THE promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob run, like a scarlet thread, through the warp and woof of all the Scriptures.
Prophets, apostles, and evangelists make constant reference to them. "For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself," said the apostle. Again, when Paul made his defense before Agrippa, he said, "Now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers." And so, in numerous places, in both the Old and the New Testament, frequent reference is made to these promises. A study of them will be profitable to all.
That God would make the descendants of Abraham a great nation.
He would make Abraham's name great.
In Abraham all the families of the earth should be blessed.
These promises are repeated, with variations and additions, several times.
And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. Gen. 13:14-17.
In this citation of the promise Abraham is commanded to look toward the four points of compass, and all the land was promised to him and to his seed "forever."
It will be noticed that the promise is to Abraham as well as to his seed. Both were to possess the land forever; in other words it was to be theirs "for an everlasting possession." Gen. 17:8.
The promise was confirmed to Isaac as follows:
Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Gen. 26:3, 4.
To Jacob the promise was reiterated in these words:
The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Gen. 28:13, 14.
Such are the promises to the fathers of which we so often read.
God promised the patriarchs a country in which to live temporarily and eternally. Their temporal dwelling-place was the land of Canaan; and when the Jews inherited that land and dwelt in it, it was by virtue of this promise of God.
While the people were yet slaves in Egypt, God told Moses that He would give them the land He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. And I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. . . . And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for an heritage: I am the Lord. Ex. 6:2-4, 8.
After long years of waiting and wandering they entered the land of promise; and when it had been divided among the tribes, Joshua testified as follows:
And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Joshua 23:14.
And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which He swore to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that He sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. Joshua 21:43-45.
So far, then, as the promise related to temporal, earthly things, all was fulfilled. There was no failure. They dwelt in the promised land many years, sometimes in peace and quietude, many times in distress and in bondage to their enemies. Sometimes Israel was a flourishing, powerful nation. At other times its cities were desolate, the land was deserted, and the people became captives and were exiled to strange countries.
At last the Messiah was born. They had been looking for the coming King for centuries, but "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." They rejected Him; and, as a result, in a short time their city, with its magnificent temple, the pride of the nation, was in ruins, the people were scattered to all countries, and their land was reduced to desolation.
Since that time, as the centuries have rolled by, the Jews have been wanderers in every clime and country. In every city they are found, wandering exiles, a people without a country, and having no home. Their ancient city of peace, to which all their tribes journeyed with great joy, has been for centuries a wailing place for its returning children.
What a tragedy the history of the Jewish nation represents! All that God gave Abraham as a temporal, earthly inheritance has been lost. Has the promise failed that they should possess the land forevermore?
In the next article the question of who are represented by the seed of Abraham will be considered.
Saving Souls from a Sinking World
By Dwight L. Moody
I look on this world as a wrecked vessel. God has given me a life-boat, and said to me, Moody, save all you can. . . . It is no use attempting to work for this world. This old ark is going to sink, and the only thing to do is to get as many of the crew and passengers out of her as possible, and let her go down. — Dwight L. Moody.
Work for Small Men
By Sam Walter Foss
Don't hate your neighbor if his creed
With your own doctrine fails to fit;
The chances that you both are wrong,
You know, are well-nigh infinite.
Don't fancy, 'mid a million worlds
That fill the silent dome of night,
The gleams of all pure truth converge
Within the focus of your sight;
For this, my friend, is not the work for you;
So leave all this for smaller men to do.
Don't hate men when their hands are hard,
And patches make their garments whole;
A man whose clothes are spick and span
May wear big patches on his soul.
Don't hate a man because his coat
Does not conform to fashion's art;
A man may wear a full-dress suit,
And have a ragamuffin heart.
This, my good friend, is not the work for you;
So leave all this for smaller men to do.
Despise not any man that lives,
Alien or neighbor, near or far;
Go out beneath the scornful stars,
And see how very small you are.
The world is large and space is high
That sweeps around our little ken;
But there's no space or time to spare
In which to hate our fellow men.
And this, my friend, is not the work for you;
Then leave all this for smaller men to do.
Sam Walter Foss.
