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 :-i*:^KS?^; 1 
 
 CHRISTIAN GIVING 
 
 ILLUSTRATED AND ENFORCED 
 
 BY 
 
 ANCIENT TITHING. 
 
 ,-1 Discourse Preached in St. Paul's Church, Montreal, 
 on Sunday Morning, Feb. 13, 1881, 
 
 BY 
 
 \. 
 
 JOHN JENKINS, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Montr KAi, : 
 
 MUCHI.II. S: WIF.SON. printers. ST. PETER STREET. 
 
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 CHRISTIAN GIVIS'G^' " 
 
 ILLUSTRATKD AND ENFORCEI 
 
 BY 
 
 ANCIENT TITHING. 
 
 A Discourse Preached in St. PaiWs Ckiweh, Montreal, 
 on Sanday Morning, Feb. 13, 1S81, 
 
 SY 
 
 JOHN JENKINS, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Montreal : 
 
 kJTCHELL & WILSON, rRINTERS, ST. 1'KTf.R SIREET. 
 
 4^jj^,' 
 
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'I'his Discourse was prcarhcd on occasion of the distriI)iilion amongst 
 the mcml)crsofSt. Taul's Church, of the Schedules of Contribution, for 
 the current year, towards <he Missionary and other Benevolent work of 
 the Presl)yterian Church in Canada— the Author deeming it a favourable 
 opportunit)- for enunciating to his hearers, the i^rinciples and modes of 
 Christian giving, as set forth in the ( )Id and New Testaments. 
 
 An old friend of the Author, and of l!ie Congregation, came to him 
 at the close of tlie service, and generously sought permission to jirint tlie 
 Discourse at his own exiiensc : FFcnce its publication. 
 
 Si, I'AiiAs (-'iiLUcii, MoxriiKAi,, 
 13tli Febnimv. 1881. 
 
Binder 
 Gaylord Broi. Ik. 
 
 MttWi 
 
 CHRISTIAN CIVINC. 
 
 ILLUS'l'RATKI) AND EXFORCKD HV AXCII'.X'I' I'lrHIXC. 
 
 '•Will a iiiiin vol) (Jdd? Yet ye liavr ioIiIk'iI Mr. 
 I>iit ye say. wliircin linvi' wi' rohbt'il Thee ? 
 Jn titlic's and nnV'rinjfs." 
 
 Miilarlii HI. S. 
 
 Antiquity inipavts great intorost to any custom ; it also 
 invests it with a measure, of authority. IT you are able to add 
 to antiquity wide-spread assent, you may claim I'or the cus- 
 tom or institution, a yet larger interest, and a yet higher 
 authority. 
 
 For the payment of tithes as a sacred olleriiig, you have 
 very high antiquity. Coniining your attention, for a moment, 
 to the Biblical record, you are carried back to 'he time of 
 Abraham, who took a tenth of the spoils which he had recov- 
 ered during a successful war, and offered it to the service of 
 religion and of " the Most High Crod." in the person of Mel- 
 chisedec, a royal priest. .Tacol) must have learned from his 
 grandfather, whom he often saw, and from others, that giving 
 unto the Lord a tenth ol' one's possessions, was a recognized 
 religious duty. You rpm(}mber his vow, alter his heart had 
 been cheered on his sad and solitary journey towards Laban, 
 by the vision of th(> glorious ladder : "If God will be with 
 me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me 
 bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my 
 father's house in jieace ; then shall the Lord be my God ; and 
 this stone, which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house ; 
 
 AND OK AliL THAT TlIOU SII.VLT (UVK ME, I WII-L SURELY (!IVE 
 THH TENTH UNTO TlIEE." 
 
 L 
 
«. 
 
