332 MOiTEY AKD THE KIN^GDOM. 



belong to God? Then ten-tenths are his. He did not 

 one-tenth create us and we nine-tenths create ourselves. 

 He did not one-tenth redeem us and we nine-tenths 

 redeem ourselves. If hi& claim to a part is good, his 

 claim to the whole is equally good. His ownership in us 

 is no joint affair. We are not in partnership with him. 

 All that we are and have is utterly his, and his only. 



When the Scriptures and reason speak of God's 

 ownership in us they use the word in no accommodated 

 sense. It means all that it can mean in a court of law. 

 It means that God has a right to the service of his own. 

 It means that, since our possessions are his property, 

 they should be used in his service— not a fraction of 

 them, but the whole. When the lord returned from the 

 far country, to reckon M-ith his servants to whom he had 

 entrusted his goods, he demanded not simply a small 

 portion of the increase, but held his servants accountable 

 for both principal and interest — "mine own with usurj^. "' 

 Every dollar that belongs to God must serve him. x\nd it 

 is not enough that we make a good use of our means. 

 We are under exactly the same obligations to make the 

 best use of our money that we are to make a good use of 

 it ; and to make any use of it other than the best is a 

 maladministration of trust. Here, then, is the principle 

 always applicable, that of our entire possessions, every 

 dollar, every cent, is to he employed in the ivay that will 

 best honor God. 



THE PRINCIPLE APPLIED. 



The statement of this principle at once suggests diffi- 

 culties in its application. Let us glance at some of them. 



1. An attempt to regulate personal expenditures by this 

 principle affords opportunity for fanaticism on the one 

 hand and for self-deception on the other ; but an honest 

 and intelligent application of it will avoid both. 



Surely, it is right to supply our necessities. But what 

 are necessities ? Advancing civilization multiplies them. 

 Friction matches were a luxury once, they are a neces- 

 sity now. And may we allow ourselves nothing for the 