Our London Letter
By W. T. Bartlett
By Our Own Correspondent
DURING the past three months Sir Edward Grey has been the most prominent figure in our public life. He stood to the front with his celebrated speech on England's relations with Germany, and for this utterance he received general applause. Since then, however, the plaudits have died away, and their place has been taken by unmistakable murmurs of displeasure. A loud clamor comes from certain sections of the Liberal Party for the resignation of their foreign secretary, on the ground that he has grievously compromised our national honor and dignity by the humiliating —
Alliance with Russia
It is said that Germany — our one great antagonist in Sir Edward's eyes — was doing us good rather than harm by her attitude in the affair of Morocco; that she was standing up for the general interest of all the nations that had commerce with that country; but that Russia, regardless of the good name of her devoted ally, is now dragging us unwillingly into the most shameful transactions. The outcry grows out of the situation in Persia. There we and Russia are mutually pledged to maintain Persia's integrity, yet Russia is obviously determined to seize a large part of the northern half of the country, and we are afraid to take up a firm attitude of protest for fear of driving our offended ally into the "single orbit" of German diplomacy. Indignant protests are uttered in this country against the violence done to Persia's nationhood, but Russia shows no disposition to moderate her avarice for territory.
Mongolia Adds to the Flame
Following the ruthless attack on Persia come the tidings that our Russian ally has virtually taken possession of Mongolia, and here again the sympathies of many people in England are outraged by the advantage taken of China's hour of internal struggle.
For this revival of the insatiable ambitions we used to associate with Russia in the days before the Japanese war, Sir Edward Grey is held responsible, since without our too complaisant sympathy, it is said, Russia would never have dared to act so tyrannically. One of our journals, the "Nation," writes thus ironically of the debt that Russia owes to our foreign secretary, once the most admired of English statesmen:
We have sometimes criticized Sir Edward Grey for his reticence, but this justice we must do him: On the rare occasions when he speaks, there is usually some phrase that reveals his mind. Six years ago he announced the necessity of restoring Russia to her position as a great power. The process is complete, and we may now view the policy in all the beauty of its articulated and organic perfection. We lent her money, and she destroyed her Duma. We exchanged royal visits, and she hanged her Socialists three a day. We guaranteed with her the integrity of Persia, and she occupied a third of it this month. We feted her parliamentarians, and she has destroyed the liberties of Finland.
We included her with France and Japan in the quadrangular group that assured the inviolability of Chinese territory. She has taken Mongolia this week. The symptoms of returning health and reviving appetite have followed each other with reassuring rapidity. At length one may pronounce the patient whole. Not since Tsushima has she eaten so heartily, and the credit of the cure belongs entirely to Downing Street. Left to her resources, she must have languished in a feverish decline, or adopted some regimen incomparably less robust.
Her army is still the force that was broken at Mukden; her new fleet is still on the stocks, delayed by periodical inquiries into the financial scandals which attend it. Her best brains are still in Siberia, when they are not in prison. If the Novoe Vremya can announce "that the long paralysis is gone, and Russia is herself once more," her gratitude is entirely due to the English practitioner who has achieved the cure and disdained to take a fee. The recrudescence of Russia must rank as the chief of Sir Edward Grey's achievements.
Whether the agitation against Sir Edward Grey will succeed, remains yet to be seen. He still commands powerful support, and is regarded in some quarters as the next prime minister.
From the "Illustrated London News"
Sir Edward Grey
German Election Surprise
The newspapers have all been assuring us for months that the German people were absolutely incandescent with a blazing wrath against England for its interference in the Moroccean question, and that the forthcoming elections in Germany would see the Socialists swept aside by a national party, determined greatly to increase the fighting strength of the fatherland and so make instant preparation for wiping out in blood the wrongs endured at our hands. It is therefore a matter of some astonishment to find that the German people have been apparently too taken up with their own social problems to spend much thought on us. Their late election has resulted in a largely increased representation of the Socialistic element, which now forms the strongest party in the Reichstag. The laboring classes in this country are reading into the returns of the German election the message from their comrades in that land, "You settle with your war-loving capitalists, and we will do the same with ours."
