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 exchange of the kingdom, j 
 
 
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 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE CHURCH'S EXCHEQUER ; 
 
 BEING THE 
 
 ^kjU~. ^ ^ ^K' h)'U^*^y»^ e^p-, 
 
 ES^YS ON SYSTEMATIC BENEFICENCE TO WHICH HAVE 
 BEEN AWAPvDED THE PRIZES OFFERED BY THE 
 SYNOD OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN 
 CHURCH IN MAY 1875. 
 
 EDINBURGH: ANDREW ELLIOT. 
 LONDON : JAMES NISBET & CO. 
 
 MDCCCLXXVII. 
 
'^rEIIICETOIT 
 
 PRIZE ESSAYS ON SYSS^ffS BENEFICENCE. 
 
 Desiring to foster in the Churches the sj^irit of Christian liberality 
 and the practice of systematic beneficence, three Elders of the 
 United Presbyterian Church recently placed at the disposal of the 
 Synod of that Church the sum of £150, in order that two Prizes 
 might be offered for Essays on the principles of systematic, propor- 
 tionate, and frequent giving to the cause of Christ. The Synod- 
 remitted the consideration of this proposal to the Home Committee 
 of its Board of Missions, and that Committee have arranged that a 
 Prize of £100 shall be offered for the best, and a second Prize of 
 £50 for the second best Essay on the subject. The Essays are not 
 to exceed in length 120 printed pages 8vo ; and it is expected that 
 they shall contain a full and persuasive statement of the Scriptural 
 argument in favour of systematic, proportionate, and frequent con- 
 tribution for religious and benevolent purposes, and of the advan- 
 tages which would accrue to the givers themselves, and to the 
 Church, from the practical application of that argument to the 
 determination of the proportion of means and income which ought 
 to be devoted by each individual to the Lord, 
 
 In accordance with the wishes of the Donors of the Prize Fund, 
 the Competition is open to all Ministers on the S}Tiod Polls of the 
 United Presb}terian Church, and of the Presbyterian Church in 
 England : — and the Eev. Professor Lorimer, of the English Pres- 
 b}i;erian College, London ; the Eev. Dr Johx Ker, of Sydney 
 Place Church, Glasgow ; and the Eev. Andrew Thomson, of 
 Broughton Place Church, Edinburgh, have engaged to act as 
 adjudicators of the Prizes. 
 
 The manuscripts are to be sent to the Eev. Egbert Selkirk 
 Scott, D.D., at the Ofiices of the United Presbyterian Church, 66 
 Vii'ginia Street, Glasgow, on or before the 1st May 1876 ; and it is 
 expected that the award may be given on the 1st August 1876. 
 Each Essay is to have a Motto ^\aitten upon it, and to be accom- 
 panied by a sealed Envelope, bearing the same Motto, and contain- 
 ing the Name and Address of the Author. 
 
 As the successful Essays may afterwards be published for cheap 
 or gratuitous circulation, they are to belong to the Home Coramittee 
 of the United Presbyterian Board of Missions, and to be disposed 
 of by that Committee as they may deem best. 
 
 Oil behalf of tJie Donors and the Committeey^ 
 
 EOBEET S. SCOTT, Secretary. 
 
 Glasgow, 2Uh November 1875. 
 
AWARD OF THE ADJUDICATORS. 
 
 London, 21st October 1876. 
 Having undertaken to act as Adjudicators of the two Prizes 
 offered by the Home Conimittee of the Board of Missions of the 
 United Presbyterian Church for Essays " On the Principles of 
 Systematic, Proportionate, and Frequent Giving for the Cause of 
 Christ," we have read and examined with due care the Essays 
 which have been submitted to our inspection, and we have been 
 able to arrive without difficulty at a unanimous judgment in favour 
 of the two Essays bearing respectively the following mottoes : — 
 
 (1) Aupeav iXajSere, duipeav 56t€. 
 
 (2) We can all do more than we have done. 
 
 And not be a whit the worse : 
 It never was loving that emptied the heart. 
 Or giving that emptied the purse. 
 
 To (1) we are agreed in adjudicating the prize of £100 ; and 
 
 To (2) the prize of £50. 
 
 We have found these two Essays of nearly equal merit, though in 
 different respects ; but there is a sufficient degree of supe- 
 riority in No. 1 to turn the scale. 
 
 The writer of the first is the Eev. Alexander M. Dalrymple, M.A., 
 Smethwick, Birmingham. The writer of the second is the 
 Rev. Alexander M. Symington, B.A., Birkenhead. Other two 
 Essays, nearest in merit to the two best, were found worthy of 
 honourable mention. 
 
 The Prize Essays will be found to contain what it was desired and 
 expected they should — viz., " A full and persuasive statement 
 of the scriptural argument in favour of systematic, propor- 
 tionate, and frequent contribution for religious and benevolent 
 purposes, and of the advantages which would accrue to the 
 givers themselves and to the Church from the practical appli- 
 cation of that argument to the determination of the proportion 
 of means and income which ought to be devoted by each indi- 
 vidual to the Lord." 
 
 Much of the exposition and the reasoning employed by the Authors 
 will be fresh and striking to many ; and we do not doubt that 
 both papers will leave a strong impression of the value and 
 importance of the principles of Christian giving for which they 
 plead. Their publication will be specially seasonable at the 
 present time, when there is so hopeful a movement in progress 
 among the Churches in the direction of united work in the 
 service of the common Master ; for such united work can best 
 be done when the workers are " perfectly joined together in 
 one mind and one judgment " touching the Lord's own revealed 
 will as to the best modes of doing it. 
 
 PETER LORIMER, D.D. 
 ANDREW THOMSON, D.D. 
 JOHN KER, D.D. 
 
f^OPERfy^ 
 
 TES0L0Gl6ili, 
 
 
 P RE^*^^ 
 
 The Advertisement and the Award of the Adjudicators, 
 which are printed on the preceding pages, indicate the 
 origin and the design of the two Essays which are now 
 submitted to the attention and consideration of the 
 Christian public, and leave little to be added by way of 
 preface. 
 
 In May 1875, three elders in connection with the 
 United Presbyterian Church, Avho were then in attend- 
 ance at the meeting of the Synod of that Church at 
 Edinburgh, submitted to the Home Mission Secretary 
 a proposal for placing at the disposal of the Synod the 
 sum of One hundred and fifty pounds, in order that two 
 Prizes might be offered for Essays to be written by 
 ministers on Systematic Beneficence. It was the desire 
 of these gentlemen in making this proposal to foster the 
 spirit of Christian liberality among the members of 
 Christian Churches ; and so to present to their consider- 
 ation the scriptural authority, and the manifold advan- 
 tages of systematic, frequent, and proportionate giving 
 to the cause of Christ, as to furnish motives and induce- 
 ments for adopting and carrying into effect the principle 
 of giving habitually and conscientiously in proportion to 
 means and income, instead of contributing fitfully and 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 uncertainly under the influence of jDresent impulse or 
 jDersonal solicitation. 
 
 When this proj^osal was brought under the notice of 
 the Synod, it was cordially approved and accepted, and 
 the Home Committee of the Synod's Board of Missions 
 were directed to make the necessary arrangements for 
 the public offer of the prizes. It was accordingly agreed 
 that a prize of £100 should be offered for the best, and 
 a second j^rize of £50 for the second best, essay on the 
 subject ; and, in accordance with, the wishes of the donors 
 of the jjrize fund, the competition was declared open to 
 all ministers whose names were placed on the Synod 
 rolls of the United Presbyterian Church, and of the 
 Presbyterian Church in (now, of) England. It was 
 specially required that the Essays should contain a clear 
 and comprehensive statement of the Scriptural argument 
 in favour of system and proportion in the aiDplication of 
 property or income to religious and benevolent purposes ;. 
 and that they should exhibit in an attractive and per- 
 suasive form the advantages which may be expected to 
 accrue to the givers themselves, and to the cause of 
 Jesus Christ in the world, from the practical appli- 
 cation of that argument to the regulation of individual 
 conduct and contribution, and for the determination of 
 the proportion of his income which each should con- 
 secrate to the Lord. 
 
 The Rev. Professor Lorimer of London, the Rev. John 
 Ker, D.D., of Glasgow, and the Rev. Andrew Thomson, 
 D.D., of Edinburgh, were requested to act as adjudicators 
 of the prizes, and cheerfully undertook that duty. The 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 Essays were accordingly forwarded to them, and after 
 careful consideration of the claims and merits of the 
 several papers, they at length unanimously agreed to 
 award the First Prize of £100 to the Essay which bore 
 the motto " Aupiav sXd^i-s^ oupiuv dors ; " and the Second 
 Prize of £50 to the Essay which bore the motto, 
 
 " We can all do more than we have done, 
 And not be a whit the worse ; 
 It never was loving that emptied the heart, 
 Or giving that emptied the purse." 
 
 On opening the sealed letters which accompanied these 
 Essays, it was found that the first had been written by 
 the Rev. Alexander M. Dalrymple, M.A., minister of the 
 United Presbyterian Congregation at Smethwick, near 
 Birmingham, and that he therefore had obtained the 
 First Prize ; and that the second had been written by 
 the Rev. Alexander M. Symington, B.A., minister of the 
 Presbyterian Church in England, at Birkenhead, to 
 whom consequently the Second Prize was awarded. 
 
 The adjudicators all concur in testifying to the 
 general excellence of the Essays submitted to them for 
 examination, and in stating that the two Essays next in 
 order to those to which the prizes were awarded were 
 entitled to be mentioned with honour. They also con- 
 cur in the expression of the hope and the assurance that 
 the perusal of the two Prize Essays will be found inter- 
 esting and profitable throughout the Churches, and that 
 their statements and appeals will present the duty of 
 frequent and proportional giving for benevolent and 
 religious purposes in such new and powerful lights as 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 must lead to a more intelligent and conscientious con- 
 secration of income and of substance for the promotion 
 of human welfare and of the divine glory ; and thus to 
 the attainment of the end Avhich the generous donors of 
 the prize fund had in view in the proposal which they 
 submitted to the Synod of the Church in 1875. 
 
 Through the considerate kindness of the donors of the 
 prizes, a copy of the volume containing both the Essays 
 will be presented to the Minister and to the Session 
 Clerk of each of the congregations included in the Synod 
 KoUs of the United Presbyterian Church, and of the 
 Presbyterian Church of England ; and as the aim of the 
 donors and of the Synod is to diffuse information as widely 
 as possible on the important subject to which the Essays 
 refer, the volume, and also the separate essays, will be 
 published at the lowest possible price which will cover 
 the cost of production. It is hoped, therefore, that 
 ministers, office-bearers, and members of Christian 
 Churches may lend their willing and effective aid in 
 bringing these Essays under the notice of the Christian 
 community ; and they are now sent forth from the j)ress 
 with the desire and prayer that, through the divine 
 blessing, they may be made instrumental in advancing 
 the truth and cause of Him who is " worthy to receive 
 riches," and to whom '' shall be given of the gold of 
 Sheba." 
 
 R S. S. 
 
THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
Itksologig&l/ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. P.VOK. 
 
 I. — The Church's Mission . . . , 5 
 
 II. — The Church's Agencies .... 15 
 
 III. — The Scripture Account of the Duty of Giving 
 
 TO God ...... 32 
 
 IV. — Scripture Illustrations of the Duty . . 48 
 
 V. — The Church's Obligation to Give . . 60 
 
 VI. — Existing Methods and their Results . . 78 
 
 VII. — A More Excellent Way .... 100 
 
 VIII.— Prosperity . . . . . .126 
 
 IX. — Higher Christian Life .... 142 
 
THE EXCHAN^yiiii^^GDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE church's mission. 
 
 The Christian religion urges to strenuous effort all who 
 sincerely profess it. Other forms of belief have been 
 found compatible with a comfortable acquiescence in the 
 existing state of things, but the genuine Christian has 
 always partaken of the character ascribed to the founders 
 of his faith, of whom it was said that they were men 
 who had turned the world upside down. Dissatisfaction 
 deep and constant has a certain place in the heart of 
 every Christian. His own spiritual condition does not 
 suggest to him any complacent thoughts. He is too 
 sensible that he has not yet attained to the standard 
 of the perfect man in Christ Jesus, and he is impelled, 
 ''forgetting those things which are behind," to "reach 
 forth unto those things which are before." His zeal for 
 the purity and the progress of the church excites in him 
 a generous impatience of all that tends to mar the one, 
 or to interfere with the other. Love to his fellowmen 
 kindles indignation and pity by turns in his breast. 
 And by all these emotions he is perpetually urged to 
 efforts after amelioration or reform. 
 
 In the New Testament we have two remarkable 
 statements of the purpose of Christ's mission which fully 
 
€ THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 account for the irrepressible and unappeasable character 
 of the religion which He founded. '' For this purpose 
 the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the 
 works of the devil." " I am come that ye might have 
 life, and that ye might have it more abundantly." The 
 annihilation of all evil, the building up of all good, — 
 nothing less than this will satisfy the demands of 
 Christianity. Sin, which is the cause of spiritual, 
 moral and physical disease, must be eradicated, and 
 every principle capable of bearing fruit unto life must be 
 carefully tend jA and nurtured, until the prophetic vision 
 is realised, and " instead of the thorn shall come up the 
 fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the 
 myrtle tree;" — until "the wilderness and the solitary 
 place shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall 
 rejoice, and blossom as the rose." 
 
 Our Lord had habitually before Him, both in His hours 
 of contemplation and in His hours of action, two worlds ; 
 the actual world of sin, sorrow and suffering, and His 
 own ideal world of the redeemed. At the outset of His 
 ministry He was tempted to acquiescence in the actual, 
 by the most magnificent promise ever held out to man 
 on earth, "All these things (all the kingdoms of the 
 world and the glory of them) will I give Thee, if 
 thou wilt fall down and worship me." But He repu- 
 diated the idea of acquiescence with holy indignation. 
 And when during His ministry the actual state of the 
 world was brought before Him in thought, it never failed 
 to touch deep wells of feeling. " When He saw the 
 multitudes. He was moved with compassion." " When He 
 was come near. He beheld the city, and wept over it" 
 Even in the dark hour of His own passion we find Him 
 saying, " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me ; but 
 weep for yourselves, and for your children." The 
 
THE CHURCH S MISSION. 7 
 
 hypocrisy, the oppression, the selfishness prevalent in the 
 world inspired Him now with indignation, now with pity, 
 and drew from Him alternately words of withering 
 rebuke and of tender expostulation. 
 
 On the other hand, in His hours of solitude and 
 prayer, there arose before Him a vision of marvellous 
 beauty, — the Kingdom of God. Its coming would be 
 noiseless and without pomp. " The Kingdom of God 
 Cometh not with observation." It would come first in the 
 souls of men. " The Kingdom of God is within you." 
 But its influence would radiate from its possessors on all 
 sides. *' Ye are the light of the Avorld." " Ye are the salt 
 of the earth." That influence would deepen and extend 
 until it would leaven the world. Wherever the Kino- 
 dom was established men would be blessed. Holiness 
 and happiness would together take possession of the 
 soul of the individual, and permeate society. To 
 secure such results no labour, no expense could be too 
 great. He himself would freely give His life, a ransom 
 for many. The Kingdom of God was the pearl of great 
 price, to acquire which a man might reasonably part 
 with all his possessions. No satisfaction found in the enjoy- 
 ment of this world's goods could be equal to the inward 
 peace and joy of a soul which had entered the Kingdom. 
 Sacrifice for the Kingdom's sake was true wisdom. One 
 might shrink from losing a right eye or a right hand, 
 but the prospect of entrance into life might well recon- 
 cile men to even greater sacrifices than these. Rank 
 and power, wealth and luxury, reputation for religious- 
 ness would have no power to dazzle eyes rejoicing in the 
 clear light of the glory that excelleth. Such being the 
 views of Christ respecting the Kingdom of God, we are 
 not surprised that the burden of all His teaching should 
 be, Strive to enter in. 
 
8 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Turning our attention to the activities of the Saviour's 
 life we find them all directed to the two-fold end 
 already indicated, the overthrow of evil, the establish- 
 ment and diffusion of good. "He went about doing 
 good." " He healed every sickness and every disease 
 among the people." ''He spake as none other man 
 spake." ''The common people heard Him gladly." 
 Of His life-work He himself gave this compendious 
 account, " The blind receive their sight, and the lame 
 walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead 
 are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to 
 them." 
 
 While engaged in these labours of love and continuing 
 in them up to the point of exhaustion, an oppressive 
 sense of the greatness of the work to be done and of the 
 indifference of the world to it, overpowered Him, and we 
 find Him thus appealing to His disciples, " The harvest 
 truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray ye 
 therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth 
 labourers into His harvest." The training, equipment 
 and commissioning of such labourers occupied much of 
 Christ's thoughts and of His care. From time to time 
 while He continued with His disciples, He sent them out 
 on journeys of preaching and healing. And when, 
 having accomplished His great sacrificial work, He was 
 about to leave them, to take His seat on the throne of 
 heaven. He invested them with the ample and urgent 
 commission, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
 gospel to every creature." 
 
 The Church which inherits the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ is also the executor of His will, and upon it 
 devolves the prosecution of the two-fold work of over- 
 throw and of reconstruction which He began. No words 
 could be plainer, as none could be more solemn, than 
 
THE CHURCH S MISSION. 9 
 
 tliose in which Christ bequeathed this legacy of duty to 
 His disciples. While He was with them He frequently 
 impressed upon them their responsibilities. In the 
 parable of the talents He taught them to regard them- 
 selves as His servants, and to consider their duty, their 
 happiness, and their highest interests as all consisting 
 in the energetic carrying on of the work which lay so 
 near His heart. And when about to leave them His 
 profound interest in that work and deep anxiety respect- 
 ing it were manifested by the frequency of His appeals to 
 them on its behalf, and by the greatness of the encourage- 
 ments He held out to them. Among other stimulating 
 declarations, He assured them that He would Himself be 
 with them, and that unprecedented success would attend 
 their efforts. " The works that I do shall ye do also ; 
 and greater works than these shall ye do ; because I go 
 unto my Father." 
 
 The Church when realising its Founder's idea is thus 
 essentially a society for practical work in the world. 
 It is committed to a policy of universal, constant, and 
 endless exertion. It is true that this effort springs from, 
 and is directed by, a sublime faith which lays hold of 
 heaven and hell. It is true that Christianity has 
 its speculative as well as its practical aims. The Church 
 has its creed and its theology and these are intimately 
 and inseparably associated with its active service. But 
 the grand ends which it is bound to propose to 
 itself are the ends pursued by its Founder, the destruc- 
 tion of the works of the devil, and the giving of life and 
 yet more abundant life to men. To these ends the 
 divine truth embodied in its creeds and theological 
 systems is itself subservient. The achievement of these 
 ends, and not a profession of faith, which may or may 
 not be sincere and real, is made by Christ the proof of 
 
10 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 disciplesliip. " By their fruits ye shall know them." 
 In proportion as a man leaves the world better than 
 he found it, by the amendment of his own life, by having 
 waged war against ignorance, selfishness, tyranny and 
 disorder, and by having defended and advocated the 
 principles of truth and love, in such measure has he obeyed 
 the command, "'Follow me." Isolation from the 
 world, even when sought with a view to the consecration 
 of time and strength to worship and meditation, cannot 
 plead either the example or the sanction of Christ. 
 And when indifference to the wellbeing of society springs 
 from selfish absorption in personal aims, it is utterly 
 repugnant to His spirit, and in disregard of His most 
 earnest desires. Watching and prayer are indeed 
 enjoined by Him, and temporary retirement from the 
 world to secure time and leisure for these is need- 
 ful ; but the end of such exercises is the renewal of 
 strength, and the clearing of spiritual vision, for more 
 strenuous conflicts with evil and more abundant labours 
 to promote the Good. 
 
 The gTeat gospel commission bore upon it an instruc- 
 tion to the disciples to begin at Jerusalem. So, when 
 Christ calls men to labour for Him now, the field into 
 which He first sends them is that of their own hearts, and 
 to it attention must be directed to the last. Those who 
 would enlist in Christ's service for the reformation of the 
 world must begin by reforming themselves. " To w^ork 
 out one's own salvation with fear and trembling," to seek 
 personally " to be no longer conformed to this world, but 
 to be transformed by the renewing of the mind, and to 
 prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will 
 of God," this is not only the first contributiou required 
 of those who would help on the Kingdom, but one with- 
 out the preliminary rendering of which no other is of any 
 
THE church's mission. 1 1 
 
 value. *' A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit." 
 If the heart of a man be not right with God his acts of 
 proffered service and his gifts have no acceptability. 
 Even the ploughing of the wicked is sin. A want of 
 integrity in character, or of purity in motive, generally 
 imparts some element of weakness even to deeds pro- 
 fessedly religious or philanthropic. Such faultiness often 
 reveals itself in a surprising manner even after a long 
 interval ; and it is not difficult thus to explain, on natural 
 grounds, how it so frequently happens that the little 
 given or done by a righteous man is more greatly blessed 
 than the imposing offerings of many wicked. It is not 
 to be denied that God sometimes accomplishes good by 
 means of those who have themselves neither part nor 
 lot in His inheritance. The Apostle Paul clearly leads 
 us to infer that one may even preach the gospel to others 
 and yet be himself a castaway. But it still remains true 
 that the measure of usefulness in advancing the Kingdom 
 in the world is determined chiefly by the extent to which 
 it already exists in the heart of the worker. **My son 
 give me thine heart," is Christ's first demand, and only 
 after the heart has been surrendered to Him does He call 
 us to engage in His service. Too much stress cannot be 
 laid on the divinely appointed order by which personal 
 consecration is made to precede service, and to be the 
 condition of its acceptability and in general the measure 
 of its success. Many ostentatious and loudly- trumpeted 
 schemes have come to naught, or have failed to bear 
 fruit commensurate with their promise, because this 
 order has been neglected. Care has been lavished only 
 on organization and machinery. The motive fires of 
 Christian love and hope have been suffered to burn low, 
 or to expire. Much will be said hereafter respecting the 
 duty of giving liberally for the supply of tlie Lord's 
 
12 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 treasury, and it is the more necessary strongly to insist 
 here on the truth that '' to obey is better than sacrifice, 
 and to hearken than the fat of rams." The feeblest cry 
 of a penitent soul for mercy, the humblest act of loyal 
 submission to the divine will, are in the eyes of God in- 
 calculably more precious than untold treasures heaped 
 upon His altar but unsanctified by the spirit of devotion. 
 
 When men have responded to Christ's gracious invita- 
 tion, '' Come," then it is He sends them forth to carry 
 that invitation to others. " Go," He said, when on earth, 
 to one whom He had blessed, '' tell thy friends how great 
 things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had com- 
 passion on thee." And the heart of the converted sinner 
 eagerly answers to this intimation of the Saviour's will. 
 Gratitude, the joy of deliverance, and the thrillings of a 
 new life, all impel him to seek the extension to others 
 of the blessings he has himself received. In the ardour 
 of a first love he scarcely waits to hear the proclamation, 
 " Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ? " but 
 hastens to present himself with the petition, " Here am 
 I, send me." Would that this ardour were constant 
 and universal ! Assuredly Christ has a right to expect it. 
 
 It is no part of our design to present an extended view 
 of the present condition of the world, in order to indicate 
 the work which still remains to be done for Christ. But 
 the most hasty survey of that work suffices to reveal its 
 gigantic proportions. It is probable that nine hundred 
 millions of the twelve hundred millions of the race have 
 not even heard the name of Him who is mighty to save. 
 They are still walking in darkness and dwelling in the 
 land of the shadow of death. And of those three hundred 
 millions who inhabit so-called Christian countries, there 
 are millions who disown the designation ' Christian/ and 
 many millions more to whom the most liberally 
 
THE church's mission. 1 3 
 
 charitable would hesitate to accord it. Within the 
 borders of our own land, pre-eminent as its privileges and 
 opportunities have been, how far is the religion of 
 Jesus Christ from being universally accepted and obeyed. 
 The kinsfdom of the Evil One, alas ! still stands, flauntinar 
 its defiance of all who would attempt its overthrow ; and 
 the ignorance, the superstition, the infidelity, the intem- 
 perance, and the licentiousness which prevail bear 
 melancholy but indubitable testimony to its stability 
 and its power. Sometimes when contemplating the 
 vastness of the field to be subdued, and considering how 
 much more rapid and luxuriant the gi'owth of error is 
 than that of truth, we are tempted to despond, and are 
 ready to ask, if eighteen centuries of prayer and work 
 have resulted only in what we now see, how long must 
 the Kingdom tarry, or rather what hope is there of its 
 appearance ? But God is faithful who has promised, and 
 the Church continuing patiently and believingly to sow 
 in tears shall yet reap in joy. Meantime it is all- 
 important to bear in mind that not one earnest, word or 
 deed is without its influence in hastening on the glorious 
 consummation, small as progress in the aggregate may 
 seem to be. It becomes every Christian therefore to be 
 about his Lord's business, diligently, zealously, hopefully; 
 " occupying " till he come. 
 
 One reservation has already been made, to the efiect 
 that the homage of the heart is more highly esteemed by 
 God than the most laborious services and the costliest 
 offerings unsanctified by right motives ; and, before enter- 
 ing on the special subject of this essay, another must be 
 added, namely, that personal work for Christ is service 
 of a higher order than the giving of money in order that 
 work may be done by others. To give is a duty, an 
 important duty, and one respecting which we have much 
 
14 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 to say, but in urging liberality we must not lose sight of 
 this, that no faithfulness in giving can justly be urged a!> 
 an excuse for neglecting the other and still higher service 
 of seeking by one's own words and deeds to advance the 
 cause of Christ and the welfare of man. All are not 
 called to be pastors or teachers, evangelists or missionaries, 
 but on every one the injunction is laid to adorn the 
 doctrine of God his Saviour, and to show out of a good 
 conversation, his works with meekness of wisdom. 
 
 We have thus stated our view of the nature of the 
 Church's mission, and of the part to be taken in fulfilling 
 it by every Christian. That mission is in short to over- 
 throw all powers of darkness and to establish the King- 
 dom of God. The individual believer rightly begins by 
 rendering a personal submission, and then proceeds to 
 active personal service, completing his round of duty and 
 privilege by giving of his substance as God has prospered 
 him for the carrying on of these great works. 
 
 It is this last branch of Christian obligation which we 
 propose to consider here somewhat fully. If we would 
 profitably study it, and be guided to wise and just con- 
 clusions, we must approach it in the spirit of faith and 
 love, and above all we must seek to bear clearly in mind 
 the high nature of the issue at stake, which is nothing 
 less than the successful prosecution of those great ends 
 for which our beloved Redeemer and Master lived and 
 died, and the continued care of which He has solemnly 
 entrusted to His Church. The salvation of immortal 
 souls, the physical and moral well-being of the human 
 family, the restoration of peace to the earth, the fulfil- 
 ment of the joy of the Lord and the completion of His 
 crown, these and no less are the results, which in the 
 providence of God, have been permitted to depend so 
 largely on the faithfulness of the Church. Let every 
 
THE church's agencies. 15 
 
 Christian pray that the clear, earnest, loving, self-sacrific- 
 ing mind which was in Christ may be in him also. Let 
 him seek like his Master to contemplate the woe of lost 
 souls and to compassionate them. Let him seek to have 
 before him, on the one hand, the awful sum of human 
 guilt and misery, and on the other, the beatific vision 
 of the Kingdom of God yet to be established in power 
 and glory on the earth. And let him consider that to 
 him a post in the great conflict has been assigned, that 
 he wields power, and that he is responsible for its use. 
 And then when the daily prayer is sent up, ''Thy 
 Kingdom come," let him ask whether by self-consecration, 
 or personal service, or cheerfully offered and liberal gifts, 
 he has come to the help of the Lord against the mighty, 
 and contributed to the speedier advent of that joyful 
 day, when it shall be proclaimed, '' The kingdoms of this 
 world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His 
 Christ : and He shall reign for ever and ever." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE church's agencies. 
 
 The great and beneficent ends which the Church, in 
 accordance with its Founder's example and precept, pro- 
 poses to itself, are to be attained by the use of means 
 which are often humble and apparently inadequate. 
 There is an analogy, in this respect, between God's work 
 of creation and His work of providence. And when 
 doubt arises in our minds as to whether spiritual ends 
 arrived at through the intervention of means so ordinary 
 and human can be of divine appointment, it may be 
 
16 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 removed by a thoughtful consideration of this analogy. 
 In nature, the gigantic is frequently developed from the 
 minute, the useful is found to be absolutely dependent 
 upon what might at first sight appear to be the useless, 
 and forms full of beauty and strength spring from matter 
 which has no pretension to either. We ought not, there- 
 fore, to be surprised or disturbed in mind on finding that 
 such lofty spiritual results as the salvation of lost souls 
 and the restoration of the human family to original 
 holiness and happiness are, at a certain link in the chain 
 of cause and effect, made to depend on the labours and 
 self-denial of men themselves, and that even material 
 forces, such as the silver and the gold of commerce, are 
 factors in the final result. Scripture assures us re- 
 peatedly that it is the delight and glory of God to em- 
 ploy, for the carrying out of his mighty purposes, means 
 which by men are rejected and despised. " It pleased 
 God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that 
 believe." " God hath chosen the foolish things of the 
 world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the 
 weak things of the world to confound the things which 
 are mighty ; and base things of the world, and things 
 which are despised, hath God chosen, and things which 
 are not, to bring to nought things that are." " We have 
 this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of 
 the power may be of God, and not of us." 
 
 It cannot be questioned that many are prone to dis- 
 parage the means which God delights to use, and thus 
 to honour. And unhappily this class of objectors does 
 not consist exclusively of persons outside of the Church. 
 Some who would be indignant if their Christianity were 
 called in question are yet constantly setting up their own 
 standards of right, and their own ideas of fitness, in op- ■ 
 position to the plain and oft-repeated intimations of 
 
THE church's agencies. 17 
 
 God's will in the Scriptures. There is an inflated, fan- 
 tastic, and at heart selfish, pietism, which professes to 
 find pleasure in the contemplation of spiritual ends, but 
 which at once collapses when questions are raised re- 
 specting the means of their accomplishment. Those 
 whose Christianity is of this texture generally belong to 
 the class of " hearers of the word and not doers." They 
 are skilled in detecting the weak points of church organi- 
 zation, and they can inveigh most eloquently against 
 those responsible and hardworking organizers, by the 
 * materialism ' of whose notions and schemes they are 
 offended. Congregational arrangements, missionary en- 
 terprises, Sunday schools, town missions, charitable 
 societies and institutions, all find in them minute and 
 painstaking critics. Far from cultivating the spirit of 
 Him of whom it was predicted that He would not 'break 
 the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax,' they 
 despise the day of small things, and fall with great 
 swelling words of spiritual sound upon the simple and 
 sincere worker in the cause, discouraging him with re- 
 presentations of the futility of his efforts and the 
 inefiiciency of his plans. They are too proud or too 
 indolent to work in the vineyard themselves, and to do 
 whatever work the Master may appoint. If an oppor- 
 tunity were aflbrded them of doing some great thing 
 which would bring name and fame, they would pro- 
 bably be ready enough, but as it is, they stand idly at 
 the gate, not entering themselves, and hindering those 
 who would enter. With especial harshness does the 
 word 'money' grate upon the ears of such cavillers, 
 when it is referred to as being required in the service of 
 God. Forgetting, apparently, to how large an extent the 
 Scriptures treat of money, both as employed for personal 
 uses and as devoted to the purposes of religion, they are 
 
 B 
 
18 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 ready, if not to hold up their hands and to exclaim. 
 Profanation ! at least to mutter and whisper to a similar 
 effect. And it is extremely probable that the charge in 
 their mouths has the merit of consistency, if not of fair- 
 ness ; the only idea which many such persons have of 
 money being that it is a purveyor to selfish gratification, 
 and accordingly to be eagerly pursued, carefully retained, 
 and selfishly expended, not one noble or generous senti- 
 ment attending it from first to last, either in acquisition 
 or in outlay. If this were truly the essential and un- 
 alterable character of money, it would indeed be ' vile 
 trash,' and such as never could be an acceptable offering 
 on God's altar. But money does not always thus bear 
 the impress of a selfish and ignoble nature. It may 
 have stamped upon it the character of a true, ardent, 
 self-sacrificing human heart ; and in such a case even 
 money is accepted of the Lord, and the loving heart of 
 the giver sanctifies the gift. But to all such objectors 
 it is sufiicient to reply that God himself has sanctioned, 
 and indeed appointed, the use of earthly instrumental- 
 ities for the attainment of spiritual ends ; so it ha& 
 seemed good in His sight. The foolishness of God is- 
 here as elsewhere wiser than men, and when Christ's- 
 people, setting aside all vain and self-originated notions, 
 apply themselves with common sense and diligence to the 
 doing of every good work that the hand finds to do, in- 
 cluding the humblest offices of help to their fellowmen 
 among those to which they are called by the Master, 
 they will find that in all such labour there is profit, and 
 Wisdom will be justified of her children. 
 
 We must now proceed to a very rapid survey of the 
 principal agencies employed by the Church in promoting 
 the Kingdom of Christ, that we may have clearer idea» 
 as to what may be required to maintain them in effi- 
 
THE church's agencies. 19 
 
 ciency. By God all powers are overruled for the ad- 
 vancement of his great purposes. Civilization, com- 
 merce, political revolutions, and even war, have been in- 
 stnmients in his hands for breaking down barriers which 
 have obstructed the Gospel, and for paving a way along 
 which it might pass to peoples the most remote. He 
 makes even the wrath of man to redound to His praise, 
 and the cupidity of the merchant, the turbulence of the 
 demagogue, the ambition of the soldier, not less than 
 the laudable inquisitiveness of the natural philosopher, 
 have been made subservient to beneficent purposes, than 
 which none were more remote from the minds of the 
 unwitting agents. But at present we have to do only 
 with the efforts put forth by the Church itself for the 
 express purpose of furthering the interests of religion ; 
 and without professing to give an exhaustive account of 
 the agencies which it employs, we may specify as the 
 most important, the Pulpit, the Press, Education, Alms- 
 giving, and the support of Benevolent Institutions. 
 
 Among these, the first place must be assigned to the 
 provision made for the conduct of an intelligent and 
 spiritual worship ; and in this we include both the erec- 
 tion of churches and the education and due maintenance 
 of an able ministry. It is no part of our plan to enter 
 into an elaborate defence of the gospel ministry as it 
 exists in the Church in modern times. We hold that 
 the institution is in accordance with the dictates of 
 sound sense, and that it is supported by the authority 
 of Scripture. Objections to the setting apart of a minis- 
 terial order have never received much favour; and those 
 who have given their scruples practical effect, by abolish- 
 ing the sacred office, have often been driven by necessity 
 to restore it under some other form or name. The 
 Church being the light of the world, its first duties are 
 
20 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 to guard the purity and to maintain the brightness of its 
 own spiritual illumination, to hand down the truth in- 
 violate and unimpaired from generation to generation, 
 and to secure the universal diffusion of that truth among 
 its members, so that the w^ord of God dwelling in them 
 richly, they may be thoroughly furnished to all good 
 works. These are offices which demand unremitting at- 
 tention and ceaseless labour. The work is also of para- 
 mount importance as bearing on evangelization, for when 
 the Church is rich in faith, in virtue, and in knovrledge, 
 the candle burns brightly in the candlestick, and its 
 benignant rays draw the attention of a world lying in 
 darkness. The Scriptures abound in passages descriptive 
 of the blessings w^hich flow to a church from its posses- 
 sion of fcrue and faithful prophets or teachers, and the 
 curse involved in being deprived of them. "Where no 
 vision is the people perish." In the w^arnings addressed 
 to false, self-seeking and time-serving prophets, and the 
 terrible denunciations of their unfaithfulness, as well as 
 in the blessings pronounced upon the faithful, and the 
 promises given them of present assistance and future 
 reward, we are plainly taught the high and responsible 
 nature of this office. In the New Testament the ren- 
 dering of respect and obedience to pastors and teachers 
 is frequently insisted on as a Christian duty, and the 
 dignity, as well as the indispensable utility, of the function 
 is thus clearly recognized. '' Obey them that have the 
 rule over you, and submit yourselves ; for they watch for 
 your souls, as they that must give account, that they may 
 do it Avith joy, and not with grief" " Let the elders 
 that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, 
 especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." 
 
 The experience of the Church in all ages amply con- 
 firms the clear intimations of Scripture, that, for the 
 
THE church's agencies. 21 
 
 effective preaching of the Gospel, and the maintenance of 
 the purity and peace of the Christian community, there 
 is needed a well educated and thoroughly equipped 
 ministry. 
 
 The erection of places of worship is also necessary in 
 order that the people may be able to come together for 
 the service of God and to wait on the ministrations of the 
 word. Such edifices must necessarily differ widely in 
 respect of size, form and costliness; but these principles 
 may be gathered from Scripture and will receive general 
 assent, that they should be sufficient in number and in 
 capacity to meet the requirements of the whole popula- 
 tion, and that both in external appearance and in the 
 an-angements of the interior, there should be an avoid- 
 ance of everything which either by its deformity or 
 meanness, or by its extravagance and inappropriateness, 
 might interfere with the devotions of the worshippers. 
 In our large cities, the building of new churches is 
 urgently required, and although there has been much 
 noble Christian enterprise in this direction, there are few 
 of those cities in which the provision of additional 
 churches keeps pace with the constant increase of the 
 population. 
 
 Missions to the heathen, to the Jews, and to countries 
 in which Christian truth has been obscured by supersti- 
 tion or undermined by infidelity, next demand attention. 
 And there is no truer index to the degree of vitality 
 and strength existing in a church, than its active interest 
 in the propagation of the faith which it professes among 
 less favoured nations. Dr Max Miiller has recently 
 drawn attention to the fact, recognized long ago, that 
 only missionary churches hold their gi'ound in the march 
 of progress. This is to be accounted for, not so much 
 by referring to the tendency of such enterprise to react 
 
22 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 salutarily upon the church, as by considering that only 
 a living and earnest church is moved to seek the 
 lengthening of its cords and the strengthening of its 
 stakes. A living church is of necessity a missionary 
 church, and its field of operation is the world. The 
 Kingdom of God is confined to no nationality, " Many 
 shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down 
 with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of 
 Heaven." Hundreds of millions of our fellowmen are 
 even now sending up to heaven the inarticulate cry of 
 the soul for light, and to the Church the stewardship of 
 the light has been committed. 
 
 " Shall we whose souls are lighted 
 With wisdom from on high, 
 Shall we to men benighted, 
 The lamp of life deny?" 
 
 No ! the sceptic and the man of the world may con- 
 tinue to make missionary operations the butt of their 
 ridicule, but as long as the fire of holy love burns in the 
 heart of the Church, and the light of truth illumines it, 
 it will continue to be moved profoundly by the condition 
 of the heathen, and to send forth labourers into those 
 waiting fields to reap a harvest for Christ. It will seek 
 to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, and labour 
 for this end, striving according to His working who works 
 in it mightily. 
 
 After the Pulpit, and next in order as a means of 
 evangelization, is the Press. During the last four 
 hundred years the marvellous art associated in its origin 
 with the names of Coster and Gutenberg has been 
 revolutionising procedure in every sphere of human 
 activity. The form of our literature, the character of 
 our schools of learning, the methods of our trade and 
 commerce, have all been altered by it. And the work 
 
THE church's agencies. 23 
 
 of the Church has not been exempt from changes effected 
 by the same potent spell. Instruction, for which the 
 spoken address was formerly the only vehicle, is now 
 conveyed more certainly, in a more permanent form, 
 and to an immensely wider circle, of disciples, by means 
 of the printed book. The Bible, instead of being a rare 
 and costly volume obtainable only by the very wealthy, 
 can now be supplied in almost all the languages of the 
 earth, and at a price which puts it within the reach of 
 the poorest. The Press thus becomes the instrument of 
 the Church. And every year sees its importance in this 
 connection increasing. There are circles rarely or never 
 accessible to the voice of the preacher, but the book 
 finds it way into them. And while it may be true that, 
 in respect of power to convince and move, no written 
 or printed document can equal the voice of the sincere 
 and earnest preacher, in other respects, and particularly 
 iu the scope which it affords for the elaborate treatment 
 of the subject in hand, the palm must be assigned to 
 the written book. But if the Press has furnished the 
 Church with additional facilities for accomplishing its 
 work it has also, alas ! rendered similar assistance to the 
 Church's foes. As we write, infidelity, superstition and 
 vice are scattering their missives side by side with the 
 Gospel of truth and holiness, and it is to be feared that in 
 number and in the extent of their circulation, the vehicles 
 of evil greatly surpass those of good. This is a matter 
 which forces itself upon our attention with ever-increas- 
 ing urgency. How to secure the Press for Christ ? 
 How to stay, or, if it be not possible to stay, how to 
 ■counteract that pernicious literature, which like a flood 
 of black and foul poison is deluging the land — this is a 
 question than which few more deserve and demand our 
 serious consideration. 
 
24? THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 With regard to Education, the opinion is prevailing 
 more and more, that to provide it for those children whose 
 parents are unable to provide it for them, belongs to the 
 State ; and the recent establishment of a national system 
 has to some extent removed the necessity for the voluntary 
 support of schools for secular instruction. There must 
 always however be some cases, which the national 
 provision does not overtake, and others in which govern- 
 ment aid may with great advantage be supplemented 
 by private benefactions. And the enlightened Christian 
 will consider it his duty to take a lively and practical 
 interest in the training and instruction of the young 
 minds which are to constitute the strength for good or 
 for evil of the next generation. '' That the soul be with- 
 out knowledge, it is not good," is the intimation of the 
 Old Testament, and in the New we have many such 
 admonitions as ''Be not children in understanding ;" 
 " Add to your virtue knowledge." The maxim that 
 Ignorance is the mother of Devotion, is worthy only of 
 the Dark Ages, and of a religion which seeks to found 
 itself upon the superstitious hopes and fears of the 
 people. " Let there be Light," is the everlasting pro- 
 clamation of Christ in the realm of the spiritual, as it 
 was once his sublime fiat in the realm of the natural. 
 
 But supposing day schools erected in every necessitous 
 district, and fully furnished with all appliances, the 
 wants of Sunday schools are still to be supplied. The 
 usefulness of Sunday schools has been variously appreci- 
 ated ; and they are no doubt much more urgently 
 required, and much more useful, among some classes of 
 the community than among others. But taking the 
 lowest estimate of their value, they are centres of much 
 good influence, especially among the children of the poor 
 and the uneducated in our laree cities and manufactur- 
 
THE chukch's agencies. 25 
 
 ing districts. The Church is therefore under obligation 
 to maintain and increase their efficiency, both by 
 furnishing capable teachers and by providing all 
 necessary funds. 
 
 Our next department of Christian work is one that 
 presents greater difficulties. The poor, we are told, we 
 shall always have with us ; and by the same authority 
 we are informed of our obligation to relieve their 
 distresses and to supply their wants. It is held out by 
 Paul as an inducement to diligence in honest labour, 
 that thus a man will be enabled to give to those who 
 are in need. If poverty were in all cases the result of 
 uncontrollable causes, such as actual deficiency in the 
 land of the food and raiment necessary to meet the 
 requirements of the population, the duty of the Christian 
 would be clear ; but when, as in our own country, pauper- 
 ism is the result chiefly of the frightful waste which 
 pervades the social system, — waste of labour, waste of 
 substance, waste of health, through ignorance and 
 intemperance, — the question of duty is complicated. We 
 have a recognition of the difficulty in the not less 
 scholarly than sagacious rendering of Psalm xli. 1, by 
 the authors of our metrical version, — " Blessed is he that 
 wisely doth the poor man's case consider." To despise 
 the poor is a sin, and one strongly denounced in Scripture ; 
 but it is not less a sin to pauperise those who might, if 
 they would, support themselves with their hands, and 
 the consequences in the latter case may be even more 
 disastrous and may reach farther than in the former. 
 To determine what constitutes poverty is somewhat 
 difficult, as the question admits of every variety of 
 answer. A bishop of the Church of England may, 
 without deviating greatly from the style and mode of 
 living conventionally prescribed to his order, find him- 
 
20 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 self in straitened circumstances on his ''miserable 
 pittance of £4000 a year." Goldsmith towards the 
 close of last century described the village preacher 
 as '* passing rich on forty pounds a year." Most per- 
 sons experienced in collecting money, for religious or 
 benevolent purposes, can tell of men worth hundreds of 
 thousands of pounds, who habitually plead poverty as 
 the excuse for withholding aid, or doling it out in 
 infinitesimal quantities. And on the other hand there 
 are multitudes of Christian men and women who, having 
 learned, like the Apostle Paul, in whatsoever state they 
 are therewith to be content, are really and truly rich in 
 contentment and self-restraint, though their estate is 
 " nil,'' and their income barely sufficient to procure the 
 absolute necessaries of life. In the absence of any 
 satisfactory definition of poverty, it may be worth while 
 noticing a fact which cannot be better stated than in 
 the words of an inspired observer, " I have been young 
 and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous for- 
 saken, nor his seed begging bread." The good man is 
 less likely to be found among the aid-seeking poor, both 
 because his regulated and dutiful life, his industry and 
 his prudence, tend to secure him a sufficiency, and 
 because the limitation of his desires for the things of the 
 world, and his interest in a treasure laid up in heaven, 
 enable him to support with patience privations, under 
 which another would murmur and complain. It is not 
 assuredly from the ranks of the godly that the mighty 
 host of our pauper population is mainly recruited. It 
 follows that the indiscriminate or injudicious bestowal of 
 alms on the humbler ranks of the people, whether from 
 the public purse or by private individuals, is the occasion 
 of gigantic and self-perpetuating evils. The pauperism 
 of the United Kingdom is indeed appalling in its magni- 
 
THE church's agencies. 27 
 
 tude, and in the rapidity with which it increases. 
 Nearly 1,500,000 of the population are in the receipt 
 of aid from the Poors' Rates, and this in a country the 
 richest in the world, at a period of unexampled com- 
 mercial and manufacturing prosperity, and with wages 
 high. But the expenditure of £130,000,000 yearly 
 on intoxicating liquors, with the idleness, prodigalit}^ 
 waste and disease resulting from the excessive drinking 
 of great numbers of the people, are the real causes of this 
 deplorable state of things. The duty of the Church with 
 regard to such a pauperism as disgraces our country, is 
 first to seek to prevent it, and in the second place to 
 seek the alleviation of the suffering it entails. In ] 872 
 more than £12,000,000 of Police and Poors' Rates were 
 expended in England and Wales alone. There cannot 
 be a doubt that by far the larger portion of this outlay 
 was indirectly an offering at the shrines of Intemperance 
 and Vice. We do not pretend to make any complete 
 statement of the position of this great and pressing 
 question, still less to suggest any solution. But we 
 maintain that what is required is, not the distribution 
 of alms in larger amount from the pockets of rate- 
 payers, but a thorough consideration of the causes in 
 which the evil originates and the energetic employment 
 of all means for their removal. 
 
 But no parochial-relief system that can be devised 
 will ever overtake all the work delegated to Christian 
 charity, so as to leave no room for kindly personal minis- 
 tration by the rich to their poorer brethren. Indeed, if 
 so desirable a result as the utter extinction of all spirit- 
 less, shiftless, and degraded pauperism were secured, 
 this would only clear the way for a large-hearted and 
 more magnificent charity, which would really bless both 
 giver and receiver as being the offspring of sincere and 
 
28 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 considerate interest, and as not tending in any way to 
 impair due self-respect in those on whom it was bestowed. 
 Notwithstanding an opinion sometimes expressed to the 
 contrary, the poor often stand far more in need of kindly 
 interest, sympathy, and perhaps counsel, than of pecu- 
 niary assistance ; and it is only when the gift is felt to 
 be the outcome of real kindliness that it can be received 
 without injury. Help tendered in a cold, official man- 
 ner, whether by the public officer or from a private 
 purse, is apt to do even more harm than good ; whereas, 
 when the hand bestowing is unmistakably moved by the 
 promptings of a considerate mind and a loving heart, the 
 self-respect of the recipient is rather increased than di- 
 minished by the communication. The time will come, 
 and it is the duty of the Christian to anticipate it, when 
 we shall recognise fully the duty of showing practical 
 kindness to one another, and of carrying into the great 
 family of the Church a larger portion of that spirit, and 
 more of those gentle offices, which are seen to be so be- 
 coming in the smaller family of the household. Desti- 
 tution may be made to cease from the land, but there 
 will always be inequality of fortune as of position, some 
 struggling with the emharras de richesses, others laboirr- 
 ing under the commonplace burdens of toil and care. 
 Either lot may be made a happy one, for it is in man 
 himself more than in his circumstances that the condi- 
 tions of happiness reside ; but both rich and poor will 
 assuredly be happier when relations of mutual respect 
 and helpfulness exist between them, when poverty no 
 longer shuts out the poor from the regards and sympathy 
 of the rich, and when the unaffected kindliness of the 
 rich precludes grudging or envy on the part of the poor. 
 There remain to be noticed as part of the machinery 
 set in motion by Christian zeal for the accomplishment 
 
THE chuech's agencies. 29 
 
 of good, sucli institutions as hospitals, infirmaries, and 
 convalescent homes, asylums and refuges, and homes for 
 fatherless and orphan children. These are indeed the 
 glory of Christianity, for they have sprung directly from 
 the example, the precepts, and the inspiration of Christ. 
 A silent but mighty power has been exerted in the 
 hidden recesses of the hearts and consciences of men by 
 such parts of Scripture as the Parable of the Good 
 Samaritan, and the account of the Judgment ; and the 
 results have been works which are the admiration of the 
 world. Not only did our Lord take the weak, the 
 suffering, and the neglected under His personal care 
 when He was on the earth ; He provided for them to 
 all coming time. His words — " Inasmuch as ye have 
 done it unto one of the least of these My brethren ye 
 have done it unto Me," — ^have yielded more even in 
 money value than the cost of erecting and endowing a 
 thousand hospitals. Secularism, whatever virtues it may 
 lay claim to, cannot clear itself from the charge of 
 selfishness. It has never done anything worthy of 
 mention for the poor, the helpless, the sick, the widow 
 or the orphan. 
 
