THE SENSIBLE THING TO DO.
By T.
EVERY one recognizes the fact that a great crisis stares the world in the face. And this can mean nothing less than a crisis for each and every individual. Multitudes will perish in the crash; some will be saved from going down in it; and all might be saved, if they would only give the necessary heed to the right thing to do under the circumstances. The large cities of all the world have become storm centers for strife. Strikes and lock-outs have become the order of the day. In places where everything was prosperity five or six weeks ago, all is turmoil and uncertainty to-day. For instance, the outlook a month ago in all the region around San Francisco Bay was exceedingly bright. There was a good crop prospect for most of the farm, garden, and orchard products, and the prices for the same were much better than the average. There was an abundance of work, and everybody was employed who cared to be. But strike has followed strike, until everything is unsettled. Fruit, which is one of the leading crops in this section, is rotting by the hundreds of bushels in the orchards, or on the wharves, or at the railroad stations, and all because the teamsters’ strike has so tied things up that neither produce nor anything else can be delivered to the merchants to be sold. Such a condition two months ago, amid the universal song of prosperity, hardly seemed possible; to-day it is an appalling reality. These conditions will get worse and worse. Workmen in the cities, thinking that they have permanent employment, will undertake to buy themselves a home on the instalment plan; but suddenly they become involved in a strike, their income is cut off, and they lose everything. To-day all is joy, the heart being cheered by the dream of plenty and the blessings of comfortable circumstances; but to-morrow every hope is gone by reason of a clash between employer and employed. The conditions in all our large cities, and in many of the smaller ones, too, are such that the most violent rioting will soon be seen. We might as well say that to throw fire into powder would not cause an explosion, as to say that a reign of terror will not be produced when the hostile camps in the great centers of population open their batteries on each other in living earnestness. Now, the sensible thing is for every man whose duties do not bind him to the city to lay his plans right off to get himself and his family into the country just as soon as he can. We do not ask you to take our say-so for this, but take a clear view of the situation yourself, and be assured of what is before those who remain in the cities. Those who go to the country to live must make a study of how to live within themselves. That is to say, they must study to raise everything they need to supply their necessities, and thus be independent of all the multitudes of combines that are being formed to control everything. Of course every one who is intelligently studying the prophecies knows that the Lord will soon come to destroy all who persist in this terrible course of evil; but there is a work yet to be done to reach all who can be persuaded to turn to the right; and while the Lord, through his various agencies, is carrying this work forward, it is best for all who can to seek the most quiet and peaceable places of abode. When Paris and other leading cities in France were having their Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, there were whole sections of the country districts that were not disturbed. They knew but very little of the horrors that were consuming the great cities of the unhappy nation. And the same will be true in this time just before us, in which not the cities of France alone, but of all the world will be involved. In the more secluded country places, the greatest peace and quietness will be found. It is our earnest prayer and hope that many will seriously consider these things, and seek the shelter that God provides against the social and political storm that is so angrily gathering. Not that we should be content to seek alone the shelter in country retreats, but in order to be safe even there, we must also find the sheltering bosom of our heavenly Father’s great pardoning love.