Last Days' Covetousness.
By Uriah Smith
The warning uttered by Paul over eighteen hundred years ago, has come down through earth's degenerating centuries to our own time: “In the last days men shall be covetous.” The terrible meaning of that quiet prediction is seen in the developments of to-day. The following description from the Methodist is a true picture of the evil as it exists in our land at this moment. How many times must it be repeated before people will believe that Paul's prophecy is fulfilled, and that these are the last days of which he spoke? Speaking of the exposure of the unparalleled frauds and peculations of New York officials, the Methodist says:— “It is our hope rather than our firm belief that some lasting good will spring from the exposure of these frauds. They reveal the weak spot in the body politic, the unsightly and dangerous cancer which must not be allowed to spread unchecked. The vice of the age is avarice—a vice stimulated by advancing civilization, which increases the wants of men. There is a mad haste to be rich, which, uncontrolled, is the source of violence and crime, and political history has taught to unprincipled aspirants the lesson which they have readily learned, that “to117the victors belong the spoils.” Run for office, get into office, and then, neither fearing God nor regarding man, grasp all you can, and achieve wealth, even at the price of infamy. The evil of using political position to amass dishonest wealth is not confined to a few men in New York City. It is found, more or less, in all lands, and under all forms of government. It is a source of national weakness, and, if unchecked, leads to national decay.” • U. S.