The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1891-10-23
PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL,

PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL
Synopsis Of 4 Sermon Delivered BY
Rev. Dobson at the Methodist
Church Last Sunday.
To the Editor Of the UNION:
DEAR Sm:-In answer to your request
Tor my sermon OF Sunday night for pub
l~lcation, ! would a that I did not
preach upon the labor question, as you
supposed, but upon the parable Of The
Rich Fool.
did, however, in the discussion Of the
circumstances and sayings leading up to
the parable, make some references to
questions 0 1.-THE day. And OF your re-
qnest, / will give YOU the gist OF what l
said on that phase OF my subject as
nearly as I can now recall it. The lam
guage is necessarily different, but the
thought is substantially the same.
At this particular point in the SER
mon, attention was called to the Mas
ter's reply to the young nan who came
to him and, interruptlng him in tire
midst OF his discourse, SAID, Master,
speak to my brother, that he divide the
inheritance with me-" The Masters re-
ply is, "Man, who made me a judge or a
divider e you?"
Now there lis nothing wrong SO far as
We can see in this mans asking the Mas
ter to act as umpire between him and
his brother, for he, doubtless, had a
grievance which ought to be adjusted.
He was, it appears, the victim OF a
wrong which, legalized or u~nlegalized,
called for justice. And that the
Master refused to act in the case
may at first cause us some surprise. But
his refusal was at once peremptory and EN-
phatic. And from whathewentcntosa say
VIZ must judge that he does not con-
slderi it to be any part OF his mission to
act as q judge or an arbitrator at all.
Indeed, he always refused to act in any
such capacity. When the woman taken
in adultry vas brought to him for
judgement, it might be thought that
such q criminal would receive his prompt
condemnation, but he refused to pro-
nouce the desired judgement. He said
as he looked around upon the men that
brought her, "Let HIM without sin
first cast a stone at her." And when
they had all slipped away n by one
and left the woman standing alone, he
said to her, "Where are thine accusers,
doth no man condemn thee?" And she
said, "No man, Lord" Then he replied,
"Neither do 1, go and sin no more" 1t
is plain that in this,case the Master was
showing the utter Inconsistency OF a
punishment by the rascals that had not
been caught OF the poor creature that
had been caught. And who can fail to
see that if the aforesaid rascals would
all get right and keep themselves above
reproach that the woman would be as
chaste and pure as they?
While the Master refused to Judge the
special case, his remedy was sweeping,
and struck for the root OF that partlcu-
lar case and all others OF it's class.
And again when he was asked to de-
eide that question which had so long agi-
tated all Jewry-1s it lawful to give
tribute to Caesar or no-he refused to
decide that question, and by a skillful
play upon words read them a great les
son on a fundamental principle OF JUS
tice which really involved a complete
solution OF the question, as a solution of
q problem is a solution OF every one OF
its parts.
"Render," said he, "unto Caesar the
things that are Caesars, and unto God
the things that are Gods" Here is a
lesson O. universal justice, broad and
sweeping, and corrective Of national
morals and national ethics in respect to
the rightful ownership OF all things.
From these examples we see that it
was not the practice OF the Master to
act IN any special case as judge Or arbi-
TRAITOR or expounder OF political primer
pies as such. 1t was his business as l
understand it to expound not the con-
stitutlon and laws OF the Jewish or any
other nation, but to expound the con-
stitution of God, to burn them by his
spirit into human hearts and to build
them into human characters and SO
lay the foundation for that universal
Justice, that law and order, which is the
ideal condition OF a christian state.
That great reforms have meyer been &C
complished by the application OF law to
the correction OF Individual offences is
simply a fact Of history. Had Christ
in~augerated for himself and his follow.
ers that kind OF q campaign they would
still be as far from the millennium as was
Rome in the age Of Caesar. Christ aimed
at the regeneration OF society, at
the rectifying OF the moral sense and the
clarifying OF the spiritual vision at the
cultivation OF that substratum Of soil IN
human nature out OF which all law and
order, all Justice and love and faith
must spring.
Instead Of acting as umpire for this
man he pronounced alesson upon the sir
of covetousness which in the application
Of it's principles must correct many O.
the ills which defrauded brothers anG
the rest OF humanity still suffer from
Christ would make men so fair minded
and 80 unselish that it would be the
delight OF the capitalist to accord to the
laborer that which was his just com
pensation, and it would, on the othel
hand, be the delight OF the laborer t.
work for the advantage OF his employer
Great reforms have never yet eom'
through law or arbitration or comb
nations OF men in secret societies o
organized armies, these may have been {
part OF the general method, but where
the intelligence and light OF the gospel 0
Christ have not come in advance to pre-