Earlier text: A Twelve-Ounce BibleNote and Comment
By Editor
ON another page of this issue we publish an instructive article on the prospective war between Russia and Japan, by the editor of the Cosmopolitan magazine. Many thoughtful minds are pondering the ominous possibilities of a general world-war which lie wrapped up in the present situation, and even to those not looking for the end of earthly things there is something about it which suggests Armageddon, the last great battle scene set forth by inspired prophecy as marking the close of human history. Here is an utterance by the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, which shows how men's minds are being turned in this direction: It has been for the most part a year of peace, but the sun of 1903 has set for the last time with all hearts agitated because of the condition of things in the far East. Does Russia intend to fight for her present position, or to back down outwardly and still gain her position by the arts of chicanery and duplicity? That is the question intelligent men are asking themselves the world over, and the answer is still as difficult as it was some months ago. Is it not strange that the czar, who called The Hague conference and pretended to be in favor of universal peace, should be threatening the youngest member of the great family of nations? There are those who believe that there will be no war, because Russia has everything to lose and nothing to gain by fighting. There are those who think the dogs of war must necessarily be unleashed, and they are wondering whether the fight is to be a duel, or whether each combatant is to get an ally. In the latter case we are on the verge almost of the great battle of Armageddon, and it is useless to speculate. It is useless to speculate, truly, but it is highly useful to know what saith the Word of the Lord concerning the signs of the times in this period of the world's history, and to be guided by the light which it throws upon the pathway before us. It is in the highest degree essential to every soul not to be in darkness at this time, that the day of God overtake him not as a thief in the night. The Irresistible Progress of God’s Truth
WHEN Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and the Pharisees desired his disciples to be rebuked because they cried “Hosanna,” Jesus replied: “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” In the progress of God’s truth in the earth a similar hour has been reached,—an hour when it is to go with irresistible power to all lands, when there is to be delay no longer; and if those to whom this message is entrusted should hold their peace, the very stones would cry out the words of warning. The time when things ought to be, or might be, that would hasten the work of God, is in the past, and we have reached the time when all necessary things to its progress are to be. We can hasten the work; we can no longer hinder it. The year 1903 “went out in gloom,” says the Philadelphia Public Ledger, in an editorial published on the first day of 1904. “It came to its end in days marked by a series of peculiarly oppressive circumstances of violence and disaster, culminating in a horror the like of which has not often touched the shuddering emotions of a continent.” Pennsylvania Railway Casualties
FROM the advance sheets of the forthcoming report of Pennsylvania's Secretary of Internal Affairs, the statement is taken that a total of 26,503 persons was killed or injured on steam and street railways in that State during the year ending June 30, 1903. This is a greater number of casualties than was sustained by the Federal army in any one of the great battles of the Civil War. Labor Appeal Against Senator Smoot
A PROMINENT official of the United Mine Workers of America has issued an address to organized labor in Utah, called out by the action of a prominent Mormon official in supporting the Utah Fuel Company in a contest with striking employees. The address declares that “union men must be aroused to the true situation and defend themselves, and appeal to national labor organizations throughout America to assist in unseating Senator Reed Smoot, who is a member of the controlling board of his church, and who would be a dangerous foe to labor in Congress.” God Never Fails
By W. O. Partridge
THE dearest things in this fair world
must change;
Thy senses hurry on to sure decay;
Thy strength will fail, the pain seem no
more strange,
While love more feebly cheers the
misty way.
What then remains above the task of
living?
Is there no crown where that rude
cross hath pressed?
Yes, God remains, his own high glory
giving
To light thy lonely path, to make it
blest. Yea, God remains, though suns are daily
dying,
A gracious God, who marks the spar-
row's fall;
He listens while thy aching heart is sigh-
ing;
He hears and answers when his chil-
dren call;
His love shall fill the void when death
assails,
The one, eternal God, who never fails.
