The Riches of Our Poverty.pdf

The Riches of Our Poverty By Carl G. Doney, Ph. D.

"Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?" — ^James ii, 5. "Sacrifice is the first element of religion, and resolves itself, in theological language, into the love of God."--Froude. "Taking the first footstep with the good thought, the second with the good word, the third with the good deed, I entered paradise. ... All good flows out from the Deity, and all must te absorbed in Him again.** — Zoroaster. "When God has once given us to know Himself, this greatest of all gifts He gives forever. ... If we have ever once really trusted the Supreme Goodness, that will always remain in the depths of the soul, a seed of hope and love. . . . That which brought the prodigal son back to his father was the remembrance of his father's liberality."— J. F. Clarke. "When I stand before the throne Clad in beauty not my own. When I see Thee as Thou art. Love Thee with unsinning heart. Then, Lord, shall I fully know, — Not till then, — ^how much I owe !" — McCheyne.

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The Riches of Our Poverty Man never sought money more earnestly than he does now. For it he spends his finest energies and toils miceasingly. It never before had so great a purchasing power; it exacts tribute from the ends of the earth and a myriad ministries wait its word. But money was never less valued for itself. Its power to serve and mankind's need of service are so great that benefaction crowds on benefaction; and he who dies rich^ forgetting charity, is pitied for his shame, likewise we are seeing more and more clearly that the best things are beycxid the reach of money. God makes free gift of lig^t and air and water; we plant and till, but He gives the increase; we seek and find, but what we find He placed tfiere for our finding. I«ove has a thousand jewels and the soul a mine of treasure which give themselves to none but those who grant the same. Money can not paraUd the wealth of home. From the old-time fireside steals a subtle power that still transfigures. The prayer, the love, the holy counsel still whisper back the pain and loss» the sorrow and 5^

66 The Throne-Room of the Soul discouragement. Neither will education permit a rating by material standards. The vicarious toil of others, making possible the transcendent blessings of a cultured mind, has a sacredness all its own. Pioneers have plunged into wilderness and famished over desert seeking truth. Finding it, they have placed it in the

gamers of the ages whose open doors solicit all to come and take. The freedom of our native land cost Hastings, Naseby, Yorktown, Gettysburg, and Santiago. It represents the sacrifice of soldier, statesman, farmer, teacher, mechanic, preacher— of every lover of his kind. It is the blood of centuries crystallized. Here also God gives the increase. Take from the home His sweet influence, and it is only a place roofed over and walled in. Let man no more possess the native power to apprehend the truth, destroy his inborn axioms, and education has no meaning. Take from him the natural pulse-beat of his soul for freedom, and he is a man without a country and, more tragic, he cares for none. Still greater is the wealth and greater still the debt of every Christian. Sin is a fact, the curse of which all feel. Sin pardoned and the sinner freed, hope blazing and faith binding him to God are other facts whose graciousness the Christian knows. For these treasures money can not pay.

Tlie Riches of Our Poverty 67 A Man once stood upon the earth who gave them freely to His brethren. And if you would know why your home is different from a Chinese home, I need but mention that Man's name — ^Jesus! If your education is not the African's education; if your country is not the Moslem's country, if you yourself are not the bond-slave of a Brahmin's superstition that selfsame name explains it all. What wealth is ours, and yet what poverty ! For if we seek to make return from the material riches we have gathered, we shall put our fingers to our lips and cry, "Unprofitable servants I" Still God seeks some satisfaction for what He gives; He asks consent to add still further blessings. Loving obedience He claims, that He may show

how life's uplifting comes through recognition of higher ties than those earth-born. For he is happy who belongs to some one holier than himself, and he is mighty when his obligations rest on truth and love. God gives His treasures that man may be constrained to give himself. God accepts him that He may make him strong and joyous in the life that hides itself within the Father's life. This does not mean that the Christian shall be idly acquiescent, a man of dreams and unused sentiment. Increase of strength forever opens greater privilege, and privilege unaccepted reacts to stifle and

68 The Thrane-Room of the Soul destroy the waiting strength. The reception of a truth must carry with it an assent to its legitimate implications. Allegiance has a vaster purport than good wishes and fine words. A Christian's life means Christ's life, and Christ's life signifies unswerving service. Service is the law of life; and fellowship with Jesus infinitely extends its field and multiplies its zeal. He has missed the full glory whose soul has not caught that passion which makes him willing to leap into the world and die to rescue it The idle Christian is anomalous, for love repressed is love that dies. God seeks first the man within the man; and when the divine mounts to its full divinity all things become ministers to His cause. This is the wealth that God extracts from the crude ores we have to offer Him. Money, time, and talent will be as messengers going on the errands of a loving heart First things come first Then other things come in their order — ^but be it ours to see to it that they come 1. 68 FREE BOOKS

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