Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-07-26
until his selfishness cringes ana twists

only spiritual profit, but he will get
paid back in hard cash or in convertible
securities We often see men who are
tight listed who seem to get along with
their investments very profitably, not
withstanding all their parsimony. But
wait Suddenly in that mans history
everything goes wrong. His health
fails, or his season is dethroned, or
domestic curse smites him, or a mid
night shadow Of some kind drops upon
his soul and upon his business. What
is the matter? God is Furnishing him
for his small heartedness. He tried to
cheat God, and God worsted him. So
that one of the recipes for the cure of
individual and national finances is
more generosity. Where you bestowed
81 on the cause of Christ give
So. God loves to be trusted, and he is
very apt to trust back again. He says:
'sThat man knows how to handle
money. He shall have more money to
handle And very soon the property
that was On the market for great
while gets a purchaser, and the bond
that was not worth more than SO cents
on dollar goes to par, and the opening
of new street doubles the value of his
house, Or in any way Of a million God
bIesses him.
Christian Generosity.
Once the man finds out that secret
and he goes on to fortune. There are
men whom I have known who for ten
years have been trying to pay God
$1,000. They have never been able to
get it paid, for just as they were taking
out from one fold Of their pocketbook a
bill mysteriously somehow in some
other fold of their pocketbook there
came a larger bill. You tell me that
Christian generosity pays in the world
to come. I tell you it pays now, pays
in hard cash, pays in government Sc
curities. You do not believe it? All,
that is what keeps you back. [ knew
you did not believe it. The whole world
and Christendom is to be reconstructed
on this subject, and as you are part
of -Christendom let the work begin III
your own soul. ''But, says some one,
st don't believe that theory, because [
have been generous and I have been
losing money for ten years. Then God
prepaid you, that is all.
What became Of the money that you
made in other days? You say to your
son, ''Now will give you $500 every
year as long as you live" After awhile
you say, "WeIl, 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. 1 ought to have
$500 year. i" 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 all along-trusted
you more than you had a right to ask?
Strike, then, balance for God. EcOno-
mize in anything rather than in your
Christian charities. There is not 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, 81 have been bled. ;"
And there never was more significant
figure of speech than that used in COM
mon parlance. Yes, you have been bled,
and you are spiritually emaciated, when
if you had been courageous enoug h to
go through your property and say,
''That belongs to God, and this belongs
to God, and the other thing belongs to
God, and no more dared to appropriate
it to your own use than something that
belonged to your neighbor, instead Of
being b1ed to death by charities you
would have been reinvigorated and re-
cuperated 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 out into
larger generosities.
Great Promise.
People quote as joke what is a
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 it is at
time when the Nile is OVERLOOKING its
banks, and they sow the seed corn on
the waters, and as the Nile begins to
recede this seed corn strikes in the earth
and comes up a harvest, and that is the
allusion. It seems as if they are throw
ing the corn away on the waters, but
after awhile they gather it up in har-
vest. Now says God in his word, "Cast
thy bread upon the waters, and it shall
come back to thee after many days"
1t may seem to you that you are throw
ing it away on charities, but it will
yield a harvest of green and gold-a
harvest on earth and harvest in heav
en-. IF men could appreciate that and
act on that, we would have no more
trouble about individual or national
finances