Sermons on Biblical CharactersChappell, Clovis Gillham
Religion
Sermons on Biblical Characters
Chappell, Clovis Gillham
Bible -- Biography; Sermons, American -- 20th century
Even this is not all. If I, their master, am so minded, these powerful
genii will defeat for me the ends of justice. They will override the
constitution. They will enable me to put a stain upon the very flag of
my own country. They will make it possible for me at times to
disregard the rights of others. When occasion demands they may even
purchase at my desire the honor of manhood and the virtue of womanhood.
On the other hand, if I am a good man, I may set these genii to the
doing of tasks great and worthwhile. I may command them to give
clothing to the naked and food to the hungry. I can order them to
build better schools for the education of the world. I can compel them
to build better churches for the worship of God. I can send them with
a chance in their hands for the unfortunate and the handicapped. I can
make it impossible for one to say of that bright lad:--
"But knowledge to his eyes her ample scroll,
Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll.
Chill penury suppressed his noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul."
In fact there is no high task that man is called upon to perform but
that these mighty genii can be of assistance. They can help "to heal
the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised." They can even make their master friends who will one day
receive him into everlasting habitations.
"Dug from the mountain side, washed in the glen,
Servant am I of the Master of men.
Earn me, I bless you; steal me, I curse you;
Grip me and hold me, a fiend shall possess you.
Lie for me, die for me, covet me, take me,
Angel or devil, I am what you make me."
Nor was this man a fool because he had accumulated his money
dishonestly. The man who does accumulate money dishonestly is a fool.
So says the prophet Jeremiah and every clear thinking man must agree
with him. There is a way of getting money that makes money a curse
rather than a blessing. There is a way of getting money that makes the
very eagle upon it to turn vulture to tear at your heart.
But this man had not made his money after that fashion. He had never
run a saloon nor a gambling house nor a sweatshop. There is no hint
that he had failed to pay an adequate wage to his laborers. James
calls upon the rich men of his day to weep and howl because they were
guilty in this respect. But no such charge as this is laid against
this man. Nor had he robbed the widow or the fatherless. "An orphan's
curse will drag to hell a spirit from on high," but no such curse was
on this man.
How had he made his money? He had made it in a way that is considered
the most honest and upright that is possible. He had made his money
farming. Listen: "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth
plentifully." The ground. It smacks of cleanliness, honesty,
uprightness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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