GOD'S RULE
FOR
CHRISTIAN GIVING.
A  PRACTICAL ESSAY
ON THE
SCIENCE OF CHEIrS1iAN ECONOMY.
BY
WILLIAM SPEER,
SECRETARY OF TIlE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF EDUCATION.
PHILADELPHIA:
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
1334 CHESTNUT STREET.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
THIE'lB.TFSES OF THE
PRESBYTERIAi BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
\WESTCOTT & THOMSON,
Stereotypers and Electrotypers, P'ila.




PREFACE.
TRIS volume is the offspring of practical necessities, connected
with the labors of a commission and ordination similar to that which
Paul, when the time of his departure was at hand, bestowed upon
Timothy: "Watch thou in all things; endure afflictions; do the
work of an evangelist; make full proof of thy ministry."
"To do the work of an evangelist," the writer was sent to China
in the year 1846. He spent several years there amidst the protracted scenes of that horrible war by which Christian nations, for
money, succeeded at length in compelling the government of a great
and peaceful heathen empire to legalize a traffic which was deliberately poisoning with opium, year by year, millions of its people.
In the year 1852 he was sent to California to preach Christ to the
Chinese whom the power of money brought there, amidst the tens
of thousands from all the nations of the habitable globe. He witnessed the strange, frantic intoxication of those multitudes; and
saw the crimes which men were willing to commit for money. In
185T he was obliged to leave his work, exhausted and expected to
die, partly because, amidst the boundless and most important work
to be done in that field, the Christians of our country enabled the
Board of Foreign Missions to grant but a minor part of what the
work demanded, and he was forced to add to his infinitely more
important labors those of begging and working to get money, for
building, for the printing of a newspaper in Chinese and English,
and for supplies of medicine and books, and other evangelistic
necessities.
In eight years spent in the great and most interesting home mission fields of the far South and of the upper Mississippi valley, and
in tne years since 1865, amidst the toils of an office whose end is to
raise up and qualify laborers for all the immense harvests which
have been referred to, the experience has been the same.  The
greater and more important work, the preaching of the gospel, and
the increase and training of the men who are needed by hundreds
3




4                        PREFACE.
where the Church is supplying tens, is ever and ever dragged to the
earth by the simple want of that which Christians in America have
in abundance to give, but do not give: money.
It has been such necessities as these which have driven the writer
first to study, with prayer, every text from the beginning to the end
of the word of God which relates in any way to money; next, to
inquire into the lessons of the history of the Church of the Lord
Jesus Christ since his ascension, to ascertain what have been its
experiences as to money; then to look into questions of political
economy, national finance, and commerce, which could throw light
upon the subject of money.
By these means he has been led to the overwhelming conviction
that God has, in his omniscient wisdom, and forethought, and grace
through Christ Jesus, made known to the New Testament Church a
sufficient Rule for Giving, and the principles which should regulate
it. The preparations for it in the Old Testament, the preaching of
John the Baptist, the personal teaching and example of the SON OF
GOD, the antecedent and succeeding instructions of the epistles and
the book of Revelation, have given to this Rule-wonderfully brief
as it is, and simple and easy to be remembered, and adapted to all
life's way-faring men, so that though fools they need not err therein
-a dignity and power which prove that it is divine.
To explain, to illustrate, to impress, and to put into effectual use,
for the good of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the
conversion of the world to him, GOD's RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING,
is the one object of this volume.
In this earnest, practical, and hopeful era, men have sought out
and made useful to them the great principles of many departments
of physical science, of political economy, now made broader and
nobler as "social science," and of moral science. The present
seems to be a time for Christians to advance from the past hortatory
way of treating the subject, to consider the great principles of
religious and ecclesiastical finance, for which perhaps no more
appropriate name can be found than that of the SCIENCE OF CHRISTIAN ECONOMY. Upon it depend many momentous questions related
to that rapid and general advancement of the kingdom of our LonD
JESUS CHRIST, which should now be the great aim and employment
of his Church.




CONTENTS.
PART I.
THE DIVINE GIFT OF MONEY.
CHAPTER I.
GnEATNESs OF THE SUBJECT. Interest at this time. What Gon
teaches. Extent of Subject. The foundation Text........ Page 11
CHAPTER II.
THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD MANIFEST IN THE CREATION OF  rTH
PRECIOUS METALS AND THE CONSTITUTION OF MONEY.  Important Office of the Metals in Creation. Empire of each. The
honorable attributes of Gold and Silver. Most important Use
as Money. Illustrations in History. Problems of Elixir of Life
and Philosopher's Stone. Coining Money an attribute of Sovereignty; often a Religious act. Money in Society like Blood in
the body or Water in nature. Gold and Silver the only suitable
Materials. Influence upon Industry, Intellectual Progress, and
Religion. Imperishable nature. Adaptation to all Classes and
Wants. Universal Sovereignty. Ranked by Jesus Christ as a
god. An Eternal Curse or Blessing.......................... Page 21
CHAPTER III.
REWARDS AND PENALTIES CONNECTED  WITH MONEY.  Peculiar
Sacredness of Blood in the Ancient Law.  Gold and Silver an
Equivalent for it.  Redemption of Sons, Daughters, Animals,
or Things devoted. Essential sameness of Capital and Labor;
Money is Life.  God's special Curse upon Covetousness.  Responsibility for our Brother's Blood. Mysterious Blood-cracks in
Chinese Porcelain. The Disease of enervated and invalid Christians and Churches............................................ Page 25
CHAPTER IV.
THE EDUCATION OF MAN AS A SON OF GOD. Beautiful Illustratior
from an Oriental Nurse. Heavenly Grace in Christ. The Lord's
Prayer. Design in the Creation of the World. Royal Preparations for a Royal Race. Purposes of the Levitical Dispensation,
Guardianship and Instruction.  God's Lessons as to use and
abuse of Gold and Silver. Discipline of Israel as the Channel
of blessings to Mankind. "All Things are Yours."  Covetousness the Sum of all Sins. Warnings of the Forerunner. Personal Teaching and Monitions of the Son of God. The Gospel
5




6                         CONTENTS.
for the Poor in Spirit.  Two great Antagonistic Powers, God
and Mammon. Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ.  A Grand
Heavenly Lesson of Beneficent Charity.  Influence of the Holy
Spirit on Believers.  Results of the Outpouring at Pentecost.
Curse upon Ananias and Sapphira.  The Great Principle as explained in the Epistle. Mankind to become " Children of God."
Heavenly Destiny................................................ Page 26
CHAPTER V.
DEVELOPMENT OF PECUNIARY  BENEFICENCE IN  TIlE  CHRISTIAN
CHUIRCII.  Five great Progressive Stages.  First Stage, Christ
and the Apostles.  Period of Wondrous Energy.  The Church
undertakes the Conquest of the World.  Astonishing  Liberality of Primitive Christians.  Defects.  Lessons to Subsequent
Ages. Second Stage, Era of Constantine. Remarkable Character of the Emperor.  Liberal support of Christianity by Law.
New Christian Metropolis of the World. Failure of Second Experience of the Church.  Pernicious Influence upon the Clergy.
Subsequent Experiences of Waldenses, Puritans, English Est:blished Churches.  Third Stage, Era of Hildebrand.  Church
Stronger than the State. Dispenses Thrones and Possessions.
Origin of Corrupt Doctrines and Practices of Romanism. Wonderful Magnificence of Rome. Coming Judgments......... Page 39
CHAPTER VI.
ERA OF THE REFORMATION; ITS BENEFITS. Divine Purpose: Preparation, Discipline, and Organization. Great Classes of Illustrations. Restoration of Spirituality of Faith. Benefits related
to Intellectual Improvement of Mankind.  Awakening of Men
to Political and Social Rights. Improvement of Physical Condition of the Human Race. Agencies for Universal Diffusion of
Benefits of Kingdom of Christ. Peculiar Financial Benefits of
this Era. Immense Influx of Precious Metals. Different Forms
and Extensive Use of Credit System. Beneficial Effects to Poorer
Classes of Society.................................................... Page 53
CHAPTER VII.
DEFECTS OF THE REFORMATION AND THEIR RESULTS. The Great
Doctrinal Defect. Ideas of Luther, Melancthon, and others as to
Christian Ordinances. The Great Practical Defect. Pecuniary
Wants Supplied by Confiscations of Roman Church Property.
The Reformation gave Energy to Romanism. Comparison of Roman and Protestant Missions. Misimprovement of God's Blessings the Blight of the Church Within.  Effect of Wealth on Love
of Self.  Variety of Forms of this Cancer of the System.  Calamitous Influence of Protestantism without the Gospel upon the
Nations of the World. Want of Religious Ends in Manufactures
and Agriculture.  Godlessness of Protestant Commerce. Zeal of
Buddhists, Mohammedans, Parsees, Romanists. Illustrations in




CONTENTS.                            7
Eastern Asia. Burke's Descriptions of British Government in
India. Terrible Representative Scene in the Opium War. Question of the Balance of Good or Evil in the Results of Protestantism........................................................................ Page  63
PART II.
THE DIVINE RULE FOR THE CHRISTIAN USE
OF MONEY.
CHAPTER I.
THE NECESSITY FOR A DIVINE RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING. Why
is Christianity unsuccessful until now?  Chief End for which God
made the Precious Metals.  Presumption that the Omniscient
Head of the Church would reveal a Pecuniary System  for its
Maintenance. Perfection of God's Material and Moral Government.. The Spirit of the Old Testament proves the Need of such
a System. Religion the great Business of a Human Being. Gifts
of Pecuniary Proceeds require a Regular Method. The Teaching
and Gospel of Christ Based upon an Implied System. Three
Leading Features, relative to Personal Love, Faithfulness in
Duty, and Measure, of Results. "Not under Law, but under
Grace," explained.  Greater Wants of Christianity.  Great Necessitiea of the Present Era, like those of the Era of Christ, manifested in the Decay of False Religions.  Insufficiency of the
American Voluntary System. Rejection by Scotch Free Church.
Universal Manifestation at H1ome. The Promised Power from on
High indicates Want of Financial Machinery.  The Roman Laws
and Roman Roads.  Kindred and Mightier Preparations for
Christ's kingdom noW...........................   Page 80
CHAPTER II.
THE PROGRESSIVE REVELATION OF GOD'S WILL AS TO CHRISTIAN
GIVING. No Complete Systematic Statements in Scripture. Successive Revelation of Great Principles in the three Dispensations.
Illustration as to the Atonement; as to the Sabbath; as to the
Divine Rule for Giving. Relationship of the three Dispensations.
Revelation as to Giving progressive in the New Testament. Design of this Epistle. Conciseness and Perfection of the Formula
for Giving. Examination of the Form  of the Rule. Sequel to
the Doctrine of the Resurrection. Its Positive and General Character. Its Permanence. Designed to be a Regular Ordinance.
Summary of Instructions Contained in it..................... Page 100
CHAPTER III.
THE SPIRIT OF A PRIMITTVE CHRISTIAN SABBATH: ITS WORSHIP AND
INSTRUCTIONS. The Worship of a Primitive Christian Sabbath.
Not sensual as Romanist. Not austere as Puritan. Not wanting
in Fervor, as Modern. The True Christian Sabbath. Ideal taken
from the Great Jewish Festivals. Description by Writers of that




8                        CONTENTS.
Age. Picture by Justin Martyr; by Tertullian. Joyful Character
of the Primitive Worship. Primitive Christian Hymns. Pledgo
of a Millennium and of Heaven. Modern Music for Children. The
Instruction of a Christian Sabbath. Example of Jesus. Unlike
Modern Preachers. Sabbatic Form of Paul's Epistles. Proper
Employment of Sunday Afternoon and Evening.  Appropriate
Themes from Scripture. Ecclesiastical; Suited to Various Classes;
Particular Objects; Related Themes.  Interest of the People;
Illustration by Pictures, Maps, etc. Substitute for the Monthly
Concert.  Grand End of All, Jesus Christ; the Island in the Pacific. Three Powers that will Conquer the World. Prayer. Personal Labors and Influence. Giving of Money............. Page 114
CHAPTER IV.
SHE PRIMITIVE COMMUNION; GIFTS IN WORSHIP. Latin Words for
Communion and Sacrament. New Testament Meanings of " Communion."  Conduct of Christ. Apostolic Example. The Central
Scene of Sabbath Enjoyment and Duties. Practical Communion
of Christians. "Feast of Charity."  Oriental Ideas of Honorary
Gifts. Want of Comprehension of them in the West. Their Propriety, Beauty, and Importance. Gifts of Sabbath Worship and
Communion. "None shall appear before the Lord empty."  Not
Communism.  Offerings to the King. Ideas of Commentators.
Objects of Appropriation of Gifts from the Ancient Church. Duty
of Pastors now; Need of the Holy Spirit.................... Page 138
CHAPTER V.
THIE CHIRCH THE SUFFICIENT AND RF SPONSIBLE AGENCY. Specific
Object of the Church Remedial. Personal Labors of Christ. Successful Experiments of Chalmers. The Congregational Organization. Office of Deacon; Views of Calvin and Knox. Office of
Deaconess; Sentiments of Commentators; Why not favored by
John Knox, Note; Office of Evangelist, Permanent and Important. Why have these Offices Lapsed?  Need of Return to Spirit
of Primitive Christianity. Superintendence of Work by Church
Courts...P.................................................a..............    Page   152
CHAPTER VI.
PRIMARY SECULAR OBJECT OF SABBATH GIVING PERIODICITY. The
Foundation Stone of Financial Operations Vital in the Commercial World. Same in the Church. Vast influence of Law of Periodicity in Nature. Galileo's discovery of the Pendulum. Its importance in Modern Sciences. Precision of God's Government.
Lesson in the Levitical Dispensation........................... Page 166
CHAPTER VII.
SABBATII GIVING REQUIRES FREQUENCY. Necessary to Objects of a
Missionary Church.  Sabbath Gifts of Primitive Christians.
Weekly System of Free Church of Scotland. Educational Influence of Frequent Giving. Benefits to Mind and Heart. Exhorta



CONTENTS.                              9
tions of Clement of Rome. Christianity is to be Adapted to the
Poor.  Secular Ideas of Frequent Giving.  Taxes on Coffee, Tea
and Lucifer Matches. Divisions of Payment on Stocks and Merchandise.  Benefits to Poor Men............................... Page 172
CHAPTER VIII.
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY. God's Word makes Religion Personal.
Ordinances are Designed for " Every One." Liberality of Richard
Baxter.  Powerful Appeal of Baxter on Covetousness....Page 180
CHAPTER IX.
THE UNIVERSAL PRIVILEGE OF GIVING. Departments of Ancient
Temple Courts. Appropriation to Classes of Worshipers.  Every
Class of Worshipers should bring Gifts.  Women in Heathen
Temples. Christ's Welcome of Children's Gifts. Offerings from
Women. Gifts from the Poor. Remarkable Story of Jesus' Brethren
before the Emperor Diocletian. Provision for Strangers. Should
the Ministry be governed by the New Testament Rule of Giving?
Tenths from the Levites. The Half-Shekel from Christ. Comfort
and Power to the Ministry. Financial Benefit to the Church. The
Time of Reformation...................................... Page 185
CHAPTER X.
THE POWER OF UNIVERSAL COMBINATION. Every Individual a Share.
Effect in supporting a National Postal System. Posts of the Roman Empire. Vast Postal System of the United States. Success
of French Popular Loans.  Financial Lessons of our Civil War.
Evils of Partial Methods of Contribution.  Injury of Arbitrary
and Unequal Taxes.  Failure and Odiousness of Income Taxes.
Evidence from the Success of Methodism. Isaac Taylor's Judgment..................................................................... e 198
CHAPTER XI.
THE CULTIVATION OF PERSONAL CHARACTER.  Splendid history of
John Chrvsostom. His Picture of the Priesthood of the Christian.
Interpretation of Words "lay by" and "treasure," in the Rule.
Leading Object to Enlist Prayer. The Vision of Ezekiel. Spirit
of Christ and the Apostles. Beneficence a Regular Principle of
Christian Life. Regularity in Diet. Religious Epilepsy. Every
Kind of Employment to be Spiritualized. Giving a Grace. Oriental
Idea of " Righteousness." Beautiful extract from Augustine. Inducement to Personal and Home Efforts.  Effect of Personal Distribution. Experience of Dr. Guthrie. Catholic Epistle of Barnabas.  Example of Admiral Foote............................... Page 212
CHAPTER XII.
THE SAFEGUARD OF RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL LIBERTY. Lessons from
a Legal-tender Note. Meaning of an Act of Congress.  Checks
and Balances; Judiciary System; Jealous Guard of Individual




10                         CONTENTS.
Rights by the State. The Sacred Trust of Religious Liberty. The
Three Chief Seats of Religious and Civil Liberty.  Michaelis on
Resemblance of Israel to Switzerland. The great Republio of the
New World. Education of Israel in the Spirit of Liberty; by Offerings and Worship.  Beautiful Act in Presenting First Fruits.
Every one to Brint his Gifts. Oriental Treasuries. Various Forms,
Sizes and Objects.  The Permanent Guaranty of Liberty.  Each
one " Himself" to Deposit.  Contributions, Envelopes and Boxes.
Dangers of Ecclesiastical Assessments.  Resist Beginnings of
Evil.  Gigantic Corruptions from Small Seed.  Republicanism of
Apostolic Church.  Modern Republicanism in Church and State.
Effect of Principle of Individuality upon Society.  Statement by
II. C. Carey. Religious the Foundation of Civil Liberty. Opinions
of Webster, Bancroft, and Lieber................................ Pyge 223
CHAPTER XIII.
THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN GIVING. The Farmer, Merchant, King,
employ Sufficiency for Designs. Interpretation of Words " According as" and " Prosper."  Building of Solomon's and Hezekiah's
Temples. The Temple on the Great Rock. Consecration of Gifts
Retrospective.  "No gatherings."  The Divine Seal upon Property. Offerings of a Tenth. Instructions of the Lord Jesus.  lis
Sanction of Tithes; Occasion just previous to his Death. The Original Appointment.  Patriarchal Examples.  Essential Principles
fixed by the Creator. Evidences from  Literature and Usages of
all Nations.  The Means for Maintenance of Worship as Necessary as the Time.  TABLE OF DECIMAL CHARACTERS. Ancient
Chaldean Legends, Note. Important Fundamental Maxim as to
Levitical Types; refer to Duties of Believer as well as Sacrifice
of Christ. Tithe-paying in Israel. First Tenth, for Levites and
Charity. Second Tenth, for Festival and Family Uses. Spirit of
the Jewish  Contributions; Entirely Voluntary; Easily Borne.
Extract from  Dr. Wines on Hebrew  Laws.  Interpretation by
Heathen Converts, as to Measure of Gifts. Spirit and Methods
of the Primitive Church.  Extracts from  Chrysostom.  Qualifications of Proportionate Giving.  Adaptation to Christians of
All Classes. Its Efficiency.  Special Vows and Gifts. The Occasions and  Benefits.............................................. Page  242
CHAPTER XIV.
THE ITOMAGFE DUE THE KING. The Demand of Homage. The Coronation Day. The Sign and Seal of Loyalty. Punishment of Refusal.  Empires and Men Broken with a "Rod of Iron."  Propriety of the Demand. The Office of Christian America. Primitive Christianity Planted upon a New Hemisphere.  The Final
Exhibition of her Heavenly Spirit and Power. Office of America
in the Dispensation of the IIo'.y Spirit....................P.uye 269




GOD'S RULE
FOR
CHRISTIAN GIVING.
PARIT I.
THE  DIVINE  GIFT  OF MONEY.
CHAPTER I.
GREATNESS OF THE SUBJECT.
"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 of the former,
saith the LORD of hosts.
And in this place I will give peace, saith the LORD of hosts."
"They shall not appear before the LORD empty: every man shall
give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God
which he hath given thee."
" Give alms of such things as ye have; and behold all things are
clean unto you."
"Covetousness is idolatry."
"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me,
But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?
II




12     GOD'S RULE  FOR  CIRISTIAN  GIVING.
In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse;
For ye have robbed me; even this whole nation."
"Make to yourselves friends (with) the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." *
Campbell's Translation. —" With the deceitful mammon procure to
yourselves friends, who, after your discharge, may receive you into
the eternal mansions."
IT  may be said with truth that the Christian world has
never at any previous time so earnestly directed its
thoughts to the claims and uses of money as it is doing
now.  A great necessity is laid upon it by the condition of
the world and of the Church, which is without a parallel in
the past.
It may be said further, that never before have men been
so desirous as now to learn what GOD  teaches and commands in the book of eternal truth, with regard to this
subject.
It requires a study of only a limited number of texts, out
of the multitude in the bible which relate to money, to lead
almost any thinking person to the conclusion that no one of
us comprehends and measures the true nature of money,
and its office and importance in the kingdom of God on
earth. Such an examination convicts the Church in modern
ages of failure to employ it in acts of worship and service
according as God has ordained. It reveals the source of an
immeasurable loss to Christians of spiritual strength, of
X Hag. ii. 7-9.  Deut. xvi. 16, 17.  Luke xi. 41.  Col. iii. 5.
Mal. iii. 8, 9. Luke xvi. 9.




GREATNESS OF THE SUBJECT.                 13
heavenly joy, of comfort amidst earthly troubles, and of
hope in death. It brings to light one of the great causes
of the vast and abounding iniquity and crime in the world.
It shows why glorious and everlasting rewards are promised
for the faithful use of money, and why eternal penalties are
attached to its abuse.
The subject is so vast, its relationships so extensive, its
applications so important, that we are precluded, for the
ends of a Manual such as this, the attempt to present
more than a summary of the great principles, and of prominent facts necessary to illustrate them, which are plainly
related to the particular Divine ordinance respecting the
pecuniary gifts of New Testament believers:-" Upon the
first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in
store as God hath prospered him."




CHAPTER II.
THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD MANIFEST IN THE
CREATION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS AND
THE CONSTITUTION OF MONEY.
IN order that mankind in every continent, whatsoever their
employments, might fill them with the spirit of religion,
and make them practical for its great designs, God created
at the beginning and bestowed upon our race an extraordinary gift, that of the metals.
The metals form a department of the Divine work of
creation which has performed a most important office in constituting the globe a nobler home for man. They have fur.
nished it with a most effective means for ministering to
the happiness, and promoting the education and improvement, of the human family; or, when abused, one for inflicting upon it the judgments of God. A  history of gold,
silver or copper, or one of iron, tin or lead, would be
immeasurably more valuable and interesting to us than the
records of any one nation or race that has ever existed on
the earth.
The qualities and uses of the metals are vitally related to
the supply of most of the common wants of man, to the
progress of civilization,* to the support and ceremonies of
- Writers on metallurgy insist much on the point that the proficiency in the working, and the extent of the use of the metals by
a nation is one of the best evidences of its measure of civilization.
11




THE PRECIOUS METALS.                    15
true or false religion in all lands, and even to the general
operations of Nature.  We are continually more and more
surprised at the extent and variety of their presence and
influence in all the realms of inanimate or animate matter.
They exist in the waters of the oceans which surround the
globe; they originate and control some of the most subtle
and mighty forces of Nature.  They are detected in the
analysis of the light which comes to us from the planets,
and from stars which are inconceivably remote.
The empire of each metal is distinct, and its Divine ends
different. The ancients imagined that they were severally
related to the sun, moon, or one of the planets; and that
each affected in its own way the health and prosperity of the
human race.  Gold was the metal related to the sun, silver
to the moon, quicksilver to Mercury, tin to Jupiter, iron to
iMars, copper to Venus, and lead to Saturn.  So powerful
and so extensive was this superstition that the astronomical
signs for the planets are still used in various countries of
Europe by chemists as signs for the metals, and there are multitudes who yet believe themselves and others to be affected
for good or evil by those related influences, and consult astrologers with regard to them. Each metal was also associated
with a day of the week; gold with Sunday.
Gold is styled "the royal metal." God makes a special
claim to it and to silver.  "The gold and the silver are mine,
saith the Lord of hosts."  These two are endowed with
the most honorable attributes. They are specially designated
as appropriate for offerings to God, and to hulan beings in
the highest authority.  They are the most beautiful, brilliant
and permanent in color; they are the most easily shaped by




16    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
the hammer, graver or mould; they receive the most deli 
cate impressions; and they resist more successfully than
any other metals the destructive effects of time and the
elements.
The properties of these two metals peculiarly suit them to
the purposes of adornment. They are the appropriate setting
of the most costly gems. They are the materials for crowns,
and sceptres, and signets, and all the insignia and ornaments
of priestly and royal office. They are designed to give, and
preserve imperishably, the external splendor and glory of
temples and palaces. They are the substances in nature
which mankind spontaneously shape into forms to express
honor and affection, and to convey pleasure.
But the most important general use for which God gave to
mankind the precious metals was that they might constitute a universal medium  of commercial exchange and
standard of material values, and thus be an equivalent and
representative of all the varied and countless products of
human labor. This creates them a capable agency of the
general purposes of human wisdom, skill, enterprise or
power; a means of satisfying most of the wants and desires
of the heart of man as to this world; and a mighty auxiliary in the extension of God's glorious spiritual kingdom
on earth. No temporal gift of God to man is more valuable, gives more evidence of his omniscient goodness, or
should excite in us more gratitude, than that of money.
Let us turn our eyes for a moment upon some of the grand
illustrations of these assertions.
It requires but a limited knowledge of history, and reflection upon it, to learn that everywhere, and in all ages, no




THE PRECIOUS METALS.                   17
power of civilized society has been so extensive, so subtle,
so various, and so mighty, as that of money.
No problems of science have enlisted the interest of the
learned and the powerful of all nations and all ages like the
two imaginary ones of an elixir of life, and a philosopher's
stone capable of transmuting all the baser metals into gold.
Researches to discover them may be traced in the history of
the most barbarous and most distant races. They are carried
on even in the laboratories of this age and of our own
country. For to possess the secrets of a source of inexhaustible life and vigor, and of commanding the universal
power of gold, would clothe a man with the very attributes
of divinity.  Had an Alexander or a Napoleon held them,
he would inevitably have made the entire globe obey his will.
The governments of the world hold it to be an attribute of
sovereignty to coin money. They adjudge it one of the
greatest of crimes, and by some of them punishable with
death, to counterfeit what is so vital to their existence.
Heathen nations conceive that certain deities inhabit,
vivify, and control the tendencies and courses of money.
They sometimes coin money in temples, with religious ceremonies.  No gods are so generally courted, or feared, as the
gods of money, in view of their presumed influence over the
welfare and comfort of individuals and families.
Money does indeed seem almost to possess the attributes
of divinity.  The whole human race bows down to it.
There is no one nation or people, the world around, amidst
whom pieces of gold or silver coin do not exercise a mysterious charm over men and command their respect and aid
in behalf of the possessor.
2




18     GOD'S RULE FOR CIRISTIAN  GIVING.
In all the theology of nature we nowhere see more plainly
exhibited the glorious attributes of an infinite and beneficent Creator and Governor than in the qualities and uses
of gold and silver.  The same God made them to subserve
the wants of human society who made the blood in the animal
organization-that mysterious fluid which penetrates and
energizes every separate atom of the body, and both conveys
to each its appropriate nourishment and from each its useless secretions or its waste; the same also who in the structure of the world created water, the circulation of which is
the life of its vast frame. We see similar wisdom in the
wondrous adaptation of gold and of silver-metals which so
much resemble each other in their most important requisites,
but each of which has yet its own features of excellence-to
the grand design of being universal mediums of exchange,
and representatives of values.  We find in these metals
largeness of value in a very small bulk; and the united
qualities of malleability, ductility and divisibility, in greater
perfection than in any other forms of matter. They easily
receive and permanently retain the stamp which certifies to
their genuineness, authority and proportionate value when
made into coin.
There are no other materials in nature capable of accomplishing the same incalculably important ends.  Cattle and
sheep, precious stones, shells, iron, the skins of various
animals, and other articles, have been set up in different
ages and nations as standards of value and common mediums
of exchange; but nothing in the various kingdoms of nature
is gifted with all the qualities necessary for these imperial
ends except gold and silver.  The commerce and trade of




THE PRECIOUS METALS.                   19
all countries measure the values, and transact the interchange,
of most of their countless materials, according to their equivalents in these metals.
Let us go a step higher. How shall we attempt to estimate or describe the next to omnipotent power which gold
and silver exercise in imparting energy, healthfulness, regularity and beneficial results to every form of human industry?  Without money, as the means of estimating and
exchanging the results of human labor, the forms of labor
would be limited and the sum of it would be diminished beyond our power to conceive; a multitude of beneficial manufactures would be extinguished; society would relapse to
comparative barbarism.  The possession of money develops
the manifold resources of nature; it fills a country with
every kind of material good; it assists a nation onward in
the path of intellectual progress; and it bestows the means
of increasing and spreading the benefits and comforts of
religion.
The vital power of gold does not perish from age to age.
Man, and most of his works, and the fruits of the earth,
soon perish; but the piece of money, taken from the hand of
an Egyptian mummy, or fiom the tomb of a king of ancient
Babylon, will procure for one rice to-day from the fellahs on
the Nile, or myrrh or dates from the naked ryots in India;
or it will print the translations of the Scriptures and help to
build churches and schools in China or Kurdistan.
Money stoops to sustain and comfort the lowliest. Coins
of smaller values than can be conveniently represented by
gold and silver are made out of compounds of them with
inferior metals, such as copper, zinc, tin and nickel, which




20    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
possess something of the color and properties of the nobler
metals. Thus the poor are supplied with means of carrying
on their employments and supplying their wants; and the
smaller transactions of society in general are more readily
performed.
Even the written decrees of this sovereign are obeyed, and
his promises honored, in the most distant countries. His
power is an hundred fold magnified and extended by the
numerous devices of paper bills, bonds and notes, made
payable in the centres of commerce, or bearing interest
through the course of many years to come. By such devices does money vastly enlarge its dominion over the whole
world.
A reflecting mind is filled with awe, almost with dread,
when it considers all these mighty attributes of money.  It
is next to omnipresent and omnipotent; it exalts and abases
nations and men; it seems superior to our short-lived kind.
We comprehend the meaning of our Lord Jesus Christ when
he ranked it as a god; one who sets up opposition to the true
God, reigns supreme over most of our race, and destroys
them soul and body for ever. For such is the declaration:
"Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."
We see also what Jesus means when he admonishes his
disciples to turn what is a tremendous and eternal curse to
the unrighteous into a heavenly and everlasting benefit to
themselves.  "Make to yourselves friends (by means) of
the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they
may receive you unto everlasting habitations.' *  We may,
is his meaning, compel the god of this world to make for us
- Matt. vi. 24. Luke xvi. 1-15.




THE PRECIOUS METALS.                21
friends and gather for us blessings, which shall mount with
us, and fill our heavenly home with companionships and joys
which otherwise we should never have known. The men,
and women and children, whom our gifts of money were the
means of bringing to the habitations above, will make the
associations there for ever more blest and delightful.




CHAPTER III.
REWARDS AND PENALTIES CONNECTED WITH
MONEY.
IN the earliest appointments for his worship by man the
Lord set a great and peculiar sacredness upon blood. It
was made a fundamental principle of all sacrifices of animals
that "it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."
"Almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and
without shedding of blood is no remission." The reason is
given: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood." *
There is a corresponding sacredness set upon gold and
silver money. It was constituted in some sense "an atonement," or equivalent, for human or brute life. "The firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem;" "because all the firstborn are mine." A fixed sum of money was appointed for
the redemption of a first-born son, or a daughter devoted by
a special vow, or the firstling of an unclean animal, or some
other devoted things; the firstling of a clean sacrificial
beast could not be redeemed, "it shall surely be put to
death."  The people when numbered were commanded to
give every man a half shekel, the rich no more, the poor no
less, as " a ransom for his soul unto the Lord," " that there
be no plague among them."  This money, the Lord said to
them by Moses, is to make an atonement for your souls." t
- Lev. xvii. II.  Heb. ix. 22.
t Ex. xxxiv. 20. Num. iii. 13. Ex. xxx. 15.
22




REWARDS AND PENALTIES.                 23
It is one of the radical principles of political economy
that capital and labor are essentially the same. Capital in
whatsoever amount represents an equivalent sum of human
toil and suffering, which somewhere, and in some way, has
been expended in its production. And thus, it may be said,
money is blood; money is life. So, as we have seen from
the law of the Old Testament, God reckons it.
We are now led, if we have thoroughly weighed the purpose of God in the creation of the precious metals and in
the constitution of money, which were presented in the last
chapter, another step forward, and have fully brought to
view the momentous responsibility to which God holds every
man for the use of the money, or property which represents
money, in his possession.
Not alone earthly and material blessings and woes, but
salvation and damnation, eternal reward and eternal punishment, are suspended upon the condition of the right use or
the abuse of money. It is a question of life or death.  "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."   Covetousness
withholds oblations from God's altars and treasury; honor
and joy from God's service; food and raiment from God's
ministers and servants, and from the poor, the widows, the
fatherless and the stranger; instruction from the souls of
men; and light and life from a world that lieth in darkness
and spiritual death.  It makes God's mercy, Christ's atone



24    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
ment, and the Spirit's agency, to be of no effect.  Hence
God curses it with a great and special curse.  "No covetous
man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." *
We are responsible for our brother's life: "Surely your
blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every
man's brother will I require the life of man."  We may
murder that brother by violence, as did Cain; but we may
also murder him by refusing to warn, or to send others to
warn him, of danger.  God says, "When I say unto the
wicked: Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him  not
warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked
way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his
iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand." t  The
blood of lost men is certainly upon the money of him who
does not use it as a steward of God; employing it, next
to the necessary maintenance of himself and family, and the
discipline and equipments which are required for increase
of usefulness, in ways which tend to the salvation of the
souls of men.
There are curious white vases of porcelain to be seen in
Oriental collections of antiquities, the numerous little cracks
in the enamel of which appear to be of a purplish hue. The
explanation which is given for this peculiarity is, that the
blood of human sacrifices was cast with them into the kiln
in which this costly ware was burned. Just so the sun
lights the lines and crevices of fine mansions, and costly
pictures and statuary, and rich tableware and furniture, and
even those of unneeded luxuries of the homes of people in
*Ma!. iii. 9, 10. Eph. v. 5.  tGen. ix. 5. Ezek. iii. 18.




REWARDS AND PENALTIES.                  25
moderate circumstances, with a purple tinge, the tinge of
blood-the blood of misappropriated life, of labor and skill
and strength devoted to ends of earth and sense; yea, and
the blood of souls unwarned and perishing in Christian and
in heathen lands, souls to whom no one has gone with the
infinitely precious message: The soul that sinneth it shall
die; but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.
The penalty of misused pecuniary power is wonderfully
like the penalty of misused powers of bodily life. The disordered digestion, the capricious appetite, the enervation
and indolence, the tendency to congestion in particular organs, the perhaps sudden and unexpected arrest in death,these are the symptoms of the enervated and invalid body.
They have their precise counterparts in the religious experience of the individual who gives neither means nor toil for
the salvation of others, or the building of Christ's Church
on earth.  They illustrate the condition of congregations
and churches which wilt, and Wfade, and die, under an inward curse of God; just because they sit in spiritual gluttony and drunkenness, luxuriating in pleasant sermons, and
prayer-meetings, and revivals among their own children and
families, but forgetful of the vast harvest outside, white and
perishing, which God has ripened for the AicJle, in this and
other lands.  The "wages" of such sin of omission "is
death."




CHAPTER IV.
THE EDUCATION OF MAN AS A SON OF GOD.
TIHE  tender, sleepless, self-denying, patient care of a.young boy by an Oriental nurse is one of the most
beautiful and touching sights of the Old World.  He never
appears to weary, all the day and all the night. He carries
his little charge lovingly upon his shoulder or back, or in
his arms.  He shelters him from the beams of the sun, or
from the showers of rain, with his varnished umbrella, or
great fan. He vigilantly protects him from every possible
danger.  He liberally supplies him  with good food, and
pleasant fruits, and refreshing drinks.  He recites to him
stories; and he teaches and encourages him to be kind and
polite, and to behave himself in a proper manner.
Moses takes up this beautiful and impressive illustration,
when he addresses his dying instructions to the tribes of
Israel.  He says: "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in
safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day
long; and lie shall dwell between His shoulders."' *
There is exhibited an amazing assiduity of tenderness,
wisdom  and power in God's care of mankind, from the
beginning of the world.  God seems to have incessantly
aimed at the progressive education of man as an immortal
- Deut. xxxiii. 12.
26




EDUCATION OF MAN AS A SON OF GOD.   27
being, and as one destined to hold a place of peculiar honor
amidst the vast range and numerous orders of his spiritual
creatures.
Paul declares this divine purpose in his Epistle to the
Ephesians: " God, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ,
that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness to us through Christ
Jesus." *
The Son of God gathers us to his heart as " brethren,"
when he teaches us how to pray.  We are to say: " Our
Father which art in heaven, thy kingdom come; thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven." The purpose is to
teach us that we are to address and love and obey God as
one who is truly " our father;" that we are to live on earth
as those whose permanent home is " in heaven;" and that
we are to employ ourselves and all this life's resources in
directing erring and sinning fellow-men to heaven, and in
helping to make this earth as like as possible to heaven.
DESIGN IN THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
We see God's paternal and loving purpose manifested
everywhere in the creation of the material world. His
great love wherewith he loved us led him to construct a
place suitable for the abode of a race which he purposed
to make of one family with his dear Son.  "He appointed
the foundations of the earth,"t " He set a compass upon the
face of the deep."  "lie established the clouds above."
lie "rejoiced in the habitable part of his earth;" and his
" Eph. ii. 4-7.       t Prov. viii. 27-32.




28    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
"delights were with the children of man."  The more
wide and deep our acquaintance with the whole range of
nature, the more amazing appears to us the wealth of those
designs which filled the earth with materials formed and
deposited to suit the wants of man. Beneath its surface
are stored metals, fuel, minerals, of countless kinds and
uses; upon it are provided grains, woods, nutritious vegetables, herds of animals capable of domestication ready
to serve him, and multitudes of others inhabiting the air
and earth and waters, suited to furnish him with all that his
appetites or tastes can possibly require. It is warmed and
tempered with the glorious sun and air; ventilated and
made healthful and pleasant by currents of winds, and
rivers and seas; watered with rains, dews, fountains and
streams.  It is adorned with myriads of varieties of flowers,
robed in splendor beyond that of Solomon; and it is made
luxurious with delicious fruits. There is no sickness or
pain to which man is liable for which some remedy is not
devised.  On every hand there appear royal preparations
for a royal race.
PURPOSES OF TIIE LEVITICAL DISPENSATION.
The peculiar, intimate and loving tutelage of that family
and nation, which when others forsook God continued to
serve him, during the ancient patriarchal and Levitical dispcnsations, affords to us many illustrations of his ultimate
gracious purpose in behalf of our race. That affectionate
care was ever twofold: it supplied abundantly all the wants
of his people and guarded them from evil; and it assiduously instructed them in the way to be holy and useful.




EDUCATION OF MAN AS A SON OF GOD.   29
How impressive and valuable is that twofold history-on
the one hand, God leading the nation perpetually, just as he
did from Egypt to Canaan, preserving it from all its terrible
enemies and supplying its wants by a continued miracle; on
the other hand, teaching it by numerous precepts, by impressive appointments of worship and duty, and by many
awful judgments, to use rightly, and not to abuse, his temporal and spiritual blessings.
Most impressive among such lessons were many of those
which related to the use and abuse of gold and silver.
Thus, when God set them free from Egypt, "He brought
them forth with silver and gold;"' but when they set it up
to worship it, he moved Moses to burn it in the fire, and
grind it to powder, and strew it upon the water, and make
the children of Israel in bitterness and shame to drink of
it; he commanded the Levites to go in and out from gate
to gate throughout the camp, and slay their guilty brethren
and companions and neighbors; thus three thousand were
put to death; and lastly, he sent a plague upon the people.
When they entered the land of promise and conquered the
cities of the heathen, they were specially required to burr
their images, and to count their gold and silver a devoted
thing which they must not take for themselves, but give to
the Lord. When Achan broke this command, and took a
garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of
gold, Joshua and the congregation took these things, and
him and his sons and daughters, and his cattle and tent, and
all that he had; and they stoned them with stones and
burned them with fire.*
*Ps. cv. 37. Ex. xxxii. 19-29. Judg. vii.




30    GOD'S RULE FOR CHIRISTIAN GIVING.
The stated appointments of the law, as has already been
shown, attached to gold and silver a special sacredness to
God. The history of the kingdom of Judah and Israel,
until their downfall, was ever filled with lessons which were
designed to teach them their distinguished position as the
chosen people of the Lord of heaven and earth, and to discipline them, as the channel of blessings for the good of the
whole race, to holiness and zeal in the use and enjoyment
of his munificent temporal gifts to them.
GOD'S WONDROUS PURPOSE OF GRACE IN CHRIST.
But the greatest of all the manifestations of God's "great
love wherewith he loved us," and means for the education
of man for the grand ends of his creation, is given in the
mission of the Lord Jesus Christ.  When our race was
hopelessly fallen and lost, when all our own efforts for recovery were evidently vain, "  God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him  should not perish, but have everlasting life."  Our
very ruin was made an occasion for the performance of the
most astonishing of all God's acts of condescension and
favor to man. At the beginning, the Creator and Lord of
the universe had made man a little lower than the angels, he
had given him dominion over his works on earth, and put
all tnings under his feet. But now we see Jesus, the person of the Godhead by whom the worlds were made, and
who upholds them by the word of his power, come to suffer
death for us, and to make reconciliation for our sins, to call
and to exalt us to be in an extraordinary sense " brethren;"
and we see him rise and sit down on the right hand of the




EDUCATION  OF MAN AS A SON OF GOD.   31
majesty on high, to exercise for us the obligations of that endearing relationship, and to crown us with eternal glory and
honor. *
All is done that the Almighty God himself, with his infinite resources, can do to prove to us the validity of our sonship, and the truth of his solemn declaration that literally
"ALL THINGS ARE YOURS."  We "reign as kings." t  He
has made us joint occupants of the throne of Jesus. He
has made us " sit together in heavenly places in Christ" and
with Christ. His purpose is to show to angels and the universe "the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness to
us through Christ Jesus."
God is solicitous that we should realize and prove this
wondrous grace and munificence.  He represents its exercise in our behalf to be for his own divine glory. When
Jesus Christ was on earth he labored to inspire his disciples
with the sense of it, and to instruct them in the duties which
it imposed upon them. He said: "Ask and ye shall receive."' If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it." " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son."  "Take no thought
saying, What shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or,
wherewithal shall we be clothed?   For after all these
things do the Gentiles seek.   For your heavenly Father
knoweth ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye
first the kingdom  of God, and all these things shall be
added unto you."  "Give, and  it shall be given unto
you."  " Freely ye have received, freely give." $
John iii. 16.   IIeb. i., ii.  t I Cor. ii. 21; iv. 8.
t Matt. vi., x. John xiv. 13, 14.




