WEALTH AND OPPRESSION IN THE LIGHT OF PROPHECY
By Milton Charles Wilcox
GOD'S WARNING TO THE RICH.
IT is not the purpose of this article or this paper to discuss political aspects or remedies growing out of or suggested by the ever-increasing wealth in the hands of the few. All these are but incidental and temporary, and all such remedies ultimately ineffective. Outward law reforms no one. All true reforms begin in the individual heart. The object of this writing is to show that all these present conditions and their sad outcome are noted in the "more sure word of prophecy;" that even by this means men might learn that Jehovah is God, "declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done." God's prophets of old bore their messages to the generations in which they lived, declaring, in all likelihood, much more than is recorded. Under this guidance they wrote out for future generations that instruction which would be applicable to them. The prophets spoke for their day; they wrote for the future. Viewed in this light we may often see double predictions and applications, a part referring to the prophet's own time and people, and a part to the far future. The former is a type of the latter. Conditions among the ancient people of God are similar to conditions arising later. Judgments upon Israel of old are prototypes of judgments upon modern Israel. The selfish, the rich, the tyrannical, the oppressive, then, are typical of the same characters now. The records which they left contain instruction, warning, and comfort for us now. All this is especially true of "the last days." Inspiration assures us that Satan will then work with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness to destroy souls. Every device which the arch-enemy has used to deceive souls he will use again. Every means that he has used to enslave souls he will employ again. But as his devices were met by the word of the prophet, so God gives us that sure word of the past to instruct us in similar conditions now. God would have us know—
That there is a Power above that of the Invisible Empire of wealth, even the Ruler of the Universe.
That He foresaw the intense selfishness and greed of men to enrich themselves at the expense of their fellows;
That He foresaw the skill and craft which would be employed in the mad ambition to use men as things, and so grasp the wealth of the world;
That He foresaw that this ambition would be, humanly speaking, successful, and that riches would be "heaped together" "in the last days;"
That He foresaw that this disregard of the poor and lowly of earth would arouse their hatred of the rich and lead to violence and crime; and, therefore,
That He warns the rich of the evil which will come unless the power of wealth shall stay its hand and the rich man shall regard the poor as himself, and assist him as a brother man;
That He foresaw that this warning will not be heeded, that rapine and bloodshed will certainly follow, and that the rich will be left desolate.
And yet God does not sanction violence, but appeals to His suffering and oppressed children to be patient to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will right all wrongs. A New Testament Prophecy.
All this and more is told by the "more sure Word of Prophecy." We have space for only three quotations, and shall be as brief as possible, commenting at times in brackets. The first prophecy is from the Epistle of James:—
"Go to now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up ["heaped together," Common Version] your treasure in the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields [a class representing all laborers], which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out; and the cries of them that reaped 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 [of war, of misery, of want, on the part of many]. Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one [by oppressive laws, by force of circumstances]; he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord." James 5:1-7, R. V. Note the specifications of the prophecy:—- There are great "miseries" coming upon the rich, and God forewarns them.
- He tells them the causes, the seed sowing of this harvest of miseries. They have in the face of the direst needs, the most abject poverty, gathered such an abundance of clothing and riches and gold and silver that their garments are moth-eaten, their riches corrupted, their gold and silver actually corrode and rust and canker in their locked vaults and treasure-houses.
More than this, they have gotten some of this wealth by fraud, some by oppression in wages rightly belonging to their employees. They have been indifferent to human needs. While the poor have wept and cried out in their distress, the rich have feasted and taken their pleasure, even as a warrior who has slaughtered his enemy and finds rich spoil in the banquet room of his foe. In all this oppression, in the utterly thoughtless selfishness, in various forms, they have condemned and killed anew the Righteous One, Christ Jesus, who identifies Himself with all the sufferings of humanity; and all this that they might heap together treasure "for [or as the R. V., in] the last days," when, above all other times, it would be folly to store it, and most of all it would be needed for the poor, the unfortunate, the famine-stricken. And every one of these specifications is now manifestly and increasingly true, tho they were not a few years ago. The gold and silver does not necessarily mean coin; and yet it is true of coin and bullion held in treasury-vaults at the demand or option of wealthy bond-holders till it becomes rusted or cankered. Think of the moth-eaten garments which might have blessed the poor and ragged and naked. 3. The one class of laborers are not here mentioned because they are exclusively sufferers; that one class is typical of all others. The prophet used the most numerous class in his day. The miner and the factory operator of every sort are, in the spirit of the prophecy, included. Whence come "the miseries"? From the rising-up of oppressed and outraged humanity, as another prophet declares, and as we will show later. 4. And yet, he who rises up against such oppression is fighting his own battle alone, and can hope only for temporary success. The prophet says: Leave the case in God's hands. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." The righteous King is coming, whose dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth;" and "He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy." Ps. 72:8, 4. "Shall They Not Rise Up Suddenly?"
Here is another divine prediction, fulfilled in no other age of the world as now:—
"Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness [that is, to approve it], wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest Thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he; and makest men [God's children] as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag [wily schemes, by which men are controlled]; therefore he rejoiceth and is glad. Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag [glorifies and exalts his schemes]; because by them his portion is fat, and his meat plenteous. Shall he therefore empty his net, and not spare to slay the nations continually?"
"Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; . . . a treacherous dealer, a haughty man, and that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as hell [sheol, the grave], and he is as death, and can not be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations [witness to-day the trusts and world-wide confederations], and heapeth unto him all peoples. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges [bonds, stocks, deeds, mortgages]! 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 peoples shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein."
