Wealth...

The error of life into which men most readily fall is the pursuit of wealth as the highest good of existence. While riches command respect, win position, and secure comfort it is expected that they will be regarded by all classes with a strong desire. But the undue reverence, which is everywhere manifested for wealth the prestige, which is conceded to it, the homage, which is paid to it, the perpetual worship which is offered to it all tend to magnify its desirableness and awaken longings for its possession in the minds of those born without wealth. In society, as at present observed, the acquisition of money would seem to be the height of human aim the great object of living, to which all other purposes are made subordinate! 

Money, which exalts the lowly and sheds honor upon the exalted; money, which makes sin appear goodness and gives to viciousness the show of chastity; money, which silences evil report and opens wide the mouth of praise; money, which constitutes its possessor an oracle to whom men listen with deference; money, which makes deformity beautiful and sanctifies crime; money, which lets the guilty go unpunished and wins forgiveness for wrong; money, which makes manhood and old age respectable and is commendation, surety, and good name for the young.

 

How shall it be gained? by what schemes shall it gather in? by what sacrifice shall it secure? These are the questions which absorb the mind the practical answering of which engross the life of men. The schemes are too often those of fraud, and outrage upon the sacred obligations of being, the sacrifice, loss of the highest moral sense, the destruction of the purest susceptibilities of nature, the neglect of internal life and development, the utter and sad perversion of the true purposes of existence. Money is valued beyond its worth it has gained a power vastly above its deserving. 

Wealth is courted so slavishly, is flattered so servilely, is so influential in molding opinions and judgment, has such a weight in the estimation of character that men regard its acquisition as the most prudent aim of their endeavors, and its possession as absolute enjoyment and honor, rather than the means of honorable, useful, and happy life. While riches are thus over-estimated, and hold such power in the community, that men will forego ease, endure toil, sacrifice social pleasures, and abandon principle for the speedy acquirement of property! Money is not regarded as the means of living but as the object of life. 

All nobler ends will be neglected, in the eager haste to be rich. No higher pursuit will be recognized, than the pursuit of gold no attainment deemed so desirable, as the attainment of wealth. While the great man of every circle is the rich man in the common mind, wealth becomes the synonym of greatness. No condition is discernable superior, to that which money confers. No loftier idea of manhood is entertained, than that which embraces the extent of one's possessions. There is a wealth of heart better than gold. 

There is an interior adornment fairer than outward ornament. There is a splendor in upright life beside which gems are lusterless. There is a fineness of character whose beauty outvies the glitter of diamonds. Man's true riches are hidden in his virtues, and in their development and increase he will find his surest happiness!

[Timothy Shay Arthur] 

 ✞  ✞ ✞

1 Timothy 6:7-10 ... For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

 Proverbs 23:4-5 ... Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. ❤

The Influence of Home

If it were possible to trace back to their beginnings, in each individual, those good or evil impulses which have become ruling affections in most cases the origin would not be found until we had reached the home of childhood. Here it is that impressions are made, which become as enduring as existence itself. But the influence of home is not beneficial or baneful in early years alone. Wherever a home exists, there will be found the nursery of all that is excellent in social or civil life or of all that is deformed. 

Every man and woman we meet in society, exhibit, in unmistakable characters the quality of their homes. The wife, the husband, the children bear with them daily a portion of the spirit pervading the little circle from which they have come forth. If the sun shines, there a light will be on their countenances; but shadows if clouds are in the sky of home. 

If there is disorder, defect of principle, discord among the members, neglect of duty, and absence of kind attentions then the sphere of those who constitute that home, can hardly be beneficial. They will add little to the common stock of good in the social life around them. We need not say how different will be the influence of those whose home-circle is pervaded by higher, purer, and truer principles. 

[Timothy Shay Arthur] 

Proverbs 22:6 ... Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

✫❤•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫...•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫...•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫

The Evening Prayer

"Our Father." The mother's voice was low, and tender, and solemn.

"Our Father." On two sweet voices the words were borne upward. It was the innocence of reverent childhood that gave them utterance.

"Who art in Heaven."  "Who art in Heaven," repeated the children, one with her eyes bent meekly down, and the other looking upward, as if she would penetrate the heavens into which her heart aspired.

"Hallowed be Thy name." Lower fell the voices of the little ones. In a gentle murmur they said: "Hallowed be Thy name."

"Thy kingdom come." And the burden of the prayer was still taken up by the children "Thy kingdom come."

"Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in Heaven." Like a low, sweet echo from the land of angels  "Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in Heaven," filled the chamber.

And the mother continued  "Give us this day our daily bread." "Our daily bread" lingered a moment on the air, as the mother's voice was hushed into silence.

"And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors."

The eyes of the children had drooped for a moment. But they were uplifted again as they prayed "And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors."

"And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."

All these holy words were said, piously and fervently, by the little ones, as they knelt with clasped hands beside their mother. Then, as their thoughts, uplifted on the wings of prayer to their heavenly Father, came back again and rested on their earthly parents, a warmer love came gushing from their hearts. Pure kisses, tender embraces, the fond "good-night." What a sweet tenderness pervaded all their feelings! Then two dear heads were placed side by side on the snowy pillow, the mother's last kiss given, and the shadowy curtains drawn.

