egun. Then
the king called the people of his kingdom, and made them swear a great
oath to maintain the same order of government if he should leave the
country, also that nothing should make them alter it until his return.
Having secured this oath, he left his kingdom of Sparta and never
returned. Lycurgus abandoned the situation, renouncing his high position,
thinking to achieve the permanent good of his country by the equalization
of the property and of the conditions of life in his kingdom. All the
self-sacrifice of the king was in vain. The great experiment failed. After
a time all was destroyed; his carefully thought-out constitution came to
an end.

The futility of attempting such a scheme was shown and the impossibility
of attaining equal conditions of existence was proclaimed in the ancient
kingdom of Sparta. In our day any such attempt would be equally doomed to
failure.

Certainly, some being enormously rich and others lamentably poor, an
organization is necessary to control and improve this state of affairs. It
is important to limit riches, as it is also of importance to limit
poverty. Either extreme is not good. To be seated in the mean(13) is most
desirable. If it be right for a capitalist to possess a large fortune, it
is equally just that his workman should have a sufficient means of
existence.

A financier with colossal wealth should not exist whilst near him is a
poor man in dire necessity. When we see poverty allowed to reach a
condition of starvation it is a sure sign that somewhere we shall find
tyranny. Men must bestir themselves in this matter, and no longer delay in
altering conditions which bring the misery of grinding poverty to a very
large number of the people. The rich must give of their abundance, they
must soften their hearts and cultivate a compassionate intelligence,
taking thought for those sad ones who are suffering from lack of the very
necessities of life.

There must be special laws made, dealing with these extremes of riches and
of want. The members of the Government should consider the laws of God
when they are framing plans for the ruling of the people. The general
rights of mankind must be guarded and preserved.

The government of the countries should conform to the Divine Law which
gives equal justice to all. This is the only way in which the deplorable
superfluity of great wealth and miserable, demoralizing, degrading poverty
can be abolished. Not until this is done will t