 But we have other testimony no less ancient, in proof of 
 the ai)p!ication of a tenth of their possessions by mankind to 
 sacred and other public purposes. The practice prevailed 
 amongst the Carthaginians, the Arabians, the Greeks, the 
 T'omans, and even earlier nations. These peoples were accus- 
 tomed to bestow a tenth of spoils captured in war, on a 
 successful general. A tenth, too, of commercial profits was 
 sometimes dedicated to a particular Deity. At other times, a 
 king was the chosen recipient of a tenth of the property of 
 certain of his subjects. Abraham, therefore, in paying tithes 
 to Melchisedec, was but following a custom which existed in 
 the nations around him ; the result, no doubt, of some common 
 tradition. Indeed, the offering to religion of money, of the 
 fruits of the field, and of the increase of the ilock, may be said 
 to be instinctive in the human race ; to be, as some would pre- 
 fer to express it, a principle of natural religion. There never 
 was a time in which men did not recognize the responsibility 
 of acknowledging by religious gifts, the Kingship and bounty 
 of the Creator ; neither was there ever a nation or people so 
 ignorant or debased, as not in some form or other, often rude 
 and even savage, to surrender to the ends of what they called 
 religion, a portion of their substance. Long before Solomon 
 reduced it to words, the principle embodied in this require- 
 ment was recognized by the universal human mind : " Honour 
 the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all 
 thint' increase." 
 
 The legislation of Moses elaborated this ancient practice, 
 impressing it not only with a Divine sanction, but also with a 
 fixed jiroportionate distribution. That which had previously 
 been somewhat elastic in its operation, became under Moses, 
 compulsory — a law, to transgress which was to sin against the 
 Ood of Israel. Tithes under the Levitical dispensation consti- 
 tuted the one source of ecclesiastical finance. From the tenths of 
 the people, the elaborate and costly sacerdotal syst em of the Jews, 
 including the whole machinery of its gorgeous temple-worship, 
 was maijitained. From a like source, the poor of the nation 
 were provided for One-tenth did not suffice for both these 
 objects ; so two-tenths were devoted by the Jews, under Divine 
 direction, to religious purposes. 
 
 *<t 
 
baylord BrN. ik. 
 
 There are writers who contend, with some ground, that a 
 third tenth was called for ever) three years. Be this as it may, 
 it is beyond question that two whole tenths were yearly sur- 
 rendered to religious objects by every Jew who kept the law 
 of his God. I go not into the details of the Mosaic institution 
 of tithes. They are set forth with great precision of statement; 
 and the institution is so often referred to as divinely appointed, 
 by both Jewish historian and prophet, and is so clearly recog- 
 nized by Christ Himself and by leading apostles, that no one 
 doubts, or could doubt, either the antiquity of tithe paying, or 
 its authority as an ordinance of God. 
 
 You would expect to find some great principle underlying 
 a system thus prevalent in the earliest times, a system adapted 
 and elaborated afterwards by Moses under Divine guidance, 
 for the support of that religious economy which was designed 
 to become, which did become, and is destined yet more sig- 
 nally to become, the light of the Gentile nations, no less than 
 the glory of God's people, Israel. Thh is the principle : That the 
 Creator claims and holds, as his undoubted possession, all that 
 He has made. That which man has. uses, lives by, is the 
 Lord's. Forcibly and with great clearness is this claim stated by 
 one of the psalmists. Speaking as the mouth-piece of Jehovah 
 he savs : "JCverv beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle 
 upon a thousand hills . . . the world is mine, and the ful- 
 ness thereof" ■Moses, too, lays down the same broad claim on 
 behalf of the Most High : " IJehold the heaven and the hi'aven 
 of heavens is the Lord's thy G-od, the earth also, with all that 
 therein is." This is /IV/ to be true ; so felt that it need not be 
 argued. Every man feels that he is not his own ; that he has 
 not absolute control of his own movements; that his posses- 
 sions are not absolutely in his power; that life and healtli and 
 riches are in the hands of a higher jiowei-, placed utti-rly be- 
 vond his own ordering-. There does exist, and God allows it 
 to exist, a certain sense of security as to these things ; hope and 
 trust are not altogether driven out of the soul, as to the jios- 
 sessions and joys of the present; but after all, when man 
 scrutinizes the whole matter, and applies the doctrine of prob- 
 abilities to the experience which he has acquired, he foels 
 
