The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-01-26
THE RICHMOND NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. JANUARY &c, 1914

permanent success. Let the church free
itself from the incubus of unrishteors
wealth; let 1t demand of It's members
not merely doles for charity, but JUS
tice. mercy and truth In their dealin,,s
man to man; let il cease 10 water down
for polite and sensitive ears the PLAN
words of it's Master. Lay not up. '
etc. let 1t teach the poor well as
the rich that the true good of life con %
sists not In the abundance of the things
1t possesseth. but in the right inner
attitude of the soul to God and every
member OF his divine family let It
preach the brotherhood of man. not as
J a pretty phrase for an idle hour. but
( as the one. thing needful IL It's daily
prayer. Thy kingdom come as n
heaven SO in earth" is to rise above
the breath that utters 1t; and then
nut not till then-wiii the church VI
Jesus Christ cease to he n mere po-
liceman Of society with n somewhat
soiied and dirty uniform. and become
- what IL once was in the glad, strong,
! generous. dynamic days of Its birth,
/ tue saviour of men and the redeemer
+ OF the world.
J A dangerous program, say you7 Yes.
/ IT is dangerous to every interest that
! iattens on the souls and bodies OF
tlen. II is dangerous to the financial
+ idle rich, to Palm Beach and Newport,
{ to private cars and pleasure yachts,
to swollen fortunes and starveIinp
souls. 10 Consolidated fractions and
New Haven steals. of course 1t is rev.
I otuficnarY. Christianity is just tn At.
! 1t is dynamite; IT is nitroglycerine. 1t
turns the world upside down IT makes
aud remakes men and societies; ana if
J it is not doing so today--if the worlgl
OF practical men can see nothing IN
the church but a conservator of the
peace ana a booking Office to Heaven
1t ts because IL has been disohedient
TO It's Heavenly vision and allowed
those that bought and sold to traffic
in the temple concerning which the
Master said: This house" etc.
Not Indicting Rich.
I | am drawing no indictment aga nst
the rich. The church needs money
and viii need more money as the days
go by Thank God there IL plenty of
/ wealth cleanly got and generously
spent. | know rich men whose trea-
sure is In Heaven, know poor mem
plenty of them-whose treasure is on
earth--whose daily wage Is their god.
+ But. If We are to believe the Masters
words there is a peculiar danger bo.h
in the acquisition and possession OF
great WEALTH. is the danger of b
coming SO absorbed in the material
things of life that shall forget our
duty TO God and our fcllowman. anG
cease to yearn after those unseen, eter-
nal possessions which alone shall be-
stead us when stripped OF all ou.'
+ earthly goods we stand before God and
hear the heart. searching question:
/ where is Abel thy brother"
/ Jesus Christ was, of course. far more
/ than a social reformer, but he was a
social reformer. He laid down prin-
! At, . ~
consistently applied. will, believe.
solve progressively all the social rruh
Gems of this or any other age. No rhe
hAa ever denounced wrong or injustice
as he did. And If he were on earth
today do not imagine that he would
/ say, as the standpatters do: "AE is
/ for the best in the best OF all possible
worlds" He who said How much
more is man worth than a sheep
I would he found on the firing line OF
the battle for human rights. He who
/ said; Blessed are ye poor would b.
the champion now, as lie was the',,
of The poor, the unprotected and tho
/ oppressed.
Ara his church dare not do Other
wise. II dares not acquiesce in no
principle Of unlimited Inpetit:on--th
70 GATED law of the survival of The
fittcst--which pushes the weakest TO
the Wall and puts tre,nium on sal.
assertion and economic brutality.
j. cannot regard as God al ven the
/ Present distribution OF the material
! goods of life which iii N 0oeld where
there ia more than enough for all,
leaves some to starve while others roll
in luxury. and which keeps 1eo00,00
of the people OF this country Il use
/ Robert Hunters fieures) struggling
! all their lives the knife-edge be-
J tween self-respect aud pauperism.
1t cannot say "Ali is for the best,
/ when the girls who make our Christ
mas candy have to work twelve hours
q day five days in the week and o..
Saturday-our half holiday--eleveu
{ hours; when a mother of three chill
dren can testify before a recent COM
mittee of inquiry in England that,
working as hard as she could from
six in the morning 10 ten at night
IN the making of childrens shoes, she
j could only earn n little over $2.03 a
week; when the children in the cotton
mills and canning factories are being
cheated Of their hirthright of fash
air and healthy recreation not so mucn
because of the greed of individual men,
j bus JUS because business is business
wren strong men have to sell their
strength for barely enough to make
/ ends meet when times are good and
sickness passes them by. but not
/ enough to do so when hard times come
and the doctors buggy is at the door;
when our Juvenile courts are crowded
with delinquents made to order by eco
| noinic conditions that create the pow
/ erty, that fathers the inefficiency. that
wrecks the home.
Christ cannot have intended that. He
/ cannot have intended that the weak
should be exploited by the strong. He
cannot have intended strikes and lock-