37. DEFINITIONS OF SOCIALISM

wherein little children, emancipated from toil, ignorance, hunger, and exploitation, shall be raised by loving care," etc.; "wherein women, absolved from shame, servitude, and inequality, shall be enfranchised, owners of themselves; . . . and wherein men, masterless and free, shall work gladly for family and home," etc.

"Socialism is the extreme of democracy meeting the extreme of individualism."

"Socialism is the Trinity of Love, Justice, and Truth."

"Socialism is the Gospel of the Atonement of Humanity for 'Man's inhumanity to man.'"

"Socialism is the second coming of the ELDER BROTHER."

"Socialism is Faith in the Motherhood of God, Hope in the Comradehood of Humanity, and Charity for all the world."

These definitions should be pondered and their significance apprehended by all; and especially do we commend them to the thoughtful consideration of "Christian Socialists." For these doctrines and articles of faith are inherent in the system of Socialism. They spring naturally from its root principle--the Solidarity or Brotherhood of Man; and if humanity should ever commit itself to the desperate experiment of Socialism, it will speedily find itself subject to the operation of these principles and doctrines.

SOCIALISM AND MARRIAGE

There is one feature of the programme and creed of Socialism which calls for special notice. Socialism proposes to abolish the family and the institution of marriage. This is not said to excite prejudice. Neither in stating it do we lose sight of the fact that the proposition to abolish marriage and the family is abhorrent to many who openly espouse the cause of Socialism. Yet this proposition is inherent in the system. It is a logical tenet of the creed, because one of the fundamental principles of Socialism is that "Society" is responsible for the care and training of all children from their birth, and is bound to discharge to every child the obligations which now rest upon its parents. Thus the family, as an institution for the nurture, protection, and instruction of children, will be no longer needed, and, its utility having ceased, it will be abolished as an outgrown device.

It also follows that, in the new order of things, marriage will have become a superfluous institution; and not only so, but marriage is already under attack as an unnecessary restraint upon human liberty. Why should such a limitation be imposed? And by what authority are "free human beings" to be thus restricted in a matter of personal choice of the very highest moment? Certainly this marriage-yoke was not

ABOLISHING THE "MARRIAGE-YOKE" 257 imposed upon humanity by "the will of the people"; and inasmuch as the will of the people is the "supreme law," Society has power and authority to abolish the bondage and to establish perfect liberty of the sexes.

We have already quoted, as one of the definitions of Socialism, the declaration that it is a Kingdom in which "women, absolved from shame, shall be owners of themselves." The following, from the same book, is even plainer:—

"We believe in the sacredness of the Family and the Home, the legitimacy of every child, and the inalienable right of every woman to the absolute possession of Herself."

This feature of Socialism (and we repeat that it is a logical and necessary feature of a true socialistic order, in which the State is the father of every child, and all children are treated alike) is what most plainly marks the system as one embodying the doctrines of demons and seducing spirits. The Spirit of God, speaking "expressly," says that "in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons . . . forbidding to marry." This has been supposed by some to refer to the celibacy of the clergy; but "forbidding to marry" is not a "doctrine" taught the people by the Church of Rome. Moreover, celibacy of the clergy has been carried on from very early times. It is not specially characteristic of "latter times." It follows that "forbidding to marry" must refer to something else.

We need be no longer at a loss to understand its meaning, for the productive energies of these active days have at last brought forth a religious system which includes among its doctrines "forbidding to marry"; that is, it teaches the actual abolition of marriage,—and some are departing from "the faith," giving heed to this new religious system.

The matter now under consideration is of the utmost importance. Marriage was the first institution which God ordained for human society (Gen. ii. 24). It is the one and only survival of man's state of original innocence. It is, hence, the last Divine institution to be set aside by man in the exercise of his unrestrained will. The determined assault on the institution of marriage, which is now being carried on, is a striking indication that man is nearing the very end of his rebellious doings.

The Lord Jesus put the seal of His authority upon the inviolability of the marriage institution. He declared that divorce had been permitted by Moses to the Israelites because of the hardness of their hearts; but that "from the beginning it was not so" (Matt. xix. 8). And He reminded His hearers that "He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave

"FORBIDDING TO MARRY"

to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh"

(Matt. xix. 4, 5).