Significance of France's New Government
France has also had a change of government, owing to uncomfortable disclosures in connection with the negotiations with Germany over the surrender of the French Kongo. There are therefore new elements to be reckoned with in both parties to the Morocco settlement.
Such continual changes seem to come much closer home to us of recent years than they used to do. We are no longer able to view serenely from a distance the game that is played on the chess-board of Europe, but are now ourselves a part of the game. Lord Rosebery sees in this fact cause for uneasiness. In a recent speech he said:
For good or evil, we are now embraced in the midst of the continental system. That I regard as perhaps the gravest fact in the later portion of my life. We are, for good or for evil, involved in a continental system the merits of which I do not pretend to judge, because I do not know enough about it, but which, at any rate, brings us into conflict with armies numbering millions, and our own forces would hardly be counted in such a war, as they stand at present.
"The present situation," Lord Rosebery added, "may lead us into one of the greatest Armageddons which sometimes ravage Europe, and which would be greater than any war that we have known since the fall of Napoleon."
Continental Armies and Conscription
This language means that in Lord Rosebery's judgment we can not expect to become a part of the continental system without having to raise an army on the continental scale. Conscription is drawing visibly and steadily nearer. The public mind has almost been prepared for the change, and it would take but little more to bring about the evil thing itself. Moral considerations are to a large extent thrown overboard by all the great nations. Everybody can see to-day that until the present fever of unrest subsides, truth and honor are likely to find little place in the policies of the great powers. Fighting strength is about all that counts. Says one of our leading weeklies:
The morals of the jungle are now so universal in the world which we used to call civilized when we were still at school, that one is somewhat at a loss for a criterion to apply to the exploit of this week. Russia has taken Mongolia, and one merely realizes that the hunt which began in Morocco is now world-wide. From Fez to Tripoli, from Tripoli to Persia, and from Persia to the farthest confines of China, the eye ranges, alarmed but not surprised, over the most comprehensive display of the predatory instinct which the world has furnished in modern times. One is conscious of absurdity in applying any ethical judgments to these performances.
In the Language of the Prophets
The outlook is certainly a gloomy one in Europe at the present time. Not a few only, but almost every one of the publicists of the day, comments upon the fact. Mr. W. T. Stead sums up his review of the situation this month with the Scriptural words, "Men's hearts failing them for fear." Who can doubt that the coming of the Lord is at the doors when the signs promised by the Saviour are thick about us, and even the children of this world deliberately describe the time in which they live by the very language employed by the prophetic word to designate the last days?
In Mr. A. J. Balfour, the Conservative Party has lost a distinguished and able leader. The succession was expected to fall on Mr. Walter Long or Mr. Austen Chamberlain; but as neither of these would give way to the other, a third man, Mr. Bonar Law, was elected. Mr. Law has come to the front of recent years as the ablest champion of tariff reform, which in this country means the imposition of taxes in aid of home industries. The same destiny that always interposed between10Mr. Joseph Chamberlain and the premiership, seems to dog the footsteps of his son.
The Labor Conflict
The unrest in the labor world continues. Every little disturbance now brings with it threats of a general stoppage and consequent wide-spread unsettlement. By a vast majority of votes, the colliers of this kingdom have decided to strike for the establishment of a minimum wage; and unless some terms of settlement can be devised before the strike notices expire, in the course of the next few weeks, every industry in the country will be crippled.
Already heavy losses are sustained through the serious rise in prices on account of the mere prospect of a strike. In the cotton industry 300,000 Lancashire operatives have been out on strike to compel the masters to get rid of all weavers who were not members of a union. The masters refused to yield on this point, and a long suspension of work appeared to be in prospect, when the government official who has been placed at the head of the new department for the purpose of dealing with strikes, Sir George Asquith, managed to reconcile the contending parties, and the work-people returned to the mills on a truce which will postpone any further outbreak for a year, provided the terms of peace are adhered to.
It is on this last point, however, that compacts are more and more frequently proving valueless. If the work-people are dissatisfied with the conditions of peace made on their behalf, they take matters into their own hands and go out again on strike, without waiting to consult their executive.
