Chapter IX.

by Aldous Huxley

　　Mr. Bodiham was sitting in his study at the Rectory. Thenineteenth-century Gothic windows, narrow and pointed, admittedthe light grudgingly; in spite of the brilliant July weather, theroom was sombre. Brown varnished bookshelves lined the walls,filled with row upon row of those thick, heavy theological workswhich the second-hand booksellers generally sell by weight. Themantelpiece, the over-mantel, a towering structure of spindlypillars and little shelves, were brown and varnished. Thewriting-desk was brown and varnished. So were the chairs, so wasthe door. A dark red-brown carpet with patterns covered thefloor. Everything was brown in the room, and there was a curiousbrownish smell.In the midst of this brown gloom Mr. Bodiham sat at his desk. Hewas the man in the Iron Mask. A grey metallic face with ironcheek-bones and a narrow iron brow; iron folds, hard andunchanging, ran perpendicularly down his cheeks; his nose was theiron beak of some thin, delicate bird of rapine. He had browneyes, set in sockets rimmed with iron; round them the skin wasdark, as though it had been charred. Dense wiry hair covered hisskull; it had been black, it was turning grey. His ears werevery small and fine. His jaws, his chin, his upper lip weredark, iron-dark, where he had shaved. His voice, when he spokeand especially when he raised it in preaching, was harsh, likethe grating of iron hinges when a seldom-used door is opened.It was nearly half-past twelve. He had just come back fromchurch, hoarse and weary with preaching. He preached with fury,with passion, an iron man beating with a flail upon the souls ofhis congregation. But the souls of the faithful at Crome weremade of india-rubber, solid rubber; the flail rebounded. Theywere used to Mr. Bodiham at Crome. The flail thumped on india-rubber, and as often as not the rubber slept.That morning he had preached, as he had often preached before, onthe nature of God. He had tried to make them understand aboutGod, what a fearful thing it was to fall into His hands. God--they thought of something soft and merciful. They blindedthemselves to facts; still more, they blinded themselves to theBible. The passengers on the "Titanic" sang "Nearer my God toThee" as the ship was going down. Did they realise what theywere asking to be brought nearer to? A white fire ofrighteousness, an angry fire...When Savonarola preached, men sobbed and groaned aloud. Nothingbroke the polite silence with which Crome listened to Mr.Bodiham--only an occasional cough and sometimes the sound ofheavy breathing. In the front pew sat Henry Wimbush, calm, well-bred, beautifully dressed. There were times when Mr. Bodihamwanted to jump down from the pulpit and shake him into life,--times when he would have liked to beat and kill his wholecongregation.He sat at his desk dejectedly. Outside the Gothic windows theearth was warm and marvellously calm. Everything was as it hadalways been. And yet, and yet...It was nearly four years nowsince he had preached that sermon on Matthew xxiv. 7: "Fornation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, indivers places." It was nearly four years. He had had the sermonprinted; it was so terribly, so vitally important that all theworld should know what he had to say. A copy of the littlepamphlet lay on his desk--eight small grey pages, printed by afount of type that had grown blunt, like an old dog's teeth, bythe endless champing and champing of the press. He opened it andbegan to read it yet once again."'For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom againstkingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, andearthquakes, in divers places.'"Nineteen centuries have elapsed since Our Lord gave utterance tothose words, and not a single one of them has been without wars,plagues, famines, and earthquakes. Mighty empires have crashedin ruin to the ground, diseases have unpeopled half the globe,there have been vast natural cataclysms in which thousands havebeen overwhelmed by flood and fire and whirlwind. Time andagain, in the course of these nineteen centuries, such thingshave happened, but they have not brought Christ back to earth.They were 'signs of the times' inasmuch as they were signs ofGod's wrath against the chronic wickedness of mankind, but theywere not signs of the times in connection with the Second Coming."If earnest Christians have regarded the present war as a truesign of the Lord's approaching return, it is not merely becauseit happens to be a great war involving the lives of millions ofpeople, not merely because famine is tightening its grip on everycountry in Europe, not merely because disease of every kind, fromsyphilis to spotted fever, is rife among the warring nations; no,it is not for these reasons that we regard this war as a trueSign of the Times, but because in its origin and its progress itis marked by certain characteristics which seem to connect italmost beyond a doubt with the predictions in Christian Prophecyrelating to the Second Coming of the Lord."Let me enumerate the features of the present war which mostclearly suggest that it is a Sign foretelling the near approachof the Second Advent. Our Lord said that 'this Gospel of theKingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto allnations; and then shall the end come.' Although it would bepresumptuous for us to say what degree of evangelisation will beregarded by God as sufficient, we may at least confidently hopethat a century of unflagging missionary work has brought thefulfilment of this condition at any rate near. True, the largernumber