/uxS' 
 
 Z ; 
 
 Scriptural Giving. 
 
 . . BY . . 
 
 M. RHODES, 
 
 Pastor St. Mark’s Evangelical Lntlieran Cliurcli, 
 
 ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 
 —180S. 
 
 St. lyOUis, Mo. 
 
 Aug. Wiebusch & Son Printing Company. 
 
SCRIPTURAL GIVING. 
 
 Leviticus2^\ 30,32. And all the tithe of the land, whethef 
 of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the 
 Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord. And concerning the tithe of 
 the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under 
 the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. 
 
 Malachi j: 8 — 10, Will a man rob God.^ Yet ye have robbed 
 me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee ? In tithes and 
 offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed 
 me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the 
 storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove 
 me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open 
 you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, 
 that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 
 
 2. 7. Therefore, asye abound in everything, 
 
 in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, 
 and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. 
 
 2. Corinthians g\ y, 8, ii — 13. Every man according as he 
 purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of 
 necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able 
 to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having 
 all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. 
 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which 
 causeth through us thanksgiving to God. For the adminis¬ 
 tration of this service not only supplieth the want of the 
 saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God ; 
 while by the experiment of this ministration they glorify 
 God for your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ, 
 and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men. 
 
— 3 — 
 
 The writer has no hesitancy in saying that one of 
 the great themes of the Gospel is the grace of giving. 
 That the Church should have remained so long in 
 strange misapprehension of the nature, importance 
 and truly spiritual power of this beautiful grace, 
 may well excite our wonder. It underlies the whole 
 purpose of God in Jesus Christ. Scriptural giving 
 is one of the throbbing centres of Christian life, its 
 joy and power. The whole trend of Scripture teach¬ 
 ing, as well as the experience of those who have 
 learned the mind of God on this subject, fully war¬ 
 rants what will seem to many extravagant speech 
 upon it. 
 
 The Church has greatly advanced in the measure 
 of its giving, but it has not yet attained to an ade¬ 
 quate standard, and it is shorter still in the knowledge 
 of true Scriptural giving. The coming needed revival 
 is a revival in the motive and method of giving. 
 Wrong giving, no less than no giving, helps to dry 
 up the springs of spiritual life in the heart and in the 
 Church. We have always limited this grace. We 
 have said it is the dwarf among the graces, if it be a 
 grace at all; we have not thought to give it propor¬ 
 tionate place with faith and love, not even with our 
 secular, social and wordly indulgences. 
 
 Whatever may be the method adopted, whether it 
 be the Old Testament law of tithing, or the fuller 
 measure designated in the New Testament by the pro¬ 
 portion of blessing, it is plain that this is the grace in 
 which we are to ‘‘abound. 
 
^ 4 _ 
 
 Don’t minimize it; don’t put it back in a corner; 
 don’t blush it hy confusion in the face and pretext 
 in the speech when opportunity offers. Make it apos¬ 
 tolic, a light, a blessed music bursting toward the 
 heavens. God-like— “abound in it!” There is not a 
 syllable in God’s Word to encourage our shyness 
 about it, as if it were too sensitive for our meddling. 
 The supreme difficulty in the Church, local and gen¬ 
 eral, at least with the many, is lack of knowledge and 
 obedience of Scripture truth upon it. Here the min¬ 
 istry is much to blame. 
 
 The theology of money and the Gospel of giving 
 have yet to be taught and understood in many of our 
 churches. The times in which we are living have most 
 forcibly taught and illustrated the power and abuse 
 of money. God said to his ancient people and has al¬ 
 ways been saying to us of this larger day—“Thou 
 shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that 
 giveth thee power to get wealth.” Deut. 8\ i8. 
 This is the Old Testament way of teaching steward¬ 
 ship. The money^s God’s. Enterprise and labor and 
 commerce, and genius and skill, and art and science, 
 the earth and the sea are ail God’s. Recognition of 
 this truth lies at the base of all proper and successful 
 living. 
 
