Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-06-21

that money is not the chief thing while
we live as if it were the only good
worth striving for? Do we think to
offset our worship of the Almighty
Dollar" by abusing our idol betimes
Can we purge our idolatry by speaking
contemptuously of the image we adore
If men really believe that "a mans
life CONSISTENT not in the abundance of
the things which he possesseth," they
will believe the converse of the propo-
sition also, viz: "a mans death consist
eth not in the scarcity of the things
which he possesseth." If wealth can
not be the supreme good, poverty can
not be the supreme evil. If the acquir-
ing of material things is not the chief
object of life, the loss of them, or the
failure to acquire them, can not be
life's greatest disaster. TO aim at eth
err the accumulation Of wealth, or the
abolition of poverty, is to make more
of material things than Jesus made.
Socialism is at heart as covetous and
unch ristian as capitalism. Both have
set their affections on things below and
not on things above. Both mind earth
ly things. Both follow the delusive doc
trine that the supreme good and supreme
happiness of mankind depend upon the
possession of material things. Both as
sumo that the goal of creation is found
in full stomachs and well-clad backs re-
posing in comfortable nabitations. Vic
tor Hugo has spoken most cogently to
the point 1 would make clear. He says:
There is something beyond satisfying
ones appetite. The goal of man is not
the goal of the animal. moral lift is
necessary. Man, AT mls oay'
tends to fall into the stomach; man
must be replaced in the heart, man must
in
this is the bold sovereign that must be
restored! THE SOCIAL QUESTION
REQUIRES TODAY, MORE THAN
EVER, TO BE EXAMINED ON THE
SIDE OF HUMAN DIGNITY. To show
man the human goal; TO ameliorate In
telligence first, the animal afterward
to contemn the flesh as long as the
thought is despised, and to set the ex-
ample upon their own fiesh,--such is the
actual, immediate, urgent duty of writ
ers."
The only amendment that these words
OIL Hugo need is to cnange the empha-
sis from the brain" to the heart, from
mere intelligence to integrity, from
mental power to moral purity. Intel
lect. no more than the stomach, is the
chief thing in man. If it were, the
devil would be the first of saints; FOR
some thousands of years ago he was the
most subtle beast of the field, not to
speak of any of his intellectual attain
ments since The goal of humanity is
not in the diabolism of deifed mind, nor
In the brutalism of apotheosized stom-
achs; it is in adoring love of the only
true God and Jesus Christ whom he has
sent. Man can not live by bread alone,
nor yet by books; but by every word
That proceedeth out of the mouth OF
God.
And let us remember that 1t is in
neitber poyerty nor wealth to prevent
anv man from reaching the goal o. being
which God has set before humanity.
Lazarus, hungry, ragged. sick and sore'
al the rich mans gate, may reach the
highest good, while ne, VINO within is
clad in sort raiment and fares sumptu-
ously every day, may fall Sort OF IL
A Fat nurse can not purify the soul.
nor can the most abject poverty degrade