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 6 
 
 that the things which he holds are hold under .sufFerance, that 
 a personal Power is near him which has them so far under 
 control that it is only for It to will, and the whole possession, 
 whatever it be, is gone. Even an atheist feels thiy, though he 
 would express it differently. The experierice of Job is often 
 repeated in the history of mankind. An unsee!i hand is 
 stretched forth, and at its touch, the most stable and trusted 
 possessions vanish. When health fails and strength forsakes 
 , us, w^hen wealth takes to itself wing.s and loved ones die, the 
 lesson, " Ye are not your own," is easily learned. An early 
 recognition by mankind of this fact — as early, I believe, as the 
 earliest human period — take ibr example the oli'erijigs of Cain 
 and of Abel — led, no doubt, to the custom whose origin we 
 have been attempting to trace and to portray. 
 
 In the theocracy of which Moses was the visible repre- 
 sentative, God claims, under legal sanctions as we hare seen, a 
 recognition of His proprietorship in all that man enjoys, to the 
 extent of one-fifth of his possessions. It matters not to explain 
 at this time how the tithing in Israel was accomplished, by what 
 process it was brought together and used ibr sacred purposes. 
 Enough for us to know, that a double tithe was enforced, and 
 that failure to pay was visited with punishment. This is set 
 forth with great clearness in the chapter before us. Here is a 
 strong appeal to the chosen people to return from neglect to 
 observance, in the matter of paying tithes. " Bring ye all the 
 tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine 
 house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if 
 I will not open yoii the windows of heaven, and pour you out 
 a blessing, that there shall not lie room enough to receive it." 
 
 It should be remembered, that besides these two compul- 
 sory tenths, the Israelites were called upon, not unfrequently, 
 for free-will ollerings to the purposes of religion. We have a 
 minute and graphic account in the Uook of l*]xodus ot the 
 donations which were devoted by the congregation of Israel 
 towards the setting up of the Tabernacle with its elaborate 
 and costly ornaments. W^omen brought their jewels of gold, 
 their eml^roidery, their fine linen. Men brought gold and 
 silver, brass and iron, shittim wood and furs. Both, women 
 
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 Gaylord Broi. Ik. 
 
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 and men offered tiicir handywork. No constraint was put 
 upon tlie people: " Wfiosoever is of a willing- heart, let him 
 brini^ it,' was the language of Moses. Any member of the 
 congregation might declim'. It is not said that any one did 
 withdraw his sympathy aiul service from the work. IJather 
 wo are told that the '■ children of Israel brought a willing 
 ofiering unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart 
 made them willing to bring, lor all manner of work which 
 the Lord had commanded to be made." The work went on ; 
 the interest of the people in its prosecution deepened ; • they 
 brought free ollerings every morning." And now, look at the 
 issue of this noble and sustained generosity ! I will give it in 
 the language of the historian : •' The wise mi'ii that wrought 
 all the work, came unto Moses and said, ' The people bring 
 much more than enough.' And Moses gave commandment 
 and they caused it to be proclaimed throuu'hout tne camp, 
 saying, ' Let neither man nor woman make any more work for 
 the oifering of the sanctuary,' so the people were restrained 
 from bringing." Has such a scene as this been ever witnessed 
 under the Christian r<;jj:;iiiie '. Not among oursehes certainly ! 
 As Israel, in the course of centuries, acquired wealth 
 and stability, the result of successful wars upon the nations 
 whom they dit;inheritecl, their free-will ollerings to (lod were 
 on a more liberal scale. Probably there never has been so 
 signal an example of the consecration of money to religious 
 purposes as that which was given for the building of "Solomon's 
 temple." David's pcn-sonal contribution was upwards of lifteen 
 millions of pounds sterling; and the princes and heads of the 
 nation offered as their free-will gifts more than twice this 
 sum. These two amounts were over and above an almost 
 fabulous hoard which David had for a long time been sacredly 
 treasuring up for this purpose, and which he handed over to 
 Solomon, chosen of God, to carry out the stupendous work. 
 Touching and instructive are the exclamations which these 
 splendid gifts called forth from the mouth of David : " Nows 
 therefore, our (rod, we thank Thee and praise Thy glorious 
 luune. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should 
 be able to offer so willingly after this sort ? for all things come 
 of Thee, and of thine own have we given Thee!' 
 