In the present instance the union representatives had agreed that there should be a truce over the question of employing non-unionists for the next six months; but when the work-people returned to their places and saw the few non-unionists in their midst again, they refused to resume work, and set up such an uproar that the non-unionists left the mill in disgust, declaring that they would starve before they would go back to experience such treatment. Thus, after all the prolonged discussion over terms, and notwithstanding the assurances given by their leaders, the unionists by their own lawless conduct gained their point.
A Busy Parliament
Parliament is to have a busy time this year. Both the Welsh Disestablishment Bill and the measure giving home rule to Ireland are to be put through side by side. Outlines of the former bill have now been made public. The State Church in Wales is to be not only disestablished, but disendowed, being allowed, however, to retain all gifts made to it since the year 1662, the famous year when 2,000 ministers of the Church of England were ejected from the benefices for refusing to obey the Act of Uniformity. Thus time brings its revenges. The present incumbents of Welsh benefices are to retain a life interest in the revenues of the church, and the church will also keep its cathedrals and churches. Welsh bishops will no longer sit in the House of Lords.
The Home Rule Bill
Strong feeling is manifested in Belfast and the province of Ulster against the expected Home Rule Bill. Mr. Winston Churchill is booked to speak in that city next week, but the Orangemen of Belfast are determined that he shall not speak, as announced, in the Ulster Hall, which they profess to regard as sacred to their principles. They protest that they will fight rather than submit to the domination of an Irish Catholic Parliament. The Orange element in the province of Ulster will undoubtedly prove the greatest difficulty in the way of a Home Rule Bill, but the feeling in that part of Ireland to-day is not nearly so strong as it was in Mr. Gladstone's time. A fair proportion of the electorate of Ulster is nationalist in its sympathies. [Mr. Churchill spoke under great difficulties, protected by the police. Ed. S. of T.]
Y. M. C. A. Work
An interesting event in the religious world has been the attempt to raise half a million dollars by American lightning methods for the new Y. M. C. A. in London. This association has put up a magnificent building in a prominent position, and Mr. Ward, organizer of many successful money-raising campaigns across the Atlantic, came over here to help secure the money to pay part of the debt on the building. After a strenuous, well-advertised effort, extending over twelve days, only two thirds of the sum had been raised. Mr. Ward would not admit defeat, but declared that under the circumstances a great triumph had been achieved; he found that the Y. M. C. A. in this country was laboring under the disastrous imputation of being associated with old-fashioned religion. When it gets rid of that stigma, he thinks it will be able to secure all the money it wants. He is doubtless right. If the world is asked to pay huge sums, naturally its tastes must be consulted. One of the first results of Mr. Ward's visit, it is expected, will be the addition of billiard-tables.
The Right Honorable Bonar Law
W. T. BARTLETT.
California Sunday Law
By H. W. Cottrell
By Initiative of the People
UNDER "color" that he would bring relief to certain classes of arduous toilers—"post-office clerks and letter-carriers"—throughout this commonwealth, Dr. George W. Grannis, of New York, general secretary of the American "Lord's Day Alliance," and certain of his associates, are "touring the country in an effort to awaken public interest to the necessity of granting all workers a weekly rest day." Thus he is reported in the San Francisco Chronicle of February 11, 1912.
Dr. Grannis, the Rev. Father McQuaide, pastor of the Sacred Heart Church, San Francisco, and Dr. G. L. Tufts of Berkeley, who has been the chief promoter of Sunday law measures in California for the last three years, were in attendance at a meeting held under the auspices of the postal employees, including the Carriers' Association, the Clerks' Federation, and the Clerks' Association, in Santa Clara Hall, on Leavenworth Street and Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, the 11th instant, the two former addressing the assembly.
Father McQuaide was the first speaker, and in a forceful, impressive, and original manner, referred to a miracle wrought by our Lord on the Sabbath, and said that it was and is always lawful to perform acts of mercy and charity on the Sabbath day, but that it is not lawful to do any other kind of work on Sunday.
Dr. Grannis, in his address, took special pains to inform the personnel of the allied associations that it was their God-given right to rest on Sunday (and of course no one would deign to question the right to rest on that or any other day, or not to rest on any day, if one so chose for himself), and that the Federal authorities were robbing them of their God-given right when requiring their service on the Sabbath day — Sunday.
