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 Brown, George W. 
 Gems of thought on tithing 
 
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GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 ON TITHING 
 
 ^,»^:, riN Sir riiiKi'L ,, _ 
 
 "By 
 MINISTERS AND LAYMEN 
 
 Of All Denominations 
 
 Compiled by 
 
 GEORGE W. BROWN 
 
 A Presbyterian Layman 
 Indianapolis, 1911 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 JENNINGS & GRAHAM 
 Cincinnati Chicago Kansas City San Francisco 
 
 EATON & MAINS 
 New York Boston Pittsburg Detroit 
 
Copyright, 191 i, 
 By George W. Brown, 
 
HER MOTTO 
 " Build a little fence of trust about to-day, 
 
 Fill the space with loving work and therein stay, 
 Peer not through the sheltering bars upon to-morrow, 
 God will help thee bear whatever comes of joy or sorrow." 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Note. — We are endeavoring to give a full list of the names of the writers from whose 
 works and writings we have quoted under each head so that their valuable contributions may 
 be more easily located. 
 
 Preface 11 
 
 Foreword, _--- 15 
 
 Wm. G. Roberts, Cincinnati. 
 
 Introduction, 17 
 
 Thomas Kane, Chicago. 
 
 The Bible, -.-. 22 
 
 President Taft. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Tithe in Scripture, ------ 23 
 
 J. Campbell White, John H. Holliday, Hon. W. J. Bryan, Henry 
 Lansdale, D. D., Harry Whitcomb, The Bible, Prof. C. F. Yoder, 
 Gov. Woodrow Wilson. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Historical Notes, 42 
 
 Crown Cyclopedia, Bishop Thoburn, St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 
 Spelman, Dr. C. A. Cook, Frank O. Ballard, D. D., John Hall, 
 D. D., John Y. Aitcheson, D. D., Henry Lansdale, D. D., Thomas 
 Kane, Judge J. P. Hobson, Sylvanus Stahl, D. D., Rev. Dr. Torrey, 
 John Wesley Duncan, D. D., Christian Steward, G. S. Bailey, 
 D. D., Rev. S. B. Shaw, Rev. W. C. Nash, O. P. Gifford, D. D., 
 Seneca. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Tithe Law Unabrogated, . . . . 52 
 
 Dr. Alfred Gandier, Dr. Duncan, John Ruskin, Sunda\y School 
 Times, J. Campbell White, L. B. Hartman, Col. E. W. Halford, 
 Harry Whitcomb, Dr. John Hall, Pansy, C. H. McDowell, Rev. 
 
 5 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Loren M. Edwards, J. Willis Baer, Dr. Ballard, E. L. Miller, J. M. 
 Stanfield, A. Carman, D. D., Rev. Richard Duke, Chas. E. Locke, 
 D. D., F. M. Van Trees, D. D., Bishop Bashford, Daniel F. 
 Bradley, D. D., Rev. W. R. Laird, Judge Hobson, James E. Rogers, 
 D. D., Rev. Willis L. Gelston, G. F. Metzler, Ph. D., E. J. Wag- 
 goner, J. W. Duncan, D. D., Dr. Lansdell, Thomas Kane, G. L. 
 Wharton, Golden Censer, Rev. D. Clay Lilly. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Jesus and the Tithe, 64 
 
 John 17:15-18. Frances Ridley Havergal, Bishop C. C. McCabe, 
 Dr. John Wesley Duncan in his "Our Christian Stewardship," W. 
 S. Daniels, B. A., B. D., Dr. Hall, John Y. Ewart, D. D., Rev. A, 
 B. Strickland, Rev. H. W. Hinde, England ; Harry Whitcomb, E. 
 Y. Mullins, D. D., Dr. O. P. Gifford, Henry Lansdell, D. D., Rev. 
 Chas. W. Harshman, E. F. Burr, D. D., John Ruskin, Rev. B. B. 
 Bosworth, Rev. John H. Whiteman. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Storehouse, 73 
 
 Bishop Robinson, Rev. Maitland Alexander, D. D., Dr. S. S. 
 Hough, L. M. Edwards, Robert Burdett's Church, J. Campbell 
 White, J. M. Stanfield, Dr. Duncan, John R. Pepper, F. O. Ballard, 
 
 D. D., Herald and Presbyter, Dr. E. Y. Mullins, Dr. J. Y. Aitche- 
 son, E. B. Stewart, D. D., Thomas Kane; A Barrister, London; 
 
 E. L. Miller, Frances Ridley Havergal, H. Whitcomb, Rev. J. G. 
 King, Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ADVANTAGES TO THE OBEDIENT, - - - - 84 
 
 Bishop Nelson, Thomas Kane, Harry Whitcomb, William G. 
 Roberts, Spurgeon, Rev. F. A. Kahler, A. A. Hyde, G. L. Wharton, 
 Dr. Charles A. Cook, O. P. Gifford, Rev. James Husser, Richard 
 Duke, Professor Henry Drummond, A. J. Gordon, Rev. W. A. 
 Ayres, F. M. Van Trees, D. D., George Macdonald, Augustine, 
 W. C. Nash, The Interior, Horace, W. R. Laird, Ph. D., Dr. S. S. 
 Hough, Bishop J. W. Bashford, Mrs. E. L. Miller, Samuel P. 
 Harbison, Laymen's Motto. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Testimonies, -•- - - - - - -94 
 
 Rev. Dr. A. P. Parker, Mr. Calkins in "Mary Christopher," E. J. 
 Waggoner, The Indianapolis News, Judge Hobson, of Kentucky, 
 in "Our Homes;" Sunday School Times, Christian Steward, Dr. 
 Aitcheson ; Rev. F. B. Meyer, London ; Rev. A. B. Strickland, Rev. 
 S. Chadwick, John H. Converse, Rev. J. W. Riddel, Edw. Judson, 
 D. D., D. W. Faunce, D. D., George Muller, A. J. Gordon, D. D., 
 W. W. Barr, D. D., G. L. Wharton, W. D. Allison, J. B. Gambrell, 
 Rev. S. B. Shaw, Alfred E. Marling, Dr. Lansdell, Rev. C. H. 
 Yatman, Thomas Kane, Rev. W. L. Gelston, A. F. Schauffler, 
 D. D., Joseph N. Shenstone, Dr. J. W. Duncan, Mr. Gladstone, 
 D. L. Moody, E. M. Runyan, Washington (Pa.) News Item, Chris- 
 tian Steward, Judge Hobson, F. J. Michel, Woman's Missionary 
 Society Item, Dr. Cook, Methodist Church, Shelbyville, Ind. ; Rev. 
 F. P. Sigler, H. D. Jenkins, Missionary Visitor, G. L. Wharton, 
 John Wesley and William Carey, C. C. Smith in Herald and Pres- 
 byter, Laymen's mottoes. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 How Estimate the tithe.? 112 
 
 Churchman's Tithe Club, Samuel P. Capen, R. L. Davidson, 
 Thomas Kane, Dr. Aitcheson, The Churchman, Dr. John Hall, 
 Table on Proportionate Giving by Presbyterian Assembly, John 
 Wesley, Mr. Rigby in "Tithe Terumoth," C. W. Winchester, D. D., 
 Presbyterian Board Foreign Missions, Rev. Wm. Hurlin, F. B. 
 Meyer, London; Philip S. Moxom, D. D., George Sherwood Eddy, 
 Judge Hobson, of Kentucky; Rev. S. B. Shaw, Frank O. Ballard, 
 
 D. D., S. S. Hough, D. D., J. Willis Baer, H. Clay Trumbull, D. D., 
 in Sunda';^\ School Tiroes; W. R. Laird, Ph. D. ; E. L. Miller, Peru, 
 Ind. ; Rev. A. E. Waffle, W. W. Cooper, Rev. E. E. Urner, Wm. 
 Gladstone, Christian Steward, G. L. Wharton, Rev. James Husser, 
 H. S. Dixon, J. M. Stanfield, George Macdonald, Alfred E. 
 Marling, Chas. D. Meigs, H. F. Shupe, Wm. Arthur. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 How Introduce the Tithe Plan .? - - - - 130 
 
 Bishop S. P. Spreng, H. W. Hinde, Vicar St. Johns, England; 
 J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D., Torrey-Alexander, Andrew Murray, 
 
 E. A. K. Hackett, Daniel G. Dunkin, Christian Steward, Rev. J. W. 
 
 7 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Magruder, E. M. Randall, Bishop McDowell, W. E. Gladstone, The 
 Lord's Portion; James Husser, Rev. E. E. Umer, Toronto Pres- 
 byterian Church; Methodist Discipline, Rev. Geo. Guirey, Wesley 
 Chapel, Mr. Barnes; Rev. Dr. C. E. Bacon, J. W. Riddel, Thomas 
 Kane, Dr. J, Timothy Stone, N. L. Rigby, Herald and Presbyter, 
 Dr. C. E. Locke, Wilbur F. Crafts, Ph. D., Rev. H. W. Hinde, 
 Rev. W. W. Casselberry, Bess M. Brown, G. L. Wharton, Judge 
 Cleland, Rev. W. A. Brown; Stewards Central Avenue Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, Indianapolis ; H. M. Glossbrenner, Dr. J. W. 
 Duncan, J. P. Sigler, Tithe Evangelist, Rev. Oliver P. Bronston, 
 Dr. John Hall, D. L. Moody, John Ruskin, George L. Robinson in 
 "Men and Religion." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Tithe Covenant, 149 
 
 Rev. S. M. Zwemer, Rev. W. L. Gelston, Christian Steward, 
 Wilbur F. Crafts, H. Clay Trumbull in Sunday School Times, 
 
 F. O. Ballard, D. D., Dr. A. T. Pierson, E. L. Miller, Thomas 
 Kane, Salvation Army, E, B. Stewart, D. D., Board of Foreign 
 Missions Presbyterian Church, Harvey Reeves Calkins, Twentieth 
 Century Tithe Covenant Association, Hamilton Methodist Epis- 
 copal Conference, Young People's Department Irvington Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, R. L. Davidson, Gladstone, Dr. Hough, Tenth 
 Legion, Laymen's Movement, Association of Christian Stewards, 
 
 G. L. Wharton, E. P. Whallon, D. D. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 COMMENT, 163 
 
 Bishop Charles E. Woodcock, Dr. Herrick Johnson, The Indian- 
 apolis Star, Governor Thomas Marshall; Governor Stubbs, of 
 Kansas ; Dr. Ira Landrith, Bishop C. C. McCabe, Judge Hobson 
 in "What We Owe," Frances Ridley Havergal, Herald and Pres- 
 byter, H. F. Shupe, Rev. S. B. Shaw, Rev. W. H. Mentzer, Charles 
 D. Meigs, The Continent, C. E. Hewitt, D. D., Dr. J. W. Duncan, 
 Alfred A. Marling, Dr. John Hall's Lectures on "Religious Use 
 of Property," Dr. Ballard, Sunday School Times, E. H. Eby, O. P. 
 Gifford, H. R. Johnson, Rev. E. E. Urner, Bishop J. W. Bashford, 
 Dr. Joseph Parker, Josiah Strong, Church News, E. I. D. Pepper, 
 Editor Christian Standard, Christian Steward, Carlyle, Independ- 
 ent, Dr. R. W. Woodsworth, Andrew J. Diddel, Wm, C. Van 
 Arsdel, G. Campbell Morgan, Dr. James R. Pratt, 
 
 8 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Revival of Christian Stev^ardship, - - - 179 
 
 Dr. Hough, Horace Bushnell, Thomas Kane, Bishop McCabe, 
 Bishop McDowell, Rev. Dr. Frederick E. Taylor, Robert E. Speer; 
 Report World's Missionary Congress, 1910, Vol. 7; Home Base, 
 Dr. C. A. Cook, Dr. Francis E. Clark, J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D., 
 Rev. H. W. Hinde, Rev. S. B. Shaw, in his God's Financial Plan; 
 Rev. J. W. Carpenter, Omaha ; Dr. Lansdell, Herald and Presbyter, 
 Indiana Synod, Pacific Baptist, Asa D. Smith, D. D., G. L. Whar- 
 ton, Rev. A. B. Strickland, Rev. W. A. Ayres, Ram's Horn, 
 Evangelical Alliance, John Marvin Dean, Rev. Daniel G. Dunkin, 
 Dr. Lansdell, Rev. J. Whitcomb Brougher, Rev. Alexander Black- 
 bum, Rev. H. W. Hinde, E. M. Runyan, I. F. Wyckoff, Chas. P. 
 Foreman, D. D., W. F. Crafts, Secular Newspaper Items, Rev. 
 Joshua Stansfield, D. D., Dr. Ballard, Julius Rosenwald, The 
 Sage Foundation, Dr. D. K. Pearsons, Andrew Carnegie and John 
 D. Rockefeller donations. Christian Steward, Rev. C. J. Pope, 
 Bishop Bashford, A. B. Storms, D. D., Rev. John Angel James, 
 O. B. Judd, LL. D., H. Gafner in Herald and Presbyter; J. H. 
 Kilpatrick, D. D., Thomas S. Dickson, M. A., Indiana Synod; 
 General Conference Methodist Episcopal Church; F. R. Gates, 
 Interior, Chas. A. Sullivan, Dr. R. W. Woodsworth, Dr. A. Car- 
 man, Rev. W. W. Casselberry, Alvah Hovey, D. D., The Continent, 
 Pacific Baptist, Fayette L. Thompson, Outline Men and Religion 
 Forward Movement, Bishop Edwin H. Hughes, Pacific Presby- 
 terian, Dr. Chas. L, Thompson, in Assembly Herald. John R. 
 Mott. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 There is need that the wealth of the Church be laid at the feet of 
 Christ. This not so much because of what it would accomplish 
 in providing the means for all temporal demands of Christian and 
 missionary effort, but that the possessors might become not only 
 stewards but partners with Him in the great mission of the 
 Church : the evangelization of the world. We need not stop now 
 to speculate as to why "the Holy Tithe," the only prescribed claim 
 or method revealed by God for financing His Church, has come 
 more or less into disuse through the centuries ; but we may well 
 reflect upon the conditions which call for a more thorough reli- 
 gious consecration of earthly possessions, and how such consecra- 
 tion may be brought about. 
 
 Dr. Charles E. Locke accounts for the lack of devotion of 
 money in our day when he says: "As a lamentable result of a 
 failure to preach the Scriptural doctrine of the tithe, it has been 
 computed that, while the Church owns one-fifth of the wealth of 
 the United States, only one-sixteenth of one per cent is given for 
 evangelizing the heathen world. Under a mistaken idea that 'giv- 
 ing as God hath prospered' was a loftier basis of supporting the 
 kingdom than the Scriptural doctrine of the tenth, the Christian 
 Church is giving immeasurably less than the ancient Jews ; and 
 every interest of Christ's kingdom is embarrassed for want of 
 funds." 
 
 In his excellent book entitled, "Our Christian Stewardship," 
 the Rev. Dr. John Wesley Duncan says upon this same subject: 
 "There are thousands of devoted Christian people who will be 
 honest with God and their fellow-men when once convinced as to 
 the teaching of the Bible on this vital subject. To all such we 
 now appeal. If the tithe is not a present obligation, not in full 
 
 II 
 
PREFACE 
 
 force, then we reply the Scriptures are meaningless in their teach- 
 ing on the subject ; and furthermore, if this be not God's plan for 
 financing His kingdom, He has no plan." 
 
 "We hear a great deal these days," writes Rev. E. M. Runyan, 
 "along the line that when the Church gets right spiritually, there 
 will be no trouble about the money. My experience clearly teaches 
 me that when Christians get right with reference to the money, 
 there will be no question about the spirituality of the Church. 
 Selfishness and devotion to Christian service will never be found 
 in the same life. There is no room for the prayer life in a heart 
 filled with selfishness, and no possibility of Christian growth with- 
 out the prayer life." 
 
 "The man who religiously tithes his income is a doubly con- 
 verted man." Tithing weans him away from covetousness, which 
 in Scripture is classed along with stealing, adultery, and drunken- 
 ness, in its power to alienate a man from God. "Be not deceived : 
 neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, 
 nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, 
 nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the 
 kingdom of God." (i Cor. 6: 9.) It is not so much a matter then 
 whether the Churches shall adopt the so-called "every member 
 canvass" or the "budget plan" for enlisting men in the support of 
 the Church and Missions, as it is to have all recognize the Tithe 
 as God's plan given for our guidance, and make that the basis 
 for these and other well-regulated "'business methods.'' 
 
 It is our observation that the man who tithes will soon deem 
 it a privilege to devote free-will offerings beyond the tithe, be- 
 cause his business interests are usually not only prosperous, but he 
 is constantly in touch with God concerning the needs of the 
 Church. His business concerns and the devotion of the tithe are 
 coming up weekly, often daily, between "the King and His stew- 
 ard," and no business venture is sanctioned or undertaken which 
 is not scrupulously honest. "Of all the challenges contained in 
 Scripture," says J. Campbell White, "for the securing of over- 
 flowing spiritual blessing, none is so striking and unqualified as 
 that which makes obedience to God in our use of money the con- 
 
 12 
 
PREFACE 
 
 dition of His favor (quoting Malachi 3:7-10), and there are 
 many individuals and congregations that have accepted this chal- 
 lenge, and through the obedience of faith have entered into the 
 richest spiritual blessing of all their history." 
 
 Dr. Lansdell, in his "Sacred Tenth," gives the names and titles 
 of 540 books and tracts on Tithing written for the most part by 
 ministers and laymen identified with the Church and students of 
 its problems. The larger part of these are of very recent date, 
 and evidently prompted by a desire to win the Church and all 
 men in sympathy with her glorious work away from much of 
 the present-day lax and unscriptural method of Church finance. 
 Almost without exception these authors are calling the minis- 
 try and the laity to prayer and earnest consideration of the 
 Biblical standards of devotion of money. We are indebted to 
 many of these prominent men for the instructive and inspiring 
 thoughts expressed herein. 
 
 If this little volume shall be used of God in bringing men to 
 a fuller recognition of His claim upon them in the matter of the 
 religious devotion of their incomes to His service, the author and 
 compiler of these pages will be truly grateful to Him whose re- 
 vealed Word should in all things be the unerring guide. 
 
 Yours in service, 
 Indianapolis, Ind., George; W. Brown. 
 
 January 12, 191 1. 
 
 13 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 By W11.LIAM G. Roberts. 
 
 The; Voice of the Church to-day is everywhere calling upon her 
 members to behold the fields all over the world are now white unto 
 the harvest, and the laborers by the thousand are waiting employ, 
 but the treasury (or money storehouse) is either so low or alto- 
 gether empty that only a very few can be engaged for the work. 
 And she is asking that we compare this condition of an empty 
 treasury with our ability to provide the money requisite to supply 
 her every need, and that the day is now come when her members 
 in large numbers no longer count their riches by the hundred and 
 thousand, but many of them are able to count millions, and some 
 few by the hundred million ; and still the treasury is empty. 
 
 We are warned to "Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy 
 God." "When thy silver and thy gold is multiplied," remember 
 it is He that "Giveth thee power to get wealth." 
 
 With the harvest ripe and the laborers ready, and the silver 
 and the gold multiplied, why is the work delayed? It is because 
 the command "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that 
 there may be meat in Mine house" has not been obeyed; so the 
 Church, the Bride of Christ, could not send forth her preachers 
 and teachers of righteousness in obedience to her Lord's com- 
 mand, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them 
 in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." 
 But how can they be taught unless teachers be sent, and how can 
 they be sent without the means, and why is there not means? 
 Because we have robbed God and disregarded His plan. 
 
 The message of this book challenges the reader to a personal 
 examination both of himself and of the Word of God, that he may 
 see clearly the house of God is forsaken for the same reason to- 
 
 15 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 day as it was declared to be centuries ago by His Holy Prophet 
 Nehemiah, "And I perceived that the portion of the Levites had 
 not been given them." Numbers i8: 21. "And behold I have given 
 the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance for 
 their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle 
 of the congregation," and in like manner the Apostle Paul re- 
 minds the people the plan of God ordained to maintain the Levites 
 who ministered about Holy things has never changed, and ap- 
 plies to-day in the same way to our spiritual Levites (evangelist, 
 pastors, and teachers), being in these words: 
 
 "Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things 
 live of the things of the temple, and they which wait at the altar 
 are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained 
 that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel," And 
 the Church that will by its faith accept the challenge "Prove me 
 now, herewith," will find that God will keep His promise and sup- 
 ply all their need, and the treasury, like the widow's cruse of oil, 
 will never be empty, and the means will be abundant to send the 
 light of the gospel to all lands. 
 
 Only one whose spiritual vision is strong and clear and conse- 
 cration complete could put forth the thoughts contained in this 
 little volume, and so well and exclusively are its foundations laid 
 on the Word of God that Christians of every denomination will 
 gladly welcome its pages of instruction on a subject that has been 
 so long neglected by the Church, but is now taking root and 
 springing up everywhere. 
 
 The thoughts in this book will have a share in filling the world 
 with the promised blessing, "The earth shall be filled with the 
 knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea," 
 and will bring to its author the "well done" when He cometh to 
 make up His jewels. 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 
 January 11, 191 1. 
 
 16 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 By Thomas Kane. 
 
 One of the really great books of the Nineteenth Century, judged 
 by its influence upon thinking Christians, is Henry Drummond's 
 "Natural Law in the Spiritual World." From many standpoints 
 the author proves that there are not two sets of laws — one for the 
 natural, the other for the spiritual world ; that, so to speak, all 
 natural law is spiritual, and all spiritual law is natural, and all of 
 both divine. 
 
 Of all the centuries in the world's history the Nineteenth is 
 unapproached in the number and importance of inventions and 
 discoveries. Every one of these possessing any real value is based 
 upon one or more of God's natural laws. The laws themselves 
 have always existed, and have never changed. The discoveries 
 have been of the laws, the inventions, of their use and control. 
 The laws of electricity were exactly the same when the Pharaohs 
 were building the pyramids that they are to-day when we are using 
 them to run our street cars and light our homes. 
 
 That there are foundation and fundamental financial and busi- 
 ness laws, the observance of which is absolutely necessary to any 
 success worthy of the name, no one will deny. Yet if any reflect- 
 ing business man of ordinary intelligence were asked to name that 
 one institution of all others which succeeds, in so far as it does 
 succeed, while ignoring, disregarding, or violating all the common 
 fundamental laws of business, he would unhesitatingly name the 
 Protestant Christian Church. Instead of being founded upon law 
 its whole financial system is built up very largely upon sentiment, 
 custom, and emotionalism. Its consistent and persistent attitude 
 toward even its own members, to say nothing of those outside its 
 membership, is that of begging. "Give!" "Give!" is not only the 
 keynote, but the whole gamut of its appeals for support. No law 
 of debt or payment is appealed to or recognized. 
 
 2 17 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The best evidence of the divine origin of the Christian Church 
 is that it is able to stand such financial treatment and make any 
 progress whatever. Any human institution conducted in similar 
 fashion would very soon become bankrupt. 
 
 All fundamental laws are God's laws. The laws themselves 
 are never lost, but the control and use of them may be lost or dis- 
 continued, or both. Two thousand years ago the Romans knew 
 and used the chemical laws of making cement that would outlast 
 the stones it bound together. Knowledge of the law was lost for 
 centuries, and was rediscovered, if indeed the discovery was genu- 
 ine, within the last one hundred years. The loss and rediscovery 
 of the chemical law governing the art of glazing pottery is an- 
 other familiar example, 
 
 God's law of the tithe always has been and is yet not a Mosaic 
 or Jewish law, but a law of the human race. Clay tablets found 
 in the ruins of ancient cities show that it was observed hundreds 
 of years before the father of the Jewish race was born. Knowl- 
 edge of the law and of the benefits that follow its observance have 
 largely been lost sight of, but have never been entirely lost. More 
 and more in recent years not only the law itself, but the beneficial 
 results, both spiritual and financial, that follow its faithful observ- 
 ance are forcing themselves upon public attention. These results 
 are no less marked in churches where any considerable proportion 
 of the members tithe their income than upon the individual tithers 
 themselves. 
 
 It is trite to say that it is both wise and profitable to obey all 
 of God's laws. The observance of each and every one of them 
 contributes to our happiness and prosperity, both temporal and 
 spiritual. We never outgrow even the least of them, nor can we 
 ever safely or profitably neglect or refuse to obey them. If we 
 do, and when we do, the only safe and sane course is to return 
 to our Father, our God, and renew our obedience. 
 
 The twin laws that the seventh of our time and the tenth of our 
 income shall be devoted in a special sense to God's service have 
 never been repealed or abrogated, although until recent years the 
 law of the tithe was almost universally disobeyed ; indeed, com- 
 
 l8 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 paratively few had any distinct knowledge of its existence. Yet 
 neither of these laws, the law of the Sabbath or that of the Tithe, 
 was an arbitrary dictum of the Almighty, 
 
 Both have their foundation in human needs, and both were 
 promulgated for our benefit. In so far as they enhance God's 
 glory they do it through the good we receive by obeying them. 
 From the standpoint of health and physical well-being, to say 
 nothing of both temporal and spiritual advantages, we can not 
 afford to ignore resting and changing the current of our thoughts 
 every seventh day; neither from the standpoint of financial suc- 
 cess in any true sense, to say nothing of spiritual uplift and 
 growth, can we afford not to consecrate specially to God's service 
 one-tenth of our income. 
 
 The distinction that the tithe is distinctly a debt and not a 
 gift should never be lost sight of. The expression, "Give God the 
 tithe" is not only wrong, but in a very literal sense it is belittling 
 God to our consciousness. You do not "give" your banker the 
 interest you owe him, nor "give" your grocer the amount of his 
 bill. Yet neither is more of a debt than the tithe we owe to God. 
 
 We all, ministers and laymen alike, live under God's law of 
 the tithe. We can obey it and reap the reward that all honest 
 men enjoy in paying their debts. We can disobey it and suffer 
 the penalties of disobedience. One of the penalties to the in- 
 dividual is the everywhere obvious indifference of Church mem- 
 bers to their obligations to support the Church, its ministry, and 
 its missionary enterprises. Another is that it fosters the sin of 
 covetousness, which is the one commandment of the ten that we 
 can violate all our lives and not know it. Our neighbors and 
 friends can and do know it, however, and mark and comment on 
 its increasing power and control over us as we grow older. 
 
 But the saddest and most humiliating result of disobeying 
 God's law of the tithe is apparent in the Church itself. Instead 
 of selecting the strongest men to administer funds, it sets them 
 to begging for them. Instead of a surplus in all missionary funds 
 and society treasuries, there is a constant deficit or dread of one. 
 Instead of "meat in Mine house," there is emptiness. Instead 'of 
 
 19 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 the cheerfulness of prosperity, there is the gloom that always fol- 
 lows debt or the fear of debt. Instead of an open and inviting 
 door to the most noble and most attractive calling in the world, 
 the ministry of Jesus Christ, a door the entrance to which would 
 be crowded by enthusiastic thousands of the brainiest, best edu- 
 cated, and most consecrated young men of our country but for 
 the warning sign we have placed above it. 
 
 That ominous sign reads : "All who enter here must not only 
 become practical beggars for all the money necessary to carry on 
 and advance the causes nearest the heart of Christ and their own 
 hearts, but also very often must practically beg the money neces- 
 sary for their own and their families' support." 
 
 No wonder the brightest and best of the students in the semi- 
 naries are eager to be sent to foreign fields. There most of them 
 teach tithing, and leave the begging to be done in the Churches at 
 home. 
 
 As has already been stated, the law of the tithe is as old as 
 the human race. Once it was practiced by heathen nations, but 
 that only proves its antiquity. It was reaffirmed, not enacted, in 
 the Jewish law, not for God's benefit or glory, but for the benefit 
 of the Jewish people. The first mention of the tithe in the Bible 
 is the simple statement, "The tithe is the Lord's," and afterward 
 directions were given as to what should be done with it. 
 
 To claim that the Law of the Tithe is not binding because it 
 was not included in the Decalogue, is as foolish as to claim that the 
 law of love to our neighbor is not binding because it, too, is omit- 
 ted. "Thou shalt pay thy just debts" is not in the Decalogue. 
 Yet no one asserts the right to be dishonest because of that fact. 
 "Thou shalt not be a hypocrite" was not written on the stone tab- 
 lets, yet we never hear of hypocrites shielding themselves behind 
 the omission. If any one, while denying the binding obligation 
 of the law of the tithe, claims that the law "Thou shalt not steal" 
 covers the case of the dishonest debtor, does he mean that it should 
 be understood as reading, "Thou shalt not steal anything except 
 God's tithe?" 
 
 20 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 If God had chosen to put in the original fundamental com- 
 mandments one reading "Thou shalt pay thy honest debts/' should 
 we understand that it had only a limited application : that it did not 
 apply to debts owing to God ? That if He should say of anything 
 "This is Mine," as He always has and does now of the tithe, are 
 we justified in replying, "It may be Yours, but we propose to take 
 it, to steal it ; in Bible language, to 'rob' You of it. Furthermore, 
 we propose to claim that at the same time we are honest people, 
 and that we pay our debts. We acknowledge, Lord, in a general 
 way that You have furnished us and continue to furnish us day 
 by day with absolutely everything that contributes to our happi- 
 ness in this world, but we deny Your claim that any definite pro- 
 portion of our income shall be devoted to Your work in the world, 
 or in recognition either of Your kindness or of Your real owner- 
 ship of all the capital of whatever name or nature we possess. O 
 yes, we will continue to pray to You to bless and prosper us in our 
 business and our temporal affairs, but we stipulate that we can not 
 recognize any obligation other than occasional expressions of 
 thanks to show our gratitude for Your constant kindness. Some 
 of us are willing to go further than this. If at any time we hap- 
 pen to be present at Church or elsewhere when appeals are made 
 for financial help for the causes nearest to the heart of Christ, 
 Your Son, our Savior, we will contribute as a gift in proportion, 
 as near as we can estimate it, with what our friends and neighbors 
 give. Whatever we do, however, must be regarded as a gift, not 
 as paying a debt. We do not recognize any obligation to pay to 
 You or to Your work in the world any definite proportion of the 
 income we make in the use of the money or property You have 
 intrusted us with." 
 
 Is this picture in any respect overdrawn? I protest that it is 
 not. I only wish that I could make it stronger and draw the lines 
 deeper and more distinct. 
 
 I have heard many excellent people say, "I believe in the tithe 
 as a minimum, but the rich ought to give much more than the 
 tithe." If the tithe is a gift to God, such language is pardonable. 
 If the tithe is a debt, it is absurd. Every honest man, rich or poor, 
 
 21 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 does his best to pay his debts. Gifts come afterward. God calls 
 them free-will offerings. 
 
 For years there has been a pressing need for just such a vol- 
 ume as Mr. Brown has written and compiled in the following 
 pages. They clearly show that the trend of the best modern 
 Christian thought is unmistakably and increasingly toward the 
 restoration of the tithe as the only proper as well as the only pos- 
 sible adequate method of financing the building up of Christ's 
 kingdom on earth. As professing Christians have we not long 
 enough made unconscious hypocrites of ourselves ; made our pro- 
 fession a laughing stock, and kept the Church in a constant atti- 
 tude of beggary ? Is it not full time that we abandoned our man- 
 made makeshifts and adopted God's financial plan, and resolve 
 henceforth to obey His law of the tithe? 
 
 Chicago, January 2, 1911. 
 
 Note. — This Introduction was prepared in January, 1911. In April it was offered by 
 the writer for publication in a Western religious newspaper, with a prefix attached to be pub- 
 lished with it stating that the article was written as an Introduction to "Gems of Thought on 
 Tithing." The paper accepted and published the article, but omitted the explanation. 
 
 President Taft on the Bibi^e 
 
 President Taft spoke on Sabbath-school Anniversary Day 
 in the Bedford Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, of which Dr. 
 S. Edward Young is pastor. He said in part, "The study of the 
 Bible, the study of the history of the Bible, and the study of its 
 literature will form in after-life a wealth and position for you 
 which you can not now understand. And, boys and girls, it 
 is in the Sabbath-school where you get the opportunities which 
 you never have again in all your busy lives to familiarize your- 
 selves with its lessons and literature. I do not mean to say that 
 that is the chief benefit from Sabbath-school attendance, and I 
 should be lacking in appreciation if I did say so, for that is only 
 one of the chief benefits. The greatest one, of course, is laying 
 the foundations of a moral and religious character. To the older 
 students, this is something I would impress upon them; for they 
 realize as they grow older the opportunities they have lost if they 
 have not studied that Book of books." 
 
 22 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE TITHE IN SCRIPTURE 
 
 "The; supreme opportunity of every man, of every nation, and 
 of every generation must be a spiritual opportunity. The deepest 
 needs in the world are spiritual needs. The most powerful forces 
 in the world are spiritual forces. The only permanent values in 
 the world are spiritual values. Every man of us is facing inevi- 
 table and eternal bankruptcy, except as he invests his life and his 
 treasure in something spiritual : for only spiritual things can abide 
 forever. And so our Lord said, 'Lay not up for yourselves treas- 
 ures upon earth,' where you must inevitably have to give them 
 up in a little while, 'but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,' 
 where you can enjoy them throughout countless millenniums." — 
 J. Campbei^L, White;, at Laymen's Missionary Congress. 
 
 One of the plainest teachings of the Word of God is the ob- 
 ligation of stewardship. Over and over again it is enjoined 
 upon man as a duty under all circumstances. We are to give 
 not only our substance, but our time, our talents. God claims 
 all. They are His gift to us. What He intrusts to us is to be 
 used for His Kingdom, His glory. With these commandments 
 go promises of rich rewards that are received by those who 
 obey, as myriads here and above can attest. The systematic 
 giving that the tithe compels is full of blessings. It gives one 
 the ability to have something always for a deserving object. 
 It cuts out the roots of selfishness. It nourishes the virtues of 
 brotherly love and helpfulness. It realizes the privilege of being 
 a co-worker with God, and it creates that cheerfulness in the 
 giver that makes God love him. How wonderful that we can 
 endear ourselves to the great God in such a simple way. How 
 ■wicked and foolish if we do not. — John H. HoIvUDay. 
 
 23 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 William J. Bryan, who, at the Chicago celebration of the 
 three hundredth anniversary of the translation of the Authorized 
 Version of the English Bible, challenged materialists and those 
 opposed to the theory of divine inspiration of the Bible to show 
 they were right by producing a book superior to that volume, 
 said in part: 
 
 "Atheists and materialists declare that the Bible is merely 
 the work of man, and that it was written under the limitations 
 that apply to human wisdom. Taking this position, they neces- 
 sarily must contend that, unless man has degenerated in ability 
 and declined in wisdom he now can produce a book equal to 
 the Bible. Let them produce it. 
 
 "Let them collect the best of their school to be found among 
 the graduates of universities — as many as they please and from 
 every land. Let the members of this selected group travel where 
 they will, consult such libraries as they please ; let them glean 
 in the fields of geology, botany, astronomy, biology, and zoology, 
 and then roam at will wherever science has opened a way; let 
 them use every instrumentality that is employed in modern civ- 
 ilization, and when they have exhausted every source, let them 
 embody the results of their best intelligence in a book and offer 
 it to the world as a substitute for this Bible of ours." 
 
 Mr. Bryan's challenge, which a prominent journal predicts 
 will never be accepted, reminds us of a caution or warning 
 directed by a noted English minister toward many who accept 
 and believe the Bible to be divinely inspired, but who are seem- 
 ingly unwilling in many ways to be guided by it, especially so 
 with regard to the matter of stewardship and right uses of earthly 
 possessions. This clergyman writes thus: 
 
 "The Bible in this matter of tithing and stewardship is 
 strangely ignored. Not a few Christians pride themselves in 
 founding their religion on the Bible ; and preachers always take 
 their texts from it. Multitudes profess to be willing to go by the 
 Word of God in dealing with their fellow-men ; yet in this matter 
 of giving, how few seem willing to go by their Bibles in dealing 
 with God !" A good layman in a Western city wrote to his pastor : 
 
 24 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 "I never heard of the tithe until recently, and thought the exhor- 
 tation of I Cor. 16:2 about the only guide to systematic giving." 
 A large proportion of the laity of the Churches are equally unin- 
 structed with regard to the tithe, and no subject arouses the inter- 
 est of Churchmen so quickly, if presented, as we believe it always 
 should be, from the spiritual side. 
 
 Harry Whitcomb in his splendid booklet, "Tithing a Religious 
 Duty," says: "While the tithe would fill a long-felt want, and 
 abundantly finance all the great enterprises of the Church, that is 
 not the reason why we should tithe. The reason why we must 
 tithe is because the Word of God clearly commands it. The bless- 
 ings subjective and objective resulting therefrom are merely in- 
 cidental. It should be noticed that the tithe is not merely a mat- 
 ter of figures and percentages. It is sometimes said that we 
 should use business methods in Church finance. Tithing is not a 
 business method. It is religious to tithe, it is a highly spiritual 
 process. It is a recognition of a real Divine One, to whom the 
 tithe is brought and who receives it." 
 
 In order then that our readers may have a view of the abun- 
 dance of Scripture regarding this duty we have given this chapter 
 almost wholly to it. Space would not permit more than the chief 
 references. "One out of every six verses of the Bible is a warn- 
 ing against some form of covetousness." We pray God that He 
 may bless this very important chapter, containing as it does much 
 from His Word that may open our spiritual vision and enable us 
 to see our duty with regard to the tithe and its relation to our 
 spiritual growth. 
 
 We include in this chapter a short catechism by Prof. C. F. 
 Yoder, who has written some excellent tracts on Christian stew- 
 ardship. Each of the ten questions asked and so well answered 
 might offer a good subject for a tithe study class in any Church 
 or young people's society. Wesley Chapel, Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 where tithing has been so marvelously blessed for fifteen years 
 past, has maintained a tithe study class during all that time, with 
 Wm. G. Roberts, a layman and lawyer, as its teacher. "No other 
 subject," he tells us, "is more inexhaustible and interesting, bear- 
 
 25 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 ing as it does upon every phase of human life and spiritual at- 
 tainment." No wonder tithing has been such a continuous suc- 
 cess in that Church, If her example were followed all over Chris- 
 tendom Horace Bushnell's great revival of consecrated posses- 
 sions and the consequent taking of the world for Christ in a day 
 would not be long delayed. 
 
 SCRIPTURE 
 
 "The Tithe is the Lord's : it is holy unto the Lord." — Levit. 27 : 30-33. 
 
 B. C. 4003. — And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock 
 and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his 
 offering: But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. — Genesis 
 4 : 4, 5. 
 
 1913 B. C. — And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and 
 wine ; and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, 
 and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven 
 and earth : and blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine 
 enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. — Genesis 14 : 18-20. 
 
 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep 
 me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to 
 put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the 
 Lord be my God: and this stone which I have set for a pillar, shall be 
 God's house : and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the 
 tenth unto Thee. — Genesis 28 : 20-22. 
 
 A. D. 64. — For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most 
 high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, 
 and blessed him; to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first 
 being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King 
 of Salem, which is, King of peace ; without father, without mother, without 
 descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life ; but made like 
 unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. Now consider how 
 great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the 
 tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who re- 
 ceive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of 
 the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they 
 come out of the loins of Abraham: but he whose descent is not counted 
 from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the 
 promises. And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. 
 And here men that die receive tithes ; but there he receiveth them, of whom 
 it is witnessed that he liveth. — Hebrews 7: 1-8. 
 
 26 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 I. The Provision for the Maintenance of God's House and All Who 
 Minister About Holy Things. 
 
 And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in 
 their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them : I am thy part 
 and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. And, behold, I have 
 given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for 
 their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the 
 congregation. — Numbers 18:20, 21. 
 
 A. D. 59. — Do ye not know that they zvhich minister about holy things 
 live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are par- 
 takers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which 
 preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. — i Corinthians 9: 13, 14. 
 
 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to His disciples, saying, The 
 scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat : all therefore whatsoever they 
 bid you observe, that observe and do ; but do not ye after their works : 
 for they say, and do not. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites I 
 for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the 
 weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye 
 to have done [that is, pay tithe], and not to leave the other undone. — Mat- 
 thew 22: 1-3, 23. 
 
 But woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye tithe mint and rue and all man- 
 ner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God : these ought 
 ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. — Luke 11 : 42. 
 
 And /, behold, / have taken your brethren the Levites from among the 
 children of Israel : to 3^ou they are given as a gift for the Lord, to do 
 the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. — Numbers 18 : 6. 
 
 And He gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evangel- 
 ists; and some, pastors and teachers. — Ephesians 4:11. 
 
 Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren ; the 
 Lord is his inheritance, according as the Lord thy God promised him. — 
 Deuteronomy 10 : 9. 
 
 And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given 
 them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every 
 one to his field. Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the 
 house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them 
 in their place. Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the new 
 wine and the oil unto the treasuries. — Nehemiah 13: 10-12. 
 
 B. C. 390.— For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of 
 Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are 
 gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto 
 
 27 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Me, 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. 
 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole na- 
 tion. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may he meat 
 in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I 
 will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, 
 that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the 
 devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your 
 ground ; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, 
 saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed; for ye 
 shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. — Malachi 3 : 6-12. 
 
 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel 
 brought in abundance the first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, 
 and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought 
 they in abundantly. And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, 
 that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen 
 and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the 
 Lord their God, and laid them by heaps. And Azariah the chief priest 
 of the house of Zadok answered him, and said. Since the people began 
 to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough 
 to eat, and have left plenty : for the Lord hath blessed His people ; and 
 that which is left is this great store. Then Hezekiah commanded to pre- 
 pare chambers in the house of the Lord; and they prepared them, and 
 brought in the offerings and the tithes, and the dedicated things faith- 
 fully. — 2 Chronicles 31 : 5, 6, 10-12. 
 
 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of 
 the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord. And if a 
 man will at all redeem aught of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth 
 part thereof. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even 
 of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the 
 Lord. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he 
 change it : and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof 
 shall be holy ; it shall not be redeemed. — Leviticus 27 : 30-33. 
 
 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth 
 forth year by year. — Deuteronomy 14 : 22. 
 
 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congrega- 
 tion, and they shall bear their iniquity : it shall be a statute for ever through- 
 out your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inher- 
 itance. But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an 
 heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit : there- 
 fore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have 
 
 28 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 no inheritance. Thus speak unto the Levites and say unto them, When ye 
 take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them 
 for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the 
 Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe. And this your heave offering shall 
 be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshing floor, 
 and as the fullness of the wine press. Thus ye also shall offer an heave 
 offering unto the Lord of all your tithes which ye receive of the children 
 of Israel ; and ye shall give thereof the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the 
 priest. Out of all your gifts 3'e shall offer every heave offering of the Lord, 
 of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it. Therefore 
 thou shalt say unto them. When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, 
 then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshing 
 floor, and as the increase of the wine press. — Numbers i8 : 23, 24, 26-30. 
 
 Also the first-born of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in 
 the law, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks, to bring to the 
 house of our God, unto the priests that minister in the house of our God. 
 And that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, and our offerings, 
 and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, 
 to the chambers of the house of our God ; and the tithes of our ground 
 unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the 
 cities of our tillage. And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the 
 Levites when the Levites take tithes : and the Levites shall bring up the 
 tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the 
 treasure house. For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall 
 bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil, unto the cham- 
 bers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, 
 and the porters, and the singers : and we will not forsake the house of our 
 God. — Nehemiah 10 : 36-39. 
 
 And at that time were some appointed over the chambers for the treas- 
 ures, for the offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into 
 them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the law for the priests 
 and Levites : for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that 
 waited. And both the singers and the porters kept the ward of their God. 
 — Nehemiah 12 : 44, 45. 
 
 THE PLACE WHERE GOD COMMANDS THE TITHE TO BE 
 BROUGHT. 
 
 1451 B. C. — Btit unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose 
 out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto His habitation 
 shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come : and thither ye shall bring your 
 burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of 
 
 29 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings 
 of your herds and of your flocks. Ye shall not do after all the things 
 that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. 
 Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause 
 His name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you, 
 your burnt ofiferings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offer- 
 ing of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord. 
 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it : thou shalt not add 
 thereto, nor diminish from it. — Deuteronomy 12:5, 6, 8, 11, ^2. 
 
 B. C. 445. — And that we should bring the firstfruifs of our dough, and 
 our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto 
 the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our 
 ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all 
 the cities of our tillage. — Nehemiah 10 : 37. 
 
 And to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all 
 fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the Lord. — Nehemiah 
 10 : 35- 
 
 And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the first 
 fruits of the land : for it is holy unto the Lord. — Ezekiel 48 : 14. 
 
 Only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, 
 and go unto the place which the Lord shall choose. — Deuteronomy 12 : 26. 
 
 Honor the Lord with thy substance, 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. — Proverbs 3 : 9, 10. 
 
 II. Offerings for Special Work, Such as Building, Repairing, or Fur- 
 nishing THE House of God. 
 
 Speak unto the children of Israel that they bring Me an offering: of 
 every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take My offering. 
 And let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. — Ex- 
 odus 25 : 2, 8. 
 
 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, 
 saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying. Take ye from 
 among you an offering unto the Lord : whosoever is of a willing heart, let 
 him bring it, an offering of the Lord; gold, and silver, and brass. And 
 they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom 
 his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering to the work 
 of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all His service. Every one 
 that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the Lord's offering. 
 And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and 
 
 30 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 brought that which they had spun. The children of Israel brought a will- 
 ing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them 
 willing to bring, for all manner of work which the Lord had commanded. 
 —Exodus 35 : 4, 5, 21, 24, 25, 29. 
 
 Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I 
 have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to 
 the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy 
 house. Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because 
 with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord. Both riches and 
 honor come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all; and in Thine hand is 
 power and might ; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give 
 strength unto all. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should 
 be able to offer so wilHngly after this sort? for all things come of Thee, 
 and of Thine own have we given Thee. O Lord our God, all this store 
 that we have prepared to build Thee an house for Thine holy name cometh 
 of Thine hand, and is all Thine own. I know also, my God, that Thou 
 triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the up- 
 rightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things : and now 
 have I seen with joy Thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly 
 unto Thee. — i Chronicles 29 : 3, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17. 
 
 And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house 
 of the Lord which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God 
 to set it up in His place: they gave after their ability unto the treasure 
 of the work threescore and one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand 
 pounds of silver. They gave money also unto the masons, and to the 
 carpenters ; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them 
 of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according 
 to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia. — Ezra 2:68, 69; 2-7- 
 
 And they brought yet unto Him free offerings every morning. And 
 they spake unto Moses, saying. The people bring much more than enough 
 for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make. And 
 Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout 
 the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the 
 offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. — 
 Exodus 36 : 3, 5, 6. 
 
 in. Giving for the Needs of the Poor. 
 
 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore / command 
 thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand zuide unto thy brother, to thy 
 poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. — Deuteronomy 15: 11. 
 
 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye 
 may do them good. — Mark 14 : 7. 
 
 31 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Thou shall sureJfy give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when 
 thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall 
 bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. — 
 Deuteronomy 15 : 10. 
 
 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, 
 and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth th« 
 love of God in him? — i John 3: 17. 
 
 For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat : I was thirsty, and 
 ye gave Me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in: naked, 
 and ye clothed Me not : sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not. Then 
 shall they also answer Him, saying. Lord, when saw we Thee an hun- 
 gered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did 
 not minister unto Thee? Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I 
 say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye 
 did it not to Me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment. — 
 Matthew 25 : 42-45. 
 
 He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker : but he that hon- 
 oreth Him hath mercy on the poor. — Proverbs 14:31. 
 
 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the 
 power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come 
 again, and to-morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. — Proverbs 
 3 : 27, 28. 
 
 There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth ; and there is that with- 
 holdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul 
 shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. — 
 Proverbs 1 1 : 24, 25. 
 
 He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack : but he that hideth his 
 eyes shall have many a curse. — Proverbs 28 : 27, 
 
 He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord; and that 
 which he hath given will He pay him again. — Proverbs 19: 17. 
 
 Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he shall also cry him- 
 self, but shall not be heard. — Proverbs 21 : 13. 
 
 He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his 
 bread to the poor. — Proverbs 22 : 9. 
 
 IV. Giving for the Necessities of the Saints. 
 
 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, espe- 
 cially unto them who are of the household of faith. — Galatians 6: 10. 
 
 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order 
 to the Churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week 
 
 32 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that 
 there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye 
 shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality 
 unto Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. — 
 I Corinthians i6: 1-4. 
 
 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And 
 there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit, 
 that there should be great dearth throughout all the world : which came to 
 pass in the days of Claudius Cesar. Then the disciples, every man ac- 
 cording to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which 
 dwelt in Judea. Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the 
 hands of Barnabas and Saul. — Acts 1 1 : 27-30. 
 
 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath 
 pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for 
 the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily; and 
 their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of 
 their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal 
 things. — Romans 15 : 25-27. 
 
 For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for 
 me to write to you : for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which 
 I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; 
 and your zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren, 
 lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, 
 ye may be ready; lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and 
 find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this 
 same confident boasting. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the 
 brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand 
 your bouny, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, 
 as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness. But this I say. He 
 which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth 
 bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he pur- 
 poseth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for 
 God loveth a cheerful giver. — 2 Corinthians 9: 1-7. 
 
 Notwithstanding, ye have well done that ye did communicate with my 
 affliction. Now ye Philippians, know also, that in the beginning of the 
 Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no Church communicated with 
 me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessa- 
 lonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a 
 gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all 
 and abound: I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things 
 which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice accept- 
 able, well pleasing to God. — Philippians 4: 14-18. 
 
 3 33 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 RESPONSIVE READING (ALL SCRIPTURE), 
 
 "HONOR THE LORD WITH THY SUBSTANCE." 
 
 Genesis. 
 
 Pastor. — And Abel brought the firstlings of his flock and of the fat 
 thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 
 
 Congregation. — But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. 
 And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 
 
 Pastor. — And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And 
 why is thy countenance fallen? 
 
 Congregation. — H thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? And 
 if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. 
 
 Pastor. — And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and 
 wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. 
 
 Congregation. — And he blessed him, and said, blessed be Abram of 
 the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. 
 
 Pastor. — And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine 
 enemies into thine hand. And he (Abraham) gave him tithes of all. 
 
 Congregation. — And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, 
 Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. 
 
 Pastor. — And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! 
 this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 
 
 Congregation. — And this stone which I have set for a pillar, shall be 
 God's house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the 
 tenth unto Thee. 
 
 Exodus. 
 
 Pastor. — The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the 
 Lord for all manner of work. 
 
 Congregation. — And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, 
 and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's 
 offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all 
 His service. 
 
 Pastor. — Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring an offering 
 of the Lord. 
 
 Congregation. — The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring 
 into the house of the Lord thy God. 
 
 Leviticus. 
 
 Pastor. — And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land 
 or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's : it is holy unto the Lord. 
 
 34 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Congregation. — And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, 
 even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto 
 the Lord. 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 Pastor. — And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth 
 in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the 
 service of the tabernacle of the congregation. 
 
 Congregation. — Thus speak unto the Levites and say unto them, 
 When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you 
 from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering 
 of it for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe. 
 
 Deuteronomy. 
 
 Pastor. — But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose to 
 put His name there, thither thou shalt come : and thither ye shall bring 
 your tithes, and your vows, and your freewill offerings. Ye shall not do 
 every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. 
 
 Congregation. — Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God 
 shall choose to cause His name to dwell there, thither shall ye bring all 
 that I command you, your sacrifices, your tithes, and all your choice vows 
 which ye vow unto the Lord. 
 
 Pastor. — Only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou 
 shalt take, and go unto the place which the Lord shall choose. 
 
 Congregation. — What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: 
 thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it. 
 
 Pastor. — Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the 
 field bringeth forth year by year. 
 
 Congregation. — When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes 
 of thine increase, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fath- 
 erless and the widow, then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God : I 
 have not transgressed Thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them. 
 
 Pastor. — The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure, the heaven 
 to give the rain unto the land in his season, and to bless all the work 
 of thine hand. 
 
 Congregation. — The Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail ; 
 and thou shall be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou 
 hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God. 
 
 Chronicles. 
 
 Pastor. — And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children 
 of Israel brought in abundance of firstfruits, and the tithe of all things. 
 Congregation. — Since the people began to bring the offerings into the 
 
 35 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty; for 
 the Lord hath blessed His people. 
 
 Nehemiah. 
 
 Pastor. — Bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all 
 fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the Lord: and the tithes 
 of our ground unto the Levites. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe 
 of the tithes unto the house of our God. 
 
 Congregation. — And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had 
 not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, 
 were fled every one to his field. 
 
 Pastor. — Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the 
 house of God forsaken? 
 
 Congregation. — Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the 
 new wine and the oil into the treasuries. 
 
 Proverbs. 
 
 Pastor. — Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits 
 of all thine increase. 
 
 Congregation. — So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses 
 shall burst out with new wine. 
 
 Malachi. 
 
 Pastor. — In every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a 
 pure offering. Ye said, Behold, what a weariness is it ! and ye have 
 snuffed at it, said the Lord of hosts ; and ye brought that which was torn 
 and the lame, and the sick ; thus ye brought an offering : should I accept 
 this of your hand? saith the Lord. Return unto Me, and I will return 
 unto you. 
 
 Congregation. — Wherein shall we return? 
 
 Pastor. — Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, 
 Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed 
 with a curse : for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring ye 
 all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, 
 and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open 
 you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall 
 not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for 
 your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither 
 shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord 
 of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed; for ye shall be a de- 
 lightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. 
 
 36 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Matthew. 
 
 Congregation. — Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to the disci- 
 ples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat : all there- 
 fore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. 
 
 Pastor. — Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay 
 tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier mat- 
 ters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith : these ought ye to have done 
 (that is, pay tithe), and not to leave the other undone. 
 
 Luke. 
 
 Congregation. — But woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye tithe mint and 
 rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: 
 
 Pastor. — These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other un- 
 done. 
 
 Corinthians. 
 
 Congregation. — Do ye not know that they which minister about holy 
 things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar 
 are partakers with the altar? 
 
 Pastor. — Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the 
 Gospel should live of the Gospel. 
 
 Hebrews. 
 
 Congregation. — For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the 
 most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the 
 kings, and blessed him: 
 
 Pastor. — To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all ; first being 
 by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of 
 Salem, which is, King of peace. 
 
 Congregation. — Without father, without mother, without descent, hav- 
 ing neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the 
 Son of God; abideth a priest continually. 
 
 Pastor. — Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the 
 patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. 
 
 Congregation. — And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who re- 
 ceive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of 
 the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they 
 come out of the loins of Abraham : 
 
 Pastor. — But he whose descent is not counted from them receive tithes 
 of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. 
 
 Congregation. — And without all contradiction the less is blessed of 
 the better. 
 
 37 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Pastor. — And here men that die receive tithes; but there He (Jesus) 
 receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that He liveth. 
 
 There is that scatter eth, and yet increaseth; and there is that with- 
 holdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. 
 
 Haggai 1:4-9; 2:3, 7-9. 
 
 B. C. 630. — Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, 
 and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; 
 Consider your ways. Ye have sown much and bring in little; ye eat, but 
 ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe 
 you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages 
 to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; Consider 
 your ways. Go up into the mountain and bring wood and build the house ; 
 and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye 
 looked for much, and, lo, it came to little ; and when ye brought it home, 
 I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of Mine house 
 that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. . . . Who is 
 left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see 
 it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? . . . Yet 
 once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and 
 the sea, and the dry land ; and I will shake all nations, and the Desire 
 of all nations shall come ; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the 
 Lord of hosts. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord 
 of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former, 
 saith the Lord of hosts ; and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord 
 of hosts. 
 
 But thou, shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth 
 thee power to get zvealth, that He may establish His covenant which He 
 sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. — Deut. 8: 18. 
 
 TEN QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE TITHE, AND 
 SCRIPTURE REFERENCES. 
 
 1. What is Meant by the Tithe? — The tithe is the tenth part of one's 
 net income, that is, the gross income minus necessary operating expenses. 
 "The tenth shall be holy unto the Lord" (Lev. 27: 32). 
 
 2. Why Is It Called Holy? — First, because it is a sacred symbol. 
 God has no need of our gifts, seeing that everything is His, but He re- 
 quires this portion to remind us of our stewardship. Just as the tribute 
 money paid to Caesar was a recognition of his authority, so the holy 
 tithe which God required was an acknowledgment of His Lordship. "Ren- 
 der to Caesar therefore the things that are Caesar's, and to God the 
 
 38 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 things that are God's" (Matt. 22: 21). The tithe is also called holy to dis- 
 tinguish it from the dispensational tithes. Besides the holy tithes of the 
 ages, used for the support of God's representatives, the Israelites under 
 the law paid a second tithe for the feasts (Deut. 14:22-24), and every 
 third year another for the poor (Deut. 14:28, 29), but only the first is 
 ever called "the holy tithe." It is called holy because it "is holy unto the 
 Lord." 
 
 3. When the Law Was Superseded by the Gospel, Why Did Not the 
 Holy Tithe Pass Away With it? — The holy tithe is not an institution of 
 the law. Like the Sabbath, it existed from the beginning. There is evi- 
 dence that God taught it to all the earliest peoples. The Septuagint ver- 
 sion of Gen. 4 : 6 says of Cain's offering in Eden, "Thou hast not divided 
 aright," while the "more excellent sacrifice" of Abel in Heb. 11 : 4 is liter- 
 ally "a fuller sacrifice." Certain it. is that Abraham, the father and type 
 of all the faithful (Gal. 3:26), gave tithes as a regular duty to God's 
 priest, Melchizedek, who was a type of Christ (Gen. 14:20), and in 
 Heb. 7 : i-io this is used as an argument for our homage to Christ. 
 When first spoken of under the law the tithe is referred to as already holy 
 unto the Lord (Lev. 27:30), and as Paul says, "A covenant confirmed 
 beforehand by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years 
 after, doth not disannul" (Gal. 3: 17). 
 
 4. But Even Though the Tithe Was Holy in All Previous Ages, Is It 
 Also Binding Upon Us? — Yes. First, because an institution based (as 
 marriage, the creation. Sabbath, and the tithe) upon the needs of man's 
 nature remains binding in all ages till nature changes. Second, because 
 the tithe which was holy before the law, and during the law, was not made 
 less holy by the passing of the law. Third, because the stewardship of 
 which the holy tithe is a symbol is not done away with, but rather em- 
 phasized, by the Gospel. Fourth, because the positive precepts of the 
 Gospel sustain the tithe. Jesus said, "Ye tithe , . . these ought ye to 
 have done" (Matt. 23:23), and again, (Matt. 22:21), "Render to Caesar 
 the things that are Caesar's (the tribute money), and to God the things 
 that are God's" (the holy tithe). Again, referring to the support of God's 
 ministers, which in all previous ages was by the holy tithe, the Gospel 
 says, "Even so hath God ordained that they which preach the Gospel 
 should live of the Gospel" (i Cor. 9:7-14), while in Abraham paying 
 tithes to Melchizedek we are given a type of Christians paying tithes to 
 Christ, who has bought us with a price (i Cor. 6:20). And fifth, because 
 blessing has followed obedience to the tithe in this as in previous ages. 
 
