|
The following quotes compiled here in PPT form https://stewardship.adventist.org/stewardship-quotes.ppt The only investments I ever made which have paid constantly increasing dividends are those I have given to the Lord’s work. Pastors do their congregation a great service by helping those in the church understand God’s truth about money, time and giving. J. L. Kraft. Founder Kraft Foods Tithing is the heaven-taught method of giving body and expression to Christian love and sympathy. John Ross, 1901 The Lord’s Portion A checkbook is a theological document ... It tells who and what you worship. Billy Graham It is a sad fact that while great things are being done in the world by individual Christians, the potency of those forces are largely lost because the rank and file are living organized lives with no distinct acknowledgement of their stewardship relation to God, the Father-Owner. The faithful steward alone is lacking at this crucial hour. Frederick Agar, 1920 Stewardship of Life I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess. Martin Luther According to Webster, a steward is a person who manages the affairs of a household as an estate for the owner. In a biblical sense, a steward is a manager of God’s affairs on planet earth. Stan Toler God demands our tithes and deserves our offerings. Stephen Olford To those Christian men and women of America who have stood and are standing with all of their resources of personality and possessions in the battle for the Christian conquest of the world and for peace. Ralph Cushman Dedication statement in the 1922 book, The Message of Stewardship. If God is your partner, make your plans big! D. L. Moody You can’t fake stewardship. Your checkbook reveals all that you really believe about stewardship. A lifestyle could be written from a checkbook. Ron Blue God has given us two hands – one to receive with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing. Billy Graham I have watched 100,000 families over my years of investment counseling. I always saw greater prosperity and happiness among those families who tithed than among those who didn’t. Tithing is simply an outward expression of spiritual growth leads to material growth. Sir John Templeton The most important aspect of tithing and stewardship is not the raising of money for the church, but the development of devoted Christians. Fred M. Wood The gift of 10% has precedence all the way back to the time of Abraham. Tithing is a guide to giving for today’s Christian. Wayne Watts A community of Christians (stewards) is not a series of clocks in a jeweler’s window, each with its own tick and time, in a busy individualism, but like the clocks in a modern office building, regulated by the master, central clock on the main floor. Silas Evans, 1921 The Currency of the Invisible I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. C. S. Lewis Christian stewardship is more than the management of things; it is the refusal to let things manage us. James A. Lollis I know that God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that he didn’t trust me so much. Mother Teresa Stewardship of money is only a fraction of our full Christian stewardship. The rich young ruler could say, “All these things have I kept from my youth up,” but Jesus said to him, “one thing thou lackest.” The call for stewardship living is not fractional, but a calling where self and substance both come under the rule of biblical stewardship principles. Charles Cook, 1923 The Larger Stewardship There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, mind and the purse. Martin Luther When a man becomes a true Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy, and prosperous. Now if that man, whilst he gets all he can and saves all he can, does NOT give all he can, I have more hope of Judas Iscariot than of that man! John Wesley The greatness of a church is determined not by what it takes in, but by what it sends out. Talmadge Johnson If the church has a need, God has pre-arranged supply to meet that need through His people. Terry N. Toler Give as you would to the Master If you met His searching look Give as you would of your substance If His hand the offering took Charles Wm. Harshman, 1905 Christian Giving Praise your congregation for their faithfulness in giving. Stan Toler Never “take” the offering. Rather, “receive” the offering. Make offering time a time of celebration! Stan Toler New conditions of need in the world are calling for new standards of stewardship in the church, or rather, for new applications of the divine standards of giving as well as of living and serving. No wonder, then, that God has given stewardship so important a place in the training of the human race. David McConaughy, 1918 Money: The Acid Test Here’s a humorous illustration ... New offering plate for churches: This ingenious invention receives gifts of a dollar or more on a plush cushion with silent graciousness. But when half-dollars are dropped in, it rings a bell; when quarters are given, it blows a whistle; when dimes are slipped in, it fires a shot. But when someone refuses to give, it takes their picture. We are not here to develop a spiritual life of our own, or to enjoy a quiet spiritual retreat. We are here to have the full realization of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of building his body. Oswald Chambers Tithing is not a matter of money, it is an issue of trust. John Maxwell “One more revival is needed, the revival of Christian stewardship; the consecration of the money power of the church of God; and when that revival comes, the kingdom of God will come in a day; you can no more prevent it than you can hold back the tides of the ocean.” Horace Bushnell in American Tithers James Sayler, 1918 The church ceases to be spiritual when it becomes self-seeking, only interested in the development of its own organization. Oswald Chambers Our lifetime on earth is a dot and from that little dot extends a line that goes out into all eternity. So if you are smart, are you going to live for the dot or for the line? – Randy Alcorn “When I try to accomplish by human means what can be done only by spiritual means, I embezzle God’s authority.” Fred Smith, Sr. A disciple realizes that it is his Lord’s honor that is at stake in his life, not his own honor. Oswald Chambers Pharisaism is the culture of orthodoxy which destroys the kingdom of grace. – Ben Maxson What is the single greatest deterrent to generous giving? I believe the answer is the illusion or belief that this earth is our home. – Randy Alcorn Spiritual leaders do not seek to discover the will of the majority, but seek to lift the majority to discover the will of God. – Ben Maxson To comprehend and enjoy God is the highest exercise of the powers of man. Ellen White "The way each day will look to you, all starts with who you are looking to.” Bill Bright The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Oswald Chambers Our agenda is to fix the world until it can properly take care of us. God's agenda is to bring all things together in Christ until every knee bows before him. Larry Crabb We Christians cannot talk about loving God until we come to grips with our raging passion for ourselves. Larry Crabb Great leaders inspire us to go places we would never go on our own, and to attempt things we never thought we had in us. Hanz Finzel “The one common thread of courageous biblical leaders: They trusted God more than their circumstances.” John Maxwell “Organizations have this nasty habit of becoming institutions. And institutions have this great tendency to fade into irrelevance. Movements become monuments. Inspiration becomes institution.” Hanz Finzel A person is simply a slave for obeying, unless behind his obedience is the recognition of a holy God. Oswald Chambers “No executive ever suffered because his subordinates were strong and effective.” Peter Drucker “Unless the laborer in God's cause can gain the confidence of those for whom he is laboring, he can do but little good.” E. G. White “Prayer does not equip us for greater works—prayer is the greater work.” Oswald Chambers “He that thinketh he leadeth . . . And hath no one following him . . . Only taketh a walk.” John Maxwell “We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn late in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.” Petronious, 210 B.C. “If you lead through fear you will have little to respect; but if you lead through respect you will have little to fear.” Anonymous Spiritual leaders assume that the Holy Spirit is an organizational reality in the church. Thus they make room for Him in the structure and process of church life. Ben Maxson Budgeting: A method of worrying before you spend instead of afterwards. When you think no one cares you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments. A major problem these days is how to save money for your children’s college education, when you’re still paying for yours. Doug Larson Money is an exact index to a person’s true character. All through Scripture there is an intimate correlation between the development of a person’s character and how they handle their money. Richard Halverson A good architect can improve the looks of an old house merely by discussing the cost of a new one. Jesus said more about money than any other single thing because, when it comes to a person’s real nature, money is of first importance. Richard Halverson The lust for affluence in contemporary society has become psychotic; it has completely lost touch with reality. Richard J. Foster The poorest man I know is the man who has nothing but money. John D. Rockefeller We always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap. Alexander Solzhenitsyn He who provides for this life but takes no care for eternity is wise for a moment but a fool forever. John Tillotson Their property held them in chains. They think of themselves as owners; whereas it is they rather who are owned. Enslaved as they are to their own property, they are not the masters of their money but its slaves. Cyprian Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners. E. Joseph Grossman Affluenza is a strange malady that affects the children of well-to-do parents. Though having everything money can buy, the children show all the symptoms of abject poverty. . . depression, anxiety, loss of meaning and despair for the future. Randy Alcorn Our founding fathers objected to taxation without representation. They should see it today with representation. I am a great believer in luck, and I find that the harder I work, the more I have of it. Stephen Leacock Did you ever wonder why U.S. government securities are so safe? It’s because the federal government has an unlimited source of capital: If it ever runs out of money, it just prints more to pay its bills. . . I wish I could do that. Common sense is genius dressed in working clothes. Ralph Waldo Emerson Give a person everything they want and at that moment, everything will not be everything. Immanuel Kant He who buys what he does not need robs himself. If you would make a person happy, add not to their possessions, but subtract from the sum of their desires. Blessed are those who can give without remembering, and receive without forgetting. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24 (NLT) The modern American is a person who drives a bank-financed car over a bond-financed highway on credit card gas to open a charge account at a department store, so they can fill up their savings-and-loan-financed home with installment-purchased furniture! Possession is an obsession in our culture. Richard J. Foster Greed assumes scarcity but Scripture tells us the opposite is true. . . scarcity is created by greed. Christ taught that tithing was a good place to start. . . but a tragic place to stop. Most people have too much month left at the end of their money. It’s not the high cost of living that gets you. . . it’s the cost of high living! You become mature when your disciplines become reflexes. You can spend money any way you want. . . but you can only spend it once. There is nothing in status but status itself. A budget is an attempt to live below your yearnings. It is time to realize that there is no such thing as a completely satisfied person. Otherwise, there would be no need for heaven. Tony Campolo Some people go over their budgets very carefully every month… Some just go over them! Consumers are in an endless, hopeless search for happiness through the confiscation of things. Thomas O’Quinn Affluenza turns the good life into the goods life. Richard Swenson People are temporarily pleased with their external purchases, but chronically unhappy with their emptiness. Richard Swenson There is a one-to-one relationship between the possession of things and the consumption of time. I will live within my means even if I have to go into debt to do it! A budget is an orderly, time-consuming, and methodical way to discover there is not enough money to go around. When your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall! Civilization—a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities. Mark Twain There is a tendency with all material possessions to obscure the needs they cannot satisfy. A full hand helps us forget an empty heart. Dallas Willard What I spent is gone. What I kept is lost. But what I gave will be mine forever. Epitaph on a tombstone “It is not really about greed, it is pride. I want more than the other person”. C.S.Lewis We can choose to see life as a series of trials and tribulations, or we can choose to see life as an accumulation of treasures. Author Unknown “It is the eyes of others that destroy us. If all the others were blind, what need would I have for fine clothes and a fine house?” Benjamin Franklin More is never going to be enough “He is no fool who gives away what he cannot keep what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot I place no value on anything that I possess, except in relationship to the kingdom of God.” David Livingston “I value all things only by the price they shall gain eternity.” John Wesley “It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.” Charles H. Spurgeon “It is right to be contented with what we have, never with what we are.” James Mackintosch “Those who devote their lives to a cause greater than themselves always find a larger, fuller life than the one they surrendered.” Wilbert E. Scheer “Compassion is at the root of all giving.” Elisabeth Goudge “Focus on the contribution that you can make.” Peter Brucker The one who dies with the most toys wins. Bumper sticker “Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.” C.S. Lewis “Time is the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions.” John Randolph “In giving of oneself there is enough taken away to have room for more.” Alice R. Pratt “Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what your priorities are.” James W. Frick “What we really are matters more than what other people think of us.” Jawaharlal Nehru “The only certain happiness in life is to live for others.” Leo Tolstoy “It's not really about greed, (that is, more, for the sake of more) it's pride - I want more than the other person. What other than pride would lead to huge houses with 2 t story atrium entries with two adults and one child living in them?” C. S. Lewis “Everything can be taken from us but one thing-the last of the human freedoms- to choose one's attitude in any given circumstance.” Viktor Frankl “He who lives content with little, possesses everything.” Nicolas Boileau “Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit.” Aristotle “What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.” Eleanor Powell “God's love had no strings, no expectations, no hidden agendas, no secrets. His love for us was, and is, up front and clear.” Max Lucado One Incredible Moment Biblical Models for Project Funding Building the Tabernacle (Ex 25:1-9, 35:20-29, and 36:4-7). Building the Temple (1 Chr 29:1-20) Restoring the Temple (2Kings 12:1-12; 2 Chr 24:8-14) Caring for the displaced at Pentecost (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35) Relieving famine in Jerusalem (1 Cor 16:1-3; 2 Cor 8:1-15) Supporting Paul’s ministry (Phil 4:10-20) Borrowing 2 Kings 4:1-7 The widow was instructed to borrow only objects, not any form of currency or negotiable goods. “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.” Francis of Assisi “Where riches hold the dominion of the heart, God has lost His authority.” John Calvin Average American shop 6 hours a week but spend only 4 playing with their children. By the age of 20, the average television viewer has seen one million commercials. Recently, more Americans declared bankruptcy than graduated from college. In 90 percent of divorce cases, arguments about money play a prominent role. “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” J.D Rockefeller “I was happier when I was doing a mechanic’s job.” Henry Ford “Millionaires seldom smile.” Andrew Carnegie “I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate, it’s apathy.” Leo Buscaglia “All the beautiful sentiment in the world weights less than one lovely action.” James Russell Lowell “He profits most who serves best.” Arthur F. Sheldon “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Abraham Lincoln. “It is high time the ideal of success should be replaced with the ideal of service.” Albert Einstein “Contentment is the realization of how much I already have.” Dave Grant “I am content with a little, enough is a good feast.” Isaac Bickerstaffe, Dramatist “Sharing what you have is more important than what you have.” Albert M. Wells, Jr “If you haven’t got all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don’t have that you don’t want.” Unknown “What we do during our working hours determines what we have; what we do in our leisure hours determines who we are.” Abigail Van Buren “The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” William James The More Generous Married couple Single women especially single mother Self-employed “To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else.” Bernadette Devlin “Giving is true living” Jack Herman “Riches are not from an abundance of worldly goods, but from a contended mind.” Mohammed “The true value of money is not in possession, but in its use.” Aesop “There are three levels of giving: You have to (law) You ought to (obligation) You want to (grace) Waldo Werning “Today if you have your own home, if you have a reliable means of transportation, and if you receive an annual raise in salary, you are in the top 15% of the world’s wealth. If you have two cars, two salaries, multiple changes of clothes and regular promotions, you’ve just jumped to the top 5% of the world’s wealth…God wants to know: ‘What are you complaining about?” (Tony Evans—CSA magazine) “Many believers are living under a closed heaven. They pray, but the door is locked because they’re robbing God (Malachi 3). If you give someone the keys to your car and this person never brings your car back, are you going to give him or her the keys to your house? Not likely. In the same way, if God can’t trust His children with a little, why give them more?” (Tony Evans—CSA magazine) “If we really believed that our works in this life, what we do with all of our resources, will have an irreversible effect on eternity…then surely we would live differently!