Self-denial and Business.
At the Christian Convention in St. Louis, following the one at Chicago, Dr. Goodwin preached a sermon on self-denial, in which he used the following plain language:— "Christians tell us that they cannot stay in business and be out-and-out Christians. Then let them come out of business. The Bible says that the world lieth in wickedness, and it says, too, that the followers of Christ must come out of the world. It were better to die in the poor-house and die honest, than to stay in a world full of iniquitous business and die in sin. "But what Christians mean when they say that they cannot stay in business and be Christians, is that they cannot get rich. And that is true. But why should men make so much money? If Christ were in the world he would not make money. Nor should his followers be heaping up money. He did not believe in Christians laying up $50,000 and $100,000 a year. It is a moral wrong in the face of the great religious needs of the world. Last year even our own denomination gave hardly $300,000 for foreign missions, and that less than the year before, and this hardly more than was given thirty years ago. And yet we are told by high authority that this country makes money enough every twenty years to buy out the whole German Empire, lands, cities, navies, and all. But with this vast increase in wealth, and with one person out of five a professing Christian, our missionary secretaries find it almost impossible to go on with their work for want of funds. And what have we? Beautiful churches, excellent organs, fine singers, and personal indulgence in a world of luxuries. Analyze a contribution-box in a rich church, and how many twenty, or ten, or five dollar bills do you find in it? A man worth an income of $15,000 or $20,000, sings:—
'Had I a thousand worlds to give,
That were a present far too small,'
Then puts a nickel in the contribution-box."