 Israel denied this, robbed God in tithes and of¬ 
 ferings, dethroned him in things secular and perished. 
 It is a marked feature in the lives of a multitude to¬ 
 day. They do not all refuse to give, but they give 
 stintedly, as they will, and not as God asks them to 
 
— 5 — 
 
 give. The giving is not a grace, not a joy, not an act 
 of trust and obedience, and so it is without blessing. 
 Practically it is independence, perversion, atheism. 
 In such a spirit Israel said: “I will go after my lov¬ 
 ers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool 
 and my flax, wine, oil and my drink.’’ That was ex¬ 
 pelling God from the secular side of life. 
 
 “Therefore, behold, I will hedge thy way with 
 thorns, and make a wall that she shall not find her 
 paths — he or she did not know that I gave her corn, 
 and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, 
 which they prepared for Israel.’* Hosea 2 : y, <5, 8. 
 We may venture to do as we will, but all the more 
 will the day of reckoning come. 
 
 How imperative is the necessity to-day to rescue 
 our busy, secular, absorbing life from its abandonment 
 of God and bring it back to the sincerest study of 
 and submission to God’s Word. Who among us would 
 venture to cross the Atlantic with a captain who in 
 his self-wisdom had thrown his compass into the sea 
 and had determined to brave the elements and trust to 
 his wits? Have not many done it even in their at¬ 
 tempt at Christian living, with the Word of God and 
 the Holy Spirit? Then, we have wondered why God 
 did not bless us and why the Church did not prosper 
 more? If we have no use for God’s Spirit to enlighten 
 and God’s Word to direct, what claim have we on 
 God for his blessing? If we have taken life, the 
 management of affairs, the disposition of God’s daily 
 bounty, the determination of what is duty, all into 
 
6 — 
 
 our own blundering hands, we can certainly only ex¬ 
 pect the results which inevitably follow disobedience 
 and mistrust. There is certainly no grace which so 
 entirely involves the inner life, the deepest soul of a 
 man, as this blessed grace of giving. On this ac¬ 
 count, it should be a subject of frequent discourse ; it 
 should always be in the practice, and more frequently 
 in the preaching of God’s ministers. God’s people 
 should not be left to their own understanding in this 
 matter, for a knowledge and a hearty acceptance of 
 Scriptural giving is a corrective of all those evils and 
 hindrances, which render a growing spiritual, useful, 
 joyous Christian life impossible. 
 
 Scripture Teaching. 
 
 Our first need is to recover the delightful privi¬ 
 lege and grace of giving from the low common-place 
 and unscriptural position it has so long occupied in 
 the habit and thought of so many. It must be taken 
 up from the low plane of secular notion and barter, pf 
 accommodation and cold optional service, as if it were 
 bestowing a favor on the Lord, instead of discharging 
 a sacred obligation, an act of worship, just as much a 
 dut}^ and privilege as prayer and holy living, the read¬ 
 ing of God’s Word, and listening to sermons, are a 
 duty and a privilege. 
 
 How mistaken and hurtful the sensativeness of 
 many of God’s people respecting the Gospel of giving 
 as if it were an intruder in the pulpit and in the 
 service of the sanctuary. Instead, it lies at the very 
 
— 7 — 
 
 heart of redemption and of all Christian ministry, and 
 of Christian character and life. Giving is God’s or¬ 
 dination. The Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ 
 have to do with it. He who gives in the spirit and af¬ 
 ter the manner God enjoins, does the divinest of 
 things, and furnishes the most forceful interpretation 
 of his grace, who is the “unspeakable gift.” 
 
 God’s people should think no more of having an 
 opportunity placed before them to give, than they 
 now do of an opportunity to sing a hymn, offer a 
 prayer, or listen to the preaching of God’s Word. It 
 will be so in the better coming day, when the spirit¬ 
 ual life of the Church is quickened, and God’s people 
 become familiar with the Gospel of giving. The time 
 has come to preach a good deal on stewardship, on 
 tithing, and tiieir relation to Christian life and duty. 
 Failure here is failure all around. Wrong views of 
 and wrong methods and a wrong spirit in giving, are 
 responsible for very much of the looseness in faith, 
 spiritual death and indifference which hinder the 
 Church to-day. I heartily commend and believe in 
 the law of tithing, the conscientious habitual, placing 
 of one tenth of all income from whatever source, on 
 God’s altar, strictly for his use. Before Isaac was 
 born, or the founding of the Hebrew Theocracy, Abra¬ 
 ham, “the friend of God, the father of the faithful, 
 paid tithes” to Melchisadec the priest of the Most 
 High God, the prototype of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 That is a great light out of the deep darkness Of the 
 beginning, and the blessing of it goes on like a hymn 
 
