yet
mined any of the fine gold of sacrifice. The coming rainy day will never
be able to use up all that some folks are salting down for it.

And yet some folks, many folks, should be spending more on their bodies
and giving less. The giving should never intrench upon the strength of
one's personality. That is a treasure to be sacredly guarded. All the
power of one's life, in serving, in giving, in praying, in speaking, and
in personal contact, the power of all roots down in the personality. The
safe rule, and the only safe rule, is to decide such questions with the
knee-joint bent, and the door shut, and the spirit willing. A strong will
played upon by the Holy Spirit, mellowed by emotions that have been moved
by the need, and held steady by a disciplined judgment must attend to
loosening the purse-strings.

But the one fact being emphasized here just now is that the element of
sacrifice must be in the giving if it is to be effective. Sacrifice was
the dominant factor in _God's_ giving of His Son, real sacrifice. It was
dominant in _Jesus'_ giving of His own self and His life, keen cutting
sacrifice. Who will follow in _their_ train? Whoever will, will be getting
a post-graduate course in financiering and in multiplying of values. He
will be astonished at the results working out, and most astonished at the
final disclosures.

Keeping out of circulation more than one's wants, properly adjusted, call
for is poor financiering. For that which is held back is not earning
anything. All beyond one's needs should be out in circulation for the
Master in His campaign for a world. Yet nowhere is there finer chance or
greater need for the play of keen judgment than in deciding that question
of need. Mistakes are made on both sides. It looks very much as though the
most serious mistakes are being made on the side of too little sacrifice
or none. Yet clearly some serious mistakes are made on the other side
too. But no one may criticise another. Each must decide for himself. In
the judgment of charity we are to presume that each is doing what he
thinks right and best. We are, none of us, the keeper of our brother's
purse.

A Living Sacrifice.

There is a simple story told that contains its truth in its very
naturalness and simplicity. It reveals a bit of the real life ever going
on all around us unnoticed. A minister in a certain small town in an
eastern state received from the home mission board of his church a letter
as