… Let us read our own obituary, not as written by uninformed or biased men, but as an onlooking angel might write it from heaven’s point of view. Look at it carefully. Then let us use the rest of our lives to edit that obituary into what we really want it to be.” (Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions, and Eternity) “Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (C.S. Lewis) “One more revival—only one more—is needed, the revival of Christian stewardship, the consecration of the money power to God. When that revival comes, the kingdom of God will come in a day.” (Horace Bushnell) “True happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth.” Sir John Templeton “I never would have been able to tithe on my first million dollars if I had not learned to tithe on my first paycheck, which was $1.50 for the week.” John D. Rockefeller “When it comes to giving, some folks will stop at nothing.” Jimmy Carter “What God orders, He pays for. Where God guides, He provides.” Anonymous “We make a living through what we get; we make a life through what we give.” Winston Churchill “It pays to serve God, but it doesn’t pay to serve God because it pays.” R.G. LeTourneau “Make money your god and it will plague you like the devil!” Henry Fielding “Money talks. It says, ‘Good-bye.” Brian Kluth “Christian stewardship is more than the management of things; it is the refusal to let things manage us.” James A. Lollis “Don’t give ‘til it hurts; give ‘til it feels good.” Anonymous “There are three levels of giving: *you have to (law); *you ought to (obligation); *you want to (grace).” Waldo Werning “A twenty-dollar bill and a one-dollar bill were talking one day. They were telling each other where they had been. The twenty said he had just been on a whirlwind trip. He had been to the casinos and to the movies. He had been to a baseball game and purchased hotdogs and beers. He had been passed on to the lottery and then a drug dealer. His life was full of extravagant travel. The one-dollar bill responded saying his life was boring. All he had done was travel from one church to another and another.” “I will place no value on anything I may possess except in relation to the kingdom of Christ. If anything I have will advance the interests of that kingdom, it shall be given away or kept, only as by giving or keeping it, I may promote the glory of Him, to Whom I owe all my hopes in time and eternity.” David Livingstone “The good life exists only when you stop wanting a better one. It is the condition of savoring what is, rather than longing for what might be. The itch for things—so brilliantly injected by those who make and sell them—is in effect a virus draining the soul of contentment. A man never earns enough, a woman is never beautiful enough, clothes are never new enough, the house is never furnished enough, the food is never fancy enough. There is a point at which salvation lies in stepping off the escalator, of saying, “Enough: What I have will do, what I make of it is up to me.” (Marya Mannes—Reader’s Digest, Points to Ponder) “Money management is not so much a technique as it is an attitude. And when we talk about attitudes, we are dealing with emotions. Thus, money management is basically self-management or control of one’s emotions. Unless one learns to control himself, he is no more likely to control his money than he is to discipline his habits, his time, or his temper. Undisciplined money usually spells undisciplined persons.” Robert J. Hastings “The person who dedicates his money to God is dedicating himself—the fruit of his time, talent and energy. One who fails to dedicate his money has not fully committed himself to God.” Anonymous. A London paper offered a prize for the best definition of money. This was the winning answer: “Money is an instrument that can buy you everything but happiness and pay your fare to every place but heaven.” “A rich man came to Jesus and asked, ‘What does it cost to follow you, 25%, 50%, 75%?’ The answer Jesus gave was, ‘All of it.’ 2000 years later people are still asking the same question…“What does it cost to be a true disciple, a real steward?’ Same answer…100%” (Patrick McLaughlin, President of The Timothy Group) “Our churches are filled with “owners,” not “stewards.” Patrick McLaughlin “No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.” Beecher “I always had a dream that when I am asked to give an accounting of my life to a higher court, it will be like this: ‘So, empty your pockets. What have you got left of your life? Any dreams that were unfulfilled? Any unused talent that we gave you when you were born that you still have left? Any unsaid compliments or bits of love that you haven’t spread around?’ And, I will answer, ‘I’ve nothing to return. I’ve spent everything you gave me. I’m naked as the day I was born.’” Erma Bombeck. “One philanthropist summed it up saying, ‘I get three kicks out of every dollar I’ve ever had: one, when I make it (and you know how much I love to make a dollar, he grinned). The second kick is when I bank it (and I do have a Yankee lust for savings), but the third kick comes when I give it away—and this is the greatest kick of all.’” G. Bradford Hall, St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, CA. “Give according to your means, or God will make your means according to your giving.” John Hall. “Give strength, give thought, give deeds, give wealth, give love, give tears, and give thyself. Give, give, be always giving. Who gives not is not living. The more you give, the more you live.” Anonymous “Money can buy medicine but not health. Money can buy a house but not a home. Money can buy companionship but not friends. Money can buy entertainment but not happiness. Money can buy food but not an appetite. Money can buy a bed but not sleep. Money can buy a crucifix but not a Savior. Money can buy the good life but not eternal life.” Anonymous. “Money in itself is neither good or bad; it is simply dangerous in that the love of it may become bad. With money a man can do much good; and with money he can do much evil. With money a man can selfishly serve his own desires; and with money he can generously answer to the cry of his neighbor’s need. With money a man can buy his way to the forbidden things and facilitate the path of wrongdoing; and with money he can make it easier for someone else to live as God meant him to live. Money brings power, and power is always a double-edged thing, for it is powerful to good and powerful to evil.” William Barclay. “Our lives are in God’s hands, but the lives of others, by God’s choice and power, are in our hands. The future of the lives touched by us is an eternal one. Whatever our obstacles and opportunities, let us not fail man or God.” Paul H. Miller “God will not merely judge us on the basis of what we gave but also on the basis of what we did with what we kept for ourselves.” Erwin W. Lutzer “The lust for affluence in contemporary society has become psychotic; it has completely lost touch with reality.” Richard Foster Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines materialism as “A preoccupation with or stress upon material rather than intellectual or spiritual things.” Randy C. Alcorn, in his book Money, Possessions and Eternity, goes on to say that “Materialism begins with the philosophy of life we actually live by. Hence, while any true Christian would deny belief in the philosophical underpinnings of materialism, he may nonetheless be preoccupied with material rather than spiritual things and therefore in fact be a practicing materialist.” “The poorest man I know is the man who has nothing but money.” John D. Rockefeller “Adversity is hard on a man, but for the one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.” Thomas Carlyle “The care of $200,000,000 is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it.” W. H. Vanderbilt “I am the most miserable man on earth.” John Jacob Astor In sanctification, the one who has been born again deliberately gives up his right to himself to Jesus Christ, and identifies himself entirely with God's ministry to others. Oswald Chambers “Millionaires seldom smile.” Andrew Carnegie “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” John D. Rockefeller “The happiest people are those who care more about others than they do about themselves.” Ted Turner “There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher.” Henry Van Dyke “There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life—happiness, freedom and peace of mind—are always attained by giving them to someone else.” Peyton Conway March “Profit is what we have left after we make a donation to a worthwhile cause.” Marilyn Vos Savant “Giving pays the highest interest rate, and has the longest term of any investment available.” Jeffrey K. Wilson “God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized, uneducated, unmedicated and unfed millions.” Pastor John Piper “I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.” John Wesley “Money is emphasized in Scripture simply because our temptation to love it is inexplicably powerful.” Erwin W. Lutzer “Money is like manure: If you spread it around, it does a world of good; but if you pile it up, it stinks to high heaven.” (from “The Matchmaker” by Thornton Wilder) “A person’s true wealth is the good he or she does in the world.” Mohammed “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.” Proverbs 11:24 “We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.” Seneca “We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse.” Anne Swetchine “The decent thing to do is get rid of some of this money.” (James Michener, 89, author, commenting on his giving of $117,000,000 during his lifetime) “No one has ever become poor by giving.” Anne Frank “If you’re giving while you’re living, then you’re knowing where it’s going.” “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” Maya Angelou “Giving is the lifeblood of happy living.” Todd Parrish “Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.” Danny Thomas “It’s more rewarding to watch money change the world than to watch it accumulate.” Gloria Steinem “Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Norman MacEwan “The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.” William James “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions. He had money as well.” Margaret Thatcher “Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one. If it satisfies one want, it doubles and triples that want another way.” Benjamin Franklin “The real measure of our wealth is how much we’d be worth if we lost all our money.” J.H. Jowett “God divided the hands into fingers so that money could slip through.” Martin Luther “The perfect amount to leave children is enough so they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.” Warren Buffett “You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” John Bunyan “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” Wesley “The intriguing thing about God’s economic system is that no one is too poor to tithe. Tithing is not dependent on financial resources; it is dependent on the level of trust we have in God.” Unknown “I don’t want to be a tightwad. I want to be frugal. I want to celebrate life, to surround myself with beauty, to be content, whatever state I am in. I want to manage my finances, to organize my routine and to use my possessions wisely. I want to budget resources and time, to help others and to bring glory to God.” The Thrifty Person’s Credo, Cynthia Yates “Money is one of the acid tests of character and a surprising amount of space is given to it in Scripture. Whether a man is rich or poor, observe his reaction to his possessions and you have a revealing index to his character.” Oswald Sanders “When giving to God, we are just taking our hands off what belongs to Him.” Croft M. Pentz Having the reality of God’s presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually. Oswald Chambers “Sow a thought, reap an act; Sow an act, reap a habit; Sow a habit, reap a character; Sow a character, reap a destiny.” Unknown. “I’m proud to be paying taxes in the U.S. The only thing is I could be just as proud for half the money!” Arthur Godfrey “Over and over again, the courts have said there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich and poor, and all do right, for nobody owes any duty to pay more tax that the law demands. Taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions.” Judge Learned Hand A newspaper reporter doing a story on John D. Rockefeller, after his death, asked his former chief accountant, ‘How much money did he leave?’ Answer = ‘All of it!’ “Why are so many Americans are in debt? They believe in spending tomorrow’s cash today.” “Our time belongs to God. Every moment is His, and we are under the most solemn obligation to improve it to His glory. Of no talent that He has given will He require a more strict account than of our time.” Ellen White Giving and receiving are mutual. Receiving without giving causes dependence. Giving without receiving leads to arrogance. Robert E. Fogal The End  An excellent book for the topic of tithing. Christ Our Creditor "How Much Owest Thou?" or The Tithe Terumoth Its Philosophy, History and Perpetuity by N.L. Rigby. This edition was published in 1912 but the copyright is dated 1895-1899. Now available online to download and read for free: Internet archive scanned version here. PDF updated text version here: 
Nicholas Linden Rigby. Not much is known about the author. Born April 21, 1840 in England. According to online sources Rigby may have attended Shurtleff College (Baptist liberal arts school) in Alton, Illinois circa 1865-1869. Rigby was a "missionary for the Home Society" in the Kansas area from 1872-1877. “Rev. Mr. Rigby has accepted a call from the Baptist congregation of Winfield.” [Lawrence Daily Journal 13 Jul 1873, Sun · Page 2]. "Rev. Rigby is with us again looking fat and happy." Winfield Courier, January 4, 1877. Apparently the Rev. Rigby was also an inventor. "Rev. Rigby has invented and constructed a coal oil lamp that will make him a fortune. The patent is about to be issued." Winfield Courier, January 18, 1877 [not verified]. Patent records show that he also invented a lawn sprinkler holder. Patent information here: Lamp: http://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/scientific-american-1878-07-06-v39-n01.pdf (search "Rigby") Lawn sprinkler holder: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/08/1b/0b/ca3e43592ca1e9/US542029.pdf By the early 1890s Rigby is recorded as living in the Los Angeles area. This makes sense since "Los Angeles" is listed as his location on page 6 of the book preface. He would have been 72 years old when the 1912 edition was published. Rev. Rigby married Jennie Ida Rigby (formerly Sprague) in 1894. Since Jennie Ida Sprague was born on May 18, 1873 then Rev. Rigby was approximately 54 years old and his wife was only 21 at the time of the wedding. The only known child was Linden Gordon Rigby and was "born on 7 August 1895, in Palms, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, his father, Reverend Nicholas Linden Rigby, was 56 and his mother, Jennie I Sprague, was 22. He died on 11 July 1975, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, at the age of 79.” His book "Christ our Creditor" appears to have also been published earlier with a different title: "Ten cents on the dollar, or, The tithe terumoth : God owns the dollar, man owes the dime" https://search.worldcat.org/title/23895392 Date of death and burial place are unknown. (If anyone has any further information for Nicholas Linden Rigby please contact me using the contact form. )
[The following excerpt comes from pages 110-111 of the book 'Found Faithful' by Merrill D. Moore, Published 1953 by Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee.] "Salvation is free. We are not under law but under grace."
That is correct. We cannot earn or help to earn our salvation. But if our gratitude to God, under grace, is less than that of the Jew, something is wrong within us. One who seeks to justify a selfish course by quoting the above Scripture has a mistaken idea of grace, for one of the manifestations of grace is liberality (2 Cor. 1-2). Jesus, in making the transition from law to grace, raised the old standard in every instance. Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). If the tithe is not now expected of Christians, Jesus lowered this one standard. If it is lawful for a Christian to spend more than nine tenths of his income on himself, then he has a right to be more selfish than the Jew, and Christ has lowered a moral standard. Can we imagine that Jesus lowered the standard in this one case, when he raised it at every other point? Grace has not repealed the Ten Commandments, but it has given more strength to keep them and pro- vided more compelling motives for doing so. No- where in all the Bible where giving is mentioned is any portion less than the tithe indicated. The Christian under grace has a larger obligation and privilege than the Jew under law. A prominent businessman of Abilene, Texas, gave his testimony: "I am not a tither because of the law. Being under grace and in the family of God, I am under the law of love. As a child of God I have the opportunity of ex- pressing my love for him and lost humanity by voluntarily contributing tithes and offerings for the promotion of his kingdom in accordance with his expressed will. I am thoroughly convinced by the Scriptures and by long and happy experience, that 'the tithe is the Lord's.'" "What if I Decide to Give Less Than the Tithe? If as Christians we are faithfully seeking to be loyal to Christ, but decide on a standard lower than the tithe, we must believe the following: 1. Jesus, our Lord, sets a lower standard than did Moses under the law. 2. The gospel of Jesus Christ sounds a retreat. 3. The Christian under grace has less obligation to God and his fellowmen than did the Jews under the law. 4. The stern demands of the law produce better results than the gospel of grace. Sinai is stronger than Calvary. 5. Either Christ's cause is less worthy than Judaism or needs less to carry it on. 6. That Christians receive less from God than did the Jew and therefore not as much is required of them. 7. That Christians are not as able to give as were the Jews." Quote from page 200 of Milo Kaufmann's 1975 book 'Stewards of God."
My commentary: A big problem with this type of thinking (asking the question in the title) is that the tithe itself is defined by the questioner as something discretionary and subject to one's personal desires or assessment. This is based on the false assumption that the nature of tithe as being holy has somehow changed with the changing of the priesthood from Aaronic/Levitical to Melchizedek. However Hebrews 7:9 proves that tithe is just as holy in both priesthoods because otherwise it could not be said that the Levitical priesthood paid the holy tithe outside their priesthood to Melchizedek. While the giving of offerings above and beyond the first tenth can be argued to be subject to one's discretion, the first tenth/tithe is not. It is holy to the Lord and non-discretionary and must be returned. When people try to argue against tithing ask them if the above seven statements are true. If your experience is anything like mine they will try to find an escape or diversion in order to avoid these statements as much as possible. The Scriptural Tithe by Dr. Barndollar is one of the best defenses of tithing published over the last 100+ years. This 370 page defense was Barndollar's dissertation for a Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) degree from Grace Theological Seminary in May 1959. You can download the updated PDF here:
You can find the original dissertation published by Grace Seminary here but it has an error with a duplicate section.
