Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-05-14

are no such clearly-marked class
F.! lines as created the revolutions OF
I Europe. And under the present form
of government, 1t is proving possible
F., for society to correct ages.old evils
| by the orderly processes of law.
| On every side, the present horizon
shows huge portents, which indicate
! that Dives is to be retained and linn
tied, and made to act in juster and
more brotherly fashion; and that
Lazarus is to be given a fairer oppor-
tunity. 1t does not comport with the
twentieth century's conception or
manhood that any man, however
poor, should lie suffering as beg
gar at another's gate, dependent upon
! the latter's whim for sustenance. Our
common sense tells us, however, that
to reverse the relative positions Of
Dives and Lazarus is no permanent
way out of the difficulty; for Lazarus,
Jr., often becomes very offensive
Dives, and Dives, Jr., poor type OF
mendicant. The noisily exploited
program for looting Of those who
have, to the enrichment Of those who
have not, is not sound, by economic,
social or scriptural standards.
Taking Two Worlds Into Account.
The wonderful story told by Jesus,
in the face of the powerful party who
were turning up their aristocratic
noses at him and his followers, be-
cause Of their poverty quite as the
idle rich sheer at the poor as if lack
Of money we're sufficient evidence
of their unfitness-brought to bear a
mighty factor in the problem of social
inequality. Jesus condemned Dives,
of course; unbrotherly wealth cannot
stand for a moment in the clear light
of Christ's truth.
But Jesus said, in effect: take a
long look. Nothing is settled until 1t Is
settled finally; and in all questions
between man and man (Which are
also questions between man and Godl
another life than this must be taken
into account Two worlds figure in
all of Gods reckonings. Dives has a
momentary advantage and Lazarus
momentary disadvantage, but let me
draw aside the curtain and show you
the next act"
Here we have the principle, often
perverted by wealth in an attempt to
avoid present duty, but vital princi-
pie, none the less, that heaven enters
into earths affairs. The eternal God
is going to square all accounts, and he
has long time in which to do it. The
offenses of time must be reckoned with
in eternity Dives. without any ad-
vantage from his wealth or social po-
sition, must stand before the judg-
ment seat of Cod AS Henry Martyr
said of the rich man in the parable,
Had he remembered on earth, he
would not have been called to remem-
Der in, hell"
If the parable teaches anything, it
teaches the existence of hereafter,
with an ultimate reward or punish
ment for the deeds done in the flesh.
Definitions may differ; but the fact Of
a conscious eternity for mortal spirits
is inwrought in the teachings of Jesus.
1t makes for philosophical breadth and
patience to contemplate this earthly
span as only on infinitesimal arc of the
circle of our real life.
Is Poverty a Passport to Heaven?
Because Dives went to hell and
Lazarus to heaven, some shallow inter-
prefers have assumed that the rich
are doomed to perdition and the poor
He does not award mems future &C
cording to their rating in earth's social
registers 1t was not because Of his
beggary and sores hat Lazarus found
rest in the bosom of Abraham, who in
life was wealthy sheikh. Lazarus
won to glory because OF his faith in
God; he stored up his riches in heave--.
The miseries of earth had but led him
to prize more dearly the spiritual in
heritance.
The doom of Dives was due to his
disregard Of his fellow man and of
God. He had been false to BOTH Like
millions of kindred fools, he had
trusted to his\wealth and power and
earthly state to provide him high
place in two worlds. He had failed to
be a helper of men. Therefore the
keenest suffering in his eternal pun
ishment was to learn that his sense
Of values had been all wrong; and
that those whom he had despised on
earth sat high in heaven. AS Thomas
Hood sang:
"The blind and the cripple were there,
And the babe that pined for bread;
And the homeless man, and the widow
poor
Who begged to bury her dead
The naked, alas! that might have
clad,
The famished might have fed"
The Present Warning.
II there be any thick-headed pluto
crat who thinks that before real harm
can come to him and his money-bags
he will receive some special warning,
he has but to read this parable of
Jesus. Its clear closing teaching is
that there is law and light enough now
to lead men to do right. No special
emissaries from heaven or hell could
accomplish more than the present COS
pei. 1t is not new religion, not a
new gospel, not a specially accredited
teacher. that this shining old world
needs today, but new spiritual sense,
a new -mindedness, new atten-
ton to the clear truth of God. The
men who will not heed the present