p. 404 | A SAFE INVESTMENT by W. F. Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 8, 1881

A SAFE INVESTMENT.

By W. F. Smith

Money put into the Lord's cause is well invested. It is not only safe, but those who speak from experience can often give testimony to God's faithfulness in repaying with abundant interest what has thus been lent to him.

Meeting recently with a "beloved physician," who is also a laborer in the "gospel of God," we listened with much interest to his account of an incident in his own experience which we record with the hope that it may be of blessing to other hearts.

Called in the providence of God to labor with a little band of believers who had no place of worship which they could call their own, it was laid upon Dr. H—'s heart, that the Lord would have them build a house to his name. From a human stand-point this seemed almost like a hopeless undertaking. The land and materials were to be paid for, and the people were few and feeble. But Dr. H— believed the Lord called to this service; so, consecrating his own means, and going forth in faith and zeal, he soon saw other hearts engaged, other hands extended to help, and other pocket-books consecrated.

God's blessing attended the work undertaken for his glory. Land was obtained and paid for; materials were procured; helpers presented themselves; and ere long a pleasant and commodious house was erected, where the Lord's children could assemble for his public worship.

When all was finished Dr. H— found that he had invested of his own means seven hundred dollars.

But this was not the end. In a distant city a noted gambler had lived and sinned and grown rich and died, leaving his ill-gotten millions to his heirs. Among these heirs was a lady who, about this time, visited the city which was the scene of Dr. H—'s labors. Attending religious worship one evening in the new church, she listened to a sermon which, she remarked to a friend, was "worth a hundred dollars" to her. Meeting the doctor soon afterwards, she made a similar remark to him, and gave him a hundred-dollar bank-note.

A few evenings later she again met him, and, after some conversation, told him she had something which she felt the Lord would have her give him, saying, as she handed him a little roll, "This is for you." When he came to examine the roll it was found to contain three hundred dollars.

Yet again the doctor met this lady; and as they were seated near each other at a table she passed something to him under the table, which he received, and which, likewise, proved to be three hundred dollars. Here were the seven hundred dollars all returned by one individual, and she a stranger?

This was the principal, but how about the interest?

Among Dr. H—'s patrons was a destitute family whose bill for medical attendance had grown so large that he had ceased to keep any account of his services, as he never expected to receive any pecuniary return. The mother and two daughters of this family were among the heirs of the dead gambler, and when they received their fortune they asked for their physician's bill. It amounted to one hundred and fifty dollars. When the mother paid it she added a fifty-dollar bill, saying, "I make you a present of this. One of the daughters immediately stepped forward with a similar word and the same amount, and

the other daughter followed with another fifty-dollar bill—making three hundred dollars from this family, where he had never expected to receive anything.

The wise man has said, "God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather, and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God." From this gambler's hoarded wealth, the unsatisfying wages of long years of sin, had come one thousand dollars to help and bless this servant of God in his self-denying work; and to assure him how safe it is to follow divine direction, and to consecrate all to him who makes us only stewards of his bounty.

W. F. Smith, in The Christian.