Arno Clemens Gaebelein preaches about the alarming increase in the consumption of cigarettes and intoxicants, despite the efforts of reformers and prohibitionists, revealing the nation's moral decline and the ignorance of God's Word predictions. He also addresses lawlessness, violence, and murder, exemplified by the McNamara brothers' confession and the dangerous influence of Socialism in inciting class war. Gaebelein warns about the solemn lessons learned from the Titanic disaster, emphasizing God's warning to a boastful and defiant age. He discusses the rise of Socialism in Sunday schools, the spread of Socialism principles, and the hatred of the rich among the youth. Additionally, he touches on the hunger crisis in China, the socializing of Christianity, the increasing unrest in the world, the suffragettes' fire losses, the white slave traffic, the food problems, the influence of moving-picture shows on youth, and the rise of a socialistic preacher who became a mayor and faced criticism from his congregation.

A Bad Outlook for Reformers. Before us is the latest report of the United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue. He reports an astounding increase in the sale of cigarettes and intoxicants. During the three months, from July 1 to October 1, the past year, this nation consumed a million more cigarettes than during the same period of 1911. Worse is the increase in alcoholic beverages. The nation drank during these three months three hundred and twenty thousand more barrels of beer and four hundred and fifty thousand more gallons of whiskey than during the same three months of 1911. This increase is the more appalling in view of the great efforts made by the reformers and prohibitionists, who make the foolish claim, that this nation is about to stop the manufacturing and sale of all alcoholic drinks. And preachers can, in spite of all these evidences, continue to speak of "this Christian nation" and how the church is rapidly changing the moral condition of the world. These false prophets are ignorant of what God's Word predicts about the end of this age and they are equally ignorant of existing conditions. Lawlessness, Violence and Murder. The confession of the McNamara brothers has brought to light an awful condition of things. It seems these men for years resorted to deeds of violence and are responsible for the lives of a number of people. Behind them others stood who are equally responsible. What the investigation now in progress will bring to light remains to be seen. The current of anarchy is far stronger than it is generally known. We quote from one of the leading dailies of New York City: American Socialism made a fool of itself over the McNamara case, and a very dangerous fool at that. The McNamaras were not Socialists, but no labor leaders were so virulent as the Socialists in denouncing the arrests. No labor leaders used such incendiary language as the Socialists in seeking to convince the country that these men were martyrs who were about to be murdered by a bloodthirsty capitalism. Mr. Debs practically defied the courts to convict the McNamaras. Immediately after their arrest, the "Call," the organ of the Socialists in New York, said: "The same attempt is made to arouse public fury not so much that the McNamaras may be murdered, but in order that the working class may be beaten into submission." Everywhere Socialists seized upon the incident to preach a more vindictive gospel of class war. Even when the stunning confession became public, no Socialist leader expressed the faintest degree of horror at the crimes that had been committed. They were all engaged in reviling the confession as a "plant" to injure the Socialist ticket in the Los Angeles election. It was not until the country had begun to appreciate the full significance of the pleas of guilty that Socialist leaders suddenly discovered that they were opposed to the use of dynamite in advancing their doctrines. But they had been preaching a class war in language that led logically to dynamite and murder. If social and economic conditions in this country are one-tenth part as bad as Socialist orators and writers pretend, workingmen would be justified in resorting to any weapons to release themselves from an intolerable slavery. The fact of the matter is that under its irresponsible leadership American Socialism has been dealing in an incendiary demagogisra that must inevitably turn such minds as those of the McNamaras. Socialism cannot shirk its share of the responsibility and throw all the blame upon organized labor. Its language has consistently given the lie to its own doctrines. Socialistic Sunday Schools. The remarkable rise and spread of Socialism is baffling the statesmen of all nations. In this country, In Germany, England and other lands the rising generation Is being taught systematically the principles of Socialism and the hatred of the rich. The following Is a report of what Is done In this direction In England: "The character of the ideas taught in the Socialist Sunday Schools established in England for the purpose of making Socialists out of children has served as a basis for protests to the newspapers. One writer asserts that this conversation took place in such an institution: The Teacher -- Can a boy socialist be a Boy Scout. " Answer -- No, comrade. The Teacher -- Why cannot a boy socialist be a Boy Scout. f* Answer -- -Because