 5. How Is the Tithe to Be Counted? — In any way which will hon- 
 estly give God the tenth. Under the law the people tithed their income 
 as they received it, which is the best way. Increase of capital should be 
 tithed at the time of invoicing. 
 
 39 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 6. What Should Be Done With the Tithe? — It should be used for the 
 support of God's ministers. So it was used before the law (Heb. 7: i-io) ; 
 so it was used during the law (Num. 18: 21-24), and "even so" it has been 
 ordained for the support of the ministry under the Gospel (i Cor. 9: 7-14). 
 
 7. Where Should the Tithe Be Paid? — The patriarchs paid it directly 
 to God's priests. The tithe was to be brought directly to the temple and 
 used in the worship of Jehovah as seen further in Dent. 12 : 5-14 and Mai. 
 3:8-10. The tithe was sacred to Jehovah in the same sense as the Sab- 
 bath was sacred to Him, and both were alike binding on king and people. 
 Under the law the command was "bring ye the whole tithe into the store- 
 house" (Mai. 3: 10), and under the Gospel the Church is "God's house" 
 (Heb. 3:5, 6), and therefore the proper custodian of the tithes, because 
 it is through the Church that God's ministers are regularly called and 
 supported. 
 
 8. In Case of Great Need Maty the Tithe Be Used for Self or Family? 
 — Yes. The law allowed for the "redeeming of the tithe" (Lev. 27:31), 
 and the spirit of the Gospel, which allows works of necessity or mercy or 
 kindness upon the Sabbath, will also allow human need to rise above the 
 law of the tithe. But tithes so used should be returned again with inter- 
 est, and nothing but the most pressing necessity should cause any excep- 
 tions to the rule. 
 
 9. Should Offerings Be Given in Addition to the Tithe? — Yes, if God 
 has prospered us so that we are able to do so. Under the law the people 
 gave not only the holy tithe, but the tithe for the feasts (Deut. 14:22), 
 and for the poor (Deut. 14: 28), and left the corners of their fields for the 
 poor to glean (Lev. 19:9) ; they gave the firstfruits as a thank-offering 
 (Deut. 26:1-10), besides vows (Lev. 27:9, 28), and freewill offerings 
 (Deut. 16: 10), paid for the redemption of the first born (Ex. 13: 15), re- 
 mitted all debts on Jubilee year (Lev. 25), and let the land have rest 
 every seventh year (Lev. 25). This all made a total of about two-fifths, 
 yet even that is small when we consider that tenants are now accustomed 
 to give half. Instead of becoming impoverished by such giving Israel 
 prospered most when faithful in it. Such offerings, given as God has 
 prospered, equalize the giving of the rich and the poor, for while some 
 can give only a little, yet the offerings of others should be very much 
 greater than their tithe. 
 
 10. When Should Tithing Be Begun? — At once. In fact, to be strictly 
 honest with God, any property accumulated by withholding the tithe should 
 be also put in the fund now. If there are debts to pay, remember that the 
 debt to God is not less sacred than others, and that by paying it there will 
 be a blessing from Him that will make it easier to be free from all other 
 debts. If you feel that you can not afford it, remember that you can not 
 afford not to do it. It has been so thoroughly demonstrated in all history, 
 
 40 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 and by thousands of living examples, that observance of the tithe in the 
 right spirit conduces to prosperity, that it is not a matter of theory. Far 
 be it from any to begin tithing for the purpose of being more prosperous. 
 That spirit would defeat its own end. The tithe is to financial life what 
 the Sabbath is to physical life and marriage is to social life ; but each of 
 these institutions is conducive to the moral welfare of the race, which 
 is the primary consideration. — Dr. C. F. Yoder, former President Ashland 
 College. 
 
 "I speak of the Bible as the Book of the people, not the Book 
 of the minister of the gospel, not the special Book of the priest 
 from which to set forth some occult, unknown doctrine withheld 
 from the common understanding of men, but a great Book of 
 revelation — the people's Book of revelation. For it seems to me 
 that the Bible has revealed the people to themselves. . . . 
 
 "A man has found himself when he has found his relation 
 to the rest of the universe, and here is the Book in which those 
 relations are set forth. And so when you see a man going along 
 the highways of life with his gaze lifted above the road, lifted 
 to the sloping ways in front of him, then be careful of that man 
 and get out of his way. He knows the kingdom for which he 
 is bound. He has seen the revelation of himself and of his re- 
 lations to mankind. He has seen the revelation of his relation 
 to his God and Maker, and therefore he has seen his responsi- 
 bility in the world. This is the revelation of life and peace." 
 
 — Gov. WOODROW WiLrSON. 
 
 41 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HISTORICAL NOTES 
 
 "Tithe, etymologically, a tenth ; historically, a tenth part of the 
 tithable produce of the land paid to the clergy. The payment of 
 the tithe to the clergy originated in the recognition of a moral and 
 religious duty. The discharge of this acknowledged obligation 
 acquired the force of custom, then received the sanction of ecclesi- 
 astical law, and finally passed into the national jurisprudence of 
 England and other Christian countries." — Crown Cyclopedia, 
 1903. 
 
 PRAYER 
 
 O Lord, we beseech Thee that every disciple waiting here, like 
 those that waited in the upper room of old, may receive a crown 
 of flame. O Lord, we beseech Thee that when we lift up our peti- 
 tions to Thee, it may be with a common heart from all these hun- 
 dreds of disciples. 
 
 And wilt Thou bless the great work which we represent, the 
 missionaries in distant lands, the Churches which sustain them, 
 these dear brethren who are taking council together as to the best 
 means of helping them, and fit us still better than we have ever 
 been for all the responsibilities connected with this work. — Bishop 
 Thoburn, at Laymen's Missionary Congress. 
 
 All the quotations of the preceding chapter are made from 
 the St. James Version of the Bible, the three hundredth anni- 
 versary of which the Christian world is now celebrating. This 
 book has already been translated into five hundred languages. 
 
 In a brief anniversary review the St. Louis Globe Democrat 
 states that "during the year 1909 there were published of this 
 300-year-old book 18,866,000 copies, in 237 languages, and that 
 
 42 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 the number for the year just ended there is reason to believe 
 will reach the grand total of 20,000,000 copies. This wonderful 
 showing does not include the millions of copies of the New 
 Testament and Psalms which are published and sold yearly. 
 And now, after three hundred years, that Book so far outsells 
 all other published volumes that its record makes the combined 
 showing of the 'six best sellers' look like an ant hill in the 
 shadow of Vesuvius." And in each copy of this widely sought 
 and revered Book, this unerring Guide to right living, is taught 
 among other important things, observance of the Ten Command- 
 ments, tithing, and the vital principles of Christian steward- 
 ship. The covetous and worldly-minded would have observance 
 of the tithe and the enlarged graces of giving omitted from the 
 Book, but not so the translators who have been true to the 
 originals and the trust imposed. 
 
 Under the chapter titles "Calamities Befalling the Sacrile- 
 gious" and "Consequences of Tithe Robbery," Dr. Lansdell cites 
 many instances during and after the Reformation showing that 
 God's disfavor as surely followed the improper use or misappro- 
 priation of the tithe as in the days of Israel. He quotes from a 
 writer reviewing Spelman's "Sacrilege" as follows: "Property 
 consecrated to God in the service of the Church has, generally, 
 when alienated to secular purposes, brought misfortune on its pos- 
 sessors, whether by strange accidents, by violent deaths, by loss 
 of wealth, or, and that chiefly, by failure of heirs male; and that 
 such property hardly ever continues long in one family." More 
 than a hundred instances are referred to, showing how dukes, 
 marquises, earls, barons, and lords of England owing to receiving 
 grants of tithes were beheaded, hanged, or imprisoned. Others 
 lost their property, social standing, and their families. Speaking 
 of the efifect on the commonwealth we quote: "Lest therefore 
 thou shouldest think the crime and punishment endeth with them, 
 consider with me the condition and success both of our common- 
 wealth in general and of private families before the Dissolution, 
 and observe them after, and we shall find just cause to think there 
 
 43 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 is a cursed thing among us." And concerning families Spelman 
 points out that more of our nobility and their children were at- 
 tainted and died under the hand of justice within twenty years 
 next following the Dissolution, than did so during the previous 
 five hundred years, or from the time of the Norman conquest. 
 
 "Money is like fire," says Dr. C. A. Cook, the noted Baptist 
 minister, in his prize essay on "Systematic Giving" — "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 instru- 
 ment. As riches increase, however, men are exposed more and 
 more to the mastering power of wealth, and unless proper precau- 
 tions are taken their riches will become their greatest curse. 
 'They that will be rich,' says the Apostle Paul, 'fall into tempta- 
 tion 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 computation, and with increase 
 of wealth evils have already begun to crowd in upon the Church, 
 which are in many places threatening to undermine the founda- 
 tions of her strength and cause her endless harm. . , . Wedded 
 with the love of money there is the love of pleasure and the waste 
 of money therein. The spending of money upon pleasures that 
 are inconsistent with a Christian profession is doing untold dam- 
 age to the cause of Christ, and making many Church members 
 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 foolishly 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. . . . Get the people To give; in 
 the right way, and spiritual blessings ivill folloiv. Nothing is 
 more distinctly taught in the Word of God than this. Here is the 
 Divine statement: 'Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, 
 that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now here- 
 with, saith the Lord of hosts,' " 
 
 44 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 This chapter deals almost exclusively with past history. May 
 we not look optimistically into the future, praying that coming 
 pages of history may never bear record of alienated tithes, but of 
 a new epoch of consecration of wealth to the great purposes of 
 God in redeeming the world such as has never been known. 
 
 The Church has put her hand to a plow from which she can not look 
 back ; that plow is the conquest of this world for Christ. She has planted 
 her missions on every shore ; she has placed her colleges and printing 
 presses in the strategic centers of the pagan world; she has proclaimed to 
 the heathen that they are undone and hopeless without the Gospel of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. And now she has no election. She must evangelize 
 them. It is contained in her commission. It is bound up with her very 
 life. To turn from it were to abdicate, to apostatize, to become infamous. 
 I repeat it. Recession from this work would mean for the Church noth- 
 ing less- than the prevailing of the gates of hell. — Frank Otis Bal- 
 lard, D. D. 
 
 The world is already aglow with the dawn of glorious events. Burma 
 is freed from its brutal, heathen king, and welcomes the gospel. China 
 and Japan are rapidly advancing to the light of God's truth. Central and 
 Southern Africa invite to newly explored fields, and are ready for ten 
 thousand new laborers, many of whom our own land can furnish. Papal 
 Europe is free from the Pope's temporal power, and freedom of worship 
 takes the place of the Inquisition. The Greek Church and all the State 
 Churches of Europe are learning new lessons of toleration. The gospel 
 is piercing Mohammedanism with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of 
 God. Mexico has broken the chains of intolerance, and welcomes the 
 gospel. South America is catching the glimpses of gospel light, and the 
 islands of the sea are stepping from savagery into Christian civilization. — 
 G. S. Bailey, D. D. 
 
 If we fail in this matter of stewardship we shall be reminded of our 
 failure by the God of providence. He did not allow Abraham, or Jacob, 
 or Isaac, or David, or Moses, or Hezekiah to escape the temporal conse- 
 quences of their respective sins. Nor can we count on such escape. Nor 
 has He any lack of ways of taking vengeance of our inventions. If we 
 sin as to means He can withdraw them from us. A fire, a panic, a war, a 
 shrinkage can come in His providence. No more rapidly did Jonah's 
 gourd wither than our possessions melt away! Men fail to realize that 
 all is in His hand. Or He can leave them with us, without their yielding 
 us any comfort. Some of the richest men are not at all happy men, their 
 very weahh in many cases burdening their minds, embittering their clos- 
 ing years, and in the quarrels over it when they are gone exposing the 
 least lovely portions of their lives. — Dr. John Hall. 
 
 45 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 This was the kind of teaching delivered by Augustin when he came to 
 Canterbury. The people, moreover, accepted this teaching, and, what is 
 better, they acted upon it; for we never read that Augustin had to send 
 back to Gregory at Rome asking him to organize bazaars, and raffles, and 
 entertainments, and suppers, whereby to provide means to propagate 
 Christianity to our forefathers. Scriptural tithe-paying and offerings be- 
 came the ordinary and sufficient methods by which the work of the infant 
 Church in England was carried on. This was in the seventh century; 
 and when Ethelwulf, somewhat later, became the first king to inherit a 
 united England, one of his first acts was to arrange concerning the pay- 
 ment of tithes from his own lands, and to organize, what I like to regard 
 as the first Pan-Anglican (or All-English) Thank-offering. — Henry 
 Lansdell, D. D. 
 
 In the history of the Church in the first centuries we have abundant 
 evidence that the tithe had not been discontinued. Clement (30-100 A. D.) 
 and Justin Martyr (110-165 A. D.) were very clear in their teachings con- 
 cerning the offerings that were due to God. Irenseus (120-202 A. D.) 
 speaks of "the obligation of Christians to render tithes unto God." Neander 
 declares, "The duty was also embodied in the Apostolic canons, a compila- 
 tion of laws in force among the Christian Churches about the close of the 
 second century." The tithe was declared as a Christian duty by Origen 
 (185-254), by Cyprian (200-258), by Jerome (345-420), by Ambrose (340- 
 397), who said, "God has reserved the tenth part to Himself, and therefore 
 it is not lawful for a man to retain what God has reserved for Himself." 
 Augustine (354-430) declared, "Our ancestors used to abound in wealth of 
 every kind for this very reason that they used to give tithes, and pay the 
 tax to Caesar." And he goes on to say that because they have "been un- 
 willing to share the tithe with God now the whole is taken away." He 
 urges the giving of the tenth, and used these two strong expressions: 
 "The scribes and Pharisees gave tithes, for whom Christ had not yet shed _; 
 His blood." "But yet I can not keep back what He who died for us said 
 whilst He was alive, 'Except your righteousness shall exceed the right- 
 eousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the 
 kingdom of heaven.'" 
 
 The tithe was enjoined by the Council of Tours in A. D. 567, by that 
 of Macon in 585, of Rouen in 650, of Nantes in 660, and of Metz in 756. 
 For centuries it was the prevailing custom throughout all Christendom. 
 Bingham in his "Christian Antiquities" says, "This was the unanimous 
 judgment of the Fathers, and the voice of the Church uncontradicted for 
 more than a thousand years, or until the usages of the Church were alien- 
 ated and perverted by the papal hierarchy during the dark ages." 
 
 It is a well recognized principle of law that when once a law has been 
 in force, and the conditions which called it forth still exist, the law is 
 
 46 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 binding until it is repealed. History shows that the law of tithing, while 
 merged into the ceremonial law, has never been repealed, and the need for 
 its enforcement has never been greater than at the present time. — John 
 Y. AlTCHESON, D. D. 
 
 The following Councils of the early Church all proclaimed to Chris- 
 tians the obligation of paying tithes, resting the duty not on the authority 
 of ecclesiastical law but on the sure basis of the Word of God : Ancyra, 
 A. D, 314; Gangra, A. D. 324; Orleans, A. D. 511; Tours, A. D. 567; To- 
 ledo, A. D. 663; Rouen, A. D. 650; Fimli, A. D. 791; London, A D. 1425. 
 
 The practice of tithing was introduced into England by King Ofifa at 
 the end of the eighth century, and in the time of King Ethelwolf, the mid- 
 dle of the ninth century, had been made general all over England, where 
 it has ever since continued to be the law of the land and the chief revenue 
 of the Church. 
 
 Calvin, whose opinion on any subject demands attention and carries 
 great weight for Presbyterians, says : "We see how God complaineth that 
 He was defrauded both of His firstfruits and also of His offerings and of 
 all the residue which He had applied to Himself in His law. But if we 
 inquire how the heathen behaved themselves toward their idols, we should 
 find that they are willing to spend the most part of their substance on 
 their superstitions." 
 
 John Knox, in his epistle to the ministers of Scotland, writes : "Our 
 Lord in the Gospel, speaking of payment of tithes to the Pharisees, saith, 
 'These ought ye to have done and not to leave the others undone.' " 
 
 "It behooveth them to be paid. Now a great many, to outface con- 
 science and delude all reproofs, maintain that lands, tithes, yea, whatever 
 belonged to the Church in former ages, may be lawfully alienated." 
 
 "There is no impiety against which it is more requisite you set your- 
 selves in this time. Repent, therefore, and amend your own neglect in this 
 behalf and call upon others for amendment." 
 
 The picture-writings of Egypt, the cuneiform tablets of Babylonia, 
 and early writers of Greece and Rome inform us that before the Bible was 
 written, and apart therefrom, it was an almost universal practice among 
 civilized nations for people to pay tithes to their gods ; but none tell us 
 when, or where, the practice began, or who issued the law for its ob- 
 servance. 
 
 With regard to the antiquity of their teaching, we have seen that it 
 begins with the very commencement of Church history, after that recorded 
 in the New Testament, and continues steadily and increasingly, nearly 
 every century yielding one or more writers who persistently upheld the 
 doctrine that the tenth of a Christian's income is the property of, and 
 the least he should offer to, God. 
 
 47 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 So again, conversely, whilst we have found all these testimonies in 
 favor of the practice of tithing, we have not met with a single bishop of 
 those centuries who ever condemned or opposed the doctrine, or even 
 suggested that less than the tenth is a proper portion to be set apart for 
 God's service. Their teaching, too, was illustrated by their practice : for 
 the great bishops of the early Church were veritable fathers to the poor. 
 
 Christian teaching, practice, and legislation, therefore, on the subject 
 of tithing in England has been in perfect accord with similar teaching, 
 practice, and legislation throughout Continental Christendom, as will be 
 seen more comprehensively if the names of Christian teachers, legislators, 
 and Councils, mentioned in the previous chapters, be arranged under 
 their various countries and centuries for i,6oo years. 
 
 In A. D. 585 was held the second Council of Mascon, or Macon, in 
 the province of Lyons, attended by all the metropolitans and bishops of 
 Guntram's kingdom, in the Acts of which Council this decree is said to 
 have been passed: 
 
 "It behooves us to recall to their promitive state all other particulars 
 of the Holy Catholic faith, which we find to have become deteriorated 
 by lapse of time, lest we become adversaries to ourselves, while those 
 things which we know to affect the quality of our order we either do not 
 correct, or (which would be wickedness in us) pass them over in silence. 
 The divine laws, also, taking care of the priests and ministers of the 
 Church that they might have their hereditary portion, have commanded 
 all people to pay the tithes of their fruits to holy places, that they (the 
 clergy), being hindered by no sort of employment, may, at the appointed 
 hours, be at leisure for the spiritual duty of their ministry. Which laws 
 the whole body of Christians for a long time kept inviolate ; but now, by 
 degrees, almost all of them have shown themselves prevaricators of those 
 laws, since they neglect to fulfill the things which have been divinely or- 
 dained." 
 
 Thus we see tithe-paying here reckoned a matter of the Catholic 
 faith, and declared due by divine law ; and it is said to have been paid 
 by Christians generally, and for a long time past ; but that in consequence 
 of recent neglect, the Council would renew the ancient custom, under 
 penalty of excommunication to any who might refuse. 
 
 Moreover, if we ask again whether a man who withholds from reli- 
 gious and charitable purposes the tenth of his income be honest before 
 God, we are instructed by the teaching and practice of the whole Christian 
 Church to afifirm that "The Tithe is the Lord's," and whosoever does not 
 render that tithe, be he Christian or Jew, is in Scripture language a "rob- 
 ber of God." — Henry Lansdell, D. D. 
 
 That the early Church practiced the tithe can not be doubted. 
 
 "The Apostolic Canons, the Apostolical Constitution, St. Cyprian on 
 
 48 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 the Unity of the Church, and the works of St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, 
 St. Augustine, and the other fathers of both divisions of the Church 
 abound with allusions to it." (Chambers's Encyclopedia, title, "Tithe.") 
 
 "It is generally agreed by learned men that the ancients accounted 
 tithes to be due by divine right. Bellarmin, indeed, and Rivet, and Mr. 
 Selden place them upon another foot ; but our learned Bishop Andrews, 
 and Bishop Carleton, who wrote before Mr. Selden, and Bishop Montague 
 and Tillesly, who wrote in answer to him (not to mention many others 
 who have written since), have clearly proved that the ancients believed 
 the law about tithes not to be merely a ceremonial or political command, 
 but of moral and perpetual obligation." (Bingham.) 
 
 "So liberal, in the beginning of Christianity, was the devotion of the 
 believers, that their bounty to the evangelical priesthood far exceeded 
 what the tenth could have been." (Selden.) 
 
 Innumerable quotations might be made from the early fathers, but 
 only a few can be given. 
 
 "That instead of Thou shalt not commit adultery, Christ says. Thou 
 shalt not lust after any; instead of Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not be 
 angry ; instead of Thou shalt pay tithes, Sell all and give to the poor, which 
 are not dissolving of the law, but enlarging it." (Irenaeus.) 
 
 "The number ten is venerable also in the New Testament . . . and 
 because one Christ is the Author, Fountain, and Original of all, therefore 
 the people offer tithes to the ministers and priests. . . . And that we 
 may be further taught by God's own words that these things are to be ob- 
 served according to the letter, let us further note, the Lord saith in the 
 Gospel, Woe to you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who give tithes of mint, 
 anise, and cinnamon, but omit the greater things of the law ; ye hypocrites, 
 these things ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. 
 Mind well how the word of the Lord would, by all means, have the 
 greater things of the law done, but so as these things which are intended 
 to stand according to the letter he not omitted." (Origen.) 
 
 "O, what a shame is this ! that what was no great matter among the 
 Jews should be pretended to be so among Christians ; if it was a danger- 
 ous thing to fail of giving tithes then, to be sure it is more dangerous 
 now." (Chrysostom.) 
 
 "In harvest we ought to think of giving, or rather restoring, ti'thes to 
 God, who gives all we have, with thanksgiving, for the Giver of all is 
 pleased to require back a tenth from us, not for His profit, but ours : for 
 thus He promiseth by His prophet Malachi. Tithes are required as a debt, 
 and he that will not give them invades another's right." (Augustine.) 
 
 "Christians are not only bound to give tithes and firstfruits, but to sell 
 all; and if they will not do that, at least they ought to follow the begin- 
 
 4 49 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 nings of the Jews, to give the poor their share, and to the priests and 
 Levites the honor due to them ; he that doth not this manifestly deceives 
 and cheats God." (Jerome.) — Judge J. P. Hobson, of Kentucky. 
 
 That the law of the tithe was recognized, and the duty of conformity 
 to it enforced, is made very evident in the writings of the Fathers, in the 
 records of the Councils, and the history of the Church throughout the 
 centuries until we approach the period of the Reformation. Indeed, the 
 perversion of this law and the departure from it became the occasion of 
 the sale of indulgences and the ushering in of the Reformation. — Syl- 
 VANus Stahl, D. D. 
 
 The great danger of the United States and Canada is unconsecrated 
 prosperity. — Dr. Torrey. 
 
 What conclusion, then, shall we reach from all these theologians, 
 teachers, and authors from all points of the cultured world, with a con- 
 tinuous line of unbroken evidence from the Christian era to the Reforma- 
 tion, without a voice against the practice from the authorities of the 
 Church? Can there be a doubt as to the universal belief on this subject 
 during this stretch of centuries? We have not time nor space to take up 
 at length the action of the various Councils, but we have only to read 
 their proceedings to learn that they stamped with approval the well-known 
 custom of the tenth for the Lord. — John Wesley Du'Ncan. 
 
 Vast missionary enterprises of a colossal character hitherto unknown 
 in the history of the Christian Church have been launched. Enormous 
 sums of money will be necessary to carry these great projects into prac- 
 tical effect, and therefore an urgent Divine summons has gone forth calling 
 upon the Church to consecrate her wealth with a liberal hand that she may 
 enter upon the widening and whitening fields already ripe for the harvest. 
 This is no time for exhausted missionary treasuries. The ways and means 
 department must be fully equipped. The Lord's impoverished exchequer 
 must be abundantly replenished, even to overflowing, by the consecrated 
 offerings of His stewards, that there be no lack in meeting all the finan- 
 cial demands of the hour. — Christian Stezvard. 
 
 We have shown that God required the Jews to devote about one-third 
 of their income to religious purposes, and that as individuals and as a 
 nation He always blessed them with temporal prosperity when they kept 
 His commandments and put their trust in Him. We have given you 
 briefly not only the experience of the Israelites as a people, but of Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, 
 Hezekiah, Daniel and the "three Hebrew children," Zerubbabel, Ezra, and 
 Nehemiah. If these wonderful examples of God's fidelity in providing 
 for the temporal needs of His faithful children does not inspire faith in 
 God for the good things of earth, we are unable to say what will. — Rev. 
 S B. Shaw. 
 
 50 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 I believe the doctrine of the tithe is one of the fundamental truths of 
 the Scriptures. It is one of the great agencies for the progress of the 
 kingdom of Christ by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 This truth, like other truths, has at times been lost to the Church. 
 The Apostle Paul brought out the truth of justification by faith as clear 
 as the sunlight, but it got buried under the rubbish of human doctrine 
 during the Middle Ages, and had to be brought to the light again by Mar- 
 tin Luther. 
 
 So the doctrine of sanctification by faith was clearly taught by the 
 apostles, but it too was lost during the long night of the Middle Ages, and 
 was brought back again into deserved prominence by John Wesley and 
 his companions. 
 
 In like manner the duty of tithing, which, I think, ought to be called 
 a Christian doctrine, has been forgotten and should again be lifted to its 
 rightful place among the duties revealed by God. — Rev. W. C. Nash. 
 
 The law did not create tithes : it recognized tithes. Now, for a man 
 to say that he will not pay tithes because he is not under law simply means 
 that as an American citizen you have the right to kill, to commit adultery, 
 to bear false witness, to steal, because you are not under Hebrew law. 
 Law, my brother, does not create facts : law recognizes facts. The laws 
 that recognize eternal righteousness, in the relations of life, abide because 
 they recognize the nature of things. Right was before law ; law recog- 
 nizes the fact. 
 
 You read the pages of history, Arabian, Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, 
 you find on the pages of every great historic nation the payment of tithes 
 to the gods they worshiped; it was far more widespread than the law 
 setting apart one day in seven for rest. 
 
 The law of Judaism simply recognized the fact of tithes. Now Christ 
 commended it ; the law commanded it. What Christ commends is our 
 command. He looked into the faces of the Pharisees and said : "Ye 
 tithe mint and anise and cummin, but ye neglect righteousness and judg- 
 ment. These ought ye to have done and not to have left the other un- 
 done." — O. P. GiFFORD, D. D. 
 
 No man can live happily who regards himself alone: who turns 
 everything to his own advantage. Thou must live for another, if thou 
 wishest to live for thyself. — Seneca. 
 
 51 
 
CHAPTER III 
 THE TITHE LAW UNABROGATED 
 
 Prayer — O God, Thou knowest how often we have allowed other 
 gods, other things to occupy that place in our affections which 
 belongeth to Thee alone. Thou knowest how often we have been 
 selfish and thoughtless in our relationship to others. We have 
 enjoyed our good things, and have forgotten the brother who was 
 in need. We have been contented to walk in the light ourselves, 
 and neglect those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of 
 death. We have gone our way, occupied with the follies and the 
 trifles of the world, while our brother has gone down in sin with 
 no hand stretched out to save. O God, "have mercy upon us ac- 
 cording to Thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of 
 Thy tender mercies blot out our iniquities." Humble us before 
 Thee this day. O give us to love as He loved, to feel as He felt, 
 to pray as He prayed, to give as He gave, to serve as He served. — 
 Dr. Alfred GandiER, President Knox College, at Missionary 
 Congress. 
 
 This chapter might have been omitted from this volume were 
 it not that Satan is constantly attempting in the minds of many to 
 separate the Old Testament teachings (especially with regard to 
 tithing) from the New. On what other point in God's laws re- 
 specting the conduct of His children is there any question of 
 validity raised except that which touches upon the secular or 
 selfish concerns of men? 
 
 "Who," inquires Dr. Duncan, "is more likely in the sight of 
 God to be right: he who follows his own devices, setting up his 
 own standard, claiming the option to give as much or as little as 
 he pleases, or the great teachers of Christianity, from the very 
 beginning, singly and collectively, upholding the Scriptural doc- 
 trine of not less than a tenth ? Surely in this case we may safely 
 
 52 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 listen to the voice of the Church." Let us hear John Ruskin in 
 "Seven Lamps Architecture" on this subject, when he says rever- 
 ently : "And let us not now lose sight of this broad and unabro- 
 gated principle — I might say incapable of being abrogated so long 
 as men shall receive earthly gifts from God. Of all that they have 
 His tithe must be rendered to Him, or in so far and insomuch He 
 is forgotten : of the skill and of the treasure, of the strength and 
 of the mind, of the time and of the toil oiTering must be made rev- 
 erently ; and if there be any difference between the Levitical and 
 the Christian offering, it is that the latter may be just so much the 
 wider in its range as it is typical in its meaning, as it is thankful 
 instead of sacrificial." 
 
 The very instructive comments of this chapter are those of 
 ministers and laymen who practice and preach Scriptural stand- 
 ards of stewardship. Any one of these ought possibly to suffice 
 in proof that tithing nemains an unrepealed obligation. 
 
 In the multiplicity of them, however, new thoughts may be 
 presented that will enlighten and encourage others to advocate 
 and practice tithing. The writer can say from his own experience 
 that this book would probably never have been compiled had not a 
 faithful pastor and a fellow layman years ago pointed out the 
 neglect of the Church in lending obedience to the command, 
 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be 
 meat in Mine house." The reason that the tithe is not more gener- 
 ally observed may be traced primarily to a lack of proper instruc- 
 tion in regard to it. No subject in all the Bible will receive more 
 willing and responsive attention from the laity than a proper pre- 
 sentation of the duty of devotion of earthly possessions to God. 
 
 There are some duties which the Bible seems to recognize as under- 
 stood from the beginning. There is no mention of their origin and first 
 announcement. The duty of tithe-giving — of giving one-tenth of one's 
 entire income to the Lord — is one of these duties which seems to have 
 needed the record of no original announcement or injunction. Like prayer, 
 tithe-giving was practiced by the patriarchs long before the proclamation 
 of the Mosaic law. While, as in the case of prayer, it finds no specific 
 mention in the Decalogue, tithe-giving has had, and it has, a widespread 
 recognition in the world — a recognition that would be as nearly universal 
 
 53 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 as that given to prayer, if it were not that it costs so much more. The 
 duty of tithe-giving certainly seems to stand out in the Bible as a duty 
 of equal obligation with prayer ; and its willful violation appears to be 
 there counted just as surely deserving of condemnation as the breach 
 of any or all of the Ten Commandments. — Sunday School Times. 
 
 The gospel does not set aside the law, but enables us to fulfill it, 
 through the indwelling life of Christ. As Dr. Russell says, "A Christian 
 who refuses to give a tithe of his income to God is not in grace, but in dis- 
 grace." If the gospel does not enable us to live up to the requirements of 
 the law, it does not yet rule our hearts with power. 
 
 The principle of the tithe does not exhaust the Scriptural idea of 
 stewardship, but it is a fundamental part of it. As a matter of fact the 
 systematic giving of at least one-tenth of one's income to God is almost 
 always a stepping stone into higher standards of stewardship and sacrifice 
 than many Christians have made. 
 
 Fundamentally, it is a question of whether the love of money or the 
 love of God is to be the master passion of the life. If the love of God is 
 allowed to dominate in all one's life-plans, the outward manifestation of 
 this love will appear as obedience to the will of God. "If ye love Me, ye 
 will keep My commandments" (John 14:15). If therefore one would 
 have the perfect antidote to the spirit of covetousness, he will find it in 
 the adoption of the principles of stewardship revealed in the Word of 
 God. 
 
 The Old Testament rule for overcoming covetousness was to give 
 back to God the first tenth of all the blessings He bestowed upon His 
 people. Without abrogating this principle, the New Testament goes on to 
 set up a much higher standard of liberality. There is probably no other 
 single test of whether the love of money or the love of God is stronger 
 in a man's life, than the test of his willingness to give habitually to God at 
 least a tithe of all his income. 
 
 It is inconceivable that God should ever have asked and insisted on 
 His people giving to Him at least one-tenth of their income, unless there 
 had been in human nature some fundamental necessity for such systematic 
 recognition of God's ownership of all wealth. The law was certainly not 
 given because God needed the money, but because His people needed to 
 give it. Every law of God is as benevolent in its purpose as the love 
 of God itself. The law of the tithe is merely the expression of God's 
 tender solicitude for His people, lest they grow hard and mean in the ad- 
 ministration of His gifts. — J. Campbell White. 
 
 The doctrine of "tithes" — giving one-tenth of all our income to sus- 
 tain His cause — was evidently God's original plan; His law for giving 
 from the beginning, which has never been abrogated. In the beginning 
 
 54 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 God set apart two things for Himself alone, viz., one-seventh of our time 
 and one-tenth of our income. The former He called the "Day of Rest" 
 and the latter the "Tithe." It is important here to note that the "tithe" is 
 that portion of a man's income which belongs to the Lord and not to 
 himself (Lev. 27:30). "The tithe is the Lord's . . . it is holy unto 
 the Lord ;" that is, no man has a right to it, and never had in any age 
 of the world, nor has any man a right to it to-day. It belongs to the Lord 
 and to Him alone. It is His own. 
 
 So strikingly true is this that the prophet Malachi (3:8) says that 
 when a man withholds the tithe or applies it to his own uses, he actually 
 "robs God," because he employs as his own what belongs to God alone, 
 as "holy unto the Lord." — L. B. Hartman, D. D. 
 
 That day in a measure has come in this laymen's uprising. What 
 a spring there has been ! What a revelation of the truth that "My yoke 
 is easy and My burden is light !" Not that sacrifice is not involved. // 
 is; and much of it. The ease is not the ease that begets indifferent serv- 
 ice: it is the ease that marks Love's work, and differentiates between hu- 
 man drudgery and divine ministry. — Col. E. W. Halford. 
 
 Leviticus calls new machinery into existence, but it affirms the old 
 principle of a proportion for God. The New Testament modifies the ma- 
 chinery, but it does not abrogate the principle. 
 
 Now we plead for this systematic giving, albeit it is disliked by the 
 covetous, who deem all lost that is given away; by the heretics, who think 
 we may do what we will with our own ; by the lazy, who dislike the 
 trouble of examining and deciding; by the double-minded, who, wish to 
 have a byway by which to escape duty somewhere between "God and 
 their own conscience." — Dr. John Hall. 
 
 I believe that the old direction, or rather law, about consecrating 
 one-tenth of the income to the Lord holds good to-day. It was n't insti- 
 tuted as a type of Christ, you know, and therefore was not annulled as 
 the types were, when He came. We think the tenth is as much His own 
 to-day as it ever was, and therefore we use it for His work, He gra- 
 ciously permitting us to act according to our judgment as to where to 
 spend it. , . , 
 
 Suppose you were to give me a hundred dollars a year, with this ex- 
 planation : I furnish you this, or the means of securing this, for your own 
 needs ; you are to spend it as carefully and as conscientiously as you can, 
 for whatever you intelligently believe it ought to be spent, with this excep- 
 tion: one-tenth of it is to be given every year to the support of whatever 
 object you might choose to name. Would I have any right to use the 
 entire sum and say I had no money for that cause? — Pansy (Mrs. G, R. 
 Alden), in "The Pocket Measure." 
 
 55 
 
GEMS, OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 The tithe, from the teaching of God's Word, is certainly God's only 
 method for financing His Church, the greatest institution on earth. No 
 one says that one-seventh of our time was abrogated by the death of 
 Christ; neither was the tithe. And so universally in the days of Christ 
 were these two truths fixed in the minds and hearts of the people that it 
 seemed to need no argument or special commands concerning them, but a 
 clear recognition of these great truths as we find them in the New Testa- 
 ment practices. And if they were abrogated in any sense, why did our 
 Lord give them His approval? — C. H. McDowell. 
 
 The law of the tithe is found in Lev. 27 : 30 ; for example : "And all 
 the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or the fruit of the 
 tree, is the Lord's, it is holy unto the Lord." 
 
 But this is not the origin of the tithe. It is a common, almost uni- 
 versal, misconception to suppose that the tithe was originally a part of the 
 Mosaic ceremonial law, an invention to provide for the poor Levites who 
 had no inheritance among the tribes, and therefore of local and temporary 
 obligation. Nothing could be farther from the fact as can easily and con- 
 clusively be shown. 
 
 The tithe is first mentioned in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, over 
 400 years before Moses commanded the children of Israel to tithe, and be- 
 fore there were any Jews, or any Levites. You remember the story, how 
 certain kings raided Sodom, and carried away all the inhabitants, includ- 
 ing Lot, Abram's brother, and all the spoil of the city. You remember how 
 Abram, with a few picked men, pursued after the raiders, routed them, 
 and recaptured all the persons and all the goods. As he returned he met 
 Melchizedek, priest of God Most High, "and gave him a tenth of all." 
 Without hesitation Abram joyfully pays to this representative of God a 
 tenth, while he sternly refuses to accept for himself so much as a "thread 
 or a shoe latchet," although the King of Sodom urges him to take all the 
 remaining nine-tenths for himself. 
 
 Evidently Abram was familiar with the obligation and meaning of the 
 tithe and knew of God's claim on the tenth. Who taught Abram to tithe, 
 and who taught Abram's teacher? We must believe that somewhere 
 back in those dim ages of the beginning, when God was laying the ever- 
 lasting foundation of His kingdom. He placed His divine hand on the 
 one-tenth of the increase of material things, and forever asserted His 
 lien on our substance, which was long afterward formulated into written 
 law — "The tithe is the Lord's." 
 
 There is really only one way in which a law may be repealed. The 
 same power, or authority that enacted the law may by the same equally 
 formal process repeal the same. 
 
 Therefore, God might have declared the law of the tithe abrogated, 
 or repealed, by some of His prophets speaking authoritatively for Him, 
 
 56 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 but instead of that, by the mouth of His latest Old Testament prophet, 
 Malachi, He reannounces His ancient law with terrific emphasis, and 
 closes His old covenant with promises of blessing to those who obey Him 
 in this matter of the tithe, and reproach and denunciation of those who are 
 disobedient. 
 
 God might have annulled the law of the tithe by the word of Him who 
 came "not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it," but instead Jesus laid a 
 tremendous emphasis, and an untold weight of obligation on the old law, 
 when He said that men ought to tithe. "Woe unto you, scribes and Phari- 
 sees, hypocrites, for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin and have left 
 undone the weightier matters of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith; 
 but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone." 
 How that ponderous ought from Jesus' lips should thunder in our ears, 
 and in our hearts, and in our conscience. 
 
 So that we find the law of the tithe in full force to-day, and binding 
 on the entire human race. — Harry Whitcomb. 
 
 The only explanation why tithing strikes us as Judaistic is because we 
 have neglected it in our Churches. All that was typical passed away with 
 the old dispensation. All that was a shadow passed away on the coming 
 of the substance, which is Christ. The bloody sacrifices naturally passed 
 away. Why not? The necessity also for the altar and the white robed 
 priests and Levites to serve at the altar, together with the date of con- 
 vocation and the various feasts. These ought to have passed away. But 
 will you show us in what sense giving a tenth of a man's substance reli- 
 giously to God should have any reason to pass away? We can think 
 of many reasons why it should continue. Was it typical of anything 
 which it fulfilled? Is it in any way a shadow? If so, what did it fore- 
 shadow ? 
 
 We venture to assert that nothing about it has passed except the 
 destination of the wealth so amassed. Then it was allotted to the main- 
 tenance of the temple and the sacrifices of the temple. Now it is destined 
 to that world-wide work of evangelism made possible by the sacrifice of 
 Christ. — Frank O. Ballard, D. D. 
 
 And if the twenty-seven books of the New Testament did not contain 
 a single reference to the tithe, nor a single passage which could by any 
 stretch of charity be interpreted as referring to the custom of tithing, 
 nevertheless, since we know the teaching of the Old Testament on the 
 subject, and since we know the relation of the New to the Old on all 
 other doctrines and customs of religious and spiritual import, we could 
 determine with confidence and certainty the attitude of the New Testa- 
 ment on this question. Therefore, it is simply unthinkable that the 
 doctrine of Christian stewardship could mean giving a smaller proportion 
 
 57 
 
GEMS. OI^ THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 than one-tenth; for if the New Testament let down the Old Testament 
 standard with respect to the tithe, it is the one solitary exception in all 
 the range of moral and rehgious obligations. — Loren M. Edwards, B. D. 
 
 Question. — Is not this idea of tithe-giving a narrow, legal, Jewish 
 view of the whole question? Should we not consecrate the whole of our 
 income, rather than a small fraction? 
 
 Answer. — Every true tithe-giver does consecrate the whole of his 
 property, but he also specifically gives at least one-tenth for the spread of 
 the kingdom of God, while the average gift of Christians for this purpose 
 is not one-hundredth part of their income. This is a Christian vow, and 
 is not a Jewish law simply because the Jews practiced it. The Ten Com- 
 mandments and the Sabbath belong to the Christian as well as to the Jew. 
 — J. Willis Baer. 
 
 There is not a shred of evidence that this law of the tithe has ever 
 yet been fulfilled or abrogated. There is not a particle of evidence that 
 it ever will be fulfilled, or annulled, until the gospel has been preached to 
 every creature, until the final and complete establishment of the kingdom 
 of our Redeemer in the world. — E. L. Miller. 
 
 Opposition to the tithe, these days, usually means the person so op- 
 posing does not pay to the Church even one-tenth. Such person should be 
 made to blush by the example of the Jew and heathen. 
 
 The subjects of money and covetousness are mentioned in one out of 
 every six verses in the New Testament. If the law of the tithe had been 
 done away, or if Christians had been expected to pay less, the change 
 certainly would have been mentioned, but it is not. The tithe of money 
 to the Lord continues in the very nature of the relation between man and 
 God.^. M. Stanfield. 
 
 The tithe was not a Jewish institution and peculiarity or attached to 
 their nation alone, but was a primitive and universal demand, and in due 
 time was, as we may say, like the sacred writings inwrapped and pre- 
 served in that economy. The tithe belonged to the Melchizedekan priest- 
 hood, which was the universal priesthood, prior to the Aaronic, and is now 
 perpetuated in Christ, who is a High Priest forever, after the order of 
 Melchizedek. — A. Carman, D. D. 
 
 There has been no repealing of the law either expressly or by implica- 
 tion. In which of the four Evangelists shall we find the revocation? 
 Where in the Acts of the Apostles? In which of the Epistles? Where in 
 the Apocalypse? — Rev. Richard Duke. 
 
 There is a picturesque corroborative argumment to these words of 
 Jesus given by the unknown writer of the book of Hebrews, where in the 
 seventh chapter he compares the quaint character of Melchizedek with our 
 
 58 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Master. He recalls and emphasizes in six dififerent clauses the giving of 
 tithes by Abraham to the king of Salem, and then speaks of "another 
 priest" who has arisen, but who shall be a priest forever after the order 
 of Melchizedek. The logical conclusion is unavoidable, that if the paying 
 of tithes was approved in Abraham as he offered his homage to the first 
 Melchizedek, so the giving of the tenth would be part of the humble 
 service to be rendered to that greater King of Peace, who shall be "a 
 Priest forever." — Chas. E. Locke, D. D. 
 
 There has been no change in the Law of Giving. It is urged that in 
 the New Testament dispensation Christians have greater liberties than 
 under the old dispensation, and to say that the law of the tenth is still in 
 force is to increase rather than decrease our burdens. It is freely granted 
 that the ceremonial law of the Jews was repealed, and that privileges of 
 believers greatly enlarged and also that their responsibilities are increased. 
 But there were some things not repealed by Christ : the institution of mar- 
 riage, the Law of the Sabbath, the Moral Law, and the Law of Giving. 
 These all pass over without being repealed into the new dispensation. — 
 F. M. Van Trees, D. D. 
 
 We are sure that we speak after both the letter and the spirit of the 
 New Testament in urging systematic and proportional giving. We believe 
 that we speak after the mind of Christ in suggesting that in general the 
 Christian should set aside for the service of God and man not less than 
 one-tenth of his income. Just here we are met by the suggestion that an 
 Old Testament system of tithing is not adapted to our modern and complex 
 age; that it is very difficult for many men to determine what is their net 
 income after paying the legitimate expenses necessary to obtain their in- 
 come; where the line is to be drawn between the relatives who have a 
 legitimate — almost a legal — claim upon them, and humanity in general. 
 A moment's thought will suffice to show that this objection is not against 
 tithing, but against all proportional giving; that it is a plea for the old 
 lack of system which has left the Church with an empty treasury in face 
 of the greatest opportunity of the ages — a plea for the lack of system which 
 has been one of the most fruitful sources of failure in the business world. 
 However much effort may be required to ascertain the facts, the exact 
 knowledge of one's income and expenditure and of his financial condition 
 is one of the deepest needs of Christians, not only on religious, but on 
 financial grounds. — Bishop Bashford. 
 
 I believe in systematic and liberal giving in the Christian Church, 
 giving much more liberal and systematic than the Mosaic, for the reason 
 that in view of the unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ, we have an in- 
 finitely greater motive for giving than the men who lived under the Mo- 
 saic dispensation. — Daniel F. Bradley, D. D. 
 
 59 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 I have heard it objected that there is a passage in Hebrews 7:12 
 which after speaking of Jesus being made a Priest after the order of 
 Melchizedek says, "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of 
 necessity a change also of the law." And the inference is, they would have 
 us think, that with the change of the priesthood the law of the tithe is 
 abrogated. On the contrary, the whole argument is for the establishment 
 of the tithe. It is proved that the tithe did not belong to Levi exclusively, 
 because Melchizedek received tithes, and what is more Levi paid tithes to 
 Melchizedek. Now when the priesthood is changed to Christ, the tithes 
 must be paid to Him. And even Levi, who paid tithes to Melchizedek, 
 must now begin to pay tithes to Jesus. — Rev. W. R. Laird. 
 
 In deciding what we owe the Master, we should at least not fall 
 below those rules which the experience of ages has confirmed as wise, 
 and which are of universal acceptance by the civil courts in determining 
 what we owe our fellow-men. Among the accepted canons on this subject 
 which may be found in any law text-book, are the following: 
 
 1. A temporary statute, expiring by its own limitation, leaves the law 
 as it found it. 
 
 2. Repeal by implication is not favored, and is never allowed, unless 
 the repugnance between the new provision and the old is plain, and the tzvo 
 provisions are irreconcilable. 
 
 3. The zvhole statute must be read together, and the real intention of 
 the law-giver must prevail. 
 
 Under each of the three above rules it is submitted that the case of 
 the tithe is made out, and that a clearer case is hard to find in the courts. 
 If a civil case falls within any of these rules it is sustained. If, in a 
 matter of money between one man and another, one of these rules would 
 be sufficient, shall not all three suffice in a matter between us and our 
 Maker? If the matter is doubtful in deciding our own case, we should 
 solve the doubt in His favor.— Judge J. P. Hobson, of Kentucky. 
 
 This proportionate giving has come to be known among us as "tith- 
 ing," a word which connects it with Judaism, against which many people 
 have a strong prejudice. The practice of "tithing," however, is neither 
 Judaism nor Mosaic in its origin. It is older than the one and much more 
 extensive than the other. For Christian people to give universally one- 
 tenth of their income to the Lord Jesus, would in no way be a return to 
 "Jewish Legalism." The phrase is really nothing but a "great scare- 
 crow," set up by some who are forever croaking about the "liberty of 
 the gospel," and "not under law but under grace." In the minds of most 
 of this class "liberty" is looseness, and "grace" is "gratifying the flesh 
 with its affections and lusts." Law can never exact more than love will 
 give freely. — James E. Rogers, D. D. 
 
 60 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 For these three reasons I would urge that every reader of this article 
 become a Christian steward. First, because he alone who does so faces 
 facts as they are; second, because he alone who does so proves himself 
 loyal to the evident teachings of his Lord; and third, because he alone 
 who does so meets the need of the Kingdom of God at its sorest point. — 
 Rev. Willis L. Gelston. 
 
 And how can the amount be determined better than by some such rule 
 as tithing? Our obligation is certain, and the State or any other creditor 
 is not satisfied by an excuse that we are devoted to science or are sup- 
 porting a number of poor relatives. If the tenth is the Lord's, it should 
 be placed at the disposal of the Church as promptly as the payment of 
 any debt, and the Church would then have the privilege of helping the 
 poor, and thus it would come as from God. 
 
 Paying or giving should be systematic and proportionate, firstfruits 
 and not the dregs. Seek first the Kingdom of God. The Old Testament 
 gives all the light needed on this matter, and so Paul ordered the Churches 
 in Corinth and Galatia (i Cor. i6: i, 2). — G. F. Metzler, Ph. D. 
 
 There remains yet one objection to the tithing plan, that must receive 
 brief notice. The matter of tithing is not spoken of directly by any of the 
 apostles, nor are any of the Churches enjoined by them to pay tithe. But 
 the inan who thinks to escape the payment of tithes by such a plea as 
 this has overreached himself: for (i) Christ taught it, as has been shown 
 in the comment on Matt. 23 : 23. That alone would be sufficient. (2) 
 The commandment to pay tithes having been once made by God Himself, 
 it would remain in force forever, if not countermanded, and the reason 
 for its continuance existed as in the beginning. Therefore if there was no 
 mention made of it in the entire New Testament, it would not affect the 
 case in the least. And, strongest of all, we find (3) that the teaching of 
 the apostles, and of Christ Himself, if strictly followed, would lead to 
 the sacrifice not merely of a tithe, but of all our possessions ! — E. J. Wag- 
 goner. 
 
 This is God's plan for financing His Church. He has revealed no 
 other. The payment of the tithe from God's people will not only provide 
 means for the support and advancement of the Master's kingdom, but 
 it will develop in the unselfish and consecrated Christian a beautiful 
 Christlike character. Indeed, many persons speaking from a real experi- 
 ence on this subject declare the financial benefits accruing from the faith- 
 ful observance of the tithe is not to be placed in comparison to the higher 
 spiritual blessings which enrich and ennoble the giver. — John Wesley 
 Duncan, D. D. 
 
 Christ came to fulfill the law, to confirm it to the least iota, and ful- 
 filling is the perfecting, not the destruction of anything. Hence the pay- 
 
 61 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 ment of tithes and offerings applicable to the support of the ministry and 
 to other religions and charitable works is clearly the duty of Christians, 
 unless it can be shown that Christ repealed God's law previously pro- 
 mulgated, and this He never did, but rather confirmed it by approving the 
 tithe payments of the Pharisees and by ordaining that they who preach the 
 gospel should live of the gospel. Besides, what was it that the Lord 
 ordained? That every man should give just what he pleased? This men 
 could do without any ordinance being issued to that end. That which 
 leaves every man perfectly at his own liberty is no law at all ; and if every 
 man were left thus to act, Christ ordained what amounted to nothing. 
 
 The great Apostle of the Gentiles, therefore, seems to lay down two 
 great principles : One, that tithes and offerings of the faithful are due for 
 the furtherance of the gospel; the other, that every one should lay up in 
 store on Sunday, in proportion to his income, so as to have a fund from 
 which distribution may be made as needed. — Dr. Lansdell. 
 
 Those who have any doubt as to the obligation under the present dis- 
 pensation to pay tithes are commended to the words of England's great- 
 est Christian statesman, W. E. Gladstone : "To constitute a moral obli- 
 gation," he says, "it is not necessary that we have a positive command. 
 Probable evidence is binding as well as demonstrative evidence; nay, it 
 constitutes the greatest portion of the subject matter of duty. And there- 
 fore a dim view of religious truth entails an obligation to follow it, as real 
 and valid as that which results from a clear and full comprehension." — 
 Thos. Kane. 
 
 // the tithe system is for Christians, why do we not read more about 
 it in the New Testament? I do not know. I have the same feeling about 
 many other things. I wish sometimes there were more in the New Testa- 
 ment about the "Lord's day," "the sin of saloons," "building meeting 
 houses," "Church government," "colleges," "religious journalism," etc. 
 And I wish there were more about the "future state," "spiritual body," 
 "heaven," etc. If I were to attempt to explain the comparative silence 
 of the New Testament on the tithe system, I would say that the Bible 
 of the first Christians was the Old Testament. They were well taught 
 already in this system. The Jews and Gentiles knew well its practical 
 working. Christ had nothing to add to this plan of finance save the spirit- 
 ual motive of love to God and love to man, without which all giving is 
 nothing. The New Testament leaves the tithe as it found it, to be used 
 to the glory of God through the guiding spirit and the good, common 
 business sense of consecrated and loyal disciples. — G. L. Wharton. 
 
 Surely God's taking His children out of tutelage, and putting them 
 upon a plane of responsibility, with Himself, for the conversion of the 
 world, relieving us of the letter of the law as to tithes, and leaving what 
 
 62 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 we are to do in this great field a matter of love and appreciation, can not 
 diminish the amount we ought to give for His cause. — Golden Censer. 
 
 But you can do something financially. The first thing of a practical 
 kind that you can do is to put your own giving on the Scriptural basis. God 
 sets before us in His Word a great ideal of conquest. It is a tremen- 
 dously inspiring thing as we remember that our Christ shall become the 
 crowned King of all the nations of the earth. But just alongside of that 
 great truth that runs through the entire Scripture He has put another 
 set of principles, and He has linked the two together. And one is de- 
 pendent on the other, and no man has any right to accept the Scriptural 
 standard of the conquest of this world for Christ, who does not at the 
 same time accept the Scriptural standard of the consecration of his life 
 and wealth to that end. (Applause.) Now, that is not an exaggerated 
 statement at all. Those things are everywhere throughout the whole Word 
 of God, and you will be surprised to find how much the Bible has to say 
 about the consecration of your life and substance to this service of Christ. 
 And no man need ever hope to see the world won to God until he first 
 puts himself on this basis of Scriptural giving. And you know what that 
 is. Nowhere in the Scripture does it say that a man shall give less than 
 a tenth. I am not going into that. But if you are giving less than a 
 tenth to-day you are giving less than the Scripture says you ought to give. 
 You ought to give more than a tenth. — Rev. D. Clay Lilly, at Mission- 
 ary Congress. 
 
 63 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 JESUS AND THE TITHE 
 
 Prayer — I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the 
 world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They 
 are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify 
 them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth. As Thou hast 
 sent Me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world. — ■ 
 John 17: 15-18. 
 
 The life and utterances of our Divine Master are significant 
 and beautiful when viewed from the standpoint of One who left 
 the glory and spiritual resources of Heaven and came to this 
 earth, descending even here among the most lowly, where it is 
 said "He had not where to lay His head." And while from His 
 lips never a word against tithing was uttered, but on the contrary 
 a strong "ought ye to have done," we find Him watching the treas- 
 uries of the temple and commenting upon her gifts whose mite 
 was counted more than they all, because she gave all she had. In 
 calling the reader's special attention to the following reverent 
 thoughts and comments we do so in the belief that the attitude of 
 our Lord and Master will have great weight in influencing men to 
 lay aside all evasive argument, and conclude that to be a real 
 steward one must step upon a higher plane of thought and action 
 regarding the first fruits of our lives and possessions. That the 
 first and least service we ought to render to Him for the cause for 
 which He gave His life is the very best, the choicest of the first 
 fruits of our earthly gifts so lovingly bestowed day by day and 
 week by week, and thereafter as He may prosper, and open our 
 spiritual vision we may with grateful hearts be led to give free- 
 will offerings from the remaining nine-tenths that He has en- 
 trusted to His servants. 
 
 64 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 John Ruskin, whom we quote in Chapter III on "The Tithe 
 Unabrogated," comments very forcibly in "Time and Tide" upon 
 the attitude of our Lord in these words : 
 
 "First, have you observed that all Christ's main teachings by 
 direct order, by earnest parable, and by His own permanent emo- 
 tion, regard the use and misuse of money? We might have 
 thought, if we had been asked what a divine teacher was most 
 likely to teach, that He would have left inferior persons to give 
 directions about money ; and Himself spoken only concerning faith 
 and love, and the discipline of the passions, and the guilt of 
 the crimes of soul against soul. But not so. He speaks in general 
 terms of these. But He does not speak parables about them 
 for all men's memory, nor permit Himself fierce indignation 
 against them, in all men's sight. The Pharisees bring Him an 
 adultress. He writes her forgiveness on the dust of which He 
 had formed her. Another despised of all for known sin, He 
 recognized as a giver of unknown love. But He acknowledges 
 no love in buyers and sellers in His house. One should have 
 thought there were people in that house twenty times worse 
 than they ; Caiaphas and his like — false priests, false prayer- 
 makers, false leaders of the people — who needed putting to si- 
 lence, or to flight, with darkest wrath. But the scourge is only 
 against the traffickers and thieves. The two most intense of all 
 the parables: the two which lead the rest in love and in terror 
 (this of the Prodigal, and of Dives) relate, both of them, to 
 management of riches. The practical order given to the only 
 seeker of advice, of whom it is recorded that Christ 'loved him,' 
 is briefly about his property. 'Sell that thou hast.' " 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that the law of giving the tenth to 
 God is merely Levitical. Search and look for yourselves, and you will 
 find it is like the Sabbath a far older rule, running through the Bible, and 
 endorsed, not abrogated, by Christ Himself. — Frances Ridley Havergal. 
 
 Brethren of the ministry and laity of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 let us fulfill the prophecies. Let the sacred words of Jesus which so often 
 fell from His lips be in our hearts and on our tongues and ring out in 
 our songs and in our petitions "that the prophecies may be fulfilled." Let 
 us begin to obey with unquestioning faith the third of Malachi and tenth 
 
 5 65 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 verse. Other means may succeed; this can not fail. — The late Bishop C. 
 C. McCabe. 
 
 Every Bible student must admit that tithing was enjoined upon the 
 Jews and that Christ as a Jew kept the law, and the inference seems in- 
 evitable that our Lord paid tithes, and it is clear that He expected His 
 disciples to do likewise. "For except your righteousness shall exceed the 
 righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into 
 the Kingdom of heaven." 
 
 So we find this law of the tithe in the New Testament also, and not 
 a tittle against it in either Gospels or Epistles. You state the law was 
 abrogated. Who abrogated it? Is the law of the Sabbath abrogated? 
 Any argument which will abrogate one will abrogate the other. That 
 which passed away was the symbolical and figurative ; tithing was neither, 
 but a duty issuing from the moral law, and is of perpetual force. 
 
 We come now to study the example and teaching of our Lord on this 
 subject. We hear Him saying, "I come not to destroy the law, but to 
 keep it." 
 
 The leading religionists of His time were tithe payers. There were 
 two general divisions of the people at that time, viz. : the instructed and 
 the uninstructed. The instructed were those who observed the laws re- 
 lating to purity and the tithe, while the uninstructed were the people of 
 the land who knew not and cared not for the law and were regarded by 
 the learned as accursed. 
 