 Such are the principal means by which the Church 
 seeks to bring about that blessed change in the state 
 and aspect of the world which its Founder rejoiced to 
 contemplate from afar, and which He sacrificed His life to 
 effect. All of them to be successful must be employed 
 by sincere and loving hearts, directed by intelligence and 
 wisdom, accompanied by prayer, and sustained by the 
 gifts of the Christian people. It is the last of these 
 conditions of their usefulness with which we are now 
 specially concerned. Money, which when coveted, or 
 hoarded, or squandered, is the occasion of so much evil, 
 is required of us by God ; and it is accepted by Him, 
 
30 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 when given by grateful and loyal hearts, as a pleasing- 
 sacrifice and a sweet-smelling savour. He, whom it 
 pleased to save man by the foolishness of preaching, has 
 also seen it meet to make the dedication of money to 
 His service a means of grace to the giver and a means of 
 spiritual blessing to the world. It is not that to the 
 silver and the gold in themselves, or to the things they 
 represent, any spiritual force has been communicated. It 
 is not that He, to whom the world and all things in it 
 belong, cannot dispense with them in the working out of 
 His purposes. It is not that all the wealth of the 
 world could for a moment be balanced against the worth 
 of one human soul. Those who give most readily and 
 most liberally are perhaps the most deeply sensible of 
 the inferiority of the material to the spiritual, and of the 
 utter insufficiency of merely material forces to achieve 
 spiritual ends. But giving to God at once expresses 
 and fosters a spirit of prayer, of consecration, and of 
 self-denial, from which proceed ever-accumulating results, 
 the ultimate grandeur of which it is impossible to fore- 
 cast. 
 
 It would be out of place to attempt here any justifi- 
 cation of God's way in this matter, but we may merely 
 refer to this, that it puts it within the power of every 
 Christian to take part in the works which have been 
 enumerated. All cannot be preachers of the Gospel, or 
 writers for the press in its interests. Everyone cannot 
 build a church or school, or endow an hospital ; but by 
 giving of his means, every one may take a real and sub- 
 stantial part in all these works. 
 
 Looked at in the true light, the giving of money for 
 these purposes is a laying it at the feet of Christ. The 
 contribution made to any worthy object in the name of 
 Christ is precious in His sight, and takes its place with 
 
THE church's agencies. 31 
 
 the gifts of the Magi, and with the precious ointment with 
 which Mary anointed His feet. In this light, the Chris- 
 tian should consider all his giving ; the silver and the 
 gold should be lost sight of, and attention fixed on 
 what they represent — the gratitude of the heart in be- 
 stowing them, the joy of Christ in receiving them, and 
 the universal blessedness which they are helping on. 
 Only let the place and power of money in the Christian 
 dispensation be understood and kept in view, and there 
 will be no danger of the Church being either crippled 
 in its operations by want of funds, or secularised by the 
 schemes set on foot to provide them. There will then 
 be universal, cheerful, and constant giving, and the only 
 limits to the amounts contributed will be that set by the 
 amounts required. 
 
 Come then, Christians, in the spirit of your Master, 
 with faith in His teaching, with trust in His promises, 
 and with the love of a redeemed heart to its Redeemer, 
 and to all who are or may be His, burning within you, 
 come to this blessed exchange to which He graciously 
 invites you ! " Make to yourselves friends of the mam- 
 mon of unrighteousness. Sell that ye have and give 
 alms ; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a 
 treasure in the heavens which faileth not." Barter the 
 perishable riches of this world for the substantial and 
 enduring glories of that Kingdom of God which shall 
 yet extend " from sea to sea, and from the river unto 
 the ends of the earth." 
 
32 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SCRIPTUKE ACCOUNT OF THE DUTY OF GIVING 
 TO GOD. 
 
 However strongly a particular line of action may be 
 approved by our Christian consciousness and common 
 sense, and however much may be adduced in its favour 
 from the tradition of the Fathers and the established 
 usages of the Church, it is generally felt that before it 
 can claim to be binding on the conscience and heart of 
 Christians, it must produce the authority of Scripture. 
 There is a not unreasonable hesitation in many minds 
 to accept of theories or methods in religion, however 
 promising, until they are shown to be stamped with the 
 approval of that wisdom which is higher than man's. 
 To the law and to the testimony, therefore, we propose 
 now to appeal. What saith the Scripture concerning 
 the duty of giving ? The answers are so numerous and 
 so various in form, though all to the same effect, that 
 our difficulty will be rather in selecting than in finding. 
 Indeed, those whose attention has not been given to 
 this subject, and wiio complacently cherish the opinion 
 that a theoretical acceptance of the Gospel, and confor- 
 mity more or less exact to the moral law as expressed 
 in the decalogue, constitute the whole dut}'' of man, and 
 that giving to the Church, to missions, and to the poor 
 is a work of supererogation rather than obedience to an 
 absolute divine requirement, might well be startled 
 could they have brought before them in one view all 
 the Bible utterances respecting this duty, its explicit 
 declarations, its strong reasons, its urgent appeals, its 
 pathetic entreaties, its solemn w^arnings. It is impos- 
 
THE DUTY OF GIVING TO GOD. 33 
 
 sible to peruse these, with unbiassed mind, without 
 being forced to the conclusion that giving to God is an 
 integral part of religious service, and that it is our duty 
 diligently to concentrate attention upon it, in order that 
 it may be rendered in the form that is most in accord- 
 ance with the divine will. 
 
 Classifying these utterances, we find that those which 
 bear upon the nature and obligatoriness of the duty, set 
 it before us as being at once an act of worship, a token 
 of gratitude to God, an expression of interest in our 
 fellowmen, a means of grace to ourselves, and a condi- 
 tion of temporal prosperity. Instructions relative to 
 the mode of performance enjoin upon us to engage in it 
 intelligently, liberally, systematically, with promptitude 
 and cheerfully. The space at our command does not 
 admit of our adducing many quotations in support of 
 these positions, and a few will suffice to establish them. 
 
 1. Giving, an act of worsldp. — The worship of God 
 in spirit and the presentation of gifts upon His altar, 
 were associated from the earliest times. Abel offered 
 of his flocks, Cain of the fruit of the ground. The 
 patriarchal dispensation has its records of liberal and 
 faithful consecration of property to God. The Mosaic 
 economy was characterised by the number and minute- 
 ness of the directions given to the people for their guid- 
 ance in offering to Jehovah a set portion of the sub- 
 stance with which He had enriched them. We And the 
 offering, tithe, or gift everywhere required and rendered 
 as an acknowledgment of the di\dne sovereignty and 
 universal proprietorship. This is conspicuously and 
 beautifully seen in the account given of the offerings for 
 the erection of the temple, and in David's prayer on that 
 occasion. We are told of the enthusiasm by which all 
 were animated. The chief of the fathers and princes of 
 
 c 
 
34 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundredsy 
 with the rulers over the king's work, offered willingly^ 
 and gave for the service of the house of God. The 
 sublime words of David's prayer reveal the spirit which 
 actuated the people, and the motives which determined 
 their gifts, '' Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the 
 power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty : 
 for all that is in the heaven and the earth is Thine : 
 Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as- 
 head above all. Both riches and honour come of Thee, 
 and Thou reignest over all : and in Thine hand is power 
 and might : and in Thine hand it is to make great and 
 to give strength unto all. Now, therefore, our God, we 
 thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious name. But who 
 am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to 
 offer so willingly after this sort ? for all things come of 
 Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee." 
 
 The existence of a divine proprietorship in the earth, 
 superior to that of tenant, lord, or king, is strongly 
 insisted on ; and along with the assertions of this pro- 
 prietorship we find invocations to bring the homage of 
 the heart and offerings of substance. " The earth is the 
 Lord's and the fulness thereof" " All the earth is- 
 Mine." " Every tree of the forest is Mine, and the 
 cattle upon a thousand hills." " The silver is Mine and 
 the gold is Mine," saith the Lord of hosts. " Give unto^ 
 the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the- 
 Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory 
 due unto His name ; bring an offering, and come into His 
 courts. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." 
 ''Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God. Let all 
 that be round about Him bring presents unto Him 
 that ought to be feared." God the Maker and Sus- 
 tainer of all, requiring us thus to acknowledge Him hj 
 
THE DUTY OF GIVING TO GOD. 35 
 
 giving to Him of His own, we have before us a sacred 
 duty, resting on no questionable foundation of human 
 wisdom, but on the indisputable, " Thus saith the 
 Lord." 
 
 The evidence of the prophetical writings concurs to 
 establish this conclusion. In the course of delineating 
 the future glory of the earth, when it shall have been 
 subdued by Christ, David tells how the gifts of God's 
 people will then flow into His treasury. " They that 
 dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him ; and 
 His enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish 
 and of the isles shall bring presents : the kings of 
 Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts." And in that day we 
 are assured, that '' the vile person shall no more be 
 called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful." 
 
 Still further confirmation is afforded by the denun- 
 ciation of those who sinned in withholding the offer- 
 ings required by the laAv. The prophet Malachi was 
 instructed thus to address the people at a time of general 
 declension, ** Will a man rob God ? yet ye have robbed 
 Me. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed 
 Me, even this whole nation." ''Ye said also. Behold, 
 what a weariness is it ? and ye have snuffed at it, saith 
 the Lord of hosts ; and ye brought that which was torn, 
 and the lame, and the sick ; thus ye brought an offer- 
 ing : should I accept this of your hand ? saith the 
 Lord. But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his 
 flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord 
 a corrupt thing ; for I am a great King, saith the Lord 
 of hosts, and My name is dreadful among the heathen." 
 
 2. Giving, a token of gratitude to God. — " What 
 shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards 
 me '{ " asks the Psalmist, and he himself declares 
 Lis resolution, '' I will take the cup of salvation, 
 
36 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my 
 vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His 
 people." Over and above the tithes required by the 
 law, the people were encouraged to present freewill 
 offerings as an acknowledgment of the divine good- 
 ness on extraordinary occasions, and many instances 
 of their doing so are recorded with approbation. The 
 great commandment, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
 all thy mind," requires of us a disposition which, wher- 
 ever it exists, will find its expression in some tangible 
 form. The love to God that seeks no expression is a 
 pretence. That which is fitful in its manifestations has 
 a constant tendency to grow feeble and cold. It is true 
 that those love much who have been forgiven much, but 
 it is no less true that those love much who unweariedly 
 seek and find channels in which the stream of their love 
 may flow. Christ recognised this truth when He sent 
 those whom He had healed to offer the customary gift in 
 the temple. And the Apostle Paul, while urging upon 
 the Corinthians a diligent cultivation of the grace of 
 charity, in ministering to the poor, adds this as an addi- 
 tional incentive, " For the administration of this service 
 not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abun- 
 dant also by many thanksgivings unto God." The 
 Christian of these days is a recipient of divine bounty 
 in larger measure than was the Jew in olden times, and 
 his obligations are correspondingly increased. Much has 
 been given to him, and much is due from him. Paul places 
 this in a clear light, " The love of Christ constraineth 
 ■Qs; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then 
 were all dead ; and that He died for all, that they which 
 live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto 
 Him which died for them, and rose again." It is indeed 
 
THE DUTY OF GIVING TO GOD. 37 
 
 a small thing, that those who have been blessed with 
 all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, 
 should give of their carnal things as an acknowledg- 
 ment of His goodness. Body, soul, and spirit are to be 
 wholly consecrated to Christ, how much more the pos- 
 sessions of His people. If He has so loved us as to give 
 Himself for us, can any expression of gratitude be too 
 costly ? In the gospels we have the divine approval of 
 a gift of gratitude, which was pronounced by contempo- 
 rary opinion extravagant, and a proof of infatuation. 
 Nothing could be more instructive than the touching re- 
 presentation of Mary after the anointing of Jesus' feet, 
 shrinking under the angry reproof of the wise and pru- 
 dent ones, to whom her deed of love had seemed an 
 act of sinful waste, but reassured and gladdened by the 
 gracious words of Christ, " Let her alone, why trouble 
 ye her, she hath wrought a good work upon Me." And 
 how fitted to overwhelm with shame were the words 
 addressed to one of those thinkers of evil, " Simon, seest 
 thou this woman ? I entered into thine house, thou 
 gavest Me no water for my feet : but she hath washed 
 My feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of 
 her head. Thou gavest Me no kiss : but this woman 
 since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss My 
 feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint : but this 
 woman hath anointed My feet with ointment." 
 
 3. Giving, an expression of interest in our fellows. 
 Under the old economy the claims of the poor, the weak 
 and the helpless, on the benevolence of the community, 
 were distinctly recognized, and ample provision was made 
 for meeting them. God identified himself with the 
 poor in order to encourage the shewing of kindness to 
 them. '^ He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to 
 the Lord." Among other characteristics of the good man 
 
38 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 his philanthropy is dwelt upon. " When the ear heard 
 me, then it blessed me ; and when the eye saw me, it 
 gave witness to me : because I delivered the poor that 
 cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help 
 him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish 
 came upon me : and I caused the widow's heart to sing 
 for joy." And in reproving the people for the godless- 
 ness of their lives notwithstanding great professions of 
 spirituality, God calls upon them to prove the sincerity 
 of their faith by deeds of charity. " Is not this the fast 
 that I have chosen ? to loose the bands of wickedness, 
 to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go 
 free, and that ye break every yoke. Is it not to deal 
 thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor 
 that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the 
 naked, that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy- 
 self from thine ovm flesh ? " 
 
 But it is in the New Testament with its larger and 
 brighter hope, and its more catholic spirit, that we find 
 the most earnest persuasives to giving, as a means of 
 securing the good of our fellows. Here we breathe an 
 atmosphere full of love and of the spirit of sacrifice. 
 " Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one 
 another," is the argument which it addresses to the heart 
 of the Christian. And how clearly is it shown that the 
 natural outcome of this love is in kindly deeds and in 
 cheerful sacrifice for others. ''To do good and to 
 communicate, forget not." " I have shown you how that 
 so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to 
 remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said. It 
 is more blessed to give than to receive." How pitilessly 
 is the veil torn from that pretentious pietism which 
 acknowledges no obligations of this kind. " Whoso hath 
 this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and 
 
THE DUTY OF GIVING TO GOD. 39 
 
 shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how 
 dwelleth the love of God in him ? " The profession of 
 Christianity when it is not accompanied by a readiness 
 to part with personal comforts and advantages for the 
 sake of others is indeed a miserable hypocrisy, a libel ou 
 the religion of Him who out of Hjs own experience 
 taught that it is more blessed to give than to receive, 
 and who Himself, though He was rich, yet for our sakes 
 became poor, that through His poverty we might be rich. 
 How much of true blessedness the Church fails to 
 experience, how often it is weak when it might be strong, 
 and ashamed when it should be speaking with its enemies 
 in the gate, because of its failure to recognise the duty 
 ■of following in its Lord's steps and of manifesting the 
 same sincere aud disinterested love to men which was 
 shown in His self-denial and sacrifice ! There was a 
 time when the Church was so poor, that one of its 
 leaders was found saying, '" Silver and gold have I none.' 
 But, oh how warm the heart of the Church was then, 
 how lively its sympathies, how bright its hope, how 
 enduring its patience ! Would that the old spirit were 
 revived ! Then many a treasure which is not only in 
 danger of becoming corrupt and cankered itself, but 
 threatens to corrupt the heart of its possessor, would be 
 brought forth, to be laid at the feet of Jesus, and to be 
 applied in promoting the temporal and spiritual well- 
 being of those whom He is not ashamed to call His 
 brethren. 
 
 4. Giving, a means of grace to the giver. AH 
 
 honest work reacts on the doer, increasing power and 
 
 l.Wating character; and the same holds good of giving. 
 
 giviw^ gift which ministers to the caiTying on of some 
 
 o-ift is^d work is at the same time the occasion of spiritual 
 
 the grjsing to the bestower. This is clearly and frequently 
 
40 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 taught in the Scriptures. In that passage from Isaiah 
 akeady quoted, in which the claims of the hungry, the 
 poor and the naked are pleaded, this magnificent promise 
 is made to those who shall respond to them, " Then shall 
 thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health 
 shall spring forth speedily : and thy righteousness shall 
 go before thee ; the glory of the Lord shall be thy 
 rearward. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry 
 and satisfy the afflicted soul ; then shall thy light rise in 
 obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday, and the 
 Lord shall guide thee continually." In the teaching of 
 Christ, this truth is often conveyed under the allegory 
 of a market transaction. Those who part with worldly 
 wealth for His sake receive, in exchange. He tells us, the 
 treasures of heaven. '' Sell all that thou hast," He said 
 to the young ruler, ''and distribute unto the poor, and 
 thou shalt have treasure in heaven." The words, 
 " Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he 
 hath, he cannot be My disciple," have been a stumbling- 
 block to many. We do not suppose that Christ requires 
 all who would follow Him to divest themselves of their 
 property, as the condition of being enrolled among his 
 disciples. So far from a wholesale repudiation of 
 property by Christians being beneficial, it would be 
 disastrous both to the Church and to society. But it is 
 clear from this and similar statements, that readiness to 
 part with all at the Master's command is required. And 
 when He has seen meet to utter this command, and His 
 people have loyally responded to it, then the benignity 
 concealed in the apparent harshness has been abundan-^b: 
 manifested. The pain of parting, the sharp agonyoly 
 loss, have been succeeded by a rush of heavenly paich- 
 and joy upon the soul as the nearness of Chnath 
 presence has been realised. The chambers of the h and 
 
THE DUTY OF GIVING TO GOD. 41 
 
 having been vacated by the noisy troop of cares and 
 pleasures of earth, Christ has entered in and filled them 
 Avith a glorious company of heavenly thoughts and hopes. 
 Impoverished in the estimation of the world, they have 
 been made truly rich. Deprived of that portion of the 
 world's goods which they once called their own, they have 
 obtained a surer title to the inheritance of the whole, for 
 the meek alone truly inherit the earth. Christ's declara- 
 tion is found by them to be already receiving its fulfilment 
 in their experience, — " Every one that hath forsaken 
 houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or 
 wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall 
 receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting 
 life." 
 
 On the other hand, the Scriptures abound in warn- 
 ings against the sin of exclusive devotion to selfish 
 interests, and in representations of the terrible loss 
 which the soul sustains, when no place is found in it for 
 the generous emotions. " Charge them that are rich in 
 this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in 
 uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us 
 richly all things to enjoy : that they do good, that they 
 be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to 
 communicate : laying up in store for themselves a good 
 foundation against the time to come, that they may lay 
 hold on eternal life." " Let not the rich man glory in 
 his riches ; but let him thafglorieth glory in this, that 
 he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord, 
 which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteous- 
 ne?"^ "'n the earth : for in these things I delight, saith the 
 
 1. ) Christ himself in many ways sought to impress 
 giving.ie rich that much diligence was needful on their 
 gift is i.they would preserve their freedom and integrity. 
 the giveardly shall they that have riches enter into the 
 
42 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Kingdom of Heaven," He was wont to observe. In the 
 parable of the Sower, the thorns which grew up and 
 choked the good seed were the cares of the world and 
 the deceitfulness of riches. " Woe unto you that are 
 rich ! " He exclaimed, on another occasion, as much in 
 sorrow as in anger, " for ye have received your consola- 
 tion. Woe unto you that are full ! for ye shall hunger. 
 Woe unto you that laugh now ! for ye shall mourn and 
 weep." The only way in which the rich can effectually 
 guard against the dangers of worldliness, forgetfulness 
 of God, and selfish isolation, to which they are exposed, 
 is by constantly bearing in mind their true position, as 
 being merely stewards of God's bounties and as being 
 under obligations therefore so to lay out His trust that 
 when it is required again at their hands, they may be 
 able to render an account of it with joy. 
 
 5. Giving, a condition of temporal iwosperity. 
 Under the old dispensation promises of temporal good, 
 as the reward of obedience and devotion, were held out 
 very freely, and the new by no means excludes them. 
 We are nowhere indeed encouraged to make such good 
 an end, and to act rightly only in order to secure it. 
 But it is intimated that God's government of the world 
 is in the interest of those who seek to do His will, and 
 that He will honour those who thus honour Him. To 
 this effect are such passages as the following : — '' Honour 
 the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of 
 all thine increase : so shall thy barns be filled with 
 plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." 
 *' There is that scattereth and yet increaseth ; an^ there 
 is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it teny.gjy 
 poverty." '' The liberal soul shall be made fat.'^e^^^^j^ 
 which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly^r^g^^jj 
 which soweth bountifully shall reap also boujj ^^j^^j 
 
THE DUTY OF GIVING TO GOD. 43 
 
 ''* Give, and it shall be given unto you ; good measure, 
 pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, 
 shall men give into your bosom. For with the same 
 measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to 
 you again." '' He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth 
 unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will He 
 pay him again." " Bring ye all the tithes into the store- 
 house, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove 
 Me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not 
 open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a 
 blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive 
 it." These and a multitude of similar declarations all 
 tend to the establishment of the conclusion, which ex- 
 perience amply confirms, that those who give liberally of 
 their substance to the cause of God and of their fellow- 
 men, receive more even in the form of earthly increase 
 than they thus expend, and that he who would be the 
 i^uccessful husbandman, or merchant, or manufacturer, 
 does wisely even from a worldly point of view when he 
 adopts a policy of large-heartedness and munificence. 
 
 We have thus set forth, in order, a few of the many 
 Scripture statements bearing on the nature and obliga- 
 toriness of this duty. But there are other passages, the 
 testimony of which, to the existence of the obligation, is 
 still stronger, as it is of the indirect kind ; passages in 
 which the duty itself being taken for gTanted, we are 
 told how it should be performed. To some of these we 
 would draw attention, and the whole scope of Scripture 
 teaching on this important subject will then be before 
 us. 
 
 1. The Scriptures enjoin intelligent and devout 
 giving. We are not to suppose that the offering of a 
 gift is in itself, and apart from the views and motives of 
 the giver, necessarily pleasing to God. On the contrary, 
 
44 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 giving even to the cause of God may be a sin in the 
 giver, the manner being impious, or the motives impure. 
 Saul on one occasion offered burnt-offerings and peace- 
 offerings to God. Both of these were appointed by the 
 law, and, had they been offered by one invested with the 
 priestly office, they would doubtless have been accepted. 
 But Saul's assumption of that office was a usurpation, 
 and, instead of propitiating the favour of God, his 
 proffered gift only provoked the reproof, " Thou hast 
 done foolishly : thou hast not kept the commandment of 
 the Lord thy God." A similar case is recorded in the 
 New Testament, that of Simon Magus, who offered 
 money to the apostles as an inducement to them to confer 
 on him the power of communicating the Holy Ghost. 
 His offering being prompted by covetousness, was re- 
 jected in these indignant words, " Thy money perish 
 with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of 
 God may be purchased with money." The prophets 
 were frequently commanded to intimate to the 
 people the rejection of their gifts, because of the 
 impure motives, or the inconsistent lives, of those who 
 brought them. " To what purpose is the multitude of 
 your sacrifices unto me," asks God by the mouth of 
 Isaiah, " I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and 
 the fat of fed beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of 
 bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. Bring no more 
 vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me." 
 And then the reason why those observances which He 
 Himself had appointed had become displeasing, is stated, 
 — " Your hands are full of blood." 
 
 The principle of devout acceptable giving is well 
 stated by Paul in the commendation which he passes on 
 the churches of Macedonia for their liberality. In 
 speaking of them he says, "They first gave their own selves 
 
THE DUTY OF GIVING TO GOD 45 
 
 to the Lord, and unto ns by the will of God ; " and then 
 adds, "To their power, I bear record, yea and beyond their 
 power, they were willing of themselves " to minister to 
 the saints. The careful avoidance of ostentation in 
 giving is recommended both in the exhortation of Paul, 
 " He that giveth let him do it with simplicity," and in 
 the still more forcible precept of Christ, " Let not thy 
 left hand know what thy right hand doeth." 
 
 2. The Scrii^tures enjoin liberal giving. Those 
 whose immediate inquiry on encountering any of the 
 claims which God has upon their means is, how little 
 can I give, must have either failed to observe, or, what 
 is more probable, failed to profit by much of the 
 teaching of God's Word. The first of all the fruits of 
 the field and the produce of the cattle were claimed by 
 God from Israel, and nothing imperfect or blemished was 
 to be laid upon His altar. All the materials employed 
 in the construction, first of the tabernacle and afterwards 
 of the temple, were the finest and most costly of their 
 kind. Gold and silver in profusion adorned them both. 
 Nothing was too good or too valuable to be employed in 
 this service. And the demands of the Gospel are even 
 larger than those of the law. *' Freely ye have received, 
 freely give." It has been the opinion of many able 
 commentators and antiquarians that, according to the 
 law, a Jew was under obligation to devote from two- 
 fifths to one-third of his entire income to religious and 
 charitable purposes. The early Christians we know 
 far exceeded this proportion in their liberality, many of 
 them selling all that they possessed in order that they 
 might have to give to their poorer neighbours in a time 
 of pressing need. 
 
 3. The Scviijtures enjoin systematic giving. We 
 shall afterwards more fully consider the light which the 
 
46 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Scriptures throw on the question as to what proportion 
 offerings should bear to income. At present we desire 
 merely to draw attention to the care with which amounts 
 and proportions are recorded from the very first. From 
 the record of the giving of tithes by Abraham to Mel- 
 chizedek, down to the mention of the two mites offered 
 by the widow in the temple, we have a continuous line 
 of statistics. What, for example, could be more system- 
 atic than the payment of tithes as prescribed and 
 regulated by the Mosaic law ? And it is important ta 
 observe that our Lord, in whose teaching the protesting 
 and revolutionising elements so often prevailed, directly 
 expressed His approval of scrupulous exactness in this 
 matter. When reproving the Pharisees for the incon- 
 sistency of nicely estimating the tithes of mint, anise, 
 and cummin due by them, and neglecting the weightier 
 matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith, He 
 added, " These ought ye to have done, and not to leave 
 the other undone" 
 
 4. The Scriptures enjoin promptitude in giving^ 
 " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, 
 nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest." This- 
 counsel of the Wise Man applies to giving as to all other 
 duties. " When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord 
 thy God, thou shalt not be slack to pay it." Say not to 
 thy neighbour, " Go and come again, when thou hast it 
 by thee." It is interesting to observe Paul's recom- 
 mendation of promptitude as well as liberality to the 
 Corinthians, " Herein I give my advice, for this is ex- 
 pedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, 
 but also to be forward a year ago. Now, therefore, per- 
 form the doing of it; that as there was a readiness 
 to will, so there may be a performance also out of that 
 
THE DUTY OF GIVING TO GOD. 47 
 
 which ye have." " I thought it necessary to exhort the 
 brethren that they would go before unto you, and make 
 up beforehand your bounty whereof ye had notice before 
 that the same might he ready." An opinion is too com- 
 monly entertained that irregularity, such as \vould not 
 be tolerated in the discharge of obligations between man 
 and man, is quite admissible in the service of Christ, and 
 that Christians may withhold their offerings, or diminish 
 them, or present them carelessly and fitfully, without 
 incurring blame. But in opposition to this opinion, 
 may be presented such words as these, "When thou 
 vowest a vow unto the Lord, defer not to pay it ; for He 
 hath no pleasure in fools : pay that which thou hast 
 vowed." In full accord with these express commands, 
 is the spirit of all enactments relating to the subject, 
 and of all historical statements illustrative of it. The 
 whole testimony forces upon us the conclusion, that if 
 regularity and promptitude are admirable and desirable 
 quahties in the transaction of ordinary business, we are 
 bound to cultivate them in connection with the service 
 of God. 
 
 5. The Scriptures enjoin cheerful giving. Even 
 under the dispensation of positive commands, much im- 
 portance was attached to willinghood. " Speak unto the 
 Children of Israel that they bring Me an offering : of 
 every man that giveth it willingly mth his heart, shall 
 ye take My offering." The historian, concluding his ac- 
 count of the lavish offerings of the people for the erec- 
 tion of the temple, says that "the people rejoiced, for 
 that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart 
 they offered willingly to the Lord." And Paul would 
 rather have a smaller gift presented with cheerfulness 
 than a large one given grudgingly. " Every man ac- 
 cording as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give ; not 
 
48 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful 
 giver." All service of God, when rightly engaged in, is 
 joyful, and there is a peculiar joy with which God fills 
 the hearts of those who are emptying themselves of 
 earthly good in order that His kingdom may be advanced. 
 Special mention is made of the joy of Israel at the dedi- 
 cation of the temple by Solomon, and at the dedication 
 of the wall of Jerusalem by Nehemiah. On the latter 
 occasion, we read that ''Also that day, they oflfered great 
 sacrifices, and rejoiced ; for God had made them rejoice 
 with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced; 
 so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off." 
 
 Such is the conspicuous position assigned to the ser- 
 vice of giving in the Word of God, the character with 
 which it is invested, the manner in which the godly are 
 required to render it. Is there not much in this teach- 
 ing of Scripture which the Church of to-day has need to 
 lay to heart ? With all our boasted munificence in reli- 
 gious enterprise and in works of charity, will either the 
 character or the amount of our liberality bear to have 
 applied to them the divine standards of truth and duty ? 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATONS OF THE DUTY. 
 
 In the preceding chapter, we have presented chiefly, 
 though not exclusively, precepts and intimations of a 
 general character. We now proceed to consider what 
 may be called the historical evidence furnished by Scrip* 
 ture in favour of systematic, proportionate, and frequent 
 contributions for religious and benevolent purposes. In 
 
SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DUTY. 4D 
 
 this matter, as in all others, the Bible instructs us both 
 by laying down precept upon precept, line upon line, and 
 by setting forth more or less fully the noble examples of 
 obedience set by men of eminent wisdom and godliness, 
 along with the happy results to themselves and their 
 families of such a course. As civilization advances, and 
 education improves the popular mind, teaching by con- 
 crete representation gives place more and more to appeals 
 directed to the understanding and the reason ; but as 
 long as human nature retains its present characteristics, 
 the consideration of an admirable example will more 
 powerfully influence the mind, and more readily awaken 
 enthusiasm, than any abstract considerations of duty un- 
 accompanied by such enforcement. In any inquiry of 
 this kind, therefore, it is proper besides asking — What 
 saith the Scripture ? to ask, What was the practice of the 
 men whose lives are recorded in the Scripture as having 
 been well-pleasing to God ? and this is what we propose 
 to do in the present chapter. 
 
 The first mention of systematic giving occurs in the 
 history of Abraham, on the occasion of his victory over 
 the four kings. On his return laden with the spoils of 
 war, he was met by Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest 
 of the Most High God, and having received the blessing 
 of this illustrious personage, he presented to him a 
 tenth part of all. It is extremely improbable that the 
 custom of dedicating a tenth was originated by Abraham. 
 The existence of such a custom among many Gentile 
 nations, and in particular among the Greeks and Romans, 
 who were accustomed to devote a tenth of their substance 
 to the gods, makes it probable that it had its origin at 
 the earliest period in the history of the race. The 
 bareness of the record in the case of Abraham, and the 
 absence of comment, favour the supposition that he was 
 
 D 
 
50 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 only acting in accordance with a custom already estab- 
 lished. The authority of his example is of the highest 
 order when we consider how singularly favoured he was 
 by God. The designation Friend of God was applied to 
 him, and a blessing was pronounced upon him unparal- 
 leled in its greatness and its far-reaching effect. 
 
 The example of Jacob is the next submitted to us, 
 and it is one of much interest. The young man had 
 just left his father's home under circumstances which 
 quite precluded his return in peace. He was in the 
 wilderness, alone, friendless and destitute ; but even then 
 he resolved that through life, in poverty or in wealth, 
 he would give systematically to God. The proportion 
 which he fixed upon was a tenth of his increase, and he 
 solemnly vowed accordingly; — " This stone which I have 
 set for a pillar shall be God's house ; and of all that Thou 
 shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee." 
 How greatly Jacob prospered we learn from the subsequent 
 history, and from his own words many years after when 
 acknowledging the goodness of God — " I am not worthy 
 of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which 
 Thou hast showed unto Thy servant; for with my staff I 
 passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands." 
 
 The practice of proportionate giving which the Patri- 
 archs had adopted, either voluntarily, or in accord- 
 ance with prevalent custom, was made law for the Jews 
 :under the Mosaic economy, the proportion being at 
 the same time increased. "All the tithe of the land, 
 whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the 
 tree, is the Lord's ; it is holy unto the Lord." In addi- 
 tion to the tithe which was devoted to the support of 
 the priestly tribe of Levi, there were other legal require- 
 ments for the service of the sanctuary and for the poor. 
 The amount and frequency of these contributions are 
 
SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DUTY, 51 
 
 somewhat obscure, but they are commouly estimated to 
 have been equivalent to a second tenth. And over and 
 above all that was given in answer to the demands of 
 the law, the people were encouraged, as we have already 
 seen, to present free-will offerings on many special occa- 
 sions, as tokens of gratitude for divine mercies. 
 
 These were the ordinary contributions of the people 
 from day to day and from year to year. The regidations 
 determining them formed an integral part of the Law. 
 They were as binding on the conscience of the devout 
 Jew as the requirements and the prohibitions of the 
 Decalogue. They share the admiration and reverence 
 which are so often expressed by the Psalmists. " Oh how 
 love I thy law, it is my meditation all the day." '' I 
 understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy 
 precepts." We know that just as these and other pre- 
 cepts of the law were obeyed, the people prospered ; 
 and that with neglect and disobedience there came the 
 waste and ruin of war, and subjection to the rod of the 
 oppressor. We know that after long periods of deser- 
 tion and desolation, the first symptom of returning favour 
 was an inquiry after the old paths and a determination 
 to walk in them once more ; and that every record of 
 national contrition and renewal of obedience ushers in 
 the history of brighter days and returning strength. Not 
 more closely did the fortune of war in the conflict between 
 Israel and Moab follow the uplifting or the falling of the 
 hands of the man of God, than did the independence, 
 the wealth, the glory of the Jewish people stand in rela- 
 tion to the degree of their faith in God and their 
 obedience to His law. 
 
 That the zeal and joyous willingness of the people 
 were not exhausted by these claims upon their substance 
 was abundantly evident when any great work for which 
 
52 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 special preparation had to be made was undertaken. 
 Such works were the erection of the Tabernacle, and the 
 collection by David of material for the construction of 
 the first temple. The pages that tell of the liberality 
 and zeal of the Jewish people on these occasions must 
 always be to the nation a source of pride, and no gi^eat 
 or arduous work involving a necessity for much self- 
 denial will ever be undertaken by the Church, without 
 its recurring to those splendid examples. Let us glance 
 at what took place when the tabernacle was to be reared. 
 The command of God addressed through Moses gave the 
 first impulse. " Take ye from among you an offering 
 unto the Lord, whosoever is of a willing heart, let him 
 bring it, an offering of the Lord." Then followed an inti- 
 mation of the various materials required, that each might 
 bring such as he possessed. The word had no sooner spread 
 than the people proceeded without hesitation to bring in 
 their gold, and silver, and brass ; their cloth and wood and 
 oil. " They came, every one whose heart stirred him up, 
 and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they 
 brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle 
 of the congregation." '' And they came, both men and 
 women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought 
 bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels 
 of gold ; and every man that offered, offered an offering 
 of gold unto the Lord." Those who had no jewellery 
 brought the produce of their labour ; the rulers brought 
 onyx stones for the ephod and the breastplate ; others 
 came laden with spices, and oil for the light. Every one 
 took part in the joyful sacrifice of that great day. The 
 results were an overflowing treasury and fully-stocked 
 workshops. "And all the wise men that wrought all the 
 work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work 
 which they made ; and they spake unto Moses saying — 
 
SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DUTY. 53 
 
 The people bring much more than enough for the ser- 
 vice of the work which the Lord commanded to make. 
 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be 
 proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither 
 man nor woman make any more work for the offering of 
 the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from 
 bringing." How impressive is the lesson conveyed by 
 the sequel of the narrative — " So Moses finished the 
 work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congrega- 
 tion : " and " the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of 
 the Lord filled the tabernacle." These were days of 
 glory and strength to Israel, and in them were laid the deep 
 foundations of all her future greatness. They were days 
 fragrant with blissful memories. The prophet Jeremiah 
 touchingly alludes to them — " Thus saith the Lord ; I 
 remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of 
 thine espousals, when thou wentesfc after Me in the wil- 
 derness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holi- 
 ness unto the Lord, and the first fruits of his increase." 
 
 About four hundred years later, the Israelites having 
 meanwhile entered the land of Canaan and established 
 themselves in it, a pious purpose was formed in the 
 heart of King David to build a house for the safe-keep- 
 ing of the ark and for the worship of God. The work 
 as planned by him (for God did not permit him to exe- 
 cute it) was of stupendous proportions, and his own 
 labours and gifts were commensurately great. It has 
 been calculated that the royal contributions alone 
 amounted to about eighteen millions sterling. Such zeal 
 in the monarch awakened a corresponding enthusiasm in 
 the people. Having summoned the great congregation, 
 and submitted to them his purpose, his plans and his 
 preparations, the king concluded by asking, " Who then 
 is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the 
 
54 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Lord ? " At once there came back the hearty response, 
 " We are willing," and at once great and small, the fathers, 
 the princes, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, 
 the rulers of the king's work and the common people, 
 vied with each other in offerings of gold, silver, precious 
 stones and other requisites. The heart of the good old 
 king overflowed with joy, and all Israel rejoiced with 
 him. A deep solemnity then fell upon the vast multi- 
 tude, as from the royal lips there arose that sublime 
 prayer for the kingdom and for Solomon, in which we 
 trace the promise of the greatness and glory of the suc- 
 ceeding reign. 
 
 Other instances might be adduced from the Old Tes- 
 tament, and the book of Psalms in particular might be 
 made to furnish many testimonies to the zeal and liber- 
 ality in giving, displayed by good men under the old 
 economy. But our space is limited, and we must now 
 pass to the New Testament. Here on the very thresh- 
 hold we encounter an act of giving associated with 
 Avorship, the offering of gifts by the Magi to the Child 
 Jesus. Did not the acceptance of these seal the char- 
 acter of the new worship as one in which giving was to 
 be as essential a feature as it had been in the old. The 
 presentation of the infant Redeemer in the temple was 
 attended by the offering prescribed in the law of Moses. 
 Our Lord himself from first to last of His ministry up- 
 held the authority of the law in all matters of this 
 nature, only protesting against the misconstructions and 
 perversions of it by its professed expounders. He dis- 
 countenanced the offering of a gift to God, while enmity 
 to a brother filled the heart, but He would not have the 
 gift carried away again. He would have it left before 
 the altar, and the offended brother having been recon- 
 ciled. He would then have the gift devoutly offered. He 
 
SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DUTY. 00- 
 
 commanded those whom He cleansed to carry the ap- 
 pointed thankoffering to the priests. He miraculously 
 provided for the pajTiient of the temple tax by Himself 
 and Peter. " The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' 
 seat," said He to the people; — "All therefore whatsoever 
 they bid you observe, that observe and do." In some 
 respects indeed, the teaching of the law was supplemented 
 by Him. In particular, the acceptability of gifts in pro- 
 portion to the extent of the self-denial involved, was 
 impressively taught by a comparison which He instituted 
 between the two mites cast into the treasury by a poor 
 widow, and the much larger gifts deposited by wealthy 
 men. *' Of a truth," He said to His disciples, " this poor 
 woman hath cast in more than they all, for all these 
 have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of 
 God, but she of her penury, hath cast in all the living 
 that she had." As to amount, the requirements of 
 Christ sometimes greatly exceeded those of Moses. 
 When He called His disciples for example, He bade them 
 leave all and follow Him. The abandonment of property 
 or profitable occupation at God's call, is just as truly an 
 offering to God as the casting of money into the treasury. 
 And this He required of His disciples. Their homes, 
 their families, the nets by which they gained their live- 
 lihood, all were to be offered up as a sacrifice on the 
 altar of faith and devotion. " Whosoever he be of you 
 that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My 
 disciple." We have reason to believe that many made 
 such sacrifices. We are told of one individual on whom 
 the influence of Christ's teaching was such, that he gave 
 the half of his goods to the poor, besides making four- 
 fold restitution to those whom at a former period he had 
 defrauded. And the sincere repentance and hearty pur- 
 pose of obedience evinced by this conduct drew from 
 
50 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Christ the congratulation, " This day is salvation come 
 to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham." 
 On another occasion, a rich ruler came to Him, professing 
 a desire to be instructed in the way of life. Christ 
 pointed him to the moral law, but he speedily replied 
 that he had carefully observed all its requirements. This 
 was virtually to ask the question. What duty comes next 
 in order ? and Christ answered it by bidding him go and 
 sell all that he had and distribute to the poor, assuring 
 him that he would thus have treasure in heaven. This 
 counsel was not accepted. It implied a heroism to 
 which the faith and ardour of the inquirer were not 
 equal. But it does not the less afford us an insight into 
 the mind of Christ on this duty. We have already had 
 occasion to remark that we are not to conclude, from 
 Christ's having imposed such conditions on some of His 
 followers, that it is the duty of every one to part with the 
 whole of his propert}^ The Christian capitalist employs 
 his Lord's talents to much greater advantage, when he 
 invests his wealth in some useful business, affording occu- 
 pation and livelihood to many, than if he were to dissipate 
 it in a thousand small charities. But we are led to 
 conclude from this and other incidents, that Christ does 
 require in those who would follow Him, a recognition of 
 the incomparable superiority of the claims which the 
 kingdom of God has upon men, over those of the most 
 boundless wealth or the loftiest rank. There must be 
 such an appreciation of the worth of the one thing need- 
 ful, as to make it possible and even pleasant to part with 
 all, if such sacrifice be necessary in order to secure or to 
 retain it. 
 
 The teaching of Christ did not take full effect till 
 after His death, or rather it was not till then that the re- 
 sults of that teaching were made manifest. Then the pro- 
 
SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DUTY. o7 
 
 mise of the Spirit being fulfilled, those seeds of truth 
 which had lain germinating in many hearts sprang to 
 the light, and such mighty changes were wrought in the 
 souls of men and in the relations of society, that the 
 world looked on in bewilderment and admiration. These 
 changes affected the whole sphere of life and duty, and 
 among the virtues which received a mighty impulse was 
 benevolence. Rendering a literal obedience to the 
 Master's command, many of the early Christians actually 
 sold their possessions and threw the price into a common 
 fund, from which the wants of all were supplied. Noth- 
 ing could teach more emphatically that the religion of 
 Christ adopts and still further develops the practice of 
 giving to God, which characterised the religion of the Jew, 
 and that if Judaism and Christianity differ respecting 
 that practice, the difference consists only in this, that the 
 claims of Christ are greater and more strongly enforced 
 than those of Moses, as the channels in which Christian 
 charity may flow are broader and more numerous. 
 
 Wherever the Gospel was carried, the practice of con- 
 tributing for its support and extension was introduced. 
 We gather this from numerous allusions in the letters of 
 Paul. Some churches were renowned for their proficiency 
 in this '' grace," for so the Apostle calls it. Of the 
 churches of Macedonia in particular, he speaks in terms 
 of warm commendation, as having both maintained a 
 firm and joyful trust in God at a time of great affliction, 
 and out of deep poverty ministered very liberally to the 
 wants of the still more necessitous saints at Jerusalem. 
 *' To their power, I bear record," he says, " yea, and 
 beyond their power they were willing of themselves ; 
 praying us with much intreaty that we would receive 
 the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the minis- 
 tering to the saints." Writing to the Corinthians, Paul 
 
58 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 uses all the tact of which he was so consummate a 
 master, in order to provoke them to a like generosity. 
 Corinth was one of the wealthiest and most luxurious 
 cities of Greece. The Macedonian churches were in 
 deep poverty. But then as now, the poor out of their 
 penury seem to have been giving far more than the rich 
 out of their abundance. By alternate commendation 
 and remonstrance, happy reference to liberal jDurposes 
 once entertained, and mildly hinted rather than expressed 
 reproof of their tardiness in executing them, the apostle 
 seeks to stir them up to abound, as in other Christian 
 graces, so in this also. 
 
 It is in the course of one of these epistles that the- 
 remarkable passage occurs, in which Paul propounds, 
 what may fairly be described as the apostolic methocj of 
 Christian giving. *' 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." 
 These words will in a future chapter receive our closer 
 attention. At present we confine ourselves to a few 
 general remarks on them. It is evident that the method 
 which they describe had been devised by the apostle 
 after careful consideration, that it was authoritatively 
 prescribed, and that it W£ts already in use among other 
 churches. It was exceedingly simple, and well adapted 
 on that very account to secure a sufficient revenue ta 
 meet all the outlay of the Church, and more particularly, 
 in this instance, to provide for the poor saints at Jeru- 
 salem. Every one was to give. No definite proportion 
 is mentioned as constituting a reasonable Tiiinimuvi, the 
 reason probably being, that in the state and temper of 
 the Church at that time, abounding as it did in the spirit 
 
SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DUTY. 59 
 
 oi' zeal and liberality, the mention of a minimum was 
 wholly unnecessary. To enforce the duty of giving a 
 tenth to the Lord was superfluous, when those addressed 
 were already giving much more. And this seems to 
 have been the case in most of the churches. 
 
 Thus we have re\'iewed both the precepts which are 
 found in the Scriptures bearing upon this duty of giving, 
 and the illustrious examples of men by whom these pre- 
 cepts were conscientiously obeyed. The conclusion to 
 which the evidence we have had submitted to us seems 
 to lead, may be summed up in a few words. We are 
 taught to regard giving as essentially an act of worship, 
 required both as a proof of the sincerity of our religion, 
 and as an integral part of it. We are instructed that 
 to acknowledge the proprietorship and sovereignty of 
 God, and His great goodness to us, by devoting to His ser- 
 vice a portion of the wealth which He Himself has given 
 us, is, as much as the payment of debts due to our fellow- 
 men, a duty binding on the Christian conscience. The 
 amount claimed by God is in proportion to the amount 
 with which He has entrusted us, but in no case do we 
 find any less proportion than a tenth mentioned, while 
 there are many instances given of much greater liberality. 
 ITiose who practically recognise these obligations are 
 blessed by God both with spiritual and with temporal 
 blessings. Love to our fellow-men, such as exists 
 wherever there is a sincere profession of Christianity, 
 dictates the sacrifice of our own comforts, and even if 
 need be, the limitation of our own supply of the neces- 
 saries of life, to secure the well-being of others. Giving, 
 we are further taught, is to be at once intelligent and 
 devout, prompt and cheerful, and in order that there 
 may be a readiness to meet all pressing claims without 
 trouble or confusion, the practice of storing the Lord's 
 
60 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 portion on the first day of the week is enjoined by the 
 Apostle Paul on the early churches, and was very largely, 
 if not universally, practised by them. 
 
 CHAPTER y. 
 
 THE church's obligation TO GIVE. 
 
 Having set forth in the two previous chapters the 
 teaching of Scripture with regard to the duty of giving, 
 we propose to consider under what obligation that teach- 
 ing lays the Church of these days. Our position is very 
 different from that of the ancient Church. We do not 
 now possess either the open vision or the miraculous 
 word. We have now no prophets speaking with divine 
 authority as moved by the Holy Ghost, no voices cry- 
 ing in the wilderness, and calling upon men in the name 
 of God to cease to do evil and to learn to do well, no 
 apostles unfolding with a power which drove conviction 
 irresistibly to the heart, what they themselves had heard, 
 had seen with theu' eyes, had looked upon, and their 
 hands had handled, — that which was from the beginning, 
 the Word of Life. The Church of Christ is now under 
 the guidance of the written word and of the Spirit. If 
 the Christian of modern times would know his duty, he 
 must not wait for its announcement to him by an angel 
 from heaven, or by a second Moses, or a second Paul. 
 He must diligently consult the lively oracles of God, 
 availing himself of all helps to understanding, such as 
 those furnished by faithful expounders, and he must wait 
 upon God in earnest prayer, and still praying, wait. 
 Now as of old, faith is the first, the last, and the con- 
 
THE church's obligation TO GIVE. 61 
 
 stant condition both of the recognition and acknowledg- 
 ment of duty, and of that sense of obligation which 
 compels performance. Do we indeed and in truth 
 believe in God ? Has faith in Him as the Reward er of 
 them that diligently seek Him a place in the inmost 
 chamber of the heart ? Do we accept the Scriptures as 
 His word, and do we believe in the reality of a way even 
 now open between earth and heaven, along which 
 the prayers of men may pass to the throne of God, there 
 to plead and to prevail ? If there be such faith, the 
 settlement of all questions of duty is easily and quickly 
 effected. Where there is no such faith, the voice of 
 Moses and the voice of Christ are uttered equally in 
 vain. 
 
 What, then, is the light in which the Scripture testi- 
 mony just adduced presents the duty of the Church in 
 modem times ? To those who believe that the 
 Scriptures are given by inspiration of God, that they 
 contain the wisdom of God, and that they are intended 
 for the instruction and direction of the Church to the 
 end of time, this inquiry will be of the first importance. 
 In all that relates to the Church, the foolishness of God 
 is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger 
 than men. It is to our loss and spiritual hurt that we 
 disregard the commands or even the suggestions of the 
 Avord, whether in matters of church order or of private 
 duty. It is in vain that we substitute for divinely 
 appointed plans and methods the most plausible and 
 promising devices of our own. " To the law and to the 
 testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is 
 because there is no light in them." It is quite true 
 that the path of duty is not in all cases strictly defined. 
 It is also true that many observances which were required 
 of God's people in ancient times are no longer enforced. 
 
