Page 153 - Jesus is coming - Class version

150 JESUS IS COMING.

Civilization and Beneficent Institutions.
But perhaps it is still insisted that the world has made
great progress in civilization and refinement, in benevo-
lence, in personal liberty, international fraternity, Chris-
tian work, etc. In proof of this, the abrogation of slavery
is cited; also the cessation of the inquisition and martyr-
dom, the establishment of charitable institutions, the great
postal and commercial means of communication, built upon
the agencies of steam and lightning; the right of trial by
jury, international arbitration, missionary triumphs, etc.
Well, first of all we answer that Civilization and Ee-
finement are not the Source of Holiness. They may ele-
vate the head, while the heart is untouched. The gilded
palace of sin is as certainly the gateway to hell as the
darkest den of vice.
The cultured and scientific atheist is as surely in the
service of Satan as the thief or the murderer. Jesus Him-
self classed them all together when He said, "He that is
not with Me is against Me." Mat. 12 :30. So it matters
not how much more like an angel of light the serpent may
appear, nor how civilized and refined the world may be.
Satan is the devil still.
And the world is still the world.
His manifestations and methods may be changed, but
the spirit of darkness is the same. And accordingly we
see that while slavery is disappearing, communism, social-
ism and nihilism are lifting their godless, headless forms.
And darker are their forebodings than were even the days
of the inquisition and martyrdom. Oppressing monopo-
lies, systematic peculation and fraud are parallel with
charitable institutions. The mails, so useful for news and
correspondence, afford a most convenient agency for dis-
seminating the flood of obscene literature which is blasting
the morals of the young. Trial by jury has too often
proved a mere farce, in which the criminal escapes. The
nation which opened the way for the missionary also
forced upon the teeming millions of China the awful
curse of opium.