 "Surely we could not class our Lord with the illiterate and unin- 
 structed. He was certainly not so regarded by His contemporaries. The 
 crowds were astonished at His teaching from the early age of twelve when 
 He questioned with the learned men in the temple, until He blest the 
 disciples on Olivet and went back to the bosom of the Father." 
 
 Think you the Pharisee would have invited the Master to dine with 
 him if He had not been an observer of the law? Luke 11:37 and 14: i. 
 His rigid enemies never once accused Him of not paying tithes. The 
 Roman centurion, knowing Jesus to be an observer of the law, would not 
 ask Him to come under his roof lest He be defiled. 
 
 Do we need further evidence? Was He not circumcised in the eighth 
 day in keeping with the law? Was He not taken to the feasts at Jeru- 
 salem to spend the tithe or its equivalent in clean money? When John 
 hesitated about baptizing Him, did He not say, "Thus it becometh us to 
 fulfill all righteousness?" Did He not instruct the lepers to go and show 
 themselves to the priests, etc. ? Looking upon our Lord's perfect example 
 in keeping the law, do we not infer that He kept the law as to the tithe 
 and doubtless exceeded its requirements? — John Wesley Duncan, in 
 "Our Christian Stewardship." 
 
 66 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Jesus was never charged by the keen, critical, envious Pharisees of 
 His day with failure to pay tithes. Had He not paid His tithe, no doubt 
 they would have seized upon that fact in their bitter persecutions of Him 
 and His followers. No mention is made of such a charge against Him. 
 We infer, therefore, that He was a tither. 
 
 But what was the teaching of our Lord on this question? Opponents 
 seem reasonable in their demand that we produce Scriptural records on 
 this point. Jesus said distinctly that He came not to destroy the law, 
 but to fulfill it (Matt. 5: 17-19). Also when a lawyer asked Him, "Mas- 
 ter, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said, "What is written in 
 the law?" (Luke 10:25, 26.) Thus Jesus appealed to the law, and the 
 law enjoined tithing. When Christians adopt the tithe as a minimum 
 they often realize spiritual blessing that tends to enlargement of heart 
 and breadth of spiritual vision, leading them to heroic acts of self-sacrifice 
 for Him they love, and so they deem it a pleasure to supplement their 
 tithe by liberal free-will offerings. — W. S. Daniels, B. A., B. D. 
 
 "The simple principles respecting wealth, which we have gathered 
 during the course of our inquiry principles which are nothing more than 
 the literal and practical acceptance of the saying, which is in all good 
 men's mouths ; namely, that they are stewards or ministers of whatever 
 talents are entrusted to them. Only, is it not a strange thing that while 
 we more or less accept the meaning of that saying, so long as it is con- 
 sidered metaphorical, we never accept its meaning in its own terms? You 
 know the lesson is given us under the form of a story about money. Money 
 was given to the servants to make use of: the unprofitable servant dug 
 in the earth, and hid his Lord's money. Well we, in our poetical and 
 spiritual application of this, say that of course money does n't mean money ; 
 it means wit, it means intellect, it means influence in high quarters, it 
 means everything in the world except itself. And do not you see what a 
 pretty and pleasant come-ofif there is for most of us in this spiritual appli- 
 cation?" — John Ruskin, in "A Joy Forever." 
 
 It will surprise you to know how much of the teaching of the Bible 
 is devoted, directly or indirectly, to the subject of money. Parable after 
 parable of Jesus deals with it ; chapter after chapter in the Epistles, texts 
 abundant in other parts of the Word of God emphasize the large place 
 money has in Christian life and work. 
 
 "There is needed," said Horace Bushnell, "one more revival among 
 Christians, a revival of Christian giving. When that revival comes the 
 Kingdom of God will come in a day." 
 
 "At the present time," says a writer in the Missionary Review of Re- 
 views, "one thing alone hinders the progress of Christ's Kingdom. It 
 hinders an immediate forward movement along the whole line. It pre- 
 
 67 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 vents the more rapid evangelization of our own country. In some measure 
 it hinders the work and cause of Christ in almost every Church. This one 
 thing is the lack of money." 
 
 Quite natural, therefore, that the Lord Jesus Christ should be deeply 
 interested in the money question. — John Y. Ewart, D. D., in Herald and 
 Presbyter. 
 
 And the acts of Christ are in the same direction as His words. How 
 freely He gave ! He keeps nothing back — from the five loaves and two 
 fishes, all that was on hand for His whole company — through gifts of 
 healing, up to His own "life a ransom for many." A woman brought out 
 her stored ointment and poured it on Him. The covetous Judas grudged 
 the money's worth so wasted ; and some of the disciples shared in the ex- 
 ception. How Jesus vindicated her ! Even the plea set up for the cen- 
 turion by the Jews, "He loveth our nation and hath built us a synagogue," 
 which a right instinct brought before Christ, He does not spurn in dis- 
 regard. — Dr. John Hall. 
 
 Jesus exalted the duty of almsgiving, and placed it, Dr. Wayland used 
 to say, on a level with prayer and a holy life. He did not teach that 
 wealth in itself is a sin. Industry and thrift that lead to the accumulation 
 of wealth are commendable virtues. But covetousness, love of money, 
 and selfish enjoyment of it are sinful. Jesus warned the people against 
 these sins in language that fairly blisters. Men have sought in various 
 ways to explain away, or avoid the force of His words, but without suc- 
 cess. No changing conditions, no lapse of time can change the truth. 
 "The centuries have not bulged the needle's eye." It may be said as 
 truly now as then, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter in !" — 
 Rev. Chas. W. Harsh man. 
 
 Jesus Christ and His disciples, being Jews, were tithers. Jesus came 
 not to destroy the old covenant, but to supplant it by a better one. Heb. 
 8:6-10. The tithe of the Old Testament, as we have seen, rested upon a 
 divine principle. In fact, all the laws of the old dispensation were but 
 expressions of great underlying principles. Take the Master's teachings 
 in Matthew 5, and we find that in the Christian He looks for a greater 
 expression than He looked for in the Hebrew of old. How can we meas- 
 ure up to our responsibility unless we make the tithe the minimum of 
 what we lay aside for God's work? — Rev. A. B. Strickland. 
 
 Let it be remembered that in His time the Pharisees were strict 
 observers of the letter of the law, and were therefore of course propor- 
 tionate givers and tithers. Tithing was held by them to be indisputably 
 the law. Our Lord was a Jew, and under the same law. But they could 
 find no fault in Him. He, too, then — poor though He was — must have 
 practiced tithing. 
 
 68 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 He Himself, on the other hand, while finding fault with much in 
 them, found no fault respecting their tithes ; on the contrary, when on 
 other grounds, He rebukes them, "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, 
 hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin," adds, "These 
 ought ye to have done" (Matt. 23:23). — Rev. H. W. Hinde, England. 
 
 This declaration of Jesus has never received the attention it deserves. 
 It is of tremendous weight. How could it have been stronger? When 
 Jesus says, "Ye ought," the final word has been spoken. It is time for dis- 
 cussion to stop, for argument to cease, and obedience to begin. This is 
 Jesus' comment on His Father's law. Think of it ! "To have God's com- 
 mandment restated and explained to us by the Son of God Himself !" A 
 peculiar and significant fact is worth noting here, hi no other instance 
 did Jesus ever commend anything a Pharisee did. — Harry Whitcomb. 
 
 Christ suited His message to His audience. If He were to speak to us 
 He would most certainly say something like this : "Woe unto you twentieth 
 century, Christians, for you talk much of grace, and of love to God and 
 spiritual duties, and omit to observe the ordinances of God's house and 
 to pay your just dues unto Him. These ought ye to have done and not 
 to leave the other undone." — Rev. B. B. Bosworth. 
 
 I will tell you, brethren, we need to learn God's arithmetic. It is 
 different from man's. We have n't got it right. God's arithmetic — I will 
 tell it to you. This is God's addition : "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God 
 and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added to you." 
 That is God's addition. God's subtraction: "From him that hath not, 
 shall be subtracted that which he seemeth to have." God's multiplication : 
 "He that supplieth seed for the sower and bread for food, shall multiply 
 your seed for sowing, that you being enriched in everything may abound 
 unto every good work." That is God's multiplication. God's division : 
 What Jesus said to the disciples on the mountain side when the multitude 
 was there, the loaves and fishes distributed, "Divide this among those of 
 the multitude." That is God's arithmetic, and we need to learn it, as it 
 seems to me. — E. Y. Mullins, D. D., at Missionary Congress. 
 
 Instead of placing emphasis on the Jew giving a tenth we come nearer 
 the truth when we say he gave one-third of his income. Jesus never abol- 
 ished the tithing system, but gave it His sanction. If then it has the 
 sanction of Jesus, no Christian is honest with God until he has given Him 
 one-tenth of his income. It is the Lord's. There is no sacrifice, no self- 
 denial, no "offering" on the part of the Christian until he has given over 
 and above the tenth. The amount and method of New Testament giving 
 is stated in i Cor. 16 : 2 : "Upon the first day of the week let every one of 
 you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." The Christian rule 
 
 69 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 for giving, then, is this : The minimum, one-tenth ; the maximum, as 
 God hath prospered him. — Rev. Jno. H. Whiteman. 
 
 God's way of getting substance is through the tithe, Christ rests it on 
 the sense of duty. "Ye ought." It is due in the nature of things. Christ 
 found Httle to commend in the Pharisees, but that little He did commend, 
 "Ye pay tithes, this ought ye to have done." 
 
 If we take Christ as our teacher, we must honor His teachings. He 
 knows what God wants, and He tells us, that is the end of the argument, 
 spend your strength doing, not debating. 
 
 The Pharisees compromised, neglecting judgment, mercy, fidelity, and 
 paying tithes ; we stand on the other foot, we seek judgment, mercy, fidelity, 
 but neglect tithes. We are bidden run with patience the race that is set 
 before, run, not hop ; we can't hop into the Kingdom of heaven. The 
 Pharisees hopped on one foot, we try the other. Their trees run to roots, 
 judgment, mercy, fidelity, and we neglect the branches, fruit ripens in 
 the branches, nestles among duties done for God. Christ used the Sab- 
 bath for man, it was made for him; he calls the tithe in for God, it was 
 established for Him. Will you be loyal to man and rob God? — O. P. Gif- 
 FORD, D. D. 
 
 "Give," said Christ, the Imperative. But who shall give? "Charge 
 them that are rich in this world that they be ready to distribute." "Let 
 him labor, working with his hands, that he may have to give him that 
 needeth." So it appears that men who have only their hands, as well as 
 the rich, are under bonds to be givers. The law covering the two extremes 
 of society, covers all between. — E. F. Burr, D. D. 
 
 The Rev. Henry Lansdell, D. D., of London, England, a ten- 
 der and loving minister and scholar, w^hom we quote liberally 
 in this volume with his consent, and who we believe is doing more 
 than any one man in his country to bring the Church and Chris- 
 tians to lend obedience to the tithe and restore it again to its 
 proper place in worship, the author of that large and valuable 
 work, "The Sacred Tenth," has recently published another and 
 much smaller edition embodying those portions of the larger work 
 that deal directly with the teaching of Holy Scripture on the sub- 
 ject of tithe giving. The title of the new book is "The Tithe in 
 Scripture." These Bible studies, with illuminating comments 
 and explanations by the author, conduct the reader from patri- 
 archal times down through the ages into the fuller light of the 
 gospel dispensation, thus presenting the whole Scriptural argu- 
 
 70 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 ment on this very important question. This very valuable book 
 of nearly 200 pages may be had at forty cents plus postage, by 
 addressing the author, care of Morden College, Blackheath, Eng- 
 land, remitting by Postoffice order. 
 
 In referring to Christ's attitude towards the tithe, Dr. Lans- 
 dell concludes his book with the following significant and weighty 
 sentences : 
 
 "Jesus Christ never professed to repeal, abridge, or contract 
 the law, which He emphatically said He came not to destroy, but 
 to fulfill. He not only expressed approval of a minute payment 
 of tithes, which, in the whole, amounted probably to a fourth 
 of a Pharisee's income, but told His own disciples that their right- 
 eousness ought to exceed that of the Pharisees ; and, as if that 
 were not enough. He claimed from His followers a devotion of 
 heart, life, and property, such as should exceed the love of all 
 that a man holds dearest on earth. 
 
 "And the practice of the first Christians was in harmony with 
 such teaching; for in some instances they gave up their posses- 
 sions to a common fund ; whilst in the case of the Apostle Paul 
 we see a true Christian servant content to forego, for his Master's 
 sake, his rightful claims for remuneration, whilst exhorting those 
 whom he addressed, that, having food and raiment, they ought to 
 be therewith content. 
 
 "It seems clear, then, in the light of revelation, and from the 
 practice of, perhaps, all ancient nations, that the man who denies 
 God's claim to a portion of the wealth that comes to his hands, is 
 much akin to a spiritual anarchist ; whilst he who so apportions 
 less than a tenth of his income or increase is condemned by Scrip- 
 ture as a robber. Indeed, if in the days of Malachi not to pay 
 tithe was counted robbery, can a Christian who withholds the 
 tenth be — now, any more than then — counted honest towards 
 God? 
 
 "Right giving is a part of right living. The living is not right 
 when the giving is wrong. The giving is wrong when we steal 
 God's portion to spend on ourselves." 
 
 71 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 There are those who may object to tithing on the ground 
 that it would work a hardship upon those with large families 
 and very limited incomes. There are no doubt instances where 
 it might become necessary and proper for the time being that 
 the letter of the tithe law go unobserved just as some Christian 
 men or women obliged to work on the Sabbath day would need 
 at least temporarily to set aside the letter of the Sabbath law in 
 order to hold their positions and maintain themselves and families. 
 No minister or Church session would refuse to receive into 
 the Church a motorman, a nurse, or postman, or wage worker 
 who is obliged to work on Sunday, provided their life and pro- 
 fession were otherwise satisfactory. So there might be real 
 need in some instances of sickness or want to temporarily dis- 
 regard the letter of the tithe law. The spirit prompting obedience 
 to the tithe will continue to be present, and when health and 
 better days return the tithe obligation (rather privilege) would 
 again be resumed. The tithe, as well as the Sabbath, are holy 
 and given for man's good, and the observance of both were gen- 
 erously and faultlessly interpreted and unqualifiedly approved by 
 our Lord and Master. 
 
 We call attention to the answer given by Prof. Yoder to ques- 
 tion 8, page 40 herein, namely : "In case of great need may the 
 tithe be used for self or family ?" 
 
 72 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE STOREHOUSE 
 
 Praykr — "And now baptize us, we pray Thee, gathered here in 
 Thy presence at this time, with a new sense of our obhgation to 
 make Christ known to the uttermost parts of the earth. Send 
 upon Thy servants, gathered here from all parts of this country, a 
 new and a deep conviction of their responsibility for the evangel- 
 ization of the world in their generation. And as they hear the 
 messages of the hour which Thy servants bring to them, may new 
 inspiration come to their hearts, and may they resolve that by the 
 grace of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit they will 
 do far more liberal things for the Kingdom of God, and seek 
 more earnestly the glory of Christ than they have ever done in 
 the past. Forgive us our indifference and apathy in the past, and 
 create within us new desires, new purposes, new ambitions, new 
 aspirations, and lead us forth as a mighty host to pull down the 
 strongholds and to build up the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior 
 Jesus Christ. And here at the Cross where flows the blood that 
 bought our guilty souls for God, be our new ambition now to con- 
 secrate to Thee our all. Help us, O God, to do this, and we shall 
 praise Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen." 
 — Bishop Robinson at Missionary Congress. 
 
 Much stress is laid in the Word upon the place where the 
 tithe should be brought. Wherever spoken of the "House of the 
 Lord" or "the place where the Lord shall choose to set His name 
 there" is mentioned as the designated place. Our present-day 
 methods of Church finance and manner of dispensing gifts to 
 religious and charitable objects are so at variance with the com- 
 mand of God that naturally some will be led to oppose the "store- 
 
 7Z 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 house" idea. If it were more generally known, however, that the 
 Church receives but a very small proportion, possibly not even a 
 sixteenth of a tenth of the income of her people for extension and 
 missionary objects, it would explain why the Church is bereft of 
 the means and power more effectually to carry on her work of 
 bringing the world to Christ. Many a Church member, in fact 
 most all of them (unless storehouse tithers), will be found dis- 
 pensing much the larger portion of what they are willing to set 
 aside for religious or charity calls, toward outside objects without 
 regard to the main purpose for which the tithe was established. 
 If men would recognize that our Lord called the Church His 
 Bride, and as such would have her adorned with beauty and grace 
 as well as power to win men to her, surely, if not all, a much 
 larger proportion of our tithes and offerings would be devoted 
 to her uses. 
 
 In a powerful address, Dr. Maitland Alexander, pastor of 
 First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburg, who spoke on what may 
 fairly be described as his favorite theme — ^the primary duty of 
 the Christian man to take his place and carry his burden in his 
 own home church, said with great earnestness at St. Louis 
 Brotherhood Convention : 
 
 "Sometimes men are drawn away from the church by things 
 that seem good in themselves, but they do not build up that 
 divine institution with which God has intrusted us — His Church. 
 The man who neglects his church to do anything, however good, 
 outside, is subverting the vow he took when he identified him- 
 self with the Church. Nothing in all the world is so ideal as 
 the service set before you by the King of the Church. I believe 
 that the great work of the brotherhood is to emphasize the sac- 
 ramental obligation of every man for his own work in his own 
 church where God has put him, I believe in civil reform and 
 social service, but I believe more that the brotherhood man's 
 first duty is to give his church the very best that is in him." 
 
 "There are scores of Churches," says Dr. S. S. Hough — "I 
 say it with sadness — to-day that are crippling along, begging, and 
 worrying about the Church finances, always behind, with no 
 
 74 
 
GEM'S OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 'meat' in God's house ; with Httle or no increase by conversions, 
 for the aim of these Churches is not primarily for souls and the 
 extension of the Kingdom abroad, but to rake and scrape to get 
 enough together to pay the preacher and other expenses with as 
 httle outlay of their own as possible. They are living to pay the 
 expenses of 'keeping up appearances.' There is no inspiration 
 in working thus, and of course they have a hard time of it. 
 
 "Let us turn to God's standing challenge to His Church, Mai. 
 3: lo: 'Prove Me now hereivith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will 
 not open to you the zvindozvs of heaven, and pour you out a bless- 
 ing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it: and I zvill 
 rebuke the devourer for your sakes.' (Study most prayerfully 
 Mai. 3:8-12.) 
 
 "Here God declares His people are in a sickly, wretched con- 
 dition, 'cursed with a curse,' because they have robbed Him by 
 failing to pay tithes and offerings. They disregarded God's claim 
 and closed the outlet of their lives, and by so doing the inlet, as is 
 always the case, was closed also. God stands to-day as of old, and 
 begs of us to prove Him by giving Him an opportunity to work 
 in and through us. Are we willing to accept the challenge? Here 
 is the vital test in all consecration." 
 
 Admitting all this, then where shall the tithe be paid? There 
 are more references in Scripture to the place where the tithe shall 
 be brought than to the tithe itself. See Deut. 12:11; Num. 
 18:26; Neh. 10:38; Neh. 13:12; Mai. 3:10. 
 
 "These passages, said Rev. L. M. Edwards in a paper read 
 before Fort Wayne Methodist Conference recently, and others of 
 a similar import, reveal the place of paying the tithe and some- 
 thing of the plan of its administration — according to Jewish law 
 and custom — namely, that the tithes were to be brought to the 
 house of God, to His treasury and could not be privately dis- 
 pensed, but were administered by God's representatives and min- 
 isters — priests and Levites. 
 
 "If that was the plan of Church finance given by the Lord to 
 His chosen race of antiquity, by what authority can we change 
 it in our Churches to-day? In the light of Scripture what must 
 
 75 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 our Heavenly Father think of many of our modern schemes of 
 Church finance ? Of our soup suppers to pay the pastor's salary, 
 of our fairs and bazaars to raise the Church debt or provide for 
 needed improvements? Of our tramping from door to door, like 
 an ecclesiastical mendicant, to beg a few dollars for the evangeliza- 
 tion of the great needy world? We know what He thought of 
 Israel when they had fallen from grace in this regard ; through 
 His inspired prophet He called the people robbkrs." 
 
 In a recent number of the Temple Herald, issued weekly as. 
 a Sunday bulletin of services for the congregation of Temple 
 Baptist Church, Los Angeles, of which Robert J. Burdette, D. D., 
 'is pastor emeritus, and James Whitcomb Brougher, D. D., is the 
 pastor, the following tithe appeal is printed. The congregation 
 fills every seat in the temple, numbering more than three thousand 
 souls at each service, and supports eight missionaries and their 
 wives as part of its extension policy. The pastor is appealing 
 and has set his mark for one thousand accessions to the church 
 for the current year : 
 
 "TITHING. About one hundred of our members have 
 adopted the Tithing plan for administering the Lord's money. If 
 all members would make the tithe the least that they would give, 
 and would give in proportion as the Lord has prospered them, 
 the church would have all the money necessary to meet its ex- 
 penses, as well as its Missionary Budget. Be sure to read the 
 literature that you will receive from time to time on this sub- 
 ject. Pray for the guidance of God's Spirit, and if He should 
 make plain your duty in this regard, be willing to obey." 
 
 No minister or Church official need hesitate, as we fear some 
 are doing, to present the storehouse idea and plan of tithing. Any 
 method now in conflict with it will soon give way as results are 
 shown by a trial. J. Campbell White tells of a clergyman who 
 told his congregation in one of the Western States that owing 
 to the hard times they had been passing through he was going 
 to relieve them by not asking them for a missionary collection 
 that year. Next year his salary dropped to $1,500, then to $1,200, 
 and he had to live on that. The year after they could not get 
 
 76 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 above $i,ooo, and he had to get out — starved out. They called 
 another man, offering him $1,200. He started out by preaching 
 to them the great needs of God's work of missions. His salary 
 went up next year to $1,500, then to $1,800, and the next year 
 to $2,000, and the Church gave last year $6,000 for the spread of 
 the gospel. That 's the quickest and most effective way I know of 
 for any preacher to get his salary increased. Church debts vanish 
 wherever the people have adopted the missionary purpose; they 
 disappear on the wave of missionary effort, interest and enthusi- 
 asm. 
 
 It is reported that in one denomination having 21,291 churches, 
 there were 10,118 that gave nothing whatever toward foreign 
 missions last year. All denominations have similar conditions 
 to face. Is this not largely due to a lack of knowledge and 
 proper application of the tithe principle? Surely it is, and we 
 need to heed the exhortation of the Prophet Malachi — "Return 
 unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts." 
 
 A tithing Church is sure to become a missionary Church, and 
 every department of such a Church will soon become effective in 
 soul saving. 
 
 The following suggestion is made as an equitable division 
 of the tithe, but the adoption of this basis is optional with each 
 Church : 
 
 Pastoral support and all home Church expenses . 50 per cent 
 
 Missionary and other official benevolences 40 per cent 
 
 Local charities and benevolences 10 per cent 
 
 In the absence of the adoption of any schedule of apportionment 
 by any given Church the individual tither may adopt and use 
 the above or similar division, always remembering to set aside 
 regularly and weekly as God hath prospered and blessed. 
 
 Taking one-tenth of our income and distributing it to all sorts of 
 charities is not in harmony with the Scriptures (Mai. 3: 10). It must be 
 brought to God's "storehouse," the Church, that the Church may not be 
 placed in the list with other beggars or subjects of charity. We owe one- 
 tenth to the Church, and it is robbery to place it anywhere else. The 
 Scriptural provision for free-will offering above the tenth provides for 
 
 77 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 these charities, or for persons who desire to give more than a tenth 
 to the Church. Yet the Church itself has in its general practice substi- 
 tuted its own plans of assessments and merchandising schemes in place 
 of the Bible plan of one-tenth. It might, with equal propriety, substitute 
 some fraction of time other than the seventh to be observed as the Sab- 
 bath. One-seventh of time and one-tenth of income are the Lord's by 
 contract in the Lord's partnership with the Christian. Both must be ren- 
 dered to Him as an acknowledgment of His right in the time and money 
 we have received from Him. — J. M. Stanfield. 
 
 When it comes to the Churches who tithe, there is scarcely an excep- 
 tion to the rule that great spiritual prosperity comes to the Church 
 which dedicates to God the "sacred tenth." How often it is said. If we 
 can only have a baptism of the Holy Spirit and a great spiritual awaken- 
 ing, then the people will give the money necessary to support the cause 
 of Christ! What right have we to reverse God's order? And His order 
 is to bring the tithes into the storehouse, and then He will open the win- 
 dows of heaven and pour out a blessing until there shall not be room 
 to receive it. One of the very things essential to a deep spiritual awaken- 
 ing is the consecration of God's money by professed people. — John Wes- 
 ley Duncan. 
 
 No method has yet been discovered superior to the "Rule of Three" 
 plan set on foot by that first and greatest foreign missionary of the early 
 Church when he exhorted the Corinthians, "Upon the first day of the 
 week (weekly) let every one of you (individually) lay by him in store, 
 as God hath prospered him (proportionately)." So that, however ideal 
 the method may seem, the weekly, individual, proportionate giver is the 
 ultimate goal that should be kept constantly before the Church until it 
 is attained to the last item. It is not impossible, but, on the other hand, 
 entirely possible. "When," as Mr. John H. Converse has said, "Christian 
 men give the same energy and intelligence to the work of missions that 
 they now give to their own private business affairs, the proposition to 
 evangelize the world in this generation will be no longer a dream. — John 
 R. Pepper, at Missionary Congress. 
 
 Furthermore, it is of vital importance that men be shown that the 
 Lord has a treasury and that it is His house. Whatever we do with our 
 freewill offerings, the Lord's tithe is to be brought into the Lord's treas- 
 ury. The Church is poor because the Lord's servants either spend the 
 tithe on themselves or else, if they devote it, they distribute it from their 
 own houses in a wide, a miscellaneous, and too frequently in a wasteful 
 charity. The tithe is not for any and every good purpose, but is sacred 
 to the great purpose of the spiritual kingdom, the chief part of which is 
 the conquest of the nations for Christ. The Church, and not the private 
 
 78 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 individual, is the trustee of this work. She has the commission. She 
 only can do the work, and she will be able to do it whenever God's people 
 cease the wandering distributing of sacred money and bring it all, un- 
 diminished and unwasted, into the Lord's treasury. "Ye shall not do 
 after all the things we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right 
 in his own eyes" — "but unto the place which the Lord your God shall 
 choose to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and 
 thither shall ye bring your tithes" (Deut. 12). — Frank O. Ballard, D. D. 
 
 There is an old story of a Negro preacher who said that if the Church 
 died from too much giving, he would go to its deserted building and 
 stand in its pulpit and say, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." 
 The thought was good. Churches do not die of too much giving, but 
 they may die of careless, indiscriminate giving. This is touching a deli- 
 cate matter. One does not like to antagonize benevolent movements ; but 
 the truth is that with so many benevolent movements the financial blood 
 is being sucked out of the Church. There are men good-natured enough 
 to give away money which their families need, so there are men who give 
 to every imaginable call and let the Church suffer. 
 
 In giving, as in everything else, one should exercise common sense. 
 The old rule, "Let every one of you on the first day of the week lay by 
 in store as the Lord has prospered him," is good. It is better than sym- 
 pathetic response on the spur of the moment to special appeals. Steady 
 support of the Church, both with money and service, is better than scat- 
 tered effort. — Herald and Presbyter. 
 
 And then again, Malachi, the prophet of the Old Testament, gave 
 us a radiant vision of the Kingdom of God when the second tcutple should 
 he greater in splendor than the first temple, and having painted such a 
 picture, and lifted his hearers upon the wings of his imagination, he says, > 
 "Will a man rob God? But ye have robbed Me in tithes and offerings." ) 
 God help us that we may be delivered from the snare and the delusion 
 of supposing we are expressing our love to Him when, as a few years 
 ago, we gave one-sixteenth of one per cent for God and fifteen-sixteenths 
 of one per cent we spent upon ourselves. And then we sang gloriously, 
 "I love Thy Kingdom, Lord, the house of Thine abode." I heard a man 
 put it this way once. He said : "When people do that, it is very much as 
 if a man should go down to the city and buy a five-thousand-dollar auto- 
 mobile and a seventy-five-dollar overcoat and a ten-dollar pair of shoes 
 , and a fifteen-dollar hat for himself, and then should buy a calico dress 
 for his wife, and should go home singing, T love my Nancy Jane, I love 
 my Nancy Jane.' " — E. Y. Mullins, D. D., at Missionary Congress. 
 
 It is not Scriptural tithing to give one-tenth of our income to poor 
 relatives and tramps. A free-will offering may be made after we have 
 
 79 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 rendered our tithe to God. Many persons have followed this rule for 
 many years and believed they were practicing the teaching of the Scrip- 
 tures, but a careful study of the Scriptures and the unsatisfactory results 
 from this promiscuous giving have fully convinced them that this is not 
 God's plan, and they have turned with confidence to the Church of Christ 
 as God's storehouse. 
 
 The tithe is not for any and every purpose, but is sacred to the use 
 of the Scriptural Kingdom, the conquest of the nations for Jesus Christ. 
 The Church, and not the private individual, is the trustee of this sacred 
 fund. The Church holds the commission ; she only can do the work, and 
 she will be able to do it whenever God's people cease the unwise and 
 often wasteful distribution of God's money, and bring it, undiminished, 
 into the Lord's treasury. 
 
 Hear the Scripture : "Ye shall not do after all the things we do here 
 this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes ; but unto the 
 place which the Lord your God shall choose, thither shall ye bring your 
 tithes" (Deut. 12). — John Wesley Duncan. 
 
 I believe the Church of Christ has so far departed from the will of 
 God with reference to our financial obligations that we have brought great 
 reproach upon the cause of Christ. We have allowed the world to see 
 how selfish and self-centered we could become, turned our Churches into 
 begging institutions, and permitted our missionary work to be shamefully 
 neglected because wc have not been doing our duty in bringing the tithes 
 into the storehouse. And we have excused ourselves for it all under the 
 pretext that we are not under "law," but "under love and grace." May 
 the Lord forgive us for ever having laid claim to very much of either 
 grace or love in the administration of our money for the support of the 
 gospel. 
 
 It ought, in all fairness, to be stated at this point that the real re- 
 sponsibility for this shameful neglect can scarcely be laid at the door 
 of the members of our Churches. The pastors, whose duty it is "to de- 
 clare the whole counsel of God," are more at fault : and there is no doubt 
 that much of the responsibility should be lifted from their shoulders and 
 placed upon our theological seminaries, whose duty it is to train men for 
 a faithful gospel ministry. — John Y. Aitchison, D. D. 
 
 The whole tithe is to be brought into the storehouse which God says 
 is "Mine house." This certainly is the Church, which must be God's rep- 
 resentative on the earth, if He has any. Whatever may be said of many 
 who are nominal members of the Church, it can not be denied that the 
 Church is to-day the external representative of the Kingdom of Christ 
 and that her officials are His agents for the work of the Kingdom. To 
 deny this is to bring confusion and every evil work to the forefront in the 
 great movements that look to the salvation of mankind. — E. B. Stew- 
 art, D. D. 80 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 "Should I confine the payment of my tithe to my own Church?" 
 No, unless your Church has adopted the Scriptural plan of Church 
 and missionary support by the tithe system, making itself the "storehouse" 
 and bringing all the tithes into it and constituting its Official Board or 
 boards the agents for the wise bestowal of the tithes of the Church mem- 
 bership not necessary for its own support. This plan, which is in strict 
 accordance with God's Word, has in recent years been adopted by a num- 
 ber of Churches of different denominations with most excellent results. 
 Should you have the opportunity, I advise hearty co-operation in a return 
 to this which is God's method of Church support. If no such opportunity 
 is open to you, use your own best wisdom and judgment in the bestow- 
 ment of your tithe. 
 
 "To what objects should I devote the tenth of my income?" 
 The most comprehensive and, to me, satisfactory answer is that it 
 can be properly applied to every cause which has for its object the up- 
 building and advancement of Christ's Kingdom, commencing with the free, 
 strong, and hearty support of your own Church and pastor. — Thos. Kane. 
 
 One thing at least is clear about the application of this tithe — this 
 tenth part of our income. Whatever doubts or practical difficulties may 
 beset, in the case of each individual, the consideration how it can be dis- 
 charged in the solution of his debt to God, there is no difficulty in point- 
 ing out what he must not do. He must not spend it on himself, or on 
 those whom he is bound by natural or other ties to protect and support, 
 or on any selfish, or even sentimental, objects. He had better throw it 
 over London Bridge. I do not suggest that course as a deliberate solu- 
 tion, but if it came to a choice of evils I feel that even it would be safer 
 than the risk of having to meet, hereafter, an indefensible charge of sacri- 
 lege and robbery combined. — A Barrister, London. 
 
 Christ's one recorded commendation of the Pharisee is that he paid 
 tithes. All our Savior's teachings bring out the fact that nothing of this 
 world's goods really belongs to us, that all is God's and we are simply 
 stewards ; but we as Christians are too apt to consider ourselves stewards 
 of all that passes through our hands." 
 
 We forget that "the tithe is holy unto the Lord," that it is not we, 
 but the stewards of the Lord's treasury who are responsible for the wise 
 distribution of that which the Lord claims His very own. It is not your 
 tenth nor my tenth, and neither you nor I have any claim upon it. Our 
 business is simply that of a messenger to carry it to the place its Owner 
 has assigned. — E. L. Miller. 
 
 Perhaps we shall find no better plan of detailed and systematic set- 
 ting apart than the New Testament one, "Upon the first day of the week 
 let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." 
 
 6 8l 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 The very act of literally fulfilling this apostolic command seems to bring 
 a blessing with it, as all simple obedience does. I wish, dear friends, you 
 would try it! You will find it a sweet reminder on His own day of this 
 part of your consecration. — Frances Ridley Havergal. 
 
 In considering the tithe there are three absolutely essential things to 
 bear in mind, for example: 
 
 First. — God's absolute ownership in the tithe, "The tithe is the Lord's." 
 Second. — "The sacred character of the tithe, 'It is holy unto the Lord.' " 
 Third. — "It must be brought into the storehouse." "The place which 
 the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there." 
 
 That the tithe is the Lord's, belongs to Him, is not ours in any sense 
 of ownership, has everything to do with our attitude toward it. 
 
 I can not refrain from just a word as to the third essential thing: 
 If we admit the obligation of the tithe and are convinced of God's ab- 
 solute ownership in it, and also of its sacred character, called in Deuter- 
 onomy 26: 13 "the hallowed thing," that is not all. Strange as it may 
 seem, all this may be brought to naught by failing in the third require- 
 ment, to-wit : to "bring the tithe into the storehouse." A surprisingly 
 large number of individuals have been religiously laying aside the tenth 
 of their income for many years, but have constituted themselves as custo- 
 dians and dispensers of this fund. It is interesting to note that reference 
 is made in the Bible more often to the manner and place of the payment 
 of the tithe than to the tithe itself. The Lord has evidently chosen the 
 Churches of the present day as the places in which He has set His name. 
 He has placed in charge of the finances of these Churches the best men 
 and women on the face of the globe, and these, directed as they are by 
 the Holy Spirit, will act more wisely than any individual would be likely 
 to do. — Harry Whitcomb. 
 
 The Twentieth Century Tithe Covenant Movement has spontaneously 
 arisen in different portions of the Church based upon the two Scriptural 
 principles, an ordained amount and an appointed place. In some Churches 
 every member has taken the covenant. In many Churches a portion of the 
 membership have entered into the tithe covenant. In every instance the 
 results have been astonishing. 
 
 I have heard people say that the crucial point in Church finance is the 
 tithe. That is a mistake. The crucial point in Church finance is the whole 
 tithe brought into the treasury of God's house. 
 
 There is a natural reason : Private distribution means to scatter, and 
 to scatter means to waste. What the Church needs to-day is the concen- 
 tration of the power of her money under the leadership of Jesus Christ 
 through His appointed agency, the house of God. 
 
 There is a Scriptural reason : It is the divine requirement, and the 
 
 82 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 final requirement at that ; so that the single treasury becomes the keystone 
 of the tithe arch. It is the clear revelation of the Old Testament; 
 it is the revelation and irresistible inference of the New Testament. 
 
 The whole tithe of God's people placed in the treasury will solve every 
 problem of Church finance and will make the Church take her proper 
 place of godly dignity in labors of pity and in the hasty evangelization 
 of the world. We can not get out of darkness into light, nor out of con- 
 fusion into order, nor out of want into sufficiency, until we reject the man- 
 invented system now in use and adopt that which God has provided, of 
 which the underlying principles are two: (i) an ordained amount, and 
 (2) an appointed place. — From an address of Rev. J. G. King, Columbus, 
 Ohio, at Winona Bible Conference. 
 
 He who is false to present duty breaks a thread in the loom and will 
 find the flaw when he may have forgotten the cause. — Henry Ward 
 Beecher. 
 
 83 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ADVANTAGES TO THE OBEDIENT 
 
 Prayer — "Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all de- 
 sires known, and from whom no secrets are hid, turn the thoughts 
 of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit that we may 
 perfectly love Thee and worthily magnify Thy holy name. Stir 
 up, we beseech Thee, the wills of Thy faithful people that they 
 may plenteously bring forth the fruit of good works, and may be 
 by Thee plenteously rewarded." — Bishop Nelson at Missionary 
 Congress. 
 
 Three prominent laymen, Thomas Kane, of Chicago, and 
 Harry Whitcomb, Shelbyville, Ind., manufacturers, and Wm. 
 G. Roberts, of Cincinnati, Ohio, prominent lawyer, have each 
 written several very helpful tracts upon the subject of the tithe, 
 laying emphasis upon the never-failing promises of God that those 
 who faithfully tithe are prospered temporally as well as spiritually. 
 
 These men have been honored of God and by the Church, and 
 are true examples to many of us who have been willing to grope 
 doubtfully in the dark instead of taking hold of the promises and 
 allowing God to use us more unreservedly for His great purposes. 
 All three of these men have distributed many thousands of tithe 
 tracts at their own expense, until the demand for literature on the 
 subject became so great that the Twentieth Century Tithe Cove- 
 nant Association was organized at the Winona Bible Conference 
 in 1904, with Thomas Kane as President and Messrs. Roberts and 
 Whitcomb Vice-Presidents. Within the past year nearly a mil- 
 lion tracts have been distributed, and the demand is increasing 
 daily, the calls coming from Churches and individuals of every 
 denomination, including the Catholic. 
 
 Dr. A. J. Gordon tells of a Christian league in this country, 
 banded together to promote systematic giving. It brings every 
 
 84 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 member into covenant to keep a strict account with the Lord, 
 and to render Him one-tenth of the income. An annual report 
 is made by each member, giving a statement of his business and 
 spiritual prosperity. The secretary recently told us that the re- 
 sults have been surprising even to the most sanguine advocates 
 of the tithing system ; that not only has the income of the mis- 
 sionary societies receiving the funds been greatly increased, but 
 that, out of thousands entering into this league, all but two or 
 three have reported greatly increased business prosperity. Are 
 there not some things to be proved which we have not yet dreamed 
 of either in our philosophy or our mathematics ? 
 
 The reader will be especially interested in the comments 
 given under the head of this chapter, and to the reference made 
 to the exemplary life of the late Samuel P. Harbison, a prominent 
 Pittsburg layman, who was used of God in a marvelous way and 
 blessed of Him for his faithful stewardship. 
 
 "Do not the promises of rewards in the Bible for the payment of the 
 tenth of income back to God refer solely to spiritual blessings?" 
 
 No. They refer very largely — I am tempted to say almost wholly — to 
 temporal blessings. The third chapter of Malachi is perhaps the plainest 
 in the Bible on this subject. Read it carefully and see if you can torture 
 its meaning into promises of spiritual blessings only. 
 
 "You claim that the payment to God of one-tenth of our income always 
 results in increased temporal and spiritual blessings. Suppose I concede 
 the spiritual ; are there no exceptions so far as temporal blessings are con- 
 cerned?" 
 
 I do not believe there are any exceptions worthy of the name. 
 
 "Do you mean to say that I should expect greater temporal prosperity 
 if I scrupulously devote one-tenth of my income to the upbuilding and 
 spread of Christ's Kingdom in the earth and that the remaining nine- 
 tenths will go further in the support of those dependent on me than if I 
 should try to keep all for my own use?" 
 
 Yes. That is a plain question in plain English, and I mean just that. 
 
 "Can you explain the reason?" 
 
 No; or last not fully, and there are many more of God's laws which 
 no one can explain. Gravitation, for instance, or how vegetation grows, 
 or how flowers are colored, or, to come nearer to the subject, I can not 
 explain why men and animals can do more and better work in one or 
 five years working six days in the week and resting, doing nothing so 
 far as work is concerned, every seventh day.— Thomas Kane. 
 
 85 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel 
 brought in abundance of the first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, 
 and of all the increase of the field ; and the tithe of all things brought they 
 in abundantly. And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that 
 dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and 
 sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord 
 their God, and laid them by heaps. And Azariah the chief priest of the 
 house of Zadok answered him, and said. Since the people began to bring 
 the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and 
 have left plenty: for the Lord hath blessed His people; and that which 
 is left is this great store. Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers 
 in the house of the Lord; and they prepared them, and brought in the 
 offerings and the tithes, and the dedicated things faithfully.— 2 Chronicles 
 31 : 5, 6, 10-12. 
 
 Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, 
 I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given 
 to the house, of my God over and above all that I have prepared for the 
 holy house. Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, be- 
 cause with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord. Both riches 
 and honor come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all; and in Thine hand 
 is power and might ; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give 
 strength unto all. But who am 1, and what is my people, that we should 
 be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of Thee, 
 and of Thine own have we given Thee. O Lord our God, all this store 
 that zve have prepared to build Thee an house for Thine holy name 
 conieth of Thine hand, and is all Thine own. I know also, my God, that 
 Thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me in the 
 uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and 
 now have I seen with joy Thy people, which are present here, to offer 
 willingly unto Thee, i Chronicles 29: 3, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17. — Wm. G. Roberts. 
 
 God promises temporal and spiritual blessing to those who obey Him 
 in anything and everything; but did you ever notice the marvelous things 
 He pledges Himself to do, especially for those who obey Him in the tithe? 
 
 Listen ! "Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may 
 be meat in My house and prove Me now, herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, 
 if I will not open the windows of heaven" (not one window, all the win- 
 dows) "and pour you out a blessing" (not sprinkle, or rain down, but pour) 
 "such that there will not be room enough to receive it." "And I will re- 
 buke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of 
 your ground." 
 
 A man once asked me if I believed a farmer who tithed would fare 
 any better in a drought than his neighbors who did not tithe. Well, it 
 do n't look reasonable that he would, but then Christians do not live by 
 
 86 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 reason. I do not know just how God would do it, that is His problem, 
 but I feel sure he somehow would. "Neither shall your vine cast her 
 fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of Hosts." There 's the 
 signature to the contract. Do you want any better security than that? 
 
 O, it's an opportunity, a golden opportunity. Instead of fearing to 
 tithe, we ought to be glad and anxious to get under the promises, to 
 get in partnership with God. — Harry Whitcomb. 
 
 We can not expect to prosper if we are dishonest to the Lord. He 
 can easily enough measure back to us as we measure out to Him. Hence, 
 happy are they who, being saved by grace, bring Him all their tithes, for 
 peace and prosperity shall be their portion. — Spurgeon. 
 
 Now, if we are stewards of life, we are answerable to a Person that 
 is the Lord of the steward. He gave us not the paltry outfit of a beggar. 
 We have talents. That is a King's trust. No farthings, no pennies. We 
 have a King's gift. We have a King's privilege. We stand not simply in 
 His fields, in His heritage. We stand representing Him. "He that heareth 
 you heareth Me." We carry His word and are responsible to Him. We 
 have a personal relation in our stewardship and it calls for an accounting. 
 — Rev. F. a. Kahler, at Missionary Congress. 
 
 Now, that is the pleasure of giving money, having it ready to give 
 when the investment comes, the same as you would seek any other invest- 
 ment of a so-called permanent character, which is really of a transitory 
 character. Such things as that make a man's life worth living, make him 
 feel that he is getting monuments upon this earth scattered all over, and 
 that he is fulfilling the Lord's command and helping, if he can not go per- 
 sonally, to preach the gospel to all the earth. — ^A. A. Hyde, at Missionary 
 Congress. 
 
 I believe the results of the tithe system justify all that is claimed for 
 the principle. The tithe principle has been tried. It is a success. I doubt 
 whether it has always had a wise presentation by its advocates, but there 
 is no mistaking the argument of practice. It only asks a fair trial to 
 convince any one of its blessings. In a practical business age like the 
 present it ought to suffice. Experience not only gives the most trustworthy 
 knowledge, but it meets the highest and truest demands of the religious 
 nature. In other departments of life this is the end of all controversy. 
 If a principle proves true in practice, the case is closed. If it fails to 
 work, however plausible and beautiful the theory may be, it is set aside. 
 It was concerning the tithe God said, and still says, "Prove Me now here- 
 with." It is the new covenant principle, "Prove all things : hold fast that 
 which is good." That which proves by experience to be good ought to 
 have with good people, and all who seek good, an acceptation on the 
 ground of merit. 
 
 87 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 The tithe system is valuable because it is an educational principle. 
 
 It is not a begging or a boom for money. It is a training of a life 
 for God. It is a real and unmistakable partnership with God. It is a 
 school of ethics much needed in the Christian's business course. 
 
 One of the fundamental and attractive ideas of the tithe system is 
 that it teaches equity. It is an appeal to conscience for fair and square 
 dealing with God. This principle enables a man to know when he is 
 robbing God, himself, and his neighbor. — G. L. Wharton. 
 
 The following are amongst the benefits that accompany the practice 
 of tithing: 
 
 1. "It removes the element of uncertainty from giving." 
 
 2. "It leads men to conform their expenditures to their giving. 
 Tithers do not spend a large share of their income first, and then give 
 something out of what is left. They usually lay aside the tenth at the 
 outset. They make it a first lien on their income." 
 
 3. "It fosters devotion to the cause of Christ." 
 
 4. "Tithing begins in a definite forward step in consecration, and 
 leads on to greater consecration. It is seldom easy for a man to begin 
 to tithe his income. It involves so much that it requires a new exercise 
 of faith and a little fuller surrender to Christ." 
 
 5. "Tithing would solve the problem of the financial needs of the 
 Church and missions. When a group of men in a Church begin to tithe 
 their income, the offerings are immediately increased. 
 
 "There is no system of giving that has ever been proposed that pyo- 
 duces greater results than that which teaches that God is the Owner of 
 all things ; that we are stewards of all that comes into our hands, and that 
 one-tenth is the minimum that we should lay aside for the advancement 
 of God's Kingdom in the world." — Dr. Chas. A. Cook. 
 
 Do you believe God ever put a burden on you to bear that He 
 would not carry nine-tenths (or all) of the load Himself, if you asked 
 Him? And do you not believe He will answer prayer definitely and 
 positively? Do you believe God meant what He said about pouring out 
 His blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it? 
 
 If you do, then why not begin to tithe your income now, and join 
 our tithing legion. Nine-tenths of your income with God's blessing will 
 go further than ten-tenths without, just as you can accomplish more in 
 six days by consecrating the seventh to Him as commanded. 
 
 God does not need us in His work as we need Him, but He is ever 
 ready to reward the faithful steward, and as we prove our willingness 
 to abide in His truth and promises. He will give us of His bounty, and 
 not sparingly, but with liberal measure, pressed down and running over. — 
 
 O. P. GiFFORD, D. D. 
 
 88 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 The tenth is the seed money of weahh. Money withheld from God, 
 like Achan's gold wedge, or the treasures of Ananias and Sapphira, car- 
 ries with it the curse of Almighty God. We witness this curse on every 
 hand. In the times of Haggai and Malachi the prophets, it was very diffi- 
 cult to raise a harvest; the caterpillar injured the fruit, so that it fell 
 to the ground unmatured ; the mildew also wased the products of the earth ; 
 if the times were very much like the present. It is a constant battle 
 now to produce anything; the enemies of all kinds of produce being so 
 numerous that the husbandman can scarcely raise anything to perfection. 
 He has the caterpillar, the weevil, the pea bug, the potato bug, and almost 
 every other kind of bug to contend with. In Malachi's time God told 
 them that the reason they had all these enemies was because they had «-. 
 robbed Him in tithes and offerings, and consequently they were cursed | 
 with a curse. Mai. 3:8, 9. But if they will bring all the tithes into the .' 
 storehouse, God says He will pour out a blessing so great that there shall { 
 not be room enough to receive it, and that He will also rebuke the de- ; 
 
 vourer for their sakes, that he should not destroy the fruit of their vines ; 
 neither should the vine cast her fruit before the time. Mai. 3 : 10-12. — 
 Rev. James Husser. --'' 
 
 Next to prayer itself the offering of our substance is the surest means 
 of keeping alive a sense of dependence upon God and filial relation to 
 Him, if, indeed, it be not quite as efficient to this end; and as an expres- 
 sion of gratitude, rises above even prayer and praise. The offering back 
 to God, at regular intervals of time, a definite portion of what He sends 
 us would, in a visible, tangible, and most impressive way, express the 
 gratitude of the heart for mercies received, and at the same time be an 
 acknowledgment of our absolute dependence upon the Most High. We 
 should expect to find, then, a clear rule of giving laid down in the Book 
 of the revelation of the divine will to man. — Rev. Richard Duke. 
 
 There is no happiness in having or getting, but only in giving. And 
 half the world is on the wrong scent in the pursuit of happiness. They ( 
 think it consists in having and getting, and in being served by others. ""' 
 "He that would be great among you," said Christ, "let him serve." He 
 that would be happy, let him remember that there is but one way — it is 1 
 more blessed, it is more happy, to give than to receive. — Prof. Henry ) 
 Drummond. 
 
 God blesses the giving of the tithe to-day. This has been abundantly 
 proved. Countless testimonies have been given to this effect. Mr. Thomas 
 Kane, of Chicago, has hundreds of thousands of these testimonies in his 
 possession. At the Kansas Baptist State Convention the question was 
 asked whether there were any present who had given their tithe and 
 were sorry for it, or if they thought they would be sorry when they 
 would at last come to "stand before the King." Not one stood up 
 
 89 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Again the question was asked: "How many have given your tithe and 
 are glad, and know that it has been both a temporal and a spiritual 
 blessing?" By far the larger part of the audience arose. Let us prove 
 God by putting this to the test. Happy are they who trust and obey. — 
 Rev. W. a. Ayres. 
 
 In obedience to this Scriptural law of giving, the promises are for 
 temporal as well as for spiritual blessings. "Honor the Lord with thy 
 substance and with the firstfruits of thine increase, so shall thy barns be 
 filled with plenty and thy presses burst out with new wine." "He that 
 soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly." "Bring ye all the tithes into 
 the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now 
 herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of 
 Heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough 
 to receive it." These promises are of double application, for temporal as 
 well as spiritual blessings. They are intimately related to each other — to 
 doubt the one is to doubt the other. From this principle we are taught 
 that when we, in love and the fear of God, devote one-tenth of our in- 
 come to His cause. He will give His blessing upon that which we retain 
 for ourselves, and it will do us more good than if we had kept all. — F. M. 
 Van Trees, D. D. 
 
 In giving a man receives more than he gives, and the more is in 
 proportion to the worth of the thing given. — George Macdonald. 
 
 We give earth, and receive Heaven. We give the temporal, and re- 
 ceive the eternal. We give things corruptible, and receive the immortal. 
 Lastly, we give what God has bestowed, and receive God Himself. Let 
 us not be slothful in such a commerce as this. Let us not continue poor. — 
 Augustine. 
 
 It is remarkable that the Jews never failed to prosper when they 
 brought their tithes into the storehouse. In the time of Nehemiah we 
 find that there was confusion and trouble, and when the great leader 
 inquired into the cause, lo ! they had failed to pay the tithes for the sup- 
 port of the Levites. Then he contended with the rulers, and the tithes 
 were brought in, after which there was peace and prosperity. — Rev. W. C. 
 Nash. 
 
 By adopting the rule of the tithe, a man is defended also from degen- 
 eration of his character into selfishness and stinginess. It is almost 
 ludicrous but altogether pathetic to see how much pains men spend in 
 dodging the peril of hearing about human needs that might require 
 money. They are mortally afraid that in an unguarded moment some 
 adroit solicitor by tearful appeal will get them to give something they 
 "can't afford." 
 
 90 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Now the pity of it is not that this or that benevolence fails to get 
 money which it ought to have — the solicitor probably can obtain it from 
 some other giver — but the pity is that the man who shuts himself up in 
 such a fashion shuts more than his purse: he shuts his heart. — The In- 
 terior. 
 
 The more a man denies himself, the more he shall receive from 
 Heaven. — Horace. 
 
 The payment of the tithe results in blessings, both temporal and spir- 
 itual. Prov. 3 : 9-10, "Honor Jehovah with thy substance, and with the 
 firstf ruits of all thine increase ; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, 
 and thy vats shall overflow with new wine." 
 
 Prov. 11:24-25, "There is that scattereth, and increaseth yet more, 
 and there is that withholdeth more than is meet (margin, "what is justly 
 due"), but it tendeth to want. The Hberal soul shall be made fat, and 
 he that watereth shall be watered also himself." 
 
 God does not promise great wealth to the man who pays the tenth, 
 but we do have the promise that if we pay the whole tithe into the store- 
 house God will give us more financial success than we could obtain with- 
 out it. And we are challenged to put it to the test. 
 
 Wherever this has been undertaken and a financial blessing has not 
 followed, it is because the whole tithe has not been faithfully paid. Noth- 
 ing is more certain ; it is guaranteed by the truth of God. It has been 
 abundantly confirmed by experience. — W. R. Laird, Ph. D. 
 
 Every promise in the Word of God may be, and ought to be, 
 reduced to an experience. Let us study some of the rich promises of the 
 Bible, the fulfillment of which is conditioned on our entering with our 
 possessions into partnership with God. 
 
 Here is one in Isa. 58:11: "The Lord shall guide thee continually, 
 and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt 
 be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail 
 not." Notice the scope of this promise: (i) Continual guidance by 
 God; (2) soul satisfaction at all times; (3) rich fruitage likened to a 
 watered garden ; (4) an inexhaustible supply of grace, like a spring of 
 water whose waters fail not. — Dr. S. S. Hough. 
 
 The margin is the key to fortunes. The growth of a fortune depends 
 not upon one's earnings, nor his expenditures alone, but upon the preser- 
 vation of the margin between the two. Tithing teaches the doctrine of 
 the margin, and inaugurates it in the life of every tither. Nine-tenths 
 in the hands of the man who has learned the doctrine of the margin are 
 more than ten-tenths in the hands of the same man before he has learned 
 obedience to that law. — Bishop J. W. Bashford. 
 
 91 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 The beauty of the tithe is its definiteness. When we have paid it we 
 know it. It is a clear command calling for a definite amount, and we are 
 sure we have done as we were told. 
 
 Let us get correct ideas of Christian stewardship and stop talking 
 about "consecrating all to God," and then proceed to use for ourselves 
 the part He has reserved as His portion and never once intimated we 
 might use according to our judgment. — Mrs. E. L. Miller. 
 
 It gives the author great pleasure to present to readers this 
 short reference to the life of a Christian man and prominent Pres- 
 byterian layman, who in his lifetime was an inspiration to him and 
 many others, and to whom he gladly points as an ideal Christian 
 steward. I refer to the late Samuel P. Harbison, of Pittsburg, 
 who died May lo, 1905. This tribute from his friend, the Rev. 
 Dr. Isaac C. Ketler: "Mr. Harbison had set to himself an ideal 
 which he faithfully tried to realize. He sincerely tried to do God's 
 will. He recognized his accountability as a steward of God's gifts 
 and bounties. What he did in open-handed charity he did in the 
 fulfillment of his ideal. He had supernatural fellowships. He 
 made much of prayer. He lived in a spiritual atmosphere. He 
 was in the world and yet not of the world. He had an ideal. 
 The Church must have the first place in his life. How far he 
 realized his ideal, I dare not, I can not say. But this was his ideal : 
 to make his life in the business world a means to an end, and that 
 end to glorify God." 
 
 At the request of his sons, Mr. Harbison wrote a short sketch 
 of his business life, from which I quote in part: 
 
 "It has been my privilege to recognize His good hand upon 
 me in all my business life and history, and I, to-day, can only 
 praise Him for the gracious, kindly providence that has been 
 about me in my business relations, especially in giving me the kind 
 of men with whom I have been associated in all these years, who 
 have only had one purpose ever before them — to do a thoroughly 
 honest business, priding themselves on always producing the very 
 best article that could be made, and dealing with the utmost hon- 
 esty and frankness with our customers. The happy result for the 
 long period of work of this kind is seen to-day in the favor given 
 us and the preference that in nearly every case is allowed us in 
 
 92 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 the trade, and I rejoice to believe that the spirit that has actuated 
 the business of this concern from its conception until the present 
 day will still continue under those who are now in charge of its 
 affairs." 
 
 His wife, Mrs. Emma Jane Harbison, still living, in a brief 
 reference to his life as a steward says : 
 
 "With his very first earnings he began systematic giving and 
 keeping a strict account of all expenses, a habit which grew with 
 the years, and as his means increased, so did the love of distribu- 
 tion until, from a tenth, he gave his entire income outside his liv- 
 ing expenses. He never pvirsued money as an object, and always 
 accepted prosperity as a direct gift from God. Indeed, the ques- 
 tion of stewardship was to him a very vital one, and one by which 
 he was used to help many who had never known the joy of Chris- 
 tian giving. The following extract from his will shows his ear- 
 nestness in this : 
 
 " 'I have no provision in my will for any charitable bequests, 
 as I have, during my life, administered largely on my own estate 
 and have, from year to year, given to the Lord's work and other 
 charities, as though it were my last. This course I expect to pur- 
 sue so long as I may live. In leaving my estate to my family it is 
 my hope that they may act upon the same principle, remembering 
 that the "King's business requires haste," and that what we do for 
 Him ought to be done quickly, so that, should He come in my time 
 or in your time, we be not found with His money in our hands 
 that ought to be out doing service in His cause.' " 
 
 Not how much of my money will I give to God, but how much of 
 God's money will I keep for myself. — Laymen's Motto. 
 
 93 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 TESTIMONIES 
 
 Prayer. — We thank Thee for the vision that has come to us of a 
 saved world through the mighty power of the Cross of Jesus 
 Christ. We thank Thee for fellowship in this service. We 
 thank Thee for the joy, the exhilarating joy, of a conscious fel- 
 lowship with Thee. O help us never to lose the vision. Help us 
 constantly to cultivate this high fellowship. Help us to live upon 
 this high plane of thinking and of communion and of service, will- 
 ing to do and to be, willing to spend and be spent, that through 
 us Thy mighty power may be given to a lost world, and men may 
 be saved for whom Christ died. O bring us to our knees in 
 prayer. Lay upon us the burden of lost men, that we may have 
 fellowship with Jesus in suffering, that men may be saved, and 
 that through our instrumentality, filling up that which is lacking 
 of the measure of the sufferings of Christ, we may help in the 
 coming of Thy kingdom and in the saving of men everywhere. — 
 Rev. Dr. A. P. Parker, Missionary Congress. 
 
