■ '■( I 
 
SYSTEMATIC GIYI:N"G, 
 
PRIZE ESSAY 
 
 SYSTEMATIC GIVING 
 
 THE CHURCH'S SAFEGUARD AGAINST 
 NINETEENTH CENTURY EVILS. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. CHARLES A COOK 
 
 jf 
 
 TORONTO: 
 
 WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING STREET EAST. 
 C. W. CoATBS, Montreal, Que. S. F. Hukstis, Halifax, N.S. 
 
Kntered according to Act of the PailianieiU of c::in;ul;i. in the ye:u- one 
 thousand eight hundred and eighty-eiglit, hy William lik-icics. I'.ook- 
 Steward of the Methodist Hook .uul T'lihlishin.u House. I oronto. at 
 tile I >e))aitiitent of Agriculture, 
 
PRKKACE. 
 
 TT is now about thirty-three years since the import- 
 -■- ant collection of essays on Christian Giving, 
 entitled "Gold and the Gospel," was given to the 
 world. These essays, it is believed, have been of 
 great service in awaking the Christian conscience to 
 the scriptural obligation of systematic and propor- 
 tionate giving. It has been deemed that the time has 
 come to call public attention to the increased obliga- 
 tion laid upon the stewards of God's bounty by the 
 opening of new doors for missionary etibrt every- 
 where, the increased demands for the exercise of 
 Christian philanthropy, and the increased ability of 
 the Church of Christ to respond to appeals presented 
 to its consideration. Hence the recent invitation, by 
 a gentleman who takes a deep interest in the subject 
 of systematic beneficence, to write upon this import- 
 ant subject of which this volume is the outcome. In 
 response to that invitation, iive-and-twenty essays 
 were submitted — several of them of a high order of 
 merit. The committee of adjudication found itself 
 
▼1 PREFACE. 
 
 under the necessity of recommending the division of 
 the prize of £50 stg., generously offered, between the 
 writers of the essays bearing the titles, " Occupy till 
 I Come" (in Greek) and "Theophilus Philander." 
 These essays were found to have been written ve- 
 spectively by the Rev. Charles A. Cook, Pastor of the 
 Parliament Street Baptist Church, Toronto, and the 
 Rev. James Cooke Seymour, Methodist Minister, 
 Thomasburg, Ont. 
 
 These essays are given to the world with the prayer 
 that they may largely promote the grace of Christian 
 Giving and thus hasten the coming of the kingdom of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 (Signed), 
 
 W. H. WITHROW, 
 
 > Adjudicators. 
 ELMORE HARRIS, J 
 
 ToKONTO, Feb. 1888. 
 
CONTKNTS. 
 
 Pagt 
 
 I. The Church's Wealth ® 
 
 II. Perils, and a Coming Crisis 1* 
 
 III. Signs o! the Times ^^ 
 
 IV. How the Lord's Money is Wasted 26 
 
 V. Many Systems of Giving ^^ 
 
 VI. What is the Remedy? *® 
 
 VII. What is Systematic Giving ** 
 
 VIII. The Bible Answer ^2 
 
 IX. What the Adoption of Systematic Giving will Involve 70 
 
 X. The Benefit and Blessedness of Systematic Giving . . 80 
 
 XI. Systematic Giving the Church's Safeguard 94 
 
 XII. Excuses and Objections 1^^^ 
 
 XIII. Some Practical Suggestions ^^^ 
 
 Xiy. Conclusion , . 
 
 . I • 1 » 
 
 . . . . U* 
 
SYSTEMATIC GIVING 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE CHURCH'S WEALTH. 
 
 "Being enriched in everything to all bountif ulness. " — 2 Cob. 
 ix. 11. 
 
 '* Rich and increased with goods." — Rev. iii. 17. 
 
 THE present is an age of money-seeking, and c«f 
 money-making. More men have accumulated 
 fortunes during this century than during j.ny previous 
 period in the world's history. Riches increase with 
 great rapidity, money is more easily amassed than 
 ever before, and hundreds rise in a very short time 
 from positions of poverty to positions of great 
 wealth. From 1860 to 1880 the wealth of the United 
 States increased 170 per cent., and that notwithstand- 
 ing the terrible war that took place during that period. 
 It is estimated that the wealth of that country amounts 
 at the present time to fully fifty billions of dollars. 
 It is by far the richest nation in the world. 
 8 
 
10 . SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 With this enormous increase of wealth there has 
 been an unprecedented increase of wealth in the 
 Church. The times are greatly changed since a few 
 poor fishermen, reclaimed outcasts and publicans 
 made up the band of disciples that followed Christ. 
 Then so destitute of silver and gold was the Church, 
 that on one occasion money had to be obtained from a 
 fish's mouth to pay the tribute due the Roman Govern- 
 ment. Now there are men in the Church rich enough 
 to buy out the wealthiest inhabitants the City of Jeru- 
 salem ever had. The Church has grown rich beyond 
 all computation, and it is growing richer every day. 
 For years vast sums of money have been accumulating 
 in great heaps in the hands of professed Christian 
 people, until there is to-day " enough money in the 
 hands of Church members to sow every acre of the 
 earth with the seed of truth." The amount of money 
 devoted to religious purposes has never been so great, 
 and yet Dr. Stro g, in his book, "Our Country," states 
 that the amount contributed by the professing Chris- 
 tians of the United States, for the extension of the 
 Gospel, is yearly but the one-sixteenth of one lent out 
 of every dollar in their possession. A careful estimate 
 places the amount of money passessed by Church 
 members in the United States at about $10,000,000,000, 
 while the annual increase of their wealth is about 
 $400,000,000, and this increase is over seventy times 
 greater than their offerings to missions, Home and 
 Foreign. Rev. James H. Brookes, of St. Louis, has 
 made the statement that the Presbyterian Church is 
 
THE church's wealth. 11 
 
 increasing in wealth at the rate of $80,000,000 a 
 year. 
 
 These figures are startling, and may at first be dis- 
 credited, but a little reflection concerning the rapid 
 growth of capital already possessed by Church mem- 
 bers, and the increase that is constantly taking place 
 through additions to the mrmbership of the Church, 
 will help to remove any don jt as to the truthfulness 
 of these statistics. It is a fact, which is certainly well 
 known, that there are numbered among God's people 
 those who are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, 
 and some even who o,re worth millions. Some answers 
 to a series of questions, which were sent to a number of 
 pastors, show that many a church, whose membership 
 cannot be regarded as numerically great, is very rich. 
 One pastor estimates the wealth of his church of 
 about 600 members to be about $2,500,000, another 
 states that in his church of 750 members there are 
 at least fifty persons who are worth over $5,000 each, 
 and that the aggregate wealth of the church must be 
 fully $4,000,000. Another gives figures in another 
 direction when he states that his church, made up 
 largely of wage-earners, must have an am lal income 
 of at least $250,000. A few months ago a New York 
 pastor said to a brother minister who had called on 
 him, " I preach to $100,000,000 every Sunday." 
 
 The above are high figures, but the likelihooa is that 
 they are below, rather than above, the actual facts, for 
 of course it is a very difficult thing to learn how 
 wealthy men really are. 
 
12 • SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 The Church has reached the Laodicean age, when, 
 as in no past period, she can say : " / arti rich and in- 
 creased ivith fjood,^." God, in a marvellous manner, 
 has, in thesp last days, enriched His people with plenty 
 of gold. An almost unlimited supply of money is to- 
 day in the keeping of the Church, and it has all come 
 from Him who is the giver of every good and perfect 
 gift. " He giveth men power to get wealth." Sun- 
 shine and rain are His gifts, seedtime and harvest are 
 ordained by Him, health, and skill, and wisdom, and 
 every ability by which men make and increase their 
 fortunes, come from God. 
 
 Why has God thus enriched His people ? We know 
 it cannot be but for some great and gracious purpose. 
 God has not designed that his people should be so 
 wealthy simply for their own selfish gratification. 
 Nor can it be any part of the Divine purpose that all 
 these riches have been permitted to come into the 
 possession of God's people simply that they may be 
 locked up in banks and safes and kept in idleness. 
 Surely He who sits upon His throne in the heavens, 
 overruling all things, has some great purpose in view 
 in thus enriching His people, and it should be their 
 great concern to find out what that purpose is, and 
 then, in a spirit of true consecration, do with these 
 riches just what God evidently intended should be 
 done in the last days of this nineteenth century. 
 
 We believe the answer is not difl[icult to find, but he 
 who would know the will of God must be prayerful 
 and earnest. God, by the events that are taking place 
 
THE church's wealth. 13 
 
 in the world, especially in connection with missionary- 
 operations, is clearly indicating what He would have 
 His people do, and happy is that servant, who, know- 
 ing his Master's will, performs it. 
 
 To enable us to come to right conclusions about the 
 present condition of things, and to prepare our minds 
 for the adoption of right principles and plans in con- 
 nection with Christian giving, we shall point out some 
 of the present inward tendencies, and outward dangers, 
 of the Church. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 PERILS AND A COMING CRISIS. 
 
 " The love of money is the root of all evil." — 1 Tim. vi. 10. 
 " There is that vi^ithholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to 
 poverty." — Pro v. xi. 24. 
 
 " TN all nations the period of highest temporal pros- 
 J- perity has been the period of special peril." The 
 same is true of the Church. The increase of money 
 begets love for it, and " the love of money is the root 
 of all evil." Where wealth is increased, men are ex- 
 posed to all the perils of luxuriousness, and nothing 
 has been more hurtful to true manliness, or to spii'itu- 
 ality of life, than for men to live in the midst of un- 
 limited luxuries. Narrowness of sympathy toward 
 others, false view\s of the value of money, enervation, 
 and loss of all regard for right and righteous principles, 
 are evils that appear among those who, through riches, 
 have become lovers of them. The late Henry Ward 
 Beecher once said : " In proportion to the magnitude of 
 any great law, or any great proposition, are the 
 shadows which it casts, and the dangers which it 
 carries with it : and as riches carry with them power, 
 refinement, civilization and renovation throughout the 
 world, so they carry with them abundant temptations 
 
PERILS AND A COMING CRISIS. 15 
 
 and perils." And a greater than he has written : " They 
 that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and 
 into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men 
 in destruction." 
 
 This, then, is the day of the Church's peril, for her 
 riches have greatly increased. God's people are in 
 danger of settling down in the midst of their riches, 
 and saying, " / have need of nothing,'' and so becoming 
 sinfully neglectful of the eternal welfare, both of them- 
 selves and others. Because they have plenty of money 
 they are in danger of fostering a worldly spirit, and 
 of setting their affections upon, and spending their 
 money in obtaining, those things which can only 
 gratify carnal desires. The devil has tripped many a 
 Christian by the way he has led him to use his 
 money. The pitfalls of covetousness, and selfishness* 
 and worldliness, and voluptuousness, and pride, are 
 all along the paths in which the wealthy walk, and 
 unless they are kept by some invincible safeguard, 
 they will step into those pitfalls to their eternal hurt. 
 
 Unless the Church speedily discovers the Divine 
 purpose in so much money being at present in her 
 possession, and, in a spirit of earnest consecration 
 dedicates it to God, these perils will increase, and 
 darker days will come instead of brighter. Indeed, it 
 is very evident that a crisis is not far distant. This 
 vast wealth cannot lie still. Something must be done 
 with it either one way or the other. The Church has 
 arrived at a critical period in the exercise of its stew- 
 ardship, and one of the most momentous questions that 
 
16 • SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 can be asked at the present time is, What are Christian 
 people going to do in the immediate future with the 
 millions upon millions of dollars notu held by them ? 
 
 What is a crisis ? Dr. Pierson, in his soul-stirring 
 book on Missions, says : "It is a combination of grand 
 opportunity and great responsibiltity ; the hour when 
 the chance of glorious success and the risk of awful 
 failure confront each other; the turning point of 
 history and destiny." Such a time as this has arrived 
 in the history of the Church — a time when the chance 
 of glorious success and the risk of awful failure con- 
 front each other. When the children of Israel en- 
 camped on the shores of the Red Sea they had reached 
 a great crisis. When God said to them, " Go forward,' 
 they had either to obey or perish. So now, success or 
 failure, prosperity or disaster, triumph or defeat, 
 honor or shame, are depending on what Christians do 
 with the money that has come into their possession. 
 What they have has been placed in their hands by 
 Another. The King Himself has given them these 
 great riches, and has said to them, ''Occupy till I 
 come." They are His stewards and they have come to 
 a time when great and eternal issues depend upon the 
 faithfulness or unfaithfulness with which they dis- 
 charge the responsibilities resting upon them. 
 
 One of two things must take place. The Church of 
 Christ, in the vast majority of its membership, must 
 either recognize that now as never before God has 
 made it possible for His people to accomplish great 
 things for Him, and, deeply conscious of the responsi- 
 
PERILS AND A COMING CRISIS. 17 
 
 bilities resting upon her she must wisely and heartily, 
 in some systematic manner, consecrate and use the great 
 wealth now in her possession for the extension of the 
 Redeemer's kingdom ; or, holding that wealth, she must 
 speedily become more than ever selfish, self-indulgent, 
 vain-glorious and worldly. Before this century comes 
 to a close, and its days will soon be gone, there must 
 be such a pouring of money into the various treasuries 
 of the Lord's house as no other age has ever witnessed, 
 or through the continual increase and hoarding of 
 money there cannot but come an alarn?ing increase of 
 the sin of covetousness, and of all the fruits which 
 that sin produces. There must be more giving, or 
 there will be more grasping. This issue cannot be 
 avoided. The money power is of such a character* 
 while the opportunities for a more generous devotion 
 of wealth to religious purposes are so great, that be- 
 lievers everywhere must gravitate toward one of these 
 two points. 
 
 Which course shall be pursued, and what shall fol- 
 low in the one case or in the other ? The answers to 
 this question should stir every heart. If Christians 
 withhold from the Lord that which they now have 
 and spend it upon themselves, they will find as the 
 people in Hagfrai's time did when they withheld their 
 money from God's house, and spent it in building 
 beautiful houses for themselves. They were told 
 that they had put their money into a bag with holes. 
 (Haggai i. 6.) If, on the other hand, the Church rises, 
 in the spirit of holy zeal^ to use the present inspiring 
 
18 ' SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 possibilities, and with true munificence and willing- 
 heartedness lays its immense wealth at the feet of 
 Christ, for Him to use in the various departments 
 of His work throughout the world, there cannot but 
 follow such a period of prosperity, blessing, and glory 
 in the history of the Church as has never before been 
 known. 
 
 Which shall it be ? Every swing of the pendulum 
 brings the crisis nearer. Hold more, or give Ttiore, the 
 Church must. Which shall she do ? What are the 
 signs of the times ? Where shall the millions of dol- 
 lars now in possession of the Church be in ten years ? 
 
 These are questions that burn. These are questions 
 that cannot much longer remain unheeded, they must 
 come to the front, and be pressed home upon the hearts 
 and consciences of Christian people everywhere. It 
 behooves every man, therefore, who desires the wel- 
 fare and prosperity of Zion to honestly consider them, 
 and examine his own attitude toward them. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 *' Watchman, what of the night?" — IsA. xxi. 11. 
 
 MARINERS at sea are ready discerners of the 
 weather signs, and can generally tell very 
 correctly, from the direction of the wind, the appear- 
 ance of the sky, and an examination of the l.arometer, 
 what kind of weather is going to be for the day. We 
 may not be able to prognosticate as exactly regarding 
 the immediate future of the Church, but there are 
 signs in the ecclesiastical sky which should be care- 
 fully considered, and their prophetic meaning well 
 weighed. There are facts which should be looked at 
 and dealt with. All theories, and propositions, and 
 plans, however good they may be, will be valueless 
 until we see the need of them, and know that their 
 application is possible. We shall realize the necessity 
 of the universal adoption of systematic giving just as 
 soon as we see how failure is characterizing every 
 other effort to raise money for Christian work. 
 
 What are the signs of the present hour ? As we 
 look abroad we are glad to find that the horizon is not 
 altogether black with clouds : it is not all ominous and 
 
20 RTSTKMATFC OIVTNG. 
 
 dark. There is throughout the Church a good mea- 
 sure of true liberality. There are many Christian 
 men and women who have consecrated their riches to 
 the Lord, and who are faithfully discharging the du- 
 ties of their stewardship to the glory of God, and the 
 good of the C^hurch of Christ They honor the Lord 
 with their substance, and with the first fruits of all 
 their increase. They believe in systematic giving, 
 and they practise it. As their riches have increased 
 they have 'proportionaUy increased their offerings to 
 the Lord. Within the last few years the tide of 
 Christian beneficence has risen away above any pre- 
 vious high-water mark. More money is certainly 
 being spent in the great evangelizing enterprises of 
 Christianity in these days, than ever before. Could 
 the total amount of money contributed towards bene- 
 volent, and religious, and missionary purposes be 
 known exactly, it would doubtless be a cause for 
 great joy and gratitude. 
 
 We do not close our eyes to these pleasing facts. 
 But in the light of what we know of the universal 
 increase of material prosperity among God's believing 
 people, we ask, in all seriousness and earnestness, is 
 this increase in their beneficence in any degree pro- 
 portionate to the increase of their wealth ? While 
 larger amounts of money have been given, have the 
 people really been more liberal ? For it is no increase 
 of liberality for a man to give a larger sum out of a 
 greatly increased income. It is no increase of liber- 
 ality for a man to give $75 out of an income of $2000 
 
SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 21 
 
 where before he gave $50 out of an income of $1000. 
 The fact is, he is not giving as liberally as before by 
 33 per cent. Judged in this way — and it is in this 
 way that the matter must be judged if we would get 
 at the facts — the Church is really less liberal than in 
 the past. With the great increase of wealth, there 
 has not been anything like a proportionate increase 
 in the giving. And what is most alarming and 
 ominous, there are facts which indicate most unmis- 
 takably that, as a whole, Christian people are not be- 
 coming more liberal, but are rather becoming more 
 penurious and miserly. Indeed it would seem that 
 Christian liberality had about reached its highest 
 level, and that already, in some quarters, there is a 
 tendency to decline. From all directions there comes 
 a cry about the difficulty of raising all the money 
 needed for the Lord's work. We read of missionary 
 societies being forced to consider plans for retrench- 
 ment, on account of the meagre amounts that come 
 into their treasuries. The English Baptist Missionary 
 Society in recently making an appeal for funds with 
 which to balance up the year's accounts sa};s : "The 
 cry on all hands is ' reinforce,' but the actual condi- 
 tion of the society's exchequer seems at present to 
 suggest ' RECALL.' " The funds of this society were 
 then over £3000 behind. 
 