62 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 The law, wliich was merely a shadow of good things to 
 come, has ceased to be all that it once was, now that the 
 substance has been revealed. Many of its requirements 
 are obsolete in the letter, though they still survive in the 
 spirit. But these considerations do not weaken the 
 authority of Scripture or render its guidance doubtful. 
 They only impose upon us the necessity of diligent 
 search and discrimination, in order that we may distin- 
 guish clearly what the Spirit saith unto the Church, not 
 of ancient Israel, but of modern Britain, not of the 
 first century, but of the nineteenth. 
 
 The obligation to give is so generally acknowledged, 
 that our attention will be chiefly directed to the further 
 and more vexed question of the proportion which should 
 be given. Many who have carefully inquired into this 
 matter have come to the conclusion, that the rule of 
 contributing one-tenth was prescribed by God from the 
 earliest times, and that it was intended to remain per- 
 petually in force. They admit that the law of Moses 
 contains the first recorded formal declaration of the rule, 
 but they argue that the incidental mention of the prac- 
 tice of it by Abraham and Jacob, proves that it was 
 kno^vn and honoured from the first. In this respect 
 they maintain that it holds a position analogous to that 
 held by the institution of the Sabbath, which God or- 
 dained at the creation of the world, and even then made 
 of perpetual and world-wide obligation, and which conse- 
 quently does not cease to be binding on the consciences 
 of men, because the ceremonial law, which recognised it 
 and gave minute directions for the manner of its obser- 
 vance, has been abrogated. This view, however, does not 
 altogether commend itself to us, our objection to it 
 being, not that it is too stringent or that it exacts too 
 much, but that it lacks evidence, and that it fixes, as of 
 
 \ 
 
THE CHURCHS OBLIGATION TO GIVE. 63 
 
 divine and permanent appointment, a limit within which 
 the liberality of a more ardent and zealous Christianity 
 has never been confined. The brief statements respect- 
 ing the practice of Abraham and Jacob, though they 
 may justify us in inferring the existence of a custom of 
 systematic giving, prior to their times, are scarcely such 
 as to warrant the conclusion that a positive law deter- 
 mining the proportion had already been promulgated. 
 And even if the existence of such a law could be estab- 
 lished, we are not disposed to admit that it would occupy 
 the same ground as that law of the Sabbath, the per- 
 petual obligation of which Christians acknowledge. It 
 would rather have a place in the same category with 
 those definite and formal regulations for the keeping of 
 the Sabbath by Israel, the need for which does not exist 
 under the Christian dispensation. 
 
 Passing to the consideration of the law of giving laid 
 -down by Moses, we fail to discover any signs of univer- 
 sality and perpetuity in its apportionment of one-tenth 
 of the increase. We must remember that the Children of 
 Israel were as children under a tutor, and that partly from 
 their own ignorance and spiritual obtuseness, and partly 
 from the dimness which still hung over the spiritual and 
 the heavenly, the Sun of Righteousness not yet having 
 risen in splendour, they were unable to appreciate or to 
 use such glorious liberty as that with which Christ makes 
 his people free, and needed a strict and almost palpable 
 demarcation of duty. The recognition of the need of 
 the strictly defined is evident in the Mosaic economy 
 from beginning to end, just as in the New Testament 
 we have a reiterated recognition of the sufficiency of 
 Christian grace without positive law, as superseding law 
 by more than fulfilling it. 
 
 Our conclusion then is, that in determining how much 
 
64? THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 to give, we are to be guided not so mucli by the letter 
 of the law as by its spirit ; not so much by the positive 
 institutions of Moses, as by the principles inculcated and 
 the motives supplied by Christ. Whether these lead to 
 the adoption of a lower or a higher standard of liberality 
 we must now consider. The question being one of com- 
 parison between the Jewish and the Christian dispensa- 
 tions, we may profitably refer to that elaborate exposition 
 of the relations subsisting between them which is found 
 in the Epistle to the Hebrews. There the superiority 
 of the new to the old is indicated and studiously set 
 forth. Its Mediator is shown to be the Mediator of a 
 better covenant ; it is established on better promises, it 
 furnishes a better sacrifice, it provides better things, it 
 inspires with a better hope. In what direction do these 
 changes tend but to the raising up of a better seed to 
 Abraham, — spiritual children who shall be kings and 
 priests to God, devoted to His service, devising liberal 
 things for the extension of His Kingdom, and in their 
 gifts of substance to His cause passing far beyond the 
 minimum of liberality required of the newly emancipated 
 and still half-idolatrous Israel ? The progress from the 
 old to the new is one of growing spirituality, the gradual 
 depreciation of mere earthly good, and the attachment of 
 a correspondingly increasing value to that which is 
 heavenly and real. In Christ himself we find this 
 progress culminating. It was the prospect of obtaining 
 one narrow country, flowing with milk and honey, that 
 drew the Children of Israel from Egypt. Christ beheld 
 unmoved all the kingdoms of the world and the glory 
 of them spread out before Him, and the offer of them all 
 was resolutely and unhesitatingly set aside. The same 
 spirit of indifference to the world in the presence of the 
 surpassing splendour of the heavenly Kingdom dwelt in 
 
THE church's obligation TO GIVE. 65 
 
 the apostles and especially in Paul. He could say, 
 *' What things were gain to me those I counted loss for 
 Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss 
 for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my 
 Lord." Now it is written with the pen of inspiration, 
 that if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none 
 of His. It is the utterance of this spirit therefore that 
 we must seek, when we desire to know how much is due 
 to the cause of God and of humanity. That spirit of 
 wisdom which so justly estimated the relative value of 
 things, beginning with the declaration that the life is 
 more than meat and the body than raiment, and 
 passing on to assign a greater value to the salvation of 
 a soul than to the acquisition of a world, is alone com- 
 petent satisfactorily to determine the question, " How 
 much owest thou unto my Lord ? " 
 
 Of old the believers sold their possessions and laid the 
 price at the apostles' feet. We are not required to act 
 in the same manner, but just in proportion as our 
 Christianity is sincere and earnest we shall be found 
 acting in the same spirit. Money will be lightly 
 esteemed in comparison with the Kingdom of God, and 
 in our disposal of it a regard to the interests of the 
 Kingdom will have the greatest weight. This spirit of 
 heavenly wisdom, the spirit of Christ, may lead to 
 various action, according to the circumstances and 
 idiosyncrasies of each. One may be led like the poor 
 widow to cast in all his living into the treasury. 
 Another, like John Wesley, may be led to reduce his 
 personal expenditure to what is required for the barest 
 necessaries of life, and to disburse his entire remaining 
 income in deeds of charity and in the furtherance of 
 religion. A third may be guided to employ his capital 
 in business, and to give a proportion of his annual 
 
 E 
 
66 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 profits to the direct advancement of truth and righteous- 
 ness. But we venture to express the belief, that in no 
 case where there is an intelligent and sincere profession 
 of that Christianity which is so greatly in advance ot 
 Judaism, will there be a falling short of the standard of 
 liberality which even Judaism prescribed. Wherever 
 the love of Christ exercises a constraining power, and is 
 accompanied by an actual knowledge of the grace that 
 was in Him, how that '' for our sakes He became poor, 
 that we through His poverty might be rich," there will 
 certainly be found a readiness to will, and a performance 
 also out of that which we have. It is not asserted that 
 there can be no Christianity without the manifestation 
 of a greater than Jewish liberality. There are weak 
 Christians, and Christians wanting in an intelligent 
 apprehension of the nature and obligations of their faith, 
 as there are also Christians living in the neglect of 
 known privileges and the repudiation of known responsi- 
 bility. We do not refuse the title ' Christian ' because 
 of every inconsistency. But surely no one will dispute 
 the statement, that if the Jew was rightly called on to 
 devote a tenth or a fifth of the increase of his substance 
 year by year to God, the Christian cannot with due 
 regard to his loftier spiritual privileges, larger sphere of 
 influence, and more powerfully constraining motives, 
 offer less. The law is not made for the righteous man 
 but for the lawless and disobedient. The Christian who 
 has strong faith in his Christianity and who lavishes his 
 treasure in advancing its ends, not casting one regretful 
 look on what he is sacrificing for Christ, is hampered 
 by no positive regulations. He obeys the law of love, 
 and he finds a blessedness in his free obedience which 
 conformity to a positive regulation could never confer. 
 But only those who have attained to this truly Christian 
 
THE church's obligation TO GIVE. 67 
 
 liberality have ceased to have to do altogether with the 
 law of the tenth. For all others it still stands, not 
 indeed as a measure of what is required of them, but as 
 a reproach to them that they have not passed beyond, 
 perhaps have not even reached, what was fixed as the 
 lowest proportion in a time of pupilage and of compara- 
 tive darkness. A tenth at least, in order that the men 
 of a past generation may not rise up to condemn us ; as 
 much more as we can or will in order that we may 
 illustrate the freer and more generous, the more 
 magnanimous and more loving genius of Christianity — 
 such is practically the decision of Scripture. To men of 
 wealth, whose income far exceeds their expenditure, be it 
 framed on ever so liberal or ever so lavish a scale, there 
 is a loud call to give more than a tenth. Of what avail 
 is it to heap up a colossal fortune, which must soon be 
 left to others, and which in the course of a generation 
 or two may be inherited by a fool, who will dissipate it 
 in wickedness and folly, at which he who accumulated it, 
 could he have foreseen the future, would have stood 
 aghast. To lay out wisely in works tending to the good 
 of men and the glory of God, not a tenth or even a fifth, 
 but a third or a half of the annual income, would be as 
 prudent in many an affluent man as it would be con- 
 sistent with a sincere, intelligent, and devout profession 
 of Christianity. 
 
 To plead the abrogation of the Jewish law of tithe 
 as an excuse for not devoting even a tenth to God, is 
 practically to express a want of confidence in the future 
 of the Church of Christ, to repudiate the infinite obligation 
 under which the Saviour has placed the souls which He 
 has redeemed, and to ignore what Christ has taught, 
 both in regard to the first and great commandment of 
 the law — '' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
 
68 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 thy heart and soul and mind," and in regard to that 
 second which is like to it — " Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
 bour as thyself." We are well aware that to utter these 
 truths is to take up a position which many are not pre- 
 pared to occupy. But is it not evident from a com- 
 parison of the brilliant success of Christianity in the 
 first age, with its slower progress in recent times, that 
 some fatal inconsistency is weakening its strength in the 
 way and unfitting it for aggressive action ? And to what 
 may we so reasonably attribute this weakness as to the 
 almost universal failure of the Church to look fairly and 
 steadily at its obligations and to set itself to their dis- 
 charge ; to realise the height and greatness of its calling, 
 and to aim with singleness of purpose at its fulfilment ? 
 If every Christian were by personal effort, or by gifts of 
 his substance for the support of the minister or the mis- 
 sionary, to be instrumental in the conversion of only one 
 soul every year, in fifteen years a church having a mem- 
 bership equal to that of the United Presbyterian Church 
 would evangelize the world, and secure the whole of its 
 population of twelve himdred millions for Christ. If so 
 great an aggregate of work could be accomplished b}^ 
 the accumulating power of so small an amount of indi- 
 vidual effort, how do the insignificant results after the 
 lapse of eighteen centuries rise up in judgment against 
 the Church and condemn it ! With a mission so great, 
 with a gospel so powerful, with Christ at its head, and 
 his Spirit as its Teacher and Comforter, why has not the 
 Church accomplished more ? The reasons are suggested 
 by that promise of Christ — " According to your faith be 
 it unto you," and that sad question which He proposed 
 — " When the Son of Man cometh shall He find faith 
 on the earth ? " It is mainly because Christians have 
 too much loved the world, and have timidly shrunk from 
 
THE church's obligation TO GIVE. 69 
 
 casting their care upon the Lord, that they have accom- 
 plished so little. The cowardice and distrust which be- 
 trayed Ananias and Sapphira into their awful sin, have 
 enervated many. They have clung tenaciously to the 
 seen and temporal, and have not gone forth leaning with 
 the arm of faith on the divine promises, seeking the 
 better country, even the heavenly. There has been too 
 often side by side with the willingness to trust all to 
 Christ for the salvation of the soul in the world to come, 
 a resolute exclusion of Him from authority and control 
 in things pertaining to the present. In such a state 
 of the Church, it is to be expected that a reiteration of 
 the old statements of the claims of Christ will meet with 
 the same reception which these statements themselves 
 met when first propounded. They will be found still as 
 of old hard sayings, and many will be unable to bear 
 them. But if there be a falling off of many in Israel as 
 the result of declaring any truth, it can only be the 
 precursor of the rising of many. The claims of 
 Christ are based on a broad and deep foundation 
 of truth and equity. It is as impossible to plead them 
 too plainly or too urgently, as it is to respond to 
 them too liberally. If the conduct of a poor widow 
 giving her all was approved, we need not fear that any 
 gifts of ours will provoke his censure as being unwar- 
 rantably great. What the Church needs is more heroism 
 — a mind to grasp the glorious far-off future, a heart to 
 devise liberal things to bring it about, hands that both 
 labour and give in order to secure it, and through all, a 
 firm faith that takes Christ at His word, looks to Him 
 for its reward, and endures as seeing Him. 
 
 There are three sentences of Christ's, bearing on this 
 duty, which are worthy of special consideration by 
 Christian Britain. One is the injunction — ''Freely ye 
 
70 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 have received, freely give." Obligation is here made 
 commensurate with privilege, and if this be the rule of 
 the Kingdom, how great must the obligation be which 
 rests upon the Church in this country. When we con- 
 sider all that has been bestowed upon our island, the 
 freedom which we enjoy, the stability of our institutions, 
 the long and undisturbed peace which has reigned within 
 our borders, the diffusion of knowledge among our popu- 
 lation, our immense natural resources, our amazing manu- 
 facturing industries, our gigantic trade and commerce, 
 our political power, our naval supremacy, our possession 
 of an empire on which the sun never sets, and above all 
 our free and unrestricted access to the word of God, both as 
 issued from the press and as declared from the pulpit, we 
 are forced to confess that '' God has not dealt so with 
 any nation." Britain has, indeed, in respect to privilege, 
 been exalted to heaven. For what purposes have this 
 pre-eminence been assigned to her ? For what purposes 
 has she been entrusted with these unparalleled oppor- 
 tunities ? Has it been merely that she may be clothed 
 in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked with 
 gold and precious stones and pearls, that she may glorify 
 herself, and live deliciously, and say in her heart, *' I sit 
 as queen ; " that the merchants of the earth may wax rich 
 through the multitude of her delicacies, and that her 
 merchants may be the gTeat men of the earth ? Or has 
 it not rather been that she may be as a city set on an 
 hill, and that from her, lines may go forth to all the 
 earth, and a word to the end of the world ? Has it not 
 been that she may say among the heathen that the Lord 
 reigneth, and utter in the ear of the nations the invoca- 
 tion, " Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, 
 give unto the Lord glory and strength, give unto the 
 Lord the glory due unto His name ? " Alas, how often 
 
THE CHUKCH'S OBLIGATJOX TO GIVE. 71 
 
 are our wise men found glorying in their wisdom, and 
 our mighty men glorying in their might, and our rich 
 men glorying in their riches ! When shall the time come 
 when it will be the glory of the inhabitants of our land 
 that the nation understands and knows God, that He is 
 the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, judgment, and 
 righteousness in the earth, and delights in these things ? 
 When shall British power be chiefly exerted to secure for 
 dwellers in distant lands the right of worshipping God, 
 each one under his own vine and fig-tree, none daring to 
 make afraid ? A\Tien shall the broad streams of British 
 commerce, instead of carrying to less enlightened nations 
 the alcohol and the opium that curse with a deadly curse 
 the loveliest lands and the noblest races, bear upon them 
 in going and returning the goodly merchandise of the 
 Kingdom ? When shall British gold, instead of remain- 
 ing locked up in the coffers into which it has flowed 
 from the four quarters of the globe, or being dissipated 
 in selfish and hurtful luxuriousness, be employed in 
 sending the Gospel, with all its civilising influences, to 
 those millions of toiling and sufl'ering men and women, 
 by the sweat of whose brows, often at the expense of 
 whose tears and blood, it has been acquired? 
 
 But we need not go abroad to be reminded of the 
 necessity of giving freely ; in our o^vn cities, at our 
 own doors, we have "the masses." Side by side with the 
 accumulation of wealth and the advance in refinement 
 and luxury among the religious, there is progi'essing a 
 terrible deterioration among those who threaten to be- 
 come the majority in our land. The unequal distribu- 
 tion of labour devolving excessive burdens on many, the 
 evil influence of crowding in our cities, of badly-ar- 
 ranged houses, and of the violation of sanitary principles, 
 the disastrous results of imperfect education, and of the 
 
72 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 existence of a vast number of public-houses and other 
 places of temptation to intemperance and crime, with 
 other more obscure causes, are constantly operating to 
 swell the number of those who are outside of all our 
 religious denominations, and to sink them deeper and 
 yet deeper in their apparently hopeless degradation. We 
 boast of the wealth and splendour of London and Glas- 
 gow and Liverpool, But how little reason is there tor 
 such boasting ? Does not the cry of those multitudes 
 of human souls who are being offered as a sacrifice on 
 the altar of Moloch enter into the ears of the God of 
 Sabaoth, and will He not hear their cry ? Every unit 
 in that surging crowd is an individual soul with thoughts, 
 feelings, hopes, fears, and purposes, with a heaven to gain 
 and a hell to flee from, with a God on high, whom in all 
 its degradation and shame it is still permitted to address 
 as Father. The shoeless, ragged, hungry child is the 
 object of that Heavenly Father's regard equally with the 
 luxuriously attired and daintily-fed millionaire. God 
 thinks upon the one as upon the other, and He will mete 
 out impartial justice to both. '' The rich and the poor 
 meet together, the Lord is the maker of them all." It 
 is in vain that the opulent seek to free themselves from 
 responsibility in connection with this abounding ignorance 
 and degradation. The causes which have been at work 
 to accumulate enormous wealth in the hands of the few, 
 have indirectly contributed in large measure to the evils 
 existing in the condition of the many. No man has a 
 right to grow rich by means which even indirectly im- 
 poverish or degrade his fellow-men. When such im- 
 poverishment or degradation is found to attend his 
 progress, considerations of mere justice oblige him to 
 apply the first portions of the wealth he has acquired in 
 compensating the general society for the loss occasioned 
 
THE church's obligation TO GIVE. 73 
 
 to it. When Christianity takes full possession of the 
 minds and hearts of its professors, men of wealth will 
 be found giving more attention to the sources of their 
 wealth and the history of its accumulation, that they 
 may redress wrongs unwittingly inflicted in the course of 
 its acquisition, and that they may counteract or mitigate, 
 if they cannot prevent, the evils indirectly entailed by 
 the industries from which it has been derived. 
 
 The second of the suggestive passages referred to 
 occurs in the account of the last entry into Jerusalem. 
 The disciples were instructed to bring for the Master's 
 use an ass and its foal which they would find in a certain 
 place, and if any one objected they were to reply, '' The 
 Lord hath need of them," and he would send them 
 straightway. The owner of the animals was doubtless 
 one who recognised the claims of the Lord, and so he no 
 sooner learned that the request came from Jesus than 
 he was ready cheerfully to comply. With regard to our 
 silver and our gold, the words may be used with equal 
 truth, " The Lord hath need of them." There are, it is 
 true, some who object to such statements. ''God has 
 no need either of man's work or of his money," they 
 reply ; "what He wills, He accomplishes by His own 
 mighty power. It approaches the blasphemous to speak 
 of Him, whose are all things, as having need of the paltry 
 gifts of His creatures." In one sense these are true utter- 
 ance, but in another they are misleading. God has no 
 absolute need of anything. But it has pleased Him to 
 make human wills and human hearts and hands instru- 
 mental in the accomplishment of His great purposes, and 
 in this sense it is true even of the Lord, that He has 
 need. Jesus was poor and needy when He passed 
 through the world, all things in which had been made 
 by Him. He stood in need of the ministration of the 
 
74 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 devoted women who followed Him. He stood in need 
 of, and gratefully accepted offices of love from those who 
 believed in Him. '' The poor ye have always with you, 
 but Me ye have not always," He said to one who objected 
 to a tribute of this kind which had just been rendered. 
 It was not indeed to receive such tributes that He came 
 to our world. '^ The Son of Man came not to be minis- 
 tered unto but to minister." But His requirement and 
 acceptance of the ministrations of men, whether to Him- 
 self personally, as when He was on the earth, or to the 
 least of His brethren, form part of the fulfilment of His 
 ministry. 
 
 If the Lord then has need, who among his followers 
 will say aught except in the way of cheerfully acceding 
 to His requests. And has He not need of the silver and 
 gold of His people ? Hundreds of churches need to be 
 built, the ministry needs to be supported, missionaries 
 need to be equipped and sent forth, neglected children 
 need to be educated in the Sunday School, the Bible 
 needs to be circulated throughout the world, the poor 
 need to be encouraged and strengthened, hospitals for 
 the destitute, sick and dying, and asylums for the 
 orphans and the fatherless, need to be provided and 
 maintained, and money is needed for all these beneficent 
 works. Christ himself asks it from us. When money 
 is required for other purposes, it is very readily forth- 
 coming. We can invest one hundred and seventeen 
 millions in the liquor traffic, and we can erect public- 
 houses in such numbers that in our large cities there 
 is one to every thirty or thirty-five families. We can 
 expend one hundred and forty millions in one year on 
 intoxicating drinks, the larger proportion of this expendi- 
 ure being by common consent the purchase money 
 of disease, poverty and crime. We can dissipate twenty 
 
THE church's obligation TO GIVE. 75 
 
 millions annually on the questionable luxury of tobacco. 
 We can lavish one hundred millions in two years on 
 a war waged to protect the real or imaginary interests of 
 the empire, and the nation would be prepared to expend 
 much more, if necessary, to avenge an insult to its flag. 
 When the messengers of Christ, then, approach us, and 
 ask our co-operation in a work the most benignant, the 
 farthest reaching, the most glorious, and the most certain 
 of ultimate success, and when pointing to the silver and 
 gold passing through our hands or stored in our coffers, 
 they say to us in His name '" the Lord hath need of 
 them," is there not an overwhelming obligation to 
 consider intelligently, devoutly, and carefully the claims 
 thus advanced, and to act in accordance with the con- 
 clusion at which the Christian conscience and the 
 Christian heart may arrive ? 
 
 In connection with this aspect of the question, the 
 parable of the talents is brought vividly before us, and 
 the memorable words, " Occupy till I come," take a place 
 by the side of those already mentioned. The steward- 
 ship of the Christian is one of time, energy, and influence, 
 but it also extends to money. And he would be the 
 most faithful and the most approved steward with respect 
 to his use of this talent, who, setting aside all ideas of 
 personal indulgence and ease, should seek only so to use 
 his money as to make it secure in the largest measure 
 those results which are precious in the sight of Christ. 
 Yet how seldom does the Christian in the course of his 
 calculations with respect either to the acquisition or the 
 expenditure of wealth, take the interests of Christ's 
 Kingdom into the question as properly belonging to it. 
 It is to be feared that many transactions on both sides 
 of the account are such as will not bear inspection by 
 the Master's eye. Even our givings to the cause of 
 
76 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 religion and benevolence are often more than neutralised 
 by our indirect contributions on the other hand to the 
 cause of the Adversary. Too many while professedly 
 building up are indirectly pulling down, and the work 
 of demolition too often proceeds more steadily and 
 effectually than that of restoration. How lamentably is 
 this the case in our relations with ignorant and barbarous 
 peoples ! We go to them carrying the Bible in the one 
 hand to bless, and in the other the fiery spirit or the 
 deadly opium to curse and destroy. Alas ! all the good 
 effected by the one is scarcely an equivalent for the evil, 
 destined to deepen and spread, throughout many genera- 
 tions, ^vrought by the other. 
 
 In getting or in giving, the Christian is to remember 
 his stewardship, the true function of which is neither the 
 accumulation nor the disbursement of wealth, but the 
 use of it in such ways and with such diligence as to 
 bring down and diffuse blessing, and to help on the time 
 when, in the language of prophecy, Christ '' shall see of 
 the travail of his soul and be satisfied." The charge "to 
 occupy until He come," addresses itself with great urgency 
 to men of wealth. To them this talent of money has 
 been specially entrusted. The accumulation of the power 
 belonging to money is in their hands and subject to their 
 control. A day is coming when an account must be 
 rendered, and then it will be seen how far the golden 
 stream, in influx and reflux under their direction, carried 
 upon its bosom peace and righteousness and joy, and 
 aided in the diffusion of these blessings among men ; or 
 how far it was a source of corruption, carrying in its 
 course an atmosphere of spiritual degradation and death. 
 Happy those servants who at the coming of their Lord 
 shall be able to give in an account of money, so acquired 
 and so expended as to advance the ends dear to His heart I 
 
THE church's obligation TO GIVE. 77 
 
 To them the thrilling words of approval and acceptance 
 will be addressed, '' Well done, good and faithful servant, 
 enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ! Thou hast been 
 faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over 
 many things ! " On the other hand, how sad and 
 humiliating will then be the issue- of a thousand laborious 
 and so-called successful careers, how startling the col- 
 lapse of a thousand reputations which in their day filled 
 the world, when the rich who neither feared God nor 
 regarded man, shall be addressed as vdcked and slothful 
 servants, and hear the doom of their unfaithfulness 
 pronounced. On earth they were not unwarned. The 
 spirit of God had thus addressed them, " Go to now, ye rich 
 men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come 
 upon you. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the 
 rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat 
 your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure to- 
 gether for the last days." But they despised the 
 admonition, and now the distress and anguish have come 
 upon them, and all the gentle expostulations, the earnest 
 entreaties, the words of warning and reproof which, had 
 they been entertained, might have led to repentance, are 
 converted into stings which pierce them with bitter 
 regrets, as they view in retrospect life wasted, trust 
 misplaced, and gracious opportunities of obtaining a place 
 and a name in the Kingdom neglected and now lost for 
 ever. 
 
78 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EXISTING METHODS AND THEIR RESULTS. 
 
 In the previous chapter we have been considering chiefly 
 the obligation resting on the Church to give liberally to 
 the service of God. In the present chapter we propose 
 to inquire how far this obligation is generally recognised, 
 in what manner it is met, and to what extent it is dis- 
 charged. "We shall begin with the third of these inter- 
 esting inquiries, and as the readiest way to a definite 
 conclusion we shall compare the amounts dedicated by 
 the nation at large to religious purposes, with the 
 amounts expended in various ways to secure real or sup- 
 posed personal advantages. It is very difficult to ascer- 
 tain the exact amount contributed for the support of 
 Churches, and the carrying on of the operations of mis- 
 sionary and benevolent societies, but taking published 
 statistics as the basis of our calculation we make a 
 liberal allowance when we set down the total as being 
 rather less than twenty millions. The total income of 
 the country has been estimated at £1,000,000,000. It 
 would thus appear that the proportion in which wealthy 
 England dedicates her wealth to God, so far from exceed- 
 ing the tenth required of ancient Israel, only amounts to 
 one-fiftieth. If we confine our attention to giving for 
 church purposes, the result is equally humiliating. Let 
 us examine the statistics of the United Presbyterian 
 Church, which is certainly not behind any of the Christian 
 denominations in liberality. In 1874 that Church num- 
 bered 187,761 communicants, representing, let us say, a 
 total membership, including children, of not less than 
 500,000. During the same year the income of the 
 
EXISTING METHODS AND THEIR RESULTS. 
 
 Church from all sources amounted to about £365,000. 
 This gives fourteen shillings as the rate of contribution 
 per individual. Let us compare this with the amount 
 per head which the country spends in various other ways. 
 The cost of the tobacco consumed in the United Kingdom 
 during 1874 amounted to £20,000,000, or rather more 
 than thirteen shillings per head of the population. So 
 that supposing the liberality of the United Presbyterian 
 Church in giving for church support reached by all other 
 denominations we have still the fact before us that we 
 give, for the building of churches and the sujDport of the 
 gospel ministry, an amount which is hardly in excess 
 of our expenditure on a doubtful, and in very many 
 cases a confessedly hurtful, luxury. During 1874 the 
 national drink bill amounted to £140,000,000. Con- 
 trast with this the sum total of £20,000,000, contri- 
 buted to the cause of religion and benevolence ! Mr 
 Hoyle of Manchester, an able statistician, reckons the 
 aggregate annual waste in useless but fashionable display 
 at £120,000,000. A writer in Frctser's Magazine 
 (October 1872), who furnishes the elaborate calculations 
 on which his results are based, arrives at the conclusion 
 that £870,000,000 of our total annual income are spent 
 on luxuries by 450,000 families, or about 2,000,000 of 
 the population. These figures are sufficiently sugges- 
 tive. God blesses us with an agriculture, with manufac- 
 tures, with trade and commerce, which bring in a thou- 
 sand millions annually. Of that we spend about four 
 hundred millions in all to provide for factitious wants, 
 including one hundred and forty millions for strong 
 drink and twenty millions for tobacco. And then having 
 clothed ourselves with the finest vestments, havinor 
 oaten and drunken and made merry, we lay twenty 
 millions upon the altar of God for the maintenance of 
 
80 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 that religion, and those charities, to which we yet dare to 
 refer as the source and safeguard of our national pros- 
 perity ; and out of the thousand millions which He entrusts 
 to us, and which He bids us occupy till He come, we devote 
 one million to the work of evangelising the world. From 
 Africa, Asia and America, and from the islands of the 
 sea, the labour and the natural wealth of a hundred 
 races flow to our shores, enriching our people and making 
 our merchants princes. These races are sitting in dark- 
 ness and in the shadow of death. Their cry is. Come 
 over and help us. Christ pleads in their behalf. Our 
 own material interests even might lead us to listen to 
 their appeal. The vastness of the expectant multitude 
 demands a liberal response. We look over our thousand 
 millions, and after spending one hundred and forty on 
 intoxicating drinks we set aside for the conversion of 
 the heathen, one ! 
 
 Such are the results of existing methods. Are they 
 satisfactory ? No Christian will for a moment hesitate 
 as to the answer. If this be the manner in which, as a 
 nation, we discharge the duties of our stewardship, may 
 we not expect the Lord to come speedily and to say to 
 us, " Give an account of your stewardship, for ye may no 
 longer be stewards." The lavish expenditure of money 
 on luxury and in dissipation, the eager and unscrupulous 
 haste to be rich in order to be able so to spend, the nar- 
 rowness of mind and closeness of hand manifested when 
 the claims of the Kingdom are urged, are features of the 
 time full of evil omen ; and if increasing wealth continue 
 to be accompanied by increasing waste, and the multi- 
 plication of opportunities by a more shameful misim- 
 provement of them, nothing will save our country from 
 the curse which lighted on Capernaum and Bethsaida. 
 
 We must now turn from the contemplation of these 
 
EXISTING METHODS AXD THEIR RESULTS. 81 
 
 depressing statistics, and direct our attention to such 
 views, dispositions, and habits of the Christian 
 people, as are related to the subject of giving. The 
 causes of our failure, as a nation, to give in ade- 
 quate measure to the service of God, lie deep in the 
 minds and hearts of individuals, and we must seek out 
 the root of the evil there, if we would understand it and 
 be able to suggest a remedy. We dismiss, then, those 
 enormous amounts with which we have been dealing, 
 and confine our attention to the receipts and disburse- 
 ments of the individual. Just as the mightiest rivers 
 are fed by streamlets, and these streamlets by rills, 
 which again draw their supplies from the drops of rain 
 and dew, so that he who would fully understand the 
 history and character of the mighty flood rolling on in 
 grandeur and might to the sea, must examine it at its 
 source, and take account of the streamlets and rills 
 which combine to form it ; so the figures which embody 
 the aggregate results of Christian giving do not of 
 themselves furnish us with a satisfactory account of its 
 origin or its amount. We must look at the subject 
 from the standpoint of the individual giver, and seek to 
 understand his views, motives, purposes, and fulfilment. 
 Thus only we shall be able to indicate what is faulty or 
 weak, and to suggest how theory may be rectified and 
 consistency in practice secured. 
 
 Such an investigation reveals the existence of three 
 prevalent hindrances to the replenishment of the Lord's 
 treasury. Selfishness, Inconsiderateness, and Want of 
 System in giving. With the first of these it is not our 
 business to deal at any great length in a work of this 
 nature. It is an evil which lies embedded in the 
 human heart, and against which the gospel needs to 
 exert its utmost power. The question, ''Am I my 
 
 F 
 
82 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 brother's keeper ? " is often prompted by it. It dili- 
 ojently concentrates attention on its own things, and 
 refuses to obey the apostolic precept, " to look every 
 man also on the things of others." In its extreme form 
 it has a clearly marked policy, and one to which it 
 tenaciously adheres, namely, to get all that it can and 
 to give as little as it dare. And there are those to 
 whom it would not be just to ascribe selfishness in this its 
 lowest type, who yet are governed by the thought that 
 what is given to the Church, or to charity, is in a manner 
 lost, and that what can be held back from these is in 
 a manner gained. An exorbitant estimate has been 
 formed by them of the importance of their own comfort, 
 convenience, or satisfaction, and they fail to sympathise 
 with the deepest sorrows and the most pressing wants 
 of others. Even the sacred claims of justice, and the 
 quick, authoritative promptings of honourable dealing, 
 are disregarded where this spirit of absorbing and exclu- 
 sive devotion to self reigns. Those of whom it takes 
 possession easily reconcile themselves to the meanness 
 of appropriating all that is placed within their reach, 
 whether of temporal or of spiritual good, and render- 
 ing no adequate acknowledgment, either to God the 
 Supreme Bestower, or to those who minister His holy 
 things, and regarding whom He has appointed that they 
 shall live of the Gospel, 
 
 Against this evil it is vain to use arguments or to 
 adduce statistics. Selfishness can only be overcome by 
 the grace of God acting on the heart through the Gospel 
 itself. The sinner who has been under deep conviction 
 of sin, and who is now freed from the terrors of the law 
 by faith in Christ, is invariably ready to respond to 
 appeals on behalf of that Gospel which he has found so 
 precious, of that Saviour who died for him, and of those 
 
EXISTING METHODS AND TEEIR RESULTS. 83 
 
 still unbelieving and impenitent souls, the sadness of 
 whose condition his own recent experience enables him 
 vividly to realise. It is this ardour of the first love 
 which explains the munificence of the early Church, just 
 after its formation. Those people of Jerusalem had just 
 been forgiven much, — their complicity in the death of 
 Christ, — and they loved much. No power in the uni- 
 verse can so melt a hard heart and disarm a selfish spirit 
 its the Gospel, which holds forth a crucified Saviour, can. 
 Here we perceive the bearing of all faithful preaching of 
 the Gospel on the increase of liberality in the Church. 
 A forcible representation of gospel truth, such as 
 -awakens the soul to the terrible realities of sin, and the 
 glorious all-sufficiency of the Saviour, is certain to evoke 
 a spirit of self-denial and of consecration in believing 
 hearts, and to lead to the enlistment of many as earnest 
 labourers for Christ. 
 
 Inconsiderateness is, in many instances, perhaps we 
 should say in very many, to be charged with the paucity 
 and the paltriness of Christian offerings. The donors 
 are neither constitutionally nor habitually selfish, but in 
 forming their habits of giving they have been governed 
 by the example of others, or by general usage, rather 
 than by regard to the voice of conscience or the prompt- 
 ings of a grateful heart ; and having once fixed upon 
 certain absolute amounts, they have continued to give 
 these year after year under every variety of fortune, and 
 in many cases notwithstanding an enormous increase in 
 ability. There are multitudes who never ask them- 
 selves the question, How much do I owe to Christ ? or, 
 How much ought I to give for the advancement of truth 
 and righteousness ? but with whom the determining 
 consideration is the amount expected by collectors or 
 applicants, or the amount given by neighbours, or the 
 
84 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 amount which it may be convenient just at the time to 
 spare. Some may feel disposed to attach but light blame 
 to the remissness which is due to this want of indepen- 
 dent thought, nevertheless it justly incurs the Saviour's 
 reproof and admonition, " Be watchful and strengthen 
 the things which remain, which are ready to die : for I 
 have not found thy works perfect before God." Civil 
 governments and military rulers inflict heavy penalties 
 for such neglect or inconsiderateness as lead to loss of 
 life, or other serious consequences ; and he is not held 
 guiltless in the court of heaven who sleeps at his post^ 
 or allows himself to be imposed upon by counterfeit 
 signs, when interests of such moment as the stability 
 and extension of the Kingdom are at stake. Besides, 
 although this inconsiderateness is not in itself selfish- 
 ness, it springs from it. Let it be a question of acquir- 
 ing property instead of a question of parting with it, 
 and at once the faculties are in active exercise to ascer- 
 tain the exact amount which may be justly claimed. 
 No rough-and-ready calculations, no tender of a round 
 sum, which may or may not be far below the amount 
 justly obtainable, are admissible in this case. An in- 
 considerateness which only shows itself in the neglect to- 
 discover the amount of our indebtedness, and in the 
 proffering of a sum which falls far short of that amount, 
 has an appearance of being something more reprehen- 
 sible than the comparatively innocent absence of mind 
 which we might at first sight take it to be. 
 
 But besides selfishness and want of thought, there is 
 a third cause which contributes very largely to the un- 
 satisfactoriness of the sum-total of our national offerings, 
 namely, the unsystematic character of most giving. The 
 great majority give the bulk of what they do give, fit- 
 fully. Fixed small contributions to special objects may 
 
EXISTING METHODS AND THEIR RESULTS. 85 
 
 loe given at stated times, but the larger gifts are presented 
 at irregular periods ; the only rule being that one such 
 extraordinary act of liberality shall not follow too closely 
 upon the heel of another. Mr A., a wealthy man, is 
 called upon by Mr X., and is solicited for a subscription 
 towards the building of a new church in the neighbour- 
 hood. The cause is good, and Mr A. in his heart 
 approves of it, but only yesterday he handed a cheque 
 for £10 to Mr Y., towards the salary of the town mis- 
 sionary, and so he puts on a resolute air, and says that 
 " He really must decline. The calls are so numerous 
 that he finds it impossible to respond to them all." The 
 cheque for £10 signed within the last twenty-four hours 
 is before him, and, " to give again at so brief an interval 
 — that sort of thing would never do. It would lead to 
 bankruptcy." But Mr A. does not bear in mind that 
 for some three or four months he has not parted with an 
 equal sum for any religious or charitable purposes what- 
 soever, and that during that period his stated contribu- 
 tions to all Christian objects have made up an amount so 
 small that he would be ashamed to have it thought of, 
 or even himself to think of it, as the ordinary measure 
 of his liberality. The truth is, that those who give in 
 this unsystematic and spasmodic fashion seldom know 
 how little they do give. The constantly recurring small 
 contributions for church purposes, and the occasional 
 larger donations to the church and for charity, make a 
 deeper and more lasting impression upon the mind than 
 the numerous little disbursements for personal gratifica- 
 tion, and the occasional larger outlays for unnecessary 
 and often foolish display. And thus those who keep no 
 account of their givings, and who consequently have no 
 opportunity for comparing the sum-total with other items 
 of expenditure, are often surprised, when, on being in- 
 
86 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 duced to look into the matter, the true state of the 
 beneficence account is revealed. That, in very many, 
 inadequate giving is due to this want of system and not 
 to active selfishness, is evident from the readiness and 
 cheerfulness with which a reform is introduced when 
 consideration has convinced them that it is needed. 
 
 Our common modes of raising mone}^ for church pur- 
 poses take their character from the views, dispositions, 
 and habits of the members of the Church, and when we 
 have considered to how large an extent selfishness usurps 
 the throne of the heart to the exclusion of the nobler 
 spirit of the Gospel, and how inconsiderateness and un- 
 methodical habits of giving are fostered by it, we are 
 not surprised to find that the arrangemeuts made for the 
 raising of a church revenue are extremely faulty and 
 inefiicient. As the support of the Church and the 
 Ministry constitutes the most important of all the objects 
 to which God's portion is devoted, these arrangements 
 require our more careful examination. Confining our- 
 selves to those which are most extensively adopted, we 
 have ; 1*, Seat-rents ; 2°, Ordinary church-door Col- 
 lections ; 3°, Special Collections ; 4°, Ordinary weekly 
 or monthly Subscriptions. And when some extraordinary 
 demand for money arises, as in the building of a new 
 church, or the renovation of an old one, the erection of 
 a manse, the liquidation of debt, or the removal of a 
 balance from the wrong side of a treasurer's account,, 
 other means are resorted to, among which may be noted,, 
 1*, solicitation of aid from persons of known ability 
 and willinghood, members of other congregations ; 2°, 
 Bazaars ; 3°, Lectures, Amateur Concerts, Penny Eead- 
 ings, and Tea Meetings. 
 
 The exaction of Seat-rents is so old and universal a 
 custom, that those who would interfere with it must ex- 
 
EXISTING METHODS AND THEIR RESULTS. 87 
 
 pect to meet with much well-meaning opposition, and 
 should be prepared with a very strong case. It is not 
 difficult, however, to show that it is not the best means 
 of supply, and that it does not even operate equitably 
 and efficiently. In the first place, it is based on the 
 ecclesiastical fiction that payment is rendered as an 
 equivalent for the convenience and comfort of the 
 accommodation provided. Every one knows that the 
 money is applied mainly to the payment of the minister's 
 stipend. There may not in some cases be much in a 
 name, and many fictions of the legal and other sorts are 
 innocent enough. But in this case a real evil often 
 ensues. The renter of the pew having paid the sum 
 fixed, has a consciousness of having fuUy met his obliga- 
 tions, and in this comfortable assurance, he occupies his 
 place as a hearer of the Gospel Sabbath after Sabbath. 
 He has met all demands. He is entitled to his pew, 
 and he is not unfrequently jealous of his rights of pro- 
 prietorship for the time being. The expenses of the 
 Church may be heavy, and the membership may be small. 
 The majority of the congregation may be poor, and there 
 may thus be the need of greater liberality in the case of 
 those well-to-do. But none of these things are brought 
 home to him. He pays what he owes, and if things are 
 not going on well, the fault must be elsewhere, as it 
 does not lie with him. The result is that when the in- 
 come of the Church is derived exclusively or even mainly 
 from seat-rents, it often falls miserably short of the re- 
 quirements. *' We have sittings in the Church. We 
 have paid the seat-rents." How often are people de- 
 luded by the ecclesiastical fiction into the belief that if 
 they are able to say this, they have discharged their duty 
 to the Church and to its Head as far as maintenance is 
 concerned. The inequality of the system is also a serious 
 
88 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 objection to it. It makes little allowance for tlie widely 
 differing circumstances of the worshippers in regard to 
 worldly wealth. It is true that in many Churches there 
 are pews at high rates and pews at low rates, pews for 
 the rich and pews for the poor, but not to speak of the 
 invidiousness of the distinction thus conspicuously drawn, 
 the difference of the amounts asked seldom bears a 
 reasonable proportion to the difference in the ability to 
 pay. And thus it may happen that the man of large 
 means, who has no family, and rents but one sitting, 
 may be required to pay in this form very much less than 
 his poor neighbour, who, for the accommodation of his 
 wife and children, must rent a whole pew. Besides 
 these objections, there is another, namely, that a seat- 
 rent is a payment, and not a gift or offering. An 
 " account " of what is due is made out, and the exact 
 amount charged, and neither more nor less is looked for. 
 The whole wears the aspect of an ordinary business 
 transaction, rather than that of an act of worship, or of 
 self-denial from regard to the claims of Christ and of 
 his Church. 
 
 The inequality and insufficiency of the Seat-rent system 
 are so apparent, that there are very few cases in which 
 it is relied upon as the sole source of congregational in- 
 come, other means being adopted to supplement it, and 
 in particular, the Ordinary Collection at the church door. 
 The custom of contributing in this form is not open to 
 objection on the score of inequality. or indirectness, and 
 it can plead the highest and most ancient authority, for 
 the Jews on entering the temple to take part in its ser- 
 vice, were instructed to cast their gifts into the treasury. 
 It admits also of the association of appropriate 
 thoughts and feelings, and of prayer, with the act of 
 presentation. Indeed, it is this mode of giving for 
 
EXISTING METHODS AND THEIR RESULTS. 89 
 
 church purposes which answers most fully to the ideal of 
 a simple, equable, elastic, and sufficient method, and one 
 in accordance with the nature of the ends sought. If it 
 has not superseded all others, it is not because of its 
 not excelling" them in 'the estimation of most thoug^htful 
 Christian men, but because the Church has not had 
 sufficient faith in it, and has not brought intelligence 
 and loyalty to Christ sufficiently to bear in the mode of 
 using it. As long as the church-door collection is only 
 one of many sources of church income, and the amount 
 <;ontributed is only one of many amounts contributed for 
 the same purpose, the people will be ruled in determining 
 what they shall give, by custom or the example of others, 
 or momentary inclination or convenience, rather than by 
 the magnitude of the claims which have to be met. 
 The weekly collection may be made, as we shall speedily 
 endeavour to show, an unexceptionable means of supply- 
 ing the treasury of the Church, and one in itself amply 
 sufficient. But as it exists at present in many Churches, 
 the " eleemosynary heap of bawbees " is not an encourag- 
 ing sight to one who would fain retain such faith in the 
 sincerity, intelligence, and heroism of the Christian 
 Church, as would be implied in the act of casting the 
 burden of all provision for its necessities upon the free- 
 ivill offerings of the people. 
 
 Next on our list is the Special Collection. Eveiy 
 one is familiar with the "modus oj)erandi" which 
 among some religious communities, notably some south 
 of the Tweed, has been brought to a high state of 
 perfection. The services of a popular preacher are 
 secured, placards are posted, announcing the sermons, 
 handbills are distributed among members of other 
 •churches, the choir spends much time and labour in 
 preliminary exercises, and in order that there may be 
 
90 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 absolute security against failure, it is in some places the 
 practice to arrange beforehand the staff of collectors, with 
 each of whom an understanding, tacit or expressed, exists, 
 as to the particular coin of the realm which he shall 
 deposit in the' plate as an example and encouragement 
 to others. All the arrangements, those for the preaching 
 of the Gospel included, are planned with regard to the 
 one main object for the time being, the obtaining of the 
 largest possible amount of money. Great and serious- 
 mischief often arises from these spasmodic efforts, and 
 especially from the concentration of interest on the 
 pecuniary result. After such services the one question 
 is. How much was the collection ? The proper ends of 
 the preaching of the Gospel and the worship of God are 
 in danger of being lost sight of, in the spiritual mammon - 
 worship of the hour. The result depends much more 
 on the eloquence and tact of the preacher and on the 
 care bestowed on the arrangements, than on the goodness 
 of the cause. Some preachers have even acquired a 
 peculiar reputation for power in the pulpit of the kind 
 that commands the pockets of the hearers, and such are 
 greatly sought after on these occasions. But abnormal 
 excitement is invariably followed by depression, and 
 sometimes great collections are as ruinous to the finances 
 of a Church as great victories have been to many mighty 
 armies. The people depend upon them, and the springs 
 of ordinary and habitual liberality are allowed to dry 
 up. By-and-bye the enthusiasm of the periodical effort 
 begins to flag. Stronger and stronger stimulants in 
 larger measure become necessary to rouse to the former 
 pitch of excitement. Nice scruples are disregarded in view 
 of the imagined necessity of getting money by some 
 means ; scandals arise, and too often the result is the 
 demoralisation and disintegration of Churches which, if 
 
EXISTING METHODS AND THEIR RESULTS. 91 
 
 they had been content to draw their support from the 
 quiet and sustained liberality of their own members, 
 might have had a history of steadily increasing prosperity 
 and usefulness. 
 
 Of weekly or monthty Subscriptions it is unnecessary 
 to say much. They stand in the same category with 
 church-door collections and differ from them chiefly in 
 these particulars, that the Church sends for them to the 
 subscribers instead of the latter carrying them to the 
 Church, and that the amount is less subject to variation. 
 Subscriptions are also in general recorded, but this is 
 a feature which, as we shall afterwards show, might 
 with advantage be engrafted upon the plan of weekly 
 Collections. 
 