32    GOD'S RULE FOR CIIRISTIAN GIVING.
As a conspicuous part of the education of those who were
at once brethren and disciples, Jesus addressed himself to
exhibit in its true light the sin which is in some respects the
sum of all sins-covetousness. For as money is the great
representative  and instrumentality of power in human
society, the means of gratifying almost every earthly desire
of man, the adored god of the unregenerated heart, so he
makes it one of the primary ends of his visit to earth to destroy its magical spell, to lift the souls of believers to a
superiority to it, and to teach them in triumphing over the
love of it to subordinate it to the beneficent and healthful
purposes for which God created it.
WARNINGS OF THE FORERUNNER.
When the forerunner of Jesus was sent to announce that
the commencement of "the kingdom of heaven" was at
hand, the Jews, in great numbers, from every part of the
land, went out to the wilderness to see him. The great
theme of his preaching was, "Repent," and "bring forth
fruits worthy of repentance." The several classes of men
asked, " What shall we do then?"  His explanation of what
" the fruits" of repentance meant was, in each case, an exhortation to practical charity, and warning against some besetting form of covetousness. The publicans were cautioned
against illegal exactions of money. The soldiers were warned
against the frauds and violence by which they were accustomed to wring out money from the helpless people. And
the people generally were commanded, if they owned but
two coats, yet to give up one to the wretch poorer than
themselves, and, however small their stock of food, yet to




EDUCATION OF MAN AS A SON OF GOD.   33
divide it with the hungry. Covetousness was held up as
the deadly rot which was at the core of the Jewish religion,
and prevented it bringing forth " fruits;" and which would
make a holy God lay an axe unto the root of it, and hew
down the unrepenting nation, and cast it into the fire.*
PERSONAL TEACHING AND MONITIONS OF THE SON OF
GOD.
The Son of God himself, the glorious object of so many
centuries of prophecy, at length comes! What are his first
acts towards the setting up of "the kingdom of heaven,"
and the destruction of the kingdom of Satan? He announces
his heavenly anointing, as the Messiah, to be especially in
order that he may preach the gospel to the poor.  The sermon on the mount is opened with a blessing to the poor,
and to the poor in spirit; its first woe is to the satisfied rich.
He declares the two great antagonistic powers, of good and
of evil, to be God and mammon.  He declares the first duty
of man to be to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and that all needed earthly things shall be added thereto. He declares anxiety for earthly goods to be in its nature
heathenism:' For after all these things do the gentiles seek. "
He enters upon his first observance of the passover, after he
begins his ministry, by scourging the money-changers out of
the temple.  He teaches his disciples to pray; and the first
three requests offered are for the prevalence of the spiritual
kingdom of God upon the earth, and but one out of the seven
petitions has reference to bodily wants; and those are then
considered only with reference to the passing day, and as to
i Lukeo iii.
3




34    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
the simplest necessaries of life.  He sends the apostles, and
the seventy disciples, to preach the gospel, heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead; but his most emphatic
charge is, not to carry gold, or silver, or even brass money,
nor any superfluous raiment. A rich young man seeks to
learn of him the way to obtain eternal life: he tells him,
first " sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor."
He feeds thousands in the wilderness, and satisfies them
from a handful of barley biscuit, to show his power to provide all necessary good.  His most angry warnings are
uttered to the men who built great storehouses and barns,
and cared not for their souls. His most striking parables,
such as those from the pearl-merchant, the treasure-hunter,
and the dishonest steward-his most touching lessons from
nature, the lilies, the birds, the foxes-his most surprising
miracles, the draughts of fishes, the finding of money in the
fish's mouth, and the instantaneous relief of the poor, the
blind, the leper, for the mere asking,-all were one incessant
testimony against covetousness as to worldly possessions, and
in favor of submission, obedience and trust in God. " He
that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my disciple."
His most eminent model of Christian beneficence is a poor
widow, who casts into the Lord's treasury her last and only
farthing, " even all her living."  His life was at once lifelong beneficence and poverty.  He reserved on this world
which he made, but which knew him not, nowhere a safe
refuge, like the foxes; no quiet nest or homne, like the birds.
He washed, like the humblest of the household slaves, the
feet of his own followers.  And when he describes, with
Divine foreknowledge of all its particulars, the coming great




EDUCATION OF MAN AS A SON OF GOD.   35
Day of Judgment, he says, that the chief ground of accusation and damnation of worldlings and false professors will
be that they withheld time, strength and property, from
those acts of mercy to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger,
the sick, the prisoner, of which he was the great example,
and the performance of which is the principal evidence and
seal of the divinity of his religion; while the acquittal and
salvation of the righteous will be chiefly on the ground of
such evidence as the performance of those acts affords of
their sincere belief in and obedience to him.*
To any one who, with an open and sincere mind, will consider the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, they
will appear a grand heavenly lesson of beneficent charity;
and a continued and burning protest against the love of
earthly possessions, springing from the love of self, as the
great enemy of love to God, and as the great obstacle to the
salvation of the race of man through his own death. What
an example, when the highest of all became the lowest of
all, and he who alone was rich for our sakes became poor;
when, indeed, he gave himself, and the King of kings took
upon him the form of a servant for us, and suffered for us
the shameful and agonizing death of the cross! t
INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ON THE CONDUCT
OF BELIEVERS.
We may complete this sketch of the divine education of
man in sonship toward his Divine "father," and in the use
of his gifts as becomes a spiritual and immortal being, if we
Matt. v.-vii. Mark x. 21. Luke xiv. 33; xxi. 1-4; ix. 58.
John xiii. Matt. xxv.   t 2 Cor. viii. 9. Phil. ii. 5-8.




36    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
consider the effects of the operation of the Holy Spirit upon
the conduct of believers.
When the Spirit of God opens the eyes, turns darkness
into light, breaks the chains of Satan and brings men to
God; when he convinces and assures them of the riches and
glory of their inheritance, and of their power to command
"all things" through the intercession  of Christ; and
when he fills them with godly indignation, fear, vehement
desire and revenge-with the intense emotions of the soldier who hates the kingdom and power of Satan, and is
ready to sacrifice everything he possesses in order to destroy
them and to place his adored sovereign, the rightful Lord
of all, upon his earthly throne-how wholly, how extremely
different from what they were in a state of unbelief are
their conceptions and feelings in regard to the nature, uses
and ends of money!  Those men were not drunk with
wine, but "filled"-yes, thirsty souls to whom God gave
of the heavenly fountain of the water of life so that they
werefilled-" with the Spirit;" who at Pentecost hastened
to sell their possessions, and distribute to the bodily need,
while they ministered to the boundless and perishing spiritual need around them. Angels indeed such men and women
were! And with such heavenly pictures of the perfected
results of God's purpose in the instruction and discipline of
man, the inspired history of the Church is finished; and it
is placed in our hands, to study and to imitate its examples
until the end of time.*
And here again God sets the precious jewel of grace, so
pure, luminous and adapted to the crown of the King, in
* Eph. i. 2 Cor. vii. 11. Acts ii.




EDUCATION OF MAN  AS A SON OF GOD.   37
a black foil. We behold the swift and dreadful curse which
falls upon Ananias and Sapphira who' keep back part of
the price" of what they had vowed to God, and "lie not
unto men but unto God."  Thus righteousness and truth
are seen ever to meet and walk with mercy and peace. Thus
the first manifestation of the glorious power and joyfulness
of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is accompanied by the most
terrible warning of the penalty of abusing and perverting
them and God's instrumentalities of good to the world.*
TIE GREAT PRINCIPLE AS EXPLAINED IN TIHE EPISTLES.
The epistles of the New Testament bring clearly to view
the great principle upon which God is acting in the education of man.  A household among the great family of his
intelligent creatures has fallen into rebellion and utter ruin;
the father would restore and reinstate it in the love and honor
of " the whole family in heaven and earth."  The greatest
sacrifices, the most patient and wise means, must be employed
to accomplish this end. It would be of no use to restore its
external privileges without such an education as will elevate
its nature, ennoble its affections, and inspire it with the realization of its position, its dignitio, its yespo:~sJ;3si, Js daties, and its destinies. Each member must be, in fine, lifted
from the place of an animal to one higher than an angel's.
He must be fitted to be "a child of God."t
Take in now the full breadth of the plan. It is not to restore one man, not one nation.  It is to restore mankindc.
It is to bring back the race, and to teach it to have royal
dominion over the creatures, and the portion of creation
* Acts v. 1-11. Ps. lxxxv. 10.   t Luke vi. 35. Rom. viii. 17.




38     GOD S RULE FORi CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
which God has assigned to it.  It is to make it lord over all
the realm of matter; and to teach it to use in holiness, wisdom  and love, the divine faculties and the material gifts
committed to it.
Nor doth it yet appear what we shall be, when this mystery of godliness, this earthly education of the "brethren"
of the SON OF GOD, has been perfected. Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the tlings which God hath prepared for this princely race!
And it is yet among the deep things of God, how he will
surprise by them  the lofty principalities and powers in
heavenly places, in that hour when a new glory shall be
added to his name by that which shall be revealed in us; and
when " the creation itself shall be delivered fromn the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of
God!"''
HIuman language can say no more than this.  Human
thought cannot rise higher than this.  Here we must stop,
and each of us wait, it may be groan, earnestly desiring to
be clothed upon with better faculties, when mortality shall
be swallowed up of life.  " Then shall we know!" t
* 2 Cor. ii. 7-12. Eph. iii. S-10. Rom. viii. 18-22.    t 1 Cor.
xiii. 12.




CHAPTER V.
DEVELOPMENT OF PECUNIARY BENEFICENCE
IN TIlE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
IF we would thoroughly comprehend and feel the greatness
of the subject of Christian giving, it is necessary that we
should take at least a brief glance at the history of the
Church since Christ, and the developments of God's providence as there exhibited.
The history of the Christian Church has been marked by
five distinct stages in the growth of the principle of beneficence. Each one of these stages, like those in the development of a fruit-bearing tree from its first germ in the earth,
has accomplished some purpose of God's providential wisdom.
These progressive stages may be dated from the eras of
its implantation by Christ and the apostles; the emperor
Constantine; Hildebrand, pope Gregory VII.; the great
Reformation; and the final expansion of Christianity, upon
which we are now entering.  Each one of these stages
is necessary to the production of the great results which
God has in view.
In the first stage we see its miraculous, swift and vigorous
dissemination. In the second, the effort of the kingdoms
of the world, convinced of its divine potency, to seduce it
into an alliance with themselves, and employ it to subserve
39




40    GOD'S RTULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
their aims.  In the third, the converse ambitious effort of
the Church to humble and rule the world, by the means of
its acquired power and wealth. In the fourth stage, the
view presents us with a mutual revulsion, the Church clinging by faith, wrecked, naked and wounded, to the rock
Christ Jesus, fearing and scarce able to attempt the building
of the temple which God has decreed shall surmount that
rock; while the world defiantly mocks her, and treats her
celestial mission, and demands and expectations, with scorn.
The final stage in the Church's history exalts her to the
position in which God's gracious purposes in her are fulfilled; she sits as a queen, rich in the affections and obedience of a sanctified world.
FIRST STAGE.- CHRIST AND TIIE APOSTLES.
The first stage of Christianity was one of wondrous energy,
and of extraordinary interest to all succeeding ages and to
all races and generations of men. Then the vitalizing power
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus, succeeded by the influences
of the Holy Ghost, operates like the warm sun and quickening rains of the spring season upon the implanted seed. It is
saturated with heavenly influences. It swells and is leavened
with a new power. The Church is filled with a faith which
moves it to undertake the speedy conquest of the whole
world to Jesus Christ, its Redeemer and Lord.
It was the confident expectation of the primitive Christians that the entire world would in a short time be converted.
Such seemed to be the promise of the Old Testament.
David, whose royal son the Lord Jesus was commonly styled
by the Jews, had said, "He shall have dominlion from sea to




DEVELOPMT ENT  (OF BENEFICENCE.                41
sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." Isaiah,
who had with most wonderful clearness  described  his
ministry and  suffering for sin, had  in triumphant and
rapturous language described the fruits of them.  His advent was compared to the rising of the sun upon a world
wrapped in deep thick darkness, so gloriously that all nations
and kings should come and gather themselves together to
enjoy the blessings of its light.  When all the objects of
Christ's mission to earth were accomplished and he was
ready to return to heaven, he gave his disciples their final instruction and commission: "All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations;
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo I am with you
alway, unto the end of the world."  The divine dignity andl
authority of Christ were attested by his transfiguration.
The ability to fulfill these vast promises, and give superhuman success to the efforts of his disciples in obedience to
his commands, was corroborated by his miracles.  The outpouring of the Holy Spirit with such overwhelming power
that thousands of people were converted under a single sermon, was intended to illustrate that infinite ability, and the
willingness to exercise it.*
The zeal thus incited led the primitive Christians to exercise a charity and liberality which has been the astonishment
and admiration of the world until this day.  Even their
enemies acknowledgel how great it was, and how power* Ps. lxxii. 8. Isa. lx. Luke ii. 32. Matt. xxviii. 18-20. Mark
xvi. 20.   Aets ii.-v.




42    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
fully it affected the souls of all men.  The emperor Julian
the Apostate exhorted the pagans to establish houses for the
relief of the sick, strangers, and the poor; saying to them,'It is a shame for us that the impious Galileans should not
only keep their own poor but even many of ours, whom we
leave to suffer." They gave, in weekly contributions, sums
of money proportioned to their ability, the aggregate of
which was immense. This was spent in the performance of
acts of charity, which relieved the sick, taught the youth, fed
the hungry, redeemed captives and slaves in all lands, supported the ordinances of religion, and sent the gospel over
the entire world.  The recompense of this heavenly zeal and
charity was the conversion of great multitudes from every
nation to the Christian religion.  "It embraced," says the
heathen Pliny, writing to the emperor Trajan, "persons of
all ranks and ages, and even of both sexes;" and it was
"not confined to the cities only, but spread its infection
among the country villages. "  Irenveus declared that it had
"extended throughout the whole world, even to  the
uttermost bounds of the earth."  Eusebius, writing the
history of the early Church, affirms that " through a celestial
influence and co-operation, the doctrine of the Saviour, like
the rays of the sun, quickly irradiated the whole world.  In
accordance with divine prophecy, within a little time the
sound of his inspired evangelists and apostles had gone
throughout all the earth, and their words to the ends of
the world. Throughout every city and village, like as in a
well-filled granary, churches soon abounded, and were filled
with members from every race of people." *'EUSEB. PAMP.Ji.; Ec. ii8st.; II., iii.




DEVELOPMENT OF BENEFICENCE.                    43
The abuse of this all-abounding faith and virtue, or
energy, was as the apostle Peter foresaw and admonished
them, that they did not add " to virtue, knowledge; and to
knowledge, temperance," that is, discipline and firmness.*
The defects of the primitive charity of the Church of Christ
were the want of comprehensiveness, of system, of judgment and of large intelligence.  Blazing and glorious as was
this first kindling of the Christian flame, the time had not
come for the construction of the enginery for which such
zeal would again, at a future day, be needed, in order to the
accomplishment of God's grand final designs, in the casting
down of every high thing and every stronghold of Satan's
powerful kingdom on earth.
The lessons which this first stage of Christian beneficence
suggests are, the greatness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit
which are yet in store for the fullness of times in this dispensation; the efficacy of prayer; and the power and energy
of individual believers when clothed with the Holy Ghost;
and it presents us with the highest illustrations of complete
and true consecration to the ends of Christ's atonement, embracing life, offspring, property, all that a man hath, losing
life here that he may gain life for ever.
SECOND ST AGE. —ERA OF CONSTANTINE.
The second great era of the Church, that of Constantine
the Great, brings to our view one of the most remarkable
figures in the world's history; that of a Roman emperor,
apparently converted fiom heathenism to Christ, seeking to
govern the spirits of men by civil law, and to renovate
society and convert the world by the political authority and
- 2 Pet. i. 5.




44     GOD 8 RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
resources of the empire.  Constantine divided the Church
into great primacies and episcopates of provinces and of
cities, just as he divided for political purposes the territory
of the empire, assigning to each its suitable officer. lie exemlpted bishops from subordination to civil jurisdiction and
yet gave them power to exercise authority as judges in civil
cases, and required the civil officers to carry out their decisions and mandates.  He destroyed, or altered, the idol
temples; commanded Sunday and Friday to be publicly
observed as religious days; and carried in his military
campaigns a tent designed for religious worship. He convened, and sometimes presided over, councils of the bishops
and clergy; and prohibited by law heretical opinions, and
the exercise of the worship of God by heretics. He wrote
to the Council of Tyre urging upon its members " that sincerity and fidelity which, according to our Saviour, ought to
pervade all our actions.  Nothing shall be omitted," he
says, " on my part to further the interests of our religion. " 
He applied the ordinary revenues of the empire to the designs of the Church; ordered churches, asylums for widows
and orphans, and hospitals for the sick, everywhere to be
built and maintained; and directed copies of the Scriptures
to be transcribed and distributed.'He liberally supported
the clergy, and levied taxes and tribute that were to be put
into their hands for religious and charitable uses. He coined
a great quantity of idols of silver and gold into money; and
purified others by passing them through the fire, and presented them to the churches.  He transferred the seat of
the inlperial government from Rome to Constantinople, in
"r Till:or):ET;  E.  fJ.t. T. xxix.




DEVELOPMENT OF BENEFICENCE.                 45
order thus to assume a new and more favorable position,
that he might command greater power over the three continents, and rear a new Christian metropolis of the world.
"And," says an ancient church historian, "his wishes were
not thwarted; for by the assistance of God it became the
most populous and wealthy of cities. I know of no cause to
account for this extraordinary aggrandizement, unless it be
the piety of the builder and of the inhabitants, and their
compassion and liberality toward the poor."*  He made
from the nails of the cross of Christ, which his mother
Helena sent to him from the sepulchre at Jerusalem, a headband and bit for his horse, which he inscribed, according to
the prophecy of Zechariah, with the words: "HOLINESS TO
THIE LORD.  
Was this second grand experience of the Church, its
adoption by the State, and support by the State, to capacitate
it for its sublime mission on earth?  No! The Church was
convulsed internally with Arianism, which rejected the very
divinity of Christ; and was torn with numerous other controversies. The character of its great patron, Constantine,
was doubtful and inconsistent.  Some of his letters to councils and the clergy express admirable Christian sentiments.
But his faith was mixed with superstition and his acts with
the idolatry of favorite gods. He slew his son Crispus,
perhaps his wife Fausta, and several others of his own
kindred.  He resisted Christian baptism, for questionable or
superstitious reasons, till near death, and the ceremony was
then performed by an Arian; and it is still uncertain whether
he was not always at heart a pagan, or an Arian. His son
* SOZOMEN; Ec. Hist. II., iii.




46     GOD'S RULE  FOR  CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
Constantius was an Arian and opposer of the truth.  His
nephew, the infamous Julian the Apostate, who was the following emperor, endeavored to exterminate Christianity,
and to rebuild Jerusalem in order to give the lie to the last
prophecies of Jesus Christ himself. The character of Constantine to be intelligently apprehended must be compared with
that of the emperor Charlemagne of France, or that of Peter
the Great of Russia; men of giant energy, passions and
will, full of contradictions, but raised up at great junctures
of human affairs, for the accomplishment of extraordinary
designs of divine Providence.*
The effects of Constantine's efforts to subordinate the
Church to the advantage of the State, and of his extravagant
appropriations from the civil revenues to her support, were
pernicious to religion.  The clergy were inflamed with the
love of property.  In succeeding centuries, they amassed by
solicitation from the temporal powers, through s3parate. taxation, and by means of a multitude of devices, an incalculably
vast amount of every sort of landed and material possessions.
They employed fraud and forgery when necessary to their
ends.  A most famous forgery was that known as the Donation of Constantine, to Pope Sylvester and his successors,
- GIBnoN's estimate of Constantine is, as usual, gross and onesided. NIEnBUHR is severe upon him. He says (Lectures on Roman
Hist., III., 303) that "his religion was a rare jumble," and that "to
call him even a saint is a profanation of the word." STANLEY is
more discriminating; he closes a just and eloquent portraiture of
Constantine's life and character (History of the Eastern Chlurch,
Lect. VI.) by holding it up as a compound of " Pagan and Christian, orthodox and heretical, liberal and fanatical, not to be imitated
or admired, but much to be remembered, and deeply to be studied."




DEVELOPMENT OF BENEFICENCE.    47
of "the sovereignty of Rome; of the provinces, cities and
towns of the whole of Italy; and of the Western regions."
Many of the wisest and purest members of the Roman
Church in every age have deplored the secularization of
Christianity by Constantine.  What he designed to be a
mutual advantage to the Empire and the Church became
the degradation and destruction of spiritual religion.*
Those truly spiritual men who from  century to century
lifted up their voices in cries for reform, down to Huss and
Wickliffe, attributed to Constantine the transformation of
the Church from its primitive simplicity and purity.  The
" Old Catholics," the latest schism from the Papacy, say concerning its temporalities, that in addition to the evils of the
"well-meant, but ill-advised munificence of Constantine,"
the forgery of his so-called Donation, was a "large and
inexhaustible treasury from  which political and municipal
privileges could be drawn just as they were wanted."t
The Waldensian and other anti-papal churches, or indi* Thus, according to JOHN MILTON, Reformation in England, b. I.,
the poet DANTE exclaims:
"Ah, Constantine I To how much ill was cause,
Not thy conversion, but those rich domains
Which the first wealthy pope received of thee."
Inferno; xix. 115-117.
And ARIOSTO compares the grandeur of the Church to
"a flowery mountain green,
Which once smelt sweet, now stinks as odiously.
This was the gift, if you the truth will have,
That Constantine to good Sylvester gave."
Orlando Furioso; xxxiv. 80.
t DOLLINGER; Fables respecting the Pope in the Middle Ages.




48     GOD'S RULE FOR  CIRISTIAN  GIVING.
viduals, were driven to the opposite extreme of sentiment
with regard to ecclesiastical possessions; they argued that
all investments and funded property are essentially corrupting, that religion must be maintained entirely by free will
offerings, and that it is the scriptural duty of the clergy to
continue poor. The English Puritans held up the provision
of Constantine for the Church in her days of feeble youth
as that of "a nursing father who overlaid or choked it in
the nursing." *
The experiences of the British Protestant churches are
singularly valuable and instructive to us in respect to their
efforts to ally themselves with the State in such a way as to
derive from it the benefits of secular law and maintenance,
while they yielded in return those of religious services and
instruction to its subjects. In the Episcopal Established
Church the political sovereign is its legal head, and the
government appoints its officials.  In other bodies various
degrees of subserviency have existed.  The seceders from
the Scotch Established Church, who formed in 1842 the Free
Church, had desperately but all in vain struggled to unite
dependence on the State with fealty to the interests of
Christianity; or, as the Rev. Dr. Chalmers said,f to " harmonize the principle of a national establishment of Christianity with the principle of spiritual independence."  The
long and painful series of disruptions and disestablishments,
is leading the British people, and should assist us in America,
to discern that the divine plan for the maintenance and
* MILTON, The Likeliest.Means to Remove Hirelings out of the
Church; Prose Works, II., 146.
t IIANNA; Life antd Writings of Chalmers, IV., chaps. vii., etc.




DEVELOPMENT OF BENEFICENCE.                 49
spread of religion is not State grants and patronage; nor
yet is it that unregulated "Voluntaryism" to which the
leaders of the Free Church disruption earnestly objected as
insufficient and unreliable. It is the perfect plan which is
revealed, though long overlooked, in the New Testament.
THIRD STAGE, ERA OF HILDEBRAND.
The third great stage of Christianity, that beginning with
the papacy of Hildebrand, pope Gregory VII., reveals to
us the Church stronger than the State-the pope claiming
that all kings and kingdoms, their religious and their civil
law, and all their property and interests, were subject to him;
distributing thrones and possessions as the earthly vicegerent
of God.
Amidst the frightful disorders, irreligion and dissoluteness
of the Middle Ages, we can clearly trace the origin of the
doctrines and practices which created or allowed them to one
grand source-that " root of all evil " of which Paul spoke
to the early Church.  The imperious "lords over God's
heritage," in that period of terrible darkness and iniquity,
"fed the flock of God" "for filthy lucre." *  The doctrines
and offices of religion were all erected into a grand engine for
getting money.  The distinctions of classes and grades of
venial sins, as distinguished from those sins which are mortal, were parts of it. Hence the imputed value of works of
merit; the commercial estimates as to penances for sins already committed, and those as to indulgences even for sins
which men purpose hereafter to commit. t  Hence the as* 1 Tim. vi. 10. 1 Pet. v. 2, 3.
t A volume was published in London, in 1674, entitled "Taxes
4




50      GOD'S RULE  FOR  CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
sumed efficacy of certain forms of worship and of prayers
in a dead and unknown language; and the superior sanctity
of a priesthood, its isolation from society, and monastic and
ascetic practices.  Hence the doctrines of purgatory and
limbo; and the consequent pecuniary value of extreme unction for the dying and of masses for the dead, and of prayers
to canonized saints and to angels.
"All things," said the old proverb, "can be bought and
sold at Rome."  The churches of the city of Rlomne-so
huge, so gorgeous, so rich, so beautiful, so adorned with all
that earthly wealth can procure, that the most splendid
palaces of emperors and kings look mean and worthless
compared with them-what an exhibition they are of the
proceeds of that dreadful merchandise of all things costly
and delicious; and that merchandise of slaves, and souls of
men; the merchandise of human virtue, of the truth of
of the Apostolical Chancery," etc., which contains many tables of the
cost of bulls, dispensations, pardons, etc. Anthony Egane gave a
list of many pages of the regular prices, which were fixed at Rome
before the Reformation for the benefit of the people of Ireland, of
dispensations for all imaginable kinds of sin. Thus, "If either
father or mother, sister or brother, do strangle or smother an infant,
they are to pay ~4, 2s."  To kill a bishop, cost ~36, 9s.; a priest,
~6, 2s.; a father, mother, brother o: sister, ~4, Is., Sd. The dispensation of an oath or contract, ~7, 2s., 3d. See Quart. Rev. of A mer.
Prot. Ass.; July, 1845. The same privileges were granted to other
nations. At the valuation of Tetzel, in Germany, " polygamy cost
six ducats; sacrilege and perjury, nine ducats; murder, eight;
witchcraft, two." At that of Samson, in Switzerland, "infanticide"
was rated a.t "four livres tournois; parricide, or fratricide, at one
lucat."  D'Aubignl, History of Riformatlon, Book III.




DEVEIOPMENT OF BENEFICENCE.                 51
God, and of the blood of prophets and saints; which in one
hour shall be brought to desolation! Well may the apostle
cry:   Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles
and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her." *
There is no sight on all the face of the earth so dreadful
as those wonderfully magnificent churches and religious
edifices of Rome.  The Saviour of men pronounced his
most terrible woes upon the "hypocrisy and iniquity" which
built the tombs of the prophets and garnished the sepulchres
of the righteous, but was within full of extortion and excess; upon the men who themselves " are like unto whited
sepulchres, which appear indeed beautiful outward, but are
within full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness."t
Then how immeasurably great and dreadful must be his
condemnation of the hypocrisy and iniquity which have
reared those vast monuments of long ages of fraud, practiced not on one small nation but on the whole race of man,
of avarice insatiable, of crimes untold, of the waters of the
cup of salvation converted into deadly poison, of the gospel
of the grace of God to all lost and ruined souls turned into
pictures, statues, mosaics, gems, and every form of enchanting luxury and delight of the eye, the ear, and every carnal
sense.
This third great era conveys, in God's providence, a
lesson which the people of God can never, must never, forget.  It is the frightful picture of the dominion of mammnon
in the house of God! It is the lesson of the culmination
of the lust for superiority of place, for refinements of
knowledge and speech, for luxurious edifices of worship and
R Rcxi.                        t Matt. xxiii. 27-29.




52    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
charity, for stained windows and ornamented walls, and for
exquisite music.  Rome for centuries has had them all, so
grandly that any competition of ours is vain apish mimicry.
But what has she with them?  "How much she hath
glorified herself and lived deliciously, so much torment and
sorrow give her. Therefore shall her plagues come in one
day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be
utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who
judgeth her." *
To every Protestant people, to every sincere spiritual
soul, how plain, how sufficient, should be the practical conclusion from this great divine lesson.
* Rev. xviii. 7, 8.




CHAPTER VI,
ERA OF THE REFORiMATION: ITS BENEFITS.
iTHNAT was the immediate divine purpose toward the' Church in the fourth era of its history, that of the
Protestant Reformation? Preparation, discipline, organization.
The lesson of the first era, we saw, was the power of the
Holy Ghost. That of the second era, the evils of an alliance between the two, in which the State is superior to the
Church. That of the third era, those of an alliance of the
opposite kind, in which the Church is superior to the State.
These are the three great experiences which are necessary to
prepare the Church for the fourth era, which commenced
with Luther, and is yet in progress. The lesson of it is the
duties, the power, and the final honors, of her single and
sincere allegiance to JESUS CHRIsT as her afmfgfity fead'
and King.  She learns to discipline and organize all the
boundless resources which she finds that he bestows upon
his faithful followers, with the supreme determination to
umake him the LORD OF ALL.
The illustrations of the preparation of society and the
Church for the coming reign of Christ are so numerous, and
every one in its place so interesting, that the briefest consideration of them would swell this volume far beyond its
53




54     GOD'S RULE  FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
proposed limits.  We can only suggest the leading topics
which may be studied, thought upon, and their relations
to personal duty and to the obligations of the Church
prayerfully considered.
Thefirst manifest result of the Protestant Reformation has
been a restoration of spirituality of faith. This is illustrated
by the history during the past four centuries of such subjects as the following:
The successive translations of the word of God into the
common languages of nearly all nations.
The restoration of purity of doctrine.  The definition,
and systematization, of creeds.  The exploration of Oriental literature.  The elucidation of Scripture by acquaintance with the geography, productions, etc., of Palestine
and neighboring lands.
Re-establishment of spirituality of worship.  Abandonment of symbolism; of unnecessary ecclesiastical forms; of
liturgical worship.
Reassertion of the right of private judgment.  Personal
and domestic use of the Scriptures.  Associations of the
laity for prayer and the advancement of religion.  Cultivation of personal responsibility to God.
The large gifts of the Holy Spirit in extensive revivals of
religion.
The progressive quickening of the Churches of Christ
with the spirit of missions; with desires for the salvation,
and spiritual improvement, of men of all classes and conditions.
The second cla:, of benefits resulting from the Reforma



BENEFITS OF THE  REFORMATION.                  55
tion is that related to the intellectual improvement of mankind.  We group under it such topics as these:
Universal awakening of the human intellect preparatory,
and subsequent to, IReformation.
Revival of learning.  Boundless enlargement till now.
Prevalence of sounder principles of reasoning.  Rise of
inductive method in philosophy. Immense and ever-increasing influence upon all departments of science, and the employments of men.
Invention of printing; variety of applications; inestimable
advantages.
Progressive extension of education to the common people.
Development of national systems of taxation for education and for objects connected with intellectual improvement
of society.
Improvement of educational literature.  Introduction of
rational methods of instruction.
Elevation of practical departments of knowledge in education.  Illustration of themes of instruction by material objects, by applications of various arts, by painting, photography, the camera, etc. The popular lecture system. Immense influence of hymns and music adapted to children.
Science of school architecture.
The rise, world-wide diffusion, and power, of Sabbathschools.
The relief of the several afflicted classes of society; its
literature, methods, benefits to the objects, and humanizing
effects upon society.
Forms of popularization of literature; cheap multiplication of them by the press.




56     GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
The third powerful effect of the Reformation was the
awakening of men to their political and social rights. Hence
we are led to inquire into the following subjects:
The gradual development of true principles as to the inherent rights of man.  Overthrow of theory of the divine
right of kings, and of various false political systems and
oppressive usages.
Establishment of constitutional and representative forms of
government among the various nations of the world.
Concession of right of suffrage to all classes of society;
its effects upon the degraded and ignorant.
Reforms in legislation.  Reforms in penal discipline.
Diminution of capital punishments.
Improvements in police systems.
Abolition of slavery in different countries; by peaceful
emancipation, as in British, Portuguese and Spanish colonies, Russia, Dutch possessions, Siam; by war, as in the
United States, and the effects of that war upon other nations, even the most remote.
We look under the fourth head for matters connected with
the improvement of the physical condition of the human
race.
This naturally leads us to observe the grand results which
have flowed from the geographical discoveries of this era;
the discovery of America, and vast benefaction of arable
and mineral territory to the human race; discovery of the
passage to the East by the Cape of Good Hope; revolutions caused by shortening of commercial communication
with ancient nations of the East.




BENEFITS OF TIlE REFORMATION.    57
Effects of cutting and bridging by railroads the great
isthmuses of Suez and Panama.
Discoveries of coal; domestic use; uses for manufactures.
New  and  innumerable applications of iron * to beneficial
ends; those of other metals.
Invention of steam  and other motive powers as to their
manifold  practical applications in  facilitating  labor and
multiplying its proceeds.t
-A bright young Chinese, who had been well educated at one of
our mission schools in his own country, on his return from a visit
which he made to America, was asked what had most struck him in
the appearance of our cities?  lie answered, one thing was the
great abundance and variety of the uses of iron. It must ever astonish a person from Oriental lands, where their usages are still
those of the early or Middle Ages, and where they rarely use even
common nails of iron, to see this most difficult of the common metals
to work applied to architecture, ship-building, railroads, bridges,
massive machinery, telegraphy, and almost every conceivable want
of ordinary life. It should be remembered by us that almost all
this has come with the present century.
t It has been estimated that the steam power of Great Britain
alone equals the combined manual labor of one third of the population of the world. The proceeds of the industry of the entire race
are fully doubled by the machinery which the capital of the several
nations of Christian Europe and America has placed in the hands
of its people. Within those great centres of manufacturing activity
men now virtually live three times as long, perform three times as
much labor, and enjoy more than three times as much of the benefits of human toil and skill, as did their fathers of a century ago.
Many particular individuals and communities have risen to a relative position, as compared with those of times past, which can
hardly be estimated.




58      GOD'S RULE  FOR  CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
Means of illumination of dwellings, streets, and places of
public convocation; gas; petroleum; chemical possibilities
of far more powerful agencies.
Improvements in clotlling.  Machinery for weaving various materials.  Increase of cotton.  Invention of sewing
machine; rapid spread over the world; effects on uncivilized nations.*
Variety, exchange and increase of agricultural and horticultural productions.  Fertilizers.  Machinery for reaping,
mowing, etc.
Instrumentalities for the relief of suffering.  Inestimable
improvements in medicine and surgery.
Discoveries of prophylactics; vaccination; quinine.
Systems for alleviation of natural calamities.  Life insurance.  Savings banks.  Fire insurance.  Fire engines and
associations. Marine insurance.
Sanitary improvements.  Water supply of cities.  Sewage
of cities.
Interment of dead in rural cemeteries.
A final class of means in the Divine hand for preparing mankind for the coming kingdom  of Christ includes
the agencies for the universal diffusion of the benefits
which are conferred.  Under this may be grouped the following:
Invention  of railroads; wonderful extension  over all' The writer was greatly impressed in visiting some of the islands
in the Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Archipelago, to observe how
Christian mnissions an  Cristiistian commerce put our clothing upon
uncivilized races. Thus we comprehend the final mission of the
sewing machine.




BENEFITS OF TIHE REFORMA'TION.                59
countries.  Application of steam in locomotive.  Improvements in comfort and safety of traveling; sleeping cars.
Use of steam in propulsion of vessels on water. Improvements in sailing vessels.
Universal interchange of useful products; commercial
facilities; commercial associations and agencies.
Introduction of newspapers.  Benefits of the religious
press. Inventions for illustrating papers and books. Uses
of lithography, photography, etc., in the dissemination of
knowledge.  Advantages to heathen races.
Facilities for postal communication.   Cheap postage.
Transportation of books, seeds, etc., by mail; extension to
most distant nations.
The electric telegraph; various methods in telegraphing;
trans-oceanic communications; extension around the whole
world.
Centralization of commerce in hands of Protestant Christian nations.  Moral and religious causes of decline of commerce of Venice; Portugal; Spain; Holland.  Causes of
unparalleled increase of commerce of Great Britain; of
Germany; of the United States of America.
Just as the great fact of the approach of the morning
sun accounts for ten thousand others in every department
of nature, in air and earth and sea, in the vegetable and
animal and even nineral kingdoms, in the movements and
employments of mankind, in things that affect the welfare
of every man, woman and child; so that greater fact that
"the kingdom  of heaven is at hand" accounted for the
innumerable ways in which the Old Dispensation was pre



60     GOD'S RULE FOR  CiIHRISTIAN  GIVING.
pared for the manifestation of the Son of God to suffer for
sin, and accounts for those greater and more impressive
ways in which this New Dispensation is prepared for the
reign of his glory.
PECULIAR FINANCIAL BENEFITS OF TMIS ERA.
In pondering and trying to estimate the relations of
money to the stupendous movements of this era, we are
deeply impressed with several great benefits to mankind
which attend it.
The first financial benefit of this era has been the immense
and increasing influx of the precious metals from its commencement until the present time.  During the first half of
the century following the discovery of Amnerica there was
an average annual suipply of' about three millions of dollars;
during the last half it swelled to eleven millions.  The
following entire century averaged sixteen millions.  The first
half of the last century brought in over twenty-two millions
a year; the last half over thirty-three millions.  The first
quarter of the present century averaged more than fifty-four
millions.  But vast and rapid as was the increase in three
centuries, that is, from an influx of three to one of fiftyfour millions a year, it suddenly doubled that rate at the
middle of the present century.  Since then a deluge of
the precious metals has been poured into the New World,
and into all the Old World by the vast discoveries of them
in California and the states and territories east and south of
it, in Mexico and British America, in Australia and New
Zealand, in the Ural Mountains of Russia, in Eastern
Siberia and in other parts of the world.
The total amountt of the precious metals in the world is




BENEFITS OF TIlE REFORMATION.                ()l
estimated by some of the best judges* to have been previous
to the discovery of America two thousand millions of dollars; at present, about ten thousand millions, which is
nearly equally divided between gold and silver.  About
three thousand millions of this is in coin.
This continually swelling flood has unsettled, and as a
whole lifted to a higher level, the whole structure of modern
society, and powerfully affected all the ordinary employments and interests of men, even in the most distant and
isolated countries. They have been heaved and moved by
a strange power which they did not comprehend.  They
have been waked to influences which before had no control
over them. The whole world and all its institutions, has
been shaken and changed by the rising of this deluge of gold
al.d silver. As to material agencies, an eminent authority
upon these subjects says:t " there is but one way of really
improving the condition of the laboring class, and that is by
increasing the ratio of capital to population." This is not
a sound statement; but measured by this standard, the facts
we have mentioned with regard to the influx of the metals
which are the basis of capital are an important indication of
rapidly maturing and most beneficent purposes of God with
regard to the general condition of mankind.
Another great financial benefit of the present era is the
different forms and extensive use of the credit system. The
vast multiplication of money by the modern banking system,
the development of the resources of countries by associated
I IIuMBOLDT, MCCUTLOCIT, JACOBS (Hist. of Precious Metals), and
information from the United States Mint, Philadelphia.
- McCulloch.




62     GOD'   RULE FOR  CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
capital issuing its bonds and inviting investments bearing a
regulated interest, the manifold applications of insurance, the
hypothetical transfer of capital for commercial payments of
any amount, even in distant countries, by paper draughts, or
by telegraphic orders, the stability and power imparted to
governments by the power to issue bonds payable in future
time-these and many other applications of the modern
credit system form  an element which is of incalculable importance to the industry and commerce of the world,* and
to the supremacy of Christian civilization among its nations.
It is a means of the greatest importance to the supply, and
to the safe transfer, of the pecuniary means which are
necessary to the evangelization of remote nations.
It is a third distinguishing characteristic of the influx of
wealth in this era that its beneficial effects have been most
abundantly felt by the poorer classes of society. The prophecies of the reign of the Messiah which promise its blessings
most abundantly to the poor, and to "the children of the
needy," are truly beginning to be fulfilled.  Their condition
has been elevated far more than that of others in the general rise.  The several great classes of spiritual, intellectual,
political, social, and physical benefits, which we have considered as resulting from the Reformation, have been distributed in the valleys and plains of society, and have only
partially reached the higher grounds.  Thus said Isaiah:
"the city shall be low in a low place."f
"-  Excepting the merest retail business, not one per cent. of the
payments of Great Britain and the United States are made in real
money."  COLWEIL, W1lays aCd Mieans of Payment; p. 2.
t- Ps. lxxii. 4. Isa. xxxii. 19.




CHAPTER VII.
DEFECTS OF THE REFORMATION, AND TlHEIR
RLESUL TS.
W HEN scrutinized merely as a religious movement there
appear two great defects in the Reformation itself.
Unless we consider these we can hardly understand the
pecuniary failures of Protestantism, and their remedy.
TIE GREAT DOCTRTNAL DEFECT.
The Reformation was a mighty revival of religion; the
first of the great "latter-day" outpourings of the Holy
Ghost which are to convert the whole world; the angel
"flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach unto them  that dwell on the earth, and
to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." *
The first Pentecost regenerated a great number from the
ancient Jewish Church, which was then finally abandoned
to formalism and destruction; this second one redeemed
millions from the Christian Church when the same spiritual
death, like that of winter to the landscape, had fallen upon
it. In the experience of the believers of the second Pentecost there is much to remind us of that of the converts of
the first.
The first great outpourings of the Holy Ghost filled the
souls of Christians with intense emotional enjoyments, which
* Rev. xiv. 6.




64    GOD'S RUILE FOR CHIRISTIAN  GIVING.
led some to neglect the practical duties of their profession.
The public performance of these duties, indeed, marked men
and women as victims for heathen persecution.  For these
and other reasons it became necessary for the apostle James,
" the Lord's brother," to address to the churches a general
epistle teaching the necessity of good works as the fruit and
evidence of true faith. The epistles of Peter also are to be
understood much in the same light.
It is a fact of great significance, in studying the lessons of
Church history, that the intensity of Martin Luther's apprehension of the doctrine of justification by faith alone,
and the energy of his opposition to the all-prevalent formalism about him, so unsettled his judgment and his ordinary
docility of obedience to Scripture, that he fell into the
gross error of denying the authenticity and authority of this
epistle of James. He says: "The epistle of James I do not
consider as the writing of an apostle at all.... It ascribes
justification to works, in direct contradistinction to Paul
and all the other sacred writers.... James enjoins only
the law and works; and so confuses the one with the other
that it appears to me as if some good pious man had caught
a few sayings from the disciples of the apostles, and committed them to paper.  Or it is possibly written by another
person from his preaching."
The Scriptures principally teach not only "what man is to
believe concerning God," but also " what duty God requires
of man."  The latter co-equal and vital part of the word of
God was imagined to be inconsistent with the doctrines of
grace.  Andrew Carlstadt held the view of the Lord's Supper, since retained by the Socinians, that it is only a com



DEFECTS OF TIIE REFORMATION.                65
mcmorative ordinance.  Neither Luther nor Melancthon
sufficiently valued the authority of the Sabbath itself, as
binding in this dispensation. There are many such evidences
that the general tendency of the Reformation at first was to
depreciate the obligation of the positive ordinances of
Christianity.
There was then in the sentiments of the men of that great
period a grand defect which has been felt throughout the
entire body of the Protestant Churches, which continually
refresh their faith and zeal at these sources. The result as
to the duties connected with the theme of beneficence which
we are now considering would plainly be that, however
definitely and positively stated, an ordinance relating to the
contribution of money, the source so largely of the dreadful
abuses which the Reformers were laboring through Christ to
remove, would probably be regarded with disfavor, or entirely passed by as not obligatory.
TIHE GREAT PRACTICAL DEFECT.
A second grand defect in the power of the Reformation
was of a practical character.  It arose from an extraordinary peculiarity of this great revival, namely, that there was
no immediate need, comparable with its extent and effects
at least, for money to build churches, and establish schools
and colleges, on account of the immense confiscations of
monkish and episcopal property, which had been accumulating for centuries previous in the hands of the Roman
Church.  Hence an appointment of the New Testament
respecting collections of money would not press itself upon
the consideration of the Protestants; and provisions for
5




66    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
them worthy of the obligations and ultimate aims and glorious hopes of the kingdom of Christ would not be made.
TIIE REFORMATION GAVE ENERGY TO ROMANISM.
One effect of the lReformation was a very memlorable one.
While the good men who had rescued the truth, amidst the
homes of their fathers, fiom the dungeons and chains of
ages, were content to implrove there their victory, Itomanism yielded that lield only to set herself to far wider and
easier conquests.  The establishment of the order of the
Jesuits, the reinspiration of the Dominicans and Franciscans
with a zeal for foreign missions, and the subsequent rise and
activity in missionary fields of the Lazarists and some other
orders, saved her from ruin and made her really stronger
than she was before.
The influence of those two grand original defects as to the
money power, a means absolutely essential to growth and
extension, has been vitally and disastrously injurious to all
subsequent Protestant Christianity.  Romanism  has continuously despatched its bands of missionaries over the
world; but Protestant churches, previous to the present
century, aimlessly sent forth here and there an individual.
Romanism  enlisted men of learning and experience, and
even of rank; she munificently equipped them with astronomical and other scientific apparatus, that is of inestimable
value in overturning the superstitious notions of the heathen
and disposing them to listen to the truths and overtures of
the gospel. The foreign missionaries of Protestant churches
have been volunteer striplings, fresh fiom the theological
schools, unprovcn, and scantily furnished with needful in



DEFECTS OF TIIE REFORMATION.                 67
struincntalitics.  Iolimanislm, as the consequence, even after
the catastrophes of the Reformation, has again thoroughly
aroused the affections and disciplined the strength of her
people; while Protestantism, until reanimated by the revivals
and missionary zeal of the present century, has exhibited
unending disruptions and disintegration.  Romanism till of
late seemed entirely to have arrested at least the geographical extension of Protestantism.  The general impression
which the consideration of Protestantism leaves upon a reflecting mind is, that only the merciful power of God preserves it;
that by PRomanism is, that had it only thca power, its compactness, its discipline, its confidence, and its effectual control of the pecuniary means of even its humblest members,
would send forth its legions triumphant over all the earth.
We are able to trace in history, very clearly, the twofold
results-those affecting the Church within and withoutwhich flow fiom the neglect to use for the glory of God and
for the good of mankind the benefits which God has so
abundantly granted to her.
MISIMPROVEMENT OF GOD'S BLESSINGS TIHE BLIGIT OF
THE CHURCH WITHIN.
Looking witthi, we see that God has turned the blessings
which he has bestowed into a curse to the churches themselves. He has greatly multiplied their wealth. Just as
the vital force of the heart impels the circulation of the
blood in the whole body, so the great Governor of the world
has ordered it that the Protestant Christianity of the world
controls at this time its riches. The gold and silver, the
exchange, the scientific and inventive skill, the manufac



68    GOD'S RIULE FOR CIRISTIAN GIVING.
tures, the commerce, the military and naval power, all the
accompaniments of national wealth, receive the pulsations
which cause them to circulate from pole to pole, here in the
Christian centre. These are temporal blessings which result
from the comparatively higher morality, justice, intelligence
and industry of races which are enlightened by Divine revelation.
But as riches have increased they have " set their heart"
upon them.  They have loved them, and honored them,
and coveted them, and made them their god.  They have
forgotten the words of Christ: "No man can serve two
masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve GOD and MAIMMON."  Jehovah, who gave as
the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods
before me," gave as the last, "Thou shalt not covet."  For
this great and capital sin God cursed the ancient Israel. He
says, "For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth
and smote him; I hid me, and was wroth; and he went on
frowardly in the way of his heart."  This sin is made the
evil and abominable thing, which God hates, of the New
Testament dispensation; for "covetousness is idolatry."
And " no covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." *
The reason of God's great anger with covetousness is that
it is finally but the love of sef. It is the desire for the most
effective means to accomplish the will and purposes of self;
the rebellion of self against the sovereign claims of God.
This deadly corruption of our nature comes forth in a great
Isa. Ivii. 17.   Col. iii. 5.   Eph. v. 5.




