Echoes of the Cruel Glee of the Antediluvians Reverberating in the Twentieth Century
THE god of brutish strength and bestial savagery is not without his modern votaries. The brutality and violence that proved the undoing of the antediluvian world, has been reincarnated in the twentieth century. Unabashed, and almost unchallenged, it boldly stalks abroad through every land, treading in every walk of life, and entering even the sacred precinct of the church.
MINISTER REFEREES A PRIZE FIGHT
Some time ago, a Protestant church in one of the Southern cities of our country sent out cards bearing an astonishing invitation — to attend a prize fight to be held in the church. The cards read:
"Dear Brother: You are cordially invited to attend a prize fight at — church, Monday night, April 4, at eight o'clock. Be sure to bring this card for admittance."
The press report continues: "Officials of the church admitted there would be a boxing bout, but declined to give the names of those who would put on the gloves. It is believed the fighters will be two members of the church's athletic club. Indications are that the church will be much too small to hold the crowds which will gather."
From across the Atlantic comes the report of a professing minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ acting as master of ceremonies at a prize fight, and uttering a yell of triumph when one of the pugilists "knocked out" the other. According to the newspapers, his "popularity has greatly increased."
What a picture! A professed ambassador of Him who taught men to turn the other cheek to the fighter, and who lifted not even His finger in retaliation, when abused in the Roman hall of injustice, refereeing a prize fight! Oh, the shame and pity of it all! If a minister chooses to officiate at a prize fight, let him, in the name and for the sake of the gentle Christ and the holy gospel, refrain thereafter from officiating in a Christian church. The church and the prize fight have absolutely nothing in common. If Christians deliberately choose to attend the prize fight, let them sever all connection with the church. Let them not play the hypocrite.
WOMEN JOIN IN THE WILD GLEE
Not only do men attend these brutal exhibitions, but women too give their unblushing patronage to them. Hundreds and thousands of women in beautiful gowns, jeweled with rare gems, frantically crowd, push, and fight for the opportunity to see two men hammering away at each other. Roused to a frenzy of enthusiasm, screaming with delight, and even standing on their chairs, when the fight is particularly vicious, they applaud every unusually brutal blow, specially if it brings blood.
Press reports tell of how, not very long ago, some of the most fashionably dressed women, at the conclusion of a fight, were thrilled with savage joy as they crowded around the ring, and felt the sweaty muscles of the victor, even kissing his arms and lips in their wild glee.
$175 FOR A SINGLE SEAT
At the recent Willard-Moran fight, 12,000 men and 1,500 women gathered about the two gladiators. The reason the crowd was not larger was because "the walls of the garden are not made of rubber. They bulged as it was." Some of the seats in the topmost gallery were sold for $20; and in the boxes, it is said, the sum of $175 was paid for a single seat, while boxes with six chairs sold for $900.
Men crossed the continent, and even came from South America, to witness the fight, while nearly every large city was represented by a delegation. The most widely known financiers in America were there, the former secretary of war, world-famed actors and musicians, senators, mayors, captains of industry — in fact, "everybody who was anybody in New York," as the newspapers expressed it.
"More women were there than ever before came to see a professional prize fight. Representatives of every social division and subdivision helped swell the enormous gate receipts, which totaled $151,254." It is significant to note that according to the press, "the lure of a possible knock-out blow appeared to be the primal element of a vast majority of those who looked on."
WOMAN ASPIRES TO FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP
And not only do women attend these fights to watch the men, but they are now beginning to enter the ring themselves, to engage in this degrading sport, as is noted on page 16 of this issue.
Courtesy “Illustrated London News”
The ignoble aspiration of the young woman in New York who covets the "fly-weight" championship of the world, and challenges all women of her weight to contest her title with the gloves, is indeed pitiable. It is unwomanly, unnatural. Yet it is but another of the myriad indications of the brutalizing passion of the age that, with growing boldness and ever increasing frequency, seeks for recognition.
In a pleasure park in one of our largest cities, a public slaughtering contest was held, the butchers racing to see which could complete the killing and skinning in the shortest time, to the frenzied enthusiasm of the bloodthirsty crowd that watched. Moving pictures of bullfights, showing the actual goring and disemboweling of the blinded horses by the enraged bull, have, we are told, been accompanied with the wildest applause by the audience.
These hoarse cries of fiendish delight are the echoes of the cruelty that intoxicated the antediluvian sinners, and which, according to the divine Word, is to be repeated in our day. Our boasted civilization is but a thin veneer. It is being sullied beyond all possible purification. And this moral degradation presents a striking analogy to the days before the Flood, when violence reigned and the Sun of Righteousness was eclipsed by the shadow of brutal sin.
According to the Scriptures, the repetition of the scenes before the Flood will furnish ample proof of the approaching end of the age and the return of our Lord the Christ. Luke 17: 26. Of the violence of those days we are not left in doubt. Read Gen. 6: 5, 11-13. And among the distinguishing marks of the last days, the apostle cites that of fierceness. 2 Tim. 3: 1-3. What is it to be "fierce"? — It is to have the characteristics of savagery, violence, mercilessness, ferocity, cruelty.284
Prophecy is in process of fulfillment. The last pages of old earth’s history are being written. And this characteristic phenomenon of the age is all so serious and so significant, though the vast majority of people would call it but a passing fancy. But it cannot be thus brushed aside.
The human heart, hypnotized by sin, is fascinated with brutality, and thus blinded, sees not, heeds not this striking portent of the times.
MAKING THE ETERNAL CHOICE
To all who have come under the spell of this passion is this appeal addressed. Which shall have possession of your heart, the gentle Christ, or the god of force? It must be one or the other. Both cannot dwell in the same heart. You must choose between the high and the low, between the truer joy of the eternal future, and the wild glee of the passing moment. Which shall it be? Friend, choose well. Choose for eternity.
L. E. F.