— W. O. Partridge. A Call to Greater Consecration
By Ellen G. White
Men and women are God's agencies for the salvation of souls. Of his true followers the Lord says, “This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.” They are my witnesses, my chosen representatives, in an apostate world. Filled with a desire to win sinners to Christ, they have the sympathy and co-operation of the heavenly universe. The church on earth is to become the court of holy love. Those who by the Lord's appointment occupy in it positions of trust are to bring into it the pity and self-sacrifice of the great Head of the church. Christian fellowship is one means by which character is formed. Thus selfishness is purged from the life, and men and women are drawn to Christ, the great center. Thus is answered his prayer that his followers may be one, as he is one with the Father. Can you marvel, my brethren and sisters, that I am bowed down with inexpressible agony, as again and again I am made to realize that few among our people understand their weakness? The characters of many of those who have received such wonderful truth are a jumble of opposites. Christ has promised to make them harmonious on every point, not pleasant and agreeable and kind to-day, and to-morrow harsh and disagreeable and unkind, falsifying their profession of faith. But they refuse to place themselves where he can help them. They are breaking the commandments of God; for they have left their first love. Some have joined the enemy, to become accusers of the brethren. How could they do this wicked thing? In thought, word, and deed they are transgressors. They have spoken words that God condemns as unjust and cruel. Pray that your lips may be touched with a live coal from the divine altar, that you may speak only pure, Christlike words, and that you may see that it is a sin to speak harshly and unadvisedly. There are many now teaching others who need themselves to learn what it means to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. They need to feel the power of saving grace. Self and Satan are spoiling many souls, making them so unchristlike in spirit, in word, and in action, and so harmful in influence, that God will separate them from his work. There are in human nature elements of destruction, which, under certain conditions, break forth to consume. The moral powers are prostrated. The excited passions tyrannize over the higher, nobler faculties; and Christlikeness is not revealed. The infinite One — he who alone was able to bring order and beauty out of the chaos and confusion of nature's darkness — is able to subdue the rebellious heart of man, and bring his life into conformity to the divine will. His Spirit can quell man's rebellious temper. But unless men possess the love of Christ, the qualifications that otherwise would be of value in God's work will be controlled by the selfishness of the human heart. In order to be true Christians we must surrender ourselves unreservedly to Christ. Day by day we are building characters, and we are building for eternity. God desires us in our lives to give the people of the world an example of what they should be, and of what they can be through obedience to the gospel of Christ. Let us place ourselves in God's hands, to be dealt with as he sees best. “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” “Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.” If we build in co-operation with him, the structure that we rear will day by day grow more beautiful and more symmetrical under the hand of the Master-builder, and through all eternity it will endure. Sanctification is a progressive work. It is a continuous work, leading human beings higher, and still higher. It does not leave love behind, but brings it into the life as the very essence of Christianity. Christ says to us, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” He is our example. During his life on earth, he was ever kind and gentle. His influence was ever fragrant; for in him dwelt perfect love. He was never sour and unapproachable, and he never compromised with wrong to obtain favor. If we have his righteousness, we shall be like him in gentleness, in forbearance, in unselfish love. Shall we not, by dwelling in the sunshine of his presence, become mellowed by his grace? Let us honor our profession of faith. Let us adorn our lives with beautiful traits of character. Harshness of speech and action is not of Christ, but of Satan. Shall we, by clinging to our imperfections and deformities, make Christ ashamed of us? His grace is promised to us. If we will receive it, it will beautify our lives. Then in the place of disparaging our fellow workers, we shall help them to climb the ladder of progress. Deformity will be exchanged for goodness, perfection. Our lives will be adorned with the graces that made Christ's life so beautiful. God calls for our co-operation. His requirements are just and reasonable. Shall we not strive to be Christians in life as well as in profession? Shall we not ennoble our lives with the dignity of a steadfast purpose? When we take the name of Christ, we pledge ourselves to represent him. In order for us to be true to our pledge, Christ must be formed within, the hope of glory. The daily life must become more and more like the Christ-life. We must be Christians in deed and in truth. Christ will have nothing to do with pretense. He will welcome to the heavenly courts those only whose Christianity is genuine. The lives of professed Christians who do not live the life of Christ are a mockery to religion. A true, lovable Christian is the most powerful argument that can be advanced in favor of Bible truth. Such a man is Christ's representative. His life is the most convincing evidence that can be borne to the power of divine grace. When God's people bring the righteousness of Christ into the daily life, sinners will be converted, and victories over the enemy will be gained. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Responding to a Calamity
