"Ah!" said Mr. Richmond. "Read the next verse now."
"The next to the seventh, sir?—'And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.'"
"That does not sound as if Matilda were in any danger of growing poor through helping Mrs. Eldridge, does it?"
"But, sir!" said Norton, "the more one gives away, the less one has for one's self?"
"It does not always work so," said Mr. Richmond. "The Bible says, 'There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.'"
Norton did not know exactly how to fight for his opinions, and so was silent, like a well-bred boy as he was; but Matilda's feeling was different.
"I understand," she said; "at least I think I do; but, Mr. Richmond, this does not get Norton and me out of our puzzle. You don't mean that people ought to keep nothing for themselves?"
"'Every man according as he purposeth in his heart,'" Mr. Richmond repeated. "That is the order. There have been people, Matilda, who have given their all for the sake of the Lord Jesus, and kept, as you say, nothing for themselves. It was in their heart. I cannot blame them, for one. He did not."
"But ought every one to do so?"
"Matilda, I dare not set any rule but the rule my Master has set. He said, 'He that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.'"