HOW CAME THIS GREAT CONFLICT?
By William N. Glenn
WHEN man was created he was provided with an ample and continuous supply of food. That which he was to eat grew spontaneously; he had only to care for his allotment of ground and keep it in order. That he was in some way naturally equipped with raiment, or covering, is shown by the fact that not until he had disobeyed God did he realize what it was to be "naked." Whatever this raiment was, it was taken from Adam and Eve when they sinned against God; and the Lord provided that they should be clothed, at least temporarily, with the skins of some of the animals, over which they had dominion. As a part of the penalty of his sin, it was decreed that man should labor hard to support himself and family. The curse of sin rested so heavily upon the earth that it lost much of its original fertility, and the Lord said to the man, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground." There is no suggestion of an accumulation of goods, or of hiring others to do his work. There was no capital but the ground and the seed, and no other capital was needed; for as long as the man labored faithfully, there was the guarantee of support. With food and raiment he was to be content. It was a wise provision that man was to labor hard enough to cause perspiration; for because of sin, the products of the earth would be of an inferior quality. There would be more or less unhealthful effects from its use, which would be, in a measure, carried off by copious perspiration. Physical work, in the absence of the tree of life, would prove a partial antidote for the ills that would come as a result of sin. Therefore work would be a life-long necessity, and an accumulation of goods would not be necessary. The divine order was, every man under his own vine and fig tree. Thus capital and labor would always be combined in the individual, under one proprietorship. Under such an arrangement all would be equally independent, for every one would produce his own requirements from the earth. But man was not satisfied with God's arrangement. A spirit of selfishness had been imparted when he yielded to the tempter in the Garden of Eden. Selfishness produced jealousy, or a disregard of the rights of others. A further natural result was covetousness, a desire to accumulate possessions, to surpass others, then to become prominent and conspicuous, to have a name above others. This trait has been wonderfully perpetuated; for today the popular idea of success is to surpass one's fellows in wealth or fame. Jealousy and the desire to surpass cropped out early in the history of the race, and the unscrupulous idea of success at the expense of others was manifest in the firstborn son of the first human parents. It grew so strong in this one man, Cain, as to impel him to slay his own brother. Naturally enough, this man was the first to depart from God's order of simple agricultural life, with its natural independence, and to build a city. Cain had a son named Enoch, "and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch." As compared with modern cities, it was no doubt a small affair; but it was a beginning in that direction, and drew at least a few people away from their independence to the dependence of a city life—in that case, to more or less dependence on Cain. Thus Cain not only wanted to be considered a conspicuous success himself, but he inculcated the same ambition in his son, giving him the prestige of a city named in his honor. The written history of the antediluvian race is very brief, as we have no further direct mention of city building, but the increase of corruption, even to utter collapse, gives a strong indication of city-life debauchery. This side of the Deluge, however, as men multiplied in the earth, we find again the disposition to gain the ascendancy of their fellow-men, and with it the mania for city building. The first mention of what would in these days be called a "successful man," is that of Nimrod. "And Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." Gen. 10:8, 9. This was a great popular reputation. It does not imply, however, that the Lord favored Nimrod's course; for before the Deluge it is said, "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." Ch. 6:11. Of Nimrod it is said that "the beginning of his kingdom was Babel." This shows that Nimrod was "successful" enough to gain sufficient ascendancy over his fellowmen to found a kingdom. And this would indicate that this "mighty hunter" was a warrior, a "mighty hunter" of men. The control of men naturally resulted in their accumulation into compact masses and the building of cities; hence their living off one another, and the increased burdens of some for the sustenance of others. Now Babel was in the plain of Shinar, and the first effort to build it is briefly detailed in Genesis 11: "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there." Verses 1, 2. God had designed that men should "replenish the earth," that is, they should people it and till the soil. But the people who settled in the great plain of Shinar were averse to God's way, and they said, "Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Verse 4. But God forever set His seal against the gathering of sinful men into compact masses, where they might be more and more tempted to plot against His righteous plans, and devise ways for carrying out their own selfish purposes. As a perpetual warning to coming generations, He frustrated that particular determined effort to build a city and a tower. By confounding their language, so that they might not understand