The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-11-18
JUDICIOUS GIVING
DR.. MARTIN URGES SELF
HELP IN SERMON.
Care Should Be Exercised in Aiding
Poor, Says Reformed Church
Pastor.

"How to Help the Poor was the SUBJ
ject chosen yesterday by the Rev. DR..
Daniel R. Martin at the Clinton Avenue
Reformed Church. The pastor gave as his
text, And he began to be in want and
no man gave unto him" He said:
THAT is a great gain when you can
make an able-bodied idler realize he has
got to help himself. OF course, If unable
to help himself through illness or decrepi-
tude. or disability, he may be a worthy
object of charity. It is Gods plan that a
man shall reap as he has sown. 1t was a
good thing that the prodigal came to want,
a good thing that all men turned their
backs on him. He had sown his wild oats,
and was scratched by his own crop of
thorns. The sinner must experience the
Consequence of his sin. or there will be
no barrier to SHINING. The best shoulder
to turn to a man living as that prodigal
lived is the cold shoulder. Let him feel
the frost Z fsoclal ostracism and under
stand that 4 disslpated life is ont of gear
with the machinery Of a well-ordered COM
munity.
when God decreed that the way of the
transgressor should be hard 1t was for the
transgressor's sake, in order that he might
not go trespassing to the ruin of his body
and soul When a man wakes up with
q headache after a debauch 1t is a monitor
of nature to tell him that he Is breaking
the laws of God. You and I are doing
no kindness when we give food to the
a~ble-bodied tramp who knocks at our back
door or at orr front door for money; we
are really doing him an injury. We make
tramp life easy; we are confirming his
choice of shiftlessness, and consecrating
him to the career of a parasite, and
ultimately to n thief or murderer, as OPP
portunity offers, for idleness Is the mother
of crime.
1--WE need to be very careful in discrim-
mating, and not regard all poor people as
in the same class. Some of the noblest
and most u~nselfish characters in the world
are found In the ranks of the poor. But
1 speak of the pauper who makes himself
a professional for revenue only, who has
concluded that 1t is easier to beg than to
work, and more comfortable TO take his
ease while you and L earn the money
which supports him.
Finding a position for a man may be
hurtful. It is a fine thing to promise that
you will get a man some work, but in nine
cases out Of ten he will sit dow idly at
home and let you do the searching and
worrying TO find the job for him. 1t would
be much better to let him realize the value
of the situation by knowing the cost OF the
searching. And, on the other hand, to dole
out charity without finding work for the
man has another evil result in the power
Of suggestion. There are other poor fam
lilies in that block who discover hat one
family is being helped without effort on
their part. But you say, The father Is
shiftless and drunken, and the children
must not be allowed to suffer for their
fathers sins
''That would be very well If they
were the only family; but next door. are
men with the same downward path stretch
ing before them, but who are restrained
from entering II by the thought, If l
spend my wages in drink my children will
lack food and clothing But they dis
cover that the drunkard's children have
been better cared for since their father
gave up the battle for bread than their
own children, and so the mischief spreads
down the street like an epidemic.
'Of all pernicuous practises to manufac-
ture misery and vice, the practise of giving
to child-beggars on the street that you
know nothing about, is the worst. You
teach the child money can be gained with
out work, and the next step will be petty
thieving, for when begging fails thieving
generally begins; after that, burglary, anG
then commitment to a reformatory, which
often fails to reform, and later on, a Grim
inal career.
when relief is needed 1t should be given
IN the home without any publicity, and
after a conference with the head of the
family, having hin understand that, al
though help is provided, he is still. respon-
slble for his family. The man of the fam
lily, unless disabled, should do the asking.
Wives should not be sent to charity offices
or private families. And every person,
every church and every charitable agency
should positively refuse to receive n mes
sage or appeal for relief brought by a
child, except in very rare cases.
Our giving should be guided by it's prob
able effect upon the future OF the one re-
one Is out of work that the relief Is af-
forded simply as a bridge over the diff
Guilty, and not as 4 permanent source Of
supply. And last, we should make the poor
our partners in any effort to improve their
condition, and relief should be made de-
pendent upon their doing what they can
for themselves"