— 8 — 
 
 of childhood, whose music stays with us. See, how a 
 good thing affects, and is imitated by the generations. 
 “Jacob,” the grand-son of Abraham, before the giv¬ 
 ing of the law, “vowed a vow, saying. If God will be 
 with me in this way that I go, and will give me bread 
 to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to 
 my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be m}^ 
 God; and this stone which I have set up for a pillar, 
 shall be God’s house; and of all that thou shalt give 
 me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Gen. 28: 
 20 — 22. That is beautiful as a poem, spiritual enough 
 to be chanted in the heavens. Here is promise, wor¬ 
 ship, gratitude, a holy covenant, the assuring seal of 
 one tenth to the Lord. What sanctity and blessedness 
 it gives to the grace of giving! Let us go on. 
 
 “And all the tithes of the land, whether of the seed 
 of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; 
 it is holy unto the Lord, And concerning the tithe 
 of the herd or of the flock, even of whatsoever pass- 
 eth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the 
 Lord,” Lev, 27: 3.0 — 32. Moses will see to it that 
 God has his due, and for a reason that fully justifies 
 the demand. He wishes to avert God’s curse and 
 make sure of his blessing. How happened it later 
 with Israel? “Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye 
 have robbed me, even this whole nation. Wherein 
 have we robbed thee ? In tithes and offerings.” Mai, 
 3:8—9. 
 
 ' Moses makes it plain that this requirement is no‘ 
 charity, it is God’s right, “it is the Lord’s.” The 
 
9 
 
 very same principle with the enlarged privilege of free 
 will offerings holds now, and if adopted sincerely, it 
 would revolutionize the commerce of the world, bring 
 the method of the Church of Christ into harmony with the 
 DivineWord,and assure a blessing to God’s needy cause, 
 to the ministry, to our own homes and lives greater 
 than any we have known since the day of Pentecost. 
 
 I do not hold that the tithe is the limit or meas¬ 
 ure of our giving. It is the minimum of privilege, 
 not the maximum. It is a law of giving the measure of 
 which a growing number have accepted, some have 
 overreached, but a very much larger number among us, 
 many of them blessed with ample means, have never at¬ 
 tained to it. Besides all this, Israel, as we should, gave 
 free will offerings. The temple and the tabernacle were 
 built with these, and when the temple was to be re¬ 
 paired as in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, the offer¬ 
 ings were all of this latter kind. Let us first get to 
 the tenth, cheerfully, truthfully, prayerfully, and you 
 may rely upon it, the heart will do the rest. In those 
 limited days when the blessings of the people in every 
 way were far below ours, this grace of giving was 
 esteemed an honor and a privilege. 
 
 “But who am I and what are my people that we 
 should be able to offer so willingly after this sort; 
 for all things are of thee and of thine own have we 
 given thee.—O Lord our God, all this store that we 
 have prepared to build thee an house for thy holy 
 name, cometh of thine hand and all is thine'own.” 
 7 . Chron. 2g: 14 — 16, 
 
 The tithe law suggests some special advantages; 
 
— 10 
 
 First of all though it is a command under the law, it 
 is the direct appointment and plan of God on which 
 he covenants to bestow blessing. 
 
