46
Darkness Before Dawn
no longer be safe. Men would obtain their neighbor’s possessions by
violence, and the strongest would become richest. Life itself would
not be respected. The marriage vow would no longer stand as a sacred
bulwark to protect the family. He who had the power, would, if he
desired, take his neighbor’s wife by violence. The fifth commandment
would be set aside with the fourth. Children would not shrink from
taking the life of their parents if by so doing they could obtain the
desire of their corrupt hearts. The civilized world would become a
horde of robbers and assassins; and peace, rest, and happiness would
be banished from the earth.
Already the doctrine that men are released from obedience to God’s
requirements has weakened the force of moral obligation and opened
the floodgates of iniquity upon the world. Lawlessness, dissipation,
and corruption are sweeping in upon us like an overwhelming tide. In
the family, Satan is at work. His banner waves, even in professedly
Christian households. There is envy, evil surmising, hypocrisy, es-
trangement, emulation, strife, betrayal of sacred trusts, indulgence of
lust. The whole system of religious principles and doctrines, which
[31]
should form the foundation and framework of social life, seems to be
a tottering mass, ready to fall to ruin. The vilest of criminals, when
thrown into prison for their offenses, are often made the recipients of
gifts and attentions as if they had attained an enviable distinction. Great
publicity is given to their character and crimes. The press publishes
the revolting details of vice, thus initiating others into the practice
of fraud, robbery, and murder; and Satan exults in the success of his
hellish schemes. The infatuation of vice, the wanton taking of life,
the terrible increase of intemperance and iniquity of every order and
degree, should arouse all who fear God, to inquire what can be done
to stay the tide of evil.
Corruption in Courts of Justice
Courts of justice are corrupt. Rulers are actuated by desire for gain
and love of sensual pleasure. Intemperance has beclouded the faculties
of many so that Satan has almost complete control of them. Jurists are
perverted, bribed, deluded. Drunkenness and revelry, passion, envy,
dishonesty of every sort, are represented among those who administer