The Great Strike—Foretold in Prophecy.
There is no movement likely to affect the world's destiny, there is no nation or government having a moulding power upon the world, there is no principle threatening the destruction of good government, causing extensive suffering in the world, or likely to corrupt the church of Christ, but that God has clearly foretold it in his word, has faithfully forewarned against its dangers, and has presented a sure antidote for its evil. All this is true in the present strife between Labor and Capital. God knew that this strife would increase during this dispensation, and would be one of the paramount issues of the last days, just prior to the second coming of Christ. He knew that men would become so corrupt that there would be a great want of truth, and honor, and justice, even among those professing better things. God knew all these things, and because he knew them, and loved the children of men, he has revealed them in his holy word. Here is one picture written of that time just before the "Redeemer shall come to Zion" (Isa. 59: 20):— "None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth; they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. . . . And Judgment is turned away backward, and Justice standeth afar off; for Truth is fallen in the street; and Equity cannot enter. Yea, Truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment." Verses 4-15. Here is another picture of the last days, drawn from the New Testament:— "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts, in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one; he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord." James 5: 1-7. Revised Version. The truthfulness of the above will not be denied. Men have "heaped treasure together," have laid it up "in the last days." By overreaching, by unscrupulous methods, by perversion of law, by the purchase of municipal councils, State Legislatures, national congressmen, jurors, and courts of justice, by oppression of the poor, by the reduction of wages, by the "freezing out" and crushing out of smaller merchants, tradesmen, and manufacturers, by taking advantage of the necessities of the common people, by stockjobbery, by unlawful combinations, by unholy trusts, by oppression, by fraud, by threats, by bribery, by theft, by the use of men as mere machines, heartless rich men, and great, greedy, grasping, soulless corporations have "heaped treasure together in the last days." And there are no worse corporations, no crueler foes, to the body politic, to the poor of the land, to their homes, to body, mind, and soul, to interests temporal and eternal, than the great devil-fishes of whisky rings and trusts, which are pouring their baleful poison into the homes of the world. There have been plenty of places where much of this wealth—well gotten and ill gotten—could be used for the betterment of mankind, the latter first of all restored to those from whom it was wrongly taken. Thousands are constantly in need. "The poor ye have always with you." Thousands more have been in need during the last year. A few dollars have been doled out by the wealthy, but the greater part of the beneficence of the past winter has come from the poorer classes, the artisans, the farmers, the smaller tradesmen and workingmen. It looks big—the donation of a thousand loaves of bread—but to the giver it was proportionally not so much as one loaf to the poor man who gave twenty or more. A half million seems a great gift for the endowment of a university or the building of an observatory, and it is heralded all over the world as an act of wonderful beneficence, by the religious press as well as by the secular; but it does not mean so much to the one who gave it as the amount given each and every year, for religious or charitable purposes, by many poor men whose worth is not regarded by mortal, but whose names are written in heaven. The pride of some religious people is greater for having a Rockefeller, or a Pullman, or a Stanford, than in possessing Jesus Christ, but it is all because they do not know Christ. The wealth is used, or some of it. It is used in building and furnishing marble palaces, while men who help produce it die in hovels. It is used in champagne suppers, which cost thousands, while the poor starve with the odor of the costly viands in their nostrils. It is used for gorgeous apparel, while those who make such wealth possible go in rags. Millions are thus wasted; millions more are hoarded till cankered or corroded from disuse. Let us not be understood as condemning all the rich; some of them are honest, prudent, just, temperate, benevolent, magnanimous, generous. Some of these have during times of depression kept their business running at a loss, or absolutely at no profit, in order to give employment to their men. They have searched out the poor and needy, and have truly helped men to help themselves. But these are noble exceptions. The greater number of the rich have, during the most distressful times, "lived in pleasure upon the earth, and been wanton," responsible to God not only for the evil they have done, but for the good which they failed to do. See many other scriptures where God has plainly spoken concerning these things. We also learn from these scriptures that the oppressed and the lawless will rise up against the oppressor. "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl, for your miseries that are coming upon you." Their very prosperity and oppression breed revolution. Says another prophet, while looking forward to this same time:— "Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people. Shall not all these [that is, those whom he has oppressed] take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay ["with wrested property," Spurrel]! Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness [margin, "gaineth an evil gain"] to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he562may be delivered from the power of evil! . . . Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!" Hab. 2: 5-12. Thus has Infinite Knowledge set before us the crimes of the rich, and the judgments which shall rise up against him from the oppressed and lawless. These times are now here. The worship of mammon has entered every avenue of life, with its corrupting, soul-destroying influences, and many of the professed worshipers of God are bowing down to the calf of gold. Against this, frequently, in blind rage, the masses have risen. They are doing it again. Verily we see fulfilled the signs of Christ's second coming, given by himself:— "And there shall be signs . . . upon the earth, distress of nations, with perplexity; . . . men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21: 25-27. But God does not excuse acts of violence or lawlessness. Trampling on the rights of men is not justifiable either in the rich or poor. Causing the innocent to suffer is as bad in the poor as in the rich. Rising up in rebellion against law and order, oppressive though those laws may be, to some extent, is not the antidote of the poison, is not the remedy for the evil, is not the cure of the disease. Lawless triumph is in the end the worst of defeat. The worst government the world ever saw is better than anarchy. God declares it, and all history proves it. The political remedy in a republic ought to be by peaceable means; but it is neither our province nor purpose to point that out. The eternal remedy, the remedy of God, is simple faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the word of God as it is in him. That faith will lead men to break away from all sin. It will lead to obedience to all the laws of the land. It will lead men to turn from intemperance in intoxicants and narcotics, worse foes to humanity than the cruelest plutocracy which ever existed. It will lead men to regard the rights and liberties of all, whether rich or poor. That faith will lead men to do as Christ did, commit all judgment unto God, who will render to every man according to his deeds. Do not think, reader, that you must execute God's judgment. Do not think that you cannot afford to wait his time; that is your only safety. A war of classes will but increase the evil and the bonds of law. Leave the hatred of the rich, or of his ways, to God; leave all the difficulties and differences which cannot be peaceably adjusted, to him. You cannot afford to do otherwise, and if you will give up all of these, all of self, and accept of Jesus Christ for what he wants to be to you,—Redeemer, Saviour, Friend, Example, King,—you will not want to do otherwise. In him is all fullness. Having him you have all—all the eternal riches of his glory, with eternal life in which to enjoy them. The wicked may seem to triumph for a little while, but it shall be short. Strength is better measured by endurance. God endures. The trial of faith may last a little while, then Christ will come. He knows that every feeling of righteousness is outraged by the injustice we see on every side, but leave it with him. It is the Christian's work to heal by the gospel of peace and love. Leave vengeance and wrath with God. He says: "Be patient [patiently endure], brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." "The Judge standeth at the door." He will plead your cause better than you can do it. He will decide more justly, for he reads the hearts. He says:— "And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. For I am the Lord, I change not." Mal. 3: 5, 6. Do not make the mistake of losing both worlds when you may have all things in Jesus Christ. Listen to the word of the Lord:— "Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Jer. 17: 5-8. Reader, your decision is of eternal import. In whom is your trust? Whom will you serve? Will you heed the counsels of unprincipled and selfish men, who can promise life and peace, but cannot perform? or will you heed the word of the eternal God? Will you imitate the ways of the oppressor? or will you follow the Golden Rule of Jesus Christ.