The Spirit of Speculation by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 21, 1909

The Spirit of Speculation

By F. M. W.

THE spirit of speculation is rife in the world to-day. With the multitude it is a struggle for existence, and a strife for gold. How to obtain riches, and how to obtain them the most quickly, is the great absorbing thought in the minds of thousands. Covetousness has developed into idolatry, and men seek to make a prey of their fellows in order to carry forward their own selfish schemes and to accomplish their own evil purposes. Hazardous business enterprises are undertaken. Schemes are evolved which hold out no reasonable promise of ultimate success, and into these schemes the unwary are beguiled.

Of all the people in the world, those who believe this message and are engaged in this movement, should be free from this spirit of wild adventure and speculation. Every Seventh-day Adventist should count that which he possesses as belonging to the Lord. If it be ability to preach, then that ability should be dedicated to the public promulgation of the gospel. If it be ability to sell books, that should find its proper exercise. If it be the power to earn money or acquire wealth in honest and legitimate ways, that gift should be used for God and in behalf of his work.

This movement needs preachers; it needs canvassers to carry its literature; it needs business men and artisans in every trade, each in his place, dedicating his all to God. But it does not need anything in the line of speculators. It does not need men who evolve great schemes to draw money out of our institutions or out of some department of this cause to invest in some speculative enterprise. It has already seen too much of this. Thousands of dollars have been kept from the cause of God and invested in some mining scheme or land deal which has brought the investors no return but disappointed hopes.

This principle is particularly true as

applied to the gospel minister. The minister of the word should be an example to his brethren. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” For “even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” The apostle Paul warns Timothy against the temptations into which men fall through desiring to be rich, and concludes: “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. BUT THOU, O MAN OF GOD, FLEE THESE THINGS.”

The editor of the Lutheran Standard, in a recent number of that journal, under the heading, “Speculating Ministers,” makes some excellent comments upon the question of gospel workers engaging in speculative enterprises. From his remarks we quote the following:—

When a man meets one of his fellow pastors these days, it is not at all an uncommon thing to have his fellow pastor assail him with an urgent request to invest in this, that, or the other sure-thing, fortune-coining venture. We are asked to take stock in oil lands, in brickyards, in vault manufactories, in pottery concerns, in Texas lands, in insurance companies, in brokerage concerns; and the requests come from ministers,—from men who are supposed to be leading souls away from earthly entanglements toward heavenly things.

It might be argued that ministers’ salaries are so low that they have a perfect right to feel themselves dispensed from the command of Scripture, “They that proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel.” But the argument does not hold. We happen to know that most of the men who have yielded to the desire to make more money than their salary is bringing them are men who have substantial salaries, most of them receiving an income of over a thousand dollars a year in addition to the free use of parsonages. Anyhow, it is not the poor three-hundred-dollar preacher who can afford to “invest,” which usually means “speculate.”

What excuse can a minister offer his conscience, when the ministry is yielding him a fair living, for applying the time which he sorely needs in the preparation of his sermons, in the keeping up of his reading and his studies, in the faithful pastoral care of his flock, to scheming and planning and consulting and weighing and thinking, and maybe by and by worrying, about various kinds of worldly investments? Some ministers are actually borrowing money in order to get in “on the ground floor” of some of these schemes. Some have drawn lawsuits upon themselves.

Will these practises and what they bring with them edify the church? Brother, even if the thing is sinless in itself, is it right for you as a minister of Jesus Christ? Dare you risk bringing reproach upon the church by entangling yourself in secular affairs? Dare you dissipate your spirituality by giving thought and energy to worldly matters? For the sake of the souls of others if not of your own, get this “malaria” out of your system!

Here are a few earnest questions for you to ask yourself: Does my library look as if I had a right to speculate? Is my pulpit work as strong and as brilliant as it might be? Am I as faithful as I should be in my pastoral work? What am I doing in the line of work for conference, and for my synod? What am I doing for the church at large? What influence is my example exerting? When intelligent, thinking outsiders come to my own members and express their disgust, is it not about time for me to do some thinking of my own?

To what extent these remarks apply to ministers of this denomination we can not say. We know that to scores of men, both in the home land and in the foreign fields, who have separated from friends, forsaken home, laid their all upon the altar, and taken their lives in their hands, going forth to give the message to the world, the comparison does not apply. The principles expressed, however, are worthy of careful consideration by every laborer.

When a man is chosen of God and his brethren to bear sacred responsibilities, he should be an example to the flock. It is proper that he should provide a home for his family, but if he devotes his energies to questionable ventures, to speculative enterprises, how can he hope to stand against the spirit of worldliness and covetousness entering in among his members? His influence will count for much. God’s ministers, above all others, should show that they believe the message for the hour. They can not show this by adding farm to farm, by putting forth half-hearted labor for God while their chief interest is in money-making, even in legitimate ways. Nor can they change the influence of their acts by the plea that they are seeking to make money for the cause. So long as they stand forth as the recognized representatives of this movement, they should exemplify its spirit in their lives as well as in their preaching. In no other way can they show men that they believe this generation is to witness the return of the blessed Lord.

While in Rochester, N. Y., Dec. 25, 1856, I was shown some things concerning those who are engaged in the work at the Office, also in regard to ministers whom God has called to labor in word and doctrine. Neither of these should engage in merchandise or traffic. They are called to a more sacred and elevated work, and it would be impossible for them to do justice to the work and still carry on their traffic.—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. I, page 585.

While you stand in the position of a herald of truth, a watchman upon the walls of Zion, you can not have your interest interwoven with mining or real estate business, and at the same time do effectually the sacred work committed to your hands. Where the souls of men are at stake, where eternal things are involved, the interest can not safely be divided.—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. V, page 530.

Special instruction has been given to me in regard to our ministers. It is not God’s will that they should seek to be rich. They should not engage in worldly enterprises; for this disqualifies them for giving their best powers to spiritual things.—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VII, page 250.

We look with longing hearts for the time of refreshing, the loud cry in its fulness. Let us not forget or fail to realize that the day of power must be preceded by the day of complete consecration. This consecration should possess every worker and every believer in this message. Such a spirit will be a prelude to the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, by which the message shall be carried triumphantly to earth’s remotest bounds, and the work cut short in righteousness. May we all have this spirit of consecration, share in the visitation of the Spirit of power, and triumph with the message in its glorious consummation. F. M. W.