 We are told that not long ago, in one of the impor- 
 tant missionary centres in Asia, the only boys' school, 
 girls' seminary, and printing press, had to be closed 
 for want of money to carry them on. Dr. Pieraon 
 
22 ■ SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 states that a great Board oppressed with debt, and 
 vainly appealing to the churches for help, said to its 
 representatives abroad, " You must cut down your 
 outlay by at least one-tenth." 
 
 In connection with the report made by the Presby- 
 terian Board of Foreign Missions, the editor of " The 
 Church at Home and Abroad" says : "Nothing can be 
 plainer from this table of figures than that Foreign 
 Missions are standing still in the Presbyterian 
 Church in these United States, while the number and 
 wealth of the cominiunicants are daily increasing. 
 True, it means that there is a great body of loving 
 contributors who are steadily, and often at great sacri- 
 fice, doing all they can to promote in this manner the 
 Lord's great glory. But the Church is increasing, is 
 growing richer, ever richer, in this marvellous land of 
 ours. The field which our Master cries out to us to 
 occupy, is also ever opening more and more to us. 
 What heathen land forbids our onward movement, yet 
 our figures say we are standing still." 
 
 A religious newspaper contains the following signifi- 
 cant paragraph : 
 
 " A convention composed of 145 theological students 
 from the Baptist Theological Seminary, at Newton 
 Centre, the Methodist Boston University, and the 
 Andover Seminary, held early in May, put forth an 
 appeal to the Christians of the several denominations 
 with which they were connected, based on what they 
 state to be a fact; that the funds at the disposal of the 
 missionary boards of these denominations are insuffi- 
 
SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 23 
 
 cient to warrant the appointment of all the men now 
 offering themselves for service. They therefore 
 earnestly call upon the friends of missions for a more 
 generous support of the great enterprise, to which so 
 many young men are ready to give their lives. There 
 is something almost pathetic about their question : 
 " Must ive stay at home for lack of money ? " Think 
 of it, — " Standing still," though " growing richer ! " 
 Think of it, — the heathen to have fewer missionaries 
 as a result of retrenchment, and " the outlay to he put 
 down one-tenth," though the Church of Jesus Christ is 
 richer than ever ! Think of it, — earnest young men 
 to stay at home, and the operations of the Church to 
 be stayed, though God has made it possible for His 
 people to do greater things than have ever yet been 
 thought of ! Heaven forgive the sin of selfishness, 
 that ever makes even the suggestion of these things a 
 possibility. And yet these facts stand before us preg- 
 nant with meaning, and we cannot away with them. 
 While the coffers of the members of the Church have 
 been abundantly filled with silver and gold, those 
 coffers have been locked against God, and the Lord's 
 treasury has been allowed to remain empty. Many 
 who are rich give to the Lord only the paltry pennies 
 that happen to be in their pocket when a call is made. 
 Systematic, giving is practised only to a very limited 
 extent. There must be hundreds of professed Chris- 
 tians, whose contributions are too insignificant a por- 
 tion of their means to be worthy the name of gifts, 
 while it is too sadly evident, that many are giving 
 
24 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 absolutely nothing for the extension of the Redeemer's 
 kingdom. 
 
 These are dark clouds in the sky that promise any- 
 thing but good for the future. These are signs which 
 show that the evils, which generally accompany the 
 increase of wealth, are already beginning to appear ; 
 and unless, through a more universal adoption among 
 believers of a systematic contributing of their sub- 
 stance to the Lord's work, a bright sun shall arise to 
 scatter these clouds, the day, whose morning is just 
 breaking, will be dark and dreary and disastrous. 
 
 The crisis is at hand. Even now the Church is being 
 caught by the mighty currents of covetousness and 
 selfishness, and is being dragged from the moorings of 
 eternal truth and righteousness, and whatever is done 
 to secure her safety must be done speedily. The in- 
 crease of money among professing Christians has 
 already become a snare in many cases, and the danger 
 is that more than ever it will become a stumbling- 
 block to them, and a dead weight to clog and hinder 
 their spiritual activities. 
 
 There are some cheering rays, but the darkening 
 clouds give warninjj. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW THE LORD'S MONEY IS WASTED. 
 
 *' There was a certain rich man which had a steward; and the 
 same was accused unto him that he was wasting his goods." — 
 Luke xvi. 1, R.V. 
 
 ONE of the most deplorable things that can be con- 
 templated, in connection with the obligations 
 that rest upon Christians, is the enormous waste that 
 is made of the money which God has given to them. 
 It is a painful fact that much of the vast increase of 
 wealth with which the Church has been favored has 
 been worse than thrown away. The kingdom of 
 darkness has received no small measure of assistance 
 from the ill-spent riches of professed Christians, and 
 unless many turn from their folly there will certainly 
 be some startling surprises, and much confusion of 
 face for them, when they stand before God to give an 
 account of their stewardship. Like the prodigal child, 
 many a believer having received from his heavenly 
 Father a full portion of this world's goods, has turned 
 his back upon his Father's House, and has gone away 
 into the world, and wasted his substance in riotous 
 living. Hundreds and thousands of dollars, that 
 I 
 
26 . SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 should have found their way into the trpasur..;& of the 
 Church, have been spent in variom neer'^^ss, and often 
 unholv, indulgences. 
 
 It is almost a shame to speak of some thinj^s which 
 have been done with the money that should have been 
 devoted to holy uses in the extension of the kingdom 
 of Christ, but the evils which are flowing from this 
 misuse of God-given favors, compel us to refer to some 
 things which would not otherwise be mentioned. 
 
 This waste of money is often seen in the homes of 
 God's people. Now, the writer, as much as anyone, 
 believes in having a comfortable home, but he does 
 not believe in a needless expenditure of money in the 
 home, especially by those who profess to have been 
 purchased by the blood of Christ, and who are citizens 
 of another country. But what do we find in many ii 
 parlor into which we are shown? Almost every part of 
 the room profusely ornamented with all kinds of pretty 
 " bric-a-brac." Costly little nothings of every imagin- 
 able sort lie thick on mantel-shelf, and brackets, etc., 
 which seem to serve no other purpose than that of 
 worrying the patience of the housemaid who sweeps 
 and dusts the room, or of pleasing the childish fancies 
 of those who put them there. In many instances 
 these ornaments have been presents, but many of them 
 have been deliberately bought for this very purpose of 
 ornamentation. We wonder sometimes whether the 
 owner of these things, and of the ver}' costly furnish- 
 ings found in some homes, gives half as much for the 
 support of Christ's cause as for these things. No one 
 
HOW THE lord's MONEY IS WASTED. 27 
 
 need live in a house with bare walls or cheerless sur- 
 roundings, but if the articles that could easily be 
 spared from many a room, without in the slightest 
 degree marring its attractiveness, were sold, and the 
 money given to Christ, there would certainly be a great 
 increase in the funds for carrying on His work. There 
 is no sense in making any parlor a first-class fancy goods 
 store or picture gallery, but history repeats itself, and 
 the same thing is taking place to-day as took place in 
 the days of Haggai the prophet ; God's people are 
 spending a great deal of money in the costly fittings 
 and furnishings of their houses, while the house of the 
 Lord is neglected. 
 
 If Christians would live in true Christian simplicity 
 they would not find it so difficult to give to the Lord's 
 work. But, influenced by the spirit of the world 
 around them, anJ by the lusts of the flesh and the 
 pride of life, their hearts are set on grand and costly 
 things for themselves. Their horses and carriages and 
 liveried coachmen, the costliness of their living in 
 many ways show conformity to the world, while money 
 enough is spent in luxuriousness to accomplish untold 
 good. To say the least, greater economy in living 
 might be practised by many, and in the light of the 
 sacrifice of the Cross, and in consideration of the 
 solemn obligations resting upon every redeemed per- 
 son to do his utmost for the salvation of others, 
 greater economy ought to he practised. Where money 
 is lavishly spent upon expensive luxuries, God is 
 robbed of His rightful portion of the substance, and 
 
28 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 there is, in a greater or less degree, an absence of that 
 lowliness of mind — that spirit of Christ — that should 
 characterize believers. 
 
 There are other ways, however, in which the Lord's 
 money is wasted, which are even more serious and 
 wrong than any extravagance above referred to, in 
 which Christians are drawn into positive worldliness. 
 " Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of 
 Askelon," yet let every true Christian minister and 
 member of the Church think over it, and pray and 
 weep over it, for it is a most lamentable fact that 
 every year members of Christian churches are spend- 
 ing thousands of dollars in all kinds of worldly 
 amusements, such as operas, theatres, and dancing 
 parties. Here are facts. Not long ago an eminent 
 evangelist was holding meetings in one of the leading 
 cities in the United States. In writing afterwards 
 about the hindrances to the work in that city, al- 
 though the movement was eminently successful as a 
 whole, he stated that during the progress of the 
 services, Madame Patti gave a grand concert in the 
 city, and that night the evangelistic meetings were 
 practically deserted. To use the evangelist's own 
 words : " All the Laodiceans had bought tickets and 
 ' must ' go to hear the famous and much-married and 
 divorced ' diva.' Four thousand church members and 
 church goers were present at the Patti concert that 
 night, spending $25,000 for the privilege." Doubtless 
 a similar record might have been made in every large 
 city whither Madame Patti went. Nor is this an ex- 
 
HOW THE lord's MONEY IS WASTED. 29 
 
 ceptional case, for every week thousands of dollars 
 are paid by wealthy members of Christian churches for 
 far more questionable amusements than Madame Patti's 
 concerts. The box in the opera house often costs more 
 than is paid for pew rent in the house of the Lord. 
 
 Surely there needs to be a lifting up of the people 
 into higher conceptions of the uses of the money which 
 God has given to them. It is certainly doing violence 
 to all principles of righteousness, and sinfully abusing 
 the privileges and opportunities God has given His 
 people to thus squander and waste the money which 
 through His providence has come into their possession. 
 It will not do to keep silence any longer concerning 
 these things. The sin of wasting money is becoming 
 so enormous that there is reason to fear that heaven 
 will not bear much longer with it, but will in some 
 way visit it in judgment. 
 
 There are many other ways in which money is 
 wasted by Christian people, or kept back from the 
 service of Christ. What a vast sum, for example, is 
 worse than wasted every year in the useless tobacco 
 habit. Carefully prepared statistics reveal some 
 startling facts in connection with this. It is estimated 
 that the members of Christian churches in the United 
 States and Canada spent as much in one year in tobacco 
 as the whole Christian Church throughout the world 
 contributes annually for the support of Foreign Mis- 
 sions, namely, over $10,000,000. This is appalling. 
 In the light of the great needs and magnificent oppor- 
 tunities of the present hour, and in view of the obli- 
 
30 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 gations resting upon believers everywhere, this is 
 nothing less than a sinful, systematic wasting of 
 money that should be used in extending the kingdom 
 of Christ. 
 
 Then, too, how many are penuriously hoarding up 
 their riches for their children or relatives, who when 
 they get the money will very likely do themselves 
 greater harm with it than the good intended. 
 
 But the picture is dark enough, or other things 
 might be mentioned. The truth is, the vast majority 
 of Christians are not doing with their money what 
 God would have them do with it. They are devoting 
 it to uses which cannot have His approval, and it is 
 beinof withheld from those thinors in which it could 
 most glorify Him. God's claims are not acknowledged^ 
 and instead of a set proportion of the income being 
 offered to Him, it is spent in such a way that it really 
 furthers the kingdom of Satan more than the king- 
 dom of God's dear Son. The reckoning day is coming, 
 and money wasted now will bear witness against the 
 unfaithful then. Money is rightly used only as it 
 brings glory to God, and this should be the aim every 
 Christian should have in all money making and money 
 spending. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 WRONG SYSTEMS OF GIVING. 
 
 *' Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked 
 in my ways." — Psa. Ixxxi. 13. 
 
 rjlHE development of true Christian beneficence has 
 J- been greatly hindered by the tenacious adher- 
 ence, on the part of individual Christians, and organ- 
 ized bodies of believers, to systems which are alto- 
 gether unbusiness-like and wholly unworthy any 
 connection whatever with the glorious Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ. The ways for raising money are a legion in 
 number. Every kind of device that men can think of 
 seems to have been adopted, in these modern times, to 
 raise money for religious purposes, while continually, 
 as one reads the religious newspapers, some new 
 scheme is broui^ht to liorht. In this matter there 
 seems to be no limit to man's inventive skill. Money 
 for the Lord is secured in a way sometimes that men 
 would be ashamed to resort to if the money were for 
 themselves. " The end justifies the means" — is made 
 to cover a multitude of sins, and the people go on 
 without system or regularity, or principle, and some- 
 times, alas! without common honesty, to get money to ' 
 support Christ's work. 
 
32 SYSTEMATIC GIVING 
 
 In many places no attempt has ever been made to 
 train the people to give in some systematic manner, 
 and the teaching of God's word on the subject is 
 entirely neglected. What money is given, is given in 
 a careless, thoughtless manner. Special and spasmodic 
 efforts have to be made to create any degree of real 
 interest in giving, and the results aie wholly unsatis- 
 factory. Nothing is more damaging to the spirit of 
 true liberality than this neglect of proper Scripture 
 training, while the very life and love of the Christian 
 are sapped and destroyed by these times of extra pres- 
 sure, and periodical spurts at raising money. Under 
 such circumstances, it cannot be expected that the 
 offerings of the people will come in any other way 
 than in dribbles. And that is just how they do come 
 in, and so, when the finance committee of the church 
 (if indeed such a committee exists) finds the treasury 
 empty, the pastor's salary away behind, and other 
 accounts unpaid, and they of course see no possibility 
 of the arrearage being made up by regular offerings, 
 they suggest a tea-meeting, or entertainment, or some 
 other indirect means of raising the necessary money. 
 And so in churches, where systematic giving in any 
 form is unknown. Christian people become more and 
 more enfeebled and weak, and less and less inclined to 
 give at all. Instead of lifting up their heads and 
 walking steadily forward in the ways of the Lord 
 many are choosing their own ways, and hobble along 
 with the aid of the miserable financial crutches of 
 their own devising. ^-7-— 
 
WRONG SYSTEMS OF GIVING. 33 
 
 In many churches money is still raised by annual 
 subscriptions. Once a year a canvass is made of 
 the members of the church, and they are expected to 
 state what they will contribute during the year for 
 the support of the minister, and the work of the 
 church. It is sometimes specified when these sub- 
 scriptions are to be paid, but that is very often left 
 unsettled, very great freedom being given to meet the 
 convenience of subscribers, and so, when the canvass is 
 finished, no one knows when there will be anything in 
 the treasury. There has been considerable advance- 
 ment made of late years in the abolishment of this 
 system by the adoption of the envelope system of 
 weekly offerings, but it is quite time a system so 
 faulty and pernicious, both as regards the giver 
 himself, and as to the results which it secures, was 
 universally and utterly destroyed. If there ever was 
 any reason for its existence there are no reasons why 
 it should be continued any longer. In the country 
 among farmers, where the yearly subscription plan 
 has been most generally in practice, there is not now 
 the absence of money that there used to be when the 
 country was new. If money is wanted for other 
 things, there seem to be few farmers but can at any 
 time of the year place their hand upon a greater or 
 less amount, and the most of them could give a weekly 
 sum to the Lord's work quite as easily as they could 
 give some fixed amount annually. 
 
 " But," it is asked, " why object to the yearly sub- 
 scription, especially if it is generous and given with a 
 
84 ■ SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 willing heart?" Why object! For many reasons. 
 Because it is far short of the teaching of the Scrip- 
 tures. All through the Word of God we are taught 
 to give more frequently than once a year. The Psalm- 
 ist distinctly teaches that it was customary for the 
 people to give every time they entered the house of 
 the Lord. He says : " Give unto the Lord the glory 
 due unto his name ; bring an offering and come into 
 Ids courts." (Psa. xcvi. 8.) In the New Testament 
 the system of weekly offerings is certainly enjoined : 
 " Upon the first day of the week let every one lay by 
 Jiim in store as God hath prot^pered him." (1 Cor. xvi. 2.) 
 If this could be done in Paul's day, among a people 
 who had recently been delivered from the darkness 
 and ungodliness of heathenism, there is surely not a 
 Christian community in which it could not be done 
 now. The fact is, that in scores of churches where the 
 yearly subscription was the custom, and where it was 
 thought quite impossible to succes^-^ully carry on the 
 weekly offering system, it has been tried, and the 
 results have been a delightful surprise even to the 
 most sanguine, and a cause of wonder to the doubters. 
 The yearly subscription ought to be abolished 
 because it effectually hinders the growth of irue 
 Christian liberality. The yearly offering is often 
 presented grudgingly, and is a worry and burden to 
 the giver. Not being accustomed to give frequently, 
 not having formed the habit of constantly and regu- 
 larly honoring the Lord with his substance, the yearly 
 subscriber generally finds it irksome to give even the 
 
WRONG SYSTEMS OF GIVING. .Sn 
 
 small amount which he subscribes. No spiritual 
 blessing flows into his soul in connection with the 
 presentation of his offering, and so he misses one of 
 the chief purposes of the privilege of giving to the 
 Lord. It hinders the growth of a liberal spirit. As 
 the years roll along, even though his riches greatly 
 increase year by year, the annual subscription remains 
 at a certain fixed amount, and when it is increased it 
 is nothing like proportionate to the increase in the 
 income. This is one of the greatest faults of this 
 system, and should seal its doom at once. 
 
