he {128} spiritual life. Knowledge, power, faith, all grow by
investment. Use of the little makes it much; hoarding what you have
leaves it unfruitful. Do you want to know more? Well, put what you
now know to use. Invest it, and as you seem to spend it, it increases,
and you have found the way to the riches of wisdom. Do you want faith?
Well, use what faith you have. Try the working hypothesis of living by
faith. Our ancestors in New England trading used to send out on their
ships what they called a "venture." They took the risks of business.
There is a similar venture of faith, which says: "Lord, I believe, help
thou mine unbelief." He who sends the venture of his faith over the
ocean of his life may look for a rich cargo in return. To the faithful
in the few things the many things are revealed. That is the law of
increasing returns.

{129}

LII

THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF WEALTH

_Matthew_ xxv. 14-30.

In the parable of the talents the use of money is of course only an
illustration of spiritual truth. Yet the story has its obvious lessons
about the uses of money itself. The five-talent man is the rich man;
and his way of service makes the Christian doctrine of wealth. And,
first of all, the parable evidently permits wealth to exist. It does
not prohibit accumulation. Jesus is not a social leveler. His words
are full of tenderness to the poor, but when a certain rich young man
came to him, Jesus loved him also; and when one man asked him, saying:
"Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me,"
Jesus disclaimed the office of a social agitator, saying: "Man, who
made me a judge or a divider over you." Thus Jesus cannot be claimed
for any pet scheme which one may have of the distribution of wealth.
But let not the Christian {130} think that on this account the
Christian theory of wealth is less sweeping or radical than some modern
programme. The fact is that it asks more of a man, be he rich or poor,
than any modern agitator dares to propose. For it demands not a part
of one's possessions as the property of others, but the whole of them.
The Christian holds all his talents as a trust. There is in the
Christian belief no absolute ownership of property. A man has no
justification in saying: "May I not do what I will with mine own?" He
does not own his wealth; he owes it. The Christian principle does not
divide the rich from the poor; it divides the faithful use of wh