Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Feb 16, 1905
The Law of God
And God spake all these words, saying,
I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing loving-kindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
Publishers’ Page
Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Association
Using Opportunities
Individuals favored of heaven with a knowledge of the message for this generation, should be watching for opportunities to disseminate this knowledge through the current mediums of communication in a manner that will attract the attention of the people.
A commendable example of using opportunities offered through the daily papers is found in the following article written by Frank Lane in the Montreal Daily Witness:—
“To the Editor of the Witness.
“SIR: In last Saturday’s issue of your paper a correspondent, in referring to the Scriptures, says that there are some things that Christ said and did which require further explanation, or words to that effect. He refers to various things in the life of Christ, among them being the destruction of the swine, the unjust steward, the cursing of the fig-tree, and the question of hating father and mother, etc.
The Destruction of the Swine
“First, in reference to the swine: Jesus did not cause their destruction. He permitted it, and it was in mercy to the owners that loss had been permitted to come upon them. They were absorbed in earthly things, and cared not for the great interests of spiritual life. The two demoniacs had been the terror of the country, but the people who beheld these men, clothed and in their right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to his words, considered the loss of the swine as of greater moment than the deliverance of these captives of Satan. It was Satan that caused the destruction of the swine, and it was his purpose to turn the people away from the Saviour, and prevent the preaching of the gospel in that region. But this very occurrence roused the whole country as nothing else could have done, and directed attention to Christ.
The Unjust Steward
“Referring to the parable of the unjust steward, Christ did not commend him, but he made use of a well-known occurrence to illustrate the lesson he desired to teach. To the unfaithful steward his lord’s goods had been entrusted for benevolent purposes, but he had used them for himself. So with Israel, God had chosen the seed of Abraham. With a high arm he had delivered them from bondage in Egypt. He had made them depositaries of sacred truth for the blessing of the world; light was given them that they might give it to others. But his stewards had used these gifts to enrich and exalt themselves. The Pharisees, filled with self-importance and self-righteousness, were misapplying the goods lent them of God to use for his glory. The stewardship was to be taken from them, and they were called upon to provide for their future. Only by seeking the good of others could they benefit themselves. Only by imparting God’s gifts in the present life could they provide for eternity.
Hating Father and Mother
“Hating father and mother, etc. In order to accept the invitation to the gospel feast we must make our worldly interests subordinate to the one purpose of receiving Christ and his righteousness. The heart that is absorbed in earthly affection can not be given up to God. The companionship of Jesus is to be valued above the companionship of earthly friends. Matthew gives the explanation of this text as follows: ‘He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.’
Cursing the Fig-tree
“The cursing of the barren fig-tree was an acted parable. That barren tree, flaunting its pretentious foliage in the very face of Christ, was a symbol of the Jewish nation. The Saviour desired to make plain to his disciples the cause and certainty of Israel’s doom. For this purpose he invested the tree with moral qualities, and made it the expositor of divine truths. The Jews, like the barren fig-tree, spread their pretentious branches aloft, luxuriant in appearance, and beautiful to the eye, but they yielded nothing but leaves. All the trees in the orchard were destitute of fruit; but the leafless trees raised no expectation and caused no disappointment. By these trees the Gentiles were represented. They were as destitute as the Jews were of godliness, but they had not professed to serve God. With them the time of fruit was not yet. The Jews, who had received greater blessings from God, were held accountable for their abuse of these gifts. The privileges of which they boasted only increased their guilt.
The Desire of Ages
“In conclusion, the writer would say that he has been much helped in the study of God’s Word by a book entitled ‘The Desire of Ages,’ from which he has largely quoted in this letter. Your troubled correspondent might be much helped by procuring the same.
“FRANK LANE.
“London, Ont., Jan. 24, 1905.”
The daily papers afford an excellent opportunity of circulating notices of our publications, defending divine principles, and even teaching the people the special message for this time. Men and women everywhere should be watching for these opportunities, and studying and working to properly use them.
Professor Schurman in a recent lecture before the students of Cornell University said:—
“I do not think that there is a bit of history in the Bible. There may be material for history, but no history. But although we are thus recoiling from the old dogmatisms, I believe that no age since Christ’s own needs the teachings of Jesus Christ so much as our own, and no place needs them so much as our seats of education.”
