St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-04-06
Rev. Wallis Sermon Showing
the Circumstances Of
Great Riches.
The Great Middle Class Of
Creation Is That Usually
Called Poor.
Habit Is the Great Factor Of
Life Without Regard to
Money.
Wealth a Blessing and a Priv
ilege, Properly Made and
Spent.

Spent.
To the large congregation at the
Grand opera house, yesterday, Rev. w.
;. Vail preached interestingly and in
Structiyely Old the Poor Mans Wealth."
taking his text from Proverbs, THAT
Maketh Himself Poor, Yet Hath Great
Riches" The sorrows, the Joys, the
hopes, and the aspirations of the poor
form the theme of much that is best in
the literature and art of every age. But
ordinarily we do not mean by the poor
the pauper Nor do we mean the most
unfortunate who have been left in all
solute want. There is a large class,
embracing the vast majority of men,
finding life continuous struggle for
more than bare living, and poor as com
pored with those who are blessed with
plenty of money. [ use the word
blessed because | believe in wealth, and
see no reason why a man who has
it should not enjoy life, but
add much to the happiness of
his fellow man. Out of this great mid
Ole class OF people comes q majority of
the men of Importance in the ranks of
business, politics, religion, poetry and
orat0ry. Certainly we can never hold
people will all have abundance. We
| can never hope for the time when men
will not win by special gift, by untiring
industry, by careful planning. If the
| poor Of the world shall ever have
| riches. those riches must be of kind
that are found in some other place than
| the vaults of the bank, or the securities
| that make man feel comfortable in
view of almost any changes that may
| come. In religion Christ found it in
| life. character, and union with God. ST.
Paul found it in the same experience.
In modern life, Burns, in Scotland. and
Whitcomb Riley, in our own land. have
brought to our view, in the experiences
OF the common people. such joys and
| opportunities that | believe if we dwell
with them for the hour we shall go
away feeling stronger to battle with
| conditions tomorrow.
Two Ideas.
At this point there are two ideas that
| require our attention. First of all we
must appreciate the power of habit. We
| sometimes think it strange that man
who has been hard worker, and by his
work has become independent, should
| be unwilling to give up work Habit
| becomes q second nature and is in GER
| tam ways stronger than our original en-
| d0Wment. Therefore, when a man be-
comes economical from necessity. he
remains so long after the necessity has
| passed; when he gets any habit fixed
upon him it becomes master. then ty-
rant Then our enthusiasm of purpose
VIII make US imperyiouS to conditions.
MI. DrummOnd, who charmed Edin-
burgh and the kingdom by his Natural
Law in the Spiritual World" who was
the prime favOrite of the college and a
large circle of friends; was obliged to
undergo the severest hardship for the
sake of knowledge in his African
trIp-during which. fenced with bontires
against the lion at night, used all his
ingenuity to cross wide rivers, went
| hungry when game was scarce. and
suffered from thirst when the water
| supply failed-but never uttered com
| plant. nor talked of Edinburgh draw
| ing rooms, nor complained of fate for
sending him hither; no, on the contra
| ~, he found his opportunity. The
days were too short for his observations.
Every bush, every stone, every foot and
| rod of the jungle had a new interest for
him, as he studied the strange life that
nature spread before him. Is it not SO
| with all of US? Can we not find oppor-
| tunitieS on every hand to make us hap
| pier? Is not the world an open door 10
us, and is not every new day an uneX-
| pl0red landscape? And if we contract
the habit of looking at life as such a
| landscape, and full of opportunities,
will we not soon be so filled with enthu-
siasm that the habit will be with us day
by day to make life brighter? If then
| our
Life Depends Largely.
so far as happiness is concerned, on the
| three thingS-our ability to look at the
world III the proper manner. our ability
to serve the higher ideal and our ability
to embrace present opportunity-an if
we may go one step further let me say,
| that Just as water is water. whether YOU
drink it from golden, jeWel-crested
tankard or from the gOurG at the
| spring, so is humanity the same beneath
the farmers rough blouse as beneath
the broadcloth of the millionaire: that
the enjoyment of the man who has to
| go to the top of the theater to see Ham
let, If he appreciates the play, is Just as
| intense as that of the man who occupies
the box; that Mr.. Lincoln, reading as he
| lay stretched out or the cellar door. en-
| joyed 1t as much as if he had owned a
parlor fitted for the entertainment of a
| king; that the man who can really en-
JOY the simple Scotch ballads, enjoys it
in the same way he would enjoy the
|
natural musIclan and received thorough
education besides.
And all this shows in the plafnest
way that all round us are the possibii-
ties OF a larger enjoyment. We see that
| the man who makes most of his OpDOr-
tunltleS has very much the same kind
of enjoyment, whether he is rich or
poor. Ambition adds a new element,
and makes life a speculation rather
than certainty; but if we understand
that we are taking chances, weshali not
be so much surprised in case of failures.
And with fair understanding of the
possibilities Of life the employment of
opportunities that come every day with
III our hands should be the poor man 5
riches.
Who Is the Poor Manl
We have used the term Door man TO
| distinguish that citizen who is compare
lively independent because strong and
able TO take care of himself, from the
man who is blessed with an abundance
of property. We have used it. and
preached the sermon because the most
casual glance will show the most ordl-
nary observer that this class COMPRISE
the larger part of the world and of
necessity must ever be in the majority.
And we have found that men, in
order to have riches while thew
are poor, can only do so by
improving the opportunities tina
are thrown in their pathway. The only
thing we have right to ask is that
property is not to be made barrier in
the discrimination againstmen. Weonly
ask that the man who is clad in honor
as garment who wears manhood as a
crown. who is shod with the sandals of
nobility, and who carries the sward of
native worth, may be Judged by what he
is; and that no social distinction shall
put him IN a position where one jeering
word can be spoken against him be-
cause he is unable to follow fashion. or
because his bank account is not as large
as that of his neighbor.