Basic HTML Version
Impending Conflict
319
It would be more consistent for nations to abolish their statutes
than for the Ruler of the universe to annul His law. The experiment
of making void the law of God was tried in France when atheism
became the controlling power. It was demonstrated that to throw
off the restraints which God has imposed is to accept the rule of the
prince of evil.
Setting Aside the Law of God
Those who teach the people to regard lightly the commandments
of God sow disobedience to reap disobedience. Let the restraint
imposed by the divine law be wholly cast aside, and human laws
would soon be disregarded. The results of banishing God’s precepts
would be such as they do not anticipate. Property would no longer
be safe. Men would obtain their neighbors’ possessions by violence,
and the strongest would become richest. Life itself would not be
respected. The marriage vow would no longer stand as a bulwark to
protect the family. He who had the power would 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 and happiness would be banished from the
earth.
Already this doctrine has opened the floodgates of iniquity on the
world. Lawlessness and corruption sweep in like an overwhelming
tide. Even in professedly Christian households there is hypocrisy,
estrangement, betrayal of sacred trusts, indulgence of lust. Religious
[358]
principle, the foundation of social life, seems a tottering mass ready
to fall. Vile criminals are often made the recipients of attentions as if
they had attained an enviable distinction. Great publicity is given to
their crimes. The press publishes revolting details of vice, initiating
others into fraud, robbery, and murder. The infatuation of vice, the
terrible intemperance and iniquity of every degree should arouse all.
What can be done to stay the tide of evil?