The Wealth of the World by E. K. Slade

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 14, 1913

The Wealth of the World

By E. K. Slade

Gospel Finance—No. 4

The Wealth of the World

E. K. SLADE

IN our study of gospel finance, it will not be a serious digression to consider conditions relating to financial matters and how the wealth of the world is held and controlled in our time. As time advances, the seeds of sin and selfishness ripen into a harvest of extremes and perversions until we are permitted to see the full results of a reign of sin. This downward course, this departure from God, is becoming more apparent every day in the manifestations of evil of every sort. In the full revelation of the man of sin we may reasonably expect to see a more marked manifestation of departure from heaven’s ways in this one particular; and who can fail to find, with only a superficial investigation, a financial situation, a condition of extreme wealth and extreme poverty, that is positively perilous? The condition is such that it outweighs every other consideration in the minds of the world’s statesmen and legislators. Not only is the largeness of the possessions of a few and the extreme poverty of so many appalling, but the situation is much more appalling when there is taken into consideration how recently and how rapidly this state of things has developed.

One hundred years ago, very few if any could lay claim to possessing a million dollars. Fifty years ago but a small number of men had ever acquired that much wealth. The sinful nature had actuated men since the days of Adam, yet in this matter of possessions the most startling extremes and perversions have developed in recent years. In spite of all attempts at regulation by law, the thing goes on unchecked, and even with acceleration, the bulk of the wealth of the world being held by a few men and controlled by fewer, and the number of those in need of the common comforts and necessities of life ever increasing. Never was there anywhere nearly so much wealth possessed by humanity in any time as now; yet in no time has there been so large a class in poverty and need.

This condition of extreme poverty and extreme wealth is a last-day condition that the prophet points out as a way-mark indicating the nearness of the end of the gospel age; it is a distinct and definite sign. To us, in this study, it indicates that the nearer we are to the end and the more fully sin develops and ripens, the more striking the contrast between God’s perfect plan and the world’s way in the question under consideration. It helps to emphasize the importance and need of the gospel arrangement for man’s restoration as related to this question of ownership.

The Lord does not recognize the world’s standards. He counts as a fool the worldly wise. “There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing.” The weak man is strong, the humble man is exalted. The primary purpose of gospel finance is to bring humanity to a point of recognizing, appreciating, and possessing true riches. The idolatry of covetousness prevails in the unregenerate heart, and is just as wicked in one who “would be rich” as in the one who becomes rich. The Lord’s kingdom is a commonwealth where ownership cannot be had on the world’s basis. We do not count it wrong to possess property here, neither do we advocate a commonwealth in the world or in the church until God places it there; but we do want to point out that every man and woman must have a preparation for the commonwealth which is to be wrought in us through the grace of God in the way the gospel provides that our possessions and earnings shall finance the gospel work. We want to make emphatic the thought that the spirit of the world in this matter is to be wholly overcome; and that if it is not, one cannot be safely admitted into the true commonwealth. The warning recently given us that “on this point many will fail” is significant. As we behold the extremes in the world that constitute a sign of the nearness of the end, shall we not permit it to bring us into full harmony with God’s plan and purpose in financing his work and fitting us for his kingdom?

Mount Vernon, Ohio.