 In the second place it brings one very close to 
 God. We feel that we must maintain our contract, 
 and we always have the assurance that only blessing 
 can come of it. I am sure, tithing is Scripture giving 
 and that it is always safe. There is no testimony of 
 God's people stronger or more joyous than that which 
 comes of the practice of this law. An honored Bishop 
 of the Moravian Church tells us that he began 
 kouse-keeping thirty years ago on a salary of $ 350 . 
 He began to tithe then and has maintained it until 
 now. He has frequently given more than the tenth, 
 He has a family of eight children, all of whom have 
 adopted God’s law of tithing. One of these, a son, 
 has been supported for three years at a theological 
 seminary. He says: “I have never known want, 
 though I haye often had more in the Lord’s treasury 
 than in my pocket-book. We have had many luxuries, 
 too, not the least of which is knowing the blessedness 
 of giving.” This is one instance in many and they are 
 all practically alike. Who can be a loser in obeying 
 God’s Word. Would God, many more had their feet 
 turned to his testimonies in this thing! I have never 
 known a man, poor or well to do, who adopted the 
 Scripture tithe who did not joy in it, and whom God did 
 not.bless far beyond his expectation. But of this again. 
 
 There is much to be said for the tithe law in the 
 order of it. When one has a Lord’s treasury, a Lord’s 
 
11 — 
 
 portion sacredly and statedly set aside, he will realize 
 that he is keeping an account with God, that he is en¬ 
 trusted with means for the disbursement of which he 
 must seek his guidance. 
 
 Of course there are fixed institutions in the 
 Church, such as Mission and other Boards, which 
 greatly aid here. Just for the lack of this wise law 
 and a corresponding disbursement many give but a 
 mite to benevolence in their own Church, and some¬ 
 times with a measure of generosity to other things, 
 with little help, sometimes harm, because giving is 
 haphazard, a notion, an impulse, instead of an act of 
 faith and devotion to Christ. With the Lord’s own 
 tenth put aside one is never at a loss to know whether 
 he can or cannot afford to give to any cause that 
 makes appeal. If there is still something to the Lord’s 
 credit, he knows what to do, and the conscience is at 
 ease. This principle of order is not my invention, 
 I have thrown away my inventions. It is a matter of 
 Scripture, The “tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.” 
 “Let every one of us lay by him in store.” Let us 
 follow God’s Word, sincerely and then we may claim 
 his blessing, then there will be no lack, no crying dis¬ 
 tress in any part of the Church’s work. Paul com¬ 
 mends this principle of order. The Corinthian Chris¬ 
 tians were abundant in promises, but confused and 
 spare in giving. ‘ They began well, but they had no 
 giving covenant with God, they were robbing him, 
 and so we discover the secret of their becoming carnal. 
 It distressed the Apostle. He had commended them, 
 
12 - 
 
 and with this failure, he feared his word would be 
 questioned, and the cause of his Master thereby in¬ 
 jured. By all means, whether we adopt the Old 
 Testament law or the New Testament teaching, let us 
 have system, order in our giving. That will take in¬ 
 difference out of it, it will show recognition of God in 
 what we have, and in what we do; our giving will be¬ 
 come a grace, an act of worship, and always a blessing. 
 
 Again, the tithe has the advantage of a fixed sum. 
 It is comforting to feel that we are right in any method 
 adopted for the observance of Christian duty. It is 
 not always easy to determine one's duty in the meas¬ 
 ure of giving. A Lord’s treasury into which an ap¬ 
 pointed amount is placed will help to determine it. 
 Wonderful, abundant as God’s mercies are, renewed 
 night and morning, there is so much of incident and 
 circumstance influencing our life, that there is danger 
 that we may not always be accurate in giving accord¬ 
 ing to the measure of blessing. Besides, is there not 
 some opportunity for pretext and selfishness which 
 we would do well not to encourage, when other meth¬ 
 ods than the tithe is adopted? I am certain that, 
 however limited we may be in our resources, the 
 amount will not be hurtfully diminished, but increased, 
 often strangely increased, by the sincere trustful sur¬ 
 render of one tenth to the Lord. 
 
 But it may be argued that we -are under grace 
 and not under the law. It is true, but the force of 
 the assertion in this case will depend entirely on our 
 purpose in making it. If it is meant to be a pretext. 
 
— 13 — 
 
 then the argument fails, for that would intimate that 
 we are to give and do less in the new dispensation so 
 much more bountiful, than in the old dispensation so 
 much more limited. 
 
 But let us look a moment at the teaching of the 
 New Testament on this subject. The Apostle ex¬ 
 pounds it with the clearness and fervor that charac¬ 
 terizes him in setting before the Church the great 
 doctrine of Justification, or in attempting to reach the 
 supernal heights of the Christian’s privileges in Christ. 
 