one another, the great project was condemned. "So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city." Verse 8. This ought to have been lesson enough to keep men from any more such attempts; but it was not. Babel (or Babylon) was afterwards built, and in time became the greatest city in the world. But Babel was not the only city of Nimrod's kingdom. Referring again to chapter 10, we read, "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Enoch, and Accad, and Culneh, in the land of Shinar." Verse 10. But the city mania did not stop here; for "out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; the same is a great city." Verses 11, 12. So city building has gone on from that day to this, and men have deemed it a great improvement upon God's plan. They have imagined that the moral corruptions of city society and of city politics, and the various dens of vice incident to the great aggregation of people, together with the unhealthfulness of such circumscribed accommodations, are in some way more than an offset for the more peaceable life of the farmer and the shepherd. The lessons of Sodom and Babylon and Nineveh, as compared with the home-lives of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, seem to have gone for naught. The corruptions of Babylon have been handed down in prophecy as the synonym of all that is bad. In looking about for an illustration of the utter abandon and profligacy of the apostate church of the last days, the inspired seer found it in "Babylon, that great city." And such is city life in general, to a greater or less extent, according to size. In this abandonment of God's plan for human life, we have the key to the cause of the present conflict between capital and labor. As men became dissatisfied with the idea of producing food and raiment by tilling the soil and keeping livestock, there arose the necessity for other industries, and from these came the artificial wants incident to city life. "Ingenious" and "enterprising" men engaged in pursuits that required "help." The allurements of city life drew men in who must needs have employment; and many of these—often from want of employment, sometimes from choice—became objects of charity. Thus, from a condition in which capital and labor were united in the individual, there gradually came about the opposite condition—the separation of these two essential elements in human industry. Naturally the employing class, those who were shrewd enough to utilize a larger amount of capital than their individual labor could make profitable, became the ruling class; for the laboring class placed themselves in a position where they were utterly helpless unless some employer would give them employment. Say to them, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" and the inevitable answer was, "Because no man hath hired us." What position could be more dependent, more helpless? Notwithstanding this condition of those who have placed themselves in a position of dependence, the city is necessarily peopled to a large extent by that class. And it has also come to pass that work in the country is mostly done by hired men. The more "enterprising" ones have secured more land than they can work without help, while the other class are satisfied to work for hire and be dependent, rather than to seek land of their own where it may be had for a small price or for nothing, as a "homestead." Land has become monopolized in large holdings because the masses have neglected to utilize it as God designed. But the majority of young men to-day are seeking positions for wages. The height of their ambition is to learn trades or take "business courses" with a view of securing places of servitude where they will be dependent upon others for something to do. Even those who take college courses have in view salaried positions. Men spend years to fit themselves for positions of dependence upon others for a living, and then complain because they can not in some way compel employers to take the secondary place. Those who have chosen dependent callings, and have not shown any aptitude either to build up or to manage any independent business of their own, seem to think that they are just the ones that ought to be entrusted with the control of the business affairs of men who have succeeded in establishing business. And this class form unions to force themselves into controlling positions. To this it may be added, however, that the greed of men who desire to secure a hundred or a thousand times as much as they need in this life, have in many cases so far succeeded as to render themselves entirely dependent upon hired service. Some have amassed investments in enterprises that demand large numbers of employees, yet the profits will not justify the wages that these employees think they ought to have. Still other employers are regardless of the welfare of employees, and hordes of men are victims of those whom they have sought opportunity to serve. So now the situation, through long separation of capital and labor, is that each, to a large extent, is dependent upon the other, yet each desires to control. The claim of each is so radical, in many instances, as to be fraught with a selfishness that knows no sympathy. And all this has come about through a departure from God's order. But we have the promise of God that the Gospel of Christ will work out a complete restoration of the divine order amongst those who accept it. "According to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Those who attain to that world "shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them."