Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1900-06-20
l believe they viii he held to account

AT this point some one in the gal
lery shouted out, Hang the aristo-
Gratis! Instantly Rev. Mr.. Strong rose
and stepped to the front of the plat
form. Raising his long, sinewy arm
and stretching out his open hand in ap-
peal, he said, while the great audience
was perfectly quiet: 4 will not allow
any such disturbance at this meeting.
We are here, not to denounce people,
but to find the truth. Let every fair
minded man bear that In mind
''Thc preacher sat down, and the au-
dience cheered.
1.-THE president Of the trades assem-
bly, resumed the discussion, closing
with the statement that never in the
history of the country had there been
so much money in the banks and SO
little of it IN the pockets of the people,
and when that was a fact something
was wrong. and it was for the men
who owned the money to right that
wrong, for it lay in their power, not
with the poor man.
HE was followed by very clear
and intensely interesting talk by Rev.
Mr.. Strong on the Christian teaching
concerning the wealth of the world.
Several times he was Interrupted by
applause, once with Kisses, several
times with questions. He was Missed
when he spoke of the great selfishness
OF labor unions and trades organiza-
tons i'll their attempts to dictate to
other men in the matter of work.
With this one exception, in which the
reverend gentleman spoke with his
usual frankncss, the audience cheered
his presentation of the subject and
was evidently in perfect sympathy
with his views. Short extracts from
his talk will show the drift of his en-
tire belief Oh this subject:
EVERY dollar that a man has should
be spent to the glory of God.
"The teaching of Christianity about
wealth is the same as about anything
else. 1t all belongs to God and should
be used by the man as God would use
it in the mans place.
1.-The accumulation of vast sums of
money by individuals or classes Of men
has always been a bad thing for So
cfety. A few very rich men and a
great number of very poor men are
what gave the world the French revo-
luton and the guillotine.
.""There are certain conditions true
Of society ut certain times when it is
the Christian duty of the rich to use
every cent they possess to relieve the
need of society. Such condition faces
us today.
""The foolish and unnecessary ex-
penditures Of society on it's trivial
pleasures at a time wien men and
women are out of work and children
are crying for food is cruel and un-
Christian waste of opportunity.
eff Christ We're here today, be-
lieve he would tell rich men of Mil
ton that every cent they have belongs
to Almighty God, and they are only
trustees Of his property.
"'The church that thinks more Of
fine architecture and paid choirs than
of opening Its doors to the people that
they may hear the gospel is a church
that is mortgaged for all it is worth
to the devil, who will foreclose at the
first opportunity.
"'The first duty of every man who
has money Is to ask himself, What
would Christ have me do with it? The
second duty is to go and do it after
hearing the answer.
eff the money owned by church
members were all spent to the glory
of God, there would be fewer hun
dred thousand dollar churches built
and more model tenements.
eff Christ had been a millionaire,
he would have used his money to build
up character in other people rather
than build magnificent brownstone
palace for himself. But we cannot
imagine Christ as millionaire.
1T is as true now as when Paul said
!: nearly 20 centuries ago, 1.-THE love of
It is the curse of our civilization, the
greatest god Of the human race today
sour civilization is only partly
Christian, for Christian civilization
means more comforts; ours means
more wants.
eff mans pocketbook is not con-
verified with his soul, the man will not
get into heaven with it.
There are certain things that mon.
ey alone can secure, but among those
things it cannot buy is character.
| "All wealth from the Christian
standpoint is in the nature Of trust
funds, to be so used as the admins
traitor, God, shall direct. No man owns
the money for himself. The gold is
Gods; the silver is Gods. That is the
plain and repeated teaching of the Bi.
bic.
" 1T is not wrong for man to make
money. 1t is wrong for him to use II
selfishly or foolishly.
"'The co3secrated wealth Of the
men Of Milton could provide work for
every idle man in town. The Christian
use Of the wealth Of the world would
make impossible the cry for bread.
""'Most' of the evils of our present
condition flow out Of the love of mon
ey. Ile alm1Snly dOllaf is the goa or
Protestant America
"If men loved men as eagerly as
they love money, the millennium would
be just around the corner.
"'Wealth is curse unless the owner
of it blesses the world with it,
"'"1f any man hath the worlds
goods and seeth his brother have need,
and shutteth up his compassion from
him, how dwelleth the love of God in
him?"
"'Christian socialism teaches a man
| to bear other peoples burdens. The