 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of 
 you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him.” 
 1 . Cor. i6: 2. Here is a high and beautiful standard 
 of giving. Paul believes in a fixed orderly purpose, 
 just as going to God’s house and prayer should be 
 such a purpose. Notice the scope of it: “Let every 
 one of you.” If giving is a grace, a form of worship, 
 who is exempt? The Church, nor any one has a right 
 to hinder or release any poorest child of God from the 
 privilege of giving, though it be but a mite. It is in 
 the face of God’s truth, the pretext of unbelief to 
 claim that any poorest man can be made poorer, by 
 giving back to God what is his own. Does that poor 
 man or woman wish to bind God to his promise of 
 blessing? Then it is the worst of unbelief to say: “I 
 don’t believe God when it comes to giving. Here I 
 will step back and keep the hard earned little I have, 
 let the rich give.” That is practical atheism. That 
 is the spirit that cries for the release of the robber 
 and asks that Christ be crucified. While it is expressly 
 
— 14 — 
 
 declared that a gift “is accepted according to that a 
 man hath, and not according to that he hath not,” 
 2, Cor. 8: 12^ it is stated no less distinctly that we, 
 not some, but all of God’s children are to “abound in 
 this grace also.” Dr. Howard Crosby was right when 
 he said: “The poor man should no more omit giving, 
 on account of his poverty, than the illiterate man 
 should give up his praying, because of his bad gram¬ 
 mar.” The Apostle most impressively touches upon 
 this very point when in speaking of the churches of 
 Macedonia he says: “Moreover, brethren, we make 
 known to you the grace of God which hath been given 
 in the churches of Macedonia; how that in muchproof 
 of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep 
 poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. 
 For according to their power, I bear witness, yea 
 and beyond their power, they gave of their own ac¬ 
 cord, beseeching us with much entreaty in regard of 
 this grace and the fellowship in the ministering to the 
 saints.” 2. Cor. 8: i — 4. R. V. Their country had been 
 desolated by war, and then oppressed by intolerable 
 taxation, they were in extreme poverty, but they kept 
 covenant with God, and Paul was overjoyed and 
 amazed at the measure of their noble Scriptural giving. 
 It is a sublime testimony, not from the rich, but 
 from the poor and an example worthy of the widest 
 imitation. 
 
 It is unusual until we know what was behind it. 
 “First they gave their ownselves unto the Lord, and 
 to us by the will of God.” 2. Cor. 8: 5. R. V. This 
 
— 15 
 
 surrender clears away all difficulty. It blushes out of 
 sight all unholy motive, both in the giver, and in any 
 method that may be adopted. The appeal is not to the 
 flesh, but to the spiritual man; not to curiosity, but 
 to faith, the method is not any longer man’s inven¬ 
 tion, it is God’s revelation. It is easy to give, a real 
 joy, where the heart leads. Paul will not isolate this 
 grace, he will not mark it an exception in the noble 
 line, which one may omit, if there should be aversion 
 to it, or if some one should count it inconvenient. 
 “^But as ye abound in everything, in faith, and ut¬ 
 terance and knowledge, and in all earnestness and in 
 your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.” 
 2 . Cor. 8: /. R. V. Paul wants a complete Church 
 and a complete character. Least of all would he 
 have the Christ-like grace omitted. He highly appre¬ 
 ciates the love his Corinthian brethren bore to him, it 
 is a real comfort to him, but he knows that lack in 
 this grace he is commending, would turn their love 
 into selfishness, and leave them hampered and incom¬ 
 plete. He will speak with emphasis: “But this I 
 say. He that sow^eth sparingly shall reap also sparingly ; 
 and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bounti¬ 
 fully.” 2. Cor.g: 6. R, V. Butin whatever di¬ 
 rection we start we must return to the giving of our¬ 
 selves to the Lord. We cannot wrest the observance 
 of this grace from any one. “Let each man do ac¬ 
 cording as he hath purposed in his heart; not grudg¬ 
 ingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful 
 giver.” 2. Cor, g: y. R. V. God takes an account 
 
