.^. b. > IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. &?^ / ^ Vx :A 1.0 I.I 1.25 IIM llll|2_5 H; »« 1 2.2 ii5 mil 2.0 1.8 U III 1.6 6' V] (? .% c"^ '^/ ^^.'.^ •> .^•^^- ■c^. o 7 PhotogTfjphic Sciences Corpordtion 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. *;,«=. '^ ■■>i :,.;r.:' ■^^■ttSli ■ .^>-: ■«UliMK^. .^.,. ".;- - * _i 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 Photomount Pamphlet Binder Gaylord Broi. lie. MltlTI 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 ■■IIIUUI 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? / .^re.^,^*! 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 PMUIUIIIUUIII Pamphlet Binder Gaylord Broi. Ik. to ly 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 >^ / I 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.