 Then, again, the amount given in this way is seldom 
 half what it might, or what it should be. Many a 
 poor washerwoman who earns a few dollars a week, it 
 may be, but who gives systematically by weekly offer- 
 ing, is giving a larger sum for the year than scores 
 of those who give their annual subscription, and she 
 gives it with a happier heart. There are men who 
 give $10 dollars a year for the support of the Lord's 
 work, who think they are doing magnificently, who 
 could just as easily give fifty cents a week, and there- 
 by not only increase their offerings by 150 per cent., 
 but do themselves infinitely more good. Giving would 
 be more a pleasure, while their hearts would be fired 
 with a deeper interest in the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 The annual subscription plan has been admirably 
 summed up in the new book by Rev. Sylvanus Stall, 
 "Methods of Church Work," as follows: (1) "It 
 almost universally fails to provide the necessary 
 amount, and leads to questionable methods for securing 
 
36 ' SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 the deficiency. (2) It leaves the church or its officers 
 to struggle each year, and all the time with accruing 
 obligations. (8) It annually tempts all who have 
 been estranged from the pastor to withhold their 
 support, and to use their influence to defeat the success 
 of the measure, in order to ' starve the minister out.' 
 (Many most painful instances of this could be related. 
 Giving under this system becomes too much a ' 'pay- 
 ing the minister',' instead of 'offering to the Lord.') 
 (4) It induces people to seek occasion to find all man- 
 ner of fault in order to avoid the payment of a just 
 and equitable amount. (5) It asks, in a single pay- 
 ment, for an amount which, if paid in weekly instal- 
 ments, would seem insignificant, but when asked at 
 the end of the year, seems startling. (6) It is unscrip- 
 tural, unphilosophical, and unsuccessful." 
 
 We call for the universal abandonment of this plan 
 of giving. It is an evil. It has no redeeming features. 
 It is wholly unsatisfactory. It is out of all harmony 
 with the fact that " God daily loadeth us with bene- 
 fits," " His mercies are new every morning ; " but this 
 annual subscription seems to suggest the ungrateful 
 supposition that God only desires an annual acknow- 
 ledgment of His goodness. It makes men stingy and 
 selfish, and the sooner the churches everywhere learn 
 a better way of raising money for their work, the 
 sooner will they enter upon a new era of power and 
 prosperity. 
 
 The raising of money by indirect methods also 
 deserves special condemnation. The spectacles that 
 
WRONG SYSTEMS OF GIVING. 87 
 
 have been presented in the name of Christianity, to 
 ^aise money, have been most lamentable. What tricks 
 and devices are resorted to ! Fort^etting her true 
 dignity, and her high calling as the Bride of Christ, 
 the Church has gone into the oyster supper, fancy 
 article, and confectionery business, to make money for 
 " the support of the Gospel." 
 
 "Fair and festival, frolics untold. 
 Are held in the place of prayer ; 
 And maidens, bewitching as syrens of old 
 
 With worldly graces rare, 
 Invent the very cunningest tricks 
 Untrammelled by Gospel or laws. 
 To beguile and amuse, and win from the world 
 Some help for the righteous cause." 
 
 The " house of prayer " has been turned into a 
 " den of thieves," a " den of thieves ! " Yes, literally so, 
 for it is a notorious fact that there is more overcharg- 
 ing " for the good of the cause," and more " religious " 
 cheatinor done in connection with church bazaars than 
 would be safe for arty even half respectable business 
 establishment in the country to tolerate. People are 
 urged and pressed to pay double prices for what they 
 purchase, and then, by some strange way of counting, 
 they reckon they have given so much to the Lord. 
 This is a reproach, and the Divine Master needs again 
 to visit His house with His whip of knotted cords, and 
 drive the money-changers out. 
 
 The whole system of raising money by indirect 
 means has been justly condemned as " belittling to the 
 Church, dishonoring to God, and contemptible in the 
 
38 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. ^ 
 
 eye8 of the world." The Church, in leaning upon such 
 devices, has most effectually dried up the streams of 
 true benevolence among her members, destroyed her 
 own spirituality, fostered a worldly spirit, and brought 
 herself under bondafye to Satan. At the same time, 
 they who patronize these various entertainments and 
 fairs, do so, not with any thought of giving, but simply 
 for the amusement or indulgence which they may 
 secure for themselves by paying the price. No truer 
 or more timely words were ever written in reference 
 to these practices than the following : " The Clmrch 
 is not a trader, though its members may be. It is ap- 
 pointed to a mightier work than dabbling in tapes and 
 pincushions. Its appointment is to divine communion 
 and the saving of souls. It has a psalm to sing whose 
 volume reaches the throne, but it has no groceries to 
 sell. There is not a command, allowance, or example, 
 in all the Holy Scriptures that makes the Church a 
 merchant, or tells it to pay its way by holding a fair. 
 The method of supporting the wdrk of the Church is 
 by beneficence, and not by trade. Beneficence — a 
 principle heaven-higher than mere generosity — is the 
 direct gift of a saved heart, and from the holy motives 
 of a saved heart to God. None other is accepted of 
 God to or from His Church." 
 
 No grander work could be attempted at the present 
 time than that of turning the Church from the mis- 
 takes it has been making in these directions, and 
 bringing it up to a higher plane of action. The Lord 
 (ioes not want the money that comes through these 
 
WRONG SYSTEMS OF GIVING. 39 
 
 indirect channels. He wants the voluntary free-will 
 ofFerincrs of His people. He is not honored by any- 
 thing else, and we are commanded to '' do all to the 
 glory of God." All our giving should be for His glory, 
 but this it cannot be when we choose our own way of 
 giving and turn aside from His. All systems that are 
 not of God's appointment are only crutches, and it is 
 time the Church, with all the wealth she has at her 
 disposal, threw away her crutches and began to walk 
 in the uprightness and dignity consistent with her 
 exalted character. 
 
 Let the weakness and wickedness of wrong systems 
 be continually shown; let the sti^ength and advantages 
 of true systematic giving be continually brought into 
 prominence, and so let the keen edge of the sword of 
 enlightened conviction cut the bonds and set the 
 Church free, that she may go forth to do in the 
 world what God has made it grandly possible for 
 her to do. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 WHAT IS THE REMEDY? 
 
 " Return unto uie, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of 
 hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob 
 God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we 
 robbed thee ? In tithes and offerings. " — Malachi iii. 7, 8. 
 
 NO one, who has th4 welfare of the Church at heart, 
 can thoughtfully consider the condition of things 
 set forth in the preceding chapters, without being 
 deeply inpressed with the necessity of some earnest, 
 well-directed action being taken to remedy the exist- 
 ing evils, and to avert threatening disasters. It is 
 absolutely essential to the Church's safety for the 
 future, that Christian people everywhere should have 
 a fuller knowledge of the subject of true systematic 
 giving, and should be more deeply impressed concern- 
 ing their obligations toward God and men, in order 
 that they may do, as well as know, the will of God. 
 Already there are signs which do not forbode good 
 or assure the heart, and whatever is done to secure the 
 safety of the Church must be done soon. * 
 
 What, then, shall be done ? What is the true remedy 
 and where shall a true safeguard be found ? By what 
 means can a larger proportion of the untold wealth 
 
WHAT IS THE REMEDY? 41 
 
 now possessed by Christian people throughout the 
 world be secured for the King's business ? By what 
 plan shall the Church in all departments of its work, 
 both at home and abroad, efficiently maintain its 
 present undertakings without incurring debt, and at 
 the same time reach out to greater efforts than ever to 
 extend the knowledge of Christ among the nations of 
 the world ? 
 
 Whatever remedy is suggested, it must be one that 
 will be applicable to all the difficulties of the case. It 
 must be something, the adoption of which will have 
 an educational influence, so that by it the Church 
 will be lifted up to higher thoughts concerning the use 
 of money, and into a fuller appreciation of the present 
 unprecedented opportunities for service for Christ. It 
 must be a remedy that will at once check the terrible 
 waste of money among Christian people. It must be 
 a remedy also, that will lead to the complete giving up 
 of all false, and indirect, and pernicious systems of 
 raising money ; and which, at the same time, will be 
 a source of joy and satisfaction to the giver, and 
 accomplish the greatest results in the amounts given. 
 It is in vain to suggest anything that will not produce 
 these results. We must have a thorough plan, an 
 effectual safeguard, or we shall be no better off than 
 we are now. 
 
 Some have tried to solve the difficulty and have 
 
 given their counsel. Again and again we have heard 
 
 it said that the need of the hour is a new Pentecost — 
 
 a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit — a mighty suffu- 
 
 4 
 
42 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 sion of spiritual power throughout the entire Church, 
 and that then the people would give as they ought to. 
 Certainly we do need in our day greater manifestations 
 of the power of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the 
 Church, and among the perishing, but when may we 
 expect this unspeakable and much-needed blessing ? 
 Is it possible for it to be given so long as the Church 
 follows unscriptural methods of raising money to 
 carry on its work ? Will this great spiritual blessing 
 come so long as the Church continues to withhold 
 hundreds of thousands of dollars from +he service of 
 Christ, and devotes such immense sums to purely 
 selfish purposes, in needless luxuries and pleasures ? 
 Is it according to God's plan to bestow special spiritual 
 blessings upon His eople before they heartily ac- 
 knowledge their dependence upon Him, His goodness 
 to them, and honor Him by consecrating themselves 
 and their substance to Him ? 
 
 • It has often been said, *' Get the Church right spirit- 
 ually, and the necessary funds for the carrying on of 
 the Lord's work will be forthcoming." But is this 
 true, is it scriptural ? Cases, of course, have been 
 known where freeness of giving followed spiritual 
 quickening, but have not such cases generally been 
 among those who before knew nothing of the grace of . 
 God ? As a result of their conversion they have 
 simply begun to show a practical interest in the spread 
 of the Gospel. We are not referring to these now 
 when we say that the scriptural principle that applies 
 to Christians is this, — Get the people to give in the _ 
 
WHAT IS THE REMEDY ? 43 
 
 right way and spiritual blessings will folloiv. Nothin<^ 
 is more distinctly taught in the Word of God than 
 this. Here is the Divine statement: " Briiig ye all the 
 tithes into the storehouse, that there may he meat in 
 My house, and prove Me now herewith, suith the Lord 
 of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven 
 and pour you out a blessing that there shall not he 
 room enough to receive it." (Mai. iii. 10.) This is God's 
 plan. Let the people first bring their offerings to the 
 Lord, and honor Him with their substance, and then 
 the windows of heaven will be opened and spiritual 
 blessings will be poured out. It may be said that the 
 act of giving implies a previous preparation of heart, 
 and that we are willing to admit, but it is the act that 
 God wants before He will pour out the fulness of 
 blessing. 
 
 God's remedy, then, is Systematic Giving. And if 
 ever this remedy was needed, it is needed now, in the 
 closing years of this wonderful century. Other things 
 may be tried, but God's ways are not our ways ; and 
 until there is, throughout the Church, a returning unto 
 the Lord of hosts, such as He calls for in the book of 
 Malachi, and a bringing of the tithes into His store- 
 house, any great and widespread revival of religion 
 need not be looked for. The pressing need of the 
 present hour is a more universal adoption of the prin- 
 ciples and plans of the Scripture. Here and there this 
 is being acknowledged, and it is a fact worthy of 
 special notice, that where Christians practise system- 
 atic giving there is greater intensity of spiritual life, 
 
44 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 and fuller revelations of the Spirit's presence. God 
 is honorinoj those who honor Hira with their sub- 
 stance. Where the people give in God s way, where 
 they 'prove the Lord by bringing the tithes, the win- 
 dows of heaven are opened and heavenly blessings are 
 bestowed. What is local or personal needs to become 
 general. The richer blessing will never be secured by 
 a few here and there doing the Lord's will in this 
 matter. The remedy is universally needed, and it 
 must be universally applied. 
 
 The Church needs a revival that will begin in the 
 purses of God's people. The kept-back money, that 
 should long ago have been doing service for God and 
 for perishing souls, needs to be laid before the Lord 
 and consecrated to Him. Christlieb declared that 
 Christians need a threefold conversion, viz., of the 
 heart, to secure holy affections ; of the head, to secure 
 right convictions ; and of the purse, to secure ample 
 offerings. The last is needed now. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 WHAT IS SYSTEMATIC GIVING? 
 
 "See that ye abound in this grace also." . . . "For if there be 
 first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and 
 not according to that he hath not." — 2 Cor. v4ii. 7, 12. 
 
 MUCH liberal and willing-hearted giving is most 
 unsystematic. Many who giv^ most liberally, 
 and to whom it seems to be a pleasure to give, do not 
 give according to any set principles. Their giving is 
 munificent, but it is void both of plan and purpose. 
 Systematic givln;/ is not widely understood, its essen- 
 tial principles are unknown among the mass of God's 
 people. Many look upon it as some kind of ecclesias- 
 tical bondage which has been devised to force men to 
 give, and they fear being bound. But the truth is, if 
 there is any bondage in connection with Christian 
 giving, it is not those who give systematically, but 
 those who do not, who are in that bondage. It is very 
 important, therefore, that wrong notions should be 
 dispelled, and that there should be a thorough under- 
 standing of the essential principles of true systematic 
 giving. These principles we desire to lay down, and 
 in doing so shall deal first with certain kinds of giving 
 which prevail very largely, but which do not contain 
 the principles of systematic giving. , ^ 
 
46 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 Giving just when one feels like it is not systematic 
 giving. Those who give chiefly as the result of their 
 emotions being worked upon by some special appeal or 
 circumstances, when the hand, almost involuntarily, 
 finds its way into the pocket for an offering, are not 
 systematic givers. Spasmodic is the proper name for 
 that kind of giving. It springs from spasms of feel- 
 ing. It is jerky and uncertain. The giver never 
 knows when or what he is going to give. This kind 
 of giving has no regard whatever to plans or principles 
 or proportions of any kind. It is also entirely purpose- 
 less, it never aims at God's glory. In true systematic 
 giving tliis element is absent. Systematic giving is 
 never governed by passing emotions, or by the urgency 
 of the call that is made at any particular time. The 
 root and secret of it is far deeper and more constant 
 and abiding than the emotions. He who gives system- 
 atically gives whether his emotions have been stirred 
 or not ; his giving is governed by fixed principles, not 
 by passing feelings. 
 
 Systematic giving is not giving just ivhat one may 
 happen to have at any particular time — the small 
 change that happens to be in the pocket when the 
 call is made. That is haphazard giving, and a most 
 unprincipled way it is of giving to the Lord's work. 
 They who give in this way are not even moved by 
 stirring appeals, while their giving is often in abso- 
 lute thoughtlessness with regard to God's claims upon 
 them. By this miserable habit there is often exhib- 
 ited the most astounding human selfishness and 
 
WHAT IS SYSTEMATIC GIVING ? 47 
 
 stinginess. For what can be a greater spectacle of 
 meanness than for a man who, perhaps, has thousands 
 of dollars in the bank, to give a paltry twenty-five 
 cents or a dollar, with the remark, "This is all the 
 change I've got?" There is something very Ananias- 
 like in a transaction of that kind. Systematic giving 
 is not governed by what may be in the pocket at any 
 particular time, it is governed by what comes into 
 the pocket or into the bank either. It takes the 
 thousands in the bank, or elsewhere, as much into 
 account as it does the money that may be at hand. 
 
 Giving large sums of money is not necessarily sys- 
 tematic giving. The man who gives large sums, and 
 gives with a willing heart, may be as far from being 
 a systematic giver, as he who gives a very small por- 
 tion of his income, or gives grudgingly. He who gives 
 liberally, when he does give, may, after all, be only a 
 spasmodic giver ; he may never think of adopting 
 some system in connection with his offerings for bene- 
 volent and religious purposes. The systematic giver 
 may, however, give large sums or he may not, for sys- 
 tematic giving does not depend upon the greatness of 
 the amounts given so much as upon the amounts 
 received as income. It is by this that it is measured* 
 as will be shown more fully a little farther on. 
 
 Great mistakes have been made about the necessity 
 of large sums being contributed in order to secure the 
 greatest total results. Far too much have these large 
 sums been sought for and depended upon, while experi- 
 ence everywhere teaches that the largest aggregate 
 
48 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 amount is secured and the highest success attained, 
 not by the large sums which a few give, but by the 
 proportionate amounts systematically contributed by 
 the many. A year or so ago there was a strike among 
 the drivers and conductors of a street railway. The 
 company would not come to the terms of the strikers, 
 and an opposition line of 'buses was started. These 
 'buses were marked "/ree," but an opportunity was 
 always given passengers to contribute what they 
 wished to support the strikers. There was no system 
 — no regular fare for anybody. For a time some en- 
 thusiastic sympathizers, whose feelings were worked 
 up, gave very liberally, and for a time the daily re- 
 ceipts totalled quite a respectable sum. It was not 
 long, however, before there was a marked falling- off 
 in the funds. Many who rode actually gave nothing, 
 and the enterprise of the strikers soon collapsed for 
 want of money. The street car company, however, 
 which kept on its even way of systematics, receiving 
 regularly the five cent fare from all passengers, seemed 
 none the worse for the strike, but continued to live 
 and prosper as greatly as before. This incident par- 
 tially illustrates the difference between irregularly 
 giving large sums, with no certainty as to what shall 
 be given, and systematically giving a fixed sum. The 
 results in this case are suggestive, and even Christians 
 might learn something from the fares of a street 
 railway. 
 
 Again, regular giving is not necessarily systematic 
 giving. There are many who make this mistake. 
 
