the rise and fall of ancient
empires, and outlined the general course of world history through the
ages, describes also the last great struggle of the nations.

The proverb says, "Peace is the dream of the wise, but war is the
history of man." And divine prophecy assures us that the history of this
present world will end amid scenes of conflict.

Many in our time have come to think that civilization must reach a
better way of composing the rivalries of the nations. The prophecy
forewarns us otherwise. In fact, the prophetic word points to the talk
of peace and safety amid preparations for war, as a distinct sign of the
latter days.

"In the last days," Isaiah says, "many people shall go and say:"

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more." Isa. 2:2-4.

This is what "many people" were to be saying. But the real conditions in
the last days are described as exactly the opposite. The prophet Joel
describes the real spirit of the world in these times:

"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles [the nations]: Prepare war, wake up
the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat
your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the
weak say, I am strong." Joel 3:9, 10.

The context shows that the prophet is speaking of the last times, when
"the day of the Lord is near." Verse 14.

The Prophecy Fulfilling

This is what we have seen in our time, as never before in the history of
man,--the product of the plowshare and the pruning hook being turned
into instruments of war.

About twenty-five years ago the late Marquis of Salisbury, speaking as a
man grown gray in the service of the state, asked a London audience the
question, "What is the great change that marks this time as different
from the times when most of us were young men?" The aged statesman
answered his own question, saying that it was the arming of the nations,
the swift race upon which the powers had then recently entered, to
increase their naval and military armaments. It is a sign of our times,
answering to the prophetic forecast.

Throughout the present generation the thoughtful have watched with grave
forebodings the preparations of the nations for war. Queen Alexandra, of
Britain, once said of it:

"I was educated in the school of a king who was, before all
things, just; an