 One of the characters in "Victory of Mary Christopher," a 
 young man who in giving testimony after his first year's experi- 
 ence as a tither, does so in these striking words : "We have 
 found God's service a keen delight, and some of us never knew 
 before what exhilaration there is in cutting expenses for the sake 
 of 'gearing' the devil. There has been more real excitement of 
 soul in taking hold of God's plans and watching the answers to 
 our prayers, than any football rush we have ever seen, or any day 
 on the golf links that we 've ever spent." 
 
 "Gearing the devil" and "watching the answers to our pray- 
 ers in taking hold of God's plans" are certainly suggestive, and 
 the reader will find among the following testimonies (we could 
 
 94 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 produce many hundreds more) which have the same true ring and 
 based upon actual experiences, some proof of the sure depend- 
 ence to be placed upon God's promises to those who honor Him 
 with the religious devotion of their substance. We must not for- 
 get, however, that other conditions of mind and heart and serv- 
 ice enter into the full realization of the fruits of this obedience. 
 
 Elder E. J. Waggoner, of London, says regarding temporal 
 blessings to those who honor God in the matter of tithes and 
 offerings : "It may be said that there are those who have given 
 liberally and yet are in somewhat reduced circumstances. There 
 may be various reasons for this. It must be remembered that the 
 payment of tithes and offerings is only a part of the honor due 
 to God. Those persons may be neglecting some other duty 
 equally necessary. But, more than all, we must remember that 
 God does not settle His accounts every year ; neither does He 
 promise to pay entirely in this world's coin. There is a reward 
 also of a more enduring nature." 
 
 The rewards and blessings of tithing do not alone come to 
 individuals, but to Churches. 
 
 The Indianapolis News in its report of the North Indiana 
 Methodist Episcopal Church Conference recently had this to say : 
 "Tithe-giving as prescribed by Scriptural law requires that we 
 shall give one-tenth of our income to the Church. It is not very 
 extensively practiced, but according to Bishop Warren and other 
 Church authorities attending the Conference there is increasing 
 evidence of a revival in the spirit of tithe-giving in this country. 
 In one Indiana Church it has grown so rapidly that when its pas- 
 tor read the report of his Church's finances before the Conference 
 to-day, it fairly startled the other ministers, less fortunate in their 
 pastorates. A large number of the members of the Church have 
 agreed to practice Scriptural tithing, and are conscientiously giv- 
 ing one-tenth of what they earn to God's service. The result has 
 been that this Church has prospered greatly." Continuing, this 
 report states that the report of this Church made such an im- 
 pression that the other ministers of the Conference declared 
 they were going back to their Churches to preach the glory of 
 
 95 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 tithing. Bishop Warren, who presided over the Conference, 
 stated that he had never seen the report of this Uttle Church 
 dupHcated in world-wide Methodism. 
 
 Since the above article appeared in the Indianapolis News 
 more than one hundred Methodist Churches in Indiana have 
 adopted the tithe covenant plan, with the result that both tem- 
 porally and spiritually most of these Churches have been notably 
 strengthened and blessed. In many of these the gifts to benevo- 
 lences have more than doubled in a short time. Many notable 
 and similar instances are reported from the Churches of other 
 derKjminations. We call attention to the following testimony 
 of Judge J. P. Hobson, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals 
 of Kentucky. For years he has been an elder in the Presbyterian 
 Church. He has also steadily risen in his profession. Soon after 
 he was known to be a tither a severe test was put upon him by 
 the reception of a very large fee ( the largest he or any other law- 
 yer in that community ever received) from a long-continued, al- 
 most hopeless suit against a large corporation. Much comment 
 was excited, and some predicted that the big fee would not be 
 tithed like the little ones. It was faithfully tithed and generously 
 divided between his own and several other Churches. This pro- 
 duced a deep impression upon the people. 
 
 Judge Hobson says: "The reason that most people do not 
 tithe is that they believe they can not afford to do it. It is with 
 the greatest difficulty they get along as it is, and they do not 
 see how they can spare a tenth. Many years ago, when my in- 
 come was small and I had become involved in debt, it seemed to 
 me I could pay nothing for the support of the Church until my 
 obligations were met, but my wife said this would not do. So, 
 after talking the matter over we concluded to try tithing. The 
 tenth of all I made was laid aside and put in a jar. To our sur- 
 prise, all demands were met, the jar was never empty, the fund 
 grew. We did not miss the tenth. Since then I have always 
 tithed, and am persuaded that if people would practice tithing 
 few Christians, after trying it faithfully, would be willing to deny 
 themselves the privilege." 
 
 5)6 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 The late John H. Converse, for many years President of the 
 Baldwin Locomotive Works, who made benevolent giving such 
 an important factor in his life, began by recognizing the tithe 
 principle as the least any one should devote to religious uses. 
 Later the objects that merited his consideration always met with 
 his most generous response. The comment sometimes made re- 
 specting the well-to-do who at death have failed to leave bequests 
 toward charitable objects, could not apply to Mr. Converse, be- 
 cause his gifts were large and regular during his lifetime, and he 
 lived to see much of the fruitage of his generous devotion of 
 money. 
 
 It will be noticed that for the most part the testimonies given 
 in this chapter are those of individuals in the modest walks of 
 life. We have at our command scores and hundreds of favorable 
 testimonies of Churches that have adopted the tithe plan. We 
 have also many examples of men of wealth who have been led 
 into greater liberality in the disposal of their incomes for good 
 purposes by lending obedience to the tithe principle as a begin- 
 ning, some of these eventually distributing the larger part of 
 their incomes from year to year for religious and humanitarian 
 purposes. Testimonies sufficient to fill a book could be gathered, 
 but space will not permit of more than are here given. 
 
 Giving to the Lord never impoverishes. To give at God's call and 
 for God's cause is to get from God the benefits of that which is given 
 to Him. We must be sure that the call is from God, and that it is for 
 His cause ; but, that point being settled, there is no doubt as to the rest. 
 For example, we can do more work in six days than in seven, and nine- 
 tenths of our income is more than ten-tenths, if we are in God's service 
 week-days and Sundays. Giving is getting, in time and money, when 
 God calls us to do or to surrender. The more we give rightly, the more 
 we have surely. — Sunday School Times. 
 
 After four months' trial of the tithing method we received the fol- 
 lowing letter containing a remarkable and joyous testimony: 
 
 "You will remember that last fall my wife and I saw our duty as 
 regards tithing, but could not see how we, with four little children, could 
 possibly tithe on the salary of $8.25 per week, which was my maximum 
 wage. We were barely able to pay rent, buy food and footwear (for 
 that was about all the clothing we could supply ourselves). However, 
 
 7 97 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 on your advice, we decided to do our duty, and enrolled in the Associa- 
 tion of Christian Stewards. The winter is nearly past, and we have 
 been wonderfully cared for, and at times we have been virtually clothed 
 and fed by God, apart from my wages altogether. I had no overcoat 
 when winter commenced, and thought I would try to get on without 
 one, but found it rather hard, so I took it to the Lord in prayer, and 
 before two weeks I was in possession of three overcoats, given in such a 
 manner that even one overburdened with pride could not take offense, and 
 I was placed in a position to help some other poor fellow out. Then 
 we prayed for warm underclothes for my wife, and almost immediately 
 a relative sent some vvith a note saying they were to be given as a pres- 
 ent at Christmas, but thought they might come in useful at once. Just 
 before Christmas my salary was increased, the increase about equalling 
 the amount of our tithe. About Christmas time we received in money 
 gifts more than our tithes for three months." — Christian Steward. 
 
 Rev. F. B. Meyer, of London, tells of one whose income is $10,000 per 
 annum, who lives on $1,000 and gives the remaining $9,000. Another, 
 whose income is $10,000, who lives on $1,200 and gives away the re- 
 mainder. A governess who earns $500, of which she gives $250. An- 
 other, who has a comfortable competence, remains in business, all the 
 profits of which he gives. Sarah Hosmer, a worker in a factory, sup- 
 ported a student in the Nestorian Seminary. Five times she gave, $50, 
 and sent five native preachers. 
 
 When one obeys a command of God he receives a blessing. When 
 one disobeys a punishment is inevitable. The character of God demands 
 that such should be the case. Tithe-paying always brings with it a bless- 
 ing. A missionary from India tells of a native helper, Bhelsari Naiah 
 by name, who was converted to tithing. After he had tithed three months 
 he was asked if it worked. "Capitally, sir." "Ah, how is that? You 
 were always complaining of being hard up, and even in debt, when you 
 used your whole income for self; now you give one-tenth to God, you 
 have no complaints." "As, sir, the nine-tenths with God's blessing is bet- 
 ter far than the ten-tenths used to be without it." Bhelsari's testimony 
 is a typical one among tithers. The writer has heard many such testi- 
 monies in Stewardship Conferences he has conducted and attended. None 
 pretend that a tither is to be the recipient of blessings when his only good 
 quality is that of tithing. It does not cover up a multitude of sins. We 
 have heard, however, of an unconverted merchant who tithed his income 
 for religious purposes, and did it because it was a paying investment. — 
 Rev. a. B. Strickland. 
 
 The first person who introduced me to the duty of systematic giving 
 was a widow woman who was my landlady. She had been very poor. 
 She was talking about this matter, and told me her income at one time 
 
 98 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 was only ten shillings a week, and she gave a tenth then. I said, "How 
 did you manage it?" She said, "When I got my ten shillings, I put them 
 on the Bible in a row, and I took the best looking of the ten out, and I 
 put that in the Lord's box. Then I had nine shillings left." I said, "How 
 did you live?" She said, "I do not know, unless it was this: I believe 
 when I had taken one shilling for the Lord, the Lord made every penny 
 of the nine shillings go as far as twopence." 
 
 The best woman in my Church is a washer-woman. Last May we 
 were talking about our Extension Scheme, and we wanted money. She 
 said, "Mr. Chadwick, I do not think I can do any more, and I am trou- 
 bled." I said, "I do n't think you ought to give more, but go and pray 
 about it, and pray for us, and we shall be content, and don't you trou- 
 ble." But she said, "I want to give something. I wash four days a 
 week, and I get two shillings a day and my meat, and I really feel I can 
 not give more." On the Saturday she came with a bright, beaming 
 face, and said, "I can help you." "What can you do?" I said. She said, 
 "Mrs. So-and-so wants me to wash for her on a Friday, and I am going 
 to wash every Friday for God." Every Friday she washes for the Lord, 
 and brings the two shillings and puts them into the fund, and she says 
 Friday is the best day in the week. She is certainly the happiest looking 
 woman in Leeds. She honors the Lord, and the Lord fills her with His 
 presence. — Rev. S. Chadwick. 
 
 The tithe plan is the one which, during much of his ministry, the 
 writer has used with marked success, and at the urgent request of many 
 who are conversant with this fact, a working outline of the system in its 
 application to Church finance and Church beneficence is here presented, 
 with the earnest hope that it may prove as fruitful of good results in 
 other hands as it has in his. 
 
 The plan of the tithe is Scriptural, easily understood, and of univer- 
 sal application. In a few words it consists in a person's setting apart 
 regularly and sacredly to the Lord's work, in its various branches, a tenth 
 part of his temporal earnings or income — ten cents out of every dollar, 
 one dollar out of every ten, ten out of every hundred, and so on. — Rev. 
 James W. Riddel. 
 
 What is needed in all our benevolent work is the aggregation of the 
 littles. Let each Christian systematically lay aside at least a tithe of his 
 income for religious uses. Many would do far more if they were to 
 follow the Scripture rule, "Upon the first day of the week let every one 
 lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him" (i Cor. 16:2). The ex- 
 perience of thousands attests to the fact that we are never losers in the 
 long run, if we believe God and take Him into our business as a silent 
 partner. The poorer we are, the less we can afford to leave Him out, 
 and try to defraud Him of His percentage. — Edward Judson, D. D. 
 
 99 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 A young man in business, who had just been converted to Christ, 
 called on his pastor to tell him of his strong desire to "labor for the 
 Master," and with the vague notion that this feeling was, somehow, a 
 "call to the ministry." 
 
 "Have you ever thought," asked the pastor, "that some men are 
 called to make money for Christ, precisely as some others are called 
 to preach for Christ?" 
 
 It was a new way of looking upon a business career; and the young 
 man went back to his store, to ponder the duty of making money for 
 Christ.— D. W. Faunce, D. D. 
 
 The testimony of the late Mr. George Mueller, of Bristol, was as 
 follows : "I have acted for fifty years, by God's grace, on these princi- 
 ples, and I can not tell you the abundance of spiritual blessing I have re- 
 ceived to my own soul through seeking to give cheerfully, and as God 
 is pleased to prosper me. . . . The beloved saints are depriving them- 
 selves of wondrous spiritual blessing in acting as if they were owners, and 
 not stewards." 
 
 William Colgate, on leaving home a poor boy of sixteen, met an old 
 neighbor canal boatman, and in conversation told him he was on his way 
 to New York, where he hoped to get a job soap-making. The devout canal- 
 boat captain said, "Let me pray with you once more," which was done, 
 both kneeling on the tow path, and on arising gave William this advice: 
 
 "Some one will soon be the leading soap-maker in New York. It 
 can be you as well as any one. I hope it may. Be a good man ; give 
 your heart to Christ ; give the Lord all that belongs to Him of every 
 dollar you earn; make an honest soap; give a full pound, and I am cer- 
 tain you will yet be a prosperous and rich man." 
 
 When the boy arrived in the city, he found it hard to get work. 
 Lonesome and far from home, he remembered his mother's words and 
 the last words of the canal-boat captain. He was then led to "seek first 
 the kingdom of God and His righteousness," and united with the Church. 
 He remembered his promise to the old captain, and the first dollar he 
 earned brought up the question of the Lord's part. In the Bible he 
 found that the Jews were commanded to give one-tenth; so he said, "If 
 the Lord will take one-tenth, I will give that." And so he did; and ten 
 cents of every dollar were sacred to the Lord. 
 
 Having regular employment, he soon became a partner; and after a 
 few years his partners died, and William became the sole owner of the 
 business. He now resolved to keep his promise to the old captain; he 
 made an honest soap, gave a full pound, and instructed his bookkeeper to 
 open an account with the Lord, and carry one-tenth of all his income to 
 that account. He prospered ; his business grew ; his family was blessed ; 
 his soap sold, and he grew rich faster than he had ever hoped. He then 
 
 lOO 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 gave the Lord two-tenths, and prospered more than ever; then he gave 
 three-tenths, then four-tenths, then five-tenths. 
 
 He educated his family, settled all his plans for life, and gave all his 
 income to the Lord. He prospered more than ever. 
 
 This is the story of Mr. William Colgate, who has given millions of 
 dollars to the Lord's cause, and left a name that will never die. — A. J. 
 Gordon, D. D, 
 
 There has been a failure in beneficence because Christians have not 
 generally regarded giving as a part of divine worship. It has been re- 
 garded as a duty simply, whereas it is properly one of the class of duties 
 which we call worship. The command is given: "Honor (worship) the 
 Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase." 
 Prayers and alms are linked in the bonds of worship — "Thy prayers and 
 thine alms are come up for a memorial before Me." — W. W. Barr, D. D. 
 
 Two sisters, daughters of a wealthy father, were converted and 
 started out side by side in the divine life. The father died and left 
 each a fortune. One became at once a liberal giver. The other with- 
 held more than was meet. The first has been these many years successful, 
 useful, and happy in her simple life, giving more and more constantly, 
 both of herself and her money. The other is withered. She spent her 
 money for the world. In grazing on the devil's pasture the devil robbed 
 her of money, of health, of happiness, of usefulness, and now her life is 
 not much but a lament. Each is reaping as she sowed. As sure as we 
 live Christian giving is a long step toward right living. — J. B. Gambrell. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Grant Cramer, sister of General Grant, wrote us several 
 years ago as follows : "I am acquainted with a minister in New York 
 City who gave up his Church and a salary of $S,ooo a year to establish 
 a Church where he could reach the masses. He met with much opposi- 
 tion, but has met also with great success in his work. He said that on 
 various occasions he felt it his duty to give all he had away, and before 
 he could reach his home it would be replaced fourfold. His wife was 
 greatly opposed to his giving up a certainty for what she thought an un- 
 certainty, especially as they had five children ; but he told me that since 
 they depend upon the Lord for their support, his wife has less solicitude 
 about how they will be provided for, than she had when his salary was 
 five thousand dollars a year. Truly they who trust the Lord shall not 
 want. — Rev. S. B. Shaw. 
 
 Have you noticed my subject, "Money and the Kingdom?" I can 
 imagine some person in this audience saying, "What have these two things 
 in common : the mammon of unrighteousness and the kingdom of right- 
 eousness?" Have we not heard our Master say: "How hardly shall 
 they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven? It is easier 
 
 lOI 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven." And yet we all want that one com- 
 modity which we know as money. Every man appears willing to run the 
 risk in its pursuit or possession of being shut out of heaven. 
 
 Have we not high authority for saying that "God was in Christ 
 reconciling the world unto Himself, and hath committed unto us the min- 
 istry of reconciliation?" And have we been doing it? No, we have not. 
 Some one said, "Will a man rob God?" Yea, verily, we will, and those 
 of us who have been in these conventions and have seen these charts, 
 that New York gave $1.23 a head, Bufifalo 88 cents, Brooklyn 75 cents, 
 Pittsburg $1.13 per head for the extension of the kingdom of Christ — 
 and we say that we are His. This money business has got so large we do 
 not see it in its right proportion ; we have lost our vision. — Alfred E. 
 Marling, at Missionary Congress. 
 
 I met one day with a statement that Mr. Spurgeon, when a lad, 
 adopted the principle of paying a tenth to God, but that on winning a 
 money prize for a religious essay he felt he could not give less than one- 
 fifth of it; and thereafter observed that proportion. Wishing to be ac- 
 curate, I ventured to write to the late Mrs. Spurgeon to know if this 
 published conjecture were true, to which I received reply: 
 
 Westwood, Upper Norwood, S. E., 
 November 26, 1901. 
 Dear Sir : The references in inclosed paper are not only true, but 
 are surpassed by fact. Mr. Spurgeon gave his all to God and His 
 service, and never seemed to consider that the money he earned be- 
 longed to himself, but to his Master. You will see full particulars of 
 this matter in his Autobiography. My very feeble health compels this 
 brief reply. Sincerely yours, S. Spurgeon. 
 
 On referring to Mr. Spurgeon's Autobiography I find the following 
 preface to "Reminiscences as a Village Pastor :" 
 
 "My witness is, and I speak it for the honor of God, that He is a good 
 provider. I have been cast upon the Providence of God ever since I 
 left my father's house, and in all cases He has been my Shepherd, and I 
 have known no lack. My first income as a Christian minister was small 
 enough in all conscience, never exceeding forty-five pounds a year ; yet I 
 was as rich then as I am now, for I had enough ; and I have no more 
 cares; nay, not half as many then as I have now." — Henry Lansdell, D. D. 
 
 I commenced giving, or rather paying, one-tenth of my income to 
 religious, benevolent, and charitable objects, I think in 1870. Had not 
 before that time been very prosperous in business. Within a year or two 
 I noticed a decided change in my business success, and this continued until 
 1876. I could not but see a very marked connection between my tithe 
 
 102 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 and my business prosperity. True, both my capital and business were 
 small, and I did not give more than one-tenth, and indeed did not ex- 
 ceed that proportion for more than ten years. 
 
 About 1875 I commenced making personal inquiries regarding the 
 comparative temporal prosperity of others who practiced this rule, and 
 the testimony was so uniform that in 1876 I decided to publish a little 
 tract on the subject, embodying my views. With this tract I sent out a 
 circular to ministers asking for information, and especially requesting that 
 if any exceptions were known to the rule that temporal prosperity alwaj's 
 follows the consecration of a definite proportion of incoine to God, that 
 the exceptions might be noted and the facts fully given. This circular 
 and tract went to the ministers of four or five of the largest evangelical 
 denominations in the country. Thousands of replies were received, but 
 no exceptions worthy the name. 
 
 Since 1876 I have received, I have little idea how many but certainly 
 thousands of letters giving cheerful and in many cases enthusiastic testi- 
 mony to the literalness of God's promise, "Honor the Lord with thy 
 substance, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty." I have published a 
 limited number of these, and had I kept them could have easily filled a 
 large volume. — Thomas Kane. 
 
 It may be your opinion, but it 's not mine or the Bible's, that God 
 won't help a man make money. I can prove to you from forty-five chap- 
 ters in the New Testament alone that He will, but when he goes in to 
 rob widows and cheat his neighbors, put it down that sooner or later 
 he will settle for less than fifty cents on the dollar. — Rev. C. H. Yatman. 
 
 A young electrician as soon as he commenced earning began to give 
 one-tenth to benevolent objects. He furthermore promised God to in- 
 crease his giving to one-seventh as soon as his income reached five dollars 
 a day, one-fifth when it reached ten dollars, and so on in rising scale. 
 Prospering, he took up the support of a missionary in Chili as his own 
 substitute ; his little children provide for two famine orphans in India. 
 While not yet owning a house of his own, his personal part in the evan- 
 gelization of the world is looked after by a substitute out on the field. — 
 Rev. W. L. GELSTOisr. 
 
 Now, when I went into the ministry, as soon as I had any money of 
 my own I said, "O Lord, one-tenth shall be Thine!" and I thought I was 
 doing all that I ought to do when I said that. I preached that, and I 
 have practiced that all my life, but dear me ! that is a small thing. One- 
 tenth is what Jacob gave, and are we not better than Jacob? — A. P. 
 
 SCHAUFFLER, D. D. 
 
 At a great men's missionary convention at Birmingham, Ala., a busi- 
 ness man from Tennessee gave $10,000 to help equip the missions of his 
 
 103 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 own Church in the Orient. This amount was more than one-seventh of 
 his entire property. On being congratulated upon his large contribution, 
 his response was, "I promised the Lord that if He would prosper me I 
 would do the square thing by Him, and I am only trying to keep my 
 promise." 
 
 A business man in Winnipeg, with an income of about $15,000 a year, 
 has decided to live on one-third of it in order to give at least $10,000 a 
 year to the Lord for His work. — Joseph N. Shenstone. 
 
 Now the statement we make is that, so far as we have been able to 
 investigate, not a solitary business failure has come as a result of adher- 
 ence to the divine plan in honoring God with the tithe. 
 
 This method promotes business carefulness on the part of those who 
 follow it conscientiously, and the man who knows how much he gives to 
 the Lord's cause is not ignorant of what profits are accruing to himself. 
 Are not such men as William Colgate, Thomas Kane, and thousands of 
 others illustrations of this statement? 
 
 The writer had in his congregation a man who worked at the bench 
 for ten dollars a week. He looked upon one dollar of that amount as the 
 Lord's money, and conscientiously turned it into His treasury. The stew- 
 ards of the Church interceded with him not to give so much, but his in- 
 variable reply was that he intended to live by that rule; and he has done 
 so through all these years, until now, in middle life, he has a business 
 which is yielding him a princely income, and he has counted it a privi- 
 lege again and again to lend financial aid to the stewards who advised 
 him against giving so much to the Church. — John Wesley Duncan. 
 
 At one of the banquets of the Lord Mayor of London, Mr. Gladstone 
 eulogized Mr. George Peabody, the generous philanthropist, who said, "I 
 enjoyed making money, but I enjoy giving it away a great deal better," as 
 one who had "taught the most needful of all lessons — how a man can be 
 master of his fortune, and not its slave." Money is not in itself a power. 
 Its power depends on its connection with machinery. Properly applied 
 and constantly kept working, it turns a million wheels and makes every 
 part of the complete body, politic and ecclesiastic, hum with its beneficent 
 activity. Get your money released that it may become an available power 
 and force in the Kingdom of God. No other money will do where God 
 wants yours. — News Item. 
 
 A short while ago I needed $500 for a church purpose. I had no 
 idea where I could get the money, but I felt confident that if the Lord 
 wanted me to have that money He would send it to me. One morning I 
 felt impressed to take a railroad journey. I boarded the train. The con- 
 ductor came along and asked for my ticket. I told him I had none. 
 
 "Where are you going?" 
 
 104 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 "I do n't know." 
 
 "Don't know?" 
 
 "No." I felt in my pocket, took out all the change I had and said, 
 "Take me as far as that money will carry me." 
 
 In an hour or so the train stopped at a little station, and the con- 
 ductor told me this was as far as my money would take me. I alighted. 
 It was a place where I had never been before. I stood on the platform 
 wondering what I should do, when a gentleman came up to me and said, 
 "Is this Mr. Moody?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Well, sir, I want you to take this money and use it for the Lord's 
 work." 
 
 I counted the money. There was just $500. — D. L. Moody. 
 
 I have had quite a large experience in Church finance, and it be- 
 came necessary for me to know more or less about the giving of others. 
 From my standpoint, "proportionate giving" is a humbug unless it be- 
 gins where tithing ends. I have never known a proportionate giver, being 
 a non-tither, who gave ten per cent of his income. I have known of 
 instances where Christian men had an income of from $25,000 to $50,000 
 a year who were not giving over $500 or $1,000 a year to the Lord's 
 work; from my observation this is a large proportion for the non-tither 
 to pay. I have known tithers who gave systematically five per cent of their 
 income above the tithe. — E. M. Runyan. 
 
 South Bend, Ind., January 23. — The second mysterious donation to 
 be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Mishawaka within one 
 month has been received by the pastor, the Rev. A. C. Ormonde, in the 
 shape of a bank note for $1,000. The gift was sent the pastor in a plain 
 envelope. The first gift, which was for $10,000, was made last Christ- 
 mas, when a check for that amount was dropped into the collection 
 plate at the morning services. The name of the benefactor is known to 
 only two persons, and will not be given the public, according to present 
 plans. — News Item. 
 
 The largest amount of money} ever placed in a collection plate in a 
 Brooklyn Church was that received yesterday in St. Paul's Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church, when a certified check for $100,000 was contributed. The 
 check was given along with a large quantity of silver, gold, and greenbacks 
 to the aggregate of $1,000. Announcement of the gift of the $100,000 
 certified check was made by the Rev. Andrew Chalmer Wilson. He said 
 the check was for an endowment, and for the present at least the donor 
 asked that his name be withheld. — News Item. 
 
 The insertion at Washington, Pa., of an advertisement in a local 
 paper that there had been found in the collection plate of the Roscoe 
 
 105 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Qiurch, near here, after the services last Sunday 
 night, a $io,ooo-bill, developed the fact that the Church officers think the 
 donor made a mistake. The yearly collections of the Church do not 
 average much more than this amount, and the officials in the advertise- 
 ment say they will return the money to the owner if he wishes it and 
 can prove he inadvertently dropped it into the plate. — News Item. 
 
 Surprises like the above are not infrequent in tithing 
 Churches. In a Baptist church in Indiana recently two checks 
 for $5,000 each were placed on the collection plate by two of its 
 members who evidently recognize their stewardship, and believe 
 in honoring God with their substance. 
 
 In a Methodist Church in Toronto, with a membership of 550, com- 
 posed largely of wage-earners, the contribution to the General Missionary 
 Fund for the year ending June i, 1907, was $820. Of this amount 34 
 tithers gave $300.75, being an average of $8.84 per tither. The non-tithers, 
 representing 516 members, contributed $519.25, an average of $1 per 
 member. These facts speak for themselves. The Bible plan of finance 
 is superior to every other method. 
 
 Let the tithing system become general throughout our Churches, and 
 the Missionary Fund, with all other Church finances, would exhibit most 
 astonishing increases. — Christian Steward. 
 
 Several years since, some gentlemen in the Second Presbyterian 
 Church of Henderson, Ky., resolved to tithe; and, after two years' trial, 
 they concluded they could not afford (pecuniarily) not to tithe. A mem- 
 ber of a neighboring Church, some years after this, began tithing, and 
 thereafter became financially embarrassed. His debts were pressing, his 
 business depressed. It looked as if he could not spare a cent, but he was 
 convinced the tithe was right, and determined he would keep it up. Daily 
 the tenth was laid aside. All the Church demands were paid promptly 
 out of it, and, like the widow's cruse of oil, it failed not. Soon the fund 
 swelled so that it was transferred to the bank. The debts melted away 
 like a morning fog, the tithe was not missed, and the bread cast upon the 
 waters returned a hundred-fold. A number of such instances might be 
 given. If you are incredulous of this, as Philip said to Nathanael, "Come 
 [try it] and see." The trial can do you no harm. It will, at least, bring 
 system into your finances. You will know what you make, and what you 
 are spending, and this will bring about a close scrutiny of the expense 
 account, which will save much more than the tenth laid by. — Judge Hobson. 
 
 Mr. F. J. Michel, Executive Secretary of the Laymen's Missionary 
 Movement, Chicago, writes the author under date of December 3, 1910: 
 "I inclose the following little story which I picked up on the train this 
 
 106 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 morning, from a pastor's own experience. I can give you both name and 
 place if any one should desire verification of the story." 
 
 A PASTOR'S EXPERIENCE. 
 
 A washer-woman whose husband was a drunkard had five children, 
 and was obliged to support the family, he spending his money in the 
 saloon. 
 
 After a sermon on tithing, she asked her pastor if it was her duty 
 to tithe. Realizing her struggle, the question staggered him for just a 
 moment, but he said "Yes." She replied, "It is very unkind of you to 
 say it," and turned away displeased. She went home greatly disturbed 
 and unable to enjoy her dinner. Finally she arose, hunted for an old 
 mite box in a bureau, placed it on the mantel, and announced to the fam- 
 ily her decision to tithe her meager income. Her husband objected, but 
 she replied with an earnestness which did not characterize her usual atti- 
 tude toward him, "You shut up, you good-for-nothing drunken husband 
 of mine, who spends nine-tenths of his earnings in the saloon; you will 
 have nothing to say about this." 
 
 Within nine months her husband and three of her children were bap- 
 tized into the Church, and the net earnings of the family available for the 
 support of the house increased from the small amount she could earn over 
 the wash tub to over $28 a week. 
 
 "Twenty years ago I resolved to give one-tenth of my salary to God. 
 Less than two months after making this resolution my salary was in- 
 creased by a sum larger than that which I had promised to give, and 
 before the year was out God's call had come to me, and I had gone as a 
 missionary to the foreign field, although at the time of making the reso- 
 lution I had no thought of such being my life work. — A Missionary of 
 the W. M. Society. 
 
 Boston Smith (evangelist and tither) was equal to the occasion, and 
 on condition that this pastor would, to the best of his ability, every three 
 months, present the work and claims of one of the denominational soci- 
 eties, he promised to make up every cent that might be due on the brother's 
 salary at the end of the year. The proposition was agreed to. At the end 
 of the year the two met at the Association meeting, when instead of Bos- 
 ton Smith being called upon to make up a deficiency in the pastor's salary, 
 this testimony was given : 
 
 "I have been a pastor for twenty years, and never has my salary 
 been paid so promptly as during the past year. My Church does not 
 owe me a cent, and better than that, there is a most delightful missionary 
 atmosphere prevailing among my people. I never had so many baptisms 
 in any single year in my ministry. My people very generally have estab- 
 lished a Lord's treasury in their homes; so has their pastor." — Dr. Cook. 
 
 107 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 The First Methodist Episcopal Church, Shelbyville, Ind., wHI serve 
 as another example of what may be done both financially and spiritually 
 in promoting the cause of Christ. When the Official Board went into 
 session in May, 1902, on motion, the tithing system was adopted as a 
 part of the financial plan of the Church. No effort was made to force 
 this system upon the membership, but all who would were urged to adopt 
 it. Those who preferred to pay in the old way were permitted to do so. 
 The eff'ect of this new plan upon the finances of the Church may be seen 
 in part from the following figures, there being a membership of about 
 seven hundred and about fifty tithers : Total. 
 
 Missions. Benevolences. 
 
 First year $700 $1,9^4 
 
 Second year 1,224 2,471 
 
 Third year 1,840 4,857 
 
 Fourth year 2,1 15 5,874 
 
 Fifth year 2,500 6,673 
 
 Sixth year 2,150 6,743 
 
 Seventh year 4453 10,263 
 
 This Church is alive spiritually, receiving new members by the scores 
 each year. 
 
 In the Memorial Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis, Ind., seven 
 members began to tithe in 1901 by bringing the whole tithe into the 
 storehouse. By the end of the year they had twenty-seven tithers, and 
 now they have seventy-five in a membership of 600. The result last year 
 was that without any of the modern scheming to raise money they laid 
 on the plates at the regular Sunday offerings the sum of $6,700 ! The 
 pastor says, "It is purely a religious movement, based on the Bible and 
 common sense, and is accorded the respect of the community. Tithing 
 has been friendly to the spiritual life in those that practice it. It goes 
 on quietly and steadily. Not a great deal is said about it in the Church. 
 It is a religious impulse. An atmosphere is about it such as belongs to 
 secret prayer." 
 
 The Church treasurer, Mr. W. D. Allison, writes, some years later, 
 of Memorial Presbyterian Church : 
 
 "There are now about one hundred members of our Church enrolled as 
 tithers. There are over seven hundred members of the Church, and this 
 band of tithers contribute as much, if not more, than all the rest of the 
 membership of the Church. It is a problem that will solve the financial 
 difficulties of the Christian Church if the Church people will only adopt 
 this method of financing the Kingdom. Our people who have tried the 
 tithing plan are very happy in the experience they have had and feel that 
 it is the true Biblical plan of financing the Kingdom. Our Church is not 
 
 108 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 a wealthy one, and is composed mostly of the common people, many of 
 them men of moderate means, but during the year we raise from $12,000 
 to $14,000 for the expenses of the Church, missions, and benevolences." — 
 G. L. Wharton. 
 
 The following notable advance was made in support of Missions in 
 San Diego District, Southern California Methodist Episcopal Conference, 
 as a result of recognizing the tithe plan : 
 
 "In 1905 about 6,000 members paid $7,300 for Home and Foreign Mis- 
 sions. We thought this was the high-water mark. I was appointed Mis- 
 sionary Secretary of the district, January 28, 1906. By preaching the 
 'Gospel of the Tithe' (storehouse idea) instead of a regular missionary 
 sermon in about one-half of my forty-two Churches, and distributing about 
 7,000 of our seven kinds of tithe tracts, three of these all Scripture, the 
 Spirit of God brought the missionary offering up to $10,309; a gain of 
 $3,009, or over forty per cent increase in eight months. 
 
 "The second year I could not present the subject much in the district, 
 but God so greatly blessed the faithful seed-sowing of the former year 
 that the missionary offering was $15,900, or $2.51 per member, or a gain 
 of $5,591, or an increase of ninety-five per cent in one year and eight 
 months. 
 
 "My District Superintendent, introducing me, said, "This is the foun- 
 dation of the whole business,' and in his annual report to Conference 
 called me 'The Apostle of Tithing.' 
 
 "That year my Conference averaged $4 a member — for men, women, 
 and children — for Home and Foreign Missions, including the women's 
 societies. In September, 1909, the old ministers' claims were $18,000. 
 For the first time we were able to pay this in full, leaving a balance on 
 hand of $676, and besides raised an Endowment Fund of $158,000, and 
 for all purposes the Conference raised over $700,000. 
 
 "Thus you see how wonderfully God pours out His Spirit upon this 
 His divine plan and makes it work wonderfully, both spiritually and finan- 
 cially, when it is prayerfully and earnestly followed with the approval 
 and help of Conference leaders and the ministers. — Frederick P. Sigler." 
 Dated Topeka, Kan., Sept. 16, 1910. 
 
 The Statistical Tables, prepared by one of our elders, I regard as of 
 the highest value, since but a glance at the Minutes of the General As- 
 sembly will convince any one that the Presbyterian Church (North) is 
 not growing in the grace of giving. Whereas thirty years ago we con- 
 tributed to all causes $20.7 per capita, we contributed in 1902 but $16.34, 
 and this is in a year of unexampled prosperity. We can as a nation show 
 larger harvests, more productive mines, and a vastly increased commerce, 
 but as a Church we Presbyterians must confess to a dwindling beneficence, 
 which was never by any means too large. We are overfond of saying 
 
 109 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 that our contributions to Home and Foreign Missions aggregates more 
 than $2,000,000 a year, but we do not so often call attention to the fact 
 that for the conversion of a world we give only $2 per member. — H. D. 
 Jenkins. 
 
 We could obtain the testimony of many who are tithing and even 
 giving more to the Lord's cause, who will testify that the Lord is wonder- 
 fully blessing them, both temporally and spiritually. Many adopted the 
 plan in their childhood or youth. How true, "The liberal soul shall be 
 made fat," and "It is more blessed to give than to receive!" To-day if 
 the Lord's people would bring in their tithes the means would be abun- 
 dant to carry the gospel to every creature and to every land, and the 
 finite mind can not comprehend the spiritual activity that would abound 
 among His people. Let us comprehend more fully our duty to God and 
 man and be faithful with the "mammon of unrighteousness" entrusted to 
 us. — The Missionary Visitor. 
 
 I could give pages from poor and rich, men and women, business 
 men, preachers, professors, college presidents, manufacturers, farmers, 
 traders, students, missionaries, secretaries, clerks, lawyers, physicians, 
 school teachers, etc., and from one and all there has come a unanimous 
 testimony in favor of the practice of the tithe system. I should think, 
 from one cause or another, there would have been failure with some. 
 I have met several persons in my life who have said that they had tried 
 faith, repentance, and baptism, and it did no good and they had to quit. 
 Their exceptional cases did not make me think any the less of true faith, 
 repentance and baptism. I have found one unbroken testimony concern- 
 ing the practice of the tithe. A business man in Chicago has, since 1876, 
 sent out pamphlets to thousands of ministers and millions of laymen in 
 which was printed the following statement : "My belief is that God blesses, 
 in temporal and spiritual things, those who honor Him by setting aside a 
 stated portion of their income for His service. I have never known one 
 exception. Have you?" This is an appeal to experience, than which 
 there is no higher evidence in business affairs. — G. L. Wharton. 
 
 John Wesley, when in the first year of his ministry he received $150, 
 lived on $140 and gave $10 ; the next year receiving $300, he still lived 
 on the same amount and gave $160; and so throughout his fifty years of 
 service he continued to contribute on the same generous scale, his gifts 
 aggregating, it is estimated, well-nigh $150,000. The steady increase of 
 his income demonstrates the truth, that "he that soweth bountifully shall 
 reap also bountifully." (2 Cor. 9:6.) 
 
 William Carey said that his business was to serve God, and he cob- 
 bled shoes to pay expenses. When his salary was $500 he lived on half 
 that amount and gave the other half to carry on the work; when in later 
 
 1 10 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 year, as Professor of Oriental Languages in the Fort William College, 
 Calcutta, he received $7,Soo, he spent no more upon himself than before, 
 and gave away the remainder. 
 
 Some of the society people in Philadelphia gave a "charity ball" for 
 the benefit of the hospitals in that city. The Philadelphia Hospital and the 
 Episcopal Hospital accepted their share from this entertainment, but the 
 Presbyterian Hospital refused its share, $2,500, on the ground that, as the 
 Presbyterian Church opposed dancing among other amusements, the Church 
 hospital could not take funds raised through this means. Such a howl of 
 surprise and indignation as went up ! As far as I remember, all the daily 
 papers, and every one of my acquaintances, pronounced the action "nar- 
 row," "bigoted," "fanatical," etc. "Never, O ! never again, would such an 
 institution receive a penny from an outraged public." I took the ground 
 that the officers of the hospital were absolutely correct in the stand they 
 had taken, there being no other course open to them under the circum- 
 stances, and that they would lose nothing. Every one said, "You '11 see." 
 We did see. 
 
 In a few days the following announcement and letter appeared in the 
 daily papers : 
 
 "Substantial Approval. 
 
 "The Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian Hospital were surprised 
 and gratified, yesterday to receive a check for $3,000, which the donor pre- 
 sented as a token of his appreciation of the course taken by the trustees 
 in refusing the offer of the charity ball managers." 
 
 Following is the letter accompanying the check : 
 "Mr. John D. McCord, Treasurer of the Presbyterian Hospital in Phila- 
 delphia : 
 
 "Dear Sir, — I observe that one hospital has decHned a sum of $2,500 
 on principle. Believing that it should not suffer loss for maintaining prin- 
 ciple, enclosed please find my check for $3,000, $2,500 in lieu of the sum 
 it did not receive, and $500 being a premium for adhering to principle. 
 If not adverse to the interests of the hospital, I should like this sum of 
 $3,000 added to the principal of the permanent funds of the hospital, so 
 that principle and principal may go together. Truly yours, 
 
 "John B. Austin." 
 
 Verily, "I could have thrown my hat over the steeple." Long live 
 Bro. Austin and the trustees of the Philadelphia Hospital, say I, and may 
 their tribe increase ! Wishing you every success in your sturdy stand for 
 the things that are pure, lovely, and of good report, I remain, yours very 
 truly, C. C. Smith, in Herald and Presbyter, April 19, 191 1. 
 
 "A man may give without loving, but he can not love without giving." 
 
 I will place no value on anything I have or may possess except in 
 relation to the Kingdom of Christ. — David Livingstone. 
 
 Ill 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HOW ESTIMATE THE TITHE? 
 
 Prayer of the Churchman's Tithe Club at Omaha, Neb.: *'0 
 Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and af- 
 fections of sinful men, grant unto Thy people that they may love 
 the thing that Thou commandest, and desire that which Thou dost 
 promise ; and more especially let it be so in the holy obligation of 
 paying tithes, that they may both perceive and know what portion 
 of their substance they ought to give to Thee, and also may have 
 grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
 Under the methods wdiich obtain in our Churches where tith- 
 ing is not observed there has been little need of the usual inquiry, 
 "How am I to know what my tithe will be?" The prevalent 
 fixed pledge plan now long in use, and which we think is becom- 
 ing more and more unpopular as tithing is better understood, has 
 left the amount given open to every mood or caprice of the donor. 
 The weekly pledges are taken in order to meet the budget of 
 current expenses of the Church, and are made with that end 
 mainly in view. Whatever the subscriber may be able to spare 
 from his loose change will be later given to benevolences. 
 
 "I knew an illustration a little while ago," said Samuel P. 
 Capen at the recent Laymen's Congress at Chicago, "where a 
 man was deeply stirred and made up his mind that he would 
 give a certain large sum of money, but he delayed about it ; then 
 he met some friends ; then he went away ; and then he had some 
 dinners, and he cut his thought down one-half; and then he cut 
 it down a quarter ; and by and by he cut it down to nothing. The 
 trouble was he did n't act at once, and he lost his chance." 
 
 112 
 
GEMS OK THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Similar illustrations could be cited in nearly every Church in 
 the land. This would not be so, says R. L. Davidson, if men 
 would consider "that the first obligation of the debtor is to the 
 creditor who has furnished him with his working capital, without 
 which he could not engage in business. Therefore the steward's 
 first obligation is to God, who has furnished him with his work- 
 ing capital, in the way of brains and brawn and material wealth, 
 without which he could not meet the smallest claim upon him. It 
 is to the interest of all of his other creditors that he keep on 
 good terms with God. He ought to prefer Him above all other 
 creditors." Tithing will help any one to meet his obligations to 
 God without these worries, and it will give him pleasure to pay 
 his tithe regularly and reverently into the Church. 
 
 "How much ow^est thou? 
 
 For years of tender, watchful care: 
 A father's faith, a mother's prayer — 
 How much owest thou? 
 
 "How much owest thou? 
 
 O child of God and heir of heaven, 
 Thy soul redeemed, thy sins forgiven — 
 How much owest thou? 
 
 Thomas Kane is quoted as saying: "I do not believe that 
 ministers have any right to permit any man to think that he is a 
 Christian or safe for Heaven if his so-called religion finds ex- 
 pression only in talking and praying. Neither have they any 
 right to refrain from warning all such professing Christians that 
 the so-called giving at the rate of two or three cents a month to 
 the causes nearest to Christ's heart, home and foreign missions, 
 is either conscious or unconscious hypocrisy." When Mr. Kane 
 penned these words he was not far from the thought of the 
 Master who said, "If, therefore, ye have not been faithful in the 
 unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true 
 riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is an- 
 other man's who shall give you that which is your own?" (Luke 
 i6: II, 12). 
 
 8 113 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Does not the Bible teach that all that we have belongs to 
 God? "Yes," says Dr. Aitchison, answering this question, "but 
 not in the sense in which the tithe belongs to Him. We have 
 avoided this question in the previous discussion because there is 
 need of a definite message which will stir the Church to see her 
 duty regarding the tithe. Many are free to admit that 'all belongs 
 to God' and keep it for themselves. Whereas the man who with- 
 holds the tithe, withholds that which is not his but 'is holy unto 
 the Lord.' " 
 
 In another chapter we gave the testimonies of numbers of 
 Churches and individuals who have found great joy and success 
 in tithing. The promises of blessing from the Father of all were 
 sure to these people, as they will be to all who honor Him with 
 the firstfruits of their incomes. In no other duty commanded or 
 promise of blessing resulting does God challenge us to test Him as 
 in this. We recommend that those whose faith is not strong 
 enough for unconditional surrender, but who are willing to accept 
 God's challenge for a year and prayerfully observe His leadings, 
 that they do not hesitate to do so. Seldom do any such ever 
 recede from the covenant. There is something about tithing that 
 the child of God needs much more than merely to see the results 
 accruing to the treasuries of the Lord's house. The latter are 
 incidental. God wants the life as well with the full consecration 
 of time and talent. Tithing helps every child of God to a fuller 
 consecration and richer Christian experience. 
 
 One-tenth of ripened grain, One-tenth of loom and press, 
 
 One-tenth of tree and vine, One-tenth of mill and mine, 
 
 One-tenth of all the yield One-tenth of every craft 
 
 From ten-tenths rain and shine. Wrought out by gifts of Thine. 
 
 One^tenth of lowing herds One-tenth of glowing words 
 
 That browse on hill and plain. That glowing dollars hold, 
 
 One-tenth of bleating flocks One-tenth of written thoughts 
 
 For ten-tenths shine and rain. That turn to shining gold. 
 
 One-tenth of all increase One-tenth! and dost Thou, Lord, 
 
 From counting-room and mart, But ask this meager loan. 
 
 One-tenth that science yields. When all the earth is Thine, 
 
 One-tenth of every art. And all we have Thine own? 
 
 — The Churchman. 
 114 
 
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 115 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 The table on the preceding page, based upon the Scriptural 
 method of the tithe so far as the first tenth of income is concerned, 
 may be helpful. It had the approval of the General Assembly of 
 the Presbyterian Church, 1895, and the Presbytery of Chicago, 
 Synod of Illinois. Free-will offerings toward outside objects of 
 charity or benevolence are not hindered by adherence to the sched- 
 ule. We know of many who are giving a tenth above the tithe 
 toward hospitals, Y, M. C. A., and other Christian institutions, 
 which are in a true sense arms of the Church. Free-will offerings 
 beyond the tithe, however, can not be extensively expected among 
 the poor with the care of large families upon them, but out of the 
 surplus, above living, of those in better circumstances these should 
 be freely and voluntarily made. In these and not in the tithe, 
 which is "holy unto the Lord," is the voluntary principle empha- 
 sized by our Master when He said, "these (to tithe) ought ye 
 to have done and not leave the other (acts of "justice, mercy, and 
 faith," or as Luke has it, "judgment and the love of God") un- 
 done." In these latter is the voluntary principle not narrowed to 
 a second or third tithe, as in the old law, but like John Wesley 
 we may consecrate all above our living to God in acts of "justice, 
 mercy, and faith." 
 
 These words may fall into the hands of some who have no need to 
 save, who have capital enough and ample provision for all their wants 
 and for those who come after them also. To them let it be said in all 
 kindness, in the name of Him who giveth us all things richly to enjoy, 
 Give according to your means, or He whom you offend by failure therein 
 may make your means according to your giving. — Dr. John Hall. 
 
 We smile at the little English boy who devoted one of the two six- 
 pences given him on a holiday to the heathen, and on losing one of them, 
 congratulated himself on the fact that it was the one he had devoted to 
 the heathen. But do we not charge losses in precisely the same way to 
 the Lord? "Time is money," say business men. Well, in the matter of 
 time, you give a seventh to the Lord, and as much more as you can in 
 the closet, family, prayer-meeting, and Christian service, and you find 
 it better to have six-sevenths for yourself and one-seventh for God than 
 the whole for yourself. Why not do so with money — one-tenth at least 
 to Him, and as much more as you can — and you will find the nine-tenths 
 for yourself better than the whole for self, for God's blessing hallows 
 and conserves the remainder. — Dr. John Hall. 
 
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GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 We have this from Wesley's sermon on "The Use of Money:" "Gain 
 all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can. You are a steward ; 
 therefore provide modestly for your own wants, and give the surplus. Do 
 not stint yourself to this or that proportion. Render unto God, not a 
 tenth, not a third, not a half; but all that is God's, so that you may give 
 a good account of your stewardship." Wesley lived as he preached. 
 
 And now with another testimony (for young men especially), we shall 
 submit the question to your faith in the unceasing faithfulness of God. 
 Early in life a well-known Eastern merchant took Jacob's pledge, "Of all 
 that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee." 
 
 He directed his clerk to open an account with D. P. J. (Old Patriarch 
 Jacob) and to credit to it one-tenth of all the profits of the concern. His 
 success was one of the wonders of the land, and O. P. J.'s account 
 amounted at tens of thousands ; and when the merchant was asked how 
 he could give such large sums he said, "I do n't give anything : it is the 
 Lord's money." — Mr. Rigby in "Tithe Terumoth." 
 
 We say one-tenth, at least, for five reasons : First, it was the practice 
 of nearly all the nations of antiquity, who probably received it by tradi- 
 tion from primitive man, and he from God ; second, it was the divinely 
 approved practice of the Patriarchal Church; third, God commanded the 
 Jewish Church to observe it as a law ; fourth, Christ did not repeal the 
 law, but, rather, confirmed it; fifth, whether binding as a statute or not, 
 it is the only rule God ever gave on the subject, and no man can invent 
 a better. — C. W. Winchester, D. D. 
 
 God requires that each steward shall settle with Him on the same 
 basis. "As God hath prospered," is the divine rule. God has never re- 
 quired of His stewards less than one-tenth of their increase. This law 
 does not smell of the smoke of Sinai, but antedates Moses hundreds of 
 years and is based upon the inherent relationship of God and His stew- 
 ards. The law of Moses was given to define this relationship and to 
 regulate the conduct of stewards toward their Lord and Master. This 
 demand is not excessive. Borrowers pay ten per cent interest for the use 
 of money, and tenants pay one-third of their crop for the use of the 
 ground and still prosper. One-tenth from God's stewards is far more 
 reasonable than one-third from the tenant. The landlord furnishes noth- 
 ing but the land, while God not only furnishes the land, but the seed, and 
 the sunlight, and the moisture, and the horses and the plows, and the 
 very life and strength of His stewards. Men labor six days and give 
 God the seventh, and prosper more than when they labor the full seven 
 days. Nine-tenths of our income with God's blessing is better than ten- 
 tenths without it. 
 
 God requires that each steward shall make settlement with Him each 
 
 117 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 week. "Every one of you" is the divine injunction. The boys, the girls, 
 the husbands, the wives, the rich, the poor, are all included in this com- 
 mand. The husband can not give for the wife, nor the parents for the 
 children any more than they can believe and go to heaven for them. 
 
 Not all of God's stewards, as the merchant and the farmer, may be 
 able to make full settlement each week, but they can approximate it ac- 
 cording to their best judgment and then make final settlement at the end 
 of the year, when invoice has been taken and all accounts audited. — R. 
 L. Davidson. 
 
 Promptness, indeed, is often a part of economy. He gives twice who 
 gives promptly. The fire-extinguisher used at once makes unnecessary 
 the engine, whose floods sometimes are as destructive as flame. In rais- 
 ing a heavy weight, an ounce of added pressure at a critical moment is 
 worth more than many pounds applied later. Dr. Wilson, while at Bath, 
 heard of a worthy minister who was in great need. He gave a friend 
 £$0, asking him to convey it to the minister. 
 
 "Yes," said the friend, "in the morning." 
 
 "No," said Dr. Wilson, "to-night. Think of what importance a good 
 night's rest may be to that poor man." — Phillip S. Moxom, D. D. 
 
 Is it fair to apply the same rule to rich and poor? The obligation to 
 give at least a tenth is binding on all alike ; the poor should not give less, 
 but the rich ought to give much more. The difference comes in the amount 
 given, over and above the tenth, which will necessarily be determined by 
 the ability as well as the willingness of the giver. The true gauge of giving 
 is not the amount given, but rather, what remains. "Many that were rich 
 cast in much," but as the Master noted "how the people cast money into 
 the treasury," His verdict was, that the "poor widow cast in more than 
 all," because they gave "of their superfluity," but she "of her want, all 
 that she had, even all her living. (Mark 12:41-44.) 
 
 On what basis am I to reckon the proportion to be given? On the 
 net income. Whether your capital is in money, or property, or brains, or 
 hands, or in all these, it is what produces income, and it may be consid- 
 ered a gift from God to be used for Him. Commence with what you 
 now have and put aside one-tenth; do the same with all that you receive, 
 at once on receipt of it, never drawing on this fund for personal use, but 
 only for disbursing under the Lord's direction. You will probably be 
 surprised at your increased ability to give! — Board of Foreign Missions, 
 Presbyterian Church. 
 
 But some one may say, "It is easy for those who are earning regular 
 wages, or have a stipulated salary, to adopt such a system; but I am a 
 farmer, and I do not know how much my crops may produce;" or, "I am 
 in business, and I can not tell how much I may gain." But most persons 
 
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GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 can make an approximate estimate of what their income will be; and, 
 when the annual account is taken, they can decide definitely. In most 
 cases it is well to have a purse, or other receptacle, in which to deposit 
 the money thus devoted, so that it may be at hand when needed; but 
 some persons may find that keeping a regular account of money devoted 
 and distributed is all that is necessary — Rev. Wm. Hurlin. 
 
 It is not within my province to say what proportion of our income we 
 should statedly set apart for God. The patriarch give a tenth; and surely 
 the noon of Christianity should not inspire less benevolence than the 
 twilight (Gen. 28:22). And it has been calculated that the Jews gave in 
 all at least one-fifth of their income to the maintenance of their religion. 
 But of course the proportion we can statedly set apart for Christ must 
 vary with our circumstances. A man, when his family is young, may be 
 able to give only a tenths who, when his expenses are less, can as easily 
 dedicate a fifth or a third. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
 Only let this principle be observed, that there be a stated proportion given 
 out of every dollar, whether the income be received weekly or monthly, 
 or whether it be realized at the end of the year. Be careful to put the 
 Lord's money aside. We must not trust in our memories, or generalities. 
 We must be minute, and specific, and careful, some having a bag, others 
 a box, into which the Lord's portion is carefully put ; some having a sep- 
 arate banking account; and all having some kind of ledger account, where 
 we may put down what we receive and spend for Christ, that there may 
 be no embezzlement, however inadvertent, of that which is not ours. — F. 
 B. Meyer. 
 
 There was a widow in a city in this country who put into the col- 
 lection box an amount so large that her pastor called to remonstrate. He 
 found her in one room of a little flat in a tenement, and he said, "Madam, 
 you surely never meant to give eight hundred dollars to foreign missions." 
 She said : "Why, my son supports me ; I have everything I need, and of 
 this thousand dollars that I had, if I had kept for myself eight hundred 
 dollars and only given two hundred of it, I would have been ashamed to 
 look my Master in the face. Two hundred is all I need, and I gladly give 
 the eight. It is not mine, it is not yours. You must take it; it is His." 
 With shining face and with joyous sacrifice she gave it. How much 
 have we kept? How much have we given? — George Sherwood "Eddy, at 
 Missionary Congress. 
 
 A very good way to tithe is to lay by the tenth daily from every 
 sum collected, after deducting the expense of earning it. This can be 
 done without trouble by professional men, or parties working for wages, 
 or living on an income. Merchants will have more trouble, but their 
 books will enable them to learn what the profit on their business is. The 
 
 119 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 tithe should be kept separate in a purse to itself, and an account kept of 
 what is paid out of it. If this is practiced systematically for a short time 
 it will give such satisfaction of conscience that it will never be abandoned. 
 The writer has practiced the tithe for years, and knows by experience 
 the truth of these things. Conceiving that perhaps the argument from a 
 mere legal standpoint, coming from a lawyer who is disinterested, and 
 in no wise biased professionally in favor of the tithe, may induce some 
 who have never tithed to try it; he prints the above, in the conviction 
 that if Christians would try tithing systematically for a time, it would 
 soon be generally practiced. Luke 6 : 38. — Judge Hobson. 
 
 Many excuse themselves from paying their tithes because they are in 
 debt. We say "excuse themselves," for God does not excuse them. They 
 say, "I can not pay much to God's cause; I am in debt," and to support 
 their position they quote the Scripture, "Owe no man anything but to 
 love one another." If this is a sufficient reason for not paying their tithes, 
 these two things are apparent : First, they have violated God's word in 
 going in debt; and second, they have a poor way of showing their love 
 to their neighbor. It must be a spurious love that avoids sacrifice. 
 
 God is no respecter, of persons, and if we give as the Philippians 
 gave, promptly — as soon as we have opportunity — generously, and re- 
 peatedly, we may be certain that our Heavenly Father out of His infinite 
 resources will supply all our need according to the love wherewith He 
 loved us when He withheld not His only begotten Son, but freely offered 
 Him for our redemption, and that, having given us Flis Son, He will with 
 Him also freely give us all things. — Rev. S. B. Shaw. 
 
 One objection more: "I shall not be able to ascertain what my tithe 
 would be. My business is so complex, full of credits, running accounts, 
 losses by bad debts, long-running investments, and the like, that I am not 
 able to tell just what my income for a given period would be." I see the 
 point, and it is well taken, but may I ask him a question? Suppose the 
 law were reversed ; suppose the Bible ordained that the Church should pay 
 the merchant, the man with many irons in the fire, a sum of money equal 
 to one-tenth of his net profits upon being informed correctly how much 
 that was. Let me ask how long would he be finding out what his profits 
 were? — Frank O. Ballard, D. D. 
 
 "A man's net income is the amount of his living expenses, what he 
 spends upon himself and his household, plus the increase in his available 
 assets." Thus a merchant may find at the end of a year he has sold goods 
 to the amount of $50,000 at a profit of $S,ooo. Suppose he paid $500 for 
 the rent of the storeroom and $1,500 for clerk hire, and that he spent $1,000 
 in supporting his family. Now his "net income" will be obtained by de- 
 ducting the clerk hire and rent paid for the storeroom from the gross in- 
 
 120 
 
GEMS. OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 come, $5,000, which leaves him $3,000 for his "net income," and tithing 
 this he would have $300 as the Lord's portion. One's own living is never 
 counted out before the tithe is made; all necessary expenses, however, for 
 the carrying on of a business or profession are first deducted. 
 