Those who possess a knowledge of the teaching of Christ, in this time of the world’s great need of it, will not be free from their obligations to Christ himself nor their debt to the starving people, until they do all in their power to impart this knowledge. There ought to be thousands of men and women, who are now following the common avocations of life devoting their best energies in the circulation of “The Desire of Ages.” When there is such a demand for the knowledge this work contains, with a proper preparation for its presentation, and the power of God sure to accompany it, to question a support in a work of this kind is to question God himself.
For the Asking
WHEN the Open Letter, “An Appeal to Clergy,” appeared in the Washington Post, there were a number of the laymen in different parts of the country who were watching for opportunities; and they at once sent for sample copies of the Post, and took them to editors of city and county papers who may not have had their special attention called to this Open Letter in any other way, and asked them to reprint it in their papers, which was cheerfully done. Through this prompt watchfulness on the part of those who are carrying the love of the message continually on their hearts—
“An Appeal to Clergy”
has been printed in a large number of the best newspapers in the United States. This has not spoiled the demand for the tract containing this appeal, as is demonstrated by the growing demand for it. Though it was announced only on the nineteenth of January, 200,000 copies have been ordered, and ere the nineteenth of February, which will mark the first month of its existence, a much larger number will have been ordered.
There are many demands at the doors of the rank and file of our people at the present time, which should be an evidence to them of their acceptance of heaven as messengers of the kingdom, but the present opportunity offered in “An Appeal to Clergy” should not be neglected by a single individual who has received a commission to stand in the breach made in God’s law. Individuals, churches, and conferences should literally sow this tract at this time; do it promptly and quickly, and be ready for the next, which is sure to follow through work of this kind.
The tract is cheap in price, but not in the quality of the matter it contains. The expressions of appreciation coming with repeated orders would very much emphasize this statement; but the whole of this issue of the REVIEW could not contain them.
40 cents a hundred; $3.75 a thousand.
Picked Up Publications
RECENTLY a subscription for Life and Health was received from a prominent man who became interested in the journal through a copy left in a railway coach. Another subscription came from a father of a physician in Boston to whom the journal was sent for a year on account of the conviction of the father that it contained the information a live, up-to-date physician should have. The copy of Life and Health that interested this father was “picked up.”
The principles of truth can not be hid or lost, and no one need feel that he is doing nothing, or failing to grasp a favorable opportunity, when only able to leave periodicals bearing these principles even in obscure places.
Review and Herald · Washington, D. C.
Editorial
By Editor
The Sin of This Generation
EVERY specific sin is, in its final analysis, a revelation in one form or another of the spirit of rebellion against God and his authority, and involves in principle the dethronement of God and the overthrow of the divine government. Every one who wilfully commits sin allies himself with the great rebel leader, and casts his influence in favor of the attempt to establish a rival kingdom in the earth. In the development of the great controversy between Christ and Satan there have come crises when this spirit of rebellion became so intense that there were plain manifestations of the divine displeasure, and those who had defied God so flagrantly that they had placed themselves beyond the reach of mercy were permitted to reap the fruit of their doings. Thus it was in the days of Noah, when “Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Thus it was at the time of the first advent, when “sin had become a science, and vice was consecrated as a part of religion. Rebellion had struck its roots deep into the heart, and the hostility of man was most violent against heaven.” In the former instance, “the flood came, and took them all away;” while in the latter, the Romans came, and took away both the place and the nation of the chosen people. We have now come to the third and final crisis in the controversy. In this generation will come the climax of the whole experience of rebellion against the government of God. It is the crisis of the ages. When he wept over the doomed city, “Jesus looking down to the last generation, saw the world involved in a deception similar to that which caused the destruction of Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God, the foundation of his government in heaven and earth.” Our prayer now may be, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.” This is the sin of this generation.
The Warning to This Generation
In view of its rejection of God’s law, there is a decided message of warning to be borne to this generation. It is the message of “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” An earnest appeal must be made to the people of this generation to return to their allegiance to God, and to be obedient to his law. “Satan is working to the utmost to make himself as God, and to destroy all who oppose his power. And to-day the world is bowing before him. His power is received as the power of God. It seems that the whole human creation has wondered after the beast. . . . See the activity, the restless surging of the mass in their determination to take and occupy the place of the throne of God. . . . Mark the defiant rebellion written in their countenances. Their warfare is against their Creator and Redeemer. . . . When the storm of God’s wrath breaks upon the world, it will be a terrible revelation for souls to find that their house is being swept away, because it is built upon the sand. Let the warning be given them before it is too late. We should now feel the responsibility of laboring with intense earnestness to impart to others the light we have received. We can not be too much in earnest.” It is God’s purpose that a warning shall be sounded throughout the length and breadth of the earth. “The most fearful threatening ever addressed to mortals is contained in the third angel’s message. That must be a terrible sin which calls down the wrath of God unmingled with mercy. Men are not to be left in darkness concerning this important matter; the warning against this sin is to be given to the world before the visitation of God’s judgments, that all may know why they are to be inflicted, and have opportunity to escape them.” The most determined effort is being made by Satan to divert the attention of the people from God’s warning message, but we must labor “with intense earnestness” to impart the truth. Let every one who believes this message have some part, directly or indirectly, in giving this warning to this generation.