of the world's inhabitants have remained deaf to thepreaching of the true religion; but that does not vitiate thefact that the Gospel has been preached 'for a witness' to allunbelievers from the Papist to the Zulu. The responsibility forthe continued prevalence of unbelief lies, not with thepreachers, but with those preached to."Again, it has been generally recognised that 'the drying up ofthe waters of the great river Euphrates,' mentioned in thesixteenth chapter of Revelation, refers to the decay andextinction of Turkish power, and is a sign of the nearapproaching end of the world as we know it. The capture ofJerusalem and the successes in Mesopotamia are great stridesforward in the destruction of the Ottoman Empire; though it mustbe admitted that the Gallipoli episode proved that the Turk stillpossesses a 'notable horn' of strength. Historically speaking,this drying up of Ottoman power has been going on for the pastcentury; the last two years have witnessed a great accelerationof the process, and there can be no doubt that completedesiccation is within sight."Closely following on the words concerning the drying up ofEuphrates comes the prophecy of Armageddon, that world war withwhich the Second Coming is to be so closely associated. Oncebegun, the world war can end only with the return of Christ, andHis coming will be sudden and unexpected, like that of a thief inthe night."Let us examine the facts. In history, exactly as in St. John'sGospel, the world war is immediately preceded by the drying up ofEuphrates, or the decay of Turkish power. This fact alone wouldbe enough to connect the present conflict with the Armageddon ofRevelation and therefore to point to the near approach of theSecond Advent. But further evidence of an even more solid andconvincing nature can be adduced."Armageddon is brought about by the activities of three uncleanspirits, as it were toads, which come out of the mouths of theDragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet. If we can identifythese three powers of evil much light will clearly be thrown onthe whole question."The Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet can all beidentified in history. Satan, who can only work through humanagency, has used these three powers in the long war againstChrist which has filled the last nineteen centuries withreligious strife. The Dragon, it has been sufficientlyestablished, is pagan Rome, and the spirit issuing from its mouthis the spirit of Infidelity. The Beast, alternatively symbolisedas a Woman, is undoubtedly the Papal power, and Popery is thespirit which it spews forth. There is only one power whichanswers to the description of the False Prophet, the wolf insheep's clothing, the agent of the devil working in the guise ofthe Lamb, and that power is the so-called 'Society of Jesus.'The spirit that issues from the mouth of the False Prophet is thespirit of False Morality."We may assume, then, that the three evil spirits are Infidelity,Popery, and False Morality. Have these three influences been thereal cause of the present conflict? The answer is clear."The spirit of Infidelity is the very spirit of German criticism.The Higher Criticism, as it is mockingly called, denies thepossibility of miracles, prediction, and real inspiration, andattempts to account for the Bible as a natural development.Slowly but surely, during the last eighty years, the spirit ofInfidelity has been robbing the Germans of their Bible and theirfaith, so that Germany is to-day a nation of unbelievers. HigherCriticism has thus made the war possible; for it would beabsolutely impossible for any Christian nation to wage war asGermany is waging it."We come next to the spirit of Popery, whose influence in causingthe war was quite as great as that of Infidelity, though not,perhaps, so immediately obvious. Since the Franco-Prussian Warthe Papal power has steadily declined in France, while in Germanyit has steadily increased. To-day France is an anti-papal state,while Germany possesses a powerful Roman Catholic minority. Twopapally controlled states, Germany and Austria, are at war withsix anti-papal states--England, France, Italy, Russia, Serbia,and Portugal. Belgium is, of course, a thoroughly papal state,and there can be little doubt that the presence on the Allies'side of an element so essentially hostile has done much to hamperthe righteous cause and is responsible for our comparative ill-success. That the spirit of Popery is behind the war is thusseen clearly enough in the grouping of the opposed powers, whilethe rebellion in the Roman Catholic parts of Ireland has merelyconfirmed a conclusion already obvious to any unbiased mind."The spirit of False Morality has played as great a part in thiswar as the two other evil spirits. The Scrap of Paper incidentis the nearest and most obvious example of Germany's adherence tothis essentially unchristian or Jesuitical morality. The end isGerman world-power, and in the attainment of this end, any meansare justifiable. It is the true principle of Jesuitry applied tointernational politics."The identification is now complete. As was predicted inRevelation, the three evil spirits have gone forth just as thedecay of the Ottoman power was nearing completion, and havejoined together to make the world war. The warning, 'Behold, Icome as a thief,' is therefore meant for the present period--foryou and me and all the world. This war will lead on inevitablyto the war of Armageddon, and will only be brought to an end bythe Lord's personal return."And when He returns, what will happen? Those who are in Christ,St. John tells us, will be called to the Supper of the Lamb.Those who are found fighting against Him will be called to theSupper of the Great God--that grim banquet where they shall notfeast, but be feasted on. 