 These are the modes in which money for ordinary 
 congregational purposes is commonly raised. When 
 extraordinary work has to be done, extraordinary 
 methods are resorted to. For example, in the building 
 of a new church, it is by no means unusual to devolve 
 upon the minister the duty, or rather the task, of solicit- 
 ing donations from wealthy persons outside of the con- 
 gregation. When the calls thus to be made are confined 
 to the district in which the future church is to stand, 
 or when the work can be overtaken by the writing of a 
 few letters, there may be no ground of reasonable objec- 
 tion to the adoption of this course, if the minister give 
 his consent. But latterly a system pregnant with 
 mischief, and threatening the most disastrous results to 
 the Church, has grown up and attained an alarming 
 development. The minister in an evil hour undertakes 
 for the encouragement of his people to raise a certain 
 proportion of the money required, or he is pressed to 
 enlist himself in the service. Relinquishing his own 
 proper post on the watch-tower of Zion, or, if not wholly 
 
92 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 relinquisliing it, abstracting from the time and energy 
 which the due performance of its duties requires, he 
 takes up the business of ''money raiser for ecclesiastical 
 purposes," and sets out for one of our great commercial 
 centres accompanied by the best wishes of his flock for 
 his success and safe return. How far these wishes, so 
 far as they concern the success of his mission, are 
 gratified, depends on a variety of circumstances into 
 which it is unnecessary to enter, except to mention that 
 the one which often has least determining influence is the 
 intrinsic merit of the cause. The applicant may return 
 laden with the spoil of the great city, and picturing 
 everj^thing couleur de rose in his account of the recep- 
 tion accorded to him. Or, after many a weary journey 
 over the hard and dusty streets, between piles of gigantic 
 warehouses which mock him with their suggestions of 
 untold wealth, he may return jaded, dispirited, and 
 seriously injured for the time at least in his morale, 
 having realised barely enough to cover the cost of his 
 bitterly regretted expedition. Nor are the failures and 
 consequent disappointments which sometimes occur, the 
 greatest of the evils with which this practice is fraught. 
 It is hurtful to the minister, to the congregation, and to 
 those who are thus solicited. The minister cannot 
 escape being more or less secularized by the part which 
 he has to play. He cannot without injury to himself as 
 well as to his people ''leave the word of God to serve 
 tables." His self-respect is exposed to great peril. 
 With attention concentrated day after day, and often for 
 a considerable period, upon the work of getting money, 
 he runs a risk of occasionally forgetting that money in 
 the hand of the Church is merely a means, and that it 
 is far too dearly purchased by any sacrifice, however 
 trifling, of those principles for the holding fast and 
 
EXISTING METHODS AXD THEIR RESULTS. 93 
 
 holding forth of which, the Church exists. He is 
 tempted to appeal to secondary and questionable motives, 
 to bring side pressure to bear, and in other ways to 
 lea.ve the hisrh and firm or-round which should ever be 
 occupied by the servant of the Lord ; and to depart 
 from that firm ground is to endanger the highest 
 interests. A planned appeal to the interests or the 
 humours of a man of the world may succeed in so far as 
 it secures a cheque for so many guineas, but it may 
 deepen rather than remove unfavourable impressions which 
 he has formed respecting the reahty of the work of the 
 Church and the sincerity of those engaged in it. In 
 such a case, who will contend that the pecuniary gain to 
 the Church is any adequate compensation for the loss of 
 moral power which it has sustained ? The system is 
 also hurtful to the congregation for which the aid is 
 sought. It is deprived for a time of the benefit of that 
 able and earnest ministry, which in most cases is incom- 
 patible with preoccupation of the mind wiLh business of 
 the kind in question, at a period when upon the ability 
 and earnestness of the pulpit ministrations, success may 
 very much depend. And lastly, it is a system which 
 exposes a few nobly beneficent men to a multiplicity of 
 calls, all of which they cannot respond to, and which it 
 may yet give them sincere pain to set aside. In all our 
 large cities there are men of known generosity, whose 
 names are furnished to every one entering the field, and 
 so it happens that the more a man gives, the more he is 
 called upon to give. Many of the wealthiest escape 
 these exactions, as they consider them, by resolutely 
 refusing every application, and so making a reputation 
 for "closeness" which protects them from many an 
 inroad. It is also to be kept in mind that a consider- 
 able expense attends this mode of raising money, even 
 
94i THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. ^ 
 
 when the atmost economy is practised. The cost of 
 printing, postages, and travelling expenses is sometimes 
 unpleasantly high, and donors give with full knowledge 
 that five per cent., or perhaps even ten per cent., will 
 have to be deducted from their donations before they are 
 applied to their specific purpose. 
 
 In writing as he does on this topic, the writer has no 
 intention to disparage the zeal, and what in many cases 
 might be called the heroism, of ministers, who finding that 
 the work in which they were engaged was great, that 
 money was urgently needed, and that their own people 
 with much willingness were yet unable to provide it, 
 have undertaken to lead as it were a forlorn hope, and at 
 the cost of much self-denial have successfully accomplished 
 their voluntary task. The fault lies not with the weak 
 congregations nor with their ministers, but with our 
 whole system of giving for Church purposes. Weak con- 
 gTegations need help and have a right to it, but instead 
 of their having to seek it in this beggarly fashion, it 
 should be sent to them out of a rich and overflowino- 
 
 o 
 
 fund furnished by the consistent and constant liberality 
 of the whole Church, and administered equitably and 
 Avisely. When the Church as a whole begins to resj)ond 
 to the urgent call of Christ, to give liberally, and to give 
 as to Him, then these other and questionable forms of 
 appeal wdll cease. A weak congTegation will then be 
 aided in its church-building or in its liquidation of debt, 
 not in proportion to the persuasiveness in speech and 
 manner of its minister, nor in proportion to the number 
 and wealth of his personal friends, but in proportion to 
 its merit and its need. Ministers will no longer be with- 
 drawn from their sacred functions to perform the duties 
 of clerks or canvassing agents. The hearts of many good 
 and true Christians will be no longer grieved by having 
 
EXISTING METHODS AND THEIR RESULTS. 95 
 
 to inflict the pain of disappointment from sheer inabil- 
 ity always to acknowledge claims which continue to 
 multiply in exact proportion as they are acknowledged. 
 
 Another resort of weak congregations in times of neces- 
 sity, and sometimes of congregations which cannot by 
 any straining of language be called weak, is the holding 
 of a Bazaar. Against this method of obtaining money for 
 •church purposes a widespread and growing feeling exists. 
 The principle, that those who cannot give money should 
 be allowed an opportunity of contributing their labour to 
 ■Christ's cause, is perfectly sound ; and it would not be 
 «dij0ficult to construct an unimpeachable theory of Bazaars. 
 But it must be admitted that, as they are generally con- 
 •ducted, many abuses exist in connection with them ; and, 
 unfortunately for their credit, we are constantly told that 
 the practices complained of as objectionable are abso- 
 lutely necessary to secure the pecuniary success. We do 
 not enter further upon this somewhat difficult ground 
 •except to say that much advantage would result in many 
 ways, were the temptation to have recourse to such 
 methods removed, through the increased voluntary and 
 direct offerings of the people. 
 
 A Course of Lectures on secular themes by the minister 
 or by a series of lecturers, a charge being made for ad- 
 mission, is in some cases made a source of revenue. Or, 
 the young people, uniting all their available musical skill, 
 give a concert and devote the proceeds to one or other of 
 the church schemes. Tea-meetings are held, tea being 
 provided at the cost of a few generous ladies, and the 
 money resulting from the sale of tickets is handed over 
 to the treasurer. It is a very ungracious task to review 
 critically these plans and labours of love. Such schemes 
 suggested by loving hearts and executed by willing and 
 -active hands, have often served the immediate purpose 
 
96 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. L 
 
 which they were designed to serve. But questions da 
 force themselves upon the minds of the observant and 
 thoughtful, as to whether the raising of money by this 
 " indirection " is worthy of the Christian Church, or com- 
 patible with a jealous regard to its strength and beauty ; 
 whether the money thus obtained has not been paid for 
 ten times over, in loss of real nobility as well as of pres- 
 tige, and whether the constant resort to such means does 
 not jeopardise the income which is given directly to the 
 treasury of the Lord " for Jesus' sake," and which, if it 
 were only diligently and thoughtfully watched over and 
 prayed over, would yield a larger amount than the com- 
 bined returns from all such sources. The practical 
 conclusion at which many arrive on pondering such 
 questions is this, Let bazaars be held if they are desired, 
 for the sale of the bona fide work of those who have only 
 their work to bestow ; let our young people have their 
 musical soirees for recreation and amusement ; let lectures 
 be delivered for instruction ; let congregations, on suitable 
 occasions, take tea together; but let it no longer go forth to 
 the world that the object of any of these gatherings is to 
 raise, for the relief of the destitute Christian Church, funds, 
 of which, through the neglect or the parsimony of her 
 own children, she is in want. Instead of timidly laying 
 snares in various forms for the unbelieving, the undevout, 
 the selfish and the avaricious, and seeking to obtain 
 money by guile, let there be a manly, direct, and faith- 
 ful appeal to the conscience, the heart, and the intelli- 
 gence of the Christian community. Instead of a dozen 
 doubtful methods let there be one, strong in its simpli- 
 city, which shall alone achieve more than is achieved now 
 by all the others combined, and which unlike them, in- 
 stead of losing strength as the bloom of novelty departs, 
 will grow mightier with the lapse of time, endearing it- 
 
EXISTING METHODS AND THEIR RESULTS. 97 
 
 self to the hearts and in.tertwining with the habits of the 
 people. 
 
 Before we leave this branch of our subject one lamen- 
 table consequence of the inadequacy of the Church's 
 revenue calls for special notice, — the failure to provide 
 a sufficient and honourable maintenance for all her 
 ministers. No right is more strongly enforced in the 
 Gospel than the right of those who preach the Gospel to 
 live of the Gospel. Yet many able and faithful ministers 
 of the Gospel live under a constant burden of care, if not 
 of actual poverty, owing to the narrowness of the in- 
 come with which the Church provides them. This is a 
 manifest injustice to the servants of Christ, but the loss 
 does not fall most heavily on the immediate sufferers. 
 The Church itself loses immensely more. " A scanda- 
 lous maintenance makes a scandalous ministry," Matthew 
 Henry has wisely observed. It is not possible that a 
 mind harassed with care, and depressed by poverty, can 
 yield the rich fruits of study and meditation in equal 
 profusion with a mind at ease and free to devote itself to 
 its proper work. 
 
 The poverty of the manse tells also upon the number 
 and social status of candidates for the ministry. Young )- 
 men of fair talents, and with ordinarily good prospects in . 
 life, in many cases decline the ministry because of the 
 sorrowful prospect which it holds out to them with re- 
 gard to temporal support. It may be retorted that those 
 who desire the work for its own sake will not be deterred by 
 such a consideration from entering upon it, and that they 
 only are really called to it. As a reply to this weak de- 
 fence of a bad system, we quote the following words 
 from an admirable lay writer on this subject. " It may 
 perhaps be said that young men of talent, if they feel 
 called to preach the Gospel, ought to devote themselves 
 
 G 
 
98 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 to the preaching of the Gospel whether they have a pro- 
 spect of being adequately supported or not. I doubt 
 this ; I dispute this. Men may feel called to devote 
 themselves to the iDveaching of the Gospel who do not 
 feel called to devote themselves to semi- starvation. 
 They may determine to preach the Gospel, but they may 
 determine to preach it as Paul preached it. They may 
 work with their own hands ; they may devote themselves 
 to some secular calling that they may make for them- 
 selves an adequate maintenance ; and they may preach 
 the Gospel as what are now called "local preachers. '' 
 But then, the churches, in such cases, would not accept 
 them as settled pastors. If, then, churches are to have 
 settled pastors equal in point of talents and attainments 
 to the requirements of the times, they must seriously 
 consider the question of materially increasing ministerial 
 pay." Besides this, it must be remembered that it is 
 one thing " to suffer affliction with the people of God," 
 and another thing to suffer injustice at their hands. 
 Many a noble Christian man, who in the service of his 
 Master knows both how to be abased and how to abound, 
 to be full and to be hungry, to abound and to suffer 
 need, and who would be prepared to submit to any 
 privations necessarily attending that service, recoils from 
 the thought of a poverty occasioned by the selfishness 
 or inconsiderateness of those among whom he is expected 
 daily to break the bread of life. There is a poverty of 
 God's servants, and there are privations endured by them, 
 that redound to the glory of His grace. There are also 
 privations and poverty that redound only to the shame 
 of the Church. To be willing to choose the one, and 
 yet indignantly to spurn the other, may be equally the 
 part of a sincere, divinely-called evangelist. 
 
 Thus we bring to a close this rapid and necessarily 
 
EXISTING METHODS AND THEIR RESULTS. 99 
 
 very cursory survey of our existing methods of giving 
 and their results. We have sought to show that these 
 methods are more or less faulty in principle, and that in 
 practice they fail to evoke the liberality of the Church 
 in any measure at all corresponding to the greatness 
 either of the obligation under which it lies, or of the 
 work which it is called to do. They are unjust, inas- 
 much as they often fall with equal incidence on rich 
 and poor. From their multiplicity and indirectness, 
 they are wasteful of the time and energy of those by 
 whom they are administered; and from the irregularities 
 and inequalities which they favour, they often weaken 
 the moral and spiritual power of the Church while re- 
 plenishing its treasury. The state of things which we 
 have been describing exists, we believe, in most of our 
 congregations, and among a majority of the members of 
 the Church. It would be unfair, however, not to add 
 that a very considerable minority, dissatisfied with past 
 results, and tracing their unsatisfactoriness to the errone- 
 ous views and methods which have prevailed, have sought 
 and discovered that more excellent way which it will be 
 our business in the next chapter to indicate, and are now 
 walking in it with growing comfort, joy, and usefulness. 
 With gladness, also, we are daily reminded that there 
 is an increasing number of capitalists, merchants, and 
 manufacturers, who realise the responsibility which comes 
 with riches, and who consider themselves under deepest 
 obligations to take an active and considerable part in 
 promoting the well-being of their employed and of the 
 community. These men are the glory of our country, 
 and if their example is emulated, as we have ground to 
 hope that it will be, by the rising generation, calamities 
 which otherwise seem imminent may be averted, and 
 another and yet brighter day of power and pre-eminence 
 may dawn for Great Britain. 
 
100 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 
 
 Every new movement in the Church, whether of revival 
 or reform, has been preceded by increased diligence and 
 earnestness in the study of the Scriptures. Their inex- 
 haustible supply ministers to all healthy and strong 
 spiritual life, and when torpor has seized upon the 
 Church, and it is languishing in a state of declension 
 and decay, it is from them that the impulses and stir- 
 rings of a new life come. "The words that I speak 
 unto you, they are spirit and they are life." When 
 earnest Christians find that they cannot accept the self- 
 complacent view which the Church too often takes of 
 the work it is doing, and of the sacrifice it is making, for 
 its Lord, — it being only too manifest on inquiry, that, 
 notwithstanding much loud vaunting and self- congratula- 
 tion, the givings are such as it should rather be ashamed 
 of, and the work overtaken in the great field of the 
 world so small that it may well occasion deep sadness 
 and humiliation, — the next step is to search the Scriptures 
 in order to discover why these things are so. The lively 
 oracles of truth must be consulted, and answers sought 
 to such questions as the following : — " Has the Church 
 an adequate sense of its responsibility on the one hand, 
 and on the other, of its privilege, in having addressed to 
 it the high calling of God ? Have its labours been truly 
 ' abundant ' ? Has its giving been commensurate either 
 with its obligations or with the urgent requirements of 
 God's work ? Have its methods of providing for the Lord's 
 treasury been adopted in literal obedience to God's in- 
 structions as we find them in the Scriptures, or have they 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 101 
 
 at least been in accordance with their spirit?" To these 
 questions, an unprejudiced comparison of the existing 
 state of things with the precepts and ideals of Scripture 
 must surely result in the reply of an emphatic ''No !" And 
 if we proceed to turn over the sacred pages in hopes of 
 finding a method of church finance there indicated, our 
 search will not be fruitless. The New Testament does 
 indicate such a method, one stamped with the divine 
 approval, and strongly recommended to, if not enjoined 
 upon, the ancient Churches. It is true that the state- 
 ment of it is brief, that it is not expressed in legal 
 phraseology, such as Moses used, that it seems to occur 
 incidentally, and is neither prefaced nor elaborately illus- 
 trated, but it is not the less clear, precise, and authori- 
 tative. It is to be found in the First Epistle to the 
 Corinthians, chap, xvi., vv. 1, 2. '' 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." 
 
 Money was much needed by the Church at this time, 
 and in these words we have the inspired Apostle's in- 
 structions how to raise it. He was not recommending 
 the Corinthians to give this method a trial by way of 
 experiment ; it was already in operation under his super- 
 vision in the Churches of Galatia. And it was not in 
 the form of a suggestion which they might or might not 
 adopt at will that he submitted it to them. He had 
 given " order" to the Galatians respecting it, and to the 
 Corinthians he addresses an unqualified imperative, 
 having all the force of the apostolical authority with 
 which he had been invested, " so do ye." This, then, is 
 the more excellent way of church finance. It is God's 
 
 f- 
 
102 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 own way. How blessed would the Church be, walking in 
 it! Her path, then, like that of the just, would be "as 
 the shining light, shining more and more unto the per- 
 fect day." 
 
 But this method, besides having the authority of 
 Scripture, commends itself, as might have been expected 
 from its origin, to common sense and good feeling, and 
 holds in it rich promise of better days for the Church, 
 and consequently for the world. We propose to look 
 at it somewhat closely from this point of view, and for 
 the sake of order we shall take up in succession its 
 salient features. 
 
 1. Every one to give. We find from the superscription 
 of the Epistle, that the writer is» addressing " the Church 
 of God which is at Corinth, those who are sanctified in 
 Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every 
 place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both 
 theirs and ours." The words " every one of you," in- 
 clude, therefore, all the members of the Church. Neither 
 the young nor the poor are exempted. Those who have 
 received anything of the Lord are required to render 
 an account of it, and to bestow a portion in His service. 
 The reasonableness of this requirement will appear when 
 we remember that giving is an act of worship, and that 
 it is also an occasion of blessing to the giver. No one 
 is excused from rendering homage to the Divine Majesty. 
 ''Unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall 
 swear." God is the Maker of the poor as of the rich, 
 and to rich and poor alike His will is intimated, '' Bring 
 an offering and come before Him, worship the Lord in 
 the beauty of holiness." And if God does not dispense 
 with the gifts of the poor, neither can the poor afibrd to 
 dispense with the blessing which rests upon every devout 
 and faithful giver. The hardships and trials of their 
 
A MOKE EXCELLENT WAY. 103 
 
 lot would press heavily indeed, were it not for the relief 
 obtained by accepting the gracious invitation " Cast thy 
 burden upon the Lord," and God is nearer to none than 
 to the poor who sincerely love and trust Him and hearken 
 to His word. Those who make their poverty an excuse 
 for giving nothing, are wronging not God but themselves, 
 and they are more likely to remain poor than those who 
 in the deepest poverty do not cease to honour God. The 
 young are included also. Of course, where there is no 
 income there can be no storing of the Lord's portion, 
 but most even of the younger children have small sums 
 of money occasionally at their disposal, and they should 
 be encouraged to exercise self-denial in order that they 
 may be able in outward act, as well as in thought, to re- 
 member their Creator in the days of their youth. It is 
 a common practice when children are setting out for 
 church, to hand them money to place in the collection 
 plate, and it is perhaps better that they should be the 
 bearers of another's bounty than that they should go 
 empty-handed. But it would be better still to entrust 
 them with small sums of money as their own, and to 
 encourage the freewill offering of a portion of this little 
 capital. The child who thus gives of his own, and 
 makes a sacrifice to be able to do it, personally renders 
 homage to God, advances his cause, and at the same 
 time lays the foundation of the character of the faithful 
 steward. 
 
 Sometimes the question is asked. Should ministers be 
 expected to give 1 The answer might well be. Why should 
 they not give ? The same worship is required of them 
 as of their flock. They have a right to the same privilege 
 of lending to the Lord, and they equally need the bless- 
 ing associated with giving. Under the old economy the 
 Levites who received tithes from the other tribes gave 
 
104 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 tithes to the priests, and the priests offered for themselves. 
 In liberal and cheerful giving, as in all other duties, it 
 becomes the pastor to be an example to his flock. 
 Avarice and selfishness are never more repulsive than 
 when exhibited by a professed minister of Jesus Christ. 
 The manifest insincerity of one who discourses on the 
 reality and the greatness of the Redeemer's Kingdom, 
 and who refuses to sacrifice a few luxuries or comforts so 
 as to be able to take his part in advancing it, have often 
 pained earnest and thoughtful Christians, and afforded 
 a welcome opportunity to the scoffer. 
 
 The question has also been asked. Should irreligious men 
 be asked to contribute to the cause of religion ? As long as 
 we preserve simplicity and candour in stating the case, and 
 appeal directly to whatever good principles and benevolent 
 impulses may exist in the hearts of those whom we are 
 addressing, we may not only with consistency and safety, 
 but with great advantage, from every point of view, seek 
 the heJp of all in the furtherance of the Church's work. 
 An appeal thus made to an irreligious man would be 
 virtually a preaching of the Gospel to him, and that in 
 a practical form which might be more suggestive than 
 any other. But to preserve such simplicity and candour 
 perfectly, in approaching ungodly and irreligious men 
 with such an appeal, demands both force of character 
 and singleness of purpose, and where these are not 
 possessed, the temptation to compromise and indirection 
 may be irresistible, and much harm may thus be done. 
 From approaches of this nature, men of the world 
 naturally conclude that the Church has reversed its 
 ancient policy, " We seek not yours but you," and even 
 when they give, they give half-heartedly, not as to the 
 Lord but as to men. 
 
 2. Givings to he stored. This is the essential feature 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 105 
 
 of the apostolic method, and we cannot too much admire 
 the wisdom which appointed it. Money is not to be 
 given directly from a private purse to the various objects 
 which commend themselves to our approval. We are to 
 lay by whatever we dedicate to God, keeping it apart 
 from personal property as being no longer our own, and 
 when suitable occasions arise, we are to disburse it just 
 as we would the bounty of another, of which we had been 
 made stewards. The advantages gained by this severance 
 of the act of dedication to God from the act of dispensing 
 what has been thus dedicated are many and gi'eat. It 
 enables us to keep an account as it were with conscience, 
 and so to avoid the sin and shame of withholding more 
 than is due. Those whose habit is to give from a private 
 purse, and to keep no record of such outlays, generally 
 form an exaggerated estimate of the sum total of their 
 benefactions. It admits of the solemn consecration of 
 God's portion. The arrangement being to present it at a 
 set time, prayer and suitable meditation may accompany 
 this presentation, and so the blessedness of giving may 
 be greatly enhanced. It relieves from all doubts as to 
 whether or not we are able, without injustice to ourselves 
 and others, to contribute on any particular occasion, seeing 
 we have only to refer to the amount we have in hand as 
 the stewards of the Lord's portion for a settlement of this 
 question. Decision and promptitude thus take the place 
 of hesitation, and we neither run the risk of refusing to 
 assist a worthy cause from an unfounded misgiving as to 
 our ability, nor are we reproached by conscience when, 
 the balance available being exhausted, we cease to give 
 till the next period of replenishment puts more at our 
 disposal. Money is more willingly and cheerfully given 
 when it is taken from a fund provided for the purpose 
 than when it has to be withdrawn from capital, or taken 
 
106 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 from a private purse in the midst of the hurry and cares 
 of business. And lastly there is the advantage to which 
 Paul refers when he expresses a desire that there should 
 be no gatherings when he came to Corinth to receive the 
 collection. Where givings are stored they are always 
 ready for bestowal as God may direct. The acts of 
 beneficence which those who give without system resolve 
 upon, are often left unperformed when the time for per- 
 formance comes, not because of any change in the mind 
 of the intending donor, but simply because the money 
 which was to have been forthcoming, has meanwhile 
 been thoughtlessly expended in other ways. Such 
 mishaps can never befall the Lord's portion when 
 periodically stored. '' The secret of the Lord is with 
 them that fear him," and those who do not possess this 
 particular secret of power and willinghood, are often 
 surprised at the promptitude and liberality with which 
 men, whom they know to be comparatively poor, respond 
 to almost every call made upon them in the name of 
 religion or charity. 
 
 3. Giving to he in proportiooi as God has prospered. 
 This is the only equitable principle upon which to pro- 
 ceed in determining the question of How much ? in 
 Christian giving. The amount is to be according to the 
 ability of the giver. An assessment based upon any 
 other principle than this is manifestly, and often in the 
 highest degree, unjust. To give practical effect to this 
 injunction two things must be done. Each one must 
 determine what proportion of his income he is prepared 
 to consecrate, and the amount of the income itself must 
 be ascertained. The question of proportion has already 
 received attention from us, and need not be entered into 
 again at any great length. A few things, however, must 
 be said. The principle which the government of this 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 107 
 
 country has acted upon in tlie imposition of the Income 
 Tax, namely, that the smaller incomes should not only 
 be chargeable with a smaller amount of taxation, but 
 with a smaller proportion, is fairly applicable here. 
 The smaller incomes are very largely expended in pro- 
 viding the necessaries of life. The larger incomes are 
 mainly expended in the purchase of luxuries. Just as 
 the act of Sir Philip Sidney in handing to a dying 
 soldier the cup of cold water, with which he was about 
 to allay his on^ti burning thirst, stands greatly higher on 
 the scale of generosity than the profuse hospitality of 
 the city magnate who entertains his guests with the 
 costliest wines, so the poor man giving say a tenth of 
 his income, may exhibit a loftier spirit of self-denial 
 than the wealthy man in giving a fifth or even a third. 
 K the apostolic principle of equal distribution is to be 
 honoured, '' I mean not that other men be eased and ye 
 burdened, but by an equality," the proportion must in- 
 crease as we ascend in the scale of wealth. This has been 
 very far from being so in the past. As a rule the poor 
 have given in much larger proportion than the rich, not- 
 withstanding that the gifts of the poor often necessitate 
 a retrenchment in the expenditure on necessaries, while 
 the gifts of the rich aflfect only their luxuries, perhaps 
 not even their luxuries, but only the amount of their 
 balance at the bank. The failure to give in proportion 
 as God has prospered, and the substitution for this 
 divine method of the human one, of giving in the small- 
 est proportion which conscience or regard to public 
 opinion will admit of, and only to such demands as are 
 loudly pressed, has been the chief cause of the wretched 
 insufficiency of the total givings of the Church and of 
 the country. When our rich men begin to measure 
 their obligations not by the gifts of their poor neigh- 
 
108 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 hours, nor by the number and clamancy of the causes 
 which " come " to them for help, but solely by the 
 extent to which God has prospered them, and by the 
 vast and constant demands of His glorious kingdom, then 
 a new era will be inaugurated in the history of the 
 Church of Christ at home and abroad. 
 
 The proportion to be given must be determined by 
 each one for himself in the court of conscience. We 
 have seen that, in Scripture times, Abraham and Jacob 
 gave a tenth, the devout Jews probably a fifth, Zacchseus 
 the penitent a half, and the poor widow at the temple 
 gate all her living that she had. Nowhere in Scripture 
 do we read of a less proportion being offered than a 
 tenth. Idolaters in many lands give a tenth to the 
 service of their gods. It is surely not too much to say 
 that in no case should the offering of a Christian, in 
 this nineteenth century and in this land of privilege 
 and of power, fall below the proportion which was the 
 minimum in the twilight ages of Judaism, and 
 which is even now accorded by the votaries of error and 
 superstition. 
 
 The proportion to be stored as God's having been 
 fixed, the amount of the income is next to be ascer- 
 tained. When it consists of a stated yearly salary or a 
 weekly wage, no difficulty exists ; and even when it is 
 derived from business or a profession, the difficulty aris- 
 ing from the uncertain amount of the profits in the 
 year's transactions may be overcome by taking the 
 average of the past three or four years as the basis of 
 calculation. The impossibility of precisely estimating 
 one's profits, and the general uncertainties of business, 
 are not unfrequently pleaded by those engaged in mer- 
 cantile pursuits as an excuse for not giving systematically. 
 The excuse, however, is devoid of real force, for the amount 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 109 
 
 of the income must be furnished to the Commissioners 
 of Income Tax, and if the difficulty is surmounted in the 
 one case, it cannot be insuperable in the other. 
 
 4. Giving to he weekly and on the Christian Sabbath. 
 Giving being an act of worship, it is appropriate that it 
 should have assigned for its exercise that day which is 
 specially dedicated to the service of God. Being a 
 token of gratitude, it is meet that the gift should be 
 rendered on the day which commemorates those two 
 great works of Creation and Redemption, in which God's 
 goodness to man is most conspicuously displayed. Being 
 an expression of interest in our fellow-men, it is most 
 consistently referred to the day of rest, when the mind, 
 free from the hurry and anxiety of business, has leisure 
 to rise into calmer regions, and to meditate on such 
 themes as the brotherhood of the human family, the duty 
 of bearing one another's burdens, and the blessedness of 
 that coming time when the Kingdom of God, as de- 
 lineated by Christ, shall be established in the hearts of 
 all. Most wisely, therefore, has the Church been in- 
 structed to select for the time of its offering the first 
 day of the week. In these days there exists in many 
 hearts a longing after ritual, a craving for outward acts 
 as expressive of the inner life. Here is a simple rite 
 which may be so performed as to conduce, far more than 
 the most gorgeous decorations or elaborate ceremonial, to 
 the development of faith and love. The Sabbath has 
 often been found by God's people a resting-place between 
 earth and heaven. By the solemn and prayerful con- 
 secration of our substance to God on this day, we estab- 
 lish another connecting link between the seen and the 
 unseen, the temporal and the eternal. We spiritualise 
 our secular business, and provide a practical expression 
 for our spiritual aspirations. From that weekly render- 
 
no THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 ing of an account to God, the man of business carries 
 away hallowed impressions and impulses which regulate 
 all his business relations, the professional man proceeds 
 under the same influences to his engagements, the 
 labouring man to his toil. And having been sustained 
 and blessed during the week, they all return again on 
 the Sabbath, as the Samaritan who had been healed 
 returned, to give glory to God, and to seek a renewal of 
 sweet and strength-ministering communion. What more 
 effectual safeguard could be erected against the dangers 
 of worldliness, excessive love of money, absorption in self, 
 and engrossment with the secular and material, than is to 
 be found in this practice. How completely does it provide 
 against the insidious growth of that hypocrisy, which, 
 when it is fully developed, is so hateful to God and man, 
 the hypocrisy of indulging in high-sounding religious 
 phraseology, ostentatious profession and magnificent pro- 
 mise, while refusing to touch with the little finger any 
 of the real burdens of Christian work and sacrifice. 
 
 Besides the propriety of the day fixed for giving, the 
 frequency enjoined is a noteworthy feature of the method. 
 Every lueek the offering is to be brought to the store. 
 Thus a constant sense of dependence is maintained, as 
 the giver is reminded at brief intervals of those obliga- 
 tions which are too readily forgotten, and which we are 
 specially prone to forget in a season of prosperity. 
 
 Such are the distinctive features of the apostolic 
 method. But besides the passage in which they are 
 detailed, there are many instructions and exhortations 
 bearing on this duty of giving, scattered throughout the 
 New Testament, which have a special reference to this 
 method, and which show still more clearly its admirable 
 sufficiency as a means of grace to the giver, and as a 
 mode of supplying the need of the Church. Giving is 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 1 1 1 
 
 set before us as a channel through which may flow ex- 
 pressions of our gratitude. " The administration of this 
 service is abundant by many thanksgivings unto God." 
 It is shown that it is a proof of sincerity, and that it not 
 only manifests but fosters that virtue. " By the experi- 
 ment of this ministration they glorijfy God for your 
 professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ." It is 
 declared to be a source of the purest happiness. " I 
 have showed you aU things how that so labouring, ye 
 ought to support the weak, and to remember the words 
 of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to 
 give than to receive." It is assumed that the method 
 contributes to that cheerfulness in giving, which is 
 essential to its being well-pleasing in the sight of God. 
 " Every man according as he purposeth in his heart so 
 let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God 
 loveth a cheerful giver." It is recommended as en- 
 oouraging us to give from the simple desire to do good, 
 and as obviating any sense on the one hand of having 
 sustained a loss, or on the other of having incurred an 
 irksome obligation. " I thought it necessary to exhort 
 the brethren that they would go before unto you and 
 make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice 
 before, that the same might be ready as a matter of 
 bounty and not as of covetousness." 
 
 Let us now see how this method, enjoined thus strictly 
 upon ancient Christians, would meet the exigences of 
 modern life. Let us suppose the case of one who, from 
 considering the present unsatisfactory state of Church 
 finance has been led to make inquiries, and who, — having 
 discovered in the Scriptures a method of giving, of which 
 he is assured that were it to come into universal opera- 
 tion, it would effect a complete and salutary revolution, 
 — has resolved whatever others may continue to do, per- 
 
112 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 sonally to adopt this method. He decides to make full 
 proof of it, and accordingly he conforms carefully to th& 
 spirit of the various Apostolic injunctions and recommend- 
 ations respecting it. He resolves that in giving henceforth, 
 he will give in obedience to the command of God, and 
 not as yielding to the solicitation of men. His giving 
 will be an act of worship, an acknowledgment of depend- 
 ence and obligation, an expression of gratitude. It will 
 also be a practical outcome from his interest in the well- 
 fare of his fellow-men, and a contribution to the advance- 
 ment of the Redeemer's Kingdom among them. He 
 will give a fixed proportion of his income, and in deter- 
 mining that proportion he will ask the guidance of the 
 Holy Spirit, keeping in view the unspeakable greatness 
 of the works to be advanced, the responsibility laid upon 
 all to take part in them to the utmost of their ability, 
 the blessed reward of those who are good and faithful 
 servants, and the doom of the unfaithful. He will not 
 set aside the amount thus fixed thoughtlessly ; but he 
 will make the oflfering an occasion of prayer and medita- 
 tion, and he will find both time and circumstances 
 favourable to these, selecting as he does the Sabbath 
 day for the discharge of this duty in conformity with the 
 Scripture rule. Every Sabbath day he will thus renew 
 a covenant with God, similar to that which Jacob 
 entered into at Bethel. '' Of all that Thou shalt give 
 me, I will surely give the tenth unto Thee." His whole 
 spiritual life will find in this observance a delightful 
 channel in which it will flow with ever fuller tide. 
 Spiritual Christianity and Practical Christianity, Faith 
 and Works, Holiness unto the Lord, and Helpfulness 
 towards men will thus be combined, and a higher type 
 of devout and manly religion will be reached. 
 
 Christian families, in which this practice of laying by 
 
A MOKE EXCELLENT WAY. 113 
 
 in store is observed, are schools of faith and trust, of love 
 and obedience. As the children witness Sabbath after 
 Sabbath the practical proof of the sincerity and strength 
 of a father's and a mother's faith, and as they them- 
 selves occasionally or regularly take part in the offering, 
 they acquire deep and thorough convictions of the being 
 and goodness of God, they are habituated to regard 
 religion as a real thing, than which nothing is more real, 
 they learn to associate it with sublime ideas of duty and 
 of hope, and they are prepared to be governed by it as 
 they play a manly part in the life that lies before them. 
 The power of the concrete and spectacular to impress 
 children is well known. Early experiences indelibly 
 impress themselves, and their effects are traceable in 
 character and disposition, long after the experiences 
 themselves have lost their original power to impress. 
 To be present at a family gathering, convened for the 
 purpose of intelligently and solemnly consecrating a 
 portion of the family income to the service of God in 
 the great conflict, ever in progress, of good against evil, 
 would be an interesting experience to any Christian man 
 or woman, but it is not probable that it would of itself 
 deeply affect the character of the m^ature observer. It 
 is very different however with the children. And other 
 circumstances being equally favourable, we would be 
 justified in expecting to find them growing up men of 
 faith and zeal, scomers of compromise with evil, ever 
 ready to come to the help of the Lord against the mighty, 
 to make sacrifices and to endure hardness as good soldiers 
 of Jesus Christ. And if such were the educating influ- 
 ence of this practice, would not the wise and good Chris- 
 tian parents by whom it was adopted bequeath to their 
 children, in the Christian heroism, the Christian sympa- 
 thies, and the habits of self-control and self-denial which 
 
 H 
 
114 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 they had thus formed and fostered, a far more precious 
 legacy than a fortune equal to the accumulated offerings 
 of a lifetime a thousand times told. 
 
 Before passing from the consideration of this practice 
 it is right that we should notice some of the views and 
 arguments of those who either refuse to adopt it them- 
 selves, or object to its being urged upon the Church. 
 Many profess to be opposed to it because of its novelty. 
 To this charge it is sufficient to reply that the method 
 is novel only in the sense in which the doctrine of justi- 
 fication by faith preached by Luther in the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century was novel. If the Scriptures be 
 the standard of correct and authoritative practice as well 
 as of sound doctrine, then it is to our existing methods, 
 and not to the one which it is proposed to substitute for 
 tjbem, that the stigma of '' novelty " attaches. 
 
 Others object to the requirement of a fixed proportion 
 of the income. " This," say they, " interferes with, if it 
 •does not destroy the sense of freedom. Under such a 
 •system the offering ceases to have the character of a 
 voluntary service, and assumes that of an obligation." 
 There is an ambiguity in the use of these words " volun- 
 tary" and ''freedom" which it may be well to remove, 
 as the difficulty which is made to hinge upon them will 
 then be easily disposed of. If by " freedom," is meant 
 the absence of external constraint, direct or indirect, then 
 •all giving ought to be free, — '' not of necessity, but as 
 •every man purposes in his heart." But if by " freedon^" 
 is meant the absence of the self-imposed restraint of good 
 resolutions, then neither in giving nor in any other duty 
 is it desirable to be free. In truth, this is not to be 
 free, but to be governed by caprice and momentary im- 
 pulse, a subjection which often deteriorates into the 
 worst form of bondaofe. *' He is the freeman whom the 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 115 
 
 truth makes free." And he is the freeman whose actions 
 ^re in accordance with the dictates of reason and con- 
 science, and not subject to the fierce control of passion 
 ■or the tyranny of whim. But why should the objection 
 to a systematic mode of meeting our obligations be raised 
 only when the claims of religion and philanthropy are in 
 question ? Are men of business blamed for cultivating 
 business habits, and laying down rules for times and 
 modes of payment, which they obsei've themselves and 
 which they expect those with whom they deal punctually 
 to observe ? Are we to be commended for paying to 
 the uttermost farthing, and within the prescribed period, 
 our rents, taxes, shopkeepers' bills, doctors* and lawyers' 
 accounts, and are we to be blamed for insisting on the 
 duty of a correspondingly regular and systematic acknow- 
 ledgment of the claims which God has upon us ? *' But 
 there is a difference," the objector sometimes replies, 
 *' between the accounts referred to and the claims of re- 
 ligion. Those are legal debts, these are merely moi^l 
 obligations." We accept this distinction, but the drawing 
 of it reveals the real nature of the objection. The 
 claims of religion are not legally, they are merely morally 
 binding! The objection then comes from those who do 
 not recognise in moral obligation a power which binds the 
 conscience of the good man far more firmly than legal 
 enactments. Those who thus demur, to be candid, should 
 object not to being asked to contribute systematically 
 what they owe to the cause of God, but to being asked 
 to contribute at all as a matter of obligation. To such 
 cavillers it is not the excellence of any particular 
 method of meeting the obligation, but the existence of 
 the obligation itself, which we need to make plain. 
 Their objection in short is the old and common one, " I 
 pray thee have me excused." 
 
116 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 A third class have a difficulty which is really the 
 same as that just disposed of, though it is presented in a 
 different form. " We are not to dedicate a tenth 
 merely," say they, " or even a fifth or a half, we are to 
 dedicate all." This sounds like the utterance of a gene- 
 ous and heroic heart. But when we come to inquire 
 into the meaning of the phrase '' dedicating to God," as 
 employed by these persons, we find that it is used of all 
 expenditure indiscriminately ; what is for purely per- 
 sonal ends as well as what is for religion and charity. 
 They dedicate money, they say, when they part with it for 
 any useful and honourable purpose upon which they can 
 ask God's blessing. "What I expend in supporting and 
 educating my children, that I consider dedicated to God," 
 says one. " What I spend on my library, or on the em- 
 bellishment of my house, and thus indirectly in the im- 
 provement of my condition, that I regard as dedicated to 
 God," says another. To this mode of treating the sub- 
 ject grave exception must be taken Money paid as 
 an equivalent for value received in substance by our- 
 selves or our families, in whatever form, is not in the 
 Scriptural sense dedicated to God. If the matter is 
 wholly one of the meaning and applicability of words, it 
 is of small moment ; but it is to be feared that this cloak 
 of universal dedication is too often used to conceal the 
 condemning disparity of the portion dedicated to the 
 support of religion and that " dedicated " to self. 
 
 " There is no command to give a tenth," .say a fourth 
 class. We do not assert that there is such a command 
 in the New Testament. But the Old Testament, not less 
 than the New, is to be regarded by the Church. The 
 assertion that holy men of old wrote as they were moved 
 by the Holy Ghost applied to the Old Testament. And 
 both the command to give a tenth, and the practice of 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 117 
 
 giving it, are there very plainly recorded. Under the 
 new dispensation our obligations are greater, as par- 
 takers of higher privileges and more glorious light ; there 
 is a more powerful motive to liberahty in the constrain- 
 ing love of Christ ; and the requirements of the service of ^ 
 Christ are greater, as the Church is no longer national 
 or ten'itorial but has a commission to go into ' all the 
 world. The question then is this, Can we consistently admit 
 the authority of the Scriptures and give less than a 
 tenth ? and the settlement of it may fairly be left to the 
 conscience of any sincere and earnest Christian. 
 
 '' Liberality measured out thus exactly and with such 
 ceremony will speedily degenerate into formalism," say 
 others. " More may be given but it will be given in a 
 dull mechanical way. The life and heartiness of giving 
 on impulse will be lost." This is a specious objection, 
 but a little consideration will show that it is devoid of 
 force. The danger of formalism no doubt exists, but it 
 exists equally in other departments of religious service. 
 We do not cease to attend the sanctuary, or to keep holy 
 the Sabbath, because church-going and Sabbath obser- 
 vance often degenerate into formalism. And with re- 
 gard to the other mode of stating the objection, while it 
 is true that acts performed frequently and regularly are 
 necessarily unattended by the excitement, and conse- 
 <^uently may not have the zest, of novelty, it is to be re- 
 membered that a habitual serenity and happiness are of 
 far greater value than any number of transient flashes of 
 joy, and that the abiding satisfaction which is valuable 
 because of its bearing on the character, is promoted far 
 more by systematic than by spasmodic giving. 
 
 There is just one other objection to which we shall 
 refer, and it is not an objection to the system proposed, 
 but merely to the feasibility of its universal adoption. 
 
118 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 " It may do for the rich, but not for the poor. To ask 
 a labouring man with a large family, for example, to con- 
 tribute in any proportion of his income approaching a 
 tenth would be unreasonable, to say the least." This 
 language is very plausible, certainly, and has the appear- 
 ance of good sense and practical wisdom. We are per- 
 suaded, nevertheless, that it proceeds from that wisdom 
 of the world which is foolishness with God. We have 
 already stated our conviction that God requires and re- 
 joices in the gifts of the poor, and that He is so faithful 
 in His promises to bless those who acknowledge Him in 
 this way, that to debar the poor from giving system- 
 atically is to wrong them. If God blesses and accepts 
 the two mites which the widow casts into the treasury, 
 these being all her living, who will raise his hand to- 
 thrust back the offerings of the poor ? He who does sa 
 is acting no friendly part to his client, and he is greatly 
 dishonouring God. He virtually says to the poor, " Take 
 back your money ; it will do you more good than the 
 blessing of the Almighty. Purchase with it food and 
 raiment ; they are of more value to you than the con- 
 sciousness of a loyal and trusting heart. The blessed- 
 ness of giving is a luxury beyond your reach, and to 
 which you must not aspire. God has not chosen the poor 
 of this world for this service. Go back to your family, 
 and allow those who are abler than you are to serve." 
 Hard words — such as if expressed would have elicited a 
 stern rebuke from the Master. Christ had a deep 
 acquaintance with poverty. He was Himself poor, and 
 He lived among the poor. He knew all the peculiar 
 difficulties, dangers, temptations, hardships, and sorrows, 
 as He knew also the peculiar joys, incident to their lot. 
 And as the result of his experience and insight he said 
 — " Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 11^ 
 
 God." Now, what is it to possess the Kingdom, if it be 
 not to have the disposition and the ability to do good, 
 to give, to lend, looking for nothing again, and thus to be 
 the children of the Highest ? Are the poor specially the 
 heirs of the Kingdom, and are they to be excluded from 
 one of the most precious privileges of the Kingdom ? 
 Did some officious indi\ddual encounter those ten lepers- 
 that were cleansed, of whom we read, and by forcible 
 representation convince nine of them that their taking 
 the trouble to return to thank Christ and give glory 
 to God was foolish and even reprehensible, that the 
 Physician had not required it, that he was probably too 
 much occupied to receive them again, that their time 
 was valuable now that they were restored to health, and 
 that the sooner they got home to set about their work 
 the better it would be for themselves and for their 
 I'amilies ? We are not informed : but such an interpo^ 
 sition would have been an exact type of the conduct of 
 those who, esteeming themselves wiser than God, seek 
 to intercept the gifts of the poor on their way to God's, 
 treasury. 
 
 Looking at the objection from another point of view^ 
 we might remind the objectors that there are few of the 
 irreligious poor who do not tax themselves at a much 
 higher rate than one tenth for the gratification of hurt- 
 ful tastes and passions. Happy would it be for many a 
 wretched family if not a tenth but a half of the weekly 
 earnings were given to any purpose, so that they might 
 no longer be expended in the purchase of degradation 
 and misery. 
 
 But the most conclusive answer remains to be re- 
 turned, and it is that many of the poor do contribute a 
 tenth or more already, and this often without any reso- 
 lution to dedicate a fixed proportion. The following 
 
120 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 instance, known to the writer, may be given as an ex- 
 ample. A mechanic earning thirty-two shillings weekly, 
 and having a wife and four children to support, gives 
 one shilling to the church weekly offering, sixpence 
 weekly to a church-building fund, five shillings monthly 
 towards the support of an aged mother, not less than 
 sixpence weekly to various charities, besides contribut- 
 ing to religious purposes, in sundry collections and other 
 ways, an amount not to be reckoned at less than twenty 
 shillings per annum. Here we have a working man, 
 without the guidance of system, contributing more than 
 one-tenth of his small income to the purposes of benefi- 
 cence and religion. Many sach cases are to be found in 
 humble life, and in no case are these noble givers losers 
 by their liberality. He who clothes the lily and sustains 
 the sparrow will not suffer his children, who trust in Him 
 and obey His word, to lack or suffer hunger. ''I have 
 been young, and now am old," says the Psalmist, " yet 
 have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed 
 begging bread." Let those with whom we are now 
 dealing, instead of rushing to the front as the self-consti- 
 tuted apologists of the poor in this matter of giving, 
 make a few inquiries and a few calculations, and the 
 result will be in many cases that, instead of standing up 
 to apologise, they will be seen to retire in haste, con- 
 founded by revelations of a liberality so far exceeding 
 their own. 
 
 A fund having thus been provided, the questions 
 arise. In what manner, to what objects, and in what 
 measure, is it to be applied ? A wide field is here opened 
 up for the exercise of Christian intelligence. The Lord's 
 portion is limited, and as it will not bear too frequent 
 or too extensive draughts, thought must be given in 
 order that it may be laid out to the best advantage. 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 121 
 
 Much will, of course, depend upon the position and cir- 
 •cumstances of the giver, and the relations to the Church 
 and society which he finds himself occupying. Claims 
 may be so numerous and so pressing that it may some- 
 times be difficult to decide which shall have precedence. 
 But a loving heart, guided by a sober judgment, will 
 •come to right conclusions. These were the blessings 
 which the Apostle sought for his Philippian converts — 
 *' I pray that your love may abound yet more and more 
 in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve 
 things that are excellent." 
 
 There are two principles laid down in Scripture upon 
 which it is our duty to proceed in all allocation. Giving 
 is to be 'for Jesus' sake,' and worthy objects in our own 
 neighbourhood are to have the first claim. The cup of 
 cold water, the giving of which is to meet so great a 
 reward, must have been given " in the name of a disciple," 
 that is ' for Jesus' sake.' Peter, in conferring the boon 
 of health on the poor cripple at the beautiful gate of the 
 temple, used the words, " In the name of Jesus Christ of 
 Nazareth, rise up and walk." We can scarcely assign 
 any limit to the blessed results that would follow the 
 universal observance of this rule. If, in giving, every one 
 were to give from the simple motive of love to Christ, and 
 a desire to promote his glory and the accomplishment of 
 His work, and if he were not only to be conscious of 
 this himself, but without ostentation or formality to 
 make it apparent to others, then each act of giving 
 would be a powerful preaching of Christ, and an enforce- 
 ment of his claims to the love, reverence, and worship 
 •of all mankind. Many are deterred from confessing 
 Christ in the performance of this duty by an unworthy 
 pusillanimity, others by a conscientious fear of falling 
 into the hypocrisy of too favourably representing their 
 
122 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 motives, in which they are conscious of a mingling of 
 the questionable with the disinterested, while the ma- 
 jority fail from want of thought, and an inadequate 
 sense of personal responsibility. But surely there is no 
 command which the Christian should be more ready to- 
 obey, than that which bids him bring his gracious Mas- 
 ter to the front and exalt his name above every name. 
 " Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus." How greatly Christ would be glori- 
 fied, and his claims to the homage of every human. 
 heart pressed upon the world, if the language, the tone, 
 and the manner of His people in giving were such as to 
 lead the world to say — not " How liberal," or " How 
 lavish," " How good-hearted," or " How foolish these 
 Christians are ! " but " How deep and strong is the hold 
 which He whom they call their Saviour has taken of 
 these men ! " The Christian thus giving, would preach 
 not himself but Christ Jesus the Lord, and himself the 
 servant of all for Jesus' sake. Nor would the advantage 
 of giving expressly in the name of Jesus be confined to- 
 the deep and salutar}^ impression which would thus be 
 made on the world. The Christian men and women 
 to whom it might fall to receive, or convey, or redistri- 
 bute offerings thus made, would be refreshed in spirit, 
 lifted up to a higher faith and a clearer perception of 
 the true ends of their work, and inspired with greater 
 zeal in pursuing them. Thus the giver would im- 
 measurably enhance the value of his gift, making it not 
 only at its ultimate destination, but in its course, th&- 
 means of precious spiritual blessing. 
 
 The other principle mentioned was the priority of 
 local claims. The preaching of the gospel was by express 
 command of Christ to begin at Jerusalem. The word 
 especially occurs several times in the epistles of Paul, to- 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. 123 
 
 indicate the duty of discriminating among modes of 
 service, and of selecting those which lie nearest to us. 
 The reasonableness of this order, and the great benefit 
 to society which would attend its observance, are so 
 manifest as to need no illustration. The town in which 
 we reside, the denomination to which we are attached, 
 the congregation with which we are connected, the neigh- 
 bours among whom we live, have such special claims. 
 We are not required, however, to apply all to local or 
 denominational purposes, however important and neces- 
 sary these may be. And it is often found that those 
 whose charity begins at home, and is richest there, are 
 the most liberal in dispensing abroad. 
 
 The claim which takes precedence of all is that of the 
 Church. The support of the gospel ministry, so care- 
 fully provided for, so strenuously insisted on, in the New 
 Testament, demands the first, if not the largest portion 
 of what has been consecrated to the service of God. 
 The Christian Church is '' the Church of the living- 
 God, the pillar and ground of the truth," and faithful 
 ministers are its strength and glory. It is of first im- 
 portance, therefore, that an adequate provision be made 
 for their maintenance in such a position, and in such 
 freedom from earthly cares, as may be most favourable 
 to the successful prosecution of their work. 
 