 How should I begin. Begin by setting apart one-tenth of your in- 
 come for the present month. Many keep a little box called "The Lord's 
 Tithe," in which they place ten cents of every dollar they receive. Others 
 keep a careful account, giving each month and year God's tenth of all He 
 gives them. — S. S. Hough, D. D. 
 
 Question. — Shall the net or gross income be tithed? 
 
 Answer. — In the case of a salaried man, the gross income; in the case 
 of a business man, the net income, after business expenses are deducted. 
 
 Question. — What if one has no fixed income? 
 
 Answer. — Tithe whatever money comes to you. 
 
 Question. — What if one is in debt? 
 
 Answer. — Our debt to God takes precedence of our debt to man. The 
 latter must be paid, of course, and a tithe-giver will usually have more 
 wherewith to pay his debts than if he had not given the tithe. — J. Willis 
 Baer, in "Facts about the Tenth Legion." 
 
 "But," says another, "I have debts to pay, and my income must be 
 devoted to that before it can fairly be available for charities. I ought to 
 be just, before I am generous." Of course your creditors have a prior 
 claim to strangers on your income. And of course you ought to be just. 
 But are all your other creditors to be preferred above the Lord? Is there 
 any justice in your ignoring His fair claim upon you? One of the meanest 
 things that any business man can be capable of is the dividing up his assets 
 without a share to his endorser. If you refuse to pay over the first tenth 
 of your income to the Lord as a preferred creditor, you do a meaner thing 
 than the man who deliberately swindles his endorser. The tithe of one's 
 income to the Lord is not a charity ; it is one's first and most pressing 
 debt — a debt of honor. — H. Clay Trumbull, in Sunday School Times. 
 
 Knowing Our Income. — Of course, the farmer or the merchant must 
 deduct from his gross income all the expenses incident to the running of 
 his business, such as rent of store, cost of light and heat, and what he pays 
 his clerks. What remains before he takes any of it for the support of 
 himself or family is his income, and one-tenth of this is the Lord's. It may 
 be difficult, but it is certainly the beginning of better things financially 
 when a family is compelled to ascertain exactly what their income is each 
 year. That is often the first step to prosperity. And in this extravagant 
 age there are few things some families need more to know. 
 
 If the principle of the tithe be correct we have no more right to take 
 God's portion to pay our debts than to take from what belongs to our 
 
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GEMS, OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 neighbor. If the whole tithe belongs to the Lord in such sense that to 
 withhold the least part of it is to rob God, then surely we are not justified 
 in appropriating any of the Lord's money to pay a debt we owe to man.— 
 W. R. Laird, Ph.D. 
 
 There will be but little difficulty in estimating the tithe if all will 
 unite in observing these two general rules : 
 
 1, Tithe the living. 
 
 2. Tithe the net income after the living has been taken from the gross 
 income received. 
 
 The first is the universal rule and applies to every one, from the day 
 laborer with his scanty wages to the man whose skill and experience will 
 command a salary of thousands. Its range is from the child, whose living 
 is its food, clothing, and care, to the multi-millionaire, whose living means 
 thousands for the luxuries that he deems necessities and tens of thousands 
 for pleasure. 
 
 The second is for those whose additional income above living is the 
 result of profit. It applies equally to the farmer, the professional, and the 
 business man; from the country attorney with his modest income to the 
 corporation lawyer with his princely fees ; from the humble physician with 
 his bare living to the highly-skilled and high-priced specialist; from the 
 obscure village grocer to the merchant prince whose transactions reach 
 unto all the continents of the world. 
 
 Another says, "I have had to borrow money on which to live ; shall I 
 tithe this borrowed money?" Certainly. It is simply your living that has 
 been advanced to you before you have earned it. A tithe of your living 
 belongs to the Lord. It matters not if you receive it before you earn it 
 or after you earn it. You and your family have used this money in your 
 living, and the Lord is entitled to His share. 
 
 But this borrowed or advanced living should not be tithed a second 
 time. It is returned to the owner untithed. "Tithes of all," but one tithe 
 of every increase, not two tithes, is what our God requires. As you tithed 
 your capital once, not twice; as you tithed your profits once, not twice; 
 so should you tithe your living once, not twice. — E. L. Miller. 
 
 Do not be slovenly — be systematic. Get an account book, sharpen your 
 pencil, and keep books, especially with that portion of your income which 
 you have decided shall be held sacred for God's use. We recommend 
 starting with at least one-tenth. In after years, when God has prospered 
 us, as He is sure to do if we have thus honored Him, you can give a fifth, 
 a quarter, a half, or your entire income after a bare living has been 
 provided. Watch your expenses.— W. W. Cooper. 
 
 In deciding what proportion to give, I should remember that a Chris- 
 tian, with his superior blessings and privileges, ought certainly to do 
 
 122 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 better than a Jew. If I am poor I should not give less than one-tenth ; if 
 I am rich and have a large income I should give much more than that, 
 perhaps one-half of my income. If I can do that without real sacrifice, 
 will the Lord excuse me if I do less? He will judge of my love for Him, 
 not so much by the amounts I give as by the sacrifices I make for His 
 cause — by the proportion between what I give to Him and what I keep 
 for selfish uses. It is what I spend in useless indulgences, or what I keep 
 beyond the actual or prospective needs of myself and my family, that 
 measures my selfishness and my unbelief. The greed for gain is moral 
 poison in the soul, producing selfishness, pride, worldliness, dishonesty, 
 and utter godlessness ; the one antidote against this poison — the only pre- 
 ventive of these fatal disorders — is liberal giving, from pure motives, to 
 the cause of Christ. The man who makes money for the Lord will escape 
 all the dangers of selfish money-getting. — Rev. A. E. Waffle. 
 
 "Suppose I am in debt. Should I not pay my debts before tithing my 
 income ?" 
 
 No. As well talk about not paying the interest on the money you bor- 
 row to use in business because you owe your grocer or other debts. Your 
 tithe is of all debts the most sacred. Under such a rule all you would 
 have to do to escape all obligations to give or pay anything would be to 
 keep in debt. Besides, the universal experience of the very large number 
 who have commenced tithing while in debt has been that with the re- 
 maining nine-tenths they were able to pay their other debts more easily 
 and promptly than if they had tried to keep the whole for that purpose. 
 
 "Should I ever give or pay more than the one-tenth?" 
 
 Yes, when you can afford to do it without endangering your ability 
 to produce a reasonable income. But "give" is not the right word to use 
 until the tenth, God's tithe, has been paid. "Be just before you are gen- 
 erous." In other words, pay what you owe before "giving" anything. Giv- 
 ing or making free-will offerings can not justly commence until the tenth 
 has been paid. 
 
 "Suppose I am able to support my family only by close economy; 
 should I pay one-tenth?" 
 
 Yes. And if for no other reason than because the remaining nine- 
 tenths will go further. 
 
 "Strange logic, that. Can it really be true?" 
 
 I believe it to be absolutely true, and the reasons are based on the 
 personal testimony of thousands who have tested it. Will you not try 
 it and prove its truthfulness? Now, I admit that if you should do it for 
 this purpose only, you would, or at least you ought to be, disappointed. 
 But I take it for granted that you are a Christian, that you do want to 
 honor God with your substance, that you do trust His promises, and that 
 you want to do your duty. With these motives you will not be disappointed. 
 
 123 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 "Should not the rich give proportionately more than the poor?" 
 The obligation to pay the tithe is binding upon the rich and poor alike, 
 but the gifts after payment has been made, or, in other words, the free- 
 will offerings of the rich and those in comfortable circumstances, should 
 be very much greater. 
 
 "To what objects should I devote the tenth of my income?" 
 The most comprehensive and, to me, satisfactory answer is that it can 
 be properly applied to every cause which has for its object the upbuilding 
 and advancement of Christ's Kingdom, commencing with the free, strong, 
 'and hearty support of your own Church and pastor. — ^Thos. Kane. 
 
 God's plan of finance develops faith. The call of the tithe helps us to 
 determine whether or not our faith is real. It is easy to be deceived. It 
 is easy to say we trust our Heavenly Father, but we need some test to 
 satisfy our own hearts and to declare our faith by our works. 
 
 The Lord says, "My child, give Me the first dollar out of that ten you 
 have made to-day." But I say: "Father, / need all that money. There 
 is coal to be bought and high-priced meat, and a little, if any is left, to 
 put away for a rainy day." Then, if we listen, we can hear Him say: 
 "My son, I know all about the cost of living and the needs of your family. 
 Remember, I am with you. You and yours are very dear to My heart. 
 I will help you solve these problems, and I will watch out for those rainy 
 days too. I will never leave you. I have considerable resource yet at 
 My command. / do not design to rob you of that dollar. I only want you 
 to learn to trust Me, and I desire to be able to trust you. Bring Me the 
 whole tithe, and I will bless you abundantly." 
 
 Then we say, "Dear Lord, I can not see where the needed money is 
 to come from, but I '11 do my best and trust You." That is the philosophy 
 of His plan. The Lord could send angels to dig and purify and mint that 
 dollar, but that would bring no blessing to His children. His method of 
 finance is to develop our faith. — Rev. E. E. Urner. 
 
 Reference may here be made to the late Mr. Gladstone's paper in the 
 Nineteenth Century, in which he specifies three benefits to be derived from 
 the practice of proportionate giving, based upon tithing, thus : 
 
 "First. It will place us in honest co-operation with those from whom 
 we differ. This is a distinct good ; for it will tend to soften any asperities 
 which difference engenders. 
 
 "Secondly. For that part of the community who find economics either 
 necessary or congenial a certain dignity would be conferred upon these 
 economics, and they would be redeemed from the sense of meanness if 
 they are made in order to render possible the furthering of a dedicated 
 fund. 
 
 "Thirdly. In many cases of begging letters and the like, who is there 
 
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GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 that has not felt it painful to have his own pecuniary interest pitted against 
 even a questionable applicant? But under the plan now in contemplation 
 the applicant goes against the fund, not against our personal means of 
 indulgence and enjoyment, so that we can afford to treat him dispassion- 
 ately, and reject him, if need be, with a quiet conscience, as it makes us 
 none the richer." 
 
 Some people have a very peculiar and altogether selfish and erroneous 
 method of tithing their income. They deduct so many items of expense 
 from their income that the tithe of the remainder amounts to very little. 
 For example, the farmer in many instances makes no estimate of the cash 
 value represented by the food that comes to his table daily from the farm 
 in the shape of butter, milk, eggs, poultry, vegetables, and fruit. All these 
 articles of diet for a family of strong, healthy farmers with a keen relish 
 for food would represent hundreds of dollars in the course of a year — an 
 amount that would greatly astonish the farmer were he to put a fair cash 
 value upon them. Such value should be added to the income instead of 
 being ruled out of the calculation altogether, as is so often the case. 
 
 If the income from the various products of the farm is $2,000, and 
 the cash value of food supplied for the family is $500, then the farmer's 
 gross income is $2,500. From this it would be proper to deduct the outlay 
 for hired help, agricultural implements, and other necessary expenses in 
 running the farm. Supposing such expenditure represents $500, this 
 amount deducted from the gross income of $2,500 would leave a net in- 
 come of $2,000, the tithe of which would be $200. 
 
 Another evil which we have seen under the sun is the plea so often 
 made by the farmer that he can not afford to tithe till the additional farm 
 he has purchased is paid for. Such an excuse could easily be made per- 
 petual by continually increasing his holdings in real estate. The products 
 of the old farm and the new farm should be tithed whether they are paid 
 for or not. Should the annual revenue from these farms amount to, say, 
 $5,200 and the expense of working them, with interest on unpaid purchase, 
 be $1,200, there would remain $4,000 of the net income to be tithed. Let 
 us deal squarely and honestly with God. — Christian Steward. 
 
 Let us look at the law of tenths from this point of view. Here are 
 two Christians, one of whom has an income of ten thousand dollars a 
 year, and the other of one thousand. We will suppose that each has 
 about the same calls for personal expenditure. Apply to them the law 
 of tenths, and the former will give to religious purposes one thousand dol- 
 lars a year, and keep for himself nine thousand; the latter will give one 
 hundred and keep nine hundred. It is a law which allows to one ten 
 times as much out of the Lord's money as it allows to the other for per- 
 sonal expenditure or for hoarding. Does the Master deal thus with His 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 stewards? It is a law which requires no self-sacrifice of one and great 
 self-sacrifice of the other. The man with ten thousand dollars a year 
 can give one-half of it to religious purposes and still be five times better 
 off than his poorer brother. If we look upon gifts to the Lord as a tax, 
 we must fix upon a percentage; but God is not a tax-gatherer; He re- 
 ceives offerings of love. For one Christian it may be one-tenth, and those 
 cases are rare in which it should be less; for another it may be one-fifth, 
 and for another one-half. As a rule the larger the income the larger the 
 proportion which should be devoted to religious purposes. Those rich 
 Church-members who reverse this rule show that they need to be converted 
 from self to Christ. And those poor Christians— poor in every sense of 
 the word — who will give nothing because they can not give much, need 
 to learn some lessons of humility and love. — Albert E. Waffle. 
 
 The favorite illustration is this : A poor widow, with many children to 
 support, has an income of $300. A young man with no one dependent on 
 him has an income of $1,000. The contention is that the tithe system is 
 unjust to the widow. With all due deference I must say that they could 
 not come to such a conclusion as they have save through misunderstanding 
 what the tithe system is. I presume they think the tithe system is like 
 the Government tax levy — the maximum required. Our Government at 
 Washington does tax this widow and young man just that way, yet I 
 have heard no one crying out against the injustice of Uncle Sam. But in- 
 stead of the tenth being the maximum, as with the Government, it is the 
 minimum. The moral obligation of the tithe system requires the $1,000 
 young man to do more than tithe or be a robber of God. The Bible prin- 
 ciple that "where much is given much is required" is most strongly en- 
 forced by the tithe system. — G. L. Wharton. 
 
 "What part of my income should I tithe?" If you are a professional 
 man the answer is quite simple. If your income is $800, and you are at 
 no outlay in acquiring it, $80 of it belongs to the Lord. If you have ex- 
 pense, such as horse hire, office rent, these should be deducted, as they do 
 not represent income. If you are a farmer, all that you produce is to 
 be taken into account. Suppose your sales in a year in grain, cattle, pro- 
 duce, etc., amount to $800, and suppose you use in flour, milk, butter, eggs, 
 fruit, etc., upon your family $400 more ; then your gross income would be 
 $1,200. Now suppose for interest, rent, taxes, hired help, etc., it cost you 
 $400, that would leave you $800, and $80 of that belongs to the Lord. But 
 you ask, "Should I not take out my living first?" Certainly not. Many 
 do, and the consequence is they have little or nothing to give. God claims 
 the tenth first and promises His rich blessing upon the balance. It was 
 upon the widow's meal and oil, and the boy's loaves and fishes that God's 
 blessing so abundantly rested. — Rev. James Husser. 
 
 126 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 We have Christians who want to tithe, but seem not to know how 
 to get at it. My idea on tithing is this : A farmer should pay his taxes, 
 his hired help, his fertilizer, if he uses any, and tithe the balance. If he 
 is renting land, pay the rent before he tithes; and if he is working on 
 sliares, pay for labor and fertilizer, and then tithe his part. If working 
 for a salary, tithe it all if stationed ; if traveling, pay railroad fare, and 
 tithe the rest. If renting out land, pay taxes and repairs, and tithe the 
 balance. Do the same with houses. If a merchant, pay all expenses except 
 family living expenses ; if raising stock, pay all expenses, and tithe increase. 
 On money loaned, pay tithe on interest. If keeping poultry, pay feed bill, 
 tithe eggs except those used for setting, and tithe all poultry raised. — H. 
 S. Dixon. 
 
 In order to pay a tenth you must keep an accurate account of receipts 
 and expenses. This of itself will be an advantage to your business and is 
 one of the benefits of tithing. 
 
 Income is the net increase from business after the direct expenses of 
 conducting the business have been taken out. A merchant would deduct 
 clerk hire, taxes, freight, advertising, etc. A farmer would deduct the 
 expense of machinery, fertilizer, seed, and taxes. A man on salary would 
 tithe practically all of it. Personal and family expenses should not be 
 deducted. Our labor is supposed to balance the capital the Lord has fur- 
 nished us, and family expenses should be paid from the nine-tenths left 
 to us. 
 
 Outside debts and obligations should not be considered. The debt 
 of one-tenth to the Lord is more binding tlian these, and compliance with 
 this obligation to the Lord will help to pay others. The tithing system 
 obligates all alike — the poor paying in proportion to his income, and the 
 rich likewise. — J. M. Stanfield. 
 
 To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved. — George Mac- 
 
 DONALD. 
 
 In the matter of salary the division is easy: one dollar in ten taken 
 out of the entire sum before personal expenses are reckoned. 
 
 With the farmer : one-tenth of the grain when reaped, of the cattle 
 when sold, of the fruit when gathered, and one-tenth of the money received 
 in the market ; for the farmer has had his shelter and board and warmth 
 off the farm while working it. He is a fixed charge, and has taken cost 
 of production out as he goes along, the cost of horses and oxen, and care 
 of help has come out of the farm as he works men and animals. 
 
 If in business : the net that remains after rent, interest on money, 
 salaries of help, but not personal expenses. If a partner shares in the 
 gross receipts he must also share in the expenses. If you tithe the gross, 
 then take out the tithe of expenses. Or the tithe might be reckoned one 
 
 127 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 of the fixed charges, as taxes are, to come out of the gross amount, reck- 
 oned with insurance. "Let a man be fully persuaded in his own mind." 
 "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth unto all men 
 liberally and upbraideth not." If a man seek first the Kingdom of God, 
 and His righteousness, all other things shall be added, and among the 
 additions will be additions of wisdom to settle detail.— H. Clay Trumbull. 
 
 Just think of two-sixteenths of one per cent for Home and Foreign 
 Missions as the average from all Christians in Christian America ! Sup- 
 pose I tell you that ten million people (in America) in 1880 paid nine 
 hundred million of dollars for strong drink, and the same year the same 
 number of Christians gave only fifty million (or one-eighteenth of that 
 amount) for the cause of Christ, do n't you think they might have found 
 it practicable to have paid their tithe of three hundred million dollars, or 
 one-third of what the others paid for whisky and beer? — Mr. Rigby. 
 
 I hope none of you are going to be like a man that was in my friend 
 McPheeter's Sunday school class in St. Louis. He had a class that he 
 talked to one Sunday morning on the subject of benevolence. He said, 
 "You ought to give up some portion of your income to the Lord for 
 good purposes." One of these weak creatures with no backbone who 
 was in the class spoke up and said: "Well, supposing a man has given 
 everything he has to the Lord. How about that?" McPheeters said to 
 him, "My friend, if I was the Lord and you said that to me, I would 
 say, 'Ten per cent off for cash.' " I told that story up at Buffalo to a 
 man coming down from a church in which I had spoken, and he said, 
 "Marling, I do n't remember much you said, but that ten per cent cash 
 business hit me." — Alfred E. Marling, at*Missionary Congress. 
 
 But, small as the one-tenth is, the tithing system has much in its favor : 
 
 First. Because the tither usually gives twice as much as the average 
 Church-member, maybe three times as much. 
 
 Second. Because it is systematic and regular. 
 
 Third. Because it is a means of grace. 
 
 I never knew a tither who did not have a little larger surplus of grace 
 in his heart than appears in the average Christian. 
 
 The trouble with most men is that when they give they look at the 
 amount given through a magnifying glass and at the amount they have 
 left through a microscope, forgetting that the best known giver in the 
 world was a poor widow who gave "tzvo mites" which made of her a 
 one hundred per cent tither. — Charles D. Meigs. 
 
 What is the Best Plan for Tithing? — "Upon the first day of the 
 week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no 
 collections be made" (i Cor. 16:2). There is no better way than the 
 Scriptural way. Here are the working plans of Christian stewardship: 
 
 128 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 systematic and proportionate giving by every person. This divine business 
 plan will make collections unnecessary. Those who do not receive their 
 income steadily must adopt the spirit of the plan, just as all must adopt 
 the spirit of the tithe in determining his income as the basis of the tithing. 
 "I find some difficulty to find my tithe," says a farmer tither, "but I can 
 do it ; any man can if he wants to." — H. F. Shupe. 
 
 "Ah, but I should not like to die poor!" Not like to die poor! For 
 my part, I should wish to die rich. Who dies rich? He who, whether 
 he leaves much or little or nothing behind him, has treasure laid up in 
 heaven; he dies rich. Who dies poor? He who, whatever he leaves be- 
 hind him, has nothing laid up before him; he dies poor. — Wm. Arthur. 
 
 129 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 HOW INTRODUCE THE TITHE PLAN? 
 
 PRi'iYER. — We thank Thee that in these days Thou art moving so 
 mightily upon the hearts of Thy people, and that Thou art stir- 
 ring up those forces that have so long been latent and so largely 
 untouched by this great movement of Thy Spirit. We thank 
 Thee that in these days Thou art bringing together into fellow- 
 ship those whom Thou hast chosen to bring the gospel to the very 
 ends of the earth, that Thou art giving to the men of the 
 Churches a vision of Thyself, a vision of Calvary, a vision of the 
 risen Christ and His power over men, a vision of the possibility 
 of saving grace in their hearts and lives such as perhaps they 
 have never had in all their lives. — Bishop S. P. SprENG, at Mis- 
 sionary Congress. 
 
 One of the chief hindrances to the introduction of the tithe 
 into the Churches is the Instigator of selfishness, who said to our 
 Lord, "All these things will I give Thee, if Thovi wilt fall down 
 and worship me." And Jesus answered, "Get thee behind Me, 
 Satan : for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 
 and Him only shalt thou serve." 
 
 Our Lord in commending the scribes and Pharisees for tith- 
 ing (the only time He ever did definitely commend them) uses 
 the words "these ought ye to have done." The word ought as 
 used by Christ is stronger even than the words "shalt" or "shalt 
 not" of the Ten Commandmends. Bringing to the Lord's house 
 the firstfruits "ought" (not "shalt" because of the command 
 to do so only, but "ought" voluntarily and out of the grate- 
 fulness of our hearts to God) to be your first concern, but in do- 
 ing so you must not neglect to use your free-will offerings and 
 other means of doing justice, mercy, and the exercise of faith. 
 
 130 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 A prominent Chicago layman in writing the author recently 
 said : "I have been speaking to-day to a very good friend who is 
 doing some constructive thinking on Christian stewardship, and 
 he suggested that tithing was doubtless a very good thing, but 
 that unless one was careful it was likely to lead to legalism, and 
 take away the voluntary principle of giving recognized through- 
 out the New Testament. I should like to have your opinion on 
 this position." 
 
 My answer was that our Lord who ratified the so-called 
 "legalism" of tithing in the scribes and Pharisees called attention 
 to the great neglect of these people, leaders in religious thought 
 and conduct, that justice, mercy, and faith "as a voluntary princi- 
 ple" beyond the tithe, must be not lost sight of. In other words, 
 where the religious (not legal) observance of the tithe ends, the 
 real fruitage and blessing of the observance of the tithe begins, 
 namely, the devotion of a just proportion of our own nine-tenths 
 to acts of mercy and faith, charities and good works. These are 
 the free-will offerings which were the "voluntary principle" rec- 
 ognized in the Old Testament, and which must again become the 
 standard of Christian stewardship in the New, if we understand 
 rightly the teachings of our Master. 
 
 In the Sermon on the Mount our Lord said. Matt. 5:20: 
 "For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed 
 the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven." Our Lord never spoke of 
 legalism, and why should it worry any one of us? It is evident 
 our Lord is expecting us not only to recognize the tithe as the 
 least obligation under the new dispensation, but that with even 
 greater devotion than the children of Israel we are asked in addi- 
 tion to the tithe to use some part of the remaining nine-tenths of 
 our increase prayerfully and religiously, after the support first 
 of those committed to our care, for acts of mercy, and benevo- 
 lences. 
 
 The. great difficulty seems to be that the rank and file of the 
 laity of the Churches everywhere are so far below the standard 
 of the tithe as a religious principle ("one-sixteenth of one per 
 
 131 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 cent of our own wealth, instead of ten per cent," (as one has 
 put it) brought to this low state of non-observance by perverse 
 and selfish neglect of centuries, that even ministers may be found 
 who are loath to preach upon the subject to their congregations. 
 On May 26, 1910, Rev. H, W. Hinde, vicar of St. John's, Ips- 
 wich, England, addressed the Clergy Union at Sheffield, and in 
 the course of his forceful address on the need of the Church to 
 again adopt the tithe in teaching and practice, said : 
 
 "The devil is active enough in suggesting ways in which 
 money may be wrongly used. Do we not err if we fail to teach 
 how it may be rightly used and become a means of blessing? 
 There is a good deal of truth in the saying that the pocket is the 
 hardest thing to convert. But just as the conversion of a soul 
 leads to joy in the new life, so the conversion of the pocket leads 
 to a joy in giving that was unknown before. 
 
 "And if we teach the consecration of substance under the 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit we need not fear that we shall be 
 in any way impairing the freeness of the Gospel of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. We must seek first to make disciples, but our com- 
 mission also says we are to teach them to observe all things 
 whatsoever is commanded. 
 
 "Moreover it should be remarked that this (tithing) was the 
 universal custom in the Christian Church for about 1,600 years, 
 so that we read of farmers in the Middle Ages bringing a tenth 
 of their produce, merchants and tradesmen a tenth of their profits, 
 artificers and mechanics a tenth of their earnings, and even serv- 
 ant girls a tenth of their wages. But with the alienation of tithes 
 in the sixteenth century the Church seems to have lost all sense 
 of the sanctification of wealth. 
 
 "The last 120 years or so has witnessed the revival of Evan- 
 gelicalism and of Evangelization, and many things have been, 
 more or less, set in order. But the Church still makes no effort to 
 set this matter in order. And I suggest that the money difficul- 
 ties which are apparently hampering God's work in so many 
 directions constitute a call to us- to set forth more faithfully be- 
 fore our people the Scriptural teaching concerning giving." 
 
 132 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 In introducing Rev. J. G. King, of Columbus, Ohio, to a 
 large audience, at Winona Bible Conference in 1908, the subject 
 of whose address was "The Tithe ; or, the Problem of Church 
 Finance," Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D., director of the Con- 
 ference, said : "Of all the subjects we present at this Bible Con- 
 ference none will help your Churches more than this." 
 
 "At the Torrey-Alexander meetings in Toronto tens of thou- 
 sands of little cards were distributed on which were printed in 
 red letters the words, "Get Right with God." There we have the 
 gist of the whole matter. Getting right with God is the shortest 
 and quickest way of rectifying mistakes in belief or practice, and 
 this may afford a hint of the best method of leading Christian 
 people to adopt the principle and practice of Christian steward- 
 ship." 
 
 Again, in the words of Andrew Murray: "Money is the 
 great symbol of the power of happiness of this world ; one of its 
 chief idols, drawing men away from God ; a never-ceasing tempta- 
 tion to worldliness, to which the Christian is daily exposed. It 
 would not have been a full salvation that did not provide a com- 
 plete deliverance from the power of money. O, how many there 
 are who, if heaven and holiness could be bought for a thousand 
 pounds, would give it ! No money can buy those. But if they 
 only knew, money can wondrously help on the path of holiness 
 and heaven. Money given in the spirit of self-sacrifice, and love, 
 and faith in Him who has paid all, brings a rich and eternal re- 
 ward. Day by day give as God blesses and as He asks — it will 
 help bring heaven nearer to you, it will help to bring you nearer 
 to heaven." 
 
 In a recent letter from that prominent layman and editor, 
 Mr. E. A. K. Hackett, now in Los Angeles, Cal., speaking of the 
 need of instruction on Christian stewardship in the Churches, 
 and the manner in which the people welcome and give heed to 
 Bible teaching on the subject by a tithe evangelist now preaching 
 in Kansas, says: 
 
 "If our tithe evangelist, Rev. F. P. Sigler, who is a good man, 
 should be used by the Methodist Church entirely, as seems to be 
 
 133 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 the case, we ought to secure another man for the Presbyterian 
 Church and the other Churches that need the work so much. The 
 more I come in contact witli Churches, the more I realize that 
 tithing is the thing that is going to settle all troubles in the way 
 of money matters, and lead Church members away from a selfish 
 life." 
 
 The suggestions of this chapter and of all more recent expres- 
 sions of writers on the subject of Christian giving point to the 
 great need of faithful teaching on this subject from the pulpit, in 
 the Sabbath school, Young People's Societies, missionary socie- 
 ties, and brotherhoods of the Churches. No response to the call 
 of stewardship will come from the pocket-book with an unenlight- 
 ened heart and mind in possession of it. 
 
 The Church is the bride of our risen Christ. We believe that the 
 bridal robe of purity and queenly dignity is trailed in the dust when the 
 Bride turns from the Biblical way of financing the Kingdom to the 
 Church's kitchen way. The kitchen methods are mere devices to coax from 
 us what we are too close-pocketed to give freely. 
 
 The Church seems helpless. Why? Lack of both spiritual and ma- 
 terial wealth. She has been robbing God of material wealth, and thus 
 God has withdrawn the spiritual. If we want the windov/s of heaven 
 thrown wide open on their hinges, that a flood-tide of spiritual power may 
 come, let us bring the whole tithe of our material power into the store- 
 house, which is the Church. 
 
 Much of the work that the Church ought to do is carried on through 
 human lodges. In Billings the Masons are building a $150,000 temple; 
 the Elks a $100,000 temple, and the Odd Fellows have one which cost 
 about the same. The combined value of all our church buildings will not 
 equal the value of one of these temples. 
 
 When the Church will cease to rob God in the tithes and ofiferings, 
 and will bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, her church buildings 
 will not be neglected, no deficits will occur either in current expenses or 
 missions, and she will have sufficient means to carry out her philanthropic 
 work in the spirit of the Master. — Daniel G. Dunkin. 
 
 A branch of the Association of Christian Stewards (or other tithing 
 band) is easily formed where half a dozen or more persons can be found 
 who are willing to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. ■ 
 
 Let the pastor arrange for a field day on Christian Stewardship. 
 After strong Scriptural sermons have been preached on the sacred duties 
 
 134 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 and responsibilities of the stewardship of money, ask all the Church mem- 
 bers to remain at the close of the public service for a brief conference as 
 to the advisability of organizing the Church for practical work along the 
 line indicated. Circulate the tithe covenant, and ascertain how many are 
 willing to adopt this Bible method of giving to God's cause. If only six 
 or eight persons are prepared to take a definite stand on this question, the 
 number is sufficient to form a nucleus for successful work. As soon as 
 possible arrange for public meetings in connection with the regular Church 
 prayer service on Wednesday evening. In the meantime let every tither 
 act as a missionary to secure converts to this system of finance. Be sure 
 to prepare a strong program for the first public meeting, that lasting 
 impressions may be made and substantial victories won. At the close 
 of a vigorous, enthusiastic meeting make an appeal for new members. Re- 
 peat this first strong meeting with a still stronger meeting three months 
 afterwards, and keep up this process of instruction, information, testi- 
 mony, exhortation, and appeal till the little band with which you began 
 becomes a potential force and the whole Church has been lifted to a higher 
 financial and spiritual plane. — Christian Steward. 
 
 A good method of getting the matter before the people is, first, by a 
 sermon ; then, if the Official Board adopts, by means of a printed state- 
 ment containing an outline both of the tithing system and of the subscrip- 
 tion plan, and accompanied by a tithe and a subscription card for each 
 member to make choice between the two and register his decision. But 
 this expense of printing is not indispensable. The only actual requirement 
 is a substantial blank-book, large enough not to be easily overlooked or 
 lost, in which is written the adopted tithe covenant for the signature of 
 each one who agrees to tithe. 
 
 The tithing system goes into effect in a Church as soon as one mem- 
 ber has adopted it. Others will follow. Non-tithers desiring during the 
 year to change from the subscription plan should sign the tithe-covenant 
 at once, but not sign to put their tithe-money into unmarked envelopes 
 until after they have paid the amount still due on their subscriptions, 
 and squared their accounts with the Church treasurer. 
 
 The relative amount of tithe-money which the pastor and officials ap- 
 propriate for the support of the gospel and the various benevolent enter- 
 prises will vary from year to year. One Church begins by paying seventy- 
 five cents out of every dollar to current expenses and twenty-five cents to 
 benevolences ; another pays forty-two and a half cents to current expenses, 
 fifteen cents to a repair and improvement fund, and forty-two and a half 
 cents to benevolences ; and another, thirty-three and a third cents to cur- 
 rent expenses and sixty-six and two-thirds cents to benevolences. As the 
 number of tithers grows and the receipts increase, the relative amount 
 appropriated to benevolences will sieadily rise. — Rev. J. W. Magruder. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 The promotion of Christian stewardship is a task of formidable di- 
 mensions and of vast importance. Every enterprise of the Church is 
 embarrassed by the need of financial support. The selfishness of the people 
 is a barrier to securing their intelligent interest. To raise a specific sum 
 of money for worthy purposes requires an endless succession of laborious 
 eflforts for meager results. To persuade people to adopt the principles of 
 Christian stewardship is to win a final battle over selfishness and assure 
 the voluntary contribution of an adequate proportion of their income. 
 The advance of the Church to the practice of Christian stewardship would 
 release unbounded resources of financial and spiritual energy. — E. M. 
 Randall, D. D. 
 
 Christendom must be better than heathenism. Christ must be better 
 than any heathen god. Christ's man must be better than anybody else's 
 man, as Christ Himself is better than any other world's teacher. 
 
 And we must cultivate the keen sense of partnership with Christ in 
 preparation for this task. I do not mean stewardship simply. I mean 
 partnership. — Bishop McDowell, at Missionary Congress. 
 
 Hon. W. E. Gladstone once wrote a very interesting letter to one of 
 his sons who was then in residence at Oxford University, in which he 
 suggested eight rules, the observance of which would be conducive to 
 the highest interests of his son's life, literary and moral and spiritual. 
 Among the suggestions was the following on the use of money, which 
 might well be used to good advantage by all Christians. He says : "In 
 regard to money — there is a great advantage in its methodical use. Es- 
 pecially is it wise to dedicate a certain portion of our means to purposes 
 of charity and religion, and this is more easily begun in youth than in 
 after-life. The greatest advantage of making a little fund of this kind 
 is that when we are asked to give, competition is not between self on 
 the one hand and any charity on the other, but between the different pur- 
 poses of religion and charity with one another, among which we ought to 
 make the most careful choice. It is desirable that the tenth of our means 
 be dedicated to God, and it tends to bring a blessing on the rest. No one 
 can tell the richness of the blessings that come to those who thus honor 
 the Lord with their substance." 
 
 The bazaar question is continually with us. It can not be doubted 
 that the indirect method of "raising" money is far too prevalent. The 
 distinguished people who are considered necessary at the opening of the 
 bazaars often try to defend them or apologize for them. But it is not easy 
 to keep them free from abuses. Business people complain grievously of 
 being pestered for contributions of goods, and, to oblige customers, often 
 with bad grace give articles for Churches and charitable objects of which 
 they have no personal knowledge or in which they have no personal in- 
 
 136 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 terest. The new industry of bazaar "outfitters" is threatening to absorb 
 an ever-increasing percentage of the proceeds. Ten per cent is now re- 
 garded as a trifling deduction. The whole system is circuitous, laborious, 
 and in many respects unsatisfactory. Simple sales of work are less harm- 
 ful, of course, but all such expedients would be rendered unnecessary by 
 the universal adoption of the method of personal stewardship. Devotion 
 to God of His "portion" — a fair and worthy percentage of income "as 
 the Lord hath prospered" — is the crying need of all the Churches. — The 
 Lord's Portion. 
 
 I do not think that there is any greater guarantee of success than for 
 a young man to start right with God, spiritually and financially. A man 
 has no power to make money except as God gives it to him. "It is He 
 that giveth thee power to get wealth" (Deut. 8:i8). But the greatest 
 personal advantage of all is that to pay a tenth is being obedient to God. 
 This, and not gain, should be our highest motive. — James Husser. 
 
 Tithes and free-will offerings are the only methods God has insti- 
 tuted for financing His enterprise. He is wise enough to make a work- 
 able and successful plan. He knows how much money is needed to carry 
 on the work, and the best way to secure it. He would not jeopardize His 
 interests by having them rest upon impulses and spasms. We would 
 hardly expect Him to be in sympathy with many of the modern methods 
 of securing money for the support of the Church, for their success is too 
 precarious, and they lack in the element of spiritual cultivation that He 
 has associated with His financial method. The more money a Church 
 may make by suppers and bazaars, the less, as a rule, will the grace of 
 giving be promoted. These methods keep the Church poor in money 
 and spiritual life. They are partly responsible for the divorcement that 
 has so generally taken place in the Church between giving and other acts 
 of worship. We have come to regard the money side of the Kingdom 
 as a purely business transaction. It is zvorship to sing and pray and shout, 
 but money has no place in the meeting. — Rev. E. E. Urner. 
 
 A Presbyterian Church in Toronto was reported at the Laymen's 
 Missionary Congress as having 520 members, and 510 of these on the con- 
 tributing roll of the Church. While this is unusual, it is as it should be, 
 no one excused from weekly tithes and offerings as God hath prospered. 
 
 The last General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, at Baltimore, adopted and placed in its Discipline a new 
 paragraph headed "Tithing," being the first time the tithe has 
 received this direct recognition by the Church, as follows: 
 
 137 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 VII. TITHING. 
 
 No. 70. — We believe that the evangelization of mankind can best be 
 accomplished by an adequate support of all the agencies used by the 
 Church, and that to this end the Scriptural doctrine of systematic giving 
 should be taught in our pulpits and practiced by our ministers and mem- 
 bers. 
 
 In harmony with the above several Conferences of the Metho- 
 dist Church throughout the States are methodically preaching 
 and urging the practice of tithing. In California, Indiana, and 
 Kansas a tithing evangelist has been visiting the Churches with 
 marked results, spiritually as well as temporally. Large ingather- 
 ings of converts are reported in most of the Churches adopting 
 the tithe method, and many of these Churches have increased 
 their gifts to benevolences 50 to 100 per cent the first year with 
 only a limited number on the Tithers' Roll. Rev. F. P. Sigler, 
 who is now visiting the Churches of Kansas under direction of 
 the District Superintendents, has engagements in that State 
 months in advance, and other States are inviting him as soon as 
 released there. We have information of other denominations, 
 notably the Baptist, Presbyterian, and United Presbyterian, who 
 are sending out evangelists, the purpose being to bring the 
 Churches to recognize God's claim upon the incomes of His peo- 
 ple, and to urge the practice of tithing 
 
 The following notice appeared in the regular Sunday Bulletin 
 of Wesley Chapel, and may give the key to the success of tithing 
 in that Church during the past fifteen years: 
 
 "Wesley Chapel Services. Tithing is the financial plan of the Church. 
 The Tithe Covenant Book is at all the regular services. Have you signed 
 it? See Brother Wm. G. Roberts, the treasurer of the Church. All adult 
 members are cordially invited to attend the Tithe Class at 9.50 A. M. 
 each Sabbath in the auditorium of the church. Rev. Gervaise Roughton, 
 Pastor, 320 East Fifth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio." 
 
 Giving is an act of worship. The first Gentile congregation in the \ 
 
 world commenced the worship of Christ with costly offerings. "They \ 
 came into the house, and fell down and worshiped Him ; and opening their 
 
 treasures they offered unto Him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh" / 
 
 (Matt. 2; 11). / 
 
 138 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Praise, prayer, and preaching do but little good if they do not untie 
 the purse. A man's heart will open to the Lord no wider than his pocket- 
 book. Consecration and consistency go together. "How shall they preach 
 except they be sent?" (Rom. lo: 15.) And how shall they be sent with- 
 out the money? — Rev. Geo. Guirey. 
 
 It was another paper in which appeared the following advertisement : 
 
 "Wanted — A thousand persons to eat oysters for the benefit of the 
 
 Church." Recently a senator "took a crazy-quilt around the Senate 
 chamber of the United States, asking for senatorial autographs on the 
 
 white patches, so that the First Presbyterian Church of , Mich., 
 
 could pay off its mortgage by putting the quilt at a raffle." "Shades of 
 Daniel Webster and Henry Clay !" exclaims the secular paper. "Weeping 
 spirits of apostles and martyrs !" cries the thoughtful Christian. Let us 
 say that these are extreme cases. But extremes of what? Of a common 
 method of raising money for religious uses. — Barnes. 
 
 "What can be said of more deadly and ghastly blame against the clergy 
 of England, or any other country, than that they are the poor man's only 
 friends? Have they, then, so betrayed their Master's charge and mind 
 in their preaching to the rich ; so smoothed their words, and so sold their 
 authority, that, after twelve hundred years entrusting of the gospel to 
 them, there is no man in England (this is their chief plea for themselves, 
 forsooth) who will have mercy on the poor, but they; and so they must 
 leave the Word of God, and serve the tables?" — John Ruskin, in "Fors 
 Clavigera." 
 
 My personal observation of the tithing system has been that, wher- 
 ever conscientiously worked, it has always worked wonders; the tithers 
 have grown in grace and knowledge of their Lord, the Church treasury 
 has been filled, the good name of the Church for honesty, benevolence, 
 and generosity has been preserved, and the Kingdom of God in that com- 
 munity has taken great leaps forward under the beneficent influence of 
 this financial system. I believe tithing has God's smile upon it, and I 
 have yet to find a single individual who has been injured by practicing it, 
 in his pocketbook, in Christian influence, or religious knowledge or joys. 
 — Rev. Dr. C. E. Bacon. 
 
 That tithe-paying might be expected to make better citizens, to foster 
 honesty and rectitude, and to correct certain forms of national immorality 
 and ill-ordered social economy, might be inferred from Mr. N. L. Rigby's 
 "Tithe Terumoth," wherein he writes : 
 
 "From the nature of the tithe you will see at once that it inculcates 
 and demands the strictest honesty and integrity. As an ever-present and 
 impressive object lesson upon the ownership of God and the stewardship 
 
 139 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 of man, it necessarily teaches the most scrupulous faithfulness. An un- 
 just steward may defraud an earthly master and be commended for his 
 smartness. But God calls it robbery and pronounces upon it His awful 
 curse if a steward of His possessions make any return for aught less 
 than the real indebtedness. . . . The tithe, then, as the definite decimal 
 of duty, requires us to deal justly and squarely with God." 
 
 First, let the pastor heartily adopt it as his personal method of giving 
 to the Lord's work. It is time and energy wasted for any pastor to try 
 to introduce among his brethren a plan or a principle of either giving 
 or living which he does not most heartily adopt and practise in his own 
 life. Secondly, let him preach on systematic giving. Let him lay its 
 claims lovingly but courageously upon the hearts and consciences of the 
 people. Let him preach from such texts as "The tithe is the Lord's" and 
 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse," and at the same time freely 
 scatter in the pews all the leaflets and literature he can procure, unfold- 
 ing and enforcing the subject from the Scriptural point of view. — Rev. 
 James W. Riddel, 
 
 All experience shows that the best field for work of a religious nature 
 is among the young. There are very few conversions after forty — scarcely 
 any conversions of the pocketbook. In 1887 I made a special effort to 
 reach the members of the Christian Endeavor Unions, the Epworth 
 Leagues, and the Baptist Young People's Unions with tithing literature. — 
 Thos. Kane. 
 
 We heard of a minister recently who feared that the preaching of an 
 out and out sermon on the tithe would meet with unfavorable response 
 by some of his members. While quite the opposite is usually true, we 
 are reminded of a story told by Dr. John Timothy Stone at Laymen's 
 Missionary Congress. He said : 
 
 "One Sunday after a sermon in which I poured out my heart to my 
 people, one of my parishioners came up with his four-year-old boy, and 
 turning to his boy he said, "John, after hearing that sermon of Mr. Stone, 
 don't you want to be a preacher?" "No, indeed," said John, "I want 
 to be a policeman." 
 
 The Jewish nation was expected and directed to offer to the Lord the 
 tithe, or tenth part of their incomes for the support of their religious wor- 
 ship as a nation. The Levites were to be supported from this tithe, and 
 the expenses of the sanctuary were to be borne from the fund that was 
 in this way provided. But the Levites were not to be exempt from the 
 payment of the tithe. They were to be as devout as their brethren of 
 the other tribes. They were to be supported, to be sure ; but they, in turn, 
 were to help to support the house and service of the Lord. They were 
 
 140 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 directed specifically to bring to the Lord's worship the "tenth part of the 
 tithe," and they had the promise of blessing in case of faithfulness in 
 the discharge of their obligation. 
 
 This seems very much like asking ministers to take the tithe of their 
 salaries and using this in helping to carry on the Lord's work. Without 
 doubt many ministers do this and much more out of the salaries they 
 receive. The probability is that ministers are not behind their people in 
 the matter of Christian giving, and many of them are fine examples of 
 true Christian liberality. An elder said recently in reference to his pastor, 
 lately deceased, "He was the best giver to the cause of missions in our 
 congregation." Such an example was of great value and gave added 
 force to his words as he exhorted his people to give to the cause of Christ. 
 — Herald and Presbyter, January 30, 1907. 
 
 There will be more money and fervor and holy lives for the Church 
 and all its missionary enterprises when the Church awakens to the power 
 which it possesses and utterly destroys the destroyer of the youth, and 
 makes licensed and protected vice impossible. 
 
 In training the youth in Scriptural habits of giving we are teaching 
 them that they are called to the service of a living Christ. Jesus lives 
 to-day in the holy lives and loving endeavor of His followers. We shall 
 urge the youth to earnest habits of giving because he who gives most to 
 Christ gets most from Christ and becomes most like Christ. 
 
 Let us train our young people into exact, business-like methods of 
 caring for the Kingdom, and not withhold from them the truth taught in 
 the Scriptures concerning definite and systematic giving ! Let us cease 
 desecrating the courts of the Lord's house, and in some cases, I fear, 
 even the holy precincts of the sanctuary, with such questionable expedi- 
 ents as fairs and suppers, to make up for deficiencies which have accrued 
 because God's people are withholding even their tenth. — Chas. E. Locke, 
 D.D. 
 
 While temptations are multiplying in this age of cities, abounding 
 with boarders and travelers, the moral armories and fortresses — that is, 
 the homes, schools, and churches — are lessening their moral training. 
 This might well be counted another cloud. 
 
 By three lines of investigation I have ascertained that not more than 
 one-tenth of the homes of American Evangelical Church members in 
 cities maintain daily family worship. When I remember how hard it 
 was in my boyhood for a boy to do right even in villages, with the help 
 of impressive, earnest family worship twice a day, I pity the boys of cities 
 who have increased temptations and decreased moral helps. Other forms 
 of child-training (such as Bible study and giving to Missions) are also 
 
 141 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 increasingly crowded out by the increase of social engagements. — Wilbur 
 F. Crafts, Ph. D. 
 
 O, how unwise it is to let boys drift and grow old without the Bible ; 
 for just as every other portion of the Bible is true, that last chapter of 
 Ecclesiastes is also true: namely, that it is necessary to remember your 
 Creator when you are young; for when age creeps upon you, you lose 
 your appetite for God. Let us seize the opportunity, let us as one man 
 enter upon this crusade, let us make it life-long — that is enough for us. 
 Let us have many "culminating days." Let us not wait. Let us pray; let 
 us study the Bible and get ready to use the Great Chart, and then we 
 shall be able to steer men across the ocean of life. I give you my solemn 
 testimony from an experience of almost forty years, that when we have 
 steered others, or tried to do so, we shall have a reward in our hearts 
 which will bring joy indeed. — George L. Robinson, in "Men and Religion." 
 
 It was a little girl who inspired the organization of the British Bible 
 Society ; it was a Methodist young woman who gave to Robert Raikes 
 the idea of the Sunday school; it was another young woman whose writ- 
 ings resulted in the establishment of the Fresh Air Funds of all the large 
 cities ; and one of our bishops declines the honor of originating the call 
 for "Twenty Millions Twentieth Century Thank-Offering," and says that 
 it was the product of the faith of a devoted Methodist girl. — Dr. Locke. 
 
 But while there is much in the Word about it, it may well be ques- 
 tioned whether we who are dispensers of the Word of God are faithful 
 in our teaching on this point. We often hear and perhaps preach sermons 
 containing strong, stirring and possibly successful appeals for money, but 
 we seldom hear and perhaps still more seldom preach sermons which aim 
 at teaching the responsibilities of possession and the consecration of sub- 
 stance. The attitude of us clergy may be the cause, or it may be the 
 effect, of the generally held opinion amongst Christian people that money 
 is sordid and materialistic and outside the spiritual sphere. It is probably 
 more the cause than the effect. — Rev. H. W. Hinde. 
 
 This significant letter is being sent to students of seminaries : 
 Dear Christian Friend: While the Divine enterprise of evangelizing 
 the world is pressing upon the hearts of many as never before, every pro- 
 fessor, pastor, candidate for the ministry, and Church member should 
 earnestly inquire regarding the ways and means to accomplish it. The 
 Kingdom of heaven has an All-wise King whom we would expect to estab- 
 lish a system of finance to provide adequate revenues. A thorough treatise 
 on the subject is at hand in two volumes by Rev. Henry Lansdell, D. D., 
 F. R. G. S., M. R. A. S., Chaplain of Morden College, Blackheath, Lon- 
 don, England, entitled "The Sacred Tenth," and a smaller companion 
 
 142 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 volume entitled "The Tithe in Scripture." They are to be found in the 
 library of your theological seminary and are commended for your prayer- 
 ful study. Fraternally yours, 
 
 W. W. Casselberry, 
 Chairman of the Permanent Committee on Proportionate and Systematic 
 
 Beneficence of the Synod of New Jersey. 
 
 Jan. II, 191 1, Collingswood, N. J. 
 
 A MODEL TITHE STUDY.* 
 
 1. There is no question of the distinct and unequivocal command that 
 God's children should tithe their incomes. 
 
 Lev. 27: 20-:i2>', Deut. 14:22; 2 Chron. 31:4-6; Mai. 3:7-12; Heb. 
 7:5-8. 
 
 2. Where are we commanded to bring the tithe? 
 
 Deut. 12:11, 12; Neh. 10:35; 2 Chron. 31:11, 12; Mai. 3:10. 
 "Storehouse, meat in Mine house." 
 
 3. Did Christ command tithing? 
 
 Luke 11:42, "These ought ye to have done;" JLuke 12:15, "Take 
 heed, beware of covetousness ;" Matt. 5 : 17, 18, "Not to destroy 
 the law but to fulfill ;" Matt. 5 : 30, "Righteousness exceed." 
 
 4. Did Paul? 
 
 I Cor. 16:2; Heb. 6 : 20 to 7 : 8. 
 
 5. Promises to the obedient. 
 
 Prov. 3:9, 10; Mai. 3:10-12; Luke 6:38; 2 Chron. 31:10. 
 
 6. Curses to the disobedient. 
 
 Mai. 3:8, 9; Prov. 11:24; Luke 12:19-21; Hag. 1:3-6; Prov. 
 1 1 : 24, 25 ; I Tim. 6:9; James 5:1-3; Amos 4 : 9. 
 
 7. The result of tithing. 
 
 "The man who tithes becomes a doubly consecrated Christian." 
 Mai. 3:16-18; Heb. 13:5, 6; i Peter 1:18, 19; i John 3:16-18; 
 Mark 10 : 29, 30. — Bess M. Brown. 
 
 A MODEL PLEDGE. 
 
 Instead of having a Tithe Covenant Book in which those who desire 
 to become tithers shall enter their names, some Churches have adopted the 
 following pledge card printed on both sides, one side for the tithers, the 
 other for non-tithers. The advantage of this card, it is claimed, is that the 
 choice to tithe, or contribute by fixed pledges, is set before each Church 
 
 *It has proven a great help and source of blessing in Churches to assemble the 
 Tithers monthly and consider similar studies to the above. Tithers will multiply as the 
 people learn what the Word reveals and requires regarding the Tithe, and the religious 
 devotion of their incomes to God. A whole evening could be given to each one of the 
 above seven subjects. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 member frequently without offense to any one, and always with good re- 
 sults. Any change occurring from time to time may be noted on the books 
 of the Church by the proper recording secretary. The name of any new 
 tither may be written into the tithe covenant book, the signature being 
 not needed twice. It is a preferable way to urge a trial of the tithe plan 
 for a year, because few who do, ever recede. God asks us to "prove Him," 
 and even the faith that will prompt obedience for a year is never over- 
 looked. 
 
 TITHER'S PLEDGE. 
 
 I desire to be counted among the 
 
 Tithers of Church 
 
 and to subscribe to the Covenant 
 adopted by the congregation in its 
 financial plan and schedule and to 
 use the WHITE envelopes during 
 the year 191 1 and until further no- 
 tice, paying one-tenth of my income 
 into the storehouse, the local 
 Church, from week to week as the 
 Lord shall prosper me. 
 
 Prayer 191 i. 
 As I sign this pledge, I thank 
 God for past blessings upon us and 
 implore His help and continued fa- 
 vor in all the work of our Church. 
 May He help all His people to 
 bring faithfully all the tithes and 
 offerings into the storehouse, that 
 there may be meat in Mine house, 
 and grant continually new evi- 
 dences of His presence and power. 
 Amen. 
 
 Signed 
 
 Address, No St. 
 
 CONTRIBUTOR'S PLEDGE. 
 
 I hereby pledge and agree to pay 
 
 toward the Current Fund of 
 
 Church for 1911 
 
 and until further notice the sum of 
 
 Dollars Cents 
 
 weekly and to pay said amount 
 regularly, using the MANILA en- 
 velopes provided for that purpose, 
 and deposit same in the collection 
 plate each Sunday or at least 
 monthly. 
 
 Prayer 191 i. 
 As I sign this pledge I offer my 
 earnest prayer that God will own 
 and bless the offerings of His peo- 
 ple and spiritualize and enrich our 
 Church and give it greater power 
 in the accomplishment of good 
 during the coming year. Amen. 
 
 Signed 
 
 Address, No St. 
 
 The Stewards of Central Avenue Methodist Church, Indianapolis, 
 January 7, 191 1, addressed its membership thus: 
 
 "Tithing as a method of contributing to the support of the Church is 
 being adopted by an increasing number of Churches and individual mem- 
 
 144 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 bcrs of Churches. Doubtless the general adoption of this method of sup- 
 port would solve completely all the financial problems of the Church and 
 result as well in great spiritual blessing. It has been recognized by the 
 Official Board of this Church as a proper method of contribution to the 
 support of the Church, and as between an acceptance of the apportionment 
 made for the individual by the Board of Stewards and the execution of 
 the tithing pledge, the method of contribution is left optional with the 
 individual; the pledge to tithe is accepted in lieu of any and all appor- 
 tionments." 
 
 H. M. Glossbrenner, prominent layman of Central Avenue Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, writes that tithing is proving a great blessing. "It has 
 not only largely increased the treasury receipts, but the spiritual lives of 
 the tithers, and the entire membership of the Church have been greatly 
 stimulated. We are now expecting the greatest revival known in the 
 history of the Church." 
 
 Imagine the President of the United States and the Committee of Ways 
 and Means sending out jugs, mugs, boxes, barrels, eggs, and buttons with 
 their pictures on them to catch pennies to meet the fiscal needs of the 
 great Government of the United States ! Imagine the different States 
 and counties holding fairs, festivals, concerts, ice-cream socials, with 
 women cooking, sewing, and acting, that each community may meet its 
 apportionment ! This would disgrace any earthly government in its own 
 and the eyes of the nations. Yet this is what Christians are doing year 
 by year to finance the Kingdom of God. It is belittling and shameful. 
 The Kingdom of God is more glorious and dignified than all earthly 
 kingdoms. Its principles, purposes, and appointments are all harmonious 
 and dignified. Its faith, hope, love, spirit, and work are divine. Its scope 
 is world-wide. The tithe system of finance is the only one found in the 
 Bible. It is worthy of God, Christ, and the nature of the Kingdom. Its 
 history is dignified. It is found in law, prophets, and Gospels. It has 
 God, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, the prophets and reformers of the Old 
 Testament, and Jesus of the new covenant, as its endorsers. The greatest 
 names of the Christian centuries have honored the tithe system. — G. L. 
 Wharton. 
 
 One fault I find with our present method of giving money is that 
 a number of the boys and girls possibly do n't understand, in a great many 
 cases, what is done with the money. I am very much afraid that a good 
 many children in Sunday school think that the money goes to the super- 
 intendent. I was told the other day of a case where two little girls were 
 discussing a handsome gown of their teacher, when one of the girls said, 
 "She ought to wear nice gowns, with all the money she gets from us." 
 I wonder how many of you who are teachers ever explained to the schol- 
 
 lo 
 
 145 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 ars in your classes the purpose of their offering, and what is done with 
 the money. 
 
 I think the Church is not adopting the best method of getting mis- 
 sionaries. It has adopted a system which is very much at variance with 
 the system adopted by other business professions. They come from the 
 colleges and the theological seminaries, and after young men and young 
 women have arrived at maturity and their tastes changed and more set, 
 we ask them to consecrate themselves to the foreign field. 
 
 The future merchant princes are this afternoon running errands in 
 our big dry goods stores, and the railroad managers and presidents of 
 twenty-five years hence are this afternoon answering call bells in big 
 railroad offices. The place to get missionaries, it seems to me, is in the 
 primary grades of the Sunday school. — Judge Cleland, at Missionary 
 Congress. 
 
 In every Sunday school there should be, first, a missionary depart- 
 ment, properly organized. Second, regular meetings of the department 
 and a written program. Third, definite daily prayer for the coming of 
 the Kingdom of our God. Fourth, the creation of missionary atmosphere 
 in which love and thought may grow to maturity in the consecration of 
 life to high and holy aims. Fifth, the promotion of missionary reading. 
 Sixth, definite graded missionary instruction. There should also be ob- 
 servation of a kingdom day, when the school itself should be brought 
 face to face with the realization of these problems and its opportunities in 
 Christ our Lord. There should be also a weekly offering on the part of 
 the officers and teachers, that members of the schools from our growing 
 generation may be trained in such objects and duties that they should 
 have been instructed in a long while ago. — Rev. W. A. Brown, at Mis- 
 sionary Congress. 
 
 The wealth of the Church is increasing at a rapid rate, but it is not 
 coming into God's treasury. It is being used for selfish and often wicked 
 purposes. Some one has said the timelocks on God's safes have been set 
 for this twentieth century. The ministers of Christ have led the great 
 revivals of the past, but we verily believe that the next great revival is 
 going to come from the pew, led and sustained by a devoted ministry, in 
 connection with the bringing in of our substance to God, in the tithes and 
 offerings prescribed in His Word, and from God's safes will come freely 
 the money which shall send the consecrated missionary to the waiting 
 harvest fields. — John Wesley Duncan. 
 