https://grace.hykucommons.org/ Dr. Barndollar's contribution to the study of tithe is the strong arguments and exegesis of Genesis 26:5, 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 and Hebrews 7:8. The weakness of his paper is the poor exegesis of Hebrews 7:6 and confusing claims about the relationship between law, grace, and Abraham's obedience to the "legalistic" language of Genesis 26:5. Overall, an excellent resource. William Walker Barndollar (1903-1993) 1927 Wheaton B.A. 1931 Ohio State M.A. 1935 Dallas Theological Seminary Th.B. 1956 Grace Theological Seminary Th.M. 1959 Grace Theological Seminary Th.D. From 1947-1961 (some accounts say he retired 1968, 1969) Dr. Barndollar was a teacher for Bible Baptist Seminary in Johnson City, N.Y. Bible Baptist changed it's name to Clarks Summit University in 2015/2016. One of the residential halls at Clark's Summit is named after Barndollar: “Dr. W. Walker Barndollar joined the Clarks Summit University faculty in 1947, teaching subjects such as systematic theology, apologetics and eschatology. Throughout his time at Clarks Summit University, he served as chairman of Division I (theology, Bible and apologetics), chairman of Division II (language and literature) and director of the Bible Studies Division. He retired in 1969, after 21 years of faithful service” https://www.clarkssummitu.edu/life-at-csu/residential-life/ https://www.clarkssummitu.edu/about-csu/history/ The fascinating story of Thomas Kane who "probably did more to promote the tithe than any other man." [1] In 1916 one magazine wrote “Every human being must have hobbies, and Mr. [Thomas] Kane has three: tithing, fishing and golf. It is hard to tell whether fishing or tithing has the preference. He has been the advocate of tithing for forty years or more and has sent out millions of tracts and articles urging all to follow the Scriptural injunction and give one tenth to the Lord.” [2] ChristianityToday wrote that the modern “Christian emphasis on tithing stemmed largely from the efforts of Chicago businessman Thomas Kane..." [3] Born in 1837 in Adams County, Ohio, Thomas Kane would later become a very successful and wealthy businessman in Chicago. According to the 1911 Book of Chicagoans; a biographical dictionary of leading men of the city, Kane moved to Chicago in 1872 and in 1875 began manufacturing “school furniture under the style of Thomas Kane & Co. (later incorporated).” His company also manufactured “electro vapor” engines and “high grade pleasure boats, row boats, sail boats, canoes” etc. At the time of his death in 1924 he was "rated as a millionaire." [4-7]  In his autobiography Kane explains why he started tithing. “in [the year 1870] I commenced tithing my income. The reasons were distinctly not altruistic—I confess that self-defense was a more prominent reason than duty. Like many other people, I was an emotional giver, was too much governed by impulse rather than reason. To some objects I gave more than I should, to others less. I needed a rule, a limit, and so my wife and I adopted the tenth as a convenient rule; and besides we had Bible authority for it. Neither of us regarded the tithe as a permanently binding law of the race; indeed, so far as I know, neither of us had ever heard a sermon or read a book on the subject.” [8] Noticing that each year from 1870-1876 his profits “increased with greater ratio” this “deepened the conviction that there was a very close affiliation between tithing and temporal prosperity. I felt that if this was true in my own case as it certainly appeared to be, it might be true of others, and that if the facts could be obtained and widely published, the one paramount objection to tithing as a rule of life, might, in a large measure, be overcome.” [9] Interestingly “up to 1876 and so far as I can recall for several years thereafter, I did not know another tither, so that I had no personal means of verifying my opinion regarding the cause and effect relations between tithing and temporal prosperity.” Having “an extensive acquaintance among ministers. I felt that if there were any tithers, they, of all men ought to know it. Hence I asked, as opportunity offered, and where opportunities did not offer, I made them, all the ministers of my acquaintance if they knew any tithers, and if so, how their temporal prosperity compared with others who did not tithe. So far as I remember none of them personally knew a tither.” So when Thomas Kane started tithing he had never “heard a sermon or read a book on the subject” and had never known another tither and the ministers acquainted with Kane did not themselves know of any tithers. [10]  “Believing that this phase of the subject is of paramount importance especially to laymen, I determined to make all possible inquiry by correspondence, and to obtain all the facts available.” Kane wrote his first pamphlet on tithing in 1876 which included the question “"It is my personal belief that God prospers in temporal affairs those who honor Him by setting apart a definite proportion of their income to His service. I have never known an exception. Have you? Please give me any facts within your personal knowledge on this subject. Especially give the facts if you know of any exceptions." From 1877-1878 this pamphlet was “sent to probably three-fourths of all the ministers in the principal evangelical denominations in the Northern States, and to a large number in the South.” Kane received at least 200-300 positive replies. “The testimony was practically uniform that temporal prosperity follows tithing. No exceptions worthy of the name were given. I could not but feel that if these testimonials could be widely distributed, and read by laymen, the result would be not only a real awakening on the subject of tithing, but a large increase in contributions to Christian benevolences.” [11] The results of Kane’s 1878 survey prove an important point. Although there had been a growing interest in the topic of stewardship (foonote citing Powell, Salstrand, Calkins) the practice of tithing was largely an unknown and untaught subject in 19th century USA. Despite this, there were still many people scattered throughout the country who, whether by conviction, self-study, or desire to make giving more systematic, had been practicing tithing and did so long enough to observe some positive correlation between tithing and temporal prosperity. The feedback received was not 80/20 or 70/30 or 50/50 but almost %100 in support that tithing and prosperity are linked. (For similar findings see work of Blacksmith ) This finding lit a fire in Thomas Kane and so, at his own expense, he began publishing and circulating promotional pamphlets and booklets. “In the next ten years Mr. Kane sent out more than five million tract pamphlets on this subject” almost always published under the pseudonym of “Layman.” This immense amount of tithing literature is remarkable considering that the population of the USA during this time was about 50-60 million people. [12-15] Kane then wrote a tract on the subject and sent it to at least three-fourths of all the evangelical ministers in the United States. With the tract went a circular saying: My belief is that God blesses in temporal as well as spiritual things the man who honours Him by setting apart a stated portion of his income to His service. I have never known an exception. Have you?” The initial response to Kane’s literature was mixed. From ordinary people and ministers “the increasing demand was encouraging, and many letters showed plainly that the interest in tithing was deepening and widening.” However, the two groups that proved the biggest challenge also happened to be the groups with great potential: editors of the religious press and teachers in seminaries. Although offers for Kane’s tithing literature in “evangelical church papers” were ignored by a “large majority” of editors there was a “substantial minority…[who] cheerfully published the offer.” Kane wrote “the readers of religious newspapers were more interested in the subject of tithing than, at least, the great majority of the editors.” As for seminaries “Very early in the campaign I realized that the most profitable field for cultivation, if I could reach them, would be the students in the theological seminaries. Naturally, I first tried to reach them through their professors—the teachers of our future teachers. Every effort, however, in this direction was a flat failure.” Remarkably, within a few years this apathy towards tithing would be reversed. Things were about to change. It is difficult to pinpoint how exactly tithing became so popular at the time that it did but around the turn of the century (estimated 1890-1915) attitudes rapidly changed. “With few exceptions the religious press has not only ceased to be apathetic but is becoming one of the most active and influential agencies in favor of tithing.” Kane’s pamphlets were initially free but by 1890 demand was so big Kane had to begin requesting payment for cost of printing. By 1900 no more free pamphlets to anyone, it was too expensive in cost and labor. In 1918 Kane observed that “There are now any number of agencies circulating tithing literature. Scores, yes hundreds, of books, pamphlets and addresses on tithing are being written and published. The subject is made prominent at almost every religious convention. Conferences, Associations, Presbyteries, etc., are adopting resolutions in favor of tithing. Several denominations have tithing and stewardship secretaries.” George Brown, also an advocate of tithing, wrote “The demand for literature on the subject became so great that the Twentieth Century Tithe Covenant Association was organized at the Winona Bible Conference in 1904, with Thomas Kane as President.” Kane also recounts that he received a much better response from seminaries when promoting the scholarship of Dr. Henry Lansdell, a British priest in the Church of England. [16-19] Arguably, the most influential book from this period was Dr. Lansdell’s The Sacred Tenth. Originally published in 1906 (available to read for free on archive.org and elsewhere), this two-volume work “advocated tithing from a more scholarly basis. Lansdell's work was a landmark in tithing research because not only was it the culmination of the previous three decades of research, but it became paradigmatic for tithing arguments and discussions over the next ninety-nine years.” Where Kane was a promoter whose pamphlets tended to emphasize the beneficial experience of tithing, Dr. Lansdell was a scholar with a wealth of tithe research going back thousands of years to the ancient empires of Assyria and Babylon. Kane ordered hundreds of copies of Lansdell’s work and sent them to seminaries and their libraries. Lansdell and Kane had previously corresponded and then met each other at 1904 Tithing Conference. “In England the one who perhaps more than any other person has done most to promote tithe paying is the Rev. Henry Landsell, D.D., chaplain of Morden College, Blackheath.” [20-21] Around 1917 Kane formed The Layman Company, later renamed to Layman Tithing Foundation, an interdenominational non-profit whose aim was to “make stewardship literature available to all who seek to promote the Scriptural basis of giving.” The “Board of Directors composed of individuals from various denominations.” Kane “set aside a considerable sum to insure continuance of this work after his death.” By 1956 the Layman Tithing Foundation was still sending out 2 million pamphlets a year. By 1961 it was reported that the Foundation had become a one man operation because the denominations “large and small, have now taken over the crusade for tithing.” In May 2006 “the Tithing Foundation board donated the foundation and all of its assets to the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago with the understanding that LSTC would continue to keep alive the goal of stewardship and tithing education, information and practices. Since then, LSTC has been updating the foundation’s publications and resources, and developing workshops.” According to public records, LSTC has received at least $335,000 in grants from the Thomas Kane Trust to promote tithing. [22-26] Thomas Kane died September 26, 1924 at the age of 87. He was buried in a family plot at Oakwoods cemetery in Chicago. In September, 2023 I (Andrew, the author of this blog) visited Kane’s burial site and unfortunately it appears that nobody has visited this site for decades. Kane’s headstone had fallen over and the headstones of his children have fallen over and sunk in the ground for so many decades that the names are covered by the ground. See pictures below. Kane wrote “As already said I have for thirty-seven years been seeking for facts as to the results of tithing. The many millions of questions sent out and the many thousands of answers received prove beyond question that tithing pays. Pays financially. Pays spiritually. Pays in personal happiness. Pays in the comfort and happiness of other people. In short, pays in every good sense.” Also, “the dominant note in all testimonials from tithers is the joy of giving.” [27-28] Quotes describing Thomas Kane: “The writer is personally acquainted with Mr. Kane and can testify…that he who has harped on the one string "Tithing" for over forty years has not soured, but is the "sunniest, kindliest of men, with a wide range of interest." [29] "It generally is acknowledged that the cause of Christian stewardship in America owes more to the life and work of Thomas Kane than to that of any other one man of modern times." [30] “Tithing, properly considered in United States history, must be dated to a large extent in terms B.K. and A.K, “before Kane” and “after Kane.” [31] "Mr. Thomas Kane, who is the best-known champion of tithing among the American churches and whom certainly no one else excels in constancy and consistency of devotion to the principle as a law of God." [32] FAMILY Thomas Kane married Adeline E. Bickle Kane (1836-1917) and they had six children together. Five of the children “were taken in three days by diphtheria” but another report says “scarlet fever.” The only surviving child was their daughter Theodosia Kane Eshbaugh (1878-1963) who married Merle Francis Eshbaugh (1881-1950). They had no children. [33-34] NOTES: The Tithing Foundation previously had its own website but after lack of use it expired. An archived version can be found here. “I have never found a tither who was not happy and prosperous. Not that tithers get rich, but they always have all they need. Not that they don’t have sorrows, but they come up out of them with smiles on their faces.” [35] END NOTES: [1] King, Julius. (1953) Successful Fund-Raising Sermons. Funk & Wagnalls. 268 [2] “A Tip To Men In Middle Life” The American Magazine, vol. LXXXII no. 2. August, 1916, page 37, Crowell Publishing Company, Springfield, Ohio. [3] Blomberg, Craig L. “Ten Percent Won’t Work for Everyone.” Christianity Today, September 28, 2021. [4] Marquis, Albert Nelson (Ed.) (1911) The Book of Chicagoans. A.N. Marquis & Company. 376 [5] Swing, David (1892) A Story of the Chicago Fire. [6] Army Navy Journal. Vol. XXXIII No. 24. February 15, 1896. 434 [7] “Thomas Kane Dead.” The Tipton Daily Tribune. Vol. XXIX, no. 304. September 26, 1924. 1 [8] Layman. “A Tithing Autobiography.” Tithing and Prosperity. (no date) The Layman Company. Chicago. 65. Thomas Kane is here pictured as being 80 years old so this autobiography would we circa 1917-1918. This is confirmed on page 80 saying that 1913 was “five years ago.” 65 [9] Ibid. [10] Ibid. 64-66 [11] Ibid. 66-67 [12] See Powell, Luther (1962) Money And The Church. Association Press. See especially Chapter XIII. Salstrand, George (1956) The Story of Stewardship. Baker Book House. Calkins, Harvey Reeves (1914) A Man and His Money. [13] Blacksmith. (1888). The Path To Wealth: Or, Light From My Forge: A Discussion Of God's Money Laws, The Relation Between Giving And Getting, Cash And Christianity. Richmond, Va.: B. F. Johnson. 1-233 [14] Thompson, T.K. (Ed.) (1960) Stewardship In Contemporary Theology. Association Press. 122 [15] Salstrand 41-42. Powell 187, 214. Thompson 121-122, 139. [16] Layman. 67-68 [17] Ibid. 80 [18] Ibid. 79 [19] Brown, George. (1911) Gems of Thought on Tithing. 84 [20] Croteau, David A., "A Biblical and Theological Analysis of Tithing: Toward a Theology of Giving in the New Covenant Era" (2005). Faculty Dissertations. 17. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/fac_dis/17 32 [21] Sayler, James L. (1918) American Tithers. The Methodist Book Concern. 24 [22] Salstrand 83 [23] World Religious News. (1924, October 25) The Olean Evening Herald (Times Herald). 4 [24] Salstrand 83 [25] Jesus Mentioned Tithing (1961, February 1) Detroit Free Press. 7 [26] Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. 2016-2018 Catalog. 97 [27] Layman 78. This quote is found in both the 1915 and 1918 editions of his autobiography written with the Pseudonym “Layman.” [28] Kane, Thomas. “The Financial Side of Tithing.” Western Christian Recorder, 18 February 1915. p. 3 [29] Huebschmann, John S. (1922) Three greater successes. Central Publishing House. 52 [30] “’Layman’ Is Dead” (1925 February) The Missionary Visitor, Church of the Brethren. Vol. XXVII No. 2. 41, 53 [31] Ward, Hiley H. (1958) Creative Giving. New York: MacMillan. 60 [32] “The Tither’s Advantage.” 1909, December 22. The Ceredo Advance. p. 2 [33] “A Tip To Men In Middle Life” The American Magazine, vol. LXXXII no. 2. August, 1916, page 37, Crowell Publishing Company, Springfield, Ohio. [34] Whallon, Edward Payson. (1934) Some Family Records. F.L. Rowe: Cincinatti. p. 25 [35] “Tithing Testimonies.” (1928, December 1) The Kansas Messenger. p. 2 OBITUARIES: "Thomas Kane, known throughout American Protestantism as the leading promoter of the principle of tithing in church finance, died in Evanston, Ill., on September 27. Mr. Kane distributed millions of pamphlets under the non de plume of "Layman." Two years ago he set aside a considerable sum to insure continuance of this work after his death" Times Herald, Saturday, October 25, 1924 "Funeral services for Thomas Kane, who died last Friday at the age of 87 and whose work is known throughout the world, will be held at 1 p.m. today at the residence, 1251 Ashbury avenue, Evanston. For fifty years Mr. Kane published pamphlets in advocacy of tithing. they have been published by the millions in several languages and distributed among all denominations in America, Europe and Asia. Dr. Dan B. Brummitt, editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate, and Dr. W.O. Carrier, pastor of the Third Presbyterian church, Chicago, will officiate at the funeral. Chicago Tribune, Monday, September 29, 1924, page 10, "Thomas Kane, Tithe Leader, To Be Buried Today" "Thomas Kane, for many years president of the Winona Assembly at Winona Lake, Ind., and widely known for his work in the Presbyterian church, died yesterday at his home, 1251 Ashbury avenue, Evanston. He was 71 years old. Mr. Kane was retired manufacturer of school supplies and formerly was the president of the American Spiral Pipe Works. He will be buried from his late home on Monday afternoon at 1 o'clock. Chicago Tribute, Saturday, September 27, 1924. "Thomas Kane, Long Active in Church Work, Is Dead" "Thomas Kane, age 87, died at 1 o'clock Friday morning at his home in Evanston, Ill. The word of his death was sent to his sister, Mrs. Aurelia Gates, who is living with her daughter, Mrs. Carl Harper, near Sharpsville. Death was very sudden and unexpected and while the message did not state the cause, it is believed heart trouble coupled with complications incident to his advanced age closed the life of this pioneer Tipton citizens. Mr. Kane was nationally known among the church people as he was identified for years in the publishing business in Chicago and devoted most of his time to the printing of literature on tithing. He published several books and pamphlets on this subject and his literature has been used in hundreds of churches over the county. Mr. Kane was fortunate in retaining exceptionally good health up to the very time of his death. He lived in Evanston but every day of the week, he journeyed to downtown Chicago where he maintained an office and there worked throughout the day. He was in his office Thursday. He is survived by the widow, one daughter, Mrs. Theodocia Ashbaugh, of Chicago, and two sisters, Mrs. Aurelia Gates, of Sharpsville, and Miss Emma Kane, of Long Beach, Cal. There were seven children in the family but six of them are dead, all being. victims of scarlet fever. Two children are buried in this city and four are buried in Chicago. The deceased was one of the early settlers of Tipton. He came here with his parents, George and Catherine (Platter) Kane from Adams county, Ohio, in 1828. His father entered land here when the Indian Reserve was opened. The family entered land where the Lake Erie shops are now - located. They lived at first in a district near two of Tipton's early day taverns and this was considered a bad environment for the children and the elder Kane moved to a cabin where the Waffler & Bates building now stands on East Jefferson street. Mr. Kane had purchased land which now comprises the Burkhardt farm at the northeast edge of this city and he arranged for a house raising on his new farm. At this time there were only thirteen buildings in Tipton. In those days the building of a house or barn of logs was an event and was attended by all the people of the neighborhood. There was plenty to eat and also plenty to drink as in those days the jug of whisky was common in nearly every home. The elder Kane was one of the early day prohibitionists and he announced that there would be no whisky at his house raising. Instead of a large crowd for the event, only two men appeared and the work of raising the house was a strenuous affair. The son grew to manhood here. He taught school and also engaged in business here in the dry goods business with his father. They operated one of the very earliest of stores here. Thomas Kane was married to Miss Addie Bickle who resided in this city. She is surviving and is in fairly good health. A brother, Platter Kane, is buried in the old cemetery, Green- lawn, which is now part of Fairview cemetery. Mr. Kane was a very wealthy man, being rated as a millionaire. He was one of the prominent Presbyterians of the country and it is possible that he has left the Tipton church a bequest. At one time he was president of the Winona Assembly at Winona Lake. The Tipton Daily Tribune, Friday, September 26, 1924. Page 1 "THOMAS KANE DEAD - PIONEER OF TIPTON DIED IN CHICAGO - Was An Early Day School Teacher In The Community"    The following is an address on tithing given by Miss Margaret W. Leitch of Ceylon, (given during the SEVENTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR CONVENTION held in the auditorium endeavor and hall williston, centennial park, and in the gospel tabernacle and many churches. nashville, tenn., july 6 – 11, 1898. To view the original transcript: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/155819409.pdf)
