The Spirit's Use for Wealth

®Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself te this chariot.” — ACcTs viii. 29.

See 7 OIN thyself to this chariot.” It is not SSN 1G every chariot that can be joined by B the prompting of the Spirit; there are

forms of worldly riches which eat out the divine life. Yet the evil is not in the chariots but in their drivers. The Spirit does not wish to destroy the chariot but to get hold of the reins, It wants to turn the heads of the horses into a new direction — the direction of humanity. So far from despising the wealth of this world, it is the wealth of this world that the Spirit chiefly needs. It seeks to make friends of that which is now the Mammon of unrighteousness. It wants men of influence, men of power, men of resources, men who can afford to spend. It knows the power of the mountains over the valleys, and therefore it prays to the mountains. It says, “Come down, ye rich, and help the poor; come down, ye strong, and support the weak; come down, ye great, and make lighter the work of the lowly. Come and lift the toiling missionary, come and clothe the ragged school, come and heal the myriad sick, come and feed the starving millions. Bring your gold and silver to the feet of the child-Christ — to the door of that humanity which lies still in the manger of Bethlehem.”

Spirit of Christ, let the chariots of the world join themselves to Thee. May they join themselves to Thee on the road on which Thou art going — the way through the desert. Thy way is ever through the wilderness across the track where the lonely dwell. Thy path is ever amid the waste places of the earth, where the labouring seem to toil without reward, and the heavy-laden to endure in vain. Into that desert let Mammon bring his chariots to Thee. Into these waste places let Ethiopia pour her treasures for Thy use. Let Tarshish and the isles bring presents, let Sheba and Seba offer gifts. Let Ophir bring her gold, and Araby her spices, and Egypt her costly gems, and let them lay them on Thy altar — the altar of humanity. When the box of precious ointment shall be poured on Thy bleeding head, the chariots of earth shall have become Thy chariot of fire.