The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-02-24
AN OLD QUESTION OF PROS
PERITY
The International Sunday School Les.
son for March / is '.Trusting in
Riches and Trusting in Cod
Lux 12:13-34.
(By William 7. Ellis. J

we smile when We read of the I'm.
balanced man who tries to enter the
WHITE House to have some fancied
wrong to himself redressed; or who
attempts to get a hearing for his
grievance from King George. Any
BODY who brOodS too much over his
own wrongs is likely to lose his bal
ance. Some bereaved parents spend
All their time in grief, forgetting
the nobler uses Of sorrow. Persons
VINO have lost property become sour
ed with life. A man disappointed in
love so far loses his sense of relative
value that he commits suicide.
SUE a figure energies in this story.
me great Teacher was addressing
crowds east Of the Jordan. His
theme was the highest that could en-
gage moral mind. Suddenly, a man
from out of the multitude claimed
his attention with, Master, bid my
brother divide the inheritance with
me-" All the Jesus had said about
inheriting eternal life nae gone clear
over his head. He was interested
only in the little inheritance left by
his father. wherein his brother had
wronged him. A family squabble
meant more to him thar all the af-
fairs of the kingdom of heaven.
How human and ~up-toedate it all
is! This man won't become a Chris
tlan because he does not like one of
the officers Of the church. hi other
is outside the fold because he thinks
that the rich men inside are hypo-
critics. A neighborhood feud splits a
congregation. AS in the case Of this
aggrieved man Of old, the ocean of
divine truth is measured by a tin
cup of personal interests.
a Religion Of Rules.
rms rather pathetic figure of the
man who was thinking about prop
erty when he should have been
tnlnklng about his soul; because his
HE was in the grip of goods be-
came the occasion for a great enun-
clatlon. Christ plainly declared that
ne was not Il legal adjudicator. a
maker or enforcer Of regulations.
He'd oes not usurp the functions of
the civil courts.
Despite many current attempts SO
10 interpret him., Jesus is OF a class
christ. He does not take sides in in
dividual conflicts. He is not arrayed
against the poor or against the rich
his is a religion of spirit, of prin-
clples and of universal truth. All
attempts to reduce Christianity to a
set OF rules have been failures. The
Chr1st teaching would settle the
mans property problem; bit he him
self must apply It. Else the next
case. somewhat different in it's facts,
would draw wholly con-
ciusions from this judicial ruling.
Because Jesus ~enunciated principles
mat mold true everywhere ard for
ever, his gospel fits the twentieth
century as readily as the first. and,
america as naturally as Asia. The
Koran, on the other hand, is full of
minute prescriptions, which cannot
De either accepted or fulfilled in our
modern urban civilization.
Inc amp of Jesus in this in
stance Is a good one for breaches
and teachers. They should avoid
siding with parties or factions. The
minister Is not a meddler in temporal
affairs, but he is the messenger Of
vital truth which has an immediate
bearing upon every one of life's local
problems. Thus, Christ's teaching. if
accepted, can settle every labor dis
pute: but Christ's ministers shonld
not become partisans therein.
n rather COnfeSsOr's Confession.
Inc incident served Jesus as a text
Tor a discourse against ~oyetousne
which is one of the sins of good neo,
pie. Francis Xavier, the lannon's
missionary, reveals a striking fen
ency from his long experience as a
Iatner confesSor. He writes.-.I
nave had many people resort to me
Tor confession. The confession ~
sNeIy Sin that L nave ever known or
heard Of, and Of sins so fouI that
never dreamed of, has been no,,red
into my ear; but not one person has
ever confessed TO me the sin Of covet-
business Bishop Wilmer saws
One man only has ever expressed to
me the lear that he should become
covetous; and it is a suggestive fact
that he was the most generous man
that / had ever known" ~
The New Testament does not
mince words in dealing with covet.
It calls the sin idolatry.
Inc love OF money-which Paul calls
"the root of all EVILS o nar;1
threatening all classes. This is M
occasion for railing at the rich, A
person with but ten cents NAV ha
as covetous as n with ten million
C~ovetousness is a state OF mind.
was also . peril two thousand Years