THE TENTH LEGION; FORWARD MARCH. We have come to this Convention to seek for a blessing. We desire a blessing in our own hearts, and we desire to carry back a blessing to our societies and homes. The Lord Jesus has told us how to get a blessing. He has said, "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him" (John 14: 21). This greatest of all blessings, the abiding presence of the Blessed One in our hearts, is conditioned upon the keeping of his commandments. If we fulfil the conditions, he will fulfil the promise. Shall we not lift up our hearts in prayer to him, and continue to lift them up all through this session, asking that by his Spirit he will reveal to us his will, and enable us to surrender our wills in glad obedience? Page 201 GOD'S CLAIM. The topic before us is Tithe-Giving. In considering this important subject, let us remind ourselves that all we have belongs to God. He is the absolute owner, and he has never conveyed away his ownership. Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's, and the earth also, with all that therein is" (Deut. 10: 14). "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein" (Ps. 24: 1). "Every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills" (Hag. 2:8). As the Creator, he must have absolute ownership in all his creatures: and if an absolute claim could be strengthened, it would be by the fact that he who gave us life sustains it and with his own life redeemed it. "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6: 19, 20). If God has absolute ownership in us we can have absolute ownership in nothing whatever. Those houses and lands and corner lots, those shops and mines and bank-accounts, are not ours at all. We are not proprietors apportioning our own. We are all of us only "tenants at will" of the Almighty. We are told to "occupy." We are stewards: we are to be reckoned with; we must give account. Does not the owner expect from his tenant some sort of tribute or acknowledgment? Surely he does, and he is not content to take a few hollow and empty words of "Thank you." In order that we may constantly remember the fact that all we have belongs to God, he has taught us in his Word that, while all should be used in the way that will best honor him, one-tenth should be set aside for his direct service. "The tenth is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord" (Lev. 27:30). EXAMPLES FROM SCRIPTURE. Abraham paid tithes of all to the priest of the Most High God. Melchizedek (Gen. 14:20). Jacob vowed. "Of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give a tenth unto thee " (Gen. 28:22). In many places in the Old Testament the giving of the tenth and of free-will offerings is most clearly enjoined. God asked those gifts from his people because he wished to bless them by lifting them up out of a life of selfishness into a life of communion with himself. Had the Jews, through tithes and thank-offerings, "kept the Lord always before them," they would not have committed the sins which brought punishment upon them and upon their land. The Levitical order of the priesthood with its sacrifices was done away by the Great Sacrifice; but we who are under a new and better priesthood, that of Him who was "made a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" are not thereby freed from the obligation of tithe-giving. Tithes were paid to this order of priesthood centuries before the Levitical order was proclaimed. In no place in the New Testament do we read that Christ disannulled the law of tithes. On the contrary, he expressly commended tithe-giving in Matthew 23:23. "Ye pay tithes...These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone." If it was incumbent upon the Jews to pay tithes, is it not more incumbent upon us? Greater obligations are resting upon us than rested upon the Jews. Under the old dispensation the Jews were only required to care for their own nation, but under the new dispensation the command is, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." In view of the larger work entrusted to us, it seems that a tenth is the very least that a disciple of Christ should give, and that over and above that he should give as God has prospered him. THE PRACTICE OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. It is a matter of history that the early Christians paid tithes, and that they continued to do this centuries after the resurrection of our Lord. Grotius says. "From the most ancient ages a tenth has been regarded as the portion due to Page 202 God according to both Greek and Latin historians." Ambrose says, "Whosoever fails to pay his tithes fears not God, and knows not what true repentance and confession mean." Augustine says, "Tithes are required as a debt. Pay tithes and out of the nine parts give alms." Many of the councils of the early Church proclaimed to Christians the obligation of paying tithes, resting the duty not on the authority of ecclesiastical law, but on the sure basis of the Word of God. This is the unanimous judgment of the fathers and the voice of the Church uncontradicted for more than a thousand years. The rapid spread of Christianity during the first centuries is doubtless due in no small measure, to the fact that the Christians devoted a tenth of their income to the extension of Christ's kingdom. GOD A GOOD MASTER. To our short-sighted view it may perhaps seem severe that a working woman, whose income is only a dollar a day, should be required to give ten cents of that, or that a widow with little children should be asked to give a tenth of her small earnings for the extension of Christ's kingdom. But the Master met this very condition in the third request in the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." "Leave thy fatherless children with me, and I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me." "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Give, and it shall be given unto you." In the Master's first sermon he referred to the widow of Zarephath. She had only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse, yet out of that small quantity she was bidden first to make a little cake for the prophet. To this obedient widow was given the high honor of sustaining God's prophet, and in return God sustained her and her son throughout the whole period of famine. THE GIVING OF NATIVE CONVERTS. Will giving the tenth impoverish? I can testify from ten years of missionary experience that even among the poorest native converts the giving of the tenth does not impoverish. In Ceylon, as in most Eastern countries, the great majority of the people. are poor. The ordinary wage of a working man there is only a sum equal to eight cents a day. But although the majority of the native Christians are poor, they are not so poor that they cannot give for the support of the gospel. When they read in the Bible that a tenth is the Lord's, they just believe it. They are simple-hearted children in the Christian religion, and they have never been taught that they should not believe what they read in the Bible. Believing, they begin to give accordingly. Those who are employed in government or mission service give a tenth of their salaries. The farmers are accustomed to give every tenth bushel of rice. Those who have gardens give the fruit of each tenth tree. They give the tenth before they begin to use any part for themselves. They find that giving in this way brings them a spiritual blessing. They also find by experience that nine-tenths with God's blessing goes as far as ten-tenths used to go. The Christian community is rapidly increasing. It is the best educated, the most respected, and the most prosperous community in the island. FREE-WILL OFFERINGS. Although the native Christians begin by giving a tenth, they do not always stop there. When a convert from heathenism is received into the Christian Church he takes the tenth as a starting point and says, "Less than this I will not give." He does not say that he will not give more. Many of the native Christians as they grow in grace begin to give more than the tenth. Every year, after harvest-time, a thank-offering meeting is held in each church, when the people bring as free-will offerings sheep. goats, fowls, fruit, grain, vegetables, and other things. Such meetings are held Page 203 on a week-day. After a joyful praise-service in the church a little sale is held. outside under the wide-spreading trees, and the proceeds go to help carry on God's work. As a result of such giving the majority of the native churches are self-supporting, and the remainder are fast becoming so. In addition the native Christians give toward the support of Christian schools, toward the work of the Bible society, and their native missionary society. I merely speak of Ceylon as one instance. The self-sacrifice shown by the native converts in many mission fields is such as to put Christians in this land to shame. DAILY GIVING. The Christian women in Ceylon have a method of their own for giving to foreign missions. The Christian mother in each home, as she measures out the rice for the evening meal, takes out each day a handful or more and puts it into a little box called "The Lord's box." At the end of each month the treasurer of each church visits the Christian homes, collects the rice from these boxes, sells it, and the money goes to aid the native missionary society in supporting native Christians as missionaries in distant villages. These poor native Christians in Ceylon cannot afford such luxuries as I see on every hand in America. Their tables are not loaded with dainties. Many of them have only one meal a day. They cannot afford to worship in magnificent churches with stained-glass windows, highly-paid choirs, and church debts. But they are enjoying one luxury. They are sending out and supporting native workers in the Regions Beyond." Why could not every church in this country enjoy such a luxury? They could if their members were to join the "Tenth Legion." MORE THAN MONEY. The native Christians in Ceylon are giving more than money; they are giving their sons and daughters to Christ's work. Many of the young men educated in the higher educational mission schools have gone as Christian workers to other parts of the island; to India, Burmah, Singapore, the Straits Settlement, Penang, and Bornea. They are now employed in connection with twelve different missionary societies. These young men are cheerfully accepting, in mission service, one-sixth or one-eighth of the salary which they might have secured in government service. Their question is not "Where can I make the most money?" but "Where does God want me?" And at his call they are, like brave soldiers, leaving home and friends and going to the front, where the battle is the hardest. THE REWARD. These sons do not need to hear a great many missionary sermons to induce them to become missionaries. They had seen the father setting aside the tenth for the Lord's service, a giving that often entailed real sacrifice. They had seen the mother putting aside the daily handful of rice with a daily lifting of the face to Christ and a daily prayer that his kingdom may come. He who said, "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," has made good his promise, granting to those parents the unspeakable blessing of seeing their children consecrated to the service of God. Sometimes in a palatial home in this country a mother will say to me. "I feel very sad and anxious about my children: my sons are prospering in business, my daughters are devoted to society; but they do not care for the things of God." And I say to such a mother,"What have you been seeking for your children? Have you been seeking first the kingdom of God?" If when God calls we answer, then when we call "the Lord will When we cry he will say, "Here I am." Page 204 OUR OWN NEED. We need to give for our own safety. Christ speaks of but one power in the universe as likely to become a dangerous rival for that throne in man's heart and life which belongs to God himself. That subtle power, that dangerous rival, against which he warns us, is Mammon, the love of money. He tells that between the pursuit of gain and the service of the living God every man must choose.Ye cannot serve God and mammon." THE WORLD'S NEED. We need to give for the sake of others. Never before were the fields so white for the harvest or the calls for laborers so loud as now. Mission fields are open. The world is the field. All fences are down. "The Christian Church stands to-day face to face with its answered prayers." THE NEED IN CHINA. Look, for example, at the marvelous changes which have taken place in China within the last few years. Formerly the literati of China, who practically hold all the offices and are the real rulers of the Empire, were Christianity's strongest opponents; but since the China-Japan war, the Chinese government leaders have become convinced that the Empire must change front. It had been facing toward the past. Not wishing to confide in the ambassadors of any of the nations, under the circumstances, it is a fact that they sought counsel from Christian missionaries. After frequent interviews, high government officials requested the missionary leaders, who were in their confidence, to put in writing their suggestions for the reform of China, and this was done. The immediate result was a special order to the provinces making it emphatic that missionaries are not only to be tolerated, but protected. Rev. Timothy Richards, one of the leaders of this movement, who has been for twenty-seven years in China, says, "When I think of the importance of this movement. I feel appalled by its magnitude. The leaders of four hundred millions of people turning to the Christian Church for light and leading! Take time to realize what that means. And now that they have come to you, I hope that you will not allow them to go astray for lack of a sympathizing hand to lead them into the way of righteousness." The missionary force in China should be increased without delay.. THE NEED IN INDIA. India presents a crisis equally as great as that in China. As a result of the kindness shown and help given by the missionaries to the famine-stricken people during the last famine, a remarkable mass movement is taking place toward Christianity, and many thousands are forsaking idolatry and openly avowing themselves the disciples of Christ. To instruct these multitudes of inquirers more missionaries are needed, and should be sent to India at once. THE NEED IN AFRICA. An equally remarkable transformation is taking place in Africa. That dark continent, for centuries the home of terrible oppression and indescribable misery, is rapidly being opened up to civilization and the gospel. Look at the transformation in a single district-Uganda: "Ten thousand souls brought into contact with the gospel, half of them able to read for themselves; two hundred church buildings erected by native Christians; two hundred native evangelists and teachers entirely supported by the native Church; ten thousand copies of the New Testament in circulation; six thousand souls under daily instruction; the number of converts doubling yearly for the last six years; the power of God shown by changed lives; and all this in what was once the centre of the thickest darkness in the world." Truly "We are living. we are dwelling, in a grand and awful time, In an age on ages telling. To be living is sublime." Page 205 WORKERS READY. Not only has God opened the long-closed doors, but he has raised up an army of workers eager to enter them. More than five thousand young men and women, many of them the brightest students from the colleges and seminaries of this country, have signed the Student Volunteer Declaration, saying, "It is my purpose, God permitting, to become a foreign missionary." Over eleven hundred of these have already been sent out by their respective mission boards, and more than four thousand are either in course of preparation or are waiting for an opportunity to go. On one hand is the loud call for reinforcements, and on the other a great company of young volunteers. What hinders the advance? Nothing but the lack of funds. A FORWARD MOVEMENT. Who can make a forward movement possible? The 3,000,000 members of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor can do it. I bless God that now, in the fulness of time, he has called into existence this mighty organization and has put it into the hearts of its leaders to enroll a Tenth Legion. This Tenth Legion is now over ten thousand strong. I pray God that it may number 100,000 at the next annual meeting, and that it may keep on growing until the principle of tithe-giving shall permeate the whole of Christendom. When that day comes it will be the morning, so to speak, of the new creation. There will then be abundant means to carry on God's work at home and abroad, and twenty years should not pass till the story of the Cross should be uttered in the ears of every living man." The Master, who has given us our great life-work, the evangelization of the world, has provided ample financial resources for the carrying on of that work. He has given us a system of Biblical finance which needs no revision, and which, if followed out, will furnish ample revenues for his kingdom. The annual income of the forty millions of Protestant church-members is estimated at fifteen billions of dollars-a tenth of that would be 1.500 millions. Supposing that four-sixths of that tithe was given to the support of the home churches and local charities, and the remaining two-sixths was divided equally between home and foreign missions, the foreign mission cause would then receive not merely fourteen millions as at present, but 240 millions; and instead of having, as now, one missionary and four native workers for every 95,000 heathen, the Church could have one mis. sionary and four native workers for every 5.625 heathen. In other words, if Christians were to give one-tenth of their income to God's work and one-sixth of that tenth to foreign missions the gospel could be preached to the whole world in one generation. For the advancement of an object so dear to the heart of our Risen Lord, shall we not every one of us resolve that, God helping us, we will do our part? Let us lift our faces and our hearts to him whom having not seen, we love," and say to him, "Lord Jesus, it may be only a little that I can do to show my love to thee, but by thy grace it will be my best, my uttermost. By thy grace I will do it at once." If we will enroll our names in the Tenth Legion, and make it henceforth a part of our life-work to promote the practice of tithe-giving in our churches, societies, and among our friends, our lives will not have been lived in vain. Perhaps in no other way could we do so much to promote the coming of Christ's kingdom. LITERATURE. May I suggest that, to this end, we would do well to secure the wide distribution of such booklets as "The Tenth Legion." by Amos R. Wells: "The Opportunity of the Hour," by Eddie; "God's Tithe," by A. J. Gordon; "Christian Missions and the Highest Use of Wealth," by President Gates; and Money and the Kingdom," by Dr. Josiah Strong. (The circulation of this last booklet brought in $40,000 to the Congregational Home Missionary Society.) These booklets can be secured through the United Society. Page 206 We can also help the cause by preparing striking charts and maps, by arranging meetings on the subject of the Tenth Legion and by circulating enrolment-blanks at such meetings, and by enclosing them in letters to friends. HAVE A DEFINITE AIM. If each one of the 10,000 tithe-givers would make an earnest effort to secure, by God's help, the enrolment of twelve others within the next twelve months, and if the secretary could announce at the next annual meeting, "Over 100,000 names enrolled in the Tenth Legion "all the churches and all the benevolent.societies would begin to feel the blessed influences of a mighty forward movement. Brothers, sisters, let us make this effort to the glory of God. He who has promised to use the weak things of the world to confound the mighty" can use even us, if we will but yield ourselves utterly to the doing of his good, acceptable, and perfect will. The Convention got its blood-cells well shaken up when the only and original Mr. Puddefoot began his address on home missions. Read more here https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/155819409.pdf  GOD'S TWIN LAWS by John G. Alber was published in multiple versions from approximately 1916 to 1959 (7th edition). [The following is the text of the book. No known copyright, no record of copyright renewal. Page numbers and misspellings left as in the original. Unfortunately or strangely this 18 page pamphlet is currently be sold on Amazon for $569 used and $768 in "new" condition. Link to Amazon book here.You can just read it for free below. Scan of original book can be found at archive.org here.  GOD'S TWIN LAWS by John G. Alber ETERNAL - IMMUTABLE - UNCHANGEABLE 1/7 of man's time, 1/10 of man's income IS GOD'S BOTH as old as the race. BOTH for man's benefit. BOTH reaffirmed, (not enacted) in the Mosaic Law. BOTH endorsed by Jesus. endorsed by the Apostles. BOTH taught and observed for centuries in the Christian Church. Pamphlet No. 17 FOREWORD The following is a brief epitome, greatly condensed, of a series of sermons on Stewardship and Tithing. The aim is to show the place in the tithe in the thought of God as revealed in His Word and in human history. The tithe is upheld as one of the ancient, divine principles of the race, and like the institution of prayer is applicable to all dispensations, patriarchal, Jewish and Christian. The tithing idea runs through all the annals of mankind, and like a silver stream with its sources in the Garden of Eden, touches all lands in all ages. The studies that constitutes this series were prepared with the common people in mind and with no thought of publication. They were published because it was felt by some that they might be helpful to others. They are not presented as sermonic models. No claim is made for originality. The materials were gathered from many sources and for lack of space credit could not always be given. If as a result of this series the Truth of God shall be. lodged in any human heart we shall be more than paid for our effort. John G. Alber Omaha, Nebr., Nov. 17th, 1916. ANOTHER FOREWORD. For many years I have felt the need of just such a compilation of brief, lucid scriptural arguments in favor of tithing as is admirably set forth in the following pages. While adapted to all classes of readers, this presentation will be of special value to ministers in search of material for sermons on tithing. LAYMAN. Page 2 GOD'S TWIN LAWS - I. 1. God's laws are in force everywhere. There is nothing that we can. name or think of that is not under the control of law. The muscles of my arm contract under the jurisdiction of law. God's laws are everywhere in His universe. Lift your thoughts toward the heavens and you will be awed into reverent silence by that spectacle of countless worlds which yield ceaseless obedience to God's laws. They are impelled on ward by the law of centrifical [sic] force and held in their orbits by the law of centripital [sic] force. They move with inconceivable velocity, never varying in their appointed paths, always on time and never in collision. This sublimely beautiful spectacle was used by Blackstone to illustrate God's authority in human affairs. "For as God when He created. matter and indued it with the principle of mobility, established certain rules for the perpetual direction of that motion; so when He created man and indued him with free will to conduct himself in all parts of life, He laid down certain immutable laws whereby that free will is in some degree regulated and restrained. These are the eternal immutable laws of good and evil." 2. They came into existence with the things to which they apply. With the ushering in of the planets came the law of gravitation. With the creation of man came certain laws that apply to him. The laws of which I shall speak today will be traced back to creation. 