The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-04-23
EPREACHES ON
POVERTY AND RICHES
Sermon at Cumberland Presby-
terrain Church Yesterday
USE AND ABUSE OF MONEY
Wealth is a Blessing if Used to Help
Humanlty-Poverty Results From
Living Beyond Ones
Means.
USE AND ABUSE OF MONEY

living 6eyonu ones
Means.
The Rev. DR.. I. D. Steele. pastor of
the First Cumberland PRESBYTERIAN
church, preached from his pulpit yester-
day morning on Poverty and Riches =
His text was Proverbs $50: He that
maketh haste to be rich shall not be
innocent"
The speaker said in part
Christianity is helpful. to the whole man.
to his body his pocket. his store his
property and his family as well as to
his soul. Religion must bring some of
heaven to the world and not put 1t all
in the world to come. Riches and pow
erty have always been in the world
and they are likely to remain unto the
end of time. Efforts must always be
made to help the needy and poor. It
Is the duty of those who are rich to
strive to help and lift up those less for
tunate. The Bible Is In full sympathy
with the poor. 1t is Christian to be in
sympathy with them.
The Bible nowhere lauds riches. yet
men everywhere laud them. The Bible
nowhere condemns riches, but It does
condemn those who set their hearts on
money and make 1t their god. 1t declares
the love of money is a root of all evil.
To serve money is a sin but to make
money serve you and God is a blessing.
Some people are dangerously rich and
others are wretehedly poor Men can
never be made equal In anything They
are not equal in strength, in body. in
mind, in ability, in soul power, or brain
power.
Hopeful Poverty.
There is a poverty that is hopeful The
He has more. He slowly but constantly
increases in substantial living. He has a
better house, better furnished; is worth
a little more each year
This gives courage and vigor 10 his
life. He feels he is ON rising ground and
It is a source of inspiration to him and
his friends. This should be the aim of
all men, to constantly advance. The
Bible breaches contentment but It does
not mean contentment TO do nothing.
Paul said we should be content If we
have food and clothes he also said
those who did not work should not eat,
and that we should work to have some
thing for ourselves and something TO give
the helpless
Depressing poverty is where matters go
from bad to worse. good house is ex-
changed for one not so good, and a poor
cottage for a poorer one. There are
many roads which lead down hill In the
financial world but they all stop at pow
erty station Trouble comes when we
try to keep up with some who has set
a fast financial pace.
Follsh Expenditures.
Every one should have strength and
independence enough not to follow the
foolish expenditures of others. Buying
go much because other people have 1T.
going to expensive clubs and dinners and
indulging in other pleasures that cannot
be afforded. This road leads to financial
grief, If to nothing worse.
There are many people owning nothing
and many owning too much. A great
number of people have no home and no
business. The blame is not all on the
rich or the few. A little home grows
valuable in city and the owner says
This Is too valuable for me to live In;
I need the money" The home is sold
and very soon the money is gone. His
family is homeless, although his children
are as deserving as any.
A real home enters into the life and
character of the children 1t is great
factor in making life worth living. 1t
becomes a sacred place, 1t Is their home,
IL is mothers home. In our great cities
about 90 per cent of the families are
homeless. they own nothing. In New
York 90 percent of the people live in
rented houses or apartments. This puts
the families at the mercy of the land
lords.
The same is true Of farms. There was
a time when almost every farmer owned
his farm, but 1t is said that by 1910 one
half of them will have lost them.
Affect Our Citizenship.
These things vitality affect the strength
and value OF our citizenship. When a
man owns something he naturally feels a
greater interest in schools, churches, laws,
the city and the county. 1t adds to his
spirit of enterprise. his spirit of mas
terry and his happiness. He should be
more devout as he holds something made
for him by Almighty God. AS people
we are dangerously rich. but we have
the poor with us; there are ten millions
of helpless people In our land. They
are out of health, out of work, out Of
money and out of heart. We have three
million paupers. according to government
count. they are worse than helpless. Yet
II is said that twenty men control the
trust combines of the nation. This power
is abused TO the detriment of humanity.
1t is done by pushing to the wall the
weak, robbing the producer or grinding
the waSe-earner.
Commercial independence may be a
dream but it is nothing more than a
dream. The people have well nigh lost
confidence in the honesty of the great
est money powers. The situation is not
at all hopeful for humanity. nor for the