a Boy Scout has to salute the Union Jack. The Teacher -- Why must not a boy socialist salute the Union Jack.? Answer -- Because the Union Jack is an emblem of oppression and slavery." It Is dreadful to think what the harvest will be ere long from this kind of seed. "Despising authorities and speaking evil of dignities" (Jude vii) Is one of the predicted marks of the apostasy. Utter lawlessness cannot be far away. The restraining power In the world, the Holy Spirit, holds It still In check. The Solemn Lessons of a Great Disaster. The most magnificent steamship ever built, the Titanic, collided during a clear night with an Iceberg and sunk In a few hours. Over 1,500 human beings lost their lives and were swept suddenly Into eternity. Among the passengers were some of the wealthiest men of the world, as well as others well known in the sphere of literature, art and science. Perhaps never before a ship sailed the ocean which carried such prominent men, leaders of society and the financial world. Their baggage contained millions of dollars worth of precious stones, pearls and other treasures. A few hours only and this proud monarch of the ocean found a grave and resting place some 12,000 feet below the water level. Many of the great men perished with all their wealth. But a few of their bodies were recovered. It was on a Sunday night when the Titanic, going at a high speed, hurled itself against an immense wall of ice. Different witnesses declared that it was a night of merry-making. A ball was going on and the band played at its best, while others were engaged in card-playing. Even when the crash came few realized the danger. The officers for a time laughed down the idea that the ship could sink. And then the horrible scenes which followed and the death-wail of the hundreds which went into the watery grave. But there is no need to describe the details of this greatest sea disaster of the world. Our friends are sufficiently familiar with it from the reports of the daily papers. We turn our attention to a few of the lessons this terrible event teaches. We are convinced that our God has given a solemn warning to this age in the sinking of the Titanic. We feel that this dreadful disaster was permitted by our Lord for a wise and great purpose. The age, which is soon to close is "Man's Day." It is the age of boasting and the age of defiance of God and His laws as the Creator. As all intelligent readers of the Word of God know, the god of this age is ''Satan'' (2 Cor. iv:4); and he blinds the eyes of them that believe not. His object is to make men believe that this age is constantly improving, getting better and will thus go on indefinitely. God's Word declares that it is an evil age, an age of unrighteousness and that its end will come suddenly in great and mighty judgments of God. Satan, as the god of this age, has used the progress, inventions and achievements of late years to back up his lies. He uses the supposed fireproof skyscrapers, earthquake-proof buildings, unsinkable ships, wireless telegraphy and other things to blind the world to the real conditions of things in this age and lulls thereby the great mass of people into a false security. And now one of the greatest achievements of this age, a great swimming palace of immense size, filled with all the luxurious appointments to satisfy the lusts of the flesh and the eye, a marvellous structure in which a thousand modern day inventions were united, an "unsinkable ship," is wiped out of existence on its maiden trip! Surely God has spoken. God, so to speak, calls a halt to this age in its mad race for progress and improvement. The warning is a solemn one. Man's boasted progress cannot keep back disaster and judgment. That in a night, clear and calm, such a catastrophe should have happened is more than striking. It is a warning that still greater disasters will come. God has written it in His Word that judgments will be visited upon this age, when it has reached its heights, judgments such as the world has never known before. The sinking of the "Titanic" is God's warning that He is not mocked and that He will deal soon in judgment with this age. If one looks at downtown New York and sees upon this narrow strip of land the great awe-inspiring structures, perhaps greater than the tower of Babylon ever was, one thinks what an awful catastrophe if some day an earthquake should shake this island. Who knows but that may be the next to humble man with his proud achievements. The false security of the passengers and the absolute trust in the unsinkable ship gives us another solemn lesson. All reports said that there was no alarm when the collision occurred, officers and stewards allayed the fears of the passengers. The wireless operators joked about sending out the extreme danger signals calling for help. Even when the lifeboats were commanded to be in readiness and to be launched, only a few women went into the first one. And when the danger became more apparent men could stand about and believe in the absolute safety of the ship and trusted in the statement, "She cannot sink." Then suddenly the great ocean liner plunged forward and the poor souls hoping against hope were swept away by the seas or sunk into the terrible depths with the doomed vessel. Then what happened? Let an eyewitness give us the story. "Then there happened the most terrible thing. I do not believe, as long as I live, that