mperfect, and there is a
great gap in it, as if some cantle had been cut out of the silver disc
of the moon. It is only full-orbed when in well-doing, and as a very
large constituent element of it, there is included the doing good to
others. That is too plain to need to be stated. We hear a great deal
to-day about altruism. Well, Christianity preaches that more
emphatically than any other system of thought, morals, or religion does.
And Christianity brings the mightiest motives for it, and imparts the
power by which obedience to that great law that every man's conscience
responds to is made possible.

But whilst thus we recognise as a dictate of elementary morality that
well-doing must necessarily include doing good to others, and feel, as I
suppose we all do feel, when we are true to our deepest convictions,
that possessions of all sorts, material, mental, and all others, are
given to us in stewardship, and not in absolute ownership, in order that
God's grace in its various forms may fructify through us to all, my
present point is that, if that is recognised as being what it is, an
elementary dictate of morality enforced by men's relationships to one
another, and sealed by their own consciences, there is no getting away
from the obligation upon all Christian men which it draws after it, of
each taking his share in the great work of imparting the gospel to the
whole world.

For that gospel is our highest good, the best thing that we can carry to
anybody. We many of us recognise the obligation that is devolved upon us
by the possession of wealth, to use it for others as well as for
ourselves. We recognise, many of us, the obligation that is devolved
upon us by the possession of knowledge, to impart it to others as well
as ourselves. We are willing to give of our substance, of our time, of
our effort, to impart much that we have. But some of us seem to draw a
line at the highest good that we have, and whilst responding to all
sorts of charitable and beneficent appeals made to us, and using our
faculties often for the good of other people, we take no share and no
interest in communicating the highest of all goods, the good which comes
to the man in whose heart Christ rests. It is our highest good, because
it deals with our deepest needs, and lifts us to the loftiest position.
The gospel brings our highest good, because it brings eternal good,
whilst all other benefits fade and pass, and are left behind with life
and the