THE WORLD IS DOOMED.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1010, 22 February 1912, Page 4

THE WORLD IS DOOMED.

MARIE CORELLI AS A PROPHETESS.

The churches have iu a great measure lost their hold upon the people, and the consolidation of family life is a thing of the past, says Marie Corelli in Nash’s Magazine. When England was truly great the love of home and country was the chief foundation of her greatness, as it should be with all nations seeking to hold high place and power—but in our present modes of living, both iu England and America, “home” is voted hum drum aud a bore —-sous and daughters openly profess the gad-about principles of what they term “pleasure,” and are more or less indifferent to the interests or convenience of their parents, showing no more reverence or consideration for them than is necessary to obtain financial “supplies.” They snap the chain that would bind them to filial tenderness aud duty, and follow their own particular forms of eujoyment with a cool selfishness which can but astonish any thoughtful beholder ; yet even this reprehensible attitude of the rising generation is but a phase ot the general “unrest ” pervading all classes aud all ages ; THE VAGUE SENSE THAT NOTHING IS GOING TO LAST very long, that some dire mischief threatens the world, and that one must try to enjoy oneself while one can, because there is no time lett to do anything else. Aud well-meaning fathers aud mothers, especially those of the upper classes, adapt themselves more or less compassionately and with regret to the new and often exceedingly bad manners of their children, who, in nine cases out of ten, resemble the Biblical “daughters of the horse-leech,” crying “ Give ! Give !” aud regard their progenitors merely as human banks on which they expect to draw ad libitum until the coin gives out. All this is wrong—hopelessly wrong. Yet it is all part and parcel of the thing—the Great Unrest, which, like a storm atmosphere, envelopes all our modern civilisation, There is no country that does not feel it—no nation that is not uneasily conscious of being ON THE VERGE OP CHANGE. Most noticeable and most tremendous of all portents, however, is the earthquake tremor that is shaking the churches to their fouudalious, and the the growth and extension of what is called the “New Thought.” There is no forgiveuess, because there simply cannot be any deviation in the mathematical precision of the universal plan. Aud the puuishmeut is measured exactly to the lault. If we refuse to go forward we must go back —aud are not allowed to stand still- If

a man elect to throw himself headlong from a steeple, not all the prayers of the saints could alter the law of gravitation which causes him to fall and break his neck.

What is true of physical law is equally true of spiritual law, since Matter is simply Spirit substantiated and made temporarily visible iu endless temporary forms. Aud all God-ordained laws whether physical or spiritual, are framed lor the guidance, benefit and advancement of creation whereas we, by devising other laws which pull contrary to Divine ways and means, find ourselves “in darkness and the shadow OE DEATH,” instead of iu the light and the splendour of life. In our day Science has come to our rescue, and, like a great Angel, stands at the open door of the Kingdom o! Heaven ; she shows us the “many mansions” of worlds iu the Father's House. it is the contemplation of these truths which science hourly and daily demonstrates to the glory of the Creator that the “New” or “Old’’ Thought has arisen in all its strength, like Christ from the grave, “walking iu the garden in the cool of the day.” Hence the earthquake tottering of the churches, aud the overspreading great wave of religious unrest. There is, among many deeplythinking people, an uneasy sense that we have insulted the real and ever present God by our narrow and more or less selfish system ol faith, aud that vve must hasten to make amends. It needs no gift of prophecy and no special intuition to see that we are on the brink of some tremendous change in the destinies of the human race. Everything points to it—our tottering creeds, our fluctuating standard ol manners and morals.