I shall ever be able to get out of my ears, my mind and my heart, the terrible cries of the sixteen hundred doomed souls which floated to us across the water. "For an hour, through the darkness of the night, we heard them, the pitiful heartrending wailings of those dying in the water, for whom there was to be no help on earth. Then gradually one by one they died down, and we heard them no more. "It was sad, sad, and we could do nothing for them. The cold, a bitter, numbing cold, which palsied nerves and muscles alike, had done its work and the sea had claimed those who had no right to die. I am told that one or two bodies were seen in the water afterward of persons frozen, and doubled stiffly by the awful cold." In reading all this how one is reminded of that which is yet to come. "For when they shall say Peace and Safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them" (1 Thessal. v:3). This disaster may be looked upon as a little sample of what is coming for this world with its mass of nominal Christians, unsaved and pleasure-seeking. Peace and Safety! This is the delusion Satan tries to strengthen, and he does it not alone by using the great achievements of the age but also by such lying "isms" like Christian Science, the New Theology, Bahaism and others. Peace and Safety -- then sudden destruction! What a wail of despair when God's judgments overtake this world at last! Then they will say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us and hide us; the great day of His Wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand (Rev. vi:15-17). How gladly the multi-millionaires would have sacrificed their millions, the wealthy women their gems and magnificent gowns, if only they might have been saved. But all had lost its value. They had no more use for it all. Perhaps not once they remembered the beautiful idols of silver and gold. Death stared them in the face and after death, as God's holy Word tells us, the judgment. All has its lessons and is but a little prelude what will be in the day when Jehovah deals in judgment with this earth. Then "they shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels" (Ezek. vii:19). "And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord, and their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath" (Zeph. i:17-18). But will the world heed the warning of this disaster? Will the unsaved masses profit thereby? Will the rush of the age after the things of this passing age be arrested? A few weeks have passed since the great disaster and the above questions are answered. All goes on in its usual way. New plans are made to overcome difficulties and danger. There is no sign of repentance, no sign of turning to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ. May we, His people, give heed to the solemn lessons of this great disaster. Judgment will be God's next work. We praise Him for His Mercy which hath delivered us and will deliver us from the wrath to come. May we use the time and our privileges as long as our Lord still waits in patience. China's Hungry Millions. Another great famine has come to poor China. The last great famine a number of years ago claimed nine million victims, and it is now feared that the present one may assume similar proportions. What such a famine really is and means, w^e, in a land of plenty, can hardly realize. We quote from one who spent almost twenty years in China: "It is difficult for us to realize the real horror of these extensive famines, confined almost wholly to China, India and Russia. Under the best conditions, the Chinese live but a sordid life devoid of many things we would regard as necessary to existence, and with every form of luxury unknown. What the Chinese know as prosperity, we should regard as the severest hardship, as it means a coarse and meagre living, a cramped and cheerless hut, and the most trying toil from the rising of the sun until the fall of darkness. "Milk and butter are practically unknown; meat is rarely tasted oftener than once a week, and then only under prosperous conditions, and in the fat years there is little surplus to be saved for the lean years of famine. Hence, when drought or flood destroy the crops, there is nothing for the hard-working farmers to fall back upon. "In the case of a man of means, he sells first his cow, the water buffalo that ploughs his fields, then his farm utensils, and finally his household goods. One by one, all are 'eaten up,' as he would say. Then the doors and windows are taken from the mud-brick hut and carried to market, and at last the few timbers that support the roof go to nourish the family. Left at last without a roof, they join the endless procession of refugees, some to drop and die where they fall, and others to struggle and stagger onward, in the hope of reaching some more prosperous region. Often they are huddled into tiny huts, hardly larger than a half-barrel, cut endwise, and made of cheap matting, and in these camps pestilence soon finds its way, often in the form of relapsing fever, frequently the deadly typhus, and also in small-pox." How thankful we ought to be for God's goodness to us in our own land. And some day God will visit the countries so privileged with sore judgments, including famines. Read Rev. vi:5-8. When one thinks of the luxurious living and the sinful waste, which goes on in this land of plenty, as well as the ingratitude to God, one