Arizona republican., 1917-01-01
REV. ANDERSON 0N
 MEASURE IF 4 MAN

Rev. Eustace Anderson, pastor of the Bethel Methodist church. corner Seventh street and Osborn road. spoke yesterday morning to an attentive au- dienCe upon the subject, "The Measure uf a Man." using as his text, Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, and all nations shall call you happy: for ye shall be delightsome land" The discourse was intended to awaken men to a fuller understanding of their place and privilege as stewards of Gods blessings. Among other things he said: "The supreme test of the ages has come to our nation and the watch word is Preparedness and l wonder if we as Christians, will play the fool and fall to martial music instead of meeting the test in Gods way"
 "If | should say outright that the attitude of the great majority of our church members toward their ObliSa- ton to support the church that they profess to love. is heather, some of you would not agree; and yet it can he shown that the attitude of Christen- dom toward the possession of property is heathen
 In the light of our literally world wide opportunity to evangelize the na- tions, it would seem sufficiently tragic for Christians to assume that their ob- liSatiOns were met when they had paid God onetenth of their income and that they can now do as they please with the nine -tenths; but when We contemplate that literally millions of Christians in America do not admit that they are under obligations to pay even one tenth, or anything, but just as they are inclined or shamed into: how terrible it would seem is the in- ip haf zn1 nd bring against us"
 And the fault arises with our atti- tude toward property. It is because we look upon possession as ownership: but possession and ownership are not interchangeable terms, although we are trying to make them so. Even our legal deeds only guarantee our right to pos scsf. If you doubt this you have only to see how our government takes pos session of so-ealled private property when it needs it, such as railroads and eqiipmefL"
 But concrete example from the heart of organism as it is and has al- ways been, for the heart of organism does not change. In the Ganges valley of India there is famine. We send millions of dollars to the sufferers. but there is wheat in India to export and it is stored even in heather temples, but it belongs to the merchants. It is theirs, for they have bought it with their own money. What, then. made the famine? Not scarcity of wheat but high prices: and that is what always makes a fam inc in these days-high prices.
 The railroad companies. according 10 the papers. are saying that the hioh price of copper is making the scarcity of coal in Arizona. And the reason is just the same as the cause for awheat famine in India: not scarcity of coal, nor even of cars to haul it in, but it pays better to haul copper. The un- deriving cause is the same-our attI- tude toward property; it is mine and l can do as 1 please with it.
 There are many who laugh at the early Christians for trying to hold their belongings in common. and say they were simple. misguided. impractical enthusiasts The fact is that it was an attempt on the part of these early Christians who. whatever they may not have known, were intimately acquaint- ed with the heart and spirit of Christ and were trying to break with pagan ism. That was serious attempt at q great thing instead of feeble failure at an impra cticable thing. But pagan