The Encouragement to Charity

“Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.” — Eccles. xi. i.

The writer of Ecclesiastes is speaking of the damper which often falls upon our deeds of charity. We say familiarly of many acts of benevolence, It is just throwing money into the sea.” In the days of this writer that saying must have been almost proverbial, for he describes charity by an equivalent expression, “Cast thy bread upon the waters.” He admits that benevolence is a throwing of money into the sea — the casting of it out into a sphere of uncertainty. Yet, in spite of that, he bids us throw. He does so on the ground that, though the sea is a sphere of uncertainty, it is not a sphere of hopelessness; many things which are laid on its bosom come back to us again. He tells us that we shall find our bread of charity “after many days.” I understand him to mean, “after many castings.” I do not think the idea is so much that of time as of 231 repeated effort. What I take him to say is this: “You are committing your charities to a very uncertain medium, and the large majority of them will probably bear no fruit. But out of a thousand scattered seeds some few will fructify. Out of the many to whom your charity may be in vain, there will be at least two or three to whom it will bring blessing, and perhaps these two or three may be more powerful than would have been all the rest put together. Cast the many seeds for the sake of the two or three.” I agree with the writer of Ecclesiastes. I hold that charity is always an act of faith — that it must be bestowed in the absence of certainty. I hold that it must be tested by its power to endure many clouds, by its ability to withstand ninety-nine failures for the sake of the hundredth case which is to prove a success. I know a man intimately who has been periodically solicited for loans of money during a long term of years, and who has generally acceded to the request. Of these loans he can only recall one instance of repayment; but the instance is that of a boy whom he relieved in an emergency, and who has lived to be a comfort to his family. The one success has compensated the many failures. The bread which has been cast upon the waters has come back only in fragments; but the fragments 232

have been so precious that they have justified the cost.

My soul, let thy charity be the child of thy faith and hope! Never desist from love through despair of life! Do not imagine that the value of a spiritual harvest depends on the amount of the bread! There were many babes in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the king, and doubtless much bread was cast upon the waters for their sustenance. Yet I am told that only one of these reached manhood; the rest were the victims of Herod. What then? Was the faith of the Israelites in vain? No. Who was that one babe of Bethlehem that reached maturity? It was a life whose single force was to turn the current of history, whose single energy was to make all things new. Say not that thy work is wasted though thy charity has rescued but one! Hast thou measured the strength that may lie in one? There was only one struck by the light at Damascus; but that one was Paul. There was only one gained by the mission of Philip; but that one stood close to royalty. Often in Samaria thou standest by the well alone, and there seems no response to the thirst of thy solitary heart. Do not go away; abandon not yet thy labours! I see one coming. It is only one; there is no 233 multitude with her. Yet she may be more influential than all that have passed by on the other side. Wait for her, O my soul! Though she is but one, wait for her! Though thou art weary, wait for her! Though the well is deep and the gain seems small, wait for her! Though she comes only by accident and knows not of thy presence, wait for her! Her coming may be the return of the prayers thou hast cast upon the waters.