feels that judgment must come some day. And too little compassion there is for the suffering millions on the other side of the globe. The Socializing of Christianity. When, a few years ago, the American Institute of Social service began to issue the "kingdom lessons" introducing social questions into the Sunday School, we sounded a warning in our editorial remarks. We predicted that the Gospel and the Bible would surely be crowded out. A few years only and now we see an interdenominational movement in the council of church federation, adopting a creed, which ignores the Gospel of our salvation and substitutes the social questions of the day. Everywhere one hears the Statements, that the business of the church is to throw herself into the social side of things and that the old way of the preaching of the Gospel is no longer sufficient. We could fill many pages with reports of meetings, utterances by preachers and others, which reveal the almost universal drift of Christendom towards the socialistic idea. In the Brooklyn Methodist preachers meeting a Jewish Rabbi delivered, as the press gave it, "A New Epistle from the Hebrews." Rabbi Nathan Krass, of Brooklyn, gave the Methodist ministers' meeting last Monday a lively "Epistle from a Hebrew," emphasizing the new social religion as a plane upon which Jew and Christian may unite in behalf of humanity and "make this world an antechamber of the world to come." "Too much time is spent in discussing doctrine," said the rabbi, "and not enough in applying it. Preachers speculate a lot on how many angels can dance upon the point of a needle and forget about his angels who are suffering for the necessities of life. They split hairs on matters of theology. "This is a new age, and the great emphasis of thought is upon human welfare. Theology has given away to sociology. Men are beginning to find out that God has great concern for humanity. His book does not have much about the world to come, but has a lot about this world. That is where the emphasis is, and we must make the world an antechamber to the divine dwelling -- transform the present world. And that is where the Jew and the Christian can get together. "You cannot convert me and I cannot convert you, but we can unite in an overture for our fellow men. If we can't get together on creeds we can get together in behalf of humanity. But what are we doing together? There are problems too shocking to name -- there is the social evil. We can leave the Police department to those who are investigating it, though we have learned some things about it we did not know before. "There are the same evils on Fifth avenue as on the east side. I overheard the butler of one of these castles of wealth, and what he said could not be repeated even before you men; but I do not refer to that; what they do behind their closed doors we cannot prevent. But there are places where we can protect the girls, where they are underpaid for their work and driven to the streets. We can tackle the procurers, the white slavers and those who build the brothels and bring innocent girls to them. Many of these girls are weak, but we can prevent most of them from going into such places. "Have you seen the play, ^Milestones'? I have, and its movement illustrates the movement of religious thought. There was the age of great faith, of theology, of eschatology -- milestones -- and now it is the age of sociology. "And this is the epistle from a Hebrew -- the heart-to-heart talk of a Jew to his Christian brethren." He received the usual vote of thanks and compliments for his address. A few years more and where will this thing lead to? We firmly believe this socializing of Christianity, this reform-movement, this progressive ecclesiastical endeavor to rule out and vote out vices and present day evils, this coming together for social service, is the finest game Satan is playing. He stands behind this whole business and is satisfied with it, as long as he can achieve his great object. His aim is against the Son of God and against the Gospel. There is no room for Christ, no room for Salvation by Grace in this social movement. The Increasing Unrest of the World. This is an editorial from a daily published on the Pacific coast, it gives the present unrest of the world. Daily papers have their eyes far more wide open than some of the "religious leaders" with their optimistic programs. Since the message of peace was borne on academic lips to the world, war has gradually become the order of the day; until now all the world is at war, or at least preparing for it. In Europe the smaller nations have been at war for some time, while the greater ones but wait an open chance to get Into the conflict. In Asia, Persia is in anarchy, expecting dissolution. In India, unrest has eaten into the very fibre of its people. In China, a newer revolution is arising from the ashes of the last, and the extent of its rebellion cannot be gauged. In Africa, the rioting which is taking place in Johannesburg merely exemplifies the anarchical state of that country, and the deadly danger it incurs from the countless colored people in the land. In Australia, the united resistance to authority will create a condition of affairs in which all will feel hostile to freedom, here run riot. But it is with matters more nearly at home that we are concerned. Within the past few weeks certain European nations have seen fit to interest