Vou. XXX BROOKLYN, N. Y., JUNE 1, 1909 No. 11 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER ARMAGEDDON “The old claim formerly made here and there by highly imaginative and expectant calamity prophets, that the time was at hand for the great and final conflict, the battle of Armageddon, has died down until one rarely receives a crude tract or hears a pulpit warning to remind him of such impending disaster. Just about the time the wild prophets have yielded to the spirit of brotherhood and peace that has been taking fast hold upon the world, one finds a desperate contention and uproar amongst the ambitious, egged on by mercenary makers of the machines and accoutrements of war and by ambitious hopefuls in uniform, to outdo each other in preparations for the Battle of Armageddon. “Tf there had been announced in flaming lines across the sky the great and awful fact that the final battle of destruction and annihilation was at hand, it could hardly have led to more sudden and tremendous preparation for war than that now under way between three of the leading nations of the world, the very nations that boast of the Anglo-Saxon desire and purpose to encourage the arts of peace. The best that can be said of such untimely departure from the peace policy so loudly professed by these countries for the last decade is that the warlords in the saddle and interests which find profit in war and in preparations for war have grossly and outrageously misrepresented and misused the people over whom they have influence and power. “Twenty years ago there began a promising movement to promote the peace of the world. The movement led up to largely attended conferences in all civilized lands, and The Hague Peace Court was one of the results of the work of wise and progressive men, including the leading statesmen of the time. Arrangements were consummated at great expense by which disagreements were to be settled according to rules of justice and not by a resort to butchery and fire. The peace movement did not stop here. Peace treaties became fashionable, and a week rarely passed without an account of some happy pact between the very nations now most desperately bent on preparing for the great Battle of Armageddon and some one of the nations whom their warlords and captains of the military industry pretended to suspect or fear. “The unsound minds of a few ambitious warlords, reinforced by the greed and ambition of other men, have led to a sad loss in the courage, the morals and the purpose of the modern world. There has been no fall to be compared to it in many centuries, Just as the world had really begun to turn swords into plow-shares the whole policy of peace and brotherhood was exchanged in a night, as it were, for a war policy in pursuance of which the plow is now being converted into the sword. As ‘The News’ sees it there has been committed in this an awful crime against humanity. Mr. Birrel, Secretary of Ireland, submitted an apt comment upon President Taft’s declaration approving the present policy in this country. He said:— “‘When I was young, America set the example of an unarmed nation, but things have not worked out as was expected. Mr. Taft’s speech on the question of United States armaments were words of doom. They have shattered some of the best hopes of humanity, for they show that even across America they have joined the ranks of the armed and are to be supplied with a great navy and a powerful army. It is a miserable pity that hopes should be shattered, and that we are now to deal with the United States as a fully equipped military and naval nation..... Wherever we go, we find armament, armament, armament.’ “What must be the end of this desperate game in which enlightened nations are actually striving to outbuild each other? Truly, as “The Independent’ declares, It is hopeless, for there is no end but utter collapse. It has come to mean almost slavery for millions of the people of England and Germany already. “Dr. Jefferson contributes to a recent number of ‘Atlantic’ a soul-stirring protest against this crazy display of warlordery. He says:— “<‘A nation which buys guns at $70,000 each when the slums of great cities are rotting, and millions of human beings struggle for bread, will, unless it repents, be overtaken soon or late by the same divine wrath which shattered Babylon to pieces; and hurled Rome from a throne which was supposed to be eternal.’ “The one desperate means of relief is suggested by the Japanese Mail:— “Yet it may even be that in this very costliness lies the best hope of ultimate restrictions, if not abandonment—that the sighing of the nations under the heaviness of the burden may at last find expression in the creating of some central con [4403] trolling power, drawn from all alike, upon whose omnipotent will shall rest the decision of all issues which, in its absence, might plunge the world in war.’ “Such a power or tribunal was supposed to have been founa in The Hague Peace Court, the very name of which the rampant warlords of the earth now seem to so heartily despise.”—“Dallas Morning News.” RELIGIOUS RAPPROCHEMENT At the meeting of the House of Commons Sir George Kekewich will present a bill “to amend the law ecclesiastical with respect to inter-communion between the church of England and other Christian churches.” The bill, which is a one-clause measure, provides that “it shall be lawful for any clergyman in holy orders of the church of England, not suspended or deprived by order of an ecclesiastical Court, to preach or minister in any chapel of any other Christian denomination, or in any building, with the assent of the minister or owners or trustees thereof, as the case may be; and for any minister of any other Christian denomination to preach or minister in any cathedral or collegiate or parish church or chapel of the church of England with the assent of the dean, incumbent, or clergyman or other person in charge thereof, as the case may be.” It will be observed that the bill refers to any building, as well as any chapel, and Sir George Kekewich told our Lobby Correspondent that the measure as drafted will apply to Roman Catholics as well as to Nonconformists.—Exchange. PREDIOTS REFORM OR REVOLUTION “I may be wrong, but I feel that things strange and terrible are in the air. Here property rights are violated and religion persecuted and here cabinet ministers are insulted in the streets. The government trembles before striking functionaries and finally retreats. Men talk of barricades and revolutions and of a republic which shall be run by trade unions composed of people who have no Christ. What more do you want? Months must see a change or the years—not more than five, perhaps, surely will see the end.” *% * * The above is credited to “Father Kelley,” of Chicago, respecting his recent visit to Paris. “SCIENTIFIC PROOF OF A FUTURE LIFE’’ In a sermon in which he told of the effect of religious seances and the efforts of certain writers to shatter belief in a future life, the Rev. H. D. C. Maclachlan preached to a large congregation in Seventh Street Christian church on “The New Spiritualism,” in which he gave scientific proof of a future life and exhorted his hearers to be of good cheer and continue to hope. Mr. Maclachlan spoke in part as follows:— “There has been no more remarkable change in public opinion than that witnessed within the last few years with regard to that class of facts known as spiritualistic. There was a time when it was not quite respectable to believe in them, but quite recently there has been a change. Ghosts have become respectable; planchette and table rapping are parlor amuscments; the popular magazines vie with each other in saying nice things about mediums and their ways. RESULTS OF MEDIUMS “The cause of this change in public opinion has been a similar change in scientific belief. It is not more than thirty years ago that orthodox science refused so much as to investigate the things of which we are speaking. When Sir William Crookes, the great chemist, brought in his report to the Roval Society of England, in which he avowed his belief in the leading phenomena of the seance room, his report was not even taken from the table. But since that day the history of Galileo and his telescope, through which the scientists of Padua refused to look, has repeated itself. “Some twenty-five years ago the Society for Psychical Research was formed in England with such names as Crookes. Myers, Romanes, Eldgwick, Barrett and others on its list of members, and since that day telepathy, table rapping, clairvoyance, clairaudience, telekinesis. apparitions, materializations, mental healing and all the other phenomena which Professor James, of Harvard, aptly calls ‘residual,’ have been investigated. Mediums have been transferred from back parlors, where all sorts of trickery was possible, to the physical laboratories of the universities. They have been put under conditions of strictest control. Even the traditional darkness has been denied them. And still the wonderful results came. One after another leading scientists entered into these investigations skeptical and contemptuous, but came out of them believers in the facts on the evidence of their own senses. (163-164)
This website uses cookies to improve the website and your experience. By continuing to browse this website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. If you require further information or do not wish to accept cookies when using this website, please visit our Privacy PolicyTerms of Use.