Show CHARITABLE GIFTS OF THE RICH It is an old saying that a gift horse should not be looked in the mouth There may not be much In thesaying but there is at least this it Is a splendid splen-did test of ones breeding But there are people who not only insist on lookIng look-Ing a gift horse In the mouth but on telling the whole world what they find there or fancy they do Recently Mr John D Rockefeller gave 250000 to the mission fund of the Baptist church Certainly that was a very munificent gift When this gift was announced at the church convention con-vention a missionary recently returned from China declared that what the church < needed was not rich men but holy men This missionary displayed more zeal or desire for notoriety than sense Where is the inconsistency in the church having rich men as well as holy men Ms field Is so broad that it can surely find work for all And the rich man with a desire to do good I and benefit his fellow man can be a j I I much more powerful instrument for I the accomplishment of good than the j i I man who is without means Riches themselves are no more of a sin than poverty itself is a virtue Some seem to think otherwise And there is no evidence in the world that this narrow minded missionary has any higher nobler aims than the man whose gift he attacked Evidently he was extremely ex-tremely anxious that his right hand should know exactly what his left was doing This case recalls that of the late Jay I Gould who some ten or twelve years ago made a donation of some thousands thou-sands of dollars to the church with which he was connected and which was rejected because it was said In explanation of the rejection that the money had not been gotten by righteous right-eous means The motives of those who I make such objections may be all right but their judgment Is sadly at fault It Is desirable that all men should acquire ac-quire their money honestly but when money Is given for the furtherance of I I religion that fact should do much to sanctify it The disposition of it makes it impossible to use it for unworthy ends The missionary recently returned from China needs to get charity and breadth of view Now he Is too I straightlaced and narrow I |