themselves in American affairs and presume to dictate to this continent. Relying on their presumption, an Asian nation again stepped into untimely prominence, and has been hailed by a people of this country as their deliverer. Mexico thus becomes to us of more immediate concern than the many warrings of the nations. In result, in almost every quarter of the earth war is in swift preparation, according to the wisdom of the rulers. But the prospective national wars are of small concern in comparison with the fermenting and rebellious nature of each people. National strikes are on all sides in progress and indirectly retard the effective outlet of military operations. Thus internal wars may prevent international conflagrations. This is the condition of the world's peace so noisily out heralded." This ever increasing unrest forebodes nothing good. It is the murmuring of the approaching storm, which will soon sweep in unprecedented fury over the earth. Fire Losses by Suffragettes. The following taken from the Times is a list of the principal fire losses caused by suffragettes this year: Eight private houses, three cricket pavilions, two churches, two railroad depots, two race stands and a boathouse were destroyed or damaged. Date Property Locality Estimated Loss Mar. 9 Railway St Croxley Green $6,500 April 4 Priv. House Norwich $10,000 5 Racestand Ayr $10,000 11 Cricket Pav Tunbridge Wells $6,000 15 Priv. House St. Leonards $25,000 27 Cricket Pav Perth $6,250 May 6 Church Hatcham $75,000 9 Priv. House Barrow $30,000 10 Priv. House Dundee $50,000 12 Boathouse Nottingham $8,000 June 4 Priv. House Bradford, Wilts. $35,000 5 Cricket Pav Muswell Hill $5,000 8 Racestand Hurst Park $30,000 10 Priv. House Edinburgh $12,500 18 Church Rowley Regis $30,000 30 Ballikinrain Castle Stirlingshire $125,000 30 Railway Station Leuchars Junct $10,000 July 7 Bungalow Rivington, Lane $100,000 Total estimated loss $574,250 Several other fires have to be added and the end is not yet. There is only one explanation of all this, these wicked women are possessed by demons. The Progress of Moral Corruption. During July a prize-fight occurred in London, England. Two men slugged away at each other for money which was offered to them. This wicked, barbaric sport was witnessed by thousands of people. The master of ceremonies, who stood up to announce the combatants was an English "clergyman," a certain "Reverend" J. K. Boudier. At least twenty more gentlemen of "the cloth" with their peculiar collars were in the audience to applaud the nasty, ungodly scene. We quote from the special cable despatch. The scene about the ringside was one never to be forgotten by those privileged to see the coronation of a new lightweight monarch. The group of tight collared ministers in evening dress was but a trifle more dignified in behavior than the lords and dukes surrounding them. They applauded as heartily, if slightly less vociferously, the introductions of the champion and the challenger. And throughout the heated duel even the clergy so far forgot the straight and narrow path as to vent a hearty British cheer for some telling blow well sped. Into bold relief these occasional slight indignities of the dignified threw the merry, mad abandon with which the richly gowned ladies voiced cheir appreciation of the struggle. Bejewelled matrons and budding debutantes who never would forget the stern mandates of decorum in the drawing room had an occasion here to turn back the leaves of time to the less civilized past. They exhorted, they applauded, they cheered; at times they waved their graceful arms or shrugged their pretty, bare shoulders as either pugilist rallied to turn the tide of battle. More than a thousand women, among them many of the most exclusive aristocracy, saw the titanic struggle. And in their favor be it said they showed a shade more sportsmanship than the male element. For the men, like all men with money down, rooted loyal for the success of their respective choice, while the ladies -- and some of them wagered as enthusiastically as their escorts -- applauded without favor the skill of either man. We cannot find words strong enough to condemn a scene like this. These "tight-collared'' sports should hide their faces in shame. That women were so prominent is in fullest keeping with their emancipation schemes. Their corruption is surely the worst the world has ever seen. Surely in such scenes all is fulfilled that God has revealed about the last days, the days of peril and unrighteousness. "Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." May God have mercy on some of them and open their eyes before it is too late. Great Wealth and Luxuries the Forerunners of Judgment. We read recently an interesting volume on the "The influence of wealth in Imperial Rome."1 It depicts from different sources the great accumulation of wealth, the world-wide commerce, the astounding extravagances and vices of the Roman Empire, as well as the miserable conditions of the poor and how all these things brought about in the end the fall of the great world empire. The Roman Empire had its capitalists, its bankers, a Wall Street and a vast financial system. The commercial pace was furious -- almost as furious -- if it can be possible -- as in the twentieth century. This book declares that Alexandria, for instance, had a commercial pre-eminence not possessed by even London or New York to-day, not