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 8 
 
 What relation lia.s the old .To'svish method of giving' for 
 Tcligious objects, to the Gospel and Christianity :" Is there 
 any correspondence between what was required IVom Jews, 
 and what is required from Christians in this matter of devoting 
 money or other possessions to G-od — His cause and Church V 
 
 In regard to the general principle of giving, the same law 
 obtains under both l^^conomies. You would expect that the 
 broader and more generous system which succeeded and in a 
 great degree supplanted that of Mcses, would not fall behind 
 in consideration and help for the poor. I am sure, too, it 
 would surprise you if the New Testament made no such pro- 
 vision for the maintenance of those who preach the (rospel, as 
 was made by Moses, under Divine direction, for the support 
 of the Jewish priesthood. You have both thesis provisions in 
 the Gospel, as we shall immediately see ; but they are set forth 
 in a broader and more generous light, as you might expect ; — 
 transfigured into the loving image of Jesus. The appeals are 
 not loss strong, but tliey come to us on grounds which wei'O 
 nnknown to the law. In the Old Testament the app<»al is made 
 on the ground of the will of (lod and of His bounty as the 
 Author of all : the enforcement rests largely upon law — rigid, 
 necessary law — to break which would be sin. The Gospel is 
 not less arbitrary and insistent in its requirements respecting 
 the giving of money ; but it sets forth its a[)peals on the ground 
 of that supreme I'^xample of unselfishness and sacrifice, which 
 Christians have continually before their eyes in the T'erson 
 and work of their Lord. The measure, no less than the ground, 
 of giving- under the Gospel, is the (Jreat Sacrifice : " Ye know 
 the grace of our Lovd Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, 
 yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His pov- 
 erty might be rich"' : — He made Himself poor for you ; make 
 ye yourselves poor lor others ! The religion of tht» (lospel is 
 reiu'esented, from first to last, as a religion of s(^li-denial and of 
 sympathy. To expres.s it in a .^^ingle phrase, it is" The imitation 
 ofCMirist.'' The requirements enforced by Christ on His dis- 
 ciples are largely and specifically in the direction of surrtMuler- 
 ing money or other material ac([uisition. for the great ends of 
 relieving human sullering and saving human souls. In His 
 
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 9 
 
 toaching- Ho dealt in general principles in the important matter 
 of the use of money. He also gave a distinct commendatory 
 sanction to the payment of tithes. Taking the second, first : In 
 the course of His intructions to the Pharisees, Christ charges 
 them with neglecting the great duties of justice, mercy and 
 faith, acknowledging that they, at the same time, observed 
 with exemplary minuteness, the payment of tithes. " These 
 ought ye to have doiu%" He added, " and not to leave the other 
 undone." H could hardly be said, in view of this statement, 
 that the Gospel abrogates the system of tithe-paying. Rather 
 it developes those great principles of generosity and kindliness 
 that underlie the ancient practice, creating a wider sphere for 
 the exercise of benevolent giving, multiplying opportunities 
 for the bestowal of free-will oHerings, and connecting them 
 with higher and more sacred sanctions. !*5o far from abro- 
 gating, it imparts new and higher authority to the old custom, 
 sets it in a stronger and diviner light. 
 