 When the practice of laying by in store for God's 
 service is largely adopted, it is very easy to substitute 
 for the unequal, complex, and cumbrous methods of 
 raising congregational funds in ordinary use, one simple 
 and efficient system yielding really satisfactory results. 
 We refer to the weekly offering for church purposes 
 which has been introduced into many Churches. Under 
 this system there are no seat-rents, no collected sub- 
 scriptions, no special collections, and there need be no 
 
124 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 money- making concerts, lectures, or bazaars. Seats may 
 be appropriated as at present, but whatever is paid, is 
 paid not in the form of rent, but as a direct contri- 
 bution towards the expenses of the Church, including 
 the stipend of the minister. Every one is expected to 
 give something, to give an amount in proportion to 
 ability, and to give that amount weekly. The offerings 
 are generally enclosed in numbered envelopes, in order 
 that they may be duly acknowledged by the secretary at 
 the end of the quarter or half-year, and that so all things 
 may be done decently and in order. An efficient and 
 pains -taking secretary, acting in conjunction with a small 
 committee, is able to overtake all the necessary work. 
 Every one is allowed to contribute " as he purposes in 
 his heart." There is no undue or indirect pressure, 
 and consequently there is no room for grudging. Appeals 
 are made only to the grand motives of love to the Lord, 
 interest in the prosperity of his Church, and desire for 
 its extension. When the system is fairly introduced, 
 and the work intelligently conducted, the duty of laying 
 by in store on the Sabbath being at the same time 
 explained and enforced occasionally from the pulpit, 
 the results have been most encouraging. Greater 
 alacrity and cheerfulness in giving, deeper interest in 
 Church work, and an increased spirituality in the tone 
 of the congregation, are everywhere testified to. At 
 the annual meeting of a Congregational church in Lon- 
 don (Dr Raleigh's), it was stated that the income yielded 
 by this system amounted to £6000, and that since its 
 adoption all the schemes of the Church were amply 
 supplied with funds, whereas under the old system of 
 collected subscriptions, they were constantly in debt. 
 A congregation in Melbourne (Rev. Mr Henderson's), 
 bv means of the freewill offering, raised £16,000 in two 
 
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY. J 2 5^ 
 
 years for the building of a new cliurch. In the report for 
 1873 of Richmond Chapel, Salford, we read, ''In 1872 
 pew rents and weekly offerings together raised £7G8. 
 Weekly offerings alone in 1878 realised £958, an 
 increase of £190." These instances illustrate the work- 
 ing of the system in wealthy congregations, and in those 
 which may be considered well to do. The following was 
 given by Dr M'Auslane of Finsbury as a specimen of 
 its perfect adaptability to the poorest. It is the case of 
 a Church in Ireland, no member of which, with one ex- 
 ception, is worth half-a-crown beyond his or her weekly 
 income. '' One member with wife and three children 
 contributes Is. weekly. A second with wife and five 
 children contributes Is. 6d. weekly. A mother and her 
 four daughters contribute 2s. 6d. weekly. Four factory 
 girls contribute 4d. each weekly. An old woman who 
 obtains her living by washing contributes 3d. weekly." 
 A gentleman writing to the late Mr Ross, whose abun- 
 dant labours in connection with this movement are 
 known and appreciated in all the Churches, says, " You 
 will feel interested in the result of your visit to us to 
 explain the scriptural principles of weekly storing and 
 giving, fifteen years ago. We now have a beautiful 
 new chapel which cost £8000, with minister's house, all 
 free from debt, with an ample weekly income. This is 
 not the whole benefit, by the blessing of God, derived 
 from the adoption of the principles expounded. Hav- 
 ing charge of the church income, it was my privilege 
 repeatedly to hear from the Hps of our very dear de- 
 parted Mr B expressions of this kind — ' You 
 
 don't know what a valuable means of grace I enjoy 
 while acknowledging on a Sabbath morning the success 
 which has attended me in business during the previous 
 week, and gratefuUy laying aside the proportion due to 
 my Redeemer's cause.' " 
 
126 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Institutions or customs which have come down to us 
 from our fathers, and which are consequently associated 
 with many of those habits which constitute a second 
 nature, are not to be changed abruptly, even for others 
 altogether and manifestly better. There is a preliminary 
 process of education to which it is well to subject popular 
 thought and feeling, in order that, the way for the reform 
 being prepared, it may be the more quietly and thoroughly 
 effected. We do not therefore advocate the immediate 
 substitution of the Weekly Offering for Church Purposes 
 for other plans, in every case, and still less the introduc- 
 tion of it in any instance against the wishes of a re- 
 spectable minority. But we are firmly persuaded that 
 it is in this direction that the Christian people should 
 be looking, and that every opportunity of making an 
 advance towards so admirable a system should be 
 improved. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PROSPEKITY. 
 
 " Bring Me all the tithes into the storehouse, that there 
 may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now here- 
 with, saith the Lord of Hosts, 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." This passage 
 has already been quoted, but we make no apology for 
 reinserting it here, as no other so clearly sets forth what 
 we are now to consider, namely, the relation between the 
 faithfifll discharge by the Church of its obligations, and the 
 enjoyment by it of material and spiritual prosperity. Such 
 
PROSPERITY. 127 
 
 promises axe not limited to those to whom they are ex- 
 pressly made. They are not arbitrary determinations 
 of the Divine Will in favour of individuals, but state- 
 ments of the immutable order of the Divine Government. 
 Just as surely and as constantly as latent forces inherent 
 in various forms of matter are evoked by every one who 
 has discovered and fulfilled the conditions of their 
 activity, so surely and so constantly does the blessing of 
 Ood follow in the wake of magnanimous and large- 
 hearted Christian liberality. Church life is exalted, the 
 Church becomes strong, and every member of it finds 
 that he not only has a share in the blessedness of the 
 ^general quickening, but that his own increased and more 
 systematic acknowledgment of God's claims tend directly 
 to the promotion of true religion in his heart. In this 
 -chapter we propose to review the advantages which 
 would result to the Church at large. Those resulting 
 to the individual Christian will be considered in the 
 next. 
 
 Under such a system as we have been describing, 
 money would flow readily, silently, and in a copious and 
 unfailing stream into the treasury. While the temple 
 was in course of building, we are told that there was 
 neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in 
 the house. Quietness and unobtrusiveness in the con- 
 duct of the subsidiary work of the Church are in accord- 
 ance with the instincts of devout Christians themselves, 
 -and never fail to command the approval of the wise. 
 Such quietness and unobtrusiveness would be secured in 
 the highest degree by the system before us. Impassioned 
 speeches having " Give, give " as their burden, half-de- 
 spairing appeals, exasperating reiterations of complaint, 
 such as at present seem to be necessary evils, would b^ 
 wholly superseded. No indirect social pressure would 
 
128 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 be brought to bear, such as so often alienates altogether 
 the lukewarm adherents of the Church, or lowers their 
 estimate of its worth and integrity. No unworthy 
 approaches would be made to men of the world, in the 
 way of asking them of their charity to spare a little for 
 the poor Church of Christ. They would be urged to 
 give themselves to Christ, and only asked to give of 
 their substance to the Church 'for Jesus' sake.' The 
 secular organization of the Church, so far from being 
 out of harmony with its spiritual ends, would then con- 
 duce to those ends directly as well as indirectly, and 
 even the giving and receiving of money would be blessed 
 to many souls. How powerfully would the operation of 
 such a system impress the world ! When Christian 
 men and women were seen giving largely to the Church, 
 without being solicited to do so, in obedience to the 
 promptings of their own hearts and consciences ; when 
 the rich were seen pouring out of their abundance into 
 the treasury with unexampled profusion, and even the 
 poorest were found contributing out of their deep poverty, 
 and all 'for Jesus' sake,' the world would be more 
 deeply moved than by the intimation of the largest 
 amounts obtained by those cumbrous devices and labori- 
 ously administered systems, which are the butt of its 
 ridicule or the occasions of its wrath, even when it sub- 
 mits to be persuaded into giving them its support. 
 Many stumbling-blocks would be removed, and the 
 Church with pristine simplicity and integrity would 
 recover pristine strength. 
 
 But not only would the Scripture method be so much 
 more admirable in its working than those in ordinary 
 use, it would place a very much larger revenue at the 
 disposal of the Church for the carrying on of its work. 
 What has been proved in the case of the individual. 
 
PROSPERITY. 129 
 
 would be of course found to hold equally of the society, 
 namely, that systematic giving means increased giving. 
 Some indeed might be found reducing their givings, on 
 the withdrawal of the external pressure to which tbo}' 
 yield at present. But as the duplicity and cupidity ot 
 Ananias and Sapphira stood alone, and only threw into 
 bolder relief and made more impressive the unworldliness 
 and unselfishness of the first Church at Jerusalem, so, 
 such cases would be few, and would rather tend to 
 the commendation than to the discredit of the system in 
 connection with which they occurred. If a few, who are 
 at present grudging givers, should under a better system 
 give less to God than they now give to man, the loss 
 thus sustained would be far more than counterbalanced 
 by the vastly increased amounts, which would be forth- 
 coming as the spontaneous offerings of those whose 
 hearts would respond to the direct appeal to their 
 Christian faith and love. Aid-receiving congregations 
 would speedily become self-supporting. Congregatious 
 which at present barely raise a sufficient amount to pay 
 the minister's stipend and to meet the working expenses, 
 would find themselves at the close of the year with a 
 balance in hand, which it would be their pleasant duty 
 to allocate to the various central funds of the Church. 
 And wealthier congregations which at present remit 
 their hundreds to Synod Treasurers or Mission Secret- 
 aries, would be found with greater joy sending thousands. 
 The bearing of such increased liberality on the great 
 and pressing work of Church Extension is very apparent. 
 Let us take the case of a new cause originated in one of 
 the large towns. The congregation, instead of being 
 left to struggle on for years under a burden heavier 
 ^th^m it can bear, meeting perhaps in a small, uncomfort- 
 able, and mean-looking room, or in an edifice sufficiently 
 
 I 
 
130 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 handsome, but so burdened with debt as to be a bye- 
 word to the surrounding population, would receive 
 assistance on a liberal scale. It might even be advis- 
 able, in some cases, and under the improved system it 
 would be possible, to pay the entire debt resting on such 
 a Church out of the central fund, it being ascertained of 
 course that the members themselves had done their 
 utmost. Such a spirited policy would often be found in 
 the end to be a prudent and successful one, even with 
 regard to the interests of the central fund, for the 
 energy and enthusiasm of minister and people being- 
 free for concentration on the work of building up the 
 spiritual fabric, and no heavy debt acting as a deterrent, 
 a congregation would in most cases be speedily formed, 
 which would be able in its turn to contribute largely to 
 the help of others. 
 
 The building of Churches in poor and remote districts 
 in which they were needed, would also be undertaken, 
 and thus an advance would be made towards the solu- 
 tion of the perplexing problem, How to reach the 
 lapsed masses ? Our great cities are constantly attract- 
 ing large numbers from the country districts. If these 
 persons brought with them deeply implanted religious 
 principles, and long formed habits of church going and 
 godly living, they would at once become members of the 
 Christian Church in their new home, and bring to it 
 an accession not only of numbers but also of strength. 
 Too often, instead of this, there is an influx of an igno- 
 rant and already degraded population, from districts 
 where church work is feebly and inefficiently prose- 
 cuted or altogether neglected ; and these proceeding from 
 bad to worse, at length throw off all restraints and sink 
 into a state of contented vice and misery, which make 
 them the despair of our philanthropists and even_ of 
 
PROSPERITY. J 3 1 
 
 many zealous Christian workers. The Church, by using 
 the funds which, under a better system of giving, would 
 be at its disposal, to establish churches, Sunday schools, 
 and all other necessary organisations, in districts where 
 they are needed, would do much, if not to prevent this 
 -evil, at least to meet it before it has grown too formi- 
 dable and defiant. At present, very little is being done 
 in this direction, either in town or country, compared 
 with what needs to be done. In the Report on the 
 ■General Statistics of the United Presbyterian Churcli, 
 laid before the Synod in May 1875, we have this state- 
 ment, " The number of congregations on the roll of the 
 Synod in December 1873, was 615. In December 
 1874, the number was 616, indicating an increase of 
 only one congregation during the year 1874." The 
 universal adoption of the scriptural method of giving 
 would at once put an end to the laissez faire policy 
 which the Church has too long pursued. It would give 
 ^ mighty impulse to the work of Church Extension, 
 and the new Churches which might be planted, would 
 repay tenfold all money and labour expended on them, 
 in the assistance they would render in maintaining the 
 .spiritual prosperity of the Churches now existing. 
 
 But, besides facilitating the administration of judi- 
 cious help from central funds to poorer Churches and 
 districts, this better method would accumulate large 
 sums in the hands of individuals for disposal in this 
 way. Wealthy givers would not throw the whole of 
 their offering into the common funds. They would 
 wisely retain a portion, to be applied by themselves in 
 promoting or assisting undertakings of which it might 
 be possible for them to take some personal oversight. 
 For the guidance of such dispensers of their own bount}^ 
 official and unprejudiced statements might be prepared. 
 
132 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 showing the exact position and also intimating the pro- 
 spects of success of any new cause. To the deserving, 
 help would thus be forthcoming immediately, and there 
 would be no need and no excuse for resorting to the 
 cumbrous, expensive, and objectionable methods of rais- 
 ing money spoken of in a previous chapter. 
 
 The Christian ministry would then be adequately sup- 
 ported, and would cease " to be suggestive of genteel 
 poverty and privation. A wealthy congregation would 
 pay its minister such a stipend as would enable him to 
 move about among his people with comfort. Justice 
 and generosity would both be heard when pleading for 
 greater liberality at the settlement of the amount. 
 And in the poorest charges the minister would still be 
 provided with a comfortable maintenance, the payments 
 of the people being supplemented by the liberality of 
 the richer Churches. 
 
 In this case also, the Churches themselves would be 
 ultimately the gainers, for a larger number of talented 
 3'Oung men, and young men of fair position, would be 
 induced to study for the ministry, not so much by the 
 prospect of just treatment in temporalities, as by the 
 assurance which such improved provision would afford, 
 that the Church was in earnest, and that it appreciated 
 the labours of faithful ministers of Jesus Christ. 
 
 But besides the vast increase which might be expected 
 in the efficiency of the Church as an organisation, still 
 more desirable results would follow — namely, the 
 quickening of its interest in its own work, the elevation 
 of its aims, and the rendering of its motives pure and 
 powerful. Some may feel disposed to fasten upon this 
 statement the charge of being illogical, asserting that 
 quickened interest, elevated aim, and pure motive are 
 rather causes which determine systematic giving than 
 
PKOSPERITY. 183 
 
 effects produced by it. But a little reflection will show 
 that they stand in both relations. The capitalist 
 embarks his wealth in some particular enterprise because 
 that enterprise appears to him to promise success, but he 
 has no sooner identified himself with it than his interest 
 is deepened and his approval heightened, and he becomes 
 jealous of its reputation as commercially sound. The 
 mother suffers much and denies herself in many ways 
 from love to her child, but who does not know that those 
 very sufferings and that very self-denial intensify her 
 affection ? So it is in the relations which the Christian 
 bears to the Church. When he has acquired the habit 
 of giving freely, systematically, and liberally to the sup- 
 port of the Church, for Jesus' sake, he will assuredly 
 follow with deepened interest those movements in which 
 he has invested the fniit of so much resolute self-control, 
 the gifts sanctified by so many prayers. There will be 
 a mighty increase of zeal for God's house. There will 
 be a growing realisation of the truth that money can of 
 itself do nothing ; that it is only the minister to faith 
 and love. The wealthy man will no longer feel, as there 
 is reason to fear he is sometimes now made to feel, on 
 receiving the applause of the people or the thanks of in- 
 dividual applicants, that having given money he has 
 done all. The altered mode of giving will not admit of 
 so many compliments. Where it is earnestly adopted, 
 these will be felt to be inappropriate, and a disparage- 
 ment rather than a praise of him to whom they are 
 addressed, as implying the existence of an idea that he 
 had done the good deed out of regard to the opinions or 
 the wishes of men, and not for Jesus' sake. And com- 
 pliments between man and man disappearing in great 
 measure, there will be more of the ennobling and inspir- 
 ing interchange of prayer and blessing between man and 
 
1.34 THE EXCHANCxE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 God. Instead of the carelessness as to results, and the 
 utter waste of means, which are often found in connection 
 with our present giving, vigilance will be exercised and 
 a wise economy of strength practised, in the spirit of the 
 Master who " did all things well," and whose care and 
 economy showed themselves in the memorable command 
 to gather up the fragments that nothing might be lost. 
 The relation between the ministers and the lay represen- 
 tatives of the Church would be drawn closer, and the 
 managers or deacons to whom the care of the temporali- 
 ties is entrusted, would be able, without dictating to 
 ministers, or in any way interfering with them in the 
 exercise of their free, independent judgment respecting 
 their work and duty, to render most valuable help and 
 to give excellent counsel, the result of their own practi- 
 cal experience, in spheres into which the minister seldom 
 or never enters. No one can fail to see how strong a 
 congregation thus circumstanced would be for Christian 
 work — ministers and elders, managers and people, all 
 working for the same ends, without cross purposes, with- 
 out even purposes running on parallel lines — the secular 
 and the spiritual — but all converging towards one point 
 of desire. Such a congi'egation, like the church at Jeru- 
 salem in its palmy days, would be of one heart and of 
 one mind. The same liberality, the same zeal, the same 
 love would characterise it, and it might look up to 
 heaven anticipating with confidence the same blessing of 
 abounding success. 
 
 Another result which might be looked for would be 
 the elevation of the moral and spiritual tone of the 
 Church. Nothing is more important to the Church than 
 its own integrity and purity, and there is nothing over 
 which it is called to exercise a more jealous care. The 
 Church is the salt of the earth, and alas for both if the 
 
PROSPERITY. 135 
 
 salt have lost its savour ! Many warnings against con- 
 formity to the world are given to us in Scripture. As we 
 have seen, not a few of our existing means of obtaining 
 money, if they do not actually compromise truth and 
 holiness, lead by a way lying perilously near to the 
 boundary line of the worldly and un-Christian. Were 
 the Scripture method universally adopted, this source of 
 weakness would cease to exist. Giving would then be as- 
 sociated with thoughts of the Great Sacrifice and Him who 
 made it, with faith in the Unseen and the Eternal, with 
 hopes laying hold of the rest and joy which remain after 
 the toils and conflicts of time, and with loving wishes and 
 prayers for the great family of man. It would no longer 
 be the occasion of words of idle compliment or flattery 
 on the one hand, or of equally idle words of banter on 
 the other. It would no longer be associated with 
 unworthy, rivalries, or be made to minister to vanity. 
 How greatly v/ould such changes tend to a more solemn 
 realisation by the Church of its position and its responsi- 
 bilities, and consequently to its commanding the respect 
 even when it aroused the wrath of the world ! One 
 virtue cannot be cultivated or improved without all the 
 others feeling the effect of the impulse. And so it would 
 be in this case. With conscious integrity, and that 
 noble scorn for the indirect or underhand, which the 
 firm and consistent hold of a noble purpose gives, the 
 Church would become rich and abound in other graces 
 also. Simplicity and consistency, the two essential 
 characteristics of everything truly noble in the moral 
 and spiritual spheres, having been attained, there would 
 grow up around them in luxuriance the benign and 
 beautiful fruits of the Spirit. 
 
 The change would not fail to affect also most favour- 
 ably the sacred office of the ministry, and to add greatly 
 
3 36 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 to its usefulness. " Like priest, like people," is a com- 
 mon adage, but the converse proposition has also its 
 truth, for the character of a minister's services must be 
 influenced for good or for evil by the spirit and tone 
 prevailing among those to whom he ministers. A 
 congregation which gives intelligently, systematically, and 
 cheerfully to the cause of Christ has a right to expect 
 that intelligence, careful study, and earnestness shall cha- 
 racterise the pulpit, and its expectation will seldom be dis- 
 appointed. It is difficult to conceive of anything more 
 depressing to an ardent and enthusiastic temperament 
 than preaching Sabbath after Sabbath to an audience 
 consisting of persons who are known to be alive to ever}^ 
 other interest and active in every other sphere, but who 
 in matters sacred, have delivered themselves over to be 
 bound hand and foot by the bonds of old custom and 
 routine. Too often in such cases, the minister, after 
 ineffectual attempts to rouse his people into life and 
 energy, himself subsides into a kindred torpor. Where 
 there are a living interest and sustained self-denial, such 
 a state of things cannot exist. And all over the Church, 
 ministries at present acceptable and useful would be so 
 reinforced and stimulated by more manifest tokens of 
 real interest on the part of the people, as to yield fruit 
 beyond the expectation of the most sanguine. 
 
 The relieving of ministers from the duty of super- 
 intending on many occasions the work of raising money 
 would be an immense gain to them and to the Church. 
 It is true, that, were systematic beneficence introduced, 
 it would be more than ever their duty to declare to their 
 people periodically, the whole counsel of God concerning 
 the duty of giving, but this would be in the line of their 
 proper function as teachers and exhorters, and it would 
 be very different from the irksome and unbecoming tasks 
 
PROSPERITY. 137 
 
 which they are now called upon to perform, of urging 
 people to give to certain objects in the form of a collection 
 to be taken at the close of the sermon. It is one thing 
 to impress upon a congregation the Christian duty of 
 giving to the cause of God, to adduce by way of en- 
 forcing it the authority of Scripture, and to seek to 
 inspire with motives which will work their own perfect 
 work in the chambers of the heart and conscience, and 
 issue ultimately in spontaneous offerings ; and it is a very 
 different thing to urge the giving of shillings or sovereigns 
 there and then to some particular missionary or Church 
 fund. The former is included in the proper sphere of 
 ministerial duty. From the latter it would be well for 
 the Church if ministers were wholly relieved. And 
 especially is it desirable that in those days of vexed 
 questions, theological, moral and social, the mind of the 
 minister should be left perfectly free to devote all its 
 energy to the word, thought and prayer. Every day a 
 high standard of excellence in pulpit ministrations be- 
 comes more imperativ^e. Men are accustomed more and 
 more to exact thinking and correct speaking ; and failure 
 to meet the requirements of educated intellect and taste 
 entails discredit on the pulpit and on the Church. If 
 our Churches are to hold their own in presence of 
 popularised science and popularised literature and 
 philosophy, it can only be by the minister's being 
 thoroughly furnished for his work as a workman not 
 needing to be ashamed. Where this is recognized, a 
 system of church finance, which would enable the 
 officebearers of Churches to relieve their ministers of all 
 duties immediately connected with money, except the 
 receiving of the stipend from the congregational treasurer, 
 and the contributing of their own share of the congrega- 
 tional income, cannot fail highly to commend itself. 
 
188 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 And if the ministry at home were thus reinforced in 
 respect of numbers, ability, and permitted consecration to 
 special work, the missionary staff would be in no less 
 measure augmented and strengthened. A Church giv- 
 ing earnestly, liberally, and directly, to the support of 
 missionary operations, would not fail to find suitable 
 candidates for the mission field. It is the prevalent 
 apathy of the Church respecting missionary work which 
 affects so disastrously the supply of missionaries. Were 
 the apathy succeeded by such interest as the Scripture 
 system would both inspire and manifest, the difficulty 
 would cease. If the missionaries already labouring in 
 the foreign field, the students in our theological halls, 
 and the children growing up in Christian families, were 
 made to feel that this was a work dear to the heart of 
 the Church, and knew that Sabbath after Sabbath prayers 
 were offered, and money set aside, and many anxious 
 Avishes cherished for the success of this work, by earnest 
 men and women ; if it were plain to all that missionaries 
 were highly esteemed for their work's sake, and that 
 instead of the obscurity of their labours, and the detri- 
 mental effect of separation from civilized society in 
 respect of information and culture, being allowed to- 
 discredit them, these only enhanced the respect paid to- 
 their self-denial; then the young, the enthusiastic and 
 the brave would count it an honour to go forth to be as 
 hands and feet to a Church inspired by views so grand,, 
 and possessing a heart so warm and true. 
 
 But if such spiritual prosperity might be expected for 
 the Church, we do not say from the mere adoption of a 
 new method in church finance, but from all that its 
 adoption would imply of increased faith and love, 
 intelligence and power, would not the Church's prosperity 
 tell upon the world ? If the Church were the arena of 
 
PROSPERITY. 139 
 
 a vast activity, not proclaiming its own existence on the 
 housetops, but most signally testified to by its results ; if 
 the sincerity of Christians in professing lofty aims and 
 their determination to secure them were alike too 
 practically manifest to be called in question ; if church 
 extension in neglected country districts and in our great 
 cities were progressing with somewhat of that steadiness 
 and rapidity which are characteristic of all earnest under- 
 takings, commercial and social, in these days ; if the 
 ministry were so supported as to indicate appreciation 
 and esteem, not only of the individuals but of the office ; 
 if the intelligent interest of the Church in its own 
 ^vork were everywhere apparent, and if a high moral 
 and spiritual tone characterised its spirit ; if the ministry 
 were able, learned, enthusiastic and wholly consecrated 
 to the high and holy work of declaring the truth as it is 
 in Jesus ; if missionary enterprises were being prosecuted 
 with vigour, and if tidings were ever being brought of 
 real and palpable success, how great a change would 
 come over the relations of the Church and the World. 
 Cynical as the World is, it always does homage ultimately 
 to a noble simplicity and earnestness in the prosecution 
 of worthy ends, and from respect there is but a step to 
 companionship and imitation. Such a Church would 
 compel from the World the acknowledgment, " Happy 
 art thou O Israel, who is like unto thee O people saved 
 by the Lord." And even when it was in its heart to 
 curse, it would be constrained like Balaam to use the 
 words of blessing, '' How goodly are thy tents Jacob, 
 and thy tabernacles O Israel ! By the valleys are they 
 spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees 
 of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar 
 trees beside the waters ! " And many a wanderer, to 
 whom words of warning and words of entreaty had been 
 
140 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 addressed in vain, would be irresistibly moved by glimpses 
 casually obtained of the deep faith, ardent love, and high 
 spirit of endeavour dwelling unostentatiously in Christian 
 hearts. Words like those of Ruth to Naomi would 
 often cheer and delight such a Church, " Whither thou 
 goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge ; 
 thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God." 
 
 And if, as the sequence of an earnest living Christian 
 Church, there should arise a truly Christian Britain, 
 bringing its strong practical good sense, its administrative 
 talent, its unparalleled energy, its indomitable persever- 
 ance, to bear in the promulgation of Christian trath and 
 the diffusion of Christian holiness, then there would he 
 good hope indeed for the world. If we have faith even 
 as a grain of mustard seed in the divine origin and the 
 ultimate triumph of Christianity, we shall not regard 
 such a future as visionary. There is an accumulating 
 power in moral and spiritual forces not less marvellous 
 than that residing in the forces of the material world. 
 When social movements are fairly launched, their pro- 
 gress often confounds the most sanguine of those by 
 whom they were originated. And if they are in harmony 
 with those eternal principles, conformity to which is 
 essential to strength and continuance, there is no limit 
 to what they may ultimately effect. Let each member 
 of the Church but do his own duty as in the sight of 
 God, and look carefully to the obligations he owes to 
 God and to his fellowmen, and the obligation under 
 which he lies to himself to be honest and consistent, and 
 the Church will put on a new strength which will con- 
 found those of her enemies who are congratulating them- 
 selves on signs of weakness and decay, and saying. There 
 is no help for her in God. Let the Christian Church 
 but take up her rightful position, and then England, 
 
PROSPERITY. 141 
 
 which has so long held a political, an intellectual,, and a 
 commercial supremacy among the nations, will acquire 
 one nobler still, that supremacy in Christian love and 
 labour which it is not only blessed to exercise, but which 
 those over whom, or rather for whom, it is exercised^ 
 acknowledge without a murmur or a grudge. 
 
 Once more, let us say, we do not anticipate such 
 things as the result of any mere change in modes of 
 giving. But the universal adoption by the Church, 
 of Paul's method, and faithful adherence to it, would 
 signify a simple faith, an enduring love, an intelligent 
 and active interest, to which all things would be possible. 
 And not only would its adoption signify the existence of 
 these ; it would also, and this is our plea, tend to 
 foster them. Action and reaction are constantly in 
 progress in the Christian life. Sound principles deter- 
 mine right action, and a course of right action strengthens 
 good principles. We have this truth strikingly set forth 
 in two complementary sayings of our Lord, ''' If ye know 
 these things, happy are ye if ye do them;" and " If any 
 man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine 
 whether it be of God." If God points out clearly to his 
 Church the path of duty, and she hears the voice from 
 heaven saying, " This is the way, walk ye in it/' let her 
 not hesitate, but at once obey the heavenly vision, and 
 as she advances in the appointed course, faith and love, 
 hope and intelligence, will revive and receive marvellous 
 accessions of strength, the course itself having been 
 expressly arranged with a view to this result, by Him 
 who perfectly understands the creatures whom He Him- 
 self has formed, and who needs not that any should 
 testify to Him of man, seeing that He knows what is in 
 man. 
 
142 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 There is one aspect of the subject which has as yet been 
 only incidentally alluded to, and the importance of which 
 justifies our assigning to it a special chapter. We refer 
 to the modifying influence which the adoption of the 
 apostolic method of giving would exert on the habits, 
 views, and Christian life of individual members of the 
 Church. We have seen that under the old economy 
 temporal prosperity was promised to those who faithfully 
 met the requirements of the law, and that this promise 
 is still valid, having been confirmed in the New Testa- 
 ment. How^ever differently we may account for it, there 
 is as much truth now, as in the days of Solomon, in the 
 proverb, '' There is that scattereth and yet increaseth." 
 No man is ever the poorer ultimately through adopting 
 the practice of systematic beneficence, while we often see 
 those who in the time of plenty have withheld more 
 than was meet brought to poverty. But such temporal 
 prosperity is not the blessing most prominently held 
 forth in the promises of the Christian dispensation, which, 
 as we have seen, is altogether more spiritual and heavenly 
 than the Mosaic. 
 
 Every Christian ultimately receives a spiritual bless- 
 ing to his own soul from that improved state of society 
 for which he has laboured. Whatever tends to the 
 amelioration of the conditions under which the society 
 exists, tends necessarily to the prosperity of the indi- 
 vidual. Between the welfare of the whole and the 
 welfare of the part there is a necessary and constant 
 relation. " Whether one member suffers, all the mem- 
 
HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 143 
 
 bers suffer with it, or one member be honoured, all the 
 members rejoice with it." This truth is daily forcing 
 itself upon us in connection with sanitary law. Society 
 in general can never enjoy perfect health, or be safe from 
 attacks of deadly disease, while any of its members are 
 living in violation of the elementary laws of health, and 
 suffering in consequence. The ninety-nine may observe 
 the conditions of cleanliness, temperance, and sufficient 
 aeration, but if every hundredth be living in filth, or 
 gluttony, or shut up in unventilated rooms, these latter 
 will not only reap the fruits of their own disobedience, 
 but will also endanger the health of their wisely and 
 healthfully living neighbours. If the proportion of the 
 ilisobedient to the obedient be inverted, and the 
 former become the majority, the sufferings of the 
 innocent from the results of the conduct of the guilty 
 are greatly extended and increased. The law which 
 thus operates in the physical realm, binding man 
 to man by identifying the interests of each with 
 the interest of all, prevails not less in the spheres 
 of the moral and spiritual, though in these latter we 
 often fail to recognise it, or to give it the consideration 
 Avhich it deserves. The Christian is in constant per- 
 sonal danger from the unbelief and the impiety of his 
 ungodly neighbour. If he does not war against these, 
 they will war against him, and in all probability over- 
 come him. Thus it is that he who is not for Christ is 
 against Him, and he who gathers not with Him, scatters. 
 The scepticism, profanity, and degrading vice which exist 
 only too visibly among us, and which ever and anon 
 raise their heads so defiantly, constitute a perpetual 
 menace to the religion of the Christian and that of his 
 family. In such a posture of affairs, the policy of non- 
 intervention and selfish neutrality is simply suicidal. 
 
144 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KIXGDOil. 
 
 He who meets every solicitation to work for the good of 
 others with the question, ''Am I my brother's keeper?" 
 is blind not only to his brother's claims but to his own 
 interests. There is a deep significance in the solemn 
 declaration, " Whe^n I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt 
 surely die ; and thou givest him not warning, nor speak- 
 est 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." This re- 
 coiling of careless indifference upon itself is often observed 
 by those who watch the course of Providence. Sins 
 unreproved, ignorance left untaught, iiTeligiousness un- 
 remonstrated with, at length rise like a flood and sweep 
 away those on whom devolved the duty, and with whom 
 at one time rested the power, of restraining and correct- 
 ing them. The Christian, in giving of his substance to 
 build Churches, to support a Christian ministry, to pro- 
 mote the evangelisation of the heathen at home and 
 abroad, to communicate religious education, to diffuse 
 Christian literature, is in so doing '' delivering his own 
 soul," and it may be the souls of his children, and chil- 
 dren's children. Who can tell in how many instances 
 the reaction may be direct and speedy ? The Aveb of 
 Providence is intricate, and we have little skill in fol- 
 lowing its design or in tracing its threads, but it is not 
 to stretch imagination unduly to suppose a chain of 
 causes and effects, which, beginning in the bestowal of 
 a gift in the service of God, shall result at length in in- 
 finite spiritual blessing to the giver himself, or to some 
 one closely related to him by ties of kindred or affection. 
 It is well to bear in mind that this identity of the spiri- 
 tual interests of the one with the spiritual interests of 
 the many, is the appointment of God. Woe to those, 
 then, who, self-indulgent and at ease in Zion, look out 
 
HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 145 
 
 with hardened hearts upon the spectacle of a world lying 
 in wickedness, and oppose a deaf ear to its inarticulate 
 cry for light and healing ! God is on high, and will 
 avenge the uncared-for and the uninstructed. A day of 
 retribution is ever imminent, and at any moment the 
 pestilence which walks in darkness ma}^ enter the abode 
 of the despiser and fill his soul with bitterness. Cala- 
 mity at his own fireside may be the means of opening 
 his eyes to that havoc wrought by sin, the progress of 
 which in a thousand other homes he had viewed with 
 unconcern. On the other hand, great is the blessedness 
 of the man who is '' watching and praying always that 
 he may be accounted worthy to escape all those things 
 that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of 
 Man." Such an one shall in patience possess his soul, 
 earnestly striving for the hope of the Gospel, doing good 
 to others, seeking to love them as he loves himself, and 
 receiving both a present and a future reward ; enjoying 
 meanwhile the blessedness of giving, and about to find, 
 perhaps in some unlooked-for form, the bread which 
 he now casts upon the waters returning to him after 
 many days. 
 
 The happy influence which, through his own deeds 
 and his own gifts, may thus ultimately be brought to 
 bear on the Christian giver, is, although real and certain, 
 more or less remote ; but there are personal advantages 
 directly and immediately reaped by him. Systematic 
 giving favours the formation of many habits which are 
 essential to a truly useful and happy life. It leads, for 
 instance, to the substitution of simplicity for hurtful 
 luxury in modes of living. The offering of a fair pro- 
 portion of income will not allow of an unlimited ex- 
 penditure for the gratification of " the lust of the flesh, 
 the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." Our age, 
 
 K 
 
146 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 through the abundance of its material resources, stands 
 in gi'eat danger from these temptations. Intemperance 
 in eating and drinking, and wasteful extravagance in 
 dress, exist to a lamentable extent. And the evil is no 
 longer confined to the wealthier portion of the com- 
 munity. It is rampant among the working classes. 
 '' Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," is really 
 the ruling maxim with tens of thousands. And the 
 transgressors seek to shelter themselves under the cover 
 of false theories. Ignorance and credulity become an 
 easy prey to the apostles of a degi'ading sensualism. 
 Those elementary laws of God which point to simplicity 
 as a condition of the highest and healthiest life, are 
 utterly ignored, in the insane rush after the enjoyment 
 of as much idleness, as much meat and drink, as much 
 mad excitement, as much enervating luxury as can be 
 obtained. A luxurious age is a degenerate age, and no 
 one who has read history with intelligence, or observed 
 for himself the various courses of humau life, can fail to 
 be alarmed for his country, when he finds it entering on 
 this giddy career. The self-denial involved in such 
 giving as Scripture enjoins, and the habit of weighing 
 the spiritual against the material, and deciding in favour 
 of the former, are the best safeguards of the individual. 
 How many are there who, if they were to devote to good 
 and noble use the money which they at present expend 
 in pampering and destroying themselves, would reap 
 from their abstinence alone a degree of bodily health 
 and equanimity which would amply justify the changed 
 course of such outlay, apart altogether from the positive 
 good effected for others, or secured for themselves ! 
 
 Another result, which would be especially important 
 to the working classes, would be the formation and en- 
 couragement of provident habits. We hold that it is 
 
HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 147 
 
 the duty of many, if not of all, in a society such as ours 
 of to-day, to make some provision against times of sick- 
 ness and the period of old age. Many have been led by 
 the practice of laying by in store on Sabbath for the 
 service of God, to lay by a fixed sum also toward making 
 such provision. Order, which is so conspicuous in all 
 the works of God, is truly admirable in the life of man. 
 And order in one department suggests and encourages 
 the introduction of order into every other. The order 
 instituted in connection with the noblest service in 
 which the Christian is engaged, is almost certain to 
 influence for good his procedure in every work to which 
 he puts his hand. The conscientiousness exercised in 
 the consecration of the Lord's portion will extend to the 
 expenditure of the rest of his income, and sobriety and 
 wisdom will preside over all monetary transactions. It 
 is difiicult to imagine one who systematically gives a 
 fixed proportion of his income to God every Sabbath, 
 living beyond his means, or running into debt from 
 which he knows that he cannot extricate himself, and so 
 involving himself in embarrassments, which are as detri- 
 mental to the growth of the Christian graces as they are 
 destructive of peace and happiness. 
 
 The use of this method would also foster those habits 
 of quick decision and prompt energetic action, which 
 are so admirable in themselves, and so useful in all the 
 engagements of life. In this particular department, 
 which is the highest of all, the systematic giver knows 
 what he is aiming at, why he aims at it, and what forces 
 he has at command to secure his purpose, and thus he 
 is ready, when the moment for action arrives, to consider 
 how that force may be most advantageously disposed. 
 
 Besides thus beneficially afiecting the habits, the 
 adoption of this method might be expected to exercise a 
 
148 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 liberalising influence upon the mind. To have beheld 
 the Alps, or to have trodden the streets of Rome or 
 Jerusalem, is, even in the experience of the most ordin- 
 ary natures, not merely to have been deeply moved at the 
 time, but to have received an abiding impression of the 
 sublimities that are hidden in God's universe, such as has 
 enlarged both mind and heart. A power in the same 
 direction, and greater rather than less, belongs to every 
 vision of the Kingdom of God enjoyed by the Christian. 
 And when a man comes to realise his own relations to 
 that Kingdom, and to perceive with a spirit subdued by 
 awe, that the responsibility for its advent rests upon him 
 in common with all the faithful, he too is lifted into the 
 domain of the sublime. ''Among them that are born 
 of women there hath not risen a greater than John the 
 Baptist : notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom 
 of Heaven is greater than he." Statesmen, financiers, 
 and economists are accustomed to take large views of 
 human affairs, but the sincere and consistent Christian 
 takes a still larger view, and every day he can do some- 
 thing for the realisation of his great hope. It is true 
 the sceptic tells him that the hope is so great as to be 
 ■chimerical, so sublime as to pass into the region of the 
 inane. And the professing Christian who makes no 
 sacrifice for the Kingdom, who neither prays, nor works, 
 nor gives to hasten its advent, virtually acquiesces in the 
 <lecision of the sceptic, and acknowledges that his faith 
 is vain. But the patient labourer for Christ, and the 
 -Christian who denies himself, so that with prayer and a 
 loving heart he may consecrate a portion of what God 
 has given him to secure the coming of His Kingdom, 
 bears witness to his possession of exalted views, such as 
 cannot be entertained without making the mind that 
 <3ntertains them magnanimous. The elevation of thought 
 
HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 149 
 
 and the nobility of character displayed by many Christians 
 in the humbler walks of life, have often surprised men of 
 the world ; but the co-existence of such qualities, with a 
 sincere and practical piety, is no marvel to those who 
 perceive the natural alliance existing between them. 
 
 The practice of systematic beneficence would be 
 eminently serviceable in imparting that practical wisdom, 
 which teaches us to keep in view our end and the 
 measure of our days, and to know how frail we are. The 
 weekly account rendered to God would remind the giver 
 of the rapid approach of that final account to which all 
 others point. The judicious distribution of property 
 would suggest and greatly promote a judicious use of 
 time. We should not then witness the humiliating 
 spectacle of the professing Christian growing more and 
 more attached to money, as he nears the period when, 
 if his professed faith be well founded, he will exchange 
 it for a treasure infinitely more precious and enduring. 
 Every successive time of settlement would come as a glad 
 reminder that the period of service in the lower sphere 
 would soon be complete, and that a message might at any 
 hour be brought, intimating, in thrilling words, the 
 completion of service on earth and a call to enter upon 
 it in glory. 
 
 Nathaniel Ripley Cogg was an exceptionally noble 
 systematic giver. In November, 1821, he drew up the 
 following document : ''By the grace of God I will never 
 be worth more than £10,000. By the grace of God I 
 will give one fourth of the net profits of my business 
 to charitable and religious uses. If I am ever worth 
 £4000, I will give one half of my net profits. If I am 
 ever worth £6000, I will give three fourths, and the 
 whole after £10,000." He died at the early age of 
 thirty-six, after a life of eminent usefulness and piety. 
 
15 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 His talents and penetration had secured for him brilliant 
 success in business, and he had faithfully kept his 
 solemn vow. On his deathbed he gave this remarkable 
 testimony. " Within the last few days I have had some 
 glorious views of heaven. It is indeed a glorious thing 
 to die. I have been active and busy in the world. I 
 have enjoyed it as much as any one. God has prospered 
 me. I have everything to tie me here. I am happy 
 in my family. I have property enough. But how 
 small and mean does the world appear when we are on 
 a sick bed. Nothing can equal my enjoyment in the 
 prospect of heaven. My hope in Christ is worth 
 infinitely more than all other things." This man might 
 have left behind him a gigantic fortune, if he had not 
 given away amounts varying from £1000 to £3000 per 
 annum. Was he a fool ? In view of those last words, 
 not even the most obdurate worldling would dare to 
 pronounce him one. Wisdom is justified of such 
 children. Even in the estimation of those who do not 
 believe in a hereafter, a life like this must take its 
 place side by side with that of the noble Roman who 
 when a day had passed without his having found an oppor- 
 tunity to perform some act of justice to a subject, or 
 some deed of kindness to a friend, was wont mournfully 
 to exclaim, "I have lost a day." 
 
 Systematic Beneficence would also contribute greatly 
 to sustain the strength and liveliness of the religious 
 affections. The habitual doing of good and exercise of 
 self-denial for Jesus' sake would endear the Saviour to 
 the hearts of His people. To many, the existence of 
 Jesus Christ is shadowy and uncertain, and that heaven, 
 on the throne of which He is seated, dim and remote. 
 This is due for the most part to the non-observance of 
 those acts of fellowship and communion which Christ 
 
HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 151 
 
 enjoined. And among these the performance of deeds 
 of love in His name holds a conspicuous place. Acts are 
 notoriously more effectual than mere words in cementing 
 and maintaining friendships, and even He who is the chiefest 
 among ten thousand cannot long continue to occupy a 
 place in the hearts of those who find no other expression 
 for their devotion than the frequent utterance of His 
 name. We know how dearly the mother loves the sick 
 child over whom she has watched through the weary hours 
 of many long nights, and whom she has tended in season 
 and out of season. We know how dearly the patriot loves 
 the country for which he has suffered and bled. We 
 know how the martyr in the cause of justice or truth 
 clings the more tenaciously to the interests he has es- 
 poused, the greater the sacrifices he has had to make for 
 them. In the same way, the sacrifices, the labours, and 
 the loving gifts of the Christian bring him into actual 
 communion with Christ, draw him nearer to the heart 
 of the Saviour, and sustain his holy love in strength 
 and ardour. 
 
 The same is true of the Christian's sympathy with his 
 fellowmen. It too stands in need of some practical 
 expression, otherwise it decays and is in danger of 
 extinction. This truth has been finely set forth by a 
 living poet, — 
 
 " Pour forth the oil, pour boldly forth : 
 It will not fail until 
 Thou failest vessels to prov^ide, 
 Which it may largely fill. 
 
 " But then, when such are found no more,— 
 Though flowing broad and free 
 Till then, and nourished from on high, — 
 It straightway staunched will be. 
 
152 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 " Dig cliannels for the streams of Love, 
 Where they may broadly run : — 
 And Love has overflowing streams, 
 To fill them every one. 
 
 " But if at any time, thoii cease 
 Such channels to provide, 
 The very founts of Love for thee 
 Will soon be parched and dried. 
 
 " For we must share, if we^would keep, 
 That good thing from above. 
 Ceasing to give, we cease to have : — 
 Such is the Law of Love." 
 
 The sympathies of children are quickly awakened 
 and are generally deep and tender. The spectacle of 
 suffering, or the tale of woe, seldom fails to touch the 
 lieart and to bring a tear to the eye. But as years pass 
 on, and experience is gained, the mind becomes habitu- 
 ated to the contemplation of j^ain and sorrow, and if the 
 continuance of sympathy depend entirely upon the reten- 
 tion of the original susceptibility of the heart, it will 
 soon cease. But when the reason and the Christian 
 conscience are brought into exercise, and when, at their 
 bidding, relief is frequently administered to the dis- 
 tressed, a wise, powerful and enduring interest in the 
 well-being of others is formed, which is, to the suscepti- 
 bility of a young heart, what the massive intellect of the 
 man is to the quick but narrow apprehension of the 
 child. 
 
 The necessity of a daily supply of divine grace to the 
 due maintenance of the Christian life is well known to 
 every earnest Christian. For the sustenance of the 
 spiritual, not less than for that of the temporal life, we 
 need to pray, ''Give us this day our daily bread." 
 
HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. 153 
 
 Faith can only be retained by a daily apprehension or 
 recognition of the truth, and love requires for its health- 
 ful existence daily expression. It is a further recom- 
 mendation of Systematic Beneficence, that, in making 
 it possible for the Christian daily to give consideration 
 to the claims of religion and charity, it ministers to his 
 religious affections and enables him to preserve a tender 
 and sjrmpathetic heart, in spite of the hardening influ- 
 ences to which he is exposed. 
 
 Another of the blessings which follow in the train of 
 this practice is the possession of a conscience void of 
 offence towards God and man. Conscious integrity is the 
 condition of moral courage, and the foundation of all 
 noble character. To have known his duty and not to 
 have done it, occasions grief to ever}^ honourable man, 
 but when habitual acknowledgment of duty comes to 
 be associated with habitual disregard of it, the honour- 
 able in spirit and in character is gradually undermined 
 and destroyed. In common life this is recognised, but 
 in respect of Christain obligations it would almost seem 
 as if, by common consent, the expectation of strict con- 
 sistency between a man's profession and his practice were 
 waived. Yet inconsistency here is both the sign and the 
 occasion of lamentable weakness. The systematic giver 
 is strong in his conscious integrity. When in his 
 prayers he acknowledges his debt to Christ, when he 
 confesses that he is not his own, having been bought 
 with a price, when he prays that he may be enabled to 
 consecrate all that he has to the Master's service, when he 
 unites with others in sin^ins^ such words as these, — 
 
 " Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
 That were a present far too small ; 
 Love so amazing, so divine, 
 
 Demands my soiil, my life, my all," — 
 
154 THE EXCHANGE OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 he knows that he is not using, without any thought of 
 their meaning, words which, as possessed of meaning, he 
 could not without giim irony make his own. 
 
 We conclude with what must be a mere reference to 
 that inestimable ' treasure in heaven,' the acquisition of 
 which is so constantly associated by Christ with self- 
 denial and beneficence. What is the nature of that 
 treasure ? Is it not just the share which Christ's people 
 have, as His instruments, in bringing about that gi'and 
 consummation of all things, the Kins^dom of God. When 
 that Kingdom comes and is revealed in all its magnifi- 
 cence and splendour, there will be simultaneously re- 
 vealed both the great work of Christ as its founder and 
 head, and all the work done by His servants at His bid- 
 ding and under His direction. Not even a cup of cold 
 water, the giving of which had contributed to the glorious 
 issue, will be lost sight of in that day. It will then be 
 found that on earth, no money was expended to greater 
 advantage, none placed at higher interest, none converted 
 into more enduring substance, than that which was be- 
 stowed, directly or indirectly, in promoting the Kingdom 
 of God. 
 
THE CHUKCH'S EXCHEQUER. 
 
 We can all do more than we have done 
 
 And not be a whit the worse ; 
 It never was loving that emptied the heart, 
 
 Or giving that emptied the purse." 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 I AVAIL myself of this oppoi-tunity to express a deep feeling^ 
 of thankfulness that the views expressed in the following essay 
 have been countersigned by names so eminent as those of the 
 adjudicators. 
 
 The following sentences from the pen of the illustrious 
 veteran, Dr Duft", may lead some to give more attention to the 
 subject. The letter was written in August 1875 to the Con- 
 vener of the Free Church of Scotland's Committee on System- 
 atic Giving. 
 
 " The object is one not of secondary but of primary import- 
 ance. But for ages it has been so neglected that much time 
 and labour, and faith and patience, with the accompanying 
 blessing of God's Holy Spirit, will be needed to work it into 
 the mind and heart of the Church at large. 
 
 " The spirit of the age, in its rampant secularity and luxuri- 
 ousness, is sadly against it. But that is no reason, but the con- 
 trary, for not strenuously persevering in the good work. 
 
 " If Revivalism is to end merely in a spiritual luxuriousness 
 and self-complacency and self-enjoyment — though of a deci- 
 dedly higher kind than the worldly and the carnal — it will 
 only prove a more refined kind of selfishness, the very opposite 
 of the out-going spirit — the Divinely exemplified spirit — of 
 self-denying love. 
 
