. Signs in the Industrial World

Industrial conditions today add their contribution to the "distress of
nations, with perplexity." Through the word of prophecy the Lord long
ago foretold these conditions, with a warning to the careless rich, and
a warning to the laborer and the poor, not to be drawn into contention
over the things of this world, for the Judge is at the door. The
prophecy, it will be seen, refers specifically to latter-day conditions.

[Illustration: "AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?"

A night scene on the Thames embankment, London.]

"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. 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.

[Illustration: THE RICH YOUNG MAN

"Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure
in heaven." Matt. 19: 21.]

"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. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned:
behold, the Judge standeth before the door." James 5: 1-9.

There is no need to argue that the issues with which the prophecy deals
are pressing upon the world with ever-increasing perplexity. We quote
but two statements, by men not engaged in agitation, but calmly and
thoughtfully setting down the signs of the times.

The late Lord Avebury (Sir John Lubbock) wrote a few years ago in the
_Review of Internationalism_:

"The religion of Europe is not Christianity, but the worship of
the god of war.... Unless something is done, the condition of
the poor in Europe will grow worse and worse. It is no use
shutting our eyes. Revolution may not come soon, not probably
in our time