By Wm. Covert
THOSE who have lost heavily in business, usually think themselves excused from making offerings to the Lord's cause; but should their financial reverses lead them to reach such a conclusion? Mr. George Muller, the great philanthropist of Bristol, England, having occasion to advise a business house concerning the proper action to take when a sudden and deep reverse had come, said it would be best to express gratitude to God because he had not taken all from them. He advised them to give a thank offering to the Lord for leaving some property. The firm followed the advice, and gave five hundred dollars because they had been dealt with in such a merciful manner. This firm is said to have been repaid more than a thousandfold for the gift which they offered. It pays to follow the instruction which says, “In everything give thanks.” Reverses have been lessons, and we should learn how to obtain the benefits which are proffered. The Holy Temple
By A. E. Lemon
“THE temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Cor. 3:17. It is important to know how to preserve the temple holy, but we should first know what the temple is. “Your body is the temple.” 1 Cor. 6:19. Is the body of every human being a temple of God? We desire to know the truth. God’s Word is “the truth.” John 17:17. There we shall find the answer. The Word does not say, Ye are temples, as of many; but, “Ye are the temple,” as of one. “The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” Is the body of every human being holy? Is it not God’s presence that makes the temple holy? And when he dwells in us, do we not become his children? “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” 2 Cor. 6:16. Does God, then, dwell in every human being? God is not a formless, pervading presence, but a personal God. He sits upon the throne of the universe. He has dealt with this world in all the ages through his Son Jesus Christ, who is both Creator and Redeemer, and who is also a distinct person, and a personal Saviour. Is Christ in every man? Either he is, or he is not. “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of [“as to,” Gr.] sin; and the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Rom. 8:10. As such can be said only of believers, it follows that only believers have Christ dwelling in them, by his personal representative, the Holy Spirit, as to 1 Cor. 6:19. And therefore only believers can constitute the temple. And, moreover, unbelievers are not united, and can not be one temple, and since they are not holy, they can not be the holy temple. And it follows that only those who are “holy brethren” (Heb. 3:1) can constitute the holy temple; for “the temple of God is holy.” Now it appears manifest that the “holy brethren” are not all separate temples, but “all one in Christ,” and “members one of another.” Let Paul tell us what the temple is: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” Eph. 2:19, 20. This is the temple of which the prophet wrote: “Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; . . . he shall build the temple of the Lord, . . . and he shall bear the glory.” Zech. 6:12. The temple at Jerusalem was a prophecy of Christ, the greater temple. The Jews sought to destroy the greater temple by killing Christ. But he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. . . . But he spake of the temple of his body.” John 2:19-21. So it is that we can be the temple of God only as we partake of Christ, and by the new birth so become “members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” Eph. 5:30. Such only is the temple of God, which in its true Scriptural light becomes the glorious “habitation of God through the Spirit,” when Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, through his personal representative, the Holy Spirit. May every reader seek to become a living stone in God’s temple (1 Peter 2:5), not by works of eating and drinking (Rom. 14:17), nor by the works of the flesh (Rom. 3:20), but washed, sanctified, and justified, in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of God. 1 Cor. 6:11. And when we let the Holy Spirit cleanse our hearts from sin, and make his abode with us, we shall live to God’s glory, with one object, to save souls. And then when Christ comes in a little while from this, he will “change our vile body,” and redeem us to himself. Let us not “mind the things of the flesh,” but with the last warning message as our watchword, press forward to warn the world of its impending doom. The Time Is at Hand
By F. M. Burg