 "Against which temptations — though never against the tempters — one 
 sometimes hears one's foolish clergy timorously inveighing; and telling 
 young idlers that it is wrong to be lustful, and old laborers that it is 
 wrong to be thirsty: but I never heard a clergyman yet (and during thirty 
 
 146 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 years of the prime of my life I heard one sermon at least every Sunday, 
 so that it is after experience of no fewer than one thousand five hundred 
 sermons, most of them by scholars, and many of them by earnest men), 
 that I now solemnly state I never heard one preacher deal faithfully with 
 the quarrel between God and mammon, or explain the need of choice 
 between the service of those two masters. And all vices are indeed summed 
 and all their forces consummated in that simple acceptance of the authority 
 of gold instead of the authority of God; and preference of gain, or the 
 increase of gold, to godliness, or the peace of God." — John Ruskin, in 
 "Fors Clavigera." 
 
 The following letters, received recently by the author, summing up the 
 work accomplished by Rev. F. P. Sigler, who, by the way, was for fifteen 
 years prior to entering the ministry a banker and business man, will ex- 
 plain themselves and indicate what concerted action on part of Confer- 
 ences, Synods, or religious bodies may accomplish if systematically un- 
 dertaken among the Churches : 
 
 ToPEKA, Kan., November 24, 1910. 
 
 Dear Brother: I am just closing my third year in this special work. 
 The following are some of the victories the Spirit of God has given. God 
 has spoken through me on the subject of the tithe in four hundred and 
 twenty (420) Churches as follows : 
 
 In Southern California, 100; in Indiana, 170, including five Methodist 
 Conferences; in Kansas, 150; three Epworth League Institutes and four 
 conventions. 
 
 The number of persons who have in recent months signed the Tithe 
 Covenant agreeing to bring God's whole tithe into the local Church the 
 next Sunday after they get it is about seven thousand (7,000), as follows: 
 In Southern California, 2,400; in Indiana, 2,300; in Kansas, 2,500. 
 
 I have distributed 3,000 volumes of "Victory of Mary Christopher," 
 347 "Our Christian Stewardship" (by Dr. J. W. Duncan), 250,000 of the 
 Tithe Covenant tracts of the seven kinds, over 100,000 tithe envelopes, 
 10,000 Personal Work and Tithe Account books. 
 
 In Indiana and Kansas I preached on tithing at several revivals, the 
 first two nights obtaining many signers. The revivals were wonderful, 
 especially in Kansas, the best in the history of the pastors and the 
 Churches. 
 
 The operation of the Holy Spirit has been very marked upon pastors. 
 Church members, and unconverted in relation to God's sacred tithe. 
 
 I am now engaged six months ahead in Kansas Conferences and 
 have been lately asked when I will be available for Iowa. God is wonder- 
 fully opening the way for me to present this sacred truth to the people. 
 Very sincerely yours, F. P. Sigler. 
 
GEMS OT THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Pastor's Study, 
 
 OLIVER C. BRONSTON, 
 
 MiTHODisT Episcopal Church. 
 
 Cottonwood Falls, Kan., December s, 1910. 
 
 To the Pastors of the Emporia District: 
 
 Rev. F. P. Sigler, Tithe-Covenant Evangelist, was with us over Sun- 
 day. I believe the method which he presents, the local church as the 
 storehouse for God's tithe, is Scriptural, and that the responsibility for 
 disbursing it rests with the Official Board of the Church, just as the dis- 
 bursing of the taxes rests with the proper officers of the State. This plan 
 properly carried out will give the Church prestige financially and power 
 spiritually. If we are to seriously grapple with the problem of the world's 
 evangelization there must be some plan better than rushing out every year 
 to canvass the members. The individual v/ho conscientiously signs this 
 tithe covenant is canvassed so long as he lives, if his heart stays right 
 with God, and his heart is more apt to stay right when on a God-made 
 than a man-made plan. Personally I think it very fortunate that we have 
 secured Brother Sigler's services at a time when the Laymen's Missionary 
 Movement is so fresh in our minds. One of our well-to-do farmers who 
 signed up said that movement told us what to do, and this tells us how 
 to do it. With prayers and best wishes for the greatest success on all 
 your charges, I am. Faithfully yours, 
 
 Oliver C. Bronston. 
 
 Let our offerings be according to our incomes, lest the Lord should 
 be displeased and make our incomes according to our offerings. — Ds. 
 John Hall. 
 
 Tell me how a man spends his money and I will tell you what kind 
 of a man he is. — D. L. Moody. 
 
 A Request. — The subscriber desires the names of all pastors whose 
 congregations have adopted in whole or in part the tithe covenant plan 
 of church finance, i. e., bringing all the tithes into the modern store- 
 house — the local church. A postal card, with your address, will bring 
 you helpful literature with explanation of the reason for making this 
 request. Address me at 143 North Wabash Avenue, Chicago. Layman. 
 
 A package of seven selected and helpful tithe tracts, (four Scripture) 
 fifty of each kind, in all 350 tracts, may be had for one dollar postpaid, 
 by addressing the Twentieth Century Tithe Covenant Association, 
 Lemcke Bldg., Indianapolis, Ind. 
 
 Large churches frequently use several packages, and they have been 
 found of great service in introducing the tithe plan into the churches. 
 
 143 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE TITHE COVENANT. 
 
 Prayer. — "O God, we confess before Thee that the ministry has 
 failed in world-wide leadership ; that Thy people have not been 
 willing to give us Thy power, because so many of us have not 
 led them into Thy Kingdom, God, we confess our own sins and 
 the sins of our fathers that this work of Thine is still incomplete, 
 and that there are millions without Christ and without hope, 
 because we have not obeyed Thy command. 'Search us, O God, 
 and know our hearts ; prove us and know our thoughts, and see 
 if there be any wicked way in us,' and lead us into the path of 
 Thy suffering and the path of Thy peace. 
 
 "May the shadow of the cross fall, not only upon the bank 
 account of the rich, but upon the bank account of the clergy, 
 and grant, O God, that we by sacrifice and service may walk so 
 close to Jesus Christ that we can not help drawing others after 
 Him." — Rev. S. M. Zwemer, at Missionary Congress. 
 
 This chapter suggests various methods tried in the Churches 
 for placing the finances on the tithing plan. The same conditions 
 do not exist in every Church, so that what would be a harmoni- 
 ous and successful plan in one might not do so well in another. 
 No Church will progress either temporally or spiritually in any 
 marked way unless the pastor and the Church officials will 
 prayerfully and earnestly take the lead. The minister and wife, 
 the stewards, deacons, elders, and heads of departments and their 
 wives should be the first names attached to the tithe covenant. 
 A majority of these obtained (it is seldom that a Church se- 
 cures the co-operation of all to begin with, though most desir- 
 able), the Church may be said to be firmly upon a tithing basis. 
 
 149 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 This does not mean that all members will tithe, but the glorious 
 privilege of tithing is by consent of all accorded to those who 
 will sign the covenant and place a tenth of their incomes weekly 
 as God hath prospered in the collection plate. Usually those 
 who tithe use a different envelope, preferably white, without 
 name or amount written on it. 
 
 Experience has shown that tithers who promise or covenant 
 to pay to God a tenth of their incomes can be trusted to do so, 
 and no record except in totals for each Sunday need to be kept 
 on the Church books. Those, then, who are not convinced or 
 do not wish at once to begin tithing are privileged to continue 
 by fixed pledges, using the manila or other colored envelope. 
 One advantage of the use of a white envelope by tithers is that 
 it is a quiet reminder always as the collection plate is passed by 
 stewards or deacons that there are those who are recognizing 
 God's plan, and soon others will be asking to join in this privi- 
 lege. Others, too, who may not at once begin tithing (there 
 are many inducements Satan holds out against tithing) will give 
 the matter earnest thought, and in most cases soon realize that 
 they should be more liberal toward God in the devotion of their 
 incomes to Him. And as new evidences appear in the Church 
 of God's presence and power, debts wiped out, the missionary 
 offerings enlarged, the people weaned away from covetousness, 
 and the spirit of service and revival abroad in the hearts of the 
 membership, then in ways unlooked for God will use that Church 
 as never before in soul-saving influence, works of evangeliza- 
 tion, and missionary enterprise. First-fruits, the best we have, 
 will supplant the rummage sale, and nothing will be too good 
 for the poor, for there will be plenty for all. 
 
 Rev. Willis L. Gelston, in his excellent tract for the Depart- 
 ment of Young People's Work, points out three zvays of giving 
 toward benevolent objects. The first is the one now and for 
 some centuries in use and from which the Church must recede. 
 He says : "The first may be termed the careless, the haphazard, 
 but, notwithstanding, the usual method. In following it a man 
 gives what he happens to find in his trousers pocket on Sunday, 
 
 150 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 and inasmuch as he often leaves his purse in his everyday clothes, 
 he is n't likely to be extravagant. When you ask him how much 
 he has helped in the work of Christ during any given year he 
 always believes his contribution has been very large. He has no 
 record of it, but the desire to seem benevolent affects his memory 
 and he would usually be astonished if his real stinginess were 
 figured up." 
 
 With regard to tithing, he continues: "The second method 
 is the tither's plan. One-tenth of the total income of each year 
 is given to charitable projects. Hundreds of our best men and 
 women have adopted this method, and they hold to it strongly 
 because they believe the Bible teaches it. If every member in 
 the Church would be equally conscientious the coffers of our 
 boards would be overflowing." 
 
 Then Mr. Gelston speaks of what he terms the stewardship 
 plan, which many hold to be the fruition of a faithful observance 
 of the tithe. He says: "The third method may be called the 
 stewardship method, and is least common of all. He who adopts 
 it looks upon all that he possesses as belonging to God and to be 
 used in the advancement of the Savior's work. He recognizes 
 himself as merely a trustee whose business it is to administer these 
 funds, and he tries to regulate all expenditure on that basis. In 
 providing for himself and family he sets aside enough for a plain, 
 substantial life, for he believes that God desires every one to have 
 that kind of life. Every cent of property or income, however, 
 over and above the necessary allowance for such purposes, and 
 a small provision for the future, is invested in furthering Christ's 
 Kingdom, and the more he can thus invest the better pleased 
 he is." 
 
 Now, with regard to Mr. Gelston's third method, we are con- 
 vinced that it is really a part of and included in the second or 
 tithe plan, because every true tither is supposed to be honest 
 toward God and all his business concerns are made a part of his 
 religious life. A tither can not separate his secular from his 
 spiritual, and God will not be pleased with a tithe of a dollar 
 dishonestly made. For this triple reason, then, it is helpful for 
 
 151 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 any Christian man or woman, boy or girl to tithe; it aids them 
 to be, first, obedient ; second, honest toward God and their fellow- 
 men; third, to hold and administer the remaining nine-tenths 
 more or less unselfishly as we shall be given spiritual light and 
 opportunity. It is from these nine-tenths left with His stewards, 
 rich or poor, that free-will offerings are made for charitable 
 objects or other good purposes, and of course the larger the trust 
 committed, the greater the responsibility, opportunity, and privi- 
 lege. But whether a steward shall become generous in free-will 
 offerings or not, he will be expected first reverently to pay his 
 tithe, from which no faithful steward can be excused. This is 
 his least obligation and should be cheerfully and devoutly ren- 
 dered. 
 
 "The consecration of money for the cause of Jesus Christ," 
 says the Christian Steward editorially, "is a subject that sub- 
 mits Christian character to an exceedingly strong, and perhaps 
 the strongest possible, test. It assails the very citadel of human 
 selfishness and reduces to shame and ruins many a character that 
 has successfully withstood other severe tests. It is astonishing 
 how sentimental gush and religious emotion subside when the 
 unctuous Christian is put upon the scales of Christian stewardship 
 and weighed by the Scriptural standards of giving. The young 
 man who declared in the presence of the Great Teacher that he 
 had kept all the commandments from his youth, was unmasked 
 as a veritable idolater when asked to part with his earthly goods 
 and become a disciple of Jesus Christ. Confronted by such a con- 
 dition, his otherwise beautiful character withered and fell. 'He 
 Avent away very sorrowful, for he had great possessions.' This at- 
 tractive youth went down suddenly and ignominiously under the 
 test of property. May we not well question the sincerity of our 
 love for Christ and our loyalty to His cause if we discover in 
 our hearts an unwillingness to consecrate our earthly substance 
 for the extension of His Kingdom?" 
 
 Even God — I say it reverently — is not a panacea for social ills, but 
 has made man's co-operation essential. Much work that in our prayers 
 we attempt to throw upon God belongs to us, and can not thus be shirked. 
 
 152 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 When a rich man in a Chicago noon meeting asked the audience to pray 
 that God would help a needy mission to a needed building, Mr, Moody, 
 who was conducting the meeting, said swiftly, "Brother, I would n't bother 
 the Lord with that, I would do it myself." — Wilbur F. Crafts. 
 
 "If, therefore, ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, 
 who will commit to your trust the true riches?" Let a man read over 
 these and many like injunctions from the New Testament, in the light of 
 the Old Testament record, and then say, if he can, that a Christian can 
 have common honesty before God while not giving at least one-tenth of 
 his income to the Lord's cause. 
 
 "But all that we have and are, are the Lord's," says one. "How, 
 then, can it be said that we are bound to give one-tenth any more than 
 two-tenths to the Lord? We are Christian stewards, in the use of all 
 that is committed to us." No, that is not a fair stating of the case. The 
 Christian stewardship applies only to the nine-tenths of that which comes 
 to us as our income. The one-tenth is not given to us for such use as we 
 see fit to make of it. That is the Lord's from the beginning. It is, in 
 fact, the basket in which the Lord sends us the nine-tenths which He 
 commits to our keeping. If we do not hand that right back to Him, 
 we steal His basket. Could anything be meaner than that? — H. Clay 
 Trumbull, in Sunday School Times. 
 
 Under this view it is necessary to have clearly in mind that tithing 
 is not giving. The Bible designates two sources of revenue — tithes and 
 free-will offerings. Tithes are obligatory and are paid. Offerings are 
 voluntary and are donated. In tithing we are on the plane of justice. We 
 bring the tithe to God because it is His, not because we hear that He 
 needs it in His business. It is not that ass's colt of which, as we are 
 loosing it, we may say to the proper owners, "The Lord hath need of him," 
 but it is the Lord's own, about which He does not have to give an account 
 to any man. It is His. Our withholding it is a breach of justice, not a 
 defect of generosity. In failing to bring the tithe we are guilty, not of 
 stinginess, but of robbery. It is dishonest. Yet Christians generally do 
 not so view it. They rather feel, even when they devote ten per cent, 
 that they are making a voluntary contribution. They are like the boastful 
 and swelling Pharisee who said, and said in a strutting spirit, "I give 
 tithes." But our Savior did not use words so carelessly. He said, "Ye pay 
 tithes." When it comes to free-will offerings which are over and above the 
 tithes, those are quite a different matter and should be considered by 
 themselves. — F. O. Ballard, D. D. 
 
 153 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 SEVEN WAYS OF GIVING. 
 
 First — The Careless Way: To give something to every cause that is 
 presented, without inquiring into its merits. 
 
 Second — The Impulsive Way: To give from impulse — as much and as 
 often as love and piety and sensibility prompt. 
 
 Third — The Lazy Way: To make a special offer to earn money for 
 benevolent objects by fairs, festivals, etc. 
 
 Fourth — The Self-denying Way: To save the cost of luxuries and 
 apply them to purposes of religion and charity. This may lead to asceti- 
 cism and self-complacence. 
 
 Fifth — The Systematic Way: To lay aside as an offering to God a 
 definite portion of our gains — one-tenth, one-fifth, one-third, or one-half. 
 This is adapted to all, whether rich or poor, and gifts would be largely 
 increased if it were generally practiced, (i Cor. 16:2.) 
 
 Sixth — The Equal Way: To give to God and the needy just as much 
 as we spend on ourselves, balancing all our personal expenditures by 
 our gifts. 
 
 Seventh — The Heroic Way: To Hmit our own expenditures to a cer- 
 tain sum and give away all the rest of our income. This was John Wes- 
 ley's way. — Dr. A. T. Pierson. 
 
 Is it supposable that God would establish a Kingdom that is to reach 
 a splendor beyond all that imagination can conceive or words express ; a 
 Kingdom requiring resources far beyond the gold of an Eldorado or the 
 fabled wealth of antiquity, and leave it without any law for its financing, 
 neglecting this great essential to any well-organized government? Would 
 God leave this great necessity of His Kingdom to human moods, caprices, 
 or impulses, to haphazard schemes and methods of finance that the honor- 
 able business man would scorn to use? 
 
 The fact is, God has provided abundant revenue for His Kingdom. 
 The same Almighty One that proclaimed the constitution of His Kingdom 
 in the Ten Commandments also proclaimed the law that a certain, fixed, 
 and definite portion of our income is holy, that it is not ours, and under 
 no circumstances can we ever establish an honest claim to it. 
 
 The Church Economist says, editorially: "We are of the opinion that 
 the Personal Devil is much afraid of the tithe, and does his best to make 
 the system unpopular and cause it to lie neglected by the Churches. It 
 is one of the few explicit bargains which God offers to make with men. 
 In so many words He challenges men to try the system. He says, sub- 
 stantially, 'I dare you to try it, and see what happens!' And men don't 
 care to take God at His promise. And yet they wonder why He does 
 not pour out the blessing!" — E. L. Miller. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 "Why should I devote a certain definite proportion of my income to 
 God and His work in the world?" 
 
 The first and very much the most important reason is, because it is 
 God's law, and the second, because you thereby promote your spiritual 
 and temporal interests. In short, it pays. Pays in the highest and best 
 sense of the word. Pays in spiritual blessings, pays in temporal pros- 
 perity, pays in peace of mind in having a question of duty settled. Trans- 
 fers from you to your Heavenly Father the responsibility of how much 
 it shall be; permits Him to decide whether it shall be little or much as 
 He prospers you. 
 
 The seventh of time and the tenth of income — or "increase," as the 
 Bible has it — belong to God in a special sense, and while we can work 
 seven days in the week and keep it up for years, and we can keep ten- 
 tenths of all we make, we are poorer for it morally, physically, and finan- 
 cially, all the same. — Thos. Kane. 
 
 TITHE COVENANTS. 
 
 SALVATION ARMY COVENANT. 
 "Believing that the principle of giving one-tenth to God has His ap- 
 proval, I pledge myself to give at least that portion of my income to His 
 work and to do what I can to influence others to do the same. 
 
 Name " 
 
 We, the undersigned members of the Third United Presbji:erian 
 Church, Chicago, hereby agree, in the presence of God and with one an- 
 other: 
 
 1. That we will tithe our income for one year, beginning April ist. 
 
 2. That, at the end of each week, we will count out one-tenth of our 
 income from wages, salary, profits, rents, interest, or other resources ; 
 balance our private tithe-book; inclose the money in an envelope, with- 
 out inscribing thereon our name or the amount, and place it on the plate 
 when the regular off'ering is made at the Sabbath services. In case of 
 illness or other disability the money will be sent to the church or reserved 
 until we are able to attend. 
 
 3. That this money shall be apportioned by the officers of the Church 
 as follows : Seventy-two per cent to the Ordinance Fund, which includes 
 pastor's salary, janitor, heat, light, repairs, Sabbath school, and miscel- 
 laneous expenses. Twenty per cent to the Mission Boards of the Churcb, 
 to be distributed according to the General Assembly's schedule. One per 
 cent to the Young People's Christian Union. Two per cent to the Wom- 
 en's Missionary Society. Five per cent to Benevolence. 
 
 4. That, having entered into this covenant, we will not be under obli- 
 gation or expected to sign any other subscription or pledge of any kind 
 for any Church work or benevolence. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 5. That, in case we desire to make additional contributions, they will 
 be in the nature of free-will offerings, thank-offerings, or other special 
 gifts. For this purpose the Church treasurer will keep a separate account, 
 so that members desiring to make such additional offerings for specific 
 objects may do so and have the privilege of directing how the money 
 shall be used. 
 
 6. That in matters not herein provided for, the officers are empow- 
 ered to act for the best interests of the Church. 
 
 Other Churches have varied this form to suit their particular needs. 
 The using of fifty per cent at home and sending fifty per cent abroad is a 
 more ideal distribution and one toward which we are working. We 
 renew our covenant from year to year by simply announcing that if no 
 word is received to the contrary before April ist, the covenant will be 
 considered renewed. Others make it a perpetual covenant from the start, 
 which is better. — E. B. Stewart, D. D., Pastor. 
 
 Tithe Covenant suggested by the Board of Foreign Missions 
 of the Presbyterian Church : 
 
 A PRACTICAL APPLICATION. 
 
 I ought to give systematically, proportionately, and cheerfully. What 
 better system can I adopt than that of laying aside regularly, whenever 
 I receive my income, a certain proportion to be administered as a sacred 
 trust fund for the Lord? 
 
 What this proportion is to be, must be settled between the Lord and 
 me, but as I am not willing to adopt a lower standard than the Jew, I may 
 start with at least a tithe of my actual income, adding such free-will offer- 
 ings as I may find possible with His blessing. 
 
 As a constant out-go of sympathy in giving is sure to bring a continu- 
 ous inflow of joy in living, I will make it a rule to give every tveek. In 
 order to be perfectly true in my dealings with God in this matter, I will 
 keep an accurate account of all that I give, balancing the amount with my 
 income at least once a year. 
 
 And in order to promptly put this purpose into practice, I covenant 
 to commence doing this NOW. 
 
 Signed 
 
 Suggested by Harvey Reeves Calkins in "Mary Christopher:" 
 "Believing it to be the clear teaching of Scripture that God commands 
 His people to return unto Him at least one-tenth of their income for the 
 maintenance of His Church and the increase of His Kingdom among men, 
 we deem it fitting and wise that Trinity Church should recognize the 
 Divine Commandment as the practical basis of its financial administration. 
 
 156 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 All members, therefore, who receive this as the teaching of the Word of 
 God, and who are ready to bring their "tithes into the storehouse," are 
 requested to meet at the close of the prayer-meeting on the first Wednes- 
 day in October for the purpose of forming a Tithers' League. 
 
 "By order of the Official Board, Frank Strong, Secretary. 
 
 At a special meeting held this day, August 24, 1904, at Winona Lake, 
 Indiana, of those interested in the teaching of the gospel of the tithe, the 
 following preambles and resolutions were offered and unanimously 
 adopted : 
 
 "Whereas, The Tithe Conference of ministers and laymen now being 
 held in connection with the Winona Bible Conference believes that the 
 important command concerning the payment of tithes and offerings has 
 been widely neglected both in teaching and practice ; and 
 
 "Whereas, Reports of Annual Conferences and Assemblies in all the 
 various denominations disclose the fact that the work of the Church is 
 continually languishing on account of this neglect ; and 
 
 "Whereas, In the judgment of this Conference the time has come 
 for directing the attention of God's people to His plan of finance as taught 
 in the Scriptures ; for closer fellowship among those who practice tithing 
 in all the various Churches, and for united effort in bringing to the notice 
 of all men the precious blessings, both temporal and spiritual, plainly 
 promised in connection with obedience to this command ; therefore be it 
 
 "Resolved, That this Conference do now proceed to organize what 
 shall be known as The Twentieth Century Tithe Covenant Association of 
 America; its purpose to be to propagate and extend the teaching and 
 practice of and obedience to the Scriptural plan of financing the Kingdom 
 of God, and to afford a means of fellowship and co-operation to all who 
 may be interested in this great movement." 
 
 The Twentieth Century Tithe Covenant Association, with headquar- 
 ters at Indianapolis, Ind., has adopted and for some years used the 
 following covenant : 
 
 "I agree, as a member of the Twentieth Century Tithe Covenant Asso- 
 ciation, to bring one-tenth of my income into the storehouse, which is the 
 local church, as an act of obedience to God's Word and to support the 
 Association loyally in its efforts to teach and encourage others to render 
 this same obedience. 
 
 "Name 
 
 "Address " 
 
 Hamilton Methodist Episcopal Conference convened at Berlin, On- 
 tario, adopted with great enthusiasm the following report from the Com- 
 mittee on Systematic Beneficence and Christian Stewardship : 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 "We believe the stewardship of property to be one of the most im- 
 portant trusts ever committed to man, and that it bears a most vital rela- 
 tionship not only to the development of one's personal Christian char- 
 acter, but to the general progress of the Church in all her operations at 
 home and abroad. If ever the Church measures up to the duties and re- 
 sponsibilities of the times in which we live, her membership must recognize 
 the fact that consecrated money and the grace of Christian giving sustain 
 an essential relation to the evangelization of the world. 
 
 "To awaken and educate the conscience on the subject of the Divine 
 Ownership of all we have and our stewardship of the same, is certainly 
 an imperative duty incumbent on all religious teachers and preachers. 
 
 "We are glad to know that the Association of Christian Stewards 
 has done so much towards promoting and enforcing the principles of sys- 
 tematic and proportionate giving as taught in the Word of God. We 
 would call attention to the carefully-worded covenant under which the 
 members of the said Association regulate their givings to the cause of 
 God, and would commend it for acceptance by all our people throughout 
 the Hamilton Conference. It reads as follows : 
 
 " 'In grateful acknowledgment of the truth that I am not my own, 
 having been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and in recognition 
 of the sacred obligations of Christian Stewardship, I desire to be enrolled 
 in the Association of Christian Stewards. I agree to set apart not less 
 than one-tenth of my income, so far as I am able to reckon it, to be used 
 as an enlightened conscience and the Providence of God may direct in 
 maintaining and extending Christ's Kingdom.' 
 
 "Your committee feel assured that the principle of tithing, if generally 
 adopted by our people, would give us such a full treasury and abounding 
 source of supplies that the needs of the great heathen world coming under 
 our especial care would soon be fully met, and all the other departments 
 of our Church would be placed in a condition of splendid efficiency!" 
 
 EPWORTH LEAGUE COVENANT. 
 "As good stewards of the manifold grace of God." — i Peter 4 : 10, 
 
 I desire to be enrolled as a Christian steward. I will hold all that 
 God shall give me in trust for Him, paying not less than one-tenth of my 
 income regularly and directly to His cause. 
 
 Signed 
 
 Date Address 
 
 This card should be sent for enrollment to the General Epworth League 
 office, 14 West Washington Street, Chicago. Ten cents should accompany 
 it if certificate of enrollment is desired. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 All those who sign the pledge cards sent out by the Department of 
 Young People's Work, Witherspoon Building, Philadelphia, and send the 
 same to the department headquarters, will not only be enrolled there as 
 Christian stewards, but will be placed on the Tenth Legion list of the 
 United Society of Christian Endeavor. 
 
 THE STEWARDSHIP PLEDGE. 
 
 "I desire to be enrolled as a Christian steward. I will administer all 
 that God shall give me as a trust for Him, paying not less than one-tenth 
 of my income regularly and directly to His work. 
 
 "Signed 
 
 "Address " 
 
 "Unto God the things that are God's." 
 
 ENROLLMENT BLANK. 
 Please enroll my name in The Tenth Legion of the United Society 
 of Christian Endeavor as a Christian whose practice it is to give God 
 the tithe, and send me the certificate of membership. 
 
 Name 
 
 Address 
 
 Y. P. S. C. E Church. 
 
 To Secretary's Dept., United Society of Christian Endeavor, 
 Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Covenant in use in Irvington Methodist Episcopal Church and other 
 Churches in Indiana: 
 
 "Resting upon the plain proposition that one-tenth of all our increase 
 is God's and not our own, nor in any wise to be used or appropriated by 
 us without dishonesty, but to be disposed of as God directs ; and finding 
 that He directs that it be brought into His treasury, since it stands in 
 plain words, 'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,' the reason an- 
 nexed being, 'that there may be meat in Mine house' — we. His people, 
 are upon the literal fulfillment of this command and purpose to bring the 
 tithe into the Church as unquestionably God's house, though it has long 
 lain waste, and to do this as an act of spiritual religion, in full reliance 
 upon the promise attached to the command that God may be honored and 
 Christ's Kingdom may surely come. 
 
 "Name " 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Nathaniel Cobb was one of the faithful stewards of the nineteenth 
 century. Early in his business life he committed himself to the follow- 
 ing covenant, and conscientiously adhered to its terms. On his deathbed 
 he gave this testimony: "By the grace of God, nothing else, I have been 
 enabled under the influence of these resolutions, to give away more than 
 forty thousand dollars. How good the Lord has been to me!" This 
 simple covenant is worthy the careful consideration of every business man. 
 
 Cobb's Covenant. 
 
 "By the grace of God I will never be worth more than fifty thousand 
 dollars. By the grace of God I will give one-fourth of the net proceeds 
 of my business to charitable and religious uses. If I am ever worth twenty 
 thousand dollars I will give one-half of my net profits. If I am worth 
 thirty thousand dollars I will give three-fourths, and the whole after fifty 
 thousand. So help me God, or give to a more faithful steward and set 
 me aside." — Christian Steward. 
 
 Covenant suggested by R. L. Davidson: 
 "How shall I give? 
 
 " 'Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give ; 
 
 not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.' — 
 
 2 Cor. 9 : 7. 
 "How often shall I settle my account with God? 
 
 " 'Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in 
 
 store as God hath prospered him.' — i Cor. 16 : 2. 
 "Has God promised any blessing upon those zvho thus honor Him? 
 
 " 'Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse . . . and prove Me 
 
 now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the 
 
 windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not 
 
 be room enough to receive it.' — Mai. 3 : 10. 
 
 "Recognizing the fact that I belong to God and that all my possession 
 I hold in trust for Him as His steward, I promise to return to Him one- 
 tenth of all He shall entrust me with, and I will strive to settle my ac- 
 count with Him each week. 
 
 'Signed. 
 
 I believe that the diffusion of the principles and practice of systematic 
 beneficence will prove the moral specific in our age. — Gladstone. 
 
 The following covenant is being used in the Church of the United 
 Brethren in Christ. Will you not join with the scores of others who will 
 prove God for one year by signing the following: 
 
 160 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 "Trusting in Jesus Christ for grace and prosperity, I will set apart 
 at least one-tenth of my income this year for my Lord's use, and will dis- 
 tribute the same where I think it will most honor Him. This I do in 
 recognition of God's rightful ownership of all I am and have, and that 
 my relation to Him and His cause may be such as shall not prevent His 
 blessings in and through my life for the extension of His Kingdom." 
 
 Every pastor, local Church officer, and teacher is earnestly requested 
 to bring this important movement face to face with every member of the 
 Church, that no one may have an excuse for not doing his full privilege. 
 
 All who will sign the foregoing pledge, or agree to practice tithing for 
 one year, should send their names to Rev. H. F. Shupe, Dayton, Ohio, and 
 be enrolled as "tithers." This is important, that we may communicate 
 with all tithers when advisable in promoting this hopeful movement in 
 our Church. No names will be published. — S. S. Hough, D. D. 
 
 MY PERSONAL MISSIONARY POLICY. 
 
 1. It is my purpose to pray habitually for some individual missionary, 
 and also that laborers may be thrust forth in sufficient numbers to evan- 
 gelize the world. Initials 
 
 2. It is my purpose to give at least per cent of my income 
 
 to God, and of this amount to give at least per cent to the work 
 
 of Christ in the non-Christian world. 
 
 3. // is my purpose to make the problem of evangelizing the world 
 an object of further serious study, that I may be a more efficient worker 
 in leading the whole Church to carry out the will of Christ for the world. 
 
 Name 
 
 Address 
 
 Denomination 
 
 Date 
 
 Put your initials against the purposes you can really adopt as your 
 own. If unable to sign any one heartily, make it a matter of further study 
 and prayer. 
 
 Send this card, when signed, to the 
 
 Laymen's Missionary Movement, 
 1 Madison Avenue, New York City. 
 
 II 161 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN STEWARDS 
 
 Founded A. D. 1904 for the purpose of promoting systematic and pro- 
 portionate giving to God's cause according to the Scriptures. 
 
 In grateful acknowledgment of the truth that I am not my own, 
 having been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and in recognition 
 of the sacred obligations of Christian Stewardship, I agree to set apart 
 not less than one-tenth of my income, so far as I am able to reckon it, 
 to be used in maintaining and extending Christ's Kingdom, and I trust 
 that I may have wisdom and grace to administer the other nine-tenths as 
 a faithful steward of my Lord and King. I desire to be enrolled in the 
 Association of Christian Stewards. 
 
 *Full Name 
 
 *Ladies will please write Miss or Mrs. 
 
 Occupation 
 
 P. O. Address 
 
 Began tithing, Date 
 
 Return this to Rev. R. W. Woodsworth, 414 Manning Chambers, To- 
 ronto, and a Card of Enrollment will be sent. Apply to the same address 
 for The Christian Steward and other literature on systematic and propor- 
 tionate giving. 
 
 The tithe system is valuable because it is an educational principle. 
 
 It is not a begging or a boom for money. It is a training of a life for 
 God. It is a real and unmistakable partnership with God. It is a school 
 of ethics much needed in the Christian's business course. — G. L. Wharton. 
 
 God asks one-seventh of our time and one-tenth of our income. The 
 demand in the latter case is founded as imperiously on our own necessities 
 as is the former. If there be the fear that we can not prosper if we divert 
 one-tenth of our income into the Lord's treasury, that fear is born of doubt 
 of God's promises. He says that financial prosperity awaits the one who 
 adopts the principle of deaHng with Him according to his requirements. 
 Thousands of people have a satisfaction, a usefulness, and a prosperity 
 that they did not possess before, in this habit of proportionate giving, tak- 
 ing as their constant ratio that ratio laid down in the Word. Try it your- 
 self. Do not try an experiment with the Lord. You may find yourself 
 floundering in deep water if you do, with nothing to blame but your own 
 lack of faith. Trust the Lord fully, and He will honor and bless you. — 
 E. P. Whallon, D. D. 
 
 162 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 COMMENT. 
 
 As To Prayer. — ''The next step in prayer is to train us for social 
 and spiritual efficiency. It is to keep our lives fit and ready for 
 God's uses. For 'a low standard of prayer means a low standard 
 of character and a low standard of service.' There is a great 
 deal of work done for God with God left out of it. There are 
 too many hours when God is in the background and we are in 
 the foreground. May I suggest these words, given by a professor 
 of mine years ago, that 'Work without prayer is presumption, 
 and prayer without work is sacrilege?'" — Bishop Chas. E. 
 Woodcock, at Missionary Congress. 
 
 "We think of service by bulk. God thinks of quality. We 
 think of the number of dollars. He of the spirit that prompted 
 the dollars. The offerings of the Temple were weighed in the 
 scales of heaven. The gifts of the rich compared with the 
 widow's mite kicked the beam." — Dr. Herrick Johnson. 
 
 It would seem to be the unanimous opinion of the many 
 ministers and laymen whose helpful and reverent thoughts are 
 herein gathered, men who are widely known and among the 
 leaders of thought and activity in the Church in recent years, 
 that the long-neglected obedience to the tithe must again be 
 restored to its rightful place in worship. Not in order to fill the 
 treasuries, which in itself would be beneficial to the Church, 
 but in order to win men away from covetousness and selfishness 
 and bring them to acknowledge God as the Supreme One, 
 entitled to the willing consecration of the first-fruits of our lives 
 and property, whether there were a divine command to that effect 
 or not. As far back as when "Cain's countenance fell" our 
 Father knew that in the matter of "time and substance" man 
 would ever need some guide to save him from utter envelopment 
 in the worship and pursuit of earthly possessions. Who will 
 
 163 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 doubt the wisdom of Him who fixed a tenth of our income 
 as His own, out of an abundant ten tenths, plus countless other 
 blessings bestowed? 
 
 Not only has attention been called to the duty of tithing by 
 Christian ministers and laymen, but the secular press, alert to new 
 developments in Church life and usage, is calling attention to 
 the need of some other method than the oyster supper, fair, and 
 rummage sale to adequately finance the growing enterprises of 
 the Church, The Indianapolis Star, a prominent secular news- 
 paper, commented editorially upon the report that the managers 
 of the Chicago Associated Charities would like to establish a 
 tithe system among contributors, thereby insuring the needed 
 funds for its work. Upon this new departure the editorial 
 comment of the Star follows : 
 
 "It is impossible to say how general is the custom in these 
 days of paying one-tenth of the income to charity and to other 
 good causes — in other words, to the Lord. The custom of not 
 letting the left hand know what the right doeth in this line, at 
 least, of not letting the neighbors know, is widely prevalent in 
 the twentieth century ; but whether the reticence and secrecy are 
 due to modest dislike of publicity and pharisaic display or to a 
 consciousness of the fact that the gift is not as liberal as it might 
 be, is a matter that need not be inquired into. It is doubtless 
 true that many persons, grateful for the prosperity and blessings 
 that life has brought them, feel it a duty to acknowledge their 
 gratitude by gifts and in one way and another spend a tenth part 
 of their income, or more, in promoting good works. . . . Even 
 if they are not all of the prosperous class, each individual can 
 usually find some one less fortunate than himself, and so see 
 where his help can avail. But there is a tendency to grow care- 
 less in regard to this obligation, and to become reluctant to spare 
 even a small portion of the personal possessions for a free gift. 
 If a tithing system will help to do away with this carelessness and 
 reluctance, then it is to be recommended." 
 
 The same newspaper, the Star, reporting an address recently 
 delivered by Gov. Thos. R. Marshall of Indiana before a conven- 
 tion assembly of Juvenile Correction, had this to say : 
 
 164 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 "Turning to what he declared the weakness of the Church of 
 to-day Governor Marshall said : 
 
 " 'The Church is losing its grip on mankind, principally be- 
 cause "Asa turned from the Lord to the physicians, and Asa slept 
 with his fathers." If I could have my way in the next Demo- 
 cratic Legislature, I 'd ask it to pass the Ten Commandments and 
 the Golden Rule, and immediately adjourn. This theory of uni- 
 versal love is all right, but let me tell you that a little of the rigors 
 of punishment, here or hereafter, thrown at the people of Amer- 
 ica would be a great help to them. I think that sense of respon- 
 sibility to a higher power, formerly in America, should be brought 
 back again. 
 
 " 'The liberty of America has come to be license. The right 
 to worship God as your conscience dictates has come to mean 
 that you do n't need to worship Him at all if you do n't want to. 
 
 " '/ would like to have a little of the divine faith in things 
 divine, as exemplified by the Puritan, back again. I wish there 
 could be a revival in the heart of the parents of America so they 
 would — God helping — do the right thing by their little ones. I 
 think the Church of America ought to rouse itself and understand 
 that it is its brother's keeper, and that it can't button its coat about 
 it and shift the responsibility.' " 
 
 The Governor evidently would like among other things to see 
 the family altar restored and the children taught, for instance, 
 how Nehemiah rebuilt the temple and other inspiring stories 
 of the good old Book. These stories would be a fine substitute 
 for the modern moving picture show and other attractions tending 
 to lead the children and youth away from thoughts of God. The 
 Governor is in position to see the trend of events, and does not 
 hesitate to speak a note of warning. 
 
 Governor Stubbs of Kansas is also outspoken with regard to 
 the mistake of parents and business men in pursuing wealth and 
 station instead of seeking happiness in ministering to others. In 
 his address at the recent Missionary Congress he said : 
 
 "There were twenty-five years that I was not doing anything 
 but working day and night and putting all the energy of my life 
 into building up a business. For the last five years I have hardly 
 
 165 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 known what business was ; and I will confess to you that the 
 greatest pleasures of life have come in the work that I have done 
 in the last four or five years in a public way. It has broadened 
 and sweetened my life. I have come in contact with the greatest 
 and best men and women in this Nation. And it has done me a 
 great deal of good. 
 
 "I believe that the business men of this country want to find 
 out that when they pile up a fortune four or five times as much 
 as they need, and leave it to their children, a good many times 
 they are going to destroy their homes and their children and make 
 them foolish. Rich men all over this Nation are leaving their 
 children a whole lot of trouble by leaving them too much money." 
 
 The timely words of these two Christian men in honored po- 
 sitions ought to have weight, for there is reason to believe that 
 men and conditions are not improving in these respects. A re- 
 cent news item states that "while the United States has increased 
 in population three and one-half times since 1850, it has increased 
 in wealth fourteen times." Yet the gifts of Christian people per 
 capita for Church and missionary objects are reported less to-day 
 than twenty-five years ago. Here is food for reflection. God 
 help and awaken the Church that she may get back to original 
 principles, that her adherents may more reverently obey the Ten 
 Commandments and the Golden Rule, and that the life as well 
 as the property of God's children may be more unreservedly 
 yielded to Him. 
 
 A very great help in furthering the tithe principle in the 
 Churches would be weekly or monthly articles in the religious 
 press, such as are qtioted herein in various chapters. Not enough 
 attention is given by the press to the Scriptural teaching re- 
 garding the tithe and the religious uses and devotion of property 
 to God. True, much is said about the financial needs of the 
 Church and missionary enterprises. Earnest and timely appeals 
 are frequently made for these. But may not this be a good period 
 for special emphasis, as for instance, in recent numbers of the 
 Pacific Baptist, where whole issues of the paper have been given 
 over to Editorial and contributed articles upon tithing and the 
 Scriptural doctrines of stewardship. 
 
 166 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 A lajTnan once won to yield his tithe to God needs never to 
 be soHcited. He is ready always to consider and fall in with 
 any well directed appeal of the Church, because the amount for 
 distribution is ready in advance. With him the tithe has been 
 settled not for a week, a month, or a year, but for life. 
 
 I believe in tithing, of course. No Christian man should be satisfied 
 with an offering of less than one-tenth of his income to the Lord, and 
 few of us should content himself with so little. But the call of God can 
 not be answered alone with money. R. P. Wilder used to say to us in 
 the colleges : "The cry of foreign missions is the demand of the highway 
 robber, 'Your money or your life !' but the cry of God for service in His 
 Kingdom is the far more important demand, 'Your money and your life !' " 
 — Ira Landrith, D. D. 
 
 To Rev. Dr. Moore, Editor of Western Christian Advocate: 
 
 I thank you for the honorable name and place you give to my recent 
 article on "The Tenth." 
 
 Nothing of Judaism is abrogated except the types and shadows that 
 found their fulfillment in the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. The 
 Ten Commandments stand, the Sabbath stands, the Tithe stands, and these 
 are eternally binding upon the conscience of every believer. There is 
 no want of harmony between Malachi and Paul. The offerings spoken 
 of by Malachi cover the collections spoken of by Paul. The tithe is for 
 the support of the Kingdom. 
 
 It is as old as Eden, and if God had not been robbed of His own, 
 the world would have been converted long ago. It is too holy a subject 
 for excited controversy. I shall make no reply to personal criticism. 
 Gilbert Haven said to me one day, "When you do a good thing and they 
 find fault with you, make no reply, but do it again." I shall obey the 
 former editor of Eton's Herald. That one utterance of Gilbert Haven has 
 done me a world of good. We need action now, not controversy. Let 
 us accept the challenge of the third chapter of Malachi and see what will 
 happen. 
 
 O what revivals we would have ! The old command would fall upon 
 the ears of the Methodist preachers with new power, "Enlarge the place 
 of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; 
 spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes ; for thou shalt 
 break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit 
 the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." (Isaiah 54: 2, 3.) 
 — Bishop C. C. McCabe. 
 
 The Church brings to its people benefits as substantial as the teacher, 
 the lawyer, or the physician. But no one of these would think of serving 
 his neighbors upon an agreement that each of them would do his part 
 towards paying him, each man's part to be fixed by the man himself, and 
 
 167 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 to be given after meeting his other necessities. It is a great wrong to the 
 Church to say that we give what we contribute to it. We do not give the 
 teacher, or the lawyer, or the physician what we pay him for his services, 
 and shall we say that the Church stands lower than any of these, and make 
 the Lamb's Bride a perpetual mendicant ! It would be strange, indeed, 
 if He who knows so well the weakness of the human heart, and who 
 taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation," had placed us without 
 some standard to guide us, in a position where we would be so apt to 
 be warped from the path of duty by the suggestions of interest, affec- 
 tion, prejudice, or other causes. — Judge J. P. Hobson, in "What We Owe." 
 
 "The silver and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts." Yes, every 
 coin we have is literally our "Lord's money." Simple belief of this fact 
 is the stepping-stone to full consecration of what He has given us, whether 
 much or little. — Frances Ridley Havergal. 
 
 The matter of Christian stewardship is one of the foremost under 
 consideration in this nineteenth century. The Men's Forward Movement 
 in the Church will need among other things to emphasize the stewardship 
 of property which for some centuries has been drifting along without due 
 recognition of the Biblical plan of finance and the holy tithe as the basis 
 of all giving. A test of the Bible method of one-tenth for the Lord's 
 work by the leaders in the Churches would soon demonstrate its efficacy 
 in bringing deeper spirituality into Church life. Never in history has 
 the Church held such vast wealth in possession of its membership, many 
 times what it was twenty-five years ago, and yet the Church records 
 indicate a falling off in the pro rata gifts to missionary and benevolent 
 objects. Is it not time to wake up to the true situation and endeavor to 
 use God's tithe plan as the basis of our future methods of Church finance? 
 With the late Bishop McCabe, we say, "Other plans might succeed, this 
 can not fail." — Wm. C. Van Arsdel. 
 
 In no way is money so wisely and profitably employed as in the up- 
 building of the cause of Jesus Christ. Scores of dollars are spent in 
 many a community in the service of sin and evil to every one spent in the 
 cause of holiness, and see what is the result. See what wretchedness and 
 poverty and disease and disaster come as the result of wrong-doing. 
 
 Men spend nearly two thousand millions of dollars every year in the 
 United States for intoxicating Hquors. If they would entirely abstain 
 from liquor and should spend this same amount of money every year in 
 the cause of religion and righteousness, the whole Nation would soon be 
 free from vice and crime and poverty and suffering and sickness. It 
 would be a transformed country. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Sin 
 is a reproach to any people. 
 
 // should be the actual, practical rule in life for every one of us to 
 give a certain, proper aviount of our income to the cause of God. The 
 old Bible rule was one-tenth of the income. No one ever was or ever will 
 
 i68 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 be hurt by giving this much. Many claim that this is our bounden duty, 
 and that only after we have paid this much into the Lord's treasury can 
 we commence to make a free-will offering. — Herald and Presbyter. 
 
 The tithe is God's share of our income by right. It is to be religiously 
 set aside for the Church of God in the world. As the Church is now 
 organized, it places upon the tither the duty of wisely applying it in pro- 
 moting the Kingdom of God, the object for which the Church exists. 
 It is not impHed that only one-tenth of the Christian's income is to be 
 devoted to this purpose ; the tenth is the Lord's, but the Christian should 
 give "freely" and "bountifully" of the remainder of his income. He is 
 also the steward of the nine-tenths, and for the wise use of it he is held 
 accountable. — H. F. Shupe. 
 
 God's standard of liberality, as laid down in the New Testament, for 
 the Christian Church, is a complete consecration of time and money 
 (and by this we mean every moment and every dollar) to be used, to 
 the very best knowledge, in the way that will best glorify God and rescue 
 poor perishing souls from the eternal burnings. Can it mean less than 
 this to love God with all the heart, might, mind, and strength and our 
 neighbors as ourselves? Has not our Savior taught us that our neighbor 
 is any one to whom we have the opportunity to do good? Has He not 
 said to us, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and 
 lose his own soul?" — Rev. S. B. Shaw. 
 
 Giving is a mark of godliness of the first order. It belongs to our 
 religion. It measures religious interest. It graced the Old Testament 
 times as typical of the origin and vital force of Christianity. Jesus had 
 no more marked characteristic than His giving; and the disciple should 
 be like his Lord. 
 
 The great task of to-day is the consecration of the vast money power 
 to Christ. Giving is so vitally related to spirituality that we can not ex- 
 pect to keep up without it, and only as this grace ripens into prominence 
 shall we approach that golden future in promise. — Rev. W. H. Mentzer. 
 
 All these things (Laymen's, Missionary, Bible Class, and other move- 
 ments) are interesting men to-day as never before, and we all know that 
 the deeper the interest, the wider open will need to be the purse with its 
 consecrated contents. 
 
 Therefore let all Churches and Christians adopt the tithing system. 
 It is good ; it is wholesome ; there is saving Christian grace in it. There 
 is help and salvation to others in it. But let us reflect that when we figure 
 on giving a limit of ten per cent we are figuring on keeping ninety per 
 cent, which makes it look much as if we think it considerably more blessed 
 to keep than to give. — Charles D. Meigs. 
 
 The Tribune of Chicago confesses a vivid interest in hearing of cer- 
 tain Churches which have "let up on bazaars, socials, collection envelopes, 
 and numerous other devices for raising money," and are now financing 
 
 169 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 their affairs by the simple method of having "every member agree to give 
 certain sums during the year," whereby "the Church's officials knovir pre- 
 cisely what its revenue will be and can allot it intelligently to different 
 purposes." That is to say, this great daily newsgatherer, alert for things 
 new and novel, finds it strikingly, almost sensationally, novel that the 
 Churches are beginning to be systematic and businesslike in paying their 
 way through the world. And a material access of respect for the Churches 
 is palpable in the tone in which the Tribune speaks of the unexpected de- 
 velopment. — The Continent, October 27, 1910. 
 
 How Much Shall I Give? — This must be determined, primarily, by 
 ability and prosperity — "according to that a man hath," and "as God has 
 prospered him ;" and only secondarily by the urgency of apparent need. 
 Abraham gave tithes. Jacob likewise gave a tenth. So did all Israel. 
 Jesus said of the careful tithings of the Pharisees, "These ought ye to 
 have done." The adherents of many other religions regard the tenth as 
 sacred to Deity. This portion has been almost as universally regarded 
 as belonging to God as the seventh day. — C. E. Hewitt, D. D. 
 
 Shall the poor give? Do we anywhere read in the Scriptures that 
 God has divided mankind into two classes — one rich and the other poor? 
 The former obligated by a high sense of duty to give, and the latter to 
 spend all their earnings upon themselves and their families, and give 
 nothing to God? 
 
 Giving by God's people is an act of worship, a high duty we owe to 
 God and to ourselves. And who will dare say to the poor. Yea are not 
 sharers in this privilege; only the rich are to honor God and exalt them- 
 selves in this act of homage? Our highest sense of candor cries out 
 against such unwarranted teaching. To allow this would be to dig a gulf 
 between rich and poor, which the Church of God has devoutly prayed 
 might never come. 
 
 Have we thought how easy it would be for the infinite God to un- 
 cover a gold mine and send missionaries to the ends of the earth without 
 what we call our money? But what would become of us? In thus sav- 
 ing the world He would lose the Church. God has laid the evangeHzation 
 of the world upon the heart of the Church ; and the Church in saving the 
 world saves herself, and in losing the world loses herself. — John Wesley 
 Duncan. 
 
 Now, take this topic that I have, "The Necessity of an Adequate 
 Financial Basis for the Evangelization of the World." Why is there any 
 necessity for it? First, because of the utter inadequacy of the existing 
 methods. I think it is pitiable, as we read the reports and history of the 
 various mission boards of our divided Church of how poverty and in- 
 adequacy of funds and of men prevent the pushing of this thing ; it makes 
 any man who has got any decent, red, Christian blood in him ashamed 
 of himself and his fellow Christians. No doubt we also have been play- 
 
 170 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 ing with this problem. We have not put our best business energy into it. 
 We have not begun to give in any real sacrificing way. We business 
 men I am talking about now. There are others who have made the sacri- 
 fices, but the average business man has not yet gripped this thing. I say 
 one of the first reasons is the utter inadequacy of the past viethods. — Al- 
 fred E. Marling, N. Y., at Missionary Congress. 
 
 Now, I confess, I do not feel much interest in determining the amount 
 and designation of these contributions. The main thing for us to consider 
 is that in this early time, when God was organizing a Church on the earth, 
 as a great visible community, and impressing upon it the characteristics 
 which He intended to mark His people in all time to come, the regular, 
 systematic, proportionate giving of property to Him was enjoined, and 
 enforced compliance with this rule was followed with blessing; and on 
 the other hand, disregard or evasion of it was attended by conspicuous 
 tokens of the divine displeasure. 
 
 There is one aspect, however, of the amount well worth considering. 
 On all hands it is admitted that the Christian dispensation has enlarged 
 our privileges and added to our obligations to gratitude. Now, are we 
 to believe that, while it has lifted the believer to a higher level in all other 
 things, it has lowered the rule in the matter of property? The infant 
 Church was taught by definite rules and habituated by them to the work- 
 ing out of great principles ; are we to believe that the dropping of the 
 rules, when the period of pupilage has passed, is the abandonment of the 
 principles? Assuredly not. — From Dr. John Hall's lectures on "Re- 
 ligious Use of Property." 
 
 "Let inventive men consider — whether the secret of this universe does, 
 after all, consist in making money. With a hell which means — 'failing 
 to make money,' I do not think there is any heaven possible that would 
 suit one well. In brief, all this mammon gospel of supply-and-demand, 
 competition, laisses faire, and devil take the hindmost, 'begins to be one 
 of the shabbiest gospels ever preached.' " — Carlyle. 
 
 The only thing which makes tithing seem provincial to us is that we 
 have stupidly and wickedly discontinued it in the practice of our Churches. 
 The only thing against it is that it is amplified in the Old Testament. 
 Where would you have it amplified? It is there made so clear that there 
 is no need to reamplify it. We go back to the Old Testament for much 
 of the ethics of law and jurisprudence. We go back to the Old Testa- 
 ment for the sun, moon, and stars. The only star created in the Gospels 
 is the Star of Bethlehem, that blessed star, dearest of them all. We go 
 back to the Old Testament for the Sabbath, and would not have any 
 unless we did. For I would have you note that if the tithe is left without 
 a New Testament foundation the Sabbath is still more so. Now, such 
 parts of the Old Testament have passed away as were clearly typical, and 
 as such were fulfilled in Christ, like the bloody sacrifices and the orders 
 
 171 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 and functions of the Levitical priesthood. But there are elements in 
 that revelation which are neither typical nor temporary, but of the nature 
 of permanent institutes of humanity. Such are the laws relating to time 
 and money. These two things are broad, secular elements in the world's 
 daily life. Can we suppose that a divine law would not legislate upon 
 them? Certainly it would. And how has it done so? Of our time God 
 requires one-seventh ; of our means one-tenth. — Frank O. Ballarb, D. D. 
 
 It was twenty-three centuries ago that God said to some of His chil- 
 dren who had had doubts on this point, "Bring ye the whole tithe into 
 the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me 
 now herewith ... if I will not open you the windows of heaven, 
 and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to re- 
 ceive it." And it was twenty-six centuries ago that an experiment of this 
 sort was fairly made among God's people. As a result of it the tithes 
 lay in great heaps, beyond the ability of the Lord's priests to make use 
 of them. "Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites 
 concerning the heaps. And Azariah, the chief priest of the house of 
 Zadok, answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offer- 
 ings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have 
 left plenty: for the Lord hath blessed His people: and that which is 
 left is this great store." 
 
 To-day, if all the Lord's people should bring in their tithes to the 
 Lord's treasury, the money would lie in heaps waiting for new machinery 
 to put it in motion. What do you think is the prospect of such a finan- 
 cial freshet in the religious channels of beneficence? Are you doing your 
 share to bring it about? — Sunday School Times. 
 
 Some people, whose chief associates are their cattle and bank book, 
 will, when they must leave them all behind, learn to their eternal sorrow 
 the depths of meaning in Jesus' words, "Except a grain oi wheat fall 
 into the ground and die, it abideth alone." And how lonely they will 
 be without their check books and ledgers. Their investments brought 
 them no returns in friendship, in holy character, in love, in fellowship 
 with God. Alone, alone, through eternity — alone; earthly investments 
 brought no returns in heaven. — E. H. Eby. 
 
 "You will never win the world for Christ by your spare cash." This 
 pregnant and suggestive sentence was spoken by Mr. George White, M. P., 
 a few days ago in his forceful address before the United Kingdom Alli- 
 ance, in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. It is a timely utterance, 
 and as true as it is timely. It is a saying worthy of being printed in 
 letters of gold and hung up as a motto in every Christian household. 
 And it might be reiterated with advantage from every pulpit in Christen- 
 dom. "You will never win the world for Christ by your spare cash." 
 We may interpret these words in two senses. We can never win the 
 world for Christ by our "spare," meager, lean, narrow, calculating, eco- 
 
 172 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 nomical measures ; neither shall we win the world for Christ by our fag- 
 ends of time and service ; neither by our small change, nor stinted and 
 ungenerous gifts. — O. P. Gifford, D. D. 
 
 Our stewardship is the truth emphasized by Christ in the parables of 
 the Talents, the Pounds, and in other parts of His teaching. 
 
 Some Christians appear to have the idea that if they give one-tenth to 
 God they thereby acquire the right to dispose of the remaining nine-tenths 
 as they wish : but the fact that we must recognize is that all we have 
 really and absolutely belongs to God, and that we must use all so as to 
 please Him. We must also recognize the fact of God's providential, pros- 
 pering hand. "What have we that we have not received?" — Selected. 
 
 So it is with God's claims upon us. He places His treasures in the 
 hands of humanity, but requires that one-tenth shall be faithfully laid 
 aside for His work. He teaches us the lesson that He requires this por- 
 tion to be placed in His treasury. It is to be rendered to Him as His 
 own; it is sacred, and it is to be used for sacred purposes, — for the sup- 
 port of those who carry the message of salvation to all parts of the world. 
 He reserves this portion, that means may ever be flowing into His 
 treasure-house, and that light and truth may be carried to those who are 
 nigh and those who are afar off. By faithfully obeying this requirement 
 we prove that we realize that all belongs to God. — H. R. Johnson. 
 
 Love must have some form of adequate expression. The giving of 
 money is one very significant, for money is a vital part of our life. Love 
 is not satisfied with that alone. Other forms of service are necessary, 
 but this is important. Love speaks of the objects of its affection, love 
 communes with its Lord, love sacrifices. Love observes the law of tithes 
 and offerings without feeling the pressure of legal obligation. It is the 
 very nature of love to give, and the law of proportionate giving presents 
 a covenient method for its expression. — Rev. E. E. Urner. 
 
 As I have worked and prayed over this theme the conviction has 
 grown upon me that, in not fixing upon some proportion in giving and 
 urging that upon every member, the Church has made the same mistake 
 that she would have made had she not fixed upon one-seventh of every 
 Christian's time, but had left every member free to set aside so much 
 or so little of his time from business as might seem good in his own eyes. 
 It is plain to all that, had not the early Christians set aside one day in 
 seven for the worship and service of God and resolutely abstained from 
 their ordinary work upon that day, Christianity would never have become 
 one of the great world religions. It grows equally clear to me that were 
 the Christians, along with the devotion of one-seventh of their time to 
 the Lord, to set aside also one-tenth of their net income for His service, 
 the world would be speedily evangelized. — Bishop Bashford. 
 