WHAT IS SYSTEMATIC GIVING ? 49 
 
 Indeed, systematic giving is generally understood to 
 be the giving of some certain or set amount regularly 
 to certain objects. In a measure this is systematic 
 giving, but there may be the greatest possible regularity 
 in the amount given, and in the times of giving, with- 
 out there being the slightest recognition of the essen- 
 tial principles of systematic giving, as they are laid 
 down in the following pages. Something more than 
 regularity is essential to true systematic giving. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to add that supporting the 
 church by buying fancy articles at a bazaar, or 
 tickets for a church tea or entertainment, is not sys- 
 tematic giving, though some never seem to give much 
 in any other way. 
 
 What, then, is systematic giving ? The negative 
 answers which have been given above should assist us 
 very materially in the direct reply. Having cleared 
 the air a little of some mistaken notions we shall per- 
 haps see all the better into the truth. Systematic 
 giving embraces certain definite principles, and only 
 as those principles are properly understood can we 
 come to any clear and satisfactory conception of the 
 whole subject. Any true system of giving must have, 
 as a foundation principle, the fair and honest consider- 
 ation of one's income. It is wholly rash and unwise, 
 on the one hand, for a man to be continually giving 
 large and liberal sums of money to religious and 
 benevolent objects without having any regard to his 
 income ; and it is equally unreasonable, on the other 
 hand, for a man to give small and insignificant sums 
 
50 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 when his income is sufficient to enable him to give 
 very much more. There are principles which should 
 govern each of these men, so that the one would not 
 be giving in a reckless manner to endanger himself 
 financially, and the other would give that which would 
 be more in accord with his ability. Let it be clearly 
 understood, then, that true systematic giving has to 
 do, at the first, and all the way through, definitely and 
 directly with what a man receives. It makes its 
 reckonings from this point. It does not go away from 
 this and allows itself to be governed by the needs and 
 calls for money, it is not governed by sudden impulses, 
 or pressing circumstances, but beginning with the in- 
 come it says that a certain proportion or percentage 
 of that income shall be regularly set apart and given 
 to the Lord. This is the one great and essential prin- 
 ciple in true systematic giving. In the highest and 
 truest sense, systematic giving is impossible without it. 
 In other words, there cannot be systematic giving with- 
 out proportionate giving. This is the simple inward 
 law which works outward into all its developments. 
 This is the principle which, once for all, places giving 
 beyond all external influences, and gives character and 
 certainty to it, and makes it impossible almost for a 
 man to give beyond his means, or less than he should. 
 This essential principle of proportions says, as the 
 fountain increases in the volume of its supply, so the 
 streams increase in the volume of their distribution, 
 and as long as there is any flowing into there will be 
 something flowing out. 
 
WHAT TS RYRTKMATir OTVTNO ? 51 
 
 Systematic giving, therefore, means proportionate 
 giving. Exclude this principle and I fail to see how 
 any man can give systematically'', no matter how regu- 
 larly or liberally he may give. Accepting this prin- 
 ciple, however, regularity and certainty must follow. 
 This foundation is broad, and solid, and good in every 
 way, and it is both easy and safe for any one to build 
 upon it. 
 
 There is much more to be said in more fully defining 
 systematic giviyig, but this is reserved for the next 
 chapter, where the teaching of Scripture is employed 
 to help us to a full understanding of what is meant by 
 it. It may simply be added here, that in the proper 
 practice of systematic giving there will be a due regard 
 to the distribution of the money that has been set 
 apart ; and there must be a clear distinction between 
 the giving and the distribution of what has been 
 given. The giving is performed when the money is 
 set apart out of the income, the distribution is simply 
 the stewarding of the money set apart. Once given 
 to the Lord, the giver no longer occupies toward the 
 offering the position of an owner, he is only a steward 
 to manage and disburse it in the best way for his 
 Master's glory. To give, and not exercise care, and 
 judgment, and system in stewarding the funds set 
 apart and consecrated to the Master's service, is as 
 impolitic and as unwise as it would be to throw a 
 bushel of wheat down in the middle of a field and 
 exercise no care in the distribution of the seed. 
 
CHAPTSR VIII. 
 THE BIBLE ANSWER. 
 
 " What saith the Scriptures? " — RoM. iv. 3. 
 
 "To the law and to the testimony." — IsA. vnii. 20. 
 
 WHERE there is a lack of genuine interest in the 
 Church in regard to giving, and where wrong 
 methods have been in practice, it will generally be 
 found that the teaching of God's Word on the subject 
 has been neglected. In other things believers have 
 everywhere zealously declared the Bible to be their 
 only rule of faith and practice, but in the matter of 
 giving we have given ourselves a good deal of latitude, 
 considered our own personal convenience, resorted to 
 our own plans, adopted our own proportions, chosen 
 our own way of doing things, and have scarcely 
 thought to enquire whether our Lord and Master had 
 given us any directions in the Scriptures concerning 
 the giving of our money for the carrying on of His 
 worship and work. The Bible has been left out, and 
 all sorts of human inventions have been adopted to 
 raise money. We have chosen our own way, and have 
 not hearkened unto the law of the Lord. This should 
 be so no longer. " To the law and to the testimony." 
 This whole question should be looked at in the pure 
 
THE BIBLE ANSWER. 53 
 
 and unerring light of God's Word. In no other way 
 can questions about giving be satisfactorily settled. 
 Let the voice of the Lord be heard in the midst of the 
 Church, let God say by what system of giving He 
 would have His Gospel supported and His work carried 
 on, and when He speaks let all men be silent and 
 ready to learn. 
 
 In the days of King Josiah, when the Book of the 
 Law was discovered in the temple, and brought into 
 his presence, and read in his hearing, he was greatly 
 troubled, and said, " Our fathers have not hearkened 
 unto the words of this book to do all that which is 
 written concerning us." As we open our Bibles and 
 compare our practices with its teachings we are com- 
 pelled to make the sauie confession and include our- 
 selves with our fathers. 
 
 If the Bible contains any teaching upon this sub- 
 ject it ought to be known, and neither through false 
 modesty in the pulpit, nor from any other reason 
 should the truth be held back. The Church has 
 drifted into many a wrong practice in the past through 
 the suppression of the plain teaching of God's Word. 
 Error is largely the result of ignorance, and right 
 ways can be established only through knowing the 
 truth. Nothing is needed more just now than that 
 believers everywhere should know just what God says 
 on the subject of giving, and when they do know 
 there is abundant reason for believing that a large 
 majority of them will not hesitate to do what they 
 know to be God's wilL 
 
54 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 Whatever God's way is it must be the best way. 
 Our Heavenly Father in no case asks us, His children, 
 to do what we cannot do, nor does He ask any service 
 of us but which, if performed in His way, and with 
 rijjht motives, will come back to us in richest blessings. 
 The Word of God is a complete directory for Christian 
 faith and practice. The great Head of the Church 
 has not given to His people very full instructions 
 about some things, and no directions whatever about 
 other things equally important, but on the subject of 
 giving the teaching is very full and distinct. 
 
 The Old Testament contains the most elaborate 
 system of giving that has ever been practised on 
 earth. The system of religious worship established 
 under the direct instructions of Jehovah for observance 
 by the Jews, contained the fullest possible directions 
 regarding the providing of necessary means for the 
 carrying on of that worship. It was a system that 
 secured something from everybody. It embodied the 
 principles which have already been laid down as 
 essential to true systematic giving, and the carrying 
 of it out resulted in ample provision being made for 
 the support of all the priests, for the expenses of 
 carrying on the costly services of the tabernacle or 
 temple, including special feasts and festivals, and for 
 the relieving of all who were needy or destitute. 
 Here is the system. (1) Every Jew, rich or poor, 
 paid a poll-tax of half a shekel, or about thirty cents, 
 when the numbering of the adult males took place. 
 This was known as " atonement money." (2) The 
 
THE BIBLE ANSWER. 55 
 
 tithes. These were the Levitical tithes, or tenth of all 
 the produce of the fields, flocks, herds, etc., for the 
 support of the Levites, and out of this the Levites 
 gave a tenth for the support of the High Priest. A 
 second tithe went to the festival services of the temple, 
 and a tithe every third year for the support of the 
 poor. (3) The first things of everything were ofiered 
 to God, (4) There were also freewill offerings, given 
 voluntarily as special thankofferings. These were 
 over and above all the rest. Read Lev. xxvii. 30 ; 
 Num. xviii. 21, 29 ; Deut. xiv. 22, 29. 
 
 By this system fully one-fifth, at times one-third, of 
 all the income was devoted to the purposes of religion. 
 And whatever may be said about this system, or any 
 part of it, being a standard for the Church in the 
 Christian dispensation, one thing is clear, God early 
 taught His people what gifts and offerings He re- 
 quired of them. He early made systematic giving one 
 of the laws of His worship. And whatever may be im- 
 plied by systematic giving when considered in relation 
 to our obligations to God, and in the light of the nine- 
 teenth century, very much certainly is implied by it in 
 the light of the Old Testament teaching — much more 
 also than many are willing to admit as binding upon 
 them in the midst of nineteenth century wealth and 
 privileges. " We claim," says Dr. Pierson, " to be under 
 the Christian dispensation, and free from the yoke of 
 the law ; but the question is, How much advance have 
 we made in our Christian modes of giving? The simple 
 fact is, that we are giving nothing in comparison to 
 
56 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 the Jew, and that it would be a blessed thing if we 
 should take upon ourselves, as Christ's yoke, the 
 Jewish law of jjivinff." 
 
 But let us now turn to the New Testament, and 
 see what God says there, and let us who rejoice in the 
 blessings, and glory iri the liberty, of the Gospel dis- 
 pensation, be at least sufficiently loyal to our privileges, 
 and sufficiently consistent with our claims, to be will- 
 ing to enquire into and accept the teaching of the New 
 Testament, whatever that teaching may be. 
 
 We claim that the whole Bible, and not the half of 
 it only, is to be taken as the source of in.stiuction to 
 the believer, but as many seem to think Old Testament 
 practices are in no sense binding upon Christians, it is 
 important that the teaching of the New Testament 
 should be fully set forth. 
 
 We turn to 1 Cor. xvi. 2, where we read : " Upon the 
 first day of the week let every one of you lay by him 
 in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no 
 gatherings when I come." This was the plan of rais- 
 ing money enjoined by the Apostle Paul for the Church 
 in Corinth and in other plates. Do what we may with 
 the system given to the Jews, here is a system of 
 raising money in the Church which is universally 
 admitted to be the rule for believers of the Gospel 
 dispensation. We purpose examining it most care- 
 
 fully. 
 
 1. This system was intimately associated with the 
 worship of God. These early Christians were to lay 
 aside a portion of their income " upon the first day of 
 
THE BIBLE ANSWER. 57 
 
 the week." This was the day for worship. On this 
 day the disciples came together to partake, in the 
 Lord's Supper, of those simple and sacred emblems 
 which pointed to the death of Christ, by which they 
 were continually reminded that though He was rich, 
 yet for their sakes He became poor, that they through 
 His poverty might become rich. Their giving was 
 therefore intimately associated with the highest 
 spiritual privDege believers can enjoy on earth, and 
 surely none b o the most miserly of men could have 
 allowed selfish thouofhts to enter their minds at such 
 a time. Giving grudgingly would surely be impossible 
 while in the shadow and also the glory of the cross. 
 As God's people remembered the price that had been 
 paid for their redemption, as they remembered that 
 the Lord Jesus had given His life a ransom for them, 
 they would be constrained by the greatness of His 
 love, and the presentation of their offerings would be 
 a joyful act of worship, a glad thanksgiving to the 
 Lord. 
 
 This is the prominent feature of all Bible giving. It 
 and worship are inseparably connected. No one can 
 read the description of the numerous tabernacle or 
 temple services, without being impressed with this. 
 Every approach to God in worship was accompanied 
 by some offering. It was strictly enjoined that no man 
 should " appear before the Lord empty handed." (Deut. 
 xvi. 16.) It was this beautiful union between giving 
 and worship that filled the Psalmist's mind when he 
 said in Psa. xcvi. 8 : " Give unto the Lord the 
 » ' 
 
68 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 glory due unto His name ; bring an offering and come 
 into His courts, worship the Lord in th*i beauty of 
 holiness." Here also giving is associated with the 
 highest order of worship, and is thereby made a high 
 and holy act. And this is what it should be. How 
 else can v e honor the Lord with our substance as we 
 are taught in Prov. iii. 9 to do ? How beautiful the 
 example presented by the Magi who camti to Bethle- 
 hem. Their worship was accompanied by the offering of 
 gifts. (Matt. ii. 11.) The grasping penuriousness which 
 is so evident in the paltry offerings which are some- 
 times brought into the house of the Lord, could not 
 be possible were the chief thought and desire of the 
 offerer in presenting his offerings to worship the Lord 
 in the beauty of holiness. Further, what pleasure can 
 God have in the most magnificent amounts of money 
 that are contributed to support His worship and His 
 work if, in the heart of the offerer, there is no thought 
 of Him? If men give, as many do, to '" be seen of men," 
 with what contempt must the Great Giver of all 
 things look upon their gifts. What God wants is the 
 heart, and in the privilege which He has given us of 
 presenting money offerings to Him, it is evident that 
 one purpose of that privilege is that we may have an 
 opportunity of expressing our gratitude and love to 
 Him. Giving is to be accompanied by worship — it is 
 itself to be an act of worship. 
 
 Systematic giving is, therefore, founded on the 
 highest motives that can sway the human heart. It 
 springs from the same great feeling that has provided 
 
THE BIBLE ANSWER. 59 
 
 an all-sufficient redemption for a perishing world — it 
 springs from love. " God so loved the world that He 
 GAVE," — we are to give because we love. 
 
 As this scriptural system of giving was intimately- 
 connected with the worship of God, it brought the 
 offerer into direct fellowship with the Father and 
 with His Son Jesus Christ. This is the believer's pri- 
 vilege in all Christian service, and though it has often 
 been otherwise, there is no service in which the child 
 of God MAY have greater fellowship with the Father 
 than in the presentation of money offerings. If he 
 takes the place of a sincere worshipper, and brings his 
 offering to the Lord, in order that he may take it up 
 and use it in connection with His kingdom, he cannot 
 but know something of the blessedness of being not 
 only a steward for God, but also a co-worker luith 
 God. Here is sufficient reason why every true be- 
 liever should adopt the scriptural system of giving. 
 
 2. In this system, we have regularity. The offerings 
 were to be set apart every week : " Upon the first day 
 of the week." This at once raised a barrier against, 
 and prevented, special and extraordinary efforts. In- 
 deed, where there is regular action there is never any 
 need for spasmodic efforts. The Apostle Paul also 
 very wisely added to his instructions, " That there be 
 no gatherings when I come." No doubt the finance 
 committee of the Church in Corinth thought it would 
 be a good plan to wait till the great apostle himself 
 was present. He would, of course, draw a great con- 
 gregation, and in response to his earnest appeals they 
 
60 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 would expect a big collection. But Paul, evidently, 
 didn't believe in efforts of that kind. He seems to 
 have foreseen the evils that would attend the intro- 
 duction of special appeals for money that had no 
 regard to system, and all the directions he gave the 
 Corinthian Christians directly shut out any such 
 plans of raising money. He enjoined once-a-week 
 giving:- "Upon the first day of the week let every 
 man lay by him in store, . . . that there be no 
 gatherings when I come." 
 
 In the light of all the advanced knowledge of this 
 overrated nineteenth century, there cannot be sug- 
 gested a more common-sense plan for raising money 
 than this. The vast majority of the people are wage- 
 earners and have a weekly income, and weekly giving 
 is therefore the reasonable and right thing. God's 
 plan is for us to give as we get. " Freely ye have 
 received, freely give." Against the plan of weekly 
 setting apart a portion of one's income as the Lord's, 
 the capitalist or the man in business can scarcely 
 object, for they are continually receiving, not only 
 every week but every day. With the regularity of 
 the return of the Lord's Day there should be the 
 recognition of God's goodness and of God's claims in 
 the presentation of offerings to Him. 
 
 Regularity is the secret of success in the performance 
 of all work, and the rule holds here. If a man through 
 neglect or other cause fails regularly to set apart a 
 portion of his income for the Lord, his giving will cease 
 to be systematic, and, though he might intend after- 
 
tHte BIBLE ANSWER. 61 
 
 wards to make up the deficiency caused by failure to 
 set apart a sum at the rio^ht time, in nine cases out of 
 ten his good intention will not be carried out. This 
 is one of the greatest difficulties wherever the weekly 
 offering system has been adopted. Even professed 
 Christians have not proved themselves to be always 
 thoroughly conscientious, and, when a few weeks are 
 passed over and the Lord's portion has not been set 
 apart, no effort is made to pay the debt owed to God ; 
 He is robbed of His portion, and the finances of the 
 Church get behind, and some special effort has to be 
 made to balance up their deficiency. There must be 
 scrupulous adherence to the plan of laying aside a 
 proportion of the income every week, with, of course, 
 the full determination, when the opportunity comes, 
 to apply it to the various departments of Christian 
 work. If there were this conscientiousness among 
 Church members, there is not a church in all the land 
 that would ever again find it difficult to meet its 
 running expenses, or to secure sufficient funds for its 
 benevolent and aggressive work. The scriptural sys- 
 tem of weekly giving — weekly laying aside — is the 
 right system ; the system of true regularity and 
 success. 
 
 3. ThU is a system for universal adoption. One of 
 the greatest difficulties Christian financiers have had 
 to meet has been the arranging of some method of 
 raising money that would be practicable for every- 
 body, and the failure to arrange such a plan is due 
 very largely to a neglect of the simple directions of 
 
6S SYSTEMATIC GIVINd. 
 
