The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-30

Il don't believe that theory. because I
e generous n ] have been
losing money for ten years" Then God
prepaid you. that IL all.
What became of the money that you
in other days. You say to your
son. Now / will give you $500 every
year As long as you live" After awhile
you say. We'll. my son. you prove
yourself so worthy of my confidence /
will just give you $4,000 in a single
And you give IL to him. and he
starts of. In two or three years he does
complain against YOU: Father Is
not taking care OF me. I ought to have
$500 a year." You prepaid your son.
and he does not complain. There are
thousands of US now who 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, a balance for God. Ecouo- i
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
missionary society or Bible society or
church organization, comes along and
gets anything from you what do you
say? You say, Il have been BLEED"
And there never was a 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 enough to
go through your property and say. /!
That belongs to God. and this belongs
to God, and the other thing belongs TO
Cod" and no more dared to appropr1-
ate it to your own use than something
that belonged to your ~neighbor. instead
of being bled to death by charities you
would have been Refrigerated 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.
A GREAT PROMISE.
People quote as a 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
a 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. 1t seems as if they are
I'LL NHC Solh away oi tiN
but after awhile they gather it up in a
harvest. Now say God in his word,
Cast thy bread upon the waters. and
it shall come back to thee after many
days." 1t may seem to o that you
are throwing it away on charities, blu
it will yield a harvest of green and gold
"a harvest on earth and a harvest in
heaven. If men could appreciate that
and act on that, we would have no
more trouble o Individual or ma
iOnal finances.
Prescription the third, for the cure of
all our individual and national finan-
cial distresses, a great spiritual awak-
ening. 1t is no mere theory. The mer-
chants of this country were positively
demented with the monetary excite
ment in 1857. There never before nor
since has been such a state Of f1nanc-
cial depression as there was at that
time. A revival came, and 500, 900 peo-
pie were born into the kingdom of God
What came after the revival? The
%grandest financial prosperity we have
eve had in this country. The finest
fortunes, the largest fortunes in the
United States, nave been made since
1857. WELL" you say, what has
spiritual improvement n revival to
do with monetary improvement and re-
vival?" Much to do. The religion of
Jesus Christ has a direct tendency to
make men honest and sober and truth
telling, and are not honesty and So
briefly and truth telling auxiliaries of
material prosperity?
If we could have an awakening in
this country as in the days of Jonathan
Edwards of Northampton, as in the
days of DR.. Finley of Basking Ridge,
as in the days of DR.. Griffin of Boston,
the whole land would rouse to a higher
moral tone, and with that moral tone
the honest business enterprise of the
country would come up. You say a
great awakening has an influence upon
the future world. / tell you it has a di-
rect influence upon the financial well
fare of this world. The religion Of
Christ is no foe to successful business.
1t is it's best friend. And if there should
come a great awakening in this
try, and all the banks and insurance
companies n stores and offices and
s~hops-should close up for two weeks
and do nothing but attend to the pub
lie worship of almighty God. after such
a spiritual vacation the land would
wake III to such financial prosperity as
we have never dreamed Of. Goodness
is profitable for the life that now is as
we'll as for that which is to come. But,
my friends, do not put 81 much empha-
sis on worldly success as to let your
eternal affairs go at loose ends 1 lave
nothing to say against money. The
more money you get the better, if it
honestly and goes u~sefully. Fol
the lack Of it cknes dies without
medicine, and hunger finds it's coffin in
an empty bread tray, and nakedness
shivers for clothes and fire. All this
canting TRADE against money as though
it had no practical use. when / hear a
man indulge in it, it makes me think
the best heaven for him would be an
everlasting poOrhouse. No; there is a
practical use in money, but while we
admit hat we must also admit hat it
cannot satisfy the soul, that it cannot
pay for our ferriage across the Jordan
Of DEATH. that it cannot unlock the gate
of heaven for our immortal soul.
SHIPWRECK.
Yet there are men who act as though
packs of bonds and mortgages could be
traded off for a mansion in heaven, and
as though gold were a legal tender in
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