DEFECTS OF THIE  REFORMATION.                69
many different modes of manifestation.  Just as the cancerous disease in the bodily system  takes forms so numerous
and so unlike to each other, the scarlet fungus, the cheesy
tubercle, the foul ulcer, the purple stain, the white scirrhus,
the wart on the skin, the nodule on the bone; so with the
multiform shapes in which this general poison of the spirit
may exhibit itself.  A man may say "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know
not that he is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind,
and naked." Independence as to God's providence, blindness as to God's judgments, haughty contempt of God's
service, rejection of the truth of God's word, neglect of
prayer, are but different symptoms of the conceit of superiority to human necessities which the possession of, or even
passion for, money produces.  In man's relations to man it
comes forth in pride, the indulgence of lusts, injustice,
oppression; the determination, without regard to consequences, to get money, is the origin of falsehood, cruelty,
theft, murder.
"Wide wasting pest! that rages unconfined,
And crowds with crime the records of mankind."t
In the low, dark, unhappy condition of the souls of the
larger part of the professed Christians of this age; in the
unprofitableness of the labors of most ministers compared
with what the infinite power of the gospel in their hands,
and the glorious promises and primitive examples of its success, would lead men to expect; in the incessant taunts of
R Rev. iii. 17.
t Dr. SA3. JOHNSON; The Vanity of Human IVishes.




70     GOD'S RULE FOR CIRISTIAN  GIVING.
enemies and the triumphant assumptions of infidels; in the
dissensions of believers and churches-in all, we trace at
bottom  chiefly the results of the love of self, and the want
of a true and entire consecration of Christians, in soul, and
life, and possessions, to the glorious ends of the kingdom of
Christ Jesus their Lord.
CALAMITOUS INFLUFENCE  OF PIOTESTANTTSM  WTITHOUT
TIIE GOSPEL UPON THE NATIONS OF TIE WORLD.
Let us turn and take a view of Protestant Christianity
from without.  If any one will take the trouble to acquaint
himself with the opinions of thinking men of other creeds
and nations, he will often be surprised and healthfully
humbled to find how different is their estimate of the good
which Protestantism has accomplished fiom that which we
commonly entertain.
The condition of the classes that dig the coal and iron and
tin of England, that spin her cottons, that reap her harvests, was, until within one generation, too bestialized and
wretched to contemplate without horror.  The few  proprietors and nobility were enormously enriched, while the
poor fromn  whose toils their wealth came were not better
cared for than the brutes; were prevented by the system of
law from obtaining the control of any part of the soil;
lived a dependent, ignorant, animal existence; and an
almost incredible share of them finished their days as miserable paupers in the public poor-houses.  The English
theories of political economy have largely given shape to our
own.  The continental writers of Europe have cried out
with horror against the primary definition of it, as the




DEFECTS OFi  TIIE  REFORMATION.                71
science of the production and distribution of wealth, and
the declaration that "wealth, not happiness"   is its chief
concern; as if provisions for morals, human wants and comforts, individual sufferings, and the education and improvement of the masses, were not fundamental duties of the
society upon which Providence bestows wealth.*
When one compares the amount of money which the immeasurably less wealthy populations of European and Asiatic countries give for religious objects with that from the
vast prosperity and abundance which reigns in America he
must be distressed.  Protestant consciences seem  to have
divorced commercial, manufacturing and agricultural enterprises from  the duty of practical returns to God-in gifts
proportionate to their remunerativeness, for the advancement of his kingdom on earth-or to man, in donations and
labors to communicate the knowledge and blessings of the
gospel.  The nations with which we traffic abroad commonly
speak of us as irreligious materialists.  Our commerce, our
railroads, our factories, our sciences and arts, our ordinary
business employments, seem  almost to exclude from them
the idea that men owe all their wealth and prosperity, all
their material, national and social blessings, to God; and
that they are under obligation to render to' the Lord, for all
his benefits, a just and becoming tribute.
One of the most painful and deep impressions made upon
the mind of a Christian who visits Eastern nations, and
learns their sentitments and uIages, is that of the compara* The theories of Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, and other English
writers have been earnestly reprobated in this country by Henry C.
Carey, Stephen Colwell, and Frederic List.




72    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
tive godlessness of Protestant commerce with them.  The
ancient commerce of India with Burmah, Cambodia, the
Indian Archipelago, Tibet, and China, made them Buddhists; and they remain so till this day. Go where he will
around the world, even in San Francisco or New York, the
Buddhist is not ashamed of his religion. The Buddhist merchant visits the temples of the gods upon whose particular
aid he depends, and makes offerings and burns his written
prayers to them, when he engages in an important commercial enterprise; if it be successful, he pays an oblation of
money to the priests, with which they may print religious
tracts, or repair an altar, or purchase provisions; or he may
possibly, if rich, erect a building for a school, or pave a road,
or construct a bridge. Mohammedan merchants are till this
day zealously carrying the Koran with their caravans into the
idolatrous countries of Asia and Africa. Within recent years,
they ihave peacefully converted to their faith nations of Central Africa, which have only known of England and America by the manufactured cottons, the weapons of destruction
and the intoxicating liquors, which they have received chiefly
in exchange for slaves, and to enable them to make war
for the capture of slaves. The swarthy Parsce fire-worshipper might have been seen, generation after generation,
going out in his white robes at sunrise or sunset, from
his counting-room in the seaports of China and other countries foreign to him as to us, in order to worship the Deity
as represented by the sun.  The traveler might have had
there the opportunity to observe that one of those enterprising merchants, instead of taking out a policy of insurance, as he is solicited by our people to do when he sends




DEFECTS OF THE REFORMATION.    73
forth a vessel, or consignment of goods, prays instead to the
divine source of life and good for his favor and blessing, and
piously goes out into the public streets and squares of the
city and distributes a quantity of copper money, in charity,
to the poor, the blind and lepers.  Through all the Middle
Ages Romanism sent forth in the footsteps of its merchants
devoted  men and women to  convert heathen  nations.*
Wherever its commerce has gone since the Reformation, it
has planted large and well-appointed missions. They exist
in every continent.  Vessels like the "Stella del Mar "the Star of the Sea-long preceded the English ship Duff,
or American "Morning Star," as missionary ships amidst
the islands of the Pacific. But it is astonishing and dreadful to see how godless, how licentious, how covetous, how
- The pious spirit of much of that medieval commerce is beautifully illustrated in the narratives of those memorable voyages which
brought to light this new hemisphere. Every one who has read
them remembers how, in setting sail, Columbus and his officers
solemnly invoked the protection of God; how he commenced his
journal of the first voyage " in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,"
and at his first step upon the newly discovered land, "threw himself on his knees, kissed the earth, and returned thanks to God with
tears of joy." He called the island by the name of the Saviour
(San Salvador). On his return, the court of Spain joined in offering up a devout and grateful tribute of praise, "giving glory to God
for the discovery of another world." Columbus, in the confident
expectation of great riches, "made a vow to furnish within seven
years an army, consisting of four thousand horse and fifty thousand
men, for the rescue of the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem, and a similar force within the five following years." IRvING; Life of Colanbus, books IV. and V.




74     GOD) S IuLE FO    CIIrISTAN  GIVING.
unmernciful, Protestant commerce has almost universally
been.
It is one of the terrible facts of history that Britain and
America maintained commercial intercourse with some of
the principal heathen empires of the world for two or three
hundreds of years, but made scarcely an effort to instruct
those from whom we were drawing vast wealth and earthly
benefits, in regard to their duties to their Creator, and the way
of pardon for sin and life eternal through Jesus Christ.
ILLUSTRATIONS IN EASTERN ASIA.
That truly great and humane statesman, Edmund Burke,
in 1783 described the character of the British East India
Company's government in India until his day.  He said of
its servants: * "They have no more social habits with the
people, than if they still resided in England; nor indeed any
species of intercourse but that which is necessary to making
a sudden fortune, with a view  to a remote settlement.
Animated with all the avarice of age, and all the impetuosity of youth, they roll in one after another; wave after
wave.  There is nothing before the eyes of the natives but
an endless, hopeless prospect of new flights of birds of prey
and passage, with appetites continually renewing for a
food that is continually wasting.  England has erected no
churches, no hospitals, no palaces, no schools; England has
built no bridges, made no high roads, cut no navigations,
dug out no reservoirs.  Every other conqueror of every
other description has left some monument, either of state or
beneficence, belind hlim.  Were we to be driven out of
* Speech on Mr. Fox's East India Bill.




DEFECTS OF THE REFORMIATION.                75
India this day, nothing would remain to tell that it had
been possessed, during the inglorious period of our dominion, by anything better than the orang-outang or the tiger."
In opening the impeachment of the Governor General,
Warren Hastings, he said: "The whole of the crimes
charged upon Mr. Hastings have their root and origin in
avarice and rapacity....  His very merits are nothing but
merits of money; money got by oppression, money got
by extortion, money got by violence, from  the poor or
from the rich.  There is breach of faith, cruelty, perfidy;
yet the great ruling principle of the whole is money.  His
acts are acts, and his government a government, of money.
It is base avarice, which never can look, by any prejudice
of mankind, anything like virtue.... In short, money is
the beginning, money is the middle, and money is the end
of his government."
In India Britain has been compelled by a just and merciful God, through the rebellions which would otherwise have
overturned her valuable empire there, as well as by the
spiritually awakened conscience of later days, to establish
equitable laws, the beginnings of educational and humane
institutions, and Christian missions. But to this day there
continue some of the greatest abuses, by which she annually reaps scores of millions of pounds sterling from the labors and sufferings of the nations which she has compelled
to yield to them at the mouth of the cannon. One of these
is the opium tra(de. Opium is raised by the British government in India that it may be exported to China, to pay there
for teas and silks, which could otherwise only be obtained
for specie. To legalize this diabolical traffic, so ruinous to




76    GOD'S RULE FOR CIRIUSTIAN  GIVING.
China, she made almost continual war upon that empire for
a quarter of a century.
To make these general statements creates no distinct impression upon the mind of the reader.  They must be
studied in their details, and influences, and consequences.
For this we have little space here.  Yet it is important to
our present object to consider for a moment one of the
strangest, saddest scenes which our world has ever witnessed.
It occurred upon a Chinese war-junk.  A  "Christian"
nation was deluging the coasts of that heathen empire with
blood, and blackening them with the burned ruins of its
own cities, because the aged and humane emperor would not
consent to the introduction of "the opium poison" among
his subjects. After a battle near Canton, a party of Englisl
sailors, who boarded a war-junk froml which all had fled
save the wounded and the dead, beheld the commander, a
brave and intelligent man, who was much esteemed by his
own people, seated lifeless by the cabin table. His fresh
blood was streaming over his Buddhist rosary and down his
richly embroidered blue satin robe.  Before his glazed eyes
there was spread out an open Chinese book.  The assailants
looked with wonder to ascertain what it was.  It was a missionary translation of the Gospel of John.  The unhappy
man had been searching for information as to the secret of
the terrible energy and success of the cruel and wicked race
with whom he was vainly contending.  lie had found some
of their books which were translated into his own tongue.
And there he sat, murdered by them, his perplexed eyes
fixed upon the Gospel of John!
How strange and dreadful a spectacle! For many centu



DEFECTS OF TIHE REFORMATION.                 77
ries Christian nations had been trading and sending embassies of state to China; but then for the first time it is
that millions upon millions begin to find that they possess
any religion, or belief in a state of rewards and punishments, or sacred books. Since, before our great Reformation,
ships had gone there by the Cape of Good Hope; and they
had yet only known us in their common  language as
devils," "pirates," and "monsters."  At that particular
time to which I have alluded Christians were smuggling by
violence into their country the astounding amount of thirty
millions of dollars' worth of opium each year; and spending
a few thousands of dollars at Canton, and a few tens of
thousands at ports outside of the Chinese dominions, in giving to the Chinese people the gospel. There were three men
at Canton and twenty-five elsewhere engaged in teaching
them the mercy of God; while a great and powerful fleet of
vessels of war and many merchant vessels, were inflicting the
cruelty, the lust, and the wrath of man. Some things in the
scheme of redemption "the angels desire to look into;" but
if there be ever tears in angelic eyes it must be when they
look upon such a scene as that of the cabin in which a crowd
of men from a Christian nation stood astonished at those outspread hands, cold in death, grasping helplessly the Gospel
of John; and at the stony eyeballs, blinded in death by our
weapons of destruction while they pondered the mysterious
words: " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'"
This was truly a representative scene. The bewildered,
slaughtered "heathen," and the powerful invading "Chris* John xiv. 27.




78    GOD'S RULE FOR CITRISTrIN GIVING.
tians;" the few pennics to give the gospel, the millions of
pounds to carry on war; a few scattered individuals engaged
in preaching, teaching the youth, and healing the sick, but
grand fleets and armaments and armies to spread rapine and
death, to compel the admission of opium, or rum, or corruption in even worse forms, and to make the name of
(Christ abhorred by the gentiles.  This is a picture which is
representative of our relations in America to the Indian and
the negro; of those of England in her influence in India
and China, and Caffraria and Australia; of those of Holland
in the great islands of the East Indies. It is continually, over
and over again in a thousand fields, the scene of the murdered mandarin with the Gospel of John.
QUESTION OF TIlE BALANCE    O OF Go i OR EVI,.
We close this review of the era of Christianity which
commenced with the Rleformation of three centuries ago by
observing that, great as have been many of its benefits to
the Church of Christ and to mankind, its defects, as represented in the influence of the nations which have accepted
it upon the world, have been lamentably great; and the
results until the present time have in some respects been so
tremendously disastrous, that the external influence of our
intercourse with the chief heathen nations of the world has
done them fully as much of injury as of good.
We saw the failures of Christianity in its preceding stages.
Now, in its turn, Protestantism has not accomplished the
grand designs of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The
Eternal Son of God came into the world to make himself an
offering for sin, to bear our griefs, to heal all human woes;




DEFECTS OF THIE REFORMATION.                   79
yet he cries, speaking prophetically of the Church until our
time: "I 1have labored in vain, I have spent my strength
for nought and in vain."    When we take a comprehensive
survey of' the condition of the thirteen hundred millions of'
mankind in the habitable parts of the globe, and allow tlhe
utmost probable estimate of the very small number amidst
all its races and nations who possess, and spiritually understand and obey, the word of God, we must confess that now,
eighteen centuries after tlhe agony of Gethsemane arid the
blood of Calvary, Sin still reigns, moral Death reigns, thle
powers of Hell reign, in all the earth.
And yet Protestantism has not been a "failure," as sm)n
have boldly declared.  It has been a long and cold and
stormy spring time.  The green blades have put forth only
here and there on the face of the earth, and in sheltered
spots.  But there is a great harvest near.  These three
grand centuries have been an era of all-important preparation, discipline, and organization; the ends of which, in
their financial aspects at least, the Church is just beginning
to conceive.
- Isaiah, chaps. xlix. to liv.




PART II.
THE DIVINE RULE FOR THE CHRISTIAN USE
OF MONEY.
CHAPTER I.
TIHE NECESSITY FOR A DIVINE RULE FOR
CHRISTIAN GIVING.
T1HE solemn question often comes up in the secret thoughts
of every genuine Christian, at times appalling and terrifying him with the additional consideration that he must answer it publicly in the Judgment Day: Why is the religion
of the Lord Jesus Christ so unsuccessful in converting mankind? His reasoning will follow some such channel as this:;' I see not the one-twentieth part of our race accepting that
simple gospel which at the beginning seemed about to possess the globe, and but a small portion of these becoming
truly spiritual Christians. After coming triumphant out of
persecutions, intended to exterminate it in fire and blood, I
find it betrays Christ to the world for its lucre; then that it
rises superior to the world, not to instruct and purify it, but
to enslave it, to plunder it, and to glut itself with sensual
80so




TIIE NECESSITY  FOR A DIVINE RULE.   81
gratifications.  I see it granted, since the Reformation, a
great revival of spirituality of doctrine; and a wondrous
wealth of knowledge, and of all that constitutes secular
power, poured upon the churches of Western Europe and
America: and yet, since this apparent resurrection, three
centuries and a half more have passed away without that
Christianity having extended its dominion much beyond the
races which at that time accepted it. What is the defect,
that the mighty gospel does not sweep like a great wind,
from  pole to pole?  It cannot be in the power of God,
which is infinite. It cannot be in the willingness of God,
who sent his Son to die for sinners, and who is not willing
that any should perish, nor, much more, that whole nations
should go together to eternal destruction. Then it must be
in man.  If in us, it must be either in the want of believing prayer, or of consecrated men, or of sufficient pecuniary means. I can scarcely say that the defect is in the
amount or themes of prayer, since God has so inspired the
language of Scripture that we can hardly use its words and
sentiments at all in prayer without asking for the extension
of his kingdom, and power, and glory on earth.  As to the
spirit of prayer, that will be regulated largely by our labors
for its ends.  So I am bound down to the conclusion, that
the great hindrance to the salvation of the world is chiefly
in the want of the personal consecration of Christians to
that end; that men and women who can give life do not
give their life; that men and women who cannot give life,
but can give money, do not give money. There must, then,
be far more laborers to go forth; and those who stay must feel
that their part is to give to them the means to prosecute
6




82     GOD'S RULE FOR  CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
their heavenly work. Otherwise the talk of converting the
world is mere trifling with the souls of men, and a mockery
of God."
SHOWN BY THE CHIEF END FOR WHICI GOD MADE
THE PRECIOUS METALS.
It was shown in a former chapter that the precious
metals, especially in their adaptation for use as money, are
a most important part of the material creation, and among
the most honorable and valuable of the Divine gifts to mankind. Let us consider now the chief and most important
end for which they are to be used.
"The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool."  "For all those things hath mine hand made, saith
the Lord."  The chief end of all beings and things that he
has made is to show forth his glory; to be "for a name, and
for a praise, and for a glory." *  This is the great end for
which he made gold and silver, or what men may agree to
accept as pecuniary equivalents redeemable in them.  They
are appointed first for royal tribute to him.  They are the
general medium for the exchange of the products of man's
labor, to his glory. They are the representatives of the
materials necessary for the sustenance of life in his service,
and for the maintenance of the war against evil in which
Christians are engaged.  His Church needs money; for to
say this is merely another form of saying that ships, cars on
railroads and other vehicles, are necessary to transport the
bodies of the soldiers of Christ, food necessary to nourish
them, clothing and  houses necessary for their physical
Jer. xiii. 11. Isa. lxvi. 12.




THE NECESSITY  FOR A DIVINE RULE.   83
health and comfort, church and school buildings necessary
for converts, books necessary to convey truth, medicine
necessary to heal the sick, and that the all-wise God has so
organized man and society that while the Holy Spirit is the
great source of power in all good, man must do his part,
must co-operate through earthly materials; and if this be
not done, the whole machinery of grace must stand still.
Money is the social instrumentality by which all these
materials are procured; by which alone the varieties of
human labor necessary to furnish them can be put in operation. The very existence here of those wholly engaged in
the service of the Church depends upon the possession of the
ordinary means of supporting it. They are not superhuman.
They are men, with the wants of men. And while they are
so, there is no means by which they can obtain the necessaries of life, comfort, or enjoyment, for themselves and their
families, without giving a common and acceptable equivalent
for the labor which others have spent in producing or providing them; that is, money.  If then the God of nature
has made the precious metals, which are so important a department of nature, for his glory, their use should be made
truly and greatly to glorify him.  Ie should be honored by
a system of giving, just as he is by regularity in almost all
else that pertains to his worship and service.  It cannot be
expected that he can be pleased with fitfulness or carelessness, or bless what is given to him in this way any moro
than he can bless these habits in the farmer who tills the
soil, or the laborer in any ordinary calling.




84     GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVIN-G.
PRESUMPTION  THAT THE  3OMNISCIENT  tIEAD  OF TIHE
CHURCIH WOULD IREVEAL A PECUNIARY SYSTEM  FOR
ITS MAINTENANCE.
It is in perfect accordance with God's wise and gracious
methods in governing the world fbr us to expect that he
would reveal in the Scriptures a system for contributions of
money, from all his people, for the grand objects of the
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.  If God so organized his
Church on earth that the conversion of the world is to be
accomplished, not by visible or audible displays of his divine majesty and power, and justice and mercy; nor-what,
if it had been left to us to plan, we would have judged
necessary-by the continuous agency of orders of beings far
superior to us in love, knowledge, holiness, and strength;
but so that man must be the instrument of saving man, and
his ministers and servants be as subject as are their fellow
men to all the necessities of their earthly nature; then
would he leave this kingdom without some sufficient arrangement as to the means of supplying the wants of those
ministers and servants? Would he, whose government of
nature here, and its counterpart in the material heavens, is
so wonderfully perfect, not reveal, to his Church some
method according to which his subjects should furnish
the means needfhl to carry on the great warfare of the
kingdom  of his Son against sin?  It would surely be an
anomaly in God's government were this not the case.  It is
incredible that a Being who saw the end from the beginning,
and foreknew the world-wide wants of the Church in the
New Dispensation, which displays' to the principalities and




TIHE NECESSITY  FOR A  DIVINE RULE.    85
powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God,"
would not make some earthly arrangements to meet those
wants.  It would throw discredit on the authority which
cails some of our race to special and official service, and
lays them under the stress of obedience to his commands,
did not God lay upon other members of it the burthen of
some definite ordinance as to the share they should bear in
the common duty.  And in the plan of revelation, which
shuts out all such topics of communication from heaven as
are irrelevant to the kingdom of Christ, but which is so
very clear and full in regard to it, it would surely be a
signal and lamentable defect were this vital point of human
agency left without the light which men there so much
need.  So that look at what attribute of God we will, or at
the wants and instrumentalities of his kingdom, or at the
designs of his word, we are forced to expect that he would
reveal some general system in regard to the consecration and
cmployment of our money.
TIHE SPIRIT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROVES THE
NEED OF SUCII A SYSTEM.
The spirit of the Old Testament revelations confirms the
presumptions drawn from the attributes, works and manifest
general purposes of God. If any man out of a sincere desire to learn and to do his duty will consider it, he will see
that certain spiritual and everlasting principles underlie what
is ceremonial, typical and temporary, in the law of Moses.
When he dispossesses his mind of all previous misconceptions in regard to the spirit of the Old Testament, and
studies it critical'ly and thoroughly, this we conceive must be




86    GOD S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
the prevailing impression he receives: that God designed by
it to teach that religion is a Ius11less, the great business of a
human being; that the ordinary employments of men must
be all made subordinate to their spiritual interests; and that
a liberal share of the pecuniary proceeds of those employments
must be devoted bty a regular method to the maintenance
of his service.  The particularity of the laws with regard to
tithes, first-fruits, oblations, sacrifices, the exact numbers
and kinds of the various animals to be offered, the precise
quantities of the flour, oil and wine, the necessity and fixed
rates of redemption and forfeit, and the careful designation
of the times for the performance of public religious duties,
all seem designed to teach that, just as in the appointments
which prefigured the ministry and sufferings of the Saviour
for men he "fulfilled all righteousness," * so on the part of
those who are saved there must be complete and universal
consecration of themselves and their possessions to God,
and regular and devoted employment of every kind of
agency at their command to the great ends of Christ's mission to a lost world.
THE TEACHING AND GOSPEL OF CHRIST BASED UPON
AN IMPLIED SYSTEM.
We turn for further light to the personal instructions of
the Great Teacher, who came down from heaven, and has
made known to us the things which  he heard of the Father. t
Three features of Christ's teaching seem to us most prominent: that he makes the power and joy of religion to lie so
greatly in personal love to himself; that so large a share of
*Matt. iii. 15.                   t John iii. and xv.




TIE NECESSITY  FOR  A DIVINE RULE.   87
his instructions have reference to dti;es-the sermon on the
mount and other formal discourses being chiefly of this chlaracter; and that he rates so high the measure of results
expected of us.  His favorite illustration is taken from the
productiveness of the fruits of the earth, which in the case
of good seed regularly multiply themselves, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold.  There must
evidently be  inferred from  such  lessons an immensely
greater consecration of the resources of believers, and a
corresponding multiplication of the agencies of evangelization, before such measures of increase can be attained. The
Lord Jesus saw that the principal stnubling block to the
spread of his gospel was covetousness.  He warned his
disciples to beware of covetousness; classed covetousness,
as a sin, with adultery and niurder, and exclaimed, " What
shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and
lose his own soul?"  His instructions as to the use of
money, so far as the idea of a formal element entered into
them, were based upon, and calculated to perpetuate, at
least the radical principles of' the Old Testament in regard to
systematic contributions for religious purposes. The parables of the ten talents, the five talents, the lord of the vineyard to whom the fruits are denied, the unjust steward who
deducts from the account of one debtor five-tenths and from
that of another two-tenths, of the Pharisee who trusted in
the merit of his tithes and despised others, and many other
such lessons, exhibit this character.  And, while Jesus
warns his disciples against the danger of self-righteousness
in giving money according to a regular system, just as he
does in regard to that in connection with prayer, or fasting,




88    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
there is not a word to intimate that the act itself was otherwise than commendable and a duty, when performed fiom
the right motives. His warnings are all in the opposite direction. He says: "Think not that I am come to destroy the
law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill."'For I say unto you, That except your righteousness
shall exceedl the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees,
ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom  of heaven."*
These words teach that it will be a fearful thing in the
judgment for the multitude of nominal Christians who do
so much less, and give so much less, than did the Jews,
though they profess to be governed by a higher law.
We are met here with the declaration of Paul: " Ye are
not under the law, but under grace."t Now, what does this
mean?  If a Christian step from a height, because he is a
Christian will he not break his neck?-if he put his hand
in the fire, will it not be burned?-if he sink in the sea, will
he not be drowned? —then he is certainly under the laws
of nature. If a Christian rob, or commit murder, will he
not be punished?-then he is also as certainly under the
moral law, both to God and to man.  How is he then " not
under the law?"  He is simply not under it as a principle,
or motive, of obedience. That is, he is governed by a new
principle, which is not fear, but love; not the terrors of
Sinai, but the melting power of Calvary. As Paul explains, he is a man who dies as to the old nature, and lives
again in a new and higher one; the principle of lifb, the
inward law, is a new one.  Or, he is like a woman whose
former husband is dead, and she married to another; the
* Matt. v. 15-20.                    t Rom. vi. 14.




TIIE NECESSITY  FOR A  DIVINE RULE.   89
submission is the same though the law is a different one.
In each case the essence of law, service, and also recompense
or punishment, inheres.*  Now the "love of Christ constrains," impels and controls him; but surely not to less activity and consecration than did the old law.  The " Christian" cannot labor less for God, or give less to his cause,
than did the Jew.
Every point of comparison between the necessities and
aspirations of Christianity and those of Judaism puts to
shame the thought that " Christians " can fail here.  Christianity has far greater wants than Judaism-the wants of
an advanced and more cultivated age of the world; the
wants of an incomparably more varied machinery; the
wants of a vigorous resistance to far more numerous, active, and skillful enemies; the wants of immensely greater
populations, and more debased, in Christian lands; the
wants of a whole world which is to be speedily conquered
for Immanuel.  God has given in the New Testament a
spiritual and sufficient ordinance adapted to these great
ends.  And the low, unsuccessful, humiliated condition of
that kingdom on the earth, its woeful failure after eighteen
hundred years to conquer more than a few limited districts
of "the world," "all" of which should, according to the
last command of Christ, now be subject to it, lies, so far
as human duty is related to it, largely in the mistakes and
neglect of the Church as to the obedience which she owes to
the fundamental law as to the contributions and co-operation of "every one."
- Rom. vii.




90    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
GREAT NECESSITIES OF THE PRESENT ERA, LIKE THOSE
OF TIIE ELA, OF CHRIST, MANIFESTED IN TIE DECAY
OF FALSE RELIGIONS.
The present condition of the world is in many remarkable
respects similar to what existed when Christianity began its
course. One of the most striking points of resemblance is
found in the ruinous and falling condition of the great false
systems which have been the dungeons of the human intellect and heart. The whole world manifestly feels again to
its centre, and in its entire frame, the omnipotent influence
which moved it in that age
"Wherein the Prince of light
HIis reign of peace upon the earth began."
The superstitions of Paganism, of Mohammedanism, and
also of the Roman, Greek, Armenian, Abyssinian and other
corrupted forms of the Church, are all kindred of the same
blood not far removed. The idols, and temples and utensils,
of all of them are decayed; their priesthoods are anxiously
looking forth to discover the meaning of the signs which indicate that their power over the minds of men is gone, and
that a new spirit is breathed over the face of the earth, the
precursor of the approaching sunrise.*
* We might adopt again, as most truthfully and fully appropriate
to every one of these systems, the pictures of Milton's grand Christmas Hymn.
"The oracles are dumb,
No voice or hideous hum,
Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving;




THE NECESSITY FOR A DIVINE RULE.  91
There is a particular "mystery of iniquity" whose head
"as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God," and who now "letteth, until he be taken out
of the way."T What is its condition?  The screeching
locomotives of the depot of the railway, which Gregory XVI.
in vain tried to shut out of Rome, confuse the quiet of a
Carthusian monastery and the masses in a church beautified
by Michel Angelo.  The smoke of the gas-works, which
Apollo from his shrine,
Can no more divine,
With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving;
No nightly trance, or breathed spell,
Inspires the pale-eyed priests from the prophetic cell.
"The lonely mountains o'er,
And the resounding shore,
A voice of weeping heard, and loud' lament;
From haunted spring and dale,
Edged with poplar pale,
The parting genius is with sighing sent;
Vith flower-inwoven tresses torn,
The nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.
"In consecrated earth,
And on the holy hearth,
The lares, and lemures, moan with midnight plaint;
In urns, and altars round,
A drear and dying sound,
Affrights the flamens at their service quaint;
And the chill marble seems to sweat,
While each peculiar Power foregoes his wonted seat."
-2 Thess. ii. 3-11.




92    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
now furnish good modern light to the city, is blown by a
west wind right across the remains of the palaces of the
Casars and of the Coliseum, around which hang so many
pagan and papal legends.  Comic newspapers, filled with
ridiculous pictures and stories of the pope and priesthood
are for sale everywhere in the streets. And, best of all, the
pope can look down from the high windows of the Vatican
upon houses in which those Scriptures in the common tongue
are sold, and those Protestant schools taught, which are
surely and rapidly undermining the foundations of all his
power, and will level it with the dust.  Nor qan it be long,
if rated by the progress of the last few years, until the conclusive changes come. The armies of the truth then should
be fully prepared with the financial means instantly to spread
the truth amidst all the disorganized dominions of error,
and to make known to. them the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ.  This necessitates the adoption of a competent system, that which God has provided, in order to furnish those
means.
INSUFFICIENCY OF THE AMERICAN VOLUNTARY SYSTEM.
The almost universal sentiment of Christians in America
is, that the past impulsive, unregulated and partial means
of collecting money for ecclesiastical purposes is inadequate
to meet the immensely greater demands which the necessities of our land and the evangelization of the world are layin, upon us.  And these are necessities which, instead of
diminishing, are every year becoming greater, and thus rendering our present condition more painful and hopeless.
The.European nations have watched and studlie(ld our ex



TIHE NECESSITY  FOR A DIVINE RULE.   93
periment, but have only seen reason to follow in our footsteps so far as they were necessarily compelled to do it. It
might have been supposed that the natural sympathies of
the Free Church of Scotland with the Presbyterian Church
of this country, when it realized the impossibility of uniting temporal maintenance by the State with spiritual independence of the State, and separated from the Establishment, would have led it to adopt our Voluntaryism. But its
leaders in the most emphatic language resisted some efforts
in that direction. They argued that it is the duty of a
Christian government to provide means for the religious and
moral education of the poor and vicious; that Voluntaryism
was unsuccessful " in making head against the fearfully increased heathenism, and increasing still, that accumulates at
so fast a rate throughout the great bulk and body of the
common people;" that it did not "'reclaim the wastes of
ignorance and irreligion and profligacy;" that the congregational selfishness which predominates everywhere "cannot be prevailed on to make large sacrifices for the Christian
good of the general population;" and that the spirit was
"the spirit of contention," of " demagogism," and of " impatience of restraint."  These arguments they supported by
statements from the experience of churches in Great Britain
and in America. They declared themselves in favor of " an
Establishment, but a pure Establishment."'
This is the judgment of those who have looked upon our
experiments of evangelism from without.  They have certainly, while more advantageous to Christianity than existH IIANNA; Life and WVriting;s of Dr. Chalmers, vol. iv.; and essays by ITUGI MILLER and others.




94    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
ing Establishments, "failed to reach the lapsed masses."
Great districts in our large cities are yielding annually to
the advances of practical heathenism. Vast regions of our
country are almost entirely destitute of good and efficacious
religious influences. The chronic impotency and groans of
religious boards and societies of all denominations of Christians may, and should, fill a thinking Christian with both
distress and anxiety. The comfort of the churches, the
miserable and unrelieved condition of millions in our land,
the threatening dangers of Romanism and infidelity, the
exceeding littleness of our contributions for the kingdom
of Christ on earth compared with our immense expenditures for folly and vices and warfare, all demand, in tones
that seem to ring fiom the judgment-seat of a Righteous
God, that we should search the Scriptures and find whether
God has not taught his Church some method for a great
pecuniary Reformation.
TIHE PROMISED POWER FROM ON HIGI INDICATES TO
TIlE CHURCI  THE WANT OF FINANCIAL MACIINERY
SUITED TO IT.
The grand ultimate hope of the Christian Dispensation is
" the latter rain" of the Holy Ghost, the descent of the influences from above which are to water the seed of the Gospel sown in the world, and "make the wilderness and the solitary place glad, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the
rose. "*   lost glorious hope of this desolate world! This
will indeed "create new heavens and a new earth."
How are those infinitely gracious promises to be realized?
- Isaiah xxxv. and lxv.




THE NECESSITY  FOR A DIVINE RULE.   95
There are many who imagine that prayer alone is necessary;
or who at least act. as if on their part they had nothing to
do but to pray. But for such expectations and conduct
they certainly have no warrant from what God reveals of
his plans and our duties.  He makes the express compact:
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me
therewith, if I will not open the windows of heaven and
pour you out a blessing."  There is not a promise of any
one blessing in all the word of God, to saint or sinner, which
is not founded upon the condition of his faithful employment of regular appointed means to obtain it. It is part
of the eternal purpose of good to develop the faculties,
capabilities and resources which God entrusts to him.
The Church must make it her chief business to advance
the earthly kingdom of her Lord. Her order and membership are often spoken of as a grand machinery. The Holy
Spirit is the fire. But fire is of no avail unless the machinery be sound and in place, and the different departments
be properly attended to; then it will accomplish all the
grand results for which engine and machinery were designed. If parts be wanting or defective, if the attendants
be ignorant or negligent, then the fire assuredly will die out
without effect, or else it will burn or explode the structure.
Now a revival of religion in the Church is simply a bestowment of " power."   The beneficial or opposite character of
its results must depend upon how men perform their part in
applying the power to hallowed ends. The gifts of any
power may be an injury instead of a benefit. Even miraculous gifts were bestowed upon some unbelievers and men
that were lost. The calculation, the economy, the fidelity,




96    GOD'S RULE FOR CIIRISTIAN GIVING.
of men in employments for their own advantage must be
awakened and put in action to accomplish the salvation of a
world, in which the mighty influences of the Holy Ghost
are even now beginning to be felt.
The apostles were authorized by the circumstances of the
age in which they lived to distinguish it by the world-wide
proclamation, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold,
now is the day of salvation!"   Thus we may say of the
present, Now is the era when all are again called " to receive not the grace of God in vain," and to be " workers
with him," as the apostles besought the Corinthian Church.
To be such workers " every one " must give his help, " as God
hath prospered him," to increase, train, send abroad and
sustain the men, and abundantly supply all instrumentalities
which are needed to "preach the gospel to every creature."
TIE NEAR APPROACH OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM NECESSITATES OBEDIENCE TO  GOD'S RULE OF GIVING TO
MEET ITS WANTS.
The coming of Jesus Christ to make atonement for sin
was preceded by a grand direct preparation for it among all
nations. The Greek empire had already planted its civilization in the great centres of ancient power over the world,
and had communicated to them the language in which it
was the Divine purpose to give to mankind the New Testament-that book which was to contain the final and complete
revelations of his will as to our race until the millennium.
The Roman empire was contemporaneous with the coming of Christ. The Romans were law-makers and road- 2 Cor. via 1, 2; 1 Cor. xvi. 2.




THE NECESSITY  FOR  A  DIVINE RULE.   97
builders.  This was their grand mission.  As the personal
teaching of John the Baptist was the preparation for the
teaching of Jesus Christ, so was the spread of Roman influence the preparation for the spread of the gospel of salvation to all the world.
The roads which Rome built were the greatest and most
useful monuments of her vast power. They were constructed
with far greater outlays of labor and expense than anything
of the kind in modern ages. The prophecies of Isaiah were
literally fulfilled as to the leveling of mountains and valleys,
the straightening of crooked ways, and the making of the
rough ways smooth.*  Some of those magnificent highways
are among the wonders of the world until this day, and have
gone for centuries together without repair. Their vast ex
cavations and embankments, their paved bridges, and the care
with which they were built in four successive courses of stones
of various sizes, solidified with lime, and the surface covered
over with blocks of smoothed granite or other hard rock,
fitted and jointed like our masonry of walls, have been unparalleled in any subsequent age. They were felt to be the
best exhibition, and most needful agency, of Roman superiority.  And so they were as speedily as possible constructed, ver conquered countries.  In the Forum at Rome stood a
gilded column t inscribed with the names of the principal
* Isa. xi. 3-5, and Luke iii. 4-7.
t The location of the milliariulm airelm is still pointed out by the
guides at Rome. It is just at the west end of the rostra, or tribune,
and was the ideal centre of the city. Under its shadow were delivered many of the speeches of the great Roman orators. Just north
of it was the capitol. Near it on the east was the Maimertine lrison,
1




98     GOD'S RULE FOR  CHRIISTIAN  GIVING.
roads and the distances to the chief cities upon the course
of each of them. They were marked by milestones, frequent
stone horse-blocks and other conveniences, and buildings
for military and postal necessities. There were taverns near
them  for travelers.  They stretched from  one extreme of
the empire to the other.  Their remains are seen to-day
from Scotland, where the gospel was early planted, in the
West, to Palestine, whence its preachers started forth with
the power of the Holy Ghost, in the East.
The coming of the kingdom and glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ beholds in the present day a similar swift and mighty
preparation.  So urgent and vast is it that this one generation in which we live has seen the grand railroad systems,
which now encompass the world ten times as completely as
ever did the old Roman roads, invented and perfected and
stretched over every continent.  It has besides seen almost
every ocean and sea covered with large and splendidly furnished vessels propelled by steam. Tens of thousands of
miles of postal agencies, incomparably more perfect, useful
and cheap than any that Rome every imagined, link together the families and social interests of mankind.  And
the globe is belted by cords, operated by the lightning of
heaven, which instantly flash from the most distant East to
in which it is said the apostles Peter and Paul, and other Christians,
were at times confined-a dark and dreadful place, cut out of the
solid volcanic rock, and memorable also in the bloody political history of Rome, but in which is a strange, deep, still fountain whose
waters are cool and sweet, another " Siloamn, which is by interpretation Sent " (John ix. 7), a true symbol of the gospel and its sources
of comfort to mankind.




THE NECESSITY FOR A DIVINE RULE.  99
the farthest West the great events of every nation; a final
preparation for the announcement to all mankind of those
connected with " the coming of the Son of Man." *
This is a final and most inspiring argument, which can be
realized by every one in this day and nation, for the speedy
establishment of a financial system which shall accord with
the wants of the kingdom of Christ. It has never yet been
done. God has given us the Rule. The time calls for its
application without delay.  "The kingdom of heaven is at
hand!"
- Matt. xxiv. 27.




CHAPTER II.
TIE PROGRESSIVE RE1VELATION OF GOD'S
WILL AS TO ClHRISTIAN GIVING
TIIE gradual development of doctrine in the New TestaI ment, or in the entire word of God, is one of the features of revelation to which the attention of Christian scholars has been strongly directed of late years, and upon which
a flood of new light has been thrown.
The Scriptures contain no complete systematic statements
as to the moral government of God in heaven, or of that
upon earth; as to the structure of the stars, or of the kingdom of nature in this globe; as to the history of mankind;
as to prophecy; as to the plan of redemption; or as to Chris
tian duties.
The great field of revelation has been divided into three
parts; which are found in the patriarchal dispensation, the
dispensation of the law, and the dispensation of the gospel.
The great principles which relate to the incarnation, atonement and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ are opened up to
man in three different forms or stages: first, occasionally, and
but as to their elementary ideas; second, minutely, specifically, and with temporal rewards and penalties attached to
them; third, in a broader, less definite, and but more
spiritual form, based upon love to God and to the souls of
men.
1i( 




REVELATION OF GOD'S WILL.                101
InI such a way is taught the fact that God designed that
an atonement should be made for sin by the shedding of the
blood of the Divine Son.  First we discern with some difficulty that sacrifices were instituted when Adam was cast out
of the garden of innocence; then, next, the law particularizes all their numerous forms, as types of Christ's suffering;
then, lastly, Christ dies and rises again fiom the dead, and
the former precise and severe forms are broken up, to advance the Church of a risen Redeemer beyond their pupilage, that it may serve him with more spiritual fidelity, and
from deeper, more powerful, and everlasting motives of love
and gratitude.
In the same way is unfolded the obligation of the observance of one day in seven as a Sabbath of holy rest and worship.  First, we see God resting from  the creation of the
world on the seventh day, and several allusions to periodic
worship in commemoration of it; yet we do not see the word
"Sabbath " occur, nor do we read one precept regarding it
in all the history of the patriarchal ages down to the giving
of the law at Sinai.  Under the law, it is most rigidly and
solemnly defined; its number is set as a seal upon every division of time-on days, months, years and seven times
seven years; and the violation of it is made punishable
with death.  Finally, in Christ's resurrection from the dead
on that day, a new and spiritual seal is set upon the Sabbath; and it becomes joyful and glorious as the pledge, by
the risen Creator and Redeemer of mankind, of the fulfillment of the promises of comfort, sanctification and happiness
to the soul, the earnest of a reign of peace on earth, and the
sign of an eternal rest in heaven.




