NOT A CLOUD IN SIGHT by C. H. Keslake

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 22, 1901

“NOT A CLOUD IN SIGHT”

C. H. KESLAKE

(New Brunswick, N. J.)

THE financial world is just now gasping because of the unprecedented rise of stocks, especially of railroad stocks, both as to number and price, which has but recently occurred. The greatest day that Wall Street, New York,—the heart of finances in this country,—ever knew was Friday, Jan. 4, 1901. On that day, in two hours, nearly two million railroad shares were sold, involving in the aggregate, in round numbers, eight hundred million dollars.

Notwithstanding the fact that the highest price ever paid for such shares was paid at this time, a noted operator on the “Street” is reported as saying, “We are far from the top price.” Speaking of the cause of this remarkable rise, the same man is reported to have said, “The present advance in stocks, as I view it, is primarily caused by the people of this country, who are beginning to realize the enormous growth of business which has taken place in the United States during the last few years.”

The foregoing statements would be of no particular value to the readers of the REVIEW, but for the fact that they are another illustration of the fulfillment of the Scriptures pertaining to the last days, one sign of which was to be the heaping together of wealth, and furnish the significant phrase found at the head of this article.

The deals consummated last week are not only remarkable because of their magnitude, but because of the fact that they place many of the leading railroads under the control of a few men,—three men, to be specific,—the weight of whose influence has already been often felt, the victims of which have been invariably the poor, and of whom it is said that a person could travel from Southampton, England, to far China, and every foot of his long journey pay money to this triumvirate.

What these deals mean will be realized in a short time by further advances in the price of coal and other things; for the railroads involved penetrate into the richest anthracite regions in the country, and their markets will be absolutely controlled by these three men, only to result ultimately in their further enrichment, although their wealth is now almost beyond computation.

Thus another turn of the wheel of fortune (?), a further opening of the throttle, has brought the great engine of time nearer to that point when the fateful words of James 5:1 will be heard: “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.” “Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.” Isa. 2:7.

Of the future of finance the operator already quoted—himself a multi-millionaire—says, “I can not see a cloud in sight.”

So engrossed are these men in their heaping together of wealth that they can not see that the very course they are taking is but hastening the great day, which is silently speeding on its way, when, in the glory of His majesty, the Lord “ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” Isa. 2:19. And “in that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats.” Verse 20.

Not a cloud in sight! Such is man's view of the situation. But long ago it was written, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” Isa. 55:8. And God's thoughts concerning the future are thus expressed: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds; and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.” Joel 2:1, 2.

In the world of finance, in the world of statecraft, in the world of religion,—in all of these yes, on every hand, the delusive cry is being heard, “Peace and safety.” But of such a time of fancied security, it is written, “Sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall not escape.” 1 Thess. 5:1. On every hand Satan is tightening his grip upon the world; the death rattle can be heard.

All is ready for the final collapse. One thing alone staves off the woeful day—the unreadiness of God's people. But the sealing work is going on, and soon such will have been sealed in their foreheads with the seal of the living God. To all the cry comes, “Get ready, get ready, get ready.”