Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-05-11
DEBTORS AND PAUPERS.
By Rev. Henry F. Cope

dln ueDtOr D0tn TO the creeks anu
to the barbarians, both to the wise and
to the unwise.-ROmans l., ii.
How much of the good in the world
can we claim as our own creation?
How small that we have given as COM
pared with that we have gained. How
little the knowledge we have conferred
compared with that we have inherited!
We may boast of our independence but
1t is as impossible for a man to live to
himself as it is to escape having an
cestorS.
Life is all a matter Of receiving good
we have not earned, the incurring of an
obligation to make tomorrow pay the
debts Of to-day, to hand on to the future
both principal and interest Of that we
have from the past. We are all Debtors
that we cannot escape; the question is,
shall we be also paupers, shall we be
but parasites, devouring but never Gre
ating?
The man who talks about the world
owing him living sees things upside
down. The truth Is he owes the world
his living; he can only repay the loan
with his life. Not by our own wisdom
tion instead of savagery, not by our
own moral attainments do we inherit
mercy, fraternity, the broad, growing
spirit Of humanity.
IL, Ia, thof OIL hor
sown. Liberty is ours because our faith
ers hated oppression to the death. Light
Is ours because others fought with
darkness. Truth is ours because
there were souls that chose their
Calvarys rather than compromise
when they saw her clear light All the
benefits we enjoy have been bought
with a great price. We cannot enter
upon them without mourning obligation,
becoming the debtors Of those who paid
the price.
There are few, If any, whom we des-
pise more than those who graft on ev-
erything but give nothing. Whether the
man be n preacher who thinks that he
should get his clothes and his cabbages
and his car fare given him, or the poll
tician who looks on the public purse as
his perQuisite. the honest man despises
the whole brood 1t is not envy Of their
Incidence or their opulence with him;
1t is honest hatred Of the habit of get
ting something for nothing.
But these boodlers and grafters are
not the only social parasites. We are
all in danger of doing the things we so
much desplse, Of making our lives one
great game of grab. True we work for
our living; we give full days toll for
the wage. But, after all, why do we
work? Are we willing to give more than
an exact return, willing to attempt to
repay the universe for our loans on
life?
The true life looks on living as the
paying Of debt. This Is what Jesus
meant when he spoke Of the necessity
that he should give his life to the
world. of helping men, of gladly dying
when death could better serve truth and
right than living, the Master has taught
us how to live.
Only because men long ago recognized
the principle Of that great life, only be-
cause they said as he said, II am come
that they might have life more abun-
dainty" are we what we are. He Is
not an honest man who will allow these
others of yesterday to lay down their
lives for his to-day and make no gift
of himself to the lives Of tomorrow.
Who lives for himself without
thought Of his brothers near at hand,
far away, or yet to be, has no right In
the ranks of humanity. He Is put to
shame by Greeks, who wrought not for
wages but for love of beauty and that
1t might endure: by barbarlans, who
gave their rough lives for a worlds
progress. He Is put to shame by ma
ture, whose economy knows no thing
that lives or blooms for itself alone.
His shame shall be made perfect when
he hears "Inasmuch as We did 1t not to
one of the least of these ye did 1t not
Ito me-"