 Then, looking at the general principles which our Lord 
 has laid down as to the stewardship and use of money, the 
 only conclusion we can reach is, that He intended to establish 
 in IHs Church and amongst His disciples a broader system 
 than that of Moses. Christianity, as He taught it, is designed 
 to strike at the root of covetousness in man — that damning sin, 
 and to overthrow the power of selfLshness in the soul — that 
 unholy principle which banishes from its domain the presence 
 and power of holy love. Very early in His ministry, He gave 
 this warning to His hearers, " J^ay jiot up for yourselves trea- 
 sures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and wliere 
 thieves break through and steal; but lay u}) lor yourstdves 
 treasures in heaven." " lieware of covetousness," said He, at 
 another time, " for a man's life consistetli not in the abundance 
 of the things which he i)ossesseth."' He who commanded the 
 rich ruler to cun^ himself of co\ etousness by going and selling 
 all that he had and giving it to (he poor, and commended 
 another rich man for pledging himself to give a whole half of 
 his property to the poor, and to (juadrnple any sums that he 
 may have wronged people of, can hardly be quoted as regard- 
 ing with disfavour that more limited tithe-paying which Moses 
 
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 10 
 
 had eng'iartcd upon the Lcvitical system from an ancient 
 stock. Then, look at the extent of the requirements which 
 the Master made upon the self denial of His personal disciples. 
 lie encouraged them to give up "all" for ilis sake. He did 
 more. He stii)ulated that if they would become His disciples, 
 they must really do this. Houses and lands, kindred and 
 friends were not to be considered in the great question of fol- 
 lowing Him and of saving the soul. Look, too, at those strik- 
 ing parables which He pronounced against covetousness. The 
 rich man in torment and the beggar in Abraham's bosom. 
 The hoarder of all the wealth luu^ded for years, fool that he 
 was ! suddenly summoned into the presence of his God. You 
 cannot help feeling as you read the Gospels, that thtnr whole 
 si)irit, that the tone of all the ttviching of our Lord, and the 
 influence of His example, are not only in full harmony with, 
 but that they go fur beyond the most generous and self-deny- 
 ing requnements of the older economy, whether you regard 
 it as (M)joining upon its members a double tithe, or view it in 
 that higher, freer light which was imparted to it by the oft-times 
 more-than-lavish free-will ollerings of the congregation of 
 Israel. 
 
 Such was the spirit ol Dk Lord's teaching, example and 
 demands. The results were seen when once the Church was 
 established. The multitudes of converts who were brought 
 into Christian communion, as the fruit of the Pentecostal bless- 
 ing, belonged to various classes of society. For the most part 
 they were poor. Their new circumstances gave them little 
 opi)ortunity for securing employment. ^lany of them were 
 strangers in Jerusalem. So the apostles lound themselves 
 surrounded })y a large numlxM" of converts, absolutely needy : 
 not a hundred or two; but liiteen hundred, or most likely two 
 thousand. Already in their Christian history, these babes in 
 Christ f-'lt united one to another by a common bond — tluit 
 grace , l.ich in common they had receivd from and in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Those who had, and many of them seem 
 to have hiul " possessions," sold them, and brought the proceeds 
 and luid them at the feet of the Apostles, who distributed as 
 every man had need. It does not mean, I think, that they all 
 
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 11 
 
 gave up everything they had, but that they gave up whatever 
 was needed for an adequate common supply. Neither is it 
 stated that any of the converts were constrained to give of 
 their property against their will. It was a pure voluntary 
 offering to the necessities of their poorer brethren. This is 
 clear from the striking story of Ananias and his wife. Peter's 
 remonstrance with Ananias contained this appeal : " Whilst it 
 remained, was it not thine own ^ aiul after it was sold, was it 
 not in thine own power ^" — No i)ressure, therefore, was put 
 upon any man. 
 
