The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1906-09-06


cIesiastes twell describes the insatiagI~
spirit of some money seekers who are
about us when he says, HE that loveth
silver shall not be satisfied with sill
yer. nor he that observation-disclosures with
increase"
In the first place, | learn from this
text that when man makes money his
idol he is incapable of loving Christ
The two loves are antagonistic. They
are in mortal combat They can no
more live together than a dove could
nest with a buzzard or the light and
the darkness could together fill the
same room. The love of silver is from
the devil The love of Christ is of
God The Bible distinctly says it. I'VE
cannot serve God and Mammon" Ye
cannot serve two masters. For either
you will hate the one and love the
other or else you will hold to the one
and despise the other The house divid-
ed against itself cannot stand There
fore, my friends, you who are giving
your lives more and more to the acqui-
sition OF wealth are at the divergent
forks of two roads. Either you viii have
to surrender your love for gold or else
you will have to surrender your love
for Jesus Christ There is no doubt
about 1t. The love of silver is a sin.
And unless a man Is ready to sur
render all sin he cannot become one
with Christ.
Not Impractical.
"Oh," says some man to me, that is
absurd. You are taking an impractical
bic view of life. Do you mean to tell
me that all merchants who are selling
their goods over counter, that all real
estate spectators who are trying to
make profit out of their land, that all
clerks and mechanics and lawyers and
doctors and professors and scientists
and authors and laborers who are
earning their weekly wages are antag-
onistic to Jesus Christi? No, my
friend, 1 never said that. Thousands
and tens Of thousands and hundreds of
thousands of men who are working in
the busy marts of trade are doing this,
not for love of silver, but for what that
silver will do for them and their loved
ones. They are working for their chill
dren's education. They are working
to put homes over their loved ones
heads They are working, as did Peter
Cooper, to build some institution of
mercy But you know just as well as
l know that there are thousands and
hundreds Of thousands of men who,
having all their temporal necessities
supplied, are not working for any com
potency or even for the Injuries of
life, but In order that they may have
power and fame and position; in order
that they may yet make men bow and
worship them; In order that they may
say, as did Northumberland of old:
Behold, is not this great Babylon that
I have built? Behold, beholdp' Now,
whenever any man comes to the posi-
ton where he is loving gold for COLDS
sake and power for powers sake and
fame for flames sake, then that man is
crowding the love of Jesus Christ out
Of his heart Paul was a tentmaker.
But Paul never made tents in order
that he might build palace and own
thousand acres of land. Paul made
enough money to pay his way to
preach the gospel And when any man
loses sight of the true purpose for
which we are given the opportunities
Of working for money, then that man
becomes a spiritual outcast. "Ye can
not serve God and Mammon" Ye can
not love silver and love Christ at the
same time.
was never more impressed with the
fact that false love can crowd out
our love for Jesus Christ than when,
short time ago, l saw the copy of a
picture entitled "Despised and Reject
ed of Men" The artist did not de-
pict Christ in the oriental judgment
hall of Plate He did not have Jesus
surrounded by Hebrew scoffers in He
brew dress. while he staggered under
his cross through the Jerusalem gates
on his way to Calvary. The artist did
not lift that cross, as we have always
seen 1t. between two thieves. But this
cross of Christ seemed to be hung upon
one Of the pillars Of the subtreasury
building of Wall street, New York.
Then as these American scoffers
passed by, wagging their heads and
sneertng, each one seemed to be alb
sorbed In just one Illicit love. There
Wis the drunkard cllnging to his bot
TIE. There was the libertine with wan
ton eyes watching his prey. There was
the bishop In his gorgeous robes think
ing more Of ecclesiastical honors than
of worshiping at the cross. There was
the maiden dressed In the latest fash
ion, seeming to say, Come, o world,
come and worship me and my beauty"
There was the politician reaching after
fame. And there was the miser or the
banker whose god was gold AS l
watched the long line of men and
women who were rejecting Christ, each
on account of his one Illicit love, this
miser seemed to speak and to stand
out hfore me as the most despicable
Of ALL
why They Reject Him.
I seemed to see him lift his golden
coins and drop them back into the
withered palm of his hand as he said: