The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-08-05

God that which belongs to him, and
when We keep back anything from God
he takes what, we keep back, and he
takes more. He takes it by storm, by
sickness, by bankruptcy, by any one
of the ten thousand ways which he can
employ. The reason many Of you are
cramped in business is because you
have never learned the lesson of Chris
tian generosity. You employ an agent.
You give him a reasonable salary; and,
10! you find out that he is appropriat-
ing your funds besides the salary.
What do you do? Discharge him.
Well, we are Gods agents. He puts
in our hands certain moneys. Part are;
to be ours. Part are to be his. Sup
pose we take all, what then? He will
discharge us; he will turn us over to
financial disasters. and take the trust
away from us. The reason that great
multitudes are not prospered in busi-
ness is simply because they have been
withholding from God that which be-
longs to him. The rule is, give, and
you will receive. Administer literally,
and you shall have more to administer.
l am in full sympathy with the man
who was to be baptized by immersion,
and some one said, "You had better
leave your pocket book out, it will get
wet" NO." said he, II want to go
down under the wave with everything.
l want to consecrate my property and
all to God" And so he was baptized.
What we want in this country is more
baptized pocketbooks.
l had relative whose business
seemed to be failing. Here loss, and
there loss, and everything was both
ering, perplexing and annoying him.
He sat down one day and said, God
must have a controversy with me about
something. I believe 1 haven't given
enough to the cause of Christ" And
there and then he took out his check
book and wrote large check for mis-
slonary society. He told me, "That
was the turning point in my business.
Ever since then l have been prosper
GUS. From that day, aye, from that
very hour. I saw the change" And,
sure enough, he went on, and gathered
a fortune. The only safe investment
that man can make in this world is
in the cause of Christ. If a man give
from superabundance, God may or
he may not respond with a blessing;
but if a man give until he feels it, if a
man give until it fetches the. blood,
If a man give until his selfishness
cringes and twists and covers under
it he will get not only spiritual pro-
fit, 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 invest
ments very profit ably, notwithstanding
denly in that mans history everything
goes wrong. His health fails, or his
reason is dethrened, or domestic
curse smites him. or a midnight sha-
dow of some kind drops upon his soul
and upon his business. What is the
matter? God is furnishing him for his
small heaA'tedness. He tried to cheat
God and God worsted him. So that
one of the recipes for the cure of in
dividual and national finances is more
generosity. Where you bestowed one
dollar on the cause of Christ, give two.
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 more money to
handle" And very soon the property
that was on the market for a great
while gets a purchaser, and the bond
that was not worth more than fifty
cents on dollar goes to par, and the
opening of new street doubles the
value of his house, or in any way of
million God blesses him.
People quote as a joke what Is a d.
vine 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 illusion there. In
Egypt, when they sow'sthe corn, it is
at time when the Nile is overlooking
it's 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 harvest and that
is the allusion. It seems as if they are
throwing the corn away on the waters,
but after while they gather it up in
harvest. 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 throwing it away on charities; but
it will yield harvest of green and gold
"a harvest on earth and harvest in
heaven. If men could appreciate 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 f.
nancial distresses; a great spiritual
awakening 1t is no more theory. The
merchants OF this country were posi-
lively demented with the monetary ex-
element in 1857. There never before
nor since has been such state of fl
nancial depression as there was at that
time. A revival came, and five hundred
thousand people were born into the
kingdom of God. What came after the
revival? The grandest financial pros
perity we have ever had in this coun-
try. The finest fortunes, the largest