"Just as in darkest Africa, it is only a part of the evil and misery that comes from the superior race who invade the forest to enslave and massacre its miserable inhabitants, so with us, much of the misery of those whose lot we are considering arises from their own habits. Drunkenness and all manner of uncleanness, moral and physical, abound. Have you ever watched by the bedside of a man in delirium tremens? Multiply the sufferings of that one drunkard by the hundred thousand, and you have some idea of what scenes are witnessed in all our great cities at this moment. As in Africa, streams intersect the forest in every direction, so the gin-shop stands at every corner with its River of the Water of Death flowing seventeen hours out of the twenty-four, for the destruction of the people. A population sodden with drink, steeped in vice, eaten up by every social and physical malady, these are the denizens of Darkest England amidst whom my life has been spent, and to whose rescue I would now summon all that is best in the manhood and womanhood of our land.

"How many are there who are, more or less, under the dominion of strong drink? Statistics abound, but they seldom tell us what we want to know. We know how many public-houses there are in the land, and how many arrests for drunkenness the police make in a year; but beyond that we know little. Every one knows that for one man who is arrested for drunkenness there are at least ten- and often twenty- who go home intoxicated. In London, for instance, there are fourteen thousand drink shops, and every year twenty thousand persons are arrested for drunkenness. But who can for a moment believe that there are only twenty thousand, more or less, habitual drunkards in London? By habitual drunkard I do not mean one who is always drunk, but one that is so much under the dominion of the evil habit that he cannot be depended upon not to get drunk whenever the opportunity offers."

...

"In the United Kingdom there are one hundred and ninety thousand public-houses, and every year there are two hundred thousand arrests for drunkenness. . . . Isaac Hoyle gives one in twelve of the adult population. This may be an excessive estimate, but, if we take half a million, we shall not be accused of exaggera tion. Of these, some are in the last stage of confirmed dipsomania : others are but over the verge; but the procession tends ever downward.

"The loss which the maintenance of this huge standing army of half a million of men who are more or less always besotted men,

whose intemperance impairs their working power, consumes their earnings, and renders their homes wretched, has long been a familiar theme of the platform." 36

How beautiful is the "Pure River of Water of Life" in contrast with the filthy stream of the water of death. The pure river of water of life proceeds clear as crystal from the throne of God and the Lamb. It flows as a lifegiving stream from the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, where the saved have access to the tree of life. And this invitation from Jesus is for you, dear reader: "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

37

38

Let us give heed to the testimony of the sure word of prophecy. It shows plainly that Jesus will soon come. May you and I then be in such a condition that we can say with joy: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

36 Booth's "Darkest England," pp. 14, 49.

37 Rev. 22: 1, 2, 14.

38 Rev. 22: 17.

39 Rev. 22: 20.

91 39

CHAPTER VII.

PERHAPS

THE LABOR QUESTION.

no question in the world takes up the thoughts of so many people as the labor question. On one side. the capital, on the other the working power. It is not only the monarchs of Europe who reign, but also the railroad kings and capitalists of America. It is not only standing armies and mighty navies that have great influence on the course of events, but also the gold and silver which is heaped up. The monarchs and armies can do nothing when the money is held back. Never before in the history of our world have such enormous sums of money been gathered together, neither have the laborers fought with such power and perseverance to defend their rights.

This condition of things has very plainly been predicted in the word of God. Especially does the apostle James in a striking manner describe how the rich will gather treasures in the last days and keep back the wages of the laborers. At the same time he exhorts the children of God to wait for the coming of the Lord.

"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

Be pa

Behold,

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. tient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. 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."1

The Rich Have Heaped Treasure Together for the Last Days.

In an American journal (The Forum) for 1889, Mr. T. G. Shearman, from New York, speaks of several persons in America who own $20,000,000, or more. Some of these are:

$150,000,000, J. Astor.

$100,000,000, C. Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and three

others.

$35,000,000 to $70,000,000, fourteen persons.

$22,000,000 to $30,000,000, twenty-one persons. $20,000,000, fourteen persons, among whom is Dr. Hostetter with his renowned stomach bitters.

Besides these there are fifty persons who own more than $10,000,000 each.

Mr. Shearman says that the wealth of England cannot be compared with that of America. The richest dukes of England have less property than twelve or more American citizens who might be mentioned, and the richest bankers, merchants, and railroad kings of England cannot be compared with many Americans.

The average income of one hundred of the richest Englishmen is about $450,000 a year, while the average annual income of the richest Americans exceeds one and a half million dollars. The richest of the Rothchilds left seventeen million dollars. The duke of Norfolk has, perhaps, property worth $40,000,000, and the duke of Westminster about $50,000,000.

1 James 5: 1-8.

Mr. Shearman closes by stating that twenty-five persons own one half of the wealth of the United States, and all the wealth of the country is owned for the greater part by 250,000 persons.

Such a heaping together of gold and silver this world has never seen before. And this is certainly a fulfillment of the words of the apostle, "Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

The Gold is Gathered, but Little Circulated in Proportion.

All the gold owned by men at the beginning of the Christian era is calculated to have been $427,000,000. Up to the year 1800 the gold had increased to $1,125,000,000. In 1819 the gold mines of Russia were discovered. Up to the year 1860 they produced $746,000,000, or about two thirds as much as was found in the world before this century. February 9, 1848, William Marshall discovered the gold mines of California at Sutter's Mill. Up to the year 1860 they produced $905,000,000. This is more than half as much as was owned by mankind sixty years before. before. February 12, 1851, the gold mines of Australia were discovered. They produced up to the year 1860, $780,000,000. At the beginning of this century the value of gold in the world was about $1,125,000,000; but up to 1860 it had increased to $4,600,000,000. That is four times as much as was owned by men sixty years before this time.

In the year 1853 there was coined in Great Britain, France, and United States $90,000,000. Only a small portion of this money was circulated. The money was heaped together in the vaults of the mints or in safes in the banks. Last August I saw in San Francisco three iron safes containing $30,000,000. The doors were sealed with the seal of the United States. The servant told us that in the lower treasury were many millions more.