Why Christians Should Oppose Religious Legislation
CHRISTIANS should oppose religious legislation in the same spirit and for the same purpose that they should teach any other phase of the gospel,—in order to implant and to preserve in the hearts of men the genuine principles of truth and righteousness.
During this reign of sin God has established civil government as a means of protecting and conserving the rights and liberties of all classes of men in their relations to one another, and of inflicting temporal punishment upon those who interfere with these God-given rights and liberties. When they exercise their powers within the proper sphere, civil rulers have authority from God to make and to enforce necessary laws. Here are the Lord’s own words concerning this matter: “Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God.” The marked deliverances which God has wrought for his servants when civil rulers have attempted to compel obedience to decrees which were in plain conflict with the commands of God clearly show that subjection to the powers that be is expected only when they exercise their authority within their legitimate sphere.
The church was established by God to represent the principles of his kingdom upon the earth. His own Son is the Head of this church. “He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body.” To the church thus established God has given a well-defined authority in things spiritual. “What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”4
Such authority can be exercised only by the church when Jesus Christ is actually given his place as Head, revealing himself through his body, the church.
When either the state or the church attempts to exercise authority outside of its own peculiar province, it results in disaster to both. It introduces disorder, and ends in a lawless state and an un-Christian church. This is not a matter of theory, but of actual historical record. It is the lesson of the fourth and fifth and the following centuries, which needs to be remembered to-day.
The following extracts from Neander’s “Church History” show the consequences to the church of disregarding the divinely ordained principle of the separation of church and state:—
In the relation of the church to the state, there occurred, with the commencement of this period [the period of Constantine in the early part of the fourth century], a most important change, the consequences of which extended to all parts of the church constitution, and which had an influence, in various ways, on the whole course and shaping of the church development. In the preceding period, the church stood to the state in the relation of an independent, self-included whole, and was to the state, for the most part, an object of hostility. At all events, the utmost which she could expect from the state was bare toleration. The important consequence of this was that the church was left free to develop itself outwardly from its inward principle,—that no foreign might could introduce its disturbing influence; and that the church itself could not be exposed to the temptation of employing an alien power for the prosecution of its ends, and of thus entering into a province that did not belong to it.
But, with the commencement of this period, the church entered into an entirely different relation to the state. It did not merely become a whole, recognized as legal, and tolerated by the state,—which it had been already from the reign of Gallien down to the Dioclesian persecution,—but the state itself declared its principles to be those to which everything must be subordinated. Christianity became, by degrees, the dominant state religion, though not entirely in the same sense as paganism had been before. Church and state constituted, henceforth, two wholes, one interpretating the other, and standing in a relation of mutual action and reaction. . . . The church had now to struggle under a great disadvantage: for instead of being left free, as it was before, to pursue its own course of development, it was subjected to the influence of a foreign, secular power, which, in various ways, would operate to check and disturb it; and the danger, in this case, increased in the same proportion as the political life with which the church came in contact was corrupt, and a lawless, despotic will ruled supreme,—a will which acknowledged no restraints, and which, therefore, whenever it intermeddled with the church development, was prone to act after the same arbitrary manner as it did elsewhere. So it actually happened in the East Roman empire. Without doubt, it belongs to the essential character of Christianity, that it can propagate itself even under the most depressing of earthly relations, and, by the surpassing energy of its spirit, break through every species of temporal bondage. This was seen under the empire of pagan Rome, and in the Persian empire. Despotism, arrayed in open hostility to Christianity, only served to call forth, in still greater strength, the Christian sense of freedom rising superior to all earthly constraint. But despotism in outward alliance with the church, proved a more dangerous enemy. . . . The church was now exposed to the temptation of appropriating a foreign might for the prosecution of its ends,—a temptation ever ready to assail man, the moment the spirit is no longer sovereign alone, but the flesh intermeddles with its proper work. Looking only at the holy end which he fancies himself in pursuit of, any means that can subserve it seem good to him. He does not consider that the truth itself, forced on man otherwise than by its own inward power, becomes falsehood. . . . How invariably did the wrong proceeding bring along its own punishment! In forgetting and denying its own essential character, on the simple preservation of which its true power depends,—in consenting to make use of a foreign might for the furtherance of its ends, the church succumbed to that might. Such is the lesson taught by the history of the church of the Roman empire in the East.—Neander’s “General Church History,” Vol. III, Section Second, Part I, Div. I, par. 1.
