The Last Days by R. M. Kilgore

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 15, 1874

The Last Days.

By R. M. Kilgore

The last days were to be marked by an inordinate desire for gain and worldly pleasure. Says the apostle, “In the last days . . . men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, . . . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” 2 Tim. 3. The mad rush for the acquisition of property, and the many schemes employed at the present time to obtain the riches that perish, are truly wonderful. The numerous Bank Associations, Insurance Companies, Railroad Incorporations, and individuals who are heaping treasures together for the last days; and the unparalleled and extravagant investment of means for that which satisfies not, by men of this world, are very striking evidences of the nearness and certainty of the approaching end.

In speaking concerning the last days, the prophet Isaiah says: “Their land also is full of silver and of gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.” Chap. 2: 7. In attestation of which we give the following:—

PRICES PAID FOR AMERICAN HORSES.

“Kentucky, $40,000; Norfolk, $15,000; Lexington, $15,000; Kingfisher, $15,000; Gleneig, $10,000; Smuggler, $15,000; Blackwood, $30,000; Jay Gould, $30,000; Dexter, $33,000; Lady Thorne, $30,000; E. Irving, $30,000; Goldsmith Maid, $20,000; Startle, $20,000; Prospero, $20,000; Rosalind, $20,000; Lula, 20,000; Happy Medium, $25,000; Clara G., $30,000; Pocahontas, $35,000; Edward Everett, $20,000; Auburn horse, $13,000; Judge Fullerton, $20,000; Mambrino Bertie, $10,000; Socrates, $20,000; Geo. Palmer, $15,000; Mambrino Pilot, $12,000; George P. Daniels, 8,000; J. G. Brown, 12,000; Flora Temple sold, when aged, for $8,000, for brood mare; $25,000 was offered and refused for Tom Bowling last summer; $30,000 was offered and refused for Bassett in his three-year old form; $25,000 will not to-day buy Baywood or Asteroid; $40,000 was offered and refused for Woodford Mambrino, and $20,000 for Thorndale.”

“Neither is there any end of their chariots.” In one city, London, the London City Press says: “There are at least 150 railway stations.” The “trains,” on the Metropolitan and other intramural railways, “run every three or five minutes, and convey from twenty to fifty millions of passengers annually.” Through one junction, Clapham, “700 trains pass every day,” and “its platforms are so numerous, and its underground passages and overground bridges so perplexing, that to find the right train on changing, is one of those things that ‘no fellow can understand.’”

After referring to those chariots propelled by steam, it speaks of those drawn by horses, and says: “Besides the railways there are some fourteen or fifteen thousand tram-cars, omnibuses, and cabs, traversing the streets.” One company alone “has 563 omnibuses, which carry fifty millions of passengers annually.”

The following shows that the church is also “waxing rich”:—

The salaries of twenty-eight prelates of the Established Church of England amount to £152,900 a year, or nearly $800,000; but to this you must add £38,000 for as many deans. The annual patronage attached to these twenty-eight dioceses is valued at £901,165. The patronage includes canons resident, archdeacons, and other clerical snuggeries. The value of the real estate of the Established Church of England may be estimated from its revenue, which at its lowest rate is £7,000,000, $35,000,000 annually. The sexton of Grace Church, New York, has made Christianity profitable, and saved $250,000. R. M. KILGORE.