The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-06-16
THIRTY FOURTH STREET SYNAGOGUE.
How Wealth and Wisdom Should BE
Used to Secure Blessings to Their Pos
sessOrs-SermOn by DR.. vidaver.

Used to Secure blessings to Their Pos
sessOrs-Sermon by DR.. vidaver.
The sixth chapter OF Numbers was the lesson
read In this synagogue yesterday, from the twenty
seventh verse, Of which Dr. vidaver preached yes
terday, namely:-"And they shall put My name on
the children Of Israel and will bless them" Man,
the Doctor said, has aim in life, and that is to
secure happiness to himself He is constantly seek
ing to be blessed but In this search he grasps at the
shadow and loses the substance. Like man in a
dream, he is feasting at q banquet, but he waketh
up and his soul Ia not satisfied. God gives His
blessings richly to every man, but every man does
not know how to keep those blessings. But God
Is ready and willing to teach us how may retain
those gifts Of His bounty and grace Why then,
should we leave the fountain Of living waters and
seek out for ourselves broken csterns which can
hold no waterS Why shall we seek the fading
pleasures OF this life and wholly neglect the perma-
nent pleasures Of eternity Let us seek the Divine
Instructor, that we may know how to keep and en-
Joy His blessings. There are
TWO KINDS OF BLESSINGS
which God gives to mankind-namely, wealth and
wisdom; and our rabies say that these are bless
ings only so long as the recipient accepts them and
looks upon them as such and as given by God, but
the moment that he seeks to credit his own genius
and industry and enterprise with the creation Of
Our text says let Gods name be put on them and
they shall be blessings indeed. Wealth is one OF
Heavens blessings. This cannot be disputed. The
patriarch blessing OF his sons, prays that the
dew of heave and the fairness Of the earth may be
his portion. The man OF wealth can procure all Of
temporal pleasure, social enjoyment and the
luxury of life with touch OF his gold, yet the
Prophet jeremiah bids the rich man not trust in
his riches nor the mighty man In his strength but
rather to trust In the name of the Lord. God has
given wealth to some men for the purpose
Of making It blessing to Others, but the
to be blessing. The Doctor then recited some
ways in which wealth may be used to bless man
kind and remarked that II it be not used Alright it
produces hardness OF heart and forgetulness of
God and blunts the senslbties so that the mans
soul becomes den of iniqnty. The curse OF the
Lord, we are told, Is In the house of the wicked
matter how rich and great he may be- but the bless
Ing of the Almighty is upon the righteous. Gold
1t cannot bring true friendship. 1t may give enjoy
ment to life but it cannot add single breath nor
un5oug6t, but the goddess man Of Wealth throws
away honor truth atlecton true rlsndshp faith,
GOLDEN CHAIN,
which binds his own soul to the earth. With this
chain he may charm judges on the bench and secure
nom them verdcts favorable to himself; with 1t he
may charm legislators and retain himself IN Office
and in power TO prey upon the people, but he can
not secure thereby either peace or happiness or the
The second blessing is wisdom. The chief thing
that distinguishes man from the beast IS intelll-
curse Lacking wisdom, we lack everything
Hence 1t Is our duty, our highest duty, to cultivate
our mental powers. What makes the difference
between that half-naked savage that we have seen
dancing around In our city and Humboldt and Pro-
fessOr Morse The rude marble Is there but the
artist has not laid his chisel it, fashioned It,
And yet even this blessing OF intelligence may be-
comes curse to us unless 1t is subOrdnated to the
Divine WILL One OF the rabies of the Middle Ages
was wont to say that reason is the only mediator
between man and God. But he was not wholly cor
rect; for as soon as reason assumes the place Of
II IF tha anuli
become curse and not blessing, and prostitutes
itself to the wild passions OF man, and says "AmenO
to all his vagaries. Intelligence thus used acts
upon its pOsseSsor just as wealth does upon the
other.
THE INTELLIGENT sKEPTIC
takes the Sacred Word as the surgeon takes body
on his dtssccting table and cuts and hacks 1t with
his knife-reaSon-until he eliminates from il all
that Is good and Godike, and leaves in 1t no saliva
ton for any of us. There were in Israel, as there
are everywhere, rich men and wise who walked
humby before God Such, OF the former, were Moses
Monte1ore and George Peabody, who used their
riches for the purposes OF philanthropy and blessing
to Others Gods name was upon all that they pos
sessed. See, again, men of wisdom and genius like
Mendessohn, Humboldt, Morse and the late James
ago consigned to the earth. These names are i'm
mortal. Their memory shall never perish from the
EARTH Mr.. Benefits blessing to mankind has not
ceased with his life. His life work remains to bless
coming generations. rs 1t has past and present The
Doctor closed with an exhortation to his hearers to
and service Of Cod and to put His name upon
everything they possess If They desired always to
have the Divine blessing and themselves to be made
blessing to the world, as those persons named
above have been made blessing to mankind He
followed this with fervent prayer in the same