254 MOXEY AisD THE KINGDOM. 



tion smites the flinty rock of selfishness, it will break 

 asunder and send forth abundant streams of benefac- 

 tion, which shall make glad the waste places and prove 

 the water of life to the perishing multitudes. 



ACCEPTANCE OF THE PRINCIPLE URGED. 



Having defined the true principle of Christian giving, 

 and glanced at some of the questions of casuistry which 

 spring from its application, and having shown that the 

 Church does not act on it, it remains to present briefly 

 some of the considerations w^hich urge its acceptance. 



1. Duty. It is common to urge benevolence by ap- 

 pealing to the hope of larger returns, which are assured 

 by many promises of the Word. And such motives 

 were needed in the childhood of the race ; but with all 

 our light they should not be needed now. Did not 

 Christ place giving on a higher plane? He said, "It is 

 more blessed to give than to receive," not because of the 

 return ; but because giving is more God-like. Men urge 

 benevolence as an investment. It is true that the stew- 

 ard Avhom God finds faithful, he is very apt to honor 

 with a larger trust ; but this should not be the motive of 

 giving. We should ' ' do good, and lend, hoping for 

 nothing again." It is true that honesty is the best pol- 

 icy ; but if this be the motive of honest dealing, there is 

 no real honesty. So when men give because they expect 

 a larger return, there is no real giving. In the region of 

 right and wrong we may not ask what is politic; we 

 stand under the scepter of the absolute Ought, which 

 does not reason or advise or plead, but simply says, 

 Thoa shalt. W^hether or not we have learned that only 

 that which we give is truly and forever ours, the duty 

 to give remains the same. The fact that God requires 

 the entire consecration of all our substance, ought, 

 alone, to be suflScient to move us ; but there are other 

 considerations. 



2. The spiritual life and powder of the churches de- 

 mand tlie acceptance of the true doctrine touching pos- 

 sessions. We talk about "our crosses." There is no 



