A BANK, says the Standard Dictionary, is "an institution for lending, borrowing, issuing, or caring for money." Banks are of various kinds, which we need not stop to discuss. The safety of a bank depends upon its capital, the credit of its stockholders, and its conservative, safe management in its loans or investments of its stock or deposits. With practically unlimited capital, almost any bank would be considered safe. But many banks of small capital are considered safe, because of conservative, safe management.
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STILL there come times in the history of all these financial institutions when they are distrusted, and the result is a run on the bank. Even good banks go down before these panics which take possession of the hearts of human investors. Even the Bank of England, the strongest in the world, has seen times when the shadows were dark and payment was suspended, and the very credit of the British Empire trembled in the balance. So it will ever be with human institutions. Man is ever ready in times of sunshine and prosperity to trust his fellow. He is equally ready in times of adversity and darkness to lose all confidence in men and institutions of men. Out of this lack of confidence has grown all the laws endeavoring to safeguard depositors, laws at the best imperfect.
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THERE is one bank, and only one, in which investments are absolutely safe if made in good faith. That bank is the Bank of Heaven. Behind it as capital stock are the Unlimited Resources of the Universe, founded in the Creative Power of God. All power is His. All the rolling spheres came forth at His command. By His power they move on in their courses through uncounted ages. And tho even an enemy should, by perversion of their laws, destroy them all, so that heaven and earth should pass away, His word shall not, can not, pass away. Matt. 24:35. Again the Creator would speak, and the universe would be peopled, "for no word of God shall be void of power." Luke 1:37, A. R. V. All the riches of earth are His; the mines of gold and precious stones, the cattle upon a thousand hills; the rain, the sun, which bring from earth's bosom the harvests of wealth, are all at His command.
The Bank of England in London, sometimes called the “Old Lady of Threadneedle Street,” the strongest financial institution in the world.
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WE may not therefore question the resources of the Bank of Heaven; they are infinite. More than this, He who has the power to produce and restore has also knowledge and wisdom to manage. "Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite." Ps. 147:5. "Jehovah is the true God; He is the living God, and an everlasting King. . . . The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens. He [Jehovah] hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding hath He stretched out the heavens." Jer. 10:10-12. Job declares, "By His Spirit the heavens are garnished" with all the jewels of light; and yet all that we see are but "the outskirts of His ways; and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand." Surely in the President of the Bank of Heaven we must have confidence.
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THE Bank of Heaven is a beneficent institution. It is not designed to enable the moneyed kings of God's universe or of this earth to lord it over their fellows nor to corner the natural wealth of the world. The Bank of Heaven does not deal with men's wants so much as it does their needs. The great world became bankrupt through sin. God met their need by giving His only-begotten Son. He poured out the treasure of the fulness of the Godhead, that dying man might live, and the earth be brought back and redeemed, a shining gem in the coronet of God. By virtue of that gift, all others come—the air we breathe, the sunlight we enjoy, and all other blessings which we must have and so often unthankfully receive. The great, good Banker continually, unstintedly, pours out these treasures upon a dying world, that His goodness may lead to repentance, and that we may become identified with Him in the great Bank. He would have us, not alone beneficiaries, but stockholders, partners in the enterprise of the universe throughout the eternal ages.
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HOW MAY we do it?—(1) By giving ourselves in all our sinfulness and selfishness to Him, that He may remove all our woful debt of sin, and in its stead cover us with "the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7); "for by grace are ye saved through faith; and4that [saving] not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory" (Eph. 2:8, 9). (2) By identifying ourselves with Him in becoming channels for His blessings and riches to reach other hearts. For "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises [virtues, excellencies, riches] of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9. "Freely ye have received, freely give." Matt. 10:8.
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WHAT returns will we get? Not always, perhaps not generally, the mere gold of men's greed in this life, save that we may use it for God. There are greater riches than gold. There is a greater treasure which the Bank of Heaven would bring us than all the gold of Ophir or the gems of Golconda, nay, more than all the treasures of earth can buy, and that is
## the Gold of Character.
That gold of character insures another treasure that earth can not buy, and that is eternal life in the kingdom of God, companionship of all the holy and blest forever, sonship in the family of God, inheritors of all the riches of His universe. Read the assurances to all depositors in this Bank: "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto Jehovah, and his good deed will He pay him again." "Blessed is the man that feareth Jehovah. . . . He hath dispersed, he hath given to the needy; his righteousness endureth forever." "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again." "Harken my beloved brethren, did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love Him." And at the last, "then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for . . . inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me." He who will receive this at the last will be the possessor here of the character that knows the truth, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." And throughout all the ceaseless ages of eternity God's universe will be one demonstration of this great fact.
