The Newtown bee., 1904-03-25

To use money to promote religion is all right; but to use religion to make money is very different matter. Everything of right belongs to the Lord, who gives us what we have in trust to use for Him and for our fellow men. All we are, and all we have be- longs to Him. AS David said: "All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee." Even the power to get wealth is the gift of God, and must not be abused.
 The Almighty Father is very partic- ular as to what we offer to Him; and also as to the spirit in which we give. The tirst-fruits, and the best of all we have is exacted of us, always. No other can De acceptable in the nature of the case. Shall we presume to put off God with the second best of any thing? It cannot be! Such religion as that is false and unworthy to begin with. What! sell the best and put the money in the bank, or buy our selves luxuries with it, and give the Lord the unmarketable, the refuse!
 There is no better test of our love than our willingness to give the best we have. The Lord loves the cheerful giver. The spirit of self-sacrifice is what touches the heart of Christ. Self denial to honor God is indeed an honor and delight to Him. The widows mite was more than all the treasures of the rich because it was like the divine love. She simply gave all she had! She could not do more than that. To give to the Lord that which we do not need, and which we care little about anyway is not much honor to Him, nor to us. To give what is neces- sary to our personal comfort and con- venience is more like the divine exam pie.
 The Ananias and Sapphira act ex- hibits a certain method of giving which I fear is rather common. They "sold possession, and kept back part of the price," They took advantage of the situation, perhaps, to dispose of their property. It may be that the necessities of the saints led to a good bargain for them so that they could well afford to lay down part at the Apostles feet for the cause of Christ. Does it not pay to be pious? That was the devils idea when he accused Job, "Doth Job fear God for naught?"
 Now selling things to give to the Lord is different from giving to the Lord in order to sell things so as to make a good business of it for ones own selfish purpose. It is best to be honest with the Lord even if you mean to cheat your neighbor in the deal. Lying to God is bad policy, always. "Godliness is profitable, even in business, because religion is a bond of confidence between man and man. But to join the. church for the sake of busi- ness would be the degradation of both the man, his religion, and his business too. I have known some churches which seemed to be some sort of mu tual benefit associations, not so much for the promotion of piety as for the monopoly of business interests.
 I sometimes have opportunities tc make money easily, and quickly be
 cause of my profession. As a ministe
 of the everlasting Gospel have infu
 ence with some good people who hav'
 money to invest. Will sell my influ
 ence? Will I lend my name to tn
 promoters of schemes to get rich b.
 enticing the money out of other pee D ple'S pockets? l can have a gift bribe in other words, if I will be tn means of tempting my friends wh . trust in me, to invest in that whic
 has cost me nothing but the sacrific of my religion!
 | Zeal for the Lord often shows itse] mainly in efforts to get money out ( others. And it is sometimes the cas
 that the cash given goes for cause i
 which the giver has no interest, an f which his conscience does not approv' }, but it is the custom, and it is one ( # the tricks of trade. Many give hopin !. to get it back in some way, with inte Il est. It is a sort of pious investmen
 Above all things let us be hone!
 with God. What we give to Him lt n it be outright and without pretensio l. Don't be so mean as to patronize tf 'e devil to raise money for the Lord. AT
 don t let us try to get something f
 nothing in His name. l fail to see hO re a ten-cent supper which costs twent
 five cents can do much for the kingdo
 of heaven. And I cannot understal a how working for nothing is any hon is to cur Master, in whose cause we labt k, Frank H. Renman, counsellor at la m New York City, and an intimate frie