'For,' as St. John says, 'I saw anangel standing in the sun; and he cried in a loud voice, sayingto all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gatheryourselves together unto the supper of the Great God; that ye mayeat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the fleshof mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit onthem, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both smalland great.' All the enemies of Christ will be slain with thesword of him that sits upon the horse, 'and all the fowls will befilled with their flesh.' That is the Supper of the Great God."It may be soon or it may, as men reckon time, be long; butsooner or later, inevitably, the Lord will come and deliver theworld from its present troubles. And woe unto them who arecalled, not to the Supper of the Lamb, but to the Supper of theGreat God. They will realise then, but too late, that God is aGod of Wrath as well as a God of Forgiveness. The God who sentbears to devour the mockers of Elisha, the God who smote theEgyptians for their stubborn wickedness, will assuredly smitethem too, unless they make haste to repent. But perhaps it isalready too late. Who knows but that to-morrow, in a momenteven, Christ may be upon us unawares, like a thief? In a littlewhile, who knows? The angel standing in the sun may be summoningthe ravens and vultures from their crannies in the rocks to feedupon the putrefying flesh of the millions of unrighteous whomGod's wrath has destroyed. Be ready, then; the coming of theLord is at hand. May it be for all of you an object of hope, nota moment to look forward to with terror and trembling."Mr. Bodiham closed the little pamphlet and leaned back in hischair. The argument was sound, absolutely compelling; and yet--it was four years since he had preached that sermon; four years,and England was at peace, the sun shone, the people of Crome wereas wicked and indifferent as ever--more so, indeed, if that werepossible. If only he could understand, if the heavens would butmake a sign! But his questionings remained unanswered. Seatedthere in his brown varnished chair under the Ruskinian window, hecould have screamed aloud. He gripped the arms of his chair--gripping, gripping for control. The knuckles of his handswhitened; he bit his lip. In a few seconds he was able to relaxthe tension; he began to rebuke himself for his rebelliousimpatience.Four years, he reflected; what were four years, after all? Itmust inevitably take a long time for Armageddon to ripen to yeastitself up. The episode of 1914 had been a preliminary skirmish.And as for the war having come to an end--why, that, of course,was illusory. It was still going on, smouldering away inSilesia, in Ireland, in Anatolia; the discontent in Egypt andIndia was preparing the way, perhaps, for a great extension ofthe slaughter among the heathen peoples. The Chinese boycott ofJapan, and the rivalries of that country and America in thePacific, might be breeding a great new war in the East. Theprospect, Mr. Bodiham tried to assure himself, was hopeful; thereal, the genuine Armageddon might soon begin, and then, like athief in the night...But, in spite of all his comfortablereasoning, he remained unhappy, dissatisfied. Four years ago hehad been so confident; God's intention seemed then so plain. Andnow? Now, he did well to be angry. And now he suffered too.Sudden and silent as a phantom Mrs. Bodiham appeared, glidingnoiselessly across the room. Above her black dress her face waspale with an opaque whiteness, her eyes were pale as water in aglass, and her strawy hair was almost colourless. She held alarge envelope in her hand."This came for you by the post," she said softly.The envelope was unsealed. Mechanically Mr. Bodiham tore itopen. It contained a pamphlet, larger than his own and moreelegant in appearance. "The House of Sheeny, ClericalOutfitters, Birmingham." He turned over the pages. Thecatalogue was tastefully and ecclesiastically printed in antiquecharacters with illuminated Gothic initials. Red marginal lines,crossed at the corners after the manner of an Oxford pictureframe, enclosed each page of type, little red crosses took theplace of full stops. Mr. Bodiham turned the pages."Soutane in best black merino. Ready to wear; in all sizes.Clerical frock coats. From nine guineas. A dressy garment,tailored by our own experienced ecclesiastical cutters."Half-tone illustrations represented young curates, some dapper,some Rugbeian and muscular, some with ascetic faces and largeecstatic eyes, dressed in jackets, in frock-coats, in surplices,in clerical evening dress, in black Norfolk suitings."A large assortment of chasubles.Rope girdles.Sheeny's Special Skirt Cassocks. Tied by a string about thewaist...When worn under a surplice presents an appearanceindistinguishable from that of a complete cassock...Recommendedfor summer wear and hot climates."With a gesture of horror and disgust Mr. Bodiham threw thecatalogue into the waste-paper basket. Mrs. Bodiham looked athim; her pale, glaucous eyes reflected his action withoutcomment."The village," she said in her quiet voice, "the village growsworse and worse every day.""What has happened now?" asked Mr. Bodiham, feeling suddenly veryweary."I'll tell you." She pulled up a brown varnished chair and satdown. In the village of Crome, it seemed, Sodom and Gomorrah hadcome to a second birth.