 God's Word. This scriptural system which we are 
 considering included everyone. " Let everyone of you 
 lay by him in store." The poor as well as the rich, 
 the younger members as well as the old, were to give. 
 The essential principle of proportions made this 
 possible. And there will never be true success until 
 every member of the Church is taught, and trained, and 
 encouraged to give regularly and systematically. The 
 smallest weekly offerings of the poor must be valued 
 as highly as the greatest gifts of the rich, for the 
 truth is, that the poor man who is a proportionate 
 giver gives quite as much as the rich man who is a 
 proportionate giver, if they lay aside the same per- 
 centage of their income. Nothing can be more 
 suicidal to the cultivation of a liberal spirit than any 
 slighting of the small amounts contributed by the 
 poor. As a rule, they give much more in proportion 
 to their means than the wealthy. 
 
 This plan of having everyone give did not originate 
 with Paul ; it is as old as the law of Moses. In 
 Deut. xvi. 16, 17, we read, "They shall not appear 
 before the Lord empty : Every man shall give as he 
 is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God 
 which He hath given thee." Paul may have had this 
 passage in his mind when he wrote to the Corinthian 
 Christians. It looks very much like the introduction 
 of the ancient and divinely appointed system of giving 
 into the Christian dispensation. After all, perhaps 
 those who object so strongly to the application of Old 
 Testament methods to New Testament times, may find 
 
THE BIBLE ANSWER. 68 
 
 themselves in direct conflict with the great apostle 
 himself. At any rate, it is certainly foolish to object 
 to plans that were so successful while other plans have 
 so completely failed. Let us no longer choose our 
 own ways, but be willing to follow the teaching of 
 God's Word, and recognize the fact that every man, 
 woman and child in the Church of Christ is under 
 obligation to God to give as God has prospered in each 
 case. To expect those who are rich to do all the 
 giving, and supply all the money for the Lord's work, 
 is unreasonable and a sign of meanness and selfishness. 
 God expects every man to give as he is able. " For if 
 there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according 
 to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath 
 not. For I mean not that other men be eased ^nd ye 
 burdened: but by an equality' (2 Cor. viii. 12-14). 
 Equality in giving is possible only where rich and 
 poor alike give a set proportion of their income. 
 
 This system which was given to the Church at 
 Corinth was also given to other Churches, for Paul 
 says in the first verse of 1 Cor. xvi., " As I have 
 given order to the Churches of Galatia, even so do ye.' 
 This system was therefore suitable to different places 
 as well as to different persons, and in this respect it is 
 superior to any system of giving that has ever been 
 thought of. It may be put into practice among any 
 people, and in any age, and its adoption will never fail 
 to produce the most satisfactory results. Its uni- 
 versal practicableness proves it to be of Divine origin, 
 and in giving, as in everything else, God's ways are 
 best. 
 
64 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 4. In this system we have proportionate giving. 
 Everyone was to j^ive " as God had prospered him." 
 The amount to be set aside was to be gfau^ed according 
 to the amount God had given. The question, " How 
 much shall I give ?" depended upon the answer to the 
 question, " How much have I received ? " In the giv- 
 ing there was to be " ct performance out of that which 
 ye have" (2 Cor. viii. 11). There was a proportion 
 according to the prosperity God had given, and the 
 giver was thus brought into constant acknowledg- 
 ment of his dependence upon God, and into continual 
 recognition of his Heavenly Father's goodness. 
 
 What proportion of their income did these early 
 Christians give ? What percentage of their money 
 did they lay by every week as their offering to the 
 Lord ? Is it at all probable that there was any fixed 
 percentage which they regarded as God's ? The 
 answer to these questions are of the utmost impor- 
 tance, and we ask our readers to very carefully con- 
 sider the answers which are given below. 
 
 In the first place, it must be remembered that a 
 tenth of a man's income was almost universally re- 
 garded as sacred, to be devoted wholly to sacred uses. 
 Even the heathen nations often dedicated their tithes 
 to their gods. Pliny says, "That the Arabian mer- 
 chants who traded in spices durst not sell any till they 
 had paid the tithe to their god Sabis. And Plutarch, 
 in more places than one, mentions a custom of the 
 Romans of offering to Hercules the tithe of what they 
 took from their enemies." For many centuries, also, 
 
THE BIBLE ANSWER. 65 
 
 the Jews had regarded the tenth as the Lord's portion. 
 From the earliest period of their national existence 
 this had been acknowledged. (Heb. vii. 5, 6 ; Lev. 
 xxvii. 30.) It is very clear, also, that in the Saviour's 
 day the tithe was still regarded as the Lord's portion, 
 for the Pharisee is represented as saying, " I give 
 tithes of all I possess." It was, in fact, the general and 
 widespread conviction that the tenth was the Lord's. 
 
 How, then, can it be thought a thing incredible that 
 this very proportion would be regarded the percentage 
 to be given by the Corinthians to whom Paul wrote ? 
 Besides, would not the possession of infinitely greater 
 privileges than were enjoyed under the law, be a strong 
 and irresistible reason why not less than the tenth 
 should now be laid aside for religious and benevolent 
 purposes ? Some, we know, strongly object to this 
 adapting of Old Testament usages to New Testament 
 times, and cry out, " A return to legalisiin" when the 
 tithing of the income is advocated. But, in the light 
 of Christ's sufferinors and death, in the lif;ht of all the 
 rich blessings and privileges enjoyed by the Christian, 
 is not the man who refuses to adopt this proportion 
 placing himself under a worse legalism by far, for is 
 he not placing himself under the legalism of self and 
 selfishness ? Is he not setting aside the full and simple 
 teaching of the Word of God, together with the testi- 
 mony of history, for it is stated by Origen, Jerome, 
 Augustine, and many other ancient authorities, that 
 the early Christian Church did observe the law of 
 tithes, and, besides all this, is he not rather studying 
 
66 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 his own convenience and preferring his own way to 
 God's command ? 
 
 Rev. J, H. Brooks, of St. Louis, has reached an un- 
 answerable conclusion on this point, when he says, 
 '' Since the rule of consecrating a tenth was observed 
 by the servants of Jehovah, before the law was pro- 
 claimed, and since it was recognized as just and proper 
 by Divine legislation, it would seem to be a wise and 
 safe guide to follow still in our contributions to the 
 work of the Lord. Surely nothing less than this can 
 adequately express our indebtedness to the grace of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, this is the 
 very least a Christian can give, if he ever pretends to 
 fill the measure of his privilege and responsibility." 
 Wilbur F. Crafts, says, " The early teachings of God 
 to the human race, as far back as the days of Abraham, 
 I understand to indicate that a tenth of our income 
 belongs to God as our Father and King. The rule is 
 as appropriate now as it ever was. We ought to give 
 beyond that, but one- tenth of our income, I take it, is 
 not ours to keep, Withholding it, we shall come to 
 see by-and-bye, is embezzling trust funds." The com- 
 mand, " Honor the Lord with thy substance," implies 
 that there is a God-honoring proportion, and there 
 cannot be the slightest argument advanced to show 
 that that proportion may be less than ten per cent. 
 
 But even granting that it has not been established 
 that the tenth should now be given, it still remains 
 that proportionate giving was enjoined. The words, 
 "As the Lord hath prospered" are meaningless, if they 
 
THE BIBLE ANSWER. 67 
 
 do not teach that some set proportion of the income 
 was to be laid aside. Without the adoption of the 
 principle of a fixed proportion of some sort, true sys- 
 tematic giving is an impossibility. Even as a matter 
 of expedience, for the sake of comfort and pleasure in 
 giving, the laying aside of only five per cent, of the 
 income to the Lord is infinitely better than leaving 
 it wholly to caprice, or to uncertain feelings and im- 
 pulses. 
 
 Systematic giving, as it has been defined above, 
 establishes an equality among God's people, and gives 
 no room for the anomaly which prevails to such an 
 extent to-day, where poor widows and others, out of 
 their poverty, often give a far larger proportion of 
 their means than many of the rich who give their 
 hundreds. A fixed percentage, adopted generally^ 
 makes this irregularity impossible. He who gave 
 $1 out of an income of $10, would be giving as 
 largely and as liberally as he who gave $2 out of 
 an income of $20. Indeed, where the income is 
 large and a larger proportion is not given than is 
 given by the poorer man, the percentage is, if any- 
 thing, in favor of the poorer man, for he will often 
 have to make sacrifices to give his tenth, where the 
 other would not need to make sacrifices even to give a 
 fifth of his income. Still, systematic giving levels up 
 this matter very much, and spreads the burden out as 
 it should be. In no other way can this be fairly and 
 successfully done. 
 
 Then, too, by systematic giving another evil is pre- 
 
68 SYStEMATIC GIVINGi. 
 
 vented, which is far too common among Christians, 
 namely, the failure to increase one's offerings when 
 there is an increase in the income. It is a most de- 
 plorable fact that there are Christians who are giving 
 no more to the Lord's work now than they did ten or 
 fifteen years ago, though their income is more than 
 double now what it was then. They have given, and 
 it may be they have given regularly, but they have not 
 given a set proportion of their income " as the Lord 
 has prospered" them. They have not honored the Lord 
 w4th the 'first fruits of all their increase. Their increase 
 has been put into their business, or locked up in real 
 estate, or spent in more costly furnishings for their 
 homes, or in other luxuries, but the treasury of the Lord's 
 house has not received any benefit from their increased 
 prosperity. Is this the spirit and teaching of Chris- 
 tianity ? As we grow richer, is the proportion of our 
 substance with which we honor the Lord to be con- 
 tinually growing less, as must be the case if our offer- 
 ings are no more in amount when we have an increase 
 of income than they were before we had the increase ? 
 Proportionate giving makes this impossible, and is in 
 perfect harmony with the inspired words, " Lay not 
 up for yourselves treasures upon earth," and "If riches 
 increase, set not your heart upon them." 
 
 The scriptural plan of systematic giving has no 
 equal. It is reasonable and workable, being adapted, 
 like the Gospel itself, to all classes and conditions of 
 men. It is God's way, and therefore it is the best 
 both for the happiness of believers and for the welfare 
 
THE BIBLE ANSWER. 69 
 
 and safety of the Church. No believer can afford to 
 choose any other way of giving in preference to this, 
 for in no other way can he so effectually serve the 
 Lord and honor Him with his substance, increase his 
 own usefulness, or gain blessings for his own soul. 
 
 We close this chapter with a sentence from Dr. 
 J. Strong : "If those whose horizon is as narrow as the 
 bushel under which they hide their light could be 
 induced to come out into a larger place, and take a 
 worthy view of the kingdom of Christ, and of their 
 relations to it, if they could be persuaded to make the 
 privilege of Christian giving regnant in all their life, 
 their happiness would be as much increased as their 
 usefulness:' The adoption of systematic giving will 
 enable Christians to reach just such a place and 
 experience. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WHAT THE ADOPTION OF SYSTEMATIC GIVING 
 
 WILL INVOLVE. 
 
 " Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself and take 
 up his cross, and follow Me." — Mark viii. 34. 
 
 TT is generally difficult to break away from long 
 -■- estaMl'saed methods, and adopt and practise new 
 ones of a ouch higher standard. But when a method 
 is wrong, or even when it is not the best, and a better 
 is clearly presented to the mind, there should be no hesi- 
 tation in cutting the bonds that bind to the wrong or 
 imperfect method, and adopting the better. The 
 adoption of systematic giving by many will involve 
 the breaking of just such bonds. Old ideas and prac- 
 tices must give place to new ; or rather, the modern 
 ways of spasmodic, and haphazard, and irregular giv- 
 ing must give place to the ancient and scriptural plan 
 of proportionate and systematic giving. Any clinging 
 to any other method will make a fair trial of system- 
 atic giving an impossibility, and we claim and call for 
 at least a fair trial of it before it is spoken against. 
 The man who would know the meaning and value of 
 systematic giving, must burn his bridges behind him. 
 
WHAT IT WILL INVOLVE. 71 
 
 He must cut loose from all other ways of giving for a 
 time and launch out upon this. 
 
 Systematic giving will involve in most individuals 
 at the very outset, and continually afterwards, an 
 exercise of faith in God. Those whose income is small, 
 and whose temporal necessities absorb their income as 
 fast as they receive it, will be tempted to think it 
 quite impossible for them to set apart a tenth, or any 
 fixed percentage of their income for the Lord. The 
 many calls upon the purse at home will suggest the 
 remembrance of the words, " Charity begins at home," 
 and the following passage of Scripture will also come 
 readily to their minds: "If any man provide not for 
 his own, and specially for those of his own house, he 
 hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 
 (1 Tim. V. 8.) Certainly, any man who neglects his 
 own family, and wrongfully withholds necessary sup- 
 port from them, is deserving the strongest censure >' 
 but does any man withhold from his family that which 
 they should have when, with a thankful heart, and in 
 humble acknowledgment of God's goodness to him, he 
 regularly devotes a set portion of his income to God ? 
 To do so will often involve the exercising of a grand 
 and heroic faith — indeed, the adoption of systematic 
 giving involves the exercise of faith any way, for he 
 who scrupulously lays aside a fixed percentage of his 
 income as the Lord's portion, continually casts himself 
 on the goodness and faithfulness of God, and trusts in 
 the promises of His word. And in connection with 
 giving there are promises, in the Word of God which 
 
72 . SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 furnish the grandest possible anchorage for the be- 
 liever's faith. What better promise can anyone want 
 to inspire his faith in the adoption of 3ystematic giving 
 than the following : " Honor the Lord with thy sub- 
 stance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase, 
 so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses 
 shall burst out with new wine." (Pro- . iii. 9, 10.) 
 " Give, and it shall be given unto you ; good measure, 
 pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, 
 shall men give into your bosom. For with the same 
 measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to 
 you again." (Luke vi. 38.) "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." (2 Cor. ix. 8.) 
 
 With such promises to meditate upon, who can hesi- 
 tate to give, even though the giving should mean the 
 emptying of the last farthing into the Lord's treasury. 
 The widow seen by Christ had faith enouj-h to give 
 her last mite, and she was not forgotten. 
 
 To give when the income is small necessitates faith ; 
 but let every poor believer, and others also, remem- 
 ber that the great Creator and Provider can very 
 easily increase a man's expenses by sickness, or dimin- 
 ish his income by loss of work, or by a falling-oflf in 
 business, so that nothing whatever will be gained by 
 withholding from the Lord ; while, on the other hand, 
 the same gracious God, who gives us all things richly 
 to enjoy, can very easily lessen our expenditure, or 
 increase our income, when we cast ourselves upon Him 
 
WHAT IT WILL INVOLVE. 73 
 
 in faith, and honor Him with our substance. Our 
 times are in God's hands, and it is a dangerous policy 
 for us to act as though we knew how to make better 
 plans and provision for ourselves than God does. We 
 do act in this way, however, when, from any consider- 
 ation of our own temporal needs, or the littleness of 
 our income, we withhold from the Lord. " Have faith 
 in God." " He is able to do exceeding abundantly 
 above all that we ask or think." 
 
 For the encouragement of the faith of God's chil- 
 dren in the adoption of God's plan of giving, I insert 
 an extract from a letter sent to that honored servant 
 of God, George Miiller, of Bristol, many years ago. 
 After referring to some contributions which were en- 
 closed for Mr. Miiller's work, the writer says: "I think 
 it right to tell you that it is now seven years since we 
 were induced, through the instrumentality of reading 
 your books, to set aside a certain portion of our income 
 for God's cause. We were then in very straitened 
 circumstances, and we made up our minds to give a 
 tenth. The very next day our means were slightly 
 increased, and went on doing so. We then gave a 
 fourth. After a long time things seemed again to look 
 dark. I say seemed to look dark, for the event proved 
 that we were not really any worse off than before ; 
 but by God's help we said, ' We will wait patiently ; 
 perhaps God is only trying us.' We did not give any 
 less to His cause. And now He has placed us in a 
 position of prosperity we have never before enjoyed, 
 and we are able to give a fourth of our income. It is 
 
 G 
 
74 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 indeed a blessed thing to trust in the Lord, and we are 
 led to exclaim with the Psalmist, ' Bless the Lord, O 
 my soul, and forget not all His benefits.' 'The Lord 
 loveth a cheerful giver;' yes, and He will never leave 
 nor forsake such a giver. Faith in God will enable 
 any man to rise above his poverty, as an obstacle to 
 proportionate giving. At the same time, let us not 
 forget that the very reason why some men have so 
 little, and why they are in such straitened circum- 
 stances, may be because they kept to themselves all 
 the Lord has been pleased to give them. It is a true 
 Scripture where it is written, * There is that scattereth, 
 and yet increaseth ; and there is that withholdeth 
 more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.' " (Prov. 
 xi. 24.) 
 
 Even the wealthy will need to exorcise faith some- 
 times in the practice of systematic giving. The tenth, 
 or larger percentage which they may fix, may some- 
 times seem so much to set apart, that they may be 
 inclined to question whether they should continue to 
 do it. There may also come times of commercial 
 stagnation when the well-to-do merchant will be 
 threatened with losses in his business, and he will be 
 tempted to withhold from the Lord. At such times 
 true confidence in Him who is the overruler of all 
 things will enable him to commit his business into 
 God's hands, while he continues to give. Thus in 
 times of trouble systematic giving will be a means of 
 bringing the soul where alone it can find abiding rest 
 from the difficulties and perplexities of life. The 
 
WHAT IT WILL INVOLVE. 76 
 
 practice of proportionate giving will thus cultivate 
 faith in God, and develop a happy spirit of trust- 
 fulness for all things. 
 
 The adoption of systematic giving may involve the 
 making of sacrifices. In order to give a proportionate 
 amount of our income to the Lord, it may be found 
 necessary to deny ourselves the enjoyment of some 
 things upon which we have been spending our money. 
 It may mean that we shall have to be more careful 
 and watchful over the expenditure of our means ; our 
 expenses in living may have to be diminished, and 
 we may have to deny ourselves some of the luxuries 
 and pleasures to which we have been accustomed. 
 There are many ways in which money is wasted, and 
 a little stopping of leakages here and there will make 
 it easy to give a fixed percentage of our money to the 
 Lord. Christ was rich, yet He became poor for our 
 sakes. He denied Himself that we might be saved, 
 and shall we not most gladly deny ourselves, and take 
 up our cross and follow Him ! 
 
