Sharp County record., 1891-06-25
WHAT WEALTH OWES.
A Brief Homily on the Duties of the
Rich and the Poor.

n BrleI hOmlly on Ine duties Ol INC
Rich and the Poor.
"Your wealth is not your own" said
a certain clergyman to well-cushioned
pews; lit is not charity to help the
poor, but duty which you owe them. "
A critic answers: IF | owe my prop
erty to anybody, to what particular in
dividual do l owe it? What claim has
he on me for any part of it, and for
what part? Must we not admit that
the word owe in this application was
wrongly used?"
1t can not be said that the phrase is
of no consequence Of all the dangers
which threaten modern society, the
worst and greatest comes when those
who have little or nothing begin to be-
lieve that the property of others right
ly belongs to them; that the rich man
has no right to the property he holds;
must have robbed others or he could
not be rich, and ought to be forced to
disgorge. Hence the public teacher
who, whether in carelessness or in ex-
cess of feeling, uses words which may
be interpreted as denying the rights OF
property, is liable to do more mischief
than years of labor can undo.
On the other hand, the danger comes
only because wealth has far too often
ignored its obligations, treated the poor
as if they had no claims or rights and
poisoned every act of charity with an
insolence of patronage making it often
sive and insufferable. The hard man
who grinds his workingmen, fieeces to
the utmost those with whom he trades,
uses wealth only for selfish ends, and
tramples under foot the poor and the
weak as if they had no souls, can never
set the account right by liberal check
in the plate on Sunday. The lives of
such men make socialism and all its
furies and follies not only possible, but
intensely natural.
The Christian rule is not hard to find.
There is a sense in which every man
does literally owe all that he has and
all that he is. He does in very truth
rob somebody, if he does not devote all
that he is and has to the good of others.
He owes to the Infinite Giver, from
whom he has received all. He holds
all property, all powers, and life itself,
only as a trust, which he had no right
to devote to the qualification of self,
but is bound by a most sacred duty to
use for the good of Others To him it
belongs to Judge in what way he can
best use that trust, and any property
he has-to him, and to the Master who
will approve or condemn.
But the poor are not Gods author
lied collectors. TO them belongs no
title whatever to the property He has
given in trust to others, or suffered
others to gain. Only too often the ''un-
faithful servant" of whom it was said,
"From him that hath not shall be taken
even that which he hath" is he who
has so abused his powers and opportu
mites in this world that he can neither
care for others nor for himself, and so
rails at mankind and society. The
naked fact that man has nothing
gives him not the right to the slightest
share of that vast wealth which the
holders are bound to use according to
the will of the Master. 1t might not be
His will that the nearest penniless man
should have enough money to buy an
other drink.
Wealth owes all that it can do to
make the world happier and better.
But poverty also owes all that it can do
to the same end, The poor owe not to
the rich, nor the rich to the poor, but
both to Him for whom all are only
stewards. For each man the only ques-
ton is what he has done with the gifts
and opportunities and powers intrusted
to him.. N. Y. Tribune.