This proposal to abolish marriage may not be lightly dismissed, as some are disposed to do, with the fond notion that the moral sense of the people will resist it. The moral sense of the people will not stand in the way of the will of the people. The moral sense of a community is the product of that standard of morals which is recognized therein as authoritative.

The moral sense of communities where the Bible has been revered, is the product of the Bible. But what is now going on, and what for a large majority of people in civilized countries has already taken place, and what all the important movements of the day are hastening to accomplish, is the transfer of the recognized seat of authority from the Bible to "the

People." With the authority of the Bible set aside, and the absolute freedom of man proclaimed as the establishment of the golden age on earth, there will exist no reason whatever why men and women should put themselves under the marriage yoke.

Society as a whole is being rapidly educated to accept the teaching of Socialism in "forbidding to marry." Among the factors contributing to this result may be briefly mentioned—

1. The increasing facilities for divorce, and the largely increasing numbers of those who avail themselves of such facilities. The divorce statistics have forced themselves upon public attention, and have been made the subject of many warnings by those who appreciate in some measure the dangers and evils into which this tendency is leading. But while men and women who, at the moment, happen not to be meditating or desiring legal separation from their mates, may admit the seriousness of the situation, the warnings certainly are not heeded by those who desire freedom from the marriage yoke. As is usually the case with public warnings, they impress only those who have no need of them.

2. The current "affinity" doctrines and practices are doing their part to banish from the minds of the people the idea of the sacredness of marriage. The "problem" plays and novels of the day are making their contribution to the same result.¹

¹ Since this volume went to the printer the first of a series of articles, under the striking title, "Blasting at the Rock of Ages," has made its appearance in a leading American magazine (The Cosmopolitan). In these articles, the writer, Mr. Harold Bolce, promises to give the results of investigations, extending over several years, conducted by him with the object of ascertaining just what is being taught in the principal Universities in the United States. Those articles will doubtless inform the reader, with approximate accuracy, as to the extent to which the doctrines of Pantheism (particularly in the form of Humanism) have become the accepted religion of the cultured and educated classes. We have space only to quote briefly from the editor's note. He says:—

DISRAELI'S PREDICTION

3. General laxity and disregard of the marriage relation is apparently increasing both among those

"Those who are not in close touch with the great colleges of the country will be astonished to learn the creeds being fostered by the faculties of our great universities. In hundreds of classrooms it is being daily taught that the Decalogue is no more sacred than a syllabus; THAT THE HOME AS AN INSTITUTION IS DOOMED; that immorality is simply an act in contravention of society's accepted standards; . . . that the change from one religion to another is like getting a new hat; . . . that wide stairways are open between social levels, but that, to the climber, children are encumbrances; that the sole effect of prolificacy is to fill tiny graves; and that there can be and are HOLIER ALLIANCES WITHOUT THE MARRIAGE BOND THAN WITHIN. These are some of the revolutionary and sensational teachings submitted with academic warrant to the minds of hundreds of thousands of students in the United States. . . . 'The social question of to-day,' said Disraeli, 'is only a zephyr which rustles the leaves, but will soon become a hurricane.' It is a dull ear that cannot hear the mutterings of the coming storm."

According, then, to this witness, the demoniacal doctrine subversive of marriage is being openly taught at some of the leading American colleges.

It must be borne constantly in mind that, according to the principles of democracy, which are firmly established throughout Christendom, the foregoing, and any other evil doctrines, become right the moment they are sanctioned by "the people." And who can question but that such "liberal" doctrines and practices are much more acceptable to the taste of the public than the old straitlaced notions, which were "arbitrarily imposed" upon the enslaved human intellect in the days when men were dominated by the now "crumbling creeds"?

who are within and those without the marriage state. In some countries (as Italy, for example), where facilities for divorce are not so abundant as in the progressive United States, the opinion is quite commonly and openly held among the lower classes of society, that it is best to dispense with the marriage ceremony at the beginning of their domestic relations, and thus ensure against possible inconvenience in case those relations prove unsatisfactory.

4. There is an esoteric teaching of "Christian Science" which has an important bearing upon this subject, and which, therefore, we cannot dismiss without at least a brief reference. This extraordinary and unspeakably vile teaching is to the effect that when women become proficient in "Christian Science" they will be able to bring children into the world without natural conception. This is a peculiarly subtle and dangerous attack upon the sacredness of marriage, for it is conducted behind the mask of a pretended lofty spirituality. It is therefore most needful that the people be plainly warned against it. This has been very thoroughly done in a book recently published by Dr. I. M. Haldeman, of New York City, under the title, Christian Science in the Light of Holy Scripture. Concerning the seriousness of the doctrine upon which we are now commenting, Dr. Haldeman well says:—

"Abolish marriage, break down the sacredness of motherhood, the nobility of fatherhood, and the unashamed right of childhood, and every

"DOCTRINES OF DEMONS"

institution of order and decency would go down with a crash."