What a gentle stillness reigns throughout the chamber! Inwardly the parents' listening ears are bent. They have given these little ones into the keeping of God's angels, and they can almost hear the rustle of their garments as they gather around their sleeping babes. A sigh, deep and tremulous, breaks on the air. Quickly the mother turns to the father of her children, with a look of earnest inquiry on her countenance. And he answers thus her silent question.

"Far back, through many years, have my thoughts been wandering. At my mother's knee thus said I nightly, in childhood, my evening prayer. It was that best and holiest of all prayers, "Our Father," that she taught me. Childhood and my mother passed away. I went forth as a man into the world, strong, confident, and self-seeking. Once I came into great temptation. Had I fallen in that temptation, I would have fallen, I sadly fear, never to have risen again. The struggle in my mind went on for hours. I was about yielding. All the barriers I could oppose to the in-rushing flood, seemed just ready to give way, when, as I sat in my room one evening, there came from an adjoining chamber, now first occupied for many weeks, the murmur of low voices. I listened.

At first, no articulate sound was heard, and yet something in the tones stirred my heart with new and strange emotions. At length, there came to my ears, in the earnest, loving voice of a woman, the words  'Deliver us from evil.' For an instant, it seemed to me as if the voice were that of my mother. Back, with a sudden bound through all the intervening years, went my thoughts; and, a child in heart again, I was kneeling at my mother's knee. Humbly and reverently I said over the words of the holy prayer she had taught me, heart and eyes uplifted to Heaven. The temptation and the power of darkness had passed. I was no longer standing in slippery places, with a flood of waters ready to sweep me to destruction; but my feet were on a rock."

My mother's pious care had saved her son. In the holy words she taught me in childhood, was a living power to resist evil through all my after life. Ah! that unknown mother, as she taught her child to repeat his evening prayer how little did she dream that the holy words were to reach a stranger's ears, and save him through memories of his own childhood and his own mother! And yet it was so. What a power there is in God's Word, as it flows into and rests in the minds of innocent children!

Tears were in the eyes of the wife and mother as she lifted her face, and gazed with a subdued tenderness upon the countenance of her husband. Her heart was too full for utterance. A little while she thus gazed, and then, with a trembling joy, laid her head upon his bosom. Angels were in the chamber where their dear ones slept, and they felt their holy presence.❤

[Timothy Shay Arthur]

The Influence of Home

If it were possible to trace back to their beginnings, in each individual, those good or evil impulses which have become ruling affections in most cases the origin would not be found until we had reached the home of childhood. Here it is that impressions are made, which become as enduring as existence itself. But the influence of home is not  beneficial or baneful in early years alone. Wherever a home exists, there will be found the nursery of all that is excellent in social or civil life or of all that is deformed.

Every man and woman we meet in society, exhibit, in unmistakable characters the quality of their homes. The wife, the husband, the children bear with them daily a portion of the spirit pervading the little circle from which they have come forth. If the sun shines there a light will be on their countenances; but shadows if clouds are in the sky of home.

If there is disorder, defect of principle, discord among the members, neglect of duty, and absence of kind attentions then the sphere of those who constitute that home, can hardly be beneficial. They will add little to the common stock of good in the social life around them. We need not say how different will be the influence of those whose home-circle is pervaded by higher, purer, and truer principles.

[Timothy Shay Arthur]

  ✞ ✞ ✞

Proverbs 22:6 ... Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ❤

What Shall We Build?

Four children were playing on the sea-shore. They had gathered bright pebbles and beautiful shells, and written their names in the pure, white sand; but at last, tired of their sport, they were about to go home, when one of them, as they came to a pile of stones, cried out:

"Oh! let us build a fort; and we will call that ship away out there, an enemy's vessel, and make believe we are firing great cannon balls into her!"

"Yes, yes! let us build a fort," responded Edward, the other lad.

And the two boys, for two were boys and two girls, ran off to the pile of stones, and began removing them to a place near the water.

"Come, Anna and Jane," said they, "come and help us."

"Oh, no thanks. We don't want to build a fort," said Jane.

"Yes, we will build a fort," returned the boys. "What else can we build? You wouldn't put a house down here upon the water's edge?"

"No; but I'll tell you what we can build, and it will be a great deal better than a fort."

"Well, what can we build?"

"A light-house," said the girls; "and that will be just as much in place on the edge of the sea as a fort. We can call the ship yonder a vessel lost in the darkness, and we will hang out a light and direct her in the true way. Won't that be much better than to call her an enemy, and build a fort to destroy her? See how beautifully she sits upon and glides over the smooth water! Her sails are like the open wings of a bird, and they bear her gracefully along. Would it not be cruel to shoot great canon balls into her sides, tear her sails to pieces, and kill the men who are on board of her? Oh! I am sure it would make us all happier to save her when in darkness and danger. No, no; let us not build a fort, but a light-house; for it is better to save than to destroy."

The girls spoke with tenderness and enthusiasm, and their words reached the better feelings of their companions.

"Oh, yes," said they; "we will build a light-house, and not a fort." And they did so.

Yes, it is much better to save, than to destroy. Think of that, children, and let it go with you through life. Be more earnest to save your friends, than to destroy your enemies. And yet, when a real enemy comes, and seeks to do evil, be brave to resist him.

[Timothy Shay Arthur]

1 Timothy 2:1-4 ... I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Jude 1:22-23 ... And of some have compassion, making a difference:  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

James 4:7 ... Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.❤