiting outrages in the United States alone. One of the most recent occurred in San Francisco, California, on July 22, when six persons were killed and twoscore others were injured, some of them fatally, by the exploding of a bomb during the large preparedness parade. According to the district attorney, the outrage was the act of a fanatic, inflamed and unbalanced, it is believed, by the recent agitations for and against the preparedness demonstration. New death threats are constantly revealed in various parts of the country. The district attorney of San Francisco states: "This city is at present infested with a number of wild-eyed, rabid propagandists, whose operations are not confined to San Francisco or California, but extend over the entire United States. They have selected San Francisco for the time being, in order to give expression to their hatred of government and their defiance of all institutions." At every new outrage, fresh waves of indignation sweep over the community or the nation, as indicated in the following paragraph which appeared in one of the leading dailies of the Pacific coast: "The wicked and cruel and cowardly and abhorrent murders committed upon the streets of this city on Saturday, are the natural, and, indeed, THE INEVITABLE result of a propaganda of lawlessness, terrorism, class hatred, sympathy with crime and criminals, constant and malignant denunciation of all the institutions, restrictions, and safeguards of orderly social life, . . . which have been carried on for the last eight or ten shameful years." (Capitals theirs.) It refers also to "sowers of discontent, and preachers of class hatred," who "daily preach social disorder," and adds, "The cumulative effect of this propaganda of class hatred, of hatred between employers and employees, of all these cunning political appeals to the vicious, the idle, and the incompetent, of all this modern philandering over criminals and crime, has already been profoundly hurtful to our state." Another significant utterance appearing in the press, and bearing upon our opening remarks, was the following: "The lessons of the European war were drawn on by the San Francisco nihilist who planted a bomb in Market Street Saturday, according to Detective Barney Reihl, the police department expert on explosives." Peace or Trouble — Which?
THIS old world is approaching, not a time of the recognition of universal brotherhood and the rights of equality, but "a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time" (Dan. 12:1), a time of "distress of nations, with perplexity; . . . men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. . . . And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:25-27). Secret agencies are operating, which some day, and that soon, will bring about a repetition of the terrible conditions prevailing in the days before the Flood, when God declared, "The earth was filled with violence" (Gen. 6:11); for we read, "As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." Luke 17:26. We are neither prophets nor the sons of prophets, but we do not hesitate to put ourselves unequivocally on record as declaring that deeds of violence will increase instead of diminishing; that instead of growing better and better, "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Tim. 3:13); that instead of a soon-coming millennium of peace on earth and good will toward men, earth's last days will be "perilous times," "for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, . . . incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good" (2 Tim. 3:1-3). We make these statements without fear of successful contradiction nor doubt of their fulfillment, for it is impossible for our God to lie or to be mistaken. He has declared it, and we stand upon His word. Eternal Overthrow of Violence
To all human appearances, the evidence may at times be to the contrary. But the eye of the infinite God has swept down the span of human history, and has seen the end from the beginning. The living God has written in advance, with wonderful accuracy, the events of earth's closing years. Instead of looking on the dark, sordid side of these direful times, the Christian should read in them the unmistakable signs of the return of the Master, Christ. Let no reverent student of the Holy Scriptures be deceived nor dismayed by the outlook. Let us see these things as God intends, as added evidences that the coming of our Lord hastens on. Let us rightly understand these rapidly increasing and intensifying last-day tokens as heralds of the end. Above and beyond these dark and portentous scenes can be seen the advent of the Prince of peace, the establishment of eternal justice, and the utter and everlasting overthrow of lawlessness.