We are surely warranted in regarding this doctrine as of special significance, in view of the rapid spread of "Christian Science," and in view of the fact that the Spirit of God has expressly declared that a feature of "the latter times" should be a departure from the faith, and a giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry. With this Scripture to guide us, we need be at no loss to determine the source of that evil system known as "Christian Science."

5. The looseness and immodesty which characterize Spiritist movements are likewise operating against the sacredness of marriage. This matter has forced itself upon the attention of Christian people of late. Many of the meetings where unusual experiences are sought and unusual manifestations given, have been characterized by a flagrant disregard of the restraints ordinarily observed between the sexes. In fact, it may be stated, as a general rule, that the yielding of one's mind and body to Spiritist "control" in any of its many current forms, causes deterioration, physically, mentally, and morally.

This latter phase of current events is supposed by some students and expositors of Scripture, and not without reason, to be paving the way for the reproduction of the awful conditions prevailing on earth before the flood, and described in Gen. vi. 2-5. When demonism reaches this stage, the judgments of God cannot be longer restrained.

But whatever, in all the changes that are taking place, may be yet involved in uncertainty, and whatever room there may be for differences as to the tendencies and outcome of some phases of the great socialistic movements of the day, there can be no doubt at all that their main object is to declare the absolute freedom of mankind from all external authority, and to establish a system wherein Society shall administer all the affairs of a consolidated Humanity.

ZIONISM

Our review of the great movements of the day would be incomplete without a reference to Zionism, which came into existence in 1897 (the first Zionist Congress being held in Basle, Switzerland, in that year) and which has developed astonishing vigor during the short intervening period.

Prophecy assigns to the Hebrew nation a prominent part in the convulsions which are to mark the close of this age and the beginning of that which is to succeed it; and the fulfilment of these prophecies requires that the Jews should have at that time a recognized national existence, such as will admit of their entering into treaty relations with the great powers of the world.

The history of mankind presents no fact more

A JEWISH AWAKENING remarkable, and none which is less susceptible of explanation to the natural mind, than the fact that the Jews have been, always and everywhere, prevented from merging with the peoples where they have dwelt throughout this long age. And now we behold the astounding spectacle of an awakening of the Jewish national consciousness after a sleep of nearly two thousand years' duration. After that long period of denationalization there is seen the beginning and growth of a world-wide Jewish national movement.

The inspiring sentiment of this movement is the thought of repossessing the land promised by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

What appeared to be, a few years ago, insuperable difficulties in the way of this movement, have been one by one removed. The overruling hand of the Almighty has been so shaping the affairs of the nations, that now, with the late political revolution in Turkey, the last formidable obstacle seems to have been taken out of the way.

If we bear in mind the part which the financial powers are to play in these closing scenes of our age, and also the fact that these financial powers are very largely in Jewish hands, we shall the better appreciate the great significance of the Zionist movement. Up to this time these tremendous financial interests have been held by individual Jews, citizens of various countries, and united by no political bond. What a mighty factor in human affairs will be brought into operation when these several financial interests are consolidated! What the "great powers" need in order to prosecute their rapidly growing military and naval programmes is MONEY. Commercial rivalry is intensifying. National existences are being imperilled by the possibility of losing important channels of trade. Hence armaments are growing in proportion to these national fears. Germany unexpectedly accelerates her naval programme by the seemingly trifling period of four months, and England is thereby thrown into a perfect fever of anxiety. So we see on all hands increasing "distress of nations with perplexity." Meanwhile the nations will be compelled to negotiate loans, because the limits of revenue by taxation have been practically reached.

This situation is what gives the Jewish financiers their great opportunity. And now that a Jewish national consciousness has been awakened, what is more natural and probable than that, as a condition of additional loans to the great powers, the Jewish financiers should demand treaties guaranteeing national existence to the Jews?

