The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-04-09

oe NY care tnae you ana yours 90 not SUI
fel want" If you really believed in that
man and trusted him, there could be no
further anxiety on your part. Only as far
as you disbelieved in him, only as far as
you distrusted his honor or his generosity
could you be anxious. Now the richest
being in the universe, God who owns it
all, has laid Himself under obligation to us
by bringing us into the world. God has
duties, as every moral being must have.
If father or a mother has duties toward
an offspring, God must have duties to-
ward Us. He has invited us to come and
live in His house. yea, has brought us here
whether we would or not, and He has said
in effect that if we will do as well as we
can He will care. for US. 1t is only as far
disbelieve in His providence, that anxiety
can find place in our lives. why are We
anxious?" asked Jesus. eff God clothes
the. grass of the field and cares for the
birds of the air, shall He not much more
care for you. O We of little faith?"
But this is only onehalf of Paul's secret.
He had learned how to be abased, but he
had also learned how to abound. He had
| learned to face adverse circumstances, and
| he had also learned to face prosperity. We
must all have known people who came un-
scathed through adversely, and were after
ward ruined by prosperity. Under the IN
fuence of good fortune, they become con-
ceited, arrogant and selfish. More people
have been spoiled by wealth than by pow
| erty. / have come to feel that no greater
evil can befall a young man or woman
| than to be rich through the effort of father
or grandfather, and SO be freed from the
| blessed necessity of winning ones own way.
| Those who struggle from poverty to aff1u-
! ence by learning first how to be abased af-
| terward learn how to abound. But those
| who begin in abundance are frequently
| spoiled by possessing without effort what
we are apt to call the blessings of life.
Wealth may be blessing. but poverty is
oftener so. Jesus said: Blessed are the
poor" Now poor man is not blessed be-
cause he is poor. If that were so how easy
| for any one of us to secure blessedness.
| But poverty urges to effort and effort opens
the door to large attainment.
How, then, may one cultivate and pre-
serve such admirable qualities of charac-
ter, the true riches of the soul, while fac
ing prosperity?
CD Let him. in the first place take les
son in humility. We are apt to say of a
wealthy man, HE is independent" 1t is
false saying. No man who lives in civ
ilized community is independent. The only
really independent being is the savage man
who lives by himself in the wilderness,
dressing in the skins of wild beasts and
eating roots. The moment he exchanges
his bear skin for blanket he places him
self under obligation to the man who raises
the sheep, the man who cuts the wool, the
man who spins the yarn, the man who
weaves the blanket. The moment he ex-
changes his diet of roots for one of bread
he places himself under obligation to the
| farmer who raises the wheat, the reaper
to thousands of others whose busy brains
and hands have constructed the lnstru-
ments which make these processes possible.
| This truth is extremely far reaching. Not
| only for material wealth are we under OBJ
| legations to our fellows, but also for our in
| tellectual wealth. Others have labored and
| we have entered into their labors. 1t is
creditable for man to study and possess
| the wisdom of the ages. But let him tenn
| per has pride in the abundance of his intel
| lectual possession with the thought that
| every great truth he learns has been dis
| covered by another. Our abundance of in
| tellectual riches has been dug out of the
solid rock by the men of the past who la
bored with bleeding hands.
| And this is just as true of those spiritual
| riches which we value. Liberty of thought,
| how much has it cost in the suffering and
| mighty courage of men who have long since
gone to their reward9 The environment of
our lives which conduces to purity of heart,
| how much did it cost in the struggle of our
ancestors out of beastly state into de-
cency of living? Let us not be wise IN our
own concet, but in the midst of our abund-
ance let us think humbly, soberly, accord
ing as God has given unto us, through the
ministry of our fellow men, the measure
Of all things which we possess.
| 81 Then as we face abundance, even as
| when we face want, let us endeavor to ap-
| preciate the relation of values. Is the man
who possesses wealth better than the man
who possesses nothing? Perhaps. But not
because he possesses wealth. Is the univer-
sity graduate, the. man who. possesses intel
lectual riches, better than the man who has
never been to school? May be. But not
man who possesses much and is stingy is
worse than the man who possesses little
| and is stingy, because there may be an ex-
cuse for the stineiness of the man who has
| only crust and faces starvation, but there
| is no excuse for the man who goes on add
other thousands, while his neighbors hun
ger. There may be excuse for the ignor-
ant man for not trying to advance the I'M
| tellectual standards of the community in
which he lives He has nothing to give, no
| capital to work with. But there is no ex-
| cuse to be made by the man who has had
all the advantages that the colleges afford,
for doing nothing for thesworld. He has
| power and should use it.
The only riches worth while are in the
| character. Use your abundant possessions
to help build The kingdom of God, as the
workman uses his tools to construct a
wall or to build bridge. So shall your
| dollars be transformed into character, and
your intellectual achievements minister to
ethical attainments.
(3) Finally learn to face prosperity by
continually acknowledging that what you
seem to possess you do not really possess
at all. You are only a. trustee of a portion
of the estate which belongs to God. I
possess SO many golden dollars. How beau
| tiful they are, how substantial, how en-
during. See me clutch them. They are
mine I will hold them. Nothing shall
rob me of them. Nothing? Wait. Shortly
this hand of mine which clutches so firmly
shall be palsed in death and later crumble
to dust. The grasp upon the gold shall be
| loosened. Mine? It was never mine. Out
Of Gods earth it came. In Gods earth no
human power can prevent it's ultimately
returning NAKED came / into the world,
and naked shall / depart thither." To-
night, may be, that journey shall COM
mence. How absurd. then, to talk Of my
possessing wealth.
But there is one possession which we
shall keep, and which shall endure as long
as we endure. Character shall endure, be-
cause my character is myself. If one has
learned love. that shall abide. Purity of
heart, honesty of purpose, kindness of life