could not deceive her, nor could the cruel power of a world empire
stifle her voice. And now when her absent Lord is about to return again,
it surely behooves her to set her house in order, and to return with
candor and fidelity to that written code of instruction left with her by
her departing Master.

For the old-time friends of the Bible, the night of darkness and doubt
is rapidly passing; the morning of a fuller knowledge and a fuller
confidence is at hand. Gone are those agonies of doubt regarding the
truthfulness of the Bible's history and the adequacy of its ethics for
the needs of our modern world. Abandoned forever are all those futile
attempts at compromise, in a vain and painful endeavor to translate the
record of Creation into the language of a pseudo-science now rapidly
being outgrown, and to adapt the plan of salvation to the false
standards of an artificial age that seems to be rapidly disintegrating
before the Church's very eyes. She now realizes that her Bible is more
accurate than the world's science, her simple gospel wiser than its
philosophy.

The hour has struck; a sublime opportunity is before her; for the God of
nature has Himself opened up before His Church the long-sealed chapters
in His larger book, and is now pointing out the marvellous agreement
between His book of nature and His written record. The strongest
message of the Church has often been heard amid the darkest ages of
apostasy. And the prophecies of the Bible have repeatedly pointed out a
special message that the Church is to bear to the world in that darkest
hour just before the breaking of eternal day,--a message that we now see
is wonderfully adapted to this age of evolutionism in science and
pantheism in philosophy. Looking down along the darkening vistas of the
coming years, the great Jehovah saw how a vastly increased knowledge of