A SIGN OF THE LAST DAYS.
By Francis Hope
ONE of the many signs that plainly show we are living in the last days, is the accumulation of wealth by rich men. In James 5 we read: "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 treasures together for the last days." Notice, the condemnation is not for the mere possession of wealth, but for heaping it together and hoarding it away till it is rusted and cankered, while at the same time the cries of the laboring men, who have reaped down their fields, are "entering into the ears of the Lord of Saboath." Verse 4. There never was a time when these words were fulfilled as they are now. There never was such a plethora of wealth, and yet at the same time so much grinding poverty. Since the discovery of California and Australia the world has been deluged with gold. California alone produced one thousand million dollars of gold in twenty years. The wealth produced in England was only £42,000,000 in 1664, while for the year 1889 it was £1,350,000,000. The question comes, Where is all this gold? for money seems as scarce as ever, and the poor even poorer than before. The only answer is the one given by James, it is hoarded away and lies rusting and cankered. Not only in America and Europe, but in every other country. In India there is said to be $16,500,000 of treasure hidden in temples and shrines. It is estimated that 30,000 men hold half the entire wealth of the United States. One man alone possesses more than the assessed value of four States, another has an income of $20,000,000. Of the £1,350,000,000 produced by England in 1889, only £300,000,000 went to the workers who produced it; the rest was appropriated by the idle. That is, out of every sovereign only six shillings and eight pence went to the laborer, while thirteen shillings and four pence went to the rich man, to be hoarded away. Surely then the words of James are fulfilled; the rich are growing richer; the poor are becoming poorer, and the coming of the Lord hastens. God also condemns modern rich men on another point; not only have they defrauded the laborers, but James writes, "Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter." Verse 5. In spite of all the boasted Christianity and benevolence of to-day, this witness is true. Here in England, at a recent drawing room held by the queen, there was $7,500,000 worth of jewels on the few ladies present. The Baroness Gustave de Rothschilds boasts of a pearl necklace worth $200,000, and recently Mrs. Mackay wore a dress the trimmings of which were alone worth $50,000. And right in the same great city were to be heard the piteous cries of little children starving for a morsel of bread. When those cries ascend to God, is it any wonder that he cries down, Woe unto you rich men? How must those jewels look in the sight of him whose Son had not where to lay his head? "Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God," wrote Paul. In England no less than $20,000,000 is annually expended for the cruel sport of fox hunting, and while thousands of poor families are huddled away in dark garrets and damp cellars, hunting dogs have palatial residences lighted by electricity. Here, where the poor man is not allowed land enough to raise a cabbage, there are 14,700,000 acres of waste land kept only for a game preserve and shooting ground for "my lord." These are some of the facts of the case, facts which the word of God recorded eighteen centuries ago. And from these facts God wants us to learn that the end of all things is at hand, and the time has come for the saints to take the land, and dwell every man under his own vine, and under his own fig tree. "Suffer with patience, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. . . . Stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." James 5 : 7, 8.