 " Ah ! if there were more of this Divine Spirit amongst us, 
 soon would the object of your Committee find a development 
 and enlargement that would speedily fill the whole earth with 
 its blessed fruits. 
 
 " Meanwhile, let faith, with perseverance and prayer, be the 
 motto. Yours very sincerely, Alexander Duff." 
 
 In the spirit of these valuable words, I would venture to 
 press on those who may become interested in this great sub- 
 ject the importance of frequent conferences for the exposition 
 and discussion of it in its practical bearings, W-hile publica- 
 tions such as the present are fitted to be very useful, it is to 
 the living voice we must look for carrying Scriptural prin- 
 ciples to every corner of the Church, and for securing their 
 permanent influence. A. M. S. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction . . . , . , .159 
 
 CHAPTEE I.— Fundamental Principles. 
 
 I. The genius of Christianity requires that all our Giving be 
 
 Voluntary, Hearty, and Conscientious . . . 161 
 
 II. Careful Preparation for Giving is Scriptural and Necessary . 165 
 
 111. Giving is the Duty and Privilege of every believer . . 170 
 
 CHAPTER II.— The Church's Exchequer. 
 
 The Bible method stated . . . . . .173 
 
 The Bible method proved by arguments — 
 
 I. We are to give first to God . . . . .174 
 
 II. The teaching of Scripture concerning Tithes — 
 
 1. The tithe is not Jewish . . . . .176 
 
 2. The Principle of the tithe . . . .178 
 3. -<46m/ia??i's tithes (Heb.vii. 4) .... 179 
 
 4. Jacob's tithes (Genesis xxviii. 11-22) . . . 180 
 
 5. Meaning of Mai. iii. 10 . . . . , 182 
 
 6. How far all this guides us in regard to the amount tve 
 
 should give ...... 183 
 
 III. Our Relation to the Lord Jesus Christ in the matter of Giving — 
 
 1. His Example ...... 186 
 
 2. His %e . . . . . . . 187 
 
 3. His Glory in Heaven . . . . .192 
 
 4. His Love ....... 193 
 
 IV. The New Testament Rule in 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2 — Defence of its 
 
 authority for us . . . . . .195 
 
 1. It supplies each man with a rule for calculating the por- 
 
 tion he is to give ..... 199 
 
 2. It requires us to consider our giving to God once a iveek 202 
 
 3. "On the First Day of the week "... 205 
 
 4. " Everyone by himself " ..... 208 
 
 5. Q-rjcravpi^cov. Treasure in heaven .... 209 
 
 6. The Rule is universal ..... 210 
 
158 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. — The Church's Exchequer pleaded for 
 ON the Ground of its Advantages. 
 
 I. Advantages to the Individual — 
 
 1. He will always have something to give and will give it 
 
 pleasantly ....... 212 
 
 2. He is protected from unpleasant solicitation . . . 216 
 
 3. It promotes his temporal prosperity^ — 
 
 (Mr Gladstone's opinion) ..... 217 
 The blessing of God . . , . . .217 
 
 Cases ........ 218 
 
 4. It promotes his spiritual prosperity — 
 
 § 1. Humility ....... 221 
 
 § 2. Treasure in heaven . . . . . 222^ 
 
 § 3. Escape from the church-member's sin . . . 224 
 
 Andrew Fuller's warning ..... 226 
 
 II. Advantages to the Church — 
 
 1. Happy Change in gaJhering Funds, .... 228 
 
 Collecting ....... 22^ 
 
 Pew-rents ....... 229 
 
 "No gatherings when / come " . . . . 230 
 
 Fancy- fairs . . . . . . .231 
 
 2. Increases the amount given — 
 
 § 1. No wet days . . .... 232 
 
 § 2. Frequency . . . . . .233 
 
 § 3. Proportion and the growth of incomes . . . 234 
 
 § 4. Freeness : Gift v. Payment .... 235 
 
 3. Benefits the poorer members — 
 
 § 1. Reduces their number ..... 236 
 
 2. Increases the number of helpers . . . 237 
 
 § 3. Help is better applied . . . . . 237 
 
 4. Brings blessing on what is given — 
 
 Reasonable to expect this . . . . . 237 
 
 Humility and Prayer ..... 238 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— Objections. 
 
 I. ' You propose a Revolution ' . 
 II. * We cannot ascertain how we stand every week ' 
 
 III. ' Taxation f We like to give from free impulse ' 
 
 IV. ' Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth 
 
 240 
 240 
 248 
 243 
 
 Conclusion, 
 
 243 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In this plea the Christian conscience and the Christian 
 heart will be taken into account all through. 
 
 Long ago, at the close of a meeting, a worthy 
 magistrate in Scotland said to one who had been giving 
 an explanation of the principles of systematic Christian 
 finance, "Your plan is excellent. Sir; but surely you 
 go too far in taking for granted that everybody has a 
 conscience ! " 
 
 On another occasion, in England, the same advocate 
 was asked by his host, a shrewd and successful merchant, 
 to explain what it was he had come to lecture about. 
 The explanation was given wdth some enthusiasm, and 
 the merchant said, with an odd smile, half amusement, 
 half pity, " My good friend, it is a very fine plan ; but 
 you are going in the teeth of human nature." 
 
 So we are. But we are safe in assuming that eveiy 
 man has a conscience, however inactive it may some- 
 times be ; and, in pleading with those who profess to 
 have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, 
 we have a right to appeal to principles that press hard 
 on our old man. 
 
 This plea is not intended to deal wdth the whole 
 subject of Christian giving, nor will it, directly at least, 
 urge the giving of larger amounts. In Great Britain a 
 large amount of money is expended in maintaining 
 
 5 
 
160 THE church's EXCHEQUER. 
 
 the ordinances of religion among ourselves, and a Large 
 amount is bestowed in charity, and a large amount is 
 applied toward the diffusion of the Gospel in other 
 lands ; that is to say, these amounts, presented by 
 themselves, seem very large. But amount is always 
 relative.* The question has to be asked — a question 
 which the story of the widow's two mites will not suffer 
 us to blink — Do these large sums bear a satisfactory 
 proportion to our wealth ? Referring to the Lancashire 
 Famine Fund, Mr Gladstone said : "A country with an 
 aggregate income in the three kingdoms of between five 
 and six hundred millions a year, with an income subject 
 to income-tax of between two and three hundred 
 millions a year, ought not to think much of raising a 
 million or two by subscription to meet a great and 
 extraordinary distress." + Yet the annual income of all 
 our great Bible and missionary societies together falls 
 under one million. 
 
 But amount is not the only nor the chief considera- 
 tion. Great improvement is needed in the methods of 
 raising funds. Operose and expensive machinery, 
 speeches, semions, collectors going from house to house, 
 secretaries going from to"vvn to to"\vn, — the clamant 
 wants of men's bodies and souls, excuse the use of such 
 means ; at the same time many, weary and ashamed, 
 are asking whether no more simple and less questionable 
 methods can be found. Our aim is to supply an 
 
 * " Quia non quantum detur sed quantum resideat expenditur." 
 
 Ambrose on Mark xii, 43. 
 
 + This was in 1862. Being asked what correction he would be dis- 
 posed to make in this estimate in 1876, Mr Gladstone has very 
 courteously replied thus : "I think 500 to 600 millions was low even at 
 the time. I should certainly now say 800 to 900 millions : and the 
 I)ortion of it subject to income-tax nearer 400 millions than 300 
 millions. I was then, however, in a condition to examine the matter 
 minutely and speak confidently. I have now only general information, 
 and require a wider margin." 
 
 6 
 
FUNDAMENTAL PPwINCIPLES. 161 
 
 answer by expounding and urging the scriptural prin- 
 ciples by which all giving in the name of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ought to be regulated. Here lies the root 
 of the matter : let men's minds be informed and their 
 hearts persuaded concerning these principles, and not 
 only will the amount given be what it ought to be, but 
 the manner of giving will be simple and pleasant, and 
 the spirit accompanying the giving will be such as to 
 bring down upon our ecclesiastical finances that blessing 
 which is always urgently needed, but too often never 
 thought of. For the wider and more earnest recognition 
 of these principles we plead. The teachings of the 
 Word regarding the relation in which our use of money 
 stands to the glory of Christ and to our own spiritual 
 welfare are more full and explicit than many think ; and 
 the chief hope of permanent improvement in all that 
 concerns the Church's Exchequer lies in getting the 
 individual mind better informed about these teachings 
 and the individual conscience and heart quickened into 
 thorough and obedient reception of them. For every 
 man has a conscience, and every Christian has a new 
 heart. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 These are three. And let them not be hastily passed 
 over as too obvious and familiar to need to be urged. 
 
 I. The genius of Christianity requires that all our 
 giving be voluntary, hearty and conscientious. 
 
 L 7 
 
162 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 What we wish to express is this : the believer best 
 carries out the spirit of his faith when he gives rather 
 in compliance with the dictates of an enlightened con- 
 science and the promptings of a warm heart than in 
 obedience to any formal or informal assessment by his 
 fellowmen. And thus far, all who have been actively 
 engaged in the work of Christ will go with us, even 
 although they be members of an established church. 
 
 It is not only the adherents of an establishment who 
 are in danger of losing sight of this first principle. 
 Custom, habit, the use and wont of generations, have 
 imposed something unpleasantly like assessment on the 
 members of churches that have no connection with the 
 State and no favour for the establishment idea. Well- 
 meaning persons, with more zeal than enlightenment, 
 when asking their neighbours for money sometimes urge 
 too exclusively such motives as, what others are giving 
 — what income the person solicited has or is supposed 
 to have — what he ought to give, in the judgment of the 
 person soliciting — and the like ; and in every instance 
 in which this sort of dealing by his fellowman has the 
 chief influence on the giver's mind, it does amount 
 virtually to an assessment. Here comes in also the 
 influence of subscription books ''well headed," as the 
 phrase is, and of printed lists ; also the difficult question 
 of pew rents. Without turning aside to the discussion 
 of these just now, let it be said that taxation may be 
 enforced by social and congregational opinion almost as 
 effectively as by civil law : and the evil then is that the 
 giving is regulated too much by a human and too little 
 by a divine standard, that the giver has too much 
 regard to his estimation in the eyes of those about him, 
 while his conscience and heart are too little exercised 
 toward the Lord Jesus Christ. These considerations 
 
 8 
 
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. 16o 
 
 -cannot be, ought not to be, altogether excluded ; but 
 where they chiefly influence the giver giving is not 
 perfectly voluntary, is not a pure outcome of the free, 
 hearty Christian will. "Every man, occorcZm^ as he 
 purjyoseth in his heart, so let him give ; not grudgingly, 
 or of necessity : for God loveth a cheerful giver." (2 Cor. 
 ix, 7.) This is the New Testament principle, and the 
 only satisfactory one. '' I speak not by commandment, 
 but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove 
 the sincerity of your love." (2 Cor. viii. 8.) Paul does 
 not mean that what he wrote was without the authority 
 of the Holy Spirit ; but the Spirit of Christ moves him 
 to tell the Corinthians that their giving must not rest 
 upon mere submission to his authority ; with that, 
 another and higher principle must come into play. 
 '' For ye know the gTace 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." 
 These are the next words, and they raise the whole 
 matter of asking and giving money for Christian 
 purposes into a region above that in which assessment 
 of any kind finds place. Submission to the will of God 
 expressed in His word will certainly influence our 
 giving, but love also must come in to clothe and beautify 
 the naked form of obedience. 
 
 This principle belongs to the Old Testament as well 
 as to the New. As for alms-giving, its teaching was : 
 ''The poor shall never cease out of the land ; therefore 
 I command thee, sa}ing. Thou shalt open thy hand wide 
 unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land " 
 (Deut. XV. 11) ; and Paul (2 Cor. ix. 9, 10), cannot go 
 beyond, but takes up and endorses, the language of the 
 112th Psalm on this matter. As to the support of pub- 
 lic worship, it should be remembered that both the taber- 
 
 9 
 
164 THE church's EXCHEQUER. 
 
 nacle and the temple were erected by offerings entirely 
 voluntary and hearty. " Take ye from among you an 
 offering unto the Lord ; whosoever is of a willing heart, 
 let him bring it, an offering of the Lord : gold, and silver, 
 and brass," etc. '* And they came, every one whose heart 
 stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made 
 willing." (Exodus xxxv. 5, 21.) The result of this 
 appeal, not to fear but to love, was that the superinten- 
 dents of the work had to tell Moses, " The people bring 
 much more than enough for the service of the work, 
 which the Lord commanded to make : " and a proclama- 
 tion had to be issued by which ''the people were 
 restrained from bringing." (Exodus xxxvi. 4-6.) We do 
 not know any modern instance of this kind. When the 
 materials for the temple were prepared it was in the 
 same manner. David gave the example of a freewill 
 offering, " because," said he, ''I have set my affection 
 to the house of my God ; " and then made the appeal, 
 " who is willing to consecrate his service this day untp 
 the Lord ? " " Then the people rejoiced, for that they 
 offered willingly, because that with perfect heart they 
 offered willingly to the Lord." (1 Chron. xxix. 1-1 9.) 
 In the soul-stirring thanksgiving the king poured out to 
 Him " from whom both riches and honour come," the 
 same feature is mentioned often and with emphasis. 
 
 Such passages as these make it very clear that while 
 Judaism, agreeably to its purposely burdensome spirit, 
 had certain definite enforced taxations, the spiritual life 
 of the Jewish church rose, and was taught to rise, above 
 such temporary limitations into the atmosphere of heart- 
 moved gratitude, of loving freeness. The Christian dis- 
 pensation knows no other spirit. 
 
 Before advancing farther, let this first principle be 
 pressed. It is not for the glory of God, it is not for the 
 
 10 
 
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. 165 
 
 good of the church or of the Christian giver, that any 
 minister, elder, deacon, collector, any church-court or 
 benevolent society, should come between God and the 
 conscience in this matter of giving. What is true in 
 respect of all preaching and religious forms is emphatic- 
 ally true in this case. Turn to the first page of the 
 history of the Christian Church. Luke, after his manner, 
 first states in general terms how the wants of the infant 
 church were met, and then gives two examples, the one 
 very good, the other very bad. Barnabas " the good 
 man " * gave rightly because out of zeal for Christ and 
 self-denying love for his brethren ; Ananias and Sapphira 
 gave wrongly, because the regard they ought to have 
 had towards the Searcher of hearts was deceitfully sup- 
 planted by regard to man's esteem. Why was their sin 
 so awfully detected and avenged, if not to teach us that 
 it is a sin specially hateful in the eye of God ? Yet 
 who will venture to say that all our ordinary givings are 
 acceptable to Him who still "sits over against His 
 treasury and scrutinizes" not what the people cast in, but 
 " hoiu ? " {skuipu, Mark xii. 43 .) 
 
 II. Careful preparation for giving is Scriptural and 
 necessary. 
 
 Some who might heartily agree with our first principle 
 may think this second one rather at variance with it. 
 They imagine care, thought, method, must interfere with 
 free-will : but such a notion comes only of hasty thinking 
 or no thinking at all, and is disproved by experience. 
 If Christian free-will were the same with the impulse of 
 emotion created by the sight of suffering or by pathetic 
 
 * It is worth noting that only two persons have the honour to be 
 called "good" in the New Testament — this Barnabas (Acts xi. 24), and 
 Joseph of Arimathea (Luke xxiii. oO), both men of large-handed and 
 large-hearted beneficence. 
 
 11 
 
166 THE CHURCH S EXCHEQUER. 
 
 appeal, the too common opinion would be right ; but 
 Christian free-will cannot be carefully enough dis- 
 tinguished from such momentary impulses. An impulse 
 and a principle are very different things ; the impulse is 
 good so far as it goes, but it is uncertain, brief, and, 
 unless the principle lie behind it, ineffective. Witness 
 the Levite whose impulse led him to cross the road and 
 look at the half-murdered man, in contrast with the 
 Samaritan who "had compassion" (Luke x. 25-37), a 
 principle working with the quiet force of a law of nature 
 and securing that his well-doing should be considerate, 
 delicate, thorough, extending to the next day and beyond. 
 
 We plead that in this great matter, after the heart is 
 roused to feel the power of Christian motives constraining 
 to give, there shall come in careful consideration of the 
 amount to be given and steady use of the best method. 
 Something is to be said further on about the amount 
 and the method ; but meanwhile it is the general rule or 
 principle that is urged. 
 
 Think. If Christians do not apply to their giving 
 the same thought they apply to worldly affairs, they 
 cannot know with decent accuracy what amount is at 
 their disposal to give; and they will give either too 
 much or too little. In most cases persons — and 
 many of these by no means covetous or hard-hearted 
 — will err on the side of giving far less than they would 
 have found themselves able to give had they taken time 
 to consider and plan : but if some err on the other side 
 and give too much, will their conduct be more 
 pleasing to God ? The man whose heart prompts him 
 to consider how much he can give, to pray over it, and 
 to have it ready before the call comes, puts more honour 
 on the Divine will and the Divine love than the man 
 who scarcely thinks of giving except when a particular 
 
 12 
 
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. 167 
 
 claim is presented, and then throws from him what he: 
 can easily ^;pare, or possibly what he ought to have used 
 in another way. 
 
 The argument from vScripture as to this principle is 
 more full and affecting than many think. The considera- 
 tion and method pleaded for are implied in all that is 
 said regarding the Tithe. Presently we must say some- 
 thing about the relation in which the tithe stands to the 
 Christian dispensation : it is only mentioned here to fix 
 attention on the fact that thought and method are 
 obviously implied in it. If it should be said that under 
 the Mosaic economy public regulations took the considera- 
 tion of the tithe out of the hands of the individual giver, 
 we answer, that could not be said of the tithes given by 
 Abraham and by Jacob, neither can it apply to that 
 much -abused text Mai. iii. 10. 
 
 " Let him that stole steal no more ; but rather let 
 him labour, working with his hands the thing which is 
 good, that he may have to give to him that needeth " 
 (Eph. iv. 28), is a significant text. The first time the 
 converted thieves in Ephesus went to church after Paul's 
 letter came, they would be taught, not only that 
 Christianity required them to work for their own support,, 
 but also that while working they were to think that 
 part of their honest earnings should be held in readiness 
 for the relief of such cases of want as they came into 
 contact with. 
 
 There is one passage more fruitful in teaching as to 
 Christian giving than almost any other, a passage to 
 which we shall return more than once, John xiii. 29. 
 Here we have the gracious example of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ : — " Then said Jesus unto Judas, That thou doest 
 do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what 
 intent He said this unto him. For some of them 
 
 13 
 
1G8 THE church's EXCHEQUER. 
 
 thougLt because Judas had the bag that Jesus had said 
 unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against 
 the feast; or. That he should give something to the 
 poor." Like men, the faithful eleven could not refrain 
 from guessing at their Master's meaning, and one of 
 themselves tells us what the guesses were. There was 
 no occasion to " buy meat " (the onl}'^ use of the contents 
 of the Bag before mentioned, John iv. 8), and there 
 were just two other uses which the known habits of the 
 Lord Jesus allowed them to think probable — the support 
 of ordinances, and the relief of the poor. "Here is 
 the primitive form of a church fund." * This example, 
 even more than that of the converted thief in Ephesus 
 or that of Paul (Gal. ii. 1 0), covers the entire breadth of 
 the Church's membership ; for we know how scantily 
 that bag was furnished. Why did that bag exist under 
 the control of Jesus of Nazareth if not that in the 
 matter of the honest and pious use of money He might 
 "leave us an example that we should follow His steps ?" 
 And to what does the example amount ? Ponder again 
 the three uses : — 
 
 1. "To buy meat," — providing honestly for daily 
 wants ; 
 
 2. " To provide things needed for the feast," — God's 
 ordinances ; 
 
 3. To "give something to the i^oor,'' — charity. 
 
 Now the point to be marked especially is that, unless 
 Jesus of Nazareth had been in the habit of thus giving, 
 unless He had always stood prepared to give spon- 
 taneously and promptly, the disciples could not have 
 guessed as they did. He did not wait till a Levite or a 
 deacon came soliciting something toward keeping up the 
 public worship of God : He did not say. Time enough 
 * Dr Christopher Wordsworth In loco. 
 
 u 
 
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. 169 
 
 to think of giving to the poor when their spirit has been 
 crushed out by misery and they stand whining at your 
 door. He gave spontaneously, because He was, by fore- 
 thought, habit, and method, always prepared for 
 GIVING. We urge this as a fundamental principle, in- 
 culcated by what is far better than the plainest precept, 
 the supreme example of Him who ''for our sakes be- 
 came poor that we through His poverty might be rich." 
 Yet if any crave more explicit teaching we have it, 
 ^nd given by the Holy Spirit under very instructive 
 circumstances. '' So labouring ye ought to support the 
 weak, and to remember the vjords of the Lord Jesus, hovj 
 He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.'' 
 (Acts XX. 85.) Some may read these pages who have 
 never considered, or had explained to them, the remark- 
 able points of instruction about this saying. Let them 
 think. How did Paul get hold of the saying ? He had 
 never seen the Lord Jesus on earth : he had found the 
 saying floating among the Christian communities as a 
 maxim of the first authority. In what circumstances 
 does he repeat it ? As a last emphatic lesson to those 
 who were to " feed the flock of God " in the churches of 
 Asia Minor, of which Ephesus was the centre. When- 
 ever and wherever these men should, all their lives, dis- 
 charge the office laid on them of feeding souls with the 
 truth as it is in Christ Jesus, they would remember 
 this part of the truth and urge it. How has the saying 
 come to us ? It is not found in any of the four Gospels : 
 left a little longer to the keeping of oral tradition its 
 purity would have been corrupted and its supreme 
 authority weakened : but the Holy Spirit snatches it 
 from such a fate, and, by the lips of Paul and the pen of 
 Luke, secures for it a place of more manifest authority, 
 and of more powerful influence upon the believer's heart 
 
 15 
 
170 church's exchequer. 
 
 to all generations. And (to bring all this to bearing 
 on the principle for which we are pleading), How could 
 Paul or any of the elders of Ephesus or those taught by 
 them, how can we, secure this greater blessedness of the 
 giver if not by consideration and method beforehand so 
 as to stand always prepared for giving ? 
 
 III. To give for the glory and service of Christ is the 
 duty and privilege of every believer. 
 
 This is the only other principle that we need to insist 
 on before more directly expounding the teaching of 
 Scripture as to the amount and method of our givings. 
 
 There is a tendency to think that giving cannot be the 
 duty of every Christian without exception, that poverty 
 — but who shall define the degree of poverty ? — must 
 exempt from the duty and exclude from the privilege. 
 But this cannot be. 
 
 Reflect on the nature of the case. What are the 
 springs from which Christian giving flows ? They are 
 gratitude to God, love to God and man : but obviously 
 we dare not draw a line and say, All whose income 
 comes up to this mark may allow their conduct to be 
 affected by this motive, but all whose income falls under 
 it may not ; if the impulse to give rises warm in their 
 hearts they must crush it. Again, reflect on the 
 benefits which the exercise of this grace brings to the 
 giver : it maintains his sense of dependence on God ; it 
 keeps the love of this world in check ; it strengthens the 
 best feelings of our hearts ; it fills them with the purest 
 joy. Is there any degree of poverty that is to exclude a 
 Christian from these ? Think of the startlingly direct 
 relation in which this whole matter stands to final judg- 
 ment : '' A cup of cold water shall not lose its reward ; " 
 " inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these my 
 
 16 
 
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. l7l 
 
 brethren, ye did it unto me." We see how false the 
 notion must be when it would have the effect of placing 
 some on the left hand on no other ground but poverty. 
 
 Think of the tenor of Scripture in relation to this 
 principle. The texts just brought forward with another 
 purpose are plain enough. If the man who has but 
 newly begun to earn his bread by honest toil is to give, 
 who is not to give ? If He gave who said, " Foxes have 
 holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of 
 Man hath not where to lay His head" (Luke ix. 58), 
 who is excluded from the privilege of imitating Him? 
 In that day when the widow's two mites are brought 
 forth and restored to her with heavenly interest, it will 
 be felt that God has excluded no one from laying up 
 treasure in a " bag which waxeth not old." 
 
 We must return to this subject when we come to the 
 '' every one of you " in 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Enough has been 
 said to show that the duty and privilege of Giving must be 
 strictly universal among the members of Christ's body. It 
 is nothing but the wretched habit of looking to the quan- 
 tity and forgetting the quality, of thinking only of the 
 amount given and scarcely at all of the spirit in which 
 the gift is offered, that creates difficulty in understanding 
 this principle. Those who regard agricultural labourers, 
 domestic servants, sempstresses, persons in reduced cir- 
 cumstances, or even those who receive charity, as too 
 poor to give anything, do them a very questionable 
 kindness in respect of either their spiritual or their 
 temporal well-being. Besides, the more narrowly you 
 watch the lives of the godly poor, you will find it a mis- 
 take to suppose they do not give, and often and largely 
 too, after the widow's measure. The late Mrs Graham 
 (whose life, entitled "the Power of Faith," was a 
 favourite book with pious women of the last generation), 
 
 17 
 
1^ 
 
 172 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 for a time supported herself, her father, and four children 
 by keeping a small school in Paisley. While enjoying 
 comparative affluence as an officer's wife, this lady had 
 formed the habit of setting apart a definite proportion of 
 her income for God, and when now sorely reduced, " her 
 dinner, potatoes and salt, her breakfast and supper, 
 porridge," she steadfastly kept up her habit. She de- 
 ducted the Lord's portion from each small sum as it came 
 into her hands before allowing that sum to mingle with 
 what she regarded as her own income ; and thus, so long 
 as she had "bread to eat and raiment to put on," she 
 had always something to give, and as good a conscience 
 and as full blessing in giving, it as in her days of plenty. 
 The present writer went once to the house of a widow 
 who supported herself and her mother by toiling day 
 and night at a coarse and covetously ill-paid kind of 
 needlework, with the purpose of finding out how she 
 might be helped. As soon as she got a glimpse of his 
 errand, the widow rose and produced from a corner half- 
 a-crown, asking him to get it applied for Jewish missions. 
 That was many years ago ; and, though never adminis- 
 tered by the hand of human charity, the widow's '' bread 
 has been given her, and her water has been sure." * 
 
 If any reader is perplexed to understand how such 
 cases can be, let him look out a case for himself. 
 
 «- While it is necessary to expound the principle as being thus uni- 
 versal, we must not be misunderstood. It is right to declare what the 
 Bible teaches to rich and poor alike, and then to leave the truth to be 
 applied by each man to himself ; but the cases are few in which it is 
 either right or wise to tell a man that he ought to give so much or 
 anything at all. We may not pronounce any class too poor to give ; 
 but we may feel that many are too poor to be asked to give. 
 
 18 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 173 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 We shall assume that those with whom we plead admit 
 that the heart and conscience of each member of Christ's 
 body ought to be exercised about giving : that the most 
 hearty free-will is not at all inconsistent with forethought 
 and method, but will rather prompt to these in order 
 that our giving may be ready and effective : and that 
 these principles are universal in their application. 
 
 How are they to be applied ? Does the Word of God 
 yield us further instruction and indicate THE method by 
 which the Christian mav reo'ulate his srivins: so as to 
 promote the glory of God most fully, and to secure for 
 himself in the largest measure the benefits that flow 
 from serving God in this matter ? We believe that it 
 does. 
 
 1. A definite proportion of income should be con- 
 
 secrated to God, to be sj^ent in religion and 
 charity. 
 
 2. This proportion should be considered and set apart 
 
 once a week. 
 
 3. And, on the first day of the week. 
 
 4. The only responsible administrator of this fund is 
 
 the believer himself. It is given first to God : 
 the giving to any public fund, or to the needy, 
 comes after. 
 
 5. This is to be made a matter of steadfast habit. 
 Such a habit being formed generally by the people of 
 
 Christ, the Church of Christ on earth will have an Ex- 
 chequer always full, being steadily supplied by the spon- 
 taneous action of conscience under the guidance of Scrip- 
 tural principle and method. 
 
 19 
 
174 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 We might — and further on we will — plead for this 
 method on the ground of the benefits resulting from it, 
 and on the ground of experience. First, however, we 
 must ask you to consider carefully the teaching of 
 Scripture concerning the matter. Unless this be under- 
 stood and accepted there is not much hope of extensive 
 or permanent improvement in our Christian finance. 
 Indolence must be stirred up, the heart must be 
 thoroughly engaged, old and cold and unblessed routine 
 must be supplanted by fresh, warm, intelligent, and 
 gracious habit. 
 
 I. It will be admitted by all that we are taught in 
 His Word to give to god. We wish this to be thought 
 about and felt as well as admitted. How many give in 
 the merest routine ! how many never think of giving till 
 a fellowman asks them, and yet delude themselves with 
 a fancy that they are somehow giving to God ! * 
 
 " Render unto God the things which are God's," is 
 the rule laid down by our Lord and illustrated by His 
 example. And He intended His hearers to feel that 
 certainly not less integrity and regularity should come 
 into play in doing this than in '' rendering unto Caesar 
 the things that are his." (Matt. xxii. 21.) The idea is 
 one which the common mind can well enough under- 
 stand, and does understand. The money is spent in 
 keeping up the ordinances of religion at home, in 
 missions to Jews and Gentiles, in showing mercy to the 
 
 * A certain Fifeshire laird discovered after reaching his pew one 
 Sabbath morning that he had put a crown-piece into the plate, and had 
 thus given four shillings and elevenpence too much. The service not 
 having begun, he rose and explained the sad mistake to the elder at the 
 door, offering his penny and asking back his crown. But the elder 
 told him it was very wrong to think of grudging what had been given 
 at the Church door, and refused. The laird went away grumbling, 
 " Weel, I suppose I'll get credit for it somewhere else." "Na, na," 
 said the elder, '* there ye'll get credit only for the penny." 
 
 20 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. l75 
 
 poor ; but everybody can easily apprehend the practical 
 idea that before being spent in any of these ways the 
 money is first consecrated to Him who seeth in secret. 
 It is certainly not a new idea. It is as old as Jacob, — 
 '' I will surely give the tenth unto Thee " (Gen. xxviii. 
 22) ; as old as David, '' Of Thine own have we given 
 Thee" (1 Chron. xxix. 14) ; as old as Solomon, " Honour 
 the Lord with thy substance " (Prov. iii. 9) : and its age 
 is greatly in its favour. But it needs to be constantly 
 insisted on. 
 
 Indeed this is the only argument for giving which can 
 absolutely command the heart. " The Lord hath need " 
 (Luke xix. 31-34) is a startling text. How can it be 
 true ? The earth is His and the fulness thereof : " If I 
 were hungry I would not tell thee." (Ps. 1. 12.) The 
 Maker and Sustainer of all things cannot in the 
 ordinary sense of the word have need of us or our 
 money. Notwithstanding, there is a sense, and that a 
 very real and intelligible one, in which He has urgent 
 need of our time and our property. He who gives us 
 each day our daily bread, and blesses our industry, and 
 casts around our substance the shield of His command- 
 ment, has been pleased to create this necessity and so to 
 frame the constitution of this world and the dispensa- 
 tion of the Gospel as that there shall be real giving on 
 our part and receiving on His. There w^as at that 
 moment a need that the prophecy given centuries ago 
 by Zechariah should be fulfilled, and the same Lord 
 whose proper Godhead that prophecy demonstrated, was 
 present in the person of Jesus of Nazareth needing that 
 the animals mentioned in the prediction should be given 
 to Him by a willing and obedient heart. It is in- 
 exhaustibly wonderful, it is amazingly gracious ; but 
 it is quite an obvious truth. At this moment the same 
 
 21 
 
176 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 Lord lias a larger and more urgent need : He needs our 
 time and labour and money that He may have a visible 
 house on earth, that the travail of His soul may be 
 gathered in from all parts of the earth, that the poor 
 whom He has bequeathed to us as the abiding remem- 
 brancers of His humiliation may be succoured. (Mark 
 xiv. 7.) Remembering how much we owe to God our 
 Saviour, and feeling that this great and real need has 
 been graciously created by Him who has all the resources 
 of the universe, material and spiritual, at His command, 
 in order to link us and our perishing substance with 
 His work of grace on earth and His eternal glory in 
 heaven, we will devote our money to Him first, and so 
 stand prepared to apply it so soon as, with reference to 
 any particular case, the inward whisper is heard, '' The 
 Lord hath need." 
 
 It was thus that St Francis foiled Satan, and if we 
 form the habit of frequently and sincerely devoting part 
 of our income to God, we will not lose our reward even 
 in those cases in which we may discover that a mistaken 
 use has been made of the money so devoted. One day 
 (if the legend be true, and it ought to be), a very poor 
 monk craved charity from St Francis, and got it. 
 
 '' Ha 1 ha ! " said Satan, throwing off the beggar s 
 rags, "You, holy man, have given alms to the devil !" 
 
 " Not so," said the saint, " I had given the money to 
 God before I saw you or you saw me. He is not 
 mocked : therefore I am not deceived." (Gal. vi. 7.) 
 
 II. At this stage of our argument we ai^ave attention 
 
 to THE teaching OF SCRIPTURE CONCERNING TITHES. 
 
 1. It is necessary (though it should not be necessary), 
 to begin by setting out of the way a common prejudice 
 to the effect that the Tithe is a Jewish thing, now of 
 
 22 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 177 
 
 course abolished. Those who talk thus are strangely 
 ignoraDt of their Bibles. The Tithe is no more a Jewish 
 thing than the church membership of infants and the 
 Lord's Day are Jewish things. It is quite true that the 
 whole cumbrous and purposely burdensome system 
 ordained under Moses is abolished : but the Tithe had 
 existed under the dispensation of Promise at least four 
 hundred and thirty years before that law, which was 
 never intended to be of universal and permanent obliga- 
 tion, came into existence at Sinai. Read carefully the 
 third chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians. You will 
 there find in a compact and plain form the substance of 
 New Testament teaching concerning the system of rites, 
 including tithes, which is properly called Judaism, and 
 concerning the relation in which the Gospel, when it had 
 -abolished Judaism, remained to the primeval Promise 
 which it did not abolish. The Covenant confirmed 
 before of God to Abraham, — the covenant which secures 
 acceptance and grace to all who are the children of 
 Abraham in virtue of exercising the same simple faith in 
 God's promise, — had a distinct reference to Christ ; and 
 so far from that covenant being aboKshed, it was fully 
 perfected and established by Christ. The difference 
 between Abraham and us is only this, — ^while "Abrahaui 
 saw the day of Christ only afar off," " Jesus Christ has 
 been evidently set forth, crucified in the midst of us." 
 ^' If we are Christ's we are Abraham's seed and heirs 
 according to the Promise ; " and the lesson for us touch- 
 ing this matter of giving is put with emphasis by our 
 Master, "If ye were Abraham's children ye would do 
 the works of Abraham." (John viii. 39.) Granted freely 
 that all the minute taxation of the Mosaic economy came 
 to an end together with the temple, yet the works of 
 
 M 23 
 
178 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 Abraham remain an authoritative example for us, just aa 
 his faith does.* 
 
 2. A word on the Principle of the Tithe will prepare 
 us for considering the patriarchal tithe-giving. What 
 that is has been admirably stated by Mr Arthur in his 
 famous lecture on proportionate giving. '' When an 
 arbitrary proportion of our time or goods is taken — a 
 proportion for which reason has no more to say than for 
 any other — what is the effect upon the mind ? It 
 serves as a practical claim of sovereignty on the part 
 of the Creator. It says, ' This is claimed, because all 
 might be claimed. He who accepts this, owns all, and 
 holds you to account for the rest.' It is not probable 
 that, year after year, one will carefully set apart a fixed 
 proportion for the service of God, without becoming 
 habituated to feel that he is neither author nor owner of 
 any fraction of property, but merely steward ; and that 
 He at whose feet he lays the first-fruits is the Lord, the 
 Giver of all." t Think over this. It is scarcely time 
 yet to discuss the question whether a tenth is the 
 amount which every Christian should consecrate; but, 
 such being the essential principle of the Tithe, we cannot 
 refuse the inference that it is a principle of universal and 
 permanent obligation. The Gospel has taken away no 
 privilege enjoyed before by the people of God. The 
 exact proportion given may not be a tenth ; it may be 
 left to each to fix his own proportion : but seeing it was 
 
 * 1. The Law (Judaism proper), was a "schoolmaster," a child- 
 leader (7rai§a7a;76s), " to bring us to Christ," and therefore severe. As 
 soon as it had served its purpose it passed away. 
 
 2. The promise of God existed long before, and the Law, coming in 
 after, "could not disannul " " the covenant confirmed before of God." 
 (V. 17.) 
 
 3. Abraham is the father of all them that believe, without respect to- 
 nation (vv. 28, 29 ; see also Rom. iv. ) 
 
 t Arthur's Lecture, pp. 35, 36. 
 
 24 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 179 
 
 a privilege, enjoyed long before Judaism existed, to main- 
 tain the sense of dependence on God for everything by 
 a fixed and habitual giving of a definite proportion to 
 Him, we cannot imagine this privilege to have ceased 
 altogether. Human nature is the same in all genera- 
 tions, and God deals with it always on the same essential 
 principles : there has been no change in the doctrine of 
 justification by faith in atoning blood since the days of 
 Abel, neither has there been any change in the essential 
 use of giving, at least since the days of Abraham. 
 
 3. I say "at least," for the manner in which Abraham's 
 tithe-giving is mentioned both in the Old Testament 
 and in the New (Gen. xiv. 20 ; Heb. vii. 4), suggests 
 that the practice did not then suddenly originate. It 
 was when he was coming home laden with the spoils of 
 war that the patriarch was met by the priest of the Most 
 High God and gave to him these tithes. It is not hinted 
 that the priest told Abraham how much he was to give, 
 or that he was to give anything at all : one naturally 
 thinks, therefore, that he must have known the propor- 
 tion and practised the giving of it before. However 
 that may be, we are carried back by this instance to the 
 ruddy east, to the pure glad dawn of Grace over a dark 
 world. 
 
 Ponder to ivhovi these tithes were given. In the 
 book of Genesis Melchizedec starts up suddenly before us, 
 a great and mysterious personage, greater than the hero 
 of faith, and gracious withal. The hundred and tenth 
 Psalm gives us some light, concerning him ; and the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews makes the light full. He was a 
 "king" as well as a priest: he was the king "of 
 Righteousness," and the king " of Peace : " he lived 
 many centuries before the Aaronic priesthood was insti- 
 tuted : and whereas their office was regulated by an 
 
 25 
 
180 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 exact genealogy in whicli account was taken of both 
 father and mother, his was under no such limitation. 
 All this, we are told, w^as expressly arranged with the 
 purpose of making him " like unto the Son of God " — ^the 
 only type of His Person and of the singleness of His 
 priesthood. Therefore, in the very same sense in which our 
 Lord says that Abraham " saw His day and was glad," it 
 may be said that Abraham gave tithes to the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. This is Paul's argument. The giving of tithes was 
 a grateful recognition by ''him that had the promises" of 
 One who had the power to bless him, " and without all 
 ■contradiction the less is blessed of the better." (Heb. vii. 
 7, 8.) The transaction was not a lifeless form gone 
 through between two dying men, but had express regard 
 to the spiritvial and eternal realities ; for of Him who 
 received Abraham's tithes " it is witnessed that he 
 liveth."* We are thus very directly led to connect the 
 giving of a proportion of our property with thoughts of 
 our great High Priest, to feel that in the truest sense it 
 is given to Him who is our king of Righteousness and 
 ■of Peace, '' who sits a Priest upon His throne " (Zech. 
 vi. 1 8), interceding for us and imparting to our offerings 
 all their fragrance and acceptance. 
 
 4. The case of Abraham's grandson is much to our 
 purpose. (Gen. xxviii. 20-22.) You cannot well think 
 •of circumstances farther removed from taxation or assess- 
 ment of any kind than those in which Jacob made his 
 vow. It was the crisis of his life : God found him in the 
 solitude of night, a convicted sinner, alone, a fugitive : 
 God revealed Himself to him in all His majesty and 
 grace, shewing an open and trodden way between the 
 sinner and Himself — scarcely to Nathanael was a fuller 
 
 * Compare — "He shall live, and to Him shall be given the gold of 
 Sheba."— Ps. Ixxii. 15. 
 
 26 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 181 
 
 revelation given (John i. 51) : God gave to him the 
 heritage of Abraham and Isaac in promise, and pledged 
 his providential care. The response of Jacob consisted 
 in an act of adoring worship (vv. 16-18), and in a 
 solemn engagement to devote thenceforth to God, as his 
 God, a tenth of all that he should receive from Him. 
 The '' if " is not (as has been hastily suggested) duhita- 
 tive, as though the bargaining disposition of the patriarch 
 was even here intruding itself; but reduplicates upon 
 God's promises in verse 15 th, and expresses, according to 
 Hebrew idiom, certainty in the strongest form.'" The 
 points of instruction for ns in this case are : — 
 
 (1) That the sinner and God were face to face under 
 circumstances most searching and gracious to the sinner's 
 soul. 
 
 (2) That a covenant was spontaneously entered into 
 by the sinner to whom salvation had been thus joyfully 
 brought. It was not a single impulsive act of gratitude, 
 like the building of a church or the giving of £1,000. 
 Such special overflowings of thankfulness on occasion of 
 special mercies are very right and have abundant Scrip- 
 ture warrant, but the instructive thing in Jacob's case is 
 that he engaged himself to a life-long and frequent 
 habit 
 
 (3) That in this vow the same proportion is named 
 which his grandfather gave to Melchisedec. There is 
 no other named in connection with giving to God ; and it 
 is evident this had got to be well understood generations 
 before Moses. 
 
 (4) That the proportion is to be taken from, not 
 luxury, but "bread to eat and raiment to put on." 
 
 (5) That it is devoted in direct recognition of the 
 goodness of God in Providence and specially in grace. 
 
 * Compare Ps. xcv. 11, margin. 
 
182 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 You may make a sermon for yourself from these five 
 heads, and add the application. 
 
 5. Before we can leave the subject of Tithes, we must 
 say something on that much-abused text, Mai. iii. 1 : 
 " Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there 
 may be meat in mine house, and prove me now here- 
 with, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you 
 the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that 
 there shall not be room enough to receive it." 
 
 Occurring, as this passage does, in a predictiou of the 
 Messiah — the last prediction — and purposely couched in 
 the style of Elijah and John the Baptist, one feels that 
 we are getting away from Judaism at the other end. The 
 cases of Abraham and of Jacob were long before Judaism : 
 this, if not properly after it, has respect chiefly to the 
 time and the circumstances in which it was to pass 
 away. Those who would look for blessing and not curse 
 at the coming of ''the Messenger of the Covenant," 
 must become honest toward God in the way of bringing 
 all the tithes into His storehouse. For those who were 
 under the law of Moses, it had, doubtless, a most literal 
 meaning ; for them, and for all others, its meaning is 
 not doubtful, that honesty toward God requires a faith- 
 ful devotement of a proportion of our income to His 
 glory. 
 
 The special point in connection with this text is the 
 promise contained in it. That promise is so very beauti- 
 ful, and the need of its fulfilment is so deeply felt, that 
 it has become a common-place phrase in all praj^er- 
 meetings. Thousands use the words who have no idea of 
 where they are to be found, and that they are (if it were not 
 that God is greater than their hearts) imprecating God's 
 vengeance instead of entreating His blessing. " Prove 
 me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts." The pro- 
 28 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 183 
 
 mise is strictly bound up with our fulfilment of the con- 
 <lition. When we have conscientiously, as in His sight, 
 settled the matter of what we ought to give to Him, 
 iind have given it, then we may with certainty expect 
 the overflowinof blessinof — not till then. 
 
 I would only remark farther, that, while the promise 
 of this text is fulfilled to individual Christians who 
 observe the condition — fulfilled both in temporal and 
 sj^iritual things — it seems a passage specially applicable 
 to congregations and churches. 
 
 6. It remains now to speak of the degree in which 
 tliese passages about the Tithe furnish us with guidance 
 as to the amount to be given — as to what our proportion 
 .should be. It is a question of much interest to many 
 who wish to be sincerely honest before God in this 
 thing, and must be looked at in the light of the whole 
 spirit and teaching of the New Testament. To the con- 
 sideration of that teaching we are about to proceed ; 
 meanwhile the following more general remarks may be 
 offered : — 
 
 (1.) The claim for religion and charity seems to be 
 placed next after that for our necessary support. " Bread 
 to eat and raiment to put on ; " having these, our father 
 Jacob regarded himself as in a position to give to God. 
 It is an extreme, certainly, to say that we should give 
 everything beyond what will provide food and clothing, 
 for many of God's children have been and are rich, and 
 riches are promised as a blessing ; but it is equally an 
 extreme, and one into which we are much more likely 
 to fall, to suppose that giving is not to begin as soon as 
 we have food and clothing, but may be postponed until 
 we have laid up something comfortable for ourselves. 
 The maxim, " Charity begins at home," like '' Honest}^ 
 is the best policy," is a maxim of this world, and is 
 
 29 
 
184 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 worthy only of the god of this world/"* " I believe it i* 
 quite true," said Sir Francis Crossley, " that if a man 
 does not begin to give when he begins to get, or there- 
 abouts, he will never begin to give at all." It is no 
 secret that this true saying represents an experience of 
 two generations, and is to be traced back to the train- 
 ing of a mother rich only in faith and good works. 
 
 (2.) The Tithe is a safe Tiiinwiuon. If one is guided 
 not by the opinions of society around him, but by the 
 Word of God, he will arrive at the conclusion that, how- 
 ever much more he may find himself able to give, he- 
 cannot well give less, unless under circumstances so- 
 exceptional that they should not disturb his estimate 
 in this matter. If more than one tithe was exacted 
 legally from the Jews, we, who enjoy the greater freedom 
 of the Gospel, should acknowledge our superior privi- 
 leges by giving at least as much to meet the greater 
 need which God now has for our substance. And as 
 for the examples of Abraham and Jacob, we cannot see 
 how, in view of the seventh chapter of the Hebrews, 
 any thoughtful Christian who prays over what he gives 
 can content himself with devoting to God less than a 
 tenth. 
 
 (3.) With all this, however, it is to be remembered 
 that the patriarchal practice of tithe-giving was a matter 
 of personal devotion, not of ecclesiastical law ; the public 
 exaction of a tenth is done away. Those who, like the 
 followers of Edward Irving, make the giving of a pre- 
 cise tenth an ecclesiastical law carefully enforced on all 
 church-members, vitiate the whole transaction, and run 
 contrary to the genius of the Christian dispensation. 
 
 * " Tak ma word for 't," said an old Scotchman, giving advice to a 
 youth entering on life; "tak ma word for 't, 'honesty's the l)est 
 policy ; ' / ha'e tried haith ! " 
 
 30 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 185 
 
 '' Every man, according as he purposetli in his heart, so 
 let him give ; not grudgingly, or of necessity : for God 
 loveth a cheerful giver." The highest form of law is 
 the constraint of a thankful heart ; to those who do 
 not understand what that is, the New Testament says 
 nothing touching this matter. We must have some 
 fixed amount determined upon in our minds if we are 
 to stand ready for giving at all times ; and the tenth, 
 being the only proportion of which Scripture speaks, 
 may be safely taken as the unit of our sacred calcula- 
 tion, if we remember that the whole matter lies between 
 our own consciences and our Redeemer, not at all be- 
 tween us and our church rulers. 
 
 For our first fundamental principle must never be 
 forgotten. If any one is disposed to say, ' A tenth is 
 too much ; you would oppress us ; we cannot afford it,' 
 the answer is very simple. You have no occasion to 
 argue and struggle for freedom from an irksome burden ; 
 no one is imposing a burden ; God sets you perfectly 
 free when He says that He loveth a cheerful giver. 
 You are only asked to give at all on the supposition 
 that you have been redeemed with the precious Blood, 
 have been bought with a price, and are not your own ; 
 and these reasonings are addressed to you only as helping 
 you to decide for yourselves how you may best carry out 
 the gracious will of Him whom your soul loveth. 
 
 On the other hand, if any one is boastfully content 
 with his giving of a tenth, and thinks he has thereby 
 fully discharged all his obligations, and even made God 
 his debtor, we would counsel him to read the parable of 
 the Pharisee and the Publican, and then to take as his 
 motto, if he can still do so, ''I give tithes of all that I 
 possess." (Luke xviii. 12.) 
 
 31 
 
186 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 III. Before entering on discussion of the plainest text 
 in the Xew Testament, we plead for sacred method and 
 systematic habit in Giving from THE RELATION WHICH 
 WE SUSTAIN TO OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN THIS MATTER. 
 
 That our giving does stand in some relation to Him 
 is probably acknowledged b}^ all ; but how many are 
 there who seriously think of the fact, and who have a 
 clear understanding of what the relation is ? We be- 
 lieve that if Christian people fairly brought this whole 
 matter into the light of their relation to the Saviour, as 
 redeemed by His Blood, as living daily under His eye 
 and yet to be judged by Him, as His witnesses on earth, 
 and as heirs of His glory, they would be led to adopt a 
 sacred habit of proportionate giving even apart from the 
 more specific injunctions of Scripture to that effect. 
 
