TEN THOUSAND PER CENT

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 20, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 40.

TEN THOUSAND PER CENT.

MR. STUART dropped into the office of his friend, Mr. Morris, in a mood decidedly depressed, occasioned by a failure. It was a little after business hours, but Mr. Morris was still in his office and alone. He laid down his pen and greeted his friend with a cheerful nod and a cheerful, "How are you, Stuart?"

"Sour as an east wind," was the response, as he looked at the beaming countenance of his friend, whom he had known for many years, and whose counsel he had sought many a time, and scarcely ever been disappointed.

There appeared to be a little more than the usual brightness in Mr. Morris's face as he wheeled his chair round and bade his friend be seated in another. Mr. Stuart noticed it and said:—

"What are you up to, Morris? Had some good news, eh?"

"Oh, no, Stuart," he replied, "nothing unusual or new in particular. I was only thinking of a little investment I am just about making."

"I thought so," said Stuart; "and a good one, I'll be bound."

"I think so," was the reply. "What would you say to ten thousand per cent.?"

"Ten thousand per cent.! You are raving."

"Not a bit of it," said Morris. "And the very best of security—a regular royal pledge."

"Now I know you are crazy. Who ever heard of such a thing?"

"Crazy? not a bit of it," said Mr. Morris. "This," wheeling round his chair and laying his hand upon a paper on his desk, "is a check which I have just signed, and intend for a poor missionary whom I know. I have just heard he is sick and in much need. The Scripture says that 'he that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord,' but I was never awakened to the fact of what interest he pays until yesterday, when our clergyman startled me by saying that he had promised ten thousand per cent. I pricked up my ears at the statement, and waited curiously to hear the proof; and there it was, sure enough, in Matthew 19:29: 'And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.' I was struck at the sound of ten thousand per cent., but I figured it out and found it correct. The preacher was very much in earnest as he declared the Lord's dividend. He was as enthusiastic as a stock-broker, only in an infinitely more noble cause. I was very much impressed at the time with the thought, and, in fact, have been ever since. It was in my mind when you came in. Not that I can lay claim for a moment to the spirit of self-sacrifice which the text quoted indicates, but my gift to the poor is a loan to the Lord, and I am not afraid but that I shall reap a good dividend."—Selected.