"Mark what I say! If the inexorable law of cause and effect has not been expunged from the statute book of the Almighty, unless a halt is called very soon, you may expect to see the horrors of the French Revolution put on the American stage with all the modern improvements, and that within the next decade. Nor am I alone. That gentleman, Astor, who went to England some time ago, bought him a place on the island and became a British subject, saw what is coming as plainly as I do, so he took time by the forelock and skipped out when there was not such a rush for staterooms as there will be after a while. He knew very well that if things would keep on as you and I have seen them for some time past the time was not far off when there would be such a crowd of his class of people hurrying aboard every outgoing steamer he might be shoved off the gangplank.

The Hon. H. R. Herbert, Secretary of the U. S. Navy, in a speech at Cleveland, O., April 30, '96, used the following language in a very moderate speech to business men:

"We are entering upon an era of vast enterprises that threaten to occupy to the exclusion of others all the ordinary avenues of human progress. The optimist may tell you that this is to be for the betterment of the conditions of human life, that large enterprises are to cheapen products, cheapen transportation. The mammoth store in which you can get everything you want, and get it cheap, is everywhere appearing. Industrial plants with millions of capital behind them are rapidly taking possession of the field once occupied by smaller enterprises of the same character.

"Human wit seems unable to devise, without dangerously curtailing the natural liberty of the citizen, any plan for the prevention of these monopolies, and the effect is the accumulation of vast wealth by the few, the narrowing of the opportunities of the many, and the breeding of discontent. Hence conflicts between labor and capital are to be of greater significance in the future than in the past.

"There are thoughtful men who predict that out of the antagonisms between capital and labor is to come a conflict that will be fatal to the republican government among us, a conflict that will result first in anarchy and bloodshed

and then in monarchy under some bold leader who shall be able by military power to bring order out of chaos.

"Sometimes we are pointed to Socialism as the logical outcome of the present condition. The first experiments in this direction, it is said, are to be made in the cities, the employers, with unlimited means at their command, and the employees, with little opportunity for advancement, except by the ballot, are to contend with each other, class against class, for the control of municipal governments. This is one of the perils of the future. . . . It was once supposed that the American farmer would forever stand as an immovable bulwark, but a change has come over the spirit of many of our farmers."

The ecclesiastical powers of Christendom have also had line upon line and precept upon precept. They have been warned by the providential dealings of God with his people in the past, and by occasional reformers. Yet few, very few, can read the handwriting on the wall, and they are powerless to overcome, or even to stay, the popular current. Mr. T. DeWitt Talmage seems to see and understand to some extent; for, in a recent discourse, he said:—

"Unless the Church of Jesus Christ rises up and proves herself the friend of the people as the friend of God, and in sympathy with the great masses, who with their families at their backs are fighting this battle for bread, the church, as at present organized, will become a defunct institution, and Christ will go down again to the beach and invite plain, honest fishermen to come into an apostleship of righteousness-manward and Godward. The time has come when all classes of people shall have equal rights in the great struggle to get a livelihood."

And yet this man, with a stewardship or talent and influence which but few possess, does not seem in haste to follow his expressed convictions as to the duties of influential Christians in the hour of peril.

The warnings go forth, and convictions of duty and privilege fasten upon many minds; but, alas! all is of no avail; they go unheeded. Great power has been, and to

some extent still is, in the hands of ecclesiastics; but, in the name of Christ and his gospel, it has been, and still is, selfishly used and abused. "Honor one of another," "chief seats in the synagogues," and "to be called Rabbi," Doctor, Reverend, etc., and seeking gain, each "from his own quarter [or denomination]" (John 5:44; Matt. 23: 6-12; Isa. 56:11), and "the fear of man which bringeth a snare"-these hinder some even of God's true servants from faithfulness, while apparently many of the under-shepherds never had any interest in the Lord's flock except to secure the golden fleece.

