NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
MANCHESTER, MASS., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1908. 
“PROSPERITY "SUBJECT OF SERMON 
Preached on Thanksgiving Day by Rev. Theodore Lyman Frost 
Pastor of Baptist Church, Manchester. 
The union Thanksgiving service at 
Manchester was held at the Baptist 
church this year, and Rev. Theodore 
Lyman Frost, pastor of the church, de- 
livered the sermon. He took for his 
subject ‘“Prosperity,’’ and found his text 
in Deut. 8:18. “‘But thou shalt re- 
member the Lord thy God, for it is He 
that giveth the power to get wealth.”’ 
Mr. Frost said in part: 
**The words of our text were spoken 
to the Children of Israel at the close of 
the wandering in the wilderness. Soon 
they were to pass into the Promised 
Land. The poverty of the wilderness 
days would give place to plenty. In the 
midst of their prosperity there might be 
a temptation to forget God, and this 
chapter of Deuteronomy is Moses’ warn- 
ing tothe people to remember the Lord 
in their prosperty. Perhaps we need 
the same advice which Moses gave to 
his people. Our theme this morning is 
Prosperity. 
1. THE SourRCE OF PROSPERITY. 
““In spite of the financial crisis we 
have been passing through, we are in 
the midst of abounding wealth. From 
1870 to 1890 the wealth of our country 
doubled, and reached the amount of over 
sixty-five billion dollars. It has probably 
doubled since that time. It has been 
stated that the South is increasing in 
wealth at the rate of $7,300,000 a day, 
or seven times as fast as Great Britain. 
Massachusetts, too, with other parts of 
the country has been increasing in 
wealth. 
** Whence cometh all this prosperity? 
It comes from God. Many men _ have 
been humble servants of God when they 
had little of the material things to take 
up their minds, but when they became 
rich they forgot God. In the rush after 
money they imagined that it was their 
own power that caused the riches to ac- 
cumulate so fast. They forgot that it 
was God's wealth that was coming to 
them, and it was God’s hand which was 
bestowing the prosperity. 
? 
2. CHRISTIANITY AND PROSPERITY. 
““Some of the Jews tried to make 
Christianity a Jewish sect,. and _ they 
failed. Greek culture failed to make it 
a mere philosophy. Roman ecclesiastic- 
ism succeeded for a time in suppressing 
individuality in its Roman Church sys- 
tem, but it could not be bound in such a 
way. The Reformation emancipated 
the individual. From individualism there 
has come competition and the survival of 
the strongest. Out of individualism 
there has sprung enforced collectivism, 
with the trust and the trade union. 
‘Christianity has to deal with this 
situation as it now exists. How can 
Christianity deal with capitalism which 
is really a development of its doctrine of 
freedom forthe individual? It must deal 
with it by inculcating the great principle 
of Christian stewardship. Men every- 
where must realize that their fellow men 
are brothers; that they are of infinite 
value to God; and that God’s wealth is 
for all men and must be administered by 
His stewards so that it will do the most 
good for all the race. 
** God has given a great commission 
to His church to give the gospel of salva- 
tion to all the earth. Much of the capi- 
tal of the world is in the hands of Chris- 
tians. Will they realize the opportunity 
and their responsibility and use their 
money asa trust from God of which 
they must give an account? 
3. PROSPERITY AND RESPONSIBILITY. 
““The more God has given us of this 
world’s goods, the more we are required 
to use them for His glory. Weare held 
responsible for so using them. ‘The 
pages of history abound with illustrations 
of the misuse of prosperity. “There was 
a great Pre-Semitic Empire in. Messo- 
potamia before the days of Abraham. 
It had a wonderful civilization. It in- 
vented writing, had an elaborate code of 
laws, and a carefully wrought out social 
system. ‘The people made great discov- 
eries in the sciences of mathematics and 
astronomy; built great cities; anticipated 
much of the refinement and art of mod- 
ern times. Yet who knows anything of 
them today? He only who is interested 
in the study of archaeology or ethnology. 
‘© The religious life and morals of this 
people were extremely low. “They made 
bad use of the prosperty and enlightenment 
they had, and they perished. ‘Prosperity 
could not save them. ‘True they ex- 
isted athousand years asa nation, but 
Divine patience was at last exhausted 
and the mills of God ground them ex- 
ceeding small. 
‘* Our Pilgrim Fathers set posterity .a 
good example by instituting a day of 
Thanksgiving and Prayer. It is only as 
THE AMERICAN LIVES ONLY IN 
THE PRESENT. 
By Grrrorp PiNcHoT, National For- 
ester. 
HE situation with regard to the 
country at large on the question of 
forests is not rose colored. ‘The 
total stand of timber in the country today 
is only twenty times the annual consump- 
tion. We depend more upon timber in 
this country than any other country in 
the world, and we are nearer the end of 
our resources than any other great na- 
tion of the world. And the timber situ- 
ation is duplicated by many other of our 
great resources. 
It is the result of the great American 
tendency to use what we have at once 
without any regard to the future. Our 
wood is as indispensable to us as our steel 
and coal, and even these are giving out. 
We have enough anthracite coal for 
fifty years, enough bituminous for a hun- 
dred years, our oil and gas are being 
frightfully wasted, our water ways are 
being ruined and our water powers im- 
paired and agriculture is suffering in 
many ways from the deforesting of the 
country. 
The American for some reason has a 
lack of confidence in the future and lives 
only in the present. He thinks no 
further than the lives of his children. 
Well, unless there is a change in the 
point of view the progress of the country 
will stop before those who are now liv- 
ing have all passed away. As a nation 
we are acting like a man in an open boat 
ten days from land, with three days water 
and provisions, who does not husband 
his supplies, but takes what he wants at 
once. ‘The future actually and literally 
depends upon our changing our point of 
view. 
we acknowledge God in the midst of 
the good things that are showered upon 
us that there is any safety for usas a 
nation, a state, or as individuals. How 
can a man hope to be faithful in admin- 
istering the things of God unless his life 
is brought in harmony with God, and 
his interests become identified with 
God’s interests? If you are thankful to 
God for His goodness to you, you can- 
not fail to make it manifest by surrend- 
ering your life to Jesus Christ.”’ 
Let the Breeze do your printing 
whenever you have any. Prices reason- 
able, work always done promptly and 
neatly. * 
