, but come it will, and as sure as fate there will
be an explosion such as the world has never seen."

Of the rapid growth of discontent and its propaganda, Mr. Frederick
Townsend Martin, of New York, wrote:

"Fifty years ago there was scarcely a voice of protest; indeed,
there was hardly anything to protest against. Twenty-five years
ago the protest was clear and distinct, and we understood it.
Ten years ago the protest found expression in a dozen weekly
publications, but today the protest is circulated not by
hundreds or thousands of printed copies of books, pamphlets,
magazines, and newspapers, but actually by the million.

"This propaganda of protest has its daily papers that are
distinctive and published for that purpose, and that purpose
only. It has its magazines and tens of thousands of weekly
papers. Only a fool sneers at such a volume of publicity as
that....

"The warnings that hundreds of us are uttering may be ignored.
The squandering may go on, the vulgar bacchanalia may be
prolonged, the poor may have to writhe under the iron heel of
the iron lord--the dance of death may go on until society's E
string snaps, and then the Vesuvius of the underworld will
belch forth its lava of death and destruction."--_Hearst's
Magazine, September, 1913._

Thus hearts grow faint "for looking after those things which are coming
on the earth." But while the increasing "distress of nations, with
perplexity," abounds, the Lord sends the steadying, assuring message
that soon Christ will come to end the reign of sin and strife. He would
have His children keep the gospel light glowing, and wait patiently for
Him.

4. The Great Missionary Movement

The Saviour's prophecy of the signs of His second coming places the work
of world evangelization as the culminating sign. This in itself is a
joyful token of the approaching end, a bright signal of hope in a
suffering world. He said:

"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24: 14.

Before the end, the light of the gospel was to shine into every dark
corner of the earth. True to the sure word of prophecy, when the latter
days began,--"the time of the end,"--there sprang up the great movement
of modern missions which has been one of the leading characteristics of
the last century. Here