While we gladly acknowledge that many educated, cultivated, refined and pious gentlemen are, and have been, included among the clergy in all the various denominations of the nominal Church, which all through the age has included both wheat and tares (Matt. 13:30), we are forced to admit that many who belong to the "tare" class have found their way into the pulpits as well as into the pews. Indeed the temptations to pride and vainglory, and in many cases to ease and affluence, presented to talented young men aspiring to the pulpit, have been such as to guarantee that it must be so, and that to a large extent. Of all the professions, the Christian ministry has afforded the quickest and easiest route to fame, ease and general temporal prosperity, and often to wealth. The profession of law requires a lifetime of intellectual energy and business effort, and brings its weight of pressing care. The same may be said of the profession of medicine. And if men rise to wealth and distinction in these professions, it is not merely because they have quick wits and ready tongues, but because they have honestly won distinction by close and constant mental application and laborious effort. On the other hand, in the clerical profession, a refined, pleasant demeanor, moderate ability to address a public assembly

twice a week on some theme taken from the Bible, together with a moderate education and good moral character, secure to any young man entering the profession, the respect and reverence of his community, a comfortable salary and a quiet, undisturbed and easy life.

If he have superior talent, the people, who are admirers of oratory, soon discover it, and before long he is called to a more lucrative charge; and, almost before he knows it, he has become famous among men, who rarely stop to question whether his piety-his faith, humility and godliness-have kept pace in development with his intellectual and oratorical progress. In fact, if the latter be the case, he is less acceptable, especially to wealthy congregations, which, probably more frequently than very poor ones, are composed mostly of "tares." If his piety indeed survive the pressure of these circumstances, he will, too often for the good of his reputation, be obliged to run counter to the dispositions and prejudices of his hearers, and he will shortly find himself unpopular and undesired. These circumstances have thus brought into the pulpit a very large proportion of what the Scriptures designate "hireling shepherds."-Isa. 56:11; Ezek. 34:2-16; John 10:11-14.

The responsibility of those who have undertaken the gospel ministry in the name of Christ is very great. They stand very prominently before the people as the representatives of Christ,--as special exponents of his spirit, and expounders of his truth. And, s a class, they have had advantages above other men for coming to a knowledge of the truth, and freely declaring it. They have been relieved from the burdens of toil and care in earning a livelihood which fetter other men, and, with their temporal wants supplied, have been granted time, quiet leisure, special education, and numerous helps of association, etc., for this very purpose.

Here, on the one hand, have been these great opportunities for pious zeal and devoted self-sacrifice for the cause of truth and righteousness; and, on the other, great temptations, either to indolent ease, or to ambition for fame, wealth or power, Alas! the vast majority of the clergy have evidently succumbed to the temptations, rather than embraced and used the opportunities, of their positions; and, as a result, they are to-day "blind leaders of the blind," and together they and their flocks are fast stumbling into the ditch of skepticism. They have hidden the truth (because it is unpopular), advanced error (because it is popular) and taught for doctrine the precepts of men (because paid to do so). They have, in effect, and sometimes in so many words, said to the people, "Believe what we tell you on our authority," instead of directing them to "prove all things" by the divinely inspired words of the apostles and prophets, and "hold fast" only "that which is good." For long centuries the clergy of the Church of Rome kept the Word of God buried in dead languages, and would not permit its translation into the vernacular tongues, lest the people might search the Scriptures and thus prove the vanity of her pretensions. In the course of time a few godly reformers arose from the midst of her corruption, rescued the Bible from oblivion and brought it forth to the people; and a great protestant movement,-protesting against the false doctrines and evil practices of the Church of Rome,—was the result.

But ere long Protestantism also became corrupt, and her clergy began to formulate creeds to which they have taught the people to look as the epitomized doctrines of the Bible, and of paramount importance. They have baptised and catechised them in infancy, before they had learned to think; then, as they grew to adult years, they have lulled them to sleep, and given them to understand that their safe course