Consecrated or Cursed Wealth
WE talk about the princely gifts of our age for religious objects. True, the past three years have witnessed over a dozen large gifts, of tens of thousands for mission work. But what is this in an age of such abundant wealth, and in a land of nearly nine millions of professing Christians! The actual increase of our national wealth last year over the preceeding year amounted to $50,000,000. There are congregations in New York, representing every Sunday morning more than $100,000,000. The theaters of New York alone take annually over $7,000,000 from the community, and the drinking-houses of this city over $60,000,000 a year—more than our nine millions of Christians have given in a quarter of a century to send the gospel abroad to a dying world. Let us suppose that these nine millions of Christians receive only an average income of $200 per annum, and give but one-tenth systematically to God, it would make a total sum of $180,000,000 per annum, more than four times as much as is given for all purposes by all the Christians of the land. This is for the life and power of our churches the very question of the hour. Money must either be consecrated or cursed.—Gospel in all Lands.