 The adoption of systematic giving will involve tlie 
 continual acknowledgriient of God's goodness in our 
 lives. No man can practise proportionate giving with- 
 out feeling, in a greater or less degree, that all he 
 receives, and all he spends, has reference to God. 
 When the giver is prospered, and he lays aside a 
 certain proportion of his increased prosperity to the 
 Lord, he will hardly fail to think of the words, " As 
 God hath prospered.'' He will see God's hand scat- 
 tering blessings along his path through life, and 
 
76 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 will be led constantly to acknowledge the goodness 
 of the Lord. 
 
 The believer will, in this way, come to realize that 
 his prosperity in business, or in the earning of wages, 
 is intimately related to the Lord's work. As a 
 consequence, too, the adoption of systematic giving 
 may involve a complete revolution in the management 
 of his finances. Every law in business will be made 
 to conform to the higher law of proportionate giving. 
 The getting of money will become a sacred act. 
 " Tr'dde will thus become a means of grace, and com- 
 merce an ally of religion." A deep religious signifi- 
 cance will become attached to the common toils and 
 enjoyments of every-day life. All departments of 
 life will be made what they ought to be — religious. 
 Among the Jews it was so, for the Jew who gave the 
 first fruits of the increase of the field, and a tenth of 
 all his substance to the Lord, must have felt when he 
 ploughed, as well as when he prayed, that he was do- 
 ing it to the glory of God. And is not this just what 
 should be the experience of God's people everywhere, 
 and is it not this sin of dividincj our life into reliijious 
 and secular, into the business part and the Church 
 part, that is to-day causing millions of dollars in the 
 possession of Christian people to be locked up, and 
 kept back from the service of Christ, or spent and 
 wasted in ways displeasing to God ? 
 
 The believer's life vshould be one, and he should 
 acknowledge God s presence and God's goodness in 
 his money -getting in the office or factory just as much 
 
WHAT IT WILL INVOLVE. 77 
 
 as he does in the prayer-meeting. S^^stcmatic giving 
 will help a man to reach this high standard. A man 
 in business who has practised giving a tenth writes : 
 " Some way or other, my companionship with God has 
 become more real since I have taken Him into partner- 
 ship." There are hundreds ready to bear similar 
 testimony. 
 
 The adoption of systematic giving will mean new 
 and better views oi* almost everything. The very 
 details of our life will be affected, and we shall be led 
 more fully to seek the glory of God in everything we 
 do. We shall come more and more to realize that we 
 are stew^ards for our blessed Redeemer and Lord, and 
 we shall liv^e more and more in that spirit of conse- 
 cration so beautifully described by Frances Ridley 
 Havergal in her little book, " Kept for the Master's 
 Use," where she writes as follows : "The silver and the 
 gold are mine, saith the Lord of hosts." Yes, every 
 coin we have is literally the " Lord's money." Simple 
 belief of this is the stepping-stone to full consecration 
 of what He has given us, whether much or little. 
 Then you mean to say we are never to spend anything 
 on ourselves. Not so. We are to spend what is really 
 needful on ourselves, because it is our charge to do so, 
 but not /or ourselves, because we are not our own but 
 our Master's. He who knoweth our frame knows its 
 need of rest and medicine, food and clothing ; and the 
 procuring of these for our own entrusted bodies 
 should be done just as much for Jesus as the greater 
 pleasure of procuring them for someone else. There- 
 
7^ SYSTEMATIC GTVTNO, 
 
 fore there need be no quibbling over the assertion that 
 consecration is not real and complete, while we are 
 looking upon a single shilling as our own to do what 
 we like with it. Also the principle is exactly the 
 same whether we are spending pence or pounds : it is 
 our Lord's money, and must not be spent without 
 
 reference to Him There is no 
 
 bondage in consecration. The two things are oppo- 
 sites and cannot co-exist, much less mingle. We 
 should suspect our consecration, and come afresh to 
 our Great Counsellor about it directly we have any 
 sense of bondage. As long as we have an unacknow- 
 ledged feeling of fidget about our account book, and 
 a smothered wondering what and how we " oitght " to 
 give, and a hushed-up wishing the thing had not been 
 put quite so strongly to us, depend upon it we have 
 not said unreservedly, " Take my silver and my gold." 
 And how can the Lord keep what He has not been 
 sincerely asked to take ? 
 
 " Ah ! if we had stood at the foot of the cross, and 
 watched the tremendous payment of our redemption 
 with the precious blood of Christ ; if we had seen that 
 awful price told out, drop by drop, from His own dear, 
 patient brow, and torn hands and feet, till it was 
 ALL paid, and the central word of eternity was 
 uttered, 'It is finished!' should we not have been 
 ready to say, ' Not a mite will I withhold.' " 
 
 Systematic giving involves much more then that is 
 blessed and helpful to the whole Christian life than it 
 does of anything difficult or impossible. God's ways 
 
WHAT IT WILL INVOLVE. 79 
 
 are not the hardest ways for us to walk in. We find 
 thorns, not in them, but in our own self-made and self- 
 chosen paths. Difficulties worry us most when we 
 are trying to turn aside from direct and full obedience 
 to Christ, and not when we are trustfully accepting 
 His laws as binding upon us, and cheerfully surrender- 
 ing ourselves to do His will. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE BENEFIT AND BLESSEDNESS OF SYSTEMATIC 
 
 GIVING. 
 
 '* Take my yoke upon you, . . . and ye shall find rest to your 
 souls. "—Matt. xi. 29, 
 
 EVERY good work, performed with right motives 
 and in God's way, is accompanied, or followed, 
 by blessings of some kind upon him who does it. It 
 is a Divine law that the good we do comes back to us 
 again. " Give, and it shall be given you." " Blessed 
 are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Even 
 nature teaches us that those thincfs which give most 
 get most back. The great ocean, which furnishes the 
 raino for immense continents, receives into its bosom 
 again the mighty rivers of water that flow from the 
 springs and rivulets of a thousand hillsides. The laws 
 of nature are superseded by the laws of God's king- 
 dom. Here, in a fuller and higher sense, they who 
 give most get most back. " Whosoever shall lose his 
 life for My sake and the gospel's, shall save it." " He 
 which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." 
 Some of the benefits that accompany the adoption of 
 systematic giving have already been mentioned inci- 
 
ITS BENEFIT AND BLESSEDNESS. SI 
 
 dentally ; there are other benefits which deserve fuller 
 attention. 
 
 1. Systematic giving produces in the giver a rest of 
 heart and conscience regjirding one's offerings not 
 possible by any other method of giving. Where be- 
 fore, through the practice of giving irregularly and in 
 a haphazard manner, giving was an irksome duty from 
 which there was a continual shrinking, and which was 
 often accompanied by a miserable grudging feeling, 
 there comes with the adoption of systematic giving a 
 feeling of pleasure and satisfaction. Giving becomes 
 a delight. Tlie believer has not to again and again 
 answer the question, " How much shall I give ? " A 
 percentage of the income has already been set apart 
 as the Lord's portion, and it now becomes a deliglitful 
 service to carefully and wisely distribute this portion, 
 as the claims of the diffen :; departments of the 
 Lord's work are presented. Said a Christian woman, 
 who a short time before had begun to set apart a tenth 
 as the Lord's, " It is such a comfort, I have no anxiety 
 now about what I shall give, it is settled, and I find it 
 ever so much easier to give." This is the experience 
 of hundreds who are to-day practising systematic 
 giving. The ways of systematic giving are ways of 
 pleasantness, and all its paths are paths of peace. 
 
 The following testimony from one who had tried 
 this plan, is deserving of special consideration : " It 
 is now about ten years since I first adopted the prin- 
 ciple of proportionate giving. Prior to this I used to 
 wonder with every five dollars I gave whether I was 
 
82 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 not doing more than was prudent, an*' the result was 
 I had little pleasure in giving. Now, however, having 
 been greatly prospered in business, I find myself able 
 to give fourfold what I did, and can understand better 
 what is meant by the blessedness of giving. Applica- 
 tions for help have long ceased to produce irritation of 
 feeling in me, for I know I am only called upon to 
 dispense a fund which is not my own, and when, after 
 a careful apportioning of claims, that fund is expended, 
 I have derived much comfort from the certainty that 
 the adoption of the principle of proportionate giving 
 has enabled me on the one hand to guide my affairs 
 with discretion, and on the other hand to refrain from 
 ' robbing God.' " 
 
 There are two points in the above testimony deserv- 
 ing of special consideration. The first is, that, previ- 
 ous to the adoption of systematic giving, there was 
 " little pleasure in giving," and applications for help 
 caused " irritation." This certainly was not a liappy 
 experience, but it is almost the universal experience 
 of those who do not give according to scriptural prin- 
 ciples and plans. When no proportion of the income 
 has been set apart, appeals for help are frequently 
 met by an inward protest. Where God's claims have 
 not been recognized, giving is an irksome task, and 
 there is a shrugging of the shoulders at every call for 
 contributions. A rich, stingy old gentleman having 
 been taken to task for his uncharitableness, replied : 
 " llrue, I don't give much, but if you kneiv how it 
 hurts me when I give anything, you ivouldn't won- 
 
ITS BKNEFTT ANT) BLESSEDNESS. 83 
 
 der" This absence of pleasure in giving is the true 
 secret of the niggardliness that to-day characterizes 
 the giving of many who are well-to-do and wealthy. 
 When it hurts a man to give, he isn't going to give 
 much. As w^hen a wealthy farmer was once asked for 
 a subscription for Home Missions, and had been ap- 
 pealed to for half an hour, at last drawled out : " Well, 
 I suppose I can't get out of it very well, here's fifty 
 cents." He could just as easily have given ten times 
 the amount, but it hurt him to give — there was no 
 pleasure in it to him. Systematic giving, as abundant 
 testimony shows, does away with all such miserable 
 and mean feelings. 
 
 The other point in the above testimony which de- 
 serves our special attention is, that when proportionate 
 giving was adopted, the writer learned what is meant 
 by the '• blessedness of giving," the feeling of " irrita- 
 tion " disappeared, and much comfort was derived 
 from exercising the office of a steward of the Lord's 
 money. What joy would abound throughout the en- 
 tire Church of Christ, and with what gladness would 
 God's people serve Him if giving were thus universally 
 a source of happiness. 
 
 Another who has practised tithing his income for 
 some time says: " My experience has been, that giving 
 has become a luxury to me, as it never was before. I 
 have greatly prospered financially, and I have received 
 great spiritual blessings." How few of those who 
 give under some momentary impulse can say this. 
 Nothing but doing God's work in God's way can 
 
84 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 enrich us spiritually and make His service a delight. 
 Systematic giving is His way of doing this part of our 
 work for Him, and he who adopts it will never fail to 
 find blessedness therein. 
 
 2. Another benefit flowing from the adoption of 
 systematic giving is peace of mind concerning tem- 
 poral things, ivltk increased prosperity therein. As 
 business and the earning of wages are viewed in refer- 
 ence to God and His cause, it follows most naturally 
 that the believer is enabled more fully to leave all his 
 financial concerns in the hands of his Heavenly 
 Father. God's hand is seen where before it was for- 
 gotten, and He becomes more and more consciously 
 present as an active partner in the daily occupation, 
 whatever it may be. The blessedness of this cannot 
 be expressed. A man's business is sure to prosper 
 under such circumstances, and everything a man puts 
 his hand to, when he is thus a co-worker with God, is 
 certain to succeed. As a Christian merchant testifies, 
 " This system has been of the greatest advantage to 
 me, enabling me to feel that my life is directly em- 
 ployed for God. . . . This system has saved me 
 from commercial dangers by leading me to simplify 
 my business, and avoid extensive credits." 
 
 God has promised temporal prosperity to those who 
 honor Him with their substance, and there are num- 
 bers of Christian men and women prepared to bear 
 testimony to the Divine faithfulness in fulfilling those 
 promises. The Great Creator^ who watereth the earth, 
 and causeth it to bring forth in abundance, has said in 
 
ITS BENEFIT AND BLESSEDNESS. 85 
 
 His Word, " Honor the Lord with thy substance, and 
 with the lirst fruits of all thine increase : so shall thy 
 barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses burst out 
 w4th new wine." This promise assures us that when 
 we honor God with our substance He will enrich us 
 with temporal bles^'ngs. God does what He says He 
 will. Again and again has He fulfilled this promise. 
 The way in which God increases the temporal bless- 
 ings of those who honor Him with their substance is 
 beautifully illustrated in the case of the widow of 
 Zarephath. Elijah, the servant of the Lord, came to 
 her, and asked her for a morsel of bread. She was 
 poor, and, on account of the famine in the land, her 
 provisions had been reduced to a handful of meal, and 
 a little oil in a cruse ; just enough to make a scanty 
 meal for herself and her son, which she was about to 
 prepare when the prophet asked her for food. When 
 she told Elijah her circumstances, he said to her, " Do 
 as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little cake 
 first, and bring it to me, and after that make for thee 
 and thy son ; for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 
 the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the 
 cruse of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth 
 rain upon the earth." 
 
 The widow laid hold of the promise, and did as 
 Elijah instructed her. In other words, she honored 
 the Lord with what substance she had by first giving 
 a portion of it tc the Lord's servant, and the Lord 
 fulfilled His promise by giving her plenty for many 
 days : for we read, " The barrel of meal wasted not. 
 
86 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word 
 of the Lord, whith He spake by Elijah." 
 
 This widow has since had many followers, who out 
 of their poverty have first given to the Lord, and in 
 like manner God has made abundant provision for 
 them in temporal things. " Giving is the father of 
 getting." " He is not richest who lays up much, but 
 who lays out much." Increase comes not through 
 withholding and stowing up, but through giving 
 proportionately, as the Lord hath prospered. Such 
 testimonies as the following should convince the most 
 unbelieving : " I am but a hard-working man," writes 
 one who gives systematically, "yet I feel it now a 
 pleasure and a luxury to keep 'account of how the 
 Lord prospers my endeavors ; and ever since I com- 
 menced the plan everything has gone well with me, 
 my earnings have every year steadily increased^ 
 Another says : " The more I give the more 1 seem to 
 get." And another : "■ The way He has prospered my 
 path has been most marked ever since I , adopted 
 systematic giving." 
 
 It 'pays to tithe one's income. It pays to adopt 
 proportionate giving as a rule of life. It pays in 
 contentment and peace regarding one's temporal 
 affairs, and it pays in actual dollars and cents, and it 
 pays because it is right : it is God's law. So certain is 
 it that God does fulfil His promises by greatly 
 increasing the temporal prosperity of those who 
 honor Him with their money, that we are prepared 
 to challenge anyone to produce a single authentic 
 
ITS BENEFIT AND BLESSEDNESS. 8? 
 
 instance of failure. No man can rise up and say, 
 " With a sincere desire for God's glory I gave a tenth 
 of my income ^o the Lord and I have received no 
 increase either of temporal or spiritual blessings as a 
 result." Such cases do not exist. 
 
 3. Tlte adoption of systematic giving will have a 
 beneficial effect upon a mans business habits. By 
 systematic giving business and religion, so much di- 
 vorced from each other even by Christian men, are 
 bound together. This has already been shown very 
 fully in a previous chapter. The effect of this union 
 is that a man conducts his business with a different 
 spirit, a loftier motive, and with greater care. Careless 
 methods of keeping accounts, and other loose habits, 
 will be speedily corrected when a man decides to 
 make proportionate giving a rule of his life. His 
 business will be so systematized that he will know what 
 his income is. Proportionate giving cannot be carried 
 on by him unless he does, and hence he will be far less 
 liable to run into bankruptcy, as so many do simply 
 because thev do not know what their income is. What 
 tends to make men more successful in business surely 
 commends itself to a fair trial. 
 
 4. Systematic giving will also have the effect oj 
 checking the terrible waste of money among Christians 
 which is so characteristic of this present age. As soon 
 as men and women begin to realize that they are not 
 proprietors, or owners, of the money in their possession, 
 but the Lord's stewards to dispense it for His glory, 
 they will be more careful about every disbursement 
 
88 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 of that money, and will not be so ready to sink so 
 many thousands of dollars in costly dwellings, furni- 
 ture, or dress, or in the obtaining of so many expensive 
 luxuries for purely personal gratification and vain- 
 glory. A higher value will be placed upon the silver 
 and the gold that have come into their hands, and they 
 will freely devote it to higher purposes. Disciplined 
 by the practice of systematic giving, the giver will 
 come to view money as a divinely ordained instru- 
 ment for furthering: the kingdom of Christ amonof men, 
 and it will not be wasted in a careless manner upon 
 fleeting, profitless pleasures. 
 
 5. But the greatest benefit and blessing thai would 
 flow from a general adoption of systematic or pro- 
 2)ortionate giving luould be seen in the Church itself. 
 The increased usefulness and prosperity that would 
 come to the Church cannot be over-estimated. The 
 possibilities placed within the reach of the Church by 
 this scriptural method of giving inspire and thrill 
 one's soul, and one cannot think of those possibilities 
 without devoutly praying that in some way the entire 
 Church of Christ may be moved to take action in this 
 matter. 
 
 Statistics show that even where, by the adoption of 
 weekly offerings, a kind of systematic giving is prac- 
 tised there has been a marked increase in the offerings 
 to the Lord's uH)rk. But weekly offerings only show 
 the advantage of regularity, and are not in every in- 
 stance any illustration of the system of proportionate 
 giving. Indeed, it may safely l)e said that the vast 
 
ITS BENEFIT AND BLESSEDNESS. 89 
 
 majority of church-goers who regularly contribute to 
 the support of the Gospel by weekly offerings are not 
 proportionate givers, that is, they do not set apart* 
 out of their income, any fixed percentage as an offering 
 to the Lord. Yet it is a well-known fact that 
 churches which adopt the weekly offering system 
 raise very much more money for religious purposes 
 than those which do not. 
 
