"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." 2 Peter 1:19.
"But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known . . . what shall be in the latter days." "He that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass." Dan. 2:28, 29.
2. What great lines of prophecy are given us in the Scriptures?
There are the second chapter of Daniel, the seventh chapter, the eighth and ninth chapters, the eleventh chapter, and not less than seven in the book of the Revelation, besides our Lord's great discourses in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21. Each of these begins at a different date of the world's history, but all of them carry us forward to the glorious consummation of the kingdom of Christ. The chapters in Daniel will soon be considered in the "Studies in Daniel" now running in the paper.
3. To what particular point of time does the fulfilment of some of these prophecies bring us?
NOTE.—There are certain periods of prophetic time in the books of Daniel and the Revelation which reach their endings during a period of time beginning A.D. 1798, when the time, times, and half a time ended. Mark that this is not the end of time, but "the time of the end," a period during which the study of God's word should be revived, and the wise should understand.
4. What occurrences would take place during this period?
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring: 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." Luke 21:25, 26.
NOTE.—In other words, God would hang out these signs everywhere. First, He would write them in His word as PREDICTIONS OF EVENTS TO COME; and secondly, He would in His providence so overrule that they would again be written in the physical, social, religious, commercial, and political worlds, in order that men everywhere might read them.
5. What great event would these predicted signs herald?
"And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21:27.
6. What is one of the noted signs predicted for the last days?
"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 treasure together for the last days ["in the last days," R.V.]. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you." James 5:1-6.
7. What does this prophecy predict?
"Miseries that shall come upon [the rich]."
8. What is said of their riches?
"Cankered," "rusted," "moth-eaten;" in other words, not used for God and humanity.
9. What has been a characteristic in obtaining this wealth?
"The hire of the laborers . . . is of you kept back by fraud."
NOTE.—But one class of laborers is here named; not that this class alone suffers; but this class is representative of all others.
10. How has much of this wealth been used?
"Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton."
NOTE.—Increase of wealth brings increase of responsibility. But in how many cases do the immensely rich grow more tyrannous, more exacting, more careless of the needs of their fellows! As soldiers in a besieging army when they have slaughtered the enemy and become possessed of his riches cast off all restraint, so do many of the rich. See article in this department.
11. When does all this occur?
"In the last days."
12. What is the duty of God's children at such a time?
"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." James 5:7, 8.
13. What description of the work of the selfish rich is given by another prophet?
"Thou [God] art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad." Hab. 1:13-15.
"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 can not be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people." Hab. 2:5.
NOTE.—What a picture it is of the predatory9trusts. Men to them are fishes to catch; their schemes are nets in which to take them. As they get much they desire more, reaching out of their own legitimate field, with an ambition as unsatisfied as Sheol. As Isaiah expresses it they "join house to house, and lay field to field, till there be no room." Isa. 5:8.
14. Is it the will of God that His children should be made thus to suffer?
"Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?" Hab. 2:13.
15. Of what does God warn the rich?
"Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!" "Wo to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity!" Hab. 2:9, 12.
"Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?" Amos 8:4, 5.
16. What will the mass of those who are oppressed and wronged at last do?
"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 to him that ladeth himself with thick clay ["pledges," R.V.]! 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." Hab. 2:6-8.
17. What does another say of the last days?
"And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon My people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. And the songs of the temple [literally, "palace," as in margin of R.V.] shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence." Amos 8:2, 3.
NOTE.—The above are a part of the predictions of God's word concerning the vast increase of wealth and the consequent class troubles which grow out of the conditions. Labor unions claim that they have greatly helped conditions by "pitting" great combinations of labor against the great combinations of wealth. It is a serious question whether they have helped matters even within their own unions. True, they have shortened hours of labor and increased wages, but in most cases the cost of living has increased more rapidly than wages, and serious class bitterness and hatred have resulted. Labor unions have often been deceived by their own trusted men, and the proportion of successful strikes are counter-balanced by the unsuccessful. Since Jan. 1, 1881, the open struggles between the representatives of capital and labor have cost more than $285,000,000, and thrown out of employment 3,714,406 persons. Each striker lost on an average $44.00; and 366,690 persons lost on an average $73.00 each by lockouts. In the anthracite coal strike of 1902, 183,500 miners were out of work for five months. The loss to miners in wages amounted to $30,000,000; to operators, $69,000,000; to merchants in mining towns, $23,000,000; to factories closed for lack of fuel, $7,000,000; to merchants outside, $16,000,000; to railways, $34,000,000; business permanently abandoned, $8,000,000; troops in service, $2,000,000; police in patrolling district, $35,000,000; in railway men's wages, in protecting non-union workers, in fires and flooding of mines, $5,820,000: the total cost of the one strike in money alone, saying nothing of the loss of life, is $200,000,000.
There is still a larger class of professional men, of farm workers, and workers in other lines who have not been benefited, and in the nature of the case could not be. They have seen little or no rise in wages, little or no increase in business, with constantly rising prices in the necessaries of life.
Those who control the markets will continue to control prices; and times for the many as compared with the few will grow relatively harder. Add to this losing faith in God and religion. The next thing is revolution and misery to the rich. We are not stating that which we wish to come. We welcome no bloodshed or violence. We are willing to leave all adjustments of that which can not be righted by ordinary means to God. But we must give His warnings.
18. Is there anything to be gained in uniting to oppose these evils?
"Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand." Isa. 8:9, 10.
19. What counsel does God give us in this respect?
"For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid." Verses 11, 12.
20. What is our hope?
"Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary." Verses 13, 14.