The following extracts show the consequences to the state of attempting to unite what God has put asunder:—
There is ample evidence to show how great had been the reaction from the simple genuineness of early Christian belief, and how nearly the Christian world had generally associated itself, in thought and temper, not to say in superstitious practise, with the pagan. . . . This marked decline of distinctive Christian belief was accompanied with a marked decline of Christian morality. Heathenism reasserted its empire over the carnal affections of the natural man. The pictures of abounding wickedness in the high places and the low places of the earth, which are presented to us by the witnesses of the worst pagan degradation, are repeated, in colors not less strong, in lines not less hideous, by the observers of the gross and reckless iniquity of the so-called Christian period now before us. It becomes evident that as the great mass of the careless and indifferent have assumed with the establishment of the Christian church in authority and honor, the outward garb and profession of Christian believers, so with the decline of belief, the corruption of the visible church, the same masses, indifferent and irreligious as of old, have rejected the moral restraints which their profession should have imposed upon them.—Merivale’s “Conversion of the Northern Nations,” Lecture IV, pars. 10-13.
The criminal and frivolous pleasures of a decrepit civilization left no thought for the absorbing duties of the day or the fearful trial of the morrow. . . . The banquet, theater, and the circus exhausted what little strength and energy were left by domestic excesses. The poor aped the vices of the rich, and hideous depravity reigned supreme, and invited the vengeance of heaven.—Lea, “History of Sacerdotal Celibacy,” chap. V, par. 20.
The uncontrollable progress of avarice, prodigality, voluptuousness, theater going, intemperance, lewdness; in short, of all the heathen vices, which Christianity had come to eradicate, still carried the Roman empire and people with rapid strides toward dissolution, and gave it at last into the hands of the rude, but simple and morally vigorous, barbarians.—Schaff, “History of the Christian Church,” Vol. III, sec. 23, par. 2.
From these facts of history it is perfectly plain that a union of church and state is disastrous to both. In the interest of the purity of the church and the stability of the state we should therefore oppose religious legislation, which is one of the outworkings of a union of church and state.
Only those who decline to commit their consciences into the keeping of the state, and who follow the apostolic principle that “we ought to obey God rather than men,” will be saved from the evil effects of religious legislation. Such legislation will result in hardship and persecution to them, and will interfere with their liberty to proclaim the pure gospel, and it is proper that they should seek to avert this condition of things until their work for God is done; but they should beware lest they should oppose this evil thing merely from the selfish standpoint of avoiding personal trouble. The true ground for opposition to religious legislation is an unselfish interest in the welfare of those who enact it, and of those who may be wrongly influenced by it. Those who put themselves in the place of God by assuming to legislate for him, and those who obey men rather than God, will meet with an infinite and an eternal loss. And this is most emphatically true in the case of Sunday laws, which, in the mind of Satan, their instigator, are always an expression of treason against God, and a rejection of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the closing years of the great controversy5between Christ and Satan the observance of the Sabbath of the Lord becomes the test of loyalty to God and of the acceptance of the gospel of Christ. Religious legislation and the enforcement of Sunday laws will mark the utter downfall of Babylon the Great, and the ruin of the world. In opposing such legislation we should present these facts, and should give the warning message which God has committed to us. Thus our work will not be merely negative,—merely opposing the efforts of others,—but we shall do a positive work in teaching the everlasting principles of the gospel of salvation from sin. This is our Christian duty. And in it all let the love of Jesus be revealed.
Seventh-day Adventists
Statement of Teaching and Work of the Denomination
UNDER this heading there appeared in the Washington Post of Sunday, February 5, the day of our first meeting in the Lafayette Opera House in this city, the following letter, written by the editor of the REVIEW:—
EDITOR POST: In view of the interest which has been aroused in some of the peculiar doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventists by the publication in the Post of their “Open Letter” to the Protestant ministers of this city upon the question of “Sabbath Observance,” and the correspondence which has grown out of it, it may be proper to publish a brief statement concerning the teaching and the work of this denomination.