to mention Hamburg or the European capitals. The Roman commerce extended all over the known world as the finding of Roman coins in India, Ceylon, China and other distant parts witness. As a result immense fortunes were obtained and money began to control everything. Sensuality, so declares a Roman writer, effeminacy, prodigal display of wealth went hand in hand with soulless money grasping. A gilded vice stifled all morality. Money was sought frantically, because it was needed for what the fashionable world called enjoyment. After the fiercest rush for wealth, we find coming into the Roman world, so says the author of this volume, the fiercest rush for excitement, for something new to feed the sated senses, hence the scattering of fortunes on tasteless palaces, race horses, pretty slaves, elaborate suppers, perfumes and pearls and many things worse. In conclusion Prof. Davis says: "Its citizens served Mammon in the place of God, with more than usual consistency. The power they worshipped carried them a certain way -- then delivered them over to their own rottenness, and to the resistless enemy. Their fall was great, for their empire with their social structure still looms as the greatest fabric ever reared by human ingenuity; while the lesson of their fall lies patent to the Twentieth Century." But will the Twentieth Century read the awful lesson which is ineffaceably written on the pages of history? Will that which is now occupying the territory of the Roman Empire and our own great continent profit by the conditions prevailing in that Empire, which led up to its fall? We think not; but history repeats itself. If one beholds the surging masses in our great cities, the mad race after the dollar, the even greater rush for pleasures and excitements to gratify the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, one trembles in view of what is bound to come. And the great mass of people do not see that judgment is hastening. They do not realize that a civilization which is built upon unrighteousness, which leads to extravagance, luxuries and its attending evils, must sooner or later be swept away and fall like others fell. How successfully the god of this age has blinded the eyes to the real conditions of things. Great commerce, great wealth, great progress, great inventions -- but they cannot save. But we do not need the lessons of past great empires, their wealth, their luxuries and fearful ruin and fall. The Word of God in which we implicitly believe foretells an end of judgment for the present age. Ominous Gatherings. Recently on the anniversary of the death of Prof. Francesco Ferrer, who was shot in Spain in connection with the anarchistic movement in that country, meetings commemorating his death were held in all the larger cities. In New York 5,000 persons gathered in Cooper Union and over 5,000 more outside. Three other meetings in different parts of the city were held to inflame the people against law and order, God and the church. We quote from an exchange. Inside the Cooper Union speeches extolling the worth of Ferrer were made in English, German, Italian, Spanish, Bohemian and Yiddish. When the woman Emma Goldman took the platform she attacked God, denounced the churches, especially the Roman Catholic Church, and the public schools. She ejaculated: "I came here to-night to commemorate the death of a great man and to attend three funerals -- that of the Church, for it dominates the human mind; that of Capitalism, for it dominates human needs; and that of Government, for it dominates human conduct." This is fine phrasing. Many are so intoxicated by phrases that they cannot discern true from false or what is from what is not. Leonard Abbott, chairman, said that within a year Ferrer's name would be as well known as Theodore Roosevelt's, and within one hundred years as well known as Jesus Christ's! Ernest Haeckel, of Germany, who, whatever he says in his heart, says in public, "There is no God," sent a communication. Ferrer Sunday Schools have been set up in this city and about one hundred boys and girls from the Ferrer Sunday Schools came on the stage, sang and decorated the portrait with flowers. It was explained that these Sunday Schools are the forerunners of a big public daily school. Alexander Berkmann, the anarchist, who served a prison term for shooting Henry Frick, the iron multimillionaire of Pittsburgh, and who was afterward the "companion" of Emma Goldman, is superintendent of the largest of these schools. It was claimed that the Ferrer Association has about $40,000 in hand for the construction of this daily school." The worst feature of the Cooper Union gathering was that a number of influential men federated with these anarchists. Many thousands of Jewish young men are outspoken anarchists. The agitation for an out and out overthrow of all existing orders and laws grows at an appalling rate. Well do great statesmen fear and tremble for the future. The lawless One looms up more prominently. When at last the great upheaval comes it will produce such suffering and tribulation, that the world has never seen before. Even so God's Word tells us. The Food Problems the Result of Greed. The enormous prices charged for the necessary articles of food 3uch as eggs, butter, milk, meat, flour, etc., have of late called forth a vigorous and almost universal outcry from the suffering masses.. Hundreds of thousands pledged