Assuming that events take this likely course, and that Judea becomes the home of the great creditor-nation of the world, the next development would be easy to forecast. But it has been already long ago foretold. In Daniel ix. 27, we read of a treaty between the Jews and a great world-power guaranteeing to the former certain privileges for a period of seven years,

A CREDITOR-NATION which treaty the guarantor breaks in the middle of that period, thus precipitating the great tribulation, or "time of Jacob's trouble." Then, in Zechariah xiv. 2-4, we read that all nations shall be gathered against Jerusalem to battle; and that the Lord shall then go forth and fight against those nations; and that His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. What should bring all these nations at once against Jerusalem except the onerous obligations imposed by the astute money-lenders as conditions for their financial aid? The invading powers must have a common cause, for they are acting together; and we have in full view a situation which would furnish such a common casus belli. The debtor is very obsequious when coming to borrow, but often fierce and belligerent when the terms of payment have to be met. This is particularly true when the borrower feels those terms to be hard, and we know that the Jew has learned how to take full advantage of the necessities of those who come to him for financial aid.

Furthermore, the fires of hatred against the Jew have not died out. On the contrary, they have, within recent years, flared up and burned more fiercely than at any time during the long era of Jewish dispersion and persecution. Heretofore this strange hatred (known to-day as "Anti-Semitism") has necessarily expended itself against individual Jews. But given a Jewish nation, and one that has gained the galling power of a creditor over other nations, and it is certain that this age-long and world-wide hatred would take a national form, and would break out, on slight provocation, with all the intensity predicted in the ancient prophecies.

It is evident, moreover, that should the Jews aggregate their capital and become a great creditor-nation, with fiscal agencies in all commercial centres of the world, they would be the suppliers of capital, not only to Governments, but also to industrial enterprises. The pre-eminent commercial aptitude of the Jew, and his quick apprehension of economic problems, are recognized on all hands. It is reasonable, therefore, to suppose that Jewish financiers have long ago realized the great advantage they would obtain by consolidating their capital—forming, as it were, a Money Trust; and it may also be safely assumed that plans have been already considered for bringing about so desirable an arrangement. The establishment of a Jewish State, with its capital at Jerusalem, would make this very easy of accomplishment; and thus the city of David might quickly become the most important city on earth, as well as the object of universal jealousy and hatred.

It is evident that, should the money-power ever be consolidated (and if present commercial tendencies work out their ultimate result, it is inevitable), that power will really dominate the politics and industries of the world. It is further evident that the head of the Money Trust would be the most potent individual in the world. He would be virtually the head of the consolidated human interests. Add to these considera-

A "MONEY-TRUST"

tions the fact to which prophecy testifies, namely, that the Antichrist—the head of the ultimate religio-commercial system—will be a Jew, with headquarters at Jerusalem, and we may plainly see that this great Zionist movement is, like all the other notable movements of our day, heading directly towards the consolidation of human affairs into a world-wide, all-embracing System.

And it should be noted in this connection that Zionism, while intensely national in character, does not propose to revive the ancient religion of the Jewish people. This is, to my mind, the strangest feature of Zionism. Every national revival among the Jews in their past history has been a religious revival. That there should ever be a national revival of Judaism which should be absolutely destitute of the religious element, and which should make absolutely no appeal to the religious feelings of the people, would be deemed an a priori impossibility. And yet it is necessary, in order for prophecy to be fulfilled, that a large number of Jews should return to, and should occupy, Palestine in a condition of religious apostasy. This event seems to be now close at hand; and, in spite of all opposition, hatred, spoliation, and persecution, the hated and despised Jews have possessed themselves of such financial resources, and of such commercial influence, in every part of the world, as to prepare all that is needed for the rapid fulfilment of the other steps of the prophetic programme.

SECTION IV

THE Scriptures examined at the beginning of this volume state very plainly that the great System of the end-times is to be a gigantic and practically universal system of Idolatry. The Desolator is to come "upon the wing of abominations," that is to say, of idolatries. It is therefore a very important part of our task to inquire into the idolatries of our day, and particularly to ascertain whether the tendency to create and pay homage to idols is, or is not, one of the characteristics of the "modern man." For this reason, we ask the reader's patient consideration of what follows.

The Scriptures contain many warnings against idolatry: but by many readers of Scripture these are supposed to have no application in our day except to the heathen. That, however, is a very mistaken view of the matter. It involves a mistake as to what constitutes idolatry, and a mistake as to the religious sentiments of modern society. The fact is,