The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-10-08

a. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon
lne earth, where moth and rust consume. and
mn for 'naeyes break thru and steal; but lay
VII, 1920 - nea'en -Aa't.
~ he great teacher is not denouncinr
riches; he is discriminating he
tween two kinds. The passion
= Tor riches is normal one: It is
part OF our divine discomfort.
Every night life endeavors 80 enrich
Itself. satisfaction is stagnatioa. Inre
compels growth. Each new hour y
man either lives more or he lives less,
there Is no standing still. The strife Of
business and the toll Of daily life are
more than efforts to keep at a certain
level; they are the responses to olir in.
ward compellings for Improvement, fof
increase of life.
man seeks money-greater profits.
increased wages-because it will rive
MN larger opportunities, will insure
him more life. But in time he easily
learns to substitute the means for the
end. to think of the money more than
the life; he begins to hoard yellow dirt
and to store up things and call them
treasures. He cages his life by his
goods, and when some disaster sweeps
all these away he counts that life ID
lost. :.
The danger of riches is that the tools
shall become the treasures. Mammon
Is good servant but a terrible master.
riches, be they small or great, bear yout
bless you with larger life. or become d
load which, like a beast of burden, you
must carry. 1t is not enough to make
money; the money must be made to
make more manhood. He is in sura
way to lose his treasures who becomes
no more than their bookkeeper, watch
man and drudge.
But laying up treasure in heaven is
more than storing up Of sighs and sor-
rows, OF crosses and complaints; more
than the investing of a doubtful dime
in the collection in the expectancy of
dividend Of many dollars in glory.
It is not a matter Of insuring a COM
potency there by exhibiting incompe-
tency here; there is no promise. that
the people who are too shiftless to
keep themselves shod here will own the
swiftest autos there.
Heavenly treasures are in the pres
ent tense; faith is more than dealing
in futures. If you do not lay them up
now the chances are you never will.
They are not castles in the skies, far
distant and impalpable. Many life
has been spent in dreaming of mansions
profitable to itself and more pleasing
to it's Maker had it been applied to a
more substantial if less pretentious edl-
flee here.
It is not the money itself; it is thu
manner of it's using that makes 1T
either heavenly and enduring or earthly
and corrupting. A dollar may be either
divine or devilish. 1t is treasured In
heaven if it is invested in that which
makes for the enduring life; if it lifts
any life toward heaven it is itself lift
ed there. Whatever, whether money,
thought, love, or toll, serves humanity,
makes this earth more heavenl ", IS SO
much treasure laid up where burglars
and bankrupts are unknown. 80
Love lays up treasures above; selfish.
ness buries them below. Treasures OF
all kinds slip frof our fingers and are
lost to us if they are guarded only by
greed. But regarded as seed to, be
sown for the feeding Of many, as means
OF multiplying ourselves in service, as
that with which we have been entrust-
ed that we make our Masters garden
as fair and fruitful as He would have
it be, then have we that which by its
use and seeming loss is secured to us
forever.
Your wealth in the heavenly accounts
does not depend on your bank book
here; there the use of manhood counts
for more than money. Character is
ABOVE all the enduring treasure. iouf
value to God depends on what you are
and on how~you give yourselves to the
duringly poor who is truly useful. The
rich life is that which best attains
Hfe's end, the improvement of society
by the perfect Of self. as its servant.
You are successful in the measure that
you are savior of society.
With this grand motive man ought
to seek riches for the enlarging Of his
life, to seek knowledge, money, infu-
ence, all that he may be a better serv-
ant; all that he may live the life Of the
largest usefulness; all that he may
love, the life that we now acknowledge
to be rich above all others, the life that
found these enduring riches by losing
itself in loving service. --....