The Indianapolis journal., 1896-04-26
VOICE OF THE PULPIT
POVERTY Is DISAPPEARING BEFORE
THE MARCH OF MANKIND.
Rev. Frederick b. Graves, OF Boston,
and Predicts the Future.


me We have not always.-Matt. XVI. II.
It is a position Of great weakness. stand
ing on this misinterpreted text, to say that
poverty always will exist, and chiefly be-
cause 1t always has Tt is OF the same class
Of teaching as that at Drumtochten. (which
held that obstrusive prosperity was an irre-
sistible provocation to the higher powers,
and that a skillful depreciation of our chill
dren was a policy of safety" .As 1t Is NOT
wise 10 assume that selfishness will always
characterize mems actions so it is not wise
10 assume that poverty win always affict
humanity. They are Siamese twins. Cut
the ligament which binds the two together
and both perish.
Neither can always hold the race in bond
age, else Christianity itself. which is the
eternal enemy of evil, is involved in mex
tricable contradictions
So, then, Il Christ means that there will
always be poor, then He means also that He
cannot always be with His disciples. He
says so plainly. But remembering that He
says elsewhere in this same Gospel that He
will always be with His disciples, even unto
the end of the world, We cannot miss His
meaning here. He Is talking to them about
their relation to Himself while He was still
in the body and to the poor they daily met.
| He practically says:
"The poor are always about you, in Jeru-
| salem, in Ganlee and in all Judea, but 1
| shall soon bodily disappear, and amounting
will then be no longer possible"
| Indeed. I do not doubt that the poor tol-
| lowed the Master and the disciples wherever
| they went. They hung around them, as we
| say. for help. for sympathy. for comfort,
| and, perhaps, for employment. To think Of
| Christ, therefore, looking into the dim vast
| ness of the future. even to the end OF time,
| and giving that little group Of disciples the
startling Information that poverty's specter
would always haunt the habitations of men,
| Is impossible.
| The information could do them no good,
nor could it do the church any. The poor
are already in too much antagonism to the
| church. and are muttering complaints that
the untold riches of heaven are too fire.
| quently offered them in the pulpit to soothe
| the ills Of this present life. Only real love
for Christ and latent feeling that He has
been mlsrepreserted has kept any Of the poor
In sympathy with the church thus far
! Christ did not Offset the mlseries of pow
erty here with the riches of heaven here
| after. but preached just brotherhood on
earth in His kingdom Concerning this king
| dom distinguished writer recently said: TT
was kingdom OF God. Ii was a kingdom
within men. Ut kingdom around men,
! 1t was a kingdom in which men lived. II
was a kingdom composed OF little children.
1t was wonderful kingdom, ethical, spirit
ual through and through, where every man
loved God supremely and his neighbor as
himself; where every man was the brother
| of all the rest, and did to him as became a
brother and a brother alone" Such a
kingdom universally established cannot CO.
exist with poverty AS well say that n cir
lcle Is square or a straight line crooked.
| Nosw, it is not meant by this that the world 5
wealth will ever be equally shared. Tha,
is false hope. For as humanity is what
it is there will always be some who will
possess more than others: OF. If you please
be richer than others. But there will come
time when there will be no necessity
mark what 1 say-no necessity for poverty
to be the lot Of anybody.
There is that necessity to-day and in the
four quarters OF the earth you can hear the
bitter cry.
I Moreover, we should expect that II pov.
erty Is not always 70 exist ii would grad
ualy disappear. Such is the case. The clear
tendency OF the race is in that direction
salaries and wages are higher. the hours ol
| ldDOT are SHORTER, ana luxuTleS are IounC
where they were never found before There
are fewer poor to-day than ever. and yet the
lowest stratum is a disgrace to Christian
civilization. Wherever the principles OF
Christ are even moderately obeyed, either
by individuals or communities, there is a
plain guide post, telling tho road out of this
wilderness of poverty.
necessarily rapid glance at three step.
in the march which mankind has made re-
veals how surely poverty is disappearing
The Hebrews enacted laws in behalf of the
| poor hundreds of years before Christ. These
laws forbade olive trees being shaken bat
once by their owner. the remnant of the
fruit being for the poor; strictly enjoined
that all the grapes in the vineyard were not
to be gathered. but some punches left hang.
ing for the poor; made 1t illegal for the
farmers to reap the corners of their harves,
fields. requiring these parts to be reserved
for the poor. Take what is left" said the
law, ''or 90 without
Such a law passed against the wheat rails
| ers Of Dakota or the peach raisers of NeN
| Jersey would start fire of revolution, ever
among the poor.
st. Chrysostom's picture. drawn several
hundred years after Christ OF long lines OF
beggars before the church doors, claspins
| the knees of the rich, who. when within ths
sanctuary. feared lest also their pockets
| would be picked by the thieves who swarmet
even there. would not be accurate to-day
except possibly in the miserable Moslem city
on the Bosphorus. Skip again several cen
turies OF misery. and two hundred years ags
in England only one-ffth OF the population
applied for public relief; and still further
until now. in good times. only one-thirteenti
apply, and in bad times only one-tenth.
understand. of course, that this Is pauper
| ism.
Whatever truth cooperation, socialism
single tax, the naturalization Of land ant
the other schemes for ridding the world o
poverty have, depend upon it. they rest upor
the basal rock of regenerated humanity
So, in bringing in this kingdom of God which
shall Danish poverty, what shall the powe
| be? What only can it be? Spirituality
This causes smile, no doubt. but 1t is. new
ertheless. the rnightiest dynamic earth
1t Is the one word which indicates not onl!
the possession, but the practice of thos
great virtues which belong to the race.
4 Is the real imperium In imperio.