 1. Think again of His Example in John xiii. 29. 
 In addition to what has been said (pp. 168-169) let it be 
 now remarked (1) That the purse of which Judas was 
 the keeper was very scantily furnished. The proposal 
 on one occasion to draw upon it for about £6, '' two 
 hundred pence " (John vi. 7), threw Philip into dismay. 
 Yet there was some understanding among the followers 
 and companions of Jesus as to the applications to be 
 made of its contents, partly for their own use, partly for 
 purposes of religion and charity, which is just the sub- 
 stance of what we plead for. (2) Judas was the treasurer. 
 Why ? The Lord knew what was in him, and gave him 
 this office in order that the habit of administering their 
 little fund under His eye might counteract the secret in- 
 fluence of greed. (John vi. 70, 71.) That part of the lesson 
 will come before us again : it is the obvious habit, well- 
 understood by His disciples, and in which the Master prac- 
 tically trained them so long as they were His compaoious, 
 on which our attention should be fixed at present. Think- 
 
 32 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 187 
 
 ing of Him to wliom we owe all, we think of a portion 
 of His little store being set apart with forethought and 
 love to be spent in doing good.* 
 
 2. Think of His Eye. Mark xii. 41-44. This 
 text is full of instruction : it encourages the very 
 humblest to give ; it thus makes giving a universal duty 
 iind privilege ; it proclaims a searching paradox as to 
 more and less ; and it requires us to feel that our 
 givings are scrutinized by Him before whose judgment- 
 seat we are to stand. Only this last point belongs to 
 the present portion of our argument ; but we may glance 
 -at the whole. 
 
 (1) The circumstances are instructive. It was the 
 last week before His death, and Jesus was sitting in the 
 .second court of the temple over against the place called 
 the treasury, where thirteen chests stood, each having 
 a trumpet-shaped mouth, to receive the offerings of the 
 worshippers as they passed in or out. The practice of 
 thus gathering money for religious purposes, if nowhere 
 expressly ordained, was at least ancient (2 Kings xii. 
 4-12) ; and while it is certainly one act of giving that 
 is here specially honoured, we may note in passing that 
 there is a measure of sanction tacitly put upon the 
 practice of giving in the house of God, — giving often and 
 
 * The word rendered "Bag" is yXoxraoKopiov, and occurs, so far as I 
 can find, only twice in the New Testament, John xii. 6 ; xiii. 29. The 
 lexicons give its original meaning as a " tongue-box, reed-case, for keep- 
 ing the reeds or mouth-pieces of wind-instruments. " Finding it used as 
 a receptacle for money, one is fascinated with an idea of something 
 neatly formed, safely fastened, the contents of which were well- 
 arranged and carefully looked to. The best form of giving, according 
 to some folks, is to take a little money carelessly from what is lying 
 loose in the pocket and put it from one as a trifle ; but what Jesus gave 
 was taken from a carefully kept box, the contents of which were 
 devoted beforehand to their several uses. If one may not press this as 
 a matter of Greek criticism, he may at least be excused for finding a 
 <iuiet delight in connecting the very receptacle of his sacred store with 
 the personal habits of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 
 33 
 
188 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 spontaneously, and giving in connection with religious 
 privileges. For long, the stedfast eye was fixed on the 
 moving throng. I remember no other time of similar 
 silence during His abode on earth, unless it be that other 
 " pause more full than speech '"' when He searched the 
 consciences of the impure hypocrites. (John viii. 1-11.) 
 Many came and went, heedless of that calm stedfast 
 gaze, or marking with a scowl Him who had yesterday 
 purged this His house ; they are rich and cast in much ; 
 " they have their reward." But one came for whose coming 
 the Friend of sinners, the Husband of the widow, had 
 been waiting ; she dropped into the Lord's treasury two 
 very little coins, that her thankful heart might have 
 some outget, that her deep poverty might not altogether 
 exclude her from the joy of well-doing; then turned 
 away with quiet thankfulness and trust toward the 
 Father of the fatherless. Noiv will Jesus speak. 
 
 (2) But pause a moment, ere you listen to Him, over 
 two words used to describe His scrutiny. He " beheld " 
 — Ihojps/. It was not ordinary looking, still less the 
 chance seeing of something unthought of till seen ; but 
 the searching of one who examines narrowly and with 
 a purpose. When, in the parable, the king comes in to 
 scrutinize the guests the same word is used. (Matt, 
 xxii. 11.) 
 
 And He " beheld how,'' not luhat, they cast in. The 
 amount was probably displayed by the self-righteous- 
 givers, and any eye might see that : the eye of the 
 omniscient, holy, loving Saviour examines the state of 
 heart from which the giving flows, and by which it is 
 accompanied. Why ? Because all giving of free-will 
 offerings to God involves a solemn profession of gratitude 
 to Him for His goodness to us in Providence and 
 Redemption, and therefore supplies an obvious test of 
 
 34 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 189 
 
 our true state before God. This is why giving is so 
 solemnly associated with the final judgment. ' Does 
 your giving indicate the love to me, wanting which any 
 man is Anathema Maranatha ? (1 Cor. xvi. 22.) Is 
 it accompanied by such feelings of faith, good-will, self- 
 denial, as to make it a laying up of treasure in heaven ? 
 Is it done unto me, because I, the Lord, have need ? ' 
 Such is, in part, the searching force of this passage. 
 Giving is a matter of free-will ; there can be no doubt 
 of that : so is repentance, so is faith, so is love, so is 
 new obedience. What this text teaches us is that, while 
 giving cannot be anything else but a matter of free-will, 
 its quality must be such as to bear His scrutiny who 
 ''looketh on the heart." And our argument is, that in 
 order to be able to bear such scrutiny we must first conse- 
 crate a proportion of our substance to God in Christ, and 
 that, not once for all or at long intervals, but frequently. 
 
 (3) Notice carefully ivliat the widow gave — '' two 
 mites, which make a farthing," " all that she had, even 
 all her living." There were tiuo mites, and she might 
 veiy excusably have kept one : the whole sum was only 
 a farthing after all, and many worthy folk would have 
 said kindly enough, ' You had better keep it for your- 
 self ;' but it was in two pieces and she freely gave both, 
 feeling all was too little for her love. I do not envy the 
 man or woman whose heart is not keenly touched by 
 this picture. She was depending on her Maker, who 
 had promised to be her Husband, for the next meal, and 
 she did not think that He would be angry with her for 
 •casting in these two mites. No : He was not angTy with 
 her ! The mites represent some cheerful self-denial in a 
 matter of food or firing, or a bit of extra work done : and 
 the thrusting of this case upon their attention is a sore 
 trial to those whose givings are always easy enough. It 
 
 35 
 
190 THE chukch's exchequek. 
 
 is almost as sorely abused as that other text, Mai. 
 iii. 10. One's disgust and indignation are roused by 
 hearing persons whose givings have never cost them any 
 self-denial, saying, " I will give my mite," or " I have 
 given my mite." Brother ! it is well for you and me 
 that the Lord who has redeemed us is greater than our 
 hearts and knoweth all things. If He were to take you 
 now at your word He would say, ' There were two 
 mites, and these were all her living : I have never pro- 
 claimed my approval of the giving of mites as the best 
 sort of coin to give, but of such giving as proves that the 
 givers heart is pronij^ting him to give as much as he 
 possibly can. If you aspire to be like this friend of 
 mine, you must look not to the smallness of the coin, but 
 to the greatness of the gift.' 
 
 (4) Now we may be better prepared to understand 
 what the Master means. '' Verily I say unto you that 
 this poor widow hath cast more in than all they who 
 have cast into the treasury." More and less in the 
 judgment of Christ are not the same as in our judgment : 
 the smallest amount may be the best every way, may be 
 even the largest, paradoxical as it seems. We are to 
 regard our Lord as having chosen this extreme case for 
 the purpose of impressing upon us the great principle 
 that, however large a gift may be in itself. He does not 
 receive it unless it be large enough to prove self-denial 
 on the part of the giver. It is really outweighed by the 
 smallest coin, a coin which only the poorest ever see and 
 handle, if that be given in the self-denial to which the 
 love of Christ constrains us. This is high doctrine ; but 
 consider whether there is any other meaning you can 
 fairly put on the whole story. 
 
 More to God such an offering is than the easy offerings 
 of superfluity. That is a golden saying of Ambrose 
 
 36 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 191 
 
 (quoted p. IGO n.) — which may be fairly rendered thus 
 — " God calculates the amount not by what is given 
 hut by what remains." There is no proper sense in 
 which God can receive our money merely as money, but 
 He can and does receive the thankfulness, and the self- 
 denial, and the prayer, and the trust ; so that a very 
 poor person, giving a mere trifle of which the world 
 thinks nothing, is more in the way of giving really to 
 God than one of easy circumstances giving a sum which 
 looks well on a subscription list. 
 
 " The censer swung by the proud hand of merit 
 Fumes with a fire abhorred ; 
 But faith's two mites, dropt covertly, inherit 
 The blessing from the Lord." 
 
 And who can tell but that such offerings are also 
 '' more " in respect of their efficacy, of the work done 
 through means of them ? Jesus would not work the 
 miracle of feeding the five thousand until He had pressed 
 His disciples thus — '' Give ye them to eat," '' How 
 many loaves have ye ? Go and see " (Mark vi. 37, 38) ; 
 and the miracles consisted in multiplying what they, 
 searching their stores and stretching their ability to the 
 utmost, had given up for the purpose. The origin of 
 many a great Avork on earth will be found, when we 
 examine it, to suggest the same thought, that the 
 Lord chooses rather to honour self-denial and love, by 
 crowning their offerings with abounding fruits. One 
 who is not much more than forty years of age said, at 
 the close of a sermon, '' I knew a lad in Christ once who 
 adopted the principle of giving a tenth to God. When 
 he won a money-prize for an essay on a religious subject, 
 he felt that he could not give less than one-fifth of it. 
 He has never since been able to deny himself the plea- 
 sure of having a fifth to give. God has wonderful Iv 
 
 37 
 
192 THE CHUKCH's exchequer. 
 
 blessed that lad, and increased his means and his enjoy- 
 ment of that luxury of luxuries — the luxury of doing 
 good." There are other things, no doubt, that help to 
 explain Mr Spurgeon's wonderful success in the Lord's 
 work ; but take note that this is one of the things. 
 
 Think, then, of the Eye of Christ upon us in all this 
 matter of giving. You will in that case give with fore- 
 thought. 
 
 3. And think of the Glory of Christ. Under another 
 branch of the argument we shall consider the philosophy 
 of the connection between our givings on earth and the 
 glory we hope to enjoy with Him in heaven ; for the 
 present you are asked to look at the fact of such connec- 
 tion as plainly stated in Scripture. '' A cup of cold 
 water shall not lose its reward." (Matt. x. 42.) The 
 parable of the unjust steward was told as teaching us 
 that we may with " the mammon of unrighteousness 
 make to ourselves friends who shall receive us into ever- 
 lasting habitations." (Luke xvi. 9.) The last answer 
 given to the rich young ruler was, ''If thou wilt be 
 perfect go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, 
 and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." (Matt. xix. 21.) 
 We can never forget how the Judge has placed the 
 awards of the great day in most startlingly close relation 
 to the uses men shall have made of their worldly sub- 
 stance. (Matt. XXV. 81-46.) He exhorts his little 
 flock to " provide themselves bags which wax not old, a 
 treasure in the heavens that faileth not." (Luke xii. 
 32-34.) And Paul speaks of such an employment of 
 worldly goods as shall be '' laying up in store a good 
 foundation against the time to come, that they may lay 
 hold on eternal life." (1 Tim. vi. 18, 19.) We ask, in 
 view of the fact thus established, whether random, care- 
 less, impulsive, fitful giving, is likely to have such a 
 38 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 193 
 
 reward ? Whether the very thought that the portion of 
 our money which is given may have thus to do with the 
 Glory of our Redeemer in heaven, and with our enjoy- 
 ment of it, will not lead us rather to think over and 
 consider the proportion that we give, and the spirit in 
 which it is given ? 
 
 " Come let us join our cheerful songs, 
 With angels round the throne, 
 Ten thousand thousand are their tongues, 
 But all their hearts are one. 
 
 " Worthy the Lamb that died, they cry, 
 To be exalted thus ; 
 Worthy the Lamb, our hearts reply. 
 For He was slain for us." 
 
 Thus we sing. But part of the heavenly doxology is 
 *' Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive riches " 
 (Rev. V. 12) ; and He does receive riches. It must be 
 on earth that these are devoted to Him and spent for 
 His glory, for we carry nothing out of this world. 
 Surely, then, devout and frequent consideration ought 
 to be given to the amount and the spirit of the offerings 
 we bring to His feet. 
 
 4. The Love of Christ ought to move us in the same 
 way. In the cases of the two boxes of ointment, what 
 strikes us first and most is the warmth of passionate 
 impulse ; and they may well be looked on as warranting 
 extraordinary givings on extraordinary occasions. But 
 there was also in each case some forethought: the name- 
 less woman '" had considered what she might give to 
 
 * It is not well that the old Popish leaven should so far prevail as to 
 lead many to think this was Mary Magdalene. There is, of course, no 
 authority for that. On the contrary, one principal beauty of the story 
 is that no name is told, and on the woman's part no word is spoken. 
 Her name who, with weeping eyes and averted face, has held the gate 
 of life open to so many thousands, will not be known until the Lamb's 
 book of life is read. 
 
 N 39 
 
194 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 'Christ, and had brought with her from her home the 
 most costly offering she possessed (albeit, when the foun- 
 tains of the great deep of love in her broken heart were 
 •once opened, she gave Him an offering in His sight 
 more precious, so that, after all, the costly alabaster 
 was last and least) ; and the '' very costly pound of 
 spikenard " with which Mary anointed Him who had 
 raised her brother from the grave, was, as we know 
 on the best authority, laid by in store and " kept 
 against the day of His burying." (Luke vii. 37-50; 
 John xii. 1-8.) 
 
 These two fragrant examples, ever filling the whole 
 world with a sweet savour of Him whose name is as 
 ointment poured forth, are to our present purpose in two 
 ways. 
 
 (1.) They instruct us that in giving to Christ we should 
 consider how we may do our utmost. In both this was 
 true ; in Mary's case it was said '' She hath done what 
 she could." (Mark xiv. 8.) No one can have earned the 
 Master's approval thus, and truly done all he could, who 
 has not brought into use the aids which forethought, 
 method, and frequency supply. 
 
 (2.) They remind us that love is better than all. 
 Without it, all methods, habits, and other apphances of 
 ■Christian finance are of less than no value. It may be 
 that, in our zeal for systematic giving, we are in some 
 danger of losing sight of the love wanting which we 
 will become, in this matter as in all other matters, 
 " tinkling cymbals ;" if so, let us often hear Jesus say, 
 " Seest thou this woman?" and gaze both on Him and 
 her till we feel how much we have been forgiven, and 
 so, under the strong urgency of much love, strive to-do 
 all that we can. 
 
 40 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 19 
 
 " What though in poor and humble guise 
 Thou here didst sojourn, cottage-born ? 
 Yet from thy glory in the skies 
 
 Our earthly gold Thou dost not scorn. 
 For Love delights to bring her best, 
 
 " Worthless and lost our ofierings seem. 
 Drops in the ocean of His praise, 
 But Mercy, with her genial beam. 
 Is ripening them to pearly blaze, 
 To sparkle in His crown above 
 Who welcomes here a child's, as there an angel's Love." 
 
 Let each of us thus take our giving into the light of 
 our relation to the Lord Jesus Christ — His example. 
 His eye, His glory, His love — and the result will be 
 the forming and maintaining of a graciovs Habit 
 
 IV. We come now, having of purpose set these other 
 considerations in the front of our argument from 
 Scripture, to that passage which most definitely instructs 
 us how the Church's exchequer should be formed and 
 administered. 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT RULE IN IST COR. XVI. 1, 2. 
 
 Having regard to the design of this essay, it may be 
 well to say something about the authority of these 
 verses before we begin to expound them. 
 
 This ought scarcely to be necessary ; but the develop- 
 ment of doctrine in the Christian Church is very re- 
 markable. Those who study that development will find 
 that, from time to time, great truths (which have of 
 course been lying in the Word since the canon was com- 
 pleted) have been only brought out, battled for, and at 
 length universally received, after long centuries, accord- 
 ing as the exigencies of the Church's and the world's 
 
 41 
 
196 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 history required. The doctrine of justification by faith, 
 ^s contended for by Luther and Calvin, is one striking 
 example. Another, more recent, is the teaching of 
 Scripture in reference to Missions for the conversion of 
 Jews and Gentiles. Within three-quarters of a century 
 the obligation of the Church in the matter of such 
 Missions had to be argued even in the supreme courts of 
 our churches ; and while there is happily no longer 
 need for any argument in so far as Missions to Gentiles 
 are concerned, it is to be feared there is still a consider- 
 able amount of crude thinking, and therefore latent un- 
 belief, as to Missions to the seed of Abraham. A still 
 more recent example is the doctrine of Christian Union, 
 the teaching of Scripture concerning which began to re- 
 ceive any considerable attention much less than fifty 
 years ago, and which, indeed, is as yet very imperfectly 
 understood anywhere. But God is rapidly educating 
 His people in this doctrine by the events of providence, 
 and by leading them to closer study of His one text- 
 book — always and from the first complete in itself So 
 that, even if it were more true than, happily, it is, that 
 the doctrine of this text concerning a pure and effective 
 Scriptural Finance is but newly discovered, that would 
 be no serious objection to its authority. 
 
 Everything that can make a text of Scripture autho- 
 ritative for us is here. 
 
 1. The word used is the strongest which the Greek 
 language contains, disra^a, ''I have given order.' ^ If 
 you compare the use made of this same word in the 
 eleventh chapter (ver. 34), where Paul is referring to 
 the rectifying of abuses in the observance of the Lord's 
 Supper, or in the ninth chapter (ver. 14), where it is 
 said, " Even so hath the Lord ordained that they who 
 preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel," you will 
 42 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 197 
 
 see that it would be very unnatural to give the word a 
 lower meaning in this place, unless some strong and 
 obvious reason appeared for so doing. 
 
 2. The only consideration which could warrant us to 
 treat as not now obligatory a rule stated in such terms 
 would be this, that there was something in the rule it- 
 self, or in the circumstances connected with it, to indi- 
 cate a partial and temporary obligation. But the 
 reverse is the case here. The " order " is given to 
 "the churches of Galatia" as well as to those in Corinth 
 and its neighbourhood ; and the inscription of the epistle 
 is, " Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to 
 them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be 
 saints, ivith all that in every place call iLpon the name 
 of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." (1 Cor. 
 i. 2.) Nothing that looks like limitation there. Be- 
 sides, in the next epistle, Avritten a full year later, Paul 
 refers again at length to this same great collection in 
 terms which we are certainly not accustomed to under- 
 stand with any limitation (2 Cor. viii. 9) ; so that it 
 appears this rule had been in operation over all the 
 churches of the Gentiles during all the Sabbaths of at 
 least twelve months. It is, in fact, a sacred habit that 
 the Word of God here inculcates, and a habit equally 
 adapted to all peoples and all times. 
 
 3. No doubt the passage has reference to one special 
 collection — that for the relief of the famine in Judea. 
 But God had sent prophets into the Gentile Jerusalem 
 to foretell that ''great dearth" (Acts xi. 27-30) ; and it 
 w^as reckoned to be worthy of an inspired apostle not 
 only to be one of the bearers of the offering, but by his 
 lips and his pen to stir up all the Gentiles to " prove 
 the sincerity of their love " to Christ in the matter, and 
 to guide them in the use of the wisest and most effec- 
 
 43 
 
198 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 tive means. Why are such things made part of the 
 Word of God at all, if not that they may serve as guides 
 to Christian practice in all places and all times ? When we 
 are told how the churches of Christ were enjoined to go 
 about the raising of money in one case, we are taught the 
 general principle which is to be applied to the raising of 
 money by Christians for Christian purposes in all cases.* 
 The authority of the text is thus clear ; and we may 
 be sure that before long time has elapsed it will be as 
 little questioned as " Go ye into all the world and preach 
 the Gospel to every creature." The fact that the churches 
 of Christ in Europe and among the English-speaking 
 populations of the globe have of late largely increased, 
 and are, except in one or two limited spots, happily 
 dependent for support only on the free-will offerings of 
 the people, and the farther fact that, with the opening 
 up of so much more extensive and rapid communications 
 between nations, God has shed forth on His people so 
 much of a missionary spirit, may well explain the greater 
 prominence into which this rule has been recently brought. 
 Still it would be a grave error to place it on a level with 
 those precepts which have their witness in the natural 
 conscience of the race, and to press it as an ecclesiastical 
 law : its appeal is to the conscience of every enlightened 
 Christian who is willing to be guided by the Word of 
 God. And the appeal is of a more than usually urgent 
 kind. It was not Paul who drew a line after the words, 
 
 * Though we have no particular respect for the authority of the 
 Fathers, and are disposed to agree with the late Dr J ohn Duncan iu 
 rather regarding them as children, Chrysostom's remark on the "every 
 one " of this passage is of value as showing the estimation in which 
 the rule was still held in his days at Antioch : " Every one, whether 
 poor or rich, woman or man, bond or free — the handicraftsman, for 
 instance, the sandal-maker, or the leather-cutter, or the brassfounder, 
 or any other artificer — this I say as recommending a deposit (setting 
 apart) of not less than a tenth part. " 
 
 u 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 1 9 9 
 
 " Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, im- 
 moveable, always abounding in the Avork of the Lord, 
 forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in 
 the Lord," and so robbed this rule of the weight it ought 
 to have as coming immediately after the transcend antly 
 glorious promise of the resurrection. The outcome of 
 our recejDtion of that truth is to be abounding work, and 
 this is the first form of work mentioned. 
 
 Let us now make a fair and patient effort to under- 
 stand just what the will of God is as taught in this 
 memorable passage. 
 
 1. Perhaps the most obvious thing about it is that it 
 supplies each man with a rule for calculating the portion 
 he ought to give. It does not name any one proportion 
 as that which each believer is to give — so far as the Word 
 deals with that it does so elsewhere (see pp. 176-182) ; 
 but it tells every man how to go about the discovering of 
 the amount that he in particular ought to give : '' Every 
 ONE ... AS God hath prospered him." No one is 
 supposed to know this so well as the man himself, and 
 at any rate no one but he is called on to make it 
 matter of devout consideration. By this rule each of us 
 is required frequently to remember the one source of our 
 prosperity. There is constant need for such a reminder. 
 " When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless 
 the Lord thy God for the good land w^hich he hath given 
 thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, 
 . . . lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast 
 built goodly houses and dwelt in them, and when thy 
 herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy 
 gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, 
 then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord 
 thy God who brought thee forth out of the land of 
 
 45 
 
200 THE CHUKCH's exchequer. 
 
 Egypt, from the house of bondage , . . and thou say 
 in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand 
 hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember 
 the Lord thy God, for he it is that giveth thee power to 
 get loealth:' (Dent viii. 10, 14, 17, 18.) He who 
 alone knows the forgetfulness and the thanklessness of 
 our hearts has spoken thus. Under the old economy 
 there was an institution for the express purpose of pre- 
 serving in each heart a humble, grateful sense of the 
 goodness of God. " And it shall be, when thou art 
 come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth 
 thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest 
 therein, that thou shalt take of the first 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 place his name there. . . And the 
 priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it 
 down before the altar of the Lord thy God. And thou 
 shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian 
 ready to perish was my father,'' &c. (Deut. xxvi.1-5.) 
 This same purpose, of keeping alive in us a lowly tender 
 sense of what we owe to God, will be served by the 
 observance of the rule laid down. The man who 
 frequently considers what he shall set apart for the 
 purpose of giving, and begins his consideration by 
 asking himself the question. How has God prospered 
 me ? w411 be in the way of fulfilling his own desire, 
 " Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his 
 benefits." (Ps. ciii. 2.) 
 
 How has God prospered me ? That is a question 
 
 worth pondering over often. " What hast thou that 
 
 thou didst not receive ? " (1 Cor. iv. 7) is a question 
 
 very easy to answer in one sense, but by no means so 
 
 46 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 201 
 
 easy to answer in another. It is easy — and of course 
 it is correct — to answer, I have nothing that I have not 
 received ; but that is scarcely the answer it is intended 
 we should give. Rather, pressed with the question, we 
 should go over our position in society and in family life, 
 our civil and religious privileges, our education, our 
 bodily health, our sound reason, our conversion, particu- 
 lar answers to prayer, the strivings of the Holy Spirit in 
 our hearts, the particular mercies of the past week — and 
 against each we should write in our hearts, ' received 
 from the mere favour of God in Christ to me a sinner' 
 — and gaze at the reckoning — so full on the one side, 
 only a blank as yet on the other — until we cry, ** What 
 shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards 
 me ? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the 
 name of the Lord. I tvill "pay my voivs now unto the 
 Lord in the presence of all His people." (Ps. cxvi. 12- 
 14.) The man who is in something like this spirit will, 
 having the tenth before him as the general standard or 
 unit of his sacred calculation, find little difiiculty and no 
 pain in fixing the portion of his substance to be set 
 apart for the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 For those whose incomes are fixed, whether paid 
 weekly or at longer intervals, the ascertaining of the 
 portion is obviously very easy : it may go on from week 
 to week the same, with only now and then any occasion 
 arising, from God having sent some special prospering, 
 for the amount being increased, or from His having 
 visited us with adversity (a rarer case and one the con- 
 sidering of which should be very carefully gone about) 
 for the amount being diminished. But there are many 
 whose incomes cannot be so easily ascertained : what 
 are they to do ? We venture to offer to such two 
 limits, always supposing they are honestly anxious 
 
 47 
 
202 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 to apply the rule " as God hath prospered me" to 
 themselves. 
 
 (1.) Err on the safe side. What that is you must'fix 
 for yourself, and in doing so you may be helped to dis- 
 cover your own state before God."" 
 
 (2.) Ask yourself, How much do I feel myself war- 
 ranted in spending on my dress, my table, luxuries (if 
 any) such as tobacco and drink, entertainments, cab- 
 hires and omnibus fares, newspapers, and the like, — even 
 although I do not know my income exactly ? 
 
 The essential thing under this first aspect of the rule 
 is that we look at the question of how much we are to 
 give sincerely in the light of what God has done and is 
 doing for us. While a habit will soon be formed of 
 setting apart the same coins in a purse or marking off 
 the same sum in a book — a habit of the utmost value 
 in itself — we must be on our guard not to lose that 
 honest, humble, thankful regard to the goodness of God 
 our Saviour, without which the mere habit would be- 
 come a snare. 
 
 2. Frequency is an important element in this rule ; 
 if we observe it we shall consider what we ought to 
 give to God not seldomer than once a week. 
 
 Of course it is better that men should consider how 
 God has prospered them, and determine an amount to 
 be set apart as treasure for Him once a month, or once 
 a quarter, or once a year even, than that they should 
 never do it at all ; but that is not what our rule says. 
 " On the first day of the week" means every first day of 
 the week. It means more ; but let us limit ourselves to 
 this idea in the meantime, t 
 
 * See further remarks on this subject under the head " Objections 
 Answered," pp. 240-242. 
 
 + Kara fxlav ca^^dTOjv would not be fairly interpreted as meaning only 
 that the Lord's De^y is a suitable time for making this sacred calcula- 
 tion v'hen made at all. 
 
 48 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 20S 
 
 The call to such frequency of consecration is in full 
 accord with the tenor of Scripture. From whatever 
 other source we may obtain monthly or yearly supplies 
 we do not get these from God. He may shew us a 
 secure source from which all we need may come for the 
 next fifty years, but He does not give us any guarantee 
 that we shall live to enjoy that provision. On the con- 
 trary He obliges us, first, to live in hourly dependence 
 on Him for health ; and farther, when health is given 
 He obliges us by the law of appetite to return more than 
 once a day to the use of food for the mere supporting of 
 life ; and yet farther, for at least a fourth part of everj^ 
 day He lays us to sleep, so that we are not even con- 
 sciously doing anything towards our own support. 
 When He had just raised a girl twelve years of age from 
 death, and while all were wondering and rejoicing about 
 her, as if sickness and death were never to be thought 
 of in connection with her any more, the Lord Jesus 
 recalled them to a sense of their dependence by " com- 
 manding that something should be given her to eat." 
 (Mark v. 43.) So far from encouraging the man of 
 robust health and easy means to consider his future 
 more secure than that of the most helpless victim of 
 disease and want. He rebukes the disposition to say, 
 " Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; 
 take thine ease ; eat, drink, and be merry," as guilty 
 madness ; " Thou fool ! this night thy soul shall be re- 
 quired of thee." (Luke xii. 19, 20.) An extremely 
 common form of sin is described b}^ James with start- 
 ling fidelity : — '' Go to now, ye that say. To-day or to- 
 morrow we will go into such a city and continue there a 
 year, and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas ye know 
 not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your 
 life ? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little 
 
 49 
 
204< THE church's exchequer. 
 
 time and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to 
 say, If the Lord will we shall live and do this or that." 
 (James iv. 13-15.) The weekly review of all God's 
 blessings, with the purpose of consecrating a portion to 
 His service, would powerfully counteract this evil, and 
 bring our lives more into harmony with the prayer 
 which the richest needs to offer not less than the poorest, 
 '' Give us day by day our daily bread." 
 
 There is something deeply suggestive in this call to 
 set apart money for God's service every week. God has 
 taken the seventh portion of our time, and solemnly 
 consecrated it to Himself, and said '' Remember." 
 Why ? That all men may feel and acknowledge their 
 dependence on Him for every hour, every moment. On 
 the same principle does He ask that a definite propor- 
 tion of our substance shall be given to Him, and that 
 the relation of this part to the rest of our substance 
 shall be looked at once a week, in order that we may 
 realise and express our dependence on Him " who giveth 
 us richly all things to enjoy." (1 Tim. vi. 17.) 
 
 When we come to speak of the advantages flowing 
 from observance of this rule, we shall have more to say 
 about this important point. You may, however, as well 
 take note at once that such frequency and regularity 
 would enable all, from the receiver of weekly wages up 
 to the very richest, to earn His approval who said, " She 
 hath done what she could." Scarcely anything else will 
 enable the poorer to come up to the full measure of their 
 ability : and nothing will have so powerful a tendency to 
 save the richer from that subtile form of self-deception 
 which consists in regarding considerable sums given at 
 longer intervals as the giving of much. £5, in an annual 
 subscription, men will persist in regarding as much : but 
 half-a-crown a week is a considerably larger sum at the 
 
 50 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 205 
 
 year's end. The former is apt to be what J. D. Burns 
 calls " the censer swung by the proud hand of merit : " 
 the latter is more likely to be '' faith's two mites, dropt 
 covertly." 
 
 3. There is, however, much more than frequency of 
 giving required. Not any day of the week may be taken 
 for this consecration, but the first day of the week. 
 Divine wisdom and grace are conspicuous here. That 
 our storing " the Lord's portion " shall form part of the 
 exercise of the Lord's Day is so essential a feature in the 
 sacred method for which we plead that we crave your 
 careful and candid attention to it. 
 
 (1) There is a high moral fitness in making the con- 
 secration of our substance to God part of the employment 
 of the Sabbath. Not to mention the hour, which is but 
 a useful invention of man, there are four divisions of 
 time of which God is the Author. They all bear un- 
 mistakeable traces of His goodness : but three come from 
 the God of nature, and are as obvious to the heathen as 
 to those who enjoy the light of revelation. These are de- 
 termined by the motions of the earth and its relations 
 to the heavenly bodies in their motions : the light of the 
 sun makes the day ; the light of the moon makes the 
 month ; the regular succession of spring, summer, 
 autumn, winter, fill up the rounded year. But what has 
 created the week ? On what permanent and universal 
 fact does it depend ? The will of God, apart from any 
 obvious natural law, has given us the Sabbath, in order 
 that we may directly connect it with Himself : and the 
 fact on which it depends is the finishing of God's work, 
 first in the old, then in the new, creation. The first 
 day of the week is God's perpetual Sabbath, — the day 
 being changed by the fact that the Son of God was still 
 
 51 
 
206 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 wrestling with the powers of the grave on the seventh 
 day, but "entered into His rest" on the first; by 
 His own repeated consecration of this first day after 
 His resurrection (John xx. 19, 26) ; and by examples of 
 its observance in the Apostolical Church, of which this 
 is one. (Acts xx. 7; Rev. i. 10.) We do not turn 
 aside to argue this matter, but pleading with those whose 
 best experiences have proved to them that the first day 
 of the week is indeed the Lord's Day, we say. Is there 
 not a most excellent fitness in conjoining the sacred 
 storing of our substance with this sacred division of our 
 time ? Here is a duty, a privilege, purely spiritual and 
 oracious. Nature can neither determine for me the 
 
 o 
 
 proportion I am to give nor furnish motives why I 
 should give at all : grace — the grace of the Lord Christ 
 — alone constrains me in considering the amount, the 
 frequency, the whole method, of my giving. As it is 
 purely out of regard to the will of God in Christ Jesus, 
 and to the benefits He has conferred on me, that I con- 
 secrate to Him the seventh part of my time, so it is as a 
 believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and under the same 
 sense of the infinite value of Gospel blessings, that I 
 devote to Him this proportion of my income. God 
 claims a fixed proportion of my time to be given to Him 
 at stated and frequent intervals, and in giving that I 
 acknowledge Him not only as the God of my life, but 
 much more as my Redeemer. God claims a fixed pro- 
 jDortion of my money to be devoted to his service on 
 earth, and in giving that I acknowledge Him not merely 
 as the God who has bestowed on me all I possess, and 
 has cast around my property the fiery shield of His com- 
 mandment *' Thou shalt not steal," but much more as 
 Him who has loved my soul and given His Son to be my 
 Saviour from sin. Is it not then highly fit that these 
 52 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. '207 
 
 two acknowledgments of the God of all grace should thus 
 be associated ? 
 
 (2) Again : Our minds and hearts ought to be on the 
 Lord's Day in the frame most suitable for giving. At 
 other times the lawful business, or the equally lawful 
 pleasures, of daily life are engaging us ; but now, on the 
 first day of the week, secular employment has ceased, 
 secular thoughts are banished, and we are occupied with 
 the word and work of the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. 
 The motives under which we should give are, for one, 
 that " we know the gi*ace of our Lord Jesus Christ who, 
 though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, 
 that we through His poverty might be rich ; " and for 
 another, that we are '' considering the poor." (Ps. xli. ] .) 
 When, if not on the Lord's Day, will the power of these 
 motives be felt ? If the duty and privilege of frequent 
 giving be recognised, no time can be fotmd on which 
 that duty will be better discharged than the first day of 
 the week. 
 
 (S) We have spoken almost exclusively of that per- 
 sonal and private devotement of substance to God, which 
 forms the hidden spring of the Church's Exchequer ; and 
 indeed that is the matter of chief importance. (To see 
 that the Avell be filled and kept full by a sufficient num- 
 ber of pure springs, however little each may be, is the prin- 
 cipal concern ; the distribution of the contents of the 
 well is also important, but what if there be nothing to 
 distribute ? or if what there is be not clean ?) Here, 
 however, in thinking of the Lord's Day, we cannot but 
 remember that on it the application of the sacred store 
 is to a large extent made. " Give unto the Lord the 
 glory due unto His name : bring an offering and come 
 into His courts." (Ps. xcvi. 8.) The custom of our 
 <;hurches most properly connects the very entrance into 
 
 53 
 
208 THE chuech's exchequer. 
 
 God's courts with an act of giving ; and scarcely any 
 one thinks of taking his seat in a place of worship with- 
 out having first performed this act. But how is it per- 
 formed ? The amount may or may not be what it 
 should ; but what of the spirit ? Those who at home 
 have first " given the glory to the Lord which is due " 
 will be in a position to " bring an offering " truly to 
 Him. We believe the Church's Exchequer is impover- 
 ished through undevout and unsystematic giving : what 
 if its contents are also unblessed ! There is a constant 
 danger in this mammon-worshijDping age of our suffering 
 money to secularize religion : but if this golden rule 
 were observed, if all our tithes were at least " set apart " 
 under the hallowing influences of the Lord's Day, whether 
 they then pass from our hands or not, religion would be 
 more likely to sanctify money. 
 
 4. We have assumed throughout that the giving of the 
 Lord's portion is in the first instance a purely private and 
 personal act, — the giving to any public fund, or to the 
 needy, coming after. It may be as well, however, to give 
 articulate prominence to this feature of the rule, "Let 
 every one of you lay by him " (yra,§ suvruj Tidiroj). Not 
 after the collector has called, not when brought into contact 
 with want and misery, not when sitting under an earnest 
 missionary appeal, least of all when a subscription-book, 
 containing names we know pretty well, is thrust in our 
 face, are we to begin to think how much we can give to 
 God. There is very little chance in these circumstances 
 of our giving anything to God at all ; we will give to 
 man, or to that incomprehensible abstraction we call 
 " a good object," and probably not in a very earnest 
 spirit. The very essence of this whole matter lies in 
 the act being one of personal devotion — devotion in a 
 fuller than the usual sense, both devoutness of spirit and 
 
 54 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 209 
 
 devoting of substance. The transaction, as we have shown 
 (see at p. 174; and at p. 187), is one in the first instance, 
 and chiefly between the believing soul and the Searcher of 
 hearts — not the less the Searcher of hearts that He is our 
 Friend and Saviour : and with this the language of our 
 rule fully agrees — " let every one of you lay hy him." The 
 feeder of the Church's Exchequer is " the Bag," (the Glos- 
 sokomon) — mark this weU. Those who are daily handling 
 large sums of money will probably find the most effective 
 and convenient form of " setting apart " the devoted sum, 
 to be marking it in a book — like that banker in Phila^ 
 delphia who had, or has, a page in his ledger mysteriously 
 headed '' O. P. J." (Old Patriarch Jacob) ; but most of us 
 will find the keeping of a " bag " necessary to perfecting 
 our consecration. 
 
 o. Another word in this text must be expounded. 
 It teaches us that in our weekly consecration of a portion 
 to sacred uses, we are to have respect to the laying up 
 OF TREASURE IN HEAVEN. We found this remark on the 
 word rendered " in store" drjffavp/^uv. It is common to 
 understand this as referring to either a public or a private 
 store, in which the money set apart by each on the first 
 day of the week was allowed to accumulate until Paul 
 should come for it. Perhaps there is no objection to 
 that interpretation (although it does seem rather super- 
 fluous to tell those who have '* set apart by themselves," 
 or " each laid by him " his appropriate sum, to find 
 another earthly store for it) : but surely a better inter- 
 pretation is not far to seek. The word instantly reminds 
 us of frequent sayings of the Lord Jesus, wherein He 
 taught us to connect our present actings, and this par- 
 ticularly, with the spiritual and eternal realities, — sayings 
 wherein He employed this very word : " Give to the 
 poor and thou shalt have treasure (store) in heaven ; " 
 
 55 
 
210 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 '' Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure 
 in the heavens that faileth not, ... for where your 
 treasure is there will your heart be also." (Matt. xix. 21 ; 
 Luke xii. 33, 34). It seems to us far more likely that 
 the Holy Spirit was bringing such language of the Master 
 to Paul's remembrance while he wrote, than that Paul was 
 thinking only of an earthly store. And our opinion is 
 strongly confirmed by finding that in another passage 
 Paul uses this word certainly with the heavenly mean- 
 ing. '' Charge them that they do good, that they be 
 rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to com- 
 municate, laying up in store for themselves a good 
 foundation against the time to come, that they may lay 
 hold upon eternal life" {u'Trodrjcuv^i^ovrag, 1 Tim. vi. 1 7-1 9). 
 
 Whatever may be thought of this exegesis, there can 
 be no doubt at all that in every case in which the stor- 
 ing of money for God is rightly performed on earth, 
 there is also, and at the same time, a laying up of 
 treasure in heaven. Those who, like Mary and our name- 
 less sister and the widow, are, in the fulness of their 
 love to the Lord Jesus, doing this most truly, may also 
 be least conscious of the fact : but it is the fact, never- 
 theless, and it behoves us all to understand it and lay it 
 to heart. 
 
 6. This rule is Universal : ''Let every one of you.'" 
 No doubt Corinth was one of the richest cities into which 
 Christianity had penetrated, equal with Antioch, and 
 these second only to Rome. But it does not by any 
 means follow that the converts were rich. There is a 
 text, is there not, that says, "Ye see your calling, 
 brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, 
 not many mighty, not many noble are called ? " Why, 
 that text is in this very epistle, chapter 1st, verse 2Cth ! 
 Through persistent strength of worldliness we fancy a 
 
 56 
 
THE BIBLE METHOD. 211 
 
 primary qualification for giving must be the enjoyment 
 of a comfortable income. The independent poor (using 
 the word in its common meaning as including many who 
 are above positive destitution), regard the proposed ex- 
 emption as an insult ; and they well may. While some 
 may intend only kindness, the motive of others in not 
 encouraging the poorer to give is, we shrewdly suspect, 
 by no means praiseworthy : the widow's tiuo mites are the 
 most searching exposure, and the most solemn condem- 
 nation of easy, ostentatious giving. At any rate, this 
 rule should warn us that, in proposing to draw any line, 
 we run the risk of condemning those whom the Master 
 praised, and quietly placing at His left hand those who 
 need not be there but for their poverty ! No : the 
 divine method is precisely adapted to enable those who 
 have least to attain to the highest measure of their ability 
 in giving, by giving every first day of the week ; and to 
 the highest measure of blessing, by giving indeed to God 
 Himself 
 
 Those whose means are greater can only he equal 
 with them and no more, and their abundance is apt ta 
 hinder them even in this.* 
 
 * In order to complete the exposition of this passage we should have 
 spoken here of the words, " that there be no gatherings when I come," 
 but we reserve what is to be said about these till we come to treat of 
 the advantages to the Church flowing from observance of this rule, p. 230. 
 
 57 
 
212 THE CHURCH S EXCHEQUER. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ARGUMENTS FOR THE CHURCH'S EXCHEQUER. 
 
 It might, in one sense, be held to be enough that we 
 have set forth the fundamental principles of Scripture 
 with regard to giving, and that we have proved from 
 the same supreme authority the duty of consecrating 
 a fixed proportion of income to God, and of each Chris- 
 tian by himself making this consecration every Lord's 
 day. Had we not found these principles and this method 
 in the Word, we could not have pleaded for them at all. 
 But it is well to add farther pleadings based on the 
 obvious tendency of a general adoption of this sacred 
 habit to promote the prosperity of the Church, and on 
 experience. 
 
 I. The sacred method is productive of much good to 
 
 THE INDIVIDUAL PRACTISING IT. 
 
 " The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
 altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, 
 than much fine gold : sweeter also than honey and the 
 honey-comb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned ; 
 and in keeping of them there is great reward." (Ps. 
 xix. 9-11.) All that is true of "keeping" the will of 
 Ood in the application of money for His service. 
 
 1. The man who forms the habit of setting apart all 
 he can every Lord's day, out of grateful regard to what 
 the Lord Jesus Christ has done for him, will always 
 have something to give, and will find he can give it 
 pleasantly. 
 
 The calls made upon us now-a-days are frequent, and 
 sometimes sudden. The man who has never thought of 
 
 58 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 215 
 
 making himself ready beforehand, whose givings must 
 be taken out of his spending income, or (what is les& 
 agi'eeable) out of the sum he is laying up as capital 
 for the future, must have difficulty in meeting these 
 calls, and can scarcely meet them aright. Either he 
 gives grudgingly, because he finds it not convenient at 
 the time to give at all ; or he gives recklessly, with an 
 uncomfortable feeling that perhaps he ought not to give 
 so much ; or he says. So many calls come one after 
 the other, I have nothing left, and so refuses. The 
 man of a warm, imj)ulsive disposition may often give 
 more than he can afford, if he never considers the 
 matter till it is too late — that is, till some call is press- 
 ing on his heart. In a prize-essay on this subject pub- 
 lished in America many years ago, we find the following 
 sentence ; " One excellent minister's wife said that she 
 rejoiced that her husband had adopted this rule, because 
 she was now sure that his gifts would be regulated by 
 his deliberate judgment, and not exceed his ability." 
 It is probably on the other side that most wiU en-; but 
 why err on either side ? Having a fund set apart ex- 
 pressly for giving, and which cannot be used for any 
 other purpose, you cannot grudge what goes from it ; 
 and that fund being replenished weekly, it can never be 
 long exhausted. 
 
 Of course there is room and need for consideration 
 and common sense in administering the exchequer. We 
 make no pretence to do more than lay down general 
 principles, and state a particular habit : the giver must 
 judge for himself as to the order of urgency belonging 
 to the claims of his congregation, the poor, local missions, 
 foreign missions, and so forth ; as to the amount to be 
 given to each ; and as to how he is to adjust his weekly 
 method to the giving of sums for which he is asked only 
 
 59 
 
214! THE church's exchequer. 
 
 once a quarter, or once a year, or once for all. But such 
 adjustment will not be difficult once the sacred habit is 
 formed ; till then it tvill be difficult, indeed we cannot 
 well see how any satisfactory adjustment of these points 
 is to be made at all. If any reader feels difficulty in 
 adopting the method for which we plead on account of 
 his being required to give larger sums, and these at longer 
 intervals, we would venture to assure him that instead 
 of finding himself hindered in the giving of these larger 
 sums, he would find himself considerably helped. 
 
 For (1) the greater number of our givings, and those 
 ifivolving the largest amounts for persons of ordinary in- 
 <come, are, or ought to be, weeJdy. The church-door 
 plate gives the opportunity of making all the payments 
 for support of ordinances in our own congregations that 
 are of an ordinary kind. If in any place the element 
 of pew-rents still remains to disturb the natural working 
 of the free-will offering, the systematic giver can allow 
 the sum to accumulate for twelve weeks, until the time 
 comes when a revolution can be effected, and this im- 
 perfection is removed. At any rate, the man who has 
 tried systematic weekly consecration honestly for a year, 
 will discover that he can pay his quarterly pew-rent 
 more easily than when he had no system at all. 
 
 (2) The same will apply to monthly collections, such as 
 those for the Sustentation Fund, and even to those 
 which are yearly, such as for missions. While scriptu- 
 ral principles are still but imperfectly understood and 
 applied, the enlightened and conscientious giver must 
 take the trouble, not very great, of allowing the weekly 
 sums for these purposes to accumulate in his own hands ; 
 and he will be surprised and delighted to find that not 
 only is there no difficulty in finding the monthly or 
 yearly sum, but that he thus gives a larger amount, and 
 
 60 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 215 
 
 gives it with ease. Boxes furnish the simple means of 
 this secondary storing for those (by far the larger number) 
 who are accustomed to spend all that they do not give. 
 
 (3) As for the giving of large sums, and for 
 special purposes, it is only, of course, persons of larger 
 means who can give these ; and the habit of devoting a 
 proportion to God, and of considering this every Lord's 
 day, will materially facilitate such givings. 
 
 We have already mentioned the case of the late Mrs 
 Isabella Graham of New York (p. 1 7 1 ). Her habit secured 
 to her, when reduced in circumstances, something to give, 
 and the same good conscience in giving as when her 
 means were ample. Mrs Graham was not always poor ; 
 and when once £1,000 came into her hand unexpectedly 
 £100 went forthwith into the Lord^s store. Here was 
 provision for some larger giving ; the thousand pounds 
 would probably not have yielded the hundred but for 
 the lifelong habit. The present writer had on one 
 occasion to do with a missionary undertaking for 
 which £650 were required. The whole expense was 
 double that amount, but after all had been collected 
 that it seemed possible to collect, this sum was still 
 needed. A person called on him and said he was pre- 
 pared to give £302, 10s. on two conditions — first, that 
 his name should never be known, and secondly, that the 
 remainder should be subscribed. It was subscribed in 
 a fortnight ; and the institution thus provided for has 
 flourished these eight or nine years. The explanation 
 of so large a sum being given unasked was that special 
 circumstances had raised the giver's income, and the 
 proportion must he devoted. There are probably many 
 such cases, though it is by no means desirable to make 
 them locally prominent in connection with the givers' 
 names. 
 
 61 
 
216 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 2. The systematic giver is protected from unpleasant 
 solicitation. Not from all solicitation, for wants must 
 be made known in special cases, and collectors must go 
 their rounds until the sacred habit becomes so thoroughly 
 established that all can be trusted to bring their offer- 
 ing to the house of God; but from all unpleasant solici- 
 tation. When it has become known in the circle in 
 which a man moves that he is a total abstainer, no one 
 thinks of pressing him to drink wine ; in much the 
 same way, when it is understood that a man is one of 
 those peculiar people who regulate their givings by a 
 conscientious system of primary and frequent consecra- 
 tion to God, his principle will be respected, and all right- 
 thinking persons will feel that it would be rude and 
 improper to urge or expect him to give more than he 
 has frankly and promptly offered. 
 
 On the other hand, a refusal to give you anything for 
 your particular object is not the same painful discourag- 
 ing thing from such a man as it is from another, since 
 you believe he is giving in other ways all that he can. 
 For ourj own part, when we have occasion to gather 
 money for any particular purpose (which is not very 
 often) we ask those only of whom we have reason to be- 
 lieve that they are systematic givers, knowing that if 
 such persons have to refuse us — a rare case — we can 
 take their refusal with entire good nature and retain our 
 full respect for their character. It is no small recom- 
 mendation of the method we plead for, that it would 
 conclusively rid the Church of the nuisance of religious 
 begging, and bless the relation between askers and 
 givers. 
 
 3. The habit of sacred weekly storing will promote 
 a man's temporal prosperity. 
 
 It will do so directly. The three causes on which, as 
 
 62 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 217 
 
 a rule, prosperity depends, are economy, integi'ity, and 
 accurate knowledge of one's affairs. As for the first, the 
 very wish to have always something wherewith to do a 
 little good will keep a man from rash outlays and self- 
 indulgent lavishness. As for the second, the man most 
 likely to slip into acts of dishonesty will not be he who 
 every Lord's Day has his heart turned toward the 
 Searcher of hearts in the very matter of his use of 
 money. And as for the third, this godly habit requires 
 him to know how he stands. 
 
 While good for all, the habit will prove a signal bless- 
 ing to those who have small fixed incomes, to the 
 receivers of weekly wages, and to the young entering on 
 life — a signal blessing, we mean, as respects its influence 
 directly on their worldly prosperity. Mr Gladstone, 
 ^vriting a public letter under date Jan. 9th, 1865,* uses 
 the following weighty words : — " I think the object of 
 the Society (which I understand to be inducing men to 
 give at least some fixed 'proportion of their incomes, 
 such as their several cases may permit, to purposes of 
 charity and religion) is one that may be legitimately 
 adopted by all, especially by all Christians, with the 
 greatest and most beneficial consequences. And 
 although it is the religious character and eflfect of such 
 a proceeding that has the first claim upon attention, I 
 for one believe its results would be no less advantageous 
 in a social, and likewise in an economical, point of view." 
 
