Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-27
TALKS TO WALL STREET
BISHOP TELLS NEW WORKERS OF
ABUSE OF WEALTH.

NEW YORK. September 27.-Rt Rev
Arthur Foley Wilmington Ingram. Bishop
of London, who has come to this country
as the bearer of a gift Bible from the
King of England for the first Episcopal
chapel established in America-Brutton
Church at Williamsburg. Va.-preached
at noon yesterday In Trinity Church.
The bishop had much to say about the
abuse of wealth. and declared that the one
most important message which he could
give that life Is a stewardship. not
an ownership. This. he declared, was as
yet unlearned in both New York and Lon
don.
Furthermore, the bishop-who has been
frequently called a socialst-let 1t be thor
oughly understood that he Is not the sort
of person that the word commonly sug-
gests, But he is very democratic, and SO
was the audience that heard him today,
as well as the arrangement for the service.
There were seats reserved, the
many pew owners OF Trinity parish had to
run their chances with the hundreds who
got into the church or found their way
blocked at the doors.
Notables in the Throng.
Notable laymen and men prominent in
the street across the way had to stand
on the edge OF the throng ]. Pierpont
Morgan stood in the crowd at the end
OF an aisle throughout the opening services.
Then younger man gave up his seat.
The audience numbered many women
There were, perhaps, a hundred of the
clergy standing. and the rest of the men
seemed to have come from the banks. law
offices and brokerage houses in the neigh
borhood. 1t was surely moi such an audi
ence as the bishop was accustomed to
during the nine years of his settlement
work in the East End of London, as the
head of oxford House. His sermons now
are, for the most part, preached from the
pulpit of st. Paul's Cathedral.
But the Bishop Of London Is evidently
not man who looks over his audience
first and then picks his words accordingly.
He said today, for instance:
Il know not to whom 1 am preaching.
l shall be as frank here as / am in Lon
don. NO man who Is really a Christian
would soil his Christian hands with one
dollar the possession of which he could
not justify In the sight of heaven.
Life Stewardship.
''The one thing" he continued, "the one
sentence, which above all others 1 would
say to you, sentence as yet unlearned in
London and New York and which If adopt
ed would cleanse the life on both sides of
the Atlantic is-life is a stewardship, and
not ownership.
Have you ever thought why there are
rich and poor at all? That Is the ques-
ton l have had to face in London. They
have asked me how L reconciled the belief
in the God loving all his children with the
wretched million in East London who seem
abandoned by both God and man. 1 had to
face that question and have had to face 1t
ever since. There is but one answer-the
rich minority have what they have merely
In trust for all the others. Stewardship,
not ownership, is Gods command to every
one of US.
You are not your own. Nothing that
you have is your own. We haven't learned
the Christian religion II we have not learn
ed the lesson of stewardship.
Home Of Bishops for 1900 Years
MY home has been the home of the
bishops Of London for 1900 years Suppose
l should say that 1t was my own, and that
the bishops income of $4,000 a year was
my own. l would be called mailman. The
man who thinks he owns what he has in his
keeping IS no less a mailman. This ap-
plies alike to the boy and his pocket money
and to the millionaire and his millions. Dis
regard of this trust is the cause of all the
social evils of London and New York If
every man considered himself as steward
there would be object in dishonesty.
Stewardship would do away with the tyran-
ny of capital.
Let every man, be he rich or poor" con-
gains his money and how he distributes 1t,
and let him test his stewardship by these
questions and his answers to them"
The bishop then applied the text concern
ing stewardship to all influence which
man may have in the world, aside from
those of his money, and to his natural gifts
and talents.