RICHES AND POVERTY [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Canon
Donaldson says that " wealth is only tolerable when it is the just result of personal service." Is not the con- verse also true—that poverty is only tolerable when it is the just result of personal idleness or extravagance? The Christian Gospel takes account of the condition of culpable poverty in no uncertain fashion.
In these days, when the justice of God and the discipline of the Cross are obscured by sentimental musings—often quite incorrect—upon the teaching of Jesus, it is well to note that the true significance of the parable of the Prodigal Son is to be sought, not in the " musick and dancing," but in the assurance of the father to his elder son : " All that I have is thine." There was no redistribution of wealth when the merry-making was over; the prodigal was welcomed home as a son, but he was evidently taken at his word. His economic status was that of
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