Some Good Comparisons

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 21, 1868

Some Good Comparisons.

A LITTLE boy who had plenty of cents, dropped one into the missionary box, laughing as he did so. He had no thought in his heart about Jesus, the heathen, or the missionary. His was a tin penny. It was as light as a scrap of tin.

Another boy put a penny in, and as he did so, looked around with a self-applauding gaze, as if he had done some great thing. His was a brass penny. It was not the gift of a “lovely heart,” but of a proud spirit.

A third gave a penny, saying to himself, “I suppose I must because all the others do.” That was an iron penny. It was the gift of a cold, hard heart.

As a fourth boy dropped his penny in the box, he shed a tear, and in his heart said, “Poor heathens! I’m sorry they are so poor, so ignorant, and so miserable.” That was a silver penny. It was the gift of a heart full of pity.

But there was one scholar who gave his cent with a throbbing heart, saying to himself, “For thy sake, O loving Jesus, I give this penny, hoping that the poor heathen whom thou lovest, will believe in thee, and become thy disciples.” That was a golden penny, because it was the gift of love.

All our actions may be compared in this way. Children, did you ever stop to consider the motives for your conduct, and the spirit in which you act? It is not obedience to do in a pettish manner what you are told to do. “God knoweth the heart.”