VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER.
AN ASTROLOGER'S OUTLOOK.
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WE seriously question all the claims of Astrology; yet the following--from whatever source the suggestions come, even though of the Adversary himself--seem remarkably true to our expectations based upon the Word of the Lord. For this reason alone we present them here,--as follows:--
"Saturn is the representative of the great motive power that has dominated the mind of man up to the present time. The great organizations of Capital, attracting now so much attention, are in reality the last great struggle of this Saturn-god to save his throne. But his efforts will be futile, yet far from useless, for he is blindly doing service for a still greater God in the same way as the other planets have contributed blindly to Saturn's glory.
"Jupiter, representing law, religion and morality, has been perforce subservient to Saturn's greater and more potent force. It explains why the church, the law, the charitable and educational institutions have contributed to increasing the power and prestige of the worldly and material Saturn, whose selfish monopolizing material nature must be disposed of and made tributary to a higher, nobler force that will carry out the work of human evolution.
"Jupiter must also transfer his allegiance from the grasping Saturn to the newly discovered factor that stands for universal brotherhood; namely, Uranus. When Uranus and Jupiter meet in the humane sign of Aquarius in 1914, the long-promised era will have made a fair start in the work of setting man free to work out his own salvation, and will insure the ultimate realization of dreams and ideals of all poets and sages in history.
"Uranus is preparing the way for Neptune, who symbolizes Love in its very highest form--the fulfilling of the law. By this, we see that Socialism, or whatever the new order may be called, will not and can not be the rule of the common or ignorant masses, but the leadership of the very highest developed members of the human family.
"In 1903 Jupiter will be in the Sign of Pisces-- sign of the feet, or understanding, and the synthesis of the new religion is Love;--Love, that words cannot define. We are nearing a condition where "masters" will be unknown--where humanity will instinctively conform to the injunction, 'Call no man master, neither be ye called master.'
"Note--Uranus: Great commotions are expected when it shall take its ascendancy over Saturn."
PREPARATIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM.
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Polar ice, both arctic and antarctic, seems to have been steadily decreasing, and it may be that these frigid deserts shall once more blossom as the rose-- Isa. 35:1--literally.
The ice from both poles seems to be drifting toward equatorial regions, to such an extent that, in the north, it has become a menace to commerce, and it may be a work preparatory to the "times of restitution."
ARCTIC ICE A MENACE TO OCEAN STEAMSHIPS.
"Philadelphia, March 18.--(Press dispatch.)-- Navigators of the North Atlantic are worried about the manner in which the arctic floe ice is drifting south, directly in the pathway of steamships. Captain Beavis of the Philadelphia Trans-Atlantic line steamship East Point, which arrived here today from London, reports passing tremendous quantities of field ice in latitude 43 deg. 43 min., and longitude 49 deg. 21 min. Owing to the obstruction Captain Beavis found it necessary to alter his vessel's course and steam 60 miles to the southward to avoid contact with it."
ONLY A FORM OF GODLINESS.
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Rev. J. B. Hastings, D.D., of Edinburgh, Scotland, explained not long ago his views respecting the generally acknowledged loss of religious interest, as follows:--
"Our worship in many cases has become a mere form. There is little apparent hungering for the [R3184 : page 132] bread of life; and only in rarest instances a crying out of the heart and flesh for the living God. Not that there is an open antagonism to religion. There have been periods within our own recollection when there was much more of direct opposition. But there is an alarming deal of that subtler, deadlier quantity known as simple indifference, which is playing melancholy havoc among ever-enlarging sections of the population. Outside our churches there is a great army of men and women who have become sadly estranged; who have been so long away from the ordinances of public worship that it will be next to impossible, by ordinary methods, to bring them back. And inside our churches there are many who feel that something needs to be done to make our public worship more interesting and edifying and directly helpful to the religious life....
"I believe that the root of the whole matter lies in a widespread practical disbelief in the supernatural. There is no realization, on the part of the multitudes, of the spiritual world, and of the God with whom they have to do. There are so many interests in this material life that the things of the spirit are simply given the go-by. The whole atmosphere of God's house has become so foreign to the experience of their everyday lives, that they are no longer interested, and, as a matter of course, have ceased to attend. It is sad to [R3185 : page 132] think that so many young men and women in our populous cities are in this position. With churches galore, of all sorts and conditions (in one of which they could surely find congenial worship), they are yet standing without, spiritual starvelings, children merely of time, practical unbelievers in God and immortality, moving on their light-hearted way to the judgment throne and the eternity beyond."
PECULIAR VIEWS ON HEATHENS.
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"Munich.--(Press cable.)--The papal nuncio at this court has ordered the Catholic papers to stop publishing an open letter by Bishop Pelkman, Lahore, East India, as it would 'distress the holy father very much to see the right reverend gentleman's peculiar views in print.'
"The paragraph in the bishop's letter to which exception is taken reads as follows:
"'Twenty-one thousand three hundred and eighty-nine persons have died of the plague; wonderful are God's ways! One is almost persuaded to think that the Lord sentenced the heathen adults to die that their children might fall into the hands of the missionaries and be educated as good Christians. The last two famine periods brought us several thousand new adepts.'"
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