"Seven evangelical churches [in Berkeley] have united in advancing the Sunday rest movement," the pastors of the several churches forming "The California Central Committee," working toward a Sunday rest bill. This committee says through its superintendent, G. L. Tufts: "The committee deem it wise to seek a reasonable and conservative law. It will be a comprehensive and excellent measure as far as it goes, but it will leave the field of public amusement for future consideration, or to be cared for by county or municipal initiative elections wherever the public sentiment will justify it. The State-wide bill will provide for the closing of all saloons, UNNECESSARY BUSINESS and labor, and secure [Sunday] a day of rest each week for every laborer. It will close the confectionery and cigar stands, barber and meat shops, allow four hours for drug stores, and bring rest to multiplied weary men and women."
Under color that they would bring relief to postal employees, they unearth their concealed purpose to secure a general Sunday law, in the words, "The State-wide bill will provide for . . . [the stopping] of all . . . unnecessary business and labor."
Is it not surpassingly strange that an individual who knows he has an inherent right to rest on Sunday if he so desires, and who desires to rest, will not do so unless there is a civil requirement compelling him so to do?
There is no law forbidding an individual's resting on Sunday. Then why do not those who desire, rest on Sunday, and leave every other person free to enjoy equally with themselves his God-given rights to rest or not, as he may elect for himself?
The people of California, by public effort from pulpit, lecture platform, and the press, should be reminded, and that at once, of their inalienable rights, and that no bill should be enacted into law that would invade those rights.
H. W. COTTRELL.
Automobiles, Politics, and California Schools
Exports of automobiles from the United States to foreign countries increased from $1,069,782 in 1902 to $21,636,661 in 1911; imports from $550,000 in 1902 to $2,446,248 in 1911. In the year 1908 the leading manufacturers of France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy exported $45,000,000 worth; this had increased in two years to $75,000,000. In 1900 the value of automobiles manufactured in the United States was $5,000,000; in 1909, $249,000,000. Canada imported from the United States in 1911 automobiles to the value of $7,180,547. This is an indication of the world-wide growing extravagance.
A report from Berlin states that the kaiser got out in his home district during the recent political campaign and made stump speeches in order to keep his immediate neighborhood from electing a Socialist to the Reichstag. The Socialists are throwing the kaiser more and more into the arms of the Catholic party.
There is a constant demand arising that the poll-tax in California shall be abolished. It is not popular in its nature or operation; but the school people are urging that before that is done something like $800,000 a year must be provided to help out in the school funds.
Human Worship and Religious Liberty
Surely it is human worship, whether that worship be invited or not by the person so honored, when people kneel in the streets as he passes by. Such was the case, it is stated in a despatch to the New York Times from Boston, January 31, when Cardinal O’Connell came home and passed through the streets in a dense snow-storm. It is said that women knelt in Boston streets as the “prince of the church” passed. He alluded feelingly to the good will manifested toward him by non-Catholics as well as by church-members, and said that when he mentioned this to the “holy father,” the latter exclaimed, “That is good, because I know that many of the good Americans that are not Catholics are better than some of our Europeans who are so-
called Catholics,” and the cardinal declared that he believed this to be one of the most memorable statements ever made by the pope; and he added, “This word, like the ‘dove of peace,’ I return to America.” Referring again to the pope, he said: “You should have seen the thrill with which he spoke of America, of the hospitality of its shores, of its religious and civic freedom, and of the great responsibility which he feels. He looks over the seas to this great land for consolation, and he asked me to go back and say that ‘we rejoice, as you rejoice, in the honors that we confer.’ He spoke of the prosperity due to religious liberty.” And yet it is that same religious liberty which, if the principles of the Papacy, or many of our so-called Protestant friends, were carried out, would be utterly destroyed.