The saints of God in every century of the past have hoped for the glorious consummation that is just before us. Seers and prophets of all ages have by the eye of faith and in holy vision seen the glad dawning of eternal day, when the mists and clouds that have enshrouded time’s passing years shall be dissipated and dispelled forever; when the question of the ages will have been fully and finally settled. One question, paramount to all others, and fraught with such interest as to arrest the attention of all the angels of heaven and of the inhabitants of all unfallen worlds, and to which God is seeking to direct the attention of fallen humanity by the “everlasting gospel,” has been pending from the day that Lucifer inaugurated rebellion in heaven. His persistent insinuation that God was inconsiderate, arbitrary, and unjust in not assigning to him the highest position resulted in the disaffection of one third of the angels. For the safety of the heavenly family this vast host of rebels was cast out, and banished from the presence of God. But the question had been raised as to the character of God and his throne. The arch-rebel persisted in his evil war, and sought to instill into the minds of the innocent pair in Eden doubts concerning God’s justice and righteousness. He told Eve that God knew that if she should eat the forbidden fruit, it would benefit her, that it would lift her up, and she would be wiser for having eaten of it. It is sad beyond the power of language to express that the question as to the justice and right of God and of his throne, his government and his law, which was there planted in the minds of Adam and Eve, has resulted in such a departure from the service of God and loyalty to him that the history of mankind has been one of idolatry and rebellion, with the attendant results that beggar all efforts to describe them. And so far from the knowledge of God did the nations go, that the prevailing conception of his character in the heathen mind was often shown by the sacrifice of innocent babes to appease the wrath of gods, the deluded devotees placing their own offspring in the red-hot arms of the hideous idol Moloch. This retrogression, this departure from God, this lapse into heathen darkness and superstition, prevailed almost without exception till the star of Bethlehem announced the advent of the One whose life was the “light of men.” However, God was not without witnesses in all the ages. Abraham knew him, and was called “the friend of God.” He kept his charge, his commandments, his statutes, and his laws. Gen. 26:5. Because of his integrity in the midst of a people where idolatry prevailed, a promise was made to him and was fulfilled, that from his loins there should spring a nation like the stars of heaven for multitude. But the history of his posterity is a sad, sad history. Though there pertained to them the “adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises” (Rom. 9:1-4); though exalted above all others in privileges and blessings, yet their history was one of constant lapsing into idolatry and sin, like the nations around them. Still, faithful men among them maintained their loyalty to God, witnessing for him and the right till his Son was sent forth, born of woman, made “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” and “we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Rom. 8:3; John 1:14. “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” 1 Tim. 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:19. The gospel of Christ is to reveal God to the ends of the earth. He has sent his church on its glorious mission to be witnesses for him in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth, to be “the light of the world.” And through his church he designs to consummate his unchangeable and fixed purpose to make his name “great” from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. Mal. 1:11. It has been his aim to compass this glorious end through his people from the time that he called a people and placed his name upon them. And by the prophet he says to us: “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory. . . . Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.” Isa. 62:1-3. You will notice how far his glory is to be made known among the nations by his people,—“all kings shall see thy glory.” This has ever been the great aim of the gospel, the end, in the purpose of God, to be compassed by the working out of the great plan of redemption among men. Because of the unfaithfulness of the people to whom has10 been given such an exalted place, and in whom such a trust has been reposed, the centuries have rolled by, and still the great purpose of God to get his name the glory due unto him among the nations seems far from fulfilment; yet the time is surely at hand for the “everlasting gospel,” the revelation of the “righteousness of God,” to be speedily given to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, till the earth is lightened with its glory. See Rom. 1:16, 17; Rev. 14:6, 7; 18:1-4. This is the purpose in, and is to be the grand culmination of, the work in which we are as a people engaged. And so long has been the delay with us to “arise and finish the work,” that God has sent us these stirring words, which ought to cause us to bestir ourselves as never before: “Something great and decisive is to take place, and that right early; if any delay, the character of God and his throne will be compromised.” It must be clear from this that the time is here when there can be “delay no longer.” And it is a cause of the greatest rejoicing to the faithful at this time that we are assured by the oath of the angel that delay shall be no longer. