Tapping The Infinite Reservoirs
by Charles A. Blanchard
I t is one of the unpleasant facts connected with present educa tional life in the United States that presidents of colleges are re quired to spend so much of their time in serving tables; that is to say, the raising of funds and the ex penditure of funds require a large portion of the thought and time of the college president. The man who ought to be contin ually occupied with the soul-life of his students, who should have time to think and pray and labor for the spiritual uplift of those who are to be centers of life and power in the coming age, seems condemned to spend much of his time on ques tions relating to endowments, build ings, libraries and so forth. Some years ago I began to ask of our heavenly Father that He would lessen my labors in that direction and set me more at liberty for the intellectual and spiritual labors which are the proper office of a col lege man. I made three petitions. These petitions were, first, that, if it were the divine will, friends who were contributing regularly to the funds of the institution might be led to bestow larger sums than they had been hitherto giving. I remark merely in passing that this petition was almost immediate ly granted. Without solicitation, people who had been giving certain sums annually or occasionally be gan to double, in some instances to quadruple, their gifts. The result was that the time required for se
curing the needed money was greatly reduced, and the effort re quired was also lessened. The second request was that God would incline persons who had not been requested to contribute to college needs, persons of whom we did not know, to make appropria tions for the work. This was desired as a testimony to the promise-keep ing, prayer-hearing character of our heavenly Father. The third petition was that a human helper might be bestowed, if it were the divine will, so that the cares and labors of this sort
which were necessary might be divided so that my own hands might be set more at liberty for what is undoubtedly the principal duty of one who has the care of souls. This request was answered when, at a large meeting in the city of Chicago, a gentleman of whom I had never heard, whose name I did not know, approached me and asked for a place in the college life such as is indicated above. After inquiry had been made from those to whom he referred, he was engaged for service in this direction, and with human limita tions proved to be a God-ordained helper. It was largely through him that the fund of $100,000 which we were seeking at that time was se cured. The reader will note that the second request was a plea for the special honor of our heavenly Fa ther, a request that He would directly move on the hearts of peo ple irrespective of any human agency whatever. Shortly after I began to make this request of God a gentleman in Chicago who was an old and val ued friend, and who had at various times contributed small sums to the work of the college, passed away. He had spent his life in the ministry, and had no considerable property; but out of the estate which he had directed his executors to pay to the college the sum of $100. Under some circumstances
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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