102   GO1)'S RULE FOR CIITtSTIAN  GIVING.
Just so it is with the ordiniance as to property. The same
reasons which govern the method in which other important
religious truth is revealed will be applicable to the revelation
of this.  Like the atonement of Christ, which is the basis
of the salvation of man, and like the Sabbath, which is the
sign and seal of it to the Church, so the ordinance as to
offerings of money, which are the chief means by which the
army of salvation is to be sent forth and supported in the
subjugation of tie world, is revealed in three successive
forms or stages. First, in the patriarchal age, we distinguish
but occasional and brief references to it-a mysterious royal
priest, a type of Christ, receives tithes from Abraham; or
a Jacob vows a tenth of all that the Lord shall give him
as a memorial of the covenant made at Bethel.  Then,
second, under the law. the ordinances as to tithes and gifts
are most minutely specified, applied to the various sources
of income, and severe penalties are attached to neglect of
payment, even to the extent of excommunication or death.
Finally, in Christ, the new and spiritual motives of love and
gratitude are planted at the foundation of the duty; a
mighty pressure is laid upon the followers of God for greatly
enlarged beneficence in the command to preach the Gospel
to every creature; and, in view of the vastly multiplied
wealth which it was the purpose of God to bestow on Christian nations and people, a greater measure of liberality is
enjoined, in the duty that every one shall lay by a weekly
apportionment of his income, and also in the designation of
the standard of reckoning it, which is to be "as the Lord
hath prospered."'
It is most important for us thoroughly to study and com



LEVELATIOX  OF GODIS WILL.                   103
prelend the relationship of the leading features of the three
dispensations.  Moses came not to destroy, but to fulfill, the
first rudiments and principles of revelation made to the
patriarchs.  And Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfill,
the fuller and clearer revelations of the law.  Each takes
the prior foundations; he builds another story of the same
house; the fundamental principles of each former dispensation are applied in a more enlarged, spiritual and effectual
way.  Thus Paul reasons often, for instance, in the verses
relating to the support of the ministry.  "For it is written
in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of
the ox that treadeth out the corn. Does God take care for
oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes?" etc.  here
the law of nature, the law of the old dispensation, and the
principles of the gospel, are presented as the root, the stem
and the fiuit of the same one plant.  And he compares
them in the same chapter to the consecutiveness of ploughing and threshing, sowing and reaping in the same field.*
The New Testament revelation is in itself progressive as
to the duty of giving money for the kingdom  of Christ.
First we are instructed, in the gospels, as to elementary
principles presented in the life, the death and the mission
of "Jesus Christ the Son of God;" next, in the Acts, as
to the illustrations of them  in the spirit, labors and success
of the first preachers of the gospel; then by the exposition,
in the epistle to the Pomans, of the nature of justification
by faith in Christ, and its relation to a life of complete
holiness and consecration to himl; and this brings us to the
epistles to the Corinthians, which are explanatory of the
1 Cor. ix.




104    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
ordinances of the Christian Church.  As the gospels end
with the command to preach the gospel to all the world; as
the Acts end with the labors of Paul at the world's centre of
power in Rome; and as the epistle to the Roman Christians
ends with exhortations based upon the assurance of the universal triumphs of the gospel; so does this epistle to the Corinthians follow up all the teachings as to the ordinances of
the Church with this definite and practical one as to the
pecuniary means by which its heavenly benefits are to be
conveyed and distributed, through human channels and instrumentalities, among all nations.  And this statement of
the rule is followed by varied warnings and encouragements
to this great end in other epistles and in the book of Revelations, which are a sequel to it.  The whole volume closes
with the terrible pictures by John of the final judgment of
antichristian powers and of mankind, and the glorious and
rapturous ones of the millennium  and of heaven.  In the
final state of joy they that have been faithful unto death
receive a crown of life.  The gifts and offerings out of' the
self-denials of earth are recompensed with an eternal home
in that city whose foundations are garnished with all manner
of precious stones; and the twelve gates are twelve pearls;
and the city is of pure gold, as it were transparent glass;
and the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof.*
The particular design of this epistle as a corporate part of
the New Testament was to give instruction in regard to the
ordinances of the Church.  It treats of the functions of its
ministry and officers; the impropriety of some customs
lr ecv. xxi.




REVELATION  OF GOD S WILL.                105
wlhich heathen converts had introduced into public worship;
the nature of public prayer; the form of the sacrament of
the Lord's Supper; the ground of these ordinances, the resurrection of Christ and of the dead; and finally the proper
method of making pecuniary contributions.  It is the concluding purpose of the apostle to found the exhortation to
Christian zeal, industry and liberality, which we are considering, directly upon the certainty of our resurrection, and
the trial and recompenses of' the Judgment Day.  It was
this topic, above all others, which then was the staple of the
preaching, the hymns, the prayers, the communion exercises, of the Sabbath day.  The resurrection and judgment
was the one upon which the apostle would most naturally and
powerfully base the instruction and rule in respect to the
appropriation and use of money, which is the recompense
of all ordinary employments, and the instrumentality of
support for the heralds of the gospel.
The formula itself, like the decalogue, the Lord's prayer,
and the last command of Christ, is wonderfully concise.
One of the evidences of the divine origin, wisdom and authority of a rule which is designed for the instruction of
the universal Christian Church in respect to the collection
of money for all its diverse and incalculable wants, is the
brevity and simplicity of it.  The complete summary of
universal and perpetual moral law for mankind was given
through Moses fiom Mount Sinai in ten statements, containing but a hundred and fifty-eight words.  The perfect
model for Christian prayer was stated by Jesus Christ to his
disciples in seven sentences of seventy-three words.  This
ordinance as to Christian stewardship in property was writ



106   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
ten by Paul in one sentence of thirteen, which our common
translation renders in twenty-two words, as follows:
" UPON TIlE FIRST DAY OF TIlE WEEK LET EVERY ONE OF
YOU LAY BY HIIMI IN STORE AS GOD HATH PROSPERED IIIM." 
The most consummate financier in modern ages can add
nothing to, and take nothing from, this brief rule.  It contains every important principle necessary to the accomplishment of the great end in view. All that is needed is
simple obedience to it, in order to fill the treasuries of the
Christian Church, to secure for the Church that favor of
God which follows from conformity to his will, and to supply
means sufficient to send the Gospel to every creature.  It is
suited to be a complete, abiding and universal rule.  It is
one which should be put upon the walls of every house of
worship; which should be written in the memory and heart
of every professor of religion; and which should be taught
to every child that has been consecrated to God in Christian
baptism.
EXAMINATION OF TIlE FORM OF TIIE RULE.
An examination of the form of the rule which is given by
the apostle shows its design to be, that Christians should
practice a method of appropriating to religious objects a
share of the proceeds of all their ordinary labor, which
should have some regularity both as to time and amount.
Let us first observe the context.
Paul has been teaching, through the Spirit of God, the
glorious and wonderful doctrine of the resurrection of the
dead.   ie thus continues, in showing the necessary fruits
of it in their lifb: "Tlhercfbre, my beloved brethren, be ye




REVELATION  OF GOD'S WILL.                   107
steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, forasmuch as your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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 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 to Jerusalem."  The latter verses of this
passage are in our common English version entirely too
much dissevered from  the first.  It must be remembered
that the division into chapters has only existed about six
hundred years.  The direct connection of duty with doctrine is presented, as the inspired writer designed, by our
reading the epistle continuously.  So Theophylact  and
others of the early fathers represent it:  "The apostle, having finished the subject of doctrines and now proceeding to
treat of moral duties and virtues, leaves the rest and enters
upon that of the quteen of vi'tues, almsgiving."
That the inspired writer designs this to be an authoritative and general ordinance is evident, in the first place, from
its doctrinal connection.
The rule is introduced by a Greek adverb t translated
"now."  It is more properly and, as it is "continuative;''
that is, it takes up and carries on a thought which had been
interrupted, or "marks something added by way of explanation, example, etc."t  In this light it should be kept
ever before us.  The day of the resurrection and judgment
* Quoted by BLOOMFIELD; Rlcetesio S#ynoptica.    t
i: ROBINSON; Gr. Lexicon of Nic  Tctamnent.




108   GOD'S RULE FOR CRIIRSTIAN  GIVING.
approaches to all of us.  Let us always "abound in the
work of the Lord," in efforts to save souls which with us
shall give their account upon that day, knowing that our
"labor is not in vain in the Lord," but that "God will
render to every man according to his deeds."  "And" in
contributions of money, which are so necessary for the
spread of the gospel and benevolent efforts, according to
the rule or order which God has given, " even so do;" that
thus we may give with sufficient liberality and the right aims,
and that God's blessing may follow the objects for which
our money is expended.
Then it is manifest, when we consider the persons addressed, that the object is to establish a positive and general rule.  The subject of contributions is one of the chief
themes in Paul's two epistles to the Corinthians.  The
Asiatics of' Galatia and other churches in Asia Minor,
and the Greeks of Corinth, received the same instructions.
There were embraced in them  both gentiles and Jews.
As new converts they evidently needed clear and positive injunctions on many points. This "order" is the peremptory
topic of the closing chapter; a special application, suited to
all the Christian churches, of the Redeemer's " last command. "
It is sometimes affirmed that the rule was given to the
Corinthians and Galatians alone.  But it is an extraordinary
claim to make, that a wise and important ordinance should
be given to one locality; and its benefits or its obligations
not be shared in by all others.  This is not done with other
appointments or admonitions.  What is addressed by in



REVELATION  OF GOD'S WILL.                  109
spiration to Christians at Colosse, or at iome, or at Ephesus,
every believer unhesitatingly recognizes as intended for all,.
Why so scrupulous in this particular matter?  Surely every
element of claim upon the purse, or upon the self-denial, of
a Corinthian or Galatian exists in respect to the duty of
professed Christians elsewhere!
The apostle addresses "every one" of them.  So that
he is laying upon the Corinthians simply the same obligations which belong to all classes of mankind; whether they
be in one nation or another; the rich or the poor, the
great or the humble, the male or the female members.
A third consideration is that the ordinance was not intended to meet any temporary emergency of the churches of
Galatia and Corinth. It was in its nature a general ordinance to the Christian Church; as fully calculated to be
universal and perpetual as were the previous ordinances regarding marriage, or the, Lord's Supper, or the support of
the Christian ministry. This indeed was to be the divine
New Testament provision as to the means of the support of
the ministry, the functions of whose office the apostle has
been so largely discussing in these epistles to the Corinthians. For the want of obedience to this provision of God the
Church has suffered, and the world has suffered, beyond all
conception.  Religion has either been humiliated by her
* Thus, says CHRYSOSTOM, to the Corinthians he proposes the example of the Galatians; to the Macedonians the example of the
Corinthians; to the Romans that of the Corinthians and Macedonians.-2 Cor. ix. 2. Rom. xv. 26. And he called attention to the
consideration that the "Galatians" were not the inhabitants of
one city, but of a large province. Homilies on 1 Cor.




110    GOD'S RULE FOR CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
obligations to the ungodly civil powers, or else by her
wants and helplessness.
It is a consideration of weight in regard to the language
of the apostle, that the word "collection " in the original *
is not a classical, or heathen, Greek word. It signifies a
transaction which requires reckoning, consideration, judgment.  It is something which Christians everywhere should
make a duty and a habit. It has been remarked that " the
entire form of the introduction, as well as the article' the'
before the Greek word translated'collection,' indicates that
he had spoken before in regard to the matter, and the
Corinthians had now, perhaps, inquired how they were to
carry it forward." t  This is also the meaning of the instruction that he is " to lay aside" money for charitable objects.  It is to be a regular business of the Christian life
of " every one."
The binding and universal character of the ordinance is
impressed upon us by a fourth evidence, that of the selection of the verb used in respect to the appointment: "I
have given order."    It is a very strong one.  It is the
same verb in the original which describes the charge of the
Lord Jesus to the twelve apostles.  "When Jesus had
made an end of commanding his disciples."  It occurs
four other times in the gospels; three times with reference
to Christ, and once to the law  of the Roman empire.
When Christ healed Jairus' daughter, he "commanded
them to give her meat."  He spoke with authority because
hAoyia, from the root A\yw.
" C. F. KLINC, in La.ge'8 Conm.
t;4Q




REVELATION OF GOD'S WILL.                111
they had "laughed him to scorn."  Again, it is used twice
when enforcing upon the disciples the necessity of submission to himself.  "Doth he [the master] thank that servant because he did the things which were commanded him?
I trow not.  So likewise ye, when ye have done all those
things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable
servants."  John the Baptist employs it concerning the
Roman law, "Exact no more than that which is appointed
you."  In other portions of the New Testament the word
is used as a verb or noun in the same sense. Thus, of civil
power: " Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God."  It cannot be questioned that the apostle
Paul designed the rule he was about to lay down to be a
special, authoritative, binding ordinance of a penal nature
in the Church, and to be a ground of judgment before the
bar of God.  IIe employs the verb of the original four
times in this epistle.  As to matters relating to divorces:
"So ordain I in all the churches."  As to ministerial
support: "Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they
which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." As to
the Lord's Supper: "And the rest will I set in order when
I come."  And in the ordinance as to giving, which is before us: " Concerning the collection for the churches, as I
have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye."
These all are "ordinances" binding upon the Christian
Church at large.  Each has its penalties and its rewardsif indeed we can attach the idea of reward to that which is
of the nature of law, and duty, and where it is all of
6; grace " that we stand and have hope of the glory of God.
Then it is of vital importance to each of us that we do not




112   GOD'S RULE FOR CIIRISTIAN GIVING.
fail in keeping tids one, and lose the great blessings of
obedience, or reap the punishment of neglect.
Finally, the effect of the rule, " that there be no gatherings when I come," is worthy of thoughtful consideration.
Having compendiously and clearly stated the rule, the
apostle adds in this brief sentence the reason for his laying
it down.  He was determined that no extraordinary gatherings in money should be made during his visit to Corinth.
The great wisdom of this course is discerned when we observe the character of the people, the condition of the
Church, and the objects he had in view.  The second
epistle, written perhaps a year subsequently, contains numerous references to the rule and throws much light upon
its workings.  We learn that among his objects were these
important ones: to prevent ecclesiastical constraint in giving; to check giving from temporary impulse; to inspire
Christians to give in due measure; and to remove grounds
for wrong imputations as to the motives of the ministry and
officers of the church. These are objections and obstacles
which the ministry encounter everywhere, and always must
continue to meet, especially in new fields of labor, where
their motives are not understood,. and they are personal
strangers to the people. Indeed under all circumstances of
the Church it is most important to detach collections of
money from  personal considerations connected with the
agents who present claims for them, and to make them a
matter of conscience before God.
The conclusion to which a thorough examination of the
form of this rule, and the part of Scripture immediately




REVELATTON OF GOD'S WITT.                113
related to it, leads us is: that the inspired writer intended
to lay down a final ordinance, authoritative and perpetual,
like those upon other points of church order and discipline,
and peculiarly important to the growth and power of the
Church amidst the gentile nations of the earth.
SUMMARY OF INSTRUCTIONS CONTAINED IN THE DIVINE
RULE.
We take up this divine rule of the New  Testament
Church to examine the character of the instructions which
it has pleased the great and ever blessed Head of the Church
to give for the guidance of its members in this most important matter.
" Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay
by him in store as God hath prospered him."
We easily separate the leading points into four heads.
Christian giving is:
I. A weekly religious duty;
11. Of universal obligation;
III. By acts of personal consecration and donation;
IV. According to some definite and, with the blessing of
God, enlarging proportion of the income.
Let us make it our chief effort and prayer, as Christians,
in a matter relating to the service of God and affecting
greatly the honor of his Church, to obtain light upon it
from the great sources which he has given us, in the teaching of the New Testament, in the preparatory and typical
appointments of the Old Testament, and in the interpretations which the Christians of the earliest, and on the whole
the brightest, centuries of the Church put upon them.
s




CHAPTER III.
TIE SPIRIT OF A PRIMITIVE  CIIRISTIAN SABBA TII: ITS WORSItIP AND INSTRUCTIONS.
OUR FIRST great topic, the command that Christian giving shall be made " ON TIIE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK"
-that is, a weekly religiols (lbty-opens before us the grand
motives and the occasion of' it. If these motives can be
made plain to the Christian mind, and this occasion shown
to be divinely appointed and to be practically the wisest and
most efficient arrangement possible for the end in view, the
most important purpose of this volume will be accomplished.
There are two lights in which we may study this appointment. We may consider the power of the spiritual motives
and usefulness of the religious opportunities afforded by the
Sabbath, and we may look at the subject in a purely secular
aspect. Let us take it up now in the former of these lights,
the spiritual and religious.
TIIE WORSHIP OF A PRIMITIVE CIIISTIAN SABBATI.
The primitive Christians had one supreme idea of the
Lord's day, that it was a grand and joyful festival. It was
the great animating centre, the warm and vigorous heart of
their religious life. They celebrated it with every suitable
expression of enjoyment and method of communicatng enjoyment to others.
114




SPIRIT OF A  PRIMITIVE SABBATIT.   115
Let us bring this conception clearly before our minds by
contrasting the original Sabbath of the Church with later
methods of the observance of the day.
It was not a sensual Sabbath, like that of the corrupted
Christian churches.  The Roman Church* retains the one
most distinguishing element of the primitive Sabbath in her
efforts to make it a festival of enjoyment, or, at least, of
excitement; but its liveliest element is wanting.  The ancient spirituality is lost. The music, the prayers, the entire
sentiment, of a Romanist Sabbath are in their essence sensual. They possess enough of the original conception to
make them  powerfully fascinating.  The thrilling music,
the passionate liturgies, the sublime architecture, the glow.
ing and splendid paintings, the rich and gorgeous apparel
of the priesthood, completely carry away the senses of the
multitude.  The emotions created are intense.  Women
faint under their power.  Nothing on earth which is of
earth so powerfully moves the soul, carries the whole nature
captive and inspires love, admiration, zeal, willingness to
give, suffer and dare all things for the sake of the religion.
But the effect is to sensualize the nature.  The Roman
Catholic Sabbath morning makes the Roman Catholic Sabbath afternoon and evening; and that is the time of the
finest operas and dramatic entertainments of the week, of
- The same may be said of the other ancient churches with which
American readers generally are not so familiar. The Greek Church
worship has many points of resemblance to the Roman. The Russians exhibit equal enthusiasm when engaged in it or speaking
of it.




116    GOD'S RULE FORC CIHRISTIAN  GIVING.
the grandest military parades, of "festive" social entertainments, of exciting exhibitions for the multitude, such as
bull-fights and bear-fights and cock-fights, and the wild and
passionate scenes of the numberless resorts and establishments for gambling.  This is the education which benumbs
the spiritual sense of sin, which makes the bandit; or which
suggests an ascetic, that is still also a sensual, remedy, and
makes the monk and the nun.  All the social and political institutions of a people are thus shaped and colored, as a castle or palace is conformed to the rock or eminence on which
it is built, by the character of this foundation.
Nor was the original Sabbath austere.  When the Swiss
conscience, looking down from  the Alpine refuges from
persecution and strongholds of freedom, saw the grossness
and criminality of Rlomanism laid low by the great uprising
of the sixteenth century, how natural was it for the chaste
Reformed Church and her children in Scotland and England to become severe.  The sternness, the plainness, the
inflexibility, the chilly rigor of an old Presbyterian or Puritan Sabbath, 0, how much they have to excuse them when
we consider that they were the girding on of strong and rough
raiment, the grasping of the iron-shod staff and the dull
lantern, and the preparation of nourishing food and strong
cordials by brave men and women who left the dance and the
laughter to go out and save the people who were perishing
in the darkness and storm.
Nor far less was the primitive Sabbath the inane and
placid modern day, displaying itself in pretty feathers and
silks, amused with the harmonies of a musical quartette,
simpering over a pious lecture on science or domestic duties




SPIRIT OF A PRIMITIVE SABBATH.   117
as a substitute in the pulpit for the thunders of the Almighty or the invitations to dying men from the cross of
Calvary, and putting a dollar into the contribution box
which represents the efforts of Christendom for the salvation of hundreds of millions of our race fiom eternal damnation in hell.
No! We have come to the close of this order of things,
to another of the revolutionary eras of the world; one like
the deluge, like the day of Moses, like the day of Christ.
We have reached the time for the reinstatement of the
Christian Sabbath.
It is of great importance to the Christian Church in this
new "fullness of times," that we inform ourselves as to
what the Christian Sabbath is. We read often of a European "Continental Sabbath," of a "Scottish Sabbath," or
of an "American Sabbath."  The good or objectionable
features of each, its advantages or its perils, are depicted.
But there is only one concern to the minds of the sons of
God, who believe that " of his own will begat he them with
the word of truth," that "the Spirit of truth" "will guide
them into all truth," who profess the creed that "the word
of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old
and New  Testaments is the only rule to direct us how
we may glorify and enjoy him."*  What, then, is the scriptural and original Christian Sabbath? What were its spirit,
its worship, and its duties?
THE IDEAL TAKEN FROM TIIE GREAT JEWISH FESTIVALS.
The ideal of the primitive Christian Sabbath was obtained
* Jas. i. 18. John xvi. 13. Shorter Catechism, Quest. 2.




118    GOD S RULE FOR  CIRISTIAN  GIVING.
from the great festivals of the Jews.  The great feasts of
the wave offering of the first sheaf, of Pentecost, or the
feast of weeks, and of tabernacles at harvest, all of them
types of blessings procured through a risen Saviour, were
appointed of God for the first day of the week instead of
the seventh; this would suggest what was the purpose of
the Lord as to the day.  The Jewish Sabbath had much
that was joyful in it, but much also that was legal and
severe.  The Son of God, he who "made the worlds" and
was "the brightness" of "the glory" of the Godhead,
said: "I am the Light of the world."  It was an idea frequently expressed by the apostles that the coming of Jesus
Christ into this world of chaos and darkness was like the
voice which at the first said, "Let there be light and there
was light. "  This thought connected itself with the Divine
worship of the Sabbath when it was changed to the first
day of the week, and was designated "the Lord's day."*
It is one which gave great joy to the hearts of the early disciples.  It is found in the few remains of their writings
which yet exist. One of the personal disciples of the apostle John, Ignatius, was born in Syria. The apostle appointed him, in the year 67, pastor of the great missionary
church of Antioch, where he lived forty years until his martyrdom.  Ignatius wrote thus in one of his epistles: t " They
who were brought up in these ancient laws came nevertheless to newness of hope, no longer observing the Sabbaths,
but keeping the Lord's day-in which our life also is sprung
up by him."  He warned them against Jewish ideas of the
Hleb. i. 2, 3. John viii. 12; i. 4. 2 Cor. iv. 6. Rev. i. 10.
t Epistle to llIagucsians, ix. and x.




SPIRIT OF A  PRIMITIVE SABBATH.    119
Christian religion.  "Lay aside," said he, "the old, and
sour, and evil lea:ven," and be ye changed into the new
leaven, which is Jesus Christ.  We at once see how fiomr
these principles it came to pass that the Christian worship
of the Sabbath should copy those chief feasts which we are
told the former Israel often kept "with great gladness, and
the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day,
singing with loud instruments to the Lord."  After them
the worshipers were "sent into their tents glad and merry
in heart for the good which the Lord had showed unto his
people."  They " made them days of feasting and joy and
of sending portions one to another and gifts to the poor. "
These great festivals were imitated as to their most important features in the Lord's day of the early Christians.
DESCRIPTIONS BY WRITERS OF TIAT AGE.
The sore persecutions of the early Christians were like a
dark cloud which yet reflected back light to distant places.
They were forced to make public defences and explanations
of their practices, which are most instructive and precious
to us now.  Two of these defences were written by Justin
Martyr, a Greek by parentage, who was born at Sychar in
Samaria, only twenty years after the death of the last apostle, John. He became a Christian and wrote several books,
which are yet extant, against idolatry, or explanatory of his
religion.  In his first Apology, addressed to the emperor
Antoninus Pius, he gives an account of the way in which the
Christians then Kept the Sabbath.  ETe says:
"Those of us who have the means assist all who are in
- 2 Chron. xxx. 21; vii. 10. Esther ix. 22.




120   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
want; and in all our oblations we bless the Maker of all
things through his Son, Jesus Christ, and through the Holy
Ghost.  On the day which is called Sunday there is an assembly in the same place of all those who live in the cities,
or in the country districts. The records of the apostles, or
the writings of prophets, are read as long as the time will
allow.  When the reader concludes, the presiding minister
gives oral instruction. Then we all rise and offer up our
prayers.  When we have concluded our prayer, bread is
brought in, and wine and water.  The presiding minister
again in the same way offers up prayers and thanksgiving
with his utmost power, and the people express their concurrence by saying Amen.
"There is then a distribution and a partaking, by every
one, of the elements used in the supper; and to those who
are not present they are sent by the hands of the deacons.
Those who are in a prosperous condition, and wish to do so,
then give what they will, each according to his judgment.
What is collected is placed in the hands of the presiding
minister; who assists with it orphans and widows, and such
as from sickness or any other cause are in distress; and he
grants aid to those who are in bondage, to strangers from
afar, and, in a word, to all who are in need.
"But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God,
when he changed darkness and matter, made the world,
and the same day on which Jesus Christ our Saviour rose
from the dead. For on the day before the (I loman) Saturday
he was crucified, and on the day after it, which is Sunday,
he appeared to his apostles and disciples, and taught them




SPIRIT OF A PRIMITIVE SABBATH.    121
these things which we have presented to you for your consideration."
To get as clear an idea as possible of a primitive Christian
Sabbath, which is most necessary to the object which we have
now before us, let us look at the picture of it in another
of the ancient Apologies, that of Tertullian, who was born
at Carthage within sixty years after the time of the death of
the apostle John. He thus describes, in the earliest Christian writings which we have in the Latin language, the
worship which the heathen so grossly misrepresented. * "We
Christians-united in one body by our common faith, worship and hope-meet for prayer, in which we, as it were,
take the kingdom  of heaven by a violence grateful to
God...
" We assemble also for receiving instruction, warning and
exhortation from the Divine word, whereby we nourish our
faith, animate our hope, establish our confidence, and stir
up ourselves by every argument to the practice of good
works. On these occasions discipline is administered with
all solemnity, and the censures pronounced on offenders are
regarded as anticipating the judgment to come.
" Every one puts something into the public stock once a
month, or when he pleases, and according to his ability and 
inclination, for there is no compulsion; these pious deposits
are applied, not to the indulgence of appetite, but in aid
of the poor, orphans, the aged, the shipwrecked, the persecuted, and for burying the dead.
"Then follows a supper, a feast of charity, not an entertainment for the sensual, but a refroshmuent to the hungry and
ji Apologet., c. 39.




122   GOD'S RULE  FOR CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
the needy.  To this supper we do not sit down till we have
previously tasted the pleasure of prayer to God; we sup in
the recollection that God may be worshiped in the night season, and we converse with the consciousness that he hears us.
Praise succeeds, and the whole is concluded with prayer."
In our study of these and other sketches of the primitive
Christian Sabbath, which are given more or less in detail,
there rise to our mind the prominent features of the worship which was celebrated upon it.
THE JOYFUL CHARACTER OF TTIE PRITIITIVE WORSIIP.
The chief joy of the day was its fervent devotional exercises. It was the day which the Lord Jesus hallowed by his
successive appearances after his resurrection, when their
"hearts burned" with the emotions of his personal communications.  It was the day when amidst their assembly
"in one place" the fiery baptism  of the Holy Ghost deseended,x  and they were like "men full of new  wine.''"We celebrate Sunday," said Tertullian, "as a joyful day.
On the Lord's day we think it wrong to fast or to k7neel in
prayer.'
Let the reader try to conceive of the sensations of a new
- OLSHAUSEN, on Acts ii. 1, says: "As the Church has quite
rightly fixed the day of the Redeemer's death upon Friday, although the Passover began on Thursday evening at six o'clock,
so also has it with equal propriety fixed the first Pentecost upon
the day which occurred exactly seven weeks after the resurrection.... Undoubtedly the Jewish Pentecost in the year of our
Lord's death began at six o'clock in the evening when the Sabbath
was at a close, and it lasted until six o'clock on Sunday evening."




SPIRIT  OF A  PRIMITIVE  SABBATH.    123
convert from heathenism who first realizes the indescribable
greatness, and glory, and happiness of the revelation that
there is one "true God, the living God, and an everlasting
King," and that he is permitted to call him  "my God,"
"which keepeth covenant and mercy with them  that love
him."  Then he may be prepared to celebrate like the first
Christians that glorious act of creation, of which the Sabbath is the everlasting memorial, which caused the angelic
witnesses, "the morning stars," to sing together, and the
sons of God to shout for joy.*  Then may he realize the
happiness of those who, even amidst hunger and nakedness
and in tribulation, lovingly trust day by day for" daily bread "
to their " Father in heaven."  The "hallelujahs" of the
closing psalms of David or Ezra will inspire him with a rapture which he never before knew.
"Praise ye him, all his angels!
Praise ye him, all his hosts!
Praise ye him, sun and moon!
Praise him, all ye stars of light!"
"Kings of the earth, and all people;
Princes, and all judges of the earth!
Both young men, and maidens;
Old men, and children'"
"Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD!
Praise ye the Lord!"
The Sabbath was above all other employments a day of
praise to Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, who "made
peace through the blood of his cross," the risen and ascended King and Head of "things in earth and things in
* Job xxxviii. 7. Dout. vii. 9. Jcr. x. 10.




124   GOD'S RULE FOR  CHRISTIAN GIVING.
heaven."  "The word of Christ dwelt in them richly, in all
wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs; singing with grace in their
hearts to the LORD. "
The heathen noticed this distinguishing worship.  The
philosopher Plinyt described the Christians as those who
"affirmed that the whole of their fault or error lay in this,
that they were wont to meet together on a stated day, before it was light, and sing among themselves by turns a
hymn to Christ as God."  The following verses are a translation of part of a hymn, the earliest we possess, which is
found in the writings of Clement of Alexandria:
" Shepherd of tender youth,
Guiding in love and truth,
Through devious ways;
Christ our triumphant King!
We come thy name to sing,
And here our children bring,
To shout thy praise.
"Ever be thou our Guide,
Our Shepherd and our pride,
Our staff and song!
Jesus! thou Christ of God!
By the perennial word,
Lead us where thou hast trod,
Make our faith strong.
So now, and till we die,
Sound we thy praise on high,
And joyful sing.
Col. i. 12-20; iii. 16,
t Letter to Trajan.




SPIRIT  OF A  PRIMITIVE SAPBATII.    125
Infants, and the glad throng,
Who to thy Church belong,
Unite and swell the song
To Christ our King!"
Joyful singing and praise should certainly occupy a much
larger share of our Sabbath worship.  The fervent Moravians and other German Protestants sometimes accompany
it not alone with the organ, but also with trumpets and
brass instruments, which impart a peculiarly melodious and
inspiring effect.
Christ has said, "As my Father hath sent me, so send I
you.'"    Every Christian therefore felt himself and herself
to be "a missionary," one sent and delegated to help in
some way to save a lost world! The Sabbath then was a
day of ardent prayer for missionary success, and of triumph
on account of the mighty victories which were continually
announced through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon
city after city, and nation after nation; following to the distant West and East the Roman arms with conquests infinitely more beneficial to the world, which caused joy to the
angels that are in heaven.
The Sabbath was, upon the faith of God's covenant and
word, regarded as a sacred pledge of a millennium on earth
and rest in heaven to the bodies and spirits of the faithful
-the coming "rests" and "sabbatisms."t  The very ancient epistle attributed by many to Barnabas saysf that " in
six days —that is, in six thousand years —shall all things be
- John x. 21.
t IIeb. iv. 9. Rev. xix. 16. Rom. viii. 21.
t C(atf. Epgist. xv.




126   GOD'S RULE  FOR  CTTRISTIAN- GIVING.
accomplished.  And what is this that he saith,'And he
rested the- seventh day?'  He meaneth this, that when
his Son shall come, and abolish the season of the wicked
one, and judge the ungodly; and shall change the sun, and
the moon, and the stars; then he shall gloriously rest on
that seventh day."  Their ideas of the dates of these great
events were uncertain and even contradictory; but of this
they were certain, and in this they triumphed, that Jesus
Christ should be " KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS,"
and that the creation "shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of
God."
If the Sabbatic memorials and hopes so greatly animated
the prayer, and praises, and songs of the primitive Chlristians, how much more should they swell with joy ours, to
whom  the glories of " the latter day" are so much more
near! The wonderful extent to which the science of music
has been cultivated by the present generation is one " earnest" of the promise, "my servants shall sing for joy of
heart;" " with the voice together shall they sing, when the
LoRD shall bring again Zion."*  We have perfected instrumentst of music.  We have taught the young children
of Christendom  to sing.  We have gathered the sweetest
melodies from every land, many of which before were in the
service of the devil. 1 We behold the heavenly power of
* Isa. lxv. 14; lii. 8.
t The piano interests us as the most advanced of the improvements, traceable through the intervening ages, of the original harp
of Central and Western Asia..t Not only are some of them  from operas and other worldly




SPIRIT  OF A  PRIMITIVE  SABBATIH.    127
sanctified music conquering the debased masses of Scotland
and Ireland and England.   Just so have we also seen it
melt the hearts of the heathen in foreign fields of labor.  It
will be, when fully made an instrument of the Holy Spirit,
a chief one among the mighty means of filling the earth
with "the glory of the Lord."  Joyful praises are the best
way to make God's "will be done on earth as it is done in
heaven! "
THE INSTRUCTION OF A CHRISTIAN SABBATI.
An intelligent heathen who has picked up a historical
conception of Christianity out of the gospels distributed
by missionaries, in visiting a Christian country, is surprised to observe a great difference between the methods
of religious instruction practiced now and those pursued by
him whom we claim to be the divine and all-wise Teacher.
Let us go back to the New Testament and examine this
model.  It will enable us to conceive of the methods which
his disciples followed, whose labors converted the civilized
world to the Christian faith.
EXAMPLE OF JESUS AS A TEACHER.
Jesus lived and taught like one who had come to deliver
a momentously important message to men, wherever he
agencies of pleasure, but some are from the Africans of the South
and from the dark races of heathen lands. The palanquin-bearer,
or coolie, in India, sometimes surprises the Christian stranger by
bursting out with the air of our child's hymn, "I want to be an
angel." It is originally that of a IIindustani love-song, the words
of which begin thus when translated, "There came a Mogul woman," etc.




128   GOD'S  UTLE, FOR, CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
could reach them, and to pity and relieve them to the utmost in the little while before he would go away to return
thus no more. He paid little respect to localities, to edifices,
and to forms; he pursued the lost sheep by the seaside, on
the mountains, in the cornfield, amidst the abodes of pain
or the haunts of sinners. His sermons were only at times
theological in structure; but they expounded largely the
written word. Their language was simple as a little child's.
He drew illustrations which would interest the common people fiom all their employments, and fixed the truth in their
minds by striking parables.  His miracles were lessons, and
evidences, by which he addressed also their eyes, their touch,
and their wants and appetites. The form of his discourses
was most often conversational; like that of the instructions
of the other greatest teachers of mankind, as Socrates, Confucius, or Buddla; and he encouraged questions and answers.  Their aim was pointed, personal, tending to immediate volition, action and results.  He made it a great and
essential part of his mission to exhibit specimens of its
proper fruit by the side of the seed and the root which he
sought to induce men to take and to propagate; therefore it was that he healed the sick, and gave sight to
the blind, restored their hearing to the deaf, imparted
speech to the dumb, and bestowed food upon the hungry.
Just what Jesus did the apostles and disciples copied.
So did also several succeeding generations of Christians.
It was this practical Christianity, and  this preaching,
which overcame every obstacle to its progress.  Is it too
much to say that, if it had been persevered in, the gos



SPIRIT OF A PRIMITIVE  SABBATIT.    129
pel would long before this time have overcome all the powers of the world?
The public duties of the Sabbath day were performed at
various times of the day.  Pliny says: "They separated
and came together again."  Those duties which came later
clustered about the communion of the Lord's Supper, and
the agape, or "feast of charity," and the exercise of the
duties connected with them.
It would be a natural thought to Paul, in shaping an
epistle to a church, such as that to the Romans, or Ephesians, or Colossians, to conform the order of subjects somewhat to that which was familiar in the exercises of a Christian Sabbath.  An epistle of his may thus be to us the
representation of such a holy day in the apostolic age.
We trace successively in it the abundant prayers and praises,
the doctrinal instruction, the practical exhortations, and
the closing individual salutations and communications.
EMPLOYMENT OF SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND  EVENING.
This brings us to the consideration of a subject which is
very important to the Christian Church of this age: What
is the proper employment of Sunday afternoon and evening?
To the early Christians this was the most practically delightful part of the day: to Christians now it is the opposite.  It is now a repetition of the morning worship.  Or
it is an hour ft- " pop<mar" "and quesrtirnnahe fhemes.  It
is attenW ed with  taetctaneC by great numbers.  In some
churches the proper memlbershi) and families give place
almost entirely to strangers.  There have been many dis9




130   GOD'S RULE FOR CIIRTSTIAN  GIVING.
cussions as to what to do with Sunday afternoon.  Some of
the most excellent ministers have seriously considered and
spoken of the propriety of dropping the second public service, and turning the time to as much advantage as possible
in the Sabbath-school, in family religious duties, and in
private religious exercises.  But God hath provided some
better thing for us.  " This is the day which the Lord hath
made: we will rejoice and be glad in it." * If the founders
of our faith are worthy to be accepted as our guides, it is
manifest that the Sabbath afternoon and evening are the
fitting times for the consideration of the great practical duties of Christianity, and for some measure of performance
of them.
APPROPRIATE THEMES.
Our subject at present is the instruction of the Christian
Sabbath.  Let us suppose a pastor to be thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Jesus Christ and of the apostles and
sincerely desirous, for the glory of Christ, for the spread of
the gospel in all the world, and for sinning and suffering
men's sake, thoroughly to awaken and educate his congregation to pray and work and give; then how boundless
the range and variety of topics suitable, if intelligently and
spiritually presented, for Sabbath afternoon exercises. HTow
many are there that he may, with God's help, turn to the
most practical "charitable" ends.
1. There are scrdiptre themes.  The glory of God as the
Creator of all.  The glory of the kingdom of Christ.  The
life of Christ on earth. The offices of Christ. The atonement
of Christ, The personality, offices, and influences of the
- Ps. cxviii. 24,




SPIRIT OF A  PRIMITIVE  SABBATH.    131
Holy Spirit.  The three dispensations.  The millennium.
The providence of. God over the human race. The prophecies collectively; in particular books; those referring to
different lands; to particular subjects; modern fulfillment.
Missionary influence of Judaism.  The ten commandments.
The lives and labors of different apostles. Topics of the
Lord's Prayer.  The Lord's Supper. Baptism.  The apostolic commission.  Scripture lessons on objects and uses of
money. The divine rule for giving.  Dangers of covetousness, illustrated from  Bible history, etc.  The Judgment
Day, grounds of trial and final awards.
2. General ecclesiastical topics.  Church history.  Origin
and purposes of the several departments of Church work;
collateral fields of effort connected with each of them; bearing of each on the great designs of the Redeemer's kingdom; relations of Church courts to raising up laborers and
spreading the gospel; duties of members, training and
spirit of workers for Christian purposes.  Enterprises of
other branches of the Christian Church. Consecration and
employment of money and property; vital importance of
prayer in accomplishment of all good.
3. Various classes in the church. Parents.  Sabbath and
other teachers and schools.  Elders.  Deacons.  Different
associations for congregational work. Officers. Duties, privileges, and opportunities of women.  Claims of the ministry
upon young men.  Baptized children.  Duties of business
men.  Responsibilities of professional men, and need of
the world for Christian men of each class at home and
abroad.
4. Particular objects needing co-operation.  Character,




132   GOD'S RULE FOR  CIRISTIAN  GIVING.
circumstances and wants of particular classes of society, or
fields, or nations.  Claims of temperance societies; total
abstinence.  Duties toward the suffering; the blind, mutes,
imbeciles, the insane; the aged; asylums, reform-schools,
poor-houses.    Prisoners.    Seamen.    Religious  press.
Special emergencies.
5. Relatcd theimes.  Religious ends of various sciences.
Christian commerce.  Lessons of passing events  in the
world.
INTEREST OF TIIE PEOPLE.
To make these meetings more interesting and profitable
the assistance and co-operation of the lay members of the
Church should be judiciously called in; " if any one hath a
psalmn, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation,
hath an interpretation: let all things be done unto edifying."
The gifts and knowledge of many may be used in some form
or other, to the advantage of the church and themselves.
One of the profoundest lessons of our Lord's earthly
ministry lay in his treating old and young alike in a methoa
which we, in our pride, folly and want of sympathetic apprehension, set aside  except for children.  We  should
arouse and fix attention, add to the information communicated, and excite earnest emotion and practical results, by
cmploying  suitable means of illustration-pictures, cards,
maps, blackboard sketches, articles of' dress and worship
and use, and written correspondence.  The mind commonly
receives twice  as distinct impressions if communicated
through  two  senses.   The  aim  should  be distinctness,
emotion, action, profitable and tangible results.