 It will promote welfare in this world by bringing the 
 blessing of the living God. " The blessing of the Lord 
 it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it." 
 (Prov. X. 22.) The habit for which we plead is essen- 
 tially a " seeking first the kingdom of God and His 
 
 * To the Secretary of the Systematic Beneficence Society, published 
 in the Benefactor for May 1865, 
 
 63 
 
218 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 righteousness/' a habit of " godliness ;" and the blessings 
 promised may be confidently expected to rest on its 
 faithful observance — ''all these things shall be added 
 unto you/' ''godliness is profitable unto all things, hav- 
 ing the promise of the life that now is." (Matt. vi. 33; 
 1 Tim. iv. 8.) The man who believes the living God 
 of daily providence to be the God who has given him the 
 " unspeakable gift" of His Son, summing in one pardon 
 and a new heart and grace and everlasting life, and who 
 therefore makes giving for His service a matter of 
 frequent and devout consideration, is surely in the way 
 to have these promises made good to him. Mark the 
 words — " Honour the Lord with thy substance " — let it 
 be done in truth to Him and not to man — " and with 
 the first fruits'' — not the superfluity, not the chance 
 leavings — " of all thine increase " — not fitfully, and not 
 keeping up the same fixed sum you were wont to give in 
 less prosperous days — "so shall thy barns be filled with 
 plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." 
 (Prov. iii. 9, 10.) 
 
 It will occur to the thoughtful reader that if these pro- 
 mises receive anything like a literal fulfilment, and if there 
 are any faithful givers alive, instances of the fulfilment 
 should be within reach. So they are ; and a sincere 
 Christian, to whom this subject may be new, could not 
 do better than begin to look them out. We would give 
 to them, specially to the young, the counsel that a now 
 sainted mother gave to her children — " Keep your eyes 
 open, and you will soon discover that God is a living 
 God." Enquire a little into the private history and prin- 
 ciples of the most successful Christian people about you, 
 and you will find that they, up to the measure of their 
 Scriptural enlightenment, are observing these sacred 
 principles and this sacred habit. 
 
 64 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 2 1 9 
 
 The case of Mr Spurgeon has been referred to already 
 {p. 191) ; but it is rarely possible to refer to instances of 
 the living in connection with a matter that belongs so 
 -essentially to the heart and the hidden life. It would 
 speedily kill the grace of the habit and reduce it to self- 
 righteous form, to make everyone's systematic giving a 
 matter of parade and gossip. Surely there were others 
 in Jerusalem, although comparatively few, who were 
 giving " much," according to the judgment of Christ, 
 and whose hearts He saw and comforted ; but He fixed 
 attention only on one poor widow, and her name is not 
 told. Probably the best form in which to put this evi- 
 dence from experience and observation is : (1) To challenge 
 the production of a single case of injury arising from 
 loving, faithful, intelligent observance of the Bible rule ; 
 
 (2) To pledge one's own knowledge of uniform blessing, 
 as everyone who speaks or writes on the subject will be 
 able to do, if he is in a position to speak or write at all ; 
 
 (3) To present well-authenticated cases, w^hen this can be 
 done without injury to the individual concerned. For 
 example : 
 
 From year to year, sometimes oftener than once a year, 
 the present writer receives a golden sovereign in aid of 
 the Gospel in Italy, from a family which many would 
 class among the poor, the bread-winner being a mechanic 
 not always in good health. This used to be brought by 
 his aged mother : since her death it is brought by one 
 whom he has brought up as " his own daughter." (Esther 
 ii. 7.) On one occasion, hearing that he had been 
 months out of work, we took an opportunity to inform 
 him that we had been entrusted with a little money for 
 relieving such, and that it was at his service. He thanked 
 us warmly, promised to avail himself of the money when- 
 ever it might be necessary, but said that in the mean- 
 
 65 
 
220 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 time they could get along. He has never needed man's 
 help, and his mother has gone to glory richer than a 
 queen.* 
 
 Two sisters lived together. Lucy went to a prayer- 
 meeting on the first night of a new year : Mary stayed 
 at home. Lucy in church and Mary at home were 
 simultaneously convinced by the Holy Spirit that Mai. 
 iii. 10 was a text which should be at once applied by 
 themselves in the way of setting apart for God a tenth of 
 their little income. When Lucy got home she would 
 not allow Mary to speak till she had poured out to her 
 her fresh conviction, and, when she had done, was 
 astonished to find that her sister, alone at home, had 
 arrived at the same conviction. Their neighbours ere 
 long began to think the Misses Alport had had a fortune 
 left them, so happy were they and so freely did they give. 
 When a year of sickness and extra expense tried their 
 faith, and made them consider whether they should 
 reduce the proportion given, or take from their small 
 capital, the post brought them the precise sum required. f 
 
 George Mliller, himself an illustrious example of 
 
 * Our readers are, we must suppose, too intelligent to fancy that 
 any such blessing can come if the spirit of bargain and greed enters 
 into the transaction, — if money is given not for the purpose of 
 doing good, but for the sake of the expected return, A story is told 
 of a North-Highland family resident in Manchester. The husband, 
 Dugald, went to a missionary meeting, taking with him a shilling 
 for the collection ; but his heart was so moved by what he heard that 
 he went home in haste, took the whole five pounds he and his wife had 
 saved for a rainy day, and gave it all. Flora's heart was not so warm, 
 and she sometimes grumbled ; but Dugald was always sure the Lord 
 would never suffer them to want because they had given to Him. At 
 length, an unlooked for sum of £500 was left to the worthy man, who 
 then said, "Noo, Flora, I hope you're converted? See ! the Lord has 
 given lis not only bread to eat and health to earn it, not only tenfold 
 interest, but a hundredfold ! Are you converted, Flora ? " " Oh yes, 
 Dugald, I'm sure I'm converted : but what a peety but we had given 
 ten pounds ! " Flora's conversion was very doubtful. 
 
 t God's Tenth. A Fact for the New Year. 23d thousand. London : 
 J. F. Shaw & Co. 
 66 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 221 
 
 devoting money and all else in faith to the Lord Christ, 
 told recently * a story of a poor woman, known to him, 
 whose support was a little bit of ground planted with 
 potatoes, who felt she must have the pleasure of setting 
 apart a halfpenny a week for her Saviour. The potatoes 
 prospered, and the halfpenny became a penny, and the 
 penny twopence, and so on week by week, till now Mr 
 MuUer does not know how much she has the delight of 
 giving. 
 
 4. But we have a stronger argument than any con- 
 nected with this world. It is only with Christians we 
 can rightly plead at all, and we urge them to adopt the 
 sacred method of giving out of regard to the happy influ- 
 ence it has in promoting spiritual prosperity. This 
 should touch us all closely, and you will not wonder if, 
 conscious of the urgent need for every kind of influence 
 that will raise the tone of vital godliness, we plead 
 warmly. 
 
 (1) Humility, sincere habitual remembrance of what 
 we are in the sight of God, is one of the rarest and most 
 precious graces. This habit will powerfully tend to 
 maintain it. A whole cluster of spiritual blessings is 
 contained in truly and humbly saying, " Give us day by 
 day our daily bread," — gratitude, confidence in our 
 Heavenly Father, relief from anxious care, thoughts of 
 the time when we shall hunger no more. If it is your 
 habit every Lord's Day to set apart a portion to God as 
 a practical acknowledgment of His care and mercy, you 
 will, under the blessing of the Holy Spirit, find yourself 
 helped in keeping up the spirit of that daily prayer. 
 An occasional and impulsive giving, having reference to 
 a particular appeal presented by a fellowman, may or 
 may not be accompanied by the feeling that all I have 
 
 * At a public meeting in Edinburgh. 
 
 67 
 
222 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 comes from God, and that, in giving this, I am serving- 
 Him with His own : but if my giving be a habit, stated 
 and secret, with which no fellowman has anything to do, 
 but in which my heart transacts with God my Saviour, I 
 am much more likely to feel as I ought to feel. " Who 
 am I that I should be able to offer so willingly after this 
 sort ? for all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have 
 I given Thee. For we are strangers before Thee, and 
 sojourners, as were all our fathers ; our days on the earth 
 are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." (1 Chron. 
 xxix. 14, 15.) 
 
 Though there were no other profit in it than the dehver- 
 ing us from that ostentation to which our hearts are too 
 well inclined, and which there is so much in the customs 
 around us to encourage, the method that requires us to 
 look at our givings in the sunlight of the Cross would be 
 of a value that cannot be reckoned. 
 
 (2) The right observance of this method will enable 
 us to lay up " Treasure in heaven" To the fact that 
 there is such a thing we have adverted in pleading for 
 the need of system and method (p. 192) ; now, in 
 urging the advantages flowing from such method, we 
 wish to arrest your thoughts upon the philosophy of the 
 amazing fact. We fear thousands have never given 
 earnest attention, or any attention at all, to the passages, 
 so many, so plain, so startling, in which our Lord and 
 the apostles connect our givings here with judgment and 
 heaven. (Matt. x. 42 ; Luke xii. 21, 31, 32 ; xvi. 9 ; 
 1 Tim. vi. ; Matt. xix. 21; xxv. 31-46; and others.) 
 Look at these passages now, if never before. You ask. 
 How can these things be ? How is it possible that in 
 any real intelligible sense these words can apply to me 
 and to what / do in this matter of giving ? My brother, 
 you may be sure there is, whether you can find it out or 
 
 68 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 223 
 
 not, a very real sense in which each text applies to you ; 
 but after all, it is not obscure : you need only think a 
 little and you will see it. First, All deeds of real 
 charity are to he revealed at the judgment. It may be 
 to the surprise of those who feel themselves "brands 
 plucked from the fire," but not the less shall they hear 
 the Judge say to them, " Inasmuch as ye did it unto the 
 least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 
 Everything is to be eevealed : God forgets nothing : 
 and in His book those deeds, however little in themselves 
 and quickly forgotten by us, which were the outcome of 
 a sense of the constraining love of the Lord Christ shall 
 be found recorded — not, of course, as forming the meri- 
 torious ground of acceptance, but as the indispensable 
 evidences of having felt that love and being joined 
 to Himself by faith. Secondly, Spiritual good is in its 
 own nature everlasting. Those who are converted are 
 partakers of everlasting life, and are to dwell in the same 
 heaven with those who have been the means of their 
 conversion. Now obviously, in so far as your money, 
 given in love to Christ and with prayer for His blessing, 
 has been instrumental in effecting that transcendent 
 result, it shall he knoivn to you in glory. Not only 
 here, nor here chiefly, is that word to be made true 
 " Cast thy bread upon the waters ; for thou shalt find it 
 after many days ; " and our Lord meant not irony (as 
 some have strangely imagined), but plain truth, when 
 He said, " Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of 
 unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you 
 into everlasting habitations." (Eccles. xi. 1 ; Luke xvi. 
 9.) And you will still better understand this thing, and 
 more closely feel the present connected with the eternal 
 future, if you consider, thirdly, that All true sjpiritual ex- 
 periences are of necessity abiding. A good conscience, 
 
 69 
 
224? THE church's exchequer. 
 
 victory over the love of the world, the joy of beneficence, 
 the God-like joy, — these are of the very essence of the 
 soul, and go with it wherever it goes. You see, then, 
 what a real and tangible thing " Treasure in heaven " is. 
 Consider whether this holy frequent consecration of sub- 
 stance on the Lord's Day be not the most likely way of 
 laying it up. The question, when you withdraw it from 
 the misleading surroundings of too common opinions 
 and practices, and look at it patiently, prayerfully, in the 
 light of the Master's words, becomes pungently simple ; 
 I must either be obeying Him, so that I have treasure 
 and heart in heaven, or deceiving myself by fancying 
 my heart is in heaven while I am laying up no treasure 
 there : in which way shall I be most likely to do what 
 I ought, and to avoid what I ought not to do, — by 
 giving fitfully, careless whether the amount and propor- 
 tion be right in His eyes or not, from mere impulse, or 
 according to man's judgment ; or by humbly seeking to 
 serve my Saviour by this sacred storing for Him ? 
 
 (3) The habit will promote your soul's welfare by 
 saving you from the greatest peril to which a professing 
 Christian is exposed. 
 
 Can anything be more fearful to contemplate than the 
 death of a covetous church member? — of one who, 
 whether he has sunk into the degradation of a miser or 
 not, has yet made this world his portion ? Then, sin 
 and death, heaven and hell, judgment and eternity, God 
 and Jesus Christ his Son, hitherto but names to him, 
 become urgent realities, while those other things, which 
 alone he has treated as realities, — the world and its traffic, 
 houses and lands, — become hollow ghosts that, though fad- 
 ing from his grasp, yet cannot be banished from his dreams. 
 Then he does not go out of the world saying, " I would 
 not live alway," but is dragged to his own place, " God 
 
 70 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 225 
 
 taking aiuay Jbis soul ; " and, unless the word of God be 
 deluding us, it must soon come to this point. Who 
 can endure to think of the horror of thick darkness 
 engulphing such a soul ! Who would not cry, " Let me 
 die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be 
 like his ? " But if you shrink from such an end, you 
 must do more than utter that cry ; you must do some- 
 thing toward the realizing of your desire, and shun that 
 "love of money which is the root of all evil." The 
 man who so prayed had just been, with his own lips 
 guided by inspiration, describing the blessedness of God's 
 people (Numb, xxiii. 10) ; but after all he did not die 
 the death of the righteous. Next to Judas, Balaam is 
 the most fearful example of the damning power of 
 covetousness. God rebuked his madness in vain, and 
 he perished, loving the wages of unrighteousness. (2 Peter 
 ii. 15, 16.) 
 
 Suffer me to reason with you a little upon this 
 most unpopular of all subjects in the Christian Church, 
 and to plead for the sacred habit as a means of 
 escaping a danger from which it is not easy to escape. 
 The love of money is inconsistent vnth a hope of the 
 soul's salvation. Listen to the word of God in direct 
 contradiction of the commonly-received notions of worldly- 
 minded Christians. '' Ye cannot serve God and mam- 
 mon." "If any man love the world, the love of the 
 Father is not in him" " Be not deceived : neither 
 fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor covetous, 
 nor drunkards, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 
 " Ye know that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, 
 nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath any inheri- 
 tance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let tw 
 man deceive you \uith vain words, for because of 
 THESE THIJ^GS cometh the wrath of God upon the 
 
 P 71 
 
226 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers 
 with them." (Matt. vi. 24 ; 1 John ii. 15 ; 1 Cor. v. 
 10, 11 ; vi. 9, 10; Eph. v. 5-7). 
 
 Turn not away in disgust, as though the mere sug- 
 gestion of your being gathered with idolaters and impure 
 persons were on our part a foolish and reckless insult. 
 Who, as it respects character and profession, were they 
 whom the word holds before us as warnings of the end of 
 covetousness ? Lot's wife, Achan, Balaam, Judas, Anan- 
 ias and Sapphira, Demas : were they not regarded as worthy 
 church members till God found them out ? Each of 
 them had a larger knowledge of saving truth than almost 
 any who lived around them, and bore as fair a name as 
 is borne by average church members. The truth is that 
 the love of money is iDeculiavly the church member's sin. 
 You can see how that comes to be the case. It is re- 
 spectable ; it is exempt from the rod of discipline which 
 falls promptly on the sins with which the Holy Spirit 
 has catalogued it ; it grows secretly, and permits even 
 the victim himself to remain in the belief that he is a 
 good Christian ; thus it is the chief means of destroying 
 the souls of men inside the Church. '' In what way- 
 are the professors of religion subject to this sin more 
 than other men ? " asks Andrew Fuller, and he answers 
 the question with that penetrating sagacity which makes 
 his writings so valuable — '' As a fact, it has long im- 
 pressed my mind, and I conceive it is not difficult to be 
 accounted for. Supposing a person to be merely a pro- 
 fessor, whatever impedes his evil propensity in all direc- 
 tions but one will be certain to strengthen it in that 
 one. ... If you wish to be thought a Christian you 
 must not be a drunkard, nor a debauchee, nor a game- 
 ster, nor a liar, nor a blasphemer, nor an injurious person ; 
 hut you may love the world more than God ; for this, 
 
 72 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 227 
 
 being confined to things between God and your own 
 conscience, does not fall under human cognizance ; or, 
 though it may affect your liberality to men, yet, as the 
 discipline of the New Testament leaves every one to 
 judge of his own ability, and to give what he gives not 
 as it were of necessity, but willingly, you may live un- 
 detected, and, with a little management, unsuspected by 
 your brethren."'"' That is precisely how the matter 
 stands ; and if you shrink, as we hope you do, from be- 
 coming the victim of so ruinous a delusion, adopt the 
 habit which most naturally tends to counteract it. The 
 heart may easily deceive itself if our givings are irregular 
 as to time, without regard to proportion, and only at the 
 call of man. Self-deception will be more diflS.cult if we 
 give nothing to man that has not first been given to 
 God, and if we make our giving to God a stated exer- 
 cise of the Lord's Day. The late Mr Ross, who did more 
 than any other man to inform and stimulate the public 
 mind on this matter, used to tell us of a certain elder, 
 with a great gift in prayer, but inclined to be narrow, 
 who attended one of his meetings, and became convinced 
 that whatever he gave he ought first to pray over. 
 Being more than a mere professor, the next Sabbath he 
 took the amount he usually gave and tried to pray over 
 it, but could not, — doubled it, and still could not ; and 
 it was not until he had increased it fourfold, that he felt 
 he could honestly lay it at the feet of his Saviour. 
 This might have come in a little later to illustrate how 
 the adoption of true principles would produce increase 
 of funds; but it seems to us even more striking as 
 showing how this child of God was gently delivered 
 from a sin which needs to be burnt out of others in a 
 furnace of chastisement. When Mrs Graham got that 
 
 * FuUer's Works, in 1 vol., p. 663. 
 
 73 
 
228 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 £1000 unexpectedly (p. 215), she made the following- 
 entry in her diary — " Quick, quick, let me appropriate 
 God's tenth, hefore my heart gets hard." The pos- 
 session of large sums is a gTeat temptation. Such 
 watchful self- distrust is the right spirit for a Christian 
 steward to cultivate. In the case of one who had not 
 the same godly habit, £25 might have been thought a 
 very grand thank-offering to God ; the heart would have 
 been proud of making it, and God would have been 
 robbed ; in a word, the love of money and the pride of 
 life would have got above the love of Christ. 
 
 II. The sacred method promotes the welfare of the 
 Church, and the glory of Christ. 
 
 Under this head we gather four arguments. It would 
 lead to happy change in the gathering of funds ; it would 
 increase the amount given ; it would benefit the poorer 
 members of the Church ; and more blessing would rest 
 on what is given. 
 
 1. The general adoption of this sacred method through- 
 out the Church would lead to happy change in gather- 
 ing funds. 
 
 The essence of the matter is, that the transaction 
 shall be one not between man and man, but between 
 the Christian and Christ — that whatever money is given 
 to the poor, or to a congregational treasurer, or toward 
 the building of a church, or to a missionary society, shall 
 have been first given to God — that the amount of money 
 I am to give is to be determined, not by prevailing 
 custom, nor by what is asked from me, but by two other 
 considerations, namely. What proportion of my income 
 ought I to give ? and. How has God been prospering 
 me ? Now, if all Church members, at least the greater 
 number of them, were thus acting, — 
 
 74 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 229 
 
 All that is irksome about collecting would disappear. 
 Too often at present the work of the collector is not 
 collecting, but begging; he (oftener she) has to use 
 arguments to induce the person solicited to give at all, 
 or to give what in his or her judgment is an adequate 
 amount ; and the proceeding is highly unpleasant 
 to both parties. All this would be changed. In 
 the case of stated contributions, such as those for the 
 support of the ministry in the Presbyterian Church at 
 large, the collector making her monthly visits will find 
 the money ready and willingly given ; after a while it 
 may even be found that the monthly visits are not 
 necessary, that the sums are brought in faithfully to a 
 congregational treasury for the purpose.* In the case 
 of occasional gatherings, the money will either be given 
 freely, or if there is none to give, the collector wiU 
 understand that it is not grudgingly withheld. 
 
 Those givings, the amount of which is at present 
 fixed by our fellow-men, would be exchanged fm" free-will 
 offerings. If the principles we have been expounding 
 are scriptural and right, this change must come. With- 
 out going into the whole question of pew-rents — largely 
 agitated outside the Presbyterian Church as well as within 
 it — we point to two circumstances inseparable from 
 them : (1) The amount is fixed and always the same, for 
 richer and poorer, from one year to another. (2) That 
 amount is formally assessed and collected by our fellow- 
 men. These two things are sufficient to condemn the 
 system, of which they are necessary elements. We 
 cannot see how any one who is persuaded of the new 
 
 * The sooner this comes to pass the better, for knowledge by fellow- 
 men of the amount we give is a weakening element. While not 
 ;advocating the rash overturning of existing methods, we must not let 
 the statement of the perfect theory be marred by accommodating it to 
 ±hese methods. 
 
 75 
 
230 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 metliod being according to the genius of Christianity 
 and the teaching of Scripture, can defend pew-rents in 
 theory. As a matter of practice, their removal must 
 be brought about by diffusing sound information, and 
 inducing individuals to adopt Sabbath storing; and 
 towards this the efforts of those office-bearers who have 
 become convinced that there is a more excellent way 
 should be wisely and earnestly directed. For years 
 there sat under our eye in adjoining pews two men, the 
 one with a large family grown up, the other with little 
 children — the one having a fixed income of £200, the 
 other spending £2000 ; yet the sum paid by each was 
 the same — in the one case probably a burden, in the 
 other a trifle. But such inequality is a small evil in 
 comparison with that which arises from the transaction 
 beiug so directly a transaction between man and man. 
 That which ought to be giving is turned into paying. 
 The spirit of bargain comes in where it ought to have 
 no place whatever ; the grace which should pertain to 
 the supporting of the house of God is destroyed ; and 
 the mass of Church members are led to deceive them- 
 selves by imagining that they have been doing some- 
 thing well-pleasing to God when they have only been 
 dealing with their fellow-men. We earnestly urge the 
 adoption of the Church's Exchequer according to Paul's 
 teaching, because that would deliver the Church from 
 what is at present a serious hindrance to the exercise, 
 by the greater number of her members, of truly Chris- 
 tian feelings and principles in the matter of giving. 
 
 These remarks refer to the stated and ordinary sup- 
 port of Christian ordinances. The benefit of the Church's 
 Exchequer would be equally felt in connection with 
 special efforts. " No gatherings when I coine." Paul 
 had, it would seem, some unpleasant experience of forced^ 
 
 76 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 231 
 
 fitful collections, dependent on his presence; and is 
 earnest against these. There is no objection, but the 
 reverse, to preaching public sermons on behalf of great 
 Christian objects, whether special or stated. Such sermons 
 are highly useful in the way of informing and rousing 
 the public mind and heart of the Church ; but there is 
 a serious objection to making the givings of Christians 
 dependent on the transitory excitement connected with 
 these sermons and with annual meetings. Benjamin 
 Franklin was obliged by George Whitfield to turn his 
 pockets inside out ; but it would have been much better 
 for Franklin, and for the cause of charity, had the great 
 preacher persuaded him of the duty and advantage of 
 setting apart something for the service of God every 
 week to the end of his life. Our plan is to lay hands 
 on Paul, Apollos, Barnabas, every eloquent and gifted 
 preacher, and turn him into a machine for raising 
 money. Paul says, and is guided by the Holy Spirit in 
 saying, ' Do it yourselves, rich and poor of you, in your 
 own closets ; do it by littles every Lord's day ; do it so 
 as to get for yourselves the good of doing it, and the 
 fair credit of being faithful stewards of the manifold 
 grace of God. Do not degrade yourselves by needing 
 my appeals to force your liberality, nor me by com- 
 pelling me to make these appeals. Let there be no 
 gatherings when I come.' No doubt Paul is right ; and 
 when we make a change, and adopt his plan, we will 
 find much ease and blessing. 
 
 Another kind of '' gatherings " do not seem to have 
 existed in apostolic days, else no doubt we would have 
 had still stronger remonstrance against them. It does 
 not appear that public sales of articles more or less 
 useful, with the aid of brass bands, gay dresses, insinu- 
 ating smiles, mock auctions, and profane use of the lot, 
 
 77 
 
232 THE chukch's exchequer. 
 
 were common in Antioch, or Corinth, or Ephesus. We 
 do indeed know that Barnabas sold land, and Dorcas 
 '' made coats and garments/' by way of advancing the 
 interests of Christ's Church on earth ; but they did this 
 as privately as possible. Aquila and Priscilla, and Paul 
 himself, were practical upholsterers ; yet it never occurred 
 to them to get up showy sales of their handiwork. 
 They preferred to have it in their power to say, " Ye 
 yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto 
 my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have 
 showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought 
 to support the weak, and to remember the words of the 
 Lord Jesus, how He said. It is more blessed to give than 
 to receive." Possibly they feared that, were they to 
 adopt such methods, ostentation, rivalry, giddy excite- 
 ment, and very doubtful honesty, would mar the sim- 
 plicity of Christian giving, and deprive the givers of the 
 benefits they should have received from a practical out- 
 going of love to Christ, by helping them to deceive 
 themselves. Their counsel is, " 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 one very happy fruit of a general 
 adoption of that counsel in the Church would be to rid 
 it ere long of the shame and nuisance of fancy fairs for 
 purely religious purposes. 
 
 2. This method, generally adopted, would increase 
 the amount given. This in various ways. 
 
 (1) Congregational funds would not then suffer, as 
 they do now, from sickness, seaside residence, and rainy 
 days. The late Principal Fairbairn, presiding over a 
 meeting held in Glasgow ten years ago for the advocat- 
 ing of these principles, said in our hearing that if the 
 day appointed for a public collection throughout the 
 
 78 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 233 
 
 Free Church happened to be wet, the collection suffered 
 to the extent of between five and six hundred pounds. 
 This source of possible loss would be effectually stopped 
 if members of churches learned to give first at home, 
 and to Christ, not in Church only. 
 
 (2) The frequency of giving would have surprising 
 -effect in raising the amount. If you ask a man of 
 limited income to give you 10s. for this object and 15s. for 
 that, and 20s. for another — all about the end of the 
 quarter or of the year, — he has to say, often very reluc- 
 tantly, '' I have it not," and to give a smaller sum, such 
 as can with propriety be taken from the small amount 
 •which is at the moment in his hands. But if you get 
 that person to form the religious habit of privately 
 devoting a proportion of his income every week to the 
 Saviour, he wdll rejoice, and so will you, to find how 
 much more he is able to give and with how much 
 greater ease. A gentleman in business, who used to 
 give £1 a year to a missionary fund, a liberal man and 
 doing more than many about him, found when he 
 adopted these principles that he could with more 
 ease put a shilling every Sabbath into his son's mis- 
 sion-box, a clear gain of £1, 12s. "With a short ex- 
 perience, and a rather imperfect one, I am a convert to 
 the storing system, the magical power of which no 
 one could believe unless he had tried it," — so writes a 
 banker.* We are persuaded that, taking rich and poor 
 
 * Some years having passed since the sentence referred to was written, 
 I wrote to the gentleman alluded to, asking him to inform me of his 
 present views. With his permission I give his letter, suppressing date 
 and name, of course. It will interest and help earnest-minded men of 
 business. — "Your note has interested me. I had entirely forgotten 
 the sentence you quote, but your note has brought it %dvidly back, and 
 the circumstances that prompted it. The experiment was a most plea- 
 sant one, but of short duration. I have aimed for a great many years 
 at giving a third of my income to religious and charitable purposes, and 
 1 began to store on that basis. Through bad management the store loas 
 
 79 
 
234 THE CHUECH'S EX(JHEQUER. 
 
 together, and making the support of ordinances depen- 
 dent on the weekly offering alone, instead of trusting to 
 the pew rent, a startlingly larger sum would be realised ; 
 for then the poorer would find themselves enabled ta 
 give much more, and the richer would be saved from the 
 self-deception of regarding half - crowns and half- 
 sovereigns as really large for them. 
 
 (3) The proportionate principle would lead to re« 
 mark able results in the same way. The greater number 
 of incomes are not fixed ; the object of all men of busi- 
 ness is that their incomes should be growing. Half a 
 generation has produced an effect which it is not alto- 
 gether satisfactory to contemplate in augmenting the 
 national wealth. (See p. 160 and note.) The expendi- 
 ture on luxury, often injurious luxury, is portentous, and 
 forces one to remember that Babylon, Persia, Greece, 
 Rome sank not through poverty but under the sheer 
 weight of the precious metals, under the enervating self- 
 indulgence produced by fulness. Spain, which in the 
 days of Columbus was the richest nation of Europe, and 
 the Eepublic of Venice, are more recent examples of 
 the same peril. We have a conserving salt which 
 these nations had not ; but is it potent enough to keep 
 the corrupting influences under ? Let those answer 
 
 always overdrawn, for I have not been able to keep down mygivings to 
 that proportion. In self-defence and in defence of the system, I ought 
 to say that throughout many years there have never been wanting 
 special claims that seem to shut me up to pass the limit I had fixed. 
 God has mercifully prevented expenditure in other directions which I 
 thought it fit to anticipate, but was thus unable to provide for ; so 
 that, following what I felt to be duty not altogether welcome, I am 
 not poorer to-day than 1 expected, while I hope some have been bene- 
 fitted by what I have been enabled in my small way to do. / hope, 
 hoivever, to return to storing, and to take into my counsels, in distributing 
 the store, my children, who are now becoming old enough to be 
 interested and instructed thereby. / feel that such a systematic 
 education in conscientious giving ought to he fruitful of good works ir^^ 
 them." 
 80 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 235 
 
 who are familiar with the social life of London, or 
 of Glasgow, or of Belfast, and who have considered the 
 effect of the general tone upon the lives of Church 
 members. Obviously, if the man who last year made 
 £300 and gave £30, makes this year £350, his prin- 
 ciple of proportion will lead him to give £35. Simple 
 adherence to the habit, without any pressure from the 
 outside whatever, will in this way cause a steady, natural 
 rise in the income of the Church's Exchequer. We have 
 referred (p. 215) to a case in our own experience; and 
 there must be many such cases. We know of a firm 
 which began business with the principle of devoting a 
 tenth of all profits to the Lord, besides what each part- 
 ner might give of his own income ; that firm has pros- 
 pered, and of course the tenth has come to be a much 
 larger sum ; and one of the partners at least (possibly 
 both) is now devoting the entire 'proceeds of the business, 
 several thousands a year, to charity and religion. As the 
 number of such cases increases (and it is increasing) the 
 amount given to Christ will become larger and larger. 
 We earnestly commend this aspect of the matter to 
 practical men. 
 
 (4) The freeness of the giving will favourably affect 
 the amount. The distinction is great between a gift 
 and a bargain.* The natural disposition is, in the one 
 case, to prove love by making the amount as large as 
 
 * The late Mr Eoss never tired of expounding tliis. It was from 
 another, however, that we heard the following story : — A worthy- 
 woman used to go every Saturday from the coast to a village a few 
 miles inland selling fish. On one occasion, when she went into the 
 general shop the shopkeeper said, "Ye see, Jenny, my hands are full 
 o' customers ; here's sixpence, jist go into the house and lay the fish 
 down ; and gie me them according to conscience." Jenny went, laid 
 down first three fish, and then another as the thought struck her " Mr 
 Broon's trustin' me to gie according to conscience." But next Satur- 
 day, when Mr B. said, " That was a grand bargain, Jenny ; jist go in 
 and lay them doon again," Jenny said, "Na, na, Mr Broon, I'll sell nae 
 mair fish according to conscience ! Come you and mak' a bargain," 
 
 81 
 
236 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 possible ; in the other case, to pay as little as possible. 
 When you bring in pew-rents, treasurers, printed lists, 
 collectors, between the Lord Jesus Christ and the giver s 
 heart the tendency is, and alas ! the effect very often is, 
 that you prevent his conscience and heart from operat- 
 ing at all, and he gives just so little as will satisfy you 
 or public opinion ; and he gives it as a payment, not as 
 an offering of love. The result is very different when 
 the only Lord of the Treasury is Jesus Christ, and the 
 only Chancellors of the Exchequer are a purged con- 
 science and a broken heart. Then are given Abraham's 
 and Jacob's tithes, then the fragrant alabasters are 
 poured forth, then come in the two mites ! 
 
 3. The sacred method would do good to the 'poorer 
 members of the Church. The application of the method 
 has been proved to be universal. If it were brought 
 into universal practice 
 
 (1) There luould be fewer ijersons needing succour. 
 Those who are receiving small sums, in shillings, weekly, 
 are exposed to great temptation to spend all. The sum 
 they could lay by is so very small that it seems not worth 
 while to begin. Then come petty debts, living before- 
 hand, straitness, and (with one or two weeks' sickness or 
 want of work) real want, quickly followed by the loss of 
 independence and self-respect, never to be regained. 
 This is the common history ; the evil is want of 
 frugality. There is no occasion for our preaching the 
 possibility and the advantage of such persons acquiring 
 habits of economy. Penny banks, clothing clubs, and 
 benefit societies do that more effectively ; but what we 
 say is, that were they taught the use of this sacred 
 habit, economy with its attendant blessings would be 
 connected with the strongest of all motives — the love of 
 Him Avho for our sakes became poor. 
 
 82 
 
ITS ADVANTAGES. 237 
 
 (2) And there would he a larger niimiher of ^persons 
 ready to help the poor. This is obvious. 
 
 (3) And the help would be more kindly and effec- 
 tively given. Those who have most experience in this 
 matter will agree with us that what is most needed is 
 not that a larger amount shall be given for the relief of 
 the poor, so much as that there shall be more of loving 
 contact on the part of those who give the money. Will 
 not those who have set apart their money in grateful 
 remembrance of Him, who said " Ye have the poor 
 with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do 
 them good " (Mark xiv. 7), be likely to look wisely and 
 kindly after its application ? 
 
 4. The sacred habit would benefit the Church by 
 leading to a larger degree of blessing on what is given. 
 
 For ourselves, remembering the " more " of our Lord 
 spoken in connection with the two mites, and considering 
 facts, we are more impressed with this consideration than 
 with any other. 
 
 We cannot but think thus : — If there are principles 
 laid down in His word, and a certain proportion and 
 habit taught in reference to giving, is it not likely that 
 the Lord, who alone can bless, will mark His ap]3roval 
 by granting richer and more abiding fruits to follow 
 the money which is so given ? Can the same amount of 
 blessing be expected to rest on what is given in careless 
 disregard of the principles and the method which He 
 has taught ? We know well enough, and are all 
 orthodox enough to say, on occasion, that all our givings 
 cannot produce spiritual results of themselves, cannot 
 edify or convert souls : but it may be that we do not feel 
 this as deeply, as constantly, as we ought. And in pro- 
 portion as we do feel that obvious truth, we will be likely 
 to try to please God in the principle and manner of our 
 giving. 
 
 83 
 
238 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 But we can go further than that general reflection. 
 If our purpose in giving is to glorify God in Christ, 
 and if we devote a proportion to Him, we will be 
 likely to give luith humility. Ostentation is a ruinous 
 snare : yet how many temptations there are to it as 
 things are ! The names of large givers are paraded : 
 one congTegation boasts itself against another, one society 
 against another society. It is little wonder if the living 
 Head of the Church should rebuke a spirit so uncomely 
 in sinners saved by grace by withholding His blessing 
 altogether or in part. 
 
 And once more, those who religiously practise the 
 habit for which we have been pleading, will follow their 
 TYhoney luith prayer. Say whether there is in the 
 Church a due proportion of true, humble, fervent prayer 
 to the collecting of funds. And say. Is the Giver of 
 " every good and perfect gift," who has claimed as His 
 the silver and the gold, honestly recognised, first, when 
 the need of funds is felt ? and secondly, when the funds 
 have been got and are about to be applied ? Now, 
 anticipating the only answer which can be given to these 
 questions, we urge the Christian reader to consider the 
 advantage, in the highest form, likely to accrue to the 
 Church from a hahit of giving on Scripture principles. 
 If a man gives out of cold formal custom, or to get rid 
 of a collector, or for display, he will not think of his 
 money again unless to see it acknowledged in a sub- 
 scription list ; but if a man gives out of what he has 
 consecrated to the service of Christ, there is some pro- 
 bability that he will pray for His blessing on the con- 
 gregation, on the needy one, on the mission toward 
 which his money is given. At a meeting in London 
 some years ago one of the speakers told of "a little 
 girl who gave a penny to one of the large county 
 
 84 
 
OBJECTIONS. 239 
 
 associations of the Bible Society in England. The 
 anniversary of the Bible Society in the county town 
 came round, and the young giver determined she would 
 be there to see what had been done with her money. 
 Listening patiently through the reading of a long re- 
 port, she was rewarded by hearing at the end of it — • 
 ' There has been collected during the year £1656, IS s. Id./ 
 and started up exclaiming, 'Oh! there's my penny ! '" 
 Of course it was just her peimy, and she had a right 
 gladly to connect it wdth all the blessings of Bible circu- 
 lation, and we would not wonder if she should hear of 
 that penny again in another place. If there were hearty 
 interest and prayer in proportion to all the money given, 
 certainly far more spiritual effect would attend our 
 Christian agencies. Where conscience and heart have 
 had to do with giving, so as to make it an act of faith, 
 such prayer of faith will go with the money, and follow 
 it into lonely garrets and to the ends of the earth. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 So far as there is difficulty about the authority attaching 
 to 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2, that has been already removed ; 
 and, probably, enough has been said to silence those not 
 very worthy objectors who say, "You would establish a 
 system fitted to grind the faces of the poor." They 
 should remember what the widow did with her last 
 handful of meal, and how the deep poverty of the Mace- 
 •donian Church abounded unto the riches of their libe- 
 rality. (1 Kings xvii. ; 2 Cor. viii. 1-3.) But a word 
 
 85 
 
240 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 or two may be said by way of meeting some other objec- 
 tions we have now and then heard from worthy people. 
 
 I. " You 'propose a revolution.'* Why not? We 
 have great respect for the wisdom of our ancestors, yet 
 we do not follow them in everything — in forbidding 
 Jews to buy and sell in the open market, in hanging 
 sheep-stealers, in leaving the heathen without the Gospel 
 of Christ. Is it absolutely necessary to follow them in 
 a careless, imperfect manner of giving? If the argu- 
 ments advanced here from Scripture and Christian ex- 
 pediency in favour of systematic, proportionate, frequent 
 giving, be sound, so that the principles and the habit 
 we urge you to adopt are proved, you will agree with us 
 in saying that the vested interests of indolence and greed 
 must not be allowed to stand in the way of reformation. 
 We advocate no sudden, rash, unconstitutional innova- 
 tion, no breaking down without a corresponding and a 
 better building up ; but the sooner, the more wisely, 
 the more resolutely the Church sets herself to the work 
 of this thorough reform of her Exchequer the better for 
 all her own interests, and for the world. 
 
 II. '' But lue cannot ascertain how ive stand every 
 week." In reply to those who urge this objection, not 
 as an easy way of silencing a minister who knows 
 nothing of business, but as an honest difficulty, we say, 
 
 1. Consider candidly again the argument in favour 
 of weekly storing, and come to an unprejudiced judg- 
 ment as to whether the thing be right in itself. If 
 your conclusion be that it is right, we will trust you, as 
 conscientious Christians, to find some way of bringing 
 the exigencies of your position into harmony with the 
 Master's will. 
 
 86 
 
OBJECTIONS. 241 
 
 2. Consider what your weekly expenditure is (you 
 must know that), and take it as a guide. 
 
 3. Candidly allowing that on this point I, being a 
 minister with nothing but stipend for income, was not 
 able to speak with much authority to men of business, 
 I took the following course. Before committing my- 
 self, many years ago, to the public advocacy of these 
 principles, I submitted this particular point to the 
 judgment of several shrewd Christian men engaged 
 about money, and received from them the unanimous 
 assurance that the difficulty was one which could be 
 quite well got over by those who honestly tried to get 
 over it.* The following are wise words of a business 
 man and a noble giver, the author of the last essay in 
 " Gold and the Gospel " (by whom, we have been told, 
 the expenses of prizes and publishing were anonymously 
 defrayed. He has now gone to the Christian steward's 
 reward) : — 
 
 " It is more difficult, indeed, for individuals to do so 
 who are living on the profits of business. The scrip- 
 tural precept, however, is not less incumbent on them, 
 and the command of God coincides with their truest 
 ^orldly interests ; for a very large amouut of the failures 
 in business that take place, and the consequent losses 
 and misery which are thereby entailed on the sufferers, 
 their families, and creditors, may be traced to this 
 omission. Whereas regularity in stock-taking, and in 
 ascertaining the yearly amount of profits or losses, is a 
 marked characteristic of a prudent tradesman, . . The 
 first thing to be done, then, by those whose property is 
 invested in business, is to find out what they have 
 gained or lost since they last took an account of their 
 
 * I received the same assurance last month (Nov. 9, 1876), after ad- 
 dressing about four hundred office-bearers in Belfast. 
 
 o 87 
 
242 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 stock. The next would be to strike an average of the 
 profits of the two, or three, or more preceding years. 
 In some occupations the gains are so regular from year 
 to year, that such a process would be needless ; yet in 
 many trades the fluctuations are so great, from high to 
 low profits, or from gains to losses, that an average of 
 several previous years must be taken in order to ascer- 
 tain the proper amount of profits on which to take a 
 percentage for God. 
 
 " It is obvious that this is the only way of meeting 
 the difficulty, for it would not at all be proper to be 
 varying stated subscriptions every year, as profits may 
 rise or fall — and it would be still less expedient to stop 
 them altogether in years when there may be losses 
 instead of gains ; for, besides the injury which would 
 accrue to societies thus precariously supported, it would 
 be ex]3osing to the world the good or bad results of a 
 person's pecuniary transactions, which every prudent 
 man of business is careful to avoid." * 
 
 III. '' Yoit ^uould turn charity into taxation ivith 
 your iwojportions and fixed rules : we like to give 
 impidsively.'' 
 
 As to the latter part of this objection, we have no 
 doubt whatever that you like to give impulsively ; but 
 we might call such giving by another name and say, you 
 like to give, or not to give, at pleasure. If impulse 
 could be trusted to secure a sufficient amount to satisfy 
 the Lord's great need, to stir you up to give on every 
 occasion when you ought to give, and give the sum adequate 
 to the occasion, all would be well : but this is just what 
 impulse notoriously fails to do. 
 
 And as for taxation ; we repudiate the charge with all 
 our heart. (See p. 208.) Let every man assess himself in 
 * "Gold and the Gospel," pp. 356, 357. 
 
 88 
 
OBJECTIONS. 2^0 
 
 the sight of God, but let no man venture to assess his 
 neighbour. Such self-assessment is the only means of 
 obtaining a good conscience and entire freedom. Hav- 
 ing made your own assessment before God, you . are in- 
 dependent of your neighbour's judgment, and are 
 delivered from the deceit and selfishness of your own 
 heart. 
 
 IV. " Let not your left hand hnow what your right 
 hand doeth." 
 
 This is Scripture ; but all quotations from Scripture 
 are not good arguments. Witness a certain quotation 
 from the ninety-first Psalm, made on the pinnacle of the 
 temple by one on whose side no one likes to be found. 
 
 The objection was made to us in good faith by a 
 sincere Christian who feared the practice pleaded for 
 might have a tendency to foster self-righteousness. Our 
 answer is, (1) Let self-righteousness be guarded against 
 in this as in every other good thing. It is ahvays a 
 good thing which self-righteousness fastens on and 
 destroys. If this good thing be so perverted, that will 
 only prove that the heart is deceitful above all things 
 and desperately wicked — which was known before. (2) 
 If any one matter of Christian practice has more 
 tendency to counteract self-righteousness than another, it 
 is this for which we have pleaded. That a man should 
 form and maintain a sacred habit which requires him to 
 be watchful over his manner of spending money, to 
 practise self-denial, to make practical acknowledgment 
 once-a-week of the divine omniscience and goodness, and 
 to think how much he owes to redeeming grace, — is not 
 surely likely to feed his carnal pride. 
 
 89 
 
244 THE church's exchequer. 
 
 Let it be said, before we close, that intelligent right- 
 hearted laynien can do more for this good cause than 
 ministers can. Let them unite for the purpose of 
 strengthening one another's hands, — (not, however, ex- 
 cept in rare cases mentioning the proportion which each 
 gives) ; let them scatter the publications in which the 
 scriptural way of forming, feeding, and administering the 
 Church's Exchequer is expounded ; let them organize 
 meetings and procure sermons for the purpose of making 
 the exposition of true Christian finance more popular 
 and more effective ; and above all, let them be ready to 
 avail themselves of every opportunity in conversation to 
 expound the matter intelligently and warmly themselves: 
 
 The gTeat hope of the good cause, however, is in the 
 rising youth of the Church. Bible principles touching 
 the holy use of money being imbibed while opinions and 
 habits are forming, the sacred practice being adopted 
 from the outset of life, as soon as they begin to handle 
 money of their own, thousands of the young would be 
 saved from temporal and spiritual ruin ; the existing 
 agencies for well-doing in the name of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ would be maintained in unstraitened efficiency ; 
 fresh organizations would be formed ; and the rain of the 
 Holy Spirit would descend more richly upon all. 
 
 " Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy ; 
 break up your fallow gTound : for it is time to seek the 
 Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you." 
 (Hosea x. 12.) 
 
 90 
 
TEXTS REFERRED TO. 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Genesis xiv. 20 
 
 . 
 
 179 
 
 Matthew x. 42 
 
 192, 222 
 
 „ xxWii. 22 . 
 
 175 
 
 ,180 
 
 „ xix. 21 
 „ xxii. 11 
 
 192, 210 
 188 
 
 Exodus XXXV. 5, 21 
 
 
 164 
 
 „ xxii. 21 
 
 174 
 
 „ xxx\n. 4-6 . 
 
 • 
 
 164 
 
 „ XXV. 31-46 192, 222 
 
 Niimbei^ xxiii 10 . 
 
 • 
 
 225 
 
 Mark v. 43 . 
 „ vi. 37, 38 
 
 203 
 191 
 
 Deut. viii. 10-18 . 
 
 . 
 
 200 
 
 „ xii. 41-44 
 
 160, 165, 187 
 
 „ XV. 11 . . 
 
 , 
 
 163 
 
 „ xiv. 7 . 
 
 176 
 
 „ xxvi. 5 . 
 
 • 
 
 200 
 
 Luke vii. 37-50 
 
 194 
 
 1 Kings xvii. 10-16 
 
 • 
 
 239 
 
 „ ix. 58 . 
 „ X. 25-37 
 
 171 
 166 
 
 2 Kings xii. 4-12 . 
 
 • 
 
 187 
 
 „ xii. 32-34 
 „ xii. 19, 20 
 
 192,210 
 203 
 
 1 Chron. xxix. 1-19 164, 
 
 175 
 
 222 
 
 „ xvi. 9 . 
 „ xviii. 12 
 
 192, 223 
 185 
 
 Psalm xix. 9-11 
 
 , 
 
 212 
 
 „ xix. 31-34 
 
 175 
 
 „ xli. 1 . 
 
 , 
 
 207 
 
 „ xxiii. 50 
 
 165 
 
 „ I. 12 . 
 
 
 175 
 
 
 
 „ xcvi. 8 
 
 . 
 
 207 
 
 John iv. 8 
 
 168 
 
 „ ciii. 2 . 
 
 
 200 
 
 „ vi. 7 
 
 186 
 
 „ cxii. . 
 
 
 163 
 
 „ vi.70, 71 
 „ viii. 1-11 
 
 186 
 
 188 
 
 Prov^erbs iii. 9, 10 . 
 
 175 
 
 218 
 
 „ viii. 39 . 
 
 177 
 
 „ X. 22 . 
 
 • 
 
 217 
 
 „ xii. 1-8 
 „ xiii. 29 . 
 
 194 
 168, 186 
 
 Ecclesiastes xi. 1 . 
 
 • 
 
 223 
 
 „ XX. 19-26 
 
 206 
 
 Zechariah vi. 13 
 
 • 
 
 180 
 
 Acts xi. 24 
 „ xi. 27-30 
 
 165 
 197 
 
 Malachi iii. 10 
 
 182 
 
 220 
 
 „ XX. 7 . 
 „ XX. 35 . 
 
 206 
 169 
 
 Matthew vi. 24 . 
 
 
 226 
 
 
 
 „ vi. 33 . 
 
 
 218 
 
 1 Corinthians i. 2 
 
 197 
 
246 
 
 TEXTS REFERRED TO. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1 Corintliians i. 26 
 
 210 
 
 Ephesians iv. 28 . 
 
 167 
 
 iv. 7 
 
 200 
 
 „ v.5-7 . 
 
 226 
 
 V. 10, 11 
 
 226 
 
 
 
 vi. 9, 10 
 
 226 
 
 1 Timothy iv. 8 
 
 218 
 
 „ ix. 14 
 
 196 
 
 vi. 17 . 
 
 204 
 
 xi. 34 
 
 196 
 
 vi. 18,19 
 
 192,210,222 
 
 XV. 58 
 
 199 
 
 
 
 xvi. 1, 2 
 
 195 
 
 Hebrews vii. 4 
 
 179 
 
 2 Corinthians viii. 1-3 
 
 239 
 
 James iv, 13-15 
 
 204 
 
 „ viii. 8 
 
 ix. 7, 9, 1( 
 
 163 
 163 
 
 2 Peter ii. 15, 16 . 
 
 225 
 
 
 
 1 John ii. 15 
 
 226 
 
 Galatians ii. 10 
 
 168 
 
 
 
 iii. 
 
 177, 178 
 
 Eevelations i. 10 . 
 
 206 
 
 „ vi. 7 . 
 
 176 
 
 V. 12 . 
 
 193 
 
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