OSIN 
 
 WVJ 
 
 P*M. 
 
 use. 
 
 
 SYSTEMATIC AND 
 PROPORTIONATE 
 GIVING 
 
 FROM AN ADDRESS BY MISS 
 MAY D. STRONG, PRESIDENT 
 OF THE LACK AWA N N A 
 PRESBYTERIAL SOCIETY 
 
 WOMAN’S BOARD OF HOME MISSIONS 
 OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 156 FIFTH AVENUE. NEW YORK CITY 
 
Systematic and Proportionate 
 
 Giving 
 
 S far as the financial side of Missions 
 
 is concerned, systematic and pro¬ 
 
 portionate giving on the part of 
 
 Christians is the solution of the whole 
 question of empty treasuries, debts and 
 deficits, and utterly inadequate Christian 
 benevolence. 
 
 There are many more poor than rich in 
 the world, and the “many littles make the 
 much.” The people of moderate means are 
 apt to think their gifts, and their methods 
 of giving, matter little ; but if Christians 
 of moderate means could be induced very 
 generally to adopt this system, we could 
 easily dispense with the so-called princely 
 gifts of the few rich (if it were neces¬ 
 sary) and still have money in the treas¬ 
 ury. Not larger gifts from the rich but the 
 increase of systematic giving from the 
 many of moderate means, or even poor, 
 this is the hope of the Church ! 
 
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What is systematic and proportionate 
 giving? It is having a well defined and uni¬ 
 formly followed method of appropriating 
 funds for Christian uses. 
 
 Perhaps this definition will bear a word 
 or two of explanation. 
 
 Well-defined , i. e., not “something”; 
 not “what I can spare”; not “what I 
 happen to be able to give at the time”; 
 but a certain fixed percentage. 
 
 Uniformly followed , i. e., not taking the 
 percentage out this month and making up 
 our minds next month that we cannot af¬ 
 ford it; not tithe this source of income, and 
 not another, but “uniformly followed” 
 all the year around and the whole of our 
 income. 
 
 Christian uses , i. e., such things as are 
 definitely for the cause of Christ, for the 
 hastening of His kingdom, a gift sacredly 
 offered unto Him; not for such things as 
 we may do for others, because it pleases 
 us to be kind; nor such Christian privileges 
 as we may pay for, and where it may 
 be said we receive a certain “quid pro 
 quo.” 
 
 For instance, a fair, concert, or bazaar 
 is gotten up in the interests of some 
 church or missionary cause. Shall the 
 money one may spend there be rightly 
 
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taken from our tithes? I think not. A 
 Y. M. C. A secretary once told me he was 
 obliged to give up the concert and lecture 
 course, planned in order to provide refin¬ 
 ing, elevating recreation in the town, 
 because people who bought the tickets 
 chose to consider they had made their an¬ 
 nual contribution to the Association. 
 
 The added idea in the word ‘proportion¬ 
 ate” means that the sum set aside shall 
 uniformly bear a certain relation to the 
 whole amount of income. Some may sav, 
 
 „ ^7 
 
 “ But I am not naturally systematic and I 
 don’t enjoy that way of doing things, so 
 why should I not just give spontaneously 
 when I feel like it and as I can afford at the 
 time?” But giving is an important part 
 of our Christian service, and preparedness 
 is as necessary as for preaching a sermon 
 or teaching a Sunday-school class. 
 
 Let me give a decisive reason for both 
 system and proportion in our giving. 
 
 It is a command. Where do we find it ? 
 First in the Old Testament. Leviticus 
 27:30—“And all the tithe of the land, 
 whether of the seed of the land, or of the 
 fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy 
 unto the Lord.” Deuteronomy 16:17— 
 “None of you shall appear before me 
 empty, every man shall give as he is able, 
 
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according to the blessing of the Lord thy 
 God which He hath given thee.” 
 
 God claims a portion, and if } r ou say, 
 “ We are not under the law but under 
 grace,” let me give you from the New Tes¬ 
 tament, I Cor. 16:2—“Upon the first day 
 of the week let every one of you lay by him 
 in store, as God hath prospered him.” At 
 stated times (in their case on the first day) 
 and proportionate, “as God hath pros¬ 
 pered.” Again in II Cor. 8:12—“For if there 
 be first a willing mind, it is accepted ac¬ 
 cording to that a man hath, and not ac¬ 
 cording to that he hath not.” Here it is 
 commanded that a man’s gifts shall be ac¬ 
 cording to what the man hath, i. e.,bear a 
 definite, fixed relation to the whole of his 
 income or possessions. Hence we are not 
 “at liberty” in this matter. There is a 
 clear Scriptural command. If this point 
 is proven it settles the question of our 
 duty ; but other reasons give added weight, 
 and we may notice a few. 
 
 1. This method saves us from the temp¬ 
 tation to overspend on ourselves and so be 
 unprepared for giving. The money is put 
 aside for God’s special use, and thus a line 
 is placed beyond which personal expendi¬ 
 ture must not transgress. But you say, Is 
 it not a higher ideal to consider it all as 
 
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His? True it is all His, but with our evil, 
 covetous, self-loving tendencies, it is far 
 more apt to end with our considering it so, 
 rather than actually making it so. 
 
 2. It is a constant reminder of our stew¬ 
 ardship. We are but entrusted with 
 another’s goods, and there is an account¬ 
 ing day coming when we shall hear our 
 Lord saying,“Give an accountof thy stew¬ 
 ardship.” It is a very great help to our 
 being mindful of this. 
 
 3. We shall then be always ready for 
 the calls of those servants whom God 
 sends constantly among His people to re¬ 
 ceive of the fruits of His vineyard, and 
 we shall be in no danger of sending them 
 away empty, as happens far too often. 
 You remember those servants said finally, 
 “Come, let us kill Him, and the inheri¬ 
 tance shall be ours.” Thus they finally 
 came utterly to repudiate the Master’s 
 claim. 
 
