of love.

Why did the Master call this man a fool? He did not get the idea from
the man himself. This well-to-do farmer would never have spoken of
himself in that way. He regarded himself as altogether fit and
mentally well furnished. Nor did the Master get His idea from the
man's neighbors. They looked upon this man with admiration. There may
have been a bit of envy mingled with their admiration, but they
certainly did not regard him as a fool. They no more did so than we
regard the man that is like him as a fool to-day.

Why then did the Master label him with this ugly name? It was not
because he had a prejudice against him. Jesus was no soured
misanthrope. He was no snarling cynic. He did not resent a man just
because he had made a success. He was not an I. W. W. growling over
real or fancied wrongs. No, the reason that Jesus called him a fool is
because no other name would exactly fit him.

It is well, however, that the Master labeled this picture. Had He not
done so you and I might have been tempted to put the wrong label on it.
We might have labeled it "The Wise Man," or some such fine name. But
had we done so it would have been a colossal blunder. Had we done so I
am persuaded that the very fiends would have howled with derisive
laughter. For when we see this man as he really is, when we see him
through the eyes of Him who sees things clearly, then we realize that
there is only one name that will exactly fit him. Then we know that
that one name is the short ugly one by which he is called--"Fool."

But why is he a fool? In what does his foolishness consist? Certainly
it does not consist in the fact that he has made a success. He is not
a fool simply because he is rich. The Bible is a tremendously
reasonable book. It is the very climax of sanity. It is the acme of
good common sense. It never rails against rich men simply because they
are rich. It no more does that than it lauds poor men because they are
poor. It frankly recognizes the danger incident to the possession of
riches. It makes plain the fact that the rich man is a greatly tempted
man. But never is he condemned simply because he is rich.

The truth of the matter is that riches in themselves are counted
neither good nor bad, neither moral nor immoral. The Bible recognizes
money as a real force. What is done with this force depends upon the
one who controls it. Money is condensed energy. It is pent-up power.
It is lass