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. . . . For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Heb. 10:35-37. Then the message must go, yea, it will go, and be finished in this generation. There can be no alternative with the issue that is involved. And it will go by us, if the culmination of this long-continued controversy is salvation to us. If we do not relate ourselves to it so that it can go by us now, and be finished in this generation, it will go by some one else, and we shall lose our part in the grand consummation. And with such an issue as this, and in view of the magnitude of the work that will give the knowledge of the Lord to the ends of the earth, it is seen at once that the call of this hour is for full and unreserved service in the work we have in hand. As all of the few loaves and fishes had to be delivered into the Saviour’s hands before he could feed the multitude, so our all, little though it be, of money, or possessions of whatever nature, must be wholly yielded to the Saviour. And when this is done by the people of God, he will as surely finish his work by us in this generation as he fed the thousands with the fishes and the loaves. What does it mean, then, that the work languishes for lack of means; that the funds in the treasury are so low, and consecrated men and women are so few, that the brethren who are planning for the work seem handicapped in their efforts to plan for the advancement of the message? Does not all this appeal to every reader of this paper to make a complete consecration to the work of finishing the “mystery of God” (the gospel), that the day may come when the knowledge of God shall fill the earth as the waters fill the sea? May the Lord give us correct conceptions of the responsibility resting upon us at a time like this, and of the trust committed to us. The World's Final Great War
The commanding position which Russia has grasped along the frontiers of China, India, and Persia seems to leave no doubt as to her intentions. We are to have one great final war, which promises to be so frightful in its waste of human life, and so costly in its expenditure of treasure, that it will be a lasting horror; and it must settle the question of the world's civilization. Napoleon is predicted that in one hundred years the world would be either Cossack or republican. Busy with home affairs, neither governments nor peoples seem to understand how threatening is the Cossack rule—even to America itself. Russia has to-day one hundred and twenty-nine millions of population. Persistently carrying out a plan conceived more than forty years ago, she has quietly occupied every position in Asia which would eventually enable her to annex the four hundred millions of China; then the two hundred and eighty millions of India, and the eight millions of Persia. Year after year Russian army posts have been advanced, re-enforced and built into large commands; until to-day Russia is ready to attack, not China alone, but along her entire frontier line in Asia. In the event of war, only the most supreme exertions by England, France, Austria, and Italy, re-enforced by the United States, can stop the Cossack advance. The fact that, for her own purposes, Germany has entered into compact to act with Russia, makes the situation one of the utmost difficulty—of the most extreme danger. For once, the German emperor seems to be short-sighted. Whatever part of China may be conceded to him temporarily, eventually he must find himself opposed to Russia as certainly as England and Japan are to-day. Does any one doubt Russia's plans? Never was policy more clearly written. There can be no question about it, and if our attention were not so absorbed in home affairs, the American public would quickly understand it. During two years spent in Peking and northern China, in military affairs, the writer became convinced that no obstacle would be likely to exist to the extension of Russian dominion toward the East, unless China herself should be built up into a strong military power. The building of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the occupation of Manchuria would be the first steps. It was not anticipated at that time that the plan of campaign would be so far-reaching as to bring Russia simultaneously into China, India, and Persia. There can be no question that entrance into Manchuria was part of the long-preconceived plan. Very likely the Boxer troubles were stirred up with a view to giving excuse for this entry, and distracting the attention of the world. Having entered, Russia had no intention of leaving. The pretense of evacuation was only because at the time she was not ready to begin battle. Other nations, and especially the United States, have been blind to what this movement really meant. It is now no longer necessary that additional Russians should be brought in to capture China. The Manchurians and Mongols furnish splendid fighting material, at least so far as private soldiers go. They can subsist on a little rice, make long marches, sleep in the open, obey orders, and quickly learn to handle firearms with precision. They can be subsisted and kept satisfied with a total expenditure of not above six or eight dollars a month, as against from five to eight times that cost for the American soldier; and the Russians have the officers ready to put over them. Russia is now established along the frontiers, its forts built, and its navies in the Eastern harbors of Asia. Many officers have arrived, and vast quantities