The Fundamentals controlled him. He was so far the slave of money that he could not and would not accept freedom by the breaking of its fetters. His “trust” was in riches—how could it be in God? Behind all disguises of respectability and refinement, God sees many a man to be an abject slave, a victim held in bonds by love of money ; but covetousness is idolatry, and no idolater can enter the kingdom of God. How few rich men keep the mastery and hold money as their servant, in absolute subordination to their own manhood, and the master- hood of the Lord! IV. THE LAW OF RECOMPENSE We ascend a step higher, and consider our Lord’s teaching as to the law of recompense. “Give, and it shall be given unto you” (Luke 6 :38 ). We are taught that getting is in order to giving, and consequently that giving is the real road to getting. God is an economist. He entrusts larger gifts to those who use the smaller well. Perhaps one reason of our poverty is that we are so far slaves of parsimony. The future may reveal that God has been withholding (from usj because we have been withholding from Him.t It can scarcely be said by any careful student of the New Testament that our Lord encourages His disciples to look or ask for earthly wealth. Yet it is equally certain that hundreds of devout souls who have chosen voluntary poverty for His sake have been entrusted with immense sums for His work. George Muller conducted for over sixty years enter prises requiring at least some hundred and twenty-five thou sand dollars a year. Note also the experiences of William Quarrier and Hudson Taylor, and D. L. Moody and Dr. Barnardo. Such servants of God, holding all as God’s, spend ing little or nothing for self, were permitted to receive and use millions for God, and in some cases, like Muller’s, with out any appeal to men, looking solely to God. This great saint of Bristol found, in a life that nearly rounded out a
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