The Seventh-day Adventists profess to stand upon the original Protestant platform that the Bible is a sufficient rule of faith and practise, and they claim to follow its teaching as interpreted by itself. They accordingly believe in the inspiration and infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures, in the divinity and the deity of Christ, and in his atoning work as the only ground of salvation; in justification by faith as the fundamental doctrine of the gospel; in the eternal and unchangeable nature of God’s law as the basis of the divine government; in conditional immortality as being in harmony with the statement that “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord;” in the complete separation of church and state, according to the instruction of the Master, “Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s;” in the personal, visible coming of Christ as the hope of the church, and that according to the prophecies this event may be expected in this generation; in the resurrection of the dead, and the translation of the righteous living at the coming of Christ. They believe in baptism by immersion, in church organization, and they observe all the ordinances of the Lord’s house. They advocate the tithing system as the Scriptural plan for the support of the gospel, and they have a regularly ordained ministry.
This denomination has arisen during the last sixty years, but it now numbers about seventy-five thousand, and has adherents in almost every country in the world. It has organized conferences in nearly every civilized country, and mission stations in many of the heathen lands and the islands of the sea. It heartily believes in the evangelization of the world in this generation.
The Seventh-day Adventists maintain that there is a special work to be done in this generation to prepare for the coming of Christ, and that this involves the restoration of the primitive Christianity of the early church. For this reason they emphasize in their teaching those doctrines which were set aside in the great apostasy when paganism superseded Christianity, and which were not fully restored by Luther and his associates in the great Reformation of the sixteenth century. They attach much importance to the restoration of the original seventh-day Sabbath as the true sign of the divinity of Jesus Christ and of his saving power. They are opposed to any religious legislation, in favor either of Sunday or of the true Sabbath, as being essentially un-Christian, and hold that in matters of faith every man should be left free to follow the dictates of his own conscience.
The Seventh-day Adventists announce three great meetings at the Lafayette Opera House on Sunday evenings, February 5, 12, and 19, at which the teaching of the Scripture concerning Sabbath observance and the significance of the remarkable development of occultism in its different phases will be considered. W. W. PRESCOTT.
In an advertisement inserted in another issue of the Post, announcing the meetings at the opera house, the following paragraphs were printed:—
The recent discussion of the Sabbath question in the public press has aroused an extraordinary interest in this subject, and has awakened a spirit of inquiry which has opened the way for a public presentation of God’s message to this generation concerning the real meaning of Sabbath observance.
The Sabbath issue is more than a disagreement between religious teachers about a day. To Festus the difference between Paul and the Jews seemed to be a trivial one,—a mere difference of opinion as to whether the Man Jesus of Nazareth was dead or alive,—but in this difference was involved the very life of the gospel.
In these closing years of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, Sabbath observance involves the vital issue of loyalty to God and his law as opposed to apostasy and rebellion. It brings again Elijah’s message: “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.”
Thus by correspondence, by paid advertising, and by the report of the meeting reprinted in another part of this paper, an effort has been made to call the attention of the people of Washington to the Sabbath message, and to give the warning call, “Come out of her, my people.” We hope our people are making the work here a subject of special prayer.
A National Sign of the Times
By L. A. S.
MANY are the omens to-day, visible to discerning minds, of coming political revolution in the United States. One of the latest spokesmen on this subject is Judge Peter S. Grosscup, of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, who writes in the February number of McClure’s Magazine on “How to Save the Corporation,” and presents facts which show that unless the corporation in this country can be regenerated, and that speedily, the republic is doomed. From his position as judge of a federal court, this writer’s view of the subject is certainly not that of a visionary. In a preface to the article the editor says:—
This article, written at a time when there is so much public discussion regarding6the exact status of the great railroad corporations and trusts in this country, possesses a peculiar significance, force, and finality as coming from a federal judge so distinguished as Judge Grosscup. All of Judge Grosscup’s decisions and public addresses have been marked not only by a breadth of knowledge of the law, but by a keen sensitiveness to all the immediate problems and conditions of American life. He is more than a judge; he is a statesman.
