Hardy’s Ministry of Money-Making

The Honorable Alpheus Hardy made money and used it to support missionaries and educate ministers. The great Japanese, Dr. Joseph Hardy Neesima, was helped by him when he landed in Boston on one of Hardy’s ships. Neesima helped lay the foundations for Christianity in Japan.

Here is Hardy’s experience: “I wanted to go to college and become a minister. My health broke down and the truth dawned on me that I could not be a minister. “I cannot be God’s minister,” was the sentence that kept rolling in my mind.

“One morning, alone in my room, my distress was so great I threw myself flat on the floor. The voiceless cry of my soul was, “O God, I cannot be Thy minister.”

“Then it came to me that I could serve God in business with similar devotion, and to make money for God might be my special calling. The vision was so clear and joyous, I exclaimed aloud, “O God, I can be Thy minister! I will go back to Boston. I will make money for God, and that shall be my ministry. I am God’s man, and my ministry is to make and administer money for Him.” “