"Wo to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Wo to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity!" Hab. 1:13-17; 2:4-12, R. V. Note again the particulars of this prophecy:—
1. The cry of the Spirit is of God in oppressed humanity against man swallowing up his fellow; against man counting men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things of earth, that he might gather by his various schemes, and use them as parts of a machine, as tho justice did not exist, and the rule of God was at an end. It is not of God that the product of the people should be all consumed. 2. The cause of such inhuman oppression is the crushing, the deadening of human sensibility. The oppressor is puffed up. Wine has perverted his wisdom; not necessarily or alone of the bottle or the flask, but of ambition, of unholy greed, "the wine of Babylon,"—affecting him as it affected Lucifer, the king of Babylon, who proposed to reign, even to the dethroning of God. Isa. 14:4, 10-14. 3. Thus intoxicated, he is not willing to live and let live. He leaves his field of operation and covets his neighbor's; he keeps not at home; his ambitions enlarge as Sheol, and he can be satisfied with nothing less than the nations; he must exploit them all. Neither civilized heathen nor distant tribes and peoples are beyond his insatiate appetite for power. 4. Building cities by blood does not always mean war or violence. Blood is not shed in that way alone. The life-current may be tapped and its vitality diminished by other means. Insufficient food and drink, unsanitary surroundings, excess in charges for the necessities of life, are all sapping the life-blood of millions. But what does wealth have to do with these?—Simply this: Capitalists and wealthy corporations control these things. In the great teeming cities the power of wealth controls dwellings, fuel, provision, and even affects the air we breathe. In the country the great railways often swallow up all profit from the produce of the land, in excessive rates. Not the Purpose to Oppress.
And yet the thought of the rich man is not to oppress; it is simply to advance his own interests. The oppression is not meant; it is incidental, not objective to his plan. He regards it with indifference, or as something deplorable, but which can not be helped. But
"Hast Thou not said that what is done
Unto Thy least and humblest one
Is even done to Thee?"
God regards it, and will remember His children and the injustice done them. And God desires the rich to remember, to regard the individual poor man. 5. But at last the sad awakening comes. Oppression reaps its fruit in like kind of spirit. Brain force is met by brute force. Money's power is met in deadly conflict by Poverty and Idleness and Hunger and Want. The prophet declares that the oppressed peoples and nations shall take up a taunting proverb. They shall say, "Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that7ladeth himself with pledges,"—unfulfilled promises, bonds, and the like. The rising up will come suddenly and unexpectedly. The cowering "cur" will turn, and the erstwhile master will be bitten and vexed, and his riches will be "for booties," for a prey. The spoiler of nations will be spoiled, and the wages and means of life wrung from the blood of men, will be paid in blood. Another prophet, speaking of the same oppression and robbery in order to get gain, and the cry of the poor and the needy, thus warns the rich against the consequent uprising: "And the songs of the palace shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God; the dead bodies shall be many; in every place shall they cast them forth with silence. Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy [not the worthy alone], and cause the poor of the land to fail." Amos 8:3, 4. Great opportunities and great power involve great and grave responsibilities. He who discharges them aright, who deals justly and loves mercy, will be blessed, and will prove a blessing. But he who violates the principles of justice, who lightly passes over the needs of his fellow-men, while he partakes continually of God's goodness; who oppresses, or even despises the poor and the needy, while he revels in luxury and rolls in wealth, shall reap, sooner or later, the fruit of his sowing. "That which a man soweth shall he also reap." This law is as eternal as justice; and the Judge can not be purchased by wealth or intimidated by power. When from mine and mill, from factory and sweatshop, from tenement and slum, the lean, the hungry, the hunted, the driven, the despairing, shall come forth together and rise up against the men of wealth whose hearts have been hardened by gold, when these masses shall be joined by the armies which have been enlisted or conscripted from among them to exploit the nations or protect plutocracy, then will God's Word be fulfilled in violated law, and men will realize in literal life the words of Inspiration: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you." The Rich Man's Duty and Refuge.
But, thank God, all the men who hold and control wealth are not grasping, unfeeling, or indifferent. All employers are not cruel or oppressive. The Spirit of God would make the application to each individual heart. God gives these predictions and merciful forewarnings that the rich may be saved and that he may help save the poor. His duty and refuge are thus set forth:—
"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." 1 Tim. 6:17-19. See also Luke 12:15-21; Matt. 6:19-21. Failure to heed the divine law will bring upon the world all the calamities predicted in the prophecies above recorded. God's Message to His Poor.
God's message to the poor, even the oppressed and afflicted, is, "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." James 5:7. Do not yield to the clamor of those who know not God. Neither anarchy nor rebellion, neither mob law nor violence, neither boycott nor blacklist, is the remedy of the Christian. These may destroy and despoil the rich, but they will not heal the disease nor help the destroyer. Man's hope is in God. The very condition of things as regards capital and labor, monopoly and industrial slavery, is a strong, clear evidence that we are "in the last days," and that Christ's coming is near. The Christian knows that human or satanic rule is brief at best, and that God is just, loving, all-wise, eternal; and will leave his case in God's hands, rather than resort to violent measures. Reader, in what is your hope? Is it in vain riches, which fly away, or which, at the longest, you must soon leave, e'en tho you heap them to the heavens? Is it in anarchy, nihilism, violence, politics, to overthrow the power of wealth? You may destroy men or systems; but you will not heal the wrong. Or, better, eternally, heaven-higher better, is your trust in the power and life and light of the love of Christ? There you are safe; for those who put their trust in Him "shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end."