THE following from the pen of a worldly man—an editorial in a secular journal—expresses our sentiments excellently. The "world" is awaking, faster than the nominal church, to the facts of our times, which the TOWER for fourteen years has been showing to be the forecast of Scripture prophecy. We quote verbatim.
"One of these days there is going to be the greatest upset of political institutions which has ever occurred. That it has been often predicted ought not to blind us to the fact that the time for it is steadily drawing nearer. An unexampled preparation for it has been made by applied science in the realm of war as well as industry and by the undermining of the foundations of religion.
"Take France. The new session of its Parliament opened with a declaration against Socialism as the chief feature of the Administration program, and Socialism has rent the Cabinet to pieces. Socialism is beyond peradventure the one supreme issue before the French people. It was not long ago that a group of Bishops declared France atheistic, and the declaration is neither extravagant nor absurd. The church there, whatever its name, has ceased to have authority. It can command nobody. It is powerless in the cities: it is as powerless as during the Revolution.
"Take Italy. The Cabinet there went to pieces after a riot in the Parliament house, and the King is at his wit's end, no statesmen having the courage to try to carry on a government in the face of the raging discontent, for which the bank scandals were only an outlet. Every revolutionary ism thrives in that country; always has, but formerly was in a measure controlled by the church. The church [R1604 : page 375] now can do nothing. The Italian newspaper press is directed almost entirely by men indifferent to the church when not hostile to it, and not a few of the most influential papers in the chief cities are owned by Jews.
"Take Germany. It was only a few weeks ago that the report to the Congress of Socialists was printed in this country, showing that the Socialist vote will soon exceed that of any other party in the Empire. The discontent there has been increased by the agrarian campaign, caused by the high prices of land and consequent high rents, by the sharp competition from abroad and by the treaties, which Bismarck denounced, passed in pursuance of the Emperor's scheme to form a commercial union for Central Europe. One dispatch yesterday announced that the Parliamentary situation in Germany is so complicated that no one ventures to forecast the issue, and that the peasantry are threatening to go over bodily to the Socialists. Another dispatch relates that an editor was sentenced to prison for six weeks for insulting Caprivi; which undoubtedly means, severely criticising him on account of his policy. Another dispatch relates that an infernal machine was received at the Chancellerie yesterday, but happily discovered to be such before it exploded and killed some one. And the church in Germany can assist the State no more in preserving order than in any other European country, Catholic or Protestant.
"The recent news from Austro-Hungary is the same—Cabinet troubles, proclamations of martial law, complaints from the Emperor that the people are trying to deprive him of his prerogatives.
"And the policy all over Europe is to keep adding to the weight on the safety valve. Immense armies are maintained not only against aggression but against rebellion. People are taxed to poverty to support soldiers to crush them. This cannot continue much longer. There will be an outbreak one of these days, and then such a tumbling of institutions as was never seen before. The applications of science and the undermining of the foundations of religion have prepared the way for the crash."