of stores and arms have been shipped in. More than one hundred and fifty thousand Russian troops are either on the ground or within call, as the nucleus of an army of occupation. It would require but a short time to drill natives in order to put half a million men in the field, sweep down on Peking and over northern China. Let the civilized world stop its business long enough to consider this spectacle, and ask, Whence will the force be brought to combat the Russian forces in China? But let Russia annex four hundred millions of Chinese subjects, and with this low-priced labor build armaments: then India and Persia are certain to fall. America feels confident in her strength, and added to England and France, we imagine that we might conquer the world. But where would these three nations stand if Russia had at command two thirds of the world's population? Does she need money to conduct her campaigns? By weight of numbers she would move down and capture it. If Russia should be permitted to retain her position in Manchuria, the Cossack will presently hold the world by brute force. I am opposed to war. I do not believe in war. I hope there will never be another war. But if there can be a just war, it is called for now. Either America and southern Europe must fight Russia at this time, or concede to her all of Asia. Vain as the United States is of her strength, she will find occasion in the near future to regret present indifference. Manchuria is but the stepping-stone to China. China captured, the balance of power is determined. The hundred years covered by Napoleon's prediction has a decade still to run—a decade in which to determine whether the world is to be Cossack or republican. The people of the United States have been so intent upon their own little corner of the world, that they have failed to reflect on what a Cossack world would mean. But this Manchurian question is a matter of such tremendous importance that it demands thoughtful determination. Russia is doing her work so quietly, so diplomatically, and with such deceptive professions of good faith, that we stand like children reviewing events without comprehension of what they mean, or of the influence at work upon our own destiny.—The Cosmopolitan for December. The Coming Conflict
By E. T. Russell
Unless divine providence should interpose, a fierce and bloody conflict between capital and labor seems imminent. The rapid concentration of wealth in the hands of a few has caused labor to combine, that it may more successfully cope with that power that is almost master of the world. Trades unions have been multiplied until almost every branch of industry is represented in the American Federation of Labor. Strikes, lock-outs, boycotts, bloodshed, and destruction of property have thus far marked the struggle between the contending forces. Since 1881 there have been about twenty-five thousand strikes in the United States alone. These strikes have caused the loss of millions of dollars to both employers and employees. Besides, more bitter feelings have been engendered in the hearts of both rich and poor toward each other. These strikes are but indications of the pent-up force, which, like a Vesuvius or a Pelee, is liable to break forth at any moment. As the John Brown raid was the forerunner of the late Civil War, so the strikes that are taking place are omens of the coming conflict between the rich and the poor—and fierce and bitter it will be. Speaking of the Homestead strike, T. V. Powderly said: ‘It is but the rumbling of the coming revolution.’ The majority of the strikes have been failures, but at the great anthracite coal strike of 1902, the miners gained a decided victory. This strike lasted five months, involving one hundred and forty-seven thousand workmen. The continued strike produced a coal famine, which led Mr. Roosevelt, as private citizen Theodore Roosevelt, and not President Theodore Roosevelt, to call a special commission in order that the strike might be settled by arbitration, and thus save suffering and distress on the part of the coal consumers of the country. As the State militia of Pennsylvania had failed to subdue the strike, the calling of a special commission by Theodore Roosevelt was an indication on his part that Pennsylvania was unable to settle this strike within its own territory. Since Mr. Roosevelt called the commission as a private citizen, and not as president of the United States, it seems evident that the general government did not care to become mixed up in the controversy. Congress, however, set its indorsement to the course pursued by Mr. Roosevelt, by voting a salary to the commissioners appointed and to their associates. The victory gained by the strikers has caused capital to organize more thoroughly that employers may be able to cope more successfully with organized labor. Thus, as the result of the victory gained by labor in the great anthracite coal strike, future strikes will be more formidable and far-reaching. One of the sad features of the situation is that both classes are preparing for the worst, and both are jealously eying each other. Some years ago, at a labor conference held in St. Louis, the following resolution was passed:— “Resolved, That no nation in which the people are totally disarmed can long remain a free nation; and, therefore, we urge upon all liberty-loving citizens to remember and obey Article 2 of the Constitution of the United States, which reads