The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1886-07-29

three hundred pence, and given to the
poor ?-JOhn 1875.
The Savior had travelled a long way
after knowing of the death of his friend
Lazarus, the brother of his good friends
Mary and Martha, and by a word of his
power, brought Lrzarus forth from the
grave 1t is but natural to suppose that
the great volume of love and gratitude
yelling up in the hearts of the sisters, as
we'll as that of the risen brother, was be
yond all powers of human conception
The death had been mourned, the brother
given up as having passed from earth
forever, yet the Savior, in his Divine love
and mercy came at an hour seemingly all
too late, and raised and restored the loved
and lost. Under circumstances like
these Mary and Martha meet the Savior
at a supper at Bethany, where Lazarus
was present.
AS an expression of her love and graft
tude, Mary took a pound of ointment of
spikenard, very costly article, and an
ointed the Savior's feet, wiping them
with her hair. Upon this seemingly eX-
travagant use of costly ointment, disci-
pie named Judas Iscariot-whom the
Scriptures describe as thief, made the
complaint quoted in the text. The agon-
izing for the poor was to say the least re-
markable. 1t is and has been trait of
all characters that subsisted by oppress-
ing the poor, to plead the cause of the
poor increasingly. And this is the char
acter-this Judas-which finds perhaps
more counterparts than one is pleased to
acknowledge.
"He is poor man, and I'll give him
something" says the modern copy of Ju-
das as he hands out the poisonous glass
to a neighbor. "Give to the poor" 1t is
noble to give. All that the gift is made
for, is that the poor may be kept poor.
'Give to the poor" Afterward the hand
has reached down into the pockets of the
poor and drawn forth the last penny.
The SLY old Judas knows full well that if
Justice should come along and adjust
things as they should be, the poor would
suddenly be placed in good circumstan-
ces, and Judas would be attempting to
earn his bread. "Why not give to the
poor?" Yes, why not? Give to the poor,
that the poor may have more money to
give to Judas; give to the poor that the
poor may be worth robbing; give to the
poor, that the amount of the giving may
go to still further enrich the Judases who
watch the poor for purpoes of robbery.
No man in any community is so greatly
worried by agonizing over the poor, as
the man who has an eagerness to rob the
poor.
This Judas who protested against vast
ing a little ointment upon the feet of the
Savior, afterwards sold the Savior's en-
tire body for a few pieces of silver. Ev-
en- then we have no assurance that he
went around dividing the money among
the poor. 1t is an easy matter to get
mankind to express great sympathy and
concern for the poor. No matter how
sadly the picture of poverty may be
painted, there is no man ready to dispute
it. The need of help is there, yet who is
to supply the want? We remember an
incident as having occurred some years
ago, in which the friend of the poor, as
he then figured, was fair type of his class.
Dilapidated and run down he was, as he
entered a public Office, and, addressing the
official, claimed to haye been promised a
certain sum of money. "But what do
you want to do with it? inquired the Of
fetal. 81 want to give it to the poor"
was the unblushing reply. Those pres
ent well knew how the poor would get it,
or rather how they would not get it. The
man wanted the amount to use in ca
rousal.
The correct manner of testing mans
belief in his own assertions regarding the
poor and needy, is to bring the question
right home to him and say chow much
do you believe in your own profession?"
A man objected to a religious order be-
cause they took money from the poor.
At the same time he was selling the poi
son to the poor, and would take away the
last cent from poor mans suffering
children, without the least appearance of
shame. Every man feels poor when the
benefits are to come, and the agonizing
over the needy is but using a popular
cry for a selfish purpose, in far too great
a number of cases. why will the poor
waste their money by giving it to the
preachers, the Sunday Schools, or the Sal |
walton Army?" says the sly old Judas, as
he sits in the door of his den and sees
many carrying past his place money |
which he formerly took from them, and |
which he had come to regard as his own.
"Why don't they save their money!"
At the same time he is devising ways and !
means-or trying to do so-for stealing |
it. The problem of driving away power
ty in this world is perhaps one that will |
defy all the great minds of all the ages |
Men have theories which, according to !
their belief, might be put into successful |
practice, and lift certain classes of hui
manity above the want that has oppressed |
them so long. The theories differ, just |
as practices differ, but the trouble seems
to be that none of the theories are at
tempted as practical demonstrations.
The great trouble with mankind is his |
free moral agency. We would not main
tain that the All-wise One makes mis-
takes. Yet when he placed the response
bility for their own acts upon men, it
proved sad experience for many. a
man cannot be saved from anything, by |
any means, if he does not want to be
saved He will drift back, after tenn
porary rescue, and be ultimately lost, un
less he can bring himself to feel desire
to be saved. If man prefers to be re-
main in a certain condition-even after
he has abundant opportunity for getting
out of it-there he will remain. If he |
strives to keep himself poor, while there |
is abundant opportunity for him to live |
above want, there is no use of agoniZing |
over his condition. There are many poor |
people in this world, and they deserve
OF many of them do-the earnest sympa-
thy and help of their more fortunate fel- |