MONEY AND THE KINGDOM. 239 



four, dropping the remaining dollar into the box ; or, if 

 I determine to build a house that shall cost one hundred 

 dollars, I exercise self-restraint and economy, and build 

 it for eighty, putting the remaining twentj^ dollars into 

 the box as an offering to Kannin Daimiyo-jin-san. . . . 

 In proi^ortion to my annual outlays, the sum in this box is 

 large or small. This year my outlays have been large ; 

 hence by the practiceof the virtues named, the amount 

 in ' the self-restraint box ' is great. Yet, notwithstand- 

 ing this, we are living in comfort, peace and happi- 

 ness. " Among us, outlays and benefactions are apt to 

 to be in inverse, instead of direct, ratio. I am strongly 

 inclined to think that Christians could gain easy forgive- 

 ness for a little idolatry of ''the great, bright god of 

 self-restraint." And if the "self-restraint box" were 

 marked Home Ivlissions, and the savings resulting from 

 our self-denial were dropped into it, the ' ' million dollars 

 a year" called for by Dr. Goodell, in 1881, would be 

 given ten times over. 



TJie general acceptance, by the Church, of the Chris- 

 tian principle that every penny is to be used in the way 

 that will best honor God, would cause every channel of 

 benevolence to overflow its banks, and occasion a blessed 

 freshet of salvation throughout the world. "But,"- says 

 some one, "that principle demands daily self-denial." 

 Undoubtedly ; and that fact is the Master's seal set to its 

 truth. "If any man will come after me, let him deny 

 himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me," 

 (Luke ix, 23). 



2. And there are no exceptions to this law of sacrifice ; 

 it binds all alike. Christian people will agree that mis- 

 sionaries are called to make great sacrifices for Christ ; 

 but why does the obligation rest on them any more than 

 on all? Does the missionary belong absolutely to God? 

 No less do we. Do the love and sacrifice of Christ lay 

 him under boundless obligation? Christ died for every 

 man. Why is not the rich man in America under as 

 great obligation to practice self-sacrifice for the salvation 

 of the heathen as the missionary in Central Africa, pro- 



