Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1897-08-05

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"So, said he, 4 want u 20 down under
the wave With everything. | want to con
secrate nv property and all 10 God And
50 he was baptized What We want III this
country IS more baptized pocketbooks
The only safe investment tnat nan
can make In this world is in the cause Of
Christ. II a man give from a superabun-
dance, God may or be may not respond
with blessing. but II a man give until he
leeis 1t, II man give until it fetches the
blood, IL a man give until his selfshness
eringes and twists and covers under il. he
will get not only spiritual profit, but he
will get paid back In hard cash or IN con-
vertible securities We often see men who
are tight-fisted who seem to get along with
their investments very proftabfy, notwith-
standing all their parsimony. But wait.
suddenly In that mans history every
or his reason is dethroned, or a
domestic curse srnites him, or a mid
night shadow Of some kind drops upon
his soul and upon his business. What Is
the matter? God ,is Furnishing MIN for his
small heartedness. He tried TO cheat God,
and God wOrsted him. orthat one Of the re-
cipes for the cure Of individual and national
finances Is more generosity. Where you
bestowed Il on the cause OF Christ give 90.
God loves TO be trusted, and he Is very apt
to trust back again. He says: THAT man
knows how to handle money. He shall have
moro money to handle" And very soon
the property that was on the market for a
great while gets n purchaser, and the bond
that was not worth more than fifty cents
on dollar goes TO par, and the opening OF
Il new street doubles the value Of his house,
or In any way Of a million God blesses him
Once the man finds out that secret and
he goes on to fortune There are men
whom | have known who for ten years have
been trying to pay God $1,000. They have
never been able to get il paid, for just as
they were taking ont from one fold of their
pocketbook bill mysteriOusly somehow In
some other fold Of their pocketbOok there
came "A larger bill. You tell me that Chris
tian generosity pays in the world to come.
] tell you it pays now, pays In hard cash,
pays in Government securities. You do
not believe it? 'Ah, that il what keeps you
back. knew you did not believe it. The
whole world and Chrstendom is to be re-
constructed on this subject. and as you are
part OF Christendom let the work begin
in your own soul. But F." says some one,
Il don't believe that theory, because
have been generous and have been losing
money for ten years" Then God prepaid
you, that Is all
What because of the money that you
made In other days? You say to your son,
Now will give YOU 800 every year as
long as you live" After awhile you say,
'Well, my son, you prove yourself SO
worthy OF my confidence | will just give
You $40, 900 In single lump" And you
give it to him, and he starts off. In two or
three years he does not complain against
you: Father is not taking care Of me. |
ought to have $500 a year" You prepaid
your son. and he does not complain. There
are thousands Of us now who can this year
get just enough to supply our wants. But
did not God supply for us in the past and
has he not again and again and again paid
US In advance? In other words trusted you
n 9lOnU-f
n right to ask? Strike, then, q balance for
God. Economize In anything rather than
in your Christian charities There Is not
m more than one out OF 800 of you who ever
give enough to do you any good, and when
some cause of Christianity, some mis-
sionary society or Bible society or
church organization, comes along and gets
anything from you what do you say? You
say: Il have been hled." And there never
was more significant figure Of speech
than that used in common parlance. Yes,
YOU have been bled and you are spiritually
emaciated, when If YOU had been cour-
ageous enough to 60 through your prop
erty and say: THAT belongs to God, and
this belongs to God and the other thing
belongs to God and no more dared TO ap
pirate it to your own use than something
| that belonged to your neighbor, instead OF
being bled 80 death by charities You would
| have been reinvigorated and recuperated
| and built up for time and for eternity. God
| will keep many OF YOU cramped in money
| matters until the day Of your death unless
you swing ont into larger generosities.
| People quote as a joke what is divine
| promise Cast thy bread upon the waters.
| and it will return to thee after many days.
What did God mean by that? There is an
| allusion there. In Egypt when they SOW
! the corn 1t is at a time when the Nile Is
overfowing its banks and they sow the
seed corn on the waters. and as the Nile be-
/ gins TO recede this seed corn strikes in the
earth and comes up harvest, and that IL
! the allusion. 1t seems as if they are throw
! ing the corn away on the waters. but after
awhile they gather il up in harvest. Now
saws God in His word Cast thy bread
upon the waters and il shall come
| back to thee after many days 1t may
seem to YOU that YOU are throwing it away
ou charities. but ii will yield a harvest OF
green and gold a harvest on earth and "a
! harvest in heaven II men could appre-
/ ciate that and act on that We would have
no more trouble about individual or ma
I tional finances.
Prescription the third. for the cure of all
our individual and national financial dis
tresses a great spiritual awakening. 1t Is
no mere theory. The merchants or this
country Were positively demented with the
monetary excitcment in 1857. There never
before nor since has been such state OF
financial depression as there was at that
= n
were born into the Kingdom OF God. What
came after the revival? The grandes'
financial prosperity we have ever had In
this country The finest fortunes, the
largest fortunes III the United States. have
been mad. since 1877. Well. :" you say
what has spiritual Improvement and re-
viyal to do with monetary improvement;
and revival" Much to 10. The religion
~ Jesus Christ has q direct tendency e
rlaAa men honest and Soacr and truth tell
ing. and arr not honesty and sobriety and
truth telling auNiiiaries .: material pros
peritvt
/. we coulf have an awakening tn this
country y. in the DAYS OF Jonathan Ed
wards II NORTHAMPTON, as in the days q
n. Finley 81 Ea-kinS Ridge. a. in the
Iav- Of Or. Gri1ia Of Boston, the Who'll.
land would rouse Il q higher moral tone
and with that moral tone the honest busi
ness enterprise ~ the country would com.
m You say great awakening has s.,
Influence upon the future world. tell yo1
i, has a direct influence upon the faancia
wal,are OF this world. The religion o
Chris, Is no foe - successful business
I. i its best friend. And II there shoul,
come Srva. awakening IN this ccan
try and nil the banks and insurane
COMPANIES and stores and Offices an
sh,,ps should close up for two weeks an,
do nothing bu, attend 10 the public wor