been young and now am old, yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging for bread." And second, it means belief in the statement found everywhere throughout the Bible, but especially emphasized by Moses, and the Psalmist and St. Paul, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." As to the first of these statements, to this day who ever saw a righteous man or woman—a man or woman who had loved and practised righteousness from youth up-who ever saw such an one utterly deserted, or his or her seed, nurtured and trained in righteousness, begging for food? No one. Utter poverty and want are always the punishment of sin; we may be sure of it; sins of omission if not of commission, secret if not open, forgotten if not remembered. So the truly righteous have nothing to fear, as to utter poverty and want, however small their wages may be. With St. Paul they may exclaim, "Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content": things"

Though we have nothing, yet do we possess all Or with the Psalmist, "I have been young and now am old, yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."

(d) "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."

That is a thunderbolt of Divine threatening hurled at the head of all human oppressors, and the Christian, believing it to be such, is content to leave Almighty God to do His own work in His own good time. As the Psalmist again says: "I saw the prosperity of the wicked pride compassed them about, violence covered them, their eyes stood out with fatness, they had more than heart could wish; they spake wickedly concerning oppression, they prospered in the world, they increased in riches "-and yet what was their end? "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places. Thou castest them down to destruction. Now are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terror. God shall suddenly shoot at them with a swift arrow and they shall be wounded. And all men that see it shall say, This hath God done, for they

shall perceive that this is His work. But the righteous shall rejoice in the Lord, and put their trust in Him; and all they that are true of heart shall be glad." The Bible is full of such expressions. "O! earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, write this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper." "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall these things be?" "In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment." "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 kankered, and the rest of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were with fire. 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 Sabbaoth. . . Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord .. behold the judge standeth before the door." And not only is the Bible full of this, but also history is full of illustrations and confirmations of it.

There is a tradition that the Israelites in Egypt, when compelled by their oppressors to make brick without straw, used to comfort and encourage one another by quietly whispering as they met or passed :

There was one who saw; there was One who punished. And there was One also who, in due time, delivered, and prospered, and blessed the patient Hebrew toilers, who tried to be content with their lot. On the banks of the Nile, travellers, we are told, may now hear these same words rhythmically repeated by hard toiling, poorly paid men, women, and children. As they toil they cheer each other

by singing the ancient words of trust in Divine care and over rulings :

66 There is One who sees,

There is One who sees;
He will punish them,
He will punish them."

Not only in ancient times, but now; not only on the banks of the Nile in the days of Pharaoh, but on the banks of the Nile in these days-now and always, here and everywhere there is One who sees, One who will punish: One who in due time will deliver, and prosper, and bless, all who are truly righteous, and who put their trust in Him. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." This, then, is the Bible and Christian way-the Bible and Christian attitude of the employé toward the employer.

(e) Burning Sub-Questions.

But there are some burning sub-questions of to-day which we of to-day must look squarely in the face, and consider the right way to meet and answer them-questions affecting the welfare of that vast body of employees, of all civilized States, who are citizens; and, as such, holding in hand the ballot-hold, if they only would realize it, the righting of their own wrongs; and, under Providence, the shaping and securing of their own present as well as eternal welfare. Some of these sub-questions let us glance at. But, lest our words of sympathy for and encouragement of the working classes should be misunderstood, let us first say that there are three or four things that a genuine Christian can have no sympathy with, and no toleration for, in either the working classes or the wealthy classes-the poor or the rich.

1. Indolence. The rich man's indolent son or daughter who, without toil, lives upon another's toil; and the striker or the tramp who eats another's bread rather than work even for the smallest wages-even for ten cents a day, or for the poor crust he eats these both, and both alike, all should condemn

and detest. If a man will not work-it matters not who the man is-it is a shame for him to eat. And of an indolent woman, whether rich or poor, the same is equally true,— God's truth, not man's.

2. That pauper pride or pride of pauperism,-whether in rich or in poor,-which permits one to live in dependence upon others, merely because the work which he or she finds to do is supposed to be too humble, or servile, or socially degrading. There is nothing so degrading as voluntary or avoidable dependence upon others: and, whoever has a spark left of manhood or of womanhood will dig in the ditch or scrub in the kitchen rather than be an idle, worthless parasite―sustained by the toil and sweat of parents, relatives, neighbors, or friends, to say nothing of public charity.

3. Avoidable ignorance and vice. The two generally go together, whether among the rich or among the poor. The empty-headed, dissipated children of wealth, whose leisure hours are devoted to fashionable amusement and folly; and the working classes, who spend their leisure hours on street corners, in groggeries, in sensational theatres, and in other idle and empty ways-and get up strikes chiefly because they want more money for strong drink and for other means of dissipation-for both of these classes and for both alike nothing but condemnation and contempt should be felt and expressed.

4. Those who attempt to secure their rights by violence of any sort; whether it be by rebellion against established laws-so long as they are established laws-or by threatening mobs-with their daggers, pistols, dynamite, bombshells, and infernal machines-or by labor organizationswhich devise secret machinations, refusing to show their hands, and seeming to prefer darkness rather than lightor by one man or body of men commanding or even requesting another man or body of men to "strike," or to cease work merely because they themselves have chosen to do so. All of these things are impudent interferences with law, and order, and personal rights; and, especially on the part of Christian citizens, ought not for a moment to be

resorted to or tolerated. Especially not on the part of American citizens. Why? Because American citizens, above all others, hold in their hands the ballot, and by this can-if they will wisely work and patiently wait-rectify their wrongs and secure their rights.

A Roman senator being asked how to secure public reform, answered: "Agitate, agitate, agitate!" In this American democracy, where the laboring classes are and always must be the overwhelming majority, and where impartial suffrage is and always must be universal; here especially the way, and the only Christian way, to secure public reform is to agitate, agitate, agitate; and, in addition, to legislate, legislate, legislate; vote, vote, vote!

(f) Special Reforms Favorable to the Working Classes which Renascent Christianity will insist upon.

Having thus suggested the way by which reforms favorable to the working classes are to be sought and secured, let us now enumerate, with briefest comments, some reforms which appear to be not only timely, but also pressing necessities. As such every genuine Christian will join in efforts to secure them.

I. That rent, food, clothing, and all needful commodities may be reduced to the very lowest prices for the advantage of the working classes. Public Revenues must be secured and Taxes paid chiefly if not entirely by the wealth of our country. To this end the working classes must demand at the ballot-box this four-fold method of relief:

Tariff or import duties only on the luxuries of life. Protection or export restrictions only on the necessities of life. Graduated Taxation, so that as wealth increases the per cent. of tax shall increase in regular proportion; with severe penalties for any misstatements as to one's taxable property. This is necessary: for as the famous revivalist says, " More lies are told about money in general and about tax-lists in particular than about anything else in the world."—And, finally, large Succession Duties imposed upon all devised