themselves to abstain from certain kinds of food till the prices are lowered. The cause of these conditions is sought in different directions. The greed of large and influential trusts is no doubt at the bottom of it all. God has been good in giving rich and plentiful harvests, but the greed and selfishness of man hoards it up and produces situations such as we have been witnessing. We think of the message of Amos given at a time of similar conditions, when in days of luxuries, the extravagant living of the rich, the poor were trodden down. Then the Prophet declared that the sellers of the wheat made the ephah small (a small measure) and th^ shekel war^ made great (a big price charged), they also falsified the balances by deceit. The refuse of the wheat was sold (Amos viii:4-6). And God, who considereth the poor, announced judgment: "! will never forget any of their works." The Lord will surely deal with all these evils in His day. But before that day comes these conditions will become worse. The present day combinations and trusts are the forerunners of that which we read in Rev. xiii:16-17: "And he (the anti-Christ) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or on their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." The White Slave Traffic. The exposures of this infernal twentieth century traffic, which recently have been made in New York City and elsewhere, are simply terrible. Our great cities are sinks of vice and immoralities which would make Sodom and Gomorrah blush. It seems evident that Jews, apostatized from the faith of their fathers, have a good deal to do with this awful curse, though wicked Gentiles are just as prominent in it. One Lewinson, who confessed to this crime of luring girls of fifteen and sixteen years into a life of shame, made the statement that the five-cent picture shows are the places where this work is most successfully done. The nasty details of the seductions we care not to reprint in our pages. On an average, as shown by the police reports, from eight to ten young girls disappear daily mysteriously in New York. And this evil is not confined to the Metropolis, it is as bad in all the larger "Christian cities." What a mockery, "Christian cities!" "As it was in the days of Lot so shall it be when the Son of Man Cometh." Sources of Discontent Among the Masses. There is a growing and widespread discontent among the masses. The high cost of living, the oppression from the side of selfish employers resulting in the grinding of the poor, produce this unhappy condition. One leading cause is the extravagances and luxuries of the wealthy class. Recently some eight society ladies gave an expensive luncheon to their eight pet dogs. A special caterer had been hired for the occasion and there were special decorations and other costly arrangements, all in honor of eight society dogs. One of these creatures, it is said, cost about $25,000. Such an affair creates the most bitter feeling among the poorer classes and feeds the smouldering flames of rebellion and anarchy. Some day there will be an outburst of lawlessness which will deal a fearful blow to the rich. Then their miser>^ will surely come upon them as predicted in the Word of God: ".Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you" (James v.1). The Great Anti-Romish Agitation. That Rome, the corruptress of nations, is passing through a severe crisis is known to all readers of present day events. France has completely revolted against that powerful institution which claims to be ''the'' church. And now Spain has joined the same revolt against the Vatican. What conditions exist in priest-ridden Spain is learned from the "Statesman's Year Book." "The national Church of Spain is the Roman Catholic, and the whole population of the kingdom adhere to that faith, except about 30,000 -- Protestants (about 7,000), Jews (about 4,000), Rationalists, etc. Within the Peninsula, apart from Portugal, there are nine metropolitan sees and forty-seven suffragan sees, the chief being Toledo, whose archbishop bears likewise the title of Patriarch of the West Indies. The Constitution requires the nation to support the clergy and the buildings, etc., of the Church, and for this purpose the State expends annually about 41,000,000 pesetas ($8,200,000) * * * The relation between the Church and the State, and the position of the religious orders, are regulated by the Concordat of 1851. A restricted liberty of worship is allowed to Protestants, but it has to be entirely in private. The communities of the religious orders arc numerous and influential in Spain. Many of them have schools, and about 5,200 of their members are engaged in teaching boys of the upper and middle classes, while, within many of their establishments, industries of all kinds are carried on. The number of religious orders in Spain is about 3,253, of which 597 are for men and 2,656 are for women. Of those for men, 294 are devoted to education, 92 to the training of missionaries, and 97 to the training of priests. The total number of monks is about 10,630 (including 840 foreigners). The orders for women comprise 910 for education, 1,029 for charity, and 717 for a contemplative life. The, number of nuns is about 40,040 (including 1,360 foreign women)." Besides these facts others could be stated which give the reasons why such an agitation is in existence. But while Rome is losing ground and is