Enriching Others While Enriching Ourselves
The death of Sir Henry Bessemer called attention to the business career of a man who succeeded in making an immense fortune, and yet did it in a way to bless everybody else in the civilized world.
As the result of long and laborious scientific investigation and experiments he came to the conclusion that it was possible to convert iron ore into steel, so that the latter material could be sold at a mere fraction of its then cost. The patents which he took out to cover his invention enabled him for a series of years to obtain a royalty from the use of his apparatus, and meanwhile the price of steel was reduced to about one tenth of its old quotations. While the inventor made a great fortune, he benefited the world many hundreds of millions of dollars a year—a benefit which has been shared, both directly and indirectly, by every person in every civilized country on the earth. The career of this man is a signal illustration of the universal blessing of Christian character. Every person who finds salvation in Jesus Christ and enters into the joy of communion with God, not only enriches his own soul beyond comparison, but enriches everybody else that comes in contact with him. And every sinner whom he can lead into the same blessed experience becomes endowed with spiritual wealth, which also adds to the joy of the one who won him to Christ.
As the result of long and laborious scientific investigation and experiments he came to the conclusion that it was possible to convert iron ore into steel, so that the latter material could be sold at a mere fraction of its then cost. The patents which he took out to cover his invention enabled him for a series of years to obtain a royalty from the use of his apparatus, and meanwhile the price of steel was reduced to about one tenth of its old quotations. While the inventor made a great fortune, he benefited the world many hundreds of millions of dollars a year—a benefit which has been shared, both directly and indirectly, by every person in every civilized country on the earth. The career of this man is a signal illustration of the universal blessing of Christian character. Every person who finds salvation in Jesus Christ and enters into the joy of communion with God, not only enriches his own soul beyond comparison, but enriches everybody else that comes in contact with him. And every sinner whom he can lead into the same blessed experience becomes endowed with spiritual wealth, which also adds to the joy of the one who won him to Christ.