 4. It follows naturally that, if prepared, 
 we are not tempted to refuse the appeal in 
 favor of some self-indulgence, for we have 
 renounced all claim to the portion set 
 aside and thus we are able to give with 
 joy, “not grudgingly or of necessity,” 
 but “cheerfully,” as we are bidden and 
 so become the kind of givers whom 
 
“God loveth!” A great and precious 
 honor. 
 
 But what proportion? For about that 
 we have not an iron rule now as had the 
 Jew. He tithed, and we ordinarily speak 
 of tithes because of that fact and because 
 it is a small proportion and would seem to 
 be within reach of all; but as the richer 
 Jews gave in addition large free-will offer¬ 
 ings, so, while all of us may, I am sure, 
 start with the tenth, most of us will see the 
 privilege and responsibility of increasing 
 the proportion “as God prospers us.’’ 
 God was very definite with the Jews, be¬ 
 cause the race was (so to speak) in its 
 spiritual childhood, but in this day of 
 grace and greater spiritual maturity He 
 leaves the proportion to us. One wonders 
 if we are always found worthy of thus 
 being thrown upon our honor. 
 
 I do not believe unsystematic Chris¬ 
 tians realize how little, relatively, they do 
 give. A man or woman gives a large check 
 to a good cause, but often goes many 
 days in the strength of it, comfortably 
 feeling unusually benevolent and failing 
 to realize how much of the year goes bv 
 before another follows. We shall never 
 realize how little we have been giving until 
 we try the systematic and proportionate 
 
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method. The proof of this is in the testi¬ 
 mony of those who adopt it—that they 
 never were able (?) to give so much before! 
 
 Was any one exempt in the old days? 
 Dent. 16:17, 18—“None of you shall ap¬ 
 pear before me empty.” “Every man shall 
 give as lie is able.” 
 
 Is any one exempt now? I Cor. 16.2— 
 “Let every one of you lay bv him in store, 
 as God has prospered him.” II Cor. 8:2— 
 Even in “their deep poverty.” 
 
 H ere Paul calls attention to the grace of 
 God bestowed on these Macedonian 
 Churches, so that in their “deep poverty 
 they abounded unto the riches of their lib¬ 
 erality.” He says they were willing “to 
 their power and beyond their power.” Oh, 
 that God might see this spirit in all His 
 children to-day! 
 
 Let me mention an instance known to 
 me. In a Bible class is the wife of a mine 
 laborer, whose husband brings in about 
 fifty dollars a month. There are three 
 children, and an old father besides, to be 
 maintained. Soon after her conversion, 
 hearing a talk on systematic giving, its 
 Scripturalness, and the blessing resulting, 
 she came forward and asked for the little 
 mission box that she might adopt the plan. 
 The husband at first objected absolutely. 
 
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He said, not one penny of his money should 
 go into that box. But she pleaded earn¬ 
 estly, promised that he should not lack 
 anything to which he was accustomed, and 
 finally he consented to a trial. She has 
 kept it up for the past two years. Tempted 
 often by strenuous times to give it up, 
 but persevering and repeatedly testifying 
 to its blessing, she not infrequently lays 
 upon the collection plate of the class a dol¬ 
 lar, and sometimes l}rings fhe teacher two 
 dollars, with the words, “Give it to some 
 one who needs it more than I do.” Al¬ 
 ways has her church envelope been ready 
 for the annual collection for the Boards, 
 and it contains more than many members 
 of prominence subscribe. We shall never 
 know how much we can give till we try 
 the systematic way. 
 
 In Dr. Broughton’s church, of Atlanta, 
 Ga., a poor illiterate man, newly convert¬ 
 ed, adopted the plan of tithing. At the 
 close of the year Dr. Broughton asked, 
 “ How did you like it ?” “ Oh, its fine!” he 
 replied. “Next year I am going to give a 
 twentieth.” He knew the Lord and the 
 jov of giving to Him better than he knew 
 fractions, but it might pay us, in the long 
 run, to be less wise in our way, if we might 
 be more wise in the way of this poor man. 
 
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A man of great faith and very large gifts 
 speaking along this line said he was con¬ 
 stantly pushing his ideal ahead of him, 
 praying for help to give more and more 
 and even deciding to give more than he saw 
 any possible way of doing; throwing him¬ 
 self upon God in a kind of challenge, or 
 “proving.” Oh, for more of his faith and 
 courage, even to a sort of holy reckless¬ 
 ness, if one may so describe it. Was this 
 not the spirit of Mary, who poured out the 
 whole alabaster box in what, to the disci¬ 
 ples, seemed a reckless, lavish waste ? 
 
 Let us not be afraid to take up God’s 
 challenge. He speaks it afresh to the 
 world to-day, for to-day, more than ever, 
 the tithes are needed. It is not rash or 
 reckless to trust Him. He is pledged to 
 make our interests His care. When God 
 commanded all the Jews to appear before 
 Him at the yearly feasts, He anticipated 
 their very natural objection, that they 
 could not thus leave fields and flocks un¬ 
 protected, with enemies on every side, by 
 saying in substance, that He would attend 
 to that; no man should even desire their 
 , field while the}" were thus obeying Him. 
 God is still saying, “ Bring ye all the tithes 
 into the storehouse and prove me now 
 herewith, if J will not pour you out a bless- 
 
 ll 
 
ing that there shall not be room enough 
 to receive it.” If we.want to know the joy 
 of giving, let us begin to do it “systematic¬ 
 ally and proportionately.” 
 
 No. 396 1st Ed. 9-1908 
 
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