'We were terrified beyond all else by the disastrous
state of human society today. For who can fail to see that society is at
the present time, more than in any past age, suffering from a terrible
and deep rooted malady which, developing every day and eating into its
inmost being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand, Venerable
Brethren, what this disease is - apostasy from God, than which in truth
nothing is more allied with ruin, according to the word of the Prophet:
"For behold they that go far from Thee shall perish" (Ps. lxxii., 17)'