SPIIUT OF A  PRIMIITIVE SABBATHI.    1]33
If thirty years is the average of human life, two thirds of
each generation are yet in their minority; they are the moAt
impressible, and the purest and best part of the generation;
the part who are coming into action as the rest are going
out.  It is of immense consequence then to make the Sabbath tell with greatest effect, in all its appointments and
efforts, upon that preponderating and most important majority.
IINTS FROM TIE MIONTIILY CONCERT.
The manner in which the "Monthly Concert of Prayer
for Missions" has been observed, when made really effective,
affords some profitable hints as to the best way for a church
to spend the Sabbath afternoon.
The Monthly Concert has fulfilled its design; a very important one in the initial stage of Christian missions.  But
it could not be universal or permanent for several reasons.
The object was limited-covering but one of the range of
Christian and ecclesiastical claims. Sufficient instruction and
variety could not be provided for in the exercises. The
hour commonly appointed, on a week-day, apparently detached it as an act of worship and duty from the organic
and essential work of the church.  The persons taking part
in it usually were comparatively few in number; and they
were not those who most needed to be taught and incited.
The young and the indifferent portion of the people were not
reached.
The true Sabbath afternoon exercises of a congregation
should possess the spirituality, the freedom, the illustrative
character, the occasional addresses and prayers from the lay
members, the practical tone, the money contributions, of the




134    GOD'S RtULE FOR  clIIRITrlAN GIVING.
Montlly Concert.  But it should be the Monthly Concert
greatly enlarged in its scope, infased with a life that shall
interest and stir every class and age, made far more practical in its aims, lifted into complete communion with all
the great aims of the Church, and glorified with a nobler
and more joyous worship of Christ.
TIE GRAND END OF ALL.
The grand end, to which all else should conform, and by
which all the Sabbath services of every kind should be inspired, is the honor of the LORD JESUS CHRIST.  One benolds, in approaching an island of the Pacific or Eastern
seas, and even while at a great distance from  it, the volcanic mountain to which it at first owed its existence.  The
magnificent gray peak, seamed by its eruptions, stands
far above all the clouds.  It is supposed to be inhabited
by the gods.  It is the supreme object of attraction to
every eye by day. Its fire, if in action, lights the whole
heavens in the night.  When the sun becomes hot, the
clouds gather round it, without reaching its summit, and
form a white and far-spreading umbrella, that shelters the
people who live upon its slopes. The sailors, tossed about
by the winds and waves, make it the great mark by which
to guide their course wherever they go. Now all this, and
infinitely more-Omnipotent Creator, Source of all life and
joy and comfort, the Guide to our spirits tossed in the
storms of life, our King, our God, our All-is JESUS CIRIST.
Every duty of the Sabbath of his appointment, should exalt
him, and tend to extend the blessings of his reign over the
hearts of men.  Yes, every act and word and thought of




SPIRIT OF A  PRIMITIVE SAIBATII.    135
every day also, should be such as become creatures who live
by his goodness, mercy and grace; and who must so live for
ever and for ever.
THE THREE POWERS TIAT WILL CONQUER TIlE WORLD,
And now, to keep clearly before us the practical ends of
this volume, let us remember that the chief ways in which
we are to seek to advance the honor of Jesus Christ through
all the exercises of the Sabbath are these three: prayer, personal labors and influence, and the giving of money. Prayer
moves God's almighty power; the personal labors and influence of men and women are the ordained intelligent agency
of God, on earth; money is the great material agency of
man.  These three must be combined in order to conquer
the world for Christ Jesus, the Son of' God.
PRAYER.
Prayer,-the sense of need of prayer,-the conviction
of the heavenly power of prayer,-the assurance of the
glory, and blessedness, and triumphs of prayer,-this is
the foundation upon which all our labors, and upon which
all our consecration and gifts of money, must be built.
It is prayer that moves GOD!  All else is in itself but
of man.  And what is man compared with God?  Man
moves himself over the surface of the globe like a little
mite upon the sides of a great cannon ball, requiring
months, or years, to pass around it.  But GOD projects
this ball, and  innumerable millions which are immeasurably greater than it, here and there through the infinite
universe, hunlreas of mYllions oT mlles wti'le man is creeping that little circuit.  And just so incomparably, infinitely,




136    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
more great than man's, is God's power.  He coutld miihilate, he could build again, the world with a word.  lie
could convert all mankind with one smile; or he could send
them all to hell with one frown.  He but delays his action,
he but moves slowly through the events of our eras of history, in order patiently to educate us for eternity!  " God
so loves " us!
The chief purpose of this education of the Church is to
teack it to p)ray; that is, to depend upon, and ask, and
bless him, in all its various and numerous wants.
Jesus said, "Therefore pray ye: Hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom conme; thy will be done in earth as it is in
heaven."' Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great,
but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his
harvest. "
"Pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father
which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."
" He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all
night in prayer to God.  And when it was day, he called
unto him his disciples; and of them he chose twelve, whom
also he named apostles."
" He went up into a mountain to pray; and as he prayed,
the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment
was white and glistering."
"They all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication."   "And suddenly there came a sound from
heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the
house where they were sitting."  " And they were all filled




SPI'IiT OF A  PRIITIVE SAtBATII.    137
with the Ioly Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance."  "And the same day
there were added unto them about three thousand souls." *
PERSONAL LABORS AND INFLUENCE.
What a wondrous chain of celestial promises we have in
the following passages!  "Since by man came death, by
man came also the resurrection of the dead."  "Unto the
angels hath he not put in subjection the world (or dispensation) to come."  "For both he that sanctifieth, and they
who are sanctified, are all of one; for which cause he is not
ashamed to call them  brethren."  "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his
temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among
them."  "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to riglltcousness as the stars for ever and ever."'
THE GIVING OF MONEY.
This is the third of the powers which must be leagued
together, in joint and harmonious action, that the whole
world may be subdued to the Lord Jesus Christ.  God acts
through man for the salvation of man.  Man, in the universal co-operation of all the membership of the Church to fill
the world with the blessings of the gospel, must chiefly act
through money.  Let us proceed to consider the office of
money in the Church.
- Matt. vi. 6, 9. Luke x. 2; vi. 12 ix. 29. Acts i. 14; ii. 2-1,41.
- 1 Cor. xv. 21.   lctl. ii. 5, 11.   Itev. vii. 15.   Dan. xii. 3.




CHAPTER IV.
THIE  PRIMITI VE  COMMUNION: GIFTS  IN  IVOR —
SHIP.
T is strange to notice how far, oftentimes, our familiar
English words have departed from the original ideas
which gave them birth.  Thus the word "communion" is
now defined, in its application to a part of our religious
worship, to be simply a celebration of the Lord's Supper;
and the word " sacrament" is but a synonym for the same
passive reception, in these days, of consecrated bread and
wine, for spiritual nutriment and comfort.
But the ancient Romans, from whlom these words came,
affixed them to the ceremony with a widely different meaning.  Then every city and town was a military camp; every
man was a soldier; and every woman and child was glad to
help to burnish and keep the sword and shield.  Roman
legions had conquered the world, and the Christians were
determnined that the Church of Jesus Christ should also conquer it. These words, found in the ancient ecclesiastical Latin,
are among the illustrations of the high and courageous determination. The Latin for "communion" meant at first the
"building together," or guarding together, " of a city wall;"
and the "sacrament" was the sacred "military oath" by
which soldiers bound themselves to adhere to, fight and
suffer for, their leader and each other.  The word "sacra138




PRIMITIVE  COMMITNION(  GIFTS.               1 39
ment" had also a legal use.  It was the sum  of money
which was required as a deposit, or pledge, from the parties
to a suit; which was put for security in the hands of officers
or priests, kept in a sacredl place, and sometimes forfeited
to religious objects.* These radical ideas explain the full
Christian sense of the terms referred to. The original state
of the Church was that of a body engaged in an unending
war.  The epistles of the New Testament abound in military metaphors.  And also the writings of the early fathers.  The Lord's Supper was not a mere "feast."  It was
an occasion of the taking of a solemn pledge, to their Lord
and to each other, and of giving contributions of money and
other means which were necessary to plant the standard of
the gospel upon all the strongholds of sin, and destroy the
dominion of all " the principalities and powers " of hell over
the race of man.t
NEw  TESTAMENT MEANINGS OF "COMMUINION."
We turn to the Greek of the New Testament, and discover an equal departure at the present time from the original inspired ideas. The word which in English is translated
" communion "+ is fiom a root which signifies that which is
common, public, open to others; and possibly therefore with
the sense of its being defiled by that contact.  The derivative of which we speak is applied to the Lord's Supper in
- These uses of the Latin words are common in the Commentaries
of Caesar, Orations of Cicero, and elsewhere. They can be examined, with references, in the Lexicons of Freund, Andrews, etc.
t Elh. vi. 12. 2 Cor. x. 4.. Korvwvia (koilluOni ).




140    GOD'S IRULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
a number of successive senses, which it is important for us
to examine that we may understand the original ordinance.
The solemn occasion of the establishment of the " communion " is too well known to require comment-the scene
in which the Lord Jesus first, like a slave, washed the fbet
of his disciples, enjoining upon them similar humble willingness to serve one another; then gave to them the emblems
of his great and all-sufficient sacrifice in his own blood for
all the sins and woes of men, and of their fellowship with
him in its spirit and purposes.*
We take up the apostolic observance of it, along with the
converts upon whom the Holy Ghost was poured out at, and
after, Pentecost.  " They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship (communion), and in breaking
of bread and in prayers."  "And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every man
had need.  And they, continuing daily with one accord in
the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did
eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people.  And the
Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved." t
The communion of the Lord's Supper was then the central scene of the enjoyment and duties of the Sabbath day.
The epistles of the New Testament, and the writings of the
primitive Christians, are full of allusions to it.  We trace
in those of the New Testament two classes of leading ideas;
related to the reception, or to the bestowment, of good.
First, there is in the', and in sonle degree in ot7('r acts
JoThn  xiii., eto.          AI-l     ii. 12- 17.




PRIMITIVE COMMAUNION  GIFTS.               141
of "communion," the joy of the glorious fellowship with
God, in each of the persons of the Trinity.  John, the
beloved disciple, who lay in the bosom of Christ at the
last Supper, and never forgot it, says: "And truly our
(communion) fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son
Jesus Christ."  Paul says of the communion of the believer with the eternal Godhead, " God is faithfiil, by whom
ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ."
lie cries to the church of Corinth, in this epistle in which
there are so many instructions as to the ordinances of the
Christian Church, "The cup of blessings which we bless, is
it not the communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread
which we break, is it not the communion of the body of
Christ?"  And even Peter, that had so many bitter things
of shame and of repentance to remember in connection with
the first communion, wrote "to the strangers scattered"
abroad, often by persecution, "Rejoice, inasmuch as ye
(share in communion) are partakers of Christ's sufferings,
that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also
with exceeding joy."  This communion was styled that
(the fellowship) "of the Spirit."  And the joyful scenes of
the Sabbath were closed with the solemn benediction, which
invoked the continued grace of the Son, Jesus Christ, the
love of the Father and " the communion of the Holy Ghost"
to "be with'' them " all."*
PRACTICAL COMMAUNION OF CmTRISTIANS.
Next, without dwelling upon them, the uses of the word
1 John i. 3. 1 Cor. i. 9; x. 16. 1 Pet. iv. 13. Phil. ii. 1.
2 Cor. xiii, 14.




142   GOD'S RULE FOR CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
"communion"  as gathering about the employments and
associations on the Sabbath may be studied from various
passages. Paul recalls how, when he was recognized as an
apostle, "James and Cephas (Peter) and John" "gave me
and Barnabas the right hand of (communion) fellowship."
He writes to the Philippians, " I thank God for your (communion) fellowship in the gospel."   He warns the vain
Corinthians against brotherly associations and family connections with unbelievers; "for what communion hath light
with darkness?" —"ye are the temple of the living God."
John admonishes "the elect lady," "receive not into your
house" one who rejects Christ, "neither bid him  God
speed; for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker (as
if in a communion) of his evil deeds."*
The exercises of the Lord's Supper were followed, either
directly or at a later hour of the day, by the "Feast of
charity."  This was a regular part of the Sabbath employment.  It was in accordance with the idea of the Sabbath as
a Jewish "festival."  It was in the spirit of the commemoration of the resurrection of Christ, and of his teaching,
"When thou makest a feast call the poor, the maimed, the
lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot
recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the
resurrection of the just." These feasts gave opportunity
for inquiries into the wants of the suffering, for counsels
together in regard to charitable efforts and enterprises, and,
the early historians tell us, for the reconciliation of differences among themselves.  They were also joyful occasions
of fiaternal religious intercourse.  Yet they were not with- Gal. ii. 9. Phil. i. 3. 2 Cor. vi. 14-16. 2 John 11.




PRIMITIVE COMMUNION GIFTS.               143
out some dangers to the Christians; partly from those who
misconceived and abused their opportunities and freedom,
and became dark " spots" upon them.*
Thus it is evident that the enjoyments and associations
of which the Lord's Supper was the centre in the ancient
Church made the idea of "communion" a very precious
and potent one in the Christian mind.
We must not carry this interpretation too far. We would
not infer that the word " communion," in the passages which
have been quoted, necessarily implies that all the spirit of
piety and works of love to which they refer were connected
only with the Lord's Supper, nor, further, that this ordinance is to be celebrated every Sabbath day now. But they
do imply that the Lord's Supper, the "Feasts of charity,"
and the other associated exercises of the ancient Sabbath,
were the best type, and the chief source, and the most common occasion of these feelings and works. Or, to go back
to the foundation of all, these do spring from the great joy
of the fact of which they are the memorial-that Jesus, who
was crucified and slain, God hath raised and made to sit on
his throne, and that as the divine Head of the Church he
bestows all heavenly gifts upon men.
THE ORIENTAL IDEAS OF HONORARY GIFTS.
It often surprises reading people to notice how difficult it
appears to be for us to convince the nations of the East that
we people of America and Europe are not "barbarians."
This is argued in state papers; it is insisted upon in friendly
discussions of merchants and missionaries. Yet there we
* Luke xiv. 13. Jude 12. 2 Pet. ii. 12.




144   GOD'S RULE FOR CRIISTIAN  GIVINO.
stand, before those whom we know are far beneath us in
knowledge, in power, and in religious advantages, occupying
the humiliating position of defence in the question whether
we ourselves possess the first elements of civilization. The
Oriental grants that we have a wolfish or serpent-like faculty of burrowing into the earth, discovering mines of the
metals and coal, and utilizing in the most wonderful way
material substances for selfish and gross ends; and that we
possess demon-like powers of warfare and destruction.  He
may discern that we have some stern and severe moral virtues, such as truthfulness and impartiality in the administration of justice. And yet he judges us uncivilized. He
understands, in our Scriptures, the deep deference and consideration of the seven days' silence of the friends of the
smitten Job; we do not.  Ile appreciates Mary's kissing
Jesus' feet, and bathing them in tears, and breaking a precious vase of most costly aromatic oil, bought from many a
year's small savings, to anoint them; we do not. IHe comprehends that the commission of Babylonish sages or priests
which visited Palestine, to ascertain the locality and circumstances of the birth of the long-expected "King of the
Jews," could not have come thither without a rich and
appropriate oblation of "gold, frankincense, and myrrh;"
we do not.  The sentiments, sympathies, forms, and especially the becoming material representations, of profound respect for authority, for age, for superior wisdom, for sanctity, which fill the book which we call our Bible, but that is
only half ours as to either our understanding or obedience,
all are but natural and customary to him.  The substantial
manifestation of professions of affection and honor in suit



PRIMITIVE COMMUNION GIFTS.                145
able gifts is with him  necessary and indispensable.  The
people who do not comprehend and practice such usages of
the great nations and most ancient homes of mankind in
the Old World he looks upon as ignorant, avaricious, rude
" barbarians," savages that need to be taught and made to
perform the requirements of the respect which is due to
fellows or to superiors.  Now it is these natural, these
sound, these admirable, these ancient and everlasting principles, that underlie as foundations some of the duties
which the vagrant character of our ancestry for thousands
of years, which our distribution to " the ends of the world,"
and which the debasing necessities of our laborious colonization and primary cultivation of a new and unknown continent, have caused us to forget.
We cannot understand the Bible, we cannot perform the
mutual duties of Christians, we cannot comprehend the appointments of Infinite Wisdom, Majesty and Love, for the
guidance of the Church in its plans to regenerate and ennoble our fallen race, until we do thoroughly inquire into
the religious significance of gifts. And until the Church,
here and everywhere, puts into practice the principles and
obligations of Scripture as to regular, frequent, generous and
loving gifts, as God hath prospered, and as Christ's kingdom needs for its beneficent purposes, we must continue to
witness the same terrible state of darkness and death in the
world, the same want of the moving of the Divine Spirit
through the moral chaos, though that omnipotent Spirit
could in a breath cause all to be glorious with creative
light, and the same dominion of hell on earth which has
existed for so many ages past.
1(




146    GOD'S RULE F(OR CTTIISTIAN  GIVIGT.
GIFTS OF SABBATI WORSHIP AND COMMUNION.
With some conception of the office and importance of
gifts in the Oriental and Scriptural light, we are prepared to
recognize their place in the original "communion" of Christians.  The material gift is to the Eastern mind the highest
exl)ression of sincere love andn honor.  Tile grand festivals
of the ancient Church were forbidden to those who brougllt
none; and they were re(luied to be proportioned to the
abundance and position of the person offering:  "They
shall not appear before the LORD empty: every man shall
give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy
God, which he hath given thee."*  And now, amidst those
scenes of glorious and joyful fellowship with God, and
testimonies from  all the world of the swift and powerf'll
triumphs of his kingdom, and happy and affectionate fellowship of believers, gifts, various gifts, large gifts, loving and
expressive gifts, were poured in.
It was not "communism."  That is the opposite in its
nature. The indiscriminate swinish use of property and its
products is to be "common" in its other and evil sense of;' unclean."  And uncleanness of morals, of family relations,
of social habits, and of name, is its necessary result.  The
charity of the Christians under the inspiration of Pentecost
was one which maintained its natural rights.  Joses, surnamed Barnabas, was honorably praised for his liberality in
selling land, we know not what share of his possessions, and
giving the proceeds to the apostles for public uses; Ananias
and Sapphira were smitten of God for falsely pretending to
* Dent. xvi. 16, 17.




PI'RPTMITIVE COMITMUNION  GITFTS.        1147
give what was their "own," and " after it was sold " was in
their own power. "*  The Christians fulfilled the Saviour's
command, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." This
love made them  count as common the things which could
make each other more useful or more happy, just in the
same sense as do among each other the brothers and sisters
of an affectionate, pure and true-hearted family.  This is
the spirit of the New Testament in all its parts.
The first and most profound thought of the gifts which
the Christian brought to the house of God was that it was
an offering to Christ, his most glorious King.  "Because
of thy temple at Jerusalem," thy manifestation to men,
"shall kings bring presents unto thee."  "The kings of
Tarshish and the isles shall bring presents.  The kings of
Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts."  "Princes shall conme out
of Egypt; Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God.
Rebuke thou the company of spearmen, till every one submit himself with gifts."  Many of these offerings were
"devotioncd;" a word which, like others of which we have
before spoken, has been degraded into the sense of mere
beggarly supplication.  It means properly what the psalm
says of the thankful tribute which we owe for benefits and
deliverances:' Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God; let
all that be round about him  bring presents unto him that
ought to be feared. "t
IDEAS OF CO3MMENTATORS.
This association of reverence and duty is the one which
- Acts v. 1-11.
j- Ps. lxxvi. 11 and Psalm s lxviii. and lxxii.




148    GOD'S RTTLE  FOR  CTTRTSTTAN  GIVING.
requires special consideration in the passage in the epistle
which  contains the inspired  Rlule for Christian  Giving.
The first day of the week was the grand memorial, and
constant remembrancer, and sure pledge, of all that was
most precious to the Christian.  Chrysostom, in addressing
his people, traced thus the mutual relations of the privileges
and duties which are indicated in this text:*
"Mark how lie exhorts them  in regard to the time; for
truly the day itself was sufficient to lead them to almsgiving.'Wherefore call to mind,' he says,'to  what ye attained upon this day.  All unspeakable blessings, and that
event which is the root and beginning of our life, are connected with the day.'  Further, the occasion is suitable for
the exercise of zealous benevolence, inasmuch as it gives
rest and relief fiom toil, and the spirit thus set free is more
disposed to show  mercy.  And then the partaking of the
communion, with its vast and eternal mysteries, itself inspires a spirit of great zeal."
The same observation has been made by numerous modern commentators.  One of them  says: t "The day itself
IHllomily xliii.
t IBRnKITT: Expository Notes on the New  Testament.  WonDswORTH, also, thus comments upon the connection of the passage:
"Observe the beauty of the connection with what was gone before.
The Apostle had just been preaching consolation to the faithful,
from the certainty of a glorious resurrection of the body; and in accordance with our Lord's declarations concerning works of mercy
(Matt. xxv. 34-46) he had taken occasion from that doctrine to enforce the duty of laboring steadfastly in the Lord in deeds of piety
and charity, in order to a blessed immortality.  IIe now applies that
Christian doctrine and duty to a particular work, in which he him



TIIE PRIMITIVEC COMMUNION.                149
doth contain a special motive in it to excite and enlarge our
charity; it being the day on which we were begotten to a
lively hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead, of an inheritance that is incorruptible.  We having therefore received spiritual things from Christ, ought to
be more ready to impart our temporal things to Christians."
OBJECTS OF APPROPRIATION OF GIFTS.
How these gifts were appropriated is easily seen in the
New Testament and in the history of the early Christians.
The all important object was the spread of the gospel. The
preachers and teachers who devoted their life and strength
to publishing everywhere the knowledge of Christ were provided for, by the apostolic command.  "Let him  that is
taught in the word communicate (bestow a share of the communion and common gifts) unto him that teacheth, in all
good things."  The converts from heathenism were so instructed: "For if the Gentiles have been made partakers
(cozmmuicants) of their spiritual things, their duty is also
to minister unto them in carnal things." *
The poor saints received from the abundant offerings of
all, "as every man had need."  The profuse, unselfish,
heartfelt charity of the Christians was a subject of amazement to the rest of mankind.  It was one of the means by
which men were convinced of the heavenly character of their
faith. The illustrations of it we read with the greatest admiration.  They provided for the aged, the widows, the
self was then engaged, and in which he desired to engage the Corinthians."
* Gal. vi. 6. Rom. xv. 27.




150    GOD'S RULE FOR  CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
sick, lepers, strangers from  distant places, support for prisoners, the liberation of slaves, captives, the wants of persons
shipwrecked, the burial of the dead-in which they lovingly
added expensive and odorous spices and ointments-marriage
gifts for poor young women, the transcribing of the books
of Scripture, schools of various kinds for the instruction of
the young, and means for the support of evangelists in cities
and villages, and to foreign and distant nations of the world.
The narratives of the charity of individuals can only be explained by the ardent love which they bore to Christ, and
their willingness " to spend and be spent" for him.*
[DUTY OF PASTORS NOW; NEED OF TIIE HOLY SPIRIT.
Such charity can be enkindled now only by basing the
appeals for it upon these grand motives which belong to
" the first day of the week," as the monument of the relations of men to God as their Creator and the God of nature
and providence, to Christ as their Redeemer and their
future Judge, and to the Holy Spirit, the source of all light,
holiness, strength, comfort and joy. Every Sabbath discourse of the ministry should show to men something of
their obligations in virtue of these great relations. The first
particular inference which the apostle Paul makes from the
doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is this rule concerning the duty of Christians to lay by of the proceeds of their
labor "as God hath prospered " them.  This most import-' We are amazed to hear the statement of Chrysostom that the
church at Antioch supported three thousand widows and poor persons. Many of the widows no doubt were deaconcsses, and laborers
in doing good there and elsewhere.




TIHE PRIMITIVE COMMIUNION.                 151
ant duty should be presented constantly "on the first day
of the week," as one of the chief themes of the pulpit, and
means for the spread of the blessings of the gospel.
What does a pastor or teacher need, in addition to the
clear and faithful instruction of a people in the bible principles and motives of giving, in order to succeed in making
them  liberal?  Just one thing.  The power of the Holy
Ghost in their hearts! Without that, "old Adam  is too
strong for young Melancthon," and the dominion of mammon over them will remain unbroken.  Paul classes liberality as a "grace." *  As such it is "the gift of God,
through our Lord Jesus Christ."  It is bestowed in answer
to fervent prayer, in his name.  It is one of the streams
which the vernal influences of a revival set flowing clear and
refieshing, from  hearts which had else been all bound up
in ice.
2 Cur. viii. 9-16.




CHAPTER V.
THE CIIURCII TIHE SUFFICIENT AND RESPONSIBLE AGENCY.
THE  starting point of all questions which relate to effective practical charity must be the conviction of the terrible and universal facts
"Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe."
" Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her scat
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe
That all was lost."
"Many shapes
IIath Death, and many are the ways that lead
To his grim cave, all dismal."
"Some by violent stroke shall die;
By fire, flood, famine, by intemperance more
In meats and drinks, which on the earth shall bring
Diseases dire."*
The next consideration is: By what combination or agency
can those who endeavor to reinstate righteousness, obedience, peace, mercy and temperance, and to restore the
ruins of the fall, hope most surely and soon to accomplish
their end?
P; Paruad'c Lost.
152




TIE CHUlRCH  TiHE SUFF'ICIENT AGENCY.  153
The reply is: Through the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ.  For the following reasons.
TIHE SPECIFIC OBJECT OF THE CHURCH IS REMEDIAL.
First, this is the grand and specific object for which God
sent the Son into the world.  It was to bruise the serpent's
head, heal those whom he had poisoned, and restore to us
security from his power. When the Son of Jesse shall give a
"glorious rest" to our sin-smitten world, "the sucking
child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned
child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den."  When
Jesus "had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave
them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to
heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease."
" He commanded them saying, preach."  But " the sign" of
"the kingdom  of heaven" was in the associated duty,
" heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils.". The Church is the only appointed Divine agency
for relieving every kind of human woe.  That is its one
special end and business.  It is for healing, and cleansing,
and raising up the race trampled and crushed down by
Hell.
The Church sins against her Divine Head, she forsakes
her Divine mission, when she delegates to the State, and
when she resigns to voluntary associations and societies outside of herself, the great and universal trust of applying
the means which God gives her to the relief of all the suffering of our race.
Christianity is bound mainly to provide even for the poor
Gcn. iii. 15. iii.   1. Matt. x 1.




154   GOD'S RULE FOR  CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
of a Christian land.  Judaism  did so, and does do so, for
its poor. Buddhism  does so, and is a charitable religion
beyond all that the people of this land suppose. Romanism
in a large measure does so.  Even where poverty abounds,
and vice reigns, Protestantism  may do so.  It was the
opinion, very decided, formed from  long and most earnest
and practical devotion to the subject, to which Dr. Clalmers came, amidst the dark and reeking strongholds of
want, vice and wretchedness in the old cities of Glasgow and
Edinburgh, that it was the office of Christianity to cure all
those ills. His labors as a Christian political economist were
directed to the bringing into action of four distinct principles: first, the development of more effective exertion and
of greater prudence on the part of the subjects; second,
that of mutual charity and beneficence among relations and
kindred; third, the extension of a similar spirit among
persons who were not kindred;  and, after these three
means had lifted about three fourths of the burthen, he
appealed successfully to the voluntary liberality of the
abler classes, who could, and did, easily complete the work.
He testified "although I have for many years left the
parish, the same system  is pursued, and pauperism  no
longer afflicts this part of the population of Glasgow." He
recommended to an English parliamentary committee " the
self-extermination of poor rates, simply by a cessation from
taking on any new cases."*  The soundness, the Christian
spirit, and the obligation to try to give effect to, such views
as these must deeply impress the soul of one who will
* Life, various Writings; and "ReminisccnceA" of him  and
othcrs by JOHN JOSEPH1 GURNElY.




THE CHURCH  THE SUFFICIENT AGENCY.  155
familiarize himself with the wretchedness, and too often the
filth, the indecencies, and the cruel abuses of "'charitable
institutions" which are supported by the State.  "The
poor ye har,: always with you," by a providential arrangement which God constitutes for the moral discipline of man,
and from which he exempts the brutes, the birds and the
fishes.  It certainly was the purpose of the Lord Jesus
Christ that his Church should not alone preach glad tidings
to the poor, but gite gladness to the poor, in the real relief
of their wants and pains.  This the Church in America can
do through the far greater average wealth of her membership, and the much smaller outlays required in a new world,
where pauperism  has not taken deep and wide root, or
borne its ever-multiplying seed and noxious fruits.
TIHE CONGREGATIONAL ORGANIZATION.
A second great reason why the Church of Christ is the
sufficient and responsible agency for the relief and restoration of mankind is, that God has given to each congregation
the complete organization which is requisite for that end.
The organization of the individual congregation, as we
lave it pictured in the New Testament, was thoroughly of
a missionary character.  The office of the pastor was that
of " a shepherd," who goes in and out with his flock, gently
leads them-" and they know his voice;"' goes after that
which is lost," supports and restores the lame and them that
are out of the way; and carries the lambs in his bosom.
The elder's office was in many respects, which have been
strangely lost sight of in later ages, parallel with that of the
pastor.  As we have departed far from the aggressive and




156    GOD'S RULE  FOR  CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
evangelistic spirit of the New Testament, so we have from
the letter.  Let us look at this under another head.
OFFICE OF DEACON.
As we have become careless in giving the temporal blessings of Christ's gospel to the poor, so we have permitted
the office which was established with special reference to
this duty to entirely lapse in multitudes of our congregations.  We read, in the most definite form, the constitution
and duties of the deaconry, amidst the very throbs of
Pentecost; and see all of them  bearing names which show
that they were of foreign birth;* thus indicating the class
for whose interests the primitive Church felt the most concern.  The deacons of foreign synagogues seem  sometimes
to have been charged with the conveyance of money for
charitable purposes from one place to another; and similar
duties of a benevolent or missionary nature seem to be referred to by Paul when he offers to forward thleir contributions to the poor, or the sufferers by famine at Jerusalem,
through men whom  they would "approve by letters," and
when again in the second epistle he speaks of one who was
"chosen to travel with" him  in the performance of the
same service.  The office was one transmitted from the synagogue of the Jews, and a prominent feature of its charitable spirit.  The apostle Paul gave to Timothy and Titus
special instructions in respect to it.  It is often referred to
in the epistles of the early fathers, and the first histories of
"-  For the Jews of Palestine were not accustomed to adopt names
ror their children from the Greek, hut from the HIebrew or Syriao
languages." MosIlEIM; Cogui. ou (Ci;81i'tiaus  bc(for Coistantivc, 153.




TIHE CITURCH  TIIE SUFFICIENT AGENCY.  157
the Church. John Calvin traces out Paul's references to the
different employments of the deacons.  lHe says:*
"The epistle to the Romnans mentions two functions of
this kind.'He that giveth,' says the apostle,'let him do
it with simplicity: he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.'t  Now, as it is certain that he there speaks of the
public officers of the Church, it follows that there were two
distinct orders of deacons.  Unless my judgment deceive
me, the former clause refers to the deacons who administered
the alms; and the other to those who devoted themselves
to the care of poor and sick persons; such as the'widows'
mentioned by Paul to Timothy.: For women could execute
no other public office, than by devoting themselves to the
service of the poor.  If we admit this-and it ought to be
fully admitted-there will be two classes of deacons, of
whom one will serve the Church in dispensing the property
given to the poor, the other in taking care of the poor
themselves."  It was the distinction of Calvin, and of
Calvinism, that-unlike Lutheranism which sought chiefly
to purify the existing Church, with no more disturbance
than was necessary-he constantly went back to the New
Testament to seek its instructions and examples.  And thus
he adds, quoting Acts vi. 1-3: "See what were the characters of the deacons in the apostolic Church, and what
ought to be the characters of ours, in conformity to the
primitive example."  John Knox and others carefully defined the office in the Scotch Reformation, in the Books of
Discipline and others relating to church order. Our pres-'* ls8titutcs; b. IV,., c          t  m. I.,.  m. xii. 8.
1 Tim. v. 9, 10.




158   GOD'S RULE FOP, CTrTISTTAX  (ITrVIN(.
ent Form  of Government says, "Thle Scriptures clearly
point out deacons as distinct officers of the Church, whose
business it is to take care of the poor, and to distribute
among them the collections which may be raised for their
use.  To them  also may be properly committed the management of the temporal affairs of the Church."*
OFFICE OF DEACONESSES.
The same spirit of earnest and generous beneficence led
the early Church to appoint an order of deaconesses, such
as Phoebe, "a servant (or deaconess) of the Church," the
honored bearer from Corinth of the epistle to the Romans,
of whom Paul said that she had been " a succorer of many,
and of myself also."  They were generally widows, made
wise, assiduous and tender in their ministry by their own
afflictions.  Such were those whose office and character the
apostle describes in his epistles to Timothy and Titus.  Our
pious Presbyterian commentator, Matthew Henry, remarks:
" There was in those times an office in the Church in which
widows were employed; and that was to tend the sick, the
aged, and to look to them by the direction of the deacons."
The writings of the early Christians abound with allusions
to the merciful deeds of deaconesses.  Neander says in respect to them, "Although women, in conformity with their
natural destination, were  excluded  from  the offices of
teaching and governing the churches, yet in this manner
the peculiar qualities of females were brought into demand,
as peculiar gifts for the service of the Church." t  They are
to be carefully distinguished from the "virgins" who took
- Chap. VI. t ist,. of Chin1,ci in, F;i.rt Three Ccent'; II., I., 1.




TIHE  CIITRCII TTIE  SUFFICIENT  AGENCY.   159
upon them  in subsequent tines vows of celibacy and introduced the practices of Romanism.  Calvin presses earnestly,
in discussing the subject, the distinction between them  and
Romanist nuns.*  The English  Puritans, in like manner,
went back to the New Testament, and "the godly discipline
in the primitive Church;" and about 1576, in an assembly at
Cambridge, adopted certain "conclusions" as to worship;
one of which says: "Touching deacons of both sorts, viz.,
men and women, the Church shall be admonished what is
required by the apostle," etc.t  The sphere of woman in
* Institltes; IV., xiii.,   xix.  "For widows were appointed deaconcsses, not to charm God by their songs or unintelligible mutterilgs, and then spend the rest of their time in idleness; but to servo
the poor on behalf of the whole Church, and to employ themselves
with all attention, earnestness and diligence, in the duties of charity.
Not with a view of performing any service to God in abstaining from
marriage; but only that they might be more at liberty for the discharge of their office. Not in their youth, nor in the flower of their
age, to learn afterward, by late experience, over what a precipice
they had thrown themselves; but, when they appeared to have
passed all danger, they made a vow which was equally consistent
with safety and with piety."
t DAN. NEAL; list. of the PulritCans; I., chap. VI.  It is curious
to notice how the lines of a temporary iufluence have, in the case of
JOHN KNOX, given a cast to the subsequent character of an entire
Church. The bitterness of his warfare with Queen Mary prejudiced
him against the office of deaconess.  lIe says, in "The I'irst Blast
of tthe Trumlpet agaitst thte l~Monstrous Regi7m1en [or Government] of
lVoan," " Nature doth paint them forth to be weak, frail, unpatient,
feeble and foolish; and experience hath shown them to be unconstant, variable, cruel, and lacking the spirit of counsel and regi



1 O0   GOD'S RUTLE FOr  CTIIRTSTIAN  GTVING.
the Church is enlisting great interest at this time in the
European churches.  We are beginning to avail ourselves
of her peculiar gifts and power for the advancement of various kinds of important work of a missionary kind, both at
home and abroad.  We saw  it in a time of war; why
should it not be made still, and far more largely and in varied
ways, effective for the peaceful conquests of Christ?
THE OFFICE OF EVANGELIST.
When the Church shall again rouse herself to the task
of the conversion of " the whole world" to Jesus Christ,
the office of the evangelist will resume its ancient and regular place among her ministry.  It is recognized in our Form
of Government as one the duties of which are " to preach
the gospel, administer sealing ordinances, and organize
churches in fiontier or destitute settlements. "    By consulting the epistles to Timothy and Titus, who filled this office,
it. will be seen that it is an office widely different fiom that
of the pastor. The experiences of the home, but especially
of the foreign, missionary in this age prove that such is the
ease. It is one of itinerancy, of superintendence, of preparation of the way for more settled "incumbents" of the
ministerial functions.  The nature of the office, and its immen."  Hist. of Reformiatiol and other Writinys: p. 443. Knox's
countryman, Sir WALTER SCOTT, in Marmion, wrote more wisely:
"0 woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy and hard to please,
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou!": Chap. XVI. ~ xv.




TIIE CIIURCIT TIHE SUFFICIENT  AGENCY.   16(1
portance to the Church of Christ, in her higher and " evangelistic " aims, are well set forth in an article which appeared
recently from the pen of an esteemed missionary in India,
to which we are glad to be able to refer.*
It is plain that just as God appointed completely all the
departments of the former Levitical service, which was
in many respects a type of the designs of the Church of
Christ, so he did not leave to chance the arrangements of
that Church itself; which are most vital as earthly means to
the sufficient maintenance of its ministry, the education of
those called to the sacred office, the costs of its worship, and
the promulgation of its doctrines and the communication of
its blessings to every creature. The efficiency of this organization is illustrated in the wonderful history of the first
centuries, which records the triumph of the Christian religion over the superstition.and opposition of men, its spread
over the civilized world, and its establishment amidst many
dark and barbarous nations.
WIIY IAVE TIESE OFFICES LAPSED?
It is then a most important question for us to ask, Why
have these scriptural offices of the deacon and deaconess
fallen into disuse in the Presbyterian Church, which in most
features so nearly follows the apostolic model?  Is it not
because it has lost so much of that humane consideration
for the classes to which those offices ministered?  It is a
startling and unwelcome suggestion to make against our
a Prc,.byterian Qlarterly and Princcton Review: April, 1S74.
Art. VII. By Rev. S. II. Kellogg, of Allahabad.
11




162   GOD'S RULE FOR CIRISTIAN  GIVING.
own honored and dear "household of faith."  But what
thoughtful Presbyterian minister, or church member, has
not been smitten in conscience by the unconcerned way in
which we have sometimes handed over the sick to the hospitals of the State, or left them to be cared for in those of
Romanist or other churches; given over the Christian poor
to the desolateness, the icy and graceless provisions, and
the vicious associations of the common almshouse; and
left sometimes, alas! even the disabled and crippled and
friendless minister, the brave but invalid soldier of the cross,
who has worn himself out in hard conflicts, toils and trials for
the Church, and has impoverished his family by his unflinching fidelity to her interests, to "the providence of God;"
or to the consideration of the possible benefits of a lifeinsurance company,* whose "policy" he has not money to
buy, and whose system is as foreign and inefficacious in his
case as the thought of it is discreditable to the fellowship
of the Church of our blessed and merciful Saviour.
The conclusion which presses upon us as Christians in this
age is, that side by side with our earnest and vigorous efforts to
rouse the membership of the Church to a return to the New
Testament standard of consecration in the matters of money
and property to the service of Christ, stands the obligation
to completely organize the Church itself in conformity with
that order which the great Captain of our salvation appointed when it started forth, in the flush of its first zeal and
courage, to the conquest of the whole world.
* This is not intended to be an objection to ordinary investments
by those who have the means, in these business associations, if safe
and well conducted. In this light they are very useful.




THE CIURCIH  TIIE SUFFICIENT AGENCY. 163
SUPERINTENDENCE OF WORK BY CIIURCII COURTS.
A  third reason why the Church should be the great
agency of religious beneficence is, that God has ordained a
succession of courts for the "mutual counsel and assistance necessary in establishing his kingdom, to preserve soundness of doctrine and regularity of discipline, and to enter
into common measures for promoting knowledge and religion, and for preventing infidelity, error, and immorality."'
These great designs cannot be combined and managed by
any other instrumentality of men, by any civil power, or by
any voluntary associations of Christians.
The Church is a queen whose government and offices are
administered in the behalf of Jesus Christ, whose bride
she is, and with the pledge of the co-operation of the Holy
Ghost, who hath made her servants "overseers" of the
work of Christ.  She is a "body" vitally connected with a
divine Head, and " the fullness of him that filleth all in all."
"We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his
bones. "'
It is then the office of the Church, by its successive representative courts, to arrange the various departments of operation which are necessary for the spread of'the gospel and
extension of Christ's kingdom over the world, to superintend their work, and to take, as our book says, all necessary
"measures for promoting knowledge," through the inculcation of principles and the communication of information;
"and religion," through the maintenance of the means by
-* Form of Government, chap. x., ~ 1.
t Acts xx. 28. Eph. i. 23 v. 30.




164   GOD'S RULE FOR  CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
which it is made offective unto the salvation of men.  It is
the Church's place to baptize and religiously instruct the
youth, to select and to educate those who are adapted and
called of God to the ministry; to maintain the settled ministry and ordinances of religion; to send forth evangelists to
the destitute in this land, and to the unenlightened and perishing in all pagan and anti-christian lands; to arm these
men and women with all the apparatus of evangelical literature and publications which the age affords; to support
them with all other auxiliary means of reaching, and saving, and lifting up to a position as blest as our own, all those
for whom Christ shed his precious blood; and to be a heavcnly organization to do just what the Lord Jesus if he were
presiding in his incarnate form over his kingdom  here would
say to his servants to do, in order that every soul on earth
may be drawn to do his will " cas it is cdone in heaven.'  In all
this glorious round of employments each court of the Church
has its responsible place, from the greatest to the least, that
the whole may be thoroughly vitalized, energized, and made
efficient for the divine ends. It is a grand celestial work,
in which an angel feels honored to say, "I am thy fellowservant," and which the heavenly principalities " look into"
with joy and delight to the praise of their and our King!*
To the accomplishment of this heavenly mission the most
necessary material instrumentality is "the gold and the silver" which God created for the great end of advancing the
glory of his kingdom.  lie gives the "prosperity" by
which "every one " of his sons and daughters obtains or
accumulates any share of it and the property which it represents.  And the Church can only prosper in her earthly
I 1 Pet. i. 12. Icev. xix. 10.




TIlE CIIURCII TIIE SUFFICIENT AGENCY.  165
clarge  when each one of her membership contributes and
performs his part in the spirit of that Divine Rule which we
are considering.  If the Church is beaten back, and defeated in any field of attack, it is chiefly because one or
another soldier or company has faltered and disobeyed orders. The failure of a few in some one place has disheartened many others.  And thus perhaps a great effort is
thwarted, the world and Satan rejoice, and our King is
humiliated and displeased.




CHAPTER VI.
PRIMARY SECULAR OBJECT OF SABBATH GIV
ING, PERIODICITY.
E turn from the religious aspects of the appointment
to give " on the first day of the week" to those which
are secular. Here also we may discern the hand of infinite
wisdom in making it.
A few years ago the writer had a conversation with a
well-known financier, whose abilities and experience were of
eminent service in developing the national resources during
the late rebellion, in regard to the means by which those of
the Christian Church are to be brought out, in order to meet
the requirements of her great war with sin.  "The first
thing to be secured," said he, emphatically, " is periodicity."
This weighty remark would be reaffirmed by every financier
and political economist, and business man and lawyer.
THE FOUNDATION STONE OF FINANCIAL OPERATIONS.
"Periodicity" is the foundation stone of extensive financial operations. Whatever the term of the recurring period
may be-let it be annual, or semi-annual, or quarterly, or
monthly, or weekly, or by any other equal divisions of time
-yet this is the necessary condition of all honest and secure
pecuniary business, that its payments be faithfully made at
definite times.
1.66




FIRST SECULAR OBJECT, PERIODICITY.  167
This fundamental law is so vital to business transactions
that failure punctually to fulfill its obligations at once depreciates the value of the stock of any railroad, or bank, or
factory, or community.  Reliability as to regular payments
enhances the credit of such paper, in proportion to the
ground of it. The rate of interest required is increased or
decreased in proportion as it is the pledge of a community
or a nation, of an uncertain or a stable government, upon
which men have to depend for the periodical returns upon
their investments. Business men anxiously arrange to meet
the recurring payments which rents, and salaries, and obligations for the materials of trade and manufactures, necessarily impose upon them.  And every corporation, commercial or political, lays its plans to provide for the fulfillment of its regular obligations.
The business obligations of congregations, and also those
of the organizations appointed by the Church at large which
are dependent upon the contributions of the congregations,
are in like manner periodic.  Annual payments, quarterly
or monthly payments, and other obligations which are regular as to time, are, and must be, incurred by them; the
violations of which are certainly as culpable and injurious to
their public credit and respect as similar failures of the people and institutions of the world are in their case. Those
of Christians are indeed more objectionable; for however
the charity and patience of religious people may excuse
them  and submit to them, they are the fruitful themes of
scoffers, the scorn of the honorable men of this world, the
stumbling-block of the doubting and perplexed, and the
shame of the conscientious and faithful. They compel the




168   GOD'S RULE FOR  CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
minister, the student for the ministry, the missionary, and
every one who has made engagements upon the faith of
them, to be guilty of untruth and injustice.  They hinder
the extension and success of the gospel of Christ.  Thus
they are the ruin of immortal souls.  They are fresh wounds
to the Saviour.
A public financier sees and strikes at the root of the difficulty when he says, The Church's expenses, like the State's,
are periodic: her income should be regulated as to the
method of supply, and that be also periodic.  Otherwise
failures, disasters, dishonor, depreciation, are inevitable.
The contributions of church members ought to be made
"regular," that is, according to a rule.  Those of Boards
and of congregations, which are the clock's face, on which
the world looks and which exhibits the results, can only be
trustworthy when each wheel and each pinion and each
piece of every kind moves in harmony with the end in view;
all different but all punctual.
VAST INFLUENCE OF THIS LAW.
The influence of this law extends over all the employments
of man.  It affects usefulness, comfort, health, life, and all
the great ends of life, in ways which are countless; in ways
which become more important to our eyes in proportion to
our comprehension of them and of the great designs of the
Divine education of man on earth.
Until three centuries ago the world had no means of securing perfect periodicity in instruments for measuring time.
The clumsy clepsydra, or water-clock, the sand-glass, the
sun-dial, were those which were most accurate.  An Italian




FIRST SECULAR OBJECT, PERIODICITY.  169
youth, born in the same year with Calvin's death, a student
at Pisa, who was disgusted with the rubbish of monastic instruction, stood one day watching the regular vibrations of a
heavy bronze lamp which hung, and does so yet, from the
centre of the dome of the cathedral.  He had discovered
in them the great problem of regulating time! No subsequent one of the many debts of the world to Galileo was so
valuable as this.  The pendulum  and the balance-wheel
have now been perfected, so that the astronomer accurately
distinguishes and registers time by the thousandth parts of
one second. Innumerable important acquisitions in science,
and in the arts, have been imparted to us through this gift.
We can measure now the laws of light, and sound, and motion, of the subtle and the mighty forces of nature, and of
the movements and influences of the heavenly bodies.  We
mark the boundaries of land. We navigate safely the ocean.
We can fix exactly, by the comparison of the moment of
noon with that of the chronometer on board which retains
the time of Greenwich, the spot where our ship rolls, in
the Atlantic, or Indian, or Pacific ocean, in the tropical or
in the arctic seas; and thus know  also her speed, her
course, and many of her possible dangers.
Just as glorious, we may conceive, to the Almighty God
as the work of creating the countless globes of matter, is the
omnipotent propulsion and control of each one in its course;
so that it returns, unless retarded by other bodies, to the
same spot in its orbit, after a career of hundreds or thousands of millions of miles, at the appointed instant, century
after century, without a variation of one minute of time.
This infinitely perfect government of nature is the highest




170   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
and most impressive illustration of his perfect moral government.  Its " line is gone through all the earth;" its " words
to the end of the world."  It says to every heart of man:
"The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether."  "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart."  "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise
the simple." *
The Scriptures of the Old Testament were not understood
until, to close the Old Dispensation, the Spirit of God was
poured upon the eyes of mankind; then they saw their perfection, and cried, "we know that the law is spiritual, but I
am carnal, sold under sin; who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?  I thank God; through Jesus Christ
our Lord."  And, in turn, Nature has not been understood
till these " latter days" of the New Dispensation; but is now
revealed to us by the goodness and grace of Him who has
furnished us with means to explore, and discover, and bring
forth its wondrous mysteries.  We find infinite attributes
of God; infinite grace in Christ who justified us from the
guilt of sin; infinite relationships of man; infinite perfection
of duty; infinite prospects of heavenly education and service,
and recompenses of joys, and hopes of glory; illustrated to
us, in the knowledge which he is revealing through the
works of his hands.
To impress upon the Church of God, in ways suited to the
Hebrew race, to their agricultural and pastoral life, and to
the typical and preparatory character of all their religious
institutions, these grand, primary, fundamental ideas, was
one of the chief objects of the appointments of the Levitical
* Ps. xix.