3. Not to understand God's laws makes no difference in their working. The laws of electricty [sic] were the same when the Pharaohs were building the pyramids as they are today. 4. God's laws may be discovered by man. They are not made or annulled by him. A legislator is no more a lawmaker than an astronomer is a planet maker. 5. Knowledge of God's laws may be lost and rediscovered. Illustrations of this fact may be found in the laws for making cement and glazing pottery. The law for tempering brass is one that has been lost and never rediscovered. 6. God's laws are supreme, eternal, immutable, unchangeable. A boy learned in his arithmatic [sic] that 2+3=5. He expressed his admiration for the author who could make things true by putting them in a book. "My dear boy," said his teacher, "the man who made the arithmetic did not make that true. It was true before an arithmetic was written. He put it there because it was true. The laws of which I speak today we call "twin" laws because they are so much alike. One-seventh of man's time and one-tenth of his income belongs to God in a special sense. Both of these laws are as old as the race; both are for man's benefit; both reaffirmed (not enacted) in the Mosaic Law; both endorsed and sanctioned by Jesus and his apostles; both were observed for centuries in the Christian church. Page 3 I know of no body of Christian people who do not respect and teach the first of these laws. There may be a dispute as to which day to keep, but there is no dispute that we should keep one day. As to the second there are thousands who consider it as binding as the first. Other thousands do not as yet so understand it. It is my purpose to show that these laws are twins, that one is as binding as the other. I. BOTH ARE AS OLD AS THE RACE. I need not argue here that as soon as God had finished creation he "blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it." In this same second chapter of Genesis we read that God "put man into the garden of Eden to dress it," (God still owned it). In the very next sentence God reserved a certain definite portion of the fruit for Himself. The destiny of the race depended on keeping this law. Some have thought that the eating of a little fruit was a trivial matter for an infinite issue. Nothing could have been more fundamental. Here at the very birth of the race God established His right to say that a certain definite portion of Man's income was His. The sin of our first parents that drove them from the garden of Eden was to take of the portion which God had reserved to Himself. The second argument for the antiquity of this law is taken from the story of Cain and Abel. Did you ever think of who taught them to make an offering? Can you conceive of God teaching this art to a new race and not teaching how, and how much, to offer? The facts remain: both made an offering. Cain's was rejected. I used to wonder as a boy, "What was the matter with Cain's offering?" That something was wrong is evident. God has not left us in the dark. The Septuagint, that most ancient Greek version of the Old Testament, says, "If thou hast offered aright and hast not divided aright hast thou not sinned?". The sin of Cain was to hold back some of God's portion. More light is given by the writer of the Hebrews. "By faith: Abel offered up a more excellent offering than Cain." The Greek for "more excellent" is pleiona, meaning fuller, richer, larger, more complete. The sin of Cain was that he tried to "rob God." The account of Abraham, the tither, is found in Genesis 14. Read it carefully. How did he come to give the tenth? There is but one explanation. He lived under the conviction that "the most high God" was "possessor of heaven and earth," and that one-tenth of man's income belonged to Him. He returned goods to the King of Sodom that were his by right of capture, but of the tenth he had no option. It was God's. Who taught Abraham to tithe? We must believe that somewhere in that dim age, God placed His hand on the tithe, forever claiming it as his own. This occurred in the garden of Eden, and the law passed from generation to generation to every nation of the ancient world. In the 28th Chapter of this same first book of the Bible is the story. of Abraham's grandson Jacob, and his tithing vow. Do you ask is it religious to tithe? Read this chapter. Think of the extreme spiritual exaltation of that moment. Think of the ladder, the angels, the vision of God, and His promise. No wonder Jacob said, "How dreadful is this Page 4 place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." This, my friends, is the scene of that song that draws us into the presence of God, "Nearer My God to Thee." I think that when we get as near to God as Jacob was there will be no question about. tithing. But was this not a strange vow? How did he come to hit on the tenth? Surely in some way he knew it to be the will of God. He had example in his grandfather and doubtless in his father. Now as he leaves home to establish a home of his own, and as now he will have an income, he makes up his mind to follow the example of him who was called "the friend of God." What a splendid example for every young man. The tithe is not only as old as Eden, but universal with the race. Clay tablets found in the ruins of ancient cities show that the nations of the earth to the cast as far as Babylon and to the south as far as Egypt were tithing in the days of Abraham. Dr. Adam Clark says, "Almost all nations of the earth have agreed to give one-tenth to religious use." The learned Grotius says, "From the most ancient ages one-tenth was the portion due to God." While Montacutius says, "Instances are mentioned in history of nations that did not offer sacrifices, -- but none that did not pay tithes." Herodotus. Xenophen. Pliny, Hesiod. and others bear witness to this claim. Must there not have been some divine origin for the practice? GOD'S TWIN LAWS-II AND III. I want to begin by saying a word about the prejudice that may exist on the part of some. Prejudice is the greatest obstacle in the pathway of progress. In nothing that John Bunyan ever wrote did his masterful genius flash forth more clearly than in the Holy War, where he places that old churl, Mr. Prejudice with his sixty deaf men as warder of Eargate. Nothing that even Emmanuel would say could reach Mansoul as long as Prejudice and his men were keeping the gate. I ask you to hear the argument and read the literature sent, then with a fair mind judge whether tithing be the will of God or not. A great jury that would be which would judge and then hear the evidence! The reason why more of us are not convinced on this subject is not. because it is not in the word of God, but because it has not been taught from our pulpits. Why have we been silent on God's plan of financing His kingdom? Is it reasonable to think that God would establish a church with perfect rules and ordinances and no financial plan when this is one of the greatest problems before every church? If God has a plan the sooner we find it the better. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God's ways higher than man's ways." The trouble with us is that we have not wanted to find God's way because it cuts to the very heart of our selfishness. Think of our plea-the greatest in the world. If we had the funds we could take it to the ends of the earth. The Mormons and the Adventists have the plan but not the plea. We have been saying that "Where the Scriptures speak we speak." Page 5 Let us do it on the money question with the same positiveness and power that we have on other questions. I propose to show that the Scriptures have spoken on this subject, and that the Tithe is God's way. But because I am presenting the question with such positiveness I hope that no one will think I am trying to force it upon them. All I ask is for you to consider the evidence and decide for yourselves. Be ye eager for the truth, In part I. we established the fact that both of these laws, viz., that one-seventh of our time and one-tenth of our income are God's, are as old as Eden, coeval with the race. II. BOTH ARE FOR MAN'S BENEFIT. It may seem trite to argue that it is for man's benefit to obey God. But all of us have not yet come to believe it. III. BOTH WERE REAFFIRMED (not enacted) IN THE MOSAIC LAW, therefore the abolition of the Mosaic Law did not affect the prior law. In part I. we showed these laws to be coeval with the race. This may seem sufficient to prove this point, but there is more to be said. That the consecration of the Sabbath and the Tithe were prior to Moses has already been established. Let us now make a comparison between these laws. In Ex. 27 and 31 we find that both are "holy unto the Lord." Both go back to creation. Both are reaffirmed in the Mosaic law. Both were added unto by Moses. To the ancient law of the Sabbath day Moses added the Sabbatical observances of the law. The seventh month was a sabbath month. In it came the Feast of Trumpets with the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Harvest. The seventh year was a sabbath year in which the land was to rest. The 7x7 or 49th year was the year of Jubilee. To the ancient law of the title which was paid by the Jew for the maintenance of the Temple was added a second tithe for the maintenance of the feasts mentioned above. Every third year a third tithe was given for the poor. Beside the three tithes the Jew also has twelve other kinds of offerings. Thus we read of "tithes and offerings." These were the Sin offering. Burnt offering, Trespass, Peace, Meal, Heave. Wave, Thank, Freewill, First Fruits. First born of man and beast, Offering of Vows. All this beside the three tithes. Now why should the Christian with greater blessings than the Jew give less for the sake of the world than he gave for the sake of Palestine? If the Jew did all of this under a loveless law, what should a Christian do under the law of Love? The Gospel sounds no retreat. Its command is forward. Can cold duty do more under the Law than gratitude under the Gospel? Is the liberty of the New Testament a failure? Must we return to the galling yoke of bondage of the Old Testament? Is Sinai stronger than Calvary? Is the outcome better 6 when Moses sternly drives than when Christ lovingly draws? Is it lawful for a man to be more selfish than was lawful for a Jew? Has Christianity lowered the standard of the virtue of liberality? These are questions to ponder over. Here a legal question arises. What was abolished when the Mosaic Law was done away in Christ? Did the law of the tithe go with the law of animal sacrifice? The Mosaic Law was a temporary statute and the limits of its expiration were set, as Paul says in Gal. 3:19, "It was added because of transgression till the seed (Christ) should come." Now I have here before me the Constitution of Nebraska. This is known as the Fundamental Law. Suppose that our legislature should place a law upon our statute books endorsing or reaffirming some portion of the Fundamental Law. Then suppose that another legislature should repeal that statute. Would that in any way affect the Constitution? Not at all. We have already shown that the law of the tithe was a prior law, a fundamental law as old as the race. The abolition of the Mosaic Law does not affect it in any way. A noted Judge has spoken on this subject. He mentions three rules, "which the experience of the ages has confirmed as wise, and which are of universal acceptance in the civil courts-and which may be found in any law text book-1. A temporary statute, expiring by its own limitation, leaves the law as it found it. (Rule 2 and 3 omitted here.) Under each of the three above rules it is submitted that the case of the tithe is made out, and that a clearer case is hard to find in the courts. If a civil case falls within any of these rules it is sustained. If in a matter of money between one man and another, one of these rules would be sufficient, shall not all three suffice in a matter between us and our Maker?"-Judge J. P. Hobson, of Kentucky. The New Testament is not silent on this point. The third chapter of Galatians shows that we pass over Moses to Abraham for the law of Justification by faith. "The law (of Moses) which came four hundred and thirty years after (Abraham) cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect." The abolition of the Mosaic law does not affect the prior law of justification by faith. It only abolishes the types and shadows that were fulfilled in Christ, national institutions and feasts and the tithe that maintained them. Christ abolished no fundamental law. If we say the tithe is abolished because it is in the Mosaic law we might as well also say the law, "thou shalt not kill" was abolished. We know these are not merely Jewish laws, but fundamental laws as old as Eden and universal with the race.. The same is true of the law of the tithe. It was reaffirmed (not enacted for the first time) in the Mosaic law, therefore the abolition of the Law of Moses did not affect the law of the tithe, for it was a temporary statute, expiring by its own limitation, and left the law as it found it. 7 GOD'S TWIN LAWS-IV. Jesus Endorsed the Law of the Tithe. If we can successfully build this proposition on the foundation laid in former sermons, we shall have as a superstructure, a battlement which will stand like the Rock of Gibraltar, which no billowy onslaught can throw down. Let us consider first Jesus' endorsement of the law that one-seventh of man's time belongs to God. Did Jesus keep the Sabbath? He lived under the law of the Sabbath and He kept it. He may not have kept it according to Pharisaical interpretation, but He kept God's law of the Sabbath. The Jews accused Him of not keeping the law of the Sabbath on several occasions. In Matt. 12 and Luke 6 we have the story Jesus and His disciples going through the grain fields. The Pharisees of said, "Thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day!" They did not object to them eating the wheat, but rubbing it out. After the Law had been written which said no manner of work should be done on the Sabbath, the Traditions of the Elders had been framed by the Great Synagogue. These contained 39 prohibitions. Out of these prohibitions came a great host of inferior rules. Plucking and rubbing out heads of wheat on the Sabbath was one of them. As an illustration of the validity of these rules for the Jews, I will cite a historical instance. In 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain. Being forbidden to enter the city of Fez they were compelled for a time to live on grass. To keep from breaking this rule instead of plucking it with their hands they got down on their knees and cropped it with their teeth. Again if a Jew put out a lamp on the Sabbath for fear of robbers he was guiltless but if he did it to save oil he was guilty. Jesus ridiculed the Jews for their additions to the Law. In Matthew 15 when they said, "Why do thy disciples transgress the traditions of the elders?" He said, "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?" In Matt. 23 He said "the Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; .. they bind heavy burdens and grievious to be borne, and . lay them on men's shoulders." As an illustration of this they had to pay the requirements of the law at the temple in Jewish money. That is why there were money changers in the temple in the days of Jesus. These money changers charged two dollars of Roman money, the legal tender of the day, for one dollar of Jewish money. So Jesus drove them out cowering beneath His vigorous lash. When Jesus restored sight to the blind man on the Sabbath they said, "This man is not of God for he keepeth not the Sabbath." True, He did not keep it according to their notions, but can you imagine Jesus living under the law of the Sabbath, God's law, and being disobedient to it? Jesus respected God's ancient law, and on each Sabbath went into the synagogue "as His custom was." Jesus stood for the seventh day, not necessarily [sic] for the seventh day of the week, but one day in seven. After the resurrection the day was changed from the seventh to 8 the first day of the week. This was done in honor of the resurrection, a fundamental fact of Christianity. The ancient principle of one-seventh of the time being God's remained and has stood through the centuries. What about the tithe, was it changed too? There was a reason for every change that was made. The reason for changing the day was to honor the resurrection. The reason for abolishing the bloody sacrifices was that they were fulfilled in Christ the great Antitype. With the sacrifices went the Altar and the white robed priests. The typical passed with the old dispensations. The types and shadows were fulfilled in Christ. Was there any reason why they should remain? They ought to have passed away. Was the tithe typical? If it was a shadow what was the substance? What did it foreshadow? Was there any reason why it should pass away? There are many reasons why it should remain. Now in coming to Jesus and the tithe, it is much easier to maintain the case of Jesus and the tithe than the case of Jesus and the Sabbath. First we have: The endorsement of His rearing. Jesus was a Jew. He was reared in the home of His mother, Mary and Joseph, his foster. father. What kind of a home was this? What was the training of His early years? We know what kind of a woman Mary was. The angel said, "Thou hast found favor with God." Matthew bears testimony that Joseph was a righteous man. In the Jewish conception that meant a man who kept the law. Joseph did keep the law. (Luke, 2:21-24, 39-41.) Can you think other of Joseph than that he kept the law of the tithe. and taught it to his household as was required by the law? Jesus was reared in that atmosphere and He was obedient to his parents. (Luke, 2:51.) This brings us to the next point: 2. The endorsement of His practice. Until He was thirty years of age we understand that He worked in the carpenter shop. If He worked. he must have had an income, especially during the years between 20 and 30. If He had an income He tithed it. I can not think of Jesus living in open disobedience to one of the laws of His Father, which had been in force since the foundation of the race. Can you? If you say it was not necessary for Him to tithe because He was to give Himself upon the cross, you might as well argue that he was not baptized because it was not necessary. But he was baptized. Even He, the spotless Lamb, in whose sunlit character there was no flaw, came to thew waters the Jordan, saying, "suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." I venture to say that that same Jesus paid the financial requirements of the law. Can you imagine. Him trying to crawl out from under them on any pretext? But we are not left to guess at the matter. Matthew 17:24-27 settles the question. "They that received the half-shekel came to Peter, and said Doth not your teacher pay the half shekel? He saith, Yea." Notice he did not say "I think so." This was an annual tax imposed by the law of Moses on every male Jew over 20 years of age, for the upkeep of the temple. Jesus would not have had to pay this because he was the 9 Son. He paid it as a matter of expediency. This was a rule of His life. This is why He was baptized. He paid it, lest he "cause them to stumble." Would this same reason not hold good for His paying the tithe? If He had not paid this requirement of the law, how the Pharisees would have used it against Him. They would have said, "O you, claim to be the Son of God, but will not keep the law of God! O who you, are you greater than Moses who gave us the law? Are you greater than our father Abraham, who paid the tithe to the priest of God most high? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who made the tithing vow when on the way to Haran?" O how they who tithed mint, anise, and cummin, would have made over it! Many times they accuse Him of not keeping the Sabbath. Did you ever read anywhere of them accusing Him of not paying the tithe? Is this not one of the strongest proofs that He paid the tithe? But a stronger proof is that he taught men this they "ought not to leave undone." Therefore he did it. He not only preached but He practiced what He preached. This brings us to the next point: 3. The endorsement of His teaching. Jesus differed from Moses on many subjects, in that He enlarged on him and went deeper. Matt. 5:17-19, 21-22, 28-23, 38-29, 43-44, When He came to the subject of the tithe did He go forward or backward? Did He abrogate it? Where is the chapter and verse? He endorsed it on at least two occasions. Six months before the last Passover He dined at the house of a Pharisee. Luke, 11:42: "Woe unto you Pharisees for ye tithe mint and rue, and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of God: but these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone." Almost six months later or five days before Jesus' last passover. He again addresses the Pharisees. This time it was in the temple. "Ye tithe mint, anise and cummin and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith, but these ye ought to have done and not to have left the other undone." Thus twice Jesus emphatically said ye, ought not to leave tithing undone. If it is objected that this was said to a Pharisee and not to a Christian, then we reply that the Golden Rule or "Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart" also have no application to us. Nearly all the teaching of Jesus was given to Jews. Here are two unmistakable endorsements of Jesus to the tithe. How many do we want, to know it is His will. The Golden rule was given but twice. In Matthew 22: we have a question about tribute money. Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." There was tribute to be paid to the Government according to law. Jesus said, Pay it. There was a tribute to be paid to God according to His law, viz., the tithe. Jesus said, Pay it. The Pharisees knew perfectly well. "The tithe is the Lord's." They saw the point without a doubt. Page 10 Jesus not only endorsed the tithe but He went on beyond. To the rich your ruler He said, "Sell all ** If he had been minded to obey, Jesus might have stopped him as God stopped Abraham in offering his son, and said, "Regard thy possession as a talent from God, to be used to His glory." Jesus went beyond the title in His endorsement of the widow who gave "all her living." I imagine that if some tightwad of the 20th Century church had stood where Jesus was, he would have said, "Too bad, too bad, some one should tell her she can't afford it." Jesus commended her because she gave more than the tithe. He did not commend the others because they were simply paying their debts, doing their duty, doing what Jesus said they ought to do. The tithe is a debt; it is what we owe. Often we should give more. Every case of giving mentioned in the New Testament is mentioned because it went beyond the tithe. The members of the Jerusalem church sold their possessions and brought all and laid it at the Apostle's feet. They did not do as some modern Christians, say all belongs to God, and use ninety-nine one-hundredths of it upon themselves and give God one one-hundredth. They brought all, A-L-L and laid it down at the feet of the apostles. Giving is one of the central ideas of the Bible. The texts on this subject form a milky way from Genesis to Revelation, with the galaxy most multitudinous around the Star of Bethlehem. Jesus spent much time on the subject of money. It has been pointed. out that one verse out of every six in Matthew, Mark and Luke is on money. The majority of His parables and addresses are on some phase of the money question. Sixteen of His parables show the right or wrong use of money. It would be instructive to go over these here if space would permit. GOD'S TWIN LAWS-V. The Twin Laws Were Endorsed by the Apostles and Early Christian Church. We need not spend much time on the law that one-seventh of our time belongs to God, according to the Apostles. This is conceded by all. After the resurrection of Jesus the Disciples kept the first day of the week. On this day their Lord arose in triumph, exalting the day. On this day Christ made his appearance to the women, to Mary, to the Disciples on the way to Emmaus. On this day Jesus appeared to the Disciples when Thomas was absent. Further honoring the day He absented Himself from them till another First Day of the week and appeared to them again when Thomas was present. The Day of Pentecost came on the First Day of the week. On this day the church was established, the Holy Spirit given, three thousand men baptized, the first fruits of the Kingdom, Twenty years later Paul came to Troas and tarried a few days so he could be with them "on the first day of the week when we were come together to break bread." (Acts 20:7.) Just 11 before this Paul had directed the church at Corinth to bring together their alms on the first day of the week. (1. Cor. 16:2.) Twenty-five years later a scene appears, in the foreground of which is an aged. apostle, the last survivor of the original twelve, refreshing his solitude at Patmos by "being in the Spirit on the Lord's Day." Within the next half century, Pliny and Justin, heathen and Christian, persecutor and martyr, give with many others their testimony that the First Day of the week was observed by Christians. Thus it passed into secular history with a thousand witnesses bearing testimony to this claim. We have no command of Jesus or the Apostles to keep the day, yet we feel that this is sufficient. I will show that the New Testament is stronger on keeping the law of the tenth than the law of the seventh. Some object to the tithe because there is not more about it in the New Testament. I used to drive a team that took three or four commands to make them go. But I'never had to say "whoa" more than once. So we demand many stern commands to make us go and do, but it only takes a suggestion to make us stop and rest. For the Lord's Day there is nothing but precedent, no direct command of Jesus or of the Apostles. On the tithe we have not only apostolic precedent and command, but the "Ye ought" of Jesus. Why should we demand that God should command us several times. Should not once be sufficient? Jesus commended it several times. How can anything be strong than the "Ye ought" of Jesus? What He commends is our command. Mr. Gladstone says. "To constitute a moral obligation, it is not necessary that we have a positive command. Probable evidence is binding as well as demonstrative evidence, nay, it constitutes the greatest portion of the subject matter of duty." The reason why there is not more in the New Testament about tithing is because it was not necessary. The Old Testament was the Bible of the early Christians. In it the instruction is abundant. The writers of the New Testament were Jews. Every one of them paid the tithe. Every member of the Apostolic church understood this requirement of the law. They were zealous for the law. The tendency was to bring over from Judaism more than was required. The apostle Paul gave his life to save the Church from certain Jewish institutions that were fulfilled in Christ. Think you that under these conditions, those men who were zealous for God, under the fullness of the blessing of Christianity, would give less for the substance than they had given for the shadow? It is expressly stated that they gave more. With a world conquest before them would it have been on the part of wisdom to abolish the tithe? Since tithing had been taught for thousands of years and had become firmly fixed as a habit and principle of the race is it not out of reason to think of God abolishing it now? As the Jews of the early church were used to the practice of the tithe so were the Gentiles of the heathen world. Dydimus of Alexandria, says, "It was a Grecian custom to pay the tithes to the gods." Herodotus Page 12 and Xenophon give the same testimony. The Greeks called Apollo "the tenth bearer." Diodorus Siculus, of the first century B. C. says "the Phoenicians and the Carthagenians send a tenth each year to Hercules at Tyre." The Romans called the tenth "The Herculean portion." Lucullus, a rich Roman consul and general, paid a tithe of all to the gods. Dionysius, a Greek historian in the days of Christ, says the same of the Pelagi. Pliny, a Roman author in the days of the apostles, says, "The Ethiopians give a tenth to their gods before they buy or sell any thing. The testimony is overwhelming. Jew and Gentile alike were already well informed on this subject. The apostles wrote on subjects that needed attention,-like "Justification by faith," "The holier life," etc. Therefore any mention of the tithe would be incidental. This is no reason for rejecting the tithe. If it were, think of what a time we would have justifying the use of song books in worship, or even building a house to meet in. If the New Testament were silent on the tithe it would be the natural system for the Apostolic church. It is a well established principle of law, that if a law is in force, and the conditions that called it forth still exist, it remains in force till repealed. The laws of circumcision and animal sacrifice and others are plainly repealed in the New Testament. Where is there a text that in any way weakens the law of the title? The New Testament left this law where it found it. There was nothing to add but the spiritual motive of love to God and man. Every principle of scriptural interpretation, or even common law demands that the law of the tithe stands. I wish for the sake of some, that there were more in the New Testament about the tithe. I wish there were more about several things: about God, the church house, the Lord's Day, the future world, the soul's destiny, the Lord's Supper. Outside of the gospels and I. Corinthians there is no mention of the latter. The tithe is enforced in the Law, the Prophets, the sermons of Jesus, in Corinthians and Hebrews. Although all of this is here, I wish there were more. But there is enough to establish it. The "Ye ought" of Jesus should be enough. That Jesus has spoken on a subject is not enough for some. They must know that the apostles have added their word and testimony. Fortunate enough the tithe is not without the apostolic sanction. I. Cor. 16:2: "Upon the first day of the week, let each one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." We do not claim that this establishes the tithe. It shows that the divine law is giving in proportion to our income. This is exactly the principle of the tithe. But this does not refer to a system of church finance but rather to a special collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem. Paul's system of financing the Kingdom is given in the ninth chapter of this book. It is too bad that it should be overlooked and this instruction bout a charity fund misused! I. Cor. 9:7-14. Here Paul justifies his right to receive pay for his preaching. "What soldier ever served at his own expense?" Those that Page 13 plant vineyards or feed flocks enjoy the fruit and milk. Paul uses the Mosaic law to justify such actions. Even the ox was to get his living from his work. But this was not written for the ox's benefit, but for ours. If we plow or thresh don't we do it with the hope of partaking? "If we have sown unto you spiritual things is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?" Paul says he did not use this right so as not to hinder the gospel. He says, "Know ye not" (please note this was not spoken to a Pharisee but to Christians). Alluding to the Mosaic law in Num. 18:21, he says, "Know ye not that they that minister about sacred things eat of the things of the temple, and they that wait upon the altar have their portion with the altar? Even so did the Lord ordain. that they that proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel.""Even so" (This argument might have been used in any sermon on Jesus' endorsement of the tithe). Even so did the Lord ordain that it should be in the Christian Dispensation, i. e., as God ordained in the O. T. so Christ has ordained in the N. T. that those who minister about sacred things should be supported by the tithe. I challenge any man to show an apostolic endorsement of the Lord's Day that is any stronger than this endorsement of the tithe. All we have about the Lord's Day is inferential, and based on precedent. In Hebrews 7 we have a lesson on types and antitypes.  Under the law, Levi, men that die, paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abraham. v. 9. The people, brethren of Levi, paid tithes through Levi and Abraham to Melchizedek. Thus all paid the tithe. In Christ the Mosaic order was abolished and the order of Melchizedek re-established. This order also is supported by the tithe. The divinely inspired apostle is showing the superiority of Christ. If Christ does not receive the tithe He is not only inferior to Melchizedek but also to Levi. "men who die." If Christ does not receive the tithe then the apostle's argument is irrelevant, yes, an utter failure, yea, more, an unrefuted argument on the other side. If He does not receive the tithe then the figure is broken and incomplete. The conclusion is that as Abraham paid the tithe so the Christian, the antitype, should honor the greater King of Righteousness.
14 GOD'S TWIN LAWS-VI. The Twin Laws Were Endorsed by the Church Fathers of the First Five Centuries. For the first endorsement of the Law of the Seventh I will quote a heathen witness. Eight years after the Apostle John had written the Book of Revelation, Pliny, the persecutor, wrote a letter to the Emperor, describing what the Christians were wont to do. "On a stated day the Christians meet to sing a hymn to Christ as God, to take an oath to commit no theft, adultery, or fraud, and to partake together of food." This was a heathen description of a Christian Sunday observance. About thirty-five years later Justin Martyr tells us what the set day was, that was spoken of by Pliny. He says, "On the day called Sunday the Christians held their assemblies for reading the Scriptures, prayer to Christ, alms-giving, and the Lord's Supper." To these we might add the testimony of many others, among them, Eusebius, Tertullian, Constantine, who made Sunday observance a law of the Empire, Justinian, who incorporated the same in his code, and Charlemagne who made it a law in the West. This is the unanimous judgment of the Fathers of the first centuries. Their endorsement and practice of the Law of the seventh is a commentary on the words and practice of the apostles, who were their teachers. Now what do these same writers say of the Law of the Tenth? In these quotations lack of space compels us to omit much of the context which would add much to the argument. First we shall hear Clement. He was born the year Jesus was baptized. Paul mentions him in Phil. 4:3. He wrote a letter to the Corinthians somewhere between 68 and 97 A. D. In this letter he says, "It behooves us to do all things which the Lord has commanded us to do at stated times. He has enjoined offerings, not to be performed thoughtlessly or irregularly. Those therefore that present their offerings at the appointed time are accepted and blessed." He then speaks of the services of the high priest and levites, who were supported by the tithe and adds "The layman is bound by the laws that pertain to layman." Clement evidently understood that the ministry of the church was to be supported in the same way as the ministry of the temple. The same idea is carried out in the "first fruits" of the next reference. The document known as "The Teaching of the Apostles" dates. back to 120 A. D. Here we read. "But every true prophet that is willing to abide among you is worthy of his support. So also a true teacher …. Every first fruit, therefore, of the products of the wine press and threshing floor, etc., etc., thou shalt take and give to the prophets for they are your high priests. But if ye have not a prophet, give to the poor." A century later Clement of Alexandria made the same argument. "The tithes of the fruits and of the flocks taught piety toward the deity. For it was from these and from the first fruits that the priests were 15 maintained. We now therefore understand that we are instructed in piety, and in liberality, and in justice, and in humanity, by the law." Justin Martyr, A. D. 110-165 shows how the church in his day was continuing the apostolic communism, and like the church in Jerusalem, whose gifts far exceeded the tithe, had sufficient to care for all. Irenaeus, A. D. 120-202. "The precepts of the perfect life are the same in each Testament... . The Lord did not abrogate the natural precepts of the law, which also those who are justified by faith, did observe previous to the giving of the law, but He extended them. Instead of thou shalt not commit adultery,' forbid even concupiscence: instead of 'thou shalt not kill,' He prohibited anger; instead of tithes. to share all with the poor. Now all these were not doing away with the law but extending it. Sacrifices there were among the people (the Jews); sacrifices there are too in the Church; but the species alone. have been changed, inasmuch as the offering is now made, not by slaves, but by freemen." We must pass the testimony of Tertullian, A. D. 145-220, also of Origen, A. D. 185-254. Only this, He says "we offer first fruits to Him to Whom we send up our prayers." He then asks a question worthy of our consideration, "How can our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, who pay tithes and first fruits, if we do none of these things?" Cyprian, A. D. 200-258, chides those who do not pay the tithe. "They used to give for sale houses and estates, that they might have treasures in heaven. Now we do not even give the tithe, and while our Lord bids us sell we buy and add to our store. Thus has the strength of believers grown weak." In the Apostolic Constitution, A. D. 300, we read "Of the first fruits and tithes and after what manner the Bishop is himself to partake of them and distribute them to others. Let him use these tenths and first fruits, which are given according to the command of God, as a man of God. So also let him dispense in a right manner the free will offerings, which are brought in on account of the poor. . . The Levites who attended upon the tabernacle partook of those things which were offered to God by all the people... You therefore, O bishops, are priests and levites, ministering to the church... For those who attend upon the church ought to be maintained by the church. . . . Now you ought to know that although the Lord has delivered you from the additional bonds and does not permit you to sacrifice irrational creatures for sin-offerings, etc., yet He has nowhere freed you from those oblations which you owe to the priests, nor from doing good to the poor." Jerome, A. D. 345-420, wrote to Nepotian, "I, if I am the portion of the Lord, and the line of His heritage, receive no portion among the remaining tribes; but like the priests and the Levites I live on the tithe, and serving the altar am supported by its offerings. Having food and 16 raiment, I shall be content with these, and as a disciple of the cross, shall share its poverty. What we have said of tithes and offerings which of old used to be given to priests and levites, understand also in the case of the church-to whom it is commanded to sell all and follow the Lord. If we are unwilling to do this, at least let us imitate the rudimentary teachings of the Jews so as to give a part of the whole. . . . If any one shall not do this he is convicted of defrauding and cheating God." Ambrose of Milan, A. D. 340-397, "God has reserved the tenth part unto himself, and therefore it is not lawful for a man to retain what God had reserved for Himself. To thee He has given nine parts, for Himself He has reserved the tenth part, and if thou shalt not give to God the tenth part, God will take from thee the nine parts." "A good Christian pays tithes." Augustine, A. D. 354-430, "Our ancestors used to abound in wealth of every kind for this very reason that they used to give tithes and pay the tax to Caesar. Now on the contrary because devotion to God has ceased the drain of the treasury has increased. We have been unwilling to share the tithes with God, now the whole is taken away. The scribes and pharisees give tithes for whom Christ had not yet shed His blood. ... I can not keep back what He who died for us said while He was alive, 'Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. They gave a tenth. How is it with you? Ask yourselves. Consider what you spend on mercy, what you reserve for luxury." Can you imagine anything more up to date than this? Chrysostom, A. D., 347-407, "They gave tithes and tithes upon tithes for orphans and widows and strangers; Whereas some one was saying to me in astonishment at another, Why such a one gives tithes. What a load of disgrace does this expression imply since what was not a matter of wonder with the Jews has come to be so in the case of the Christian? If there was danger then in omitting tithes, think how great it must be now.... If he who is giving the half achieves no great thing, he who does not bestow so much as a tenth, of what shall he be worthy?" With reason He said, "There are few that be saved." Cassian, of the fifth century emphasizes the same thought. "Even if those who faithfully offer tithes and are obedient to the more ancient precepts of the Lord, cannot yet climb the heights of the gospel, you can see very clearly how far short of it those fall who do not even do this." As the church fathers speak with one voice on this subject so have the councils of the church. The Council of Macon passed the following decree, A. D. 585: ".... The divine laws also taking care of the ministers of the church that they might have their hereditary portion, have commanded all people to pay the tithes, that the clergy being hindered by no sort of employment, may be at leisure for the spiritual 17 duty of their ministry. Which laws the whole body of Christians for a long time kept inviolate, but now by degrees, almost all of them have shown themselves prevaricators of those laws, since they neglect to fulfill the things which have been divinely ordained." Ten other councils. of the church up until A. D. 790 have ordered all Christians to tithe, viz., the councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Orleans, Metz, Tours, Neville, Rouen, Nantes, Toledo, and Fimli. Tithing was well established in the time. of Charlemagne, and made imperative by the legatine councils in England. Thus we see what unanimity of opinion there was among the ancient fathers of the Christian Church. Their testimony is valuable in establishing the practice of the earliest Christian centuries. For this practice there must have been apostolic endorsement and apostolic precedent. THE DEEPER MEANING OF TITHING Tithing, to a degree and in a practical common sense way, not approached by any other habit of life, brings God into personal relationship in our every-day affairs. Tithers become increasingly conscious not only of responsibility to, but of real partnership with the Infinite. When the wages or salary, or gains of any kind or from any source, are received, the pleasure of setting apart or crediting to tithing account God's portion is only equalled by that of giving it later to such objects as conscience approves. In the last analysis tithing is simply putting God, not self, first. The conscientious tither devotes, sets aside, the tenth as soon as it is received. It is the "first fruits" of his labor or gain, no matter from what source received. It is God's share, the "devoted," the "separated" portion, and has first place in all thoughts of expenditure. Tithing, in other words, is literal everyday common sense obedience to Christ's command "Seek first the Kingdom of God." Should Christians Tithe? By REV. Oscar Lowry, Evangelist
