"AGITATORS" VERSUS "SMOOTH THINGS."
THE adversary of the Gospel of peace is a great promoter of discord. And one of his schemes is to stir up strife and then endeavor to veil it with a glamour of peace. Moreover, this sinister purpose is greatly helped if professed ministers of the Gospel can be allured into the cry of "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. Jer. 6:14; 4:10. When Jeremiah persisted in telling the king of Judah and the people of Jerusalem that trouble was coming upon them, other prophets declared that it was not so. The people believed those who said that there would be no trouble, and the agitator was imprisoned and otherwise maltreated because he firmly held to the testimony of the Spirit. So it is not surprising that, when the growing conflict between capital and labor is portrayed under the light of God's Word, there should be even pulpit charges that those who turn on the light are only agitators. Such things are to be expected from those who seek popularity in flattering the people that conditions are growing better. That is what the popular ear likes to hear. It was also Isaiah's experience that even the professed people of God did not like to hear the truth when it portended evil. And the Lord told him to "note it in a book" concerning those "rebellious people," who "say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." See Isa. 30:8-10. Of course the people did not say those things in so many words, but they said them by their actions in rejecting the counsel of him who spoke the word of Jehovah, and in accepting the "smooth things" uttered by the false prophets. As to the controversy between capital and labor, it is plainly stated in the Word that such a condition would prevail in the last days; therefore, when we see the conflict actually on, and see the organization of labor against capital and of capital against labor, for the avowed purpose of a prolonged struggle for the mastery, we know that it means just what the Scriptures say. No cry of "agitator" or proclamation of "smooth things," can turn aside the "sure Word of prophecy." They can only serve to deceive the people.