— 16 
 
 of giving when it means faith, love, homage and obe¬ 
 dience in us. There is still another comforting as 
 well as instructive thought to which the Apostle al¬ 
 ludes. There are many generous souls, who long to 
 give, but know not how; there are others to whose 
 nature giving is not a luxury, but a task, they must be 
 enticed into it, they must needs condition it on varied 
 circumstances, as if it were a green apple to be coaxed 
 to the ripening, and yet sometimes they wish it were 
 otherwise. To all such, we say, carry your care to 
 Jesus. Remember the spirit is everything. Many a 
 humble, lowly saint is a great giver when the offering 
 is the merest mite. Does not the Apostle meet the 
 case when he says: “God is able to make all grace 
 abound unto you ; that ye having all sufficiency in 
 everything, may abound unto every good work.” 2. 
 Cor. g: 8. R. V. As we go to God for faith and 
 holiness, let us go for deliverance from a selfish and 
 ungenerous heart; let us depend upon the Holy Spirit 
 to w'ork this grace as any other in us, and in ways 
 surprising God will supply our need here as elsewhere. 
 Clearly, then, here is a grace which, instead of ap¬ 
 proaching it with aversion as if it were a dead man’s 
 hand, or shyly as if it were a robber in the dark, we 
 should welcome as a blessed privilege, a grace that 
 consents to God’s will and makes us like him. 
 
 Assured Blessings. 
 
 We think it quite possible that it will be difficult 
 to name an}" grace or Christian service more marked 
 
— 17 — 
 
 and abundant in blessing, than Scriptural giving. It 
 must be so for it is God-like, and carries with it the 
 expression and exercise of the other graces. “It is 
 more blessed to give than to receive.” Acfs 20: 3§. 
 God is pleased to make right giving a pre-eminent in¬ 
 strument of good doing. By his own strange way of 
 multiplying our gifts, it is difficult to put limit to 
 their service for his cause. Notice a few which easily 
 come within our observation. 
 
 First. Scriptural giving will cleanse the Church 
 of all unseemly methods of getting money, and insure 
 an ample sum for all purposes. 
 
 The dignity and purity of the Church have often 
 been more than marred by secular and selfish methods 
 of giving. She has often thus been made a witness to 
 unbelief, to mistrust of God, rather than of faith in him-. 
 Instead of following his way, the Church has often been 
 degraded to the ways of human invention, worthy more 
 than once to be styled the methods of human folly. Ap¬ 
 petite, sensuous tastes, and selfish inclination have been 
 appealed to, until, in many instances, instead of ob¬ 
 taining a blessing, a disgust for things sacred has been 
 awakened. It is a shame to hear the jingle of the money 
 changers in the house of God, all because there is so 
 little faith in his promises, such a spare recognition 
 of stewardship, and so much disposition to care for 
 self, and to withhold from God that which is his due 
 and we should cheerfully lay on his altar. It has been 
 our privilege frequently to officiate at church dedica¬ 
 tions. After the discourse, some other brother, sup- 
 
— 18 — 
 
 posed to have rare gifts for the work, has taken his 
 place in chancel or pulpit, and, with preliminary state¬ 
 ments disposed of, he has commenced what to some in 
 the audience was the fun of it. After the deliverance 
 of such wit and humor as he could command, and the 
 tossing of the debt from one side of the house to the 
 other as a rubber ball, and a real good time, it was 
 announced that the debt was provided for, and to the 
 Church at large the fact was proclaimed as a great 
 success. No! it was not a success ; it was a failure, 
 for the Holy Ghost had nothing to do with it. The 
 Holy Ghost never identifies himself with such per¬ 
 formances, and as for the sermon, it had as well not 
 have been preached, for all impression made was dissi¬ 
 pated. This was neither an obedience to Scripture nor 
 an expression of faith in God» All unscriptural giving 
 closes instead of opening the heavens to the descent 
 of God’s blessing. Whenever the Church comes to 
 believe and honor God’s Word here as elsewhere, there 
 will not be an empty Board and Church treasury in 
 our Zion, and there never will be a full one until this 
 faith and obedience become a more general experience 
 among us* 
 
 Let us come to the abiding Word again. It will 
 answer us if we are disposed to question these state¬ 
 ments, it will confirm us if we only desire to know the 
 truth —Mai 3: lo: “Bring ye all the tithes into the 
 storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and 
 prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I 
 will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour 
 
— 19 — 
 
 you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough 
 to receive it.’’ 
 
