"Partners in the Concern."
By Earl Cairns
IN Belfast there was a little boy, a chimney-sweep. He happened to be attracted by missions, and dropped in a mission box a sum not inconsiderable for him—the sum of two pence. One afternoon a friend of the boy's met him going along the street in an unusual condition, for his face and his hands were washed and he was dressed in his best clothes. And the boy who was his friend said to him, "Halloa! where are you going?" "Oh!" he said, "I am going to a mission meeting." "What!" he said, "going to a missionary meeting? What are you going to a missionary meeting for?" "Well," the sweep said, "you see I have become a sort of partner in the concern, and I am going to see how the business is getting on." Well, now, that is what I want. Let us be partners in the concern, and let us see how the business is getting on. Do not let us drop our sovereign or our shilling on the plate, and then wash our hands of it till some subsequent occasion, when we will repeat that process. Do not let us take leave of the missionary and never think more about him. Let us, indeed, be partners in the great work in which we are engaged, and let us know and remember that to us is given that marvelous honor, not merely of serving, but also of being partners with our great Master, who wills that all men should be saved and should come to the knowledge of the truth.