[The following text is comes from the book published circa 1940s. No Copyright. Page numbers are left as in the original. Scan of original book can be found at archive.org] https://archive.org/details/should-christians-tithe-oscar-lowry Author of "The New System of Memorizing" "Where Are the Dead?" "Scripture Memory Cards" PRICE 10₵ Published by THE GLAD TIDINGS PUBLISHING CO. Calhoun and Superior Sts. Fort Wayne, Ind. INTRODUCTORY NOTE I have been interested in this subject for years. I began tithing long before entering Christian work. While in the pastorate, I put considerable emphasis upon this subject with the result that a goodly number of my parishoners became tithers. During my experience as an evangelist, I have made it a point to devote at least one. Sunday morning to the subject, besides making other references to it during each campaign. The result has been that hundreds have been led to begin honoring God with the tithe. I have very seldom preached upon this subject that someone has not asked if the sermon was not in print, and it is at the earnest request of many of my best friends that I have at last decided to have it published. That is my only apology for adding anything more to the many splendid books and pamphlets that have been published recently upon this subject. With a prayer for God's blessing, and trusting that many others may come to experience the great joy of giving according to God's method, this sermon is sent forth. --OSCAR LOWRY. Cedar Falls, Iowa. Why Christians Should Tithe Text Leviticus 27: 30-32. "And all the title of the land whether of the seed of the land, or the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord. And if a man will redeem aught of his tithe, he shall add unto it the fifth part thereof. And all the tithe of the herd or of the flock, whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord." No doubt I could have found a more popular theme than this for the majority of my congregation, but certainly I could not find one more practical in your day and mine. There is not anything very attractive in this subject for a great many people, and especially those who are robbing God. The attitude of most people toward this subject reminds me of a story told by Bishop Ames. A slave holder in Missouri many years ago heard that one of his colored men was doing considerable preaching on the plantation. He said to him one day, "Pompey, I hear you are a great preacher." "Yes, Massa, de Lord do help me powerfully sometimes." "Well, Pompey, don't you think the negroes are stealing some things on the plantation?" "I'se mighty 'fraid they do, Massa." "Then, Pompey, I want you to preach a sermon to them on the ten commandments, and bear down especially on the stealing." The colored man hung his head in silence for a few minutes and then replied, "You see, Massa, dat would 3 never do, cause 'twould throw such a coldness over the meeting." So I find it to-day. This subject seems to chill the ardor of a great many who can on other occasions shout "Amen," and "Praise the Lord," with considerable. gusto. But that is because they have not yet learned one of the greatest privileges of the Christian life. A PRACTICAL RELIGION Too many seem to get the idea that to be a Christian is to have certain feelings and experiences of emotional ism, forgetting that these things are but flowers, and that real fruit bearing must follow. Faith is good, without it we cannot be saved. Peace and joy are certainly to be desired, but the fruit of righteousness," is the end for which we are saved. True faith always results in works of righteousness, and any other profession is false. James 2: 17, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone." I have no confidence in the profession of faith that simply says, "Lord, Lord," and then never does anything. No one is ever saved by his works, but where there is saving faith there will be an outward manifestation of works. Galatians 5: 6, "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love." Christianity is a practical religion, or it is nothing, and one of the ways in which "faith worketh by love," is in honoring God with our substance. Probably many of you never thought of it before, but God places the sin of covetousness right in the same category with the sins of adultery, fornication, drunkenness, stealing and other acts of immorality. I. Corinthians 6: 9-10, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators 4 nor idolaters, nor adulterers nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God." The covetous man is no more saved than the drunkard, the thief, or the adulterer, yet how few there are that ever confess to the sin of covetousness. Paul says they shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I feel that we preachers have been negligent in our duty along this line, and that the time has come for us to preach the truth in season and out of season, until people see that any other profession of religion is a mere sham. THE TITHE IS THE LORD'S Every Christian should tithe his income because that is the will of God concerning us. Our text says, "All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord." Here we find that God claims without question or condition one-tenth of our income. But I can imagine some one in defense of their negligence saying at once, "Oh, that belongs to the dispensation of the law, and has nothing to do with us in this dispensation of grace." Now let us see if this principle of tithing belongs to the law of Moses. Turn to the fourteenth chapter of Genesis. There we have an account of Abram, or Abraham as he was afterward called, paying tithes to Melchizedek, a priest of the Most High God. Now that was seven hundred years before Moses received the law at Mt. Sinai. Why do we find Abraham paying to this Priest of the Lord, the tithe of all the spoils taken in battle? Why not a sixth or an eighth or a twelfth, or some other proportion? 5 Again, nearly two hundred years after Abraham, five hundred years before the law was given, mind you, we see Jacob fleeing from the wrath of his brother Esau. We find him spending a night alone in the mountains. He took a stone for a pillow and laid down to sleep. While sleeping he had a remarkable dream or vision. He saw a ladder extending from earth to Heaven, and angels ascending and descending thereon. The next morning he arose, saying, ``This is none other than the house of God," and there he made a covenant with the Lord. Genesis 28:20-22, "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 my 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." Again I ask, why the tenth? Why not a fifth, or a ninth, or some other proportion? This man Jacob knew nothing of the law of Moses; he lived five hundred years before it was given. LAW OF NATIONS Next I call your attention to the fact that tithing was practiced by the nations of antiquity that knew nothing about the law of Moses. We find without exception they paid their tithes to their heathen gods. Instances are mentioned in history of some nations which did not offer sacrifices, but in the annals of all time none are found who did not pay tithes. Once more I ask, why did Abraham and Jacob who lived many centuries before the law of Moses was given, pay tithes? And why did these nations of antiquity who knew nothing about God's holy law pay 6 tithes to their false gods? For myself I have never been able to find but one reasonable answer, and that is that away back in the beginning of man's sojourn here upon this earth, God must have given him the law of the tithe. Tithing no more had its beginning at Mt. Sinai than did the Sabbath. The Sabbath did not originate with the giving of the law. The fourth command reads: "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." A Sabbath has been observed by God's people from the creation of man. So there seems to be these two great unchangeable principles running back to the time of creation; one-seventh of our time and one-tenth of our money belongs to God. Ceremonial laws may change, but God's eternal principles, never. So ancient is this law of the tithe, that Cain and Abel were acquainted with it. According to the Septuagint translation of Genesis 4:7, it seems to be hinted that Cain's sin was not wholly because of the "quality" of his offering, but also in the "quantity" as well. The passage reads, "If thou hast offered aright but hast not divided aright, hast thou not sinned?" So then, we find that the idea of the tithe did not originate with the law of Moses. It had been practiced centuries before Moses was born. JESUS CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES I can imagine someone else interposing at this point, saying, "Is it not true that Jesus Christ and the Apostles in their teachings did away with the law of the tithe?" Well, as for myself, I have never been able to find one sentence, or one phrase, or one word in the New Testament, showing that Jesus Christ or the Apostles ever in any way abrogated the law of tithing. Could you think that it had 7 passed away with the ushering in of the Christian dispensation, when one verse in every four in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and one verse out of every six in the New Testament deals with the question of money and covetousness? Then we find that almost one-half of all our Lord's parables in some way referred to this subject of finances. In Matthew 23: 23 we find Jesus saying more in defense of tithing than you ever find him saying in defense of Sabbath keeping: "Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cum min, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." Here Jesus says, speaking of tithing, "These ought ye to have done." Is it not also a very significant fact that the only thing that Jesus Christ ever commended in the lives of these Scribes and Pharisees, was the fact that they were tithers? He did commend them for that, and in that way set the stamp of His approval upon tithing. Certainly what Christ commends should be to us a command. All Christians everywhere consider the sacredness of the Lord's day, and keep it holy. Why not then let us be as consistent in regard to the tithe? Jesus set His unqualified approval on tithing, but you cannot say as much for Sabbath keeping. All honor to those who properly observe the Sabbath, or the Lord's day, but why not also honor the law of the tithe? It has the more direct approval of our Lord and Master. THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH We also find that the evidences are quite conclusive indeed, that the members of the early church paid tithes. 8 While Paul was preaching at Corinth we are told that Crispus, the president of the Jewish synagogue, with his family and many other Jews, were converted. It is safe to presume that all these were paying the tithe, for while in the time of Christ and the Apostles the Jews were scattered among the nations of the world, they still adhered to tithing. Now when Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians he said, in the sixteenth chapter and second verse, "Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him." This called for both system and proportion. Now if they were not accustomed to paying the tithe, how could they have understood what Paul was driving at? How would they have known what he meant when he said, "As the Lord has prospered him?" If a man had been prospered during the week to the amount of ten dollars he knew that he owed one dollar of it to the Lord; or if he had earned twenty, he knew two dollars belonged to God. Then, too, according to the teaching of Origen, Jerome and Chrysostom, the early churches taught and practiced tithing. It would seem that this law of the tithe was one of the doctrines lost in the dark ages. Bingham in his book, Christian Antiquities," says that it is a fact that the early church paid tithes. The late Rev. Dr. John Hall said, "Leviticus calls new machinery into existence, but it affirms the old principle of a portion for God. The New Testament modifies the machinery, but does not abrogate the principle." The late Bishop McCabe said, "Nothing of Judaism is abrogated except the types and shadows that found their fulfillment in the sufferings and death of Jesus 9 Christ. The ten commandments stand, the Sabbath stands, the tithe stands, and these are eternally binding upon the conscience of every believer. There is no want of harmony between Malachi and Paul. The offerings spoken of by Malachi cover the collections spoken of by Paul. The tithe is for the support of the kingdom." MEN ARE ROBBING GOD Every Christian should tithe his income for in not. doing so he is robbing God. Our text declares that the tithe belongs to the Lord, "it is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord." If it belongs to Him it is certainly robbery for a man to appropriate it to his own selfish interests. Malachi 3: 8, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offering. Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation." God declares that when we withhold the tithe we are robbing Him. When you are paying the tithe, you are merely returning that which God claims without question or condition as belonging to Himself. Probably the majority of you have never yet given a free-will offering unto the Lord. You cannot make a free-will offering until you have paid your debt, which is one-tenth of your net increase. A little girl had been given a new silver dollar. She went to her father and asked him to change it into dimes. "What for?" asked the father. "So that I can give the Lord His part," she replied. The father put ten dimes into her hand, and shortly afterward walked with her to the church. When the offering was taken she dropped in a dime, and then before her father could say anything. she dropped in another. "Why," said her father, "I 10 thought you gave the tenth to the Lord?" "Yes," she answered, "that tenth belongs to Him and I can't give Him what is His own. So if I give Him anything I must give Him what is mine." That little girl had rightly comprehended a great truth of God's word that most people, it seems, have failed to see. If you are honest, you certainly would not think of robbing your fellowman. Yet many of you that profess to be Christians will rob God Almighty without a blush. I hope to be able to make you understand that it is a greater sin to rob God than it is to rob a man. WE NEED A SYSTEM I cannot make myself believe that God ever intended to leave us without some system in this matter of finance. We have system for everything else in our churches. We have a regular time for the preaching of the word Sunday morning and evening. There is a regular time set aside for the prayer-meeting-Wednesday or Thursday evening. Then we have a regular time for the study of the Bible Sunday morning in the Sunday School. But one of the most essential things in the furtherance of the cause of Jesus Christ is with most people, merely a matter of im- pulse. Suppose here are five men with an equal salary and about the same home expenses. Let them come to church and make their offering, and no two of them will give the same amount. Why? Simply because they are giving by impulse and not according to principle. The church can no more be properly supported by the voluntary gifts of the people than can the state. Suppose all the laws in our land for the collection of taxes were abolished, and our tax collectors were sent out to harangue 11 the people, appealing to their patriotism and state pride, and then pass the hat for a free-will offering. What a ridiculous spectacle would be presented! What a laughing stock we would become before the nations of the world! Well then, do you think God Almighty can be satisfied with this haphazard, go-easy, hit-or-miss, give-when you-feel-like-it, lawless, loveless method of supporting the cause which is dearest to the heart of His Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? Why it seems to me an insult to His intelligence to think so. I further believe that any minister or evangelist is criminal in his preaching who permits such professing Christians to feel safe and secure for heaven. Too many have become imbued with that satanic, sardonic teaching, that we owe everything to God in general, and nothing in particular. However, do not misunderstand me; I do not advocate tithing with the thought that that will save you. No, not any more than the practice of any other Christian grace. We do not keep the Christian Sabbath with the hope that we will be saved thereby. Neither do we keep any of the ten commandments with that end in view. We do all these things because we are saved; because we delight to do those things that will please Him. A WISE PROVISION What is the chief end of man? You say it is to glorify God. That being true, there must be some provision made to keep alive in his heart a desire to worship God. There must be the place of worship and servants provided to direct it. All this requires money. The Lord foresaw that the worldliness and wickedness of the human heart would 12 Should Christians Tithe? not yield a seventh of his time without a specific commandment to that effect, and did He not also foresee that the same would be true in reference to parting with a portion of his substance? In Old Testament days, we find that the tithe was used to support the Levites. They were the ministers of God in those days. Numbers 18:21, "Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation." The tithe belongs to God and He certainly has the right to dispose of it. The Levites had no inheritance in the land and were to give their entire time to the service of God. Therefore in making provision for their support, the Lord commanded the people to whom He had given the land to pay the tithe that the worship of God might be perpetuated in the earth. The Jews paid other tithes, but the first tithe went to the support of the servants of God, the Levites. In the New Testament we find the same principle is carried over into this dispensation of grace. According to the teaching of Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, the tithe is to be used in supporting the preachers of the Gospel. I. Corinthians 9: 13, 14, "Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things, live of the things of the temple? and they that wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." The whole discussion of tithes and offerings centers about the idea of ministerial support. The Bible conception of this subject is that God is honored by honoring His ministers. The problems that confronted the people fifteen hundred years B. C. are the problems that confront us today. 13 THE NEED IS GREAT Every Christian should tithe his income because of the great need of money for the evangelization of this world for Christ. How appalling it is to think that nineteen hundred years have passed since Jesus Christ gave us the great commission, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," and it turns out, that we have a thousand million-a billion of people who never heard His precious name or saw a copy of the Bible. And what has been the greatest difficulty all along? It has been the old story of a lack of finances. It is estimated that not more than one-half of our church membership give anything toward the evangelization of the heathen. The average amount is about fifty-four cents apiece annually. Dr. Strong says that the church members own one-fifth of the wealth of the United States, and that we are giving only one-sixteenth of one percent of it for the evangelization of the heathen. We find it rather difficult to escape the feeling that the church is merely playing with religion as long as but one out of every three persons in America has any sort of connection with the church, and the members are giving but one-sixteenth of one percent of their wealth for the evangelization of the heathen. Americans have been spending yearly for foreign missions $15,000, 000.00; for chewing gum, $25,000,000.00. For church work at home $290,000,000.00; for intoxicating liquors $2,000, 000,000.00; for jewelry, $500,000,000.00. Talk about the cost of the churches in this country; it is estimated that the diamonds in this country are worth $70,000,000.00 more than all the churches, both Catholic and Protestant. We spend for tobacco $1,200,000,000.00 annually. We 14 spent more in this country for tobacco last year than both the United States and Canada have spent for foreign missions during the last one hundred years. That twenty or twenty-five cents you spend every day for cigars would amount to enough in a year to support a native preacher in China. In 1915, the State of New York spent $40,000, 000.00 for new automobiles, in addition to two hundred millions already invested in these machines, and most of these are purchased for pleasure only. But that was but a single state in the Union, and even this forty millions is twice as much as all the churches in the world are giving annually for the evangelization of the heathen. "The gross annual income of the evangelical church members in the United States is not less than $6,000,000, 000.00. One-tenth of this is $600,000,000.00. At an average salary of $1200 a year (and that is a large average), this amount would support five hundred thousand preachers of the Gospel. That would be five times as many as we now have, the present number being less than one hundred thousand, including all not in active service. Allotting two hundred thousand to this country for pastors and missionaries, we would be able to send abroad three hundred thousand more. That would then give us one missionary to every four thousand souls, Pagan, Papal, and Mohammedan lands. Whereas, now, all evangelical denominations taken together, we have but one paid worker for every 167,000 souls. How easy it would be to evangelize this world if all our church members only had religion." PROMISE OF TEMPORAL BLESSING Then every Christian should tithe because of the promise of temporal blessing. If we entered into this matter 15 wholly for temporal blessing as our only motive, we might expect to be disappointed, and doubtless we would be. But on the other hand, we should expect to be prospered, for we find that all the references in God's Word, and all His commands touching on the subject of tithes and offerings are followed by a promise of temporal blessing. As for myself I have failed to find an exception. I can stop to give you only a few of the many passages touching on the subject, but please notice that each one is followed with a promise of temporal blessing. Proverbs 3: 9, 10, "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase; (and what will happen?) So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." Proverbs 11: 24, 25, "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." Psalms 41: 1, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon earth; and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on the bed of languishing; thou wilt make his bed in his sickness." Isaiah 58: 10, 11, "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, and satisfy thy soul like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not." Luke 6: 38, "Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together 16 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." Acts 20: 35, "I have showed you all things, how that so laboring 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.'" II. Corinthians 9: 6, 7, "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as He pur poseth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver." Going back to the Old Testament, I call your attention to Malachi 3: 10, 11, "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 you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." What