Page 232 - Jesus is coming - Class version

SIGNS OF HIS COMING. 229

1896 the number of passengers carried on the railroads in
the United States was 535,120,756 and the mileage was
13,054,840,243, and in the whole world the railroad pas-
sengers were 2,384,000,000 and the mileage 28,677,000,000.
Add to this the travel by steamers and private conveyance,
the explorations into every conceivable corner of the earth,
from the equator to the poles, and the enormous aggregate
is surely a literal fulfilment of this sign of the end.
And knowledge shall be increased.
The unprecedented educational facilities are a remark-
able feature of our time. We have public schools for our
youth, colleges and universities for higher education, and
denominational schools for religious education.
The public press, with its ceaseless streams of news and
information, covers the earth with its ever increasing cir-
like falling leaves from some tree of
culation, mighty
knowledge. And, of the making of many books, there is
truly no end.
The means of communication by the mail, telegraph and
telephone have been multiplied in geometrical progression.
By the Universal Postal Union, printed matter is carried
as cheaply to Iceland or China as to the next street in
Chicago.
But perhaps the prediction of our text refers more espe-
cially to the increase of Bible study, and here again we
have a wonderful fulfilment. Since the year 1804 over
230,000,000 of Bibles, Testaments, and portions have
been distributed by the Bible Societies alone, and millions
more by private publication agencies. The Bible has been
translated into over 287 languages, and parts into 340.
Over nine-tenths of the race have the Bible to read in
their own language.
Religious papers and periodicals are issued by the mil-
lion. The great system of universal Sunday-school lessons,
the Bible Institutes, the Chautauqua Summer Schools and
Bible Conferences have developed a world-wide study of
the Word of God. ,
With this there has come a wide-spread study of the
Prophetic Word, especially concerning Israel and our