d minister.[30] He knew no phrases about
all men being equal, and he made no profession of impartiality such as
today causes many ministers to loiter among the well-to-do, who care not
for them. Jesus said he had no time to spend with well people, because
he was sent to the sick. But the philosophy of his action was seen in
the fact that when he ministered to the sick he himself helped the well.
He "preached the gospel to the poor," but not because he had any
prejudice against the rich. By ministering to the poor he applied his
gospel to the margin of the community. That gospel has been of equal
value to the rich man, because the spiritual experiences of the poor are
the experience also of the rich. The modern minister who goes after rich
men specifically, or who goes after them with the same vigor with which
he seeks the poor, will receive but a grudging welcome. But if he
awakens the gratitude and support of the poor, he will find himself
sought by the rich, and sustained by their abundant gifts.

Mr. Gilbert K. Chesterton, the English critic, has somewhere finely said
that the Master in his words to Simon Peter, "Thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church," clearly recognized that Peter was a
shuffler and a weakling and a coward and it was upon just such common
material that the church was founded. It was not to be an aristocratic
organization. Its foundations were not laid upon skill and genius in
human character, but upon the weaker and commonplace traits, which
universal mankind possesses.

So definite was the appeal of Jesus to the marginal people of his time,
that he has been twice criticized unjustly; once in his own time by the
Pharisees, and again in our time by the Socialists. The latter have
claimed that Jesus was "class conscious," that he was a partisan of the
poor, a proletarian radical. The unscientific character of Socialism is
displayed in this comment upon Jesus. His appeal was to the whole
community, as through Christian history his message has come uniformly
to men of all degrees, rich and poor, ignorant and learned, bad and
good. The religious genius of Jesus is shown in the fact that he
recognized what the Socialist does not, that to appeal to the whole
community a prophet must address his plea to the people on the margin of
the community. His measure of value must be final utility.

One may go at large into this tempting field in illustrations. The
artistic experience of mankind