The record-union., 1892-12-05


hebrews 10 bow DOWN TO the golden calf.
Stlll, men give up TO this unmanly greed,
not because 1t will satisfy their higher
nature, but because it Will glut their
lower nature.
You may see men giving TO getting
riches every faculty, every force Of their
being, all relationship, all higher obliga-
tions; they reserve nothing, not even the
love OF home and attention to loved Ones
and then try TO make themselves think
that they are engaged in worthy business,
Then comes sad havoc to the moral ma
ture. 1t IS dragged down lower and
lower until no appeal, whether from the
gospel or the grave has any influence.
1nls man Is conquered slave, and is
content that the fetters that bind him
wear so bright color as well as furnish
full desire to his little, shriveled soul.
de knows no king but gold; he has no
God but Mammon; and, with a little
piece OF yellow coin he hides from his
narrow vision all that is noble here, and
all that is beautiful and imperishable in
the world to come. How miserably poor
Is such man
Lat poor pauper such a creature be-
comes, even though buried to the ears in
'double-eagle" coins Hear him say,
~ have need of nothing" He doesn't
know he is poor. The great, beautiful
world, with its flowers and singing birds,
with its mountains and its seas, with its
overhanging canopy of stars, is all about
him, but he owns none of il. So of that
better world OF dear friends, and home
and social joy and noble thinking and
delightful ninistry--he has none OF this
And he is an utter stranger to those
higher blessings and privileges which the
grace OF God sends with all the glow and
music and melody OF heaven. Poor poor,
awtully poor while living in the richest
1Gn Il i
Does this man have palace for home?
low much better Off is the beggar at his
gate if he have spiritual wealth!
Only the heart that can sympathiZe and
is mercifuI, only the heart that holds
money subordinate can know what the
gracious stars, and the munificent sun,
and the liberal sea, and the bOunteous
earth, whisper to us from the spirit OF
God-can know what is the glory of his
/ tory, what IS the worth Of human nature,
what are the unsearchable riches OF
Christ" When man turns his whole
being into a money till ana cultivateS all
his powers in the interest OF that alone, he
knows no other world and is out OF har-
mony with the very world in which he
lives and with the God who let's him live.
He will succeed; no doubt he will sue
ceed and get the money. He tolls for it
all the day and dreams for it all the night
and brings into the efforts noble gifts
and gives up everything else, only to get
money-he will succeed. But what has
he? CZziah succeeded thus far. Ten,
twenty thirty, forty, fifty Years Of life
are gone.
But look at his soul now. He has
wealth; but just as man gives sweat to
his toll, SO he has given himself to his
treasure, and for all that is highest and
noblest here and i'll eternity he has
nothing. barren universe all around,
and nothing left to him but his golden
calf. To get this golden calf in good
shape it has cost him his lifetime; all
the grand possibilities of ife-it has cost
him himself; yes, he has money,
but more and more the money has
him. The treasure was gathering,
growing, rolling up. but he was
wasting; and now what is left of him?
He is afraid of everything, afraid of ev-
erybody; awfully suspicious. Eternity
just little way off; he cannot take the
gold along, and mind is gone, and no
hope, no hope! Poor, pitiable object,
Let him die! Give him princely funeral
and rear the white shaft over his dust; it
will long outlive his memory, even
though he hire someone to keep fresh
flowers over his grave.
Too prosperous! There is no poverty
! like that of the rich man who has given
his life. his soul, his destiny, to the get
ting of riches.
Remember, young friends, that You
are worth more than gold; that there is
something far better and safer than to be
rich; and that God never meant that a
man should give his body, and mind, and
soul, and manhood, and tender endear-
ments, and sublimest destiny, all up for
money. You can sacrifice everything
for money. People around you are doing
this.
If property comes to You as reward
for earnest toll and integrity, accept it as
sacred trust Use it as one who must
render an account. "The prosperity of
fools shall destroy them," but God is
able to make you stand" Money has
poured into the laps of people who have
used it in right ways and to noble pur-
poses. There is always a safe place, and
this is at the foot of the cross. Place
yourselves there, with eyes fixed on God,
who gives you power to get wealth.
The Koran gives the following fable of
Abraham: When he set out upon his
travels he knew nothing of religious
truth. He looked up and saw the morn
''That is my god.' But the star went
down, and then he said: "I care not for
| gods that Set" After awhile the constel-
| Iations appeared, and he said: "These
are my gods" But the galaXies of stars
were carried beneath the west, and again
! he SAID i Will nave no gods that Set.'
Later the moon arose and he shouted {:
THAT is my godv' But the moon, too,
went down. Then when the sun arose he
saluted it as Divine. But the wheeling
| sky carried the king of day behind the
pine-tOps of the west Then Abraham,
in the holy twilight, turning his face up
ward toward the serene and tranquil
| heavens, exclaimed: Il give myself to
Him who was, and is, and is to come,
! Father Of the sun, the moon and the stars,
who never sets, for He only is the ever
| lasting light"
To Him 1 commend you all, now and
/ evermore. Abide i'll Him, and you can
never be ''too prosperous"