 But let us suppose that proportionate giving should 
 become as general as the weekly offering, or that 
 everywhere the followers of Christ, constrained by 
 His infinite love, and in fullest recognition of their 
 obligations to Almighty God, should lay aside not less 
 than ten per cent, of their income for the service of 
 Christ, should simply " bring all the tithes into the 
 storehouse," according to the teaching of the Word of 
 God, who can estimate the amount of money that 
 would, as a result, be at the disposal of the King of 
 kings, to be used by Him in the extension of His 
 kingdom among the nations of the earth ? It is safe 
 to say that the receipts for religious purposes would 
 be increased fifty-fold or more. Thousands of dollars 
 would be in the hands of church and missionary 
 treasurers where now there are not hundreds. Let 
 systematic giving be universally adopted, and there 
 will be sufficient money forthcoming to at once wipe out 
 all debts upon all churches, and Christian and benevo- 
 lent institutions throughout the land ; crippled but 
 deserving Christian enterprises could at once be lifted 
 into positions of power and prosperity, missionary 
 7 
 
90 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 societies of all denominations would be in a position 
 to largely increase their staff of missionaries to the 
 heathen, Christian colleges throughout the land could 
 be sufficiently endowed to give a free education to 
 thousands who desired to preach the Gospel; Bible and 
 Tract societies could at once double their capacity to 
 print and circulate the Scriptures and religious litera- 
 ture in the different languages of the earth ; and, be- 
 fore the end of the present century, short though the 
 time is, the people of every nation would hear the 
 Gospel, and the knowledge of the Lord would fill the 
 earth, as the waters cover the sea, 
 
 " Utopian ! " '' Im.possihle I ! " So some think, per- 
 haps, but in the light of facts, knowing that there is 
 more than enough money in the possession of the 
 Church of Christ at the present moment to do all this, 
 and believing most assuredly that God is ready now 
 to take up the millions that might be given Him, and 
 use them in accomplishing great and glorious things 
 among the nations, and believing also that large num- 
 bers of Christians only need to have this whole sub- 
 ject clearly brought before them to lead them to adopt 
 and practise systematic giving, we answer, no — 
 emphatically no. This is neither Utopian nor impos- 
 sible. It is all blessedly possible, and just as soon as a 
 mighty awakening in the matter of giving spreads 
 throughout the Church these extraordinary results 
 will follow. 
 
 What man has done man can do. What has been 
 done in one section of the Church can be done in 
 
ITS BENEFIT AND BLESSEDNESS. 91 
 
 other sections of the Church. There are instances 
 on record, not only of what individuals have been 
 enabled to accomplish throu^^h systematic giving, 
 but also of what can be done by bodies of Chris- 
 tians. Dr. Pierson, in his " Crisis of Missions," notes 
 the interesting and inspiring fact, that the Moravian 
 Christians, numbering only some 20,000 communicants, 
 raise out of their poverty an annual missionary income 
 of $240,000, an average of $12 per member. The 
 poorest man or woman among them is expected to give 
 something to further the Lord's work. To secure such 
 splendid results systematic giving must be practised 
 very generally, with very few, if any, non-givers. 
 What the Moravians have done others can do, and, in 
 the light of our obligations to God, should do. If 
 Christians everywhere gave with such liberality as 
 this, what a vast sum of money would be raised for 
 missions, and for every other department of Christian 
 work. Let us suppose that even one half of this 
 amount, that is $6.00 each, were given by the 26,000,000 
 of Church members throughout the world, for mis- 
 sions, we should have the magnificent sum of 
 $156,000,000, or fully thirteen or fourteen times the 
 amount now being raised by the entire Church for this 
 purpose. What unlimited powers this would at once 
 put into all missionary enterprises. Thirteen times 
 the number of missionaries now in the work could be 
 employed, which would mean the increasing of the mis- 
 sionary forces from 5,000 to 65,000, and the native 
 helpers from 30,000 to 390,000, making a grand total 
 
92 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 of 455,000 workers as against the 35,000 now in the 
 field. And with missionary laborers and facilities 
 thus increased, who can begin to estimate the blessings 
 and the blessedness that would be enjoyed by the 
 Church. The adoption of systematic giving would 
 make all this possible. Indeed, one-fortieth of the 
 money now in the hands of the Christian people of 
 this continent, that is 2| cents out of every dollar, 
 would give at least 50 millions of dollars more than 
 the total sum stated above for the work. 
 
 Events are transpiring wh'ch call for some great 
 movement that will produce t.iese results in giving 
 throughout the Church ; and the Church will lose 
 one of the sublimest opportunities it has ever had of 
 sending the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, 
 if it does not, by the consecration of its wealth to the 
 Lord Jesus, seek in a grander and mightier effort than 
 ever before to evangelize the world. 
 
 Men and women are ready to go to the heathen if 
 the Church will support them. In England, the 
 United States, and Canada, 3,000 young men have, 
 within the last few months, signified their willingness 
 and desire to go into far-off lands and preach the 
 Gospel to the heathen. Doubtless there are many 
 more ready to say, " Here am I, send me." But is the 
 Church ready to support them ? Will the means 
 sufficient be forthcoming ? or shall these thousands of 
 earnest Christians have to stay at home, and tne 
 heathen be left to perish in the'r darkness, because 
 the Church of Christ, ri(jh and increased with goods, 
 
ITS BENEFIT AND BLESSEDNESS. 93 
 
 has gone to sleep? God forbid! It need not be; 
 it should not be; it will not be, if those who have 
 been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ every- 
 where willingly and gladly acknowledge God's claims 
 upon their money, and give to Him His portion— the 
 tenth. Then as never before shall the Church march 
 forth gloriously, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, 
 and terrible as an army with banners," to conquer the 
 world for Christ. When the gold of Sheba shall be 
 given to our King then shall come to pass the fulfil- 
 ment of the Messianic prophecy : " There shall be an 
 handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the 
 mountains: the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon." 
 (Psa. Ixxii. 16.) 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 SYSTEMATIC GlVmO THE CHURCH'S SAFEGUARD. 
 
 *' Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely." — Prov, i. 33. 
 
 MONEY is like fire — it is a good servant but a bad 
 master. When men are mastered by money 
 they are held in a most terrible bondage. When men 
 master money — master it for Christ — they wield a 
 most powerful instrument. As riches increase, how- 
 ever, men are exposed more and more to the master- 
 ing power of wealth, and unless proper precautions 
 are taken, their riches will become their greatest curse. 
 " They that will be rich," says the apostle Paul, " fall 
 into temptation and a snare." And Solomon, 'the 
 richest king that ever reigned, says : " He that trusteth 
 in his riches shall fall." 
 
 The Church is now exposed to all the dangers that 
 wealth can bring. Her wealth is great beyond compu- 
 tation, and with increase of wealth, evils have already 
 begun to crowd in upon the Church, which are in 
 many places threatening to undermine the foundations 
 of her strength and cause her endless harm. The 
 Church, conscious of the greatness of her possessions, 
 is in danger of settling down in a state of self -satis- 
 
THE church's safeguard. ' 95 
 
 faction and self-congratulation, and saying, " I am 
 rich and increased with goods, and have need of 
 nothing." There is a danjxer of riches blindinof the 
 Church's eyes to the great mission fur which Christ 
 has redeemed her, and in her blindness lavishly using 
 the riches God has given her in her own worldly 
 aggrandisement, instead of consecrating it to the carry- 
 ing out of the great commission. The adoption of 
 systematic giving would form an efficient safeguard 
 against this, for it would fill the minds of God's people 
 with right thoughts about money, and keep their eyes 
 open to the highest uses of it. 
 
 Danger exists also through riches being hoarded up, 
 instead of being freely circulated in the interests of 
 Christ's cause. Stagnation is always an evil. The 
 stream that is dammed up and made to settle into a 
 motionless pool becomes a source of deadly plagues. 
 Stagnancy in the human system, from sluggishness of 
 heart or liver, produces the most disastrous results. 
 A thousand evils must follow if the money which is 
 now in the Church is hoarded up by Christians, and 
 not allowed to flow forth in copious streams to carry 
 the Gospel to all men. Already many of these evils 
 are appearing, for, alas! alas! the Church has been 
 hoarding: ^ millions of dollars that should have been 
 laid at th^ feet of Christ. Withholding is tending to 
 poverty — spiritual poverty — the thoughts and affec- 
 tions of those who are rich are being allured from 
 Jesus Christ. Systematic giving provides a safeguard 
 against this, for it always keeps a channel open for an 
 
96 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 outflow. It means that those who are always getting 
 more will be always giving more, and so it affords 
 a healthy outlet where there is an increase of riches, 
 so that over-accumulations and stagnation are an 
 impossibility. 
 
 Another evil to which the Church is exposed 
 through the increase of riches is the sin of covetous- 
 ness, or the irordirate love of money, which sin, to a 
 most alarming extent, is taking possession of men's 
 hearts to-day. It is a money-making and a money-lov- 
 ing age. The hearts of men everywhere are set upon 
 riches, and they can scarcely think of anything else. 
 It is the first thing in the morning, the one all-absorb- 
 ing matter in shop, and office, and factory all the day 
 long, and even the dreams of the night are about 
 money. Thousands of competitors are running with 
 all their might the race after WEALTH, and they 
 press toward this mark with such intense zeal that 
 God is forgotten, their souls are neglected, and thoy 
 go down to the grave grasping their gold with the 
 very grip of death. Systematic or proportionate 
 giving is a safeguard against this also, for no man 
 who adopts and faithfully adheres to proportionate 
 giving is likely to become avaricious through the in- 
 crease of his riches. His plan of giving will be a 
 check to covetousness. Recognizing his relations to 
 God, and God's claims upon him, the giver will come 
 to see that man's chief end is not the getting of money, 
 so much as the using of it for God' :i glory. Systematic 
 
THE church's SAFEGlTARD. 97 
 
 giving will make a man more a lover of God, and less 
 a lover of money. 
 
 Wedded with the love of money there is the love of 
 pleasure and the waste of money therein. The spend- 
 ing of money upon pleasures that are inconsistent 
 with a Christian profession is doing untold damage to 
 the cause of Christ, and making many Church mem- 
 bers more lovers of the world than lovers of God. 
 They have been made God's stewards, but they are 
 unfaithful to the trust reposed in them, and the money 
 which should have been consecrated to Christ is fool- 
 ishly spent upon worthless trifles. God's people will 
 be saved from this snare only as they have loftier ideas 
 concerning the value and uses of money. Systematic 
 giving, from its very nature, lifts men up in this direc- 
 tion, and so delivers them from the dangers that sur- 
 round those whose great aim in life is to purchase 
 pleasure. It leads them into a new pleasure, which is 
 more abiding and satisfying than all the pleasures that 
 can ever come from the world. 
 
 By the adoption of systematic giving an effectual 
 barrier would be raised in the Church against the 
 miserable devices and make-shifts to which the Church 
 has so much resorted to raise funds. These devices — 
 many of them are of the devil — are the shackles by 
 which he is to-day making captives of the professed 
 followers of Christ. A following of the scriptural 
 plan of giving would be an effectual safeguard against 
 all tricks and schemes, in the shape of bazaars and 
 entertainments, to raise money. There would be 
 
f§ SYSTEMATIC! GiVlNG. 
 
 sufficient money to support all departments of Chris- 
 tian work, and the Church would be saved from 
 making those humiliating compromises with the world 
 which have so often disgraced her name and destroyed 
 her spirituality. This alone is a strong reason why 
 some SPECIAL effort should be made to secure the 
 more universal adoption of proportionate giving, nor 
 do I see any other remedy against this evil. So long 
 as the Church hesitates to honor God in this matter of 
 giving, by simply taking His word, and doing accord- 
 ing to His teachings, no amount of preaching or 
 praying will deliver the Church from worldliness, or 
 lift her up to a higher spirituality. 
 
 Systematic giving also provides a safeguard against 
 stinginess and parsimony. The early adoption of pro- 
 portionate giving will make it impossible for a man to 
 become miserly ; indeed, the likelihood is, that as his 
 riches increase, he will become more and more liberal, 
 and with gladness he will increase the percentage of 
 his offerings to the Lord. There have been many 
 instances of this taking place. The man who gives a 
 tenth, is very likely to give more than a tenth ; many 
 who tithe their income do. Men cannot become nig- 
 gardly and mean while they set apart a fixed propor- 
 tion of their income for Ohrist. 
 
 The importance of systematic giving, as an effectual 
 safeguard against many of the evils that to-day 
 threaten the Church's welfare, can scarcely be over- 
 estimated. The tide of worldliner^s and pleasure-seek- 
 ing is likely to rise higher and higher unless God's 
 
THE OHURCH's SAFEOUARt). 9§ 
 
 servants erect mighty walls that will check it, and hold 
 it back. The lines that should mark off the Church 
 from the world are in far too many places almost 
 obliterated, and in nothing is the Church more in 
 danger of becoming like the world than in the way 
 she uses money. In nothing should there be a greater 
 difference. " Be not conformed to this world," is an 
 inspired command, and applies to the Christian's use 
 of money as much as to anything. The easiest, 
 simplest, and safest way to obey that command, in 
 reference to the silver and the gold that have come 
 into our possession, is to give a God-honoring pro- 
 portion of all our income to the Lord. Otherwise, we 
 leave ourselves exposed to all the alluring ways of 
 making and spending money which fill the world to- 
 day. 
 
 The Church needs this safeguard now. Every 
 moment is precious, and special efforts should be made 
 at once to rouse the "Church to see her danger, and 
 lead her to take steps to provide for her own safety. 
 No man should wait for his brother to act, but each 
 man, realizing his individual responsibility, and in 
 fullest recognition of his obligations to God, should 
 bring himself into line with God's Word, and begin at 
 once to give a fixed portion of his income. The safety 
 of the Church depends upon the safety of its individ- 
 ual members. The safeguard is within the reach of 
 all, and blessed is the man who, constrained by the 
 love of Christ, determines to lay aside every week a 
 certain part of his income as an offering to the Lord 
 
100 SYSTEMATIC OlVlNO, 
 
 for religious and benevolent purposes. His second 
 purse, into which he shall put these offerings, and 
 from which he shall distribute this devoted money as 
 a faithful steward of Jesus Christ, will be continually 
 a groat blessing to him. Ho will be delivered from 
 many a snare, and will be led into many a pleasant 
 path. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 EXCUSES AND OBJECTIONS. 
 
 "And they all with one consent began to make excuse." — 
 Luke xvi. 18. 
 
 WHEN those who were so graciously invited to the 
 marriage feast began one after another to make 
 excuses, they manifested an utter absence of any 
 appreciation of their privileges, and showed that they 
 had -no desire to do honor to the King. They were 
 wholly taken up with their own worldly affairs. It 
 is the same with many in regard to the service of 
 Christ, and giving to support His kingdom. 
 
 It is one of the saddest things that can be thought 
 of in this Victorian age of Christian privileges and 
 blessings, that men and women can live in the midst 
 of the richest favors which a kind and gracious God 
 can bestow, and daily and hourly receive fresh mani- 
 festations of the Divine goodness and bounty, and yet 
 be so utterly ungrateful and mean as to try and get 
 out of making some money-offering as an expression 
 of thankfulness to God. And then to try and bolster 
 up such meanness by a string of paltry excuses, is the 
 very climax of all ingratitude and selfishness, and 
 must be a cause for wonder even amonsr the ansrels of 
 darkness. If God, the great and beneficent Giver of 
 
102 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 every good thing, were to withhold from men for a 
 single hour, as they continually hold from Him, there 
 would be made such a wail of murmuring as would 
 shake the very heavens. And when we think of all 
 our disobedience and sinfulness, of the many times and 
 ways in which we have failed to do His will, or honor 
 Him by our lives, surely He has good reason to cut us 
 off from His favor and withhold from us the bless- 
 ings He daily bestows. If God gave men no miore 
 than they are grateful for they wouldn't have much. 
 It is sad, therefore, in the extreme, that when God 
 gives us the privilege of making money-offerings to 
 Him, as an expression of our gratitude, any one of us 
 should begin to make excuses. Yet many do calmly, 
 and deliberately, and persistently, try to excuse them- 
 selves from acknowledging God's goodness to them 
 bj'- giving to Him a portion of their substance. 
 
 " / can't afford it," says one. It is very difficult to dis- 
 cover just what is meant by these words, for they are 
 used under all kinds of circumstances. They are uttered 
 by the wealtliy quite as often as by those who have 
 little of this world's goods. Now if men really cannot 
 " afford it," and by that mean that they do not possess, 
 and therefore cannot give, God doesn't ask of them 
 what they haven't got. " If there be first a willing 
 mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and 
 not according to that he hath not. But " can't afford 
 it," in nine cases out of ten, simply means that the 
 person speaking has not " a willing mind." It should 
 be " / will not," and not " / cannot" 
 
EXCUSES AND OBJECTIONS. 103 
 
 Very often, too, " I can't afford it," means, " I have 
 decided to spend my money on something else ; I have 
 money it is true, but I have other ways for it." Thus, 
 full often, this plea of inability is not only selfish, but 
 hjT'pocritical, for many who make it can find plenty 
 of money to spend in obtaining costly luxuries, in 
 pleasure seeking, or in buying up property. They 
 can't atford it b'^cause they are laying up treasures 
 upon earth. They mind earthly things. 
 