FIRST SECULAR OBJECT, PERIODICITY.  171
dispensation. This for two great reasons: first, that through
the revelations to the Jews all men may know sin, and thus be
driven to the only atonement for it, the blood of the incarnate Son of God; second, that they may measure duty-" Be
ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. "  The returns of the moon, of the first ripening of the
grain, of the harvest home, of the maturing of successive
generations of animals; the sabbatic impress upon weeks,
and months, and years and weeks of years; the marking of
the eras of infancy and adolescence; and many such appointments for religious duties and offerings, were a ceaseless and
powerful education of the ancient people in the one principle
of the consecration of time, in all its revolutions, to the Great
Creator and Lord of all.
The Christian is called to " spiritualize" these principles;
to be fully devoted to God, not for law, but out of love to
Jesus; not with the thought of merit, but in the cultivation
of grace upon grace; not to the exaltation of self, but to the
glory of God, only and for ever and ever.




CIHAPTEIt VII.
SABBATII GIVING REQUIRES FREQUENCY.
ALONG with the principle of periodicity Sabbath giving
establishes its most important qualification, that is,
frequency.
NECESSARY TO THE OBJECTS OF A MISSIONARY CHURCH.
To comprehend this appointment we must plant ourselves
in the position of the first Christians.  Over the cross of
the dying Redeemer was nailed the inscription which declared him to be the Messianic KING. When he ascended,
he commanded his disciples, "Preach the gospel to every
creature." The first preachers cried, "The promise is to
you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off.'   The
first written expositions of doctrine said, "The Scriptures
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith,
preached the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all
nations be blessed." *  A  burning, restless, all-sacrificing
zeal for the preaching of the glad tidings of salvation
through Jesus to all the world, inflamed their whole nature. They were a sincere missionary body.
Frequent giving was a necessity to such men and such
women.  They could not help, lovingly, in faith, joyfully,
bestowing all the means that they could conmand, whenGal. iii. S. Acts ii. 39. Mark xvi. 15,
172




REQUIREMENT OF FREQUENCY.                  173
ever the opportunity for its suitable use occurred.  As this
opportunity was offered every Sabbath, gifts were a regular
part of the worship of the day and its accompaniment.
It does not appear that every church member contributed
on every Sabbath.  As will be shown in a future chapter,
this was not the divine rule which the apostle gave. Every
one was taught to " lay by in store as God had prospered,"
and from this stock to bring as he considered the occasion
to require.  And yet every Sabbath afforded opportunities
of some kind or other, and was honored with gifts fiom
many of the worshipers.
The rekindling of missionary zeal, by any extraordinary
circumstances of the Church, such as a great revival of religion, or a general chastisement of sorrow or of loss, tends
ever to inspire a return to this scriptural and primitive
frequency of gifts.
Such, for example, were the circumstances of the Scotch
Free Church when, in 1842, in contending for the right to
choose its own spiritual teachers, it suddenly found itself
deprived of the pecuniary supports of the government,
upon which it had existed.  As a Church, by one vote of
its General Assembly its ministry elected poverty, hunger,
nakedness, for Christ.  And they were more than conquerors through him who loved them.
The plan which was adopted under the intelligent and
able leadership of Dr. Chalmers, to organize a financial system to meet the immediate and vast necessities for church
buildings, manses, salaries, schools, colleges, the poor, church
extension at home, the Jewish and other foreign missions,
was based on " weekly contributions, from the penny or two



174   GOD'S RULE FOR CHIRISTIAN GIVING.
pence a week to the larger contributions of those who are
both willing and wealthy."  To gather these sums there
were appointed an elder and deacon for each district in a congregation, to superintend the work.  "The deacon might,
or might not, be a collector himself," but should "at least
once a quarter accompany each of the collectors who operate within his sphere, throughout all the families, and by
means of conversation, as well as by the distribution of
tracts and periodicals, sustain their interest in the cause."
The collectors were expected' to give half an hour a week,
if needed, or two hours a month, to the service." The result was a grand, blessed, honorable and permanent success;
and it proved that " the tendency is to elevate the platform
of humble life; and the effect of its payments, so far from
being to impoverish or depress, is, through the medium of
character and principle, or by the elastic operation of moral
causes, to raise and uphold our people in a far higher economic status."'
EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE OF FREQUENT GIVING.
The effect of frequent giving is a most important one to
the experience of the individual believer. We live in an
age and a land of "fulness of bread," which, as of old,
causes people to forget to " strengthen the hand of the poor
and the needy."
It was one of the most pointed and emphatic warnings
of God when he brought Israel into the promised land,
"Beware lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast
-* Econonics of thc Free Cillrch] of Seotl.ladl, Sec. i., Arts. 3
and 6.




REQUIREMENT OF FREQUENCY.                175
built goodly houses and dwelt therein, and thy flocks and
thy herds multiply, and thy gold and thy silver is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart
be lifted up and thou forget the LORD thy God."  The
divine warnings proved but too well founded. Great and
repeated kindnesses, if unreciprocated or unacknowledged,
ordinarily excite, first gratitude, then self-complacency, then
indifference, and when the consciousness of obligation becomes at length oppressive and painful, aversion and hostility.
Frequent regular giving is a remembrancer to men's own
hearts, and an acknowledgment to God, of some momentous facts. First, it keeps before men's minds the multitude
of God's tender mercies; "I will come into thy house in
the multitude of thy mercy."  Then that their regularity,
so far from hardening the heart and shutting out the sense
of personal care and favor under the impression of its being
a "law" or "order of nature," is a motive for higher
thankfulness and love; "blessed be the LORD who daily
loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation."
And thus men are humbled for sin against him whose " goodness leadeth us to repentance," and led to preparation for
"the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to
his deeds."*
There was a tendency, immediately upon the acceptance
of the doctrine of free grace by those whom it relieved from
legal bondage, and who but partly comprehended the nature
of the " law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus," to neglect
* Ps. v. 7; lxviii. 19. Rom ii. 4, 5.




176   GOD'S RULE FOR CIRISTIAN GIVING.
Christian practical duties.  The epistles of the New Testament abound with the admonition that it was a more spiritual "law," a "perfect law of liberty."'
The most ancient, spiritual, and beautiful Christian tract
outside of the books of the New Testament is the first epistle of Clement, of whom Paul so tenderly wrote from Rome
as a " fellow-laborer" " whose name is in the book of life. t
It was written to these same Corinthians to whom Paul addressed the Divine Rule for Giving.  Clement reminds them
that we should'take care that we perform our offerings
and services to God at their appointed seasons, for these he
has commanded to be done, not by chance and disorderly,
but at certain determinate times and hours. Therefore he
has ordained, by his supreme will and authority, both where
and through what persons they are to be performed, that so,
all things being piously done unto all well pleasing, they
may be acceptable to him.  They therefore who make
their offerings at the appointed seasons are happy and accepted. " t
CIIRISTIANITY IS TO BE ADAPTED TO THE POOR.
It is one of the deepest principles of Christianity that it
is, and must be, adapted to the poor.  After Jesus Christ
was inaugurated to his priesthood by the baptism of John,
and appeared for the first time in the village of his youth
to preach, the text of his sermon, from the prophecies of
Isaiah, began with these words, "The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel
* Rom. viii. 2.  Jas. i. 25.   t Phil. iv. 3.   $ First Epistle to
Cor'initi ll.s, sec. xl.




REQUIREMENT OF FREQUENCY.                 177
to the poor."  It is a religion which digs at the base of the
mountain until it shall fall.
The institutions of Christianity must ever be adapted to
the wants, and employments, and interests of the poor.
Chrysostom, explaining our Rule to his church at Antioch,
exhorts them to conform to the words of the apostle, for, says
he, "by his not enjoining them to deposit all at once, he
makes his counsel easy, since the gathering by little and little hinders all perception of the burthen and the cost."
This method is a constant incitement to economy, and hence
to industry, honesty, and temperance. It creates warm and
practical sympathies for the suffering, by the weekly consideration of their claims, and of the measure of relief that
is needed for them. And the actual provision for the poor by
the Church can best be effected when there is a weekly and
appropriate supply of funds, or of such materials and articles
As are required for the cases which are continually brought
before it, varied by the wants and calamities of common
life.  A  Christianity which is to run in a continuous,
pure, and refreshing stream of supply requires ever-flowing
sources.
SECULAR IDEAS OF FREQUENT GIVING.
To make the wisdom of this feature of the Divine Rule
manifest to every mind, let us observe for a moment the
practices of men in secular affairs.
It seems a very little thing to pay a quarter of a cent tax
upon your daily morning cup of coffee and evening cup of tea.
But the income fo)m all the daily cups in the country paid
the government ten or twelve millions of dollars a year dur
12




178   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
ing our war. It is a very minute contribution for you to
pay the one hundredth part of one cent tax upon each of
the matches with which every day your lamps and fires are
lighted; yet one factory of those matches returns to the
government a revenue for stamps of three hundred and sixty
thousand dollars a year. Thus we realize how it is, chiefly,
that a government is enabled to make the stupendous outlays of hundreds of millions of dollars a year in time of war,
simply by means of loans, the interest of which, and in time
the principal, is obtained from small assessments upon things
which most persons want every day. Thus also may frequent little sums be made sufficient for the Church's conflicts with the powers of sin.
We may see the same principle made available in numerous forms in the commercial world. The division of payments is a common device which makes many a difficult
enterprise successful. A railroad pushes stock upon the
market in quarterly payments, which would at one payment
be taken by but a few persons. A publisher sells a heavy
edition of an expensive illustrated work in monthly parts,
which not one purchaser in fifty would obtain if sold entire.
A sewing machine company induces hundreds of poor working women to buy its machines, upon agreements to pay by
small sums out of their weekly wages, who would not dare
to attempt the payment of the same amount at one time.
This is one of the wisest features of the Divine financial
plan, which every Christian should learn. Even some poor
laboring men might be induced to bring in the rounds of the
year what would amount to an average of fifty cents a Sabbath,' according as God prospered " them. They would be really




REQUIREMENT OF FREQUENCY.                179
surprised to find that fifty-two times fifty cents is twenty-sis
dollars. One of them could not have spared it, in his judgment previously, amidst his wants for house-rent and children's clothing, and the grocer's demands. But at the close
of the year he sees that he has done so, and is none the
poorer; and he holds his head up, a happier and stronger
Christian and man, with the confidence that he has made a
considerable deposit in the bank of providence, and also in
the treasury of heaven, for himself and his wife and children. He has made an investment in the eternal promises,
which causes trials and troubles to be less dreaded, and
makes him hear the word of God with new interest, assurance and profit. This principle of the division of payments
for good objects is the secret by which he has accumulated
a great wealth of blessings.




CHAPTER VIII.
INDIVID UA L RESPONSIBILITY.
TIHE influence of the Holy Spirit in conversion and sanctification is to open the eyes of a man to see the power,
and holiness, and majesty of God.  Iis experience is like
that of John at Patmos: " When I saw him, I fell at his
feet as dead.  And he laid his right hand upon me, saying,
Fear not, I am the first and the last; I am he that liveth
and was dead, and behold I am  alive for evermore."
Thenceforth he lies at the feet of his glorified Saviour. He
walks with him. He talks with him.  Jesus is the first
and the last in his honor and love. The right hand of his
Lord rests upon him.  It gives him joy, courage, power,
and patience.  Oh, how blessed to feel that hand of him
that liveth for evermore!
The object of the word of God is to make religion personal. It is all addressed to You.  The commandments
each say, " Thou shalt not have any other gods before me;"
" thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in
vain;" and " thou shalt not" commit any sin. Jesus says,
"when thou.prayest, enter into thy closet; pray in secret."
" When thlou fastest, appear not unto men to fast, but unto
thy Father which is in secret."  "When thou doest thine
alms, let thine alms be in secret, and thy Father which seeth
SO(




INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.                181
in secret shall reward thee openly."  Jacob, the great model
of prayer, was "left alone" when he obtained the great
blessings of Peniel.  Jesus loved to pray "alone;" to expound his parables to his disciples " alone."
This is the spirit of our divine rule for Christian beneficence, "let every one" lay by and contribute.  It is a matter of personal responsibility to Jesus Christ.  It is a duty'
directly related, in this epistle from the pen of Paul, to the
doctrine of the resurrection from the dead; it is an immediate inference from  the prospects of that last and great
day.
It is vert striking to trace out the most important applications of this same pronoun,* as made by Paul in this epistle.  Men are prone to distinguish " positive " from " natural" obligations and duty.  The former class require therefore to be made authoritative and pointed.  This pronoun,
translated "every one," occurs twenty-three times in this
one epistle which relates principally to the "ordinances"
of the Christian Church, while it is found but twenty-four
times altogether in the thirteen other epistles from his hand.
Several of the passages in which it is found bear most
strongly upon the duty which he states in this crowning
rule.  Addressing the members of the Corinthian Church,
and all believers, as it were individually, he says " every man
hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner and
another after that;" "now hath God set the members every
one of them  in the body as it hath pleased him;" "let no
man seek his own, but every man another's wealth;"''every
lman's work shall be made manifest, for the day (of judgoKaarTO,.




182   GOD'S RULE  FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
ment) shall declare it; because it shall be revealed by fire,
and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is;"
then as to the resurrection, "every man in his own order,
Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his
coming;' and finally, in behalf of the great work of Christian charity, " upon the first day of the week let every one
of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him.'
In these and several kindred passages the Greek pronoun
used is the same.  The apostle designs to include every person created by God, every one who is redeemed by the
blood of his Son, every one enjoying the gifts of divine
grace, every one living in the world, every one who is to be
raised from the dead; all must give to the work of Christ.
It was the application of the Saviour's own words: "For
the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with
his holy angels: then shall he reward every man according
to his works. *
The power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers or
in revival of the Church has ever wrought this deep sense
of personal responsibility to God as to the use of the pecuniary means of serving him with which men are entrusted.
Many instances will occur to every reader from the lives of
eminent Christians. Take, for example, that of Richard
Baxter.  He says: " My rule has been to study to need as
little as possible for myself; to lay out nothing on neednots; to live frugally on little; to serve God on what he
allowed me, so that what I took for self might be as good
work for the common good as that which I gave to others;
and then to do all the good I could with the rest. The more
* 1 Cor. vii. 7; xii. 18; x. 24; iii. 12-18; xv. 23; xvi. 2. Matt. xvi. 27.




INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.             183
I have done this, the more I have had to do it with;
for the glory of God's grace, he will be no man's debtor.
When I gave away almost all, the more came in, I scarce
know how, when unexpected and unplanned for. When by
improvidence I was led to use too much on myself, or on
things of little importance, then I prospered less than when
I did otherwise. If I had planned to give only after my
death, then all might have been lost; whereas, when I gave
away at present, and trusted to God for the future, then I
wanted nothing and lost nothing."
With what anxious and pathetic entreaty, like that of the
apostle Paul, as if in the very sight of the resurrection and
the judgment, does Baxter appeal to those whose hearts are
wrapt up in the things of this present world, and who forget the account which they must give to God. His words
may well stir us all to more devotedness to God in all that
we possess.  "Remember how short a time thou must keep
and enjoy the wealth which thou hast gotten. How quickly
thou must be stripped of all! Canst thou keep it when
thou hast it? Canst thou make a covenant with death, that
it shall not call away thy soul? Thou knowest beforehand
that thou art of short continuance, and the world is but thy
inn and passage, and that a narrow grave for thy flesh to rot
in is all that thou canst keep of thy largest possessions, save
what thou layest up in heaven, by laying it out in obedience
to God. How short is life! How quickly gone! Thou art
almost dead and gone already! What are a few days or a
few years more? And wilt thou make so much ado for so
short a life? And so careful a provision for so short a stay?
Yea, how uncertain is thy time, as well as short! Thou




184   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
canst not say what world thou shalt be in to-morrow. Remember, man, that thou must die I Thou must die! Thou
must quickly die! Thou knowest not how soon! Breathe
yet a few breaths more, and thou art gone! And yet cannot
thou be covetous and drown thy soul with earthly cares?
Dost thou soberly read thy Saviour's warning (Luke xii.
19-21)?  Is it not spoken as to thee?'Thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall
those things be which thou hast provided?  So is every one
that layeth up riches for himself, and is not rich toward
God.'... Remember, man, that thou hast another world
to live in, and a far longer life to make provision for, and
that thou must be in heaven or hell for ever. This is true,
whether thou believe it or not, and thou hast no time but this
to make thy preparation in, and as thou believest, and livest,
and laborest now, it must go with thee to all eternity."
It is this deep sense of individual responsibility to God,
in the use of the property and means of doing good which
he has put in our hands, which this feature of the Divine
Rule is designed to awaken and sustain. May the spirit of
Richard Baxter possess our hearts, and his devoted liberality be an example which shall influence our lives.
* Practical Theology, chap. iv.




CHAPTER IX.
THE UNIVERSAL PRIVILEGE OF GIVING.
rjlIERE were great rejoicings on those grand occasions
when the whole nation of Israel met in Jerusalem,
several times in the year, to commemorate God's goodness
in the gifts of nature, or in its deliverances from enemies.
It was partially joinedin by many converts, or sympathizing
friends, who were present from other races of people.
But when they went up to the temple, impassable lines
of separation were drawn between families and neighbors.
The Roman centurion who loved the people and had built
them  a synagogue, the Greek or Syrian proselyte to the
religion of Jehovah, or even the Idumean king, IIerod,
who rebuilt the temple, was only permitted to enter a great
outer court. It was splendidly adorned with columns of
polished stone, and surrounded with spacious cloisters and
porticoes; but the stranger was confronted with a wall, and
an inscription forbidding him  further access on pain of
death. His gifts must be left in a place polluted with
money changers and them that sold doves to the very poor.
Within that wall the Jewish family of worshipers passed;
but there the wife and the daulhter were stopped from going further with their male kindred.  It was the place
where things devoted and given as oblations were left, and
where were the treasuries; but it was that in which those
135




186    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
suspected of leprosy or of ceremonial uncleanness were detained, and subjected to the inspection of the priestly physician. It was counted still unholy ground. An ascent and
still another low partition wall might be passed by the men;
but they in turn were shut from the area upon which stood
the glorious temple, in front of which was the great altar
of sacrifices. They might pray where they were, and join
in the chorus of the Levitical choir; but only the priesthood dared enter that sacred place.  And still another
barrier was drawn, a thick, dark veil, to cover the holiest
of all, within which the high priest entered once a year.
To him alone was granted communion with him that dwelt
between the cherubim; and approach to the mercy seat,
and to the ark in which were the manna, and the rod that
budded and the tables of the law.*
Thank God that from those courts one who had authority
scourged the money changers, and the covetous and the unclean, and opened them all to be "a house of prayer for all
people." "Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free," are one in
Christ Jesus.  The middle walls of partition are all and
for ever broken down, and taken clean away. The veil itself
was rent in twain from the top to the bottom when Jesus
cried, "It is finished."  Now "every one," the women,
the strangers, the sick and the lame, the priests and the
people alike, may come and offer gifts and plead the perfect sacrifice for sin to one that is able to save them from
death. t
* JOSEPHrs; Antiq., XV. xi. 5, 6, 7. Heb. ix. and x.
t Isa. lv. 7. Mark xi. 17. Col. iii. 11. Eph. iii. 14, 15. Matt.
xxvii. 51.




THE UNIVERSAL PRIVILEGE.                    187
EVERY  CLASS OF WVORSIIPERS SHOULD  BRING  GIFTS.
In this temple the gifts of all are welcome.* In a heathen
temple one of the most affecting sights is the crowds of
women, who are the chief supporters of religion in every
land, however their rights may be denied by the stronger
sex.  They bring their sacrifices and gifts; and, what is
far more important, they bring their children, and teach
them to lift up in their little hands the offerings to the gods,
and then to fold their hands together and bow down and
make their requests of the gods. They often give them to
the priesthood, and cherish hopes thence of peculiar favor
from heaven upon the family.  What lessons this religiousness of those who only enjoy the dim light of nature teaches
us who have clearer light, and thence higher duties and accountability!
Children should be taught to bring their glad gifts to
Jesus.  When on earth he loved them  dearly.  He took
them up in his arms, and blessed them.  He told his disciples to imitate them.  He was welcomed as king, to Jeru* Dn. HODGE; Exposition, makes the following comment upon this
in the rule, "Let every one of you. It was an important feature of
these apostolic arrangements, that the contributions were not to be
confined to any one class of the people. The same amount might
perhaps have been raised from the rich few. But this would not
have answered one important end which the apostle had in view.
It was the religious effect which these gifts were to produce in promoting Christian fellowship, in evincing the truth and power of
the gospel, and in calling forth gratitude and praise to God, even
more than the relief of the temporal necessities of the poor, that
Paul desired to see accomplished. 2 Cor. ix. 12-14."




188   GOD'S RULE FOR CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
salem, by their hosannas.  Their songs in many tongues
are making him  king over multitudes of hearts to-day.
This is one of the "signs" of his approaching reign on
earth.  Since the Reformation the Church has taught children doctrine by catechisms; it has taught them praise in
music and songs: now it owes to childhood to teach it to
bring gifts to the king, which is the highest token of its
pure love.
Woman should come with numerous gifts.  Christ is the
Son of God, and the son of woman, not in truth of man:
the son of Mary, not of Joseph.  Woman sat lowliest at
his feet to hear his word. She called for no sword, and
made no boasts; and yet,
"Not she with traitorous kiss her Saviour stung;
Not she blasphemed him with unholy tongue.
She, when apostles shrunk, could danger brave;
Last at the cross and earliest at the grave."
If man is the representative head  in religious things,
woman is the heart.  The Bible is full of the most lovely
pictures of the love of God and of Christ to woman, and
of woman's loyalty, especially to the person of the Saviour.
And it is this personal love which gives true devotedness,
strength and joy to faith in him.  Woman was first to bless
his mother when the angel announced the promise of his
birth.  Women's hands were first to minister to him as a
helpless babe; women the first to bring spices which they
had prepared, very early in the morning, when it was yet
dark, to the sepulchre; and to wonder and be affrighted, to
see the two men in shining garments, and to cry with fear




TILE UINIVERSAL PRIVILEGE.              189
and great joy: " Rabboni, Master," when he left it as conqueror over death and hell.  The heaviest curse of sin is
upon woman; and she is correspondingly lifted up by the
gospel.  The heathen, when the Church began its course,
exclaimed, "What wives these Christians have!"  This
present time is again an era of woman's honor and usefulness. Her gifts are rescuing our missionaries from disheartenment, and arming them for enlarged efforts.  Now "let
every one of you," says the word of God to them, come
with her best gifts; be they a Samuel, with three bullocks,
and an ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine; or an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious; or be they
but two mites, the " all" of her penury.  Jesus loves your
offerings. The treasury of the old temple was in the Court
of the Women.  Women have very much to do now, in the
building of the spiritual temple. The work of their hands,
and their costly stones, and their silver and gold, are needed
to make it a glory in all lands.
"Every" poor man should bring gifts.  Christ was poor.
The apostles were poor men.  The first Christians were
nearly all poor men.  "Yet making many rich."  Do you
wish to know who were the imperial family of this world,
and how they looked, and what they did, in the days of the
emperor Domitian?  Then look at this strange and touching picture, handed down by Eusebius, and take courage, thou
poor man, from it. The historian thus describes their arraignment before the Roman emperor:* "Of the family
of the Lord there were yet living the grandchildren of
* Eccles. Hist., iii. He quotes from a still earlier writer, IIegesippus.




193   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
Jude, called the brother of our Lord according to the flesh.
These persons were reported to the government as being of
the family of David, and were brought to Domitian by the
officers appointed to enlist the people; for this emperor
was as fearful in regard to the appearance of Christ as
Herod was. He put to them the question whether they
were of David's race?  They confessed that they were.
He then asked them what possessions they had, or how
much money? Both of them answered, that they possessed
between them the value of only about nine thousand silver
pence;* and that this they had not in silver, but in a piece
of land containing only thirty-nine acres, from which they
raised the amount needed for their taxes, and supported
themselves, by their own labor. Then they also began to
show their hands, and exhibited the firmness of their bodies,
and the callous places formed on their hands by incessant
toil, as the evidence that they were laboring men. They
were then asked further respecting Christ and his kingdom,
what was its nature, and when and where it was to appear?
They replied, that it was not a temporal nor earthly kingdom, but a celestial and angelic one; that it would appear
at the end of the world, and that then, coming in glory,
Christ would judge the quick and the dead, and give to
every one according to his works. Upon this Domitian,
despising them, made no reply, but treating them contemptuously as simpletons he commanded them to be dismissed,
and by a decree ordered the persecution to cease. Thus
delivered, they ruled the churches, both as witnesses and
* Less than fifteen hundred dollars in our present silver money.
Money was worth more then than now; probably land was not so.




THE  UNIVERSAL PRIVILEGE.                   191
relatives of the Lord.  When peace was established, they
continued living even until the times of Trajan."
And yet these poor, hard-handed, despised, laboring men
were "the brothers," or, as we say now, " the cousins," of
the personal family of Jesus Christ. His own employment
in youth was no doubt that of a carpenter. Yet he came
into the world to be of such as these; and they were the
men who conquered the world-not with swords and spears;
but with the universal preaching of salvation, with works
of mercy, with patient suffering, with almsgiving, and with
love. Jesus "lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said,
Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."*
The poor formed its conquering legions then, and they must
do so now.t
And for "strangers" also God has made provision in the
new temple.  "The sons of strangers shall build up thy
walls." Their gifts, like those of the people of Tyre,
shall help to rear and adorn them.  "If they come and
pray in this house, then hear thou from the heavens, even
from thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the
* Luke vi. 20.
t Dr. J. I. DOLLINGER, The First Age of Christianity and the
Church, vol. ii., p. 239, says, with great truth, "Nearly all the first
converts were from the poorer and humbler classes. The only
known exceptions are Nicodemus, Joseph, Sergius Paulus, Dionysius the Areopagite, Apollos and Paul himself. That was the order
of Christianity-first came the poor, the ignorant and uneducated
slaves and the very lowest classes. Gradually, and after a long interval, the powerful, the wise, the rich were won by them, or rather
were overcome and compelled to follow in the general movement."




192   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
stranger calleth to thee for, that all people of the earth may
know thy name and fear thee."  The gifts of even such as
are "'strangers to the covenants of promise" are due from
them, as creatures of God's hand and care. Such men and
women in our churches, who honor Christ by gifts and labors
with sincere hearts and seeking his grace, often find, as Solomon says, that "a man's gift maketh room for him, and
bringeth him before" the King. The enlistment of unconverted persons in deeds of charity, and contributions for the
work of the Church, powerfully helps to bring them and
Christ into one-not of their merit, for they owe him all
things, but of his grace.*
SIIOULD THE MINISTRY BE GOVERNED BY TIE APOSTLE'S RULE OF GIVING.
Shall the ministry of the gospel give according to the
Apostolic rule?-is an important question as to which many
lesire to have their minds at rest.
Such matters must be determined by the knowledge and:onscience of each one for himself. We are ministers of
God; and "every one of us shall give account of himself to
God."  But the following considerations may help some in
ascertaining the way of duty.
The Levites, under the former Dispensation, were instructed by Moses to give of all the tithes which the people
paid to themselves a tenth to the high priest.t  The high
priest was the type of him who is set on the right hand of the
majesty in the heavens, the honor of whose service, and the
* Isa. lx. 10. 2 Chron. xi. 33. Prov. xviii. 16.
t Ex. sxx. 11-16.




TIHE UNIVERSAL PRIVILEGE.                  193
preciousness of whose name in all the earth, surely claim an
equal measure of consecration from his ministering brethren.
Can we do less for our Jesus than the Levite did for Aaron,
or Samuel, or Abiathar?
Our Lord Jesus Christ paid the didrachma, or half-shekel
of the sanctuary, for himself and Peter, when it was asked
of them; and wrought a miracle for the purpose, bringing it
by the mouth of a fish.  Olshausen says,* "The question
put by the collectors of this assessment, whether Jesus would
pay it, assuredly arose from the circumstance of these persons believing that as a theocratic teacher he would regard
himself as free from such an impost. But Peter, to whom
the question was addressed in the absence of Jesus, believed,
that with his strong religious feelings, he would make it a
point to pay such holy taxes, and answered affirmatively."
"The Lord's words at the same time clearly prove that
Jesus acknowledged and honored the Old Testament order
in general as a Divine institute."    IIe contemplated the
whole temple service in its preparatory character."  It was
spiritualized by Christ's death.  Trench observest that,
"the word'tribute' in our translation upholds an error, and
leads men's thoughts in the wrong direction-to consider this
a 3ivil impost, instead of what it truly was, a theocratic payment, due to the temple and the temple's God."
The apostles and first ministry of the gospel as they freely
* Comments, on the Gospels; Part III.  BLOOMFIELD; Recensio
Synoptica, says, "I entirely agree with those who tell us that this
was the sacred tribute, the half shekel." Ex. xxx. 11-16. JACOBUS,
N'tes on Matthew, is to the same effect.
t TRENCH; Notes on the Miraclcs, 299-311.
13




194    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
received, did freely give. Paul wrought with his own hands
as a tent-maker; others as fishermen, to minister to their
own necessities, and those also of their fellow-laborers.  We
are told that Barnabas, or Joses, who had been a Levite,
and became one of the most faithful ministers of the Christian Church, sold his entire possessions and brought the
money and laid it for distribution at the apostle's feet.
The personal power of the ministry of the gospel must be
based upon the mutual sympathy of pastors and people.
The pastor must be willing to be " tempted in all points like
as they are," and the severest of their temptations in this
evil world are, as a whole, those which spring from  trials
connected with money.  The affections of the people are
powerfully drawn out toward a pastor who is beneficent
in the use of money.
Continual efforts to obtain money from a people without
the personal example of liberality, creates irritation and
hostility. If the ministry do not exercise corresponding care
to cultivate their own grace of giving, the ordinary result
has ever been to generate in themselves and their order
covetousness, pride, strifes, and hierarchical assumptions.
Wisdom, economy and forethought are necessary in the
affairs of ministers, as of other men. Yet the most certain
provision which a minister can make for his old age and for
the care of his family is not in saving and hoarding a portion of his income, at the expense of liberality. It is wise in
him to educate, by his example and spirit, hundreds of faml
ilies to generosity and sympathy.  They become to him
more than brothers and sisters.  Such a man when old is
rarely forsaken, nor do his seed beg bread. There is a great




TIlE  UNIVERSAL  PRIVILEGE.                 195
secret of Divine Providence just in this method of making a
man's loss become "an hundred fold" gain to him  and to
his children after him.
Personal comfort, assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, and increase of every grace,
peculiarly flow from liberal systematic charity; and the minister who from true love to God and man gives abundantly
will find that when his knowledge and learning, when his
earthly faith and hope and their exercise, shall cease, this
" shall abide" in its eternal and joyful rewards.
The amount of money which a definite proportion of the
incomes of the ministry alone would afford, to aid the work
of the Church, far surpasses the imagination of most persons.
The salaries of the near five thousand ministers of the Presbyterian Church amount to about four millions of dollars per
annum.*  The one tenth of this sum would be equal to the
present total average contributions of the whole Church to
the foreign or home mission boards. If distributed among
the several boards it would support one-fourth of their entire work.  We know, however, that the contributions of
the ministry form a large part of the present revenues of
the boards, and are proportionally greatly in advance of
those of the laity.
- In the years 1872 and 1873 the salaries were reported to the
General Assembly. They amounted, so far as given, to $2,597,342,
for 4,441 men, in the one year; and $3,151,767, for 4,534 men, in
the other. Adding ministers and even entire presbyteries not responding then to the call, and also other sources of income from
which most ministers would no doubt desire to add offerings to God,
the amount would appear to not be under what is named.




196   GOD'S RULE  FOR  CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
The example is still more powerful than the precepts of
the minister who contributes liberally to the claims which he
advocates. His preaching of the gospel obtains a new hold
upon the respect of his hearers. We observe in the general
history of churches that an extraordinary blessing has seemed
to follow the labors of men who have made the exercise of
liberality a regular and prominent feature of their ministry.
Some of them, as Isaac Watts, and John Wesley, and George
Whitfield, have instituted mighty influences which have
revolutionized the spirit of great bodies of Christians.
The present era is a general " time of re-formation," the
"fullness of times," which has had no parallel since the
Levitical dispensation passed away, and old things passed
away and all things became new amidst the joys of Christ's
coming to make full atonement for sin.  Now he comes to
reign.  Our brethren of that previous era were made "a
spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men."  They
suffered hunger and thirst and nakedness; they were buffeted; they labored, working with their own hands; they
were reviled, persecuted, defamed; they were made the
filth of all things, and the offscouring of the world.  Thus,
they filled up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ,
for his body's sake, which is the Church. Have we no cross
to bear?  Is he not to be glorified now by a "witness""if needs be," a martyrdom-of suffering?  Or is it only a
few who are called to deny themselves?
" Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free?
No! there's a cross for every one,
And there's a cross for me."




THE UNIVERSAL PRIVILEGE.                 197
Iow little can we do for him, compared with what he did,
and does, and promises for us! But this let us do, until his
gospel is "preached to every creature which is under
heaven;" "striving according to his working, which worketh in us mightily." *
Such are the considerations which have moved many of
our ministers to adopt the rule of laying by some proportionate part, generally not less than one tenth, of their income, for contributions to the work of the Church through
her boards and to such claims as may arise within the
sphere of their own observation. The general character of
the Presbyterian and Protestant ministry suggests the probability that the practice of that which seems to be so thoroughly approved by Scripture, by reason, by experience,
and by its fruits, will become universal, and " every one"
of the tribe of Levi, also, in this latter day, lay by of his
means as God has prospered.
X Heb. ix. 10. Eph. i. 10. 1 Cor. iv. 9-13. Col. i. 23-29.




CHAPTER X.
TIHE PO WER OF UNIVERSAL COM.BINATION.
IT is the purpose of the divine rule to do more than merely
engage every class in the Church in giving. It aims to
enlist every single individual; and to give him, or her, a
place and a share in the work of bringing the world into
obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. It would make him
the Head of a body which has not in it a single dead or
useless member.
The power of the Church of Christ, were this idea brought
into effect in regard to pecuniary contributions, can be best
understood by observing the applications of the principle
in the affairs of the world.
EFFECT IN SUPPORTING A NATIONAL POSTAL SYSTEM.
There was a day, not longer ago than that in which the
foundations of European civilization were laid by the Roman
empire, when the cost of sending a letter a couple of thousand miles may be rated at many thousands of dollars of
our money. It implied some great necessity or privilege,
the employment of courageous and experienced couriers,
expensive  relays of horses, the protection  of armed
soldiery, and great perils from savage races, wild beasts,
storms, floods and accidents.
Now, a. scaled letter is sent, in America, fiom St. Augus198




POWER OF UNIVERSAL COMBINATION.  199
tine in Florida to New Archangel in Alaska for three cents;
or a postal card or a newspaper for one cent. The distance
is more than twice as great, the persons employed more
numerous, the total expense far greater.  Why the difference in the cost of transmission?
It is because in the former case few letters were sent,
and they upon affairs of the government, or between persons of rank or importance. In the latter case, the entire
population, scarcely a family excepted, employs the mails.
Some individuals write hundreds of letters, and some send
forth thousands, or even tens of thousands, of circulars
during the year. Hence, without counting regular newspaper and magazine postage, the adhesive stamps annually
used sum up from  six to seven hundred millions. This
universal employment of the mails supports a vast system
of nearly ten thousand mail-routes, which connect together
all the cities, towns and hamlets of the immense territory
of the nation; their aggregate length is ten times the circumference of the globe, and that of the separate trips of
the mails upon them is greater by one third than the distance from the earth to the sun-near a hundred and thirty
millions of miles. The expense of this stupendous machinery, which employs, in numerous ways, many thousands
of men, is from thirty to thirty-five millions of dollars a
year.
No lesson could be more impressive than this one as to the
incalculable importance of the universal combination of a
people to accomplish a great object.




200   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
SUCCESS OF FRENCH POPULAR LOANS.
The European wars of a few centuries ago were carried
on at terrible disadvantage on account of the difficulty of
obtaining money.  It was secured by forced loans from
subjects, by oppressive and unequal taxes and imposts, by
despotic confiscations of property, and other pernicious
means.
The extraordinary financial ability of the late emperor
Louis Napoleon brought into operation in France a system of popular loans which accomplished results that were
looked upon by the financiers of the world with astonishment.
The Rothschilds and other capitalists having declined to
furnish him with money for the prosecution of the Crimean war, on satisfactory terms, he threw himself upon the
people. The success of the measure was so great that five
principal loans were effected, in the years 1854 to 1864,
for the support of that and the subsequent Italian war,
and for the consolidation of floating debts. The amount
asked for in them was about four hundred millions of dollars (2,052,250,000 francs); the subscriptions offered were
for two thousand and seven hundred millions of dollars
(13,694,034,888 francs); that is, for nearly seven times the
sum  needed. The number of separate subscriptions, in
sums varying chiefly from ten dollars to two thousand, and
many of them payable in monthly instalments, was 1,828,951.
This financial triumph accomplished for Louis Napoleon
some other very important ends, not the least of which was
the firmer establishment for the time of his throne upon
the interests and regards of the common people of France,




POWER OF UNIVERSAL COIMBINATION.  201
since one third of the six millions of the families of the
country, instead of counting the war a burthen, became directly concerned in its success, and in the measures which
were necessary to produce it.
FINANCIAL LESSONS OF OUR CIVIL WAR.
During the late civil war, our own nation learned a lessou
from the example of the French loans, which has affected
our whole political and financial history. At the beginning
of the war the appalling problem of the government was
that of the procuring of money to carry it on.  Foreign help
and friendship failed us, and the nation without this vital
instrumentality must have perished. The financial abilities
and experience of IMr. Jay Cooke were put in requisition.
He appealed to the resources and loyalty of the people
themselves, assured that this was the only hope of the government, and that it would not fail him. A series of popular
loans was instituted.  Bonds, even of small amounts, and
compound interest notes, were made accessible to the whole
population; their patriotism and sympathies were appealed
to; abundant information was disseminated in the newspapers, and by circulars and pamphlets; and every man was
solicited to help in this way, according to his means, in the
great struggle for national life. The result was, that in eighteen months Mr. Cooke funded five hundred millions of dollars in "five-twenties;" and this was done at an expense,
including commissions of agents, of only one-half of one
per cent.  No European loan was ever made so cheaply.
In August, 1864, the " seven-thirty loan " was brought out,
tut proved a failure.  In February, 1865, it was put in Mr.




202   GOD'S RULE FOR CIRISTIAN  GIVING.
Cooke's hands.  He employed the same methods as before,
and appealed to the people for support.  One of his first
acts was to put seventy-five thousand dollars' worth of advertisements into the newspapers.  This effort, in turn, was
so surprisingly successful, notwithstanding the enormous
drains of the war in different ways upon the people, that by
July, or in only five months, he had sold seven hundred
millions of dollars' worth of the bonds and closed the loan.
The lessons which these appeals to the entire people of
the country taught the government and the financiers were
of indescribable importance. It was these small contributions from hundreds of thousands of farmers, working men,
women, people who felt that the bond was their "substitute" in the fight, which saved the country. And while
this revenue equipped our armies and fleets, provided for
the sick and disabled, and carried on this gigantic war, it did
far more; it enlisted under the national banner the men and
women, and even the children, of the whole nation; it annihilated the old distinctions of party; it warmed the whole
population with a new love of country and appreciation of
the value of its institutions; it braced us up with a courage
and sound national self-respect which we had never before
possessed; it developed our vast manufacturing, mineral,
and general productive wealth, to an astonishing degree;
it left us not as we feared crushed, bankrupt, and ruined,
but absolutely twice as rich nationally as we were before the
war commenced.  It was a grand national realization of
how blessed it is for "every one " to give.
We conceive it to be almost impossible that this stupen.
dous lesson, which God in the wondrous methods of his




POWER OF UNIVERSAL COMBINATION.  203
providence set before the eyes of his Church in this nation,
holding it up before our reluctant and weeping eyes, and
laying the rod upon us all the while, can be lost. But if it
accomplish not its object-if we do not put in operation the
practicable means for enlisting the entire population of
the Church, its men, its women, and its children, in the desperate war to rescue immortal souls from the power and
curse and woes of sin to crush the resistance of hell to the
glorious kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to fill the
nation and the world with the beneficent triumphs of the
gospel of his grace-then assuredly we do deserve more and
severer chastisement. And we will receive it.
EVILS OF PARTIAL METHODS OF CONTRIBUTION.
The pernicious effects of the opposite methods of obtaining the means necessary for the support of the State are so
great, that they have gradually fallen into disuse on the part
of monarchical governments, and have been rejected, save
in a few and extreme cases in our own. The arbitrary and
unequal assessments upon individuals, or classes, or guilds,
or towns, or commercial companies; the granting of monopolies of the trade or manufacture of particular articles, or
of commercial traffic with certain foreign countries; the
farming of the taxes upon the people of certain districts for
a given sum of money; all such things in the past, among
our ancestry, we read of with a sort of horror.  We bless
God for the men who resisted and overthrew them, sometimes at the sacrifice of their own fortunes and lives.  We
are grateful that we have experienced so few of such evils
under our republican institutions.




204   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
Income taxes, which are usually fixed at five or ten per
cent. upon incomes of over a certain amount, may be classed
among the measures of this nature.  A tax of this character upon incomes of over six hundred dollars, with certain
deductions allowed upon the excess, was laid upon our country during the severe trials of the civil war. It was exceedingly odious.  Its influence upon the moral tone of society
was very injurious.  Hundreds of thousands evaded it.  It
led to much dishonesty and falsehood.  It realized about
fifty millions of dollars in the year after the close of the
war, which was assessed upon only four hundred and sixty
thousand persons.  This sunk to under thirty-five millions
in 1869. The tax was dropped in 1870.  Mr. J. Stuart
Mill says, in his "Political Economy,"* of such taxes, "To
tax the larger incomes at a higher per centage than the
smaller, is to lay a tax on industry and economy; to impose
a penalty on people for having worked harder and saved
more than their neighbors. It is partial taxation, which is
a mild form of robbery."  "I can hardly conceive a more
shameless pretension than that the major part of the property of the country [which would not be within the sphere
of such an assessment] should be exempted fiom its share
of taxation."
The lesson from the experiences of the State should here
again be laid to heart by the Church. The same evils flow
fiom arbitrary and unequal requirements in this case as in
that.  The demands upon certain communities, and upon
certain men who have obtained a name for liberality, have
been felt by them to be oppressive. It has led to resistance
" Book vi., chap. ii.