 What a really wonderful and assuring promise 
 that is! May the Spirit give all his ministers and 
 people to realize its fullness. Where is there another 
 like it? “I will open you the windows of heaven.” 
 The windows—and see—there is more than one, and 
 God will throw them all up for the man, for the home, 
 for the Church that honors him in tithe giving. The 
 blessing will not be any wasting rivulet as it rolls over 
 the stones, but a flood poured out as if there were an 
 ocean hard by, or a deep well that could not be ex¬ 
 hausted by any number of consumers. We stint, we 
 rob God, in the home and in the Church ; in a straight 
 —we cut off the cause of missions first—and then ex¬ 
 pect God’s blessing on our souls, in home, and store, 
 and oftice. Expect it when we have quit trusting him, 
 when we have struck Scriptural giving from the list of 
 our graces, when we have erased this bountiful promise 
 from the Book, and pulled all the windows of heaven 
 down. Is it strange many prosper in their selfishness, 
 are carnal in their lives, and weak and sickly in the 
 sanctuary of God? 
 
 It is very suggestive, we may not stop now to en¬ 
 ter into any discussion about it, we just gladly affirm it 
 on the testimony of God’s unfailing Word, that he has 
 hinged very great blessing for ourselves and the Church 
 on our humble and faithful observance of the tithe law. 
 We may offset it with our own wisdom and way, but 
 we shall certainly be the losers in such a case. I know 
 
20 — 
 
 very well that millions on millions of money could not 
 purchase a spiritual quickening, but I know too that 
 giving in the Scriptural spirit and way means obed¬ 
 ience, faith, prayer, living with God, familiarity with 
 his Word, and these mean an open heaven and an out¬ 
 pour of God’s blessing beyond what we ask or think. 
 
 How' certainly this great promise of God is ful¬ 
 filled to his children they know, who have trusted and 
 proven it. We are prepared to say first of all on the 
 testimony of God’s Word, and then of experience, that 
 in blessing on one’s soul and life, nothing surpasses 
 the grace and ministry of giving. The reason is not 
 far to find. It is such an exercise sincerely entered 
 into, such a holy covenant with God, that the self¬ 
 nature is apt to come to the end of itself; there is no 
 room for making provision for the flesh in such a case ; 
 crucified with Christ, entering into fellowship with 
 him in complete self-surrender, we die to all fleshly 
 and selfish demands. We have nothing we did not 
 receive from God, and we will not rest until in this 
 blessed self-denying obedience, we are filled with him¬ 
 self. What holy immortal mastery this often gives to 
 the humblest and poorest of God’s children, as well as 
 to some more favored. A little while ago Mrs. Julia 
 Bedell of New York died. She was a worthy stewardess. 
 She might have figured in society and so wasted her 
 substance. She chose a better way. In her will she 
 bequeathed $85,000 to various religious bodies. Her 
 will closes with this significant prayer: “And thus, 
 O Lord, our Heavenly Father, having returned to 
 
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 thee as best I can, the trust thou hast committed to 
 my care, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Utterly 
 unworthy in myself of any mercy, I hope for salvation 
 only in the atonement of my Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, by the grace of the Holy Ghost. 1 know whom 
 I have believed, and that he is able to keep that which 
 I have committed to him, and I am persuaded, that 
 neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor 
 powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
 height nor depth, nor any creature shall be able to 
 separate us from the love of God.” This was the 
 residue of her estate after those who had claims upon 
 her had been provided for. She was a giving Christian. 
 
 Neither in life nor in death would she keep from 
 God his due. No wonder her faith was so well founded 
 and her hope so ample. A beautiful blessed life was 
 hers ! Not because God enabled her to give so great 
 a sum at last, but because of her constant recognition 
 of Him in what he gave her, in her obedience and 
 faith, in a life laid on his altar. We could produce in¬ 
 stances in our own beloved Church of a like kind. It 
 is the privilege of the poorest, and nothing is more 
 beautiful in Christian experience and history, than 
 just such Scriptural living and giving by multitudes 
 of God’s poor ones, to some of whom we are blessed 
 in being allowed to minister. 
 
