The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-04-03
HE WOULD REJECT
JOHN DIS MONEY
Rev. G. G. Clark Protests Against
Gift for Foreign
Missions.
Holds that Acceptance Would
Mean a Lowering of Ethical
Standing.

"Covet Earnestly the Best Gifts,''
was the subject chosen by Rev. c. q.
Clark at First Congregational church yes
terday morning. He weighed the ethical
qualities Of J. D. Rockefeller's gift Of
100000 to the American Board Of For
eign Missions, and protested against it's
acceptance. g..
Illustrating by means of the. angel
with the flaming sword guarding the en-
trance Of the Garden Of Eden, Mr.. Clark
said that to this day, the best things
are jealousy guarded; they cannot be
easily and lightly approached.
You need not think that you can be
conduct and motive, and enter the lists
est things he said. 'sThey are
never awarded to that kind of contest
ants.'
Mr.. Clark argued for the best in re-
ligious thought and education and
urged that, the spirit, motive and pur
pose Of living must be the highest. He
said: "The ethical standards of Jesus
Christ are demanding from men in pub.
lie and private relations that they covet
earnestly the best and highest right. /
do not: hesitate to say that here is the
] greatest need Of the present day in our
social and religious right-the need Of
, an unchloroformed conscience, of a SEN
sitiveness to evil that will respond in
something like chivalrous fashion to the
! higher sentiments respecting the ethical
good.
Needs Of the Church.
!, "The great crying need Of our
churches is for something like the best
in ethical passion, for something more
than fabby, acquiescent good men. I
do not hesitate to assert that if this
= laOnnfrv avar saae ifs moral 6oc1ino on n
death, it will be killed not by the wick
ed, but by the ineffective and protest
, ing goodness Of the good men. I do
/ not fear the badness Of bad men, when
/ the goodness Of such men as Roosevelt
I and Jerome and Folk oppose it. But
when the church sleeps on amidst vice
. and corruption, when there is no pro-
men who stand in the pulpit, when the
lust for mammon insidiously appears in
: our philanthropy and men keep silent
. because they need the cash, then there
$ is real and actual danger
!: The specific case Of Mr.. Rockefeller 8
s gift was then taken up and Mr.. Clark
arrayed himself squarely on the side
8 ance of this money "f1agitiously &C.
8 CURED" He spoke of his qualification
s in seeing "that that portion Of the
:: secular press that has stood most un
s hesitatingly for high standards in civic
d affairs upholds the remonstrants: The
S Brooklyn Times, the Springfield Repub
3 lioan, the Worcester Telegram, the New
& York Evening Post, the Boston Tran
5 script, the Boston Herald-yes and I an
S glad to see that The Minneapoli!
!. journal is in this same honorable list. ,
!. The Rockefeller Gifts.
= T., .,,n,;nr ,~ -. .,;o.- 20 ~.
!. Rockefeller gift, Mr.. Clark made tn,
!. following dogmatic statement of it:
. "In the first place, John D. Rookie
F. feller's money is dishonesty acquired
!. The denial Of Mr.. Rogers is practically
. q confession. .-
. -@'Any board or institution that so
!. licits or receives his money, enters, no
!. by contract perhaps, but just as really
. into an inevitable silence respecting thu
F.. method Of that moneys acquisition.
elf men are anxious to have fo
!. dishonorable men, they imply that the,
|: do not want the source Of that none,
!. to dry up. In other words, they impl.
!. willingness to have the acquiring
5 process 90 on, they become in SOM
!. real sense, partners to the first transac
. lions. Wish for the benefits of evi
money and you practically wish for tn
s continuance OF us aCcumulaClOn.
!. cit is absolutely Supplying to tn
. moral sense of men and institution
!. to allow the fact that money is spen
5 on unquestionable good ends to furnis
. the ground Of absolute Indifference
. the means by which it was earned. TIL
s great benefactors become the grea
s heroes and their rascality is winked a
{ or condoned.
s sThe rejection Of this money doe
s not imply that the board shall here
E. after become an inquisitional institr
= tion to trace out the exact way in whic
S every dollar is earned, but it does impl
!. that when money is publicly known an
s understood to be the accumulation G
: corrupt practices it will neither b
& sought nor accepted by an institutio
. that seeks to serve God by bringin
S foreign peoples to the ethical standard
of Jesus Christ.
!. Reasons for Rejection.
!. ttThe acceptance Of this money wi
. furnish ground for the cynical asse
5 tion that the church is in business fl
. money and will tend to dry up tn
!. fountains Of giving which have j
ha times past supplied the work of mi
!. sions. There is many man and man
rs Continued on Cd Page, 9th Column.