The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-17
IS ANGELES. Cal. December 1o.- That goodliness is profitable both in

That goodliness is profitable both Ill L this world and the next and that re- ligion brings in it's train enduring success and material as well as spiritual bless ing is shown in this sermon, for which the preacher has taken as his text the story of Joseph in Genesis xxxlx, ?, And he was prosperous man.
 Did you every stop to think how much God appeals to the selfish motives of the children of Israel in the old Testament?' said an aged Christian some time ago. "l am nearly eighty years or age now, but am not too old To read the Bible So a few weeks ago, with my daughter, I decided to start at the first chapter of Genesis and go straight through the Old Testament Though l have read the Bible many times before. 1 was never struck with this fact so much as during the last reading. All through the Pentateuch and up to the time of Joshua and the Judges, God keeps saying: Follow me, and 1 will
 increase your herds Follow me, and I will give you land. Follow me, and l will make you a powerful people. God seems to be appealing almost entirely to man s self interest instead of to mans duty to make SdcrlDceS LOT iilill. W ell, Sdlut that is so. l never thought of that mat ter before. l am going to look into it." When l went homesI began to turn the leaves of my Bible, and l found what my good friend said was literally true. In that child age of the world God wooed men as we woo children, to be good with promises of reward And he kept his promises When the children of Israel | Obeyed God, then God prospered them. And when they went to worshppins false | idols and disobeyed God, then God sent | them wars and pestilences and famnes and trials of all sorts. He seemed to say, "Obey me and prosper" or, "Disobey me and suffer-" He seemed to appeal to their selfish motives in order to make them | good. And yet. as l sat in my study breeding over this thought, 1 said to my self, "Is it not possible to find the cause of every mans actions and deeds in a selfish motive?"
 Abraham Lincoln said: "No man ever did anything in life unless it was with a selfish motve" One day when riding about on his Illinois circuit with a brother lawyer he argued this question by the | way. At last as the two lawyers were l passing a mudhole the future president saw a little pig struggle in the mud and 1 about to be drowned. L<scoln dsmounted from his horse. He waded through the l 1t on the solid ground. Then he mounted his horse to ride on to the next county seat. There" said the lawyer, Lincoln, you have disproved your own case. You say a man does nothing but with selfish | motive. What selfish motive did you have In saving that little plg?" My motive was purely selfish one, answered Lin | coin. ''I did not want to go into that pud- de and get my clothes covered with mud any more than you did. But l said to my l self, Abe, if you don't save that pig you will hear him squealng all night long, calling for help, and you won't get a wink of sleep l saved him in order to keep my conscience from botnerlng me-" Like Abraham Lincoln are many of us. When we analyze our motives for doing some good deed we often find self interest at the bottom, It Is not always pity for the sufferer that prompts the charitable gifts | so much fear of tho self upbraiding | we would have to endure if we refused to give Of course that is very low motive, but 1t is very potent one with the ma jority of people. Now, I want to show you that even on that low plane religion has claims that no one can afford to ig- nore. Godliness Is profitable for the life | that now is as well as for that which is to come. Like Joseph, you want to be- come prosperous man, and, like Joseph, we all want to make the best of our lives.
 Wants to Be Prosperous.
 Every man, in the first place, wants to be financially prosperous. This does not mean that he necessarily wants to be a millinaire and have private yacht and palaces scattered all over the country, like the Duke of Westminster or a wardrobe crowded full of garments which he can never wear out, like the head of the Ger man empire, who has a different uniform to correspond with every regiment of his army and different uniform for every foreign regiment and navy of which he is an honorary oolonei or admiral That does not mean that he wants to go on hoard ing up his gold until his wealth becomes so great that he does not know where to Invest his surplus capital But 1t does mean that every man wishes to be finan- cially independent. He wants to have a home over his head. He wants to be able to pay his butcher and baker and clo- thier's bils He wants to be able to buy books. When his family is sick he want g to be able to hire physician and nurse and to have the proper medicines and deli cacies for them Now all these financial blessings are associated with the conse- crated Christian life. As God cared for Joseph and clothed him and fed him and made 1t possible for him to care for his | loved ones so God will clothe and feed us and care for Us if we trust him and
 like Joseph, do our best. And yet to hear some cynics talk you would suppose that great spiritual conservation inevitably goes hand in hand with financial bank ruptcy. If disciple of Jesus Christ is to be strictly honest they think he must dress in rags and have no roof which he can claim as his own. Yet the direct op- posite of this supposition is true. God has promised that those who seek first the kingdom of heaven shall not lack any good thing
 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday to- day and forever How did God deal with His disciples of old? Does Abraham come before us dressed in rags? Was Joseph a bankrupt? Did Job have to beg his bread after he had remained true to God and forgive his three miserable friends? Did Joseph always remoin a hireling q slave and an outcast? Was Daniel always a despicable youth? Was David a perpetual refugee in King Achish's court? Did Mor- decai always have to bend the knee to the wicked Haman? Were only the bad men of the Bible garmented in silks and the good men clothed in rags? Nay King Solomon once wrote "Seest thou a man fore kings, he shall not stand before ob- scure men" That statement applies just as much to Gods disciples as to any one else If a man is true follower of God as was Joseph, and, like him. faithful and dilgent, he will not be kept from sue cess by his religion There are cases in which God. caring for the best interests ol his child sends diversity upon him, as