The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-10-05

depend on money. Civilization and the
kingdom Of God on earth both depend
upon money for their progress. and as
men remember who ii is that has said
The silver and the gold are NINE" and
recognize His claims and are ready Il
act on His standards in using their
wealth, it is as wise for the man who
can create values and so gain honest
wealth, to do so, as 1t is for the man
who can create thought and make lit
eFature, to do that. Not that I would
for q moment admit that the dollar
equals the thought as a mere possession
but as an agent of good it may be the
mightier Of the two, because it may make
many thoughts available, by giving hem
an opportunity for effective expression.
HUNTING FOR WEALTH
But the great trouble with the world is
that men are not satisfied with a rea-
Isonable amount of wealth; they are anx-
ious to get all they can, and to keep all
they get They set the getting Of wealth
before them as an end with no though;
of what they VIII do with it when it is
lgained-often with no intention uf doing
anything with 1t except to keep il and
to transmit it TO their children. The pur-
suit of great wealth under such cnIdi-
tons Is not ennobling. II is the grossest
kind of a breach of TRUST. It reacts on
the man himself. 1t makes him narrow,
selfish. earthly, and shuts him out alto
gether from the best and sweetest pleas
: ures of life. 1t makes genuine spiritual
ity an impossibility, for such man
loves the world" in exactly the sense in
which Jesus used the expression when he
said: If a man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him" He has no
aspirations for anything better than
money has M desire fn rnaka the
world better, no wish that the kingdom
of God shall come. He lives for money
and he gets what he lives for-and he
keeps what he gets; and when he dies
and you wish to size up his immortal
soul, you do it in the words: He left
so much money" Yes, thank God, he
left it. He would have been glad 20 take
! It with him If he could, but his grasping
had to end at the grave, and lie left it,
whether to a wise man or u fool he did
/ not know. Such an example OF success
full accumulation and selfish holding is
demoralizing to society. It sets before
the young false ideal of life. 1t mis-
! leads some; it embitters others, and it
blesses none. Better be poor all your
days than such a rich man who can look
back over his life and see no generous
deed done for humanity It is such men
as these that make life SO full of mate
rialism and so destitute of true nobility
Do not misunderstood me- If anything
great is to be accomplished there must
be an accumulation of force. Accumula-
ton of learning, secured only by patient
study, to the exclusion of other work is
necessary If great enterprises are TO be
carried to success. Accumulation of
wealth is necessary If great enterprises
are to be carried to success. What may
seem the merest selfishness in accumu-
lating, may prove to be the highest wis
DOM He who was known as the miser of
Marseilles was doubtless q disagreeable
person. and as he appeared to his fellow
citizens, a despicabIy selfish person, with
out even ordinary sympathy with men,
but when, at his death, it turned out
that his lifelong saving had not been be-
cause he loved money SO much, and took
pleasure in merely accommodating it, but
because he desired to alleviate the suf-
ferings of the poor by providing for all
in the city an abundance of pure water
and that he had left all his great wealth
to be used for that purpose, he was no
longer a miser. but a philanthropist The
only mistake the man made was in not |
giving his wealth and building the aque- |
ducts while he lived. No wise man would |
own the earth If he could. but any wise |
man might well wish to own enough of |
1t to enable him to make the world hap |
pier and better, and in so doing he be- |
comes benefactor of the race.
You remember the dissatisfaction which |
makes Hamlet feel at the |
human forgetfulness of the dead, and |
he says that the great man who would |
be remembered a year after his death |
must build churches, or suffer not think |
ing on" But it is not so today. With |
no less reverence for God, and no lower |
idea OF his greatness, the present age is |
coming to understand that the grandest |
temple in which the Almighty can dwell |
On earth is not the great cathedral with |
its lofty towers, its high embowered |
roof, but a well-trained, intelligent. high |
minded man. So he who builds a school |
or endows college, in which men and |
women shall be developed for the work of |
life, does a nobler service for humanity |
than did the old cathedral builders of |
the Middle Ages. I do not mean to say |
that God loves an educated man any bet
ter than he does an ignorant one, unless |
the ignorant man is ignorant by reason |
of his own neglect. God does not Judge
men by the number of talents trusted to |
them, but by the use they make of the |
trust whether it be large or small And |
SO we are plainly taught to improve to
Inc utmost all our faculties, and to make
The most Of ourselves in every respect.
QUALITY OF THOUGHT
But what is there that God has given
US nobler than the thinking faculty.
more capable Of development and i'm
provement, and more wonderful in it's
powers, lifting man as 1t does from
place but little higher than the brute
to place but little lower than God Him |
self? What a piece of work is man,
How noble in reason. how infinite in fac
uity; in form and moving how express
and admirable; in action how like an an
gel, in apprehension how like a God" It
Is this widening of the mind and soul. of
the intellectual and spiritual faculties. |
and not simply the development of bone |
and muscle, which contributes real
growth and transforms the child into a |
man 1t is this which makes him angelic |
IN action and god-like in appearance.
And the forces upon which We must rely |
Tor this process Of transformation are the |
twin sisters, education and religion. They
90 not necessarily work together through |
the same agency, for the church and the |
school are two distinct institutions. II
is not the business of the church to teach
human learning. but to proclaim the
gospel. 1t is not the business of the
school and college to proclaim the gospel, |
~