OCR Text |
Show A REWARD OF FAITH. Conclusion Drawn from the Destruction Destruc-tion of an Ohio Church. A congregation In n hilly district In Ohio bought a small tract of land and erected a church bultdlng upon It, snya tho Youth's Companion. Thon the question of Insurnnco came up., Mr. Slpes, tho wealthiest membor, who had contributed moro than halt tho money needed for tho now structure, struc-ture, declared that ho did not beltevo In Insurnnco. "This Is tho Lord's building. He'll take care ot It," be said. Ills view provnlled and tlmro was no Insurance In a fow weoks the building was struck by lightning and almost totally consumed by fire. Another ono was erected, Mr, Slpes contributing tho greater portion of tho fund as before. This tlmo tho demand de-mand was almost unanimous that It bo Insured, but Mr. Slpes again objected ob-jected on tho samo ground. "If It burns down again, brethren," ho sold, "I'll agree to rebuild It myself." Again he carried his point. In less than a month tho new church was struck by lightning again, and although strenuous strenu-ous efforts wero mado to Havo It, tho loss was almost total. "Thero must bo somo reason for this, brethren," said Brother Slpes. "I nm going to find out what It Is." Thereupon ho employed a -force of men to sink n shaft on tho slto ot tho twlco destroyed des-troyed church. Within a fow days n rich vein of Iron oro was found and the church proporty was sold for many times tho amount needed to buy land In another locality and build again. "I toll you, brethren," Bald Brother Slpes, "it pays to trust the Lord. He's n groat deal bettor business busi-ness manager than anybody In this congregation." |