Judge Grosscup raises the query, “What shall it profit our country if it gain the world and lose its soul?” regarding which he says:—
The soul of republican America is not in our ambition, as a people, to be great commercially and politically; nor in our ambition for increased national territory, national power, or national wealth. The soul of republican America, as a civil government ordained to promote the welfare and happiness of its people, is individual opportunity—the opportunity and encouragement given to each individual to build up, by his own effort and for himself and those dependent upon him, some measure of dominion and independence all his own. In that one phrase—measurable individual independence, and the opportunity to measurably exercise individual dominion—is comprised the civil history of the Anglo-Saxon race. . . . The loss that republican America now confronts is the loss of individual hope and prospect. . . . This means that, as a republican political institution, America will have lost the spirit which alone promises it life. It means social and, eventually, political revolution.
The thing at which I point is no apparition. It is an approaching fact,—a fact that the people of this country have intuitively discerned.
The institution of private property, which, as Judge Grosscup says, is “the foundation of civilization,” now rests upon a shifting foundation. “The proprietorship of the private property of the country, by the bulk of the people,” says Judge Grosscup, “is radically narrowing.”
He continues:—
A generation ago the artizans of the country lived in the country towns. In the country towns were made the shoes we wore, the wagons and carriages, the stoves, the saddlery we used—all the appliances of life; and over the door of each shop hung the sign of the proprietor within. A generation ago the farm work was done by men living on the farms.
All this is now changed. Nearly one half the population of the United States—twelve million active workers, supporting as dependents twenty-four millions more—are now connected with the mechanical trades. The men who, in the time of which I have just spoken, with their own hands did the planting and cultivating and harvesting, are now in the manufacturing centers, making the machines that plant and cultivate and harvest. The artizan proprietors in the towns have been succeeded by artizan employees in the great factories. The whole scene of industrial activity has been shifted from town and country to the cities; from the numerous small dominions exercised by individuals, to colossal corporate dominions.
The hoards of the working people, which constitute the greater proportion of the deposits in savings-banks, show, within recent years, a marked increase, which means that the bulk of the proprietors of the “active” properties of the country are withdrawing their money from these smaller enterprises, and placing it where it goes into the hands of corporations which are absorbing the business of the lesser concerns. This is proved by the fact that while the growth of wealth per capita from 1880 to 1900 was about ten per cent, the bank deposits of wage-earners and people of ordinary means increased during this same period over five hundred per cent. The continuation of this process will, says Judge Grosscup, surely produce a nation of dependents. On this point he says:—
But the transformation strikes deeper than mere economic conditions, or the natural laws that govern monopoly and competition. The transformation of the ownership of a country’s industrial property from its people generally, to a few of its people only, reaches the bed-rock of social and moral forces on which alone the whole structure of republican institutions rests; for, under such conditions, instead of depending, each on himself and his own intelligence chiefly for success, the great bulk of our people, increasingly, will become dependent upon others. Those who possess investible means will come to rely solely upon the great financial institutions, and those who possess nothing but capacity for labor, upon the great organizations of labor. That is paternalism,—paternalism in almost its final form,—the paternalism that will eventually divide the country into two hostile camps—the camp of those who have, and the camp of those who have not,—the paternalism that speedily descends into actual state socialism, or a dry-rotted citizenship as nerveless and squalid as state socialism.
Here, then, in our day, and at this early hour of the day, is the parting of the ways. Ahead lies the road to paternalism. To the left is the open road to state socialism. They now look like distinct ways, these two roads, over bogs and precipices all their own. But a little way ahead, within the distance that any clear eye can carry, the two roads meet. For let it not be forgotten by those who preach the so-called rights of “industrial liberty,” that the out-and-out socialists and radical labor men are not the only influences that are pushing our country to the edge of the socialistic precipice. These have allies, and the ally on which they most rely, and justifiably rely, are just those men who, regardless of all considerations other than those of money and power greed, are launching the dishonest corporate contrivances that, under our existing corporation policy, obtain without hindrance the credit and sanction of the government’s great seal.
From the standpoint of Christianity the situation possesses an additional significance, which is that the process described is bringing men more and more under the influence and domination of man, and destroying those features of environment and qualities of character which have favored the work of God for men’s salvation. It is a process which is binding the souls of men in the fetters of him who stands at the head of the world’s confederacies,—the devil.
But at the future point where, from the world’s standpoint, men see political revolution and the break-up of republican government, to result in they know not what (unless the down grade of the nation can be stayed), the Christian student of the prophecies sees the consummation of earth’s course of sin and evil, and the coming of earth’s divine and rightful Sovereign, to set up his everlasting kingdom of righteousness and peace.