Christianity and True Democracy
The only thing which brings true democracy among men is simple Christianity. Said our Lord, "One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren." That nation which originates and fosters various classes among men is working contrary to the principles of Christianity. We may expect that, however, in the world which knows not Christ. That church which originates and fosters degrees and offices and lordships among men, places itself in the same category; yet this is just what the great ritualistic churches have done in their popes, and cardinals, and bishops, and archdeacons, and deacons, and canons, and so on to the priests. And yet this, in the face of what the apostle Peter himself has said to those whom God had placed in His church to look after the spiritual welfare of the flock, not "as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock;" and our Lord Himself said that "whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." Notwithstanding this, Cardinal Farley, in the New York Evening Journal, is telling us that the first of the great republics on the earth is the Roman Catholic Church. It is true that many of the popes, bishops, cardinals, and other high prelates, have come from the lower walks of life, and that has been true to a great extent in not a few monarchial countries, where democracy was not even professed, but democracy not only has respect to the origin of men, but to the acts, the spirit, the scheme, the plan under which they organize, as well. This article in the New York Evening Journal puts this forward as an appeal to Americans, evidently, to stand by the Roman Catholic Church. It says that "it is encouraging to all those that believe in a republican government and who want to believe that this nation properly managed can endure, to realize that the greatest, oldest, most powerful organization in the world is the great Catholic Church, based spiritually upon the rock St. Peter, and materially upon a republican form of government, a true democracy, recognizing no birthright, no aristocracy, other than that of intellect, character, and devotion." But it will be a woful day for the republic, if we read aright the prophecy of God's Word, when the destinies of this land are placed under the control of that great church, or when the "republic" of that church is taken for a pattern in the government of this.
Bible Doctrine Teaching Device
The above illustrates one side of a device 6x6 inches, printed in five parts on three colored heavy cardboard, all revolving on a central pivot, prepared expressly for young Bible students and Sabbath-school pupils. It is an excellent exercise on Bible doctrines and the proof for the same. The price is 25 cents. For particulars send to Mr. D. D. Fitch, 7 and Atlantic, Long Beach, Cal.
Wholesale Arrest of Labor Leaders
By Editor
THE despatches for a number of days have been telling that the Federal Grand Jury in Indianapolis had a large number of indictments prepared and would soon proceed to arrest many persons connected with the “dynamiting cases” that have attracted so much attention during recent months. On the 14th, the machinery for arrests was started, and fifty-four persons were put under indictment, and it was said that many others would likely be dragged into it.
Leaders in the labor movement constituted the majority of those placed under arrest. The president of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, who was among the number arrested, immediately sent out word to the laboring men everywhere, calling upon them to believe in his innocence and also in the innocence of his co-defendants.
We offered the suggestion some time ago that there will be an immense amount of trouble over this matter before the country is through with it. It is well for thinking men to stop to consider what is confronting us. Here is a wholesale arrest of labor leaders. If these men are guilty as charged, what does it speak of the condition of things in the country? And on the other hand, if they succeed in proving themselves innocent, what can be said of the spirit that would be back of the movement to bind labor in slavery, no matter what the cost, and no matter what the means used? If an individual is a partisan on either side of this controversy, and will stop to think seriously, he will at once recognize that the country is in a desperate struggle between organized capital on the one hand and organized labor on the other, each one charging the other with the basest crimes.
We have no part in the controversy on either side. We declared our neutrality on this subject years ago. We believe it can be clearly shown that the whole matter is set forth in the prophecies which indicate that we are living in the last days. The fifth chapter of the book of James, as well as many other prophecies, shows that the heaping together of treasures would constitute one of the marked characteristics of the very last days. And in consequence of this heaping together of treasure, there would be cries from the laborers, and the struggle will become an intensely bitter one.
This conflict is on in every part of the world. “Our London Letter,” found in other columns of this issue, shows how things are in Great Britain; and the conditions there and in this country are similar to what are found in Spain, in France, in Germany, in Russia, and everywhere else. The very foundations of society are being broken up by the lawlessness and violence of the time, and we are only at the beginning of it. God’s Word assures us that these conditions will get worse and worse. Our only hope for relief is in the second coming of Christ, and that coming can not be long delayed. If we are prepared for His coming, the whole future is radiant with brightness and joy. But if we do not know Him and the joy of His soon coming, the outlook before us in this turbulent world is anything but reassuring.
A troop of cavalry preventing a demonstration at the funeral of a woman who was killed in a strike riot in Lawrence, Massachusetts, recently. This is merely illustrative of the war that is coming on all over the world between capital and labor.