 Thus the Church, from the day of its birth, was called to 
 the exercise of self-sacrilicing benevolence. That which was 
 as dear to its members, as the possessions which wo have 
 gathered are to us, was surrendered — willingly, yea, Joy- 
 fully given up, " Neither said any ol them that aught of the 
 things which he possessed was his own ;" a higher, nobler 
 view of property was taken by these early converts in the 
 freshness of their love; nothing was felt to be their own ; they 
 did not even feel that they themselves were their ovvn. The 
 Church, the body of Christ in its members, claimed all they 
 had and all they were ; and it was all given I Tliis was the 
 " g-rare" of giving. It is worth while to note, that this readiness 
 to surrender all, was the fruit ot prayer and oi the bestowment 
 of the Holy (rhost. The Apostles and converts (not all of the 
 latter, lor they could hardly have found, even in Jerusalem, 
 a place in which all could meet) came together for communion 
 and i)rayer. " When they had prayed," it is said, " tlu' place 
 was shaken where they had assembled together ; and they 
 were all lilled with the Holy (Ihost, and they spake the word 
 of God with boldness. And the multitude ol' them that 
 believed were of one heart and of one soul, neither said any of 
 them that aught of the things which he possessed was his 
 own ; but they had all things common." 
 
 t^hortly after this, as the number of the disciples increased, 
 we find the Church making provision lor those of its poorer 
 members who were widows, and electing seven deacons, at 
 the instance ol the Apostles, to take charge of the contribu- 
 tions, and to nu\ke an e([uitable daily ministration ; — showing 
 
 a 
 
"TT 
 
 12 
 
 that the Christians kept up their willingness to contribute of 
 their substance to the Church of God. The contributions and 
 outlay must have been considerable to have needed the super- 
 intendence of seven efficient officers. 
 
 The Epistles to Philippi and Corinth contain many refer- 
 ences to the liberality of the churches in those cities; those to 
 the Corinthians especially, announce the great princijiles of 
 giving, as deduced from the Gospel ; and the true meUiod. 
 
 Two objects of Christian giving are specially named. 
 They are the two to which the double-tithe of the Israelites 
 was set apart : That of supporting the Lord's ministry, and 
 that of supplying the wants of the needy members of the 
 Church The second object occupies the larger space in the 
 New Testament — the peculiar circumstances of the Church 
 calling for large and immediate attention to the poor. Ikit that 
 of the support of Christian teachers is enunciated with more 
 than sufficient clearness : " Let him that is taught in the word 
 commu)iicale unto him that teachelh in all good things." "If 
 we have sow n unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if wo 
 shall reap your cariuil things i " And here I want you to ob- 
 serve how the Apostle draws an illustrative argument from the 
 custom of tithes, to strengthen his position as to the support of 
 the Christian ministry : " Do ye not know," he argues, "that 
 they which minister about holy things live of the things of the 
 lemi)le ? and they which wait at the altar are partakers wi*^h 
 the altar ( Even so," is his triumphant conclusion, " hath tlie 
 Lord ordninetl, that they which preach the Gospel, should live 
 of the Gospel." 
 
 From this, the duty of sustaining missions to the heathen 
 is easily deducible. Indeed, whiit were those early churches 
 but churches planted in the miilst of heathenism '. and what 
 were those preachers of the Gospel, lor whose support St. 
 Paul pleails, but missionaries to the heathen '. and how are we 
 to carry out the Lord's injunction to go into all the world and 
 preach the Gosr ' every creature, if we do not make provi- 
 sion ibr the si • irt of those who in the ends of the earth 
 are now fuliilling this great commission ? 
 
 To two ol the Churches — probably to others, but we 
 
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 Gaylord Broi. Ik. 
 __-llaiuu 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 know of two — tho Apostle laid clown tho principle of Christian 
 giving as to its manner and as to its measure : "Now concern- 
 ing the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the 
 Churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the 
 week let every one of you lay hy him in store, as God hath 
 prospered him." 
 
 There is to be system in our giving. It is to be at regular 
 intervals. The Apostle suggests a weekly interval. And 
 doubtless for most people this would be the wise plan. All who 
 are salaried — workmen, servants, clerks, and the higher class 
 of salaried officials, receiving their pay weekly or monthly, can 
 have no difficulty in laying aside a portion of their earnings 
 for religious purposes every Lord's day. One advantage of 
 this method would be, that it would give people a habit of 
 regularity ; — systematic in this, they would be likely to be 
 systematic in other matters. There is another advantage : it 
 is easier to contribute, by small oilerings, than to be called upon 
 at the end of a year, when all one's money is spent, for the 
 aggregate of these small sums. Still another advantage ap- 
 pears : the certainty with which the Church could rely upon 
 the money needed for the support of its missions and other 
 objects. 
 