 “And all these blessings shall come on thee, and 
 overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of 
 the Lord thy God. 
 
22 — 
 
 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed 
 shalt thou be in the field. 
 
 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the 
 fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the 
 increase of thy kine,* and the flocks of thy sheep. 
 
 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 
 
 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and 
 blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 
 
 The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee 
 in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine 
 hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which 
 the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Deut. 28: 3 —d, 8, 
 
 “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 open with new wine.” Py'ov.j 10. 
 
 Zion languisheth, the chariot wheels drag slow, 
 the world derides the weakness of the Church and 
 stalks through her sanctities irreverent as a wild boar 
 out of the woods through a garden, the family altar is 
 in ruin in many homes, many of God’s people have 
 broken covenant with their Lord and Redeemer, and 
 with all this has come a distaste for spiritual things. 
 Is there not some considerable remedy in adherence 
 to God’s demand to bring the tithes into his house, to 
 prove him in this blessed ministry, and claim and ex¬ 
 pect his bountiful blessing? The revival that is to 
 bring backsliders back and the unsaved home to God, 
 will not precede the one in Scriptural, spiritual giving. 
 
 We have no thought that any one will come to 
 
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 right views upon this subject apart from the teaching 
 of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. The whole trouble 
 about it is with ourselves. Our unbelief, our limited 
 consecration is in the way. Multitudes fear to step 
 fairly out on God’s promises and trust him. Let us 
 go alone with God, and allow him to search us as with 
 a lighted candle, and see if it be not so. Andrew 
 Murray tells of one of his co-workers, Rev. Mr. Fur- 
 geson, who said to him when he was dying, that he 
 had been meditating on that beautiful Scripture: 
 ‘‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
 white as snow.” As he thought he said, one seemed 
 to say to him: White as snow^’* “do you know 
 
 wdiat that is?” He answered: “No, Lord, thou only 
 knowest, I do not.” Then came another question: 
 “Are you willing that I should do it?” “Yes, Lord, 
 by thy grace I am willing,” said the dying man. 
 Here is the secret of the difficulty and the method of 
 removal. Look at yonder Cross and ask whether you 
 know what Christian giving is? Shall we not have 
 to answer: “No, Lord, thou knowest.” Then shall 
 it be asked: “Can you attain to it.” There is only 
 one answer; “No, Lord, thou canst.” And shall we 
 now follow with the test question: “Are you willing 
 that I should do it?” Shall we not say: “Yes, Lord, 
 by thy grace, I am willing.” 
 
 I surely would not presume to be a law to any 
 other one. I only have sought to enforce the truth 
 and spirit of the Scriptures on the great grace of giv¬ 
 ing. I am confident of the advantage and blessing of 
 
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 the method I have urged. Never in the history of the 
 Church was it practiced by so many. It is one of the 
 most inspiring facts of our time. If I could order the 
 homes of our young people, if I could counsel all the 
 poor, I would say, give your hearts and lives to Christ, 
 live without waste, trust and obey God, cheerfully 
 give back to him his portion, and then claim and en¬ 
 joy his blessing. Giving is a really great word. It 
 is not far from God. There is blood on it. God waits 
 by his Spirit to work this grace in us as well as any 
 other. Give him the heart and allow him to do what 
 he would. We shall see the face of the King when our 
 consecration will permit us to obey and trust God in 
 this grace which so involves and absorbs the inner life. 
 
 Oh, that the Holy Spirit may lift all up to the 
 high place of motive and power the Apostle has taken 
 in enforcing the grace of giving! “Ye know the grace 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, 
 yet for our sakes he became poor, that ye through his 
 poverty might be rich.'’ Dear reader, do you know 
 that ? It is the sublimest expression of self-denial; 
 it is God’s own heart laid bare; it is the secret of the 
 power of a Scriptural-giving Christian; it is Paul’s 
 unanswerable argument crowned and sealed by the 
 blood of the Cross.