DOES IT COME FROM THE HEART?
The late Andrew Fuller usually devoted several weeks in each year to visiting the churches and collecting money. On a certain occasion, he called on a pious and benevolent nobleman. Having laid before him the operations of the mission in Hindostan, the progress of the translation of the Scriptures, and the call for aid, the nobleman handed him a guinea. Fuller, observing that it was bestowed with an air of indifference, thus addressed him: "My lord, does this come from the heart?" "What matter is that?" said the nobleman; "suppose it does not come from the heart, it will answer your purpose as well. If you get the money, why do you care whether it comes from the heart or not?" "Take it back—take it back," said the man of God; "I cannot take it. My Lord and Master requires the heart. He will not accept an offering unless it comes from the heart." "Well, give it back," said the nobleman. "It did not come from the heart." So he took the guinea, and stepping to his desk, he drew a check on his banker for twenty pounds, and handing it to Fuller, said: "This comes from the heart. I love and honor the principles by which you are governed. I love the Lord Jesus Christ and his cause, and know that no offering is acceptable to him unless it comes from the heart.—Times of Refreshing."