POWER OF UNIVERSAL COMBINATION.  205
on their part.  They have characterized it as "a partial
taxation," unequal and unfair. The time has come for the
adoption by the Church of an equitable system of voluntary contributions by the people, one in accordance with
Scripture, which will enable her to enlist the aid of all her
membership, in proportion to their means; and this not
alone to bear the light burdens of the past, but to supply
the immeasurably greater demands of the conflicts before
her.
EVIDENCE FROM TIIE SUCCESS OF METIIODISM.
So recent was the rise of Episcopal Methodism, that there
are many men and women alive who were born in the lifetime of its founder, John WVesley.  It was in 1739 that,
after a stormy interview at Lambeth with the archbishop of
Canterbury, in which His Grace threatened him  with excommunication for field preaching, Wesley determined to
"break down the bridge" which connected him with the
power of the Established Church, and "fight his way forward."  He began, in preaching to the populace at MIoorfields and the colliers at Kingwood, an "itinerant" career
which ended in 1791.
The fact seems almost incredible that to-day this still
youthful Church and its offshoots number four millions of
members, over three millions of whom are in the United
States, and that it has a total leadership of twenty-five
thousand itinerant or regular preachers, and sixty-three
thousand local preachers.  The  "Methodist Episcopal
Church " (of the North) alone, which contains one million
and a half of members, gives seventeen and a half millions




206   GOD'S RULE FOR CITIRTTTIAN  GIVING.
of dollars to religious and charitable objects.  The property
of the several Methodist bodies stood far above that of any
other Church in value, in the national census of 1870,
amounting to within a fraction of seventy millions of dollars.
What is the cause of this truly amazing growth?  We
have it in the famous watchword of all its members: " Justification, sanctification, and a penny a week."  First, faith
in Jesus Christ alone for salvation; second, personal holiness, complete consecration to God through the Spirit;
third, universal weekly giving through the Church of at
least one penny for every member.  As to this first point,
their knowledge of the principles of faith is notoriously
deficient; as to the second, their spirituality is deformed
with excesses of mere physical excitement; as to the third,
they have not reached the application of more than a part
of the mighty Divine Rule of Paul.  And yet there stand
the solid and sublime evidences of their astonishing success
in doing the work of building up both the spiritual and the
material walls of the temple of Christ.
The engagement of the "lay-members" of the Church
in active work, and contributions for its maintenance, is a
principal element of the Methodist success.  There are
enumerated in the ecclesiastical reports those filling various
offices. Thus, in the Church North, to which allusion has
been made, there are fifty-four thousand class-leaders, eightyseven thousand stewards of societies, one hundred and two
thousand trustees of churches, twenty-five thousand sunday-school superintendents, and one hundred and seventyeight thousand teachers and other officers of sunday-schools.
The peculiar organization which has given to Episcopal




POWER OF UNIVERSAT  COMBINATION.  207
Methodism its chief power is that of the "classes."  Their
origin and nature are worthy of careful study.  The following is the account of their origin as given by Richard Watson, the biographer of the Rev. John Wesley.*
"In the discipline of Methodism the division of the society into classes is an important branch.  Each class is
placed under a person of experience and piety, who meets
the others once a week for prayers and inquiry into the
religious state of each, in order to administer exhortation
and counsel." The origin of the classes is thus traced out.
"The chapel in Bristol was in debt, and it was agreed that
each member of the society should contribute one penny a
week to reduce the burden. The Bristol society was therefore divided into classes, and for convenience one person was
appointed to collect weekly subscriptions from each class, and
to pay the amount to the stewards.  The advantages of this
system, when turned to a higher purpose, at once struck
the methodical and practical mind of Mr. Wesley.  He
therefore invited several'earnest and sensible men' to meet
him, and the society in London was divided into classes like
that of Bristol, and placed under the spiritual care of these
tried and experienced persons. At first they visited each
person at his own residence once a week, but the preferable
mode of bringing each class together weekly was at length
adopted.... Opportunities were also thus afforded for
ascertaining the wants of the poorer members, and obtaining relief for them, and for visiting the sick: the duty
of a leader being to see his members once in the week,
either at the meeting, or, if absent from that, at home."
* Li'e of Weslce, chap. vii.




208   GOD'S RUTJLE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
Mr. Wesley remarks in his Journal with regard to these
"classes," which had been organized as the most "methodical" and practical way of spreading the gospel and
building up the Church: " Upon reflection, I could not but
observe, this is the very thing which was from the beginning
of Christianity.  In the earliest times, those whom  God
had sent forth'preached the gospel to every creature.'
The body of the hearers were mostly either Jews or heathen. But as soon as any of these were so convinced of the
truth as to forsake sin, and seek the gospel of salvation,
they immediately joined them together, took an account of
their names, advised them to watch over each other, and met
these'catechumens,' as they were then called, apart from
the great congregation, that they-might instruct, rebuke,
exhort, and pray with them, and for them, according to
their several necessities."
To complete and make more efficacious the work of the
classes, Mr. Wesley afterward, beginning in London, appointed "visitors to the sick."  They were to visit them
thrice a week, advise them spiritually, relieve their wants,
furnish them with medical care, and bring in their accounts
weekly to the stewards. Mr. Wesley says: " Upon reflection,
I saw how exactly in this also we copied after the Primitive
Church.  What were the ancient deacons?  What was
Phebe, the deaconess, but such a visitor of the sick?"
It is in place to notice here that the instructions in the
"Discipline" of the "Methodist Episcopal Church" in
the United States, for the guidance of its class-leaders, are
as follows:* "That it may the more easily be discerned
-* Chap. ii., section 1.




POWER OF UNIVERSAL COMBINATION.  209
whether they are indeed working out their own salvation,
each society is divided into smaller companies, called classes,
according to their respective places of abode. There are
about twelve persons in a class, one of whom is styled the
leader. It is his duty, I. To see each person in his class
once a week at least, in order, 1. To inquire how their souls
prosper. 2. To advise, reprove, comfort or exhort, as occasion may require. 3. To receive what they are willing to
give toward the relief of the preachers, church, and poor.
II. To meet the ministers and the stewards of the society
once a week, in order, 1. To inform the minister of any that
are sick, or of any that walk disorderly and will not be reproved.  2. To pay the stewards what they have received
of their several classes in the week preceding.'
In the organization of the Methodists for Christian purposes we have the evidence of the extraordinary abilities,
for such an end, of the leading mind which gave its impress
to the whole Church.  The opinion of Isaac Taylor was
that, " In dealing with whatever may belong to a process of
organization, or of marshaling a host for a single initiatory
purpose, Wesley has never been surpassed by civil, military,
or ecclesiastical mechanists."
The power of Methodism is traced by this vigorous thinker,
on the one hand, to the convictions of personal responsibility
to God which it fixed in the hearts of its members.  He
says, "It was the proper consequence of the Methodistic
preaching to call into activity that life of the soul, as individually related to God, which must be named as one of its
distinctive elements."  But this individual faith and zeal
must, on the other hand, be associated, as are the different
4




210   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
members of one frame, for co-operation to a great common
end.  Iere its power is exhibited in its assigning to " every
one" a suitable part to perform.  Mr. Taylor therefore presents this strongly to view.  He says: "An organization
which touches every one, and brings every one into his
place, and exacts from every one his contribution, spiritual
and secular-an organization which is comprehensive in the
most absolute sense as to persons, gifts, talents, and worldly
means-is that which has secured for Wesleyan Methodism,
until of late, its foremost place among the Protestant communities of England and America, and which has given to
its labors among the heathen a proportionally greater amount
of success than has attended the equally zealous endeavors
of other bodies, perhaps of several such bodies reckoned together." It " has proved itself hitherto the most efficient
expansive Christian institute which modern times have
seen; it must be presumed, therefore, to possess excellence
of structure of a very peculiar kind, and which should command the attention of all who make ecclesiastical economics
their study." *
That which is most conspicuous and impressive in Wesleyan Methodism is, that its peculiar features of power and
excellence are all the modern reproduction of those of the
Primitive Christian Church.  They were seized upon instinctively, from the Scriptures and church history, by a
comprehensive, powerful and practical mind like Wesley's,
guided by the enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit.
The fervent preaching of salvation through Christ, the duty
of seeking personal holiness, the inspiration of the joyful
s ISAAC TAYLOR; Wesley atd Methodisim, pp. 79, 158, 249, 696.




POWER OF UNIVERSAL COMBINATION.  211
hymns, the cordial fellowship, the sympathy with and provision for the poor, the urging of individual accountability,
the general co-operation in good works, the weekly contributions of money, the continual official employment of male
and female members in charitable duties, all are elements
which are reflections, in this great revival from the formalism of a century ago in England, which come directly from
Primitive Christianity.
POSSIBLE POWER  OF A  CHURCH  COMBINING TIESE
CHARACTERISTICS WITH  OTHERS MORE THOROUGHLY
SCRIPTURAL.
Let us suppose a Church in which these characteristics are
combined with a thoroughly scriptural theology, with more
intelligent instruction, with more judicious discipline,* and
with a broader comprehension of the principles of pecuniary
giving-above all, let it be animated thoroughly with glowing
love to Jesus Christ, let it be energized by the influences of
the Holy Spirit of God-and it needs no tongue of a prophet
to declare that such a Christianity would be more powerful
than even that of the first centuries; for now it has general
advantages and instrumentalities far greater than those of
the Primitive Church.  It would in a brief time literally
and truly conquer the whole world, and bring it into loving
obedience to its glorious and rightful Lord.' It was found upon careful examination of its statistics, from the
year 1855 to 1865, that but one in six of those entered as "probationers" became "members" of the Methodist Church.




CHAPTER XI.
THE CULTIVATION OF PERSONAL CHARACTER.
THHE fame of no one of the preachers of the gospel in the
early centuries of Christianity stands so high for eloquence as that of John Chrysostom.  Such was its power
that on many occasions the excited audiences at Antioch
and Constantinople burst forth in acts of loud applause.
Notwithstanding the severity with which he rebuked their
sins, they emptied the places of public resort and excitement to crowd, in the latter city, the great church of St.
Sophia.  He roused them  to a surprising degree of liberality, for the building of institutions of charity and for
sending forth evangelists to Asia Minor, Persia, Scythia
and other regions which had not yet received the gospel.
And yet the example of the freedom with which he poured
out in acts of liberality his own fortune, which he had inherited from his parents, incited them  still more than his
burning words.*
* John, who was afterward surnamed Chrysostom, or, for his eloquence, the "golden-mouthed," was born at Antioch, about the year
347. Iis father, Secundus, was a Roman military officer, who died
while this child was a young infant. IHis education, training and
character he owed to his mother Anthusa, who remained a widow
that she might satisfactorily perform her duties to her son. It was
in regard to her that the celebrated teacher Libanius made the ex212




CULTIVATION  OF PERSONAL  CIARACTER.  213
THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE CHRISTIAN.
Taking up the idea that Christian offerings to God on the
Sabbath are the noblest evidence of their priesthood, he
thus paints the honor of it.  To make these offerings, says
he, "constituteth them  priests: yea, of a priesthood which
bringeth great reward. The merciful man is not arrayed in
a robe reaching to the feet, nor does he put on bells, nor
wear a crown.  But he is wrapped in a robe of loving
kindness, a holier than the sacerdotal vestments.  He is
anointed with oil, not formed  of material elements, but
compounded by the Holy Spirit.  He weareth a crown of
mercies, for it is declared,'Ife crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies.' Instead of wearing upon it a
plate inscribed with the name of God, he is in himself like
unto God.  In what way?  Because it is said,'Ye shall be
like unto your Father which is in heaven. "
In commenting upon the Christian Rule for Giving, Chrysostom sheds a most important light upon the understanding
of its requirements which prevailed in the East at that day.
The following are his remarks upon the words "lay by him
clamation, "What wives these Christians have!" The Church historian THEODORET; Ec. Hist., V. xxvii., styles Chrysostom "the great
luminary of the world." He was, there is no doubt, misled by his
devout aspirations, in an age when he had not the guidance of the
Church's subsequent experience, into asceticism; he was severe and
sometimes imperious. Yet he deserves the admiring testimony of
NEANDER (Pref. to First ed. of Life of Chrysostom), who says, " Nono
of the ancient Fathers have laid down so many truths of practical
importance, and so equally suited to all ages, as Chrysostom."




214   GOD'S RULE FOR CIIrSTIAN GIVING.
in store."  The apostle "does not say,'let him bring it
into the Church,' lest they might feel ashamed of the sum;
but,'having by gradual additions swelled his contribution,
let him produce it when I come.' Therefore'for the present, lay it up,' says he,'at home, and make thine own
house a church, and thy little box a treasury.' Become
thyself a guardian of consecrated wealth, a self-ordained
steward of the poor. Thy charitable mind entitles thee to
this priesthood."  "Let us make a little chest for the poor
at home.  Near the place at which you stand praying,
there let it be put; and as often as you enter in to pray,
first deposit your alms, and then send up your prayer.
You would not wish to pray with unclean hands, so neither
do it without alms."  "If you have this little treasury,
you have a defence against the devil. You give wings to
your prayer.  You make your house sacred, having provision for the King laid up there in store."*
INTERPRETATION OF THE RULE.
These passages most happily and clearly present to us the
general method and principles of the religious contributions
of Christians in the early centuries of the Church. They
come to us from one who labored in the great centre of the
missionary efforts of the Apostolic Church; of which, indeed, on account of' their zeal, it is recorded in the book
of Acts, that "the disciples were called Christians first in
Antioch." t  This light shows to us the meaning of those
words in the divine rule: which our common version trans- IlioniiUc, 1 Cor.; XLIII.         t Chap. xi. 26.
T$ rap eavTO TL0eTW Ooaavpi[WV.




CULTIVATION  OF PERSONAL CHARACTER.  215
lates "lay by him in store."  They may be literally rendered, "let each of you by himself set apart, treasuring,
whatsoever he has prospered in."  There are two distinct
verbs in the original; one directing the setting apart of the
money given, the other the treasuring of it, or putting it into
such treasuries, private or public, as were needed to secure
it for the use of the officers of the Church.
The verb translated "lay by," or "set apart," is one
which often has a formal meaning: to commit, appoint,
constitute, ordain.  Thus it is said: "take heed to the flock
over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers."
God "hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."
"As many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them,
and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and
laid them  down at the apostles feet."  "I have chosen
you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth
fruit. "I
The verb "treasuring," which our version renders, for
the sake of simplicity, "in store," means making a particular deposit, or distinct accumulation. Thus, "lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth."  "So is he that layeth
up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."  "Ye
have heaped together treasure for the last days."  "Treasureth up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath." So
with the corresponding noun; as in the words, "treasure hid
in a field." t The participle is used, apparently, to generalize
the idea, and allow liberty in respect to the localities, or
Acts xx. 28; v. 19. 2 Cor. v. 19.
t Mal. vi. 19. Luke xii. 21. James v. 3. Rom. ii, 5. Matt,
xiii. 44.




216   GOD'S RULE  FOR  CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
depositories, or forms, in which the money or other contributions are to be kept.  Only they are to be " treasured
apart."
The preposition and noun translated " by him" are really
more emphatic; they are literally "by himself."  "By"
means "beside, near," and is a preposition of place; yet
sometimes with the broader idea of property in general.
The words "by himself" are often idiomatic in the Greek,
and mean "near himself at home;"    the "treasuring"
should first be " on the first day of the week," as a regular
duty at home.  Yet the word "treasuring" implies that the
worshiper may put the sums accumulated into the public
depository of the church, when convenient for preservation,
security, or use in such ways as he may designate.
The first and most solemn transaction then manifestly was
the private " setting apart," dedication and consecration of
a share of a man's income to the Lord.  This was a duty
which belonged to the business of every week, and the con- In regard to this very important practical point it is designed
that the explanations shall convey the sense of the best interpreters,
ancient and modern. The Syriac translation renders the words
"by him" as meaning at home. The later Hebrew New Testament,
separate alone, as in Gen. xxxii. 25, and Ex. xviii. 14. The Latin
Vulgate, " apud se seponat;" " apud se" was an idiomatic expression
for "the dwelling, the house of a person." ANDREWS' Lat. Lex.
The French, "mette d part chez soi," which is the same idiom. The
German," lege bei sich selbst."  JOSEPHUS, Antiq. xx. 10, uses the
words (nra &eavTr) which are here translated "by him" interchangeably with another word (o0KaSe) which means " at one's house, or
home."  Most of the ancient and modern commentators strongly
emphasize this feature of the Rule.




CULTIVATION OF PERSONAL CHARACTER.  217
secration of it unto God to every Sabbath: though the public act of presenting it could be performed when suitable occasions were offered. Tertullian says "each one makes a contribution on a certain day, or when he chooses." They were
sometimes handed in to the church " once a month."  This
private consecration is the imitation of the picture presented
to us in the discourse of Chrysostom.
LEADING OBJECT, TO ENLIST PRAYER.
To enlist prayer for the objects to which money is given
is, no doubt, God's first purpose in requiring the private
setting apart of contributions each Sabbath.  This is most
manifest to one who has observed the spirit of the passage
in the original Scripture. It is to be solemnly and prayerfully set apart and dedicated to God's service. Prayers go
to the throne of universal dominion.  God, in answer to
them, sets in motion the ministering hosts which are invisible to mortal eyes. Our money and labors belong to the
lower machinery of earth; prayer sets in action those living
spirits within the wheels which Ezekiel saw in his vision.
"When those went, these went; and when those stood,
these stood."  Material agencies of providence have no life
or power save as they are thus animated from on high; and
as they are directed by that "voice" which the prophet
heard from the sapphire throne upon which was One having
"the appearance of a man." *
This is the spirit of the instruction of Jesus Christ in the
sermon on the mount.  He enjoins as to alms and prayer,
that they be "in secret," and "thy Father which seeth in
* Ezek. ch. i.




218   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
secret himself shall reward thee-openly."  The whole Bible
is full of precepts which bind them together.
The first desire and prayer of every one that gives should
be that his offering may be "an odor of a sweet smell, a
sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God," who "shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus."  Our liberality and self-denial for his sake will be
repaid " an hundred fold" if accepted in heaven; " for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased."  John saw in the last
judgment that "the books were opened" in which are recorded all that we have done for Christ, and " the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works." *
But there is a far more important reason for our accompanying every gift of money with prayer: many may be
saved thereby.  The man whom God was pleased to accept
as the first fruits of the harvest from among the Gentiles
was thus honored because he " gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always." The angel of God said unto
him, "Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are
had in remembrance in the sight of God;" and an apostle
was sent to him and to his kinsfolk and near friends, with
gracious tidings of salvation. f In public worship, and in
secret exercises, we should follow prayer by alms as the
means of its fulfillment. Prayer should be sealed, in pleading with a covenant-keeping God, by alms; in all nations a
contract is not counted valid till it be sealed with a payment
of money. Alms should be made potent and successful in
their design by prayer.  What multitudes would be con* Phil. iv. 18, 19. Rev. xx. 12.     t Acts x.




CULTIVATION  OF PERSONAL CHARACTER.  219
verted to-day, in this and that dark and unpromising field
at home, or abroad, if each dollar which is sent thither were
followed by "the effectual fervent prayer" of the giver for
God's Holy Spirit to follow its appropriation with blessings
upon the labors of the preacher, the teacher, the physician,
the Bible or tract distributor. The seed of the word, wherever planted, must be steeped in prayers and tears to make
it bring forth abundantly.
BENEFICENCE A REGULAR PRINCIPLE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Another of God's great designs in appointing this private setting apart was, doubtless, that beneficence should be
made a habitual principle of the life of every Christian.
Mr. Barnes, in his explanation of the Divine Rule,
presses strongly this feature of it.  He says,* "' Let him set
it apart.' Let him designate a certain portion; let him do
this'by himself,' when he is at home, when he can calmly
look at the evidence of his prosperity. Let him do it not
under the influence of pathetic appeals, or for the sake of
display when he is with others, but let him do it as a matter
of principle, and when he is by himself."  " Paul designed
that the habit of doing good with their money should be
constant.  HIe therefore directed that it should be on
the return of each Lord's day, so that the subject should
be constantly before their minds.  How much would the
amount of charities be swelled in the Christian Church if all
Christians would lay by in store each week what they then
could devote to sacred purposes."
* Notes on First CorinthiaIes.




220   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
The Divine Rule cultivates individual giving from principle. Regularity in giving is like regularity in eating. It
is healthful; the digestion is easy, and every organ of the
frame is invigorated; the growth and development of the
powers is continuous; the effects are good success, and genuine enjoyment and comfort, in whatever work employs our
thoughts and strength.
The opposite kind of giving is that which has made our
"Voluntary System" objectionable in the eyes of Christians
of other lands.  Our system, it is to be hoped, will ever be"voluntary," as not being compulsory by any State, or
ecclesiastical enactments.  But it certainly should not be
spontaneous or spasmodic.
" Spontaneous" is an adjective which is defined to mean
that which proceeds from natural feeling or impulse, without consideration, that which is produced without being
planted, or without cultivation.  Spontaneous giving has
numerous essential and vital defects. Its products are sometimes abundant and beautiful; but they depend upon contingencies of soil, and exposure, and want of cultivation, which
make them unreliable in any one season or year. The congregations, or men, that give in this way, suffer from a sort
of religious epilepsy.  To-day they are in spasms and
fever, foaming and uncontrollable; to-morrow the fit is off,
and they are exhausted, fretful or stupid, incapable of work.
And this last state may be long protracted.
The general effect of benevolent work carried on by appeals to this kind of charity, is most unfavorable to its regular and healthful development.  It sometimes manifests a
certain temporary energetic activity.  Its spirit, however,




CULTIVATION  OF I'EIRSONAL CIIARACTER.  221
is material and sensational.  Material interests, politics,
calamities, accidents, new agents, new measures, local or
occasional public excitements, are its natural themes. Even
the spiritual experiences and hopes of the Church and of
men's souls must be displayed in a sentimental and pretentious manner, which is offensive and painful to genuine feeling. Neglect of careful instruction, levity of manner, coarse
illustrations, creep into the pulpit. The lust of excitement is
kindled in the people.  The mighty spiritual motives of the
gospel evaporate, and the omnipotent co-operation of the
Ioly Ghost is defeated, as the fertilizing dews of Hermon
and Lebanon are dried up by a hot east wind from the
deserts of Moab.
EVERY KIND OF ENPILOYMENT TO BE SPIRITUALIZED.
It is a grand object of the Divine Rule to infuse spiritual
motives into all the ordinary employments of men's hands
and time.
The duty of giving is taken up by Paul a second time, in
another epistle to the Corinthians.* The apostle in this
treats chiefly of the spiritual motives which should impel
liberality-the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; the example of it in churches which abounded in it even amidst a
great trial of affliction, and their joy in it; the lessons of
that divine providence which, as in sending the manna of
old, will ever supply sufficiently our wants; the necessity of
seeking and cultivating liberality as "a grace," just as we
do knowledge, faith, utterance, and all diligence; and the
assurance of proportionate returns for our faithfulness, just' Chaps. viii. and ix.




222    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
as the industry of the sower ministers food and multiplies
bread.  "Bountifulness" is part of a spiritual industry
by which we are " enriched in everything."
The word "righteousness " is used by Paul in a sense
which is foreign to our modes of thought. He quotes from
the Old Testament: "As it is written, he hath dispersed
abroad; he hath given to the poor; his righteousness remaineth for ever.'"  The word means conformity to duty
and right.  We call practical charity "benevolence," and
"beneficence;" just as if its exercise were a matter of choice
and of merit.  He makes it a "right" of Christianity-a
law, like "the law of kindness" which king Lemuelt says
governs the family of the virtuous woman-a law, albeit a
" law of love."  In Eastern nations, where we say " charitable " they often say "righteous."  One sees, for instance,
over the door of what we entitle a "Charity School,"
out of which are flocking the children of the poor, and
which is supported by the contributions of those whom God
has more abundantly favored, the remarkable inscription
"RIGHTEOUS SCHOOL."  In illustrating the duty of giving, Paul says of the Macedonians, "they first gave their
own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God."
Thus, like faithful bondmen to Christ and his kingdom,
"beyond their power they were willing" to give the proceeds of their labor to him and for his service.
Every kind of business and employment is to be spiritualized.  We are to work at the same time for both worlds.
As Paul pictures it, we are not alone to get upon the Rock,
- Compare 2 Cor. ix. 9 with Ps. cxii. 9.
t Prov. xxxi. 26.




CULTIVATION OF PERSONAL CHARACTER. 223
or to be saved barely and nakedly' so as by fire. "  We are
to do more.  We are to be building all that we can of the
temple whose gold, silver, and precious stones shall shine
out in all their celestial and eternal glory on that great day
when the wood, hay, and stubble of mere earthly possessions shall be swallowed up in the " fervent heat."*
Augustine, in one of his sermons at the Numidian city
of Hippo, beautifully represents this heavenly privilege.
He says:t " In a certain way the Lord our God wishes us to
be merchantmen.  He makes an exchange with us.  We
give what abounds here, we receive what abounds there.
It is just as many transact commercial traffic; they give
goods in one country and receive something else in another
to which they come.  Thus, for example, a man says to his
friend,'Receive gold from  me here and give me oil in
Africa.'  It is not a transportation, and yet there is a
transportation.  He gets what he desires.... We give
earth, and we receive heaven.  We give the temporal, and
receive the eternal. We give things corruptible, and receive
the immortal.  Lastly, we give what God has bestowed;
and receive God himself.  Let us not then be slothful in
such a commerce as this.  Let us not continue poor. "$
-  Cor. iii. 11-15. 2 Pet. iii. 7-13.
t Sermon cxxvii., on 1 Tim. vi. 7-9.
t JOHN CALVIN, in his Commentary upon the rule in 1 Cor., spiritualizes its meaning somewhat after the style of Augustine. He
says, "To'treasure' is to bury. The safest and best treasury is
the bestowment of things to holy uses... God submits to be a
debtor to the poor, that he may return what we give to him, with
ample interest. These words of Paul agree with those of Christ,' Lay not up for yourselves treasure on earth,'" etc.




224    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
INDUCEMENT TO PERSONAL AND HOME EFFORTS.
This setting apart of money for the Lord is designed to
induce Christians to engage in personal labors for the spiritual welfare of others, and for the spread of the gospel.
A man is to lay by him at home, as the original text
means.  Christian influence should begin at home; in one's
own family. For no other human beings are we so responsible. None are so dear. None, if we are what we should be,
are so impressible by our influence. It was a joyful thing for
Rahab, when she had gathered her kindred into her house,
and hung the scarlet line out of the window, to know that
all were safe from the slaughter of the war without and
from the burning of the doomed city. What then will be
the joy of the parents of a saved family-all saved!-in
the last judgment, and in the burning of the world!
A capital secret of success in guarding a home and family
from evil is to train them to habits of active and constant
beneficence and usefulness. Warmth and health are better
promoted by vigorous exercise than by wrappings, and fires,
and stimulating draughts.
The savings and the earnings of the children and the
mother for some Christian end, how they make beautiful and
fruitful the growing plants! " Home " is the chief and great
sphere for the exercise of woman's peculiar power.  A
father and mother should lovingly teach their children, like
the disciples of the early Christian Church, to " make their
little box a treasury" of "the church in the house," and
early form them to habits of regular and intelligent acts of
charity and beneficence. This instruction of the children is




CULTIVATION  OF PERSONAL CHARACTER.  225
the chief hope for the adoption of a higher rule of beneficence in the entire Church.
"Every one," as the Divine Rule says, should lay by at
home in order to make home a centre from which to reach
other families; to originate personal efforts for the conversion of sinners. A package of tracts placed, as opportunity offers, in the hands of the impenitent-a gift of a suitable book to the inquirer, or to the afflicted one-a warm
garment to a poor child or adult-some judicious help toward restoring a poor fallen one-a timely gift to a poor student-a sum placed in the hands of pastor or deacons for
special objects-a remittance to help one of the organs of
the Church in its appointed work, in some trying emergency
-if the little sums of each private treasury, in tens of thousands of sympathizing and praying families, could be set
flowing for such uses, as the spirit of this Rule indicates, the
whole fabric of society would, in a little time, begin to feel
that a new power was moving and elevating it.
We should imitate the life on earth of JEsus CHRIST,
"the friend of sinners."  We should go in person to convey our charities.  " It is," says G-uthrie, "less the amount
given than the way of giving it that sweetens the cup of
poverty and reconciles the pensioners of our bounty to their
lot, Those kind looks and tones which bespeak the feelings
of the heart, you cannot transmit with the goods or gold,
the meat or messages which you send through the medium
of servants or societies, or any second party whatever. As
far as possible, therefore, every one should be the almoner
of his own charities, and carry the sunbeams of his pres15




226   GOD'S RULE FORP CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.
ence into the homes of the poor."... " Speak as Clo gst,
had he been in our circumstances, would have spoken; feel
as he would have felt; act as he would have acted."*
The profession of union to Christ gives to every " member" of his spiritual body not alone a place, but some office
and duty to perform for the benefit of the whole.  Time
does not allow the illustration of this evident vital principle
of the Christian life fiom the Scriptures, fiom the example
of the Primitive Church, and from the lives of the converts
from heathenism  in our foreign mission fields.  We may
only cite an interesting extract from the "Catholic Ep:istle
of Barnabas," one of the earliest Christian writings extant.
Barnabas, or the writer of it, exhorts the believers in Christ
to unceasing acts and labors of charity.  He says:t "Call
to remembrance, day and night, the future judgment. Thou
shalt seek out every day the persons of the righteous, and
both consider and go about to save others by the Word, and
meditate how thou mayest save a soul.  Thou shalt also
labor with thy hands to give to the poor that thy sins may
be forgiven thee.  Thou shalt not hesitate whether thou
shouldest give, nor having given murmur at it.  Give to
every one that asketh, so shalt thou know who is the good
Rewarder of thy gifts."
The late admiral Foote was an example of one who made
his calling a means of serving Christ. During a visit to
Siam he was entertained at a royal dinner.  On taking his
scat at the table, he bent his head and asked a blessing upon
the food and guests. The king was surprised, and remarked
* Our Father's Business, chap. iv.
t Epistle, sec. xiv.




CULTIVATION  OF PERSONAL CHARACTER.  227
that he had supposed such a custom belonged only to the
missionaries.  "Ecery C/ristian is a missionary," replied
the faithful admiral.  The foreign missionary work has
been greatly indebted to some naval officers, merchants
and officers of government, who have acted upon the conviction that "every Christian is a missionary."  Is it not
as true of those who are at home?  Has not every man
and woman a mission field within reach, in which there are
many of those which are lost to seek and save, for whom to
spend and be spent?




CHAPTER XII.
THE SAFEGUARD OF RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL
LIBERTY.
YOU hold in your hand a United States legal-tender note.
Consider it minutely.  There is stated upon it the Act
of Congress which authorized it.  You see no such paper or
declaration from a heathen or Mohammedan government.
This fastens our attention upon all the chain of history
which preceded that Act, and shaped it, the growth of Christianity, our long struggles for civil liberty, the Magna Charta
in the meadow at Runlnynede, the bloody wars, the successive revolutions, the refuge and conflicts in a new world, the
establishment of methods for securing the representation of
the rights of every man in every law that is made, and in
every dollar of tax that is laid upon his property and labor.
All those centuries of Christian influences and development
of civil rights are represented in that note. The pictures
of the capitol and of historical scenes, the portraits of deceased presidents and statesmen, are designed to impress
these remembrances.
To place that note in your hand, there were necessary
meetings of the state legislatures to choose senators, and elections in every community for members of the house of representatives, who were to consult and authorize the issue;
the consent of the President as chief of the executive department of the government; and systems of revenue with
228




THE  SAFEGUARD  OF LIBERTY.               229
all their vast machinery of men, and property, and armed
power, to provide means to make good the "promise to
pay."  Without all this authority and these provisions,
these paper pledges would be worthless.
The payment is guarded by an immense array of checks
and balances; by signatures of officers responsible to the
government; by careful records of every series of issues and
of every payment made; and by the placing of its proper
number on each note of the millions that are put forth.
Acts of counterfeiting, or tampering with the note you
hold, are prevented or punished by legal enactments; by a
complicated judiciary system; by universal police agencies.
Expensive machinery, and the aid of numerous sciences
and arts, are applied to make the note easily distinguishable, and secure from imitation.
It is by such reflections as these, upon forms or usages
which are so common that it is only now and then we are led
to remember that they are the fruit of a tree which has
been eighteen centuries in ripening, and which is a graft
from another tree which had been growing as much longer
in Palestine, that we are brought to conceive and realize
how sacred is the trust of money in the theory and organization of the State, how jealously it is guarded by the State
on every side, and with what exceeding watchfulness every
payment of it is regarded.
The final object is to secure perfectly the rights of the
individual.  It is to guard the proceeds of his labor.  It is
to fulfill the expression of his will as to how a reasonable
share of those proceeds shall be applied for the maintenance
of order and the punishment of crime.




230    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
How precious to us beyond description is the civil and
religious liberty to which through so many generations of
growth and conflict we have attained! What so important
as to preserve it, to use it wisely, and to transmit it to our
children! How necessary for the Church of Christ, which
after so long a time has come to the enjoyment of this liberty, thoroughly to inform herself as to its meaning, and to
fortify it by such methods as the Giver of all good has ordained, that it may not again be insidiously or wrongfully
taken from us, or from those to come after us.
Let us trace, for a moment, the great sources of religious
and civil liberty. This will prepare us to estimate aright
the provision for its preservation which God has made in
the Rule for Christian Giving.
THE THREE CIIEF SEATS oF RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL
LIBERTY.
It is one of the extraordinary coincidences of history,
which all are not of chance, that peculiar analogies to each
other have existed in the origin. and constitution of three
nations which have been the chief seats of religious and
civil freedom —Israel, Switzerland, and the United States
of America.
Israel was a confederation of thirteen republics; the two
sons of Joseph being constituted the heads of distinct tribesthough the tribe of Levi, performing the universal duties
of priests, judges, and physicians, was only allotted fortyeight cities, which were distributed among the territories
allotted to the other twelve tribes, and its sustenance was
provided for by the offerings to the Lord.




THE SAFEGUARD  OF LIBERTY.                 231
The resemblance of the constitutions of Israel and Switzerland long ago attracted the notice of scholars.  Professor
Michaelis, of Gottingen, in the last century, said,* "The
constitution of Israel may be considered as in some measure resembling that of Switzerland, where thirteen cantons,
of which each has a government of its own and exercises
the right of war, are all united into one great republic.
All the twelve tribes had at least one common weal. They
had general Diets, of which we find examples in the twentythird and twenty-fourth chapters of Joshua.  They were
bound, at least by law and compact, to take the field against
a common enemy."  " The form of the republic established
by Moses was democratic.  Its head admitted of change
as to the name and nature of his office, and we find that, at
certain times, it could subsist without a general head."
" Moses seems to have been very desirous that the nation
of Israel should always preserve the constitution of a free
republic," still he "allows the Israelites the choice of a
king," but " specifies the limitations of his power," and
"that they must never elect a foreigner. "'
While this scholar was preparing for publication these
observations, thirteen colonies in the wilderness of the New
World, of which he took little thought, were holding their
counsels preparatory to forming a republic now ten times
greater than either of the two preceding, in the constitution
of which most of the principles indicated are embodied,
along with others which secure, we trust, permanent freeConlment's on the Laws of Moses, b. II., chap. vi. and vii., published in six volumes, in 1770-1775.
t Compare Deut. xvii. 14-20.




232   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
dom to its people in the state and in religion-a republic
whose power, knowledge, and wealth we would fain hope
will be consecrated to the God of Israel, and thus make it
like Israel a light to all lands.
Now let us consider attentively the source of our free institutions, in the appointments which God made for the
people of the Israelitish republic. We will find in those
ordinances the germs of all our ideas and rights of this kind.
EDUCATION OF ISRAEL IN THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY.
The original constitution of the Jewish theocracy was
truly wonderful for that age and for that quarter of the
world. Both the religious and civil elements of government fostered independence, freedom, and the dignity of
the individual; and, at the same time, as the highest means
of producing such a character, encouraged acts of direct
approach to God, communion with him, and responsibility
to him as Creator, Lord, and Final Judge.  All worship of
the Jews had to be voluntary, else it was not acceptable.
God said to Moses, "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."  It
was said that, without the spirit of personal respect, "he
that killeth an ox is as if lie slew a mall: he that sacrificeth
a lamb as if he cut off a dog's neck."*
In all acts of religious worship the people were taught the
principle of equal rights, equal acceptance, and equal accountability, before God, whatsoever the earthly distinctions.
"The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the
* Ex. xxv. 2. Isa. lxvi. 3.




THE SAFEGUARD OF LIBERTY.                 233
maker of them all."  Special concessions were made as to
the animals, or quantities of the materials, to be offered in
the sacrifices and oblations of the poor; and generous provisions for their relief and protection.  But the equality of
their personal relations to God was assured in such laws as
that requiring of "every one" " an half shekel" as a special
memorial unto the Lord "to make atonement for their
souls;" "the rich shall not give more and the poor shall
not give less than half a shekel."  "Every male" in the
nation must come, three times in the year, from whatever
distance in the land his home might be, to render personal
worship at the temple.
In numerous forms, direct vows, oblations of gratitude for
particular mercies to self and the family, and acts of special
covenant with God, were encouraged.  "Either man or
woman" was explicitly authorized " to separate themselves
to vow a vow of a Nazarite unto the Lord."  And the people
were taught that the priestly tribe was but a substitute of
convenience for the first-born son of every family.  The
final principle as to all God's people is: "Ye are a royal
priesthood."  Thus every institution of the old dispensation
seems designed to teach them  the dignity of their high
calling.*
FORMS OF PRESENTATION OF OFFERINGS.
One of the most efficient guarantees of religious and civil
freedom to the Jew was one which delivered him from any
interference of others in the choice and presentation of all
* Prov. xxii. 2. Ex. xxx. 15; xxiii. 17. Num. vi. 1-6. 1 Pet.
ii. 9.




234   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
that he gave to purposes of worship and the maintenance
of the priesthood and its related civil offices: he was always
required to " bring" in person all his offerings. If sacrifices
were to be made, it is said, a score of times, every man
" shall bring them unto the LoRD;" or he "shall bring
them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation;"
or he " shall bring them" " unto the priest. "   If first fruits
were offered, a singularly beautiful act was performed. The
law said,t " Thou shalt take of all the fruits of the earth,
which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God
giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto
the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to put his
name there; and thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be
in those days, and say unto him,'I profess this day unto
the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which
the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us;' and the
priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it
down before the altar of the LORD thy God."  Then the
donor was required to recount God's great goodness in bringing the nation out of Egypt, and say: " and he hath brought
us into this place and hath given us this land, even a land
that floweth with milk and honey: and now behold I have
brought the first fruits of the land which thou, 0 LORD,
hast given me."  And, he is instructed, " thou shalt set it
before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD
thy God."
When the Lord is angry with Israel for their negligence,
what does lie do?  Rebuke the priests and Levites for not
going about and gathering the fruits of the ground and
~* Lev. ch. iv., v., vi., etc.   f Dout. xxvi. 1-11.




THE SAFEGUARD OF LIBERTY.    235
money due to his service?  No!  He rebukes the people
for not themselves bringing them.  "Bring ye all the tithes
into the storehouse." In the days of great revival, when
the nation is stirred with zeal for the building of the tabernacle, or the first or the second temple, the people "brings
the offerings into the house of the Lord," so that there is
abundance, and perhaps " a great store" is left.*
ORIENTAL TREASURIES.
In the large enclosures, and numerous edifices connected
with a temple in the East, abundant provision is made for
treasuries and depositories of various kinds in which money,
valuable gifts made of gold, silver and other materials, and
oblations of grain, clothing, and other articles of use, can be
received and stored.  So in the temple at Jerusalem, there
were treasuries of gold, silver and "dedicated things," the
pattern of which David, by Divine instruction, gave to Solomon.  These arrangements were restored by Nehemiah
in rebuilding the temple after the captivity. 
Some of the most interesting passages in the life of Christ
are those pictures of him by the four evangelists which show
him sitting in this part of the sacred enclosure, to instruct
the people who came to bring their gifts, as to the true
principles of religious beneficence.: The gifts of money
were cast into chests with trumpet-shaped mouths.  The
- Mal. iii. 10. 2 Chron. xxxi. 10.
t I Chron. xxviii. 12; xxvi. 20. Neh. xii. 44.
Mark xii. 41-44. Matt. xxii. 15-22. John viii. 1-20. Mark
xi. 12-19; and Matt. vi. 1-4.
2 Kings xii. 4-15. Comp. JosEPrus, Jewinhl Altiq., IX., viii. 2.




236   GOD'S RULE FOR CHIRISTIAN  GIVING.
synagogue service, after which that of the New Testament
Church was formed, required collections for religious uses
to be made each Sabbath.  Chests were provided near the
door in which the money was dropped as worshipers passed.in or out.  The Christian Church continued this usage.
Our Lord apparently indicated in the sermon on the mount
the duty of guarding against ostentation in this act, which
many did "to be seen of men" in that public place.  The
early Christian writers mention boxes, chests, treasuries, or
depositories, by different names, according to their size and
character.*
THE PERMANENT GUARANTY OF LIBERTY.
The Divine Head of the Church, in giving to his people
an ordinance designed to be universal in all lands, wheresoever it shall be successively planted, and to be its guide for
all time in so vital a matter as the collection of money for
its support and dissemination, illustrated his omniscience
by including in it the best. human safeguard of religious and
civil liberty. He makes it the duty of each individual " himself" to "treasure," or " put in the treasury "-that is, to
bring and deposit, or contribute, in person-his weekly accumulations.
The illustrations of the meaning of this appointment
which we have drawn from the former dispensation are so
plain and full that not much more need be added here. All
contributions must be made willingly.  "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.'"  The
* Such as Onraavp6o, KcWdT6O, Klf;/TLOV, Y5a, ya~oOvhaKLOV, yarea, gaza,
thesaurus, etc.                          t 2 Cor. ix. 7.




SAFEGUARD  OF LIBERTY.                  237
gifts must be made in such amounts, at such times, and for
such objects as each one chooses, subject only to such general arrangements as are required to facilitate them. There
should be some means of designating their objects; which,
with the present conveniences, may be easily done by using
envelopes. It is a matter of choice whether the offerings
be placed in suitable boxes at the door, or be collected by
the deacons, or be laid upon a table at the close of the service. The former was the ordinary and for some reasons the
preferable plan.  The object is to cultivate the spirit of
Christ's admonition, that the act be done, as its first end,
with reference to our Father who seeth the secret purposes,
and will give effect to them, and bless us, on earth and in
heaven, openly; and that it be associated with the motives
which are embodied in this Divine Rule.*  Such gifts as
are designed for the poor may be left in the hands of the
minister and deacons to distribute, yet what is bestowed on
the poor will come better from the giver himself.
But it is clear that undiscriminating general collections
left to be divided, not according to the will of the giver,
but the will of a church session, or according to proportionate allotments of a presbytery, synod, or general assembly,
are not in the spirit of the Rule.
IMPORTANCE OF THIS GUARANTY.
It is of the first importance so to frame all the arrangements
in relation to contributions of money in the Church as to
maintain the principle of the ordinance that the individual
shall himself "lay by him," and put into the treasuries,
* See more especially Part 1., chap. iv., and Part II., chap. iii., etc.




