Article September 17, 1910 Issue

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

J. L. WRIGHT.

Are there not many signs that we have entered upon the "last days"—the last days of error? Do not the subtle manifestations and deceptions of evil which we discern all about us indicate that error is fast ripening for destruction, indeed, in many instances is even now being destroyed?

How often do we find people, including many in the ranks of the religious, attributing real power, if not life itself, to some newly discovered or exploited thing, such as radium or electricity, which, while it may be interesting and wonderful, is purely material. It seems a common thing for religiously denominated and comparatively thoughtful people to be deluded into taking highly developed materialistic acts and things to be absolute good, truth, reality. Thus people's views of life become materialized, and we hear of such propositions as serving tea at prayer-meetings as a strong attraction to those who might otherwise fail to come, and of other forms of entertainment being offered in church services, as substitutes for spiritual food.

It is now not unusual for people who call themselves Christians to point to the works of various institutions, whose objects, though philanthropic, are wholly without the spiritual element, as the blossoms of modern Christianity. An earnest and devoted pastor of an orthodox denomination recently asked: "Who in this time is doing greater works than Jesus did?" and in reply to his own question said: "The hospitals." Yet certainly these hospitals, benevolent as their purposes may be, make no effort or claim to help spiritually those to whom they minister. Can any institution, system, or method be correctly characterized as truly Christian which leaves out the element of spirituality?

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