 In regard to tho.se whose income is derived from the pro- 
 fits of their business, the best way pro1)ably would be for them 
 to make their calculation upon what they made in the previous 
 year, together with what it cost them to live. This latter is a 
 very lu^cessary element in the calculation. It would be un- 
 equal for a merchant to lay by a jvroportion of his profits, not 
 including what he has spent on his family, and for a man with 
 a salary merely, to give a proportion of his whole income. 
 
 Some of the leading Congregations in our Church have 
 adopted the Lord's-Day weekly ofiering as the principal means 
 of supporting their own Society and the Church's Mis.sions: 
 There are no pew rents; the offerings are all voluntary. J wish 
 we could see our way to the adoption of the same method. I 
 wonder what would be the result of throwing ourselves on the 
 generosity of our people! Would they be faithful? would 
 they be as liberal in free-will ofl'erings, as they are constrained 
 to be on the far from batisfactory pew-reul system? 
 
/ 
 
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 14 
 
 So far as the benevolent work of the Church is concerned, 
 Ihis Congregation is making an approach to systematic giving. 
 The Schedule system enables any member of the congregation 
 to set apart a monthly, a quarterly, or an annual sum to the 
 work of the Lord. But that which depresses me most of all 
 in the position of this Church, I will not say before you but 
 before God, is the fact to which I now call your solemn atten- 
 tion, that many among us, as you know, give nothing to 
 Missions whether Home or I'oreign. The principal offerings 
 of the Congregation are confined to the immediate care and 
 sustentation of itself Listen to the Apostle's direction, and 
 note its universality : " Upon the lirst day of the week /el every 
 one of ijoii lay by him," the poor no less than the rich, the 
 young as well as the old. No provision is made for exceptions. 
 The duty is common to all ; and the Apostle's words can be 
 construed to mean no less than that for any man to withhold 
 from giving, is to forfeit his claim to be a Christian. 
 
 The measure of one's giving is to be determined by his 
 prosperity. The proportion of a tenth or two-tenths is not 
 stated. But no man will have the boldness or the indiscretion 
 to plead a lower projiortion under the gloriously-generous and 
 loving Oosjiel, than that which existed under the law ! This 
 would be an outrageous contention. It would be dishonest 
 for any one of us to plead, as an excuse for not giving up to 
 the Jewish standard, that the Gospel does not actually pre- 
 scribe a i)roportion. This would be to rob (iod, certainly ! 
 " Will a mar* rob God ? Yet ye have robbed Me." 
 
 " As God hath prospered him" ! We can easily reckon up 
 this matter as to the past. Have we given in proportion to 
 our prtst prosperity ? We know what we have done ; how 
 we lir.ve succeeded ; what we have made. We know how 
 much we have added, from year to year, notwithstanding all 
 that we have tspent and lost, to our capital ; how, beginning 
 with notliinii' or with next to nothing, we have worked our- 
 selves up to a position of opulence in some cases, aye, in many 
 cases. AVhat have we done in the matter of giving ? Did wo 
 ever sit down and set apart a lifth of a year's prolits and dis- 
 tribute it in Christian work and charity i Did we ever, when 
 
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 Pamphlet 
 
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 Gaylord Broi. Ik. 
 
