I want the two pictures that illustrate this article to tell their own story. You see the Cloth Hall at Ypres as it was before the War, and you see it as it is now. This is a sample of the destruction all over Belgium and Northern France. I have seen the ruins of many cities, with now scarcely one stone left upon the other.
The illustration on our cover shows the process of the destruction of the once magnificent Cloth Hall. Underneath this burning tower the bodies of six hundred of our soldiers were buried by the bursting of a shell upon it.
Pray for the homeless thousands of France and Belgium; send them the Word of God that speaks of the divine reconstruction of the human soul and body. Help all who are seeking to bless the human race today. The devil is abroad in the world, going about as a roaring lion. He is piping, and men and women are dancing to the melodies of hell. There is a wild riot of sin over all the earth. Vast movements of devil-inspired wickedness are seeking to overturn all established order, and to bring a tottering world down in the ruins of unchecked lawlessness.
O Christians, close up your ranks for God. Face the foe in His strength. Preach “liberty,” but let it be the liberty that Christ gives to the human race. Preach “equality,” but let it be the equality that makes us alt equal in the sight of God―sinners in our sins, with one common and equal salvation for us all if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Preach “fraternity,” but let it be the brotherhood of those who are bound together by the golden links of divine salvation; the fraternity of men and women who have passed from the captivity of sin to the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free.
Let us think Christ’s thoughts of the state of the world today, and on our knees ask God to help us to be faithful witnesses for Jesus Christ, in a scene where He was, and is now, scorned and rejected by many.