 The Other Extreme. — Is it not reasonable to expect that Christians in 
 this great missionary dispensation should give at least one-tenth of their 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 income to the cause of God ? The late Dr. Joseph Parker, of London, said 
 in one of his sermons : "Now, if I were a constructor of congregational 
 Churches, I would never allow any man to become a Church member until 
 he pledged himself to give one-tenth of his income to Christ. It might re- 
 duce the Church roll, but it would increase the Church fire. Self-taxation 
 in money, in service, sacrifice at some crucifying Calvary point, that is 
 Christianity." Whilst we would not commend so drastic a measure as 
 this, nevertheless we would urge most strongly the absolute necessity of 
 a most thorough education of the people in the principles and obligations 
 of Christian stewardship. The Churches of Christendom should introduce 
 conscience and system and Bible teaching into their finances. — Christian 
 Steward. 
 
 The following parody on Hamlet's soliloquy was found on the back 
 of a bank pledge in a New Haven church. It is a true picture of the dead- 
 beat too often to be found in the Lord's house: 
 
 "To pledge or not to pledge — that is the question. 
 
 Whether 't is nobler in a man 
 
 To take the gospei free and let another foot the bill, 
 
 Or sign a pledge and pay towards Church expenses ! 
 
 To give, to pay — aye, there's the rub, to pay, — 
 
 When on the free-pew plan a man may have 
 
 A sitting free and take the gospel, too. 
 
 As though he paid, and none be aught the wiser 
 
 Save the Church Committee, who — 
 
 Most honorable men — can keep a secret ! 
 
 "To err is human," and human, too, to buy 
 
 At cheapest rate. I '11 take the gospel so ! 
 
 For others do the same — a common rule ! 
 
 I 'm wise ; I '11 wait, not work — I '11 pray, not pay, 
 
 And let the other fellow foot the bills. 
 
 And so I '11 get the gospel free, you see." 
 
 — The Church News. 
 The kingdom of this world will not have become the kingdom of our 
 Lord until the money power has been Christianized. What is needed is 
 not simply an increased giving, an enlarged estimate of the "Lord's share," 
 but a radically different conception of our relations to our possessions. 
 Most Christian men need to discover that they are not proprietors, ap- 
 portioning their own, but simply trustees or managers of God's property. 
 All Christians would admit that there is a sense in which their all belongs 
 to God, but deem it a very poetical sense, wholly unpractical and practically 
 unreal. The great majority treat their possessions exactly as they would 
 treat property, use their substance exactly as if it were their own. Chris- 
 tians generally hold that God has a thoroughly real claim on some por- 
 tion of their income. — ^Josiah Strong, D. D. 
 
 '74 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 "If all Christians tithed, what would be the result?" The evangeliza- 
 tion of the world would soon follow the payment of this debt. The Gov- 
 ernment reports state that the income of every man, woman, and child 
 in the United States is fifty-ftve cents a day. There are about thirty 
 millions of Christians in this country. Let us tabulate their income and 
 tithes : Number of Christians in the United States, 30,000,000 ; income of 
 Christians in the United States, $6,022,500,000; tithe due from Christians 
 in the United States, $602,250,000. — News Item. 
 
 Contributions of all Churches and denominations of the United 
 States amount to about $120,000,000, or one-fifth of above esti- 
 mate. What about the other $480,000,000? Are we robbing 
 God to this extent each year of the tithe alone, say nothing of 
 free-will offerings? 
 
 Whatever may be the graces of the "up-to-date," "twentieth-century" 
 church, its members pay less for the support of religion than did the 
 fathers of forty years ago. To church support and such benevolences 
 as are reported in our statistical tables the average Presbyterian gave 
 $18.90 in 1870 while he gives but $17.15 now, and the per capita deposits 
 in the savings banks of the United States were only one-third what they 
 are to-day. — Dr. Jenkins. 
 
 LATEST FOREIGN MISSIONARY STATISTICS. 
 
 Prepared by Mr. I. W. Baker, of the Laymen's Missionary Movement. 
 
 Society Membership Gifts Average 
 
 United Presbyterian 135,205 $335,645 $2.48 
 
 Ref. Church in America. .... 116,815 207,404 1.77 
 
 Pres. Church in U. S 282,000 452,000 1.60 
 
 Advent 25,000 34,887 1.39 
 
 Congregational 730,718 721,396 .98 
 
 Pres. in U. S. A. 1,311,819 1,285,125 .98 
 
 Protestant Episcopal 928,000 737,i6i .79 
 
 Methodist Episcopal 3,156,804 2,190,318 .69 
 
 Baptist , 1,342,199 824,575 -61 
 
 Methodist Episcopal (South), 1,835,000 881,520 .46 
 
 Disciples of Christ 1,300,000 520,000 .40 
 
 United Evangelical 73,55i 28,120 .38 
 
 Lutheran, (Gen. Synod.) 232,247 85,348 .36 
 
 Ref. Church in U. S, 297,110 108,673 .36 
 
 United Brethren 280,000 98,000 .35 
 
 Lutheran, (Gen. Council) ... 479,575 58,002 ,12 
 
 The above statements of Dr. Jenkins and Mr. Baker, just 
 made public, indicate that about fifteen times as much money is 
 
 175 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 being applied toward local Church and home objects than are 
 given for missions and evangelism. These figures do not indicate 
 that in the devotion of money Christians are loving their neigh- 
 bors as themselves, and this under the new dispensation all are 
 reminded to do. But if all men were tithing their incomes, sta- 
 tistics would be different. The Church and Christian institu- 
 tions would flourish and become dominant powers for righteous- 
 ness, such as would make the world "sit up and take notice," 
 and the great purposes of the Father would see such glorious 
 culmination as would bring the greatest joy the earth has ever 
 witnessed. 
 
 I believe every one should give at the very least one-tenth of all in- 
 come to the Lord. I have done so for a number of years with pleasure 
 and profit in every way. Many who would spurn to tithe their income 
 for religious purposes, think they actually give more, but an accurate 
 count would show that they do not. Moreover we are bound to give the 
 first fruits of all to God. If we do not we shall suffer in some way, here 
 or hereafter. Covetousness fights the tithe. — E. I. D. Pepper, Editor 
 Christian Standard. 
 
 Does any thoughtful man for a moment suppose that the Christian 
 Church, with its overflowing treasury, is unable to finance such a cam- 
 paign as that which has been outlined by the Laymen's Movement? Even 
 an average of five dollars annually per member would furnish an aggre- 
 gate of $200,000,000 for the missionary enterprises of the Church at home 
 and abroad. Reserving one-fourth of this amount for home missions, the 
 remainder, $150,000,000, would maintain an army of 75,000 missionaries 
 in the foreign field at an expense of $2,000 per annum for each man, in- 
 cluding cost of buildings and other necessary equipment. This would 
 supply one missionary to every 13,000 heathen. Is this an unreasonable 
 proposition to submit in financing the great Kingdom of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ? Would the exchequer of the Church be impoverished by em- 
 barking in such an enterprise? Most assuredly not. 
 
 Let Christians everywhere tithe their income, and let the rich supple- 
 ment that tithe by liberal free-will offerings, and the above proposition 
 would have ample financial backing. — Christian Steward. 
 
 If the Jew was bound by law to render to the Lord His tenth three 
 or four times over, the Christian, who owes all he is and has to the Lord, 
 is bound by love. The Christian is a steward entrusted with the mani- 
 fold gifts of God, both temporal and spiritual, and it is required as it is 
 expected of stewards that they will certainly have to give an account. In 
 our judgment the next great revival of religion which sweeps over this 
 land, if one ever does come, will be marked by a consecration of wealth 
 
 176 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 to God and His cause in the earth. For dther the wealth of God's people 
 must be consecrated in a far greater degree than it is now, or it will prove 
 a curse and a millstone about our necks. — Independent. 
 
 We should give a definite per cent of our income to the Lord's work. 
 It should not be less thart a tenth ; many can and do give much more than 
 this, but if all Christians should tithe their income there would be an 
 abundance in the Lord's treasury. There are several denominations which 
 could evangelize the world alone without the help of Gathers, if all of their 
 members would pay a tithe of that which the Lord has given them back 
 into His treasury. 
 
 Indeed, there is one individual Church corporation in New York City 
 that could evangelize the world alone if the money intrusted to it could be 
 spent for that purpose. I know of some business and professional men 
 who have put themselves on a good living salary and spend all the rest of 
 their income for the furtherance of the gospel. — Dr. James R. Pratt. 
 
 God issues an explicit challenge to His people in language that ought 
 to inspire confidence and faith: "Bring ye the whole tithe into the store- 
 house, that there may be meat in Mine house and prove Me now herewith, 
 saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, 
 and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to re- 
 ceive it." 
 
 Does God mean what He says? Undoubtedly He does. And no one 
 ever accepted of His challenge without reaping the reward of obedience. 
 
 But let us bear in mind that the promise in this Scripture is never 
 fulfilled in answer to prayer. It is fulfilled on a practical cash basis. The 
 Divine challenge is only made good in response to the bringing of the 
 whole tithe into the storehouse. The essential condition complied with, 
 God gives us the pledge of His own eternal word that we shall be the 
 gainers and not the losers by obedience to His great property law. A 
 formidable array of testimony could be produced to show how true God 
 is to His own challenge. — Rev. R. W. Woodsworth. 
 
 1. The Christian belongs to God — spirit, soul, and body — in all powers 
 and possibilities. 
 
 2. All that the Christian has is to be used with an eye single to the 
 glory of God in the accomplishment of His purposes. 
 
 Applying these principles, how should a Christian deal with his money? 
 Of whatever income he obtains, he should say, "This belongs to the Master. 
 I am to discover by honest calculation how much I need for the proper 
 maintenance of my life and home, that both may continue to glorify God. 
 All the rest is to be devoted, as He shall direct, for the extension of His 
 Kingdom among men." — Rev. G. Campbell Morgan. 
 
 The great peril of the age is the money peril ; men are money mad, 
 the Ship of State is driving on the reefs, men are marketed in the street 
 
 12 177 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 at money values ; the Church should cast the anchor of the tithe ;' one- 
 tenth given weekly for God -will keep the soul from covetousness. As the 
 Sabbath keeps all time sacred, so the tenth would keep all money sacred. 
 The tithe will cure the nation of blood-poisoning. "No covetous man can 
 see the Kingdom of heaven." The tithe is God's cure for covetousness. 
 No man can pay God the weekly tithe and be blasted by covetousness. — Dr. 
 
 GiFFORD. 
 
 Opposition to the tithe, these days, usually means the person so op- 
 posing does not pay to the Church even one-tenth. Such person should be 
 made to blush by the example of the Jew and heathen. — J. M. Stanfield. 
 
 There is an old parable of the man who had a pond of water on his 
 land. He was always hoarding water, turning every little ditch into his 
 pond, setting tubs and buckets under every eave and spout, and carrying 
 water to put into it. He envied even the birds what they drank, fearing 
 lest some day the pond would be dry and he would perish of thirst. But 
 coming one day with an unusually heavy load of water, he slipped, and 
 fell into his pond, and was drowned. There are many men who are 
 hoarding and pouring into the pond of their material wealth, who at last 
 will be overwhelmed in its waters. It is not the pond which never gives, 
 but the stream which does nothing but give, and looks as if it would 
 soon run itself away, that is constantly replenished and is kept pure, 
 sparkling, and bright. — Rev. C. W. Harsh man. 
 
 The Bible says, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteous- 
 ness." I do not see how a man can do this effectually unless he is willing 
 to render to God his whole life unreservedly. This includes, of course, 
 the consecration of all he is and all he has. No man, imless he be un- 
 saved or uninstructed, can be a fully consecrated Christian who does not 
 render to God not only the tithe of his income, this is only part of the 
 duty; but he must render unto Him his heart and life service. Covetous- 
 ness will keep many a man away from a full, complete salvation. Tithing 
 has saved many a man from a selfish life. It ought to be regarded not a 
 duty only, but a privilege to devote the tithe or tenth of our income to 
 the service of God. — Andrew J. Diddel, Teacher of the largest Presbyte- 
 rian Men's Bible Class in Indianapolis. 
 
 May we call especial attention of our readers to the reference 
 made in Chapter VI to the life of the late Samuel P. Harbison, 
 of Pittsburg, a prominent business man and Christian layman, 
 who not only tithed his income but gave away a generous fortune 
 in free-will offerings and bestowals. Notice especially what 
 Mr. Harbison has said in his last will and testament. 
 
 178 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 REVIVAL OF CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP 
 
 Prayer. — This, too, we pray Thee, that the reflex influence of our 
 own country may be such that every pastor shall find before him 
 new life coming in, find that this great sweeping current of God 
 shall flow through all the world, causing every man to find his 
 discipleship, to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteous- 
 ness. All this grant, O God, that in saving the world we shall 
 save our own country from commercialism and materialism, and 
 from all the influences that will make men think secondary things, 
 putting Christ first and His kingdom paramount above every- 
 thing else in our lives. — Dr. S. S. Hough, at Missionary Con- 
 gress. 
 
 In this closing chapter we desire to note some of the evidences 
 pointing to a revival in giving such as Dr. Horace Bushnell pre- 
 dicted when he said : 
 
 "One more revival, only one more, is needed — the revival of 
 Christian stewardship ; the consecration of the money power of 
 the Church to God ; and when that revival comes, the Kingdom 
 of God will come in a day ; you can no more prevent it than you 
 can hold back the tides of the ocean." J 
 
 The seed sowing, the preaching and teaching of the Bible 
 standards of stewardship, must be more earnestly pursued, even 
 though much progress has been made in the past twenty years in 
 bringing the subject to the attention of the people. Rev. Harsh- 
 man, in one of his latest tracts on tithing, says very correctly: 
 
 "Not only has there been a lack in the amount of instruction, 
 but such teaching as has been given has not always been wise, 
 and sometimes has been so indefinite as to accomplish little good. 
 Men have been told that they ought to give, that they ought to 
 give more than they do, that the amounts given are shamefully 
 small and inadequate to the demand ; and that a high law re- 
 
 179 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 quires all. And yet they are left in as much uncertainty as ever 
 as to the amount they ought to give. 
 
 "A new movement has already started that has in it great 
 promise. It aims to instruct men and persuade them to adopt 
 the Bible rule of proportionate giving. Within the last few 
 years it has been frequently discussed in various assemblies, 
 and the Society of Christian Endeavor, the Baptist Young People's 
 Union, the Epworth League, and other organizations have in- 
 augurated campaigns and are circulating pledges among young 
 people to give proportionately at least one-tenth of their net 
 income." 
 
 A great duty as well as responsibility rests upon the minister 
 in the matter of enlightening the laity on the subject of the tithe 
 and Christian stewardship. And if in the past it may not have 
 seemed wise or opportune, surely the time has come when the 
 laity full-handed in earthly possessions and ready to do her full 
 duty should receive such instruction as will spiritualize the man 
 as well as his income and possessions. 
 
 The late Bishop C. C. McCabe, commenting on the success of 
 Wesley Chapel, Cincinnati, Ohio, for fifteen years a tithing 
 Church, said at a Alethodist Conference : "O for ten men in each 
 Conference like (Revs.) J. W. Magruder and Gervaise Roughton, 
 of Cincinnati Conference, who will cease talking and just do it! 
 By God's help I will get them into it as fast as I can." The good 
 Bishop's work is still going on. According to Bishop Berry the 
 Methodist Church of the United States gave $49,000,000 to all 
 causes last year, only $15,000,000 of which amount was used for 
 the support of the Churches and ministry. 
 
 No layman will be moved or much enthused to devote a tenth 
 of his income toward the Church or religious purposes if an ap- 
 peal comes to him, as so often occurs, that a deficit exists requir- 
 ing a half cent per member increase in order to pay it. Tithing 
 would do away v^^ith the need of such appeals, and the proper pre- 
 sentation of the subject of Christian stewardship would con- 
 stantly create an advance reserve of consecrated money that 
 would meet all demands of Church and missionary enterprise, 
 
 180 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 and at the same time make of the giver a doubly consecrated and 
 far more unselfish and useful man. 
 
 Bishop McDowell at the recent Laymen's Missionary Con- 
 gress in the Auditorium, Chicago, expressed himself thus: 
 
 "There is an occasional man who has not submitted himself 
 to Jesus Christ for a perfect salvation. It is so easy to withhold 
 part of the life. He has saved the feelings of some, and those 
 whose feelings He has saved usually do not save the feelings of 
 others. He has partially saved the thoughts of some ; others 
 have submitted other portions of themselves to Him, but it is 
 clear that Jesus Christ intended to make a Christlike man out of 
 every man He got hold of. And a Christlike man is a man who 
 is saved by Jesus Christ in all that he is, and in all that he does, 
 and in all that he has" 
 
 And further on in the Bishop's address he continues : 
 
 "And that means among other things that we must take the 
 third step in the matter of spiritual preparation, which is the 
 step of intercessory prayer to the point of agony in behalf of the 
 world for which Christ died, and for which Christ lives forever. 
 I more than half suspect that a lot of the prayer for missions has 
 missed its point, because it has not been very concrete. 
 
 "It does not especially stir our hearts just to pray for a cause. 
 I had an old brother in one of my Churches once, who had a very 
 convenient list of high-sounding phrases that he knew how to put 
 together, sometimes in one order and sometimes in another, in 
 the weekly prayer meeting. But always somewhere in the course 
 of the prayer he would ask that the Lord would "Bless the cause 
 of missions, from the heads of the rivers to the ends of the earth." 
 I think he did not know much about geography, but that was a 
 good phrase, and like many other good phrases it kept a perma- 
 nent place in the good man's prayer. But when it came to the 
 contribution for spreading the gospel 'from the heads of the 
 rivers to the ends of the earth,' wherever that was, the prayer 
 was always conveniently forgotten. Now, the spiritual prepara- 
 tion for helping Christ to save the world will make missionary 
 praying a good deal more concrete and personal than that." 
 
 l8i 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 The Bishop has touched upon a vital point. Professing to be 
 Christ's must be accompanied with prayer and consecration of 
 self and possessions, and it seems to us it should be made clear to 
 the laity what God requires regarding the religious use of prop- 
 erty so that their prayers and gifts may become "concrete" and 
 available week by week as God hath prospered. 
 
 Recently the author requested an expression from Rev. Dr. 
 F. E. Taylor, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Indianapolis, 
 regarding tithing. Two members of his Church laid $5,000 each 
 upon the Church plate last Christmas morning. You will not 
 wonder at such an occurrence when you read the following letter 
 from Dr. Taylor, showing this pastor's devotion to the tithe prin- 
 ciple : 
 
 "Dear Mr. Brown : In answer to your request let me say that 
 all of my Christian life I have practiced tithing, and have found 
 it a rare blessing to my soul. We must be just as definite with 
 God as He is with us. Of course the tithe ought to be the mini- 
 mum ; indeed, any one who persistently practices tithing will soon 
 find that the tithe is not enough, and will desire and love to give 
 much more. The definite setting aside of a certain amount of 
 our income for God inspires faith, creates love, and engenders 
 enthusiasm for the cause of Christ. I have never known a tith- 
 ing Christian to be indifferent or careless about Church attend- 
 ance, the winning of souls, or the study of the Bible. God is al- 
 ways definite in all of His promises. Let us be definite in response 
 to His appeal to our generosity as set forth in the Word." 
 
 Dr. Taylor on a recent occasion invited a prominent minister 
 of another denomination to preach in his pulpit to a large congre- 
 gation on the tithe, and is not backward in acknowledging this 
 truth either in practice or in teaching. 
 
 Conferences, Synods, and Assemblies are urging as never 
 before "the preaching of special sermons at different times 
 throughout the year on the doctrine of Christian stewardship, the 
 duty and reward of honoring God with our substance, the object 
 being the permanent indoctrination of the Church in a much 
 neglected branch of knowledge closely connected with spiritual 
 benefit." The following comments and notes of valuable infor- 
 
 182 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 mation are given, hoping that they may be used of God in helping 
 those who preach and teach to see the need of a fuller consecra- 
 tion and deeper interest in the speedy evangelization of the 
 world : 
 
 Dr. Robert E. Speer, at the Missionary Congress, said : "The 
 task is too big for any one body of Christians to undertake alone, 
 as the late Bishop of London said to my friend, Mr. H. T. Gar- 
 diner. It is a task in which all Christians must join themselves 
 together. And even if any one denomination were strong 
 enough, giving it a couple of centuries to evangelize the world, we 
 can not wait for it. These multitudes are passing away. They 
 have a right to know, before they go, of the Savior who died for 
 them, as well as for us, and no one denomination has any right 
 to claim all these generations to compass in its own denomina- 
 tional name. The need is too urgent." 
 
 Because of its remarkable import and value we call especial 
 attention to the following report of Commission (VI) of the 
 World's Missionary Congress, Edinburgh. It reveals some 
 startling facts that the Church at large needs to know. 
 
 WORLD'S MISSIONARY CONGRESS, ipro. 
 
 [Extracts from report of Commission to Consider Missionary Problems 
 in Relation to the Non-Christian World. — "Home Base," Vol. 7.] 
 
 The success of foreign missions largely depends upon the 
 financial support it receives and upon the candidates available 
 for appointment. The investigation by this Commission reveals 
 the fact that there is not a leading Missionary Society in Europe 
 or America that is properly supported. In the judgment of the 
 officers of all of these societies, work that ought to be done is left 
 undone, open doors are unentered, and even what has been be- 
 gun is often disastrously neglected because of the insufficiency 
 of the financial support. This is a condition that confronts the 
 great missionary societies of the world to-day. 
 
 "In the United States and Canada several denominations have 
 made announcement of the amount of money they require each 
 year to accomplish the task of evangelisation to which they have 
 
 183 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 set their hand. These represent from two to six or seven times 
 the total present receipts of the respective societies." 
 
 It must be evident that missions can not reach the height of 
 their success until every member of every local Church or parish 
 contributes to this work to the extent of his ability. Until such 
 general interest and support is secured the Church as a whole 
 will not be doing its duty in carrying the gospel of Christ to the 
 nations of the earth. While many missionary societies have set 
 before them the ideal of securing an adequate gift, not only from 
 every congregation but from every member in each congrega- 
 tion, this standard has not been reached or even approached. 
 
 In some of the denominations in the United States from one- 
 tenth to one-third of the local Churches have no share in the for- 
 eign missionary work of the denomination. One of the extreme 
 cases, which is acknowledged to be unusual, is the case of a single 
 denomination containing 21,291 congregations, of which 10,118 
 gave nothing last year for the support of the foreign missionary 
 work. It is not surprising, therefore, that the average giving 
 per capita for foreign missions for that entire denomination last 
 year was only $.22, or less than one shilling. 
 
 Taking twenty of the leading denominations of the United 
 States whose returns are the most complete, we find that the liv- 
 ing members of these denominations together gave last year for 
 the support of their own work, and for the propagation of the 
 gospel in the United States, an average of $11.40 per member, 
 and that the same constituency gave for foreign missionary work 
 an average of a fraction over $.72 — about three shillings — ^per 
 member. In making this estimate, the amount given for inter- 
 denominational efforts both at home and abroad is not included. 
 
 There is no missionary society that does not feel the impor- 
 tance of having the young people in the Sunday schools and in 
 the Young People's Unions and Societies so trained that they 
 will in early youth form the habit of giving for missions. This 
 
 184 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 subject has been touched upon in another part of this Report. In 
 the practical apphcation of this idea to the Sunday schools and 
 young people, there is general agreement that no ideal method for 
 accomplishing this has yet been discovered. Here is a broad and 
 fruitful field for investigation and study. It is only by holding 
 the young loyal to the cause that we can ever expect a loyal 
 Church in the future. 
 
 One secretary of a society states that the appeal to humani- 
 tarian instincts frequently secured the best results financially. 
 Among the more casual motives of which mention is made are an 
 intellectual interest in foreign countries, the belief that missions 
 promote commerce, and are a "paying investment," and a gen- 
 eral feeling that it is the correct thing to support work under- 
 taken by the Church. 
 
 It has to be borne in mind that even when a right motive for 
 giving has been supplied, it is necessary that definite steps should 
 be taken to establish and maintain the habit of giving. 
 
 There are vast resources in the Church for the evangelization 
 of the world that have not yet been made available, but which 
 should be and may be brought into the treasury of the Lord. 
 It is the privilege and the duty of those who are engaged in the 
 work of missions so to plait that proportionate giving shall be the 
 rule of the Church and not the exception. 
 
 After this survey of the work of the foreign missionary soci- 
 eties the conditions under which they labor and the methods used 
 for accomplishing the ends of their organization, the Sixth Com- 
 mission begs leave to present these conclusions to which their 
 investigations have led its members. 
 
 The Protestant missionary societies of Christendom through 
 their representatives in this Conference have for the first tmie 
 given themselves to the careful and comprehensive study of the 
 problem of the evangelization of the entire non-Christian world. 
 In round numbers 1,000,000,000 of the human race are yet to ac- 
 cept the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. Among these 
 
 185 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 vast populations it is our task to establish not only the Christian 
 Church, but those institutions of Christianity by which the Church 
 shall be perpetuated. 
 
 The Church of Christ in all its branches represented in this 
 Conference has at its command resources for the completion of 
 this work possessed at no other period in its history. Its mem- 
 bership is larger, its knowledge of the needs and opportunities 
 more thorough, its experience is riper than at any previous period. 
 At the same time the material wealth in the possession of the 
 membership of the Church has been increasing at a rate far in 
 excess of the increase of gifts for the support of missions. 
 
 Yet we desire to record our strong conviction that all of them 
 must fail unless they represent first and always the Divine Spirit 
 working through human instruments. There can be no forward 
 movement in missions, no revival of interest, no new era of giv- 
 ing, no great ofifering of life, except as these are attained through 
 a deepening and broadening of the spiritual life of the leaders of 
 the Church, and a real spiritual revival among the members. 
 New methods, attractive literature, widespread cultivation, and 
 appeals for volunteers can accomplish nothing unless begun, con- 
 tinued, and completed in prayer, and permeated from first to 
 last with the Holy Spirit of God. 
 
 The evidence before the Commission is clear and convincing 
 that the great majority of the men of the Churches have not 
 heretofore recognized their responsibility, or contributed in pro- 
 portion to their ability to this supreme work of the Church. 
 There is evidence that the men of the Churches are willing to do 
 large things, that they are willing adequately to finance the mis- 
 sionary enterprise, if the matter can be presented to them in a 
 way that will carry their judgment and command their confi- 
 dence. 
 
 In the light then of the findings and recommendations set out 
 so ably and reverently by the Commission, are we not brought 
 
 i86 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 anew to see how far short the Churches in the States are from 
 meeting the demands made upon them for evangeHzing the 
 world? In prayer, in service, and in the fuller consecration of 
 means all Christians should be called and enlisted. A new, ear- 
 nest, and business-like devotion to God's prescribed methods of 
 financing His kingdom can not be left out of the future plans 
 of the Church, if the world is soon to be brought to Christ, and its 
 membership saved, as well, from covetousness and materialism. 
 
 A revival in Christian stewardship is not an impossibility. It can be 
 brought about and it will be when, led by the Spirit of God, pastors and 
 officers of the Churches set their hearts upon bringing it about, and ear- 
 nestly and persistently pray and work for it. 
 
 The pastor stands at the pivotal point in this crisis. The Church will 
 be largely what he, under God, makes it. If the Church of Jesus Christ 
 fails now to advance to a new endeavor, to conquer the world for Christ, 
 the pastors will be largely responsible. We have come to a time when 
 some clarion call to the Christian ministry needs to be sounded all along 
 the lines until God's servants are stirred to faithfulness and zeal in de- 
 claring to Christian people the whole counsel of God concerning the stew- 
 ardship of money. Neither fear nor false modesty should be permitted 
 for a single moment to cause the minister of the gospel to be silent on 
 this question. — Dr. C. A. Cook. 
 
 So it is with many men who receive all the benefits a Church can 
 bestow in a well-ordered community, and never pay a penny toward its 
 support, nor lift a finger to carry on its work. Every needy man, woman, 
 and child in the remotest corner of the world; every cripple in a hospital 
 at home; every orphan and outcast who might or would be helped if the 
 Church had more power and wealth at its disposal ; every good cause that 
 needs assistance ; every wrong that needs resistance, — appeals to the young 
 man to throw in his lot with the Church to make it nobler, purer, more 
 efficient in righting this old world's wrongs and hastening the coming of 
 the better day. — Francis E. Clark, D. D. 
 
 If we are truly Christians, we are a redeemed people, bought with a 
 price, and the price is the precious blood of Christ. 
 
 If we belong to Christ by God's covenant, we are bound to Him and 
 all that we have is His. 
 
 If we have time and strength, these are His. 
 
 If we are in the possession of money we must hold it as stewards for 
 Him, and the very least we could do would be to give at least one-tenth 
 of it for the advancement of His Kingdom. As a matter of fact, we have 
 
 187 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 not begun to give until we have given beyond the tenth. Mr. Moody said 
 we ought to give until it hurts ; but the fine thing about that is, the moment 
 it begins to hurt we experience the true satisfaction, which only comes 
 when we are faithful to Him. — J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D. 
 
 But as a set-off to this picture as to what would then happen, let me 
 quote some words of Canon E. A. Stuart spoken at the Students' Mis- 
 sionary Conference: "I say it deliberately, I say it with shame, but I 
 believe, nevertheless, it is true — that there is no single religion in the 
 world whose followers give so little to their religion as do those who 
 follow the religion of Jesus Christ. I believe the idolator gives far more." 
 —Rev. H. W. Hinde. 
 
 Rev. S. B. Shaw, of Grand Rapids, in his valuable book en- 
 titled "God's Financial Plan ; or, Temporal Prosperity the Re- 
 sult of Faithful Stewardship," begins the introduction to his book 
 in these words : 
 
 This. book is the outgrowth of over twenty years' experience as an 
 evangelist among God's people of various denominations. During all 
 these years we have been grieved at the covetousness and worldliness mani- 
 fested among professed Christians. Multitudes in the various Churches 
 have, through unbelief, resorted to unscriptural methods of raising money 
 for God's work, or have left God's cause to languish for lack of financial 
 support. Seeing this sad state of affairs and finding God's Word full of 
 precious promises for temporal prosperity, and realizing the ignorance and 
 blindness which prevail regarding God's financial plan for the support of 
 His Kingdom, and longing to see others enjoy the blessings of a conse- 
 crated life of trust, we have recorded the convictions of our own heart 
 and sought to make plain the teaching of Scripture on this subject. 
 
 It would seem that when we consider the goodness of God to the 
 children of men, and especially to those who claim salvation through the 
 sacrifice of His Son, that we ought to give back a great deal to God in 
 return for His goodness to us. Is it too much to give back to God one- 
 tenth of what He gives to us? What we greatly need is that the heads 
 of families in our Churches, and the young men and the young women 
 on salaries in our Churches, should consecrate one-tenth of their incomes 
 for the Lord's work. 
 
 I have noticed much apathy and indifference for the cause of the 
 home Church, also the cause of missions at home and abroad. I believe 
 our people need a campaign of education along th-e line of tithing, and 
 I trust at no distant date the leaders of our denomination and great so- 
 cieties will see fit to put in the field men to take up this work and push 
 
 i88 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 it aggressively until the greater portion of our heads of famihes and our 
 young people on salaries are tithing their incomes for the Lord. — Rev. J. 
 W. Carpenter. 
 
 Let us return to the teaching of Holy Scripture and, for sixteen hun- 
 dred years, of the cathohc or universal Christian Church, to the effect 
 that God's claim of at least a tenth should be regarded as the first claim 
 upon every Christian's income. 
 
 Tithe-paying, my fellow-Churchmen, is of God : a great many of man's 
 substitutes therefor are of the devil. Some of God's earliest saints paid 
 Him tithe before the Bible was written; and when God began to write 
 His will for the direction of tlis people He announced what many think 
 was intended to stand perpetually, and what a master in chancery, speak- 
 ing before me, has called "an unrepealed enactment." "All the tithe of 
 the land ... is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord" (Lev. 27:20). — 
 Dr. Lansdell. 
 
 An imusual and interesting question has been raised in Fayetteville, 
 Ark., where a number of business firms petitioned the city council as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 "Some of the numerous Church organizations are in the habit on 
 certain days — days when there are many people in the city from the coun- 
 try — of carrying on the restaurant business, and without having paid any 
 privilege tax to the city, and to the detriment of the business of such of 
 your citizens and petitioners as are engaged in the hotel and restaurant 
 business. 
 
 "This, we submit, is not a square deal. We, therefore, pray that your 
 honorable body, being the representatives of all the citizens of the city of 
 Fayetteville, do so amend the ordinances as to make the burden of taxa- 
 tion bear alike on all the citizens of our city, either by taxing said Church 
 organizations so carrying on the restaurant business, or by repealing the 
 ordinance taxing hotels and restaurants." — Herald and Presbyter. 
 
 Why should we ministers of the Word be backward to occupy ground 
 on the subject of tithing which was held by Chrysostom, Ambrose, and 
 St. Augustine, by Knox, Owen, and Chalmers, by Grotius, John Ruskin, 
 and Max Miiller? We are craving a revival of evangelism and hunger- 
 ing for the conversion of souls in the beginning of the twentieth century. 
 What road so certain to this blessing as to take God's own promise by 
 the handle and "bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be 
 meat in Mine house," believing that, having fulfilled the conditions, He 
 stands ready on His part to open the windows of heaven and pour us 
 out a blessing until there shall not be room enough to receive it. 
 
 As we view the material prosperity around us we are smitten with 
 
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GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 a sad surprise to find that amidst all this plenty the house of God lieth 
 waste. The Church is a beggar, not a giver. She ekes out a precarious 
 existence upon the scraps and leavings of a luxury which is vitiating the 
 life of her people. Her financing devices to raise the wind are "the butt 
 of many a flinty joke." Her credit is poor; her debts are multiplied; her 
 revenues uncertain. 
 
 How different all this would be were God's people patiently and lov- 
 ingly engaged in the practice of proportionate giving according to the 
 Bible measure. What spiritual joy would attend the consecration of our 
 substance ! How the credit of God's house would look up ! What 
 strength and certainty would be imparted to all our onward movements ! 
 How streams of beneficence would begin to flow like mighty rivers to 
 make glad the city of God ! How infidelity and scoffing would hang its 
 head ! How speedy would be the evangelization of the world. — From 
 address of Chairman Systematic Beneficence Committee to Indiana Synod. 
 
 The budget idea has grown out of this thought. Churches to-day that 
 recognize their whole responsibility to the world are adopting a budget 
 for missionary purposes just the same as a budget for local Church ex- 
 penses. The Church is recognizing the moral obligation of raising the 
 missionary budget just the same as the Church expense budget. Bui we 
 must go a step further. There will be no difficulty in raising both budgets 
 and having all the money needed for carrying on our work when the 
 Churches adopt tithing as the least percentage any member should con- 
 tribute. — Pacific Baptist. 
 
 A new style of benevolence the whole Church must exhibit, or the 
 world will never be converted. Sad it is to think of missionary opera- 
 tions curtailed in time past, of children sent back to heathenism, of moral 
 wastes unvisited and unrepaired, of imploring cries for tracts and Bibles 
 and the living teacher, which the Church has yet but partially answered. 
 Children of the living God, blood-bought ones, lay these things to heart. 
 Withhold not from the cause you profess to love your silver and gold. It 
 is all the Lord's, as you are; for "the earth is His, and the fullness 
 thereof."— Rev. Asa D. Smith, D. D. 
 
 After spending one Sunday morning on the subject of the tithe, a 
 rich brother, not noted for his large giving, shook my hand heartily and 
 said, "That was a good talk." I replied, "It 's a great deal better when 
 you do it." So I say, in conclusion, whatever you may think, hear, or 
 read on this subject, remember, "it 's a great deal better when you do it." 
 "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." "Prove all things; hold fast 
 that which is good." — G. L. Wharton. 
 
 This revival of interest in the tithe has come at a most opportune mo- 
 ment. The Church of the exalted Christ has before it unprecedented op- 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 portunities for world evangelization. Every nation stands with a beckon- 
 ing hand, saying to the herald of the Cross, "Come in and possess the 
 land." The Church of God lacks neither men nor money to fulfill its 
 divinely appointed task of preaching the gospel to every creature in its 
 generation. We lack the spirit on the part of the majority of individuals 
 in the Church which will consecrate its wealth to the Master's use. Back 
 of the paying of a tithe of one's income to God is the spirit that recog- 
 nizes God's ownership and man's stewardship. Perhaps we can sdy to 
 this tithe movement what Mordecai said to Esther of old, "Who knoweth 
 whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this." — Rev. 
 A. B. Strickland. 
 
 One-tenth of the income of God's people consecrated to the service of ^ 
 Christ would effectually solve the financial problems in all our Churches 
 and in the work of His Kingdom throughout the world. It would not 
 only relieve the great and constant strain, but would actually double, if 
 not quadruple, the work now being done. — Rev. W. A. Ayres. 
 
 Are we returning to God a tithe of our increase as a sign of our 
 gratitude to Him and as a proof of our willingness to obey Him? There 
 was never an hour in the history of the Church when consecrated money 
 could accomphsh more in furthering the cause of Christ than right now. 
 Hundreds of young men and women have offered themselves for Chris- 
 tian service at home and abroad, but they must be rejected because there 
 is not sufficient money to sustain them. Hundreds of missionaries on 
 home and foreign fields could multiply their power and efficiency if they 
 had the money to build institutions for industrial and mental and spiritual 
 training, and employ native helpers to act as lay workers, Bible readers, etc. 
 The evangelistic spirit is rife. It has quickened the hearts of millions, 
 but it has not yet touched the pocketbook. What is the result? The work 
 of the Kingdom lags for lack of means to make it more effective. 
 
 We need the co-operation of every consecrated Christian who will do 
 something for the advance of God's Kingdom among men. First, it re- 
 quires mighty and united prayer. But prayer is not enough. We owe God 
 at least a tithe of our annual increase. 
 
 Will a man rob God? Not many will do so when they realize that 
 what they have is not theirs, but His in trust, and that what they give 
 for His cause is all that will be permanently theirs in the great day of 
 accounting, when we must make report of our stewardship. — Ram's Horn. 
 
 Among the topics arranged for the Week of Prayer in all 
 Churches by the Evangelical Alliance is one calling for prayer 
 
 191 |i 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 that the tithe may be restored to its rightful place in our worship. 
 It reads as follows : 
 
 For Wednesday, January 4, 191 1: Foreign Missions. Prayer for the 
 bringing of the due tithes into God's treasure-house, and the promised 
 outpouring of the heavenly blessing; for divine wisdom in meeting and 
 winning the believers in faiths other than Christian ; and for a zeal in the 
 hearts of Christians at home as well as in the hearts of the heralds abroad, 
 as pure and flaming and steadfast as marked the early disciples who car- 
 ried the gospel to the ends of the then known world. 
 
 The Church honors its rich conspicuously. The wealthy Presbyterian, 
 Episcopalian, or Baptist finds himself in the high places of the denomi- 
 nation without conscious effort. No rich man need wait long in any com- 
 munity without being fitted with a Church membership modified to suit 
 his limitations. 
 
 But this will eventually be changed. Stewardship will be a synonym 
 for righteousness equally with temperance, and no member of Christ's 
 Church will be considered in covenant fellowship who does not live simply 
 and with true and apparent self-sacrifice. With a world unevangelized 
 the Church will soon see, provided it progresses at all, that a rich man 
 is a moral danger to its membership unless he is a steward of Christ, and 
 that a poor man who does not recognize his stewardship is equally opposed 
 to the recognized will of Christ. — John Marvin Dean, in Pacific Baptist. 
 
 The man who begins to tithe will have at least six genuine surprises. 
 He will be surprised (i) at the amount of money he has for the Lord's 
 work; (2) at the deepening of his spiritual life in paying the tithe; (3) 
 at the ease in meeting his own obligations with the nine-tenths with God's 
 blessing; (4) at the ease in going on from one-tenth to larger giving; 
 (5) at the preparation this gives to be a faithful wise steward over the 
 nine-tenths that remain; (6) at himself in not adopting the Biblical plan 
 sooner. — Rev. Daniel G. Dunkin. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, when writing to the Secretary of the Systematic Be- 
 neficence Society, said : 
 
 "I think the object of the society (which I understand to be, inducing 
 men to give at least some fixed proportion of their incomes, such as their 
 several cases may permit, to purposes of charity and religion) is one that 
 may be legitimately adopted by all Christians, with the greatest and most 
 beneficial consequences. And, although it is the religious character and 
 effect of such a proceeding that has the first-claim attention, I for one be- 
 lieve its results would be no less advantageous in a social, and fikewise 
 economical, point of view." 
 
 192 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 An opinion like this from a layman whose environment so well quali- 
 fied him to judge, ought to be worth attention. Mr. Gladstone, I am told 
 by a member of his family, was sadly aware of the stinginess of many 
 rich and great people. Also, as a statesman he possessed ample oppor- 
 tunities of knowing the insufficiency and inadequacy of parliamentary 
 legislation for moral purposes ; whilst his lifelong recognition of the duty 
 of setting aside not less than a tenth of his income for charity might have 
 suggested to him the value of the practice as an antidote or a remedy for 
 much of the selfishness that mars the character of so many of our coun- 
 trymen. — Henry Lansdell, D. D. 
 
 No one can possibly deny that tithing would give us all the money 
 needed for carrying on the King's business, at home and abroad. The 
 pastors are the ones to lead and instruct their Churches in these matters. 
 It is up to us, brethren, to impress our Churches with the fact that the 
 field is the whole world, that it is as much our business to carry on 
 mission work as it is to maintain the local Church, and if we want money 
 for the work to be done we may have it when our people get to tithing. 
 When every pastor and every Church not only believes in but adopts this 
 financial method, we can reduce our secretarial forces and put more 
 money into the actual work of the Kingdom. Until that time secretaries 
 will be needed to furnish inspiration and information and to go about 
 stirring up pastors and Churches to do their duty. — Rev. J. Whitcomb 
 Brougher, D. D. 
 
 The more I study the financial problem of our religious life, the more 
 am I convinced that the only solution is in the adoption of some system 
 of proportionate laying aside for the Lord's work — not in the promulga- 
 tion of an indefinite doctrine of stewardship, but in something definite 
 and exact. So far nothing has been discovered so satisfactory as tithing. 
 It has the threefold advantage of being Scriptural, reasonable, and tried. 
 Individuals have tested it. Churches have surprised themselves and all 
 who know them, by their prosperity under its working. My experience 
 and observations warrant me in believing that the adoption of tithing 
 would give our denomination the greatest forward impetus that it has 
 ever known. A successful campaign for the tithes would mean more 
 than any other revival we could have. — Alexander Blackburn. 
 
 When wealth is consecrated by its possessor to the extension of 
 Christ's Kingdom ; to relieve the distresses of the needy ; to the elevation 
 of the downtrodden; to the building and equipping of hospitals and asy- 
 lums for the sick, the crippled, the blind, the aged, the insane, and those 
 deprived of hearing and speech ; to the instruction of the ignorant ; to 
 the erection and support of institutes in which indigent youth may gain 
 valuable information in mechanics and the arts ; or to the endowment of 
 
 13 193 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 those schools of learning which lie at the foundation of a nation's pros- 
 perity, — it affords the liveliest satisfaction to the mind and is often a 
 powerful educator of the heart. 
 
 By its use for these and kindred objects that which, when covetously 
 withheld or ignobly used, is blightingly characterized in Scripture as "un- 
 certain riches," "mammon," "filthy lucre," "the accursed thing," "carnal 
 things," "corrupted riches," "cankered gold and silver," is transmuted by 
 a divine alchemy into blessings rich and varied, first to those who give, 
 and next to those who receive. — J. F. Wyckoff. 
 
 About a year ago there appeared in the Record an unsigned article, 
 headed "The Pause." In this article it was asserted that there was, not 
 merely with regard to any one society, a pause in missionary progress, and 
 the writer declared, in solemn and serious words, "It is worth the while 
 of God — be it reverently spoken — to keep the world waiting, if thereby 
 the Church's ideal of service can be raised." 
 
 He meant, if I take it correctly, that it is worth the while of God 
 to keep the world waiting if thereby the Church inay be taught some les- 
 son that would render her work afterwards more fruitful. 
 
 Twelve months have passed — and more — and the pause continues. 
 Is the world still waiting — is God still waiting — for us, as a Church, to 
 learn something that He would teach us? something that would here- 
 after make our work bring forth more fruit? "Every branch that beareth 
 fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." 
 
 The suggestion of this paper is one which the writer believes is a les- 
 son God is at this time seeking to teach through the deficits — and it is 
 not too much to say that if this is the lesson, and we learn it, money 
 deficits will at once become a thing of the past. — Rev. H. W. Hinde, Vicar. 
 
 Many pastors see the evil that results from worldly ways of raising 
 money, and in most every Church there are a few that are sufficiently ac- 
 quainted with God to see the wrong that is done by courting the world 
 for the sake of gain. One of the first steps in the wrong direction made 
 by many pastors is by taking so many unsaved people into the Church. 
 Churches that are filled up with worldly-minded people that know nothing 
 of saving grace will, of course, resort to worldly and carnal methods not 
 only in providing for the temporal needs of the Church, but they will 
 also resort to unscriptural ways of worship. God's ancient Church was 
 cursed by bringing the uncircumcised into the sanctuary to take part in 
 religious worship simply because they had talent and culture in music. 
 The Scriptural method is to preach the law and the gospel and show 
 people not only their duty but their privilege in giving to God their 
 earthly substance. Who is to blame for this great darkness in the Church ? 
 
 194 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Are not many of God's ministers to blame for not showing the people 
 God's financial plan for man's happiness and prosperity? — Rev. S. B. Shaw. 
 
 The last months of John Wesley's life were spent in vehemently warn- 
 ing the Methodist societies against the love of money. Wesley prophe- 
 sied that if Methodism were ever destroyed it would be destroyed by 
 mammonism? It is high time for all the successors of Wesley to echo 
 his fearless warnings. — Christian Steward. 
 
 Above all, the pastor should be faithful in his work of instructing his 
 people concerning their duty in regard to this subject. Many of them 
 are laboring under the impression that giving means charity, and that 
 charity is something they may exercise or not, as they feel inclined. This 
 whole subject is most woefully misunderstood. Too many seem to have 
 no sort of an idea of Christian stewardship. They call their goods their 
 own, and if they render one-quarter of one per cent of the increase to the 
 Lord, they think it giving. 
 
 When Noah offered upon the altar one of every kind of clean animals, 
 an offering unto the Lord, the Sacred Word informs us that the Lord 
 smelled a sweet savor. Immediately upon the sacrifice there followed with 
 significance the promise of abundance. (See Malachi 3.) — Rev. C. J. Pope. 
 
 The time has come in our denominational life to change our policy, 
 and it is up to the preachers, teachers, and the denominational press. Let 
 us agitate this question, and never give the individual Church member 
 any rest until he gets right. I believe the Pacific Baptist should take the 
 lead in this movement. When all the tithes are brought into the store- 
 house there will be meat in the Lord's house and to spare, and not only 
 that, but there will be such a revival of good old-fashioned religion as the 
 world never saw ; but it will never come until then. — E. M. Runyan. 
 
 Some one has said this would work a hardship on the poor. In all 
 my experience I have yet to find a poor man who objected to tithing. It 
 is usually some rich brother who makes a plea for the poor man. The 
 next time this happens I am going to ask the rich man to produce the 
 poor friend for whom he is pleading. It is too often an excuse by which 
 the rich try to hide behind the poor. — J. W. Brougher, D. D. 
 
 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 by, is emblezzling trust funds. — Wilbur F. Crafts. 
 
 195 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN GRACES. 
 
 The great purpose of every child of God, so far as his own heart is 
 concerned, should be the development of the Christian graces of his heart. 
 If he does not grow in grace and into a fuller likeness of Jesus Christ 
 with the passing of the years, there is something wrong. This is the com- 
 mand of 2 Peter 3 : 18, "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." But how can this be done? I answer by a more 
 complete obedience to the two great commands of God's Word. 
 
 These commands are "go" and "give." The spirit of Missions will 
 deepen the work of grace in the heart as one responds to the Divine com- 
 mand "go." I have never known a missionary-spirited person in whose 
 heart there was not going on a deep and sweet work of grace. Why not 
 then the same be true by a response to the other great command, "Give?" 
 It is true. God has but one plan of financing the work of His Kingdom; 
 hence there is but one Scriptural way in which we can comply with this 
 second command, "Give," viz., the Tithe." And he who is as obedient 
 in this as in the other will find a still deeper work of grace going on in 
 his heart. 
 
 This is a subject to which I have given much prayerful thought and 
 have had a number of opportunities of observing during my fifteen years' 
 ministry, and I am fully persuaded that a loving obedience to God's com- 
 mand in the devotion of a "Tithe" is one of the very best means to a 
 fuller likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ in human character. 
 
 My brother, try it, test it out for yourself, and find, with satisfaction, 
 the joy resulting from obedience to this already too long neglected 
 command. — Chas P. Foreman, D. D. 
 
 If we are to have a clean government, if we are to have honest finance, 
 not merely in Wall Street, but in any part of America, if we are to enjoy 
 those rights inalienable with which our Declaration of Independence says 
 that our Creator endowed us, we must get back to definite religious teaching 
 as a part of our children's education, in the home and elsewhere. Not 
 billion dollar Congresses or gigantic crops make for the true advance of a 
 people. Now, as ever, righteousness exalteth a nation. We have had 
 enough of quack religions and political cure-alls. Let us get back to the 
 Ten Commandments, and the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of 
 wisdom. — The Wall Street Journal. 
 
 What is needed for the forwarding of the Kingdom of God in the 
 earth is the widow's "mite" plus the "might" of the millionaire. — Dr. 
 Ballard. 
 
 196 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 NEWSPAPER ITEMS. 
 
 The following are but a few of many references that might 
 be made showing that men entrusted in the Providence of God 
 with extensive business interests and estates are studying con- 
 ditions and seeking opportunity to rightly devote and apply some 
 good part of their incomes and accumulations toward the im- 
 provement of humanity spiritually, educationally, morally, and 
 physically. It is a hopeful sign that the number of such bene- 
 factors are multiplying in our land, and that it is being deemed a 
 privilege by men and women of wealth to bestow with increasing 
 devotion some good part of their incomes for the uplift of their 
 fellow-men. 
 
 Such men are indeed stewards of God's bounties, willing to 
 be used of Him in furthering His great purposes in the earth 
 of redeeming the world from sin and degradation and placing 
 mankind upon a higher plane of moral and religious life, and re- 
 lieving the lowly and helpless of much suffering and want. 
 
 PEACE ADVOCATE A TITHER. 
 
 One-tenth of the Herron Income Will Go to "the Lord's Account." 
 Cincinnati, May 28, 1909. — When the will of William Christie Her- 
 ron, the wealthy universal peace advocate, who died at his home here a 
 few days ago, was filed for probate, yesterday, it became known that one 
 clause specifies that one-tenth of the annual income of the estate is to 
 go to "the Lord's account." The will declares that the testator for several 
 years had been giving a tithe of his annual income to religious institutions. 
 The estate is said to be valued at a quarter of a million dollars. 
 
 RETIRED FARMER GIVES $60,000 TO CHARITY. 
 
 Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 23, 1910. — M. A. Nayland, a retired farmer, 
 pledged $60,000 to charity last night and then hid from interviewers in 
 dread of attendant publicity. Nayland was a farmer until the city took 
 in his farm and made him rich. He lived simply and, despite his wealth, 
 was little known. Last night he sent twelve letters to local institutions 
 of charity, each containing a check for $500, with the information that 
 similar checks would be sent for ten years to each on the Tuesday before 
 
 197 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Thanksgiving. For the first time in years he spent the night away from 
 his home, which was besieged by newspaper men. 
 
 A wealthy Hebrew philanthropist, Julius Rosenwald, president of the 
 Sears-Roebuck Co., Chicago, has recently offered to give to any colored 
 Y. M. C. A. in the cities of the country $25,000 that will raise $75,000, 
 thus providing a Y. M. C. A. building and plant costing at least $100,000. 
 Scores of cities are now endeavoring to avail themselves of Mr. Rosen- 
 wald's generous offer, and this forbodes better things for the spiritual, 
 mental, and physical uplift and opportunity for the young colored men 
 of the cities. 
 
 ONE-TENTH TO CHARITY. 
 
 Joseph H. Choate Would Go Back to the Mosaic Law. 
 New York, Dec. 20, 1908. — Joseph H. Choate, in an address at the 
 annual meeting of the State Charities Aid Association, advocated adherence 
 to the old Mosaic law that one-tenth of all property be given in charity. 
 He said he did not believe many of the rich women and men who com- 
 pose his audience had lived up to that law, and that if all the people of 
 the country had done so there would not have been any financial troubles 
 like those through which the country has just passed. 
 
 CUDAHY was PHILANTHROPIST. 
 
 Chicago, Dec. 3, 1910. — Examination of the estate of the late Michael 
 Cudahy, former wealthy packer, disclosed the fact to-day that Church and 
 philanthropic enterprises have been receiving virtually all his vast income 
 for three years. Attorney Noble B. Judah, counsel for the estate, and 
 the packer's sons and daughters are now trying to place a value on the 
 estate. Despite his many benefactions the friends state that Mr. Cudahy 
 left nearly $20,000,000. 
 
 The United States Steel Corporation has just appropriated $8,000,000 
 for a pension fund for aged employees. This will be consolidated with a 
 fund established some years ago by Mr. Carnegie, so that the fund will 
 be $12,000,000. It will be in the hands of trustees, independent of the 
 corporation, and the interest will be used in the payment of pensions to 
 employees. A few weeks ago the Steel Corporation amiounced the insti- 
 tution of an extensive insurance fund. This will be paid by the company, 
 and employees do not contribute. It will be managed entirely at the ex- 
 pense of the company. This company has also announced the abolition of 
 Sunday work where possible. This corporation is unusually responsive to 
 public opinion. — CItristian Advocate. 
 
 The distinguished philanthropist. Dr. D. K. Pearsons, known as "the 
 grand old man of Hinsdale" whose benefactions in the past have amounted 
 to millions of dollars, last week celebrated his ninety-first birthday in 
 
 198 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Chicago by the announcement of his final gifts in a long list of bene- 
 factions. "In order to be free of all property and business care before 
 I die," said Dr. Pearsons, "I am going to sell my home. This is the last 
 piece of property I own, and I have kept it because I love the old place." 
 "I am just withdrawing, at the age of ninety-one, from a field which 
 has occupied my whole time and thought during the last twenty-two years. 
 I have signified to the public, on this, my ninety-first birthday, that I have 
 no more money to give away. What I have left is fully provided for, 
 and will not be made subject to future pledges. I look back upon my 
 career with great interest in the sense of having been guided in many 
 interesting ways. I did not begin with a ready-made plan. I blundered 
 into my way of giving, and followed the ways which I found useful. I 
 gave to colleges, because I believe in young manhood and young woman- 
 hood. I gave to poor colleges, because I believe in young people who 
 have to struggle. I gave to Christian colleges, because I believe that educa- 
 tion without character is a very doubtful blessing. I have been asked 
 thousands of times, "Which is your favorite college?" This is a hard 
 question. I have helped more than forty of them. I have loved them all ; 
 they are my children. I do not like to answer the question in that form, 
 but there is another question which I am asked fully as often, that I can 
 answer without hesitation : "Which of all your gifts brings you the most 
 satisfaction?" I answer, "The $50,000 which I gave to establish a system 
 of waterworks at Berea College, Kentucky. I had been much interested 
 in the people of the Southern mountains. I myself am a mountaineer, 
 from the mountains of Vermont. I was a poor boy and had to struggle 
 for what I got. I gave Berea College $50,000 on condition of its raising 
 $150,000 more. They did it, but while they were doing it the college was 
 growing. When they had got it raised, I offered them another $50,000 
 on like terms ; they finished that, and then I gave them some more, for 
 still it was growing. I erected a building there. It is called Pearsons' 
 Hall. It was erected by student labor. — The Continent. 
 
 GIFTS FOR Y. M. C. A. EXTENSION. 
 Chicago, January 19, 19 — . — Gifts of $100,000 for the extension of Y. 
 M. C. A. work in foreign lands were announced at a meeting of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association last night. Cyrus H. McCormick will give 
 $50,000 for a building for any foreign land decided upon by the General 
 Board. An anonymous gift of $25,000 for a building in Manila and a 
 like amount for a building in Hong Kong, China, were announced. 
 
 Rev. Joshua Stansfield, D. D., pastor of Meridian Street Methodist 
 Church, Indianapolis, of which former Vice-President Fairbanks is a 
 member, said in his Thanksgiving Day sermon, among other things : "The 
 wealth evil, which has been demanding so much attention for the last few 
 
 199 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 years, seems to me to be gradually dying out. During the last year 
 $141,000,000 was given by the wealthy of our country to charitable and 
 educational institutions. The wealthy feel a sense of obligation, and many 
 of the millionaires in the United States are feeling a true Christian re- 
 sponsibiHty." 
 
 "The Sage Foundation" is a torch held aloft by which we see the 
 late multimillionaire and his wife, a childless old couple, looking with eyes 
 of pitying parenthood upon the world of other people's children. How to 
 make those children happy and useful to all other children of the world 
 was their concern. Assuredly the best way to make them happy was to 
 cause them to be good. The positive means of usefulness was to train 
 intelligence. So this man and woman, looking from the high tower 
 of their own calm lives upon the pain, the mistakes, dark spots in the 
 panorama of the world, resolved they would try to make the world's pain 
 and sorrow less. 
 
 Countless and endless are the other benefactions to which Mrs. Sage 
 is devoting the steady lessening of her fortunes. She believed that sur- 
 roundings are an educational influence, and set about reducing the sin- 
 sowing in the slums. Last year she, with some friends, purchased forty- 
 eight acres at the outskirts of Jamaica, a suburb of New York, on Long 
 Island, and is erecting there model tenement houses, with light and air 
 and the means of cleanliness for physical as well as moral health. She 
 gave to Sag Harbor, Long Island, a park and playground that its children 
 might be happier and healthier — the whole to cost $100,000. To the same 
 town she has given a library, and it was illustrative of the tender side of 
 the ex-schoolteacher that, when the Woman's Improvement Society of the 
 town pointed out to her that to save one of the trees on the site it would 
 be necessary to lose the value of a house which she was moving from the 
 site, she ordered that the house be torn down to save the tree. 
 
 Three years ago she gave $1,000,000 to the Emma Willard Seminary 
 at Troy, of which she is an alumna. Once I called to interview Mr. Sage 
 on a matter of finance. I got an interview, but it was on the splendid life- 
 work of Emma Willard, who Mr. Sage said was the most beautiful woman 
 he had ever seen, with a beauty of soul yet more radiant than that of the 
 body. Quite naturally it had come about that the Russell Sage Hall, cost- 
 ing $125,000, had been built before the seminary received the greater 
 donation. The school in which she was once a teacher in Syracuse, Mrs. 
 Sage has also remembered with a generous gift. The building fund of that 
 school, St. Paul's Episcopal Parochial Society, is richer from her con- 
 tributions. 
 
