Idle Laborers and the Coming of the Lord
By Editor
The fact that 100,000 men, who were recently daily laborers, are now idle, with the prospect of being supported in idleness for several weeks, and perhaps months, is deemed a menace to the peace of the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. It is always hard to predict what idle men will or will not do. The fact that they have been goaded into resistance against oppression does not make them any more peaceably inclined. When the apostle-prophet James tells us of the miseries that come upon the rich in the last days, he gives the reason. It is the crying of the laborers whose hire is kept back by fraud. However, this spirit of resentment is not indorsed by the Word of Inspiration; it is simply recorded as a sign of the soon coming of the Lord. God's people are enjoined to "resist not evil," no matter how terrible it may be. Tho the Lord pities the oppressed, He does not indorse their taking vengeance in their own hands. "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."