thus being spoiled in the lands which tolerated her abominations for centuries, she makes great headway in England and in America. The stronghold of Rome to-day are the countries which boast of being Protestant. Protestantism is so completely stripped of its power to protest that it slumbers in the lap of Delilah. "Back to Rome" seems to be the drift in the two great English speaking countries. More toleration! We are all brethren! Away with the narrowness of past ages! -- are some of the Protestant shouts we hear about us. But Rome remains the same. She has still a great future, though brief, before her. This is revealed in the last book of the Bible. Once more Rome will become the great mistress of the world. Her coming and final doom is faintly outlined in what is happening to her in France and in Spain. The political revival of the old Roman Empire will give her again, in the coming closing years of this age, the supremacy. But the ten Kings will turn against her. It is written: "And the ten horns (ten Kings), which thou sawest upon the beast (the revived Roman Empire), these shall hate the whore (Rome) and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the Kings of the earth" (Rev. xvii:16-18). "A Youth of Nineteen, Nervously Unsettled by a Trying Occupation, sought recreation at a moving-picture show in Newark, N. J., The "entertainment" in eluded a realistic suicide by gas-inhalation, enacted with vivid and horrible detail. The boy went to his lodgings, stopped keyhole and door cracks as the pictured suicide had done, turned on the illuminating gas, and set his soul adrift into the great darkness. He was found dead on Sunday morning. If a manhole cover in the highway is ofi", the authorities put up a warning or a barrier, lest a brute fall in and suffer harm. But the moving-picture show had a license from the authorities to keep its more dangerous pitfall open on the public way, and to lure men into it. This is a sensational case, but it shows at the worst a baneful influence which is being allowed almost free course for the corruption of youth under the guise of harmless amusement." Thus speaks the N, Y, Christian Advocate on this frightful evil and we endorse every word of it. But we add also that not the half has been told. Covering the country as we do we have heard and seen considerable more of the disastrous influence these moving-picture shows have upon the minds of the young. Thefts and even unnamable crimes have been committed because the suggestions came from these miserable shows. But what shall we say to the professing church here and there endorsing this instrumentality of the devil? In several places "churches have rented the airdomes" (moving-picture exhibitions in the open air) to hold their services there and make the summer Lord's day evening meetings attractive by moving pictures. Of course the pictures are of a "religious" nature; nevertheless the whole is an endorsement of these places. Last year while South, in a small southern Georgia town, we were told of a preacher who offered for an inducement to attend the prayer meeting a free moving-picture show at the close of the prayer meeting. When that service was concluded he took the people across the street to the show and treated them old and young. He belongs to the largest evangelical denomination on this continent. And what about Christian men and women being stockholders in these concerns? But such is the case. Corruption increases on all sides. An insane desire for pleasure and a good time seems to have seized all classes. What an awful awaking there must soon come! A Socialistic Preacher. The pastor of the First Congregational Church of Schenectady, N. Y., became the socialist mayor of that city. He went from bad to worse in his political career. His congregation at last asked him to resign. The New York Sun had a sarcastic editorial on this matter, which we print herewith: "Nothing could be more natural than the indignation that over-swept the preacher-mayor of Schenectady when the congregation for whose spiritual welfare he is responsible voted him out of his pulpit on the mean and petty ground that he had neglected his ministerial duties. The contemptible nature of their attack is evidenced by the specific charges against him. These include the subjoined allegations: "That the sacraments of the Church are no longer observed. "That we have no pastor who visits the sick, buries our dead, or who offers the consolation of our Christian faith to its bereaved or distressed members. "That the minister now serving denies his belief in the orthodox Christian faith and ridicules those churches that hold these doctrines. "To refute these accusations the preacher-mayor has only to point to his record. Has he not got himself arrested in Little Falls? Has he not run for Congress on the Socialist ticket.? Has he not acquired without cost to himself several acres of press notices and an amount of sympathy far greater than could have been got in any pulpit or sickroom? Finally, is he not to be put on trial on February 17 for incitement to riot? "It is difficult to keep patience with persons who so completely misunderstand the functions of a preacher-socialist-mayor as do the members of the First Congregationalist Church of Schenectady. They must be reactionaries. By way of punishment they should be compelled to sit under their present preacher all their lives."