 With an eye single to making humans better and more useful by 
 making them better and more intelligent, she gave to the Rensselaer Poly- 
 
 200 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 technic Institute a million dollars. She gave to the Teachers' College of 
 Syracuse $100,000. 
 
 The gift of her closest friend, Helen Gould, of a Y. M. C. A. building 
 for the boys of the navy, at Brooklyn, she supplemented by doubling the 
 capacity of the original building. 
 
 The Far Rockaway Presbyterian Church on Long Island is her greatest 
 Church gift. Two million dollars was her donation for a site and building, 
 parsonage, and Sunday-school building, and for four city blocks which will 
 be converted into a lawn about the church. 
 
 The eye wearies, even while the heart kindles, at the enormous list of 
 her benefactions. In four years, it is estimated by the financiers who have 
 watched her sow the seed broadcast in this land, she has given away half 
 of the Russell Sage fortune. In four years more it will be all gone save 
 her home at 632 Fifth Avenue, New York, and her country home at Sag 
 Harbor, and an income sufficient for the simple needs of her tastes and 
 her probably few years. For she is eighty-two, and her more robust 
 husband grew weary and fell into the final sleep at ninety. — The Continent, 
 March 2, 191 1. 
 
 CARNEGIE DONATIONS TOTAL $179,500,000. 
 
 Following is a list of Andrew Carnegie's largest known benefactions : 
 
 Libraries $53,000,000 
 
 Education foundation 15,000,000 
 
 Pittsburg Institute 16,000,000 
 
 Washington Institute 12,000,000 
 
 Peace foundation 10,000,000 
 
 Scotch universities 10,000,000 
 
 Hero funds 5,000,000 
 
 Carnegie Steel Company employees 5,000,000 
 
 Dunfermline endowment employees 5,000,000 
 
 Polytechnic School, Pittsburg 2,000,000 
 
 Peace Temple at The Hague 150,000 
 
 Allied engineers' societies -. . . 1,500,000 
 
 Bureau American Republics 750,000 
 
 Small colleges in United States 20,000,000 
 
 Miscellaneous in United States (estimated) 20,000,000 
 
 Miscellaneous in Europe (estimated) 2,500,000 
 
 Total $179,500,000 
 
 Washington, Dec. 14, 1910. — Surrounded by twenty-seven trustees 
 of his choosing, comprising former Cabinet members, former ambassa- 
 dors, college presidents, lawyers, and educators, Andrew Carnegie to-day 
 
 201 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 transferred $10,000,000 in five per cent first mortgage bonds, value $11,500,- 
 000, to be devoted primarily to the establishment of universal peace by 
 the abolition of war between nations and such friction as may impair "the 
 progress and happiness of man." 
 
 Just how the commission will proceed is as yet a matter of doubt, 
 but it is believed tentative plans will soon be formulated. 
 
 When war between nations shall have ceased, the fund is to be applied 
 to such altruistic purposes as will "best help man in his glorious ascent 
 onward and upward," by the "banishment of the most degrading evil of 
 evils" then harassing mankind. 
 
 As Mr. Carnegie read an informal deed of trust announcing at length 
 the general purpose of this gift, there was prolonged applause. He then 
 explained the incidents which inspired the giving of the money at this 
 time and declared with emphasis that if the English-speaking race in the 
 United States and Great Britain only consolidated in the movement for 
 international peace, the success of the measure in the rest of the world 
 would be assured. 
 
 New York, January 20, 191 1. — Andrew Carnegie to-day announced a 
 gift of $10,000,000 to the Endowment Fund of the Carnegie Institute of 
 Research, of Washington. This brings his endowment of the institution 
 up to a total of $25,000,000. 
 
 This is Mr. Carnegie's second large gift this winter. Only a few 
 weeks ago he contributed $10,000,000 for the promotion of world peace. 
 
 Coupled with the formal announcement to-day was a declaration by 
 Mr. Carnegie that the work of the institution had cleared from blame 
 the captain of a British ship, who ran his vessel on the rocks, by proving 
 that the British admiralty charts by which the captain was guided were 
 two or three degrees astray. 
 
 NEW WORLDS DISCOVERED. 
 
 The discovery of sixty thousand new worlds by Professor Hale at 
 the observatory on Mt. Wilson, Cal., also was announced. The observa- 
 tory was established by the institution. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie also announced that a telescope far more powerful than 
 man has ever made is now under construction for the Mt. Wilson con- 
 servatory. With it he hopes to make possible the discovery of still more 
 celestial bodies. The new telescope will have a lens of one hundred inches 
 diameter. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie declares that "the whole world is going to listen to the 
 oracle on the top of IMt. Wilson, and in a few years we shall know more 
 about the universe than Galileo and Copernicus ever dreamed of. I hope 
 I shall live long enough to hear the revelations that are to come from 
 Professor Hale on Mt. Wilson." 
 
 202 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 WILL REPAY TENFOLD. 
 
 In confirming a report of the endowment, Mr. Carnegie said: "The 
 report is correct. They had a large endowment before, and this ten mil- 
 lions makes the total of their endowment $25,000,000, but the institution 
 has already scored successes to justify even that sum. I believe that the 
 institution in research will repay tenfold in service to the world." 
 
 Andrew Carnegie advocates giving when men live, and according to 
 his conceptions of what will best promote the welfare of his fellow-men 
 he practices what he preaches. He says : 
 
 "The gospel of wealth is comprised in a few words. Surplus wealth 
 is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his life- 
 time for the good of the community from which it is derived. It teaches 
 that the man who dies possessed of millions of available wealth, which 
 was free and his to administer during his lifetime, dies disgraced. It 
 recognizes, of course, that men must keep their capital in business as long 
 as they labor, for capital is the tool by which they work wonders; but 
 beyond the capital necessarily employed the aim of the millionaire should 
 be to die poor. The use of surplus wealth for objects which commend 
 themselves to the administrator as the best calculated to promote the 
 genuine improvement of his fellows is believed to be the best possible so- 
 lution of the question of wealth and poverty." — Dr. C. A. Cook, in Stew- 
 ardship. 
 
 New York Governor Creates Corporation to Maintain 
 Benevolent Fu'ND. 
 
 Albany, N. Y. — The Carnegie Corporation of New York is created 
 in a bill signed to-day by Governor Dix. The bill names Andrew Carnegie, 
 Elihu Root and others as a corporation for the purpose of receiving and 
 maintaining a fund to promote the ad\-ancement of knowledge by aiding 
 technical schools, institutions of higher learning, libraries, scientific re- 
 search, hero funds, useful publications, etc. 
 
 "Count Okuma announces that Mr. Carnegie has given $1,000,000 to 
 Waseda University, Tokyo. Mr. Rockefeller, he says, offered a large 
 amount, but on condition that Christianity should be taught in the 
 school. Otherwise Mr. Rockefeller would not give to a heathen school." 
 
 Rockefeller Donations. 
 Mr. Rockefeller recently gave an additional $3,820,000 to the Rocke- 
 feller Medical Institute in New York City. He founded this institution 
 for the purpose of studying diseases and methods of treatment, and some 
 of the foremost scientists and medical men of the world are here engaged 
 in study and experiment. No expense is spared to discover methods of 
 bringing disease under control and thus preserving life. This is a pet 
 
 203 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 project of Mr. Rockefeller, who has provided everything the institution 
 needed from the beginning. His gifts to it, in all, are $6,420,000. Mr. 
 Rockefeller's known gifts to philanthropic purposes now amount to about 
 $125,000,000. There are probably a good many unknown gifts not included 
 in this estimate. — Herald and Presbyter. 
 
 Mr. Rockefeller's philanthropies because of their public char- 
 acter are made known, but these we are told do not include his 
 very generous gifts to the interests of his own Church and de- 
 nominational enterprises. It is very evident that like Mr. Rock- 
 efeller many of our prominent layment are more and more be- 
 coming to regard their large estates and secular concerns as a 
 trust committed to them by God for the furtherance of His great 
 purposes in the earth. — The; Author. 
 
 Since the above was written we add the following newspaper 
 account of Mr. Rockefeller's latest gift not included in the above : 
 
 DONOR OF $10,000,000 SPECIFIES CHAPEL AT UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CHICAGO. 
 
 Chicago, Dec. 21, 1910. — President Harry Pratt Judson of the Uni- 
 versity of Chicago to-day made public the letter from John D. Rockefeller 
 in which the latter made suggestions as to how his last donation of 
 $10,000,000 to the university should be spent. Provision for a university 
 chapel, to cost at least $1,500,000, is the only specific request of the donor. 
 He asks that religion be made the central feature of university life, and 
 asks that the rest of the $10,000,000 be not used for current expenses. 
 
 At the recent ninety-fifth annual meeting of the American Bible 
 Society it was reported that by meeting the terms of the recent gift of 
 $500,000 by Mrs. Russell Sage through raising a like amount, added to 
 $500,000 left by John S. Kennedy (who bequeathed a large portion of his 
 estate for religious and benevolent objects), the endowment will be en- 
 riched by $1,500,000 as soon as all subscriptions are paid. This makes 
 the whole endowment $2,118,538. — Pacific Presbyterian. 
 
 Jesus Christ with His idealism stands face to face with this new age 
 of industrialism, with its new problems and its tremendous energies. As 
 Christianity met the systems of philosophy in the early ages, and the 
 scientific materialism of the nineteenth century, so it must meet this age 
 of industrialism. Is there power in the spiritual idealism of Jesus to 
 cope with the new world, to master its energies, to make them serve 
 spiritual purposes? 
 
 It is the immense enterprise of faith to believe that there is such 
 power. It is not merely the good will of a few immensely wealthy men, 
 
 204 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 but it is the logic of the age that many of the millions of wealth from 
 iron and coal and the products of the mines should be transformed into 
 educational and benevolent and religious energy for the intellectual and 
 spiritual enrichment of humanity. The "wealth of the mines and the cattle 
 upon a thousand hills" are still the Lord's. It is the supreme business 
 of men of spiritual faith and vision to help bring the Spirit of God, the 
 ideals of Jesus Christ, to bear upon the world forces of the age, to be- 
 lieve mightily in the spiritual power of the religion of Jesus, to possess 
 the "victory which overcometh the world, even our faith." 
 
 To such enterprise and to such faith we are summoned. It is glorious 
 to-day to be a Christian. — A. B. Storms, D. D. 
 
 But, thank God, influences are at work that promise to produce a 
 widespread awakening on this vital question of money in its relation to 
 the Kingdom of God. Christian Stewardship Movements and the Lay- 
 men's Missionary Movement are doing much to arouse the Church from 
 her deep and unholy slumber, and many Christian men and women are 
 startled as they look upon the picture of their own selfishness. Under 
 the influence of suitable instruction, accompanied by the Spirit of God, 
 men are coming to recognize as never before the solemn obligations and 
 responsibilities of Christian stewardship. As a result the churl is be- 
 coming generous and the man of reputed liberality is by his princely gifts 
 leaving all former records in the shade. 
 
 When this stewardship revival, which is now only in its infancy, has 
 become general throughout Christendom, the vast wealth of the Church 
 will be liberated for the uplift of suffering humanity and laid with glad 
 homage at the Master's feet. — Christian Steward. 
 
 The crisis is upon us. The twentieth century has dawned. The na- 
 tions are at our doors and needing help. God is hovering over us. Tith- 
 ing, or at least proportional giving, is one method of relief and, so far 
 as I can see, the only way out. You can not maintain the New Testa- 
 ment example of the devotion of one-seventh of one's time to the service 
 and worship of God and deny the New Testament injunction and ex- 
 ample of systematic and proportional gifts for the worship and service 
 of God. "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be 
 meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, 
 if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a bless- 
 ing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." — Bishop J. W. 
 Bashford. 
 
 The difficulty with many of God's precious children is the fact that 
 they do not have faith to take of the good things He has promised for 
 their temporal good. They do not believe that God will richly reward 
 their faith in His Word. Luther says, "We are commanded (Gen. 1:28) 
 to have dominion over all creatures, yet we behave so shamefully that a 
 
 20s 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 feeble sparrow must stand in the gospel as a doctor and preacher for the 
 wisest of men, and daily hold forth before our eyes and ears, teaching 
 us to trust God, though we have a whole Bible and our reason to help 
 us." — Rev. S. B. Shaw. 
 
 Suppose the Lord Jesus Christ were to appear to you in a visible form 
 of glory somewhat similar to that in which He appeared to His apostle 
 in the Isle of Patmos, and should deposit in your hands twenty, fifty, or 
 a hundred thousand pounds, and were to address you thus : "I entrust 
 this property to your care with a permission to use a part of it for your- 
 selves, in promoting your own temporal comfort ; but the rest, and in- 
 deed the bulk, I require you to lay out in promoting the cause for which 
 I bled upon the cross and which you know lies nearest my heart, even 
 the salvation of immortal souls. 
 
 "To guard you against any breach of trust, I forewarn you that I 
 shall require an account of every farthing at some future period; and 
 at the same time to encourage your zeal in my interests, I promise you 
 a gracious reward for your fidelity when I call you to account for your 
 stewardship. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown 
 of life which fadeth not away." 
 
 Would you not feel honored in being the almoner of His bounty and 
 tremblingly anxious to lay out His money to the best advantage for His 
 cause, that when you gave in your account it might be with joy, and not 
 with grief? — Rev. John Angel James. 
 
 The universal adoption of this (tenth) principle of giving would fur- 
 nish such means as the Church has not known in its history, and enable 
 it to prosecute its great missionary and educational enterprises with such 
 strength and vigor as their importance demands. — James Sunderland, 
 D.D. 
 
 I believe it is right to pay into the Lord's treasury one-tenth of all 
 our income. I believe the Lord teaches it in the Scriptures. In the third 
 chapter of Malachi God said the people were robbing Him by not bringing 
 their tithes and offerings. Jacob had God's blessing on his promise to 
 pay the tithe of his income to God. Jesus approved of the payment of 
 tithes. He said, Luke 11:42, that "these ought ye to have done, and not 
 to leave the other undone." If every Christian would pay one-tenth of 
 his income to the Lord, he would be better off, and there would be enough 
 money in the Lord's treasury to do the needed work. — Henry Gafner, in 
 Herald and Presbyter. 
 
 The Churches of Christ have grown to a nominal membership of three 
 hundred and seventy millions, with vast possessions ; but with no corre- 
 sponding increase in benevolent contributions. The liberality of the primi- 
 tive Churches, judged by Christ's estimate of the widow's mites, surpasses 
 
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GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 that of the Churches in any succeeding age ; so that, in this respect, Chris- 
 tians have not gone forward, but backward. More than eighteen centu- 
 ries ago Christ gave this commission, "Go ye into all the world, and preach 
 the gospel to every creature." Yet to this day the gospel has never been 
 preached to one-third of the human race. Why is this? — 0. B. Judd, LL. D. 
 
 Some years ago the late Dr. Taylor, of New York, said, "What I 
 would like to see now is a revival that shall be marked by Christian giv- 
 ing." The revival desired has not yet come to pass. May it not be that 
 until Christian giving is taken up in earnest by the Churches, there will 
 be no more seasons of revival granted? If the Churches were more 
 liberal they would be more spiritual. Considering the ever-increasing 
 means at its disposal, the Church of to-day conspicuously fails to abound 
 in the grace of liberality. "See that ye abound in this grace also," is an 
 apostolic injunction largely ignored. Dr. Bushnell's words seem, as yet, 
 far from fulfillment : "What we wait for and are looking hopefully to see, 
 is the consecration of the vast money power of the world to the work and 
 cause and Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The great problem we have now 
 before us is the Christianization of the world's money power." 
 
 1. Every Christian should give. 
 
 2. Every Christian should give methodically. 
 
 3. Every Christian should give proportionately to his means. — Thos. 
 S. Dickson, M. A. 
 
 The transfer of gold and silver from the shrine of human selfishness 
 to the altar of a consecrated life is an immense change for the better, the 
 influence of which upon the giver and his offering can not be measured. 
 How wonderfully God can use and does use consecrated dollars for the 
 extension of His Kingdom on the earth ! 
 
 Money investments for lifting men from sin to holiness are the high- 
 est kind of investments and bring the largest returns for two worlds that 
 money is capable of producing. He who desires immense dividends from 
 invested capital, let him put all his holdings into the hands of God, to 
 be used only and always at the bidding of the Great Divine Owner. — 
 Christian Steward. 
 
 Whenever the question of giving comes up, let us "take heed, and 
 beware of covetousness." Jesus gave us this warning, and He knew our 
 danger. Under various guises covetousness is ever ready with its sug- 
 gestions, and if we only give what it approves we shall be sure to give 
 little, and perhaps nothing. 
 
 Seeing that we shall all soon have to give an account of our steward- 
 ship, let us try to realize beforehand how the various uses to which we 
 are putting our Lord's money will look in the light of the great day. — 
 
 J. H. KiLPATRICK, D. D. 
 
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GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the Synod of Indiana. Twenty thou- 
 sand copies of the Report of the Systematic Beneficence Com- 
 mittee and these resolutions were ordered printed for use in the 
 Synod among the Churches : 
 
 Resolved, First— That as a Synod we disapprove of adventitious and 
 questionable methods of raising money to carry on the Lord's work as 
 bringing a scandal upon religion and as postponing the doctrine of self- 
 sacrifice by direct devotion of our substance to Christ. 
 
 Second— That we admonish sessions to be diligent in making known 
 to the people the condition and needs of all branches of the Church's work 
 as conducted by the Assembly's Boards. 
 
 Third — That we direct our ministers to prepare and preach special 
 sermons at different times throughout the year on the doctrine of Chris- 
 tian Stewardship, the Religious Uses of Property, the Duty and Reward 
 of Honoring God with our Substance, and we advise that this be done, if 
 convenient, on occasions separate and apart from the immediate gather- 
 ing of funds — the object being the permanent indoctrination of the Church 
 in a much-neglected branch of knowledge closely connected with spiritual 
 benefit. 
 
 Fourth — That we look with favor upon the growing disposition among 
 our people to devote a tenth of their net income to God as a matter of 
 sacred duty and to pay it into His Church, the object being that His 
 house lie not waste, but that God may be honored therein and Christ's 
 Kingdom may come. We would gladly see this practice advanced by all 
 means that are judicious and all inculcation that is in harmony with the 
 written Word. 
 
 Fifth — That we record our conviction that a true revival of Chris- 
 tian giving, while itself a grace from heaven, is a means to further grace, 
 and will not only supply a powerful apologetic for the faith, but will have 
 an immediate result in opening the windows of heaven for the pouring 
 out of that spiritual blessing which in our evangelistic movement we pro- 
 fess to seek. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SYSTEMATIC 
 
 BENEFICENCE 
 
 As Adopted by the General Conference of the Methodist Church, Held 
 in Montreal, September, 1906. 
 We recognize the very important and extensive work accomplished 
 by the Association of Christian Stewards, under the able management of 
 Rev. R. W. Woodsworth, founded May i, 1904, and formally organized 
 under a constitution and Board of Management, March 21, 1906. 
 
 We desire to express our cordial sympathy with a campaign of edu- 
 
 308 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 cation which has for its object the instruction of the people in the prin- 
 ciples, privileges, and obligations of Christian stewardship. Here is the 
 pathway to the solution of many of the problems confronting the Church 
 of to-day. 
 
 In view of the great needs of our work in all its departments, espe- 
 cially in our vast missionary fields, with their ever-increasing demands, 
 we would urge our people to give at least one-tenth of their income to 
 the cause of God. 
 
 Your committee suggests that all our ministers present this important 
 subject to their congregations. 
 
 Mr. Cates informs us that in the Presbyterian body to which he be- 
 longs the tithe system has been recommended as the foundation principle 
 for the Laymen's Missionary Movement. This is a wise recommendation, 
 placing as it does this great movement on a solid Scriptural basis and 
 securing for it both permanency and rapid development. 
 
 The Arkansas Presbytery has appointed Rev. E. E. Strong to work 
 in his presbytery, and it was a source of much pleasure to mail him such 
 facts, etc., as we had on hand relating to success in our presbytery. 
 
 We have distributed 6,250 tithe tracts, booklets, etc., in seventy-five 
 congregations, and written 180 personal letters. 
 
 Our tithe work is in its infancy, and we see no reason that should 
 hinder our presbytery from having one thousand tithers. We ask your 
 prayers and co-operation to this end. — (Elder) F. R. Cates, Secretary. 
 
 Rev. F. P. Sigler, a minister of the Southern California Conference 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, has been remarkably useful in bring- 
 ing up Churches to the tithe standard of giving. After ninety-one Churches 
 in his own Conference had been induced to adopt the tithing principle — 
 2,300 of their members signing the covenant book — Mr. Sigler came on 
 to attend the Winona Bible Conference and spoke with compelling enthu- 
 siasm at the various hours occupied during the Conference by the Twen- 
 tieth Century Tithe-Covenant Association. His addresses made so great 
 an impression that a group of gentlemen interested arranged for Mr. 
 Sigler to remain in Indiana and give his whole time to the visitation of 
 Churches. He has been busy since in that State and has had some re- 
 markable successes. In a Church at Elwood seventy persons signed the 
 tithe covenant, and a revival began immediately in the Church. The con- 
 gregation, formerly deep in debt, has now hired an assistant pastor. The 
 Sunday school has doubled. Other Churches have enjoyed similar bless- 
 ing. — Interior, Dec. 10, 1908. 
 
 March 30, 191 1. 
 Brethren of the Ellsworth District, Kansas M. E. Conference: 
 
 God is moving in the midst of His Church mightily in these days, 
 preparing her for the last mighty and glorious charge on the enemy's 
 14 209 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 stronghold, that shall bring this old world in glad submission to the foot 
 of the cross of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The movement in this preparation that is greatest, most far-reaching 
 in its results, and fraught with the most glorious blessing for the Church 
 and for the world, is this by which God is bringing His people up to 
 His first and only, plan for financing His Church in this world. When 
 every Christian holds God's tithe sacred and pays it into His treasury, 
 the last great victory will be in sight. The Ellsworth District is hearing 
 the voice of our Captain commanding us to move forward. — Chas. A. 
 Sullivan, Secretary Executive Committee, to the Churches. 
 
 The tithe movement is part of the Forward Movement in Foreign 
 Missions in the Canadian Methodist Churches. The Missionary Board 
 publishes and circulates many pamphlets on the subject. Their leaders 
 also publish a quarterly magazine on Christian Stewardship. As a result 
 they are ever enlarging their field of missionary work and do not talk 
 of "not sending out any more missionaries this year on account of the 
 lack of funds." Their leaders are back of an interdenominational tithe 
 movement. Information on this subject may be had from Rev. R. W. 
 Woodsworth, 414 Manning Chambers, Toronto, Ont. 
 
 There is no warrant in Scripture for offering less than a tithe ; neither 
 is there any warrant in human conditions and human reason, which might 
 readily be shown did space permit. The tithe may be regarded not so 
 much an offering as an acknowledgment and a payment. 
 
 If the tithe is the minimum, what is the maximum? Who can fix 
 the upmost, outmost bound? The exuberance of gratitude, love, devo- 
 tion, and free-will may test, flourish, and prove itself in the domain far 
 beyond the tenth. — Rev. Dr. A. Carman. 
 
 The following resolutions were heartily adopted by the Pres- 
 byterian Synod of New Jersey: 
 
 1. That sessions be urged to promote an earnest, systematic, edu- 
 cational campaign in their respective Churches by using the literature 
 provided gratis by General Assembly's Special Committee on Systematic 
 Beneficence, and also to avail themselves of the excellent literature pro- 
 curable from other sources. 
 
 2. In order to preserve the purity of the motive for, and the char- 
 acter of the contributions for the work of the Church, local or general, 
 sessions are urged to exert their influence against fairs, bazaars, suppers, 
 and other secular devices for procuring money. 
 
 3. That sessions be urged to prayerfully study and consider the in- 
 structions of Scripture regarding the bringing of tithes unto the house 
 of the Lord, and commend the speedy adoption of this method as ac- 
 ceptable to the Head of the Church and adequate for the accomplishment 
 
 210 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 of her great and glorious work. — Rev. W. W. Casselberry, Chairman, 
 Dunellen, N. J. 
 
 Through the kindness of an American Presbyterian friend we have 
 been furnished with the report of the Committee on Systematic Beneficence 
 as adopted by the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church 
 in the United States at its recent session in Greensboro. In that report 
 I find the following recommendation : 
 
 "Whereas, The Executive Committees of our benevolent causes call 
 upon the Church for more than one and a half millions of dollars for the 
 prosecution of their work ; and, 
 
 "Whereas, It is our duty to give this amount ; and, 
 
 "Whereas, The tithe is the Lord's ordained plan for the support and 
 extension of the gospel, 
 
 "We recommend that the Assembly request its ministers to preach 
 upon this subject at an early date, and that Church sessions endeavor to 
 introduce this plan in their Churches." 
 
 Thus in Canada and the United States, Conferences, Synods, General 
 Assemblies, and other Church courts are recommending the adoption of 
 the tithe principle as the solution of all the financial problems that con- 
 front and perplex the Church of Jesus Christ to-day. Evidently there is 
 a deep and widespread awakening on the vital question of Christian Stew- 
 ardship. — C. S. 
 
 Paul charges the Corinthian saints to lay by them in store for charity, 
 as they were prospered. Their giving was to correspond with what they 
 received. A certain part of their income was to be for the Lord and His 
 little ones. Whether that part was to be one-tenth or some other frac- 
 tion of the whole, the apostle does not intimate; only it was to be freely 
 given. But why should it not be at least one-tenth for persons of aver- 
 age ability? Were the Israehtes called upon to give more than was con- 
 sistent with their highest good? This can not be supposed. Yet they 
 were expected to give much more than one-tenth. — Alvah Hovey, D. D. 
 
 The danger from neglect of stewardship is so awful, the gain from 
 the exercise of stewardship is so vast, that we seem to ourselves to be 
 idling with vague, useless generahties when we talk thus. We will give 
 content to our fair visions and have solid ground under our feet only 
 when we come down to some specific expression of Christian stewardship. 
 An expression thoroughly Scriptural and practical we believe to be found 
 in tithing. Doubtless because of such a behef the General Committee on 
 Stewardship in its report at the Northern Baptist Convention last June 
 made this recommendation as a practical measure: "That pastors and 
 Churches be urged to lead the largest possible number of their members 
 to lay aside at least one-tenth of their income for the Lord's work." This. 
 
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GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 recommendation was unanimously adopted by the Baptists of the North- 
 ern States in convention assembled. — The Pacific Baptist. 
 
 But there is another argument that ought to appeal with overwhelm- 
 ing force to the conscience and heart of every Christian man and woman. 
 It is the argument that comes to us from Calvary's cross and from the 
 missionary character of the gospel dispensation. Standing in the presence 
 of the Cross, reflecting upon the measureless love that led the Son of 
 God to offer His life a ransom for many, and holding in our hands a com- 
 mission to preach the gospel to every creature, — who can consistently say 
 that the Christian, under this the most luminous dispensation the Church 
 has ever known, should give less than the Jew under the old, inferior 
 
 dispensation of the past? — Rev. R. W. Woodsworth. 
 
 * 
 
 In this final word it is our purpose to call attention to several 
 items that seem to us vital not only with reference to tithing and 
 the right financing of the great work of the Church and its grow- 
 ing enterprises, but to the Church itself and its growth and effect- 
 iveness in spirituality. Many an individual Church has made 
 a financial success as far as outward observation would indicate, 
 though never lending obedience or even recognizing the tithe or 
 the Scripture teachings regarding it. Why could this not be so? 
 We have heard of a Church in a Southern State, and it is prob- 
 ably a sample of many, where a wealthy member who practically 
 "carried the Church in his vestpocket" financially, paid all the 
 expenses that were not voluntarily contributed, and supplemented 
 all missionary contributions by gifts that would make a respect- 
 able showing for the Church, thus in large measure deadening the 
 interest and sacred responsibility of all the rank and file of that 
 Church. That and other methods of Church finance, whatever 
 they be, that are not based upon the plan of direct obligation of 
 each individual and his accountability to God for the payment of 
 the tithe, is bound to result in the use and continuance of scores 
 and hundreds of man-made methods. 
 
 We must not lose sight of the fact that the tithe was never 
 established primarily for the purpose of raising money. It was 
 given as a guide that should fix our devotion upon the God and 
 Father of all, and keep us daily and weekly with all our posses- 
 sions in close relation to Him. How many Churches may be 
 
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GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 going along seemingly unembarrassed or not worried with defi- 
 cits and possibly making a fair showing in support of missionary 
 objects that have half or more of the membership not on the con- 
 tributing roll ! And how many, many more, not even so fortunate, 
 who are still leaning on the oyster, or cast-off rummage, in order 
 to help them throw off God's command to bring His holy tithe 
 into His house, and recognize Him as the Giver and Source of all 
 blessings ! It is my observation as an elder and officer in the 
 Church for thirty years that it is not that men are not willing to 
 tithe. It is simply they have been led into present-day methods 
 by force of circumstances, and by the drift of worldly and un- 
 consecrated commercialism. The decadence of the tithe began 
 after the Reformation with the alienation of tithes in England 
 and other countries. Such alienation could hardly occur again 
 if the tithe were fully recognized and re-established in the Church. 
 
 The Continent, a prominent Presbyterian paper, said in its 
 issue of December 8, 1910: "George Wharton Pepper, of Phila- 
 delphia, is a layman highly regarded in all circles for his balance 
 of mind, his clear comprehension of moral issues, and his fearless- 
 ness in saying what he believes after he has fully formed his opin- 
 ions. In an address delivered the day before the Cincinnati 
 Episcopal Convention adjourned, he said: 
 
 " 'In this wave of missionary enterprise I seem to see a danger 
 worth noting. There is danger that we shall become so intent 
 on Christianizing the other fellow that we shall forget to be 
 Christians ourselves. The tendency is to substitute subjective 
 effort for spiritual self-development. 
 
 " 'Notwithstanding the enormous value of giving to the cause 
 I plead with you that no amount of giving of money, even 
 though it be a genuine sacrifice, can be substituted for personal 
 work. The highest missionary work is reserved for the Church 
 in which every member is a missionary.' " 
 
 And in a still more recent issue, January 12, 191 1, The Conti- 
 nent comments editorially as follows : 
 
 "In 1910 the Methodist Episcopal Church, with its 3,000,000 
 members, raised $49,000,000 in money and in strength of per- 
 
 213 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 sonnel made a net increase of 63,000 souls. This latter gain is 2 
 per cent, which the American Churches have learned to consider 
 a normal annual growth. But The Nortlnvestern Christian Ad- 
 vocate looks on such a disproportion of dollars and people as 
 indicative of 'a real crisis in Methodism.' It seriously inquires 
 whether money-raising has not become the standard of success 
 by which the prosperity of congregations and the efficiency of 
 preachers are being judged ; whether soul-saving is a controlling 
 object any more. If this question is a heart-searching one for 
 Methodists, it should no less cut into the conscience of other 
 Christians, for there is no denomination in the country to which 
 the same ratios will not relatively apply." 
 
 Mr. Pepper's suggestion that no amount of giving could take 
 the place of personal work is not only true, but he might have 
 gone a step further and said that no amount of personal work not 
 accompanied with honesty toward God in consecration of self and 
 possessions would effect very much in soul saving. Self-sacri- 
 fice, which includes the devotion of time, service, and means, best 
 fits a man for personal and missionary work, and it is our observa- 
 tion that tithers are usually among the most enthusiastic of per- 
 sonal workers in the Churches. The reference above to the 
 $49,000,000 and the comparative gain of 63,000 souls is indeed a 
 matter that the powers that be have been wrestling with these 
 many years, not only in the Methodist, but all the denominations. 
 Why is not the average increase in membership beyond two per 
 cent, or two new members to every one hundred now on the 
 Church roll? Two-thirds of the population of our country are 
 not professing Christians. Should not every one hundred Church 
 members be able to win more than two souls for Christ ? Thou- 
 sands of Churches do not have one accession during the course of 
 a year. This condition ought seriously to have our prayerful 
 and earnest thought. 
 
 Spurgeon has said that "Holiness is the architectural plan 
 upon which God buildeth up His living temple." God by the 
 Prophet Ezekiel says, "His children shall not sell, exchange, or 
 alienate the first fruits : for the tithe is holy unto the Lord. Even 
 
 214 
 
GEMS OK THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from Mine ordi- 
 nances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will 
 return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts." 
 
 We believe that it is not so much a matter of whether the 
 Methodist or other Church has raised a large sum of money for 
 Christian objects, as it is that the sum so gathered has contained 
 in it the holy tithe of His people, and that tithe coming, as it 
 should, from incomes that have been honestly acquired by men 
 living in the fear of the Lord and with purposes in harmony with 
 His divine will. The recognition and adoption of some definite 
 rule regarding the tithe as a minimum is essential to the building 
 up of a full rounded, strong, and useful Christian life. We need 
 have no fear about free-will offerings — they will take care of 
 themselves when with joy and willing heart we devote our tithe. 
 
 We are free to say, however, that until the Church, its holy 
 ministry, and consecrated official heads, followed by a constitu- 
 ency always willing to be led into right service will lend obedience 
 to this long-neglected obligation, we may yet for many centuries 
 delay the evangelization of the world and the coming in of the 
 Kingdom. God's favor and blessings are promised on conditions 
 strongly set forth in His Word. Tithes and offerings do not meet 
 all these conditions, but they measure largely in them, and our 
 God, so loving and kind, is waiting, and speaks to us: "Thus 
 saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old 
 paths, where is the good zvay, and walk therein, and ye shall find 
 rest for your souls." 
 
 "Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from 
 Mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, 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. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have 
 robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into 
 the storehouse, that there may he meat in Mine house, and prove 
 Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you 
 the windows (not one window but all the windows) of heaven, 
 
 215 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough 
 to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and 
 he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground ; neither shall your 
 vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of 
 hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed; for ye shall be a 
 delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts." (Malachi 3 : 7-12). 
 
 A very fine opportunity will be presented in the Men and Re- 
 ligion Forward Movement, under purposes Nos. 5 and 6 in the 
 following outline to present the subject of Christian stewardship 
 and the return to God's way of financing the Church and its great 
 enterprises, Js not the blessing of God being withheld from 
 Churches and individuals all over our land, because they do not 
 and have not been willing to recognize the holy tithe as the mini- 
 mum and first obligation, rendered in love and gratitude to Him ? 
 tWe believe it is. 
 
 "The purposes of the Men's Forward Movement are set forth 
 succinctly in this statement : ( i ) To stimulate specialized work 
 for men and boys in every Church on the continent; (2) to win 
 thousands of unconverted men and boys to Christ and the Church ; 
 (3) to double the enrollment in Bible study classes; (4) to re- 
 veal programs of Christian service that will command the lives of 
 the most efficient men of the two nations; (5) to continue the 
 emphasis upon the great missionary appeal at home and in the 
 non-Christian world; (6) to exalt the spiritual power of the pub- 
 lic worship of God." 
 
 Fayette L. Thompson, of New York, general secretary of the 
 Methodist Brotherhood, speaking of the Men and Religious For- 
 ward Movement and its purposes, has this to say: 
 
 "In this new evangelism there will be a great message touching the 
 ministry of money — not only to the man who has a great deal of it, but 
 also to the man who has little of it — a message to all men that money 
 IS a trust. Life offers man opportunity not merely of getting things for 
 himself ; he is by no means to look upon his talents, his culture, his superior 
 intelligence as giving him peculiar advantages to get things and to build 
 soft nests for his own comforts — O God, forgive us, that vision of life 
 is the vision of the jungles! The new vision of the ministry of money 
 means that every man of us shall understand that the things he has are 
 
 216 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 not his own, that he belongs not to himself, but that every talent of brain, 
 of property, every opportunity of service is to be invested for others; 
 that the sum total of a man's personality is to count in a ministry of 
 reconciliation by which the very life and spirit of Jesus Christ is made 
 real in the life and conduct of every disciple. In place of giving a few 
 dollars, more and more the manhood of this generation is to catch a 
 glimpse of a ministry of money that shall make it the gladdest og^^tunity 
 that can come to any man of us, not to hoard, not to get, imr to give; 
 to pour out literally in great rich showers that by the blessing of God 
 shall touch the Church of Jesus Christ at every angle and shall make 
 possible accomplishments that shall fill heaven with joyf and our hearts 
 with songs. The new evangelism will have an evangelistic appeal keyed 
 to the ministry of money. 
 
 The plan, thus briefly outlined, is so grand and comprehensive 
 that it awakens the enthusiasm of every one who is connected with 
 it, and also of all who have given it any attention. 
 
 "The Presbyterian Assembly," says The Continent, "under the 
 skillful guidance of Dr. J. D. Moffat, of the Executive Commis- 
 sion, was led into action of a radical and even revolutionary char- 
 acter touching the collection of funds for the benevolent boards. 
 Dr. Moffat explained that the appointment of field agents to boom 
 giving among the Churches had recently become so popular 
 among all the boards that the Church was liable to be overrun 
 with a superfluity of board representatives traveling through the 
 denominational territory. To prevent rivalry among such agents 
 and to reduce the cost of field work the Executive Commission 
 proposed a radically new plan which had been drafted in con- 
 sultation with secretaries from all of the boards, and which had 
 received their hearty assent. This plan provided for a perma- 
 nent joint conference to be composed of one representative from 
 each board and all the members of the Budget Committee of the 
 Executive Commission. To that conference was committed the 
 right to appoint field workers who shall go out among the 
 Churches in the common interest of all the boards alike, and 
 stimulate giving to all of them by systematic weekly pledges for 
 benevolence. The boards, on their part, are to discontinue sep- 
 arate efforts to stimulate giving, except by publication of litera- 
 ture and the public addresses of secretaries." 
 
 Thus we see how Dr. Moffat and the Commission of the 
 
 ai7 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Presbyterian Church are scrupulously guarding against the un- 
 necessary waste of money and are endeavoring to economize in 
 preventing the over-lapping of field agents when they visit the 
 Churches to present the claims of the Boards. It is said that the 
 cost of administering the funds contributed to these objects is 
 not far from five per cent, which statement should certainly en- 
 courage and enthuse the Churches in their gifts to these causes. 
 Nearly the full amount of money contributed goes thus directly 
 toward the objects for which given. 
 
 And when the representatives appear or make their appeals 
 for offerings to the Boards, may we not well consider the fol- 
 lowing earnest words of Rev. Dr. John Y. Ewart (and his words 
 will apply alike to all Churches and denominations), when he 
 writes in the Herald and Presbyter: 
 
 "Now, when you consider the needs of this scholarly, cul- 
 tured period in which you live, when out of the Bible you get 
 some conception of what a sanctuary and service ought to be, 
 when you hear the voices of a sin-cursed world (one billion souls 
 still unsaved) longing for its redemption, you may see something 
 of the claims which these modern days make upon the Church 
 of Jesus Christ. But to meet these claims requires money, and 
 that brings us to the question of Church finance. 
 
 "Many schemes are proposed, many methods are in operation, 
 but no scheme will stand like the Biblical plan. Let every one 
 give, from the pastor in the pulpit to the poorest in the pew, and 
 then all will enter into one of the richest joys of the Christian 
 life. Let us give systematically. Our generosity is too much by 
 impulse. We have spasms of benevolence. Let us, at the begin- 
 ning of the year, OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH GOD. Let 
 each one give according as the Lord hath prospered him. We re- 
 ceive in millions and we give in mites, and so we rob God and im- 
 poverish ourselves by withholding the TITHES that we ought to 
 lay upon His altar. Let us give for the love of Christ, then will we 
 give cheerfully. Thus giving will be an act of worship, and in 
 that way will we honor the Father, exalt the Son, and give to 
 the Holy Spirit the fullest opportunity to do through the Church 
 a blessed work for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom.'' 
 
 2l8 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 Dr. Ballard well says, "What is needed for the forwarding 
 of the kingdom of God in the earth is the widows' 'mite' plus 
 the 'might' of the millionaire." In the earnest words of John 
 R. Mott in "Decisive Hour:" "It is the time of all times for 
 Christians of every name to unite and with quickened loyalty 
 and with reliance upon the living God, to undertake to make 
 Christ known to all men, and to bring His power to bear upon 
 all nations. It is high time to face this duty and with serious 
 purpose to discharge it. Let leaders and members of the Church 
 reflect on the awful seriousness of the fact that times and op- 
 portunities pass. The Church must use them or lose them. The 
 sense of immediacy and the spirit of reality are the need of the 
 hour." 
 
 There are many signs these busy days that the tithe will be 
 again restored to its rightful place in the worship of God's peo- 
 ple, and if His promises mean anything the next twenty-five years 
 will see many new victories for God and righteousness in the 
 world, and a joyous people bringing not simply their tithes and 
 oflferings, but themselves, their families, and their neighbors to 
 Christ. In the words of the late Bishop McCabe, "O for men in 
 each Conference who will cease talking and just do it !" God 
 help His people prayerfully, obediently, and confidingly to ac- 
 cept His challenge, claim the promises, and see what happens. 
 
 The following forceful and inspiring expression from one of 
 the younger Bishops of the Methodist Church, written upon our 
 request and gratefully received by the author as this book goes 
 to press, is now used as a fitting close to the many "Gems of 
 thought" herein contained: 
 
 "I am a firm believer in tithing as the best beginning for a 
 SYSTEM of giving to the cause of God. The one-tenth figure 
 must have a peculiar appropriateness to the average life, as the 
 history of the tithe would show. When cleared of certain me- 
 chanical features which relate it too closely to legalism, tithing 
 does great work in two directions: 
 
 I. Its ACTION is remarkable. It would finance the Kingdom 
 plenteously. If its practice were general, we would be embar- 
 
 ai9 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ON TITHING 
 
 rassed with a surplus of funds until such time as we extended 
 our religious work to fit our larger treasuries. We would banish 
 "rummage sales" and "nickel socials" and other humiliating meth- 
 ods of securing funds for the Good Father's work; and we would 
 accordingly dignify the Church. 
 
 2. The REACTION would be even more remarkable. It is the 
 universal experience that the person who begins to tithe grows 
 in vision and grace. Bven as God used the tithe to educate the 
 race on toward Christ, so He will now use the tithe to educate 
 individuals on toward Christian generosity. The adoption of the 
 one-tenth figure of income by the majority of our Church mem- 
 bers, as the start, and not the goal, of systematic Christian giv- 
 ing, would again open the windows of heaven, and the old prom- 
 ise of blessing would be modernly fulfilled. As the tendency 
 of a properly used Sabbath is to consecrate all time, so the tend- 
 ency of conscientious tithing is to consecrate all property to God." 
 
 Bishop Edwin H. Hughes. 
 
 OPEN GATES. 
 By Charles Lemuel Thompson, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 Lift up, lift up your heads ye gates, 
 
 Ye everlasting doors 
 Of a nation great and strong and free 
 
 Down all her peopled shores. 
 
 Lift up your heads. Behold them come 
 
 O'er many a troubled sea. 
 One vision holds their eager eyes — 
 
 Our light of liberty. 
 
 Our stars their only star of hope. 
 
 Our bars their beacon flame. 
 Their hands, down-borne by heavy hearts, 
 
 Are outstretched in His name. 
 
 Lowly in garb and mien and walk; 
 
 Faces deep-scarred with sin. 
 Beware — proud land! — for thus thy King 
 
 Of glory cometh in. 
 
 — Assembly Herald, January, 191 1. 
 22Q 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX 
 
 giving names (and pages where quotations appear) of more than three 
 hundred ministers, laymen, writers, and authors, also comment by the 
 religious and secular press, whose "gems of thought" herein gathered 
 have made these pages valuable and possible, to all of whom the compiler 
 of this book expresses his most grateful acknowledgment. 
 
 Aitcheson, John Y., D. D., 
 
 46, 80, 114 
 
 Alden, Mrs. G. R 55 
 
 Alexander, Rev. Maitland, D. D., 74 
 
 Ayres, Rev. W. A 89, 191 
 
 Augustine 49, 90 
 
 Allison, W. D 108 
 
 Arthur, Wm 129 
 
 Association Christian Stewards, 162 
 
 Assembly Herald 220 
 
 Austin, John B no 
 
 A joy forever, Ruskin 67 
 
 B. 
 
 Bryan, Hon. W. J 24 
 
 Bible, The 26 to 40, 64 
 
 Ballard, Frank O., D. D., 
 
 45, 57, 78, 120, 153, 171, 196 
 
 Bailey, G. S., D. D., 45 
 
 Bingham 48 
 
 Baer, J. Willis 58, 121 
 
 Bashford, Bishop J. W., 
 
 59, 91, ^73, 204 
 Bradley, Daniel F., D. D., .... 59 
 
 Burr, E. F., D. D 70 
 
 Bosworth, Rev. B. B., 69 
 
 Burdett, Church of Robert ... 76 
 
 Barrister, A London Si 
 
 Beecher, Henry Ward 83 
 
 Barr, W. W., D. D loi 
 
 Barnes, Af r 139 
 
 Bacon, C. E., D. D 139 
 
 Brown, Bess M 143 
 
 Brown, Rev. W. A 146 
 
 Bronston, Rev. O. P 148 
 
 Bushnell, Horace 179 
 
 Brougher, J. Whitcomb, D. D., 
 
 76, 193, 19s 
 
 Blackburn, Rev. Alexander 193 
 
 Baker, I. W 175 
 
 C. 
 
 Crown Cyclopedia 42 
 
 Christian Advocate 198 
 
 Cook, Dr. Charles A., 
 
 44, 87, 108, 187, 202 
 
 Calvin 47 
 
 Christian Steward, 50, 97, 106, 
 125, 13s, 152, 159, 173, 17s, 
 
 19s, 204, 206 
 
 Carrnan, A., D. D 58, 209 
 
 Calkins, Harvey Reeves 94, 156 
 
 Chadwick, Rev. D 98 
 
 Cudahy, Michael 198 
 
 Chambers Cyclopedia 48 
 
 Chrysostom 49 
 
 Colgate, Wm 100 
 
 Central Ave. M. E. Church, In- 
 dianapolis 144 
 
 Cobb, Nathaniel 159 
 
 Converse, John H 97 
 
 Carey, William no 
 
 Churchman's Tithe Club 112 
 
 Consequences of Tithe robbery, 43 
 
 Capen, Samuel P 112 
 
 Churchman, The 114 
 
 Cooper, W. W 122 
 
 Crafts, Wilbur F., Ph. D., 
 
 141, 153, 196 
 Casselberry, Rev. W. W., 142, 210 
 
 Cleland, Judge 145 
 
 Church News 174 
 
 Christian Standard 176 
 
 Carlyle 171 
 
 Choate, Joseph H 197 
 
 Clark, Rev. Francis E., D. D... 187 
 
 Chicago Tribune 170 
 
 Calamities befallen the sacrile- 
 gious 43 
 
 Carnegie, Andrew 201 
 
 Gates, F. R 208 
 
 Chapman, J. Wilbur, D. D., 133, 187 
 
 221 
 
INDEX 
 
 Continent, The, 117, 170, 198, 200, 212 
 
 213, 217 
 Carpenter, Rev. J. W. 188 
 
 D. 
 
 Duncan, John Wesley, D. D., 
 II, 50, 52, 61, 66, 78, 80, 104, 
 
 146, 170 
 
 Duke, Rev. Richard 58, 89 
 
 Daniels, W. S., B. A., D. D.,.. 67 
 Drummond, Prof. Henry ...17, 89 
 
 Davidson, R. L 113, 117, 166 
 
 Dixon, H. S 126 
 
 Dunkin, Rev. Daniel G. ...134, 192 
 
 Diddel, Andrew J 178 
 
 Dean, John Marvin 192 
 
 Dickson, Thomas S., M. A 206 
 
 E. 
 
 Edwards, Rev. Loren M. ...57, 75 
 
 Ewart, John Y., D. D 67, 117 
 
 Eddy, George Sherwood 119 
 
 Ellsworth M. E. Conf., Kan 209 
 
 Epworth League 158 
 
 Eby, E._H. 172 
 
 Evangelical Alliance 191 
 
 English Minister 24 
 
 F. 
 
 Faunce, D. W., D. D 99 
 
 Foreman, Charles P., D. D. ... 196 
 Flors Clavigera — Ruskin . . 139, 147 
 
 G. 
 
 Gififord, 0. P., D. D., 
 
 51, 70, 88, 172, 177 
 
 Gandier, Dr. Alfred 52 
 
 Gelston, Rev. Willis L., 61, 104, 150 
 
 Golden Censer 62 
 
 Gordon, A. J., D. D 84, 100 
 
 Gambrell, J. B loi 
 
 Gladstone, Wm. E., 
 
 62, 105, 124, 136, 160, 193 
 
 Guirey, Rev. George 138 
 
 Glossbrenner, H. M 145 
 
 God's Financial Plan, by Rev. • 
 
 S. B. Shaw 188 
 
 Gafner, H 205 
 
 Gen'l Conf. M. E. Church, 137, 208 
 Gould, Helen 201 
 
 H. 
 
 Holliday, John H 23 
 
 Hall, Rev. Dr. John, 
 
 45, 55, 68, 116, 148, 171 
 
 Hobson, Judge J. P., 
 
 49, 60, 96, 107, 120, 167 
 
 Hartman, L. B 55 
 
 Halford, Col. E. W 55 
 
 Havergal, Frances Ridley, 
 
 65, 81, 168 
 Hinde, Rev. H. W., Vicar St. 
 
 John's ...68, 132, 142, 188, 194 
 
 Harshman, Rev. C. W., 68, 178, 179 
 Hough, Dr. S. S., 74, 91, 120, 160, 179 
 Herald and Presbyter, 67, 79, 
 
 III, 140, 168, 189, 203, 206, 218 
 
 Hyde, A. A 87 
 
 Husser, Rev. James 88, 125, 137 
 
 Horace 91 
 
 Herron, William Christie 197 
 
 Harbison, Samuel P 92 
 
 Hurlin, Rev. Wm 118 
 
 Hackett, E. A. K 133 
 
 Hamilton A.. E. Conference. . . 157 
 
 Hewitt, C. E., D. D 170 
 
 Home Base, Vol. 7 183 
 
 Hall's, Dr., Lectures on "Reli- 
 gious Use of Property" .... 171 
 
 Hovey, Alvah, D. D 210 
 
 Hughes, Bishop Edwin H 217 
 
 I. 
 
 Irenseus 49 
 
 Interior, The 90, 209 
 
 Indianapolis News 95 
 
 Irvington M. E. Church 159 
 
 Indianapolis Star 164 
 
 Independent 176 
 
 Indiana Synod 190, 207 
 
 J. 
 
 Jerome 49 
 
 Jesus 64 
 
 John's Gospel 64 
 
 Judson, Edward, D. D 99 
 
 Jenkins, H. D., D. D 109 
 
 Jenkins, Dr 175 
 
 Johnson, Dr. Herrick 163 
 
 Johnson, H. R 173 
 
 James, Rev. John Angel 205 
 
 Judd, O. B., LL. D 206 
 
 Judson, Prest. Harry Pratt.... 203 
 
 K. 
 
 Kane, Thomas, 17, 62, 81, 84, 
 
 103, 113, 123, 140, 15s 
 
 King, Rev. J. G 82, 133 
 
 Kahlcr, Rev. F. A 87 
 
 Kilpatrick, J. H., D. D 207 
 
 222 
 
INDEX 
 
 Knox, John 47 
 
 Kettler, Dr. I. C 92 
 
 Kennedy, John S 204 
 
 L. 
 
 Lansdell, Henry, D. D., 13, 43, 
 
 46, 47, 62, 70, 102, 189, 193 
 Locke, Chas. E., D. D., 
 
 II, 58, 141, 142 
 Laird, Rev. W. R., Ph. D., 
 
 60, 91, 121 
 
 Lilly, Rev. D. Clay 63 
 
 Luther, Martin 205 
 
 I .aymen's Motto 93 
 
 Lord's Portion, The 136 
 
 Landrith, Dr. Tra 167 
 
 Livingstone, David in 
 
 Laymen's Missionary Pledge. . 161 
 
 M. 
 
 McDowell, C. H 56 
 
 Miller, E. L 58, 81, 122, 154 
 
 Metzler, G. F., Ph. D 61 
 
 McCabe, Bishop C. C, 66,_ 167, 180 
 Missionary Review of Reviews, 67 
 
 Mullins, E. Y., D. D 69, 79 
 
 Macdonald, George 90, 127 
 
 Marling, Alfred E 102, 128, 170 
 
 Michel, F. J 107 
 
 Methodist Church, Shelbyville, 
 
 Ind 108 
 
 Memorial Presbyterian Church, 108 
 
 Missionary Visitor no 
 
 Moxom, Phillip S., D. D 118 
 
 Meigs, Charles D 128, 169 
 
 Murray, Andrew 133 
 
 Magruder, Rev. J. W 135 
 
 Methodist Book of Discipline. . 137 
 
 Men and Religion 142, 216 
 
 Marshall, Gov. Thos. R 165 
 
 Mentzer, Rev. W. H 169 
 
 Morgan, G. Campbell, D. D 177 
 
 McDowell, Bishop 136, 181 
 
 Miller, Mrs. E. L 91 
 
 McCormick, Cyrus L 199 
 
 Mary Christopher, Victory of . . 94 
 
 Meyer, Rev. F. B 98, 119 
 
 Moody, D wight L 105, 148, 153 
 
 Missionary Commission Report, 183 
 
 Mueller, George 100 
 
 Mott, John R 219 
 
 N. 
 
 Nash, Rev. W. C 51, 90 
 
 Nelson, Bishop 84 
 
 News Items.. 105, 106, 173, 175, 197 
 
 Nayland, M. A 197 
 
 Nortliwestern Christian Advo- 
 cate 213 
 
 O. 
 
 Our Christan Stewardship 66 
 
 Origen 49 
 
 Pepper, George Wharton 212 
 
 Pansy 55 
 
 Peabody, Geo 105 
 
 Pepper, John R 78 
 
 Presbyterian Assembly, South, 210 
 
 Phila. Presbyterian Hospital., in 
 
 Pacific Presbyterian 203 
 
 Parker, Rev. Dr. A. P 94 
 
 Presbyterian Board of Foreign 
 
 Missions 118, 156 
 
 Pierson, A. T., D. D 154 
 
 Parker, Dr. Joseph 174 
 
 Pepper, E. I. D 176 
 
 Pratt, Dr. James R 177 
 
 Pacific Baptist ...167, 190, 192, 211 
 
 Pearsons, Dr. D. K 198 
 
 Pope, Rev. C. J 195 
 
 Presbyterian Assembly 217 
 
 R. 
 
 Roberts, Wm. G 15, 85 
 
 Ruskin, John 53, 65, 139, 147 
 
 Russell, Dr 54 
 
 Rogers, James E., D. D 60 
 
 Robinson, Bishop y^ 
 
 Riddell, Rev. J. W 99, 139 
 
 Runyon, E. M 12, 105, 195 
 
 Rigby, Mr. N. L 117, 128, 139 
 
 Randall, E. M., D. D 136 
 
 Robinson, George L 142 
 
 Ram's Horn 191 
 
 Rockefeller, John D 203 
 
 Rosenwald, Julius 197 
 
 S. 
 
 Spelman, Mr. 43 
 
 Seven Lamps Architecture .... 53 
 
 St. Louis Globe-Democrat 42 
 
 Solomon 44 
 
 Selden 48 
 
 Stahl, Sylvanus, D. D 50 
 
 Shaw, Rev. S. B., 
 
 so, 102, 120, 169, 188, 195, 205 
 Seneca 51 
 
 223 
 
INDEX 
 
 Sunday School Times, 
 
 54, 97, 121, I53> 173 
 
 Stanfield, J. M 58, 78, 126, 178 
 
 Strickland, Rev. A. B. ...68, 98, 191 
 
 Stewart, E. B., D. D 80, 155 
 
 Spurgeon 86, 102,214 
 
 Stansfield, Joshua, D. D 199 
 
 Sunderland, Jas., D. D 205 
 
 Shauffler, A. F, D. D 104 
 
 Shenstone, Joseph F 104 
 
 Smith, Boston 108 
 
 Shelbyville M. E. Church 108 
 
 Sigler, Rev. F. P 109, 147, 208 
 
 Smith, C. C Ill 
 
 Shupe, H. F 129, 169 
 
 Spreng, Bishop S. P 130 
 
 Stone, J. Timothy, D. D 140 
 
 Salvation Army 155 
 
 Stubbs, Gov. of Kansas 165 
 
 Strong, Josiah 174 
 
 Storms, A. B., D. D 204 
 
 Speer, Robert E., Dr 183 
 
 San Diego M. E. Conf 109 
 
 Synod of New Jersey 142, 209 
 
 Smith, Asa D., D. D 190 
 
 Sage Foundation 199 
 
 Sullivan, Chas. A 209 
 
 T. 
 
 Taft, President 22 
 
 Thoburn, Bishop 42 
 
 Torrey, Rev. Dr 50, 133 
 
 The Tithe in Scripture 70 
 
 Temple Herald 76 
 
 Table of Proportionate Giving, 115 
 
 Tithe Terumoth 117, 139 
 
 Trumbull, H. Clay, D. D., 
 
 121, 127, 153 
 Twentieth Century Tithe Asso- 
 ciation 82, 157 
 
 Third U. P. Church, Chicago.. 155 
 
 Tenth Legion, Y. P. S. C. E... 159 
 
 Taylor, Rev. Dr. Fred'k E 182 
 
 Thompson, Fayette L 216 
 
 Thompson, Dr. Charles Lemuel, ai8 
 
 Time and Tide — Ruskin 65 
 
 Tithing a Religious Duty 35 
 
 U. 
 
 Urner, Rev. E. E 124, 137, 173 
 
 U. S. Steel Corporation 198 
 
 V. 
 
 Van Trees, F. M., D. D. ..,59, 90 
 Victory of Mary Christopher . . 94 
 Van Arsdel, Wm. C 168 
 
 W. 
 
 White, J. Campbell . . 12, 23, 54, 76 
 Whitcomb, Harry, 25, 56, 69, 82, 86 
 
 Wilson, Gov. Woodrow 40 
 
 Waggoner, E. J 61, 95 
 
 Wharton, G. L., 
 
 62, 87, 108, no, 125, 145, 162, 190 
 
 Whiteman, Rev. John H 69 
 
 Woman's Missionary Item 108 
 
 Wesley, John no, 117 
 
 Winchester, C. W., D. D n7 
 
 Waffle, Rev. E. A 123, 125 
 
 Wesley Chapel 138 
 
 Whallon, E. P., D. D 162 
 
 Woodcock, Bishop Chas. E 163 
 
 Woodsworth, Dr. R. W., 
 
 177, 209, 211 
 World's Missionary Congress 
 
 Report 183 to 186 
 
 Wyckoff, J. F. 194 
 
 Western Christian Advocate. . . 167 
 Wall Street Journal 196 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yoder, Prof. C. F. . . .38, 39, 40, 72 
 
 Yatman, Rev. C. H 103 
 
 Y. P. S. C. E 159 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zwemer, Rev. S. M 149 
 
 224 
 
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