233   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
and control the use of, the money which he gives to religious objects.  And every financial scheme in the Church of
Christ is fraught with danger which does not cultivate religious fieedom, provide for intelligent acquaintance with all the
objects and the agencies placed before us as channels for our
benevolence, and promote an ever-increasing realization of
our personal obligations to God and our final account to him.
It has been one of the distinguishing characteristics of
the Calvinistic and Presbyterian bodies in Christ's Church,
in all ages, to give great consideration to principles; and to
resist the beginnings of those practices which other branches
of Christianity have allowed to go on and obtain power,
until they have been overwhelmed with the disastrous results.  The lessons of the past with regard to the dangers
connected with the collection of money are of special interest to us. The rights of the people cannot, in the light of
them, be guarded with too much jealousy.  How small the
beginnings of the gigantic and tremendous corruptions of
the Middle Ages! The pastors of rich churches became
proud and assuming.  Disparity of the ministry grew and
became settled.  Various orders and grades were created.
The most powerful in the cities were denominated distinctively "bishops."  Grand church edifices were erected, and
lavishly adorned. Confiscated heathen temples were adapted to Christian worship, retaining their statues and symbols
under Christian names.  The ceremonies of worship became pompous and sensual.  The Holy Spirit took his
flight; religion became a thing of forms and ordinances.
The revenues which had flowed in out of principles of grace
and of missionary zeal were demanded by definite enact



TTE SAFEGUARD OF LIBERTY.                  2,3)
ments of councils, and enforced by the arm  of the civil
ruler. The prostitution of the Church to the State, and,
in turn, the lewd and imperious despotism of the Church
over the State, and all the horrid impiety and debauchery
of the Dark Ages, were the results.
REPUBLICANISM OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCI.
The primitive church was republican, founded upon the
thirteen  apostles.  There was a complete parity of its
tribes, and a complete parity of its ministry.  There was no
principle more jealously guarded than that of the equality
of its membership in the church, and before Jesus Christ its
Lord.  The rich man "with a gold ring and in goodly apparel " was not to be set higher, or his gifts esteemed more,
than the "poor man in vile raiment," for with the "Lord
Jesus Christ the Lord of glory" there is no "respect of
persons."*  Numerous proofs of this principle in the life
and teaching of Christ, and in those of the apostles, rise at
once in every mind instructed in the Scriptures. The fruits
of the restoration of this faith and principle of church order
are seen in all the history of the creed of John Calvin and
John Knox, and of the colonization from the lands which
held it to this continent, whose institutions took their shape
and impress from its order, and their life from its spirit;
for our Revolution was the successful struggle in a new field
of republicanism in Church and State against monarchism
in both.
EFFECT OF PRINCIPLE OF INDIVIDUALITY UPON SOCIETY.
The effect of the principle, which in this chapter and
* James v. 1-5.




240   GOD'S RULE FOR CIIRISTIAN GIVING.
others previous we have been tracing, upon society, is thus
described by an eminent American political economist:*
"A  quality by which man is distinguished from other
animals is individuality. The greater the variety of employments, and the greater the demand for intellectual effort,
the more dissimilar become the parts, and the more perfect
becomes the whole.  In every society there exists a vast
amount of latent capacity waiting but the opportunity to
show itself; and thus it is that in communities in which
there is no diversity of employments, the intellectual power
is to so great an extent wasted, producing no result. Life
has been defined as being a mutual exchange of relations;
where difference does not exist, exchanges cannot take
place.  The more perfect the organization of society the
greater the variety of demands for the exercise of the physical and intellectual powers, and the higher will be the elevation of man as a whole."
"Next among these qualities is responsibility before his
fellow-men and before his Creator for his actions. Responsibility grows with the growth of individuality. And with
every step toward perfect individuality men learn more and
more to appreciate their severe responsibility toward society
at large and toward their Creator for the careful preparation
of their children for the performance of their duties to both."
RELIGIOUS THE FOUNDATION OF CIVIL LIBERTY.
Religious liberty is the ground of that of the State. Without a solid foundation there, civil liberty cannot be comprehended, or established, or maintained. Of this we have most
IIENRY C. CAREY, Principles of Social Science, chap. ii.




THE SAFEGUARD  OF LIBERTY.                 241
sad illustrations in the vain efforts of Romanist nations to imitate our republican institutions. The ablest statesmen aver
this truth.  Mr. Webster says:  "To the free and universal reading of the Bible men were much indebted for right
views of civil liberty. The Bible is a book of faith, a book
of doctrine, a book of morals, and a book of religion, of special revelation from God; but it is also a book which teaches
man his own individual responsibility, his own dignity, and
his equality with his fellow-man."
The historian Bancroft vividly describes the powerful
influence of Calvinism  upon Europe in the Reformation.
" It aroused every intelligence to acts of private judgment;
changed a dependent, recipient people into a reflecting, inquiring people; lifted each human being out of the castes
of the Middle Ages, to endow him with individuality; and
summoned man to stand forth as man."  "Longing to introduce the reign of righteousness, it invited every man to
read the Bible, and made itself dear to the common mind
by teaching as a divine revelation the unity of the race and
the natural equality of man."t
The wise Lieber+ shows the very great dangers of the
centralization of power, and the  necessity of sufficient
checks and balances to it: "Power, according to its inherent nature, goes on increasing, until checked.  Montesquieu
says,' It is a lasting experience that every man who has
power is brought to the abuse of it. IHe goes on until
he finds its limits.'  And it is so with'every man,' because it lies in the very nature of power itself:"
* Work8a, i., 102.  t History of United States, iv., 151-154.
Civil Liberty fand Self Government, I., 169.
16




CHAPTER XIII.
THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN GIVING.
W HAT do men think of the farmer who, coming into a
heritage of many broad and fertile fields, greedily
eats up the stores of wealth which have been accumulated,
and stingily puts into the ground for future seed only
handfuls where he should scatter bushels?  What of the
merchant who ruins a great commercial venture by dishonesty in light weights and short measures? What of the
king going to make war against another king, who sends ten
thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty
thousand, opposes men naked and hungry and unarmed
against a well-appointed and disciplined army, and thus
insanely and shamefully sacrifices the welfare of his people
and kingdom?  By such common and absolute necessities,
and by men's instinctive condemnation of those who neglect
the means by which they are to be provided for, we see
illustrated the importance of the closing provision of the
Divine Rule for Christian Giving-that is, that the advancement of religion in the world, being done through
human instruments and common means, requires expenditures of labor and money proportionable to the ends in
view. As our Lord Jesus says, we must sit down and count
the cost, and adapt means with reference to their sufficiency
242




THE MEASURE OF CIITRSTIAN GIVING.  243
for the designs. It is tempting God, rejecting his providential arrangements, and making all that behold it begin
to mock, when that sufficiency is not weighed, and its requirements fully met. Christ says that those who do not
count and pay the cost of his service cannot be his disciples.*
The measure of Christian giving is the subject of the last
provision of the Divine Rule.  It is one with which the
earnest soul of the apostle is full.  "O ye Corinthians!"
he cries out beneath the painful burthen of it, " our mouth
is open unto you; our heart is enlarged! Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels."t  Oh
learn mercy and charity! "For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be
rich."  Do we not approve ourselves to be his ministers by
our sacrifices for you-choosing to be poor, yet making many
rich; having nothing, yet possessing all things; and seeking to inspire you with the same self-denial, and liberality,
and zeal! " This I say, He which soweth sparingly shall
reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall
reap also bountifully.' "
INTERPRETATION OF THE WORDS.
Paul concludes, by inspiration from God, the great rule
for Christian giving by affixing a standard, or measure, for
our government in performing this vital duty of the Christian life. IIe says it should be, in the words of our com* Luke xiv. 28-33.   t 2 Cor. vi. 11,12.   $ 2 Cor. vi. 11, 12;
viii. 9; ix. 6.




244   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
mon version, "as God hath prospered."*  Hlodge says:
"literally,' whatever has gone well with him.' He was to
lay aside what by his success in business he was able to give.
This is another principle which the apostle would have
Christians to act upon. Their contributions should be in
proportion to their means."  Alvord translates the words,
"whatsoever he may by prosperity have acquired."   OlsiNW~''t bYtM ie t -a&is'it, % as Tar as the circumstances oT each
sanction it."  Scott says, "let every man treasure up a
proportion of his gains according as God hath prospered
him  during the preceding week."  Bloomfield, Poor, in
Lange's Commentary, and others, give it precisely thus,
" according as,.or in respect to whatever;" the pronoun and
adverb having a general and potential character; the verb
being "literally,'to be set forward on one's jourey.' "
When we trace out the form and uses of the Greek verb
we find that it is in the passive, signifying reception of the
prosperity, and thus "there is a tacit reference to the Almighty."  The word is used in three other places in the
New Testament, Rom. i. 10, and twice in 3 John, 2, where
there is an allusion to verse 6. The one word in Rom. i. 10,
is translated in full by five in our version: " might have a
prosperous journey."  This is the figure, then, which the
Divine Rule implies.  We are like ancient Israel, traveling
to a land of promise. Jehovah marches with us in the pillar
of cloud and of fire.  He guides us, and defends us, and supplies all our wants.  He gives us bread from heaven to eat.
"As it is written," says Paul, "he that had gathered much
had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack."
O TiL  V Evoh )TOTL.




THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN  GIVING.  245
Do "ye, having all sufficiency in all things, abound to every
good work; as it is written, he has dispersed abroad; he hath
given to the poor; his righteousness remaineth for ever."
In the Septuagint Greek, which Christ and the apostles
read and quoted, we find this same word used in another
appropriate sense.  It is said that David had prepared gold,
silver, brass, iron, timber, stone, and all things needed; and
had "set masons to hew wrought stones for the house of
God," and laborers to do other preparatory work.  But he
had "been a man of war and had shed blood," a conqueror
rather than a builder.  So he gave it as his last charge to
Solomon, his son, "Now, my son, prosper thou, and build
the house of the Lord thy God, as he hath said of thee."
And again, "Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed
to fulfill the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged
Moses with concerning Israel."t  There are several Greek
words which mean to "prosper," but this particular one
used'by Paul is the same which is used in the Septuagint in
giving David's charge, in both these passages. Such an illustration is one of the most natural and suitable within the
range of the apostle's knowledge. Christ was a conqueror,
though only by the shedding of his own precious blood; to
those who became heirs of the blessings gained is the charge
given to build.  "Let every man'bring' to be wrought
into a fitting place in that temple, whatsoever he hath prospered in;" gold, silver, precious stones, brass, iron, stones,
"anything soever" that the Lord has prospered him  in.
Every man has something that will be of use in a great
* 2 Cor. viii. 15; ix. 8, 9.
t 1 Chron. xxii. and xxix.s xxviii. 3, 11, 13.




246   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
building; the poor, the rich, men of every occupation oi
capacity, with any kind of prosperity, can find things which
they may turn into gold and silver to give for it.  Males
and females, old and young, all can find some work that they
can make profitable thus. There is no mechanical employment, no material gift, which cannot be put into a form to
occupy some place in thc construction of all the vast and
varied parts of the edifice, which is to be reared through
so many long centuries, and whose area is to be commensurate with the habitable world.*
It is worthy of remark, that this same Greek word is
again used in the Septuagint with regard to the repair of
the temple by Hezekiah. lie was the honored agent of a
great reformation, or revival of religion.  The book of
Chronicles relates how he "prospered in all his works,"
save in the matter of the king of Babylon; how he revived
the ancient law, so that "the tithe of all things they
brought in abundantly:" how "the people and the strangers
rejoiced," "so that there was great joy in Jerusalem, for
since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel
there was not the tike iJQ l.eku."
Paul seems likewise to resume in the sixteenth chapter
the same illustration, which is so striking to an Eastern mind,
from a previous use of it in the third chapter of this epistle.
In that chapter he pictures Christ as the great rock on which
a temple is founded; himself a minister of the gospel, like
a master-builder; they the workmen under his direction.
"But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon."
He warns them to avoid collecting there combustible mate~ Compare Part I;, chap. ii.




THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN GIVING.  247
rials, or putting up round about or within the enclosures
of the edifice the huts of thatch which are so common in
those warm climates, and which so often catch fire from
the fagots with which the workmen cook their meals, and
burn at once to ashes.  There is a day coming, he says,
when " the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it
is."  If it be incombustible, "gold, silver, precious stones,"
he shall receive a reward; if it be combustible and perishable, "wood, hay, stubble," he shall suffer loss. So there
are men who shall be saved upon the rock, as it were by
fire. They are rich here, but their property is not builded
into the temple. Their lives have been so barely, hardly
Christian, all they have done and earned has been so earthly,
so selfish, that they shall suffer the loss of the whole. They
shall stand in heaven among the lowest and last, inasmuch
as they have so abused the trust of talents and means which
might have made them among the first.
This is Christian doctrine. It is such as would be very
effective when addressed to people converted from heathenism, in that it is one of the elementary principles of natural
religion which are found in all systems of it, those of the
present as well as those of the past. It is a principle which
our much fuller and clearer light should make a guiding
and influential one with Christians now.
The grammatical form of the verb in the Rule should be
observed.  The gifts are to be from what one " hath prospered in."  The consecration is to be retrospective; from
what things are already in our possession. It is not to be
promissory. This provision of omniscient wisdom corrects
one of the mistakes by which churches sometimes try to




248   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
conquer the natural avarice of the human heart, and by
which men defer their obligations to God, and cling a little longer to their money.  It is to be ready for the calls
of God's providence and the necessities of the church;
"that there be no gatherings when " they " come.r"
This important idea is constantly traced in the appointments of the old dispensation.  The gifts of God in each
season and of every kind were to be gratefully acknowledged
by rendering the first-fiuits, or oblations, when ripe; and
the sacrifices of animals when they attained a certain age;
or else by the payment of the redemption money then due foi
each.  But God does not make demands of us upon the
credit system. Paul says our liberality "is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath
not." It is a mere sop to covetousness for us to promise
what we have that is already due, and thus withhold it for
a time.  It is presumption to promise for the future, when
we know not what a day may bring forth.  It is a crime
against humanity to refuse what bread would feed some famishing souls to-day, because we hope to spare more easily next
week, or next month, or to leave more after we are dead.
The root of promissory notes and subscriptions is too often,
alas! ostentation; love of the praise of men rather than that
which cometh from  God.  The general principles of this
New Testament ordinance are opposed to them.  It is a
great mistake, practically, for pastors to solicit from a people
promises to pay so much a week, or quarter, or year, to a
round of benevolent or ecclesiastical objects; and to appoint
collectors to gather up the money.  The plan is burthensome to some, hurtful to all; it lasts but for a time and is




THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN GIVING.  249
thrown away; it is a shift to avoid the neglect of the cultivation of the conscience of the people and the imparting
of information and instruction which would make them give
firom principle. Nothing is gained by rejecting God's plan,
which is the only wise one, that which in due time will produce by far the most abundant results, and that which he will
accompany with blessings infinitely more valuable than silver
and gold.  "Give that ye have, "as God hath prospered."
THE DIVINE SEAL UPON PROPERTY.
"Ye are bought with a price," and so are "the Lord's
freemen;" released from bondage to sin and hell, and so
"thou owest unto me even thine own self."*  All that men
are and have they owe to be used as Christ's service demands.  He may require "all" as from the apostles, when
he needs the whole of one's life and time; or "all" in
order to release one from the control of the world, as in
the case of the young man who asked the way to inherit
eternal life. A Zaccheus may give half his estate to some
objects, and four-fold their claims to others. Christ certainly expects returns proportionable to men's means, five
talents from those that have received five, ten talents from
those that have received ten.
But there is needed some distinct seal of God's right in
all our possessions: and there are required for the comfort
and welfare of society some general and permanent regulations as to time and property. Such regulations are indispensable in the State and in secular concerns. They exist in
every other system of religion on the face of the earth;
* I Cor. vii. 22, 23. Phil. 19.




250   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
in all forms of heathenism  and Mohammedanism; in all
the ancient Christian churches, and in many of the modern.
All Christians without exception comply with the appointment of one-seventh of time for general sacred uses. There
are some, however, who do not comply with that of onetenth as to property. On what authority of God is it based,
and what is its nature under this dispensation?
INSTRUCTIONS OF THE LORD JESUS.
What does the King and Head of the Church say in regard to the form and measure of our common offerings?
In previous chapters* we have observed the general spirit
of his precepts. They all tend to wise system, directed by
holy and loving principle. Each servant in his place is to
be a "faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make
ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat
in due season."  He reproves want of pecuniary forethought
and plans by the example of the unjust steward, which
shows how much wiser the children of this world are than
the children of light. t
On two occasions the Lord Jesus expressly considered the
measure in which money is to be contributed for religious
purposes.  On one of these occasions Christ makes a comparison between various formal observances. A Pharisee,
with whom he was to dine, is surprised by his neglect of
ceremonial washings.  He replies: "Rather give alms of
such things as ye have, and behold all things are clean unto
you."  Our marginal translation reads, for "as ye have,"
"or, as ye are ab7e."  Such is the meaning of the original
* Part I., chap. iv., and Part II., chaps. i. to iv. t Luke xii. 42; xvi. 8.




THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN  GIVING.  251
expression.* This contains the same idea with the Divine
Rule given through Paul; "according as God hath prospered."  Christ says, almsgiving makes " all things clean"
to men; he makes conformity to the law as to giving money
to be one chief outward evidence of real repentance and
true piety, while he sets the ceremonial forms at naught, as
no longer of any value; therefore, he says, " give as ye are
able."
On the other of the occasions referred to, Christ definitely
says "tithes" "ought to" be paid; but that these offerings must be inspired by holy and spiritual motives.  "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, and not to leave the
other undone."t  Jacobus well explains this: "They paid
tithes, even to the merest herbs, and were exact even to the
smallest items."  "It was not condemned.  They did right
to pay tithes to the utmost. But, with all their attention
to the smallest matters, they neglected things of more importance, their social and religious duties;" and also the
spirit from which all such offerings must be made. Their
giving must be from holy principle, both as to the measure
and as to the motives.
It was on the Wednesday previous to his crucifixion when
he spake these words. Within sixty hours he was to die.
The cross, the bloody atonement, the agony of the garden,
the sepulchre, the resurrection, all were just before him,
and in full view to his omniscient eye.  What did he mean
^ Luke xi. 43. T( evovra, from  ^V.eLtL, to be in, or among, to bo
possible, to have in one's power.       t Matt. xxiii. 23.




252   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
by this solemn admonition to the crowds about him in the
temple?  It was as if the Son of God said to them, and to
those who should hear them in every language in which to
the end of the world his gospel should be preached: " If
the Jew, amidst the dark shadows of the twilight, is taught
of God to be so devoted, so liberal, and to make the gathering
of means to serve and honor him one regular and chief object in every employment of his hand, how much should
you henceforth exceed him. How much should you exceed
his measure in the devotion of your money and means; and
how much should you exceed him in the spirit of willing
obedience, enlightened thought, mercy for the perishing
of mankind and faith in the covenants of promise, with
which those shall be poured forth."
TIIE ORIGINAL APPOINTMENT OF OFFERINGS OF A TENTH
TO GOD.
When we search for the origin of the appointment of a
tenth for offerings to God, we soon discover the mistake of
those who reject it as if one of those belonging to the ceremonial law, which was abrogated at the coming of Christ. We
find that it existed before the giving of the law. We discover
it five hundred years earlier in the days of Abraham, "the
father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised," who paid tithes to Melchizedec; and in the practice of " Israel," the type of all those that prevail in prayer,
who promised them at Bethel. We go back further still to
the earliest events in the history of the human family, before the deluge, and find the decimal system employed then
in the appointments of God'in regard to material things




THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN GIVING.  253
and ordinary time, parallel to that of sevens in regard to
those of sacred time.
The system of ordinary enumeration by decimals is probably based on essential principles fixed by the Creator.
Arithmeticians have asserted that a ratio of 16, of 12, of 8,
of 4, or even of 2-which was proposed by Leibnitz-would
in different respects be better than that of 10. It has been
earnestly urged that 8 is the best possible ratio, and its great
superiority shown as a number susceptible of indefinite
bi-section, and itself a cube (23) and whose square (64) is a
cube (43), and as the best natural division in dry or liquid
measures. It has been confidently prophesied that, however
prodigious the labor and expense involved in the universal
substitution of this ratio of 8 for 10, it will be undertaken
by some future age at a far greater sacrifice. It has been
asserted that we use decimals because man has 10 fingers
and 10 toes. But Sabbath is not kept on each seventh day
because the knuckles of a man's hand have seven elevations
and depressions which many persons find a convenience for
remembering the days of the week, or the long and short
months of the year. Nor, if we choose to use 4 or 8 as a
ratio, would it be because of the number of our fingers without the thumbs. God has given to numbers the principles
which govern them. No nation, ancient or modern, except
a few that have fallen into the most degraded ignorance, has
used a ratio of any other number than 10 in its arithmetic.
And each generation successively from the very beginning
has found it impossible to change what was handed down to
it, and was inseparably interwoven with all its history, religion, dates, measures and business. Thus we are of necessity




254   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
led to the conclusion that the ratio of ten was given to the
very first members of the human family; that this method
of computation was part of the inspiration of language from
the Creator to Adam when he arrayed the animals before
him and taught him to name them, and that the design apparently was in some way, like that of the seal of seven
on time, to appoint it for religious ends in connection with
property.
EVIDENCES FROM LITERATURE AND USAGES OF ALL
NATIONS.
We may obtain many evidences from historical and other
sources that offerings of at least a tenth to God was a primeval appointment, not for the Jews, but for all nations.
This is as clear as, and the proofs are of the same character
with, those which show that sacrifices were an original and
universal type of Christ, or that the Sabbath was observed
from the beginning and was designed for all whom God had
created.
If we consider the principle at the foundation of each
of the institutions referred to, it will appear evident that
the same reason which would lead God to appoint a fixed
and universal portion of tine for his worship, instead of
leaving mankind to observe any which might please them,
would also require him to appoint a fixed and universal contribution of the means necessary for the maintenance of a
priesthood and the edifices and forms of worship.  The
means are manifestly just as necessary as the time. The
religious offices of the priesthood must be regularly maintained.  And it must be renembered that the costs of




THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN  GIVING.  255
buildings, of education, teachers, books, and manuscripts,
and often those of medical attention to the sick, of hospitality to travelers, and even of the settlement of personal difficulties, always have been and are now in the East mainly
supplied from this fund under the care of the priesthood.
It is to be expected that if appointed in connection with
the first institutions of religion, the decimal system must be
universally prevalent in the world, and be traceable from
the earliest history of its different nations.  And such is
the case.  A  multitude of instances may be gathered of
religious offerings of one-tenth among all the ancient nations of the world. As the priesthood were so largely the
civil rulers, we see the taxes of various nations assuming
this form, as in Egypt.  In time of threatened famine
Joseph doubled this rate.*  This religious usage is traceable in the remotest nations, and exists among many of
them at this day. But our space does not permit illustrations to be given.  Another form of proof of the universal
use of decimals, and their religious character, might be presented by selecting the words by which the first ten numbers are known in the languages of the principal nations in
each continent, and in the island groups of the Pacific
Ocean.  These words have often appropriate significations.
Such a selection would exhibit also the geographical prevalence of the decimal system. But our space does not permit the introduction of these tables; and besides we wish
carefully to avoid all such supports for the duty in discussion as might tend to introduce here the dangerous religious
formality of the Old World. We may, however, present a
" Gen. xli. 34.,




256       GOD'S RULE FOR CIIRISTIAN GIVING.
TABLE OF DECIMAL CHARACTERS.*
a          W a-ri4    F    n _  <  t _.     M!l^ iii Fr                         ~ /  1    r )   III
4   a El $  /// /    ~ I   F IfI                  iv,9  /          A.   9        I-  / "' <    ^'       x I
1t \\    Y    t-       11  IJ  l l         XI
12        tt I              YY   1,I"ta Ir   0    XII
4oo U           11      } _/it1 S o               --— ( Iv
V  /
8    7',rr r'iri1~V            A'    VIII'vy IVI
21.4 ^                                rI 4? ^xxi
_100 _I ju9   /ij                  tC
* It is not necessary to note some interesting questions presented
in connection with the forms in the following table. There are




THE MEASURE OF CIRISTIAN  GIVING.  257
table of written characters, which have this advantage, that
some of them are taken from architectural remains in Babylon, Egypt, and India, which have existed for thousands
of years. The forms here given have been collected from
the best original sources.
A FUNDAMENTAL MAXIM AS TO LEVITICAL TYPES.
Before we consider the teachings of the Levitical dispensation, in regard to the consecration of property, let us lay
down a fundamental maxim which will help to make them
more plain to the understanding. It is this, that in the
whole system of types and precepts we may expect to find
a parallel maintained between what relates to the offices of
Christ and what relates to those of his Church and his people.  If the sacrificial lamb represented Christ, the believer
must lay his hands upon its head when it is to be slain. The
mercy-seat where he answered requests was erected over the
ark, but within the ark were laid up the stone tables of the
law, which taught duty.  Israel was "a chosen nation,"
but only while it continued to be "an holy nation."  So in
the symbols of Christ.  Believers are elect, but it is unto
obedience. If he is the vine, they must be living branches
Chaldean legends which say that the original archetypal numbers,
whatever they were, were preserved upon bricks and stone when the
deluge destroyed all the human race except the family of Noahwho is named in them Xisithrus. See remains of Berossus in CORY,
Ancient Fragments. The only point of present interest is the evident unity of the source of the decimal system, far separated and
widely different as were some of the nations whence these illustrations were drawn.
17




258    GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
and bear much fruit, else they will be cast forth and burned.
If he is the head, they must be members each having his
own office. The cross of Christ is made the power of God
unto salvation, and the same power works in them mightily.
Iis suffering becomes the grand motive for their holiness
and zeal. If he died for them and rose again, they must
live as those that are alive from the dead, and consecrate their all to glorifying his name and to spreading with
the spirit of heavenly messengers the glad tidings of his
grace to men.  Hence we conclude that if we find much
minutely prefigured in the law of Moses in regard to the
particulars of Christ's ministry, crucifixion, and the gifts
of his Spirit, we may as plainly expect to see much in it as
to the particulars of the believer's duty to the Church, and
to a world which is all to be made subject to Christ. This
obvious principle lies at the root of the question of the design of the Levitical appointments as to tithes. It was to
be supposed that as the rudiments of the principle of proportionate giving are seen in the patriarchal period, now
in that of the law they will be expanded and made clear,
minute, and practical, to the end that the servants of God
may clearly comprehend the nature and measure of their
obligations to him. If this be plain let us proceed to examine the character and object of the tithes of the old dispensation.*
TITHE-PAYING IN ISRAEL.
And, first, a tenth of the produce of his employment was
required of every man, even including the Levites themselves.
"Behold I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in
* See Part I., chaps. iii. and iv., and Part II., chaps. i. and ii.




TIIE MEASURE OF CIIRISTIAN  GIVING.  259
Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve,
even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation."
This revenue was devoted to the support of the tribe of
Levi, as an equivalent for their relinquishment of their
share in the territory and general possessions of the nation,
as a salary in virtue of their office, for religious uses, and
for offices of charity toward widows, orphans, strangers, and
the poor. This tithe extended to the most minute sources
of revenue, even to the "mint, anise, and cummin" of
their vegetable gardens, and oil, wood, honey, vessels and
other articles of manufacture or merchandise were included
in it.*  For the reception of these vast accumulations a
portion of the temple grounds was devoted to storehouses
and treasuries; and the same provisions were made in "all
the cities," only the "tithe of the tithes" being brought up
to Jerusalem  for the use of the priests engaged in service
at the temple. This principal tithe might be commuted by
paying the value of an article with one-fifth additional. To
receive, register, and distribute this property, and the money
paid on various accounts into the treasury, a special body
of Levitical officers was appointed. And upon it the priesthood, Levites, and their families, were primarily dependent
for their living, in connection with the firstlings of the animals and also certain parts of the sacrifices.
A second tenth was annually required of the people for
a different purpose. It was to be applied to charitable purposes, festivals, and family rejoicings, and matters connected
- Lev. xxvii. 30-33. Num. xviii. 20-24. 2 Chron. xxxi. 5-19.
Neh. xiii. 5-13, 31; xii. 44; x. 38. Matt. xxiii. Luke xi. Rom.
vii. 4.




260   GOD'S RUIE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
with the three great annual feasts at Jerusalem; so that it
was easy to be borne. Thus it appears that the first tithe
only was of the nature of a tax.*
Every third year each man was required solemnly to declare before the Lord that he had been honest in the dedication of these two kinds of tithes to the uses appointed in
the law.t
SPIRIT OF TIIE JEWISH CONTRIBUTIONS.
A thorough study of the financial appointments of the
laws of Moses removes various misapprehensions of their
nature which are prevalent among Christians.  Some of the
other laws were designed to prevent intercourse with Gentile nations, or for special ends, and were burdensome; and
the Pharisees made others still to be a yoke which was hard
to bear by their minute and severe interpretations of them.
But we ascertain from these laws and from the history of
the Jews, as compared with other nations, that these financial regulations were easy and beneficent.
The payments were entirely voluntary.  They are supposed by most persons now to have been compulsory. This
was not the case.  Wines says,1 "The rendition of the
tithes was left entirely to the conscience and the loyalty of
each individual Israelite. No compulsory process could be
instituted to compel a payment of them, neither did the
priests or the magistrates have any superintendence or oversight of the matter. It will readily be imagined that the
law must have been often but partially complied with, and
* Deut. xii. 17-19; xiv. 22-29.  t Deut. xxvi. 12-15.
t Commentaries on Laws of Ancient lebrews, b. II., c. viii.




THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN GIVING.   261
sometimes wholly eluded.  That this was actually the
case, appears fiom commands issued by the kings, such as
that of Hezekiah, and from the censures addressed by the
prophets to the Hebrew people. " This appears also from
the spiritual blessings and curses pronounced in the law
itself.
The summary of the law which has just been given shows
that its appointments were most charitable in their nature.
Its influence is seen among the Jewish people until the present day.  Those persons who visit our public almshouses,
hospitals, and charitable institutions, can bear testimony that
they find in them no Jews, unless it may be some in places
where there are none of their own people to help them.
The joyful character of the festivals, family gatherings,
and public worship, which were supported by the pecuniary
contributions, made that ancient religion, when observed in
the spirit of its appointments by God, inspiring and happy
beyond any that has ever existed, in any other land, or in
any late age. This is seen in the historical accounts of the
enrapturing influence of the temple services,t but especially
in the psalms appointed for public worship, which are chiefly
in the latter half of the book.
This financial system reached every family and every individual. It combined the interest and co-operation of the
whole people.
It adapted the measure of contribution to the means of
each one.  It sought something from each one; but made
the amount to be given proportionable to wealth or income,
2 Chron. xxxi. 4. Jer. viii. 10. Mal. iii. 8.
t See Nch. viii. I Kings viii. 66.. 2 Chron. xxx. 21-27.




262   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
illustrating the New Testament rule, "according as God
hath prospered."
We have but to compare this with any contemporaneous
or later system  of taxation: we have but to contrast the
happy condition of the Hebrew common people with that
of the wretched, vicious, savage condition of the poor in
Rome, or in any ancient nation, and we must be satisfied
that this is God's plan, a plan originating in infinite wisdom
and infinite goodness.*
INTERPRETATION BY HEATHEN CONVERTS.
Can the reader whose eye falls on this passage so transport himself to the circumstances in which the first converts
from heathenism were placed as to conceive of the interpretation which they would give to the Divine Rule and to the
Old Testament light upon the measure of their gifts? How
did the Roman, the Corinthian, the Macedonian converts
understand the words " according as God hath prospered"?
They had been brought up, as the heathen in India and
China are now, to make daily and liberal offerings, oblations, donations, to scores of deities, in order to propitiate
their care over the various apartments of the house; over
the employments of each member of the family; over matters of private or public concern, the street, the city, the
various elements; over birth, marriage, death, and the
judgment after death. Thus their religion was to them a
source of varied, perpetual, and large outlays.  Their worship as Christians was often interrupted by the drums and
flutes and noise of idol processions.  Their streets were
* Seo on this subject also Part I., chap. iv., and Part II., chap. i.




THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN  GIVING.  263
thronged with frenzied devotees. Their eyes were pained
with the costly expenditures of idol worshipers and temple
services. Their lives were daily threatened. Their hearts
were sickened by the  atmosphere of horrible iniquity.
Their homes were often agonized and made miserable by
the domestic trials resulting from their rejection of beliefs
to which many loved ones fondly clung. They saw the world
lying before them all in sin and under the power ef hell.
Ah  how could they do else than spend daily of their means
in acts of Christian pity and mercy, and put into the treasury of the church, which was to furnish and send forth laborers to resist and overcome the abounding iniquity, "whatsoever" their blessed Lord had "prospered them in," and
enabled them without real suffering to give? A tenth would
seem to their burning hearts a small proportion indeed.
Such was the spirit of the first believers in Christ. It
was the glorious, and what appears to the nominal Christians of most subsequent generations the surprising, characteristic of those on whom  the Holy Spirit fell with the
power of its first descent. An exposition of the highest
meaning of the Rule for Christian Giving is seen in the
recorded practice of the converts after Pentecost. To such
an extent did their joy in Christ, their confidence in his
unlimited providence, their deep love to each other, and
their ardent zeal for the spread of the glad tidings of salvation carry them, that they held themselves to be like brothers in the possession of a joint inheritance and engaged
in a like work. " And all that believed were together, and
had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods
and parted them  to all men, as every man had need."




264   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
Such, truly, also will be the spirit of the Church when the
power of the Holy Ghost shall againfill the souls of men.
SPIRIT AND METHODS OF TIE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.
When the first overwhelming torrents of the Pentecostal
influences had settled somewhat into regular channels, we
discover a tendency to conform contributions of money to
methodical arrangements, and thus to equalize, facilitate,
and maintain them. The payment of voluntary tithes to the
church became the general custom within one or two centuries after the apostles. It was four centuries later before
it was made compulsory by the synods. To save extended
quotations let us group together some brief passages from
the Homilies of Chrysostom.
The preacher strikingly presents the lofty spirit of Christian liberality which is suggested by those words of Paul
that immediately precede the Divine Rule, "forasmuch as
ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."  lEe exclaims, "What sayest thou?'Labor' again?  Yes! But
labor followed by crowns, and those crowns above the heavens.  The primeval labor, appointed on man's expulsion
from paradise, was the punishment of his transgressions;
but this is the ground of the rewards which are to come.
So that it cannot really be styled'labor,' if considered both
on this account and on account of the great help which it
receives-from above; this is the cause of Paul's adding the
words'in the Lord.' For the purpose of the former labor
was that we might suffer punishment; but of this that we
might obtain the good things to come."
He guardedly and wisely suggests the measure of liberal



THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN GIVING.  265
ity: " What is much and what is little God defines, not by
the sum of that which is given, but by the capability of the
substance of him that giveth."  "Let the laboring man,
as for instance the sandal- (or shoe-) maker, or the leatherdealer, or the brass-founder, or any other mechanic, when
he sells any article of his trade, give the first fruits of its
price unto God. Let him cast in a small portion here, and
assign something to God out of his profits, even though
they appear somewhat small."  " I speak not to lay down a
law, nor to forbid the bestowment of more, but to recommend the contribution of not less than a tenth part."
QUALIFICATIONS OF PROPORTIONATE GIVING.
It will probably make the duty of the proportionate giving which is taught in the Divine Rule plain to every one
and show how reasonable it is, how adapted to Christians
of all classes and in all circumstances, and how efficient for
its ends, if we recall some of the lessons of previous chapters and add the following explanation of the conditions
which qualify it:
It is based on love to God and entire consecration to him
in all things; and is associated with his worship.
It supposes that every one makes it his business to serve
God in his worldly employments, whatever they may be,
and to devote a share of their income or profits to the objects of his gospel.
A general proportion of this income is fixed upon, below
which the giver will not go, except in extraordinary circumstances. He will continually try to advance it and will increase his rate " according as God prospers him."




266   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN GIVING.
This measure is but a " standard" of aim and effort for
the personal convenience of the giver, and its arrangements
and acts are voluntary with him.
The ordinary rate should, if possible, be not below onetenth.
The standard should vary with the changing circumstances
of men or women.
The Rule, with the subsequent remark and the interpretations in the next epistle, shows, that the private deposits
and accounts of individuals and families should be weekly,
or when the money is received; but that gifts and appropriations of it to various objects should be when suitable opportunities "come."
The general rate should not interfere with special and
extraordinary gifts.
Neither the rule as to the rate, nor the collection of the
proceeds, must ever be made compulsory by enactments or
processes of Church or of State.
The Church courts should manage the general agencies
of evangelism and charity; should require opportunities to
be afforded in every congregation for every one to give freely,
and the communication of instruction and incitements necessary for weekly or frequent offerings; and should exercise
discipline in cases of persistent omission of the duty to
make such offerings to God and for his service, as for neglect
of other Christian obligations.
These offerings must not be made a ground of ostentation,
of supposed merit before God, or of reliance upon aught
but the free grace of Christ and his atonement on the cross
for salvation and eternal life.




THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN GIVING. 267
SPECIAL VOWS AND GIFTS.
A considerable gift came into the treasury of the Board
of Education recently which was a thank offering from a
lady for the conversion of her husband. Some other gifts
have come to it from beds of sickness, or scenes of affliction.  A  gentleman educates two students for the ministry, year by year, in the place of two sons whom he had
consecrated to it, but whom  it pleased God to take from
him.
Neither the Old nor the New Testament would be fairly
represented did we not hold up its provision for special
vows and gifts, as expressions of gratitude for extraordinary
or peculiar mercies from  God, or as the seals of covenants
of greater devotion to him. This is a subject with which
Christians of this day, and especially in this part of the
world, have not made themselves acquainted, and the duties
of which they have not practiced. Even our translation of
the Scriptures is defective in rendering the words which
relate to it.*   We denominate our prayers "devotion,"
though we neglect entirely the votive part of them. Special gifts are calculated to kindle joyful emotions, and to lift
* Thus in the following passages in the New Testament, where
the words eVxopai and eXbi occur: Rom. ix. 3, " I could wish;" 2 Cor.
xiii. 9, " This also we wish;" Acts xxviii. 29, " They wished for the
day;" Acts xxvi. 29, " I wotold to God;" James v. 15, 16, " The prayer
of faith;" "Pray for one another." The same words often occur
in the Septuagint; as in the vows of Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 20; Hannah, 1 Sam. i. 11; the shipmen, Jonah i. 16; and "to the Lord for
all his benefits." Ps. cxvi. 12-18.




268   GOD'S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN  GIVING.
the soul to a higher communion with God.*  They are appropriate upon numerous occasions, "according as God
hath prospered."  We may instance the following:
In thanksgiving for temporal benefits; bounties of the
year; successes in business; providential blessings.
In gratitude for spiritual mercies; conversion of self or
of kindred; answers to special prayer.
To commemorate remarkable deliverances; restoration
from sickness; preservation of life or property.
Occasions of family rejoicing; joint gifts from the members of it.
With seasons of special devotion, fasting, seeking a revival of religion, and manifestations of God's grace; for special wants or emergencies of the work of Christ.
To celebrate memorable events in a congregation; outpourings of God's Spirit; interesting events in the history
of a church: ecclesiastical and religious meetings.
To praise God for civil and national blessings; to commemorate occasions of public interest, and acknowledge
God as the author of all our political and social privileges.
With great appointments for prayer for conversion of the
world, or for the educated youth of this generation, or for
the instrumentalities by which the earth is to be brought to
the knowledge of its Lord and God.
On all such occasions as these, special gifts are eminently
suitable and pleasing to God.  He blesses them "an hundred fold" to those who bestow them.  If considerable,
they mark eras of advancement to higher religious life, and
more abundant spiritual prosperity.
* Compare Part II., chap. iv.




CHAPTER XIV.
THE HOMAGE DUE THE KING.
W ITH the exposition of the Divine Rule for Giving, and
principles embodied in it, the purpose of this book is
accomplished.  The various pleas for Christian evangelization, and the specific uses of the money given, are not
within its scope.  It only remains to declare, in a few concluding words, the conviction, which must be shared by
those who have considered the facts and principles related
to this subject, that we have reached a juncture in the great
movements of the Divine government, when God can no
longer tolerate our past careless, fitful, heartless, and unprof
itable way of giving money for the communication to our
dying and yet ignorant fellow-men of the knowledge of
eternal salvation or eternal damnation by the divine Son.
THE DEMAND OF HONAGE.
This is a coronation day! It is that final "acceptable
time," and glorious "day of salvation," when the Father
seems to proclaim, " I have set my King upon my holy hill
of Zion," and to say to the Son, "Ask of me, and I shall
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."*  It is re* See Psalm ii.; cii. 13-1S. ComparecLuko iii. 4-6. 2 Cor. vi. 2.
269




270   GOD'S RULE FOR CTTRISTTAN GIVING.
quired in monarchical countries, when an heir takes possession of a throne, and a new reign begins, that each vassal
shall come and bring tokens of his allegiance and support.
He kneels before the king or lord, kisses his hand?, and presents him with appropriate gifts.  It was so in Israel,* and
so it is everywhere to-day.  The old English law required the
expression of homaget from a vassal by his kneeling ungirt
and with uncovered head before his lord, and saying, " I become your man, from this day forward, of life, and limb, and
earthly worship, and unto you shall be true and faithful;"
and then the lord kissed him, or he kissed the lord's hand.
This act and kiss, and the accompanying gifts, were the sign
and seal of a mutual covenant.  The refusal of " homage 
by a vassal was the sign of rebellion. It brought forfeiture
of lands, and home, and protection; and outlawry, and destruction. The long delayed fulfilment of the covenant of
the Godhead is now apparently at hand.  In the stupendous warfare of this century, and by novel and mighty engines of destruction on the land and on the sea, the Great
Conqueror is breaking the power of his enemies literally, as
well as figuratively, "with a rod of iron, and dashing them
in pieces as a potter's vessel." Empire after empire, kingdom after kingdom has been suddenly, violently, completely
crushed; it has been done by nations which are carrying in
their hands his written law. Great systems of superstition
and sin, of human bondage and wrong, have been smitten
to the earth almost in an hour. And so has it been with
- Compare Gen. xli. 40, marginal translation, and I Sam. x. 1.
t From the French homme, Latin homto, a man. COKE upon LITTLETON; Institutes, P. I., b. ii.




TTTE  T()MAGEE DTE TIE KTEIN'G.          271
families and with men who would not " e ilstructed" by
that law. To the reader, to every unmindful or rebellious
person the voice, as of a trumpet, sounds clear and loud and
near at hand: " Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little."
"Let all that be round about him bring presents unto him
that ought to be feared."*
PROPRIETY OF TIlE DEMAND.
The propriety of the demand for this homage from our
glorious King, was the theme of our opening chapters; it
has been our chief theme in the volume; and it is our closing theme.
What terrible woes has the love of mammon, and the
disobedience to the royal claims of the Lord Jesus Christ,
hitherto inflicted upon the souls of men, upon families,
upon the Church, and upon the nations of the world!
What vast, universal, joyful, and everlasting blessings
will descend from heaven, to restore and beautify the earth,
and make it all a new "garden of God,' when the full allegiance and gifts of man shall be rendered again to his Lord!
How much in accordance with the principles of justice,
right, wisdom, and beneficence, in human systems, are those
of the Rule of Christian Economy which God has taught
the Church. Of what infinite moment is the practice of it!
THE OFFICE OF CHRISTIAN AMERICA.
With what power and what wealth has God endowed this
nation. There live men who were born before this govern* Ps. ii. 12; lxXvi. 11.




272   GOD'S RULE FOR CIIRISTIAN GIVING.
ment was born; and when its people were very few, and
poor, and despised. Already it is one of the richest, most
populous, and most powerful in the world.
It is a fact of indescribable magnitude and interest that
America is a new hemisphere; and that Christianity is
starting here as it were afresh from the hands of Christ
and the apostles. She is stripped of all the encumbrances
and defilements of the Old World. God reserved this great
and wondrously rich and beautiful continent for the final
exhibition of her heavenly spirit and power. The nations
of the world stand gazing with admiration, and learning
the simple lessons of spiritual truth which from the lips of
her Lord she repeats to their listening ears. It is our part
to array her in "the beauties of holiness," and put in her
hand the sceptre of his strength; to personify in her the
pure, lovely, and beneficent religion which shone eighteen
hundred years ago.
To America it is given to renew once more among men
the influences of the pure primal Church.  Her place it
is to evoke again from heaven the rushing mighty winds of
the Spirit, which shall now swell and sweep around the
world, and finally disperse its clouds of pestilence and
gloom; to send her sons and daughters, with tongues of
fire, as witnesses of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus, to the
uttermost part of the earth. Oh, that she may have grace
to bring and lay her boundless riches at his feet!