extravagance."

Now, I ask, ought not men to feel as much in view of the eternal and
unspeakable agony of a world of souls, as a parent feels for a suffering
child? God felt MORE. He loved his only Son with a most tender
affection--inconceivably more tender than any earthly parent can
exercise towards a beloved child. And yet, when the Father placed before
him, on the one hand the eternal ruin of men, and on the other the
sufferings and death of his beloved Son, which did he choose? Let
Gethsemane and Calvary answer. Can Christians then have much of the
spirit of God, and not feel for the eternal agonies of untold millions,
more than for the temporal sufferings of a beloved child? But if
Christians felt thus, what exertion would they make--how immense the
sum they would cheerfully raise, this present year, to evangelize the
heathen! Feeling thus, a few of the wealthy churches might sustain the
present expenditures of all foreign operations. Yet all the American
churches combined, _feeling as they do now_, fail to send forth a few
waiting missionaries, and suffer the schools abroad to be disbanded. The
truth is, in the scale of giving, the church as a body (I say nothing of
individuals or of particular churches) has scarcely risen in its feeling
above the freezing point. What they now contribute is a mere fraction
compared with their ability.

Millions are squandered by professed Christians on a pampered appetite,
in obedience to fashion, a taste for expensive building, a love of
parade, and on newly-invented comforts and conveniences, of which the
hardy soldiers of Jesus Christ ought ever to be ignorant.

Then, again, some who are economical in their expenditures, have little
conception of what is meant by total consecration to God. There must be
an entire reform in this matter. Every Christian must feel that his
employment, whether it be agriculture, merchandise, medicine, law, or
anything else, is of no value any farther than it is connected with the
Redeemer's kingdom; that wealth is trash, and life a trifle, _except_ as
they may be used to advance the cause of Christ; and that so far as they
may be used for this purpose, they are of immense value. Let every
Christian feel this sentiment--let it be deeply engraven on his heart,
and how long, think you, would pecuniary means be wanting in the work of
the world's salvation?

And do we _go and instruct_ the heathen as we ought? This is indeed the
main point. To pra