as follows: ‘The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.’” Acting upon this resolution, several labor organizations have organized themselves into military companies, as stated by John Swinton, in June, 1903:— “A short time ago when the great strike of the steel workers got under headway, the New York Herald startled the country by printing a dispatch from West Virginia, that the first military company ever formed by a labor union had been organized at Wheeling by Crescent Lodge Amalgamated Association. The interest in the original report, however, has not been diminished; for it is now known that the Crescent Lodge at Wheeling is not the only one that has taken the subject under consideration, and that other labor organizations in different parts of the country have done likewise. They claim that the right of the people to keep and bear arms is guaranteed by the Constitution, and that, as the working men are the bone and sinew of the country, the Constitutional right can not be denied them.” “At this point it may be mentioned that a good number of trade unions, especially those in the Western States, have recently prohibited their members from joining the regular State militia, under the pain of expulsion, and the reason given for this action is that the State troops are used in the interest of capitalism against the labor element, and in the suppression of justifiable strikes. It is a fact, nevertheless, that, at least in Pennsylvania and Illinois, the State militia have, on several occasions, suffered from the charge of being unduly sympathetic with labor in the case of a strike.” Capital also demands a larger standing army to protect its interests. J. J. Hill, the great railroad magnate, is credited with saying:— “I am not overrating the demand when I say that it is imperative that the United States maintain the nucleus always and the organization and the officers for an army of two hundred thousand men. With our varied interests, with our expanding commerce, and with our crowning and ever-increasing power, this strength is not more than sufficient for our uses in times of stress and danger.” “We know what the capitalists are doing. We see them preparing the munitions of war to rule the masses by force of arms. But they are foolish. They are wise only in their own conceits. They are adopting the tactics of kings, and will be as chaff before the wind by and by. All the fates are against their tactics. Kings with greater armies than can be mustered to fight for capitalists here, are trembling before the steady growth of a higher civilization among the people, hurried on by the distress of this rapidly increasing army of out-of-works. Justice injures none, though it may shut off the privileges of robbers. Thus the contending forces jealously regard each other, and mean to be prepared, if possible, for the worst.” Eugene V. Debbs said in a speech in St. Louis, in 1897:— “Never in my life have I been more hopeful than now. I am not gifted with great visionary powers, but I can see the beginning of the end. [Cheers.] This meeting is an inspiration. It will lead to great results. This movement has attained tremendous impetus, and will go ahead with a rush. When the people are ready,—and that day is not far off, my friends,—there will be a spontaneous uprising; the Supreme Court will be abolished, Congress dispersed, and the rights of American citizens and American freedmen will be enthroned. “The time will come to incite the populace. When that time comes, you can depend on me. [Cheers.] I will not stand in the rear and ask you to go ahead. I will be in front, and say to you, ‘Come on!’ [Renewed cheering.]” The apostle James, by his prophetic eye, beheld the struggle that is now going on, and its culmination, as is quite clearly described in the following quotation:— “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” The prophet Ezekiel tells what they will do with their hoarded wealth in connection with the day of the Lord:— “They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity.” Eze. 7: 19. Trouble awaits both rich and poor, and it can not be long before the storm breaks in all its fury. Dear readers, on which side of the controversy shall we be arrayed? The Lord, speaking of this time in Amos 5: 13, says: “Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time: for it is an evil time.” And James, speaking of the same time, says: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. . . . Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.” It is no time now for the Christian, and for that matter the man who knows not Christ, to hold grudges. The bitter feelings fostered in the hearts of these two classes are contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. With great force the words of the psalmist come home to every heart, “Fret not thyself because of evildoers.” Let every soul know that he himself is right with God. Then he will be sure to be on the right side in the coming conflict. Is it where stately mansions rise
With dazzling splendor toward the skies—
The poor man's dream, the rich man's prize? ’Tis where the heart's best treasure is,
For perfect love is perfect bliss.
Deny me wealth, but give me this. The humblest place beneath the skies,
When viewed with love's devoted eyes,
Becomes a perfect paradise! And when our earthly loves are o'er,
And earthly mansions are no more,
Forever, on the other shore,
Heaven is home!