The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-10-10
SERMON BY REV. DR. GILBERT
"MONEY; ITS BLESSING AND
 CURSE" THE TOPIC.

A Large Audience Listened Most At-
 tcntivoly to the Eloquent Discourse l
 sIf Some Men Devote Themselves to
 Money-makIng for Selfish Ends, all !
 the More should Good Men for Bene-
 ficent Ends." {
 Before a large audience at Trinity M E. church last night the pastor, Rev. pr. Levi Gilbert, preached on the topic "Money-Its Blessing and Curse" He spoke in part as follows:
 The Bible does not condemn wealth, however full it is of warnings against it's misuse. Abraham, Job, Zacchaeus, Joseph of Arimathea, were men of wealth. But the insistance is on the superior importance of the things of the soul. "A mans life consistent not in the abundance of the things he pos sesseth." Money is good, but not the good of life. Christianity, by its vir- tues of industry and economy promotes wealth. Ht is said there are not many wretchedly poor people in the church. It is because most, by changing their habits of life, cease to be so when they become Christians. There is much fool ish denunciation of successful business men by the envious who are lazy, shift less or vicious Not all the pious will be prosperous for other clements of in telligence and foresight enter in, but character is first consideration.
 It is legitimate for Christian men to seek money. There is a virtue and necessity in it. God may call him to be a capitalist. That may be his talent. He is not to lay up for himself treas ures upon earth, but to conduct busi- ness for the Lord and be His almoner. It cannot be that God intended all the riches to be in the hands of evil men. The devil can't have all the rich men. If some men devote themselves to mon- ey-making for selfish ends, all the more should good men for benefcent ends. Otherwise the world would be unin- habitable. There is necessity of mon- ey for carrying on the work of Gods 1singdom-for churches, colleges, hospi- taIs, Bibles, evangelization. Only fa- naticism decries wealth. We need too concentrated capital, or cities, railroads, ships and factories cannot be built. Some teachers would lead us back to barbarism-to mud huts, wigwams and caves.
 The poor share in the benefits of wealth. The articles of apparel and of furnishing for the rich furnish employ ment. We listen with disgust to the mouthings of pauper anarchists from Europe, in better condition than they I,a xr,I,1 T>in1o ony,I for destruction. There may be in the possession of wealth-if acquired by no dishonest or questionable means-mat- ter for praise. It is testimony to mans labor, industry, economy. It re- fleets his virtues. If he is liberal who ought to envy him? It should exalt man if he uses his wealth for the good of others. Anyhow, envy of the fortu- nate in foolish, for the surplus is so lim- ited that only a few can be milliona1res. The enjoyment they can get out of their millions is limited, too. They can only , eat and wear so much. They must share their Investments with the peo- ple. They never really see their mil lions, and couldn't use it all on them selves legitimately if they did. The care of their estate or of a vast busi- ness, like the rulership of a nation, may be a great exaction.
 It is right for a man to seek con- petence Grinding poverty is no bless ing. A sufficiency leads to independ- ence of action. It represents so much conquest of freedom. It brings better homes, food, clothing, education, soci- ety, music, art, travel. It is honorable to seek to provide for one's family. Not to do is to be worse than an infdel. It is right to look forward to the future. It is commendable in every man to seek to better his condition. Such striving is not inconsistent with contentment.
 The dangers of wealth are the themes of all moralists. The love of money is a root of all evil-one of the maintops. There is peril lest men are swamped in the material. The worship of this ideal debases every other. The picture of a man, penurious, hard, stolid, unsympa- thetic, dried up at the roots, deformed and dwarfed, mammon's ape, engross- ed in money grabbing, is h1deous There is such a power in wealth that it has frequently debased and prosti- tuted our public life. Men have bought po1itical preferment and seated them selves in the houses of congress. Pop Jlar morals are depraved. Sunday amusements, low theaters, gambling, lewd houses, the saloon, flourish be- cause of the money they can bring in. Pride, arrogance, rivalry of life is fos- tered Nations have perished because of luxuriousness and enervation. It destroyed Rome and has weakened Spain. There is menace in the undue concentration of wealth-its sequestra- tion in the hands of a few. Such men may use their power more tyrannically than the czars, and there is no limit that can be put to his power.
 Quick ways of getting rich are to be abiured. Labor and economy are bet ter than booms, corners, deals, specula- lions. gambling operations. Neither should one practice parsimony, nor ac- cumulate by usury; nor by grinding it out of the poor after the manner of the sweaters whose victims in an industrial slavery suffer more than the negro in his old bondage. Christian employers must show their Christianity by justice, fairness, liberality, humane considera-
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