kind of a blessing? A temporal or material blessing, of course. I know that there are many who try to spiritualize this and make it refer only to spiritual blessing. That is included, of course; but that this promise refers primarily to temporal or material blessing is made clear by quoting the next verse, "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruit of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of Hosts." There are many illustrations in modern life showing how this promise has a literal fulfillment when put to the test. Probably the reason why many are not more blest in temporal things is because they have been robbing God. 17 A POINTED ILLUSTRATION Dr. Babb, in his excellent book, "The Law of the Tithe," relates an incident in the experience of a fellow pastor that well illustrates this point. I give it to you in the pastor's own words: "For my second charge after entering the ministry I was sent to a town of about three thousand to live, and had three country points near the town as a work. During the winter I held special meetings at the three points. At one place there was a young man and his wife in whom we were all especially interested. They seemed during the meeting as though they would make the start, but the meeting came near the close without them. One evening they were both converted and came into the church. The father and mother of the man had been tithers for a long time. During the fall of that year my wife and I were calling at the home. The people were renters and lived in a little house on the place rented. We went into the house and after a short visit the wife brought me a small pasteboard box and asked me to look into it. I did so, and there were about twelve dollars in it. Her eyes were full of tears and I knew that a story was connected with it. I said, "Tell me the story.' She said, "That is God's box.' And the following was the story she told: 'You undoubtedly noticed that my husband and I held back in the revival meetings until about their close. Well, we believed that if we were to start in the Christian life that God would want us to pay ten percent of our income as a tithe. We had figured that our income would be about four hundred dollars for the year, and thought forty dollars out of that for God and the church would be more than we could afford. Finally we said, 'Lord, we will do it,' and we did." 18 "She said, 'Mr. B-, I wish you would take your pencil and do a little figuring for me.' I did so. She said: 'We had in, as a crop of oats we had on the place, thirty acres, and we got forty bushels of oats to the aere, which was eight bushels more than anyone else got in our neighborhood. We got eighteen and one-half cents per bushel for the crop, and sold it from the machine. Now, see what that would come to.' I figured the surplus that they had more than their neighbors, and found it, of course, 240 bushels, and at eighteen and one-half cents per bushel, it figured out just $44.40. I said to her, 'That is just like God. Not only has He given you back the $40.00, but he has added ten per cent to it, and also ten per cent to the ten per cent.' That was twelve years ago, and so far as I know they are still paying ten per cent of their income to God and are prospering." So God throws down the challenge to every man, "Prove me now here with," and He has never yet disappointed one of His children. SOME OBJECTIONS ANSWERED At this point I want to notice a few of the many objections that are advanced for not tithing. (1) Many complain that they do not know what their net income amounts to. If you do not, you must be a very poor business man. You must know at least approximately. Suppose we should reverse the command, that is, suppose the church was commanded to pay you an amount each year equal to one-tenth of your income. What do you think would happen? You would come up at the end of the year with it figured down to a penny, would you not? I find that the fellow who advances this flimsy 19 objection, like all the rest, is looking for an excuse to get out of doing his duty. Such an excuse reminds me of a certain tight-fisted man who was asked to contribute to foreign missions. He said he did not believe in foreign missions-plenty of heathen at home. He was later asked to contribute to home missions. This time he objected on the ground that the money was not properly spent. The town in which he lived was about to improve and beautify the cemetery. They wanted to put a fence around it and thought he would surely contribute to this cause. But he said, "No, it does not appeal to me; those that are in can't get out, and those that are out don't want to get in." And so he gave nothing. (2) You say, "I do not think tithing is fair for the rich and poor alike." God makes no distinction, the obligation is binding upon all alike. You might apply the same argument to Sabbath keeping, and say that the poor man could not afford to keep the Sabbath because of the great need of his family. But I find that it is not the poor man who makes this objection. As a matter of fact, statistics show that they are more ready to tithe than the well-to-do, or the rich. I find too often that this excuse is used by the rich as a cloak to cover up the meanness and stinginess of their own hearts. (3) Says another, "I believe in giving until a person feels it." Well that would certainly be a poor principle to go by. Many would feel a greater pang when they gave ten cents than others when they gave ten dollars. Some people never give a dime to the Lord's work that they do not feel like singing "God be with you till we meet again." Too many people give, not according to their means, but rather according to their meanness. If 20 it is left to impulse, if I am of a generous nature, I will give a great deal before I feel it; and if I am of the opposite make-up, I will feel a pang every time I put a nickel in the collection plate. Think of an able bodied man claiming to love his wife with all his heart, and giving her a ten cent pin cushion every Christmas to prove it. Yet that would be hilarious generosity compared to some things that happen in our churches. IN DEBT TO GOD (4) You say, "I am in debt." Yes, but you were in debt to God long before you were in debt to your fellow man. And remember you can never put yourself right with God by robbing Him to pay your fellow man. We have no more right to take God's portion to pay our debts with than we would to take what belongs to our neighbor. If we go on the principle that no one should tithe who is in debt, there would be but very few men tithe, for it is a well known fact that most business these days is carried on on the credit system. If that rule held good all one would need to do to escape responsibility would be to keep in debt. However, I am fully convinced that if people were more faithful in paying tithes they would find it much easier to keep out of debt. (5) Another says, "I am a minister or a Christian worker, I give all my time to Christian work; should I be expected to tithe?'" We have the answer to this in Numbers 18: 25, "Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, when ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe." The people were to tithe 21 to support the Levites, and they in turn were to tithe the tithe. We find the principle to the universal-none escape. It is the minimum; the poorest should not give less, and the rich should give much more. (6) Others seem to find it difficult to determine just what the tithe is. Well, it means ten percent of your net increase. Proverbs 3:9, "Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase." It is ten percent of your net income whether it be in the form of a salary or the income from your farm or a business enterprise. That does not mean that you are to take out your living expenses first. It is the net increase after the payment of clerk hire, rentals, etc. In other words, it is the first fruits of all you have gained by your labors, whether it comes to you in the form of a salary or otherwise. "Oh," says one, "I give as much as the tithe or more, though I have never kept strict account." Doubt less if you would keep account you would be very much surprised, as would be the church, at the increase of your offerings. Unless you are keeping account, I do not believe there is one in a thousand that would be found giving as much as a tenth. THE CHURCH AT HOME It is impossible for us to imagine what the results would be to the church at home if all its members would begin to tithe. Especially is this true since the results have been so marvelous even where only a small per cent of the membership had begun tithing. I can stop to call your attention to only one illustration of this and that is the well known experience of Wesley Chapel of Cincinnati. The report of that work was given by Dr. Babb as 22 follows: "Wesley Chapel, a down-town church, found itself 'playing out.' No other phrase seems expressive enough to describe its condition. In 1895 they were so discouraged and unprosperous that the pastor advised, and the Board had about decided to nail up the doors and windows and leave the edifice to be tenanted by mice and bats. Rather than stop without at least one more effort, seventy persons signed a tithe covenant during the first year, with the result that a shock of surprise to themselves that was self-inflicted, all bills throughout the year were promptly met. When the results came to be published to the congregation, there was a time of tenderness and rejoicing, reminding us of the old time story of the rejoicing of the Hebrews when the tithes and offerings were brought up to Jerusalem. The membership of this church speedily increased from 350 to 650, and the Sunday School attendance mounted from 250 to 540. Prayer and class meetings were quadrupled in membership. The doors of the church were wide open every night in the week. All dissensions of every kind have ceased, and brotherly love. plays upon all hearts its music, which is like part of some swelling anthem. The pastor's check comes in full every week and every obligation is joyfully met. This church, in its evangelism, leads all others in the conference. 'Last year,' says the pastor, 'she paid into the missionary society as much as all the other ten down-town churches and $13.00 over. The tithe book shows that last year, out of 769 members and probationers, only 162 were tithing; and of these, twelve were children, 105 women, and 45 men. It is interesting to note here that the average income of every man, woman and child in the United States is estimated at $300.00; the average tithe, therefore, would be 23 $30.00. The treasurer's book at Wesley Chapel shows that the average amount paid by each tither there in 1901 was $31.29. If all the 769 members had been tithers at the same rate, the total income would have been $24,062.00, or enough to pay their present current expenses, and support the entire associated charities of Cincinnati, and keep an army of 180 Bible readers in the field of India, China and Japan.'" The pastor, making a report at one of their conferences, uttered these remarkable words, "I have not had to devote five minutes of time to the consideration of the finances of the church during the six years of my pastor ate. My time, instead of being occupied with officials planning suppers and lectures, concerts, soliciting donations, or selling tickets, has been given wholly to the spiritual work of the church." All this has been accomplished in spite of the fact that only about one-third of the membership have been tithers, and but very few of their membership are from the wealthier classes. THE CHURCH ABROAD Then how easy it would be to evangelize the one thousand million of this earth's population that have never heard of Jesus our Saviour, if the membership of our churches were paying tithes. John R. Mott has shown us that the evangelization of the world is possible in this generation. Certainly, and the only thing that hinders is the lack of funds. Rev. J. W. Duncan, formerly pastor of the First M. E. Church of Shelbyville, Indiana, said, "The whole secret of the success of the First Church at Shelbyville is in the forty-two tithers who entered into a covenant with me to give to the Lord's cause a tenth of their 24 income. When I became their pastor, six years ago, the missionary collection was $368.00. When we adopted the tithing plan, three months before conference the mission ary collection was $1,200.00. When we had tithed one full year, the missionary collection was $1,800.00. The next year it was $2,115.00, and all the benevolences, $5,875.00. The report just made to the Indiana conference for the past year in $2,500.00 for missions, and for all benevolences, $7,000.00. Two-thirds and more of this entire amount is given by the forty-two tithers in a church membership of 700. This puts this church easily first among the Indiana churches in benevolent contributions." Among the many pointed illustrations that I might bring to you, to show the close relationship between tithing and successful missionary work, I relate this one more: It was missionary day in a small country circuit in Ontario, Canada. The total amount subscribed for home and for eign missions by sixty-two contributors, was $243.00. Of this amount, five tithers gave $135.00, while the other fifty-seven contributors gave $108.00; the tithers averaging $27.00 per member, and the non-tithers, $1.90. A DEAD CHURCH I can imagine someone saying, "Mr. Lowry, if you put so much emphasis on this subject of giving, I fear you will kill the spiritual life of the church." Well, as for myself, I feel very much like the old colored preacher who said: "I hab nebber known a church killed by too much gibbing to the Lord. If dere should be such a church, I should like to know it. I tell you what I'd do. I'd go down to dat church dis berry night and I'd clamber up its moss-cobered roof, and I'd sit straddle of its ridge-pole, 25 and I'd cry aloud, 'Blessed are de dead which die in de Lord.'" As for myself, I have no hesitancy whatever in speaking on this subject, yea, I rather enjoy it. I know as I said in the beginning, that there are many in every audience that do not enjoy a subject like this. Many people remind me of the man who remembered at breakfast that it was his wife's birthday, so he kissed her and went down town and bought himself a new suit of clothes. God rains the wealth of heaven upon you, and then you go out and buy another farm or enlarge your business and God is forgotten. However, there is the satisfaction of knowing that if I can get you to honor God with the tithe I am rendering you a great personal benefit, though you may not at the time enjoy my plain dealing with this subject. A CLEAR CONSCIENCE Next, what will be the results coming to the individual tither? Well, in the first place you will have a clear conscience before God. That is something that some of you people have not experienced for many years touching this question of finances. And you can never expect to have a clear conscience in this matter so long as your giving is a matter of impulse, rather than principle. I know that was true in my own personal experience. I was converted and joined the church when eighteen years of age. Though working for a small salary, I began at once to help support the church and its missionary interests, and according to the testimony of my pastor, I gave more liberally than other members who were well to do financially. But I was never satisfied. I was constantly asking myself the question, "Did I do my duty ?" There seemed to be a consciousness of something lacking. There was a lack of 26 definiteness. So finally after reading and studying the Bible for some time, though I had never heard a sermon on the subject, I began tithing. And I want to say to you, that from that day to this there has been no pricked conscience in this matter of giving. There is that joyful consciousness that I am doing what the Lord would have me do. In my home we do not stop at the tithe, or two tithes, and sometimes not at the third tithe; but we see to it that our giving never falls below the one-tenth. I find that is true of a great many. When they begin to tithe and learn the real joy of giving they go far beyond the tithe. Some even go so far as to argue that rules and fixed proportions check liberality. But I have not found it so either in my own experiences, or in observing the effect. claim, and to me it appears to be only another excuse for shirking responsibility. SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL PROSPERITY Then, with the word of God to back me up, I can assure you that there will be a great increase of temporal and spiritual blessing. As the late Dr. A. J. Gordon said, "If any Christian who has never tried it will make the experiment, conscientiously follow it through to the end in prosperity and in adversity, we predict for him two surprises. First, he will be astonished at the increased amount which he is enabled by this method to give to the Lord; and secondly, he will be astonished at the increased spiritual and temporal prosperity which the Lord will give to him. For observe that here is an instance where the Lord actually makes a challenge to His people, and sets up a test case, saying 'Prove me now.'" God does 27 not promise make tithers rich, but quite significant how many who tithe are greatly prospered. some one has said, "Money every life either weight weight drag men down and separate them from God, wing lift them into sweet fellowship with Christ." YOUNG MAN WHO BELIEVED GOD History full instances where God richly blessed those who honored Him with their substance, but want call your attention one which most striking deed. Many years ago boy sixteen years left home to seek his fortune. Carrying all his belongings little bundle, he made his way down the tow path toward the great city. As he trudged along he met an old neighbor, the captain of canal boat, and the following conversation took place: "Well, William, where are you "I don't know," he replied. "Father too poor to keep me at home any longer, and says must now make living for myself." "There's no trouble about that," said the captain. "Be sure you start right, and you'll get along finely." The lad told his friend that the only trade he knew anything about was soap and candle making, at which he helped his father when at home. "Well," said the old man, "let me pray with you once more and give you a little advice and then I will let you go." Then they knelt upon the tow path and the old man prayed fervently for William and then gave him the following advice: "Some one will soon be the leading soap maker in New York. It can be you as well as anyone. I hope it may. Be a good man; give your heart to Christ; give to the Lord 28 what belongs to Him of every dollar you earn; make an honest soap; give a full pound, and I am certain you will yet be a rich and good man." Arriving in the great city, homeless and friendless, he remembered these parting words of advice. He was led through this to give himself to Christ and unite with the church. The first dollar he made brought up the question of the old captain. He looked in the Bible and found the Jews were required to give one-tenth. "If the Lord will take one-tenth, I will give that," he said; and so he did. It became his practice through a long life. Ten cents of every dollar was "holy unto the Lord." After a few years William became a partner in the business, and after a few more, the sole owner. He was blessed wonderfully. He then gave two-tenths. He became richer still, and gave three-tenths, and afterwards five-tenths. He then educated his family, settled all his plans for life and told the Lord he would give Him all his income. He prospered more than ever. Schools which now bear his name are monuments to his benevolence. This is the true story of Mr. William Colgate, who gave millions of dollars to the Lord's cause and left a name that will never die. SHOW OF SINCERITY Then it would give you power with men. A father, after careful thought and much hesitation, signed the tithers covenant one Sunday morning, and that very night his son rode to church through a heavy rain and asked for prayers and was converted, and the following Sunday evening led the Young People's meeting in the place of his father. How can we expect to convince others that we 29 are sincere in our profession when we make no sacrifices for the one we profess to love! Two men of large means. one a professing Christian and the other was not, were in an after-meeting. The professing Christian struggled very hard to convince his neighbor of his need of Christ. By-and-by his neighbor said, "I think we might as well quit this conversation, because you do not mean what you say. I happen to know that you spent more for that fancy cow you have than you have given for home and foreign missions for the last ten years. If I believe in Jesus Christ I would make Him the rule of my giving and my farm the exception." The professing Christian could say no more. He lost the opportunity of leading his neighbor to Christ because his life was mean and puny alongside of his words. TREASURES IN HEAVEN Finally, and best of all, there will be the eternal reward. I fully expect to meet in heaven the results of my giving as well as my preaching. Too many give their money seemingly without any thought of the future; they give grudgingly just as though it was that much money wasted. Nay, not so, you shall have your full reward. It has not passed unnoticed. Matthew 10: 42, "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." The smallest service given in the name of Jesus, shall bring its reward in Heaven. The Princess Eugenie of Sweden for many years devoted herself to the good of her people. She desired to build a hospital for the sick poor, but she found her income, which was already taxed by many charities, 30 inadequate to meet the extra expense. But seeing the great need of such a hospital she was unwavering in her purpose, and after much serious thought, she sold her diamonds and the home for incurables was built near her summer residence. A few summers before her death, one of its inmates who seemed peculiarly ignorant and inaccessible, was deeply laid upon the heart of the Princess.. "I prayed much for her," were her own words when narrating what followed. When about to leave for her winter residence in the city, the matron said, pointing to the woman, "I think you will find her changed." The Princess approached her bed and the words that greeted her were, "I thank God that the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth from all sin," the tears raining fast down her cheeks. "In those tears," said the Princess, "I saw my diamonds again." So in those precious souls that shall come up to Heaven from Africa, India, China, and the home land, that have been won through our giving, we shall see our gold and diamonds again. The End. 31 |
||||