The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1905-12-14
Calnase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talnaee. D. D.


brings in its 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 xxx, .,
"AIf he was a prosperous man.
I'D you ever stop to think how much
God appeals to the selfish motives of
the children Of Israel in the Old Tesla
ment2v said an aged Christian some
time ago. Il am nearly eighty years
of age now, but am not too old to read
the Bible. SO few weeks ago, with
my daughter, / decided to start at the
first chapter of Genesis and go straight
through the Old Testament. Though
| have read the Bible many times be-
fore, / was never struck with this fact
so much as during the last reading.
All through the Pentateueh and UP to
the time of Joshua and the Judges
God keeps saying: Follow me, and l
will increase your herds. Follow me,
and l will give you land. Follow me,
and will make you a powerful peo-
pie God sees to be appealing al
most entirely t. mans self interest in
stead of to mans duty to make sacri-
fees for him." well" said, that is
so. I never thought of that matter be-
fore. am going to look inSb it. :"
When / went home ] began to turn
the leaves of my Bible, and / found
what my good friend said was literally
re tIn v0y.i1
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 worshiping false idols and dis
obeyed God, then God sent them wars
and pestilences and famines 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 | sat in my study
brooding over this thought, said to
myself, rs it not possible to find the
cause of every mans actions and deeds
in a selfish motive?"
Abraham Lincoln said, mo man ever
did anything in life unless 1t was with
a selfish motive" 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 law
yers were passing a mudhole the fu-
ture president saw little pig strug-
Cling in the mud and about to be
drowned. Lincoln dismounted from his
horse. He waded through the mud,
picked up the little pig and placed it
on the solid ground. Then he mounted
his horse to ride on to the next county
seat .'There." said the lawyer Lin
coin, you have disproved your own
case. You say man does nothing but
with a selfish motive. What selfish
motive lid you have in saving that lit
tie pig?v MY motive was purely
selfish enc" answered Lincoln. Il did
not want to go into that puddle and get
my. clothes covered with mud any more
than you did But l said to myself,
Abe. if YOU don't save that pig you
will hear him squealing all night long,
calling for help. and you won't get
wink Of Sleep / saved him in order to
keep my conscience from bothering
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. 1t is
not always pity for the sufferer that
prompts the charitable gifts so much
as fear of the self upbraiding we would
have to endure if we refused to give.
OF course that is very low motive.
but it is a very potent one with the ma
iority of people. Now, / want to show
you that even ON that low plane reli-
gion has claims that no one can afford
to ignore. Goodness is profitable for
the life that now is as well as for that
which is to come Like Joseph, you
want to become a 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 millionaire and have a private
yacht and palaces scattered all over
the country, like the Duke of Westmin-
ster, or wardrobe crowded full of
garments which he can never wear out,
like the head Of the German empire,
who has a different uniform to CORE
spond with every regiment of his army
and a different uniform for every for
eign regiment and navy of which he is
an honorary colonel or admiral That
does not mean that he wants to go on
boarding up his gold until his wealth
becomes so great that he does not
know where to invest his surplus CAPT
tai But it does mean that every man
wishes to be financially Independent.
He wants to have a home over his
head. He wants to be able to pay his
butcher and baker and clothier's bills.
He wants to be able to buy books.
When his family is sick he wants to be
able to lire a physician and nurse
and to have the proper medicines and
delicacies for them. Now all these
financial blessings are associated with
the consecrated Christian life AS God
cared for Joseph and clothed him and
fed him and made it possible for him
to care for his loved ones, so God will
,l.s4y,o .,,5 food re aud care for TIS 10