Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-15
CHRISTIANITY AND
WEALTH

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n UR contemporary who says eff 1t
is a sin to have wealth then this
~ is the most sinful age and we are
the most sinful people" is taking a
wrong and indefensible view of the
subject
No sane human being ever objected
to the accumulation of riches by any
other human being. 1t is extreme pow
erty and deprivation which are repre-
hensible, and. in a nation possessed of
as much wealth as the United States,
bread lines. deaths by starvation, closed
high schools and decimated public
schools are disgraceful, and If we do
not make a reasonable attempt to all
low all deserving men to earn enough
money with which to support and edu-
cate their families then 1t will not be
extravagant to call our national selves
''the most sinful people Of the most
sinful age of the world"
Let man, If he will. heap up noun
tains Of treasure. Let him pile Ossa
on Pelion and see whether he can
scale the gates of heaven by way of
the mountains of wealth. He cannot,
and nothing deindividualizes a man so
rapidly as the possession of immense
riches. But that is his lookout. It is
absolutely impossible to persuade of
error any of these people who think
they know the philosophy Of life better
than Jesus and believe their secret con-
tempt for the Christian doctrine can
be covered by a big contribution to
church fund. Jesus was well acquaint-
ed with the prototypes of these modern
synagogue Christians and not only de-
nounced them repeatedly in the bit
terest invective which the Hebrew vo-
cabulary afforded, but on one occasion
even resorted to physical violence, as
saulted some of them, flung them out
of the temple and their money-bags
after them.
However, bear in mind it was not
money. but the arrogance of the money
power, typified by the sordid changers
in the temple. that was scourged by
the founder of Christianity. and as the
only occasion on which Jesus openly
displayed indignation was when he
saw commercialism in the church, 1t
was certainly one of the most note
worthy events or incidents in his life.
But, for some reason, 1t is not g. favor
ite subject for sermons. Jesus did not
teach 1t was a sin to have wealth, but
ne did teach, and we have chapter and
verse for 1t, that it was a sin to ac-
cumulate money wrongfully, that 1t
was a sin to oppress the hireling in
his wages, a sin to grind the face OF
the poor, a sin to interfere with the
freedom and education Of children and
make Industrial slaves of them, sin
to have great possessions and allow
poverty to afflict ones nelghbor. Dives
was not damned because he was rich,
but because he allowed his poor neigh
Dor to languish in poverty and rags
on his doorstep, while he guzzled ana
drank in the dining room.
1t is not a sin to have wealth. 1t is
sin to have poverty continually in
terfering with and destroying part Of
the human efficiency of great ana
populous nation. Nobody but fanatic
or a fool wishes the abolition of riches
or fortunes. But everybody who uses
his reasoning powers and has heart
in his body does wish most earnestly
and is willing TO work most strenuously
for the abolition of the degrading, dis
graceful and outrageous poverty which
is furnishing the historical record OF
the American nation. Nay, for the
sake of Dives, we ought to compel him
to have consideration for Lazarus. If
II is not pleasant to think of Lazarus,
sitting ragged, sick. friendless and neg
lected, beside great riches, it is equally
unpleasant to think of Dives bowling
in hell.