The Penn's Grove record., 1897-07-30

20 ~ NRe- y
q new street doubles the value OF his house,
or In any way OF a million God bleases him
Once the man finds out that secret and
he goes on to fortune. There arc men
whom l have known who for ten years ave
been trying to pay God $1,000. Thoy have
never been able to get it paid, for lust as
they were taking out from one fold OF their
pocketbook a bill mysteriously somehow in
some other fold OF their pockefbook there
came a larger bill. You tell me that Chris
tian generosity pays In the world to come.
i tell you 1t pays now, pays In hard cash,
pays in Government securities. You do
not believe itf All, that Is what keeps you
back, ] knew you did not believe II. The
whole world and C~hristendom Is to be re.
constructed on this subject, nnd-As you are
a part OF Christendom let the work begin
In your own soul. "But, says some one,
81 don't belle We that theory, because
have been generous and l rave been losing
money for ten years." Then God prepaid
What because OF the money that you
made In other days2 YOU say TO your son,
long as you live.' After awhile you say,
well, my son, you prove yourself SO
worthy of my confidence I will just give
you S20, 900 In a single lump And you
give 1t to him, and he starts on. In two OF
three years he does not complain against
you: FEATHER 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 u wants. But
did not Goo supply for us in the past and
has he not again and again and again paid
us In advancel In other words, trusted you
all along-trusted you more than you had
a right to ask? Strike, then, n balance FOL
God. Eeonomize in anything rather thar
in your Christian. charities. There Is moi
morethan 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 OF
church organization, comes along and gets
anything from you what do you say2 You
say; II have been bled." And there never
was q more significant figure Of speech
than that used In common parlance. Yes,
you have been bled, and you are spiritually
emaciated, when II you had been o
ageous enough to go 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 APP
PIRATE 1t 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 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 out into larger g~enerosities.
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 IN
ailusion there. In Egypt when they SOW
the corn 1t is at O time when the Nile Is
overfowing Its banks, and they SOW the
seed corn on the waters, and asthe Nile be-
gins to recede this seed corn strikes In the
earth and comes up q harvest, and that is
the nllusion. 1t seems as IL they are throw
ing the corn away on the waters, but after
awhile they gather it up In a harvest. Now
says God In His word, Cast thy bread
upon the waters, and 1t shall come
back to thee after many days" 1t may
seem to YOU that you are throwing It away
on charities. but It will yield a harvest OF
green and gold-a harvest on eurth 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
tional finances.
Prescription the third, for the cure OF all
our individual and national financial dis
~tresses, a great spiritual awakening. II is
no mere theory. The mercs""tyA&this
country were positively dementeys with Inc
monetary excitement 10 1857. There never
before nor since has been such o state Of
financial depression as there was Ut that
time. A revival came, n 900, 900 people
were born into the kingdom Of God. What
came after the revival The grandest
financial prosperity we have ever had In
this country. The finest fortunes, the
largest fortunes in theU United States, have
been made since 1857. "Well," you say,
what has spiritual improvement and re-
yiyal to do with monetary Improvement
and revival2' Much to do. The religion
OF Jesus Christ has a direct tendency to
make men honest and sober and truth tell
Ing, and are not honesty and sobriety and
truth telling auxiliaries Of material pros
perltv2
II we could have an awakening In this
country us in the days OF Jonathan Ed
wards OF Northampton, as In the days Of
DR.. Finley OF Basking Ridge, rs In the
DAYS OF DR.. Griffin OF Boston, the whole
land would rouse to o higher moral tone,
and with that moral tone the honest busi-
ness enterprise Of the country would come
up. You say a great awakening has an
upon the future world. l tell you
Ii has q direct influence upon the financial
walfare OF this world. The religion OF
Christ Is no foe to successful business.
1t is its best friend. And il there should
come a great awakening In this coun-
try, and all the banks and insurance
companies and stores and Offices and
shops should close up for two weeks int
nothing but attend to the public wor-
ship OF Almighty God, utter such q spiritual
vacation the land would wake up to such
financial prosperity as we have never
dreamed OF. Goodness Ii profitable for the
life that now is as well as for that which Is
to come. But, my friends, do not put too
much emphasis On worldly success as to
let your eternal affairs go ut loose ends.
l have nothing to say against money. The
more money you get the better, II i comes
honestly and goes usefuiiy; For the
cine. and hunger finds its comm In
empty bread tray, and nakedness shiyers
for clothes and fire. Ali this cantirg TRADE
against money, as though 1t had no practi-
use, when / hear a man indulge In It,
me think the best heaven for him
would be an everlasting ~poorhouse. No;
there is a practical use In money, but while
we admit that we must also admit that IL
cannot satisfy the soul, that 1t cannot pay
for our ferriage across the Jordan OF death,
that IL cannot unlock the gate OF heaven
for our immortal soul.
All The mines of Australia and Brazil,
strung In one c~areRnet, arc not worth t.,
you as much as the pearl OF great price.
You remember, I suppose, some years ago.
the shipwreck OF b Central AInericaf Al
storm came on that vessel. The surges|
tramped the deck and swept down through
the matches, and there went up o.
hundred voiced death shrek. b foam
the jaw OF the wave The pitching Of
the steamer, as though It would leap a
mountain. The glare Of the signRi rockets
The long cough Of the steam pipes. The
hiss of extinguished furnaces. The walk
ing OF God on the wave. oh, 1t wsg NJ
stnpendous spectacle. But that ship did
not go down without . struggle. The pas
g stood In long lines trying to bail It
out. and men unused TO toll tuGged until
their hands were blistered and their muscles
were strained. After awhile a san Game In
sight. A few passengers got on, but the
most went down. The ship gave one lurch
and was lost.
So there are mon who go on In lise-a
fine voyage they are making out OF 1t. All
Is we'll till some suroelydon OF business
disaster comes upon them. and they go
down. The bottom OF this commercial sea
is strewn with the shattered hunks. But
because your property goes shall your soul
90? Oh, no. There Is coming a moro
shipwreek after awhile. This
worid-God launched 1t 5000 years ago and
1t Is sailing on, but IN day It will stagger
the cry OF "Flrei'f and the tlmbers OF
the rocks will burn, and the mountains
flame like masts, and the clouds like sails
In the Judgment hurricane. God will take q