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 15 
 
 we reached a capital of fifty thousand dollars, sit down and 
 lithe it ? or ^vhen we reached a capital of one hundred thousand 
 sii- down and give even a tenth of this ? " ( )f all that thou shalt 
 give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee " There were 
 years in which many of you made ten thousand dollars, others 
 fifteen, twenty, forty, iifty thousand. Who helped you to 
 make it ? And yet you kept nearly all of it ! " "Will a man 
 rob God?" I will not throw such a slight on your intelli- 
 gence and your conscience as to argue with you that a man 
 w'ith twenty thousand dollars a year contributing a tenth, does 
 not give as much or in as Christian a proportion, as a man who 
 out of an income of two thousand dollars gives two hundred. 
 A tenth for the wealthier man, is no sufFicient proportion, 
 if a tenth is the true guage for the poorer man. OthiM-s, too, 
 among you. can review the ]Kist. Your salaries increased 
 from six dollars a month to eight or ten. or from five hundred 
 dollars a year to six hundred, or from a thousand to fifteen 
 hundred, and so on. Did you increase your giving ? I say 
 not in amount, but in. propoftion (o the incrfane in your income '. 
 Jf you used to give fifty dollars out of five hundred, the setting 
 apart five hundred out of five thousand could not be called 
 giving in sufficient proportion. Certainly it would not be 
 laying by in store, an Clod pros/iered you. 
 
 These hints and principles I commend to the earnest and 
 intelligent consideration of every member of St. I'aul's Church. 
 It is no light thing for any Christian communicant to neglect 
 to do the will of God in this matter. Let every man do his 
 duty — his Christ-commanded, self-sacrificing, Christ-like duty. 
 T counsel the young, especially the young men who are enter- 
 ing or have lately entered upon lile, to begin this work of 
 faithful, proportionate giving. Be not ye of the number of those 
 in the Church who ' rob God." Listen rather to these words 
 of ancient wisdom, "Honour the Lord with thy substance, 
 and with the first fruits of all thine increase ; so shall thy 
 })arns be filled w'ith plenty, and thy presses shall burst out 
 with new wine." Here is the command distinctly stated ! 
 Here, too, is the promise ! Obey ye the one ; and the God of 
 all plenty will fulfil the other. — " The first-fruits of all thine 
 

 
 >^ 
 
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 16 
 
 increase." — What is this but saying-, Honour Ilim as lie hath 
 prospered you! Do this faithfully — as faithfully as you pay 
 your debts. This is a debt : Pay it ! Lot not this word fall 
 from the mouUi of Crod concerning" you, "Ye have robbed 
 Me ! " — robbed Me " in tithes and offerings I " Do it on system : 
 as systematically as you keep your account books in bank or 
 ^varehouse, Maj' Grod help you to do it ! May lie help us all 
 to understand the "grace" of giving, and to practice ii ! Be 
 assured that as in husbandry, so also in this matter of the 
 stewardship of our possessions, " There is that scattereth and 
 yet increaseth ; there is that vvithholdeth more than is meet, 
 and it tendeth to poverty." Often have 1 observed the truth 
 of those two principles of action, with their following results, 
 illustrated in the experience of mankind. 1 have met with 
 men who have sown comparatively nothing for God, w'ho 
 have kept their abundance hoarded and unused, save for their 
 own gratification ; and they have reaped neither pleasure nor 
 gain. On the other hand, I have seen and known men who 
 have scattered their acquisitions with profuse hand for the 
 relief of the needy and the lost, and it seemed as if the more 
 they gave, the more they were prospered. " He which soweth 
 sparingly shall reap also sparingly ; and he which soweth 
 bountifully shall reap also bountifully : Every man as ho pur- 
 poseth in his heart, so let him give ; not grudgingly or of 
 necessity; for Crod loveth a cheerful giver." 
 
^ as Ue hath 
 ly as yon pay 
 this word fall 
 
 have robbed 
 it on system : 
 '■^'s ill bank or 
 lo help us all 
 'Ctice ii ! Be 
 natter of the 
 Jattereth and 
 than is meet, 
 ed the truth 
 ^vin^ results, 
 re met with 
 f God, who 
 ave for their 
 :)leasure nor 
 'n men who 
 md for the 
 if the more 
 lich soweth 
 ich soweth 
 
 as he pur- 
 ug-ly or of 
 
 Photomount 
 
 Pamphlet 
 
 Binder 
 
 Gaylord Bm. Ik.