The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-07-16
The Cost of Economy.

And King David said to Ornan,
Nay; but will buy II of thee for the
fun price,. Chronicles 21:24.
Thus did one man decline to take
advantage OF what the world would
call a bargain" Such refusal, how
ever, might be little better than quiz
otic. One needs a good reason when
he persists in making things costly
to himself. David evidently thought
he had such reason.
He had gone up to Ornan's thresh-
Ing floor for the purpose of there
erecting an altar at his own expense.
The shame of his recent crime was
so keen that he was willing to pay
any reasonable price for expiation.
Judge then his surprise to be Of
fered the property without cost to
himself. What a chance to econo-
mize,
But David knew a thing that we
sometimes forget. The souls pro-
cesses can never be cheapeDed. To
shave the cost of ones altar is to
cheat oneself. Life has no real short
cuts to triumph God appoints no
bargain days on which the shrewd
trader may enrich himself at the
expense of the Almighty. To attempt
the payment of ones spiritual debts
in the property of another, to offer
the sacrifices of contrite heart with
out personal drain, is a specious
fraud
What is the spelling" of a child?
What but the payment by parents of
the price which the child ought to
pay? my child does not know the
meaning of self-denial." said a moth
er overload. Pity such childl Miss
ing the meaning of self-denial he
VIII miss all the real prizes of life
l knew young man who made a
hit at his first public venture. But
that first hit was his last; he has
never found the range since. Easy
success ruined him. The short cut
was a blind alley. The sorriest thing
that ever happened to Coleridge was
when his friends guaranteed him
against a rainy day. His muse sick
ened with the absence of bracing airs.
Hardship had kept his soul awake.
but ease drugged him. oh, the cheats
we practice against ourselves by our
economies
The last place for a man to save
money is on his gifts. Let him wear
the old overcoat another season. II
need be; let him reduce the length
OF his bill of fare, let him not shave
the cost of those affairs which love
builds. The dearest economies we
ever practice are those which touch
our benefactions. Our lass is great
er than that of the cause we refuse
to help. Charity can better stand nv
Withholding of help than can stand
Withholding 1t. To let another do
my giving is to let him have my
blessing. If Ornan builds my altar
Tor me he also takes my joy.
That man who asks how much he
must give up in order to be a good
man has gotten hold of the wrong
end OF the matter. The question is
rather how good he wants to be. A
disciple who finds that his path in
cludes no crosses may well pause to
ask which master he is following.
Lies real altars represent the she'd
ding of blood. To repeat, then, Da-
yid's great renunciation at Ornan's
threshing floor to hold bravely to
the sacrificial quality of human life
at It's best, to refuse all ignoble light
enfng of loads, to bleed that we NAV
bless-in spite of all complacent
voices TO the contrary-this is one
OF the rich truths of life.-George
Clarke Peck, st. Andrews M. E.
Church, in the New York Sunday
Herald.