Our lives are full of odds and ends, The Weaver has a master's skill, Not e'en a shred is thrown aside, Who, joining all with wondrous skill, Aubrey de Vere. CHAPTER XX Portions for Those Who Lack FTER eating the fat and drinking the sweet of the feast in their own homes the returned captives were bidden by Nehemiah to send portions to those for whom nothing had been prepared. "For this day is holy," was added to the exhortation. Part of the holiness of worship is loving service. We are never to eat our bread alone; we are to share it. "It is better to be lost than to be saved all alone," says Amiel. In Job's self-justification, when his friends had spoken bitterly against him, he says among other things: If I have withheld the poor from their desires, Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof, * * * * * Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, And mine arm be broken from the bone. We may never eat our morsel alone while others are hungry. This lesson was taught thus emphatically in the Old Testament and still more earnestly in the New. In the Lord's Prayer we are bidden to pray not for our own bread alone, but for bread for others as well. "Give us this day our daily bread." While we are feasting at our own table we must remember those who are hungry outside, and send portions to them. The days are holy-all the days are holy, and no day set apart for God must be stained by selfish ness. The direction that the people, after eating the fat and drinking the sweet of their feast, should send portions to those for whom nothing had been prepared, is in keeping with the teaching of the Bible throughout. The poor were always to be remembered. The stranger was never to be forgotten. He who let the needy go hungry when he had plenty on his own table were severely condemned. In the New Testament the lesson was taught with marked emphasis. Generosity is a quality of all true Christian character. To think only of ourselves and give no thought to others is contrary to the Spirit of Christ, who teaches us to share our plenty with those who lack. Meanness is always condemned. Generosity is always praised. It is a large word. It has a root which means excellence, goodness. It is a word of rank. Its first definition in the dictionary is “nobility: the order of nobles." A Prussian order of distinction, founded in 1665, bears the name, The Order of Generosity, later changed to The Order of Merit. The word was applied only to the good, the brave, the noble. Christ was generous. He had largeness of heart, magnanimity. He taught his followers to be generous. The lack of generosity in one who calls himself a Christian is a blot on his name. It marks him as unworthy. It dishonors him as cowardice dishonors the name of him who calls himself a man. The brightest deeds that shine in the story of humanity are the deeds of generosity. History records that when Nero was dead, some one came secretly and spread flowers on his |