"Listen . . . You Rich Men"
By Editor
THE persistent demonstrations against Mr. Rockefeller in New York City are nothing more than the prelude, or a sort of premonition, of what is coming upon the wealthy men of this whole world. The sentiment has been spread abroad that Mr. Rockefeller is largely responsible for the terrible conditions that have existed in the mining regions of Colorado. It is not within the purview of this paper to discuss either the merits or the demerits of this claim. But we point to the great fact that menacing crowds have been at work in front of Mr. Rockefeller's residence in New York City, in and about his church, and elsewhere; and they are inflaming the populace with the thought that he alone is to blame for the distressing conditions already mentioned. Nearly two thousand years ago, the apostle James was inspired to speak of the heaping together of treasures that would occur in the last days; and five hundred years before that, the prophet Isaiah had spoken of the vast accumulations of silver and gold that would be seen in these very same last days. Line after line of prophecy has pointed to this generation as the time specifically denominated in the word of God as the one that would see the great climax of this world's history, the second coming of Christ. In harmony with these prophetic utterances, we find fortunes heaped together that go beyond anything the world has ever seen or known. There have been wealthy men in past times, but these men were limited to specific neighborhoods in their acquirement of wealth. But the financial kings to-day, through the railroad, the steamship, the telegraph, have the whole world at their command, and the millionaire has increased to the billionaire; and when it comes to the question of financial control, we have men that are even multi-billionaires. This is truly a heaping together of treasure that any one should see answers most strikingly to the prophecy. The words as recorded by James are: "Listen to me, you rich men, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches have wasted away, and your clothes have become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are rusted; and the rust of them shall be evidence against you, and shall eat into your very flesh. It was fire, so to speak, that you stored up for yourselves in these last days. I tell you, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have been fraudulently keeping back, are crying out against you, and the outcries of your reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts! You have lived on earth a life of extravagance and luxury; you have indulged your fancies in a time of bloodshed. You have condemned, you have murdered, the Righteous One! Must not God be opposed to you? Be patient, then, brothers, till the coming of the Lord. Even the farmer has to wait for the precious fruit of the earth, watching over it patiently, till it has had the spring and summer rains." James 5: 1-7, Twentieth Century New Testament. We submit that the foregoing verses are as graphic a presentation of the actual situation in the world to-day as can be presented by any literature of this time. And since the prophets had such a clear view of these times and their meaning, as wise men we should be guided by the divine and clear predictions. Without any question, we are living in the last days; and without any question, the stormy violence that is being stored up against the wealthy will become worse and worse and more and more bitter, until the climax is at last reached in the coming of the Lord.