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Deceitfulness of Riches
251
but did not magnify God.” You even gloried in the fact that it was in
your power to purchase these things.
A large sum has been expended in needless things which could
only answer for show and encourage vanity and pride that will cause
you remorse and shame. If you had borne in mind the claims Heaven
has upon you and had made a right disposition of the means entrusted
to your care, by helping the needy and advancing the cause of present
truth, you would have been laying up treasure in heaven and would
have been rich toward God. Consider how much means you have
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invested where no one has been really benefited, no one fed or
clothed, and no one helped to see the error of his ways that he might
turn to Christ and live.
You have made large investments in uncertain enterprises. Satan
blinded your eyes so that you could not see that these enterprises
would yield you no returns. The enterprise of securing eternal life
did not awaken your interest. Here you could have expended means,
and run no risks, met no disappointments, and in the end would
have received immense profits. Here you could have invested in
the never-failing bank of heaven. Here you could have bestowed
your treasures where no thief approacheth nor rust corrupteth. This
enterprise is eternal and is as much nobler than any earthly enterprise
as the heavens are higher than the earth.
Your children were not disciples of Christ. They were in friend-
ship with the world, and their natural hearts desired to be like
worldlings. The lust of the eye and the pride of life controlled
them and have influenced you to a certain extent. You have sought
more earnestly to please and gratify your children than to please and
glorify God. You have forgotten the claims of God upon you, and
the wants of His cause. Selfishness has led you to expend money in
ornaments for the gratification of yourself and your children. You
did not think that this money was not yours; that it was only lent
you to test and prove you, to see if you would shun the evils you had
marked in others. God made you His steward, and when He cometh
and reckoneth with His servants, what account can you give of your
stewardship?
Your faith and simple trust in God began to wane as soon as
means flowed in upon you. You did not depart from God all at
once. Your backsliding was gradual. You ceased the morning and