The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-09

regard to any enc of them we migh | quote Madame de StaePs "Pour m
 monologue c'etait excellent. mais pou
 un douologue-ah, mon Dieur'
 ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
 ON WEALTH
 Ella Wheeler Wilcox writes as fol.
 lows on Wealth" and she discusses
 the question of whether a desire fol
 1t may be selfish or unselfish. She says
 On the contrary, all wealth is gooC f-wealth of, mind. wealth of physica
 vtgor, wealth of purse---when the soul
 too. Is wealthy with unselhshness. De.
 void of that, all wealth is evil. The selfish man turns his menta | riches to the injury of others; he em. ploys his brilliant mind in getting the
 better of his neighbors and in settine
 false standards for the world; in mis-
 leading the weak for self-advance- l ment, and In misusing his opportuni-
 ties for doing good.
 II Yet who shall declare that great
 mental gifts are not blessings from
 the source of all wisdom when properly applied to the betterment of humani- | ty? Wealth of physical health and | vigor may be 8 curse to its possessoV and to all his associates if he applies | 1t to gross and seIfih purposes The bully, the sensualist, the gourmand and i the hunter misuse their physical opu- l lence.
 Yet health is a, glory to any man. properly enjoyed.
 The universe is replete with wealth. The Creator himself is opulence. This magnificent world certainly gives proof of unlimited and unaccountable wealth. Whatever God made is good. It all depends nhow a man uses it. Gold of the mines. jewels of the rocks and the streams, riches of the fertile earth--all were meant for man to use and enjoy.
 There is enough wealth in rock and soil to make every human being on earth rich, if monopoly had not usurp- ed the right to work and profit by la4 bor. Meantime, despite monopoly, those who know the law and live the law can obtain such opulence as they de- sire; but the very first lesson of the law must be unselfishness absolute, or woe unto them.
 Selfshness, too, can obtain wealth: but again ] say: Woe. woe unto those who seek wealth through that means!
 They are making Karma, which shall bring forth bitter fruit
 If all the world of humanity pos sessed knowledge. unselfishness, faith and industry, there would be no pow erty.
 The four things which need, then, to be swept away are ignorance, sell fshness doubt and incidence.
 These are the things to renounce, not the desire for wealth. This is the mechanical age, and to bring the world to higher plane it is necessary that its wealth be rightly used.
 There was time when the world needed the religion which renounced all worldly wealth and meditated in poverty.
 Today 1t needs the religion which employs all the worldly wealth in the interests of human enlightenment and spiritually advanced people on earth at one time as today. What used to be possible only for the few to know in secret is made possible for the many today, because science is demonstrating slowly but surely what the seers and prophets have always known.
 Money is the right hand of science. It could not pursue it's investigations without observatories, laboratories and implements which cost millions of dol lars. The hour is near when science will prove what faith maintains.
 We have nc use for the religion today which sends men into the monastery orr the jungle to live lives of asceticism. We want religion which teaches men to live in the world, unsellshly. We have a right to desire the things which the opulent Creator put on earth for our enjoyment We have no right to lie, steal, cheat or kill in order to oh- tain these things. It is by love, trust, industry and Knowledge that We come into our own.
 Now 10 the second question:
 Reincarnation and inheritance are both great laws.
 No more ridiculous statement was ever made than the assertion that there is no such thing as heredity
 We inherit features and mental and peculiarties from hundred ancestors,
 But we bring into this composite body of ours the eternal ego, which has lived in many bodies and various forms, and has also helped shape this particular tenement.
 It was Gods own image in the begin hing, without disguise, and only as we forgot it's divine origin did we become more and more material, and take ma terial form after form for its map 1 ping.
 The spirit is the diamond the body l the setting-and the diamond may be | set hundred times in a hundred diff ferent styles, according to the taste and inclination and ability of the | owner.
 Though you dip the diamond in mud and set it in lead, the jewel is still | there
 Your own deeds in a past life de- cided your place at birth in this life md seuected your ancestors for you. They formed the setting for the jewel. But it is in your power to change this setting to anything you like. The base metal can be transmitted and made all mortal inhertances ,an be overcome By continual asser- lions of the divine inheritance and liV- ng to those assertions. l consider life here, now and in future era great privilege. 1 rejoice to think l must 'ome again. and that my opportuni- les for usefulness may widen and ex- end. I glory in the consciousness that l need for absolutely unsel- ish purposes of Gods wealth, whether is health, mental gifts or material 'enefits, can draw to me if live the aw. All earthly wealth is relative. What seems wealth to me would have