es by millions, and while the German
people accept the empire, they do so because it is the most
satisfactory agent for their business and prosperity. The German
people behind the throne are the absolute power; and the voice of
democracy makes no more radical utterance and demand than in the
German _kaiserreich_. Recently, in a public interview, the Kaiser is
reported to have said, he expected his son to be the last emperor of
Germany, as within fifty years the whole world would become
democratic. Austria is still more or less under the influence of
Caesarism, but beneath the surface, the various peoples and
nationalities constituting that empire are restless, feverish, and
full of democratic ideas. Turkey has been shaken by a revolt of "The
Young Turks," and the demand for more popular government. Japan has
broken loose from the customs and traditions of centuries--her flag
is the symbol of the rising sun, and indicates that she is seeking
to take her place in the new dawn of popular sovereignty. China, the
oldest civilization and the mightiest population, has become a
republic, her young men returning from the universities of Europe
and America having sown broadcast the seed of democracy and the
claim of the people. Russia, alone, remains absolute in name, but
the absolute has been shattered even there--it is supported only by
bayonets and drawn swords. Every now and then a sullen sound is
heard, dying away to be renewed in deeper tones; it is the voice of
the people, in spite of the knout, the prison and Siberian exile,
calling for what they claim to be their "rights."

Everywhere the evidence is manifest that the prophecy of Daniel
announcing the rise of the "_clay_" (Daniel's symbol of the people)
and the warning of Isaiah that "the nations should rush like the
rushing of many waters," and "make a noise like the noise of the
seas," are being fulfilled.

After "Clay," or Democracy, there remains only anarchy, or power in
the hands of an absolute ruler. That absolute, world-wide ruler is
declared by all the prophets to be the Son of God, and his kingdom
is symbolized by a _stone_--a stone is the very opposite of clay.

THE CLAY IS HERE!

Centuries ago the Bible declared that in the closing hours of this
age the whole world would be under arms, preparing for a gigantic
and final war; that each nation would turn itself into a vast army,
and that the whole earth would become a military camp and field of
manoeuvre.