 Proportionate giving by its foundation principles 
 leaves no ground for this excuse. It simply asks a 
 man to give as he gets. It has the fullest regard for a 
 man's poverty, if he is poor, and only asks a small per- 
 centage of what a man receives ; and apart altogether 
 from a consideration of one's obligations to God, or of 
 the inestimable privilege bestowed upon us in the 
 opportunity to give to God, surely it is a paltry and 
 almost unreasonable thing for a man to say he can't 
 aff'ord to give the Lord ten cents whenever he receives 
 one dollar. > 
 
 This excuse is really suicidal. No man can afford 
 not to give a- set proportion of his income, for no man 
 can afford to shut himself off from the blessings which 
 are assured to those who honor the Lord with their 
 substance. When men can afford to place themselves 
 beyond many of the richest promises of God's Word, 
 promises which have been repeatedly fulfilled in the 
 experiences of those who have honored them, then they 
 may afford vM to give according to scriptural methods. 
 
 Close beside this excuse, and akin to it, is another, 
 
104 . SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 -^/ 
 
 " / would give if I were rich." It is a good thing for 
 a person to have lofty intentions, but lofty intentions 
 that do not rest upon anything better than imaginary 
 or impossible conditions do not amount to much. It 
 can easily be decided what certain persons would do 
 if they were wealthy by enquiring what they are 
 doing now with what they have. When we see those 
 whose income is small, and whose domestic and other 
 expenses run very closely upon that income, regularly 
 and conscientiously setting apart some set percentage 
 of that income, we may safely conclude that with an 
 increase of income there would be an increase in their 
 offerinors. But when those who boast what ijreat and 
 good things they would do if they were wealthy, do 
 not now give systematically, as God hath prospered 
 them, there is little reason for expecting that they 
 would do better if they had greater riches. Unfor- 
 tunately the increase of riches has generally an in- 
 fluence in an opposite direction to that of making a 
 man more liberal. These " mean-to-do-well " people 
 had better examine their present actions, and gauge 
 their procedure with plenty of money by what they 
 are doing with a little. God wants every man to give 
 according to the ability which he possesseth. He who 
 gives when he has a little will give more when he has 
 much. 
 
 There are those who object to systematic giving on 
 the ground that they do not believe in being bound by 
 laws and rules in their beneficence. They are opposed, 
 from principle, to everything that seems to touch per- 
 
EXCUSES AND OBJECTIONS. 105 
 
 sonal liberty. They believe everybody should be left 
 perfectly free to give just xukat and when they please, 
 without any set rules or proportions to govern them. 
 They imagine the plan of proportionate giving would 
 bring them into some kind of bondage, and they 
 object to being bound by any law or pledge to lay 
 aside a certain percentage of their income in the way 
 proposed. These persons forget, however, that there 
 is such a thing as the law of liberty, that there are 
 laws that make men free, and that conformity to such 
 laws means true blessedness as well as true liberty. 
 He is truly free who does God's will. Besides, how 
 absurd this objection is. These very persons do not 
 object to be governed by certain clearly defined laws 
 in other things, for they know that in the observance 
 of those laws lies their safety and their peace. For 
 example, to be thoroughly consistent, why do they not 
 go to their employers and say to them, " I object to 
 any fixed laws being set up in regard to my wages, 
 and would much rather that you pay me just accord- 
 ing to your own feeli ^s and impulses in the matter. 
 It is not right that you should have your personal 
 liberty touched by any law that fixes the amount I 
 am to receive, and so yci may pay me any wages 
 whenever you feel like doing so, and just what amount 
 you are disposed to give at any one time." 
 
 No man would, of course, act so irrationally, and 
 yet it is in this irrational manner that many reason in 
 regard to giving. They believe in systematica and 
 proportions everywhere except in connection with 
 
 a 
 
106 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 Christian giving, and this must be left to uncertain 
 impulses, and performed in a fitful manner, without 
 regard to any governing principles, and with no re- 
 spect or conformity to the special precepts and rules 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 Those who regard any adherence to plans and pro- 
 portions in giving as an irksome bondage, certainly 
 know nothing about it. The testimony of hundreds 
 is that true freedom in giving is not found till system- 
 atic giving is adopted. The bondage exists really 
 where systematic giving is not practised. Besides, 
 God's ways never bring men into bondage, and sys- 
 tematic giving is God's way of giving. They only are 
 free who are bound to Christ by His law of love. He 
 says, " My yoke is easy and My burden is light." 
 
 Others who are quite willing to acknowledge that 
 it is the right way, procrastinate about adopting it. 
 They say, " After a while, when I get certain matters 
 settled, certain debts paid, and so on, I shall be better 
 able to adopt and practise proportionate giving." This 
 is the old Felix excuse, " When I have a more conveni- 
 ent season," and it is no more plausible now than it 
 was then. This excuse implies a good deal of fore- 
 sight on the part of the person who makes it. How 
 knowest thou, frail man, whosoever thou art, that 
 thou shalt be better able in a few months, or at any 
 future time, to adopt systematic giving than thou art 
 now. Thou art as able as ever thou shalt be. And 
 knowest thou not that thy days are passing swiftly 
 bv. and that within a month, or even a week, thou 
 
EXCUSES AND OBJECTIONS. 107 
 
 mayest be a penniless bankrupt, or a cold and helpless 
 corpse ? Knowest thou not that the Word of God 
 declares that, " Riches make themselves wings and fly 
 away as an eagle toward heaven." (Prov. xxiii. 5.) 
 No man knows what a day will bring forth, either to 
 his business or to himself. God's claims are binding 
 on us NOW. 
 
 "After a while!" Suppose God should speak 
 thus to us when we sought some favor from Him, and 
 should keep putting us off for years, ever holding 
 blessings back from us, how sad our condition would 
 be. Have we received no gifts from His hands, that 
 when He asks an offering from us, we should say, 
 ''After a ivhile V' Is this our gratitude for all the daily 
 blessings we have received from Him ? Can we — 
 dare we — thus put God off, and rob Him of the por- 
 tion that is His? Procrastination has well been called 
 a thief. It has robbed the Lord of thousands of 
 dollars which should have gone into His treasury. It 
 is everywhere tying up the purse strings and locking 
 up the money safes of God's people. Christians speak 
 about other pressing claims that must be met, and 
 treat God's claims as though they were of secondary 
 consequence, and this, too, in the face of obligations, 
 the vastness of which can be known only as we know 
 the greatness of God's love, and of the greatness of 
 the redemption He has provided for us. Surely, in 
 the light of the Cross, the debt we owe to God is 
 greater and infinitely more pressing than any other 
 debt we can ever owe, and shall He have to wait while 
 
108 
 
 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 everything else, our own selfish gratifications, and 
 pleasures, are regarded as preference claims. Must 
 God's claim be made to wait over till the last ; is that 
 honest or right ? 
 
 It is not possible of course to deal, in this paper, 
 with all the excuses that men make m regard to giv- 
 ing. Those whose hearts are not moved much by the 
 love of God will manufacture excuses almost as fast 
 as any one can answer them, and hence we hope 
 enough has been said to show how unreasonable are 
 any excuses against the immediate adoption of sys- 
 tematic giving. No excuse can free a man from his 
 obligations to God, and those obligations are always 
 great in proportion to the ability which God has given 
 him and the privileges which are his. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 *' Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."— 
 
 EccL. ix. 10. 
 
 rpHIS is an age of special organization for special 
 J- objects. When a great work is to be carried on, 
 special efforts are made, full and efficient machinery is 
 set to work, and success is attained. The time has 
 come when something special needs to be done to 
 bring the Church up to a higher plane in giving. 
 Unless something very special and thorough is done, it 
 will become more and more difficult to raise sufficient 
 money to carry on the Lord's work. The stream of 
 wealth has been flowing into wrong channels, and most 
 earnest efforts should be made immediately to turn it 
 into right channels. The importance of immediate 
 action cannot be over-estimated. In some way the inter- 
 est of the people must be awakened, their consciences 
 aroused, and their abilities brought into action or 
 darker days will come. The members of the Church 
 must everywhere be reached, and enlightened, and ap- 
 pealed to, and personally entreated, if necessary, until 
 there shall be something like a widespread adoption of 
 proportionate or systematic givinor. Any suf^o-estions 
 
110 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 that aim at less than this as a practical result are 
 scarcely deservin*; serious consideration. 
 
 That the people can be brou<ijht into a closer harmony 
 with the teaching of God's Word anyone who knows 
 anything about the power of the truth, and the wil- 
 lingness of many to be persuaded, will not doubt. 
 Already the most gratifying results have been brought 
 about by quiet and private etlbrts in this matter, and 
 special and general efoi^ts cannot fail to accomplish 
 great things in lifting the whole Church up to a higher 
 level. The following suggestions are given simply as 
 hints to help to solve this vital problem in connection 
 with the furtherance of the Redeemer's kingdom. 
 
 Dr. Pierson has suggested that a world's council be 
 called to consider the great work of evangelizing the 
 nations of the earth. The object is worthy such a 
 meeting, and we are not exaggerating the importance 
 of the subject when we say it would be well if coun- 
 cils of earnest Christian men and women could be 
 called together in different places all over the land 
 to consider, and discuss, and emphasize the principles 
 of scriptural systematic giving. The subject has too 
 long been buried away. It has nevei- been given any 
 place in any of the great Christian conferences, and has 
 not been brought to the front in meetings of Christian 
 workers and thoroughly dealt with. Systematic 
 giving has been treated, so far as any public discus- 
 sion of it is concerned, as if men were afraid of it, and 
 many doubtless are. But for the sake of the safety 
 and welfare of the Church, it is quite time all such 
 
SOME PRACTTOAL SUGGESTIONS. Hi 
 
 fears were thrown off, and the subject dealt with in a 
 frank and fearless manner. It is just by such fears 
 that the devil ties the hands of God's people. Let a 
 conference be called then, and, along with a thorough 
 discussion of the whole subject, let it be one of the 
 objects of that conference to consider the advisability 
 of forming an association whose great aim should be 
 to thoroughly arouse the whole Church of Christ con- 
 cerning its obligation to God at the present hour, the 
 duty of consecrating its vast wealth to the service of 
 Christ, and to enlighten the people everywhere upon 
 the teaching of God's Word on systematic giving. 
 
 Special work cannot be carried on without organ- 
 ization. There is the greatest possible need that this 
 should be made a special work at once. Some organ- 
 ization is necessary ; and, whatever other ways of 
 working any society might adopt, such as the prepara- 
 tion and distribution of literature upon the subject of 
 systematic giving, it should certainly employ a man, 
 a thoroughly live man, full of the theme, sympathetic, 
 and able to deal with the prejudices of the people, and 
 to make deep and lasting impressions, as a missionary, 
 to visit churches, hold conferences, and organize branch 
 Systematic Giving Societies. With the right man 
 working in this way the results that would follow 
 would be astonishing, for it is the experience of not a 
 few, who have in their limited way advocated the 
 adoption of systematic giving, that a large proportion 
 of the people need only to have the matter thoroughly 
 explained to them, and its advantages shown, to lead 
 
J 12 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 them to at once adopt it. The employment of some 
 special agent is necessary to arouse the Church. Much 
 good, we know, has already been accomplished by the 
 " Christian Giving Society," of New York, by the dis- 
 tribution of tracts and pamphlets upon Christian 
 giving, but something more is needed. There is no 
 power equal to the living voice, and the need of the 
 hour is a " Systematic Giving Missionary," who will 
 go up and down the country and call God's people to 
 a thoughtful consideration of their duty in regard to 
 the use of the money God has given to them. 
 
 Besides this general movement, the pastors of 
 churches, after getting right before God themselves, 
 should, without fe.iT or false modesty, call their 
 churches together for the special and earnest consider- 
 ation of this subject. The teaching of God's Word 
 should be brought into prominence, and its application 
 to present times shown to be essential to a full-orbed 
 Christian life, and the entire membership should be 
 encouraged to pledge themselves to give proportionate 
 giving a six or twelve months' trial. 
 
 In this work the young must not be overlooked. 
 The future Church will be made up largely of those 
 who are now^ scholars in the Sunday schools. It is of 
 the utmost importance that their minds should, at the 
 earliest possible period, be filled with right conceptions 
 of their obligations to God in the use of money, and 
 be trained to give according to scriptural principles. 
 At the last International Sunday School Convention, 
 held in Chicago, the Executive Committee drew 
 
SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 113 
 
 attention to tlie importance of thus training the chil- 
 dren to give according to their ability. They stated 
 that careful estimates showed that not more than two- 
 thirds of the scholars in the Sunday schools con- 
 tribute regularly to any object of benevolence, while 
 not half of those who do contribute give according; to 
 their ability. At the same time they significantly 
 remarked, " But wherever the plan of systematic 
 giving (by which, of course, they mean giving by 
 weekly offerings, not proportionate giving,) has been 
 faithfully tried, the average number of givers has in- 
 creased, until one school reports ninety-eight per cent, 
 of its attendance as regular givers ; and in some in- 
 stances the average contributions of different schools 
 have increased from two cents to six and one-half 
 cents per member for each week." If children were 
 taught to lay aside for Christ one cent out of every 
 ten which they receive the results would be even 
 more gratifying. And I know of no more delightful 
 work, nor of any work that would meet with more 
 success, than an effort among the children to persuade 
 them to do just this very thing. Of course the laying 
 aside of any portion out of what they received would 
 not apply to any sums given them by their parents, or 
 others, purposely for collections at the school, but only 
 to pocket money given them, or to little earnings of 
 their own. 
 
 Let some such efforts as the above be made, and who 
 can measure the results that would immediately fol- 
 low. What a vast increase in financial strength, and of 
 
114 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 spiritnal power the cause of Christ would everywhere 
 receive. What an impetus would be given to all kinds 
 of Christian work, and with what gladness of heart 
 would churches, and evangelists, and missionary 
 societies go forward without the terrible incubus of 
 debt, with which their efforts in the past have been 
 hampered so much. The Church would enter upon a 
 new period of prosperity, and God would pour out 
 such blessinjrs as there would not o. room enouijh to 
 receive. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 " Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only." — James i. 22. 
 
 IT is almost impossible to fully comprehend the pos- 
 sibilities that are to-day within the reach of the 
 Church of Christ. The riches in her possession were 
 never before so great. She has gold and silver in 
 abundance. Never before were there so many oppor- 
 tunities to use this money in spreading the Gospel 
 throughout the world. The Lord Jesus Christ, the 
 great Head of the Church, is ready to use all the con- 
 secrated talents, and all the consecrated money His 
 people may offer Him. Though the number of earnest 
 workers in His great vineyard, and the amount of 
 money set apart for Him to use, should each be in- 
 creased a hundredfold, He could readily direct and 
 utilize all in the spread of His kingdom in the world. 
 Millions upon millions of our fellowmen are perish- 
 ing without a knowledge of Christ. Hundreds of 
 Christian men and women, constrained by the love of 
 Christ, and by the needs of a perishing humanity, 
 and filled with the spirit of their Master, are ready to 
 carry the Gospel to these millions, and so light up the 
 world with the knowledofe of the Saviour's name. 
 
116 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 Shall the Church give, out of the money in her pos- 
 session, for their support, or shall she withhold her 
 enormous riches ? Shall these great and glorious 
 things be possible, and the Church do nothing to bring 
 them about ? Can it be that those who believe in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ as the mighty to save, and who 
 have trusted Him with their immortal souls, are not 
 willing to trust Him with their money ? Are there no 
 wage-earners and business men who are willing to 
 enter into a partnership with the Father, and perform 
 their daily work, and carry on their business with 
 His glory as the supreme object of all their activities, 
 so giving of their increase as to continually honor the 
 Lord thereby ? We can scarcely believe that when the 
 people are appealed to there will fail to be a response. 
 We very earnestly and kindly request the reader of 
 these pages to carefully consider the claims of system- 
 atic or proportionate giving as set forth in the preced- 
 ing chapters. We urge its adoption as a matter of 
 duty. You owe it to Christ your Redeemer, God re- 
 quires it of you. We urge its adoption as a matter of 
 privilege. It is the best way, the easiest way, and 
 the happiest way to give. We urge its adoption as a 
 matter of economy. It pays. The more you give the 
 more you will have to give. You cannot afford not to 
 do God's work in God's way. Begin now. Make no 
 new financial arrangements with yourself, or others, 
 until you have decided to adopt this as a principle of 
 your life. All the rich mercies and blessings, both 
 temporal and spiritual, which you enjoy, demand that 
 
CONCLUSION. 117 
 
 you should at once settle this question of giving, so far 
 as you are personally concerned. Delay will simply 
 increase your responsiV)ility, and at the same time les- 
 sen your ability to discharge it, for every hour is 
 bringing some new blessing into your life which in- 
 creases your debt of gratitude to God, and every hour 
 of hesitating to express that gratitude shortens the 
 time and narrows the opportunity to do so. 
 
 Time flies ! souls are perishing ! Eternity is rapidly 
 approaching ! Soon, very soon, every redeemed per- 
 son who has money will have to appear before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ to give an account of his 
 stewardship. The Master has, in this nineteenth cen- 
 turv, entrusted His servants with much more silver 
 and gold than ever before, and has said unto them, 
 " Occupy till I come," and as they are faithful, or un 
 faithful, in using the money He has placed in their 
 hands, so will their reward be. Every man shall have 
 to give an account of his stewardship, and the truth 
 cannot be hidden, for Christ knows what is being done 
 with every cent He has given to us. To-day, as of old. 
 His eyes rest upon the treasury, and He knows when 
 men pass by and give little or nothing, as well as when 
 the poor widow gives all her living. 
 
 By a priceless sacrifice your soul has been redeemed, 
 and through infinite love, and boundless grace you 
 have been made one of God's children, an heir of God, 
 and a joint heir with Jesus Christ, and you have been 
 blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places 
 in Christ What «, debt you owe ! How are you 
 
118 SYSTEMATIC GIVING. 
 
 striving to pay it ? Are you acknowledging the debt 
 and are you using the money God has given you in 
 such a way as will at last secure from Him the com- 
 mendation : "Well done, good and faithful servant, 
 enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 " Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the 
 first fruits of all thine increase : so shall thy barns be 
 filled with plenty."